Gribz

Lucky Shag is a cracking bar except it closes early.

Mancini inherited ego's and just added to them with bigger ego's buy over paying players who think they dont need to get out of first gear. If he gets his signings right and gets the players in the right of frame of mind they will be closer. But you need that strong mentality to drive it and it doesnt get stronger than Alex Ferguson. Dalglish is mentally strong also and bought winners at Blackburn like Shearer.

Agree Dado. Didnt see where the media were coming from with Adam's performances. He was their 2nd best performer in a Championship level team. (Vaughan was the better player). Man Utd are going after Modric, Nasi and Sneijder but Liverpool snap up Henderson and Adam. I know who my money would be on winning the title.

Thats unbelievable, for the roof on a whole stand / section says something was well wrong and should have been prevented. Not to take away this being a tradegy with 1 guy dying and others injured, but as Craig says its scary to think if that happened during a match.

Jog on, thats my job. :box: but the standard here isnt the greatest, I'll take Japan and Korea which is pretty decent. I often watch some of the games from their leagues, the crowds are massive.

For a minute there I thought Alan Hutton was thrown into the deal aswell. Good signing though, looking forward to seeing him play although Ive no idea where he will play yet.

Well, we're not the Real Sociadad

Antti Niemi? Quality keeper but wrong time as we had Charbonnier and Klos yet just came of the back of an era from Goram.

Taking on from the Stuart Munro comments on other thread, just wondered if we have a list of unsung hero's. First one that springs to my mind is Gordon Durie. Always thought Durie was bit underrated and was a quality alround striker.

Good stuff. Happy with this, get a good feeling about Ortiz. Total freshness in the middle of the park and will bring flair into the team.

Agree with that. Papac is a good performer but if there is a better option Id go for it. He is steady and doesnt let us down and does come out with the odd top performance. But 5 years down the line he will fit into the 'ok' bracket of former LB's like the 3 V's - Vidmar, Vanoli and Vignal. Davie Robertson, Arthur Numan and maybe even Frankies old fave Stuart Munro have set the standards for LB.

Frankie, in a 4-4-2 id rather Bougherra at RB than Whittaker. Dont rate Whittaker much but after his contract signing its obvious he will be the first name on team sheet. In midfield, Edu would be behind Ness, Hutton and McCulloch in the pecking order. Is Ortiz a winger?

Consistantly average merits a place ahead of better players?

Fixed that defence for you.....(in a dream world of course)

Still a fan of this formation if you have the players.

Yes agreed, 09/10 he was outstanding and set himself standards but last season was more often poor than not. Just wonder if he plays better inside right mid position. Plus getting a better replacement wouldnt be easy at all.

Throw Ortiz and Cuellar into that list and Id be well happy going into the season. Weiss and a another striker would be icing on the cake but the way Jelavic and Lafferty finished the season Id be ok with them starting as our frontmen. Id say the only players who havent been worth their value are Lafferty (yet), Beattie (mass error) and Edu (far too inconsistant, either absolute rank or pretty good) So lets say we get the Ortiz and Cuellar, starting XI would have to be maybe this?: ________________________McGregor_____________________ Whittaker________Bougherra________Cuellar____________Papac Naismith_________Davis_____________Ortiz_____________Wylde ___________________Jelavic________Lafferty_______________

A good one yes. But we have Davis, McCulloch, Edu, Hutton and Ness all natural there.

Gazza8 just posting on other thread Fleck might be out on loan to Motherwell. He's never got off the ground as it stands. Just hope he isnt another Burke who flattered to deceive. I do think he has potential though but needs a run in a good position.

I hope not. I dont like players playing out of position. Kerkar has signed so he is another poss for left mid, although Wylde would be first pick and Im hoping Weiss comes back.

Didnt realise he still played for us. :fish: From beeb: Still confused how we spent 1.2m on Beattie rather than giving Novo a 2 year deal at the time.

Agreed mate. And to think some people compared Boyd to Coisty!!

Its no coincidence IMO that the likes of Wilson, Bougherra and even Whittaker played well at centre half while next to Weir. He is an absolute mentor. However can he with stand another full season which is coming up? It makes sense to keep him on board and if he plays well then why not!! But if we see a lapse lke last season for afew weeks he needs to be taken out straight away. His contract should have included a coaching role of some sort, although being on the training ground he probably does this anyway. It would be interesting if we got Cuellar back and kept Bougherra to see how they would play together and who would be first choice partnership. Im also forgetting the possibility of Bartley here.

Cuellar by an absolute country mile. Im not even sure if Id be happy about the other 2 signing. Run of the mill SPL players although Wallace could be a decent replacement for Whittaker.

On paper its a disaster for Arsenal to lose Nasri but I think Wenger would unearth another gem somewhere. Nasri should only leave for Man Utd IMO, he would be silly to go to City just like Adebyeor and toure was. They are not a settled side. Agree with Craig, Nasri leaving is worse then Fabregas. Arsenal played better last season when Fabregas was out. Clichy is another who it looks like will be leaving. Wenger needs to get spending! A keeper and top centre half required ASAP. He needs to sell dead wood like Bendtner and Rosicky