Armin_Tamzarian

It's bad news. I spoke to a Spanish journalist with strong connections to Madrid and he told me that no way would Rafa have gone to Madrid with Perez there. Now there's a chance that Real will try to confront the Barcelona challengeby building a proper team. Rafa would have to be near the top of their wishlist. However Rafa has a young family and he's spoken of how the experience of living in the UK will be of benefit to his daughters in years to come. Hopefully he won't be thinking of uprooting them so soon after arriving in the UK.

The problem with selling Luis is that Rafa has built a functional team which operates effectively and efficiently but can sometimes be a bit predictable going forward. In comparison with our rivals we lack flair in the final third, not many of our forwards can beat a man with trickery or guile. Garcia is one of the few players in our squad who can unlock a defence with an unpredictable move or piece of skill. If we sell him the offensive options for the coach will be reduced and we may become an easier team for opposition managers to nullify. I agree with Knox's assessment of where we need strengthening and his point regarding generating transfer funds. However if Luis is sold I still think we'll need to replace his qualities within the squad. If we can find a goal scoring forward who is equally at home dropping off and running at defenders then perhaps we can afford to let Garcia go but those players are hard to find and tend to be expensive. I hoped Sinama might step up in this regard as he has good ability on the ball. Garcia's last couple of games have been dissappointing but I know when the home leg against Benfica arrives with the prospect of a massed defence to overcome Garcia will be one of the players the manager will trust to break the opposing system. Take him out of the equation and we look a predictable and formulaic attacking force.

It's rubbish. Rafa didn't mention any potential targets, although he did make a reference to Simao being overpriced.

http://www.pritchard-cowburn.com/eyecare_con_detatched.html

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They have souls?

I definitely think we've looked tired, both physically and mentally. I don't think the experiences of players who hung up their boots 20 or even 10 years ago are that relevant. The current game is so quick and puts such an emphasis on the expenditure of energy that its not possible to carry the same sorts of injuries and still perform. Not only did we start our season earlier, we ended it later than other sides as well. Plus we were fighting for 4th place with so many injuries that we didn't rotate as often as we should. As for the friendlies versus pre qualifiers argument, I don't agree with Mike. There was too much resting on the prequalifiers for our players to relax, we were limited in the number of subs so we couldnt spread the load as you normally would and the opposition was playing the European Champions and were consequently far more motivated than the average preseason fodder.

I don't know whether we tried for him then but I think we may have enquired when negotiating Diouff's transfer. He's a skillful tough and versatile midfielder, would be a great addition but perhaps not feasible when you think of the need in other areas of the squad. If we were to move for him or Barton for that matter the summer would be the time as I suspect the next England manager will have a good look at both of them soon after he takes over.

You could try the Alex by Clapham Common tube. There's a couple of big screens upstairs and there should be a decent atmosphere and a few reds: http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/info_pubbar_85.html

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Two cities and clubs united by grief. Nice post Jezzman. The Olympiakos fans from the Gate7 site have been very supportive in the search for Steven Cook.

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Haven't you done enough already? You leave those horses alone!

because he wasn't good enough.

Not sure that info is in the public domain, all I've seen is that they're both seriously ill.

An update. The banner design is now finalised. A test print is underway and its full steam ahead, it shouldn't be too long now. The target was always the Befica home leg but there's another game before then where it woul be nice to see our European status reaffirmed... If the test print is a success we'll reveal the completed design asap. I think it's superb but then I'm biased. Should anyone have a spare few quid they can chuck in the fund then please please go ahead, every pound will make a difference on the size of banner we can afford. At the moment we're below the target size, though it should still be big enough to make an impression on the visitors at the other end of the ground. We'll chuck every pound we have at the banner but any remnants will go into a fund for the next one. Getting the banner made is only the start of the process. We'll need people to help in its deployment. I met the people behind the crest surfer as well as the giant flag and they're like a finely honed machine. Will be looking for Kop goers who are able to help, I don't have a season ticket so can't be there each time. As also said above, the idea is to use the experience gained on this project to form a group capable of executing other banner ideas. So if you hate the idea of this one and wish it was more traditional or said something different then we'll be asking for you to add your voice in due course to a debate on the next one. This might involve a new site being formed, if your interested in participating I'll update this thread with details in due course. For now however thanks to everyone for their support and comments.

I rate Defoe, he's scored goals wherever he's been at whatever level. Also he can go past a man, something none of our strikers seem to be capable of. I could see him forging an excellent partnership with Peter Crouch. I don't rate him higher than Owen but the combination of lower transfer fee, superior fitness record and lower wages might make him a sensible alternative to bringing Michael back.

I can email you a few if you like? The email function on the site doesn't seem to be working but you can send email to arminatredandwhitekop.net if you want.