BG

Maxi to Espanyol looks pretty unlikely on further investigation. A Spanish website quotes an Espanyol executive as saying that it's news to him and while he likes the player etc etc it's economically impossible for them.

Sad to see Masch go personally. Prepared to take it at face value that he/his family can't settle for whatever reason. That happens. Was terrific for us.

Just read the Mundo Deportivo (who are Barcelona based) story which says: -Espanyol are negotiating with IMG who represent Maxi. -Hodgson isn't counting on him this season and isn't opposed to him going. -The hold up is the price. -The next few hours will be important in determining if the deal happens.

When I saw the thread title there I was hoping, even though I knew it was incredibly unlikely, that this was a message from the 'Albert' who seemed to kn ow the ins and outs of the Gerrard going/staying thing a few years ago and that he was about to tell us something interesting abut the future of the club...rather than Riera's goodbye

The argument's not about who should be out left back. Our left back should be someone better. Equally our centre back cover should be better (arguably the first choices should be better), and our wide midfielders should be better. This though is not the point. The point is he is way above Championship level. If he's at that level just name some players at that level who've kept even players at Dossena level out of their teams and are wanted by decent Serie A sides. Steven Wright is a Championship level full-back. Insua is miles better than that.

The argument of some on here (obviously barely credible) is that he's just saying he didn't ask as he doesn't want to answer the next question ("and how much were you told would be available") even though a bright ten year old could work out how to deal with that question. The fact that Broughton said that one of the things that was impressive about him was that he talked about getting more out of the current players and not about buying new players is also just more doublespeak...

He's easily premier league level now. And has potential to be better. You've still not named five better left backs than him in the Championship. Of the three you initially mentioned only one is even arguable really.

Christ almighty you're really scraping the barrel with Enrique. That really is laughable, even by your standards. Berner's how old and has played how many games in a top league? Meanwhile various others are making the entirely correct point that while he has various weaknesses he is absolutely nowhere near as bad as you are making out.

I note you dodged the challenge to name 5 Championship left-backs better than him. To answer your question no there's not but were there an alarm every time you changed you mind about a line you've been vehemently holding, made a spurious claim about something or were proven wrong by events it'd be going off virtually continuously.

Agreed. It's not even solely Hodgson's decision, never mind whether or not it's solely the club's decision.

Name 5 left-backs in the Championship who are better than him.

OK I'll make this simpler. The poster wasn't comparing winning a trophy to being 2nd in the same competition as you facetiously implied. He was saying - as he has since clarified - that winning any trophy (eg the Carling Cup) was not better than coming second in the league. The fact he simply forgot to add "in the league" was incredibly obvious.

Cracking news...or we've put that out to keep his market value up...

You've really engaged with the point he was making about "any trophy" being better than coming second in the league there. And yes it was blindingly obvious that he was comparing winning any trophy to coming second in the league.

I can still remember the theme tune of that show. It was an hilarious premise too.

Not if the post above citing our new doc saying that it's a left abductor problem is correct. A groin strain would be an adductor.

Fulham talking to Hitzfeld to take over. That'll make for one more depressing day. That said it's according to Darren Lewis so about 99.99999% chance won't happen. Even so he's 6/4 in some places.

I suspect we may finish better than 7th too. However I'm not about to start judging the new manager by the worst season (by a mile) the old manager had here. I admire your optimism, though I don't share it. Were I offered 4th now I'd take it in a heartbeat. In thinking about the teams you cite: City: have great strength in depth which matters. Their best players are worse than our best players but they've got massive strength in depth. Comparing the depth on the forwards and the midfielders there's really no comparison. Arsenal: agree they're always capable of looking a bit fragile. How they and we start will be important for both teams which makes the first game pretty vital. If we lose at Anfield to them I'd say us finishing above them is long odds - even though it's only one game. I wouldn't say the reverse is true. Spurs: agree we may well finish above Spurs but IMHO even this depends a lot on how the Summer pans out for both them and us.

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If that happens I hope he brings in Tranquillo Barnetta. Just for his name.

Same quotes in The Guardian.

Well: A) It's not exactly certain the FA can afford anyone given the compensation they'd have to pay to get rid of Capello, the subsidy for Wembley etc B) The FA are going to appoint an English manager next because the press will pressure them to do so. Of those that may have a claim Hodgson is relatively untarnished. Redknapp has a court case coming up, Allardyce plays bad stuff, McClaren's already had a go (they could have appointed anyone there too so this England manager argument doesn't really stack up) etc P.S. Surprised to see you making the "Allardichio" argument.

Yeah there's some of that (partly because his achievements have been so overdone by a couple of posters) but there's also some saying his record suggests he's a quite a good coach but that there's not much there which suggests we should be looking at him. I really like the man - I think he's probably the most likable and interesting man to manage us for quite a while - but I'm not convinced by his record yet. I hope he does well of course (partly because of the above) but mainly because he's Liverpool's manager now. You're right Pellegrini may have represented more of a gamble in that he's not managed in England but the standout achievements of his career are of a higher order than Hodgson's. In addition to the titles you're dismissing from Argentina, he took Villareal (a town half the size of Wigan with a club that had only spent about 5 years in the top division in it's entire history) to 3rd and 2nd in La Liga and to the Semi-Finals and Quarter-Finals of the Champions League. That's a superb achievement.

I agree. The comments he made about figures linked to Hicks' name in the press were bordering on contemptuous, as was the they can't block the sale line.

Just read his comments. IMHO the best news for a while. They could barely have been more unambiguous.