goodrobotusses

Think Voronin will be here next season - the fact he's been in the last two squads and involved in matches when others who're assumed to be on their way out (Pennant, Riise, Crouch, Kewell) haven't suggests as much. I can handle having him on as a fourth choice striker - I don't think he's as bad as has been made out. Importantly, he's the only genuine second striker in the squad - we have others who can play that role (Gerrard, Babel, Kuyt), but none is what you'd call a natural in that position. BUT... I'd personally rather we promoted Nemeth than kept Voronin. Think the last two games would have been a great opportunity to give him some experience and get an idea how naturally he'd take to first team football. Even if Nemeth wasn't up to the task of playing 10-20 first team games next season, we have Babel as an option up front still. Going back to Voronin though - he's not great, and has had some very poor games, but he's also had some very good ones, which shouldn't be forgotten. Controversial as it might be, Voronin has been a more effective option up front this season than Fowler was last season. Whether he's good enough long term, I do doubt, but it's looking like he's going to be here (Rafa at least rates him) so we may as well get used to it for another season.

That's a very Houllier-esque midfield. Think it will be Barry, Alonso, Masch and Lucas covering the two deeper midfield spots in the 4-2-3-1 next season. Don't think we'll let go of Alonso - him and Barry will start the season in CM while Lucas and Masch are at the Olympics.

F***s Off To Benfica

Target man, eh? I heard an impressively lanky target man just came on the market for £15million..

Should be interesting. Guardiola was a great player, but very little experience. All the best, Pep.

Terrible corner.

Henry wouldn't be worth it, not with his back problems and his wages, even if available for a knock-down price.

Aye. It was decided we needed 'proven quality'. That was the summer we brought in Kewell, Finnan, and the Le Havre lads. In fairness though, there's no guarantee Essien would have developed into the player he is now if he'd come to us instead of Lyon.

Especially as you failed to bolden the most valid part.

Probably the campy star tattooes on the arm. Emo-Nazis.

Ramos is brilliant, but 70million Euros on a defender is insane.

I'm going to keep up with this Czech Euro 96 squad game. We're signing Jan Koller to replace Crouch. Okay, I will shut up now.

Is Poborsky still in the Czech second division?

When you con shut like Nedved, you don't need to run.

Seems Patrik Berger needs a new club.

I'm guessing bad, by the inherent lack of excitement on ES's part.

Maybe he's just planning on sniffing it.

He's a cracking player, very talented. Just doesn't score enough. Has looked a lot happier and more productive playing behind a role striker than out wide, similar to how he played at Stuttgart I guess. Wenger likes doing that though - buying no.10s and playing them as floating widemen.

Oh snap. I was just jumping to the Arsenal/French conclusion in truth. Heh.

Nasri would be very interesting - big, big talent. But if he goes anywhere in England it'd probably be Arsenal.

Pace and mobility aren't the first things that come to mind when I think of Gareth Barry. Might be something to do with the fact he's about as fast as... Xabi Alonso.

Ha! Fantastic, Jamie.

No need to share your private w*** bank.

I'll take that.

Given who Capello has worked with over the years, I'm inclined to believe he knows a player when he sees one. That said, this is the same Capello who took Christian Panucci everywhere with him for years. I'll be quiet now.