Guz

So you're saying it's all front? What if we're right and we get the player. Then Ferguson, Gill and Manchester United look like the absolutely c***s they are. It would be cruciatingly embarassing for them if Heinze still manages to sign for us this summer. Which is why I just see this transfer happening now. Surely they're not daft enough to come out with the stuff they have if there's even a remote chance of him signing for us. As above really. If we get Heinze then United are left with a lot of egg on their faces. Surely cleaning up the mess equates to them flogging him to someone else which they're obviously happy to do. They'll look like they "won" after making sure Heinze didnt get sold to us.

I just dont understand how United can be so confident of him not joining us in public if they didnt believe it to be the case. They may be f***ing annoying but theyre not stupid and have tons of lawyers working for them. Surely Gill and Ferguson wouldnt come out with the statements they have recently if they weren't 110% confident of him not joining us.

Same here. This new picture makes it out to be outstanding. Really loving the design now

They're obviously not, not many of them want him to come to us. And their manager is hell bent on making sure we dont sign him either. I dont think he's a major improvement on Riise but gives us a different type of defender for left back and added to his ability to play in the middle and bags of experience, I can see why we want him so badly.

I said he's a club legend for me. I'm only 20. I'll never forget Jerzy nodding his head after his double save from Shevchenko. Either way it doesn't really matter what else we go on to achieve for quite a few years - Dudek will always be remembered and talked about for that one night alone. Even if he isn't a legend he has his own little place in the club's history.

Shame he had such a drop in form after a great first season. Such is life though. A club legend for me.

4 of them will be involved most weeks - 2 of Alonso/Sissoko/Mascherano will start most games I'd say with the other on the bench, Gerrard the same on the right. Some games we may play Stevie alongside Xabi or Mascherano, leaving just one out of the squad. With injuries/suspensions/cup games they'll all play a lot of games. Lucas is the only one I'm not sure about simply because I've no idea how ready he is.

The impression I get (from newspapers admittedly) is that if a player is legally an employee of the club and has a contract + registration provided by the football club then it's ok. As in we have an agreement for x months with Mascherano and during that time he is ours 100%. But once that time is up either we pay MSI or they whore Mascherano to someone else. I could be totally wrong though. Did Tevez and Mascherano even have genuine contracts with West Ham when they first signed? Or did MSI just set up camp in the league, almost like an employment/recruitment agency and send their players on duty for 12 months? The whole thing is confusing me but I've got faith that everything at our end is alright, if for nothing but the fact that it's been given the green light by the authorities

You cant keep so many clean sheets if there is such a gaping hole in the defence as you make it out to be, especially considering we've had no settled left winger either except for one season. It cannot be such an area of concern if it's taken Rafa 3 years to want to sort it out (and no I dont count a crocked Aurelio on a free as a replacement). Change that to one year and you're spot on. Before his injury Heinze was fantastic.

Dont think its possible to be part of such an excellent defence while being a rubbish defender. I think we can probably improve on Riise but we'd have to be looking at regular left backs who have been regularly consistent for their club and country for a few years. He's not the most technically gifted at all but I think some of the slack he comes in for is a little unfair

So this stuff about only being able to buy out a contract with the intention of moving to another league - is that accurate or not?

Exactly, we played s**** that day, had two key injuries yet still managed a draw and were pushing for the win in the last 15mins. Interestingly, we used Zenden, Gonzalez, Kromkamp and Fowler that day. Those four have now gone (or Speedy will go) and their replacements, on paper, are better.

Every one of our defenders with the exception of Aurelio and Agger? Biggest thing I'd like to see away from home is better posession of the ball (even if it is just for posession sake) and moving the ball around a lot quicker. I think Benayoun will be extremely useful for this.

I think Heinze is the right sort of player we should be going for. We really need an extra bit of cover for CB and another option on the left would be good with Aurelio being made from glass and all. Defensively he's an improvement on Riise but for me he has pretty much the same level of technical ability (if not worse) than Riise and is probably one of the worst passers of the ball in the United side. On top of that I think he lunges in a bit too much. Before his injury he was excellent but hasnt reached that level again recently.

Missing out on targets is frustrating but happens at every football club in the world. Didn't Ferguson want Senna instead of Hargreaves 12 months ago? On the face of it, I think they've done a good job so far. The stadium is critical and everyone seems positive about the way that's heading, we've spent a fair bit in bringing players in, trimmed the squad and sorted out long term contracts for our key players. A lot has been achieved. I think there's still room for them to really push the boat out and show their intent but there's still 6 weeks for that.

He had a decent stint at centre back alongside Sami when Henchoz was injured. Probably played his best football for us at point. He may have been an average player for our standards but I dont agree that someone who played almost 150 games for a club in the top 4 and playing a role in winning the CL, is one of the worst 50 footballers in this country.

Sounds a bit like what we tried with a certain striker from Real Madrid a couple of summers ago

There was a fair bit of talk at the start of the summer too though and again just before we signed Torres. Is a pretty solid statement from a manager who doesnt give that much away. Unless of course Crouch no longer wansts to "fight for his position"

Except that Rafa did say Crouch will be staying with us yet at the same time made it blatantly obvious to the world that Bellamy would be leaving. The only thing to counter what Rafa himself said about Crouch staying is some speculative b******s in a sunday rag.

He's in light training though isn't he? If he starts proper training in a month I think he'll have done pretty well.

Must be this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1csQG0ZciFQ

Dont see much wrong in what he says. The market has gone crazy and mediocre players are being bought/sold for high fees e.g. Kamara which makes it even harder for small clubs like Everton to compete. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

I think he's less spectacular than Garcia, as in he's less likely to pull something out of nothing but from what I've seen he's more consistent and better in keeping possesion than Luis.

I agree, a lot will depend on how we approach games away from home again. Hopefully we get a good start which should give us a rise in confidence rather than having a s*** start and having to play catch up. Been a very good summer of transfers so far I think. I reckon we need one more versatile defender and possibly a winger (depending on how Babel and Kewell are used this season) but on the whole, very good. Excellent 10 days as well with Torres, Benayoun and Babel plus a new contract for Finnan to add to Gerrard, Carra, Alonso, Sissoko and Reina. As an aside, I'd also include Mascherano as a 'new' player for us. He only played 11 games last year and would've been quite rusty in the first few due to his lack of footy at west ham. When you consider that compared to the start of last season we should [touchwood] have Kewell, Mascherano, Torres, Benayoun and Babel also at our disposal - we look much stronger.

How well do people rate Insua's chances of making it? Having watched him for the first time at the back end of the season he seems to have more strength and composure on the ball than most youngsters that we play.