Iver

Think this merits a thread in it's own right, and provides some welcome diversion, from the anti-climax of transfer deadline day for us. Why dont we just contract some West Ham players to karate kick Ronaldo between the shoulder blades on Saturday? Surely the likes of a t*** like Lucas Neill would be up for it, safe in the knowledge that he would escape disciplinary action from the FA. It beggars belief.

Fair dues. Thought he influenced the game hugely. Inventive, energetic, attacking etc when he game on. Was asked to play completely out of position on the left, but was like a man possessed when he came on. The likes of Babel should learn from his attitude.

Surely Rafa will have the sense to have a replacement lined up? Most likely a player plus cash deal from Spurs? Lennon would free Kuyt to play upfront, Bent, or Dos Santos are other potential options that we might be offered.

I don't think it is BS mate. It is all over the net, and apparently on the back page of tomorrow's NOTW (presumably from Bascombe) that Keane is not in the squad for tomorrow's game, and that Spurs are back in for him. My source is a friend who is a journalist, and who got his info from a fellow sports journalist attached to the NOTW. Surely if Rafa was offloading Keane, he would bring in a player as part of the deal. So who are the realistic options? - Lennon ; I would take him because he would add pace which we are sadly lacking, and would be a far better option than Kuyt on the right - Jenas ; linked with a move away, certainly nowhere near Xabi / Masch / Gerrard's standard, but would represent a much better option in centre mid than Lucas - DOS SANTOS ; Interesting option, and I am surprised that we are not yet linked with him in the media as part of a swap. It was claimed Rafa was interested in him in the Summer. He has failed to catch fire at Spurs, but has undoubted potential. I would certainly prefer him to Babel, as an option on the left and upfront - Bent ; Cannot see it happening - the very reason Spurs are in for Keane is because of their striker shortage with Defoe's injury, but worth mentioning his name, because Rafa was said to be a fan of him in his Charlton days I feel Keane has been very hard done by, but it is obvious that he is not going to get a fair crack under Rafa, so if we can recoup a significant amount of our outlay on him, and strengthen / freshen the squad in another area, preferably on the right, and add a bit of pace / creativity in the process, it would be a good deal.

That is an excellent point very well made. What we need more than anything else at the moment is a "playmaker" - by that I mean a creative, flair player, who will create something out of nothing - a traditional number 10. I hope in the Summer, that whoever is in charge, will sanction the funds to sign either Aguero or Diego - add either of those players to our current squad, and I think we would win the title, because a lot of those frustrating home draws, would have been won.

Whoa - cool the jets mate. Speculation is part of a forum board. Don't come on here if you are not prepared to read some. Sniping at other's opinions is unnecessary and harsh.

There are no hard facts to back up what I have posted in this thread, granted. But can anyone explain to me why, - you would shell out 20 million (3rd highest fee spent on a player in the history of the club, and the majority of your transfer kitty), on a 29 year old, whose sell on value would obviously be significantly reduced because of his age, and then...... - omit him altogether from the squad for a game like today's which was obviously going to be tight, and the likelihood of our needing a bit of magic from somewhere, to turn the game in our favour was going to be high...... - but Keane was overlooked in favour of a rookie 19 year old French striker, who has yet to start a Premiership game for us, for a place on the bench. It defies logic. Have Rafa and Keane had a major bust up? If not, surely it is only a question of when, after today. Robbie has done himself little favours with his performances since joining, but how frustrated must he feel, and how, in turn, is this impacting upon his performances? If Kuyt scored twice vs Bolton on Boxing day, that would guarantee him a first team place for the rest of the season, (academic, as it seems he does not need to score to be guaranteed a place in any event), but contrast this with Keane's treatment since then.

NO NO NO! Maybe I am not making myself clear. I do think Rafa wanted Keane, but not for anything like the extraordinate price we paid for him, which it seems was beyond Rafa's control. My point is that, I suspect Rafa identified Keane and Barry as his two main targets - we then paid way over the odds for Keane, and missed out on Barry as a result.

I don't think it is wild speculation at all - it all makes perfect sense if you think about it rationally.

Presumably Gareth Barry would have been our big money buy, and had we met Villa's asking price on him, I don't think we would have had enough funds to buy Robbie Keane also. Maybe if Alonso had been offloaded, we might possibly have brought in both Keane and Barry, but I am not sure. Rafa's treatment of Keane makes me think that he is trying to make a point, that us spending way over the odds on him was not his doing, and he would have much rathered the money to have been spent elsewhere. Was Rafa's hand forced regarding the amount of money we spent on Keane? It would be very hard to make an argument that Rafa should have complete control over future transfer funds, IF the decision to spend so big on Keane was his, considering how he has used Keane since. Nobody can legislate for how poor Keane has been, but surely he is deserving of a chance to help turn stalemates into wins, ahead of the likes of N'gog and El Zhar? I think Keane will be off this window if somebody is willing to pay us what we spent on him. As an aside, I cannot help contrast Rafa's treatment of Kuyt with that of Keane - he has been consistently poor for going on two months, and has not provided any goal threat whatsoever, yet he is persistently selected in the team.

He makes my blood boil whenever I listen to him - total prick. Did any Irish fans hear him on today FM on Saturday again this weekend? Said he would not be bothered if Rafa failed to agree a new deal and was ultimately forced out. Proceeded then to have a totally predictable swipe at players like Lucas, Yossi, Pennant etc - expensive flops etc etc. Now I don't disagree with some of what he says, but as an ex player in the public domain, his attitude disgusts me. He should take a leaf from Aldo's book - he occasionally questions Rafa's decision making, but always keeps a positive, non-sensationalist take on things. Ronnie was a great player in his day, but he is letting the club down badly in his role as media pundit. Perhaps if he had made a roaring success of his own career in management, he might be better equipped to criticise, but he is not fit to lace Rafa's boots. If you have nothing positive to say about the club where you spent your career Ronnie, then shut your mouth, and say nothing.

The side Rafa picked against Stoke yesterday was selected specifically with their physical, robust tactics in mind. I would argue that for such games, we should choose a strong attack minded side, and let the opposition worry about us, rather than vice versa. It is hindsight I know, but if the team that was selected for games such as yesterday's and also for West Ham, Fulham, Hull etc, was along these lines, (assuming a full strength squad to choose from) ; Reina Arbeloa Carragher Take your pick from Agger or Skrtel Insua (merits inclusion ahead of either Dossena or Aurelio on current form) Gerrard on the right, he would not be happy with this, but needs must, he offers infintely more in this role than Kuyt or Benayoun Alonso Mascherano Riera Torres Keane I think had we adopted this formation in games where the ownes is on us to go out and break teams down, who "park the bus", we would create much more, and our total points yield from these games would have been much higher. The Robbie Keane situation baffles me - you pay over the odds for a 29 year old, and in games where you need a goal, he is left kicking his heels on the bench, as untried, unproven players such as N'gog and El Zhar are sent on in preference - it makes no sense whatsoever. Compare Rafa's treatment of Keane to that of Kuyt. Dirk has failed to score in two months, yet he has been an anonymous, ineffective fixture in the side since. Robbie gets two on Stephen's day, we all rub our hands in anticipation, and he has sat on the bench since. It beggars belief.

I am 31, so I remember the great sides of the late 80's, but I was only a lad then. I have already warned the wife that come May 24th after the game against Spurs that I will be missing in action for a week if we win the title. The very thought of number 19 gives me goosebumps, and butterflies in my stomach. I think I would climb into a barrell of Guinness and not get out. How would you celebrate number 19?

Babel is the only player in the squad who can offer any kind of pace on the flanks for us at the moment. His performance today was absolutely abysmal - you would think that he would be up for it, with a point to prove - he was appallingly poor - so much so that if it meant that we have to sell to generate funds to strengthen in January, he would be top of my list to offload, while we are still able to command a decent fee for him (another year down the line, unless his performances pick up markedly, we will struggle to get our outlay back on him). Every time we broke in the second half today, we were too slow, and leaden footed. I like Riera, he has good work rate, delivers a good ball, and has a great shot on him - he has provided much needed balance on the left, but pace is not a major asset of his. Kuyt's limitations are all too apparent, but in his defence, his work rate is faultless, and he does offer a goalscoring threat. Of all the fullbacks, only Insua, it seems after today, offers any kind of pace down the flanks - he was excellent today, and on the basis of his performance, a strong argument could be made that he merits inclusion ahead of Dossena and Aurelio. If we are to buy a player in January, we really could do with an attack minded, creative, flair player, to play on the right side of our midfield. Thoughts?

Fantastic game tonight - typical Real Madrid - Sevilla eventually beat them 4-3, it was 3-1 Sevilla at half time, Real pulled it back to 3-3, then Arjen Robben, arguably their best player up to that point, got sent off for disputing the referee's failure to award what looked like a cast iron penalty - Sevilla broke against the ten men, and scored a late winner. Fantastic entertainment! Almost as good as watching us against West Ham and Fulham at Anfield!!!! Anyway..... It looks like Schuster will definitely get the boot after this, so the Rafa to Real rumours are sure to re-surface, especially for as long as he has not signed a contract extension. Also, a new manager may decide to offload a number of players he does not fancy in January - there are plenty squad / fringe players at Real which could strengthen us considerably in positions we are lacking quality - Drenthe for example. Discuss!

I feel we lack a creative talent and this would be my priority to help turn those nil all home games, where inferior opposition come and park the bus, into 1-0 victories, with a flash of magic. So, I would go after Arshavin. I know he would be expensive, but, look at our likely departures in January - we will offload Pennant for 3-4 million, and there are suggestions that a Serie A outfit will take Dossena back for what we paid for him - that would generate 10-12 million, and if our wonderful owners could be persuaded to part with another 10 million, we could realistically fund a move for Arshavin. He is not a Rafa type player, and I do not think it will happen - however, I would love it if it did.

Agree entirely that none of those three players are good enough to even be squad players in a team that harbours genuine title ambitions, but who do we bring in is the question, who would be available, and within our range, and maybe even if there are funds at his disposal, Rafa may not be interested in signing an attack minded player?

Nobody can argue that our finishing against West Ham was substandard, and that is partly why we failed to break them down. I would equally argue though, that our build up play was laboured, unimaginative, and utterly predictable. We are sadly lacking a traditional "number 10" ; a creative, flair player, a playmaker, who can make something out of nothing, and turn games like last night's one. I would go so far as to say we have not had such a player in our ranks since the days of Barnes or Mc Manaman. Garcia did it occasionally, (which is why he was so popular), but he was far too inconsistent. Kewell was such a player when we signed him, but we all know how that ended. Many would argue, and with good reason, that if there is any money available in January, it should be spent on strengthening the fullback positions. There is no doubting the fact that we are lacking quality here also. However, in terms of overall priorities in strengthening the squad, I would invest in a creative player. The major questions here though are ; 1. Will we have enough money to bring in a quality player? 2. If so, who would be a realistic / viable target? 3. If, as is likely to be the case, funds are at a premium, are there any cut price, loan, or "veteran" type player options who could do a job for us. I do not think it is an over exaggeration to say, that despite our current position, if we do not incorporate genuine creativity into the side soon, we could end up finishing fourth, and I don't think we have any players in the squad at the moment who can provide what we are missing. Thoughts?

Admittedly I have only seen the guy play on a few occasions, but I never remember neing too impressed. None of these guys are world beaters, but I was amazed to see El Zhar preferred to the likes of Pennant, Voronin, and Nemeth on the bench yesterday. Fair enough if Pennant and Vornin are on their way out of the club, which is hopefully the case. Anyone shed any light on El Zhar's sudden promotion - is he up to it?

Hiliarious. If I had a quid for every time I heard that one, I would have bought Barry myself and donated him to the club. Is the point that I am trying to make in my post really bad enough to merit being ridiculed?? As a lifelong fan of over 30 years I am expressing my worry that this might scupper the best potenital chance we have of challenging for the title in almost 20 years.

This is not the purpose of my post - I am not looking for heads to roll, well certainly not Rafa's, I just cannot comprehend how, for all the players we have, and all the quality elsewhere in the squad, we are so pitifully short of options for left midfield.

I don't know who is to blame for this but it is utterly unforgiveable that a team with serious title aspirations starts the Premiership without any quality left footed options in the midfield. Last season I cringed when we missed out on Heinze, at the prospect of an injury to either of our first choice centre halves, and look what happened (take nothing away from Sami Hyypia who surpassed expectations), but you would have thought that as a club we would have learned our lesson. To challenge for the title you need two quality options in every position on the field. We do not have even one single genuine left sided midfield option to offer balance, never mind width, and Barry would not offer width. Aurelio is primarily a left back, or arguably best deployed as a left wing back, he is not the answer, and he is injured in any event, and chances are that may well remain the case for the rest of the season. Although both good players when used in their best positions, the tie in midweek showed that we will come up sadly short if we are relying on the likes of Kuyt and Benayoun in the wide areas - Yossi was pitiful on the left. Wait one minute, I hear you say, the transfer window does not close until the end of August....... Fair enough, but the season starts tomorrow, and the way United and Chelsea have set the standard EVERY SINGLE POINT DROPPED IS CRUCIAL. So even if we do get Barry or an alternative other left sided quality option in by the end of the window, (preferably one that would offer genuine width in my opinion), the damage may already be done in that we could have already dropped 4-5 points that cost us our title challenge. I can totally identify with Rafa's frustrations if Ballague is correct when he states in his article on his website that one of the reasons why Rafa was tempted to walk is the "gaping hole on the left side of the midfield".

Who is Capel folks? Who does he play for? What position? Any good? etc etc

Cheers mate.

What I meant was if we dont sign Barry will we look at Downing / Riera / Milner etc instead - not necessarily a straight swap for Barry if Xabi is staying.