Hieronymus Bosch

Observations from the match: Houghton's a c***; that interview with Keane was toe-curling; Reina must have been delighted to have left his new-born baby's side to come on for ten minutes.

There'll be a heck of a lot of players without any experience of English football. Ramos' policy could work against them - this season at least.

Exactly. This, IMO, is the sort of player we should be going for. Paying that little bit extra for real quality (ie Torres) can make a world of difference (and I don't think Silva would cost too much more than Downing). I'd say a team with a smattering of top-drawer players tend to be more successful than those with a few more efficient ones (if you know what I mean).

I haven't seen many on here who want us to sign Riera.

I think he would be a useful acquisition, but not the match-winner I think we need - alongside Gerrard and Keane (I'm not sure Babel is ready to claim a full-time starting berth - yet) - to genuinely challenge Man Utd and Chelsea. As an Englishman playing in the PL, Downing would probably cost upwards of £12m - for around £15m (if we have it) we could attract real quality.

We surely won't buy Barry if we can't find a suitor for Alonso. But if we offload Voronin, Arbeloa, Pennant and Itandje, we will have a nice kitty for, hopefully, a quality attacking midfielder.

Hopefully Itandje will be sold for a million or two (I don't think he's gone yet). Would be surprised if we got £9m for Arbeloa and Voronin, though.

Wasn't some club rumoured to have bid several million for him?

I don't see how a winger should be all that restricted at an average side - a striker, perhaps. I can't see Downing unlocking his potential at Liverpool - he'll more than likely continue to be an above average, but far from special, player.

Downing was only fit for derision on here before we were linked with him.

Yep - I hoped we'd be buying a quality attacking midfielder and a quality striker. I figure that, as Keane can fill both roles, he'll be our only big-money attacker signed. Think we'll still be one class act short of a title-winning challenge if that's the case (though I have doubts about right-back). A deadline-day swoop for Silva, for instance, and it would be 'on'.

See Friedel's signed. At 37, he's done well to get a three-year deal.

That,s unforgivable.

It is an interesting situation now. I don't think the damage done by Barry and O'Neill's falling out is irreparable, and I'm sure the fans will forgive and forget - but even if Barry is at Villa next season, I can't see him wanting to extend his contract there. So, while O'Neill would undoubtedly prefer to keep Barry, can he afford not to accept our offer, even if it's short of what he's asking for? And if not, and he does resign himself to losing Barry, can we afford (will we want) him if we can't find a buyer for Alonso?

A training session's no guarantee. I tipped Corrado Grabbi for greatness after seeing Blackburn train in Austria. Shame.

I'd imagine Rafa signed Degen, for example, because he was free, not because he was his first-choice right back.

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O'Neill's certainly being stubborn, but I genuinely don't think we're going to up our offer - and I can't see Arsenal spending £18m on Barry - so he's playing a dangerous game.

Quite right. Most people still think Reina's shyte.

OK, it's good business in terms of getting a healthy profit for Carson, but that was always going to be the case. The point I'm trying to make is that we should be getting a lot more for someone who could be England's next goalkeeper. One recent high-profile mistake seems to have halved his value. One minute O'Neill's allegedly weighing up a £10m bid, the next he's going to West Brom for peanuts (in today's market). If we didn't have to sell him right now, we could wait patiently until the end of the transfer window for a better offer to come in or send him back out on loan, during which time his value would surely go up again.

That would be a terrible piece of business by us if true. Such a shame that we have to rush through deals to fund transfers.

£14m should be the upper limit; seeing as it's Sunderland, it'll probably be nearer £23m. Tottenham always seem to manage to recoup a lot of money for decidedly average players.

You write quite well for a two-year-old.

Pennant?