yellow jumper

seems to have been a bit of a let down for the people i know who went on saturday. some of them are italian, though. at least the national team finally have the stadium they deserve.

haven't seen much of england under mclaren, but i think the reaction to the israel game must be more to do with what went before. thought england did okay. seen liverpool give plenty of performances like that away in europe. lack of urgency, and cutting edge, must have been a bit frustrating, but not really something you can pin on the manager.

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the point is an important one. but the current structure is failing more critically for many of these clubs then it is for any of the top four. there could be an opportunity to find solutions at both ends of the scale.

i do think that if you ask the top clubs to find their own solution to this issue away from the rest of the football league then that could become just as problematic for them.

i think if you want to aid the development of the likes of hamill, anderson and hobbs in the next few years they're going to need to be playing better than league two standard on a regular basis. chelsea's scott sinclair's showing his worth at plymouth. so too the arsenal boys at birmingham. if a competitive reserve league was set up (perhaps with some television coverage) with the likes of hobbs, anderson, antwi playing against the best youngsters from arsenal, chelsea and united and other premiership teams would the football league oppose it? the youth cup semi between arsenal and united got a massive crowd.

only problem with that is that our reserve side is probably much too good for league two standard.

think lennon's a little overrated, and would definitely be hugely over-priced. he looks dangerous, but doesn't actually produce enough at this point.

he'd immediately become our trickiest right mid option were he to sign. he'd probably play a bit of both, offering possibilities. he's not an out an out winger, but i think the attraction for benitez is that he offers versatility, work rate and discipline on top of a little of the more crowd pleasing skills whether from full back, wing back or right mid.

agree with that to an extent. but perhaps this idea could help develop better english coaches too.

it'd be better for england though. who would you rather have implementing the structures for and development of young english players, mourinho, wenger, benitez and ferguson or ian holloway and barry fry? the big four clubs already have a hold on the bulk of young talent (much of it english). you're not going to stop them from hoovering up talented kids at the age of 14 and 15. the problem is that unless the kid's a phenomenon they could be stuck, stagnating in youth team and reserve football until the age of 23 or 24. how much would stephen warnock have benefitted from regular league football from the age of 18, with benitez monitoring and aiding his development? think it'd be possible to accomodate 4 new sides if the process was clear at the start of the preceding season. it might even enhance the football league from a fans' point of view. chelsea b v qpr would create massive interest in west london.

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we haven't spent our 10+ million fees frequently or successfully enough. there have been plenty of very good signings in the brackets below that though.

Cobs the numbers mean very little next to the evidence of our own eyes. drogba's first season by most accounts was a poor one - whether he scored 1 in 2 or not - he was playing for the champions' elect and missing as many chances as he scored. crouch is an underrated player. who will score goals at the top level. is he clinical? no. no amount of number crunching is going to tell me otherwise. you need to make more than just quantative assessments. i've seen him play and i know the sorts of chances he's good at getting on the end of and finishing and those he isn't. for me berbatov is a superior finisher. he's also just a better player full stop. i think he'd improve us.

the list proves nothing. where was drogba on the equivalent list his first season? plenty of other top centre forwards miss out from one season to the next for one reason or another. there was reported interest from benitez before he signed for spurs, and again now (however tenuous). not unusual that people are responding to it. whenever i've watched him play he's looked an accomplished finisher, he's also looks an instinctive one touch footballer with good movment and a quick brain. there could be myriad reasons why he's only got 1 in 3 so far this season. injuries, injury to keane meaning he was playing second striker alongside defoe, spurs' abject early season form. as a replacement for crouch, whose own league record isn't the greatest, it looks an improvement. ask a spurs' fans what they think. toppmoller's quotes must be a few years old, but i accept the point. if benitez wanted him and got him you'd have to believe he'd make sure he got a full effort out of him. it's an issue, but one that you'd expect a good manager to deal with.

bent's not good enough, berbatov has a better chance of becoming an 'uber-striker' than most of the names on Cobs' pointless list. and not just because he's a more accomplished finisher.

berbatov's a better footballer than crouch.

he is. i was talking more in terms of the type of player we need. where would diego slot in? i'm not proposing robinho per se, and agree he needs end product, but he's more of the type. a wide man who can operate down both wings, can beat a man etc.

it takes more than big money and an ambition. we're not just going to be at a point where we can bully the rest of the clubs out of a transfer for two of the hottest properties in europe. chelsea, barcelona, real madrid will all have the resources to match any bid we make, if they so chose. we're an attractive proposition, but anyone who thinks we're an automatic choice for a young spaniard and brazilian ahead of the other clubs i've mentioned is living in cloud cuckoo land.

sure they'll back him with plenty of money, but i think they also said they wouldn't go down the chelsea route. not saying it won't or can't happen, but our best chance to get alves and villa was surely a season or two ago. now chelsea, real madrid, barcelona and who knows who else are interested and so the asking price rises by the day.

mario gomes at stuttgart. still a bit raw, but could turn out to be very good. we may struggle to get villa and alves now. benitez was in for villa while still at valencia, and alves not long after. the key thing for me about getting more funds isn't that we can now get involved in big money auctions, it's more about being able to pay the 10-15 million for these players before they become 20-30 millions 'names'.

diego's more of a riquleme type, great passer and clever rather than spectacular with ball at feet. sort of player that could struggle with the pace of the premiership. better off going for a cut price robinho, although he's been pretty poor at madrid.

yeah, good read that.

disturbing, but i find myself agreeing with him everytime he talks about arsenal.

best stuffs on the radio. both the commentary and the analysis. ex-players should stick to giving insight about the playing experience. the ex-managers (the likes of taylor and souness, pleat even) always do the tactical analysis in a more reasonable and considered way.