BigWalrus

£4m for a centre back who has played in a relatively weak league and is unproven in the Premiership. We might have had success from buying from Holland in the past, but there's no guarantee that it'll always pay off. We also have to think of the wages. It might be that Fulham are offering him £55k a week, whereas we won't go that high (as it'll upset the rest of the squad who are on less).

We'd struggle like hell without Jonas somewhere in there.

That's magical.

I don't agree that we should just pay an extra couple of million here and there just to make sure. It sends out the message to other clubs that we'll bend over and take it. Douglas has less than a year left on his contract. What has been offered is fair.

As for the "is he any good" question. Yes, he is. I've not seen him live at a game, but I've seen 4 or 5 games that were on ESPN (one before we were linked) and he seemed canny every time. Made a howler of a mistake in one of them which led to a goal conceded, but solid otherwise. The main thing that stood out was how comfortable he was on the ball. He could control and pass with ease. There was no hint of the Danny Simpson style "head down and run it out of play for a throw" about him. He would have been a good signing, so I hope the deal isn't dead yet.

http://www.twentefm.nl/streeknieuws/26701/0/paspoort-voor-douglas-franco-teixeira.html Above article suggests he already has his passport: Douglas Franco Teixeira is now officially a Dutchman. The FC footballer takes Wednesday are proof of Dutch nationality in reception at a naturalization ceremony at the town of Enschede.He gets it from Mayor Peter den Elders. The Brazilian born football already five years in the Netherlands. recently he passed his naturalization, a process which lasted eighteen months.Douglas decided to naturalise as his girlfriend and daughter have Dutch nationality.

It's all about seeing games out though. You could be 2-0 up and bring on a youngster who makes a mistake and knacks up the entire game. Bring on an experienced head and you see the game out. The problem is that reserve level is so vastly inferior to the Premiership that it's tricky to make the step up. Maybe we'll see some being given a chance in Europe. Probably loan spells to League 1 and the Championship would be better than throwing them on for 10 minutes when we're 3-0 up against Stoke.

Aye I know, I'm no fan of him, but I'm playing devil's advocate for a minute. Pardew isn't stupid, he knows what he's doing and continues to select Obertan, so he must see something in him.

Fucking hell man, do you have anything positive of note to bring to this forum?

Obertan has his uses, but I'd struggle to make a significant case for keeping him, long term. His big asset is his pace - even if he does nothing all game, the other team know that he's pretty much the quickest player on the pitch and need to leave their full back fairly deep. In that sense, he's ideal to bring on late in the game where you want some fresh legs against a tired full back. My favourite moment of his in black and white was when he gave Gareth Bale a 5 yard head start at home to Spurs last season...then caught him up and tackled him. Bale is quick, but Obertan uses his alien features to utilise warp speed.

Strange irony that he was talking about Ched Evans being raped...

Do they? I hope we're not turning into Liverpool fans, playing the victim! I know there was a bit of a storm kicked up after that alleged affair with some bloke connected with West Ham (can't remember the details, but he went over to New York, showered her with gifts and then showered her with spunk), but I can't believe they'd link that. 2 games is a pretty fair ban - I expected 3.

He just needs to gain control of the advert boards - he can write messages on them for the team to read (and the occasional bluff message to trick the opposition).

Aye, you need to have the season ticket with you to make the Magpie Mover valid.

Yep, agreed, it's entirely possible. And funny as hell.

I'd still have him back. He'd give our team and our game a completely different dimension. Cisse and Ba are much better players, technically, but Carroll is a big strong bastard that will cause any defender a problem. The price would have to be right though. No more in wages than was on the table when he left (in fact I'd offer £1 a week less, just to keep his tail firmly between his legs).

To be fair, we got a couple of corners out of the long range shooting (one from Tiote and one from Jonas)

Moby's "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?". There's a bit just after the chorus that sounds exactly like, "Neil bummed a dog". It will never be the same. 1:00 in.

Tiote's passing wasn't abysmal though. He tried a couple of more adventurous balls and they didn't come off, but in his core role - sat in front of the back four - he was always there. Perch's 100% pass completion ratio is in no small part down to the availability of a pass to Tiote.

Challenge: Find three proper fat bastards all sat next to each other. I've managed to get two of them together, but three is proving elusive.

I'm assuming (and hoping) that it's just a bit of squad management in action. If he doesn't play in the Europa game then I'll start asking questions.

I reckon you'll come good as long as you adequately replace Modric. You had no real drive from midfield to support Defoe. Defoe worked his bollocks off throughout and deserved a goal, but your only other threats were coming from out wide.

Sorry, like, but I disagree with pretty much every word of that.

And I'm not going to praise Simpson for the cross for Ba's goal. It was a woeful cross that we only benefited from because Walker completely ballsed up his headed clearance.

Ben Arfa was at fault for their goal, I agree. The problem I have with Simpson is that he has consistent past history of not being good enough. I don't want shot of him because of one single incident, but that he isn't good enough all round. Simpson should have been sent off for his fouls on Bale, without a doubt. After the let off, he spent the rest of the game trying to avoid making a tackle.