David Kelly

Fuck off you useless cunt!

How would people feel about us re signings Remy after he didn't fancy playing at the end of the season and pretty much made it clear he wanted to go elsewhere?

Mbiwa looked good last season when he played in place of Colo (arguable better than Colo did himself). The problem is they don't look like they can play together and Colo being captain is always chosen first. An upgrade on Taylor and Williamson is needed as they are both at best very average.

Nice to see the club get something right for something like this. Didn't know either of them myself but I think a couple of my mates used to go on busses with them on occassion. RIP

Well as long as they have a good shot stopper. Most of the time these teams haven't had that good keepers. We did well with Pav who, as much as I loved him, wasn't that great an all round keeper (good shot stopper though).

I think this is a fairly accurate assement. The previous regime spent big on strikers (Cole, Beardsley, Ferdinand, Asprilla, Shearer, Owen) and most of the time it paid off (Luque being the only one who didn't really come off at all and Owen certainly wasn't value for money but he did score goals). Under Ashley we have, so far, tried to do it on the cheap. It's not hurt us too bad so far but has this just been luck?

Great teams are built on great defenses but we aren't close to being a great team. For weaker teams, a good striker is essential. The teams that go down nearly always struggle in that area whereas teams with a weak defence but a strong attack are usually ok. The way our team is shaping up, a fifteen goal striker would see us comfortable. A top centreback could see us able to challenge for something (europe or a cup if we were to make the effort). DeJong seems (from what's been said about him and the fact the he's been named vice captain) to be the type of leader you're talking about.

Depends on what type of protest it is really. I'm not talking about walk outs but I don't think Pardew getting grief is going to have much effect on the players. Going from how they played at the end of the season you wouldn't say that they looked like they were playing for him anyway.

Agreed. It's madness to write us off signing another striker at this early stage.

Yeah I'm the same tbh. I couldnt really give a fuck.

We've not really played a two striker formation for a while now because we've not had the players to do it. Could you say Remy had a strike partner for much of last season? Cisse was at his best with Ba and HBA wide of him but I don't think either of them were playing as strikers. Actually when Ba and Cisse both played as strikers it didn't look good at all. To play with two out and out strikers you need two wingers and we've not had that for years. Not many teams play it now, they have wide forwards and withdrawn forwards. We have the players to do that with De Jong, Cabella and HBA but I can't see Fatem playing again so Sissoko will most likely be on the right (assuming he's not sold) but he's a much deeper player.

That looks horrendous in many ways. I hope the really one is nothing like that. I don't really mind if it has some sort of patch accross the shoulders but that big black patch accross the chest is shite. I seem to be in a minority who like that other mock up with the thick stripes.

I for one will be (once again) disapointed. I suppose it depends on how well it looks like we're getting away without one by the end of August that determines whether the disapointment turns to anger.

I want him out. He's not up to it and is an embarassment to the club. Ashley won't go until he wants to so I generally feel protests against him are worthless. But I think Pardew can be got at. Just because we sign a few players and (hopefully) that improves things, I don't think that should give him a free ride.

If we are I'll admit I'm not happy with what we've brought in. But that's still an if for a few weeks yet.

We paid around £10m for Cisse. That might be average for the top teams but not for the rest of the league (certainly not at the time). I agree though, unless Riviere has something about him that it appears no one else is seeing at the moment, we are taking a very big chance that he'll be enough. If we do in fact expect him to be enough. I'm not convinced at this stage by Pardews comments (tbh I'm never convinced about anything he says) and I'm still looking for another striker to come in. As I said I'm not knocking this kid but I find his signing more underwhelming than the others at this stage.

There doesn't seem to be much faith in Cisse from the club anymore. There was a lot of talk of him being sold if he'd been fit. That would leave us with one striker, one attacking midfield/striker and a load of kids for two positions. It would be strange if we were considering that as being enough. Although nothing is impossible for us.

We definitely skimped on strikers last season but we paid good money for Cisse when we had Ba already. Ok so Cisse has faded but that did suggest they understood the need in that area. Whilst I have very little confidence in them, I'd be surprised if they believe that we currently have enough. It's so obviously the most important position in the team.

Just don't take to twitter for the next five years telling random people how you were right all along and how the rest of us are babies who won't admit the truth.

I can't say that I'd be overjoyed going into the season with Riviere as our main striker. His record whilst not something I would class as bad for a player of his age, isn't anything that would suggest he's going to be able to lead our attack (I've seen nothing of him so I can't claim to know more than that). But as has been pointed out, apart from CSD's reading of Pardew's quote, all of the talk recently has been of signing another senior striker. Usually under Ashley I'd dismiss this but the transfer activity so far this summer gives me a bit more confidence these reports are accurate. At this stage, asside from the main striker role, our team would look slightly stronger than the start of last season (I'm assuming Janmaat to be fairly comparable to Debuchy, DeJong and Cabella combined to be comparable to Cabaye and HBA (who was unfit and barely used all season), Colback to be significantly better than Gosling, and Riviere an upgrade on Shola). Clearly this hinges on us signing a first choice striker. If we are really looking to improve then we certainly need a centreback as well. I'm not at all convinced our ambitions are that high though and I'm fairly sure that even if we sold Mbiwa we wouldn't sign a replacement and would instead bank on Good or Streete making the step up (very big risk for me). This isn't a fantastic summer that's going to transform us into a team capable of challenging for a european spot but it looks like it's going to keep us in the top half of the league. Compared to what I was expecting I'm happy with that. I'm not going to give them any credit for this because all it's doing is repairing the cluster fuck that was the second half of last season. I still want Pardew out (I'd still like to see protesting against him) and I'm still desperate for Ashley to fuck off. But at least it looks like there's a fair chance I will actually have an interest and might get some enjoyment out of the games next season.

That's quite a difference is quality between the two of them. A player who signed for champions league finalists last season for £13m or a kid who's scored 5 league goals for West Brom. While I've got nothing against Berahino, I can't say that I'd be much more excited about signing him that I was about signing Perez.

From what I've read about him, his strength is more in his attacking than it is in his defending.

Jesus CT you're not following him are you? Stalking a stalker of footballers is just beyong weird!

Reputation is no guarantee of success though. Look at Manure signing someone like Veron. Massive reputation but he wasn't a success at all. And Janmaat, De Jong & Cabella are all coming with good reputations so I really don't see it as much of a problem. Tbh while we all rate Debuchy here (well apart from CT) I'm not sure his reputation is that high all over. Janmaat's is probably higher to a lot of people.

Unfortunately thats true for any signing we make. Like I've already said, I'm in no way suggesting everything is rosey and forgetting what cunts Ashley and Pardew are. I'm just quite happy with the business we've done so far in this window. We've lost Shola, Gosling and Debuchy and have gained Perez, Colback, De Jong, Cabella and Jalmaat. Whilst im disapointed Debuchy is gone, the other two are no loss at all. If we can do equally good business on bringing strikers and don't lose any other senior players then this window will clearly be a success.