OTF

Oh, and if France don't take Ben Arfa they're mad.

Nervous as, huge part of that is Ben Arfa. Ba and Cisse are also looking for dynamic quick touches. Jonas lpoking good in the middle also but playing third fiddle behind the Frenchmen.

We need to keep pushing in the second. No tappy tappy at the back for the sake of it as that could lead to one of those jekyll and Hyde performances.

Does a Dean Whitehead caricature have a normal looking head?

Let's just make sure we win this one first.

This was before European Qualification was looking like a likely outcome. I don't think we have a lot of players we don't need. Certainly after Smith and Lovenkrands contracts are up that figure is lessened. Hoy Nile Ranger as well and there's not really any more players that you'd want to lose. Best and Perch aren't great, but they'll be on low wages, work hard and will listen to the manager. They're the type of players you want to have if you need to call on them in an emergency. Even Obertan has a place as a genuinely quick player - we can only hope that he becomes a more intelligent player. Then we have our up and coming players in Vuckic, Ferguson, Abeid, Sam Ameobi, Inman, Tavernier who we should be looking to get more game time for with an increased schedule. The quality will come in brining a new central defender to play alongside Coloccini and a new legitimate left back to faciliate Santon's move to the right. A front 6 of Ba, Cisse, Jonas, Ben Arfa, Cabaye and Tiote is already strong.

Super Leon Best straight into the starting team where he will play just ahead of the already marginally offside Cisse.

Simpson has played at left back before and hasn't been particularly worse than when playing on the right.

repwatered.

None of the Outs should come from the current crop of players being used. Majority should be players at the end of their contracts - Smith and Lovenkrands. Guthrie should be re-signed, I think we'd struggle to replace him with someone of equal quality without spending a fair amount. However if we were to sign Sigurdsson for example, we could let Guthrie leave. Xisco surely won't be coming back, nor will he be leaving, hopefully he'll continue his loan spell at Deportivo. They're on top of the Segundo table so will likely be back in the Spanish top flight next season, though it doesn't look like Xisco has played much of a part in that. On the In front we need to strengthen our options in defense - this does not involve getting rid of Danny Simpson. Instead we should be looking to sign a dedicated left back (preferably left footed) andthen letting Snaton compete with Simpson for the right back position. Central defense obviously also needs attention with Steven Taylor's penchant for injury and Mike Williamson's nervousness on the ball we don't have much cover. We also should strengthen our wide options in midfield with only Jonas, Ben Arfa, Obertan and Marveaux available there. We also need to consider the Africa Cup of Nations depatures of Ba, Cisse and Tiote (assuming they are all still at the club), during that period we will require cover up front. I'd rather not be relying on Best and Ameobi for that.

He was very poor in his early matches, whatever the reason. I don't think he's been particularly bad of late, getting fewer chances partly because of the change in tactics owing he personnel.

Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea Villa 1-0 Sunderland Blackburn 1-0 Norwich Bolton 1-1 Swansea Fulham 2-0 Wigan NUFC 2-0 Stoke QPR 0-2 Spurs Man U 2-1 Everton Liverpool 3-1 West Brom Wolves 0-5 Man City Villa 2-1 Bolton

Great compilation, hard to believe that it's all from his limited season thus far. Amazing. LOVE that assist against Liverpool, made them look ridiculous then pings in the perfect ball to the back post.

Almost forgot Nicky Butt was still with us then

Yeah you're right threads about qualifying for Europe are boring if you don't have at least one person saying that it doesn't mean a thing until we do it for five years.

First good season in more than 5 years if you want to be accurate, though really 2009/10 was a good season after a horrendous one. Having a long term view is fine, but there's no point in posting on a forum in topics that are more short term in nature. Particularly when the posts draw everyone away from the point of the thread and into a pointless argument with someone who flat out refuses to answer most questions, and moves the goal posts every other time just to maintain his negative position. Even taking a long term view only a moron would champion growth that isn't manageable. Everyone acknowledges the horrible 2008/09 season and some of the shockingly bad moves by the club during and since, however most are lucid enough to acknowledge that since that season we have actually progressed in a meaningful and sustainable manner something which only leazes refuses to admit because it defies his continuing rant.

Not with Liverpool supporters though interestingly. When he was rested against Blackburn I figured that was so he was fresh for the FA Cup but Kenny had a different idea, preferring to squeeze Carragher out there... Worked out brilliantly!

Win things and get more money it must be said. Wanted neither to have gone at the time, but now that only rings true for Enrique. Carroll's sale has been fantastic for us, and could be even better if more of his sale price is invested into our European squad.

When all else fails there's always comedy to fall back on, eh?

I can't imagine that Leazes is anything like his online persona in real life, not because I don't think it's possible but because I can't bare the thought of how awful it must be for those around him.

Isn't it lovely how Andy Carroll is still helping us qualify for Europe more than a year after departing. And we now have 25 odd million pounds and two superior goal scorers in our side because of him (and Liverpool). Firstly blows a golden scoring opportunity against us then scores the winner to knock Everton out of european consideration. Thanks Mr Carroll. Who'd have thought that it would turn out like this last January? Certainly not me.

Ashley will only do business on his terms. Have to take the good with the bad.

I think 4-5 is asking too much though I do agree that if we were serious about competing on all fronts we'd need that many. The problem is that if we bloat the squad with players we run the risk of upsetting the apple cart and also leaving ourselves with an excess of players in subsequent seasons if we fail to qualify for Europe again. We need a left back, at least one central defender, a winger and to keep the rest of our players.

Maybe explains why he dived against us.

Yeah, the runner-up only gets a Europa spot if the winner is Champions League qualified. Makes very little sense really.