TicTacWoe

We have virtually no chance of finishing higher than 7th as far as I'm concerned. 7th would be a fantastic achievement and is a definite possibility though.

from the Blackburn forum:

To be honest, I'd rather take an established foreign player. I trust the scouting system that's brought us Ben Arfa, Cabaye, and Tiote, and I'd rather get a cheaper option with the desire to succeed than someone of the likes of Richard Dunne. And are there even any defenders other than Samba outside the bigger clubs that would be an improvement on Colo and Taylor? (<- this is a serious question, I cant think of any) Gary Cahill perhaps? I'm happy with Taylor and Colo but if the latter did leave the best options in the PL would be Samba and Cahill but even they might be unrealistic and just go to the likes of Spurs ultimately.

You don't think racial abuse should be a crime? Sniffer's just grumpy because they've banned his Twitter account after some witty banter with Sammy.

I feel safer knowing that you feel safer

Not a chance sadly. Top 8 would be doing well.

Also, Gary Cahill has been utter shit so far this season but I still think he's a good defender (if overrated). I wonder have the likes of Spurs gone off the idea of buying him since his dip in form, worth a cheeky bid perhaps? Have a feeling Liverpool will get him.

Samba would do nicely if Colo does leave though

Would love Hoillet, seems to be improving rapidly and wouldnt cost much (I think because of his age we'd still have to pay some fee despite his contract expiring).

I'm much happier with the current set up than I was with any of the post SBR days under Shepherd and co. Obviously, it's incredibly unlikely that we could reach the heights of Hall and Shepherd's best years but I'm still far happier with this than the dark days of Souness/Roeder etc. I've no problem with us being more prudent financially in theory but it's a very difficult/risky game to play. We seem to have a knack for getting decent players in at good prices at the moment though so long may it continue. I'd be perfectly happy with one or two non-trophy signings in the transfer window who will strengthen the squad and ensure we finish top 8 which I believe we will. Getting back to being a team that could contend for a CL spot is a pipe dream for now and we have to accept that. Because of the mistakes of the latter days of Shepherds regime and the much bigger mistakes of the first few years under Ashley we have fallen very far behind the rest. Meanwhile Chelsea, both Manchester Clubs, Liverpool and Spurs have spent phenomenal sums of money. Only Arsenal, who really deserve a lot of credit, can even attempt to keep up with them. The climate is very different now to when Keegan was first managing us or even when Sir Bobby was. Considering Liverpool have spent over 150 million since last January and they're only back to where they were under Benitez shows how hard it is now. The only hope would be crazy investment on the scale of Man City and we all know Ashely isn't suddenly going to go on a spending spree. I'm not even sure how much I'd want that. Sure it would be great to have Aguero, David Silva etc tearing teams up for fun but I'm sure there must be a certain hollowness about getting success that way. I love the fact that we've gone about our business quietly and signed some really talented players that many people hadn't even heard of. We will almost certainly lose to the Manchester clubs and maybe Chelsea too but as I keep saying, if we beat most of the teams outside the top 6, we'll finish 7th or 8th, which really isn't too shabby.

It's possible. I think our best eleven is as good as anyone's outside the big 6. Injuries and the ACN may prove problematic. Lets wait and see anyway, too early for much guesswork. Best thing about this squad is the team spirit and the genuine shape/organisation that we haven't had since Sir Bobby was in charge.

We'll know after 4 situations: - how we cope with the next few games. Huge tests. - how we cope when we eventually lose a couple. - how we cope after a few more injuries/international duty. Ba is brilliant but we lose a lot of our goal threat when he doesn't play. Really is imperative that we sign another striker in January. - how we cope with Ben Arfa's inevitable moody moment because he's sick of being on the bench. Depends what people class as "the real deal". Obviously we won't finish top 6, but I'm certain we could be the best of the rest if we keep our cool when things don't go so well.

Fantastic result all things considered.

Yet with hindsight you can see at the time the thinking behind all those appointments. The one real blunder was Souness, he damaged the club beyond all acceptable parameters wiht his huge ego and his neadrathal outlook. Well Souness certainly was the worst alright. I never liked Gullit as a manager personally and the Roeder one was always doomed to failure imo.

I think a much bigger error than giving the managers "too much money" was appointing the wrong managers in the first place. Souness, Gullit, Roeder and Allerdyce were all terrible choices in my opinion and it is for that reason that I'd criticize the old board rather than their player expenditure. When we had decent managers they tended to spend the money well.

nah it was more recently than that I think. While we were in the championship.

good point, pity he was here so briefly though.

That signing was a truly depressing moment. Even though he turned out to be not THAT bad, it still bothers me to this day.

Crystal Palace

Yep!

http://www.beyewatch.co.uk/ I think Beye and also Bassong did well in their short times here but I think they maybe stood out because they got on with their jobs quietly and did OK in a messed up/dysfunctional team. Neither have done much since leaving.

5 teams to have played in the football league with the letter X in their name.

Didn't Domi go a bit mental thinking the world was going to end or something? I know the Argentina keeper did and retired for a while because of it.

I still think people give far too much credence to this "only beaten the weaker teams" argument. I agree that we've had a relatively easy opening but I think with the current squad we can realistically expect to contend with everyone apart from ManU,ManC and Chelsea on our day. Chances are we wouldn't get much against Arsenal, Liverpool or Spurs either but it's certainly not impossible. That's 6 teams. I think we can easily attempt to be the best of the rest.

This may be controversial, but I'd put Martins ahead of Asprilla...