Steve_E

Good shot by Johnny.

Free kick in a very good position. Hibbo is playing very well by the way.

Why doesn't Arteta just put that free kick in the box?

Apparently having a medical at Newcastle. It'll be made official somewhere next week.

Howard Coleman Jagielka Heitinga Baines Arteta Fellaini Rodwell Anichebe Saha Pienaar I would play something like that against most teams. We should have a numerical advantage in midfield against teams playing with two up front so we should be able to control games. I also want to press really high up the pitch when not in possession. I think no one is disputing Howard is our first choice goalkeeper. Jags and Johnny are my preferred centre back pairing. Both are good defenders, and Johnny is very composed on the ball too. It's a shame though that both are rightfooted and rather small for a centre back. As I want to press high up the pitch, our defenders have to play a high line to prevent players between the lines getting too much space. That high line also helps dealing with our lack of stature. I would really like a tall, strong, leftfooted centre back that can pick a pass. Hopefully we can bring one in if we do sell Yobo. I remember a thread about Jan Vertonghen in the rumourama-section and I think he fits the bill perfectly. I'd play him as our left sided centre back with Distin as back up and Johnny and Jags can compete over who gets to play as the right sided centre back. I'd play Coleman and Baines as our full backs. They're both good going forward. When not in possession I want them to play very narrow to prevent through-balls between themselves and the centre backs which is probably a pass the opposition will be looking for considering our high defensive line. I'd start Fellaini in a deep, holding midfield role sitting in front of the defence. His aerial ability should also help cope with our lack of stature in the back. With Felli in front of Jagielka and Heitinga they can stay in position in stead of having to go out and compete in the air whe're they'll probably just lose out when the opposition plays hoof ball. I'd play Arteta, the playmaker, and Rodwell somewhat in front of him completing the triangle. When not in possession they should close the opposition down very high up the pitch. On the wings I'd go for Anichebe and Pienaar. Vic gives us a lot of strenght and depth on the right as well as some pace. Johnny should be able to feed him with some accurate long passes too. Pienaar plays on the left, so he can drift inside with Baines overlapping. I'd still go for Saha as our main striker. Despite not scoring for a while, he still has a good goalscoring record. He can hold the ball up well, he can shoot with both feet... However he's going to have to prove he can still score goals and is willing of closing the opposition down as he has a lot of competition.

Too bad Vic is still out. I think he did really wel at RM last year. He provided us a lot of depth, something we clearly lacked against Blackburn.

I'm watching John Bishop's Britain on Youtube. He's hilarious.

FC Twente's Côte d'Ivoire international being linked with West Ham, Newcastle and Everton. You might remember him as the physically strong midfielder that injured Brazil's Elano at the world cup.

Dutch media claiming he's in talks with Utrecht about a new contract

By the way, those Dutch articles say that Utrecht have bought him for 400 000 euro and are now looking for about 4 million. And that PSV, Dutch champions Twente en Everton are in for him.

Two years ago Mertens still played in the Dutch second Division with AGOVV. He then signed for FC Utrecht, which is a good mid table to upper table team, and he did really well there last season. He immediately became the fan favourite and lead Utrecht to the Europa League. Now he has been sort of the hype of the season start in Holland with some outstanding performances. All the Dutch media are speculating about a transfer. I watched the Dutch version of Match of the Day last weekend and when quizzed he said (laughing by the way) that he didn't know anything about a transfer but that he would meet his agent later that day. Like Holystove already said, he's a short, pacey guy with good technical abilities. He's rightfooted, usually plays on the left, likes to take people on... I'm not sure whether he'd be good enough for Everton however.

Agree, only problem is we don't have anyone in our squad whose best position is RM.

Agree with Ian. We need someone pacey and skilful on the right. Someone who can break defenses open.

I've went for Jagielka. Had a hard time in the beginning against Blackburns hoof balling, but had a good game apart from that.

Why is Big Vic not on the bench? Still injured?

ffs, another stream gone down...

Very bad up till now. Davey needs to do something.

Fuck me, it's off air too now.

http://www.iraqgoals.tv/ch4.html

1. Goodfellas 2. Pulp Fiction 3. Godfather Trilogy 4. The Departed 5. Trainspotting 6. American Beauty 7. Fight Club 8. Snatch 9. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 10. Pirates of the Carribean Trilogy (mainly in my top 10 because it features Keira Knightley)

I've gone for sixth. With us finishing above Villa and Spurs.

Amen! (Allthough I was born in the 90s :blush02:)

He's not coming. http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leeuwardercourant.nl%2Fnieuws%2Fsport%2Fcambuur%2Farticle6267882.ece&sl=nl&tl=en

I do to. I'd love Ireland here if we could afford him.

Nice to see Beckford getting some goals. Any news on his injury?