Gribz

Just been looking at our fixtures and see we have the Liverpool friendly this Saturday which lands in between the CL double header. Im not quite sure why we have scheduled for this friendly, surely qualifying for the CL has to be the main aim and having an extra game between the qualifier could be a mistake if any player were to pick up injuries. It may give players an extra 90 mins under there belt but id still not rather risk anyone.

Imagine they crawl up the leagues and eventually played Man utd!

Does anyone think WS doesnt actually know what starting XI he would like? I think he doesnt know what formation to use either which throws his decision. I think He knows his back 4 plus keeper but thats it. Im worried he is going to use Whittaker as a midfielder next season which baffles me. If you take our current personnel then 4-3-3 is the best choice for me. I dont know enough about Lafferty yet to comment but im hoping the 3.5 million price tag lives up to expectation. But at the moment id look at something like this when Ferguson is fit: ________________________McGregor_______________________ _Whittaker__________Cuellar________Weir_____________Papac_ ___________Ferguson______Hemdani_______Thomson__________ _______Novo______________Velicka______________Beasley_____ I like Cousin as a player but obviously his attitude is wrong, but if that was sorted then he would be accomodated in the team for sure. Cousin and Velicka would be a great pairing. However you know Miller, McCulloch and Adam will feature at the moment. I liked McCulloch before but since the turn of the year he has been so sluggish. Miller is a good worker and I like him but I think Velicka and Cousin are by far better. Adam....almost no comment! He is nowhere near good or consistant enough.

BTW i wonder what the odds would be on the league finishing in that order

There hasnt been massive activity in the transfer market here but this season seems its going to be as open as it ever has been. It will be interesting to see how Scolari does at Chelsea. He has a winning mentality about him. Portsmouth have smade some good signings and they are first up at Stamford Bridge. I think Ballack will be player of the season, and with Deco, Joe Cole, Essien and possibly Lampard they will be too good. Arsenal need 1 more signing and they could be unplayable at times but you have to wonder if they can last the pace. Man Utd are full of winners and will be favourties. There wont be much between them and Chelsea again. Liverpool need to make a challenge but I cant see them being strong enough. They have Torres who is awesome but they cant expect him to do it all. Gerrard is still there best player but only he and Torres would get into the Man Utd team - thats not enough good players to make a challenge. The rest are a lottery. Spurs were expected to come on leaps and bounds with Ramos but they could lose Berbatov and keane which would be a nightmare for them. Villa and Everton will be consistant again while Newcastle and Man City will have high expectations. I wonder how Paul Ince will do at Blackburn. He has signed Paul Robinson for 3.5 million which is a steal considering Scott Carson went to West Brom for 4 million. Obviously I want West Ham to do well but with the above teams being strong plus Portsmouth, I cant see them being in the top 8. They have the capablity of being there but are never consistant enough. I expect Stoke, Hull and West Brom to go straight back down. West Brom will have the best chance of staying up but the likes of Wigan, Sunderland. Bolton and Fulham are just a bit better. You just get a feeling Chelsea could be a hit or a miss and whether Scolari will stay all season. If Roman Abramovic buggars off they would go bust. But if all goes well Id say they will win the league. For me: Chelsea --------------- Man Utd Arsenal Liverpool -------------- Aston villa Tottenham Everton Newcastle Man City Portsmouth West Ham Blackburn Middlesboro Wigan Fulham Sunderland Bolton --------------- West Brom Stoke Hull

I really hope this isnt a sign of things to come this season - Whittaker and Adam in midfield!!! One good aspect is the bench there looks good!!

Have to say, pre season hasnt been too promising either, but its not the sort of thing that should be looked into too much, its all about when the season starts. If we broke the bank for Varynen, Lovenkrands, Davis and a centre half then id be more positive. But as it stands now i expect it to be unpretty all season even though if its effective. I think Walter will get us through but the football will be hard on the eye.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/dundee_utd/7527242.stm 5-1 over Dundee Utd and 6-0 over Hibs.

Do you think we'll win the league this year lads?? One thing for sure is..its a must IMO!!!!

When you in Paris?? Im thinking of suprising the bird with a wee trip there next week. If not then Bali which is cheap

Thats some camping trip mate!! Enjoy ur trip home mate, home its bloody freezing for you!!

Where have you been hidding Craigy???? Not read much from you lately mate (not a bad thing :moon: )

Would you accept 10+ million for Carlos???

Something has definatly happened with Gow behind the scenes, for him not to even be looked at says enough about it. Obviously either Walter isnt the forgiving type or Gow is the type to make an apology. IIRC is goes back to him losing a member of his family last year before going to the States for a tour, then he played 1 game and did well and that was the end. If he isnt in the plans then getting him off the books is the best solution. But if he stays in the SPL I'll be very interested in seeing how he does.

He is pretty much unproved really, but he has broke unto the Nigerian team and they are a good side so I wouldnt say he is a bad player. He is box to box which I like but I wouldnt say thats the type of player we need as we have defensive players. We need a midfielder who doesnt drop deep at all.

Cant say I agree with that, plus we havent seen Broadfoot at centre half yet in a blue shirt bar a few friendlies. Anderson wouldnt be the standard id be looking for but he would probably be better than Webster at the moment due to Websters injuries. He has SPL experience and is much quicker than Weir.

I hope 2 or 3 from Davis, Varynen, Mendez and Lovenkrands sign ASAP. Cant see the last 2 though.

Done! I might aswell just send this to Craig now to cover some of your bet with him. I dont fancy West Ham to make the top 8 next season - I hope Im wring though

Spending the excess of 6 million on strikers has cost us in other positions. Im not really sure why we needed to sign Velicka, Lafferty and Miller. 2 from 3 would have been alright. Velicka looks the best buy so far. All this without offloading any of our current strikers. This is now costing us in vital areas.

I didnt realise the UEFA deadline was tomorrow. We need to get our finger out. Id prefer to get Vayrynen in that a defender.

This could get interesting. Ive always said the other clubs need the OF fans to show up for a pay day and the OF should do something about it. But I dont think an admin fee is a justified reason as its not a money issue, its more of a hate and anti OF campaign. I wonder how this will work with clubs selling the tickts directly to fans and if they need to pick them up themselves from the ticket office. If this is the case then any Joe can walk in and buy. I remember I used to get my tickets for the Rangers end at Pittodrie from a Director of AFC and he used to just tell me to go along to the ticket office and he will let them know I am coming. I used to get 4 tickets and a few times there were huge que's of Sheep queing for their tickets and I walked in asking for my 4 which were printed off in blue (like the away tickets are for us) infront of all these neds. I could have got my head to play with.

Im not surprised 1 bit. I mentioned a week ago we would go for Diamond or the likes as cover and pay the low wages rather than pay big odds for a stop gap. Anderson is another player who left the SPL to be out of his depth which is a pity as he wasnt bad at all for Aberdeen. What is it with some Scottish players who dont suceed in other leagues! Do they have a complex about themselves or something!

LOL They seem to be a bit of the opposite to us. They scored a few goals albeit against poor opposition but played average. We seem to not be able to score goals but have been controlling the games (bar Schalke) but have nothing to help us create goals

I always thought Cuellar would stay on his own accord. But If Murray wants another 10+ million its out of his hands. He's 6ft 2 with curly hair.....................

He looks a bot like Charlie Adam aswell though! Poor buggar