Duppy Conqueror

when Frank Lampard joined Man City,Joe Cole joined Scumpool,Petr Cech joined Arsenal,i wished then no success because their clubs rival us for success so I`m certainly not gonna wish De Bruyne success. a player who has made 0% contribution to any of our trophy winning seasons.

so we have gone from him being overated because he`s English,to fuck him if he doesn`t put in a transfer request,back to he`s overated because he isn`t a faultless one man back 4,to Zouma the black Maldini has no future with us now. inhale,exhale..

I love away days I must confess. unless it`s against a big side who happen to be extra hard to beat at home. I`m always happy with an away tie..i`m 12 grounds away from joining the 92 club. but unfortunately Walsall isn`t one of the 12.i was closer to the 92 before teams like Grimsby,Wrexham,Darlington,Halifax etc got relegated out of the football league. I love the charm of a shitty lower league stadium. the despair in the eyes of the less fortunate natives,the lunatic fringe of colourful local characters .the familiar aroma of old decaying wood,kidney pies and stale piss. the magic of the cup. the bescott stadium isn`t as old as some..it looks like a MFI,IKEA or B & Q store from the outside...inside it looks like it was assembled with the products from such stores.typical 90`s lower division produced football ground,with the pillar obstructions being the most noteworthy feature..they really stick in your mind like "wtf were they thinking" when they constructed it. you still get the same kind of characters that lower league clubs attract tho.

horrible lay out on the away end last time I was there..lots of obstructed viewing from big pillars poorly situated. has been a few years tho so they might have sorted it out..otherwise take plenty of pain relief gel for your neck afterwards.

we should play both Cahill and Stones together..for one thing they can speak in Yorkshire slang in the penalty box and nobody on the continent or foreign players in the Prem will understand what they are saying. I think having him alongside Cahill will let Gary play a different game at the back.knowing that his partner won`t have trouble racing back or getting out of position too often.

if we sign him or not I`m not entirely bothered either way but would slightly prefer to have him.i just hope that it`s not at the cost of losing an important member of our matchday squad who would then make the improvement we make by signing him weakened.

be resolved in the next few days.they will sell him..they are quite skint by premiership standards.not in a position to turn down 30m plus offer for a player who has publicly declared he wants to leave even tho they are legally within their rights to do so. they`ll get 4 players of second tier standard for what we are offering and continue to dwell in mediocrity..Martinez may be more ambitious but Kenwright knows he is just trying to keep them in the premier league whilst balancing the books until somebody with the financial clout to help them compete for honours again will buy him out. it`s funny but Martinez has been coach/manager for 3 teams who all have the same kind of owners..good people but millionaires instead of the billionaires required.tho Swansea, his first club have managed to grow and re-invest their money to become a bigger player in the transfer market.

It still seems odd how Italian teams have become so cheap in loaning so many players from the continent now when in the 80`s and 90`s they run the market. somebody said they are financially sound now but yet they have loaned Cuadrado instead of buying him or getting somebody else for the longterm. I think Pogba for cash plus a player,say Ramires could very well be possible. something strange about Ramires not being involved in the squad this weekend but no news about why.

Everton linked with Tottenham CB Federico Fazio now..for what it`s worth. has looked and continues to look like they are preparing to lose him.

I can see them changing the rules so it`s 8 nationals of the country they play in. but that`s in the future and I think we could be ok there in a few years time but as things stand despite it not looking obvious we are fine with the quota.

good for him.hopefully he bangs in a few. makes a good impression. talking about his hairstyle..he does look the nearest we have had to an 80`s band haircut since Pat Nevin...in the 80`s..

it is odd that Palace have such a better away record than at home where the stadium is bouncing every home game. pound for pound some of the best fans of their team in world football.

Bolasie isn`t playing tonight because his dad has died..might not play against us. tho would prefer the young man to have his dad and be able to face us. it nonetheless may impact our team selection.

although it doesn`t mean he will definitely be sold. it does add more pressure on them to sell him now. I don`t think Kenwright is the sort of owner to keep a player/coach against his wishes. might cause a rift between him and Martinez but everton good at finding coaches to maintain the upper levels of mediocrity and apart from wanting them to win the Merseyside derby I don`t care about them. Cheshire and Surrey are attractive counties to live in but do you want to work and play in Scumpool or West London. where people with money are less of a target for crime. wonder if his family will be threatened now like the last time we were on the verge of signing a young English player from a scouse club...

when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink first arrived in England he used to have just Jimmy on the back of his Leeds shirt.the FA made him change it.always thought that wasn`t fair considering Spanish,Portuguese,Brazilian etc players are allowed to do it.

Hazard,Pedro,Willian,Oscar,Traore,Ramires and RLC depending on the opponent.it`s touch and go if he will get any game time. I suspect we may be moving back to a more 4-3-3 even tho we kind of play that way plenty already...in which case we have the depth there. let him go. I thought he was a good signing at the time but we have moved on,time to let him.

I`d rather have Stones than Sterling. Sterling plays a position where there is no shortage of good players. Stones doesn`t. is more mature and has a far more rounded game. take away Sterlings pace and he is a very ordinary player.

when our attack has misfired we have relied on our defensive players to get us the points.at the moment it needs to be the attack who take up the slack.in a shoot out our attack is better than theirs. we need a solid defense to win trophies but no trophies are on offer yet and we are trying to sort out the defensive issues at present. so yeah at present it is down to our attacking players..to pin back their fullbacks and others to relieve pressure on our back 5 and Matic.

interesting that Martinez is talking about other teams players today... are we still waiting on the rest of the Lukaku money?

putting in a public transfer request will put pressure on Everton to sell..but some seem to think that is all that is holding this deal back.it`s really not that simple. I think he has already told the club he wants to leave for us and he doesn`t want to publicly disrespect the club by putting in a public transfer request. but he may as the window closing approaches. I think we can get him if we put in another bid. the Garay talk could change things either way..either it makes Everton think we don`t need him as much as they think so they stop dragging their feet,or they can see it as they have beaten us off and will keep stones.

I think he`s being used as a fall back option but we will make another bid for Stones and depend on how that goes. we should have atleast shown interest in other CB`s before now to make it less visible to Everton they have what we need so badly. I think Kalas will make the team next year as a younger version of what Bran offered in the past. a RB/CB role but not so much of a regular starter. I was in the minority when I said Kalas should have been kept in the squad last season and in particular this season. I suspect I wouldn`t be now.

£36m for a central defender would not be a world record. just a record between English clubs. I`ve seen it said many times why we as fans care about how much a player costs. in this case I don`t think it`s too over priced (it is but not too much) but to answer the question in a general sense. nobody should want us to grossly overpay for a player.it effects our future pursuit of players when clubs see us as willing to do it. we have paid for that since 2003 on occasions. Man City,Man U,Arsenal now are having problems with that aswell as teams like PSG. for some of us,where all we spend on Chelsea is the cost of a new jersey every year then it doesn`t have a financial impact on you. for others like me who are committed to attending atleast 90% of the games every season and already spending tens of thousands a season with various trips around Europe etc... us splashing the cash and blowing millions more than we need to can impact us. Roman hasn`t ripped us too badly thus far but that can always change.

Greaves would be number 1. a world class player when we had him who had scored more top flight goals than almost all of the current top flight strikers score in a career by the time we sold him at 21. proof that you don`t need to hold kids back. he went on to remain world class for about 12 years after he left us. Ray Wilkins another young player who had already been our captain and went onto a long career of greatness. for the most recent ones ones..a lot have either been at the end of their prime when they left..e.g Joe and Ashley Cole,Lampard,Zola,Essien,Dixon,Petrescu,Ballack etc.. or left for other reasons....players like Robben,De Bruyne,Lukaku.. of the ones currently playing none of them I greatly regret not being here..but if I had to pick two I`d say Robben and De Bruyne,atleast as matchday squad players (I don`t think anyone should be guaranteed a starting spot in our 1st team every game )

I didn`t know they still owed us money for Lukaku..being in a position of being owed money by scousers is not good business sense.

I`ve no desire to make decisions I don`t have to and wouldn`t have any bearing on where he is played by those who actually have the power to decide.but I like Willian as a player for our matchday squad we need to keep. enjoyed watching him at the Hawthornes yesterday when he was on..our 3 behind Costa worked well together ,would have taken Cesc off when we had to rejuggle things. tho not turning on Cesc like some have chosen to do,he clearly is out of form at the moment and Willian`s legs would have been better suited to play 10 man football.with him playing deeper and charging forward when we counter attacked.