Elliott

I think the point is you can't assume a good record in the Netherlands will definitely mean a good record in England, however you can't write off players because they've only played in the Netherlands either.

Welcome

Yeah, bit of a contradiction. Don't really fully agree with the latter statement I made. I disagree about the Beckham thing, I think it was a bad move to write him off completely. He still deserved to be in the squad, just not as a starter. And when I said I'd be happy with one trophy a season, I meant to imply that we still do well in the league every year and win a cup then I'd be happy enough.

I have to ask whether you object to his football experience being from Israel because it's Israel. I'm sorry, but that jumps right out at me.I was certainly far from happy with his appointment, but I don't see any point in getting worked up about it because frankly I can do fuck all about it. We're doing alright so far, no he hasn't changed anything, because that was actually the smartest move any manager could have done. Play the system the players are used to, the players have been successful under, and they will provide wins and performances. If he tried to change everything, purely to stamp his own mark on the team, well that would have been the equivalent of McClaren sacking Beckham from the team. Changes for changes sake. Grant actually made a smart move when he didn't change anything. In January, he has a chance to change things a little bit, and we shall see how that goes, but he can't really make wholesale changes until the summer because the vast majority of players I assume he'll be after will already be playing in the Champions League or have done this season. And I really do think that we will win something this season, a cup of some sort. Grant himself, I don't think he really knows what he's doing, but behind him we have Ten Cate and Clarke and the three of them form a successful group of managers.As long as we are winning at least one trophy each year I'm going to be happy.

Welcome

CechAlvesJTCarvalhoAbidalRonaldoEssienKakaGiggsDrogbaTottiAncelotti

Well there's no guarantee wisdom in real life will have any correlation with what works on FM, but it's worth a go

Welcome back Cara

We'll pay a hell of a lot of money for Benzema, and by the looks of things, it would be a very sound investment.

Sounds like Joe Cole had a large hand in proceedings, only going off what I've heard though as I didn't see the match.

I doubt Fenerbahce will be that difficult. I'd say that was one of the easier draws, them or Olympiakos. Celtic would be interesting, Roma would be okay, would generally prefer if we avoided Lyon.

It might be a problem at your end. Try changing your "cookie" settings, in firefox it can be found under Tools->Options->Privacy and in IE7 Under Internet Options and probably Privacy in there too. Change them to let more through and see if that makes a difference.

He's 22 and thus far too old to send out on loan without that saying to him "we don't think you're good enough". Alex was an exception because it was only about gaining a work permit for him.

For the sake of playing a different, more inventive system, Mikel, move Essien to defensive midfield.

I always think of Joe Cole when you say playmaker though. I think maybe we should be looking to bring him back to his original position. Could sign another playmaker I too I suppose, to make sure we have two.

Team... Cudicini ©, Belletti, Bridge, Ben Haim, Alex, Mikel, Sidwell, Wright-Phillips, Kalou, Shevchenko, Pizarro?That's probably what I'd play, give some second choices a run out.Edit: totally forgot about Essien! That makes things more difficult.

Benitez shot himself in the foot yesterday, what a fool.

Oh we deserved the three points because Sunderland were awful, but we didn't play particularly well either.

Welcome

Well we didn't perform very well today and it was a dire match. We controlled the game for the first half and started well, but as soon as we scored we dropped off and didn't get anywhere. Sunderland came out in the second half pumped up and controlled the pace of the game right up until we won the penalty. If we play like that against Arsenal we'll get shat on.

Well that's fair enough as far as the club is concerned, and fair enough as Lulinha is concerned. He will move in a few years when he is more mature and ready to move, which will help him when he arrives in Europe, wherever he arrives, and Corinthians will get a nice amount of money for a by then proven player.

Not really, I don't know how long the contract he's signed is, but it probably isn't much longer than 4 years, by which time he will only be 21. Still very young, yet with some excellent experience, the perfect time to move. In my opinion, he's not taken a gamble at all, he's made the right decision.

I wonder how two stars that we'd be interested in would be playing for a relegation threatened club.

There's absolutely no precedence for that kind of price, I'm sure. Brazilian clubs have always had to sell up their young talent pretty quickly, and they might keep Lulinha for a few years, but sooner rather than later he'll be off to Europe somewhere and if he is the player he is meant to be, we should be watching and waiting all the way.

Threads that were almost next to each other merged