EskWeston

He is quality and your right a Championship club or 2 did show interest in him. Hopefully we can hold onto him, but i don't know long we will be able to keep him as reserve team coach while he is very highly respected.

Lol, stretching it? I think you are stretching it when it comes to trying to understand what i am saying. Things are pretty good at the moment, we are winning games and doing well.Clarke IS replaceable, it would be nice to keep him here but he isn't exactly a pivital figure to the club.You completely missed the point in your thread about the Birmingham fan, my point was what the hell is the point of starting a thread because a brummie on the radio made a point about Grant.Saviour?? Hardly... i have made my view clear on that on many occasion, i am not happy that Grant is our manager - i am happy with the team he has set up around him and i believe it can work and i am happy to give it a chance and see where it takes us. There is a middle ground you know between hating Grant and everything he does to the point of a dog with a bone mentality and worshiping the ground he walks on...

I agree, THAT penalty at Anfield has meant that we have been on the receiving end from officials all season, the main problem is there is nothing we can do about it. The FA/Ref's ect.. would rather moan about us and deflect attention that admit blame....

Big bite??We are certainly going to sign someone (looks like January) to play the playmaker role, that is clearly where we are looking at.

In this instance you are right, but Hughes has been a right moaning f**ker in the past...Can't forgive him for having his team kick literal lumps out of us in Jose's first season, Robben was never the same after that game..................

One of the most emotional games i can remember watching. Not feeling too confident after losing the first leg, but going up 3 - 0 with some amazing football having us jumping with joy, then them bringing 2 goals back and it was finger nail biting time and then the madness when JT scored the winner and the whislte went.Incredible....

Yup would work well, opening teams up with pace is something we don't do often anymore. I have been waiting to see if Grant would give Sheva a go on the wing, a 4-3-3 with Kalou, Drogba and Sheva playing higher up the pitch than say Joe or Malouda would...

Lampard can't play the playmaker role, it's just not his style. Joe Cole would be great at it, but if it hasn't happened yet i can't see them taking him back to that position now. The only player we have now who can play the role sort of is Ballack.Tiago was quality and along with Duff, Robben, Gudjohnsen created a lot of flair and creativity in the team that season, without doubt our best season ever, footballing-wise

If Clarke did leave i would give Brandan the job, f**king quality coach..

For anyone to hit 20 goals in our squad in the 4-3-3 is a great achievement, if he can get even close to that it will be incredible. The boys got talent that isn't being used enough at the moment, he needs more games.

Out of the starting line up yes, out of the squad no..The midfield is unbalanced in my opinion. Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Sidwell - all too similar. We need variety:...............................Defensive Midfielder.....................................................Box to Box Midfielder..................................................................................Creative Playmaker.......................The balance has to be right, playing 1 up top we have to have someone who plays more advanced and can open things up, in the same way that Tiago and Gudjohnsen used to when they played that role...

Nah, Joe Cole is safe. For me Malouda and Wright-Phillips are the ones at risk..... Ronaldinho would be a top class signing for sure.

Indeed he is still missing lots of chances and easy ones, but that also says a lot about his ability in my opinion. The fact is he creates so many chances for himself and others that he is doing it better than anyone for us. His goals to games ratio bust be the best in the team at the moment...He still has a way to go, but with his talent if we can fine tune it he could be world class.

I think the view of the club is that he is important in the sense that he knows and understands the team having worked with them for a few years. But i would argue that it isn't that important. If he is not happy then it could upset things in training ect... which we don't need.Although i don't believe there is any problem...

Are we going to have a reserves/youth team section again??? Want to start a thread about tonights game.......

That period is going to be crucial for his future. However IF we do sign a new Striker in Jan then he may not get that chance. Kalou should be starting every game though, his scoring and assist record this season is outstanding, plus he is a constant threat.

Seen and heard quite a few comments about Steve Clarke not looking too happy, there are 2 points of views on that in my opinion:1. When has he ever looked happy??2. IF he isn't happy then there is no point keeping him around, he isn't THAT important to the set up that he couldn't be easily replaced in a second.

There is also no doubt that Sheva being on the pitch contributed greatly to Drogba's massive goal tally for the season. He found himself in much more space than he did previously or he does now..It's a shame but it looks inevitable that he won't be here past the end of the season.

He is not exactly a saint though is he. Done his fair share of moaning in the past and against us too....

Still not happy with Anelka, i find it hard to believe that we would not go for someone better than him. If you were to draw a list of the worlds best striker and a list of the worlds best young strikers (i.e with potential to be the best) then Anelka would not appear on either.Surely we should be setting our standards higher.........

I didn't think his last season was as bad as was made out. But there was a lot of pressure put on him to get better and it just hasn't worked out. Clearly a class player who has just struggled to settle......

Sheva's movement has always been pretty good for us. His finishing has not been so good.I fear that he will never recover now, i hope he does, but only by getting games will that happen and playing our system with Drogba fit it just won't happen

Absolutely, relegation was the best they could have hoped for...

For whatever reason he is having a tough time at Barca, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't sign him. Still a fantastically gifted player and would fit nicely into our system, the only question is the money it would cost.....

Bit silly really, Derby overachieved to get into the prem, they havn't spend anything and expect to stay up?? Madness. Another manager gone after playing us too