Talking about early Christmas pressies, a Rambler friend offered me his Galaxy S2 as a spare the other day [he's gone upto an S5]. I asked him what he wanted for it, and he replied £20. Although he's had it for a couple of years [I know because we used to compare Rambling apps with our phones], it's in excellent condition and I'm sure Beefy will tell you that it's worth considerably more than that. Came with everything including an extra battery, new wallet and expansion card. I passed it on to my cousin who had an ancient flip-phone. The only reason I did it was because I couldn't stand watching him squinting at his bloody minute screen while trying to decipher and answer a text, while he was sat across the table.
Even Jose Fonte, in his interview with The Echo is calling for purchases in January as we don't have the depth to maintain our place as best of the rest........added to RK saying that everyone spent proportionately more than us, I think the message is becoming clear to Les and the board....get the chequebook out or watch us slide
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/sa...on_risk_being_left_behind_says_Fonte/?ref=rss The only problem with what Fonte has said is that, even if true, do you want or need your captain to say it in public. He could say it to Les Reed or Ron, but he is effectively slagging off team mates in public. It's Ron's job to nag the board....Fonte's job to encourage the players. We need the best out of players we have as we may not sign any in January.
and by the same argument our job is to SUPPORT the team we are supporters after all. We shouldn't criticise the players, push for team changes, complain about the manager, pressure the club to spend money, say we need a bigger stadium, analyse a match to death for days on end, shout for changes to the board, believe we know more about our players than our manager, boo the players, leave early, take the piss out of Ralphs verbosity, post negative threads on football websites, etc....
Problem with such dazzling trickery in a post is the next few pages are discussion and explanation of said trick, browser incompatibility, and other technical complaints.
Exactly, first RK comes out and states his concerns and then the very much respected captain JF supporting his managers statement....well well
As captain, I'm guessing that Fonte is expressing this publicly because many of the players are expressing it privately. I get the sense that players are sometimes more realistic about these things than we think, heh...I can remember Rickie agreeing with a transfer in the Cortese era because we needed more competition for places. It was a forward (Jay, if I remember correctly). It's competition with you, Rickie!
Suggests that probably for the first time we are not all marching on at the same speed. Manager and captain does not make public comments of this sort if all is nicely aligned behind the scenes. It's no surprise koeman and senior players want investment as they can sniff top 4. This a very open league there are opportunities this season for a surprise team to make at least top 6.
Who do we seriously need to upgrade do you think? We have firepower upfront but with JRod out is that the problem or is it more of a disruption thing, is it the Wanyama and Mane circus causing problems behind closed doors? I could go on and on with the questions but there is no-one in that squad who couldn't hold their own. The only thing we are 'missing' in that we really don't have it is a creative attacking midfielder. So, what do we think RK is actually asking for because spending money isnt the answer in itself, the role it fills is.
We need options. Right now, we have one player who we are comfortable starting at striker, and two players we're comfortable starting wide. We have a CB regularly starting at RB, and we lack a creative mid unless Clasie steps up. I don't expect us to acquire all of those things, but we're not short of places to add.
Yeah, well thought out Jasper. The academy is struggling due to 8 years ago, but has had major investment since ML took over. It may take another 8 years for that to bear fruit. Of course it is frustrating, but who care so much where players come from? We would have a sense of pride, I agree, but in reality they will only to developed to sell on for inflated fees, we then buy cheaper from abroad. Sensible model to me as is the best and most sustainable way we can try to match the rest of the teams.
Fair comment , my point was we have a coupe of players not really getting a look in , when perhaps they sould get a chance ? But my Shut the academy bit was not serious .