This, remember at Newcastle they signed a played called Guivarch who had just won the World Cup and he was hopeless. Diakte is yet to impress me and Howson did alright from what I saw.
I can't honestly say if he is as good now as he was 5-10 years ago as I have not seen enough of him to make that call but he was damned good for us (except pens of course). I will never forget his debut, a 0-0 against the Suffolk Carthorses, he should his potential that day alright and it was no surprise when he gained his first cap
He was fantastic for us a really top player, but that injury he got playing for England seemed to set him back a bit. Still a very good keeper mind but seems to lack a little confidence, maybe the move will do him good.
Funny that I've read quite a few people talking about how rubbish he is a penalties when I actually had the opposite and seem to remember seeing him save quite afew - certainly for West Ham anyway. Always rated Greeny, think he's a top, top keeper and Koo Pee Arr have made a cracking signing there
He certainly seemed to improve at them when with West Ham but don't remember him doing much for us. Agree top keeper though and in reality penalties are far from the most important attribute a keeper requires.
i think he's only played three times for them! honestly, if you are seriously suggesting he is world class because he has played for mali you're off your ****ing rocker pal. he's a good player, nothing more, nothing less. he's young, he has time on his side to get better but its not a coincidence that he only figured in about half the league games he could have for his previous employer and that none of the 'big' club were in for him. the reason? he's not a brilliant player
Its strange isn't it how the general fan on terraces sees a player but a Manager or ex-pro pundit sees it differently? S Wright-Phillips was crap last season, utterly rubbish, we should get rid. No say the old hands, hes' a 'model professional'. Then we re-sign Kieran '4 minutes a season' Dyer...I can't see it. Same with Holt. Good player (albeit fat) suddenly wants £40k / wk. He's surely going to leave its just a matter of the price now. He's seen the gravy on offer elsewhere and you'd be mad to break your wage structure to keep him happy. Having said that a £15k / wk wage cap is admirable but too low for the Prem I think if you really want to compete these days. Anyway we're chock full of World Class talent & Joey Barton these days so roll on our 2 meetings next season.
C'mon, just to amuse us further, please name all these world class players you have as I can not see one currently registered for your club.
Gotta keep smilin' Carra this football business gets weirder by the week. Ronaldo saving his spot kick for 'the winning penalty'....?? The Grant Holt Fitness DVD....?? Football gone mad
Green is still a very good player just not worth the wages he wanted. He made quite a few penalty saves for us in the 6 years he was with us.
Diakate looks a decent prospect and if you have £3m or so I would say a very worthwhile punt. Green was and still is a very good keeper and I hope that the move works out for him. We have to be honest and say we have spent that sort of money punting on the likes of Bennet/Howson/Pilks and through a bit of luck and a lot of good judgement by the previous management team they have proved to be highly successful. Whether we can continue to do this or not is open to question but with our pay structure this is the tactic we will have to employ. We are not in a position to sign proven internationals with bags of experience and ability. We have to punt on young talent whereas QPR can afford to spend more on the wages and fees of players who have the experience BUT who are on the wane. Neither club can go in for the top players at the peak of their careers as they will be playing for the bigger clubs. Our method is reliant upon identifying young talent, developing it and then selling on for a profit and repeating the process. If this fails we struggle but stay solvent.
Remember when Lambert joked that he wanted to sign Iniesta and Messi for Villa and some fans actually believed him? If Hughes were to say that at QPR I would reckon that the vast majority of QPR fans would be arrogant and stupid enough to think it was possible!
Just as a point of information, yes, we are signing some slightly older heads, but I think MH knows what he is doing. He has come out and claimed that we needed more PL experience, and I trust him. I don't think the likes of AJ or Nelson will be in the first XI, but they are good PL pros who can teach the likes of Mackie or Diakete a lot, as well as being better back up than Fitz Hall or Patrick Agyeman! He has also come out and said we will also be signing a few younger players, Diakete being the first. With Taarabt, Diakete, Mackie and Faurlin in midfield, we have a young (and very good) midfield, without a player approaching 30 in it! It's also worth pointing out that yes, we struggled last year, but as we all know, a disruptive off-season can be terrible for a club! A takeover, complete change of squad and change of manager within the duration of the season makes it an incredible achievement that we stayed up. I know that the sensible Canaries - of which there are many - will be able to see that, in the same way most R's think the achievement of both the Swans and the Canaries was fantastic and to be applauded. No doubt you can appreciate why we are optimistic of doing better than last year at the second attempt - we look like we will have a much improved off-season, we have a far superior manager to NW, and we start with a higher calibre of player. I genuinely think Cisse can get 15 or more goals this year. Note, I don't think that is a guarantee, but it's also not off-the-wall. Hope you appreciate an honest assessment, and I think the Canaries will struggle to repeat last years highs, but I don't think you will struggle to stay up either. And good luck too!
So Lambert moving to Villa and Holt handing in a transfer request but still in talks with the club constitutes rats leaving a sinking ship does it? For your information a lot of our better players have signed contract extensions.
to be honest, i think qpr will improve on last season. i mean, they won't be challenging for honours or anything like that but i think they will keep their heads above water quite easily. with their new signings, i reckon they are getting close, maybe even equal, to our level last season, so that shows how well we did last season. we still have time to improve ourselves.
Nice to see a reasonably sensible post from a QPR fan, although i'm unsure how you can make that comment about us when we haven't done any business in the transfer market yet? Perhaps might be worth holding on to that comment until you know who our players are likely to be?
