benno2

This may be because a good proportion of our least wanted players on high wages are also midfielders. With the playing prospects of Aquilani, Poulsen, Cole, Jovanovic and possibly Meireles and/or Maxi reduced in their own minds by the arrivals of Henderson, Adam and Downing, the strategy could well be to get them to read the runes and accept a reduction in wages elsewhere. With the clock ticking down, their readiness to do so, could well accelerate depending on how desperate each is for action. There are signs that this may be working in the cases of Jovanovic and Aquilani.

Given Kenny's words along the lines of signings aren't just for Christmas, why do people think he'll rate him less in the summer? It makes no sense to me.

You might be right. But Spurs might not be in CL and we should be on the rise with a Scottish legend at the helm. There's nothing to say he won't be just as much a squad player at Spurs. If I was Adam, I'd have taken note that it was Levy, not Redknapp, that was trying to do the deal late. Whereas it should be obvious that Kenny was driving our interest.

I'd sell him too. There's too many doubts about his fitness record and abilities to withstand / thrive in a league as quick and physical as ours, for all his undoubted ability. The price isn't £12m either, it's more like £13.75m. We could save both on transfer fee and wages with Charlie Adam, who is arguably more likely to be effective here, whilst also ramping up our set-piece abilities considerably. Plus, Kenny clearly wants him.

My bad, had in my head matchday squad was 19 and went from there. Personally, I think Coady will get the nod for the bench. Defensive midfield is where we're thinnest with no Poulsen or Spearing. We've plenty of potential full-backs and attacking midfielders in this squad.

Agree with the Wilson thing. I've no idea how Sparta play, obviously, but I reckon we could see a reversion to the 3 man defence here. Something like: Reina Carragher Skrtel Wilson Kelly Lucas Aurelio Johnson Meireles Maxi Kuyt with Cole likely coming on at the hour mark. Plus, with 3 keepers in the squad, at least two of Sterling, Coady, Ince, Flanagan & Robinson will be on the bench.

You might be right. Can't think of a case to corroborate this though.

Not without a work permit we couldn't.

Why? No-one picked up on NESV with us until it was done.

None of this adds up. If we were looking to keep him long-term, surely he would be being given the odd cameo late on, at the very least. If only to keep him motivated and interested. Despite being under par in the games he's had, he hasn't gone to being totally useless overnight. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if there's a deal in place with someone like Spurs if we pick up Suarez & Adam. Otherwise I just don't get it.

Whilst I tend to agree with that, I'd say getting both of their wages off the books as well as the £6m would be too good a chance to turn down. Especially if we were able to add the sort of pace and class out wide that we've long wanted / needed.

Brian Reade was pretty sympathetic towards Rafa and the treatment of him, But it didn't stop him pointing out faults as he saw them, and nor should it.

Shelvey replaced Poulson on Saturday which makes more sense anyway and then played pretty well whilst we were ahead. It was different against Everton though at 2-2. This is more about Cole though, he may or may not be worth £90k per week, but that's what he's costing us and can't even get on in a game for a cameo when we really could have done with a win. There doesn't seem to be any sort of plan for him at all, unless we're trying to force him out.

So what's going on with Joe Cole? He's now continually below Shelvey from the bench, and he looked fully fit when warming up at half-time on Saturday. I know he's not exactly starred so far, but surely he's better than the PFK treatment. There's no news that he might be off either.

I see, pithy and to the point. The fact that Spurs are now consistently way above us in the league, are in the CL KO stages, play a miles better brand of football than we do, whilst having a wage bill at least 30% below ours (and more so behind ManU, Chelsea, Citeh & Arsenal) is a measure of a failure of their approach is it? This from a position where they were more in danger of relegation 2 seasons ago than we now are (which shows what can be done). Arsenal have done things differently of course, have spent little on transfers (relatively) but heavy on youth and wages. If you're talking about winning titles, then fair enough, damn them for their failure to beat the mega-spenders. But with the way things currently stand, one or two buys for Spurs, ditto for Arsenal could easily see them right up there next season and neither are out of it this season yet. If we're to get back to the top, we have to go through where they are, so airily dismissing the way they've done things without a sugar daddy or massive debt-free stadium (recently in Spurs' case) is a bit rich for mine. To do so whilst touting Downing for us, the type of signing (short-termist, mid-standard, Pennant-Maxi-Cole, dare I say even Konchesky-Poulsen-like) that has got us to exactly where we are is the height of irony.