Thanks. Gonna sleep early then. See you peeps @ 2:45 then

We look kinda disjointed at the moment. Good chance spurned by Borini.

Maybe it's just me but I thought Spearing I'd a pretty good job defensively, he is limited offensively though, no big secret there. Guys who didn't have good games were Shelvey and Borini. Good result away from one n the end considering this was pretty much our second squad. Raheem Sterling was impressive.

I counted at least 2 raking passes from Adam that hit the mark, cross-field ones as well. He came closest to scoring for us in the first half and in the 2nd, jinked past a couple of defenders before releasing a right foot shot that went just wide. Had a pretty good first half all in all, I felt. Was amongst the better performers IMO, despite being booed for being a former Rangers man the whole game. Then again, not many had a good game bar Raheem Sterling.

Here is it. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/341701?

We're paying 70% of his wages which comes up to $84,000 per week, a pretty hefty sum. Not seen him play but by virtue of commanding that salary range, I'm guessing he'll be a first team regular.

Rafa was at the helm for five years, how were we not patient? Also, he wasn't exactly chummy with Tom and Jerry and someone had to go.

I don't see any merit in releasing Lucas. Prior to his latest injury, he was immense. Makes no sense in offloading him now that he's just recovered. He was a little timid when he first joined us from Gremio but he's since transformed into a tigerish players, with fierce determination. He is the annoying little prick we unleash to harrass our opponents. Like Masherano before him, Lucas is constantly snapping at someone's heels, pressuring him into making a mistake or a hurried pass. The only other person in the squad today who does this is Jay Spearing but Jay is a rather limited player in comparison.

Carroll at centreback? He's good at defending corners but has anyone actually seen him make a tackle?

Sure but by scoring goals, not being made to look like a duck out of water in the heart of defence

It makes even less sense when you consider that we have a giant at the back already is Coates.

what time is kick off?

People who do so befuddle me man.

Hmm I really thought we should have signed Dempsey especially since he cost Spurs a reported £6 million and we weren't prepared to offer more than £4 million. He's a proven goal scorer and we haven't been converting our chances. Our loss is Spurs' gain really.

To be fair, Rodgers did say a couple of days ago that we would have to sell to buy. This was a clear indication that the possibility of last minute signings was small. However, I still feel we should have gone for Dempsey at that price. In any case, I don't think it's fair to blame FSG. They have already funded signings earlier before the season started, most notably in Borini and Allen. We've also got Sahin loan, and signed Assaidi. Sahin at least should be a first team regular. With Adam gone, we could use his range of passing. It isn't like we didn't spend. We just didn't do it at the last minute.

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Added on September 1, 2012, 10:18 amOn the issue of strikers, yes we could do with a solid finisher but if Spain proved anything during Euro, it's that you don't have to play with strikers to score goals.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 1 2012, 10:18 AM

Ideally, Rodgers would have liked to sell Carroll outright rather than loaning him. However, given that Carroll was never going to feature in his plans, I figure he feels he can at least trim our wage bill.

Don't follow. It's 4am there, the 1st of Sept.

I think there is an overreaction to us not having made any last minute signings. It's more important to sign better players rather than just signing them for the sake of it. If you look at a line-up consisting of Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas, Allen, Gerrard, Borini, Suarez and Sterling, we would be hard pressed to find too many better players with the budget we have. The likes of Downing, Kelly, Shelvey, Henderson, Assaidi, Sahin and Coates are good options to have on the bench. We do have a pretty decent squad and we just need to give the lads a little time to familiarise themselves with Rodger's brand of footy.

Needs to be said that our best signing is arguably Joe Allen, whilst our most exciting prospects appears to be Raheem Sterling, both whom are British. Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly have been consistent performers thus far and both are also, British. I think British players are often overrated but that doesn't make what I've just said any less true.

I don't think everyone is privy to what FFP is unfortunately.

He's looking to prove himself. Sam Allardyce's brand of direct football suits Carroll who is being used as the focal point of West Ham's attack. He's proving to be a handful in the opening 20 minutes.

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Added on September 1, 2012, 8:27 pmWest Ham are rampant. Seems only a matter of time before Carroll scores.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 1 2012, 08:27 PM