Centre Back Needed.

[Ted Hughes]

Imagine one of them gets injured ? Kolo Toure is in Africa. Chances are our team, rather than being a machine full of confidence, is a bunch of nervous wrecks when he & Yaya get back & he will just join in as another nervous wreck & be no use whatsoever. That could be it; season over. It's the only thing that can stop us.

Imo we should sign 2 CB's in Jan, in case of emergency. If they are not needed, we can continue playing Vinny & Lescott til Feb to keep the continuity, then rest them individually for the newbies in Feb, against lesser opposition. If Kolo doesn't like it; tough.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Maybe we will be keeping Nedum.

[Ted Hughes]

I'd be happy to keep Ned but I'd still want to sign a top quality CB.

[Beefymcfc]

Ned, Savic, plus who've we got out on loan or doing well from the Academy. Anyone Doug?

[Ted Hughes]

I don't think Savic is even close to good enough to play against a decent side & nobody in the reserves is anywhere near it. Boyata is closest but he's not ready either.

[bigblue]

Imagine one of them gets injured ? Kolo Toure is in Africa. Chances are our team, rather than being a machine full of confidence, is a bunch of nervous wrecks when he & Yaya get back & he will just join in as another nervous wreck & be no use whatsoever. That could be it; season over. It's the only thing that can stop us.

Or the African Cup of nations could be a great opportunity for Kolo to get his confidence and match fitness back. Then when he returns be stronger than ever.

Think before we talk about signing players in january, we should see what the injury situation is like come the end of december. As Mancini has said, we have a massive pool of players scattered all across europe so before we go about signing/taking in on loan, we should make 100% sure we don't already have someone who can step in

I disagree quite a bit on Savic and think he's very close to being ready. Give him another month or two to adjust to the squad and style of play and he'll be good

[Ted Hughes]

Imagine one of them gets injured ? Kolo Toure is in Africa. Chances are our team, rather than being a machine full of confidence, is a bunch of nervous wrecks when he & Yaya get back & he will just join in as another nervous wreck & be no use whatsoever. That could be it; season over. It's the only thing that can stop us.

Or the African Cup of nations could be a great opportunity for Kolo to get his confidence and match fitness back. Then when he returns be stronger than ever.

Think before we talk about signing players in january, we should see what the injury situation is like come the end of december. As Mancini has said, we have a massive pool of players scattered all across europe so before we go about signing/taking in on loan, we should make 100% sure we don't already have someone who can step in

If Kolo is Bobby Moroe reincarnated, if he's not here he can't play. Imo, we will struggle to beat any decent side if Savic plays. At the moment we are good enough to rise above the pressure of an occasional defeat. It is imo important to build that confidence until it is unstoppable. A couple of nasty home defeats & it will most likely go from the players & the fans. If we get past January with full confidence, we have pretty much cracked it imo, both for this season & for years to come. There is no point in taking any risks. We should build from a position of strength not wait for somebody to find a weakness.

The rags will try to cripple a couple of our players. If I was ferguson, I would go for Vinny or Lescott.

[blues2win]

I'd be very tempted by Alex. I'd prefer him to Kolo to be honest.

[Dameerto]

Ned, Savic, plus who've we got out on loan or doing well from the Academy. Anyone Doug?

Rekik is highly thought of - he set a club record as the youngest foreign player to make a senior appearance for us when he came on against Birmingham too.

[Ted Hughes]

I'd be very tempted by Alex. I'd prefer him to Kolo to be honest.

I thought Alex started to look pretty good, then went a bit shit. Don't know what to make of him really. If I was Abramovic, I wouldn't flog anybody to City though.

[Ted Hughes]

Ned, Savic, plus who've we got out on loan or doing well from the Academy. Anyone Doug?

Rekik is highly thought of - he set a club record as the youngest foreign player to make a senior appearance for us when he came on against Birmingham too.

Great potential but by all accounts absolutely miles away atm.

[Dameerto]

He's only just 17 (or will be soon, if he hasn't had his birthday yet) so he's not first team material, but he is in Mancini's plans and gets the occasional bench spot.

[Ted Hughes]

He's only just 17 (or will be soon, if he hasn't had his birthday yet) so he's not first team material, but he is in Mancini's plans and gets the occasional bench spot.

I think it's for his benefit rather than ours though. He has something about him which I just feel is a bit special so perhaps he would suddenly produce a performance if he played, but people who watch him regularly say he's not good enough yet.

[bigblue]

He's only just 17 (or will be soon, if he hasn't had his birthday yet) so he's not first team material, but he is in Mancini's plans and gets the occasional bench spot.

I think it's for his benefit rather than ours though. He has something about him which I just feel is a bit special so perhaps he would suddenly produce a performance if he played, but people who watch him regularly say he's not good enough yet.

I'd also be scared to put him on the big stage too quick. When Boyata was caught out and sent off against Arse, it seemed to stunt his confidence quite a bit. He has plenty of time so we can ease him in

[blues2win]

I don't think we need a centre back if we keep Kolo but there's a good case for replacing him IMO. I don't think Savic is as shite as all that but I wouldn't want him playing in the premiership except maybe against weaker teams at home. We do need a first choice replacement for an injured/suspended Vinnie ( who's making one or two mistakes by the way including a bad one yesterday) or for Lescott who seems to play very well and then suddenly panics or allows himself to be outmuscled. Personally I'm not sure Kolo's the right man.

Surprised Ted didn't make the case for a fourth striker. Balo is always on the edge and Dzeko's form has been patchy ( good yesterday though).

I would still love to see a really pacy young wide player whom Mancini could work on. We play the possession game really well now and press hard from top to bottom when we haven't got the ball but we do lack a bit of pace. That's where the Spuds have a bit of an edge. It would be really good to bring on some frightening pace if we found ourselves on one of those days when 10 men are frustrating us and their goalkeeper's having a blinder.

[Beefymcfc]

Anybody heard any whispers regarding transfers, afterall, we're only 27 days away from the window opening?

[Dameerto]

He's only just 17 (or will be soon, if he hasn't had his birthday yet) so he's not first team material, but he is in Mancini's plans and gets the occasional bench spot.

I think it's for his benefit rather than ours though. He has something about him which I just feel is a bit special so perhaps he would suddenly produce a performance if he played, but people who watch him regularly say he's not good enough yet.

I'd also be scared to put him on the big stage too quick. When Boyata was caught out and sent off against Arse, it seemed to stunt his confidence quite a bit. He has plenty of time so we can ease him in

He's not first team material as I mentioned already. I was responding to a question about the Academy players.

[Ted Hughes]

Anybody heard any whispers regarding transfers, afterall, we're only 27 days away from the window opening?

De Rossi rumours won't go away.

[Ted Hughes]

I don't think we need a centre back if we keep Kolo but there's a good case for replacing him IMO. I don't think Savic is as shite as all that but I wouldn't want him playing in the premiership except maybe against weaker teams at home. We do need a first choice replacement for an injured/suspended Vinnie ( who's making one or two mistakes by the way including a bad one yesterday) or for Lescott who seems to play very well and then suddenly panics or allows himself to be outmuscled. Personally I'm not sure Kolo's the right man.

Surprised Ted didn't make the case for a fourth striker. Balo is always on the edge and Dzeko's form has been patchy ( good yesterday though).

I would still love to see a really pacy young wide player whom Mancini could work on. We play the possession game really well now and press hard from top to bottom when we haven't got the ball but we do lack a bit of pace. That's where the Spuds have a bit of an edge. It would be really good to bring on some frightening pace if we found ourselves on one of those days when 10 men are frustrating us and their goalkeeper's having a blinder.

I would have a kid or veteran 4th striker but Bob seemes to have ruled it out now after earlier saying we needed 4.

[blues2win]

I noticed the change in line. I imagine he's either been told no transfers or loans in January or decided with the budget he's got his priorities lie elsewhere. I wonder how he plans to plug the Yaya gap in January. I suppose Owen was taken on with half an eye for January but he hasn't had much game time so far.