What do we need in the summer?

[DannyMan2006]

i never took shanks to be a quite man, especially with all the quotes he seems to have

we didn't sack shanks but then we've sacked very few managers in our time.

rafa will have next season to compete. if he fails he'll be gone. u believe what u want

If he is backed in the transfer market and doesn't compete he should be sacked. I don't see how anyone can argue otherwise. Unless of course he did well in other competitions.

If DIC come in he should be given major funds and after that happens there is nowhere else to turn and nothing left to hide behind.

[tomasjj]

vacation, pina coladas, pussy

oh..


fullbacks
wingers
playmaker

[jonymadness]

At the end of the day, we need to turn the some of the 13 draws into wins. IMO a fullback would not change the result of the 0-0 draws against Birmingham, Blackburn, Chelsea, Man City and Portsmouth or the 1-1 draw against Wigan at home.

If we take it that a 0-0 at Chelsea is a good result, then if we had turned those other 5 points into 15, we have 80 points, and we're in the race. Throw in 1 home win against the scum - we are top of the league.

I know it is all hypothetical, but I dont think it's unrealistic. A real quality attacking player or 2 who could give Nando and Stevie more support (and as a result more space) means that we could really challenge.

[kemm1]

fullbacks
wingers
playmaker

[El Jefecito]

At the minimum we need an upgrade on Kuyt and for Babel to be more consistent.

From an attacking perspective Insua is better than Riise and the rest of the back 4 can cover for him while he perfects the defensive side of his game.

Lucas ahead of Alonso will get us 5+ more assists from CM.

Stevie G on the right against the big 4 and a playmaker to play in the hole will a) get us more assists and b) have SG as a factor in the matches against the top 4 (against which he has been noticeably absent for the last couple of years).

[Cormack74]

As a minimum we need:

1) Fullbacks
2) Playmaker/striker.
3) Winger/striker.
4) Rafa to sign new contract.
5) Less clueless knee-jerking spastics as "supporters."

Great word. Sadly under used these days.

[Reece]

Sadly under used these days.

Probably a reason for that.

[Guest]

Kuyt a loser !

He's one of the first in Rafa's team sheet. Even Torres I feel is not held in as much high regard. That's because Kuyt is the ultimate team player.

[Shaggy]

He's no way a loser but he's not particularly good.

Ian Rush was a team player but he also scored goals. Kuyt is just lacking in too many areas of his game to be a regular starter. The problem we have at the moment is that he is a regular.

His weaknesses and deficiences were cruelly exposed the other night.

[FatTony]

You can't build a squad like that IMO when the squad needed overhauling and you need ~8 new players you can't blow your season's transfer budget on one or two quality players as it's unlikely top players would have joined to play with Biscan, Diao and Traore etc. Even if they did sign injuries to them and you're back where you started.

Thats you're opinion, but whilst I wouldn't have said go and blow the whole transfer budget on 3 players, I do think Rafa got the balance wrong and sided too much with squad players.

[Cormack74]

Probably a reason for that.

Yeah but not a good one.