Hicks will back Benitez in transfer market

[el matador]

Does your memory last longer than last season?

Riera was a good signing at the time and made a positive improvement to our first team, unfortunately this season he has been a tit.
This season we were screwed over by our owners, that is not Rafa making a pigs ear of it.
How is our right wing awful, Kuyt is productive, whether you like it or not and Maxi is an excellent player.
We have 4 good central midfielder so to suggest we are weakest there is ridiculous.
Left back, yes we need another and we need to replace Riera

Sorry but your post is ill thought and ignorant of the facts and as bad as the **** in the tabloids.

Is completely wrong on several levels.

Aquilani isnt strong enough physically or good enough defensively to play that central role hence rafa preferring the more disciplined but limited lucas.

Rafa refuses to play Gerrard in the middle putting him behind torres leaving the only decent and genuinely world class player as mascherano.

So the guy was quite correct in that in the current set up, central midfield is unfortunately one of our weaker areas.

[Mattshark]

Is completely wrong on several levels.

Aquilani isnt strong enough physically or good enough defensively to play that central role hence rafa preferring the more disciplined but limited lucas.

Rafa refuses to play Gerrard in the middle putting him behind torres leaving the only decent and genuinely world class player as mascherano.

So the guy was quite correct in that in the current set up, central midfield is unfortunately one of our weaker areas.

I have to say i think that is nonsense.

Aquilani hasn't even had a whole season for you to make that judgement and to do is ridiculous.

Gerrard has played in the middle, but if you remember where Gerrard played when we finished 2nd?

Lucas is a very good player and continues to improve.

The centre of midfield is not our problem area.

[Fierce]

Is completely wrong on several levels.

Aquilani isnt strong enough physically or good enough defensively to play that central role hence rafa preferring the more disciplined but limited lucas.

Rafa refuses to play Gerrard in the middle putting him behind torres leaving the only decent and genuinely world class player as mascherano.

So the guy was quite correct in that in the current set up, central midfield is unfortunately one of our weaker areas.

Rubbish. Aquilani has already and will continue to play in the middle when the game dictates it.

And if he doesn't, then we've either wasted the money (sshhh! ) or he'll play behind Torres, which basically contradicts the point about Gerrard who in that case would drop back into central midfield. Where he has played many, many times

I think that Lucas was preferred in some games because of Aquilani's fitness and because of his experience.

And I also think that Lucas is 'decent' too

I have to say i think that is nonsense.

Aquilani hasn't even had a whole season for you to make that judgement and to do is ridiculous.

Gerrard has played in the middle, but if you remember where Gerrard played when we finished 2nd?

Lucas is a very good player and continues to improve.

The centre of midfield is not our problem area.

[little dave hedgehog]

while i don't think that midfield is our weakest position, is it too much to ask for a player who can play behind gerrard that actually makes the other side **** themselves when in possession? mascher is a great player, but good with th ball at his feet, he is not. shooting, he does not do. lucas has about 2 goals for us in total over his stay, and aquilani may or may not end up being a positive force on a regular basis in the center of the park. we have no consistant flair or guile coming through the middle of the park when gerrard is playing at the front. we could be in a worse situation for sure, and our midfield is sturdy if unspectacular, but to say that it's not a problem area at all is overstating it. how many goals have the two guys in those roles in each game pop in? nowhere near enough, imo.

[squaddie]

I have to say i think that is nonsense.

Aquilani hasn't even had a whole season for you to make that judgement and to do is ridiculous.

Gerrard has played in the middle, but if you remember where Gerrard played when we finished 2nd?

Lucas is a very good player and continues to improve.

The centre of midfield is not our problem area.

I agree with you about Aquilani and Lucas.

But we had Alonso in midfield at the time which fed that partnership. Once he left we lack all possibility of creative attacking football in midfield. I dont know why just didnt bite the bullet drop Gerrard back to the middle (albeit with the option of taking up the free role if needs be) and spend the money used on Aquilani and bought a striker?

[el matador]

Rubbish. Aquilani has already and will continue to play in the middle when the game dictates it.

And if he doesn't, then we've either wasted the money (sshhh! ) or he'll play behind Torres, which basically contradicts the point about Gerrard who in that case would drop back into central midfield. Where he has played many, many times

I think that Lucas was preferred in some games because of Aquilani's fitness and because of his experience.

And I also think that Lucas is 'decent' too

You two gay boys can continue you love in some other time.

Its simple, our central midfield was weak this season and the fact that we finished a mamoth 23 points behind last seasons total suggests that the loss of alonso was huge to our midfield. We didnt dominate games, we didnt control possesion of the ball.

yes, ive heard the bull**** argument about gerrard not being at his best but you can say that part of that was down to alonso not being in the side and the service into gerrard was really poor at the start of the season.

Aquilani isnt strong enough to play centrally and rafa should either move gerrard back (which he didnt for the majority of last season) and put aquilani into his position in behind torres.

Unless rafa moves gerrard back into the centre, our midfield will continue to be a weakness in our side.

If we go into the new season with the midfield pair of lucas and mascherano then exactly the same will happen again. We wont be anywhere near the top 4.

[Shaggy]

You two gay boys can continue you love in some other time.

[The Birdman]

I don't think there's is anything correct in this post at all. Well done!

So Portsmouth didn't go into administration and aren't currently paying all their creditors (which we would have been one) 20p for every £ owed.

We've also had 386530 different posts of the same bit of info that clearly proves Aquilani cost £5m upfront with the rest in installments and some on appearances and throphy's.
I'm sure one of the mods can find it (hence Reece's sarcastic response)

[Slinky Skills]

You two gay boys can continue you love in some other time.
Its simple, our central midfield was weak this season and the fact that we finished a mamoth 23 points behind last seasons total suggests that the loss of alonso was huge to our midfield. We didnt dominate games, we didnt control possesion of the ball.

yes, ive heard the bull**** argument about gerrard not being at his best but you can say that part of that was down to alonso not being in the side and the service into gerrard was really poor at the start of the season.

Aquilani isnt strong enough to play centrally and rafa should either move gerrard back (which he didnt for the majority of last season) and put aquilani into his position in behind torres.

Unless rafa moves gerrard back into the centre, our midfield will continue to be a weakness in our side.

If we go into the new season with the midfield pair of lucas and mascherano then exactly the same will happen again. We wont be anywhere near the top 4.

[peekay]

Starting from the transfer window in which we sold Keane, we have been making a profit. Couple of so called ITK's on TLW ( I found them to be reasonably reliable in the past) have said that might be the case this window also.

Irrespective of who the manager is, that is not a sustainable strategy in the long term.

[Rich]

So Portsmouth didn't go into administration and aren't currently paying all their creditors (which we would have been one) 20p for every £ owed.

We've also had 386530 different posts of the same bit of info that clearly proves Aquilani cost £5m upfront with the rest in installments and some on appearances and throphy's.
I'm sure one of the mods can find it (hence Reece's sarcastic response)

Under football rules all football creditors MUST be repaid in full, so these clubs fall outside of the CVA, so you're wrong about that for a start.

Plus the fee for Aquilani is €20m - the vast majority of transfer fees are spread over the contract length, it's not as if we class Xabi Alonso as a £6m player when he joined us - even though our first payment to Sociedad was something in that region. He was a £10.5m player. We're committed to paying the full €20m.

[Charly]

Does your memory last longer than last season?

Riera was a good signing at the time and made a positive improvement to our first team, unfortunately this season he has been a tit.
This season we were screwed over by our owners, that is not Rafa making a pigs ear of it.
How is our right wing awful, Kuyt is productive, whether you like it or not and Maxi is an excellent player.
We have 4 good central midfielder so to suggest we are weakest there is ridiculous.
Left back, yes we need another and we need to replace Riera

Sorry but your post is ill thought and ignorant of the facts and as bad as the **** in the tabloids.

Rubbish!

Kuyt is awful going forward, and cant shoot straight. Maxi is very average, and Riera had a few decent games out of how many, but was never better than Benayoun.

And how have we got 4 good central midfielders???? We have two excellent, and one average and one poor.

By your logic, if everyone is that good, then we would have finished higher than 7th in the league. You cant seem to identify the weaknesses of the team, regardless of what you think of Rafa.

You dont need millions to sign good players, and Rafa has spent a lot over the past two years, and spent it poorly, regardless of how much income he generated.

[Charly]

And that coincidently was the only Summer that we've REALLY spent a decent amount of money!

What does that tell us? Rafa can improve the team with lots of money?

So can you or I. That isnt a mark of a great manager.

[Jan-Erik]

"Substantial transfer budget" my ass... Bull****
Come August 31th, we havent spent a penny net.

[Assassin]

"Substantial transfer budget" my ass... Bull****
Come August 31th, we havent spent a penny net.

Thats a nasty lisp