Lucas

[RedReet]

What do you mean Max?

[Maxiedge]

He does his best work for me when he hasn't got the ball just pressurising opponents, sticking a foot, closing down. On the ball his passing can range from no risk/ no point to great. He's a great player for a backs against the wall display but sometimes when the tables are turned and we need to change our mentality from defence to attack he chickens out a bit for me. For example, there'll be some space to run into with the ball but instead he takes the easy option and makes a nothing pass. I think he has the talent to run with the ball with purpose but I think he's still recovering from the battering hs confidence took when he first arrived.

[Rudo]

Letting Lucas's contract run out would be a very silly idea.

Nearly as bad as giving Paul ****in Konchesky a 4 year contract.

Or having El Zhar, Degen and all them other duds still on the Clubs books.

Utter shambles.

[dww]

I imagine that a lot of these sort of things might be related to our lack of CEO at present (that is still true isn't it - not bee following the gossip that much recently) and the uncertainty about the manager next season.

I agree with those saying that letting Lucas run his contract down would be madness. Now H&G and Purslow are gone I would expect more sensible deals to be struck (although the £35m + 25% sell on fee we paid for Carroll might indicate otherwise).

[RedReet]

He does his best work for me when he hasn't got the ball just pressurising opponents, sticking a foot, closing down. On the ball his passing can range from no risk/ no point to great. He's a great player for a backs against the wall display but sometimes when the tables are turned and we need to change our mentality from defence to attack he chickens out a bit for me. For example, there'll be some space to run into with the ball but instead he takes the easy option and makes a nothing pass. I think he has the talent to run with the ball with purpose but I think he's still recovering from the battering hs confidence took when he first arrived.

I do agree that he could carry the ball a bit more at times, and he has done on occasions this season, but I have no problems with his passing. He’s shown time and time again that if he has an option ahead of him, he’ll take it. If not, he’ll keep it simple and retain possession.

[little dave hedgehog]

I imagine that a lot of these sort of things might be related to our lack of CEO at present (that is still true isn't it - not bee following the gossip that much recently) and the uncertainty about the manager next season.

I agree with those saying that letting Lucas run his contract down would be madness. Now H&G and Purslow are gone I would expect more sensible deals to be struck (although the £35m + 25% sell on fee we paid for Carroll might indicate otherwise).

i think they took a calculated risk there, and i wouldn't expect it to impact our contract ideas.

[dww]

i think they took a calculated risk there, and i wouldn't expect it to impact our contract ideas.

I tend to think you are right. I feel they may well have thought investing strongly then would help substantially increase the chances of us getting UEFA football next year and perhaps allow us to fight for a CL place and not doing it may have deflated the whole squad with Torres loss. On the other hand it would be foolish to judge them definitively either way until we see more deals done by them.

[little dave hedgehog]

i've seen many deals done by them. as i have said repeatedly, they aren't afraid to spend in the market and take some risks here and there on big money signings if they reckon they'll get value. they have the 2nd highest payroll in baseball, but they will not give large contracts to bit part players, so the likes of joe cole will be on notice. they have this bizarre idea that every contract they give should make sense according to what they get out of it. that's one reason they're angry with the previous regime.

[cream]

i've seen many deals done by them. as i have said repeatedly, they aren't afraid to spend in the market and take some risks here and there on big money signings if they reckon they'll get value. they have the 2nd highest payroll in baseball, but they will not give large contracts to bit part players, so the likes of joe cole will be on notice. they have this bizarre idea that every contract they give should make sense according to what they get out of it. that's one reason they're angry with the previous regime.

Good to hear.

[dww]

i've seen many deals done by them. as i have said repeatedly, they aren't afraid to spend in the market and take some risks here and there on big money signings if they reckon they'll get value. they have the 2nd highest payroll in baseball, but they will not give large contracts to bit part players, so the likes of joe cole will be on notice. they have this bizarre idea that every contract they give should make sense according to what they get out of it. that's one reason they're angry with the previous regime.

But the big test comes over the long term about how good their judgement is of how worthwhile a player will be in football.

I can well understand them being shocked by the signings of Cole, Poulsen and Konchesky in terms of value for money.

[little dave hedgehog]

dww, that's everyone's big test.

be assured they are not in the market as cowboys themselves. they will be heavily dependent on kenny and comolli to do their jobs and make some decisions on who we will be interested in, and how much they're worth to the team.

[dww]

dww, that's everyone's big test.

be assured they are not in the market as cowboys themselves. they will be heavily dependent on kenny and comolli to do their jobs and make some decisions on who we will be interested in, and how much they're worth to the team.

True enough. The thing is that it is clear that football transfers operate in a very strange way and it will be interesting to see if they understand that and can get negotiating hard from the get go. In some ways they are lucky as all the main teams are facing a building or rebuilding task at the minute which means that we are not as far behind in the long term as we may appear, on the other hand, in all likelihood, it means these teams will all be competing for the players we want. The other aspect is that will be interesting I guess is the financial fair play stuff.

I do think that we need a CEO in ASAP.

[little dave hedgehog]

i think we've seen that they can be tough ass negotiators. also true though, we do need a ceo in place before summer. can't imagine they're not looking seriously for one in the time frame if not sooner. ffp should suit us very well in the market

[Mostar]

He does his best work for me when he hasn't got the ball just pressurising opponents, sticking a foot, closing down. On the ball his passing can range from no risk/ no point to great. He's a great player for a backs against the wall display but sometimes when the tables are turned and we need to change our mentality from defence to attack he chickens out a bit for me. For example, there'll be some space to run into with the ball but instead he takes the easy option and makes a nothing pass. I think he has the talent to run with the ball with purpose but I think he's still recovering from the battering hs confidence took when he first arrived.

[Exiled_red]

I imagine that a lot of these sort of things might be related to our lack of CEO at present (that is still true isn't it - not bee following the gossip that much recently) and the uncertainty about the manager next season.

I agree with those saying that letting Lucas run his contract down would be madness. Now H&G and Purslow are gone I would expect more sensible deals to be struck (although the £35m + 25% sell on fee we paid for Carroll might indicate otherwise).