Who can we attract?????

Now that Roy Hodgson has been appointed hopefully we can attract a better quality of player than the scattergun approach of Benitez.

We are quite a few players light of a decent team, never mind a top 4 side or Premier League contenders.We also currentlt fall foul of the 'home grown' rule. Premier league rules state 8 of our 25 player squad (I thought we had a squad of 45 under Rafa!) need to be home grown. That basically means coached at clubs in England or Wales for 3 years, between ages of 16-21. At present, only Carra, Stevie G,Glen Johnson & Insua qualify. Obviously we can pad that out with the likes of Darby,Spearing,Pacheco,Kelly. But a few decent English player wont be bad, just as long as they didnt play at the World Cup!!!

I still think we will see some big names leave, Torres & Mascha will probably go to Inter. Torres wont be going to Madrid, and Barca have bought Villa, so Italy seems most likely. Be a bit bitter to swallow, but we have to be realistic Torres is one of top 5 strikers in the world. What incentive is there to play for us in we are not in the CL or challenging for the title. As for Mascha, he wants to move every year, so let him go, sick & tired of reading he wants to be elsewhere at every transfer window. Funny how Benitez isnt interested in Lucas ('played' more minutes than any other outfield player last year), Degen,Insua,Ngog and any of the other donkeys he brought to the club.

I do think Stevie G will go as well, there is a media shitstorm about to hit his life when the gagging order is lifted about his sexual picadillo's afer the World Cup.Which apparently make JT look like bastion of morality! Rumour has it that is part of the reason for the unrest in England camp. I just thought they were crap because they are all overpaid prima donnas. So Thailand might be Stevie's next port of call where they condone that sort of thing! Anyway I digress.

I have in previous blogs put down my wishlist, but lets look at what is really possible. Not sure if Joe Cole has signed for anyone, but if I was Hodgson I would be on the phone now.

We need 2 left backs. In light of the homegrown rule, first choice would be Shorey from Villa. I also think Salceido (Mexican @ PSV) would be a good move.

Midfield - I would like to see Roy raid Fulham here and bring Duffer to Anfield. Can play on both flanks and is a goal threat. We need a midfield powerhouse whether Stevie stay or not, so I would go for Stephen Ireland. With every new signing Mancicni makes at Man City he gets further from the 1st team. I believe if he had played more last season, they would have been 3rd in the league not 5th.

Up front we have to be bold again, whether Torres stays of not we are woefully short here.I would go for Klose @ Bayern. Sure he is 31, but he isn't getting a game there and has bags of experience. Might be a bit pricey as he continues to break records at the WC, but that would be a great buy, a genuine penalty box predator. I would still like to see Podolski as well, they have a great partnership for Germany and have been playing together for years. I realise that we would need to lose a few crown jewels to have budget for these kind of buys, but we need depth, rather than just 1 good player in each position.

Centre back could also do with a re-fresh, cant say any of our 4 WC reps in this department did much to show themselves as top players. hell Soty doesnt even start for greece and they are really crap! Carra must go, too old, too slow, too weak. I would still like to see us have a crack at either Shawcross or Perea at Athletico. brede ahngeland wouldnt go amiss either.

So we have 5 weeks to pull all this together before the season starts, and the 'random' fixture list has really stitched us up. 1st 5 games as follows:
Gooners @ home
Man City - away
West Brom @ home
Bhm city - away, a etam se have never beaten in the PL.
Legions of Doom - Theatre of Delusions

Perhaps Rafa wasnt wrong after all, looks like Fergie does decide the fixtures!!!

YNWA