I see Birmingham, Portsmouth, Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn, Wolves and Burnley struggling along with Hull. I also see Hull having been in a relegation fight being stronger for the experience and better equipped to avoid the drop. Blackburn will probably pull through but with the managers in charge of Wolves (failure at EPL level), Portsmouth, Bolton and Wigan these clubs will really struggle. Hull needs to get points of all of these clubs. These clubs are like the third teir of the EPL.

Would agree with most of that assessment - but I don't think Hull will get the points they need... Most importantly, Hull's experience of the relegation battle isn't actually a good one - they didn't get themselves out of trouble (as with Fulham and West Ham in previous seasons), they sank like a stone and only stayed up because Shearer conspired to make the Mags even worse with him than they were without him. End of the day, if Newcastle had got 6 points from their final 8 games, Hull would have gone down (with their 3 points from 11 games when the pressure was on).

Hull now are a better side then what they were at the end of last season.

I heard that Frazier Campbell might go to Hull in January on loan?! How is he travelling for Sunderland?

I don't think they are better. They've lost an excellent defender (we'll soon sort him out and bring his level back to Earth though), and replaced him with two of below EPL standard.

As for Campbell - he's had a few sub appearences, definately one for the future. Can't see us letting him go out on loan - we only have three first team strikers in our squad (Healy and Murphy aren't up to the job and Bruce knows it), if Bent or Jones gets an injury or suspension we'd be forced to go 4-5-1. Not ideal.

Did you actually watch McShane last season? He was at the heart of so much chaos, and relied heavily of the two central defenders to dig him out. He's a lovely lad and a hard worker, but he's not an EPL defender - as you'll witness over the next few months.

McShane as a hard worker, certainly not the finished product but more enthusiastic than Turner and the others In terms of chaos. There was always chaos in the Hull defence, especially from corners and through the middle of midfield.
To tell the truth the whole back 4 fell asleep and were absymal including Turner in the second half of the season. They were really bad. Forest's defence was better and that's saying something. Hull rarely had control of midfield and very very wasteful with their chances. This season I like the look of Hunt ,Ghiad and that American lad whose name escapes me. Hull actually look half decent in attack but again even with Turner, they looked defensively frail. I have a feeling we may have swapped two defenders but both may not be EPL standard. I'm hoping that with the injection of new personnel, that will rev things up in the Hull dressing room. So far, not bad but early days.

Edited by Forestman: 11/9/2009 10:21:33 AM

I'll add a 4th point - no chance of Campbell going anywhere on loan in January. He was terrific last night - full of running, great attitude, the only thing he lacked was a goal. Very promising for the future.

Was reading a Hull blog yesterday and the bloke launched into Campbell as being useless and destined for oblivian. I've heard of watching games through one-eye, but that's the most rediculous thing I've read on the net for years.

As for purchase of the campaign - hard to call, so far Cana and Cattermole have dominated in midfield, Bent has got 4 goals in 5 games, Turner looked solid as a rock on Saturday, and Da Silva and Mensah both came on and looked very comfortable playing out of position as full-backs rather than central defenders. Things are looking up - if only we could find a bit more creativity.

The blog I read was a veritable love-fest toward Turner - the bloke clearly wants to have his babies, but Campbell just got abuse. Bizarre, the bloke who could have gone but didn't gets abuse, the bloke who was there but chose to leave gets none.

To be honest, I'm still a little nervous this season. We're getting the points at the moment - which is good with our fixture list (let's face it, couldn't ask for much friendlier than Bolton, Blackburn and Hull in your first 5 games, with Burnley and Wolves as our next 2.

Our midfield pair are outstanding, although both appear to get booked every week, so I'm guessing they'll both be due for a little downtime over the course of the season - our back-up in central midfield is... Well, it's a case of moving a wide man inside - either Richardson or Reid. As Richardson appears to be our back up left back, that could leave us a little short on the left. Anyway, I'm confident we'll not be fighting relegation, just not overly confident we'll be chasing Europa. Fingers crossed though.

Edited by Benjamin: 16/9/2009 12:14:09 PM

Have to admit I was very nervous about Bruce when we appointed him. Best feeling I've had this season was the last 10 minutes on Saturday - not because we were home and dry, but because he had brought on Mensah at right back and Da Silva at left and both looked comfortable despite being out of position (admittedly it was only against a demoralised Hull side). With those two able to play in the middle or on either side of the back four, they give us so much depth across the back, that despite our squad being relatively small, you suddenly feel like we can cover for 3 or 4 injuries at a time.

In 30 years of following them, my lads have never had a squad strong enough to have the captains of two decent national teams (Ghana and Paraguay) sitting on our bench!

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has revealed his regret at failing to sign Inter Milan midfielder Patrick Vieira.

Redknapp is a keen admirer of the former Arsenal captain and although such a move would not come without controversy, he nonetheless tried to bring him to White Hart Lane in the summer.

The move did not materialise as the Frenchman opted to stay at the San Siro, where he has been a bit-part player in his three seasons there since his move from Juventus.

Spurs allowed midfielders Jamie O'Hara and Kevin-Prince Boateng to join Portsmouth towards the end of the summer transfer window without replacing the duo, leaving Redknapp short of options in the centre of the park.

The former Portsmouth boss now only has in-form Wilson Palacios, Jermaine Jenas and Tom Huddlestone to choose from and should injuries take their toll, Redknapp knows he will come a cropper.

Redknapp told The Independent: "I would like to have got Vieira and was genuinely keen on him. It was definitely a goer but is he playing at (Inter) Milan?"

"We are short in central midfield. We have three central midfield players. Jenas, Huddlestone and Palacios. That is not enough.

"We have left ourselves short. Tom has done well and Jenas is fit. It is the only area that scares me a bit."

The Tottenham boss now looks sure to invest in the January transfer window with a central-midfield ball-winner his main priority, meaning Vieira could yet be on his radar.

"I have not got anyone to block it up," Redknapp added. "Niko [Kranjcar] is not going to do a dog's job for us. He is a footballer, he gets it and plays it.

"So I have no one I can bring in and leave out 3-4 flair players out and fill out."

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12874_5569290,00.html

Is Redknapp serious Viera would never go to Spurs.

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 22/9/2009 02:17:45 PM

Agreed on Vermaelen and Johnson. GJ has given us a goal scoring threat from the back we havnt had in a while.

I wanna give a mention to a signing from Sunderland, but theres just too many :lol:. Probably Cana or Bent.

As am I. He was horrible against us, and was inches away from getting a red. Ref put his hand into his back pocket to give him the second yellow, but didnt. Hes such a volatile bastard. Hasnt got any control. Will get 3 reds this season.

Manchester City Bid For Ribery Will Pave The Way For Robinho Switch To Barcelona - Report

Manchester City's intention to pursue Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery will pave the way for Robinho to complete an inevitable switch to Barcelona during the winter transfer window, according to Sport.

The report suggests that if City manage to capture Ribery, then the Brazilian will be certain to head to Camp Nou in a loan move, with the Catalan giants having the option to buy the player at the end of the season.

It is understood that there are serious differences between Robinho and manager Mark Hughes, who is believed to want the operation completed in the near future.

Sources close to the player say he would be delighted to make the move to Barcelona, as he has failed to adapt to the climate, the city or his team-mates in England.

Barcelona director of football Txiki Begiristain has been quoted describing Robinho as an "interesting player", and the fact that he is available to play in this season's UEFA Champions League is seen as a positive in trying to bring him to Camp Nou.

http://goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2009/10/12/1555277/manchester-city-bid-for-ribery-will-pave-the-way-for-robinho