"Keans lobotomist was things not going bad before the back end of last season untill we turned it round"

...with the return of Jones....who has now been sold...who lacks experience.

Ah its going round in circles!! We do have experience actually all over the field but the players are getting on to be too experienced (Salgado, Nelsen, Dunn) or not really good enough to be a guaranteed first teamer (Emerton, Roberts). Only sure things seem to be Givet (what is his best position?), Robinson and Samba (going?) who drop into that category.

hanley and givet, i do no not rate. but it looks like they will have to do, because this transfer window as been like pulling teeth. Don't quite know who's fault its been, but it's been a pess take.

I still reckon N'zonzi had just as much an impact as Jones. Only when he came did we finally see the best out of JJ and hopefully Petrovic will work well with him too.

Yes Super K,i agree but we dont even have JJ now,but i still maintain that we began to put some good moves together when Roberts partnered Benjani up front both strong players both could hold the ball.this allowed hoillet,Olson, JJ to get in on the attack it did look good,i am getting ready for this season to start now.

What about someone like Cameron Jerome? Assuming Kalinic goes, we'll need another striker. I know he's not going to set the world alight (and he hasn't got a pretty foreign name), but he could do a job for us. Not prolific, but we're not going to get someone prolific in a top league, they cost £10m plus. Could go for another unknown foreigner, but I think we've got enough of them already.

Jerome's a good shout, but do you not think is very similar to roberts, I think roberts gets a hard time. if he was at another club then signed for us, we would all probably say not a bad signing.

Yeah similar to Roberts, think he has a couple more goals in him though, and a few more years in him. Fulham had £3m turned down, surely 4 would do it.

Just think he's the kind of sensible signing we need a he moment. There's talk of this vierinha guy, but I'd argue thank wide is the position we have most depth (olsson & pedersen left, hoilett & emerton right). Would be much happier to see that kind of money spent on an out and out striker.

You should go for Snodgrass of Leeds and have two of the brightest Scottish players leading your line!

Yea agree with that, i do think emerton and perders lack pace, don't know much about the greek guy.

We'd all love to see defoe, cash the reported price is supposed to be 7 mill, thats not a lot, we started this window talking about cisse at 12, but that seem to have gone belly up that sort of thing and we back to bargain basement.

I think as soon as on club goes for Defoe, a few others will dive in and we're unlikely to be his best option.

He'd be a fantastic signing. Having someone like him pretty much guarantees safety, just like bent at villa.

Not Jerome, Birmingham didn't think he was good enough and that says a lot considering their front line last season.

I thought he had a couple of injuries. They seemed to be doing alright when he was in the team.

I found an article about Jerome on the BCFC board so this is what they think of him: http://www.ja606.co.uk/comments/viewAllComments/19677

Agree with blueandwhitehalves, we were simply epic against Wolves last game of the season.

Emerton gets little recognition for how good he was in our run in last season. He grabbed a couple of extremely important goals, United and Wolves, and got some important assists, West Ham particularly. He also helps Sally out well.

Can't see anything other than Emerton and Olsson out wide, unless we get this Vierianha guy and he is the bee knees.

No left back is going to really grind my gears if it goes for another full season.

Genuinely think Petrovic will be a great signing and pair him up with The Zonz.

Hoilett is probably our best player along with Samba and Robbo, he is lethal behind the striker so stays put, unless he goes wide due to Formica or Rochina being class acts.

Striker wise, I love the guy, but don't think it will take much to look better than Roberts, Goodwillies looks like a tough lad and knows where the net is, probably play him. He was flying last season for Dundee, try and keep that going...

Still think we might see possibly another striker, midfielder along with Petrovic and a defender.

I don't think we'll see another striker unless Kalinic goes.

To be honest, I'd like to see Kalinic given another season, we're unlikely to be able to find anyone better with the kind of money we've been spending.

Don't see the Vierinha thing happening, and I don't think we actually need him.

Definitely need a defender, a versatile one ideally.

Yep agree with most of that mcteeth (not a shocking revelation seeing as you originally agreed with me). Emerton was excellent in the run-in which seems to have gone largely unnoticed. Personally rate Givet at left-back though, although wouldn't be keen if he somehow ended up as our centre half.

Agree on Hoilett as well, surely you should play your best player in his most effective position? Sticking him out wide again seems like a waste to me. Only reason I'd keep Roberts in initially is I'm not sure how much of Hoilett's brilliance at the end of last season could be replicated without him. At 5'9 Goodwillie isn't gonna be knocking any balls down or occupying 2 centre halves at once.

Blueandwhitehalves

we won't be needing anyone to knock any balls down cus the ball's never going to be in the air. We're not under allardyce's evil spell any more! This is total football steve kean styleee!

Don't we always agree in general except for Pedersen?

Defensively Givet is okay at left back, but he just offers no support going forward or over laps, which in today's game is fairly standard.

I know what you mean about Roberts, I just think we could have a striker that can link up with our forwards and still get into double figures themselves.

It is a big season for Roberts to be honest, needs to step up.

I think Roberts is past 'stepping up'. He is what he is. You either play him and accept that, or replace him.

He has never been our 'main' guy though. That was my 'stepping up' theory.

Goodwillies looks like a tough lad and knows where the net is, probably play him. He was flying last season for Dundee, try and keep that going...
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First of all, please don't refer to us as 'Dundee', we are 'Dundee United'. The less said about 'Dundee' the better

Regarding Goodie - I'm sure you've got loads of Goodie fun to look forward to.

He's still young and has room for improvement, but he is really exciting to watch.

He doesn't just score goals by the way, his movement on the park is very intelligent and he will provide you with a fair amount of assists too.

I always looked forward to seeing what he was going to come up with on a matchday. But whilst I will miss watching him at United, I am glad he has got his big move to an EPL club.

I wish him and Blackburn all the best for the future, and I will be tuning in to MOTD regularly to see how he is doing.

All the best for the new season

I honestly believe steve kean is making roberts his number 1 striker this season so we need to get behind and hope he shows the form that made allardyce pick him, after the huge bust up.

I think is got everything is in locker apart from hitting the net.

Just to touch on emerton, he may have had some decent games back end of last season but for me he is seriuosly not good enough, is to slow to play outwide, is decision making is awful.
Now this is not something thats not come on all of a sudden, have been thinking it for about 4 seasons, so maybe difficlut to change my judgement on him.

Hmm I seem to recall us disagreeing a lot last season mcteeth, although I'm struggling to remember exactly what about, the managerial change probably. I think Kean's late run and my gradual recovery from the post-Allardyce grieving process has largely bridged that though.

Saying that I probably disagree on the full-back interpretation. Personally I prefer full-backs to be solid defenders above all else. If they're formerly world-class like Salgado and can do both no problem but I'm not too fussed if they can only do one well as long as its defending (which is why I'm never comfortable having Olsson there).

Not sure I understand that third sentence, Roberts is a forward so isn't it up to our attacking players behind to link the midfield to him? If you're saying you want a target man who can get into double figures then it'll be a tough ask to find. Presumably due to the attention they get from the opposition defence, lone target men tend not to be prolific (Davies, Heskey, Zamora for example) and if they are they're in the £20-30m bracket (Caroll, Drogba, Berbatov).

I agree with SKL, Roberts is what he is, probably a bottom half PL striker, he aint gonna improve or change his game at 33. If we wanna finish mid-table/top-half I agree we could do with an upgrade. Goodwillie could be the man but I'm concerned about playing him in a 4-4-1-1 with Hoilett/Formica behind him (5'9 strikeforce) and 4-4-2 didn't tend to work for Kean last season. We'll have to see anyway, its one of those good problems at least, sign another striker and it'll be a very good problem.

Yeah I think it was mainly Kean and Venky's stuff we fell out over...

I don't WANT Roberts as our main striker, but it is looking like he might be. Venky's might have an ace up their sleeve, there are plenty of mootings that another striker will come.

It is frustrating as if Roberts could shoot properly he'd be an immense striker. He is brilliant at occupying two centre and getting himself and others into goal scoring positions.

On the one hand it could turn out amazingly well, by forwards I meant attack minded midfield. In essence Kean's formation has 4 defenders, 2 solid midfielders, a pacey winger either side with an attacking midfielder behind a striker. So we will always have 3 attacking players behind a striker.

So back to my point, if Roberts is purely there a a lump to move defenders about, receive the ball with his back to goal and give it to someone else, any combination of Olsson, Hoilett, Emerton, Formica, Rochina etc could have a field day. So I agree Roberts getting bags of goals isn't the line to between relegation and success no. But he will have well over 10 chances to score a goal this season, just want him to get into double figures, he did it easily for Wigan as the main man.

Thing a lot rests on Hoilett, I'd put money on it now he will be top of goals and assists this season. Olsson, Emerton and hopefully Formica and Rochina will get amongst it regularly.