belated tslr articles- jan

Flairwatch

by tom stewart

Happy new year flairniacs!

Everyone here at Flair HQ trusts that you had a wonderful festive period, and are looking forward to Two Thousand and FLAIRleven.

The January transfer window is a period in which all true flairniacs can not fail to lick their lips with excitement. A whole month of pure transfer speculation, with wild rumours flying all over the place. Are we really going to see Mikael Forsell partner Robbie Fowler upfront in the blue and white stripes? No, of course not (although Forsell is a viable rumour in my view).

However, here is my personal wish list.

Goalkeepers? We’re pretty much sorted there aren’t we? Casper is superb AND has moments of true flair, with his punches and time wasting, and sexy Pete looks good in trousers, so I’m happy with him as a back up, so I’m happy in that department.

Defenders? Well, Inigo is my favourite player on earth, and Marcos is just superb. But we could possibly do with a bit of back up. The fact that Tano plays for us every now and again is just brilliant, and I guess Radostin can do a job as back up, but maybe someone a bit younger as back up? Not too high up on our priority list, but maybe something to think about in the future. As for centre backs, well we’re definitely fine there.......maybe a mental Uruguayan? Maybe I’m being selfish.

Onto midfield, Well on the right, Bennett is excellent, I genuinely think he’s one of the best players I’ve seen in an Albion shirt, so no need for improvement there. Central midfield, and we’ve got Radostin the beast, who has impressed me a lot, Bridcutt who I LOVE- I think Gus has pulled a blinder there. Dicker and Sparrow are good, and Agustin keeps the flair quota up. Left midfield? Well, Noone sounds like he’s going to make a massive difference, and maybe Kazenga will return? That’d be amazing, and of course there’s the penalty king, Cristian Baz.

Upfront? Well, Glenn is, in my view, irreplaceable. If you look at some of these prices being bounded around for the likes of Charlie Austin, Adam Le fondre, Aaron McLean, then £300k for Murray was a real bargain, I really hope he doesn’t leave for a long time. Ashley Barnes is good enough, he’ll get goals and I’m starting to believe the hype there. Then we have our two flairnaics. Super Fran plays football like a retarded horse, but seems to be in the right place at the right time- ALL the time. Chris Wood, well, he’s from New Zealand, so enough said there.

So what do we actually NEED? Well, another striker is a decent shout, apart from that I think our first XI is brilliant, so maybe just some back up players? There’s talk of Craig Mackail-Smith, Charlie Austin and the like.....that kind of player would see us kill this division, and there’s talk of some Spanish guy called “Quini”, obviously I’d wet my pants if that happened.

So that’s it for this month, sorry if it’s been uneventful, join me next month for the Transfer Window REVIEW

Viva La Revolucion!