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Besiktas's£8m bid for Saha

Comments (44)

When news of this came in, I bet I wasn't alone in thinking that Moyes might be wise to cash in on an injury prone, 30+ striker, especially when we have a few of 'em (admittedly in various states of repair).

But, given King Louis's return over the first few games of the season, I have to credit the boss on a good call. Mind you, wonder who we might have got in with the extra £8 mill...?
Ben Patchesa, York, UK     Posted 20/09/2009 at 17:26:23

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Peter Bourke
1   Posted 21/09/2009 at 06:17:20

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Have to agree Ben, it was a good piece of vision from Moyes. But to answer your question about who we might have got if we sold him... I would say no-one, as the funds would have been swallowed up somehow. I would say that JV would not have been loaned out if we sold the King.
Matt Traynor
2   Posted 21/09/2009 at 07:16:38

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Can people please forget about that "bid"? We weren’t offered anything like £8 million for him.

In any transfer there has to be a willingness on the part of the player to move. Saha was not interested in moving to Turkey, period. It makes the question about whether Moyes would’ve got the full fee somewhat moot...
Dick Anderson
3   Posted 21/09/2009 at 08:55:44

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When he’s fit Saha is a quality player. Far better then Jo and Anichebe.

Yakubu and Saha could be a formidible partnership if they can both get fit long enough to forge it.
Dave Southon
4   Posted 21/09/2009 at 08:51:24

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I have always been a Saha fan. Yes, he is injury-prone, thus you won’t get 40 games a season out of him, but what Louis does guarantee is a threat, something of which I struggle to see in Jo, Vic and JV.

So far Louis’s goal record for us is played 28, scored 10, these figures show why DM has shown faith in him.

"If" there was an £8m bid, he knew those funds were not going to be re-spent... and if amazingly they were, what striker could he purchase for that money with the same goal ratio?

Dick Anderson
5   Posted 21/09/2009 at 09:18:18

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That David Nugent may have been worth a look. Burnley may have gotten a useful player there.
Dave Southon
6   Posted 21/09/2009 at 09:23:07

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My beef with Nugent is he still drums on about his England record. One cap, one goal - Those who havent seen it, please check it out on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujijaZHneJQ
Daylight robbery - At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!!!
Dave Jeanrenaud
7   Posted 21/09/2009 at 09:35:38

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I’m really enjoying watching Louis Saha at the moment. He is beginning to look like something of a steal for the small fee he cost.

It is arguable that he is presently in the form of his career. Something of a kick in the teeth no doubt for our resident doomsayer Mr Marsh and his theory that ’Darling Dave ruins strikers’.

Once Yakubu has resumed full fitness we will have two strikers who will be the envy of most sides in the country.
Ciarán McGlone
8   Posted 21/09/2009 at 09:41:14

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Long been a fan... one of the most talented forwards in the Premier League.

Thank god he seems to be staying fit.
Kevin Sparke
9   Posted 21/09/2009 at 09:45:40

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Saha is pure class and always has been... as to the ’Moyes ruins strikers’ argument; treat it with the contempt it deserves.

Have a look at Yakubu’s most prolific season - was it at Boro?... no. Was it at Portsmouth? ... no

It was at Everton, under Moyes - 39 games 21 goals.
Berry McWilliam
10   Posted 21/09/2009 at 10:26:30

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My beef with Nugent is that he's shit. He scores two good goals and you forget about all 3 he scored... over the last 2 years at Pompey. I've been a fan of Saha’s transfer eveer since he came, he brings pure class to our attack (and team) more so than any other player. Injuries aside, he is clinical as shit, and a match-winner.
Stefan Tosev
11   Posted 21/09/2009 at 10:49:14

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Ciarán McGlone
Posted 10/08/2009 at 09:06:36
We should have bitten their hands off...

Ciarán McGlone
Posted 21/09/2009 at 09:41:14

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Long been a fan..

Tony Williams
12   Posted 21/09/2009 at 11:04:00

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Well said Berry, the overriding memory of Nugent is his first game, clean through on goal and falls over the ball.

Never good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as King Louis.
Iain McWilliam
13   Posted 21/09/2009 at 11:12:48

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If you tell a player he's good enough times, eventually he will start to believe it himself. I think someone denied confidence plays any part in how good a player is in another thread but to me it accounts for about 15% of a player's effectiveness. Redknapp is usually a manager who talks up his players but he managed to knock Nugent's confidence from Match One.

With Saha, he'd been out that long with injuries, his confidence had taken a battering in a different way, so it's good to see him playing to his potential again (although to be honest, I still would have sold him for £8million IF that was ever offered just to pay off our debts). I also think that, being a striker in a team that plays proper football, he has a better chance of scoring than in one that doesn't as the quality of chances they will get is higher.
Ciarán McGlone
14   Posted 21/09/2009 at 11:25:36

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Stefan,

I have long been a fan..That’s why I realise it’s some kind of miracle that Louis is managing to keep fit this season...

What a stupid and ungracious thing to post.
Alan Kirwin
15   Posted 21/09/2009 at 11:28:26

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Ciaran, you doth protest too much old luv. It wouldn’t stand up in court. We’ve all been there. Case of hole, deep, digging, stop.
Ciarán McGlone
16   Posted 21/09/2009 at 11:40:35

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I fail to see the what the actual charge is....

Andy Mack
17   Posted 21/09/2009 at 11:47:02

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The problem with Saha, is that Moyes won’t leave him on the pitch long enough to complete his hat-trick, I think that's three times now in the last year Saha has had a brace, looked deadly with plenty of time to go and Moyes has replaced him. No, it has nothing to do with having a fiver on him at 150/1 to be top scorer!
Karl Masters
18   Posted 21/09/2009 at 12:04:05

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Nice one, Stefan.

Too many people on here all too willing to denegrate our players. Whipping Boy Osman left the pitch yesterday to a fine ovation, just to prove that, as ever, in most fans’ eyes you are only as good as your last game. Luckily Moyes can see a wider perspective. Otherwise he would not have even bothered with Saha in the first place.

Saha has knocked in 9 in his last 9 Everton appearances. A bit better than a certain Mr Berbatov....... No doubt he’ll pick upsome more knocks, but we have Yak, Jo, Vic and hopefully JV after he’s regained his touch at Derby to cover. It’s a squad game now after all. Fella and Tim can play up front too so we’re looking good now. Just get the right balance in midfield, and that’s starting to happen, and we’ll rocket up the table.
Berry McWilliam
19   Posted 21/09/2009 at 12:24:58

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C’mon Ciarán you gotta laugh man, it wasn't completely in context but did give me a good chuckle. Peace.
Dick Anderson
20   Posted 21/09/2009 at 12:54:01

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Andy Mack

I’m guessing Moyes likes to bring Saha off the field as soon as possible to prevent any further injuries.

Why risk injuries on the off-chance he’ll score a hat-trick?
Nick Entwistle
21   Posted 21/09/2009 at 12:59:33

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Don’t take it too seriously Ciarán, it was a good shout.

Tony Marsh revolves his negativity around a consistent set of principles rather than flavour of the week reactionism.
Dave Wilson
22   Posted 21/09/2009 at 13:19:12

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Not a question of should/shouldn't have bitten their hand off, do you guys really believe Everton were offered £8 million for a 30+ injury-prone striker... and turned it down?
Ciarán McGlone
23   Posted 21/09/2009 at 13:24:52

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I think we’re all amazed at Saha’s fitness this season..

If that’s what I’m charged with — then I’m certainly guilty... and may I Long continue to be proven wrong on that one...
Tony Williams
24   Posted 21/09/2009 at 13:39:19

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Ha ha Ciaran, are you in politics?

I can imagine this to end up like Paxman V Howard, "Did you threaten to bite their hands off"
Nick Entwistle
25   Posted 21/09/2009 at 13:43:58

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To be fair, Ciarán does have a point. Saha has actually at no point at all in any moment or time of his career been fit to play a game of football. Ever. Never ever.

Nice to see you’ve decided what we all think you’re ’charged’ with. Nothing to do with the carpricious nature of your posts at all.

Ciarán McGlone
26   Posted 21/09/2009 at 13:53:38

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Capricious?

Interesting choice of word... couldn’t be more wrong... but hey — it’s your post.
Rob Heib
27   Posted 21/09/2009 at 13:56:48

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Ciarán McGlone: [[ What a stupid and ungracious thing to post. ]]

Funny too. Nice one Stefan.

I have neither the time nor patience to do this but I’ve always thought a "year end review" of everyone’s comments would be a highly enjoyable feature. So last year for instance we could see quotes about how so and so is sure to sign for us because their brother’s mate saw him at Goodison and we were sure to be relegated and so on. The most entertaining feature on F365 is MediaWatch where they call out all the bollocks everyone says/writes on a daily basis.
Roy Rennison
28   Posted 21/09/2009 at 14:04:44

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Capricious? err... does that mean I was born in December??????

Anyway good to see the boys carry on their Europa League form into the prem, give us a boost for next few games which we surely be looking to win (maybe not Portsmouth... we never seem to do well away to them).

Just a point on the Saha hat-trick thing, the link I was watching cut to Saha, sat with Tim after being subbed, and to me he looked a little pee’d off, but maybe that's just my Evertonian paranoia coming to the fore again...

Roy Rennison
29   Posted 21/09/2009 at 14:08:01

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Oh yeah... and Stefan it made me laugh too mate :)
Stefan Tosev
30   Posted 21/09/2009 at 13:48:51

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IMO what Saha possesses in terms of ability, pace power, eye for the goal and finishing at 30+ (and I may say up to 34-35), 95% percent of the strikers in EPL will never have it, regardless of their age. He was labelled “another crocked MU cast-off” and I just cant understand how are people judging someone by his previous team and not by his ability and what he brings in the team.

I can argue the case for Howard and Neville, Billy, Heitinga and Jo  even before they kicked a ball — Heitinga is being accused for being Koldrup Mark II by B Noble, and Bily as lazy, prone to switch-offs in games by T Marsh’s famous rumours — picked by CSKA Moscow supporters (read RS). Patience is something TW readers are not blessed with, furthermore my biggest concern is Rodwell — wonderful talent but I can assure you that if he has 2 bad games in a row he will be branded Championship at best, found out in EPL, liability, another cock up by Moyes, who of course destroyed his confidence.

We have to understand that this is not FM, it's real football, accepting straight away bids for Saha, Lescott, Vaughan is going to have impacts on the team, it will send wrong signals to the players and stuff, it will affect confidence and it will lead to decline.

The next target, mark my words, will be Cahill, there are already section branding him useless, “invisible”, past his best at the age of 30, although when you look at our record with him it states 2.09 points per game and without him 1.18, he is the player who scored the most goals against top 4 sides. Sometimes there are players like Giggs, Scholes, Viera, Blanc, RVN and Ballack who are exceptional and will thrive even in their mid-thirties and the fact that Moyes understands and appreciate this is more important for me, than random contributors looking for short-term gains rather than al-round picture.

ps: Ciaran nothing to do with you, I just picked a random commentary.
Keith Glazzard
31   Posted 21/09/2009 at 14:10:59

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Can I just question the assumption that because Louis and Yakubu are both excellent strikers they will naturally make a great striking partnership. It could happen - they are both better players than simply being goal scorers, grateful though we are for their qualities in this department. Strikers, don’t forget, can also cancel each other out. Besdides, a successful 4-4-2 would very much depend on who the midfield 4 would be.

For me, a player like Jo offers a lot in the second striker role as part of 4-5-1 becoming 4-3-3 in possession. Depending on the team Moyes puts out against Hull, and of course the result, there could be quite a few games up to Christmas to try these things out. Any bets on Davey experimenting?
Guy Hastings
32   Posted 21/09/2009 at 15:20:33

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Guess the Rodwell backlash might as well start here as well. I’ve always thought him to be crap/inconsistent/not as influential a guitarist as Hank Marvin/the least attractive of the Nolans. As for the Cahill carpers, it could be worse. He could be Australian.
Karl Masters
33   Posted 21/09/2009 at 17:00:51

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Saha was never injury prone till he went to Manure. Best to think of him like a finely tuned violin. When perfectly tuned will perform brilliantly, but can easily snap a string and then needs a lot of re-tuning.

Roy - you say we Never do well at Pompey, but look at the results

87/88 WON 1-0
94/95 drew 1-1
03/04 WON 2-1
04/05 WON 1-0
05/06 WON 1-0
06/07 lost 2-0
07/08 drew 0-0
08/09 lost 2-1

4 wins, 2 draws,2 defeats

Due another win. We played rubbish there last season I grant you, but Pompey have deteriorated since then.

Tim Cahill is a God. How people can be seriously questioning what he brings to the team is beyond me. Definitely Moyes’ most effective signing and best value too. He’s got a better goals to game EPL ratio than Lampard or Gerrard FFS. Admit he’s had a fair few injuries, but so has Mikel and nbody is writing him off.
Paul Thompson
34   Posted 21/09/2009 at 17:50:50

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Some excellent observations from Stefan about the short-term thinking of certain fans (and Ciaran wasn’t the only poster who complained that we should have taken the Bestikas ’offer’). He’s also right about Saha. IMHO he is not just the best of our current strikers, but one of the best we’ve had on our books in the last 40 years.

I first started watching the blues in 1959 and have seen some great strikers. Some have had better individual attributes (heading, poaching in the box etc), but I find it hard to recall anyone with a better all-round game. Louis is a superb header of the ball, has great awareness of space and ball control, and can shoot with both feet. Just hope he can keep fit and stay on them.
Guy Wilkinson
35   Posted 21/09/2009 at 17:56:50

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Ciaron ----owned

Nugent----championship striker

Saha-------classy two footed striker
Jay Harris
36   Posted 21/09/2009 at 20:19:40

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Stefan
good post.

I’m getting really concerned about people’s need to have a "whipping boy".

Tim Cahill sems to be the latest one especially after the way Ossie played yesterday.

People need to understand it’s a team game and the manager picks the team.

If players play out of position or carrying a knock they will invariably not look as good but if they still give 100% for the shirt thats good enough for me.

The only time I think its fair to criticise a player or the manager for picking him is if he is consistently poor over a number of games.

As pointed out in the stats our results with Tim C in the side are significantly better than without him.
John Martin
37   Posted 21/09/2009 at 23:14:11

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I would imagine most people had the same thoughts about Saha re the "Bid" we all liked him and recognised the talent but with his injuries most of us would have accepted £8 million. No shame in that and despite his great start doesnt mean we would have been wrong to accept it as there is no guarentee that he’ll stay fit. But let's hope he does.
Dave Wilson
38   Posted 22/09/2009 at 05:03:33

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Jay / Stefan

I wouldn’t worry too much about Tim Cahill, he has already secured his place in Evertonian hearts forever.

We have better footballers at the club now, Rodwell, Arteta, Pienaar, Billy Osman and Fellaini are all more comfortable on the ball, that’s a pretty good measure of our improvement... but the Tiger has something none of the others have, ask any defender in the Prem / World who they fear the most and the Tigers name will be top of the list.

Tim Cahill is not blessed with silky skills, throughout his career, he has made up for that by putting his body on the line, he is quite simply, as brave as they come, but if he continues to play 90 minutes of each game, that will surely begin to tell.

David Moyes knows what he has in Cahill — he should do, TC’s got him out of jail often enough — and I see no reason why the sight of the Tiger warming up on the sidelines shouldn’t still be striking fear into the hearts of defenders for another 4-5 years.

Not since WR burst onto the scene, have we been able to look to our bench and see a match changer.

Ciarán McGlone
39   Posted 22/09/2009 at 09:15:14

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"I would imagine most people had the same thoughts about Saha re the "Bid" we all liked him and recognised the talent but with his injuries most of us would have accepted £8 million."
-----------------


Are you joking?

It clearly wasn’t a logical conclusion based upon the quoted sale price and the injury history of the player...

...it was of course a knee-jerk reaction indicating the inate fickleness of our fans!

No doubt all those who didn’t say ’sell’ are soothsayers...
Roy Rennison
40   Posted 22/09/2009 at 09:58:16

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Karl, I agree if you go back to 1988 then we have got results, but to be honest I was on about recent history... I always seem concerned when we play Blackburn, Portsmouth and Fulham, rightly or wrongly.
Phil Bellis
41   Posted 22/09/2009 at 09:57:09

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Ciarán, would you explain that last post, please. I thought Stefan’s original comment was to point out the inconsistency and myopic vision of some supporters — I presumed from the content of his post that he was including you in that group.

Reading some of your responses can be the literary equivalent of an out-of-body experience.
Ciarán McGlone
42   Posted 22/09/2009 at 10:33:05

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Phil,

Suffice to say, I’m not too happy being the personification of ’myopic and inconsistent’ supporters... And I certainly don’t think this Saha ’£8mill’ incident is a good one to call it on...

Anybody with a bit of sense would’ve sold Saha for 8mill during the summer, considering we had absolutely no money and his past attendance record.

To use this as an example of myopia is, well - how can I put it... more than a little disingenuous and ’myopic’.
Ciarán McGlone
43   Posted 22/09/2009 at 10:56:40

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In short, my feelings are hurt.
Phil Bellis
44   Posted 22/09/2009 at 11:11:11

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Ciarán,
Stefan did mention it was a ’random commentary’ so don’t be upset
Re the Saha ’bid’ , I wonder which was more likely...
Moyes didn’t have a bit of sense;
Saha didn’t want to go;
It was all bollocks?

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