Moyes taking time over Hitzlsperger

That probably means that Gibbo will be playing our next game

OR

Shitzlsperger is shite.

Hope I'm wrong about the latter.

Or that Hitzlsperger is building his fitness and they don't want to rush a decision. Kinda like Moyes said...

Would we be allowed to give him a contract till January? We desperately need midfield cover until we can sign someone with a view to the long term.

While I don't think Moyes has ever made a quick decision in his life, if he was that good or important to us we'd have signed him by now and let him build up his fitness once he had signed.

While Moyes has a great transfer record on the whole since he came to us, his penchant for signing fodder just to make up the numbers has always baffled me. It has probably cost us a small fortune over the years, on players who are nowhere near good enough. I'm thinking of Marcus Hanneman, Anthony Gardner, James McFadden, Francis Jeffers, Phillippe Senderos etc. All of these were ready for the knacker's yard, and were never gonna do anything or us, but we ended up paying them all a few grand a week just to make up an 11-a-side in training.

This lad Hitzlsperger is merely the latest name to add to that list...

Danny,

"his penchant for signing fodder ...... probably cost us a small fortune over the years"

You must like living dangerously Dan, comments such as these can result in burning at the stake or being beaten with chair legs in Stanley Park.

I can hear flat beds with a rifle in the cab and cow horns adorning the grille being loaded with cans of petrol as we speak.

Run for your life man!

Our first team squad is probably one of the smallest in the prem so I can understand the need for cover. If "Der Hammer" can get fit then he could be useful as I remember some good performances from him at Villa and West Ham.

So true...Danny #755
Imagine what it would be like if Moyes didn't have a limitless transfer budget

I agree Danny.

And not only is it baffling, but it is also insulting and a bit disheartening, really.

When McFadden was resigned after being dropped by a hatful of clubs after us, it really was a kick in the balls and I'm sure the players didn't appreciate it.

Back to Hitzlsberger, why not resign and let him play the first/or second half instead of getting whomped in the middle like we have been with the Great Leonius and the Eversquare Philistine.

2 weeks mid season is an eternity. Obviously he is rusty and out of shape at this point. By the time he signs, Gibbo will be back.

Seems he isn't being signed to cover Gibbo, seeing as he ain't fit enough yet, so Moyes is just mulling over whether Hitz will be of any use to us later in the season. I would suggest any player who is without a club at this stage of the season isn't good enough....

Moyes likes his players to be extremely fit and well drilled; he's probably half-killing the poor lad, destroying him to build him back up in the Everton way. Yakubu probably lost a stone in his first year at the club.

Signing the rubble you list Danny is part and parcel of football when you operate on a shoestring. Yes there's a big revenue outlay, but that's only down to the fact that football has allowed silly salaries to infiltrate the game. Young players can be millionaires now without ever having gotten a game in the first team in the Premier League.

Last season I believe many have pointed to the 4-4 game at Old Trafford as one where McFadden actually did something - not a great return for a season's wages, but as Leeds away showed us, if you depend entirely on your youth for squad filling you'll come up short.

Sometimes when I read TW, I'm tempted to post "Wakey, wakey - you nutters!" Then I remember that I am myself a nutter, and fond of a snooze

Or, to put it another way: most people have missed the point, which is very simple: The Hitzman has a long history of injury problems. He is currently unfit. So, he has to (a) get up to speed, and (b) prove that he his injury problems are a thing of the past(ish). Then the management will be in a position to judge whether he will be a good addition to the squad, either short term (a 3/6 month contract) or long term.

He's played for Germany 52 times, so he is a quality player. It doesn't cost much to have him training with us, and if we sign him it will be fairly economical, I'd have thought. So let's just wait and see...

Seems like an incredibly sensible policy to me. It's not as though we're going to through him into the first team anyway.

Seems like an incredibly sensible policy to me. It's not as though we're going to through him into the first team anyway.

Matt - 783. Relying on youth against Leeds away, really?

Mucha, 29yo 7 apps
Coleman, 24, 55
Heitinga, 29, 101
Distin, 34, 117
Oviedo 24, 1
Naismith 27, 4
Fellaini 25. 134
Junior 20, 1
Gueye 22, 14
Mirallas 25, 5
Anichebe 25, 52

Ave age 23.6. Apps. 44.5 - taking into account 4 players who joined this season.

Blaming the youth is wrong but it does show that the squad could benefit from additional options and I think Hitzelsperger would be a no brainer.

3 weeks ago I would have jumped at this but Gibson must surely be back soon and to be fair Neville whilst not necessarily excelling has equally not been a disaster in the middle of the park.

Probably worth it anyway as I have a horrible feeling that Gibbo will miss more matches than he will play this season.

The Hitz (as he's known) might have taken one too many of them and be clucked — which might just really show up as he approaches fitness levels you need in the Prem.