Today's Banter: Jimmy Ryan gone, Torres, Xabi likely to be fit for Arsenal, New stadium costs rising, & more

- Jimmy Ryan will make his loan to Shrewsbury Town permanent in January. Good luck to the lad and hopefully he finds success with the League Two side. I know I criticized him in the past for not wanting to make it with a formidable club like our own, but honestly, if the kid just wants to play football than kudos to him.

- Xabi Alonso looks to be almost a sure thing to start on Sunday versus Arsenal while Torres is looking more and more likely to feature as well. I wonder if Harry Kewell might also be an option as he only played the first half for the Reserves yesterday? That might be rushing things though and with Kewell's track record, probably not the brightest of ideas.

- The new stadium, which is expected to be ready by 2011, was originally supposed to cost around £250m. Now Tom Hicks is saying around £400m is more like it. That's quite an increase in cost which is sure to come out of the supporters' pockets. The thing that most disturbs me about this article is Hicks saying, "There are far better investments I could make than buying a football team." Why do I feel like he's giving me the service?

- Should we feel sorry for Peter Crouch? David Prentice seems to think so. Unfortunately his article appears to lack a bit of logic, especially when it says things like 'They managed two more efforts after his introduction, and this time finally breached Besiktas’ goal' and when further speaking of that match, 'But Crouch looked predictably rusty and wasted the kind of chance he was gobbling up six months ago.' First insinuating that Crouch had something to do with the goal that Gerrard scored, which is far from reality, and then saying he was 'rusty' possibly due to lack of playing time, makes no sense. If Peter Crouch can't take advantage of the opportunities allowed him, then when will he? Predictably rusty? You've got to be kidding. He plays football nearly everyday in training, but apparently he's still 'predictably rusty'. Get off it. It's going to be a long, long time before I get the Marseilles match out of my head, when he was clearly not playing for us.

- Finally we have good ole David Moyes still moaning about Clattenburg's performance last Saturday and now how Liverpool and Benitez in particular reacted to being 'gifted' the three points. Get over it Moyes, maybe you should have played Tim Howard last year when Man United came to town. The Premiership is a corrupt league, except it or rot.