Isegrim

The editorial at his website his comedy gold... http://www.erolbulut.com/indexen.html

Have all already signed new contracts or had longer contracts anyway.

Yep, even before he went to City IIRC. I can see Liverpool doing it again this year. Going to City ? He played for City on loan at the tail end of the 03/04 season. If memory serves he only played 5 or so games. We conceeded 4 to Manure in one of them, and he got sent off in another (wrongly, Alan Smith the diving little c***), but produced a fantastic display in one of the others that causes almost every single City fan to look back on his time here extremely fondly (I think it was against Birmingham). Unfortunately he did his achilles before he could make a real impact and was never seen again. Marseille wanted £2.5m for us to sign him permenantly, we didn't stump up the cash so he went to Hamburg instead. And as is always the case when you don't sign injury prone players (see Woodgate, J), they go on to be completely injury free out of spite and 2 years later he's at Bayern Munich. Boat well and truly missed. He was seriously linked with everyone including Newcastle back in the day, but they wanted silly money for him at one point (£15m or so). We only got him (in a swap loan deal for David Sommeil) cos he fell out with the coach or some such...but the cream rises to the top. Not suprised at all to see him playing at this level now. I couldn't believe it when he went to Hamburg for such a small fee remembering Newcastle were asked to pay more than 10m for and after he went to Hamburg. He really is a defender in the Albert mood. His positioning is dodgy at times, but he normally makes up for it - like today. And especially at Hamburg he was a true leader. Immense player imho.

Klasnic just had a kidney transplant. It's not sure when he will come back to football.

He doesn't exactly have an easy job, does he? I keep saying that while he has no excuse for being an arse the majority of the time, he does have an excuse for not being able to write his full opinions about the chairman/club. He relies on exclusives from NUFC to sell his papers and to upkeep his surprisingly good reputation, if you take that away then he might as well write for True Faith or the Journal. True but it's also worth noting that The Journal are much more objective in there coverage of NUFC. Oliver might as well be writing for the official website for all the objectivity he has. On a different note, Roeder's days are probably numbered once Oliver starts having a pop at him Oh definitely, but you don't see the lads from the Journal getting their mugs on SSN every time a story about the Toon comes out. I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying I think Oliver writes better stories than the Journal lads (because he doesn't), but it's not hard to appreciate that he has to keep in with Shepherd to sell his papers. I am not sure. I think the club needs the papers more than it is the other way round. The paper will always find stories and sources, but any club needs the local papers itself to feed them with their spin. And Anal O doesn't really have any competition. That's why the club would never let him run dry...

Didn't Roeder say himself at the start of the season that last season's position was the benchmark...

And I look at what I see now and not at hypothetical scenarios. Good for you, but football doesn't stand still and it is not beyond reason that Martins, in a better side, with more experience, can not improve further beyond what he has demonstrated so far which is 16 goals and numerous assists. Do you disagree with this? What are you looking for exactly here Isegrim BTW? I see at current a talented player producing the goods where it matters - goals and assists - so therefore I am extremely happy with his contribution and don't see a need to nit pick because I accept given his age and the team he is playing in under the tactics employed, not to mention this being his first season at the club, he isn't the finished article. What am I looking for? I look for Martins starting to add his own contribution to the style of play and shape of the team, e.g. by using his pace for movement by getting behind the back of defenders and make himself available for passes. This would create space and unsettle defences. If he keeps his current playing style he will always score a fair amount of goals, but this will be it. In fact for me Martins could have scored half the number of goals and looked better in his overall approach to the game and I would be far more convinced than by looking at the stats and thinking OMG!! He scored 16 goals, he is DA MAN!!! Actually I think the goals will come back with Owen anyway, what will Martins contribution be then?

And I look at what I see now and not at hypothetical scenarios.

He had no real strike partners in the past as he wasn't a first team regular. And I doubt you could call the likes of Adriano etc. vall poachers. Of course he has done well in the terms of scoring a lot important goals. But on the other side he had a lot of absolutely awful games. I fail to see why you are not allowed to point it out. His questionable movement, anticipation and ball control let him down in a lot of games and as a result let the team down. Results like yesterday's are a reflection of this. Of course he does have great assets, but they are worth nothing if he isn't learning to use them in the right way. Why shouldn't people be sceptical after having seen little progress in those terms over the whole season? Of course you can blame a lot other factors like the manager, the other players, the baggage retrieval system they got at Heathrow etc., but in the end you have to look at Martins as well. The style of play of the team isn't good, but it's hardly getting better if Martins isn't working on his game and actually start to use his skills like his pace and give other players real options.

What's your point then? You agree with a lot of what I say, but then say I shouldn't be saying it? He's shown you he can control the ball well? Has he been doing this in private cos he's not doing it at SJP that's for f****** sure. My point is why single out Martins and make what for me are absurd comments such as "could still yet prove to be an expensive flop" or words to that effect, when in reality he has done very well this season and shown more than enough that there is a great deal of potential there. You've claimed that people overrate him (they do) yet for me, you're just as bad with your over the top critical assessment. Yes his control, movement etc. isn't the best and he's a frustrating player, all things I agree with you on, but you make it out to be a lot worse than it actually is or give that impression. As for the games where he has shown good control etc. - Liverpool at home, Spurs, Hammers, Blackburn away, AZ at home (I thought he was sparkling) and Chelsea at home in the LC come to mind, where he did well, in my opinion anyway. What Martins needs and so do we, is a good partner, we also need to stop playing balls 10 feet in the air for him to try and get on the end of, and to use his assets such as his pace, to play to his strengths and hope in time his overall game will develop enough. I personally think he has done amazingly well this season to make a mark given the service and the anal tactics being deployed, to score 16 goals in this abject team is no mean feat. To be hyper critical as you have been pretty much since day one though, is being harsh. Jesus Christ lad, what is hyper-critical about pointing out that the lad's movement and control are poor? They ARE by the way, you can deny that all you like and list 6 games from an entire season where he's demonstrated a good touch, but that's not enough. His touch is consitently worse than Shola's, which only serves to prove that on the occasions he gets it right, it's more through luck than him actually having a good touch. Jesus, anyone can get it right from time to time. More often than not his touch is poor, and more often than not his movement is poor. Name your top 6 Martins games as evidence that he's great if you like, but don't expect me not to point to the rest of the time as evidence that he's got a LONG way to go and he's going to need proper coaching to get there. PS. Were you there yesterday? (bet you weren't ) Did you see any evidence of his touch? You know when someone is defeated when they turn all supafan on you Seriously, I genuinely think you've been harsh on Martins since he signed Gemmill and while there is a lot of truth in what you're saying, it is becoming a bit of a broken record with you, with each poor performance Martins puts in, being amplified to the point you even, shock horror, start a thread about it, which is rarer than hens teeth round these parts PS No I wasn't at the match, to be fair. To be fair, I can't remember any thread Gemmill has started about this topic before... I can't remember Gemmill starting ANY thread to be fair. He does like to mention Martins' poor movement, control etc. on a consistent basis though. So you are just trying to make things up. Ok. There is nothing wrong in pointing to Martins' shortcomings tbh. And in the end the criticism is getting balanced out by the large number of posts where Martins is getting über-glorified. You know all this "is better than Rooney nonsense" etc.

What's your point then? You agree with a lot of what I say, but then say I shouldn't be saying it? He's shown you he can control the ball well? Has he been doing this in private cos he's not doing it at SJP that's for f****** sure. My point is why single out Martins and make what for me are absurd comments such as "could still yet prove to be an expensive flop" or words to that effect, when in reality he has done very well this season and shown more than enough that there is a great deal of potential there. You've claimed that people overrate him (they do) yet for me, you're just as bad with your over the top critical assessment. Yes his control, movement etc. isn't the best and he's a frustrating player, all things I agree with you on, but you make it out to be a lot worse than it actually is or give that impression. As for the games where he has shown good control etc. - Liverpool at home, Spurs, Hammers, Blackburn away, AZ at home (I thought he was sparkling) and Chelsea at home in the LC come to mind, where he did well, in my opinion anyway. What Martins needs and so do we, is a good partner, we also need to stop playing balls 10 feet in the air for him to try and get on the end of, and to use his assets such as his pace, to play to his strengths and hope in time his overall game will develop enough. I personally think he has done amazingly well this season to make a mark given the service and the anal tactics being deployed, to score 16 goals in this abject team is no mean feat. To be hyper critical as you have been pretty much since day one though, is being harsh. Jesus Christ lad, what is hyper-critical about pointing out that the lad's movement and control are poor? They ARE by the way, you can deny that all you like and list 6 games from an entire season where he's demonstrated a good touch, but that's not enough. His touch is consitently worse than Shola's, which only serves to prove that on the occasions he gets it right, it's more through luck than him actually having a good touch. Jesus, anyone can get it right from time to time. More often than not his touch is poor, and more often than not his movement is poor. Name your top 6 Martins games as evidence that he's great if you like, but don't expect me not to point to the rest of the time as evidence that he's got a LONG way to go and he's going to need proper coaching to get there. PS. Were you there yesterday? (bet you weren't ) Did you see any evidence of his touch? You know when someone is defeated when they turn all supafan on you Seriously, I genuinely think you've been harsh on Martins since he signed Gemmill and while there is a lot of truth in what you're saying, it is becoming a bit of a broken record with you, with each poor performance Martins puts in, being amplified to the point you even, shock horror, start a thread about it, which is rarer than hens teeth round these parts PS No I wasn't at the match, to be fair. To be fair, I can't remember any thread Gemmill has started about this topic before...

Benny like Mourinho likes to have two sides one a little more geared to the CL. Squad depth is vastly overrated...

Exactly mate. How do you think Mr Shepherd would react in that situation?! The only equivalent thing I can think of is when he did something for the handful of fans that went to one of our difficult-to-get-to European games (and I can't even remember what it was that he did). The most damning thing is that I don't think it would even occur to him to do something like Quinn did. I mean I literally don't think it would enter his mind that he has a responsibility to help the fans. The best you could hope for is a PR friendly story on the website two days later - "Shepherd condemns flight operators". Wasn't it the Partizan away game and it wasn't the club but the Ambassador who helped out fans? http://nufc.com/html/2003-08-13partizan-a.html

A rather short mention of the alleged interest of Hertha in Emre in today's Kicker (Jormany's leading football magazine), where he is deemed unaffordable... http://kicker.de/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/artikel/363221/

Financial lunacy, the best indicator for an ambitious board... How we could give certain players vastly improved contracts despite them not having done anything to earn them is totally beyond my level of understanding. Anyway.... "planning". bluelaugh.gif

£3.8m if I'm not mistaken 3.8 is correct, dunno where the 6 came from! £3.8m = 6m Euro. Anal O is just too thick to realize that there do exist other currencies in the world. As for the for the rehashing of the old Bayern rumour. I say it again, that the only source for it were English tabloids. There was never any credible German source backing this rumour. And the same can be said about this new Hertha rumour. I very much doubt that there is any substance in it. Hertha are debt ridden and can't afford a lot. They hardly would be able to meet the asking price and match Emre's wage demands.

It's rubbish. Done.

We also need a Bramble vs. Terry comparison...

www.hitzfeldisaloon.com?

Completely agree with you This thread should have included Marcello Lippi too He is free at the moment Yeah, but the discussion wasn't who is the best manager in the world, but who is the better of those two.

Coming from a discussion with Bayernfans on a Jorman forum after Hitzfeld signed a new contract. What do you consider is the bigger achievement. What Wenger has done at Arsenal in the last ten years or what Hitzfeld achieved with Bayern and Dortmund. And if you look at both who would you rather want to manage Newcastle (or your club in general)?

He has just signed a one year extension with Bayern...

I think it was Tony Cascarino who wrote an article earlier in the season saying that Berbatov very rarely scores against better defences, if you look at his record for both Spurs and Bulgaria then it seems Cascarino has hit the nail on the head. Good player though but needs a better goalscorer than Defoe next to him. Yep, Im sure his goals have mainly been against poor teams this season. He does have a problem scoring away from home aswell. He's got a great first touch but he does lack pace Just slammed both those theories tbh. How? I said he rarely scores against good defences, just because he scored past Chelsea (who have Essien at CB) doesn't mean the statement isn't true. I always wonder why people seem to be obsessed to judge strikers just by goals. I wouldn't see Berbatov as just a "goalgetter". His game isn't just about goals but rather about his movement and his touches. I haven't seen a lot from him at Spurs, but here in Germany he had always a fair amount of assists. I remember him scoring a lot of goals in the CL against bigger teams though...

Metzelder is living very much from his reputation. His league form has been very indifferent in the last couple of years and there is a big question mark if he is ever reaching again the potential he had shown before his injury troubles started . He had some problems with the management staff though and looked much better for the national team. I think the reason why he has not accepted Dortmund's offer is not only down to money reasons but also personal experiences in the last couple of years and the fact that he sees the ideal opportunity to move abroad. I reckon he will go to Italy where he has still a very good name.

Did you also forget basic maths and realize if 11 men are playing against 10 men, the 11 men have the advantage? So if Chelsea played with 10 men against Accrington Stanley, would Accrington still have the advantage? That's rhetorical, before you answer. So you think that because Ajax had a man sent off and Werder still won 3-0 that it doesn't send a message, even though Ajax are basically identified as European giants and Werder are, well, the heirs to the throne, in a way? I can see what you mean, yes obviously 10 men did make it easier for Werder but 3-0 looks quite authorative. Bremen could easily have beat them by an even greater margin. They were all over them from the first minute and in the end the sending off wasn't the turning point of the match. As long as they are in form they will be difficult to beat by any team.