steve_69

Do you still sell Puma Kings?

Or Bentner, or Toure... diaby i rate, bendtner is f***ing awful Wrong! Bendtner is average for Arsenal because he doesn't quite have the finesse of the rest of their players. Put him in most other teams and he'd be a standout player. Just because he doesn't fit with the way Arsenal play doesn't make him crap. As a striker he's a million times better than Ameobi, a million times more mobile than Viduka, scores more goals than both of them, is younger than both of them, has a better injury record than both of them, and wouldn't cost the earth. If he could be coached into being more physical i reckon he'd be brilliant. He scored 13 goals and had 9 assists for Birmingham a couple of seasons back and has a pretty impressive scoring record for Denmark as well.

Or Bentner, or Toure...

I find it really difficult to criticise Shay Given because he has been unbelievable for us for a long long time. However, given the amount of penalties we concede at the moment it would be nice to have a keeper who saves a couple.

We still lost 1-5 despite Shay's excellent performance which highlights the desperate need for players in other areas of the field. If selling Shay enables us to shore up our defence and sign a decent CM then it's a no brainer for me. I'd love him to stay but what's the point in having an outstanding goalkeeper playing behind an average defence and a s*** midfield? I'd much rather have quality throughout the team which should negate the need for an outstanding goalkeeper. But having Joe Kinnear spend that money really doesnt fill me with confidence. He'll just bring in average Championship players and shitty Premiership players that are past it and no one wants. Nothing good. Plus, if Mike Ashley is a man to his word, then he'll be investing this January.... HIMSELF. Although I wouldnt be at all surprised if Joe was told he has to sell before he can buy. But anyway, the bottom line is that I wouldnt sell Shay to generate funds. That will just make things worse. I realise that a lot of people don't rate Kinnear but to criticise his ability in the transfer market because he's even signed anyone is just ridiculous. How do you know he's going to sign average championship players and shit premiership players? From what i can recall he's actually pretty good at the wheeling and dealing side of things. Plus we have a system in place at the club that won't allow him to sign any old shite. Give the guy a chance before you write him off!

I'd try for the following, and i think we'd have a reasonable chance of getting them: Jonny Evans James McFadden Papa Bouba Diop Baptista (loan) A decent left back That addresses all the positions we need cover for except right back, but if i remember correctly Evans has played there in the past.

We still lost 1-5 despite Shay's excellent performance which highlights the desperate need for players in other areas of the field. If selling Shay enables us to shore up our defence and sign a decent CM then it's a no brainer for me. I'd love him to stay but what's the point in having an outstanding goalkeeper playing behind an average defence and a shit midfield? I'd much rather have quality throughout the team which should negate the need for an outstanding goalkeeper.

how do you work that out ? is it written somewhere that transfers fees in coming can only be used to finance other transfers ? It was something to do with the fact that the club said the money raised from the sale of James Milner would be reinvested in new players.

Taylor and Edgar's poor marking yesterday was responsible for 3 of the goals we conceded and countless chances from set pieces. They highlighted it on MOTD and it was frightening how shit they both were. At half time we were 1-2 down having survived an onslaught. In the 2nd half we played with Edgar, Taylor, Collicini, N'Zogbia - 2 crap fringe players, a left winger and an experienced CB who is still adapting to the league. Is it any wonder Collicini had a bad game?

Put Franco Baresi next to Steven Taylor in central defence and he'd look like a donkey. The quality of our fringe defenders is dangerously poor. If we don't add some strength in depth in January we'll be one serious injury away from relegation.

There's still £12m in the coffers from the sale of James Milner. I reckon that's what JK will have to spend in January

He was a right fat knacker last time i saw him play. Fatter than Viduka? Difficult to believe, but yes

He was a right fat knacker last time i saw him play.

Roque Santa Cruz is the right age, is proven in the premiership and, like Owen, is equally good in the air as on the deck. It's a no-brainer for me. I was also really impressed with Mauro Zarate when he was on loan at Birmingham. He's only 21 or 22 and he scored a few in the premiership.

Look, sometimes the most unlikely managers succeed in the most unusual circumstances. He was nobody's first, second or even 50th choice but he's doing a great job - an unlikely manager succeeding in unusual circumstances. Why are you so sure we could get better and do better? Plenty of people on this Forum would have walked over hot coals to get Mark Hughes as Keegan's replacement but he and his Man City team are spending Christmas in the relegation zone after spending a small fortune. We're sitting in 12th on a 6 game unbeaten run.

The difference is that Roeder had only had one management job before us (if i remember correctly), and that was West Ham, who he got relegated with. Joe Kinnear has a lot more experience and a relatively succesful track record. I'd be much more confident of JK getting us out of a sticky patch that i ever was with Roeder. Suggesting we shouldn't take Kinnear on permanently because Roeder failed from a similar situation is ridiculous. It's like saying we shouldn't hire another foreign manager because the last one failed miserably. We'd all love an experienced, succesful foreign manager at some point despite what Gullit did. Everyone seems to be predicting that Kinnear will fail but so far that doesn't look to be the case, and until it does Kinnear should remain in charge. We've found a winning formula so why bother changing the manager because there's a possibly he'll screw up further down the line - there's also the possibility that he won't.

So we wait 5 years for a manager who can make us hard to beat, who the players really want to play for, who can help turn St James into a fortress again and who brings back winnning football. Then when we get him we suggest getting rid of him at the end of the season because he isn't a big enough name for a team like Newcastle United? Get fucked!!! He's earnt a long-term contract already as far as i'm concerned. Get him signed up - if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

Maybe he's learnt from his previous mistakes and is prepared to give the manager a bit more say. He admitted he's made some mistakes in his time here so who knows

I got us safe on 47 points.

Beye was signed by Ashley.....actually he was signed by Fat Sam but it was during Ashley's reign

He's one of the least effective wingers i've ever seen. He's slow, can't cross, can't shoot and isn't particularly skillful. There was one moment in Villa's game at the weekend that epitomised James Milner - he somehow managed to get past his man on near the touchline, ran into the box and fired a piss weak (and very ambitious) shot into the side netting when the better option was to lay it off to a teammate. £12m!!!!! For how long exactly does a player have unfulfilled potential before people realise he's actually just shit?

Fat Sam was sacked for trying to play with a defensive mentally and a driect attack, but failing to do either. What he managed to do was lose consistently, playing some of the worst football that's ever been witnessed.

A good defence will always get you results. Our attackers and wingers are good enough to create and score goals, as we have seen in the last few games. A defensive minded team with a good attack wins games. An attack minded team with a shit defence loses games. Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea don't concede many goals but they score plenty. That's the winning recipe!

Obviously don't forget the clueless substitutions and tactics that he has employed at times. Obviously, but we've been beaten twice in 11 games, we've kept 3 clean sheets in a row away from home and we've just battered the current FA Cup holders on their own patch, so how's about focusing on the positives rather than fucking moaning all the time.

We're scoring goals, creating chances and not conceding many. If that was the case under Keegan you'd all been over the moon. The fact that it's Joe Kinnear who has achieved this feat rankles because he isn't a Keegan or a Hitzfeld or a Bilic. We might have inadvertantly stumbled upon an unlikely winning formula with Kinnear, and if results keep coming i don't see any reason to replace him. The collective ego of the majority of people on this board means that unless we have a manager at the helm whose name is recognised and well regarded you're not happy. Fuck what other fans think and fuck what the media think. Right now they're probably as pissed off as they've ever been because we can defend and we're looking like a good strong team. Kinnear has come in and made them all eat their words. He's brought some stability back to the club and he's instilled confidence in the players at a time when we desperately needed it. A bit of gratitude to the man and some fucking respect wouldn't go amiss!