madras

I was watching that on tv and jumped so high I nearly went through the ceiling...one of my all time favourite goals. It helped that Ian St John who was co-commenting on Ch 5 nearly had a stroke he was so angry it was a 97-98 league game, was channel 5 even on the air then? confusing it with zeljeznicar (spelling ?) i think.

he was managing the cypriot equivilent of man utd though. the biggest,richest club in the country. done well in europe mind. (for balance) I always thought that APOEL were the biggest club in Cyprus. 20 league trophies compared to Anorthosis 13. But I get your point though. Yeah I checked wiki and apparently Famagusta are only the third most successful team in Cyprus with 13 titles, 2 of those down to Ketsbaia. They also hadn't won the league for 4 years when he took over, then won it in his first season. preston have more titles than us. So we aren't the 'Manchester United' of England the same way Famagusta aren't the 'Manchester United' of Cyprus. ok then. one of the biggest clubs in the country which had finished runners up by one point the previous two season,fourth before that and winners before that and since the early part of this century has the reputation of being the money bags of the cypriot league.

he was managing the cypriot equivilent of man utd though. the biggest,richest club in the country. done well in europe mind. (for balance) I always thought that APOEL were the biggest club in Cyprus. 20 league trophies compared to Anorthosis 13. But I get your point though. Yeah I checked wiki and apparently Famagusta are only the third most successful team in Cyprus with 13 titles, 2 of those down to Ketsbaia. They also hadn't won the league for 4 years when he took over, then won it in his first season. preston have more titles than us.

I was watching that on tv and jumped so high I nearly went through the ceiling...one of my all time favourite goals. It helped that Ian St John who was co-commenting on Ch 5 nearly had a stroke he was so angry eh...league games on channel 5 ?

he was managing the cypriot equivilent of man utd though. the biggest,richest club in the country. done well in europe mind. (for balance)

but with butt there in a middle 3 there was still plenty of scope for getting forward. i pointed out a few times last season the ammount of times butt was looking round for one of his other midfielders to make a move forward,when they didn't he had to. i know butt has been poor yet barton gets free of any stick when playing as bad.

I've said this from way back that the most effective teams away from home I have wathed at Newcastle were SBR's side which had Dyer, Bellamy and Robert who could all hit at lightning speed on the counter - in fact just yesterday I posted that I would like to see Kamara if he signed paired with Lovenkrands away from home for just that reason. I couldn't agree more with the pointless exercise in playing a legless 5 man midfield but I'm just a punter, what would I know legless ? aren't guthrie and barton supposed to be box to boxers. I was referring more to Butt and Nolan...the point being that you don't need blistering pace throughout the side as long as there are two or three front players who are pretty mobile. which is what barton and guthrie are supposed to provide (and jonas when fit)

we need a few more in but he'll be good cover. should do well in this league.

I've said this from way back that the most effective teams away from home I have wathed at Newcastle were SBR's side which had Dyer, Bellamy and Robert who could all hit at lightning speed on the counter - in fact just yesterday I posted that I would like to see Kamara if he signed paired with Lovenkrands away from home for just that reason. I couldn't agree more with the pointless exercise in playing a legless 5 man midfield but I'm just a punter, what would I know legless ? aren't guthrie and barton supposed to be box to boxers.

But....when I complained about the Mirror the more mouthy types on here attacked me and said the Mirror was doing it "tongue-in-cheek" Surely you must be mistaken ? Or the mouthy types are yapping dickheads, both are good... Ah right ! The "tongue in cheek" Mirror Defence League has surfaced again ! And oh ! It's by the same "journalist" - the one whom the usual suspects defend to the death...how heartwarming that all he ever does is "tongue in cheek" - how sneer-worthy that some on here clap their hands like seals in a circus at his "wit" mouthy ?.......or some who wanted to comment on it (much in the same way you did). I'm no fan of the mirror,just read the sports headlines if someone has it in their possession, i could see attempted humour in the piece whereas you saw a serious hatchet piece. "defend to the death"......was that wit ?

crap man, utter rubbish. you haven't got a clue have you,you're a joke.....loon. (err reply no.10 this thread)

This is the rubbish I was on about. YES I REALISE MILNER IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP, doesn't make him a great player though does it? People have used the same argument for loads of players. doesn't make him a great player, a good premiership player though.

in light of that, the refs report would make an interesting read.

Yes, lets discuss the various interpretations of what could have been happening during the commentary. Obviously that could mean that Butt actually played the ball forwards and it went out or went to an opposition player, or that Butt looked up and was about to play a forward ball before being closed down and passing sideways or backwards. I'm not one of the people saying he's wholly responsible for last nights loss, but by the sound of things he was a part of it, along with the rest of the midfield. or the "can't" could mean there is no-one to pass forward to. echoes of david batty when we had ian rush up front.

personally i think we lost the league because overall man utd were slightly the better team. as man utd were going off on their run we were stuttering even at home. winning but not looking anyway near convincing (particularly against the likes of bolton and QPR) and that form was played out through quite a bit of the rest of the season. liverpool away was probably about the best we played in the last 3 or 4 months of the season. West Ham at home, by far hence the probably and about (also taking into account the quality of the oppo). lots of unconvincing performances from jan onwards. man utd had a marginally better good part of the season than we did. that was the difference.

true. he was to blame for all the rest of the midfield being cack on the night.

why didn't we play in black and white last night,down at cardiff and at palace ?

personally i think we lost the league because overall man utd were slightly the better team. as man utd were going off on their run we were stuttering even at home. winning but not looking anyway near convincing (particularly against the likes of bolton and QPR) and that form was played out through quite a bit of the rest of the season. liverpool away was probably about the best we played in the last 3 or 4 months of the season.

alternativly it could be argued that we only got into that position in the first place by not making defensive substitutions when leading. something wenger and ferguson tend not to do either.

carroll is no quinn. he wins headers and has no idea where they are going whereas quinn put them in the right area. true it may get us promoted .it's just always been a pet peeve of mins when people though about how good shearer was in the air how little he actually scored from open play in the air and that the flick on stuff very rarely worked. Really ? And your proof of this educated spiel is where ? Selective memory perhaps ? I lost count of the number of times Shearer provided, but no-one took advantage. FGS - Shearer was also the best crosser of the ball we had - but also the best finisher. Couldn't be in both places at once. It works fine if the right people are the ones given the job of knock on and finish. Good example was Graham Sharpe at Everton - crap player but the best was got out of him through just that. He had players around him that took advantage - like Andy Gray.* As for Shearer, I've seen him score headers. You blanked it from your memory ? * Just remembered - and Kevin Sheedy, who'd I'd give my eye teeth for to have a clone of his playing for us now. it comes from being at the games then years of watching the vids in the close season to get my fix. try it randomly. go on youtube and look at any shearer or bellamy monatage from their time here and see how often shearer scores headers from open play or flicks on a header for bellamy. oh i've also seen beardsley and alan shoulder score headers for us, it doesn't mean it's a strongpoint. totally agree about sheedy. too much is made of pace at times when movement and technical ability are better.

a couple of seasons after we "threw away our lead" man utd were over 12 points ahead of arsenal at one stage, (for all at the time they didn't have a 12 point lead over the rest of the league),and still lost out to them for the title.

as yet he doesn't do flick ons anyway. he wins headers with no idea where they're going. most the time it would be the same effect if the defender won the header. he has time though and it may come with experience. how was his play on the deck tonight ? back end of last season whilst not looking elegent on the ball he was effective and was much improved.

carroll is no quinn. he wins headers and has no idea where they are going whereas quinn put them in the right area. true it may get us promoted .it's just always been a pet peeve of mins when people though about how good shearer was in the air how little he actually scored from open play in the air and that the flick on stuff very rarely worked.

Barton was out of sorts tonight (just got back) but he doesn't relish playing out wide and his performance reflects that. But, lets get back to that f***ing pathetic piece of s**** that masquerades as a professional footballer Nicky Butt. He was f***ing woeful and it is no coincidence wahtsoever that our worst performance of the season so far coincided with Butts return. Goal aside I'd also say Carroll was extremely poor - he offered nothing. Ranger in his cameo appearance looked 100% more effective. Hughton f***ed up big style last night from start to finish it was gash, long ball f***ing rubbish. he's been out of sorts for most of his time here.

It does work if you have him playing on the shoulder of Carroll, his pace over distance isn't terriffic, but his acceleration over short distances is great. It works because if a team tries to go deep you can fire it in high to carroll to try and head them in, or if they try play a high offside, teams here simply aren't that well organized, so there will be chances. the big man flicking it on for the smaller quick man is one of charles hughes faves. and its crap. I don't care if it works. problem is that it doesn't. Shearer and Bellamy would disagree. get your vids out and watch how many times shearers flick ons led to goals for bellamy. shearers hold up play certainly. his strength in the air to wear down opponents yes, but winning headers to set bellamy away....go and check. edit...i'd also like to point out that shearers heading ability from open play (goals) wasn't all that good. he got loadfs through his movement on set pieces but from open play was nowhere near what you'd expect. Leeds at home showed how it worked, Quinn Phillips showed it worked, you need varied strikers in this league. quinn and philips played to it but i'm sure you wouldn't swap them for shearer,ferdinand,beardsley or bellamy. the flick on never worked for us. leeds at home ? (which one?) and one game.......come on you'd have to say it worked over a good spell of games rather than one game and it was never part of our gameplan...or if it was it never came off with any regularity.