skryp2nit3

Neil Ruddock

Spot on. A good poacher will save his energy so that he can make a 100% burst to sneak a goal at any stage of the game. It gives me the shits when fans slate poachers for not chasing down lost causes or getting 'stuck in' in tackles. A good poacher will score you a goal in most games, whether you are on top or completely under the pump. Who cares whether they get stuck in or not. Started well on the poacher strikers but 2nd paragraph onwards was a load of bull. Cant believe someone actually agreed with that. Yes strikers do sometimes go under the radar to evade defenders but RVN lazy? Larsson lazy? Absolutely clueless.

Sorry I thought you meant Pape Diakhete Apologies here I do not believe you. To you I am just kwai lo. I'm assuming that's cantonese

We were rumoured to be after him. So I went on to investigate him. 'Types Pape Diakhete into Youtube' 'Loads FM'

IF Owen leaves, there is only one player to replace him. Anelka. Well, him or Tevez.

Nope he didnt. What Freddy did deny was the existence of a clause that allows Owen to leave after one year. That was the only clause that was denied. He did say that Owen had clauses in his contract but that was definitely not one of them. My guess is that his release clause allows Owen to speak to a CL club in the event that we fail to qualify for club, for a fee equal to his book value after amortization.

'It's Riise!!!!! Goodness gracious me!' For THAT freekick against Man Utd. Only time I've heard that used in football commentary.

I think that they are not just impatient, they don't know or understand what it takes to be successful. And in some cases don't want to know either. Take Martins, and the assertion that he isn't good enough. Basically, he isn't, but Bellamy is. The judgement is being made on the basis that people don't like Bellamy's personality. In the same way that people didn't like Shepherd personality so thought he was a shit chairman. Supporters of the clubs who win things, will tell you that the only thing that matters are what happens on the pitch. If people seriously want to learn, they will listen, take note and learn from it. Ref Martins, a few spectacular goals, like at Spurs, doesn't make a good player, only consistent performance ie doing the basic things well with deliberation, the things required for the position you play in, coupled with the desire to be consistent, does. You will not be a good team in the league with inconsistent players that fail at the basics and the things which you need to be most effective at, which are the things and opportunities which occur the most during a football match. The best players are the ones who perform the basic things consistently, and build on that with moments of quality, but the consistency is vital. A player with skills who doesn't perform because he lacks desire etc is no better than a player with less ability who can't perform anyway. Great post, especially the last bit about good players. It's the same reason I loved to watch Zidane play, his basics were fantastic and he does the simple things amazingly well, despite his obvious flair and talent.

Sell Pattison Babayaro Carr Ramage Dyer Luque. Undecided on him due to his lack of playing time but on high wages and want out so sell The rest can stay.

After signing the Ben Haims, Rozenhals, Vidukas, Bartons and what nots, we should sign 1 eye-catching player as a signal of intent, just to show we mean business. It doesnt have to be a superstar, it only needs to be a player with proven class either in rightback, centreback, left/right wing or centre midfield. It could be the difference between us finishing 5-6th possibly pushing 4th, and scrapping in top 8. Players I can think of right now: Arteta Yobo Lucho Gonzalez Lahm Diego Would love to see us push the boat out for either Yobo/Arteta, players who can really make a difference in our team.

Nothing gets easier than that. 4. Newcastle 5. Spurs 6. Arsenal Happily see Spurs 17th if the slime were still below us. A harder one then... This... 4th Newcastle 5th Spurs 6th Arsenal or this... 3rd Arsenal 4th Spurs 5th Newcastle

Surely England must have the most number of players being first teamers at their respective clubs? Still wouldnt win the competition mind.

Firstly, he's obviously not realistically available. Other than that, he is wasted at full back, he's far better left side of midfield. Actually, he's been excellent centre midfield towards the end of the season. And 5m? I think not. I've always liked Barry as a player. I think he's quality, and now that you've mentioned it, it would be interesting to see Barry and Barton as a midfield pairing. Has plenty of potential imo. 7m? please?

Bellamy/Dyer/Barton - more deadly than a molotov cocktail. And subsequently we'll need to ban golf clubs, on top of cigars and diamond earrings at the club.

Does it matter how long he's been here? People are talking about Butt being captain yet he's only been back here a season after being sent out on loan because all the fans hated the bloke, how long a player has been at the club doesn't matter in the slightest as long he's capable of leading the pack. Then you have to ask what you want from your captain, I want someone who refuses to be second best and has the mentality of a winner, someone who will bollock the remaining 10 players if they let their heads drop and lead by example by his hunger to succeed on and off the field, I want someone who has the balls to come out and say what we're all thinking if things are not going right, not like Shearer who backed Souness until the bitter end. All arrows point to Joey Barton as far as I'm concerned. Agree with all of that. It also gives a kick up the backside to all the others already here, there is a new regime in place now, no resting on laurels. I'm of the belief that no new signings should ever be given the captaincy. Not at any self respecting club anyway. To illustrate my point, consider the following scenarios: - Gerrard/Terry joining Man Utd/Arsenal (Neville/Henry not exactly captain material) - Shearer joining in 1996 - Gerrard joining Chelsea - Maldini/Totti joining us All these players suit Baggio's criteria for a captain, should they be given captaincy upon joining a new club? More importantly, would their respective manager do it? Also, if you look at captains of various successful clubs, I think you'd find one common trait, i.e. an extended affliation with the club. For sure we do not have obvious captaincy candidates currently so why not give it to experienced players like Butt/Solano, interim captains who'd be phased out in a couple of years. By which time Taylor/Barton may be ready to take on the responsibility.

It totally defeats the purpose of buying him if we're gonna play him at rightback, especially when we can have better natural right-backs from elsewhere. If we buy him it has to be for the centreback position, while covering for rightback during emergencies. And I believe he is more than capable of doing a good job for us at CB.

For those saying Barton... I cannot even begin to describe the disgust of the thought. To give the captaincy to someone who just joined the club, what kind of message would it send to the existing players? Would he have the respect of the players? More importantly, how would Barton feel about it? I think players need to be at a club for a certain period before they can appreciate it fully. Besides, it would give the false impression that he's the star at the club now and we dont want that. What we want is a repentant player hungry to prove his doubters wrong. Giving him the captaincy would change all that.

Wait for Chelsea to sign Daniel Alves or another expensive RB. Once they do, go straight in for Richards. Cant see Roman sanctioning his purchase then. We'll have to be worried about Manu doing a Rooney though.

Would be funny if we did beat Spurs to his signature... yet again... For this reason I'd love it if we went for every Spurs target, just so we can piss them off. Either that or we sign players they can only dream of, e.g. their ridiculous link with Messi, etc.

where can i get live score update? also is nani playing for portugal? Not sure about lineups but I use www.xscores.com for live updates on generally obscure games. Not just football too... it includes tennis, basketball and others.

France-Portugal U21 HT 1-0 FT 1-0 Scorer Gameiro 29th min.

He's a solid, no-nonsense defender. Does his job quietly and generally has a good game. Slightly prone to a couple of half-bramble moments which makes him look bad. I actually rate him higher than Ben Haim, who is good but overrated by many here.

RB - Micah Richards We can all dream.

Agree with that. Nobby impressed me as a rightback last season, and that's got nothing to do with Carr being shit. I'll be more than happy with Nobby as first choice rightback next season.

Rather have Cambiasso myself.