James

We are temporary down to ten men.

Zog forces a good save from howard.

Smith isn't that little and some elements of his style of play resemble that of a big man, whereas they dont really for Owen and Martins.

don't see what the fuss is man, you can post on this thread too.. keepthe toys in the pram. ffs.... predictions anyone? reckon we could scrape a 2-1 win My point exactly, right there, you got it. We've already done all the pre-match build up, predictions etc. Stop typing things please. It's annoying. Leave then. He was here first.

He's not good enough to deserve having his name spelt correctly.

Smith is a lot better than people on here like to make out. He's been the victim of an unbalanced team.

Brilliant pass by Smith, Martins misses a golden opportunity.

This happens every match. I'm guessing you've never been on here on match day?

Everton very weak and small up front.

EFC: Tim Howard, Phil Neville, Tony Hibbert, Leighton Baines, Joseph Yobo, Joleon Lescott, Mikel Arteta, James McFadden, Stephen Pienaar, Lee Carsley, Victor Anichebe Subs: Andy Johnson, Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman, Yakubu, Stefan Wessels

I made a slight slip up assumming N'Zogbia not playing due to seeing Milner Smith Geremi Butt and Enrique in orange bibs, but the orange bib theory still holds firm, and is giving away the team lineups a little too far in advance.

Haven't you seen the team lined up? That is balance personified assuming its a 442.

Like I said in the match thread. Look on Getty. Those wearing orange bibs play (apart from maybe Smith who has apparently picked up an injury), and those not wearing a bib when there is someone else in the photo wearing an orange bib dont start.

Unless there is a new injury (as rumoured for Smith), N'Zogbia, Taylor, Emre, Carr, Barton and Owen dont start if the hypothesis of the Orange Bib Theory proves to be correct.

You would tell if the guy speaking was a norwegian :giggle: I was talking about the guy who runs Kop Talk.

The starting lineup has been confirmed in my imagination as: Given Beye Faye Rozehnal Enrique Geremi Butt Smith Martins Viduka Milner

Was that the guy who filmed Shepherd talking about Michael Owen?

Arsenal can get away with it based on not only their excellent scouting system finding the right players, but also because every year, they have a decent shot at three other competitions. You are right though about the quality of reserve and youth games being very poor, providing no real motivation orexperience for the younger players. I suggested another solution to this problem several months ago: Today, there is no reason why we should limit our reserve youth games to fixtures against the amateurs of Newcastle Blue Star. Travel is cheap, and we could take our players off to anywhere in Europe. What would be good is if the domestic reserve and youth leagues were replaced with leagues formed from the best setups from England/Scotland/France/Spain/Holland/Italy/Germany. Initially, each division is determined from the best three teams from each country in terms of training facilities, quality of coaches, number of youth internationals BUT NOT the success or wealth of the first team. Subsequent promotions and relegations are then determined by the best and worst from each country in the league, rather than the teams at the top and bottom of the league.

12 weeks rather than 6-8 weeks then.

When it comes down to the attributes of reflexes and shot stopping, Given is one of the best in the world. His handling, positioning and agility are also good, but not world class, and he has a pretty good jump that compensates for his lack of height. However, when it comes to communication, kicking, decision making, presense, throwing, one-on-ones, command of area and teamwork, Given is one of the worst in the league. And there are Conference players better at saving penalties. Of these substandard attributes, Harper is certainly better at all bar kicking. Fact is that Given is a Hollywood keeper with plenty of style and little substance, who in a prima donna fashion, seems more concerned about his individual performance rather than the performance of the team as a whole. Such a keeper may have been helpful behind a shoddy defensive unit, but our unit has improved, and the importance of shot stopping ability diminishes when compared with other attributes, and he is thus no longer an indispensable player at the club.

I've been following the training pictures on Getty images that appear on Friday, and have formulated a hypothesis that those players that start feature in a training match/tactics simulation wearing orange bibs. Testing this hypothesis, based on pictures of players with orange bibs, the following players start: Enrique Beye Faye Milner Smith Butt Geremi Martins While the following miss out: Barton Carr Emre Owen Although there may be a slight error in this experiment, because Smith apparently got injured today.

That builds us up for massive dissappointment if we don't win though.

Today confirms that Newcastle are the 5th best English team in Europe. They may as well give us an automatic place in the competition every season.

Given Dida's form when it comes to CL incidents, is it too unlikely that AC Milan hire people to pretend to be other fans, and then cause troublewhenresults aren'g going in Milan's favour?[/conspiracy]

a) Some players aren't motivated for reserve games. b) A team is only as good as its weakest link.