Slugsy

Yes, that older player played another blinder last night. What a partnership those two would make!

4 in 13 (1) isn't as bad this season but lets face it the guy aint prolific!

He aint a striker, he flatters to deceive in that position every time. There are midfielders out there that are better finsishers than him. I think on the right wing, when he has a good right back behind him - not when Carr is playing. Or potentially behind a front two, but that would mean you are structuring a team round him and he aint that good!

Yeah, their league position over the last 3 years has just been like us!

I'd hope we would keep him and do that by signing some good players to go in the team with him and show our ambition!

Agree with that

Sorry but what Berbartov lacks in pace compared to Martins, he more than makes up in intelligence and technical ability. i dont agree - berbatov is a good player, but for me martins is a step ahead, and has the potential to be quite a bit better than berbatov. Think we will have to agree to disagree as I can't understand how you can say Martins is a cleverer or technically better player than Berbartov? I like Martins and he is very quick, powerful and has scored some good goals - I believe Berbartov scores goals but also contributes in other ways to the team, has intelligent movement off the ball and helps bring other players into the game - something Martins does not do as much of at present.

Sorry but what Berbartov lacks in pace compared to Martins, he more than makes up in intelligence and technical ability.

Rooney or Berbartov But ideally I would like either Berbartov or Kuyt here with him.

Apart from that time when playing against Barcelona, he had loads of time on the ball and Kluivert muscled him off it and scored!

He's a damn site better than what we have, thats all I care about!

Sometimes this forum borders on the ridiculous!

A quite ridiculous thread! Clearly Luque is a better player than Di Canio, I mean how cr*p was Di Canio while he was over here and look how good Luque has been!

As a striker, I agree - he aint a striker, as shown on Saturday.

Duff = Rubbish and a disgraceful waste of money if Roeder knew he only had £15m to spend beforehand. If he had signed three defenders as well as Duff I might be less scathing but Duff was not the priority. Martins = Very promising and would be deadly if he had a brain but reaslitically wasn't an inspired buy - he was Roeder's last choice after fann*ing around after Kuyt. I like him mind. Sibi = Last ditch signing which has turned out well but is now starting to show true level. Gooch - jury out, time will tell. Rossi - What the f*ck - why??? Total waste of time - he didn't play him so what was the point?? Bernard - GENIUS!!!! Injuries have hurt us but the damage has been magnified by Roeder's inability to get players through the door to cover injuries and also his total lack of tactical awareness. Further thoughts have been expressed in another thread op his dismal efforts at signing defenders.

....and not talking a load of s****. What do you mean? We're signing Gareth Bale you know!

Going but not with much optimism re performance.

I actually disagree. I'm Shepherd's biggest critic but our lack of signings can't be put down solely to Shepherd. There were cheap deals to be had and Roeder didn't get any, our defense was a massive priority in the summer and in Janaury and the loan signing of Gooch was hardly adequate. I actually think as well, players are also less likely to come here or want to come here because of who we have as manager. Roeder is hardly a great name in world football. That was one of Keegan's, Dalglish's and Robson's biggest qualities - pulling power on name alone. Furthermore, as Gemmill points out - Sol Campbell had common sense written all over it.

Shepherd isn't looking for anyone to take us onto the next level. What happens is he picks up the phone every week and dials a number... "Are you ready yet Alan?" "Not yet Fred." "Ok. Bye." "Bye Fred." "Alan......" "Yes, Fred." ".....I'll ring you back next week eh? Just in case." *click.......line goes dead* Scarily, its probably true!

Is that respect for his ability to take on the 16 oz steak at TGI Fridays or the ability as an illusionist to fool Glen Roeder that he is actually a premiership footballer?

Gooch is looking okay, I can't judge him yet, I know we have a number of CB's, its whether they are good enough that I question. The fullback situation is a total joke.

A couple of points that would counter your argument: - We're 11th in the league, six points of 6th, in no danger of relegation, and for the most part of this season we've had between 10 and 16 first team players injured. - His signings have been good. Martins = Class, Duff = Underperforming but still good, Sibi = Decent back up, Gooch = First few games have been very good considering he's come into a far superior league. Bernard = Fair enough. - You could also argue that our squad would never have been good enough to get near the UEFA places anyway, and it's our expectations that are marginally too high. Are you serious? You think those points counter the argument that Roeder isn't good enough? We're 11th? Well that's brilliant. His signings have been good? Martins looks decent, Duff has been s**** but I'm hopeful he will come good, Sibierski he got unbelievably lucky with (considering he hadn't even thought about signing him til gone teatime on deadline day) and Bernard has been a f****** joke. We'll see about Gooch. The transfer windows under Roeder to date have been total abortions. We aren't good enough for UEFA spots? Expectations successfully lowered there then. Your on a roll today - agree totally!

*warning - another disgruntled moan about Roeder* He's had two transfer windows and not signed one defender (Bernard doesn't count - that was a desperate attempt and one which has failed miserably) on a permanent contract. The repercussions of this is having to play Huntingdon/Steven Taylor/Ramage (i.e. ducks out of water) at left back, rely on Bramble as our main centre half, continue to attempt to play Steven Carr full stop and from what I can see, we have only kept 5 clean sheets in the league this year. He may have not had as much money as previous managers but there has been a number of defenders he could have got and failed to do so for one excuse or another. Not good enough for me, not good enough at all.

Totally agree

Keeping Roeder for more than the end of this season will be a great indication of the level of ambition this club has. Roeder may have steadied this ship but he is clearly not the man to take us forward. Another season of Roeder will only allow more ambitious clubs (and I include the likes of Bolton in this) to get further ahead of us. We can't afford another season of mediocrity.