The College Dropout

Imagine the open top bus ride through the streets of Liverpool again. Or Manchester or London......what makes it worse is that i can see Spurs beating Seville.

Sadly I feel the CL is coming to England. I fancy L'Pool and Chelski in particular to beat the other teams. In midfield L'Pool are too strong and Chelski the jammiest bastards ever.

Not ALL of us have. Among the HTT inspired Hitzfeld furore nobody seemed to want to touch Big Sam with a bargepole when Souness got the chop.

We've all changed our tunes....

We got a higher transfer fee but i'd suspect Parker is paid a fair bit more than Jenas. Jenas also usually played well against the better sides and never really looked out of his depth in Europe. Like I said, he's been in a regular in a team that has finished in the top 6 four times (counting this), he's a reliable performer much like Parker when deployed correctly. Jenas=Parker imo, very similar in quality.

Assuming they lose to Chelski they've got to draw 2 games from 6. I reckon they'll slip up atleast once and I've got money riding on Chelski too sneak it although I'd much prefer ManUre to win. They play better football, their manager isn't a petulant child and most importantly I can't see them putting a stranglehold on the title for the next 5 years unlike Chelski.

Perfect timing. Tbh he isn't that bad a player, the Souness season aside he's been a regular in teams that have finished in the top 5. Still seems like a poser though. Remember when we first signed Parker and people where saying how much better he was than Jenas? Do people still think that? Too me they are simiraly average with Parker having more fighting spirit and Jenas pace/positioning.

Possibly 2 games away from the sack imo. The gates are falling and won't be improved until a morale boost i.e. new manager (Shearer) or another trophy signing.

More likely to better Souness' worst i.e. finishing 15th or below.

Oh Dear!

Good but very Over-rated.

You sir have terrible taste in fashion. The home kit is HIGHLY ugly.

lol greatest gimmick poster EVER

It's the Souness era "big name" signings coupled with the other over priced midfield we have will hold us back Parker,Dyer,Emre,Duff,Owen,Luque and Butt are all probably earning in excess of 40k. I feel we'll need to go back to the SBR policy of paying fairly high transfer fees and low wages for young talent. Jermaine Jenas and Scott Parker are players of similar quality but I suspect that Parker could be on twice the wages as Jenas.

Superhuman? Who is the one who is over-rated? I don't want to get into the pointless world class debate again, but if you sincerely believe (and it seems like you do) that Shay is a liability, you're either blind or overly cynical. For your sake, I hope it's the latter. Liability, no. He's a a good goalkeeper. Is he over-rated by our fans? Very

Moronic post. Go into the Luque thread and see if I've ever posted in there let alone defended him. I have a very low opinion on Luque. So instead of insulting my football intelligence how about you tell me why Given is the 2nd best goalkeeper in the league. Avoiding my point. Shay is an excellent shot stopper but he doesn't command his area which costs us points. Perhaps if Given did command his area he would be the 2nd best goalkeeper in the league. Shay doesn't make many mistakes but he doesn't take many chances either. he saved us more points then any other keeper im willing to bet. great servant. does control his area more than is recognised. BRILLANT shot shopper. wouldn't take anyone other than Given at this present moment. and my view of your football knowledge when staright out of the window when you suggested Lehmann and James to be better keepers lol ffs. Lehmann not always first choice anymore and James who was never EVER good enough on consistent basis, thats why they call him CALAMITY. ask pompey fans who they would rather see in between the sticks? Man City fans, liverpool? Given is recognised as CLASS, why man utd and arsenal constantly linked. dont friggin knee jerk everytime a player does something you dont like. it happens to the very best !! I seen Seaman 'lobbed from near half way line, should of been on his line', seen schmiechel similar lobbed by CB and concede 5. Buffon cocking up an andy GRIFFIN shot and van der saar concede many times 3 goals plus and have a pretty horrid time alot. pre-man utd of course.. soo overlook the occasional mistakes f****** happens. I'm not talking about individual mistakes. I'm talking about years and years of not commanding his area. I said it last year and I'll say it the next. He's always been a line dweller.

Superhuman? Who is the one who is over-rated?

I think everyone is coming round to the thinking that Taylor has a LONG way to go to become a good Premiership defender. People think Shay is world class......

mackems.gif So you'd rather buy 36 year old David "Calamity" James than play Shay Given? If there's one person who would install even LESS confidence in our back 4, it's him. You need to stop talking as I can't keep shoveling at this rate. Well no but he is a better keeper. I'd just prefer Shay to start commanding his 6 yard box at the very least. Not saying he's not good but he plays a part in our defensive frailties by not commanding his area.

Moronic post. Go into the Luque thread and see if I've ever posted in there let alone defended him. I have a very low opinion on Luque. So instead of insulting my football intelligence how about you tell me why Given is the 2nd best goalkeeper in the league. Avoiding my point. Shay is an excellent shot stopper but he doesn't command his area which costs us points. Perhaps if Given did command his area he would be the 2nd best goalkeeper in the league. Shay doesn't make many mistakes but he doesn't take many chances either.

So Given is commanding of his area?

Bramble II

Goalkeepers have the ability the ability to relieve the defence by coming and collecting crosses...Shay doesn't do this and subsequently adds pressure to the already VERY fragile defence. But a goalie can't make crap players good. Thank you for your contribution and thoughtful criticism of the subject discussed. Lets put it this way. Let's assume that I gave you 10m to get a goalie. (****, that's pretty silly money for a 'keeper even) Name one that would come here and would be a significant improvement over Shay. Eh? Does this mean whenever Shay makes a mistake he shouldn't be criticized because we can't find a better alternative. Anyway I'll probably get lynched for this I reckon David James or even Jens Lehmann are better goalkeepers than Shay.

I agree that Given should be either the last, or second last player to be blaming for our season, but he should still be blamed. I agree with that. He's a good player no doubt but he is not blameless. Read before you reply. The defenders played the part as everyone has already said. However Shay has gone uncriticized despite the ball going through his 6 yard box. THE GOALIE MUST COMMAND HIS 6 YARD AREA, any touch from there and the ball is likely to go in the net. The defenders were shambolic but Shay isn't the magnificent goalkeeper we often make out. I never said it was his fault but he played a part which goes by unnoticed. Taylor was at fault for letting the cross come in but it's Shay's job to anticipate a mistake by atleast taking a bloody step forward...a striker should anticipate a mistake from a defender as should a goalkeeper. I admit for the second goal I am reaching alittle but the fact remains that the ball practically went through Shay and he was basically standing inside his goal but for a man the size of Shay to come through a pack of that size would be very hard. I'm not blaming his but he isn't as blameless as people believe.

Goalkeepers have the ability the ability to relieve the defence by coming and collecting crosses...Shay doesn't do this and subsequently adds pressure to the already VERY fragile defence. But a goalie can't make crap players good. Thank you for your contribution and thoughtful criticism of the subject discussed.