The College Dropout

Tbh he wasn't that bad last season. Was pretty decent at the start of the season. He got injured, our season went to crap. He came back, played well the team picked up. Then we sucked again for a period where he was also poor. IMO he was a top 5 performer last season. Which isn't saying much but still. Had the best goals to game ratio of any player that ended the season as a NUFC player IIRC. He wasn't good, nobody was. He did himself an injustice last season overall but to a far lesser extent than many others.

I believe it's worse for the current crop because they have little top level experience be it international or Champions League. Not that the "Golden Generation" where particularly great but they have a particular know-how. This for me is one of the reasons why Cole has to start. Without him the back 4 have probably only played 25 games total in the Champions League. There's players who won't get into the German squad in their mid 20's that have more top level experience than a lot of our lads.

Five I think. Would eb delighted if he could get to 8 for the year at this rate. Ovber the moon.

Not sure about the vision or passing. Ronaldo has one of the most accurate long shots ever so he takes many less through ball attempts. He rarely hits balls too long or short in good positions though. Closed spaces aye.

Neil do you watch a lot of the Bundesliga or a lot of Real Madrid? Their footballing ability isn't THAT for off, the difference between both is that Ronaldo scores more for the team while Ribery works more for the team. I think Ronaldo is a better player, but you can't really say it's a no-contest in terms of footballing ability. Ronaldo is clearly the more spectacular player, but don't down on Bundesligas best player who also happened to qualify his team last night from a much harder position. I don't mean this lightly but Ribery is not in Ronaldo's class. his assist was a crappy shot and he skied another chance you would bet Ronaldo would at least hit the target with. Ronaldo scored 4 goals and hit the bar. You say he struggled when Sweden played deep but he scored and almost scored another. Ribery's a great player. Ronaldo is an all-time great.

How many league goals in 2013?

bad patch vs. sub-standard 18 months

Yep.

If we where to sign Long would we need Gomis? We would need someone capable of getting 20 goals but I don't think Gomis is that man. We need the option of at least one big striker who can hold the ball up. Apart from Shola we haven't got any other strikers who can do that. As I understand it, Gomis has those sort of attributes. Obviously there are no guarantees we will get Gomis. If we don't get Gomis we need a striker similar to him. In theory it shouldn't be too difficult to replace Shola with someone better. Long's not big but he's good at holding the ball up and challenging in the air. I like his all round game, link-up play, can play up top by himself.. not prolific but knows where the goal is.. However I feel Gouff has most of those attributes and could do it upfront. Would like us to sign an Ince type and try Gouff up top.

A more under appreciated player would be Totti. Who a lot of people would have behind Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and probably Zlatan too.

Best player ever on the counter from what i've seen. Flat track, playground bully it maybe but it's awesome to watch.

If he's the best player in our side, Deschamps has to take notes. Remy has forced his way in. Debuchy is now the confirmed first choice RB.

Tbf to Cisse. A lot of our goals come from outside the box. With HBA, Remy & Cabaye - they are very useful just outside the box, even if it's breaking the offside trap like Remy. Cisse doesn't understand the offside rule and is only decent outside the box on the volley.

Kevin Phillips had similar moments in the sun.

Remy seems to manage..... These excuses are getting boring now. Tbf the same people bemoaning chances now are the same people that bemoaned chance creation when Ba was scoring, when Ba left, when nobody was scoring. These people have made excuses for the lad close to 18 months. They will not stop now.

Disagree. Most football fans talk Maradona, Zidane, Cruyff in the same bracket if they've seen them play. Even in my own lifetime. Zlatan doesn't break into the top bracket for me. Zidane, Messi, Ronaldo, Cronaldo. IMO Zlatan's in the Ronaldinho, Rivaldo bracket for me.

Inexperienced mostly at top levels.

They are lacking a CB and ST. However, Cabaye is more talented than Arteta at least. Flamini too. But since they have both of them he's not really needed when they have bigger issues.

Yep. Braveheart performance again. Yellow card again. I like this Debuchy.

Not on tonights performance. Ronaldo is electrifying.

HBA & Marv missed a number of games due to injury and some of the younger lads went on loan. I remember Pardew saying he was going to drop Jonas against Villa then Marv got injured and Jonas made an excellent goal line block. I don't see Jonas coming into the first team when he's back at all.

No he's not man. Tiote, Santon & Sissoko are probably the players currently who have had a prolonged spell of poor form in recentish times who haven't been dropped. Everyone else (except Colo & Krul) gets dropped for poor form.

If you don't know why a side 20th in the Premier league wouldn't want to sign a 20 year old midfielder on loan that won't be there next season, then I have nothing more to say.

Was thinking that, not sure who their CMs are but he would surely get games. They need some strong characters who will be there next season.

If we where to sign Long would we need Gomis? We would need someone capable og getting 20 goals but I don't think Gomis is that man.