Rich

We need that level of impact. Can't see it mate. Those two cost about £18m all-told and God knows what money they were on. Those halcyon days of Shepherd are long gone, unfortunately.

2 good signings will make a massive difference but we haven't got them yet. A French left-winger and a Welsh striker?

Alain Yukant.

"Quite", ffs.

You are special mate.

Erm...

I like it.

Agree that a central midfielder is a must, although I'd argue for an out-and-out defensive midfielder as opposed to a creative one. Desperate for "proper" cover on the wings as well, IMO. A better Pancrate sort of thing. I'm hoping for another striker as well, but think that might be asking a bit much considering the tactics we're likely to employ and the number we already have at the club.

Good comeback like, second half made much better listening. Ability is massively in question, but I'm struggling to knock the application/attitude of the current squad. Little sprinkle of quality incoming and with the returns of some of our best players who missed out today and fingers crossed.

Alreet Ando.

? not cutting us to ribbons with passing and movement? Nah they don't have better players or anything, they've just played a few more pre-season games than we have.

Love how the dolts on commentary reckon they're only running us ragged because of superior fitness.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone off one of the message boards. You'd imagine someone spending that much time updating Twitter with random comments would knock about forums too. It is weird like, but they do have some genuinely funny moments.

I'm not exactly dripping with optimism, to be fair. When people start slagging off the comical genius of Big Sam and Joey Barton you know it's gone too far though. You're just missing NE5 man.

You are a right beam of sunshine and happiness these days

Easy enough to argue that Henry and van Nistelrooy did it in better teams (although I would say that they were both world class individually during their Premiership career and beyond, to an extent with the latter point). Bit boring though. Nobody is going to change anybody else's mind here, but I can't accept that "19 goal" shite as a stick to beat him with. Ronaldo doesn't think he's world class based on what he's seen of him, which is his opinion and fair enough, you don't think he's world class, which again is fair enough. I think he was world class, certainly for a decent spell of a few years. That's all there is to it. Not going to sit here and watch people write opinions as though they are fact though, does my fucking nut in.

I can't go down the line of arguing ratio versus simple goals per season again, it was an utter ballache last time (admittedly that argument was with a clueless wanker) but that tends to be a better judge of quality (in my opinion). Even though both are ultimately flawed as they never tell you how the goals came, who they were against, what the circumstances were, etc. But he had a ratio of better than 1-in-2 for Liverpool (easily in the league, and just about across all competitions) and just watching him, he was completely unplayable at times. He wasn't always taking penalties either (I know you love that one in regards to Drogba, particularly.) Dunno about the goals per minute, but that would be my usual go-to if I had the information to hand (it's the one I have known to be used most regularly by people in the game as well). When you look into it a bit deeper the stats back him up, despite never hitting 20 in a single season. On the international stage it's the same. That's about as much as I can argue without simply saying "well I saw him when he was at the top of his game and he was world class", which is the case as well to be fair, but then that's just my opinion.

He got 19 twice. Call the f***ing cops. And that's his bragging right? 19, twice. Yeah, world class my left nut. Too simplistic. It's too late to get into the greatest heavyweight battle of all time, but I had to chip in there. You of all people know that you can't just judge people on their statistics. In his prime Owen was world-class. No Shearer, of course, but still right up there. He was too injury prone, though, and his stats and the length of time he was able to be at the peak of his powers were diminished because of this. That's all I can bite man, I would love to but I'm knackered.

Aye it's all subjective, think both of you have it fairly accurate as well. He's right up there, but I'd certainly agree he isn't in the same class as Ronaldo, Shearer, Weah, etc.

If Owen and Shearer weren't world class in their hayday then who the fuck was man? I never said Shearer wasn't but Owen no way. World class to me is someone who performs at the top of their game for a good number years consistantly. Some world class players of recent time IMO - Zidane, Maldini, Xavi, Ronaldo, Messi, C.Ronaldo, Shevchenko Owen had a few years where he was Liverpool's main man and England's main man, with some decent competition certainly at international level (not brilliant by any stretch mind). He scored goals at all levels in all sorts of games (some very, very big games) and was quality when not struggling with niggling injuries. Suppose I'm just a bit more liberal with my criteria than you are at the end of the day, because my "world class" definition would extend to more than a dozen or so players in my lifetime. They're world class if they are amongst the best in the world at their time, which Owen was comfortably.

If Owen and Shearer weren't world class in their hayday then who the fuck was man?

Him and Shearer were fantastic. Is that a pisstake? We were absolutely s**** at that time. And those two only had two or three games in which they both played well. Owen was never a world class footballer. A very good goalscorer during his prime, no more. Agree with the first sentence, disagree with the second.

World class at what he did, which is all you can ask for really. There weren't many (any?) better poachers when he was on form throughout his career. I still remember his early games at SJP - he was an absolute cut-above everything else on the pitch at times with some of his runs, touches and dribbles. Think that's why his time here sticks in the throat so much, because he was actually a real high quality player that we got stiffed on.

Owen, when he signed. Was soon knackered like.

It's absolutely gash man. Even some of the bits where it tries to make him look good he looks shocking Worse than that Colo at the World Cup (I think) one that was doing the rounds? I didn't see that one mate. This one is pretty poor though, aside from a couple of pacey covering moments and his goal.