toptoon

Yesterday at least, we were defending from the front very wellvia Smith, Martins Geremi and Milner making it very hard for Arsenal to play there passing game though us. If we had sat back and isolated our strikers they would have probaby picked us off at will. We had players higher up the pitch and penned them back well at times. Geremi and Milner seemed to be given more of a license to get forward and again Martins and Smith chased them down well dropping into midfield when needed. If we had Owen and Viduka on the pitch they are more finishers than grafters and i don't think it would have worked as well.

Great performance by the lads last night we had alot of grafters in there which we really needed and defended well in general from the front. Smith an Martins ran their socks off an dropped back into midfield well to help out when needed. Viduka and Owen are luxuary players although great finishers which is great when we are controlling a game not so great when we are not. Tonight we needed smith and Martins workman like performances and they delivered. Given 6.5 - Not masses to do but good when he had to be. Beye 8 - MOM got up and down the line very very well, he makes a big difference to us. Taylor 7.5 - Good goal, looked very dangerous on at least 3 occaisons up top from set pieces. Showed alot of passion and defended well too. Roze 6.5 - Good in general. Zoggy 6 - Got forward very well, but defending could have been better. At fault for first goal. Would like to see Enrique LB Milner RW and Zoggy LW. Geremi 7 Put some decent crosses in and covered alot of ground as always. Butt 6.5 Good Barton- 7.5 bar one or two wayward forward passes very impressed with his performance looks to go forward alot and his passing was very good in the main. Milner - 8 Excellent game i thought held the ball up very well, beat players alot and got alot of crosses in too, as well as grafting away when we haven't got the ball defensively and always making himself very availiable for the ball when we regained possesion giving the CM's etc a good option to give and go. Smith - 8 Top grafter! Ran his arse off making things difficult for Arsenal defending from the front very well dropping into midfield as and when needed. Doesn't get into many goalscoring positions which is a shame but does bring others into the game well. Martins 7.5 Ran his socks off, dropped into midfield well when needed and his pace is enough to scare any team including Arsenals, he gave them something to worry about. Could have done better at times. Viduka 6 Good sub by Sam as we started to pen them in near the end, he didn't do much with the few half chances that fell his way.

Beye and Taylor both look very good to me and would certainly be in my starting line up next game. Cacapa looked very good bar Derby away untill the pompey game and then the wheels came off big time, so a big question mark really we'll see how he comes back from that when he gets his chance.

SELL SELL SELL He may not go to wigan but may go to citeh or someone else, 10m+ i'd take someone's bound to bid 12 and if we got 16 it'd be a dream. A decent replacement i.e Anelka, Ashton, Berbatov etc etc to partner Martins up front and we are sorted.

Harper for England!! James, Robinson and now Carson are all calamity prone. For now go 442 Lampard off bent/de foe on imo

Yorkie's probably bang right though to be fair Dave I know Baggio is entitled to his opinion but his opinions tend to be way out + wind people up, he could be an undercover Mackem?

he's playd 4 games only conceded 7 as well, not exactly terrible, and he could do nowt for the 3 scored by citeh for starters. He's been poor this season no matter how many games he's played, whether it's putting in his own net against Everton, getting outjumped by Anichebe which nearly cost us a goal, the Cacapa back pass moment where he didn't bother coming to collect, even Andy Johnsons goal where he stayed on his line rather than coming to intercept the cross. He's been average for 18 months and the great saves he used to make are few and far between, the amount of times our back is put under pressure because he doesn't come and collect crosses very often has always been a worry and it's something Allardyce will look to sort. Disagree with both your posts. Given has had one bad game and that was Everton, no others and as for slating shearer that's pretty much laughable Perhaps you should watch more football then because Shearer should have retired 2 years before he did. In your opinion. Which i happen to think is wrong as usual.

he's playd 4 games only conceded 7 as well, not exactly terrible, and he could do nowt for the 3 scored by citeh for starters. He's been poor this season no matter how many games he's played, whether it's putting in his own net against Everton, getting outjumped by Anichebe which nearly cost us a goal, the Cacapa back pass moment where he didn't bother coming to collect, even Andy Johnsons goal where he stayed on his line rather than coming to intercept the cross. He's been average for 18 months and the great saves he used to make are few and far between, the amount of times our back is put under pressure because he doesn't come and collect crosses very often has always been a worry and it's something Allardyce will look to sort. Disagree with both your posts. Given has had one bad game and that was Everton, no others and as for slating shearer that's pretty much laughable Perhaps you should watch more football then because Shearer probably should have retired a year before he did. FYP. What does FYP mean?

Agree with your 4 and would add Milner, Krul and Edgar to the list.

he's playd 4 games only conceded 7 as well, not exactly terrible, and he could do nowt for the 3 scored by citeh for starters. He's been poor this season no matter how many games he's played, whether it's putting in his own net against Everton, getting outjumped by Anichebe which nearly cost us a goal, the Cacapa back pass moment where he didn't bother coming to collect, even Andy Johnsons goal where he stayed on his line rather than coming to intercept the cross. He's been average for 18 months and the great saves he used to make are few and far between, the amount of times our back is put under pressure because he doesn't come and collect crosses very often has always been a worry and it's something Allardyce will look to sort. Disagree with both your posts. Given has had one bad game and that was Everton, no others and as for slating shearer that's pretty much laughable

i hope your joking about heskey At the start of the season someone suggested it and they pretty much got laughed off the forum, i thought we needed someone way better it is true. Did you see the england games recently when they played up top together? Very impressive. Yes I'd preffer K. Jones, Berbatov, Dean Ashton yes but we could do worse, plus he's better than Viduka who is slow and gets overpowered way to easilly and Shola and probably Smith too.

Can't actually believe that some on here preffer Jaaskelainen to Given Yes lets fuck up the one area of the team that is actually world class and fuck it up to match the rest of the team Great idea lads If Big Sam does this and it backfires on us as expected then he deserves the sack.

Its a case of we'll have to wait and see with Duff. He obviously has the talent unfortunately he just didn't perform for whatever reason for us. I suspect he's probably still not going to be that great when he comes back, but i hope i'm wrong and he hits some sensational form. If he flops maybe try and swap him + cash for the mackems K. Jones or Berbatov or someone decent. Maybe swap him and Car for Heskey if we are going to keep Owen. I'd play Milner on the RW and Zoggy LW and Duff can play on either so he'll hopefully be good competition/cover for them at least for now. I'm a Milner fan but we need cover/competition for him and Zoggy.

Martins is better than Owen and just needs the chances/games to prove it. Owen has been a complete disaster, £17m and 125k a week and he's a complete crock who's past his best. Not only has he missed about as many as chances as Martins has, Martins scores goals that Owen isn't even capable of scoring. Plus he's more creative able to drop deep effectively if needs be and is he's as quick as hell too. Martins is the future for us. He's our best striker simple as that.

How has the season been shaping up so far under the new ownership and management? Over the moon with the new owner he seems great. He's paid off nearly all of our reported £100m debt. Allardyce had a great start but the wheels came off after losing to Derby and we have been very up and down since then. The team looks very disjointed and few fans agree with his very odd defensive team selections that he puts out that frustratingly offer little very offensively. What are your expectations for this season? Have they changed from day one? UEFA cup spot at the start. Looking less likely unless Allardyce gets his act together. But i live in hope he may turn us around yet. There have been rumours of discontent with Allardyce already, what were your initital impressions of his appointment, and have they changed at all? He has recently said he would need 4-5 years to make Newcastle into what he wants, will he get that patience from the Geordie faithful, and the new owner for that matter? I honestly thought he could potentially be a fantastic appointment and just the man we needed for stability nd growth. I now have big doubts he is the man but he obviously deserves longer. If we are ever in any danger of being relegated, then he has to go as we can't afford that to happen, otherwise give him this season and if we finish in the top half possibly give him next as well. We just want to keep progressing really and if it takes some time then fine but as long as we continue to progress. On the subject of your new owner, are you happy with him? Although I kind of know this answer…..are you also glad to see the back of Freddie? Yes and Yes I suppose this is linked to the above question, but what do you think of all the money coming into the premiership with new owners all over the place? Will it increase competition or ruin the game? I haven't a strong opinion on this really, it may be a good thing, i'd rather it came into our league than another league i.e. Seria A as otherwise the best players would all be over there, time will tell. Who do you think is your most important player(s)? Martins in my opinion. He can create something out of nothing and is a real nightmare to mark, creativity is something we've really lacked this lad has two great feet is lightning quick and can do the seemingly impossible at times. It would help if Sam actually played him though. Owen etc pushing him out the team hasn't done his confidence any good either. N'zogbia for similar reasons to Martins i.e. his creativity, he's a cracking player. It would help if sam actually played both and in their propper positions. Any player who has performed below your expectations? Many would disagree but Viduka and Smith for me. Viduka is way too slow and for a big lad gets overpowered too easilly. He creates next to nothing and needs everything laid out on a plate for him, which is not hapenning due to our non creative midfield. Smith is up and down, i thought as an attacking midfielder he could do well for us, but he's been well crap on the RW, crap as an attacking midfielder, good as a defensive midfielder and ok up front. Do you miss Titus Bramble? We will most certainly miss cheering his name! Ha ha ha good ridance, i can't believe we kept him for so long he had a terrible effect on all around him too spreading nervousness to the rest of the team especially his fellow defenders who would get dragged away from their man to cover for him. DRUM ROLL……what for I hear you ask? The obligatory Michael Owen question! Of course we have fond memories of his time here, but the way he departed has marked him down in many Liverpool fans bad books for life. In hindsight has he been a waste of money? A brilliant goal scorer, undoubtedly. But is he now a crocked ‘past his best’ liability? A total waste of money in my opinion he's a crock too. In fairness to him he is not getting good service which he needs to thrive on, if we were supplying more chances he'd probably be doing alot better. But as we are not supplying him much, his presence is pointless at times. Martins should play as he can score and create by dropping deeper if needs be. Following on from the above question, will anyone ever be able to replace Alan Shearer? Probably not for some time he's a once or twice in a lifetime kind of player and God up here. I'd love him to manage us. Any young up and coming players in the squad that we might not know about who you feel have the potential to establish themselves in the first team? I attended the youth cup game at your place last season and a few of your lads looked pretty decent, any of those lads developed further? Have they got the potential to go one further in the youth cup this season and make the final, possibly even take the crown off Liverpool? Not really :-[ The expectation levels in the Toon are massive, and I know that as well as anyone, having lived in Newcastle for the last 3 years. Do you feel the expectation levels are realistic, and do you feel you will have what it takes to compete with the ‘big 4’ within the next few years? At this moment in time competing with the big four looks a million miles away. But things can change quickly and i hope sam gets it together quickly and we start to progress and start bridging the gap. With Liverpool’s proposed new stadium and other clubs planning new grounds or redevelopment, does St James Park need to expand to keep up so to speak? I'd like it to expand peronally to around 65k others would disagree. Do you have a particular memory of any previous meeting between our clubs? That can be either on or off the pitch, or both. Preferably no 4-3 talk please! It also seems to be mentioned every year, hence why I have banned talk of it! Sorry haven't banned it, that one 4-3 game under Keegan was one of the most exciting matches ever played, could have gone either way and cost us the title. Other than that not really. Oh Razor Ruddock delibrately elbowing Peter Beardsley smashing his cheekbone to smithrines really f***** me off. There is a general opinion that Geordies and Scousers get on very well. I have found this to generally be the case and got on well with the locals while I have lived in the Toon. Do you agree with this viewpoint or do you not get on with Scousers? Why do you feel that way, any particular experience that makes you feel the way you do? I agree. Similar passions i.e. a general love of football and having a laugh. ‘Best fans in the World’. A statement used by fans of many clubs when describing themselves, including both our respective clubs. State your case to back up that statement. - Silly question....... We are really passionate about football and it has showed in the past. In terms of atmosphere, it seems to be getting worse at most grounds year after year. We started a campaign to ‘reclaim the kop’ last year. I hear you have a ‘toon ultras’ group with similar motives. What do you think are the reasons behind declining atmosphere? Do you think such groups can make a difference, or have already made a difference? Your right its definately getting quieter, its the growing corporate sector in the crowd. What sort of line-up will be put out against us? I hope to god an offensive one. However we will probably play with a maximum of one winger if any at all in which case you should win fairly comfortably. i.e. Zoggy LB instead of LW, Barton riddiculously on the RW instead of CM, Butt and Smith or Geremi in the center with Emre (a CM) or milner (a RW) on the LW. Basically a right mess, however i hope Sam surprises me and we put out the team at the bottom of my post. Which Liverpool player would you most like to see fall ‘victim’ to the infamous rotation policy for this match? Only one. Gerrard Any player you really want to see in our starting eleven who you think has been weak for us so far this season? I'd like to see Hypia and Carrager try and Mark/keep up with Martins. But he probably won't play him Where do you expect yourselves and Liverpool to finish in the Premier League? Also who do you think will win the 4 major honours? Pool 4-5th Toon 8-9th CL - Arsenal Man u - League Liv - FA Cup Chelski - LC Care to predict the score? 0-3 to you if Sam picks his usual dross.

Has to be these three imo p.s. Ginola would be forth.

Coulden't agree more with Mick, who has hit the nail on the head. This thread is utter cobblers imo. i woulden't swap Given and harper for No.1 and No.2 at any club and certainly not for Jaaskelainen. Swap Given for Jaaskelainen??? Are you completely mad? A Wind up merchant or an undercover mackem? As mick says its probably the area that concerns me least at the moment. Krul looks at really bright prospect too!!

Taylor. Beye and Geremi should be played as RB's before anyone else though imo. The problem is they both go to the African cup of Nations for three weeks in Jan/Feb!!! This is when BS may be tempted to play Car! If he plays him before hand and it goes tits up as we all expect it too then as mentioned his credibility as a manager is called into question imo, because it would be plain stupidity.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please Sam not even on the bench!! Sell him in Jan!!!!!!

Agreed. If we coulden't get Berba then Ashton would be great too.

Good post!! Yes i trust him with the money if nothing else. He spends it wisely imo and did well in the summer. He deserves longer, hopefully he will bring in some class attacking talent next. Although it is early days yet, as mentioned by you its his tactics that i don't trust at the moment. They are appalling!! i.e. Derby, Reading and sunderland etc. Setting us up without wingers etc reminds me so much of Soumess its scary!!! I just pray he hasn't the ego of Souness and realises whats wrong, as if he carries on this way he's doomed for sure. We can't go to s*** teams and just try and defend and hope to nick something. As you quite rightly say he needs to "go out and play in a structured offensive way"! We have Liverpool Blackburn and arsenal next and i fear the worst. If Derby, reading and Sunderland can out play us then these teams could do exactly what pompey did to us or even worse!! But when it comes to buying players his track record is very very good.

Sam did well in the summer he brought in 5 new quality defenders. Plus Parker, Dyer and solano wanted out so he rightly let them go and brought in, Barton, Viduka, Smith and Geremi which at the time looked great business. We still have good players but his tactics have been shocking lately and the players have not taken to his formations/selections. In Jan/end of season if we could sign a couple of top top quality players i.e. the likes of Edmilson, Riquelme, Berbatov or Ashton, SWP etc etc they could make all a big difference.

Yeah 100% agree with that.. No way Yes Way. I agree with that team. Shocked that so many actually think Viduka is good. He is a good finisher yes and has good technique yes but he's very very slow (a huge disadvantage for us in todays game) and also very weak in the air being outmuscled by CB's 99% of the time so he creates next to nothing himself and needs alot of creativity much like Owen does to feed off. Martins is an absolute must for me as he's lightining quick, skillfull, two footed, hard working, unpredictable, a nightmare to mark and capable of dropping into the midfield and run from deep etc etc. We need to build the team around the rarely injured Martins rather than the almost always injured very fragile owen. I'd much preffer someone like the scum's impressive K. Jones personally over Viduka or Owen at this moment in time. Owen and Viduka are for me both luxuary players who if we are not dominating the game and creating much are pretty useless, as they are both just good finishers, there's not much else to their game really, they don't create much themselves. They are not what you need in todays game as they are not capable of dropping deep into midfield helping out and picking up the ball running at players. Look at Manu with Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez three players who are quick and skillfull and who will drop back into the midfield to help out and can run at the opposition from deep if needs to, we are light years behind in this respect. Martins should have been on earlier probably for Viduka as he is capable of this. Jones (like Drogba, Benjani, Torres etc) is a great example of the modern striker i.e. big strong, quick, intellegent and can shoot, score, head, good engine, capable of dropping deep to help out then storm forward with great effect, we need a striker who can offer us this + a manager who is able to pick a decent team.

Owen & Viduka are for me both luxuary players in todays game, who if we are not dominating the game and creating much are pretty much useless, as they are both just very good finishers, there's not much else to their game really, they don't create that much themselves. They are not what you need in todays game as they are not capable of dropping deep into midfield helping out and picking up the ball running at players. Look at Manu with Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez three players who are quick and skillfull and who will drop back into the midfield to help out and can run at the opposition from deep if needs to, we are light years behind in this respect. Martins should have been on earlier probably for Viduka as he is capable of this. Jones (like Drogba, Benjani, Torres etc) is a great example of the modern striker i.e. big strong, quick, intellegent and can shoot, score, head, pass, good engine, capable of dropping deep to help out then storm forward with great effect. We either build the team around the very injury prone Owen i.e. go strictly 442, buy Heskey/Anelka, get a quick RW to provide lots of crosses etc etc or sell him and move on get players like K. Jones and pair him with martins OR maybe play Sams preffered (anti Owen) 433. But playing owen and then playing a system which does not suit him at all is plainly not working.

I f****** hate these tactics i.e. lets cram the midfield to try and nick a draw against Derby, Reading and sunderland etc could half understand it away at Old Trafford ffs but this tactic is the absolute pits. i know he's trying to make us harder to beat but he's actually making us easier to beat by taking the attacking side out of our game and inviting teams to have a go whilst not offering much in th way of attacking back imo + its horrible to watch for us aswell. If playing 442 please play with milner on the RW and zoggy on the LW as its not like they are crap at tracking back (i.e. Ginola, Robert) they are bloody good at tracking back and will offer us so much more on he wings than our central midfielders do. As long as we are not in danger of relegation he deserves at least this season to show us he can improve us slowly but surely. I think he should revise his tactics though as the tactic of trying to nullify the opponent whilst ofering next to nothing back ourselves looks one that could ultimatly get him the sack if he persists with it. In which case get a more attack minded coach in. Harper 7 - Some very good saves, didn't play it out from the back much at all though (possibly not hi fault though). Taylor 6- ok did his best tried hard, struggled with the very impressive Jones once the faye went off. Faye 8 - Awesome first half great headers tackles and kept Jones at bay. Not so great early in second before went off with suspected hamstring strain. Rozenhal 6 - ok possibly at fault for goal. Needs a partner like Faye. Zog 6.5 - Tried to attack from LB should have played LW as we all know except Sam. Barton 5.5 - Poor 1st half, better second. Getting better slowly. Smith 7 Good job as a defensive midfielder. Emre 7 Worked hard, good tackles and looked the most likely to create something particularly in the second half once they scored. Milner 6 - Worked hard but didn't really acheive much bar the all important goal. Owen & Viduka 5 - It can be rightly argued that they didn't get much service its true. However they are for me both luxuary players who if we are not dominating the game and creating much are pretty useless, as they are both just good finishers, there's not much else to their game really, they don't create much themselves. They are not what you need in todays game as they are not capable of dropping deep into midfield helping out and picking up the ball running at players. Look at Manu with Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez three players who are quick and skillfull and who will drop back into the midfield to help out and can run at the opposition from deep if needs to, we are light years behind in this respect. Martins should have been on earlier probably for Viduka as he is capable of this. Jones (like Drogba) is a great example of the modern striker i.e. big strong, quick, intellegent and can shoot, score, head, good engine, capable of dropping deep to help out then storm forward with great effect.