gazza ladra

Please elaborate. I think he is easily the best we coudl do outside of Caleb Porter (Akron Zips Coach). Phillip Lahm absolutely slated him in his book as having no tactical nouse or ability bar motivation what so ever during his time at Deutschland and Bayern. Said at Germany Jögi Löw did all the work and as he didn't follow Klinnsy to Bayern he fell flat on his face. I think you missed the part about "the best we coudl [sic] do" After Bradley, a big step up for us

No American can understand the intricacies of British libel laws. We're generally fucked up. But not that fucked up.

Um, no. Carroll in heartbeat.

Bolton fans complained when he was there as well. Still think they'll win promotion. And the complaining will continue.

Bowyer/Dyer style? Yep Again, as someone else pointed out in regards to some Sunderland fan wanting Hitzfeld, we've got no right to laugh. Still,

Yep. Which makes our start against "easy" competition all the sweeter. Yes, we've had an lighter schedule than most to start the season---to date, only two games with top half sides. So what? We've taken the points. And we're in a really good position. We don't really need to take anything from Man United or Chelsea. So long as we don't let in 5 (or 8) goals we're way ahead of the competition.

Happy

I suspect that most haven't seen him at all; they're just aping received wisdom. He's getting a lot good press. He had a terrific game against Villa and the word is out. Early on Enrique showed on one or two of those "worst buys of the summer list" and it took opposition fans years to figure out he was a decent player.

I wish there were more "number 10s." I grew up in an era that had Roberto Baggio & Dennis Bergkamp. So it's an element that I really miss from the modern game. Same here. I still think it can be an invaluable position when you have the right player in there, although the traditional version is undoubtedly less effective now that so many teams field a specialist defensive midfielder to plug the gap in between the lines. If he's allowed just to drift into space wherever it may be and pull people all over he could completely change the way we play, he also has to be willing to get into the box and beyond the striker too though. Think they call it a "false 10" these days, don't they? Where Ozil played for Germany in the World Cup and VDV played for Spurs last season? Ozil plays in a 3 man midfield in the Lampard role. HBA will be playing off 1 striker like a traditional #10. IMO the modern #10 has to be capable of playing deeper in midfield with some steel (Modric) or out wide (Arshavin) or upfront (Totti). No way did Ozil play "the Lampard role" in the World Cup, he played off Klose, as Sneijder played off RVP and quite a bit off Milito for Inter if I remember rightly. They played as second-strikers as much as they did central midfielders, if not more. This approach led to Spurs using van der Vaart off Crouch for much of last season and it was very effective, although I do think your worry about becoming over-reliant on the number 10 is a very valid one. That I definitely agree with. There were even times last season where our players would just pass it to HBA and then stand still and watch him, but I'm hoping with the new lads it won't be like that this time around. To get the best out of him we need to be getting the ball to him and then ensuring he has options when he does have it. The Everton game?

Carroll and Nolan were perfect for one another.

Yeah, if we win.... Maybe not. Sourness had us in the semi-final of the FA Cup... and the quarters of the UEFA Cup... I'm not sure that he'd be a hero today if we had won either. (Just. Can't. See. Past. the. Hatred.)

heh

Well, I'd like to see Carroll back, but it isn't going to happen. And I can't see Ashley (or anybody else) paying £20 for him right now. What is Carroll making a week now?

Very pessimistic. Think we'll get buried.

sound and fury signifying thursday

It occurred to me last year as I watched Barton and Nolan interviewed after the victory over Liverpool--- well, that's it they're gone. They had the temerity to dedicate the game to Hughton and laugh off the notion that Pardew had somehow made the difference. But then I thought, no, that would be incredibly insane and petty. You'd have to be a real idiot and awfully thin-skinned to do something that stupid.

At this rate we'll be able to hold onto him.

Are we down to ten men?

They'll get a good price for him too.

Same in California. Still Liverpool fans worse. Insufferable. Rather Enrique had gone anywhere else.

Anyone who thinks he didn't hurt the locker room with this attitude is nuts. Glad he's gone. Yeah, right Joey hurt the locker room. Nothing compared to the damage done by Ashley. IMO Joey simply expressed what the locker room was thinking; others were merely too limit or chary to say anything.

TBF, Wynalda can be a bit of a tool... Supposedly supports us.

He was offside.

One thing is for sure, Enrique spouting s**** about the spirit has shown to be his version and not the rest of the players, they fought like a team, if they didn't have any spirit they would have folded. 10/10 is what Enrique said about the dressing room so he wasn't spouting s**** actually I was totally fucking wrong. Fixed that for you.