gazza ladra

Change the title of the thread please. Had a heart attack when I saw the thread title; I thought AC broke Ben Arfa's jaw or something.

Geordie Brian, more like

Let's all laugh at Portugal.

What does 17th place mean? For me it means that Ben Arfa fails. It means that Barton goes down (again). It means that Carroll's form tails off. It means that Enrique is injured. It means Hugton out; Kinnear some other clown it. It means a lot of crap goes wrong. The side that was relegated 15 months ago was "too good to go down" went down because of shit management, poor team spirit, injuries, shit attittudes (our captain Mr. Owen), the "foul and distinct odor of mendacity", and a whole lot more. I don't want to see any of that. No, 17th is not good enough. This squad and Chris Hughton is better than that.

There was an interesting point made in the Futebol: The Brazilan Way by Alex Bellos regarding the market for Brazilian footballers in Europe. Many smaller clubs pay way over the odds for Brazilain talent when they could get a better player for the same money from Mexico or Paraguay or wherever, but they are willing to spend big just because the player is Brazilian. It gets the fanbase excited. And if the player is a flop; the club tends to catch less flack for spending big on a Brazilian nobody versus spending big on a nobody from Chile. Also, IIRC there is (or was) quite a scandal regarding the promotion of nothing players to the Brazilian squad for financial gain. Agents know that if they can get their donkey wearing the yellow and blue kit even once, they are in for a big payday. I'd be suspicious if all you have to go on is "he's been capped for Brazil"

Weah; best player from a small country. Uruguay was a big country once upon a time, but cannot be considered big in any sense of the word today. Sorry.

You do that. I'm going to get shitfaced and read Kierkegaard.

Any snap team-by-team transfer window grades out there? I thought that Sunderland, Wigan, Birmingham, and Wolves did pretty well. Any thoughts on outright failures? Liverpool, Villa, West Ham?

Joey Barton w/ moustache

Wigan brought in di Santo and Cleverly, and held onto N'Zogbia (for the time being). I like Martinez, but hate Wigan so I have mixed feelings the window. He's brought in some talent that can play proper football. Still wish we'd nabbed Victor Moses. I think they'll survive. Edit: Not really the right thread.

Arsene Wenger would.

No. Not after our performances against Villa and Wolves away. For me, Wolves are a decent side and we had them on their backheels at Molineux. We've got great team spirit and added to our squad two internationals from quality sides. On top of that, there really aren't that many quality sides in the Premiership. Even Villa and Everton--two of the better also rans-- haven't looked very good. Every couple of seasons there's a promoted club that exceeds expectations and does more than merely survive-- a Reading, or Birmingham. If any team is going to do it this season it's us. Player for player we match up pretty well against every side outside the top five so I think a top half finish is very much in the cards. /deluded rant

Let's all look up the table at Villa.

Blackpool, West Ham, and WBA. Wigan to survive; they could just as easily finish bottom. Also, I think Birmingham are finally going to be found out-- I just don't see how three from West Ham, West Brom, Blackpool and Wigan are going to steer clear of the drop.

Are there any other practicing Muslims or francophones with the club?

Good enough to stay up, but we've pretty much committed ourselves to playing a five man midfield. Lord help us if Carroll gets injured.

Lee Bowyer Summer The title of a poem or a really bad movie.

How do we match up? Harper Simpson Williamson Colo Enrique Barton Tiote Rout HBA Jonas Carroll Owen Bellamy Duff Parker Milner Dyer N'Zogbia Faye Bramble Carr Given N'Zogbia is at left back because Fat Sam is in charge of the Ex-NUFC 11.

Thought you guys might go soft after the Ben Arfa thread. Nothing like an Ashley thread to get everybody's blood up. Fresh meat into the cage!

Smith has been decent and he is a team leader.

No.

Plenty of minutes for all four. One of Deschamps complaints about Ben Arfa IIRC was that he was rarely good for 90 minutes. I wouldn't want to sit Routledge, but I think that he would be particularly effective as an impact substitution.

Good man. Now give Jonas a break.