gazza ladra

Good question. He's the first one to start sulking on the pitch. His body language is all wrong. Assume KK did it to ward off the papers and the Owen-Keegan riff stories. Poor decision.

Greece and Yugoslavia don't you mean? But yes. I think you're right. No chance they'll kick Spain out. Two set of rules. One for the "big" nations (what has Spain ever won?), and one for everybody else.

Milner

Beye - Faye - Cacapa - Enrique Duff - Geremi - Emre - N'Zogbia Owen - Martins

Didn't he play as a defensive midfielder against Portsmouth? Just saying...

totally agree. Coupled with the lack of a leader in the side that raises spirits etc the side seem to just never shrug off going a goal down. not even a leader,we need more than someone who'll clap and shout,we need someone to spark something football wise. I will never see more of a classic example of that then Beckham did V greece and what gerrard does for liverpool time and time again. One player who takes the game by the scruff of the neck and makes it work. We just dont have a wonder player in our side bar zoggy and owen that could do that for us and unfortunately for us they do not do it consistant enough. maybe it is the language barrier that holds our communication play behind, we have struggled for a while to break play up and to break defences down Beye did that in the Birmingham game. From right back he was the player who pushed the ball up field. Won the corner and then stuck the ball in the goal. One of the few bright spots in a dreary season.

I had a bizarre nightmare last night -- Fat Fred had reassumed control of the club and gave a press conference talking about all the great things he was going to accomplish. That's all I remember. Wonder what Freud would've made of that. Anyway...

...that and a lack of leadership. Owen is not a team captain. We go down a goal and he immediately starts sulking.

We were a better team with him on the right side of the midfield.

Missing Geremi-- he was captain for a reason. Contributed much more than he is given credit for. He wasn't involved in the Portsmouth fiasco. And Man City scored two goals after he went off the pitch (Sept). [Though he was certainly there for loss to Liverpool.]

Boro? At home? Bolton at home? Tougher opposition? Give me a break.

Whoa there. I think quite a few of us have around to this conclusion. We have better options in the midfield and up top. And he's contributed next to nothing. I thought he might benefit-- and the team might benefit having him as a striker. But not at the expense of Viduka or Martins certainly. At this point, I'd rather see Keegan run Ameobi out there. He scored more goals for us last season in fewer starts than Smith has managed.

yeah, I like to see the team score goals. Both Martins and Viduka still have more goals this season than Owen--they're the team leaders in fact. And they should start. Owen's scored in the last couple of games... whoopidy-fucking-do

Habib Beye.

He's got to start. Keegan making Owen captain to me is worrying. Nothing but a vote of confidence for Owen. But the team needs a leader on the field. Can't see Keegan finding space for Martins. The team is better with him on the pitch-- his presence is important.

Yes, but than he picked up Beye. And Geremi immediately moved into the midfield. And Geremi was frequently on the far right early on-- not CM

Right. Especially if we are not playing Emre. Who is going to take the free kicks?

To me Faye, Beye, N'Zogbia, and Enrique are the four that must start. (Enrique because Zoggy is wasted at LB). I can't see wasting Faye in midfield and don't think we'll move to 4-5-1. Besides Faye is someone that we need defending in the box. I chose Geremi over Milner. We haven't won a thing since Milner took over on the right wing. Though, Duff might be a better option. But from what I've seen, Geremi has unfairly taken the blame for a lot of our troubles-- but we only got worse when he was dropped. And we need Geremi and Emre out there because they are best we have for free kicks. Emre can hold and distribute the ball. Martins is needed to stretch the defence. And I picked Viduka because I think he'll do well for a team that plays football. He was wasted in SA's longball tactics. Might do well if he get's the ball to his feet. I think that for the benefit of the team as a whole both Milner and Owen need to be dropped.

Martins' rocket. Wait, was that this season? I can't think of anything.

Given Beye - Faye - Cacapa -Enrique Geremi - Barton - Emre - Zoggy Martins - Viduka

@Optimistic Nut I fear you are right. I pray we don't see N'Zogbia at right back. Quite sad. No chance of keeping him then.

I'll see your Derby and raise you a Derby.

I think that Carr had a couple of (relatively) good games. I'm hoping the reason he sat Enrique has something to do with him playing mid week, but I fear I'm hoping too much.

What has he contributed so far this season though? Milner is forever trying to go past his man, but can't, because he's simply not good enough. He has neither pace nor "a trick" to get him the extra yard to do something useful with the ball. On the rare ocassion he does get that extra yard, his crossing/passing is usually piss poor anyway. In terms of value to the team, compared to amount of money we could sell him for he should be first out of the door. I agree with the first part. Very sad that he looks our "best player" in many a game. Speaks volumes. The second part, I don't know. Do you really think we could get that much for him. He'd be a very good squad player.

Yes, by far.