gazza ladra

their fans.

Well, the last two have been held in North Africa haven't they? Tunisia (2004); Mali (2002). No surprise that Tunisia won the tournament they hosted. And Mali was the only team from North Africa in the final four when they hosted. You mean Egypt (2006) & Tunisia (2004). Tunisia did not win it they held it in 1994. I am not counting Mali as a North African arab nation. I am talking about Tunisia, Egypt & Morocco. I think one of them 3 will win it. (Edit: yeah, Egypt. I edited my post. Sorry) Main point was that hosting a tournament can do a lot for a nation's chances. And 1878's point is telling. Regardless of culture --Arab or not- it probably has more to do with geography than anything else. (I'm not sure if Mali is considered Sub-Saharan-- perhaps not). Although, I don't think it is just North Africans-- pretty sure that most national teams would have trouble playing that close to the equator.

Well, the last three have been held in North Africa haven't they? Egypt (2006) Tunisia (2004); Mali (2002). No surprise that Egypt and Tunisia each won the tournament that they hosted. And Mali was the only team from North Africa in the final four when they hosted.

Bull. Longevity is important. It's like the point made in another thread about Sir Les being at his best greater than Shearer (dubious imo)-- the problem being that Les' peak lasted two years while Shearer's six (a very important point). Shearer was the greater player. And the Clash were the greater band. And as far as individual albums go, I'd take London Calling any day.

Spending silly money on Richards is a bad idea--we have other priorities. Beye is the Allardyce signing I am most thankful for.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/Match_Report/0,,2244202,00.html Ok, it's Louise Taylor. And I'm already convinced that she's pretty clueless because she noted--in a previous column-- that the Keegan should acquire Chimbonda because the club was lacking a dynamic RB-- I can only assume that she has not seen Beye play. Moreover, her list of targets did not include a single creative CM. So, when was Keegan chiding Enrique? After the game? Or perhaps, to Keegan's urging him to push forward and support Duff?

Quite interesting. Lends some support to those who felt that Roz did well on Saturday. Made a few really canny passes from distance. He was the least of our worries.

Tabloids must browse forums looking for something they know'll stir up fans and sell papers.

Martins * He's quicker and will stretch the field-- something a decent CM can exploit. * He's younger. Room for improvement. * He could benefit under Keegan. (No history with Keegan) * He's exciting

Bentley, Berbatov, Carrick if only...

Will Benefit / Have Futures --------------------------- N'Zogbia Beye Taylor Faye Geremi Enrique Duff Barton Martins Smith

@ HTT, Which of those players do you think are KK players? NZogbia, Enrique, Taylor, Duff...Enrique...Kazenga?

Given - 7 Carr- 6 Taylor - 7 Cacapa - 6 Enrique - 6 Duff - 5 Rozehnal - 5 NZogbia - 6 Milner - 6 Ameobi - 5 Owen - 5 Nothing especially bad. Just not good enough. I think that with the right players (Emre, Barton, Beye, Faye) we would've destroyed them.

Under Allardyce no way we'd have a clean sheet. Ok, I'm looking for positives.

Duff to striker. Ameobi off.

Starting to play long ball...

Better.

n'zogbia's playing as if he's used to the central role...rozenthal's playing like he's hardly used to a football Disagree, N'Zogbia is running with the ball too often. Roz looks comfortable.

Well, there's Emre, and Barton...

Carr is driving me nuts.

Does this mean we won't be signing Kevin Nolan?

They've played it at the end of games-- after wins.

You know, Shola may benefit from Keegan's management. Allardyce had him all boxed up and he couldn't play his game.