alpal78

Should be on BBC Sport shouldn't they? Can't watch it there if you live outside UK Really...why? Can anyone provide me a link to the goal on BBC sport? I'm assuming that is legal since it is on BBC

I actually worried sick he is gonna leave us in January. If a top 8 Premieship (which I think is his standard) comes knocking with a big contract, I'm sure that will test his loyalty. Then that is the propsect of fat Ashley making a quick buck. In a way the team doing so well might work against us, fatty might rationalize that we are so good that surely selling Enrique and getting an average LB on the cheap would not hurt us that much

Sorry Otter, I couldn't resist

We're nailed on to get a thumping then what with you not going and Sewelly looking to lengthen his record! Hopeless the two of you!

Great that everyone is now going crazy over him. Just a few weeks back people were saying that he was sure to be useless (since he didnt get a contract at Sheffield Utd) and using this as evidence that Ashley is not backing up Houghton. How times have changed...perhaps next time we will give a player a chance to prove himself first

I personally believe he is. He's not competing for a place in the starting XI just yet but he's a valuable member of the squad. yes but there are quite a few players who are fighting for squad positions...and there are quite a few players who can play that utility role you talked about...Hargreaves, Carrick...etc. My comment on SWP is not cause I think he is that good (in fact I used to rate Lennon more), but he is probably the only pacey RW right now performing to a reasonable level of consistency. If Milner is competing for a place in the squad (i.e. not starting XI as you conceded), how in the world can he be nailed on to get selected?

Providing he's fit, I think he's nailed on to be on the plane to South Africa. "Nailed on" is exaggerating it. I don't think he is special but I would still admit that he is amongst 5-6 players with a good fighting chance to get the last few places. Probably competing against the likes of Lennon, Beckham and Cole/Walcott if they improve in the next few months. SWP is nailed on to get the right wing spot.

don't bother about Given anymore and still think he left us when we needed him the most. Probably can't be convinced otherwise, so save your time & don't bother. Good keeper though.

I'm celebrating being 10 points clear but am still very concerned. The gap between our first team and reserves is too big. The first team is good enough to bring us back to the Premiership but if a few key players get injured, our 2nd team will not be good enough to sustain the momentum. We still need a striker who can score regularly at the Championship level. Carrol and Ranger have good attributes but neither are regular scorers. No telling how Ameobi will perform on his return. So far we've been lucky that Nolan has been compensating from midfield, but I fear that is more down to a rich vein of form than real ability, form which might just disappear the way it appeared out of nowhere. Then of course there is the fear of players like Enrique, Jonas, Colo, Nolan leaving. It's good that they are all saying they are committed to the cause but wait till the Premiership clubs roll out those dollar signs contract! Remember Beye & his love for the club?!

I dunno. I'll admit to being a Milner hater based on his frustrating time here, and I still see that same player with the same limitations turning out for Villa, just in a better team, hence why he's producing more. His passing does look to have improved, certainly compared to his time here where he barely did a thing on the ball outside of aimlessly crossing it into the box. Maybe he'll be a different animal in the middle of the park in the future, rather than the frustrating one out wide? Will wait and see how he performs against better teams in that area of the pitch first though. I'm with Tmonkey here. He's definitely playing better in a better side but I'm unconvinced he is England material. He is certainly nowhere near good enough for England's centre midfield, might be useful on the right wing but I'd take SWP and Beckham ahead of him (maybe Lennon too). Unfortunately to be a winger you either need lots of pace like SWP & Lennon or if not, then be able to cross from deep like Beckham (i.e. without beating the fullback). Milner can't do both.

How many did he start & how many times did he come on as a sub? 34/13 That's misleading. He started 15 games in the league (only 11 under the scottish t***) despite being fit all season. Funnily enough he was on the bench from the word go with Souness and spent the last 10 games mainly as a unused sub. Basically he started 1 in 3 under Souness in the league despite us having no other natural left-winger in the squad (except a very young Zog), says it all. then what did he do, put bellamy on the RW and played shola upfront by himself shows you what a f***ing c*** of a manager souness is Now with that anger, may I refer you to the "who do you hate the most" poll. Perhaps this Robert thread has jogged some people's memories. Absolutely hated Souness for what he did to Robert & Bellamy. With Ashley there is still some doubt whether he's screwing us up on purpose, with Souness not a thread of doubt that he was doing things purposely and enjoying it. I still remember the game when Robert had a blinder and in the post match interview, Souness complained that Robert is not doing enough defending. He systematically demoralized our flair players so that he can get his grafters in! c***!

seconded, he would have obviously loss his speed and agility, but his awesome technique would more or less still be there

I actually surprised that the gap between Ashley and Souness is so big. Ashley with other joker of his got us relegated (players also share some blame imo), but if we are honest we were already a poor team by the time he took over. Souness absolutely destroyed a superb team that with a bit of tweaking could have broken our trophy dry run and the way he treated some of our favourite players was absolutely unacceptable! I can still feel the anger when I think of those times. I'm still convinced that a significant number of those who voted for Ashley is basing it on current emotions. They are unable/unwilling to access the depth of their hatred towards Souness during his time. If only we could dig up some of the post on Souness, he would be lucky to be called a rapist!

Wullie mate, I think you're looking at things from the current point of time...then of course it's Ashley hands down as most would have made peace with Gareme, Freddy and Gullit by now. The poll is asking you to compare your hatred of these individuals at different points of time (when your hatred was at its peak). If you still answer Ashley, then fair enough. I suspect most would.

I voted Graeme Souness, despicable man! Used to hate every fucking interviews he gave!

Go on...thought this might be interesting, not at this particular moment but comparing your hatred at its peak. Souness for destroying a superb team in particular the sale of Robert & Bellamy Mike Asheley for his treatment of Keegan and all that he has done Freddy Shepherd for what he did to SBR and almost everything else Gullit for his continuous ridicule of Shearer

I define waste as being given the opportunity but not doing enough relative to price tage + salary. Result = Owen by a country mile.

Some players do like to just hoof the ball up (with or without him) but he provides an outlet for us not to do that too often. Without him, that is all we do. So yes there was a deterioration in the game of other players as otherwise they just hoof the ball up.

Haha I remember some Irish mates always making fun of this incident, now the joke is on them...karma is a bitch. I have no symphathies

The only problem I see in this report (if it is true) is the part that he overdraws his account. Nothing wrong with spending 75K if it is within his limits. Football is a non-scalable profession, for every one superstar thousands fail to even become a professional. Anyone trying out football as a profession is taking a massive gamble and deserves all the winnings (which he can spend whatever way he wants) if he succeeds. There's no point comparing his earnings and expenditure with ours. Footballers live in a different world all together...hitting Martins for 'overspending' is just jealousy. Rather than blaming Martins, I'm more suspicious with the company, looks like they're out to make a killing from someone they think/know they can take advantage of.

Easy SAF is an excellent manager for Man Utd but to be an ambassador of football, you need to be able to detach yourself from your personal managerial position and look at the bigger picture. His constant whining (especially of late) including calling refs unfit etc is a disgrace especially given his knighthood. Can you imagine SBR doing what SAF did? Never because SBR is class and understands his responsibility to football. Of the two SAF is undoubtedly the more successful manager but in terms of being an ambassador of football, SAF is nowhere close to SBR. Now Tevez has no title so my expectation of him is much lower. No doubt his latest interview makes him sound like a c***, but whilst he was at Man Utd, he always gave his all, rarely whined even when h was dropped (unfairly in my view) just so that SAF can prove he is right by playing Berbatov. Ask most Man Utd fans (at least the ones I know) that they only have good things to say about Tevez. Even when he scored a double against West Ham, his muted celebration shows that his respect for the fans, that coupled with 100% effort is as much as you can expect from a footballer these days. He whined for ages, threatened to leave when he didn't get his way and then did leave when he didn't get his way. He even cupped his ear towards Fergie when the ManU fans were singing his name. Also I'm pretty sure the Wham fans were singing his name, cheering him etc., most footballers wouldn't rub a goal in their faces after that. No-one (apart from maybe a few referees) inside football has a bad word to say about SAF, he does a huge amount of work with new managers and helping them into the game and also does a hell of a lot of charity work from what I've read. Re Tevez, I don't think there is anything wrong with leaving if you're not getting a fair deal and the relationship with the manager has broken down. You are right, he obviously did have problems with SAF and may have taunted him but the fact that Man Utd fans were singing his name despite his altercation with SAF is proof for me that the fans loved him to bits. Some/most were taking his side despite their high regards for SAF. To me at least, in terms of being a credit to the game, it is more important for a player to be liked by fans than to ass kiss the manager. Fair enough if you think SAF has done good stuff for the game, he probably has. I just find his recent disrespectful remark of referees and on those occasions his inability to look at the bigger picture and realize his responsibility to the game as opposed to his narrow responsibility as a Man Utd manager unacceptable of a 'Sir'

Easy SAF is an excellent manager for Man Utd but to be an ambassador of football, you need to be able to detach yourself from your personal managerial position and look at the bigger picture. His constant whining (especially of late) including calling refs unfit etc is a disgrace especially given his knighthood. Can you imagine SBR doing what SAF did? Never because SBR is class and understands his responsibility to football. Of the two SAF is undoubtedly the more successful manager but in terms of being an ambassador of football, SAF is nowhere close to SBR. Now Tevez has no title so my expectation of him is much lower. No doubt his latest interview makes him sound like a cunt, but whilst he was at Man Utd, he always gave his all, rarely whined even when h was dropped (unfairly in my view) just so that SAF can prove he is right by playing Berbatov. Ask most Man Utd fans (at least the ones I know) that they only have good things to say about Tevez. Even when he scored a double against West Ham, his muted celebration shows that his respect for the fans, that coupled with 100% effort is as much as you can expect from a footballer these days.

The only thing Capello would have learnt from that game is that some of the 2nd stringers are nowhere near good enough. I would include Brown and Milner in that category. How many times was Wes Brown raped on the right? So much for his defensive skills, he could not even keep pace with his man As for Milner, I got sick of the commentator saying "With James Milner...what you see is what you get...a hardworking lad" If only hardworking was enough. He tries to cross the ball almost every time even though it was patently clear that his crosses were s***!

Not being able to play his first team is a disaster for Capello not just for this game but more importantly for the WC. I predict that England will lose by a 2 goal margin but everyone will be saying we lost because Lampard & Gerrard ain't playing & things would be different had they played. The truth is England would lose even with a full strength side and the faster they find that out, the better they can prepare for the WC.

Great! I so look forward to the superstars of NZ playing next year!