alpal78

so you don't have an intelligent view on how the current board are operating, apart from blind optimism ? Good reply, or is it diversionary rubbish. I asked you one simple question about the single biggest decision they have made so far, which was to change the manager. I don't want to talk about all the other stuff you flung in to try and avoid the question, that was the only thing I wanted to get your opinion on. Eventually after asking about five times I got you to admit you agree with me that it was a good move and they got it right. So that's the one major decision they've made and they got it right. Yet 'overall' you say 'Ashley is nowhere near looking like he knows how to succeed'. Strange. it isn't the one major decision. The decision not to compete at the level we ought to and back the manager is another major decision, and ultimately, no matter how good the manager is, if you don't back him you're not going to get the best from him. I find if very strange that Ashley has appointed Keegan, based on what he did first time round presumably, and isn't giving him a chance to repeat it ? Whats your opinion on that ? Dave I've been saying for years if Keegan had stayed at the club we would have gone on to win things IMO. You must have been blind to have missed it, on that basis I found your question slightly pointless. The question was designed to get an admission from you that on that one (the only one IMO) major decision so far the board has done well and should be commended for it. For some reason however you refuse to do this. I too find it strange that they would appoint Keegan then not back him to the fullest degree. However, I've seen nothing to suggest this is the case, barring the fantasies of some bored journalists that have nothing better to do than to try and unsettle the club. In my opinion you are falling for it hook, line and sinker despite years of telling us those same journalists don't know what they are talking about. Coincidently when attacking the previous board... I feel the journalists are jumping on every single little thing they can and you are going along with it all because you want to be proved right. You have nothing whatsoever to back up your claim that a decision has been made not to compete at whatever level you feel is our 'right', and as such I find it preposterous that you can say it as though it is fact. Of course I'm not 100% convinced right now (it's impossible to be either way), but I will judge them after a longer period of time than you obviously are doing, because I feel that is fair. Just like I judged the previous board on their 10+ years in charge. In short Dave, the usual trying to fit a rationale into a predetermined conclusion, just that in NE5's case the 'rationale' is just baseless speculation!

Does that matter at this point of time? RIP Oba's mum and we should support him as much as we can.

How has a thread on Pablo Aimar morphed into one on the old board v new board? This is so misleading, can someone at least fucking change the title!

I actually voted confident because I am confident that things will work out right. I am however pissed off that NE5 keeps on trying to link most threads to an issue of old board vs new board

There seems to be news going around that we've made our first signing - Marouane Chamakh, tall (6'11) striker from Bordeaux Nothing reported on official website but seems to be in wikipedia. Of course since anyone can edit wikipedia, this could be complete bollocks! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marouane_Chamakh Anyone knows/heard of the lad?

I'm gonna be the devils advocate here Yes Ronaldo has been the best player at club level but to win the WPOTY award, one also has to do well at the international level just like past winners. For me Ronaldo has done squat at the international level. Wasn't even prominent in Portugal's quarter finals exit in WC 2006 (except for scoring the last penalty that took us out) and so far in Euro 2008, he is not the most impressive player for Portugal. If Portugal wins Euros or lose the finals and Ronaldo plays an important part in their achievement, then yes give the award to the boy. Otherwise, might be worth looking at someone who does well in this year's Euros and who has also performed well (though perhaps not to Ronaldo's standard) at club level. Bottom line, the WPOTY has to do well for both club and international football.

Nice. Have him over Keegan any day myself. Doesn't change the fact that he is a cunt though. Complete hypocracy for him to berate Madrid for trying to get Ronaldo when he/Man Utd has done that so many times. Hargreaves from Bayern being the latest case (before Bayern finally agreed to sell him). Same old, same old Fergie, rules and principles that he wants other clubs to adhere to apparently do not apply to Man Utd. Top coach but still a cunt of the highest order.

f****** love it. It was one of my best Toon goals for quite some time, simply for the fact that not only did the goal involved all our three strikers, but also them doing what they are best at. Martin's direct running, combined with Viduka's deft flicks and intelligence and Owen finishing = GOAL

The best teams also have the best midfielders and defenders, to say they have the best forwards is slightly short sighted. yeah they spent £33m alone to capture Ferdinand (still a british transfer fee record if you include agent's fees), which eclipses anything spent on rooney or ronaldo. also spent sizeable fees on Evra and Vidic who are massively important players. obviously the best teams have excellent forward players as well, but even lesser clubs have excellent centre-half pairings this season. look at Everton - Yobo and Lescott. Pompey - Distin and Campbell. Villa - Davies and Laursen. City - Richards and Dunne. Blackburn - Samba and Nelsen. Only West Ham of top-half teams have a suspect pairing here and even then Upson is a good player. Our best centre-half, Faye, is not as good as some of those players and the others aren't good enough or not suited for our league. so buying a player for this position is undeniably ONE of our priorities. Spurs have better attacking ability than any of those teams but are floundering below them because the defensive side of their game is suspect, they have laughable s**** like Dawson and Robinson constantly in their side. Woodgate and King is another example of our rivals having excellent strength in this position, their problem is not getting them out on the pitch together enough. part of the reason we've not done as well as perhaps we should, given we signed three new defenders for the first team (not including rozzie and cacapa), was that they had to adjust to the premiership, and the fact that Enrique hardly ever played and we foolishly had a left-winger in his position, and that Beye and Faye were off to ACN, and that Faye was injured at the start of the season, and has had to play alongside crap for every game, and that one of our keepers has suddenly lost the ability to play as he used to or be fit, etc etc. some of these issues will (hopefully) address themselves next season, but the one about Faye needing a reliable partner, needs to be rectified in the transfer market. Spot on, forwards are important, but it is laughable and naive that good teams only focus on getting good forwards. It's a balance game, no point scoring 2 if you are going to concede 3! All the top teams have top pairings at CB at least Man Utd - Ferdinand and Vidic Arsenal - Gallas and Toure Chelsea - Carvalho & Terry....and the list goes on. We only have Faye whom I consider good enough to be playing in a top 6 team. In fact relative to our CB, we at least have 2 quality forwards in Owen and Martins. Viduka is not too bad either though he will need to be replaced sooner than later. As for the argument, that we’ve bought defenders and are still cack......well maybe that has something to do with the fact that out of the 3 CBs we bought, only Faye seem to have the ability and temperament to play in the EPL. Rozza does not have the first and Cacapa is still learning the second. The fact is measured against the criteria of ability and adaptability, Sam did not get us the best of defenders. It didn't help also that Zoggy played at LB for most of Sam's time and that Beye was away for a whole month, which essentially meant that we did not really get to play our defenders consistently There are so many other reasons why we have been crap....maybe a stubborn manager who tried to employ everything Bolton immediately into Newcastle without understanding the specific circumstances of the team or personnel. There are just too many variables for our poor performances. To suggest that we've tried buying defenders and that somehow because what we've bought are not good enough and has not worked out, we should stop buying defenders and buy a new forward line even when we already have Owen and Martins is so incredibly naive that it can only come from NE5. To prove a cause and effect, you need to show the causation, not just carelessly pick a cause and an effect and claim causation to fit into your narrow agenda or brown kissing the old board. We need a playmaker, a top CB and a target man in that order to do better next season.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8558/79491591os3.jpg A picture says a thousand words To me that pciture at the very least shows poor reading of the flight of the ball. Given just stood there thinking the ball would clear the bar. there wasn't even an attempt to save!

Have you been watching him for Blackburn? yes I have and yes he has been good for Blackburn. But I was referring to his performace for Englad though. If Bently wants to be compared to Beckham, he needs to consistently perform for England and not just against the likes of Switzerland. you said 'don't see what the big deal is with Bentley.' His performances for Blackburn this season and last should explain the current hype Think you need to read my statement in context. I followed my "big deal" statement by suggesting that he has not proven himself consistently at the international stage (though I accept that he has only played very few games for England). Hence my statement was in context of his performances for England. We obviously have different thrasholds of what constitute "big deal". For me a player needs to perform consistently for the national team at the highest level (Euros or World Cup) before he can become a "big deal".

Have you been watching him for Blackburn? yes I have and yes he has been good for Blackburn. But I was referring to his performace for Englad though. If Bently wants to be compared to Beckham, he needs to consistently perform for England and not just against the likes of Switzerland.

Don't see what's the big deal with Bently. He is much better than our RW (almosy anybody is) but one good international game against Switzerland and suddenly he is the new David Beckham....please

I don't mind Butt so much as a defensive midfielder, he is adequate in that position. But I absolutely hate it when he tries the killer pass or God frobid even tries to shoot from distance. It's like it works once out 50 times and yet he does it as frequently as Kaka tries to. You don't see Makelele shooting or trying to play a through ball. Butt should just win the ball and make a simple pass, yet the way he plays sometimes its like he thinks of himself as an AM of sort. Of course part of the reason why this happens is that sometimes our players are too static and don't run into space, but I'm hoping the return of Martins and Emre will lessen that problem. If he can realize his limitations and play to his strength, then he can be useful as a squad player. Either way get rid in the summer.

I'm with Wullie on this one

He's been marginally better on the left this season. The problem is Duff and N'Zogbia are both better than him there. Quoted for truth....word for word!

Who's the idiot who put the option there more like.....oh wait, it was you! And Milner. The option was included especially for the WUMs...they too have a right of speech....off course to be clobbered by everyone later

I have to admit I'm quite surprised at some of the criticism that Roz seems to be getting. I thought he had one of his better games for us. Commentators for ESPN voted for him as MOM. I don't think it was a case of hoofing the ball, I thought he was composed,protected the back 4 reasonably well (though not by crucnhing tacklesala Smith)and some of his diagonal balls were the closest we came to unlocking Bolton. Wouldn't mind seeing him in that position again even after Butt and Smith return

Not convinced with Zoggy in the middle. Think he is too small and I prefer someone who can thread passes through to the likes of Owen and Martins to play in the middle as opposed to a dribbler like Zoggy.

Ok who is the WUM who voted to get rid of Zoggy? Own up now

Agree with some of the things you posted, obviously I was not saying that Sam was right in playing Milner on the left at the expense of Zoggy. What I was saying is that Sam was right in deciding that Milner is a better LW than RW. I still stand by that because playing on the left at least gives him a chance to get in some crosses whereas I can't remember being impressed when seeing him play RW.

We all know that Sam committed some basic tactical flaws during his time (chief amongst them playing Zoggy at LB), but one area that he did get right was playing Milner on the left. I've noticed in previous games that Milner does not have the ability to whip an out swinging cross when playing on the right. This was especially highlighted in the game against Bolton when he had three chances to put in a cross within one move and messed them all up. When he was switched to the left (to allow Kezanga Lua Lua to play on the right), his cross (albeit not many coz he only had 10 minutes on the left) immediately improved. His in swinging crosses from the left are more accurate and inevitably more dangerous. Correct me I'm wrong, but I think most of his assist on the wing has also been from the left (doesn't he play on the left for England U21 too). Being right footed, playing on the left also allows him to cut inside and shoot with his right foot. Now this obviously creates a dilemma as both Duff and Zoggy are LW too, it would seem that one of them have to go and my vote is for Duff who has really shown nothing much since his arrival (even taking into account his injuries). I get the feeling that Duff is past it whereas for Milner, there is still some hope that because of his youth that he can still improve. I say Zoggy for the LW spot and Milner as backup.

I thought he did very well when Ronaldo was on his flank. He outmuscled him quite a few times and did try to retain possession instead of just hoofing the ball out. That shows termendous courage for a fullback coz most others would have just been happy to get the ball out asap when Ronaldo is running at them. True we conceded 6 goals, but let's be honest the last 3 was in the last 5 minutes when Man Utd basically ran riot (Ferdinand was playing RW) and our boys looked to have given up. Except for the first goal where I felt Given could have palmed the ball away and the second goal where I blame Cacapa - 25% and Given - 75%, none of the other goals were down to individual faults ala Bramble.

There is no hypocrisy, as I have already said the new people need time and can't fully be judged just yet. That doesn't hide my disappointment at their poor management of the club in the last 7 days, poor management that I feel could have been avoided, poor management that I'm not going to sit on the fence over. But surely it's only poor management of the club if they get a gash of a replacement. That's what I meant by giving them time to sort things out. Not a case of sitting on the fence, more like a case of not making a judgement until we know the full story.

To be honest the only impact I can remember him having on a major game (including matches against the top four/ champions league knockouts) was scoring a two yard tap in against Arsenal last year... Also created the other Man U goal in that game. Last season he created Man Us winner at Anfield. Created the goal the only time Man U beat Mourinho's Chelsea. Scored twice at Highbury in a 4-2 win. Got MOTM in the FA Cup Final lost against Arsenal. MOTM the game in which Man U broke Arsenals long run Got MOTM in his first game against Liverpool since going to England from Sporting. The Roma games. The problem is if he plays very well but doesnt create or score goals (such as games against the English) people remember it as him playing badly, and if he does score and assist such as at Emirates this season people say he had a poor game apart from that. Incidently, regarding Kaka, of the 10 goals that he scored last season in the Champions League, there were 4 penalties, there was a deflected goal off the defender Zetka when Milan beat Anderlecht 1-0 away (a Lampard goal if you like) and a hattrick against them at home. He was anonymous against Bayern and equally anonymous against Liverpool while the Argentina Mascherano was on the pitch. His only worthwhile contributions were against Celtic and a Man U defence missing their back four. I'd suggest Ronaldo could've made similar contributions agaisnt Milan had their defence been without Oddo, Nesta, Maldini et al. Of the 8 league goals that Kaka scored, 4 were from the penalty spot again and 3 more were against relegated sides Ascoli and Messina. Milan managed just 7 wins in their 19 away games. 18 goals - 8 penalties, 8 goals against Anderlecht / Ascoli/ Messina/ Celtic. Food for thought maybe? Absolutely spot on. Said this for a long time. Kaka is overrated, and only looks good because of the likes of Pirlo, Seedorf and Gattusso. One gets it, finds one of the other two, who in turn gives it him on a f****** plate. Repeat. Come on mate, all good players play better in good teams. You may be right bouth Gatusso, Seedorf and Pirlo but Ronaldo equally benefits from playing with the likes of Tevez and Rooney coz their movement is top class which works well with his style of play.