alpal78

In terms of who is the better DM, I'd go with Parker over Butt. The only prioblem is if Parker plays, then our world class manager insists that he should be the AM and play Emre as the anchor of our midfield which screws up both of their games. Yes parker scores some goals but his overall contribution as an AM is poor, more often than not he slows down our attack and has almost nil ability to dribble past players whis crucial for an AM. Its testimony of Roeder's stupidity that even Souness got the balance right between Parker and Emre (i.e playing parker as the DM). Until Roeder realizes his folly, I'll go with Butt and Emre. But Parker is the captain, so technically he should play if he is fit which means either Butt will be dropped and we will have the ineffective Emre (as DM) and Parker (as AM) partnership or if he plays all three, then we will se more of Emre being shoved to the wing. The sad part is we will then get 'fans' getting on Emre's back for not tracking back when played as a winger. There is no doubt in my mind that it is Roeder and his insistence to play parker as AM which is the source of the imbalance in our midfield.

The answer to the question is evident in the percentages of the poll. End of story

Damn, you've just jinxed him, expect his hamstrings to go against Bolton!

Oh for God sake, all managers are hypocritical when it comes to evaluating their teams vis a vis others barring perhaps Boothroyd. Even Fergie was defending Ronaldo's dive the other day. Still don't let that get in the way of a Mourinho ribbing.

I'd also like to know how buying Duff who has been poor so far when we had Zoggy on top form last season instead of getting 1/2 defenders was "good planning"? I thought it was only Freddy and Roeder who didn't realize that we needed defenders, it seems now you can add NE5 and HTL to that dumb list.

Martins for me on the basis that he actually does play games for us

and it didnt strike you that it could be perhaps because they were managed to play like a world class team. As for the bloke who said he would find it difficult to support the Toon if Mourinho managed us, yeah that's great, why would we want a manager who defines what winning is and who has learned his trade from managers like Bobby, better to have an unqualified part time manager like Roeder!

Better than Bramble tbh. To be honest Dave, there is at least one similiarity between the two. In the game I watched btw Madrid againt Kiev in the CL, Cannavaro made a full blooded lunge at their striker at the halfway line and in Bramblesque style completely missed leavng the striker free. It was a good thing that he had Casillas behind him who saved the one on one. Can't believe someone won Europe's top player on the basis of the world cup, like Wenger said, the Premier league and CL are more difficult platforms for excellence. Even in the WC, I felt Thuram was the best defender!

over rated, Henry deserved it more. Cannavaro was good in a solid backfour of Italy and Juventus. Henry could win game single handedly for Arsenal and is often influential even when he played in a very young Arsenal team.

I propose adding another option specifically for Gemmill so he won't feel left out: Duff because I am xenophobic and daft enough to think that Rep Ireland is part of Britain bluebigrazz.gif

If true, then those who said it are scums. Otherwise Roeder is just fishing for sympathy. You decide

He is putting his personal feeling over the well being of the team, that to me creates a conflict of interest and is a strong ground as ever for sacking!

Far, far more likely than Luque getting a game. Or Luque having a good Premiership one. :lazy:

A right decision for which Roeder should get credit for is when we beat a respectable mid table team with our team at least giving as good as we get, not when we luckily escape with a winning on penalties against mighty Watford.

Don't have ur number, maybe you should make it public by posting it here which incidentally would also increase your public profile

So Shephard has been chairman since 1992? http://vnuuk.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/red_herring.jpg No but NE5 loves to give Freddy undue credit even if it makes him look daft, such love and devotion to Freddy is admirable

I'd agree that Rossi and Duff don't look like a combination, but I think that's because both are more suited to the more withdrawn striker Bellamy / Beardsley type role. With Owen, Shola, Martins and Sibierski all injured, we don't have a fit player who can play the more advanced role. Trouble is, I don't think Luque can either, at least not in the Premiership. Your line of argument seems to be 'at least he's not going to be as bad', but I can understand Roeder's decision here. With the other two, Roeder can trust them to put in a bit of effort, whereas Luque still looks like he's not sure he really wants to be here. In a crisis, the last thing that Roeder and the team want is someone who's not pulling their weight. It's a downer and an irritant for everyone. Bob, your argument would only be valid if it was true that Luque does not want to be here which quite frankly is an observation/myth that is only advocated by those who want to get on his back. He might not have adapted to our long ball tactics and is consequently unable to play in a Shearer centre forward position (even that has been improving of late), but that is very different from saying he does not give a toss bout our club. My bet is that a player whose gets very rare opportunities to play would give more than one who knows for sure he is buggering back to Man Utd come January.

Yes our money. Unlike buying goods from the supermarkerts, most fans don't just buy tickets to watch the game, they fork out the money because they see it as an investment towards the club so that the club will have the finances to do well and improve. That's the only way to explain why people keep on buying tickets despite the extortionist prices, its definitely not for the entertainment value! Similarly reason why fans buy tops from the club shop when they can get the exact same product from normal sports stores for 10-15 quid cheaper. Paying OUR money towards NUFC is not just like buying a packet of condoms!

Top post especially on relative merits

I have been fighting out Luque's corner and arguing that he be given a fair crack of the whip, but even I would not agree for us to change to an untested formation just to accommodate 1 player. Having said that, Luque has a better chance of doing well playing off the main striker in a 4-4-2 and should never be played in a 4-5-1 which requires the sole striker to be a battering ram which is the exact opposite of Luque's attributes

Exactly, its not as if the team was creating a hatful of chances or that he missed a few sitters. He got one good chance and put it away. A striker's job is to score based on the chances he gets. Sure there are strikers like Henry and Rooney who create goals for themselves, but that's why those type of strikers cost tripple of what Luque cost us.

Perhaps, but neither were they dumped into the reserves after their first few lacklustre performances. Quite how you expect Luque to score consistently when he does not even play most matches is beyond me, his goal/per minute ratio is better than most if not all of our current strikers/attacking players.

Glad that Luque scored but in the overall picture, it does not really matter. Roeder said that this is his big chance, and now that he has taken it, Roeder will just reward him the way he previously did, by dropping him to the bench (if he is lucky)!

That had me really laughing

Oh dear NE5 has got his hands full in the morning. Good thing he works for Shepherd so his replies to all you imbeciles constitute work anyway :winking: