Mowen

Parker is lot better than Guthrie. He wasn't when he played here. Parker in his first season here was miles better, his 2nd only a lot better. Parker in his first season was very poor with the odd exception (Arsenal at home the obvious). His distribution was very poor, he didn't get forward and he couldn't form a partnership with any of the other central midfielders. He didn't look comfortable being the one to get forward more (alongside Butt) or the more defensively minded (alongside Emre). He looked clueless the majority of the time, and it was no surprise that we massively improved as a team when he was out with glandular fever in the second half of the season. He wasn't without his attributes, he could time his tackling pretty well and had a lot of energy, but his reading of the game was hopeless (2-2 with ManU at home he was twice dragged out of position trying to play the hero and ultimately leaving Scholes free to score). He also had very little creativity - the majority of his passes seemed to go to the left back after endless pirouettes - and posed little to no goal threat. From what I've seen of Guthrie he offers a similar amount on the pitch to what I saw from Parker, only he looks to have more potential. Parker may well have improved at West Ham, can't say I've watched them much this season, but I don't remember him looking up to much when we lost 3-1 at the Boleyn Ground.

Parker is lot better than Guthrie. He wasn't when he played here.

No better than Guthrie.

You reckon? I don't think anything that is done now will affect what happens to the club / stewardship etc. this season. If something is to be done it'll take longer than that imo. The only option now is to hold on tight and hope for the best as regards our current relegation battle.

Do you spend all your time whinging on internet forums about how Keegan's ruined those, too?

Your right not hard at all but trying has nothing to do with it, as for your answer its obviously no. I meant making a poll

It's not that hard. If you're not going to try, I won't tell you my answer.

See you in the pub!

Spot on. Owen is a slight anomoly as he is our 'best' player - and certainly our best brand - but there is huge scope for cutting the wage bill. As Teasy mentioned, the likes of Cacapa, Duff, Butt, Geremi should be gone given their current value for money. The team needs a little jazzing up too.

Link? ...bit slow Ozzie. Cheers for that HF, hadn't seen that before. Carefully worded mind, doesn't explicitly mention investment volumes or what it would entail.

Sounds about right. Massive gamble for sure. The main point of contention for me is that they surely could have brought in a manager of the quality that could have done more to guarantee survival for much less money than they were prepared to spend on Johnson.

We've paid off all our debt, but we've still got loads of debt with more to come. Our wage bill is too high, but Ashley has increased the wage bill. We need investment, but Ashley turns down offers of investment from local businessmen. It's cheaper to pay a DOF to bring in players than let the manager do it, but the DOF is paid 150% more than the manager. For all the tales of woe, they don't actually seem to be that worried about it or doing much to sort it. Is that true? Don't think I've seen it before.

Do Blackburn? Very prudently run over the last few years.

I've always found that argument laughable as f***. If I've arrived 10 minutes late, I'd like to know the score without having to ask people around me. If somebody's scored while I'm off at the bathroom, I'd like to know as well. The whole "if you can't pay attention you shouldn't be here!" thing has always seemed like one of the most ridiculous parts of the Geordie soopafan myth to me. Stadiums should have scoreboards. It's not tinpot it's common sense. Why is it so hard to ask the score? And as if you'd not know if someone scored when you were having a piss. Have you ever been to SJP? Yes, but as you might recall, I've never seen us score there Stop going to the fecking bathroom then!

Cole unlucky there imo, timed his run perfectly and finish wasn't too bad. Excellent last ditch defending.

Xavi was the standout player at the Euros for me. Only really watch the prem when it comes to club football, but he's got to be up there with the very best in the world, if not at the top of the pile. Senna and Iniesta are both fantastic too.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Heskey is a right cheating twat

Thought he was arguably our best player in the first half. The only one who looked capable of taking the game to them.

Enjoyed this game a lot. We've been decent enough, but they're a class above. Disappointed with Carrick tonight.

Is that league or all comps? Very surprised to see Souey so high up.

Rate Jol higher than Scolari for PL. I agree. Would be a cracking appointment. He's even worked under the DoF system and done well with it in this league before if, as it appears, we must stick with it.

The only way Shearer would come is if we did what Spurs did for Redknapp - rip out the entire structure around the manager, and offer complete control with a decent dollop of £££.

Good shout. He'd probably have walked here when he was out of a job, but he's doing quite well now isn't he? yeah, he's got hamburg 4th in the bundesliga on 36pts, there's only 3pts in the top 4 though, hoffenheim in 1st on 39pts Would be delighted and surprised with Jol, excellent man manager and could take us a fair way up the table. Best manager Spurs have had in my lifetime too, so it would annoy them no end.

CL final with Monaco was a pretty impressive achievement.

Good shout. Svennis with two flops on his hands. Bojinov and Caicedo to make it four Neither of them cost that much did they? What happened to Nery Castillo?