Mowen

I'm pretty sure their net spend was lower than ours this summer. They sold an awful lot of awful players.

The silent majority always stick up for their own players in polls of this ilk. I'm sure it happens to all sites, I think there was an equally ludicrous one on GG a while back where Dawson was proclaimed better than Carragher. I think the fact he hasn't really shown any noticable improvement in his 100+ first team games has led to a lot of people growing frustrated with him. He looked a real talent when he broke in at first, but hasn't ironed any of his mistakes out yet. I think a lot of people see him as very egotistical as well, due to comments from his/his dad (also his agent) in the local papers which can grate.

Too bloody right it is. Wonder how much he gets to serialise it.....

I've made a similar point in the past, I think it was regarding Diarra who reportedly wanted a fortune in wages. I'd rather pay Owen £100k than the likes of Smith, Duff and Carr £50k each. If a player is good enough, pay him. I agree. I resent the idea of paying Owen that much, but I think it's necessary. He's got enough quality that the transfer fee + wages to replace him would also be astronomical. I can think of a lot of positives resulting from him being around and re-signing as well, most of which have been mentioned in this thread.

You must get through an awful lot of Kleenex.

That would make a change from the Freddy Shepherd school of transfers where you save money on wages but pay an inflated transfer fee by not buying anyone until transfer deadline day That and the inflation of players playing in the championships this summer. I think it was Miguel we were chasing 4 years ago who's price rocketed after a the Euro's and ended up having an asking price of £8m when I think going on reports we where going to offer no more than £4m. And if you sign a player pre-Euros for £4m and they do shit? What then? They would have cost less after the tournament.

I like your call of Bullard... thinking outside the box a bit. Got a great deal of affection for him as well, as most people involved in football seem to.

Dunno. Balls probably.

I love watching Ronaldo play, but I'm not sure I could ever feel enough affection/empathy towards him to consider him my 'favourite' non-NUFC player. I guess it comes down to your definition of favourite, but he's too much of a cunt to take that role for me, much as he's a joy to watch most of the time.

I was trying to take attention away from that snooze-fest!

Well, who is it then? Can be for any reason, loving their style of play to wanting them to play against you every week (M. Dawson). Home or abroad, doesn't matter, just as long as they don't play for the club you support (to include the brummies and 1878s of this world). At this moment in time I'd probably go for Fernando Torres. I don't really watch enough foreign football to pick someone like Messi, and I just love watching Torres play, he makes Liverpool watchable for me. He really seems to have it all; skill, pace, power, finishing ability and not too bad in the air either. To top it off he seems to have a decent attitude in my experience of watching him, in that he doesn't seem to dive / cheat / get in the refs face / generally make my blood boil like some brilliant players do (see C. Ronaldo). I've put current in the title because I want to know who's exciting now, and I certainly can't be arsed with a "it's a different game since Pele's day" argument.

Much of a muchness imo. Both have a lot of potential, but continue to make mistakes too frequently without showing any real signs of stopping. Hard to say who's better.

SBR - Robert, Bellamy, N'Zogbia He wasn't a shit manager.

If he can keep it up for the rest of the season I'll be very keen for him to stay. As it is, it seems a bit too early to forgive all the earlier performances.

Don't think Babel, Crouch or Pennant would start assuming we played our current formation, which plays to our strengths. I'd have their centre backs, our strikers and probably Barton in midfield with Alonso and Mascherano.

Got me right down. One of the many reasons I wanted Arsenal to win.

I'd rather they won it than Chelsea, and I'd rather we beat Chelsea than not.

Should start playing AJ a bit more then

You must be kidding, it was a clear penalty.

Yes.

They would all be good oldtype, but nothing there particularly excites me. I've got a feeling we'll go for a few players of that standing and go for one or two 'unrealistic' signings.

You might be thinking of Darren Anderton.

I'd jizz if we signed Henry. There, I've said it.

So your conclusion is we should sign someone brilliant for very little money. That's genius! Why had no-one thought of that before?