Mowen

bluelaugh.gif

Your last sentance is somewhat contradictory Ideally Baines, maybe Upson and Viduka if we can get him for less than £2m: that should leave us with a strong enough squad to kick on for the rest of the season, and a good base to build from next summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see us moving for Pressley and Bridge, maybe with SWP on a loan deal.

I'd be very suprised if Beattie wasn't sold. McFadden and 18 year old Anichebe are now ahead of him in the pecking order based on our last few games. Then there's young Vaughan (scored against West ham the other week) who is rated higher than Anichebe but is injured at the moment. Anichebe has looked very promising from what I've seen, I take it there are high hopes for him at Goodison? I know he's the youngest ever goalscorer in the prem (well, I think I know) but I haven't heard of Vaughan for a while now, is that mainly injury related or is it just the fact he happened to score once before he was ready for the team, and has been progressing at lower levels?

So far, however long into the first season, Martins hasn't done quite as much as Bellamy had. There are circumstances, such as adaptation and potential etc., but it's hard to dispute that. However, would anyone swap the Bellamy currently playing at Liverpool for the Martins currently playing for us? I know I wouldn't.

Fact, you halfwit - Ramage has been responsible for more ballsups than Bramble. Bramble gets panned all the time Ramage always has prats like yourself to defend him. He was a disaster today. I personally though, blame the idiotic inclusion of Disaster Keeper himself - Srnicek. Who would you have played then? Pity I forgot about you when selecting NUFC section poster of the year, you would really have fitted in with my selections.

Owen? :winking:

Funny you should say that because it seems that its sentiment that's making you still rate Bellamy as high as you do. I'm not one of those who thinks someone that scores 18 - 20 goals is better than someone who scores 10 - 15 goals. They are different types of players and I would rather have Bellamy in my team. Then thank goodness you arent our manager. Aimaad.....I mean because they are different players playing different roles ? A player who scored 10-15 goals and supports another forward player and creates situations etc can be a much better player than a player who scores 18-20 goals and doesn't really contribute in a footballing sense ? Also consider that simply looking at a goalscoring stat doesn't take into accout how many of those goals are scored when you are for instance already 2-0 up, or at home rather than playing away, or penalties possibly I think Craig Bellamys worth to Newcastle couldn't be measured by goals alone, he transformed defence to attack, he prevented teams from pushing up against us and he without a doubt put 2-3 years on Alan Shearers career. I agree with you to an extent, I think Bellamy was an excellent player for us, but I think it would be unfair on Oba to say you'd rather have Bellas at this early stage. He was younger when he signed for us than Craig was, and had to (is having to) adapt from a league that was completely different to the one he's now playing in. I see Oba as a second striker to be honest, he drops deep to pick the ball up a lot, and seems to have a very good passing range combined with good vision (see the passes for Dyer's goal against Spurs and Le Sib's against Pompey, just off the top of my head). I honestly think he'd work even better with a natural goalscorer a la Shearer or Owen alongside him. He started slowly, but really seems to be finding his feet now - I hope this purple patch isn't a one off, or the start of inconsistency where he has 6 matches of mediocrity followed by 5 of brilliance - but it's too early to tell. Positively, he seems to be making things happen himself now, for instance the effort at home to Chelsea. Whilst Bellamy did more for us than Oba has so far, even if you compare the first 15-20 games of their careers here, I wouldn't take a straight swap of the players now. This may or may not be correct, but in the long term I can see Oba becoming special, and I am very much looking forward to following his progress as our newest number 9.

Consistently? What, two days a season? Oh, and when they get spanked by Arsenal, too. :winking: Was a bit tongue in cheek tbh. Have to say I do find it a bit odd though, people seem to be more excited about beating Spurs than anyone else at the moment, don't really understand where it's all come from.

I think they've benefitted from playing with Nobby to the right of them rather than Carr as well. If we can get in a decent left back we could be looking at a defence that works well as a unit for once, with some stability.

I can't believe how obsessed a number on here seem to be with Spurs! Yeah, they're a bit annoying, but why is everyone consistently going on about it? Seems fairly sad tbh.

Aye, Lerner's only just signed them!

I wouldn't say Woodgate turned out to be that good a signing. N'Zogbia for me is a better one. You really do dislike Woodgate don't ya Jon. I like Woodgate just wouldn't say he was a great signing, great player but if Real hadn't come in how many would say he was a great signing? They did though. If Martins hadn't scored any goals how many would say he was a great signing?

My bets today: Dyer to score first 8/1 Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal and Pourtsmouth to win at about 6.2/1 Good day!

I would say these are his best positions, but who would you drop? Emre/Butt has worked very well recently, and Martins seems to play better alongside the Sib.

blueyes.gif Sadly, that's probably the most important attribute in the prem!

To be honest, I'm not sure I'd start him in this game, if everyone is fit - apart from possibly at left wing. Sibbers seems to bring the best out of Martins, and Butt Emre and Milner deserve to keep their places for the time being. He could work well on the left if Duffer isn't 100% (or possibly Milner left and Dyer right) but he'd be a fantastic impact sub for the last half hour.

I dare say he is our 2nd or 3rd best individual player but he simply doesn't fit into our tactics and so he gets stick unfortunately. I agree with this in principle. I think he is a good player who, in the right setup, could do a very, very good job for someone. Fact of the matter is, we're a worse team when he plays. Despite this, I'm still surprised at some of the vitriol he receives - he always works his socks off.

like he can stop them Like it will happen just because "some people in Scotland" say it will. Provide evidence or I will unleash the dogs of war (HTL & NE5) upon your sorry little arse! what do you call evidence? because people writing stories on websites and in newspapers are just speculating, the same as the people in Scotland I think we might sign Wayne Bridge. That's speculation. I wouldn't start a thread telling everyone though.

I'm not sure Reading or Watford (they desperately need the goals) would sell for that price. McBride could do a job a la Sibierski, but I'd rather we thought more long term than that. Same goes for Viduka really, although he's a class act when he can be bothered. I wouldn't go for Carlton Cole personally, although he is young and theoretically cheap, as he doesn't seem to be getting many games these days. Nugent sounds promising, but I've not seen to much of him, and I wouldn't pay over £2m for Beatts. None of those suggestions really excite me, although I stand to be corrected.

They put that bastard 'Caps Lock' far too close to the letter 'A' don't they? :lol:

to be honest, the more I think about it, I would say Striker is the second most important berth for us to fill after LB now - one injury to Oba and we look very weak, whereas if we bring in a solid LB we have a decent amount of cover (Ramps, Nobby, Taylor, Moore, Bramble, Baba, Hunts, even Carr) if not real quality. Picking someone up for about £4m who could get us 5-10 league goals would be decent, but I can't think of too many candidates!

Never mind, I'm sure Baba would have had him in his pocket anyway.

I thought you drew 1-1? Unless you've played again since?

this was the one I voted for on the bbc website. Class! (Particularly if you've ever been to Chatham.... very apt!) apart from the fact that Sittingbourne is for the people who can't afford to live in Chatham, and that's saying something Yeah, this may well be true (I worked in Sittingbourne this summer.. what a place..) but it doesn't detract from the fact Chatham seems to have more scutters in the town centre than anywhere else I've ever been. it is chav central for Kent (that's charver to geordies) Correct. It's a shocking place!

this was the one I voted for on the bbc website. Class! (Particularly if you've ever been to Chatham.... very apt!) apart from the fact that Sittingbourne is for the people who can't afford to live in Chatham, and that's saying something Yeah, this may well be true (I worked in Sittingbourne this summer.. what a place..) but it doesn't detract from the fact Chatham seems to have more scutters in the town centre than anywhere else I've ever been.