Geordie Boot Boy

From the Chronicle, Monday: "It's a fair bet that Michael Owen will not play again this season and neither will Shola Ameobi once he has an operation on his hip in the next couple of weeks." Quotes from Roeder made last week regarding the number 23: Shola's carrying this hip injury and it's a condition which isn't going to go away,. He's waiting for surgery and whether we can get him through to January is debatable. "Hindsight's a beautiful thing and we went into the season probably not realising how much it had deteriorated. At the moment, he's not asking for the operation but the hip's becoming very stiff and achy and, to be honest, in the last few days, it's started to show." AND Speaking to the official club site, Glenn Roeder has confirmed the absence of striker Obafemi Martins from action for the next few weeks: "Oba has a tight hamstring. If he continued to play for the next two weeks it would have the potential to turn into a hamstring tear. "Players with the speed he has often pick up hamstring strains. We need to protect him for the next couple of weeks. "We don't think he will be out any longer than two weeks but unfortunately two weeks with our fixture list now means four games. We are playing every three or four days from now to January. The squad is certainly being tested to its limits. I don't like the description 'bare bones', but we are short of numbers. "But there will be no moaning from me. I will just say what I always say - that it's an opportunity for others to stake a claim for a place in the team." Not sure about Le Sib.

I was against it. The most important man at a football club is the manager. Get that appointment right and the rest will follow with time. Roeder was never the man to pin your hopes on in the long term.

Shut up. If one his pathetic dives won us a game, I would not be pleased. We really have to rid ourselves of this losing mentality. If we were in a tight game where we need the points and we were awarded a penalty from a Taylor dive, I'd be over the moon personally. The problem isn't his cheating, it's that his cheating isn't particularly convincing at the moment.

Good, just transferred him into my dream team for the weekend.

Excellent news. We just need to see him play a bit more now.

How? Was it taking the p*ss when Thuram & Zidane came out of international football for France? If he wants to play for his country again, good on him. It'll affect his Newcastle chances mind because we have a lot more competition for his position now than what we did first time. When they did it, it was because their country was struggling and it was generally accepted that they would help revitalise the team for the World Cup (I think that was proved right). Solano has yo-yoed between retirement and playing for years now. I have no idea how much he has personally affected his team's plight but, for him to fall out with the previous manager, I would assume he wasn't collecting Ballon d'or's in any major competition.

Absolutely ridiculous. How can one game get fully half of the coverage?

As has been pointed out, his reasoning is flawed. How can he say that the problem is that personnel have been brought into the club that are not good enough but not acknowledge that this is exactly what the chairman has consistently done? I'd be very surprised if those are really SJH's private thoughts. After all, he is an intelligent man.

I thought he was very good against Barca last week. Haven't seen too much of him other than that.

I have been hugely impressed by Cristiano Ronaldo. Seriously, he is one of the best players in the Premiership these days.

Presumably, there's (at least) eleven?

Funny but their already paper thin credibility as a reputable news source is surely now completely gone.

Wenger couldn't get this shower of shite past mid-table I disagree but, even if he couldn't, he'd be able to build his own squad over time.

When will we learn that the most important member of staff at a football club as regards getting results is the manager? I'd take Wenger over Henry/ Fabregas/ Toure any day, Mourinho over Lampard/ Essien/ Drogba, Capello over Cannavaro/ van Nistelrooy/ Diarra any day.

I hear he still gets to Oldham games with his son. I've got nothing but respect for him.

SWP for me. Wonder how much hype Lennon would get if he was at, say, Middlesbrough or Everton.

:lol: I've sent it him for you, mate I remember his opinion, Roeder is a better manager than O'Neill sorry mate but you usually don't finish debates, thats a bit different for you eh ? PS....you won't find me saying Roeder is better than O'Neill....so don't make things up either, you're getting like Mick ..... I specifically remember you downtalking O Neill's achievements and implying that he wouldn't be a better candidate. Yep, I remember that too.

I'd actually switch the Boro result with the Pompey result and agree with your predictions.

This is ridiculously overdue. Collectively, we have had the patience of saints as regards the fat cretin. Get him out.

For £10 Million? bluesigh.gif We overpaid. Not because he is not good enough but because Inter have an abundance of top class strikers at the moment. Losing Martins was never going to hurt them too much. Even so, I am happy with what I have seen of him so far. I'd like to see the goalscoring burden taken off his shoulders though. I don't think it's right to bung a 21 year old kid in a new team and say "Right, bang them in then, we've got £10 million invested in you". He should be working with a good experienced goalscorer. Owen would be ideal IMHO. I know people think it wouldn't work but I think that it could. It's just a real pity that he is probably out for the rest of the season.

I was actually going to draw a comparison between Bellamy and Martins in that I felt that Bellamy came to the club and looked a poor finisher. He left the club a much more proficient goalscorer. Martins can develop in a similar vein. He has the raw materials, he just needs to learn how to use them a bit better. I am very optimistic for the future.

I like what I've seen of him so far. No one actually thought we were buying the finished article did they?

FFS! Just FFS! Whenever I've seen Sibierski, I've thought he's gash. When did we get so desparate?!

I say shoot them anyway.

I wouldn't do that if I were you. It would be relatively easy for someone to claim your winnings by filling in a lost receipt form based on the information sown on the slip.