Cronky

Ever since January, Joey seems to have got carried away with a sense of his importance to the club and his popularity with the fans. He's been making a series of increasingly daft public statements where he's criticising everyone from the club owners to the England manager. I think Pardew ought to have got a grip on this. He seemed very keen to keep Joey onside, and all he came out with was bland comments about how he liked players with strong opinions and was fine about players speaking their minds. The only time he made any kind of criticism was when he distanced himself from the 'pay peanuts get monkeys' statement. It's all got out of hand and the owner has had enough. Pardew ought to have taken him to one side and told him to shut the fuck up.

My only disappointment was that they stopped attacking after the third goal. They could have had four or five. The usual strategy for a team in that position is to stop pushing forward in numbers, but it often means surrendering the initiative to the opposition and having to endure a nervy last 10 minutes. The only time in the second half that Man U looked remotely like scoring was during that period. Wenger often gets criticised for remaining on the attack rather than defending a lead, but I tend to think that it's the right percentage call.

Their inability to sign that level of striker is what's holding them back.

Mourinho has shown that Barca can be beaten if you funnel back in defence, deny them space in the final third and kick anything that moves. That's not the Man U way, and they paid for it tonight. Barca won't be beaten at their own game. Mind you, at least it allowed the rest of us to watch a great side in full flow.

The usual orthodoxy in football is that a team is strong from the defence forward. Supposedly, you can't win trophies by being so good in attack that the opposition won't have enough of the ball to threaten your weaker defence. Barca are the only side I've seen who have made that philosophy work. In that sense, they're unique.

Given the players available, I don't think there was any clear mistakes with Fergie's selection. The problem was the midfield wasn't good enough. Park - Carrick - Giggs - Valencia was never going to cut the mustard. It's a triumph for their spirit and organisation that they've won the Premiership and got to the CL final with a team that's so far below their usual standard.

If the player's reluctant to come, I'm a bit wary of continuing to obstruct his other possibilities by outbidding everyone else. (as you say, the Owen scenario) There may be personal issues for the player, rather than footballing ones. eg a wife or partner who would prefer to move south or stay in France.

Agree with that. I think it illustrates why it's often best to say nothing at all. If you can't tell the whole truth for fear of inflaming a situation (which is often the case), then 50% is often worse than nothing because it only invites more speculation. FWIW, the contract negotiations seemed to break down at the point of the Carroll sale. The word at the time was that Joey wanted to wait until he saw how the money was going to be re-invested. That could well have been an excuse on his part, for postponing the decision, but that was what we were hearing. Since that point, Joey has been behaving like a complete arse. If I was in Ashley's position, when he and his agent rolled up at the end of the season expecting to start negotiating again, I'd have told them it was the January offer or nothing. You mean your not!!! Fuck me. Shit. Rumbled. Never mind, I've got all your email addresses and you'll be hearing from my lawyers. Except Ronaldo. He can be my chief scout.

I'm not sure why we're apparently re-negotiating Nolan's contract, but not the likes of Jonas and Coloccini, whose contracts expire at the same time. Also, presumably, to make it worthwhile offering Nolan an extension, it has to involve a pay rise. Are there any direct quotes from Nolan or Pardew to indicate that this negotiation is going on?

Agree with that. I think it illustrates why it's often best to say nothing at all. If you can't tell the whole truth for fear of inflaming a situation (which is often the case), then 50% is often worse than nothing because it only invites more speculation. FWIW, the contract negotiations seemed to break down at the point of the Carroll sale. The word at the time was that Joey wanted to wait until he saw how the money was going to be re-invested. That could well have been an excuse on his part, for postponing the decision, but that was what we were hearing. Since that point, Joey has been behaving like a complete arse. If I was in Ashley's position, when he and his agent rolled up at the end of the season expecting to start negotiating again, I'd have told them it was the January offer or nothing.

Like I said, that was only one of the problems. Why define it as a problem at all? It seems to me the right decision.

Selling Carroll is only one of the problems, one of many. Even such fans of the current board as Keegan and Barton have admitted that they'd have taken the money. I mean, £35 million. The 7th largest transfer fee of all time. For Andy Carroll ffs.

Barca look so much more lively in the midfield. Man U will struggle to get near them. Since their last final, Barca have improved, and Man U haven't. I can only see a repeat outcome. Possible tonking.

The uncomfortable truth.

In other words, he hasn't a clue what Tiote is on.

Quite honestly, if I'd been given the choice between Barton signing and this lad signing, I'd have chosen Ferguson. He looks a great little player.

To complete the picture - 1) None of those players have left yet or even said they were going to leave 2) Neither of those players have joined other clubs and we don't know if they were our 'top' targets 3) According to reports, Lens and a number of other clubs wanted to sign the player. He's not a reject.

Not impressed.

Being intelligent doesn't automatically give you the ability to use that intelligence. With Joey, there's lots of things that get in the way.

Couldn't agree more. All said and done the only question really is what is Barton fighting for? One thing I'm sure of is he won't walk away from it, he would rather be run over by a tank than back down. Wether that position he takes is based on a legitimate complaint or a psychological aberration will have no bearing. It's a mess that won't go away. Unfortunately, it has to go away, one way or another. If he won't join another club, he'll have to go on gardening leave. He's basically declared war on his employer, trying to use the support of fans to back himself up. There's no sign of a change of owner, so he's the one that will have to go. Whether he already realises that, I don't know. If he hangs around, there's a danger that he's going to poison the atmosphere in the dressing room. He's an intelligent bloke, but unfortunately far too self-centred to see the bigger picture.

Nah, he should just stick to running the England team.

Seriously, the guy is clearly under stress and has lost his judgement. He's making a complete fool of himself, and someone close to him needs to stop him.

The fans didn't buy Barcelona. It was founded as a member's co-op in the first place. Big difference.

Pretty much what we knew already. News, but given Joey's recent bizarre and egotistical pronouncements, I wouldn't be completely surprised. He talks like he's running the club.

There's a parallel problem that a lot of footballers and managers don't know much about finance, or at least don't care about it. There has to be some compromise and mutual understanding.