Cronky

If we can buy the very best, like Tevez or Mascherano, then fine. But below that level, a lot of them seem to have trouble making that adjustment to the physicality of the Premiership straight from South American football. The likes of Gavilan and Bassedas have put me off a bit.

Drogba and Anelka aren't an obvious combination. I suspect that, in reality, Chelsea bought Anelka as cover. He didn't really look like he wanted to take a penalty at all. And it was very striking how, at the end, no-one went over to console him. He seemed isolated among his team-mates, which seems to be a pattern with Anelka.

Never liked the bloke, but felt sorry for him when he was collecting his medal at the end, dunno how anybody couldn't really. He looked a broken man. the medal that some Chelsea fan has now got. If thats not a signal of it being the end, then what is. Well.... at the end of the day, player for player Chelsea have the best squad in the country and they've ended up winning nothing. I'm sure Grant is a nice enough guy, but does he give his players that little bit extra? Don't think so.

A big blow to all glory-hunters. You spend £250 million on a team, and you lose because your best player slips as he's about to take a pen. Poor old JT, and in a different sense, poor old Nicky A. No-one went to console him. You reap what you sow I suppose.

I'm pretty sure it's David Craig.

I don't hate them at all personally. The rivalry only seems to have grown up over the last few years, I reckon because our two clubs are in similar positions. We've been the two most widely tipped to break the monopoly of the big four, and we've been sweating away, never quite making it. Some mutual irritation is bound to break out. If they'd have got into the top four a couple of years ago, I'd have been annoyed. Not because I hate Spurs, but because I want us to be the ones that do it.

I'm not sure about his strength, but we can expect him to fill out a bit more over the next couple of years. He won't be physically mature at 17. As for his pace, against Everton, he seemed to have no problem in getting away from people. I actually think he's quite fast.

They're building a serious challenge by being linked with loads of players in the News of the World? Ermm, Woodgate, Modric..? Woodgate was in January and we offered just as much for Modric. Seems so far we've both been willing to spend the same cash, we're hardly just talking about it are we.. We're putting in firm offers for players and sooner or later this window we'll get the players we're after. I think the general point is that Spurs are now beating us to players in the same way that we used to beat them. I can't see that there's much argument there. Their immediate prospects do look better, after all. I feel confident that we'll sign players this summer. After all, we can at least say that we're on the way up, and we pay well. But a lot of teams who we were ahead of - Villa, Spurs, Portsmouth, Man City, West Ham - have caught up and arguably got ahead.

Best player to come through the ranks since Gazza imo. In his first team appearances, he hasn't looked remotely out of place. He has that great change of direction that Lua Lua Snr had, but also a bit more in terms of composure and touch on the ball.

I thought it was a good game myself. Quite open, lots of chances.

Good game, lots of chances. Cardiff are more skilful than I was expecting.

After all this time, he's a player that I still haven't completely made my mind up about. I'm not sure that, ultimately, he's got the pace to play wide at the top level. He maybe needs a freer role, more central.

I'd have said that Berbatov made up for all Comolli's previous mistakes.

Cardiff to win 1-0. Well probably not, but Portsmouth won't find it easy to raise their game after the way they've been coasting through the last few weeks.

Bostock is the real deal.

Well I've had a really shitty day, and at least this rumour has cheered me up a bit.

I've heard similar, but not quite so black and white. Big money will be spent on younger players only, though older players will be signed if they are available for lower fees and aren't looking for a massive payday (so Dunne would be considered but Henry not etc) i've no problem with it either, you? get on with it i say...should have been going on like this for years The policy is good, but if it stopped us signing someone like Rio or Terry for example because they are 30 or approaching it then I'd be peeved as they would aid the deelopment of the rest of the team. So in prinicple I'm behind it, but I hope there's flexibility for exceptional cases yeah i guess, defenders and goalkeepers are the best examples of when you'd break such a policy, you could feasibly sign a 30-32 year old CB/GK and get a good 3 years out of them through know how and organisational skills i'd be very reluctant, if i had anything to do with it, to be spending big money and/or wages on midfielders or attackers as in today's pacy game they'd struggle to have as much impact (IMO) I'd agree that the occasional exception should be made. Recent history would have been very difficult if we'd been prepared to fork out the £5 million for Gareth Southgate and beaten Boro to his signing.

Sort of player we need to identify and snap up much earlier in his career, in the style of Wenger. That's where Wise and his team need to do their job. I can't see that we've got any chance now.

The Russians suffer from the Arsenal syndrome. Lovely approach play, no-one to get on the end of crosses. I can see Rangers winning 1-0.

Where Faye? We'd have been right in the brown smelly stuff without him.

Here is the final table. For the many who will have forgotten, posters gain unwanted points for the difference between their predicted and the actual final position for each club. 1. MR 34 2. Mick 36 3. dan b 38 = rodhaminho 38 = pm 38 6. GIRUY 40 = SpinS 40 = Optimistic Nut 40 = Scott Parkers etc 40 10. rey mysterio 42 = gypsy king 42 = xtinct 42 = James 42 = deep 456 42 = nufc 42 42 16. womblemaster 44 = northern monkey 44 18. Yorkie Geordie 46 = bobyule 46 20. gazza ladra 48 = madras 48 = Optymystic k 48 = carlito 48 = Shearer 9 48 25. Quagmire 52 = King Kev 52 = black n white 52 28. Kev 58 29. mobius 60 30. Dr Spectrum 63 So congratulations to our clear winner. MR is not a name familiar to me, but I will post him to make him aware of his triumph. Predictably, we all wildly over-estimated our own team’s prospects. The only ones to get remotely close were Northern Monkey, Yorkie Geordie and Shearer 9, with 8th place. The other greatly over-estimated team was our good friends from White Hart Lane. Nearer the bottom, Wigan were often under-rated, and Reading over-rated. Quite a few got the bottom two correct, and nearly everyone was right about poor old Derby. Of course, most people got the top four, but no-one got them in the right order.

This won't be well received by all, but if Dunne is in a position of having to decide between us and Spurs, then KK's words of so-called realism and the aftermath will not have helped. This is the sort of situation that he should have been mindful of.

How/where did he play? He played wide left in midfield, although I don't think he's left-footed. He made two or three good runs, lost it once I think, but generally held on to the ball well under pressure. What struck me is he's got good straight line speed, as well as good acceleration and a change of direction. His first touch on the ball looked excellent, and he got himself involved. He seemed to have no nerves at all. I've not seen him head the ball, but apart from that he really looked the complete package.

Not getting relegated. It really was looking on the cards. Also, the emergence of Lua Lua. I think we've got a major talent on our hands here. He could make all the difference to our future prospects.

Just watched the last 12 minutes, and Lua Lua's sub appearance. I think we should use him more often. I don't care about his age. He's very, very, very good and the sooner he gets that bit of experience the better.