Cronky

First touch? Second and third touches aren't that great either. Really, I don't think Martins is a difficult player to assess. He's a strong, quick athlete and as such he can cause defenders problems. However, you have to look at his overall contribution to the team, in comparison to what a more skilful and intelligent player could bring to the side.

Exactly what I thought. She seemed to be saying lines that she thought Motson or Davies would come out with. Nail head hit. If she's going to be a success, she needs to develop her own style. It's not as though the traditional male style of commentating is all that entertaining or interesting. More often than not, it gets on the nerves.

Joey Barton. He's the player that can add a bit of creativity to the midfield, and that would make a big difference to our performances.

You're right, this is a long-standing problem. The technique-gap between our players and Continental players has narrowed a bit in recent years, but it's still there. Watching the last few England games, and the Under-21 match against Montenegro, I really noticed how the opposition were able to close down our midfield players quite easily, and pressure the ball when it was in our possession. By contrast, our players had to stand off a bit, because if they'd gone careering in, the opposition had enough skill to take advantage of that. The minute our players are put under pressure, they end up passing backwards rather than trying to exploit the gaps which then appear.

I think if he were to move from Spurs, it would be to a CL club. So that's what we need to aim for. Great player, when he can be arsed (which is not at the moment)

Agreed. No-one's going to bid anything like that money. I think he's probably worth slightly less than what we paid. He's done okay, he's got some good goals and he's also missed a few.

The margins between success and failure are sometimes quite slim. Normally we're pretty strong in the goalkeeping department, but we're weak at the moment. That's what cost us the away games against Croatia and Russia (which were otherwise fairly even), and that's all it takes to lose out. I know he's young, but Scott Carson has really impressed me. He looks nerveless and I'd put him in once this qualifying campaign is over. Overall, I don't think that McClaren was the best man for the job. He allowed himself to be bullied into bringing Beckham back, and a manager has to be strong and stick to his guns.

Oh bloody hell, no. He was magnificent last season, and should have been player of the year. He's never played better.

The insane thing about the transfer is that the player himself publicly said, a week before, that he only wanted to join us on loan. The huge transfer fee which blocked the interest of other clubs, the massive wages and in particular the very generous buy-out clauses were all part of the package of getting him to join us. So now we're wondering whether he wants to stay, and worrying about whether a clause will be activated. Well, it all just flows naturally from the stupid deal that Freddie forged in the first place. The fans can be disgruntled, but the club has no cause for complaint.

There's nothing hard to believe about this. If he had a £9 million release clause before, it stands to reason it will have gone down by the end of the season. In which case, a decent offer from a big club will put us in a bit of trouble.

If those are real, I'm Roland Rat.

Berbatov looks like he's pissed off with Spurs and isn't really trying. He'll come good again once he gets his move to Man U. As for Rooney..... Well, he may have dipped a little over the last couple of seasons, but I wouldn't call him over-rated. The fact that many were seriously considering keeping Heskey and Owen and not playing Rooney for this weekend shows that. Since the World Cup, he's curbed his aggression a bit (which he needed to do), he's been played wider by Man U instead of being given a licence to roam, and probably defenders have learned to deal with him a bit better. But I regard him as a unique player, and he's the last player I'd consider leaving out. He can turn round a team's performance single handed.

Good shout. Since his move to Chelsea, he's looked very ordinary, particularly going forward. Rooney is getting a lot of mentions, but I don't agree. He's not being played in his ideal position by Man U, but he's still very effective. He'll get goals that are beyond the abilities of virtually any other player.

1968-ish. v Man U at Old Trafford. 0-6. George Best ripped us to pieces. Not the happiest occasion.

Is it any wonder that Wenger prefers to recruit young players from abroad? How small is Montenegro, and yet generally their players are still better than ours in terms of ball technique.

Owen is just what City need, and it would suit Owen, given that he's based in Chester. It would also be better for us to sell for £15 million half way through the season, rather than have a buy-out clause activated in the summer. So there may be something in this. At the beginning of the season, I'd have said take the money. But I've actually been impressed by what I've seen of him this season. He may be slower, but his link up play has improved a lot. I honestly think he now looks a much better all round player, and I'd be trying to persuade him to stay. As with Dyer, the boo-boys aren't helping here.

I find it a bit of a strange question, seeing none of us can have any idea what he'd be like as a coach.

The only time when his commitment to his club seemed questionable was just before the World Cup, when he was getting a little bit of gip from a previous injury just before the final game of the season against Chelsea. It looked like he opted not to play for us rather than risk aggravating it just before the World Cup. Apart from that, I can't see a reason to doubt that his injuries have just been bad luck from our point of view. Certainly on his occasion, it just so happens that it's coincidental that he's back from injury in time to play for England. A major part of the problem is that he made it absolutely clear that he didn't want to come to us except on loan. We took advantage of the fact that he was desperate to secure his England place by playing first team football. We put in an inflated offer which made it virtually impossible for Madrid to sell him to the club of his preference. We were out of order in putting Owen in that position, so there's some poetic justice in the problems that are created every time Owen gets injured like this.

Just seen your post. The main point is that the manager doesn't mention new signings. In fact, Spurs don't have a manager. Jol is the Head Coach, responsible for 1st team squad and their results. Of course he does have a say in identifying potential signings and does have the ultimate veto if he doesn't want a particular player in the squad, but it is Comolli's job to find the right person for a position. The problems arise when Comolli is overruled by Levy. My understanding of Bent's signing is that Jol, Comolli and Levy were all agreed that Spurs should sign Bent. Comolli agreed a deal with Charlton for £8m rising to £10m. West Ham blew agreement out of the water when they offered £17m and Charlton said he could only come to Spurs if we matched the Spanners' bid. Comolli said no, Bent refused to talk to West Ham and went on holiday, Charlton said no talking to Bent until you offer £17m. Jol said he still wanted Bent, Comolli said no more than £12m in his opinion so wanted to drop out and sign Anelka instead and Levy wanted Bent (as a young Englishman fitting in with our main buying strategy) but didn't want to pay that much. In the end Levy agreed to pay £15.5 rising to £16.5m very much against Comolli's recommendation. The Chairman's prerogative I suppose . Levy knew he was paying over the odds but was getting a young English international whose value would appreciate in time and had the capability of stepping into Berbatov's boots if Man Utd eventually made a bid that couldn't be refused. What Levy didn't know was that the price tag would be like a lead weight around Bent's neck. In hindsight, Comolli was right, Levy and Jol were wrong. It sounds to me like dividing the playing responsibility between two men allows the Chairman / Owner to exercise too much power. Divide and rule. You and Chelsea are paying the price for that.

No he doesn't, and that's exactly what's wrong with what he's said. If he was saying exactly what he was thinking, he'd have put Michael Owen's name to it. As it is, he's said something in public that Owen can't reply to, but is going to foster some resentment. Barton thinks he's clever, but he's a bit immature. If you can't say something constructive, then don't say anything at all.

It's ironic that there's more money in the game than ever before, but more and more biggish clubs seem to be hitting difficulties. A major problem seems to be this huge gap in money between the Premiership and the other divisions. It encourages clubs to take risks to get there or stay there, and if they don't come straight back up when relegated, they land in trouble. We weren't a million miles away from doing a Leeds ourselves over the last few years.

I really like Barton as a player, but a lot of his public comments make me wince. This is an obvious dig at Owen, which we don't need. Barton seems very quick to criticise others, but he ought to be setting his own house in order.

Sfm - I agree that Shepherd wasn't in control of the amount of money that was available for transfers, and in that area he did a reasonable job. What's more, I don't think that Chairmen should be expected to dip into their own money, or to not get a return on any investment. Where I think he fell down was in two areas. He started to get too much influence over how the money was spent, and which players came and went. (ref Sir Bob's autobiog) Secondly, he gave Shearer this special status within the club, which ended up with Shearer playing on too long. It also limited the number of managers who would be prepared to take on the job after Sir Bob. It's those two areas that led to our decline over the last four seasons.

Without getting into the ongoing debate about Oba, I was impressed with what I saw of Owen. He's come back slower since his injury, but his technique on the ball and his link up play really has improved. At one point, he sprayed out a 40 yard long pass to the left wing into Enrique's path, and the weight on the ball was perfect. It was the kind of ball that Owen never even attempted three years ago, let alone brought off.

You won't get much, their in League One. No! They're in Division Three! Things were so much simpler in the old days.