Cronky

That sounds pretty much like a bid to get the guy in to me.

Well worth a try. He's quicker and a better passer than either Geremi or Butt. He got criticised for his miss against Derby, but the interesting thing is that he outran all our midfield players to get there.

Amazing that the interview took place at all, because the two men couldn't stand each other. It would be like Wenger and Ferguson agreeing to do a joint interview.

Another case of the interfering Chairman / Owner syndrome. Still, I'm not sorry to see the back of Mourinho. I never saw him as a great comedian. A bit of a bore, in fact.

No, Allardyce should be given a chance. You don't get anywhere treating people like that.

A lot of people seem to be pinning their hopes on us improving if or when Zoggy moves forward into the midfield. Yes, it would be nice to relieve him of some of his defensive responsibilities, but at the same time he'd have less space and time on the ball when trying to move forward. I think there's a lot of room for improvement still with Zoggy even in an attacking sense, and I'm not that optimistic myself. It's a big advantage to a team to have a defensive midfielder and full backs who can use the ball well. Although they are mainly defensive positions, they do tend to see a lot of the ball and if they can pass it constructively that can be a real boost. Last night, we weren't getting much from Butt, Zoggy or Taylor and Allardyce needs to address that.

I'd agree that Allardyce was a bit too conservative last night. He seems to be very protective of his new players, but Beye should have played last night rather than stick a centre back out wide. I also think there's a case for playing Rozenhal is midfield, because he's quicker and more creative than either Geremi or Butt. Allardyce probably wanted to stick with the side that had served him well so far, and you can understand that. He'll have learned some lessons from last night, and it's way too early to judge him.

Harper 7 - Did all that could be asked of him. Taylor 5 - Struggled manfully, but isn't a full back. Unable to support the attack well enough. Cacapa 6 - Did okay Rozenhal 6 - Great reading of the game, but lost too many headers. Needs to be pushed into the midfield. Zoggy 5 - Wasted a lot of good situations through poor delivery, especially from free kicks. Smith 6 - Generally quiet, but what very few moments of class from the midfield, came from him. Butt 5 - Not a player you want in there when you're chasing a game. Geremi 5 - Looked very ponderous. Milner 6 - Kept trying, and produced a few good crosses. Ameobi 6 - Won a few good headers in the first half, but faded badly. There's always been a problem with his stamina. We had no target man to replace him with though. Owen 7 - Looked our best player. Quite inventive.

I'd put Rozenhal in the midfield anchor role instead of Butt. I know he's played there before. He's got more pace and he's more comfortable on the ball. What's more he's pretty hopeless at heading the ball under challenge, despite his other abilities as a Centre Back, and I'd rather see Taylor brought back in the centre.

Beye on at RB, Taylor into the centre, Rozenhal replacing Butt in midfield.

A good strike for their goal, but we've always looked likely to concede from a simple long ball down the middle. We can still win this, if we're a bit more positive. The opposition is poor. We've looked far too tentative.

I would see Barton as our best central midfielder, and I'd plan things so that he saw as much of the ball as possible. I'd definitely keep him involved in the centre.

Rooney is a great player. It's utter madness to decide, after two home wins against moderate opposition, that we can't accommodate him. It's a bit tricky because you have to then choose between Heskey, who's a good target man but a poor finisher, and Owen, who's a good finisher but a poor target man. Personally, I'd go for Heskey, because that aerial power is very useful. Rooney has got everything that Owen has got, plus that bit more. He's even faster now.

I'm trying to imagine what would happen if Rooney had been available for £9 million in the summer. Would Messrs Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho and Benitez have said - Naah, don't think so? Rooney is a player who can make things happen no matter what the opposition. Owen depends on his team-mates being on top of the opposition to create chances for him. In a major international competition, when we're playing against the best in the world, you have to go for Rooney.

Yeah? I'd say that in the last World Cup and European Championships finals, he was fairly useless. The one where he broke his knee, you mean? Can hardly expect him to do the business on crutches. I meant before he broke his knee.

Yeah? I'd say that in the last World Cup and European Championships finals, he was fairly useless.

Which to drop then? Someone who makes few and scores many, or someone who makes many and scores few? We'll have to choose the right team for the situation. It's not a problem. Some teams aren't going to fall for the Heskey/Owen combination. I can't imagine getting much change out of Italy where we might need a bit of magic from Rooney to make something spark. The problem is that Rooney spark might create a chance for someone else. Who else can finish like Owen? It's a weird one. Can we have some heads on the block here? I say Rooney. What say you?

spot on. Central defenders can't go through Heskey, like they can Crouch. Even when Heskey doesn't win the ball, he makes them struggle. But there's not a lot to choose between them.

You'd drop Owen after three goals in two games? For Rooney, yes.

This game has finally convinced me that there's a better option in the middle than the Gerrard - Lampard combination. Gerrard looked good going forward, and Barry looked very confident behind him. Wright-Phillips has really added something - thank fuck he got his chance instead of Beckham. He can still improve though - which is very encouraging. What an awesome player Richards is. Barring injuries, Gary Neville has won his last cap. Still can't see why Phil Neville is in there. 90 minutes gone, 3-0 up, he had a chance to thread the ball through to a player going forward and he knocked it back to his centre back. Not an international player. It was interesting to see the three pundits humming and ha-ing about what to do when Rooney comes back. Heskey opened things up a lot for us, so I'd keep him, and Rooney is our best player. Tough on Owen, but in an away game when we're up against it, Rooney's the better option.

For the last few months, Bates has been asking businessmen in Leeds to dip their hands in their pockets and support the local team. Roughly translated, he wants some mug to pump in some money while he remains in charge. Perhaps his search for a suitable idiot is over.

Why can't we get that sort of interviewer over here - he asked straight, interesting, open-ended questions, and allowed his subject to answer. None of this 'How disappointed are you with this defeat?' crap. Interesting what Shearer said about Owen bulking up. He does look stronger but slower. And he seems less than enthusiastic about becoming a manager.

If this is true, Freddie had better watch out. Bates will eat him for breakfast.

Not all of it is from Bobby's book. Take Woodgate's sale. When announced Sir Bobby live on SSN said "I don't want him to go, I want my chairman to tell Madrid he's not for sale" He then went on to say "I hope the deal falls through for us" Woodgate on leaving "I never wanted to leave Newcastle and didn't even know about their interest" This indicates that FS went behind Sir Bobby's back. He did it with Speed and Bowyer too. On Rooney, we had Alan Shearer trying to convince him to sign yet the manager hadn't even spoken to the player. Whenever asked about Rooney Sir Bobby would either say "you'll have to ask my chairman", "he's a great young player" without ever committing more to it or "we need defenders" Anyway I know exactly what happened with Sir Bobby. Towards the end of the season we had finished 5th the board decided it was time to think about his eventual replacement so they sounded out both Bruce and Allardyce who weren't best pleased they were touting their big mate's job around. Interested of course they said they'd listen when, and only when, Sir Bobby calls it a day. So the board decided to announce that Sir Bobby would be in his final year as NUFC manager, and subsequently held back funds from him as they knew they'd be hiring a new man in 9 months time who would need some money, this also prompted the sale of Woodgate. (Rooney was going to be paid by Northern Rock who later paid for Owen) Anyway Sir Bobby was kicking up a fuss over things such as Woodgate's sale, the Rooney interest "how come you've told me we don't have any funds yet you can chase an 18 year old player for £23m"? and such, that coupled with our start to the season, booing on the stands and talk of dressing room unrest the board panicked and decided to sack Sir Bobby, believing in either Bruce or Allardyce, they had a replacement lined up. Only the pair said no not while a season was underway, come back at the end of the season. Bugger, thought the board. They then made inquiries for O'Leary, McLaren and Moyes but were told to go away. Then the name of Venables popped up, perhaps he could do a caretaker job until the end of the season ala like he did at Boro they asked, so that we can then appoint either Bruce or Allardyce. This was eventually rebuffed due to uncertainty as to whether how the fans would react. Stuck they decided to sound out agents. Some bloke from ProActive Sports told them some juicy gossip about how Souness, a client of theirs, was very close to the sack at Blackburn, he'll be up for the challenge and so on. And the rest is history, with a few quid won at the bookies, sandwiched in between. I couldn't comment on all those details, but I'm sure that the overall picture is correct. Freddie badly screwed up the whole question of Sir Bob's retirement and the succession. IMO there was a further complication. For a long while, the dream was that Shearer would take over when Sir Bob retired, and the succession would be seamless. It came unstuck when Sir Bob decided that Shearer's successor as a player needed to be brought forward, but Shearer didn't feel it was the right time for him to retire or become a squad player. Freddie backed Shearer, Sir Bob's position became weaker on and off the field, and we went into a decline. When things came to a head with Sir Bob, Freddie ended up appointing a couple of lame duck managers to keep the seat warm for Shearer. No manager of any status was going to walk into a position where the Chairman's blue eyed boy was waiting in the wings, and where the Captain and senior player was exercising such an influence. Basically, Freddie was unprofessional about the whole business, and we paid the price.

Well I'd defy anyone to read Sir Bob's autobiography, and come away with the conclusion that he wasn't undermined by Shepherd. Sir Bob only started appearing at Freddie's side when the team was starting to flounder under Roeder, and the fans were starting to publicly turn on Freddie. At the same time, Freddie was starting to try and sell the idea that the Halls were undermining his work, and, by implication, that they were responsible for the position the club was in. Sir Bob is a forgiving soul, but in this case I think he was being used.