Cronky

Parker looks to me like a player who isn't completely happy. Whether he hasn't settled in the area, or he's pissed off at the way the club is run, or whatever, I don't know. But I suspect it's something like that, buzzing away in his head, which no amount of tactical changes will really alter. And yes, I know he's said he's happy at Newcastle, but that's no real indication, because he could hardly say anything else.

If it wasn't for Dyer's return, we would still be stuck in the relegation zone. He's the last player we should sell.

It's all very disappointing, because he looked a very different player for Charlton. Chelsea wouldn't have paid £12 million for him if they didn't see something there. At Charlton, he seemed more relaxed and confident. He seemed to be enjoying his football and playing on instinct. With us, he looks very tense when in possession, and seems more worried about losing the ball than doing something with it. His passing is very conservative. I'd agree that Butt and Emre look a better combination at the moment.

Going by the Sky-lights, we didn't create anything on the deck, down the middle, and that's where we really miss Dyer. It was all either long ball or played out to the wing. I liked Onyewu's ruthless attitude, even though he's not the most polished of defenders. Either the man or the ball gets past him, but not both.

Correct, but every keeper does it, and referees don't enforce the rule, for some reason. A few years ago, under a slightly different law, I think roughly one out of three missed penalties got retaken. Now it's a rarity. I think refs are under so much pressure now that it's easier to let it go.

The gesture was about smelly breath, but not necessarily about him being French. Unpleasant, childish and personal on Filan's part, but not racist I wouldn't have said. It always makes me wince a bit though when spectators make complaints about players swearing or gesturing, as though outraged.

Disappointed that Dyer isn't on your list. I think he's been outstanding and his return was a turning point in the season.

Duff is class. He hasn't settled yet, but he was a good signing and we need to persist with him. Defenders have sussed Zoggy out a bit and know how to play him. That's why he's been poor this season. He needs to work on his game a bit, and perhaps work on his attitude as well.

I voted for Gooch - Bramble. Taylor will probably be better than both in the near future, but he's still learning. At the moment, the reality is he's making just as many mistakes as Bramble, and Bramble has that extra bit of power and pace which tips things his way. It's a bit tricky for Roeder, because I understand why he wants to include Taylor, to give us a bit more aerial power. But Solano gives us something at full back, and starts off a lot of good moves for us. I'd play Solano - Gooch - Bramble - Babayaro.

He can be frustrating, but he shows an ability to go past people on either side, and he's got a very good shot on him. Doesn't always know when to release the ball and when to take his man on, but that'll improve with experience.

Very half-hearted performance, with the Wigan game in mind most probably. We were pulling out of challenges to avoid injury, and there wasn't much energy or movement.

Only A Game, by Eamon Dunphy. It's the Diary of a Season, written by a Millwall player in the 1970's. It's a bit of a classic and has been re-issued several times. Even older than that is 'This One's On Me', by Jimmy Greaves. Not a laugh a minute read, but the most harrowing and moving account of a man's descent into alcoholism that I know.

It'd be naive to think that there are no cases of discrimination, but I don't think it's the full explanation, or that the barriers facing a black manager are anything like as forbidding as Crooks is implying. Club management is a very competitive business and if any applicant is easily put off or isn't very confident, then they're unlikely to rise very far. Crooks ought to bear in mind that if every black player took his attitude that there was no point in trying in the first place, then we'd have no black managers instead of two. He just isn't helping anybody here.

Hard to know who's the bigger twat - the ref who sent the money or Jewell for talking about it.

The pressure on an England manager is far greater than the pressure of club management, and it just looks to me like McLaren is floundering. He's had no significant record of success at club management, and so his confidence must be a bit brittle. The media start to get behind Beckham after a couple of good games and suddenly he starts to doubt his original decision. I've seen the pressure get to most England managers eventually, but never as quickly as with McLaren.

Lille were about to shoot themselves in the foot by walking off, and Neville rushes over there to try and stop them. What an idiot. No wonder Ferguson went mad at him.

With 90 % of free kicks in the various parts of the pitch, there's no whistle before the kick is taken. It only becomes complicated when the ref has to delay the kick in order for the defenders to be pushed back. It's the same kind of delay as when a ref has to book someone. Play can't go on while the ref is doing something else. No whistle is the general procedure. There's no rule that says that when a player is using a free kick to take a shot at goal that the ref needs to blow first. It really surprises me when people who are professionally involved with the game - coaches, players and TV commentators - don't know the rules. Last night the commentator didn't know what the rule was, and needed to be corrected by Pleat. Last week-end, a commentator was claiming that a player wasn't offside because the ball touched a defender on its way to him. That rule was changed in about 1990.

I think he's got them playing some good football, and looks to have completely turned the situation round. Yes, I think he'll be a top manager, and he's one we should be keeping tabs on for the future. He may have looked like a lunatic on the field, but there's a good brain operating there as well.

That Lille coach is a complete arse. If he'd succeeded in taking his players off, he'd have ensured that his team would have got thrown out of the competition, and banned from next year's as well. The general cost to his club would run in millions.

The thought has occurred to me that he may be making these kind of public comments to put pressure on Freddie. Souness did the same kind of thing. The manager gets promised backing, but isn't sure that the notoriously secretive Freddie really means it. Of course it could all backfire like you say, and the manager is the one who ends up looking stupid.

I'm a convert to Roeder. He's done a very good job in difficult circumstances.

Isnt it Barnes that is being touted to have agreed a £3m deal in advance? Oops my mistake. I misread the earlier post.

I made a point of watching him in the Man City game. He definitely looks like a Premiership player, but I'm not sure he'd be an improvement on what we've already got in that department.

John Terry. A dominating centre back can make a tremendous difference all the way through a side. It's far easier to commit men forward if you know you're safe at the back.

Why should Southampton agree to sell Bale in advance for £3 million? If they wait till the end of the season, in all probability they could get more. Bale may not choose to go to Man U, if he has Evra to compete with for a place. With us, he'd be guaranteed a first team spot right from the off.