Cronky

He'll never be in the same class as Waddle. I wouldn't be so sure of that. When Waddle was his age, he was playing for Tow Law and working in a sausage factory. Even when he broke into our first team, he wasn't anything like as good as Milner is now. Obviously he improved a lot, but so is Milner, and if he can maintain his current rate of progress he can more than match Waddle.

I agree 100%. Total bollocks from start to finish. Still, it looks like we now have a declaration of war, with Shepherd trying to get the fans on his side. We'll see what happens.

His touch on the ball is bad, and he lost the ball several times when he shouldn't have done. But we have to be realistic and accept the package he's offering. Great finisher but not very good during the build up.

His delivery into the box is a lot quicker now, and that's made all the difference. He reminds me a lot, and I mean a lot, of Chris Waddle. He could be his dad. He'll cause defences problems.

I don't really agree that Hunty and Edgar looked solid. You can't expect much given their inexperience, but we looked shaky down the centre all through the game. I'd give a bit of credit to Huntington though, because despite the fact that he was struggling, he kept challenging and taking responsibility. Both of them need to fill out a bit before they can be a trusted partnership in defence. O'Brien I thought improved as the game went on, and has earned another chance. I thought Reo-Coker was outstanding. If we have any chance of signing him, I'd take it.

I can't see why Spurs should want to help us out of our difficulties by lending us a player.

If Bramble is shit then what is Huntington ? SUPER SHIT Young and inexperinced? i.e. super shit With Birmingham's equaliser yesterday, if it had been Bramble rather than Huntington who had been challenging for the cross, he'd have headed it out no problem. Or to put it another way, if it had been Bramble who had failed to clear the ball, there would be an entire thread devoted to how shit he is. Bramble has his weak points, but we're not flush with better alternatives. Huntington is doing better than we can expect, given his age, and showing great potential, but he's struggling and will continue to do that until he acquires a bit more strength and experience. We should keep Bramble.

I don't think Bent is anything exceptional. However, he happens to be the best British striker that's available, and that's what's pushing his price up.

Everything was wrong about the transfers to West Ham. The players and their agents were not committed to the club, but just using West Ham as a shop window for a move to a bigger European club. It was driven through by the Board rather than the Manager, who ended up saying yes to a take it or leave it situation. The two players had a special status within the club, which was bound to upset the players who had taken West Ham forward over the previous two seasons, and then found their places under threat. I read that the transfer had been turned down by a number of clubs before West Ham said yes, and no wonder. Some lessons will have been learned.

It looked to me that we were financing that deal by selling Milner to Villa. When the Huth transfer fell through, and we were knocked back for Knight, then Milner was recalled. I don't think we've got anything available for transfers above that which can be generated by selling. I can't see that the situation will have changed much from August to January.

He's an exceptionally quick and strong athlete, and that is always going to make him dangerous in certain situations. At other times, when a delicate touch is required, he's not going to be so great. We have to accept the package. His ability to drop deeper at times and link with the midfield has been a bit better than I thought it was going to be. He's working hard at developing an all-round game.

In recent seasons, Fergie has become one of the few managers worth listening to in half-time and full-time interviews. He sums up the way that a game has gone / is going pretty well.

Oba has a lot to learn, but he is learning. His performances have improved, and he looks to have a good, hard-working attitude. It's too early to judge him.

Individual statistics can never tell the full story. It's the impact that a player makes on the team's performance as a whole which counts. And there's no evidence that Parker's presence is a boost to the team, however good he looks as an individual. He's got the potential to do better, but has become too conservative. Any player's pass completion stats would look better if they only passed the ball sideways or backwards. (I exaggerate to make the point)

A Parker / Reo-Coker swap is a risk, but one that I'd take. Reo-Coker has the potential to be a much better player, and Parker seems to be stagnating.

My hunch about the situation is this. There's a few people interested and the Halls have set a high price, seeing if someone is going to bite. So far, no-one has. What the Halls hope is that someone will put in an offer and then start off an auction. They're businessmen, and I think that's how a businessman would play it. It's like cat and mouse. Unlike the Halls, Shepherd I reckon is very keen to hang on, and doesn't want to sell to a group like Polygon or Belgravia, who would run it as a business and not operate like a sugardaddy. He's said himself that the offer that he would consider is an Abramovich-style one. Trouble is, that kind of offer is rare. The current wave of takeovers - of Man U, Villa, West Ham, Liverpool - have been on a business basis. Of course, Shepherd himself is running the club as a business, and not putting in his own money. That's fair enough, but he shouldn't try to pretend that what he's offering the club is in any way exceptional. I think there are others out there who could make a better fist of it than him.

It sounds like they think the price might come down - ie that no-one else is going to bid at the price which is currently being demanded.

I don't actually think we've got all that much money to spend, over and above what might be raised by the sale of Luque. On top of that, there seems to be a lot of clubs chasing a small number of available players. My expectations of the Transfer Window are low. We may get some Sibierski-like stop gap signings to tide us over till the end of the season, but I'll be surprised if there's more.

According to Shearer's autobiog, he always had natural physical strength, and at Southampton his main focus was working on technique. Incidentally, he left Southampton for a British record transfer fee. He'd made a very good reputation for himself.

Realistically, if you're going to get into the top part of the Premiership, you need something more than a player who's 'just' a target man. Crouch has got a good all round game, and would be a good choice. Having said that, Liverpool won't let him go. Beattie has less to offer, and wouldn't be a good choice. It alarms me when I see him linked as a possible second option to Crouch. At the very top level, you can't build a strategy around a striker whose only real strength is that he wins headers. We'd be better off carrying on as we are.

Last time I saw him, Edgar looked like a frightened rabbit. I wasn't expecting today's performance at all. Well done to the lad, and to Roeder and Pearson who are getting the most out of a makeshift defence.

Given 7 - usual solid performance. Solano 7 - always positive in possession, and got in some good challenges. On the debit side, he was regularly caught out of position. Huntington 6 - made a few errors on the ball, but ready to take responsibility and did well, considering his inexperience. Taylor 7 - a solid game. Looks much more decisive than before. Edgar 7 - Did remarkably well, and looks a good prospect. Milner 8 - Faded a bit in the second half, but worked very hard. That goal was the highlight of the season so far. The sort that really lifts you off your chair. His decision-making is improving all the time. Emre 5 - Looked weak in possession and gave the ball away too much. Parker 6 - The usual frustrating mixture. Got in some good tackles, but didn't show enough initiative on the ball. Dyer 8 - He wasted some good situations, but worked very hard, and time and again he got us going forward. Martins 6 - Battled hard, but was up against strong defenders and not much went his way. Sibierski 6 - Looked slow and not very strong at holding the ball up, but kept going and now and then he created some good things for us. Credit to Ferguson for a fair summary of the game - they had more chances but we showed great spirit and a draw was fair. I had the impression that Man U were too complacent. After they went ahead, they assumed the game was won and took their foot off the gas.

Martins' penalty definitely wasn't a chip. He attempted to side foot it, only gave it far more power than he could really control. A bit weird. It didn't help that there was a gap of two minutes between the decision and the eventual kick. Plenty of time to get nervous or lose concentration.

We had a couple of great chances at a crucial time, with the penalty and the header where Taylor and Martins got in each other's way. If either had gone in, it could have been different, so let's not be slitting our wrists. Goals change games. The defence is weak and inexperienced when it comes to set pieces, nothing new there and not Roeder's fault in the circumstances. I'd prefer to see Parker pushed wide right, Emre in the centre, and Milner on the left. Not ideal, but a better use of resources than what we have. I'd agree that Emre looks very unhappy out wide. And talking of Emre, why has asking a ref to send a player off become the most heinous of crimes? It's wrong, but players are pressuring refs all the time for penalties and other decisions. I think everyone needs to calm down on this issue.

The plan on Davies seemed to be to double up, with one in front and one behind to stop the flick-on. Trouble was neither Edgar nor Taylor got anywhere near him. Taylor was about a yard away. I know Davies is very difficult to stop in that situation because he's got a back the size of a garage door, but he wasn't even put under pressure. Hopefully both will learn from the experience, though if Bramble had been involved there'd be a five page thread devoted to opinions about how shit he is. And incidentally, are you the real Keith Kettleborough?