TRon

last season i had him as the pick of our defenders (defensivly...beye was the pick all round). i was always confident that no-one would get past him but i think he only crossed the half way 3 times in all that time. I stuck up for Enrique for the same reason. He has the odd Taylor moment but defensively he was very solid last season, and his main weakness was his reluctance to get forward. Although when he did get down the flank he used the ball quite well usually. I still think he'll come good this season if he gets a decent run in the team.

Someone compared him unfavourably to David Kelly for similar reasons. Kelly's teamwork and link play was very good, but if you stuck two David Kelly's together you wouldn't get goals, they'd be marked pretty comfortably by half decent defenders. While I do accept that Martins doesn't always pick the best option, he does threaten the defences with his speed, shooting and ability to go past people. He can sometimes thread the odd corking pass as well.

thats not quite how i see it joe. Makes you wonder what he's watching in training?

If he's that bad how come he'll cost at least £2m? I'd pay you that much to keep him tbh.

If he didn't have those faults he'd be worth £30m...I doubt we'd have been able to buy him for £10m.

Are other clubs as bad as us though? It gets stupid sometimes IMO. Maybe it's the price we pay for having passionate fans, I mean you don't see it happening at Fulham but then they don't have any atmosphere anyway. Our fans are like Obafemi Martins...you have to take the good with the bad.

That's why I said the wording was wrong - I think stating that new owners will be judged on actions not words would have been a better way of putting it (though with a possibly more polite slant). "Enemy" implies a threat which is too strong which is why I'd argue that a co-operative and "honest" owner would see benefits from involving a supporter's group rather than emphasising the negative. Tbh, every time NUSC say something in public they end up sticking their foot in it. If it was once you could put it down to teething troubles, but every time man? One track anti-Ashley agendas, crass veiled threats to future investors...hwo they expect to be taken seriously when they are putting out an image of near-sighted rabble rousers I don't know.

Wouldn't it be better to wait until someone's actually bought the club before drawing attention to just what a massive spanner in the works you can be to potential buyers?

Love the way you write half a page listing all of Martins faults but at the end grudgingly admit we still need him Love the way you ignore the fact that beggars can't be choosers - that is what I was saying, and NUFC ARE beggars in today's Prem ; IF Martins scores 20 goals and saves us from relegation, THEN I may agree he is a top Prem striker...Do you see this happening ? Right now, we even need Ameobi , but only because we have nobody else..get the picture..!?? I don't think anyone is arguing he is a top prem striker as he has a ways to go before we can say that. However, to claim, as some have done, that he is no good is just silly. He is certainly one of our most useful players. Exactly. Obviously I'd prefer Tevez or Adebayor but given the standard of most of our players I always find it strange when people keep moaning about Martins faults. When we spend £20m on a top class striker I'll be the first one to say he should be dropped, until then I'm quite glad he's here.

it's called basic football ability. I was being sarcastic about he rest of the team I know. Sadly it's true though.

Bassong and Cacapa are so far ahead of Taylor it's daft man Taylor is in the team as the big stopper. Those two are far better defenders but pair them with Coloccini and we might be vulnerable in the air. We are even with Taylor in there tbh.

the reason Wise has been watching Watford? Another budget signing.

it's called basic football ability.

It gets on my wick when that happens. Also if the ball is being played around to keep possession you'll get the crowd urging the players to get it upfield and that adds pressure. It's the same in every other ground as well though, at least we provide better backing than most when we've got something to shout about.

His energy,work rate and creativiyt in the middle would help us no end. Duff Barton Guthrie Zogbia Jonas Martins In a team which lacks goals the central midfielder playing furthest forward needs to chip in. That's why Barton or Owen need to play there for me. Jonas record doesn't suggest he'll get enough.

Love the way you write half a page listing all of Martins faults but at the end grudgingly admit we still need him

I don't really see what he's said wrong tbh. Why knock the guy for wanting to be here? He said from the start that he took the job with the view that if he got results it might lead to some sort of offer if not from us then another club. As far as I'm concerned though he is an interim manager only. If the club isn't going to get sold we should look to make a full time appointment. The sensible decision would be to bring back Keegan and ship out Wise and Llambias.

I don't know, does this post from you have anything to do with th topic originally intended ? Why not do a survey, and see how many posts don't deviate in any way whatsoever from the topic title ? It seems to me that this particular one moved slightly quite a while ago. Most threads do in fact Put it back on track if it bothers you ? So what do you think the longer JK stays?

Do the last few contributions on this thread have anything to do with the topic originally intended?

I would have respected Sir Bobby a lot more if he'd told Fat Fred to f*** off and that he wouldn't accept players bought and sold behind his back. Look where his 'love of the club' got him. Humiliatingly sacked. 2 things with this - at the end of the day he did right by the club and we know what a bad decision it was to sack him so his stubborness was justified. The other more interesting point is how Shepherds role has been renedered less significant....its exactly the same thing that has happened here, maybe even worse but the outcry is 20 times worse and i cant fathom why. The timing of the sacking was wrong, yes. But he should have went during the summer of 2004. Totally agreed. At a time we knew Robson was on his way the next year anyway, and at a time where we were on a par with Liverpool, still not a million miles behind Chelsea, but way ahead of Spurs, Liverpool sacked Houllier and got Benitez, Chelsea sacked Ranieri and got Mourinho, while Spurs appointed Santini, but more importantly, got Martin Jol in too. We clung on to Robson when we should have been doing the same thing, sacked him at a stupid time, and then got Souness. The crucial aspect of that was we sacked Bobby without having a suitable replacement lined up unlike the other far more successful and better run teams you mention there. I still have no understanding of how things worked at Newcastle under Shepherd. His son handling transfers, Souness and the Pinar Zahavi/Willie McKay agents links...police raids on Shepherd's home. Paying £17m for Owen when the asking price was £12m. Strange stuff tbh.

Makes that free-kick even more of a sickener now because we'd have been level with them now. I still reckon we'll be comfortably ahead of them, and better come the next derby and we'll win it easily. So do I. He who laughs last laughs longest as they say...

This.

I see the Mackems lost. What a come down. What a difference a few days makes eh?

Shola is anything but impressive in the air, he gets his head up and the ball just bounces off in any direction. As for his knockdowns, I'd hold out more hope of getting 6 numbers on the lottery than I would at guessing 6 times where the ball would go after coming in to contact with his head. Absolutely. I'm amazed how many people keep harping about picking up Shola's flick ons as if anyone has a clue which way they'll skew off the top of his head.

One thing about Duff, he doesn't give away possession of the ball in a hurry. This is partly because he takes less risks and goes for the easy sideways passes after a run, whereas Charlie usually looks to deliver a telling pass or cross but often runs into trouble or holds the ball too long. Neither is really what the team is looking for.