Shak

Gonna hope that was deliberate. And Yorkie, we all know you were just aroused by the thought of Ronaldo crouched over you, giving a seductive wink.

I took it to not be anyone in particular, the idea being that with Nike gear anyone can go from playing Sunday league football to being a star for Arsenal and Holland, assuming one is Dutch, obviously. I think the add is absolutely shit, in any case.

I really don't care who wins. If Man U win I get to see the likes of Terry, Lampard, Drogba and the two Cole's likely cry their eyes out on the pitch afterwards. If Chelsea win then half of my friends will be devestated, and apart from maybe two or three of them they're gloryhunters for the most part tbh. Win-Win/Lose-Lose situation, depending on how you look at it. Think Chelsea will win it for some reason though.

Honestly can't see it myself. No way can I see Man U going out and essentially shutting up shop and hoping to nick one on the break, which is essentially what they did last week. And Barca are too poor at the back to even try and do that themselves. Can see Man U potentially ripping Barca to shite early on and being a couple up in the first half hour if they really go out and have a go and play well. If Barca can keep Man U out for the first half hour, then I could see them winning or getting a score draw and going through.

Cert to be a much better game tonight. Man U will go for it a lot more which will in turn will help Barca and give the likes of Messi and Etoo' the space in which they're so dangerous. Really difficult to call this one, whoever scores first will go through IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cugYQ35vtvQ

I'd do away with the away goals rule tbh. The way things are now, a 0-0 draw in the first leg is a pretty decent result for both teams and nobody is inclined to take any sort of risk. Get rid of away goals and the home team can really have a go without being shit-scared of conceding an away goal on the break. I know that both ways have their pros and cons, but I do think that overall the away goals rule does more harm than good.

Viduka's father and Modric's mother are first cousins making Vids and Modric second cousins. Apparently. In the bag so.

Iniesta will play wide left I'd imagine.

Definitely the type of player we'll need to bring in, exciting stuff if we can pull it off. Someone on one of the youtube videos reckons he's Viduka's cousin, anyone know if that's accurate?

Jose's done well recently, no doubt, but if we're looking to keep this 4-3-3 system then I reckon long term we'll be looking to get in full-backs who are just as effective going forward as they are in defense. Enrique's a good player, but he may end up being a victim of our new system IMO.

A few decades ago they might have had a chance, not a fucking prayer of pulling this off now. Good to see they're keeping up with the times as always.

You're expecting Wise, Vetere and Jimenez to have established a complex, deep and all round top class scouting system in the space of 6 months? We need a pretty solid outlay and some proven quality to give us the standard of players we need to compete in the top half of the table. Expecting some promising youngsters to come in an solve our problems is asking for trouble. I'll be disappointed if there isn't a pretty hefty investment in players this summer, I'd expect something in the 30-50m range, anything less than 30 and I'll be seriously questioning the new owners ambitions, quite frankly. Should allow us to bring in 4-6 good players with hopefully 1 or 2 of them being really top ones that can make the difference.

I respectfully disagree.

If we're sticking with this system and Owen in his current role, then a top playmaker to replace Geremi has to be something we're looking for. Butt and Barton would make a nice engine room, but we need someone with a bit of real class on the ball to run the show for us and Geremi isn't the answer. Neither is N'Zogbia btw, was just addressing TT's point about Geremi, agree that he's the odd man out.

Pattison really was dreadful. Remember in a pre-season game this year, he was running down the wing with the ball when he sort of started to stumble a bit. Tried to keep running but he kept gradually falling over until eventually he fell face first on the ground. Brilliant thing was that he was under no pressure from any defender, nobdoy within 10 yards of him and he was in a very nice position to get to the byline and put in a dangerous cross.

If Barton stays out of jail and Keegan keeps him at the club, I expect he'll be starting next season. Certainly ahead of Geremi in the pecking order, IMO.

If we we're gonna sign four players to go straight into the first team, that's what it should be. Address the midfield 3 times before getting another striker in? Take Viduka out of our team and we're absolutely bummed, nobody to lead the line. I agree with HTT's post on the previous page, a top class center forward has to be very high on the list of priorities, if not at the very top. Can't agree with that. We have three very capable forwards, and Carroll [who I rate higher than perhaps is warranted from the evidence thus far!]. We don't know whether Keegan will stick with the 4-3-3 or not once he has the opportunity to bring in his own players, but if we revert back to 4-4-2, I think we'll certainly be fine up front. Any more real quality we purchase up front would create an unhealthy level of competition - which we, as a non-CL side, couldn't handle/justify. Any forward we bring in should be very much as back-up [unless we sell Owen, Viduka or Martins]. By contrast, our midfield is malnourished. Problem with going back to 4-4-2 is that Viduka & Martins is the only pairing from our current group of strikers that has any real chance of being a good partnership. And, with Owen very much a key figure for us moving forward by the looks of things, I can't see that being the way to go. Viduka and Owen offers absolutely no pace, while Owen and Martins just won't work as far as I can see. You need one of your strikers to be adept at playing with his back to goal and offering some sort of size for high balls. Be very surprised if Keegan tries to switch Owen back to his old style of game, because I just don't see how it'll work with the amount of pace he has lost. Viduka has been good in recent weeks, but can you imagine what a really top center-forward, one who can offer a physical force and aeriel threat as well as the good link-up play and finishing that Viduka gives us could do in his role, and how much that would help the game of both Martins and Owen? We do need midfielders too, no doubt, but the single biggest impact on our team would come from a really top center forward, IMO.

You'd keep him based on one match three seasons ago? Are you sure you don't have some latent attraction to him? I can sort of see where he's coming from in that Emre is a player that I've always had high hopes for because there seems to be the talent there for him to be a very good footballer. Problem is that he just doesn't show up enough when he does play and games can pass him by all to easy. That, combined with his horrific injury proneness, means I won't be bothered if and when he does leave in the summer. But I'd like to see him playing under Keegan tbh, so I hope we keep him around for next season. If KK can get the best out of him, then I do belive ther's a very good player buried in there somewhere. Can't hurt having another option in the squad, at the very least. We'll not be going into next season depending on Emre to be a key player for us, you can be sure of that. So what harm having him about?

As long as he avoids serious injuries then he's the type of player that will still be absolutely top class well into his 30's, as he has so much to his game that makes him effective. If one area of his game isn't quite clicking, it really won't be noticeable as he'll be doing so much else to still contribute immensely to the team. Unthinkable as it may seem with the form he's in right now, you have to fancy there'll be times when Cristiano will hit a period where he's finding goals hard to come by. And when he does then odds are he'll be very frustrating for Man U as his all-round game isn't as well developed as Rooney's. Also think we can expect a lot more in terms of goals from Rooney in years to come as his game develops more and more, which I firmly believe it will.

He on fire... So hot on fire Nicky Butt-Butt-Butt Nicky Butt-Butt-Butt.

Red super-lights ftw.

Not that im buying into this view or agreeing with it to ints entirtey, but SBR said that he was one of the most gifted players he'd ever had at that age and with the right training and motivation he could got to the top. Now i'm ofthe view that unlike Viana, we have seen glimpses on a fairly regular basis to suggest that SBR maybe right. Like i say, give him the right environment to thrive and think he would. The thing is is that some of the best football we've seen from him is from when he was 19, he hasnt had the right environment to thrvie since then. Zoggy's left-peg couldn't hold a candle to Viana's iyam. Well yeah, but they're hardly even comparable in terms of the style of player they are. Viana's left-foot was by far and away his best asset, whereas if N'Zogbia is gonna become a top player it'll be on the basis of his dribbling and direct style rather than his ability to pick out a pin-point cross or pass. That pass for Bernard against Chelsea was insane though, while we're on about Hugo. As was the finish.

I'm nowhere near as bothered as I used to be about him leaving tbh. Think he has the potential to be a very good player, and ideally he'd stay and we'd find out whether or not he's going to live up to that potential here, under Keegan. But if he does go I've got faith in Keegan to bring in the right guys and play the sort of football where we won't miss N'Zogbia at all, even if he does start producing at his new club. Just pissed me off immensely these last few years that we were such a toothless, boring team and we had an exciting young winger either sitting on the bench or stuck at left-back while our other duffers floundered around helplessly week after week. A perfect example of the horrible management we've seen at the club the last few years, but hopefully that's behind us now and I think we're moving in the right direction again, with or without N'Zogbia.

The new Dirk Kuyt tbh.