Shak

How fierce does the guy on the right of the picture look?

tbh harper has always been a valuble asset. if at any time harper's presence because a hinderance to us, like shola's is, and he turned down the chance to leave, do you really think we'd be defending him then? we've always known harper was a good keeper, and been perfectly happy for him to stay, even though he doesn't get a game, because of this, and if we sold him we'd need to get a replacement, who might cost more, and be worse than him. we'll need to replace shola, whether he goes or not, because he's s****. Both have spent loads of time purely as back-up. The odd run of games here and there but never established as first choice. Harper may have cracked it this time however. They've both just stuck it out but Harper is praised for his loyalty but lets just see how much s*** Shola gets for, possibly, turning down a move. Has Harper ever been the subject of actual bids we've accepted though or just papertalk bids? We'll never be sure but I'm guessing a few bids have come in for him at one stage or another over the past 6 seasons or so. Difference surely being that we've always been happy to have a guy like Harper knocking around in case of injury? I doubt he's on anything like excessive wages, and a reliable sub keeper is always handy to have around. Shola on the other hand is clearly surplus to requirements. He's not seen as good enough, even in a back-up role, and we seem to really want rid of him, and have a chance to get great money for him while we're at it. I'm not gonna crucify Shola for turning it down, don't see why he should have to live in a place that he doesn't like just to appease us, but I don't think his situation is that similiar to Harper's tbh.

Have to agree with Baggio, I don't see what Keegan is hoping to achieve with these comments quite frankly. This notion that "The Big 4" is some unbreakable unit is bullshit quite frankly. We ourselves were in the Champions League only 5 years ago, and we got there without spending any obscene amounts of money (I attribute this success to our fabulous chairman at the time btw). So what exactly is stopping us, or any other club for that matter, breaking into the top 4 with good management and some shrewd signings? Obviously it won't happen overnight, but I don't buy the notion that it's impossible, or even improbable, quite frankly.

Gives Milan a bit of energy, which they need in their team. Nothing special though IYAM, just another good player that Wenger has made look like a world beater at times.

Being forced to endure the Arsenal game. My god is it dull.

People say this kind of thing and I wonder how much they saw of Adebayor when he first joined. Even now you can look at him and see it. His touch has improved a lot, but still he's prone to some horrendous attempts to contol the ball. It's about playing to his other strengths, as Arsenal do. Say what you will about Martins, but he has enough tools to be fabulously effective if used and developed right. Hope he stays here.

Bit of a lack of flair in that team tbh, your Allardyce-esque obsession with hard-workers knows no bounds... Seriously though, I'd struggle to justify putting Cole in ahead of Beardsley, especially with Shearer already in the team to provide the goals.

------------------Given Beye -- Woodgate -- Albert -- Beresford ------- Solano ---- Lee --- Ginola ------------------ Beardsley ------------ Shearer ----- Ferdinand Surprised to see so many people including Robert over Ginola tbh. I'd much rather have a Ginola, someone you could count on to get involved and give you a bit of quality pretty much every game. With Robert it was all too often a case of watching him do absolutely nothing for most of the game, praying for that something special to happen. His stats are probably better than Ginola's, but his overall quality wasn't for me. No middle ground with him, it was all or nothing.

Was just thinking the same thing.

Bolton will beat Sunderland, can't believe they're going to stay up. Hate them, wankers.

Has Dave ever been beaten to the punch when making the same joke as someone else? I've not seen it.

Back at the time where I absolutely had to have every Newcastle jersey going, that one was the exception. Horrific. Quite liked '00/'01

Setanta commentary at it's best. "They'd take a point now, would Birmingham." Yeah?

I'm going to guess that it's Randy Lerner. He just seems like such a suspiciously good chairman, must be more than meets the eye with him or something...

Yeah, they never work out over here. Can't say I've seen Nasri play a full game more than a few times but he certainly does look a very nice talent. Gomis I've never gone out of my way to look at but from what I read about him he's certainly the style of center-forward I'd expect us to be looking for. Be quite enthused with either, obviously.

Gonna hope that was deliberate. Must not have been, because you've lost me entirely. Talking about Jon criticising my spelling with a sentence that was all over the shop grammatically. Cleverly ommited the other part of my post as well as I see.

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.