Shak

It'll be interesting to see how they fare if they're able to add more quality depth. In theory, the rotation policy should work a lot better once they have more quality players to choose from, obviously. More of a problem for them is Benitez's unwillingness to go out and really go at the weaker teams and attempt to simply overwhelm them with their superior players. Often they're simply too cautious against poorer teams and allow their opponents to get a foothold in the game that you feel they simply wouldn't have the chance to do if Liverpool went out and had a real go. No reason they shouldn't be able to do so with Mascherano and Alonso in central midfield either if you ask me. My priority for Liverpool would be a right winger who can really be effective going forward, a replacement for Kuyt in other words. Someone like Bentley, who also works back defensively, would make a lot of sense. I'll be interested to see Babel next year as well. Shows flashes of the ability to be a really, really devestating winger. After a season in the Premiership, maybe next year he can start to deliver consistently.

For me most of Arsenal's "problem" stems from the fact that they lack really world-class individual attacking players. Lots of good players, but not many who can do that something really special to make the difference on a day where things don't quite click, which is libel to happen playing the way Arsenal do. Fabregas is fantastic, though at his age he's going to struggle to be consistently brilliant every week. After that though? Hleb - Fabulous dribbler, shields the ball well ad a clever player. But not enough end product at all, he's still not hit double figures in terms of goals in 3 years at the club. And I rarely see him pick out a killer pass either. Adebayor - Getting there, but still not a complete forward by any means. Not a natural finisher, and his control of the ball can be horrific at times. Van Persie - Could have stepped up a level this year had a he stayed injury free, but as it stands he still hasn't established himself as a really top player. Rosicky - Similiar to Hleb really, very technically sound but not consistently effective enough in the final third. Walcott - Should be the business eventually, but isn't yet. Then you've got the likes of Eboue, who's nothing special at all, and Diaby (good holding midfielder in the making) playing and being expected to make stuff happen going forward. Again, they're good players. But compare them to Man U who have Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Scholes and others and it's not even a comparison quite frankly. They've overachieved this year in all honesty, and have been found out to some extent. But to be having a go at Wenger because his young team have narrowly lost out in the title race to teams blessed with vastly better players than he is ridiculous, in all honesty.

Brilliant free-kick. He's no Ronaldo at dead balls though like...

Benitez pisses me off but I think Liverpool would be daft to get rid of him. Whatever you say about Liverpool, they have a way of getting things done in the big games, something any great team needs. In terms of winning the league... he's been there what? 4 years? And he's up against two of the best managers of the modern era in Wenger and Ferguson, who've been at thier clubs for well over a decade and had a massive headstart on Rafa when he took over. That and Chelsea, who have spent more in the last few years than any club in history over such a short period of time. Is it really such a crime to not be competing for the league yet? But the important thing is that the team is getting better and, crucially, younger as well. So you can only see them getting better in the future with young, quality players like Mascherano, Torres and Gerrard forming the spine of the team. Babel looks like he'll be a real force in a couple of years as well. Even next year may be too soon for them, but that Liverpool team is getting deeper and deeper in terms of quality in every year that goes by under Rafa. Thy'd be mad to get rid, even if the football he does play is shit.

Bit harsh on him, very good save from Lehmann to be fair. Can see United winning this tbh, they're bound to have a good patch at some point and I'm not sure Arsenal can keep them out under any pressure. How good would Hleb be if he posed even the slightest of goal threat btw? Shields the ball so well and has to be one of the best dribblers in the game, along with being a very intelligent reader of the game. But I doubt he's even in double figures for goals in his entire Arsenal career, having been there almost 3 years at this point and playing quite the advanced role most of the time. Fuk sake man. You grow up in Ireland and try not to refer to them as United... Best of luck.

The problem with having Crouch in your team is that it then becomes too easy an option to start launching long balls at him all day because of his obvious size. If we could manage to stick to playing it on the ground then Crouch would actually be a fine signing, as his best quality is his link play, playing with his back to goal and bringing runners from deep into the game. Similiar player to Viduka really, and someone who gets severely overly-criticised due to his comical appearance. His first touch is superb. He's far from top-class though so I'd prefer we looked elsewhere. I'd not be disappointed with us signing him by any means though tbh.

Bit harsh on him, very good save from Lehmann to be fair. Can see United winning this tbh, they're bound to have a good patch at some point and I'm not sure Arsenal can keep them out under any pressure. How good would Hleb be if he posed even the slightest of goal threat btw? Shields the ball so well and has to be one of the best dribblers in the game, along with being a very intelligent reader of the game. But I doubt he's even in double figures for goals in his entire Arsenal career, having been there almost 3 years at this point and playing quite the advanced role most of the time.

I hate Roy Keane, lousy country-abandoning cunt that he is, as much as anyone. I reckon he'd absolutely batter Shearer in a fight though, he was a very good boxer in his youth apparently. Definitely had a cowardly way of acting about him, doesn't make him soft when it comes down to it though. I've no idea what being a hard man is supposed to constitute though.

Rivaldo's overhead kick from outside the box for Barca to beat Valencia 3-2 with pretty much the last kick of the game in a match they absolutely had to win. Truly amazing. This one will sound a bit dubious, but Messi's debut for Barca at age 16. Came on as a sub and scored the most brilliant of cheeky little lobs, just felt that you were seeing a talent that was a little bit special.

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.

I pity those of you who don't get to watch Eamon Dunphy on a regular basis, what a legendary pundit. Having a discussion about Bojan, the presenter disagrees with him and gets a reply something along the lines of... "Well Bill, I watch Barcelona every week, you don't. While you're out in your fancy restaurants on Saturday and Sunday nights, I'm sat doing my homework... Beans, toast and Barcelona... what more could a man ask for?"

That was hilarious, wasn't even close.

I didn't think it was a penalty tbh. Babel gets fouled outside the box by the other Arsenal defender, not sure who it was. But Toure doesn't do much to him at all, he just manages to delay his fall until he's in the box. It's amazing to watch really, how one team can be so consistently lucky at the right time. Got played off the park for 30 minutes, Arsenal's 2nd looked only a matter of time. Then they get a corner and !Wham!, a goal exactly when they needed. Benitez has some sort of deal in place with someone, I'm sure of it. He got the tactics completely wrong in the first place and then a goal from nowhere followed by an injury to one of Arsenal's most important players on the night to swing the game in his favour when his setup had failed hopelessly from the get-go.

It'll not be lost on KK that our fantastic form has come about ever since we got hackers like this out of the team and talented players like Viduka in. None will be first choice here next year, if they're here at all.

Yeah, that's kind of how I'm leaning. The majority of my mates are Man U fans, so I could get a free night out from the whole affair if things played out this way. Still, making the likes of Lee Stewart happy just doesn't seem right.

Man U are three points clear of Chelsea with a trip to Stamford 'You Don't Know What You're Doing' Bridge still to come, their slip-up at Boro' having thrown the title race wide open again. With Chelsea coming to St. James' Park on the second last weekend of the season, it's entirely plausible that a victory for us over them could be what sends the title to Old Trafford. Can't imagine Chelsea will fancy coming here with us in a bit of form and really enjoying our football at the moment, so say we beat them or get a draw and send the title to Man U, what would you make of it all?

Isegrim, I think much of it is down to the fact that Martins is one of those players who's capable of producing something from nothing at any given time, so at least with Martins on the pitch there's always a degree of hope. People can see the potential for greatness if only he can find some level of consistency in his game, cut out the basic frustrasting errors he's prone to make. A lot of it is our other players as well. How many players do we have capable of producing a moment of individual brilliance? His contributions off the ball are quite under-rated IMO as well. Works very hard pressing the opposition and his mere presence alone forces defences to play deeper for fear of his pace in behind. I reckon his unpredictability unsettles defenders too, how does one prepare for Martins exactly? Very hard to take him out of the game, no matter how good a defender you may be.

Well if Man City are genuinely in the hunt then there's absolutely no reason whatsoever we shouldn't be, quite frankly. That said, when push comes to shove this summer I fully expect one of the really, really big clubs in Europe to take a chance on him and that'll rule us out, ultimately. Gotta think he'd be mega here, especially under KK who you know would let him just go out and play.

I've been slated several times from both my mates and people online for saying time after time I'd much rather have Iniesta in my team than Fabregas, it's just my personal opinion, I know he's got a few years on Cesc, but I think he's phenomenal. Iniesta is a better dribbler but he has suffered a bit from being shunted around in so many positions. before this season he was better presenting a goal threat and Fabregas was better at dictating the play. But now Fabregas is scoring more than Iniesta ever has (13 in 38 in league + champion's league as opposed to 4 in 38 in same for iniesta) you have to say Fabregas is the better player. Perhaps, but Fabregas is allowed to be the central point of the Arsenal team whereas Iniesta never really has, being moved around by Barca so much as he was, and often not getting a start at all. This year Iniesta has been given a much better run as Barca's midfield playmaker, and for me he's the best in the world right now at what he does. Fabregas is a fantastic talent as well of course, and a far better player at the same age than Iniesta was, but right now Iniesta is the better player, IMO. Can't for the life of me understand how he's still so pale living in Barcelona his whole life though.

Tough choice. I don't think Bentley will ever be the same class of player Deco was a couple of years back, but he figures to give us more over a longer period of time. We're at least 2 or 3 years away from being able to really challenge the big boys, unless we go on a Chelsea-esque spending spree. So I think I'd rather get Bentley and hopefully have a player who is peaking at a time when we as a team are ready to compete. Deco's not been great this season when I've watched him either, it must be said, by his own high standards at least. I'd take a 28 year-old Deco every day of the week, but now I'm not sure. How about we just sign Iniesta instead eh, fucking phenomenal player. No chance Barca would sell sadly.

I wanted rid of him last summer tbh, mainly based on the facts that he was totally unsuited to Allardyce's football, and that I didn't think there was any chance that he was here for the long-term anyway. My first issue is no more, and it does look very encouraging regarding the second since KK came in. That said, been so impressed with how well he's played in his new position. More and more it looks to be the way forward for him. Good times.

I wonder if there's a guy on the Barcelona forums who thinks Etoo' isn't good enough due to the fact that he's not the best technically. Not saying Martins is as good as Etoo' btw, just that you don't necessarily need a great first touch and understanding of the game to be a very effective player at the very top level.

They're very useful squad players I reckon. I'd buy a young DM to groom to replace Butt, and indeed compete with him for that spot next year. Now that we're actually creating stuff going forward, we're seeing that Nicky Butt is actually a good player at the end of the day when he can just do HIS job. Namely protecting the back 4. Geremi is a great squad option, can play anywhere in midfield and back up Beye at RB as well. If we're going for 4-3-3 long term, I'd expect Keegan will look to bring in another box-to-box type like Barton to play the left side role of the 3-man midfield. N'Zogbia would be ideal for it if we can convince him to stay.

Much depends on what system Keegan wants to play I reckon. If he wants a traditional 4-4-2 then both are absolutely fine, no problems whatsoever. If we're going to persist with the 4-3-3 we've seen recently then I think our full-backs become more of an issue, as with a narrow 3-man midfield it's imperative that your full-backs can get up and down the flanks and give you that bit of width. Neither are that type of player, IYAM. Not been sure what to make of Enrique most of his time here, but I reckon he's got the makings of an extremely good left-back. Most of his problems at the moment seem to stem from taking too long to pass/clear the ball. I think that once he gets used to the pace of the Premiership, he could be very useful.