Shak

He was great, though? You do realise who you're replying to?

Ruben Sosa was it? Guy with the wand of a left foot IIRC? Can't say I ever saw him play much, though.

Is he fuck.

He's not the best admittedly, but I'm really struggling to think of that many that are better than him in terms of being a pure goalscorer. 2J threw the "never does it against the big teams" point at C. Ronaldo, I'd like to throw that at Owen. Have a think about it by the way, don't just denounce it as rubbish. Goals for England. Argentina x3 Brazil x2 France Germany x3 Portugal For Liverpool. Man Utd x6 Chelsea x4 Arsenal x4 Newcastle x12 Celtic Celta Vigo Roma Porto B Munich Barcelona For Real Madrid. Dynamo Kiev Valencia Zaragoza x2 Betis Barcelona Must have taken a while.

Alex will have you for that. I'd consider Giggs to have been top class. Suppose he could have been better, but you could say that about almost anyone.

He's not the best admittedly, but I'm really struggling to think of that many that are better than him in terms of being a pure goalscorer. 2J threw the "never does it against the big teams" point at C. Ronaldo, I'd like to throw that at Owen. Have a think about it by the way, don't just denounce it as rubbish. He did win an FA Cup final pretty much on his own tbh, and that goal against Argentina in the WC in '98 was a massive game. Can't really remmeber how he played in most of his big games at Liverpool, but I've never seen him as a big game underachiever.

He's not the best admittedly, but I'm really struggling to think of that many that are better than him in terms of being a pure goalscorer.

In terms of hype perhaps and speculation around his talent? Never compared their ability, different players for a start. Owen was an exciting prospect when he was 18, not just at home but abroad due to his goal at the WC and the expansion of the Premiership into more foreign homes. Don't think anyone ever thought Owen was going to ultimately be the best player in the world though, which most believe Messi is destined to be. Best striker/goalscorer though? And lets not forget, the Internet and over exposure of footy on TV has helped Messi's claims a great deal, not to mention playing for one of the greatest teams on Earth. Owen at 18 was just as exciting and as big a prospect, if not for different reasons. I'd put a lot of it down to injuries with Owen, even since leaving Liverpool his goalscoring record has been exceptional with us and Madrid, when fit. And he's not just an out and out pace player or goalhanger either, his all-round game is much better than some people give him credit for, something I can recll you posting on numerous times when we first signed him.

2J again getting his nob stuck in Ronaldo's arse. I haven't compared anyone to Ronaldo, not the Brazilian Ronaldo anyway if that's who you thought my Ginola comment was aimed at. Then you obviously should have put Cristiano down to avoid all of the confusion really. Anyone who has saw Commando and has heard the Girl George comment will no doubt know what I'm talking about. Commando as in the Arnie film? If so, refresh my memory. If not, whatcha on about? *Boy George music is on.* John Matrix and I quote "They should have called him Girl George, it would have cut down all the confusion." Don't recall it, and I used to love that film. :-[

In terms of hype perhaps and speculation around his talent? Never compared their ability, different players for a start. Owen was an exciting prospect when he was 18, not just at home but abroad due to his goal at the WC and the expansion of the Premiership into more foreign homes. Don't think anyone ever thought Owen was going to ultimately be the best player in the world though, which most believe Messi is destined to be.

2J again getting his nob stuck in Ronaldo's arse. I haven't compared anyone to Ronaldo, not the Brazilian Ronaldo anyway if that's who you thought my Ginola comment was aimed at. Then you obviously should have put Cristiano down to avoid all of the confusion really. Anyone who has saw Commando and has heard the Girl George comment will no doubt know what I'm talking about. Commando as in the Arnie film? If so, refresh my memory. If not, whatcha on about?

The result is completely irrelevant. All about fitness and giving the players a chance to play together in a competitive environment. As you get closer to the beginning of the season you hope to see the players looking fitter and also that they seem to be gelling well and putting together some nice football. Ultimately though, it's all about the first Premiership game and being ready for that.

Jon is obviously a relation of Lee Clark and is getting defensive. Can see the resemblence and all....

Not the popular opinion, I think you'll find. Why? Carr is never gonna be more than an emergency LB, he's questionable as a right back as it is. Babayaro has played about 5 good games for us since he got here, it'd be incredibly daft to just go into the season hoping that he'll randomly become a consistent, solid performer for us somehow. And, when he inevitably doesn't, we have an understudy asked to step immediately and defy his very name by being a player ready for first-team football. Babayaro will do fine as back-up for me, I can live with him playing ten games for us a season. But a first choice LB should be a massive priority for us now, otherwise we're gonna suffer when the season starts.

We should merge them! I'm happy for Emre to stay. Last season was tough for him, but he's got a lot of ability. It's just a case of finding a system where he's effective. I favoured keeping him if we were going to play a 4-5-1/4-3-3 like Allardyce did at Bolton. In a 4-4-2, though, it's hard to see him getting a regular start as I'd expect Barton will play when fit. Can't see the two of them being a balanced combination either. So if we need to flog him to get a player who will start, fair enough. But preferrably he'll stay.

Not the popular opinion, I think you'll find.

Not if we threw in the kebab muncher as bait. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Saddamsp.jpg/300px-Saddamsp.jpg You are really fucked now!!

Maldini springs to mind Shak my darling. He was alright, I suppose. Ya poofta. Maldini has a fair left foot on him. Do you reckon? If he's two-footed, or at least got a reliable left foot, then a full-back who can cut inside is dead handy. Seems he's made a fair fist of it so far to be fair to him.

Maldini springs to mind Shak my darling. He was alright, I suppose. Ya poofta.

Seems strange that he'd be a left-back if he's right footed. Not seen him much, anyone know if his preffered position is definitely LB? Got a decent left foot on him as well I would hope. Be a very big coup to attract a player from Bayern though, I reckon he'd take a fair bit of convincing to come here.

Really not arsed either way with Dyer at this point. If he goes, whatever, not like it's not been coming. If not, I reckon he'll be useful enough next season as part of the squad. Wonder if he'd end up in the middle or out wide? Depends on what system we're using. With Owen still here, I reckon we'll be playing 4-4-2 a fair bit, not sure if Allardyce would want him in the middle in that. Don't see him and Barton together working, and I reckon Barton will start when fit nearly every game. The two of them with a proper DM in the middle of a 4-5-1/4-3-3 would probably be fairly handy.

Good point. Lets get Ashley to buy him back. Chops and Carrol up front. Like the SAS (Shearer and Sutton) only CAC CAC or CACK? Buy Kaka to play just behind them and we'd be laughing.

You can imagine the lads gathered around awaiting the charging opposition, huddled in the corner. "Give them nothing... but take from them... EVERYTHING!!"

Make small areas around the corner flags that players can't be in for more than 5 seconds at a time, like the center area in basketball. It'd be a shit rule, now that I think about it, but the quarter-circle areas would look pretty cool.