tmonkey

He genuinely plays how I would imagine a clown would play without the big shoes/wig/makeup/clown nose.

He's a complete phony imo. Ignoring today's performance because he might not be fit, even at his "best" he plays more like a sweeper than a centreback, i.e. drops deep and looks to mop up loose balls because it's easier to do than to actually go in for the tackle against a moderately talented player and win the ball. Which is why his primary form of defending involves throwing himself in the path of a shot, when for most centrebacks it's about intercepting the ball or getting a tackle in. Should be a priority to move him on this summer. Probably better for his career too, as he has it too easy here so might actually have to focus and improve his game for once to get a start elsewhere.

Everton should have scored 5 goals at the very least there. They just weren't very clinical, and didn't look like scoring bespite being in great positions. Jonas was our MOTM. Carried our attack, beat players for fun, some good balls into the box and a handful of excellent through balls.

Brilliant from Jonas again. As per usual.

Jonas our only source of creativity atm.

Arteta is like Poyet/Scholes, always a thorn in our side. Annoying cunt who knows how to draw a foul (fantastic player that he is).

Comfortable 3-0 win.

I'd love to see him in the Premiership. Can imagine someone like Tiote going to kick the ball, missing completely, but ending up booting Buonanotte out of the stadium.

Krul > Harper, even with the clownish moments.

Woodgate always looked a better centreback than Rio imo when they played together. The key with Woodgate was injuries - he started getting them at Leeds, and it only get worse with us. That, and Leeds' reluctance to sell him at the time (he was their "crown jewel", so they let Rio go thinking they'd build around the better defender) are the primary reasons as to why Rio moved on to a top CL club and Woodgate stayed (plus the offer from ManU was too good to turn down). He only came to us a few years later when Leeds' financial position became dire and Woodgate had struggled with injuries. £9m was a heavily reduced fee, one of the few times we managed to hold another club to ransom. On a side note, ManU paid a premium for Rio too because of the almighty wankathon that followed his performances in the 2002 World Cup, where he did brilliant things like closing a Nigerian striker down who he had let go in the first place - that wankathon was prior to getting raped by the Brazilians of course. Not that it was a bad deal for them, but certainly Rio improved with ManU and turned out to be good value because of his fitness and consistency on top of being a very good centreback. And it needs to be remembered that Real Madrid, a bigger and more prestigious club than ManU, signed Woodgate for more than what we paid, despite his constant/persistent injuries with us. If he wasn't a phenomenally good centreback, why did they do that, especially when they had signed Walter Samuel at the same time (one of the best centrebacks in the world prior to flopping there)? Dodgey handshakes and brown envelopes is the only explanation that would make any form of sense, and that would just be clutching at straws to avoid acknowledging how good Woodgate was for us.

I totally agree! He brings very little to pitch outside the box. He's carried by Tiote's excellence, which allows him to sneak into the opponent box. He could be a much better player if he wants to though. Some pundits in Norway have ridiculed Nolan's body, stating directly that he looks like a pub player. And I tend to agree. He's 30 soon and should take more responsibility for what he's eating. He's too fat which hurts his overall play (slow, weak stamina and moves too little). But if he pays more attention to his lifestyle he could be able to hold his place next season. Loose a couple of couple of pounds, and he will improve his play considerable imo @ the both of you EDIT: Apologies, I assume the both of you are grown adults who have an undertanding of the game, the club and our recent history. However, on the off chance that you're both teenager newcomers to NUFC, living in some remote arctic tundra, then I apologise for being so blunt. Fanboys are class.

RIP. Was a talented centreback who should have gone on to play for England.

Going to go for 4-1. We'll attack them from the off.

I know this won't be a popular view, but even if he ends the season on 15 Premiership goals (terrific return), ideally he's someone we really need to be selling. There are a whole bunch of reasons that when combined make perfect sense imo, e.g.: - His fitness is already borderline-appalling as it is, - He's nearing the big 3-0, when players tend to decline sharply, - He's very limited as a midfielder, in fact... - He's been a passenger for the majority of our games this season, carried by Tiote for the most part. - His value/stock this summer will be high due to the goals (e.g. £8m sale?), despite the possibility that... - This might be his purple patch, the peak he'll struggle to reach again, especially without Carroll here anymore. Furthermore, - if Tiote can carry him, then why not Ben Arfa, Ireland or Barton in attacking free roles? They're considerably more talented than Nolan. which leads to my next point, - if we spend the Carroll money on a decent pair of strikers and a winger, i.e. if we can get goals elsewhere, Nolan's importance is significantly reduced, and - depending on the type of strikers we'll get (if any), creativity rather than goals may become more important from central midfield. Having said this, I'll not be unhappy if he's still a fixture in our team next season. But even so, moving players on at the right time (i.e. before a significant decline) has always been a major failure at this club, ever since Keegan left (and he was class at being ruthless and getting rid of a player after he's served his purpose in order to improve the team and move the club forward).

Carrick

Beardsley-Cole partnership please.

Has been piss poor for about 2 seasons now. It's like he's following Nicky Butt's footsteps, so as soon as he's out of a top side he'll look absolutely gash.

High tempo game too. Marseille look very short of ideas.

Prefer Figo to Messi in all honesty. Such a classy, slick footballer with perfect abilities for every attacking situation (crossing, creating, shooting, dribbling, etc etc). Even had a deceptive burst of pace. Not as direct or effective at drilling straight through a defence like Messi, but more like an ice sculptor, constantly chipping away at the outside till he gets the shape he desires. Him towards the end of his Barca career (or early Madrid years), Xavi (of today), Redondo (peak Madrid form), Rivaldo (peak Barca form) - that's my dream midfield. Messi can piss off up front behind Ronaldo, he'll only get the ball if the others get tired of playing around with it.

My ranking of goalscoring strikers since 1990 would be: 1. Ronaldo 2. Van Basten 3. Romario 4. Batistuta 5. Shearer 6. Weah 7. Shevchenko 8. Henry 9. van Nistelrooy 10. Any of Drogba/Eto'o/Torres/Crespo Regarding HTT's post, I'd argue that the same arguments would apply better to Batigol. Absolutely lethal striker who scored every type of goal for a pretty mediocre Fiorentina side (Rui Costa aside). A huge chunks of his goals are spectucular ones out of nothing. Went to Roma after he was past his prime and led them to a Serie A title. And his prime was back when Serie A was at a considerably higher level than the Premiership (complete reverse of today almost). Just imagine Batigol in the Premiership from 93-99 in those open, action packed, poorly defended, end-to-end Premiership games...

I'd like to see van Aaonholt lined up as a replacement if Enrique does leave. Leaves alot to be desired defensively at present, but looked a well rounded young player with good potential when he was with us and at his age clearly has much room for improvement. Plus we'd be getting him off the back of 5 months in the Championship which is the type of loan that'll do him a bit of good. Don't think he's good enough to be Chelsea first-team material anytime soon either.

I choose to blame the Spanish national team manager here rather than Enrique being greedy. He's easily good enough to make the Spain squad (at least get a few caps/runouts here and there), and with Euro 2012 drawing near it's a realistic aim in current form. But the fuckers in Spain seem to be ignoring him because they'd rather field whatever mediocre s*** left back they have pansying around in Spain flip-flopping all over the place at the slightest contact than a hard-as-nails, 6 foot, Maldini-esque beast of a fullback who when he goes forward makes Roberto Carlos look like Ameobi on stilts. It's a comical situation, mediocre nothing players like Arbeloa get into the Spanish side after a few dozen half-decent games because he's part of Rafa Benitez's homebois at Liverpool, yet Enrique tearing up the league for fun every other week doesn't so much as get a sniff. And we're going to lose one of our best players because some f***er in Spain can't be bothered to switch a telly on and watch a Newcastle game.

Serves Barca right for still having Keita at the club.

"It's Walcott. How did he miss?" The question was answered before it began.

Eh?! Milner? N'Zogbia? Given? Bassong? Beye? Faye? A ludicrous post. i think he means without the player activly agitating for a move in which circumstances even the man utd's etc of this world struggle to keep hold if offered the right money. What if it's club policy to actively try to sell these players, but only let them leave if they put in a transfer request (which they'll do once they know they're no longer wanted + will get a better offer elsewhere)?