tmonkey

Not for me, but then any contact with the keeper is usually a foul in the eyes of most refs.

Unlucky Arsenal. Excellent block from Terry on Eduardo, although Eduardo is really having a shitter.

Blatant penalty for Anelka there, clearly a home decision there from the ref.

Liverpool to sit back the entire game now.

Pretty rough game so far.

Koumas has always been a decent player, but not sure why we'd need him given that we're overloaded with central midfielders to the extent that we're having to field Barton (when fit) and Guthrie on the flanks.

2-0. Think we'll be outplayed, but we'll take our chances, probably from set pieces.

IMO he'll be 33% better in the Premiership than he was last year, as he's ironed out 1 out of 3 major flaws which he consistently showed during our slide into the Championship. Those flaws being: 1) Twatting around with the ball at his feet instead of clearing his lines/punting the ball forward when put under pressure. 2) Being s*** in recovery situations, e.g. where he's been turned by his man and needs to make up ground or put in a last ditch slide tackle/block. 3) Being turned too easily because he likes to get close to his man and try to nick the ball away, then reacts too slow, as though it takes him a few seconds to realise the ball is going in behind him instead of where he wants it to go (or is used to it going from his La Liga days), i.e. in front of him. The first one, he's sorted to an adequate degree imo. Still takes risks, but these tend to be safer ones. If he's closed down now whilst he's in the centre, he'll punt it, whereas last season he refused to do that and on several occassions played the team into trouble because of it. The second problem, I don't think he's resolved. We've not come across any decent pacey strikers in the Championship, so he's not been tested all that much in this sense. He needs to be dead on accurate and consistent with his positioning in order to compensate for his weakness in this area, but clearly he's not. I don't think it's in his armoury to be able to slide in effectively or go to ground quickly/accurately, just like it's not in Jonas' armoury to cross the ball like normal wingers can. Therefore, this will remain a problem. Third one, same as the second to an extent. Maybe he has improved his reaction/reading, it's fair to assume that he may be more aware of how the game is often played in the Premiership as opposed to La Liga, but he's not being tested as much in this division, so we won't really know until he is tested.

If the difference between promotion and being stuck in this division for another year at least is 75k per week, then it's fully justified surely? See January 2009. Well, yeah, but whatever Ashley's thinking will be and however daft it is, Coloccini is still an important part of a defense that has taken this team to the top of the Championship. Therefore, whatever Ashley would do or decide is irrelevant. Unless I'm missing something here and neesy is only saying what Ashley would think of Coloccini?

If the difference between promotion and being stuck in this division for another year at least is 75k per week, then it's fully justified surely?

if there was anyone i would sign in january, he would be top of the list Messi for me, but yes, would be a good signing. Colo gone then? maybe, he's on 75k a week, simply not worth it in this division Maybe not, but I'd put him in the same boat as Nolan in terms of his unreasonable wages being justified by performances. Whatever the flaws, the current defense is miles better with Coloccini than without, and that defense is the main reason why we're sitting top of the table. Is it really worth rocking the boat just to save a few million?

It's a common theme found at NUFC for the past decade. Players just don't improve with us unless they're youngsters gaining experience. The only time experienced players on the whole have improved in the past decade to my recollection is when we've had Sir Bobby or Keegan as manager. Under all the other managers we've had in between, players have just gone backwards for the most part, or never improved. It can't be a coincidence that players en masse have improved under good managers, whilst in most cases players have failed to improve under mediocre ones. Most of us on here will have seen the impact Keegan had on Allardyce's sorry bunch of misfits. This isn't intended to be a Keegan wankathon, but it needs to be remember how the likes of Butt, Barton, Geremi, Owen, Viduka, etc etc, all looked considerably better (both individually and as a unit) under someone capable of motivating them as well as getting the team as a whole to play in a more organised and informed manner. Jonas looks like a confidence player. Maybe a good manager would ship him out at the first opportunity, but remembering the Jonas that first arrived here, showing excellent energy and drive against teams like ManU and Arsenal, I'm inclined to believe that he'd be one of the players a good manager would look to utilise. Raise his confidence levels and self belief, organise the team and provide more movement within it, and we'd probably see a much better player in Jonas, even if the limitations still remain.

Absolutely idiotic challenge. Typically cheap yellow. We'll all be sweating for 75 minutes now.

Pierluigi Collina goes cloes for Preston.

IMO technology isn't needed for hidden handballs that the ref misses, or balls crossing the line that aren't given. We're talking about once in a blue moon stuff, things that happen very rarely, and although it's entirely unfair and unjust on on party (or entire nations even), it happens so rarely that the benefits of implementing expensive systems would be far outweighed by the cost. The one area that football does badly need technology in is in the offside department. The number of bad decisions made by linesmen in practically every game (and often numerous times in a game) has an infinitely bigger impact on changing the outcome of matches than all of these other contentious decisions combined. It's ridiculous how often we see a player legitimately being put through on goal only then to be flagged up because the linesman suddenly thinks "woah, he's clear in space, MUST have been offside". I'm not sure how this problem would be solved by technology, but I'm sure a solution can be found if people wanted it. Maybe they could use video replays to check whether someone was onside or not during play, which means that when a through ball is played and the player is slightly offisde, play continues, and if it's confirmed as offside 10 seconds later (irrespective of whether the fouling team scores a goal or not) a free kick is awarded (unless the other team has won the ball already). That way, the game wouldn't be held up waiting for a decision, it would still be flowing but with the ref being told to take the game back (similar to playing-on when someone is fouled). Or maybe in the near future the ball/players could be tagged and advanced simulation software used to check for certain whether a player was offside when the pass was played (or whether they were interferring with play based on what zone they were in). But whatever, it's a much bigger problem and actually warrants new technology being introduced.

Disagree. That January transfer window was a massive failure. Given and N'Zogbia out, Nolan/Taylor/Lovenkrands in turned out to be terrible business, and in particular the sale of Zog really hurt us. As Sir Bobby put it, we sold the last pair of (occassionally) effective legs in midfield, someone capable of creating and scoring goals from nothing, and replaced them with cloggers out of their depth in the Premiership. We'd have gone down under Kinnear because of that window, irrespective of who was responsibe for the sales/signings.

This. He has pace, and is a half-decent defender. If things stay as they are, that's pretty much all we'd need from a fullback as a newly promoted side next season with the sole aim of Premiership survival. Regarding his potential, it's always a difficult thing to consider, but more so in Simpson's case. On the one hand, the fact that Fergie, one of the best managers in modern times at spotting potential, isn't remotely interested in a pacey, half-decent, youngish fullback from his own ranks as a successor to Gary Neville, does suggest that Simpson hasn't got much room for improvement. On the other, it might just be that Simpson does have room for improvement, but there's no room for him because Fergie has put his faith in Rafael, who is the better "footballing" fullback at this point in time (which may be more important in the CL/top levels/etc). Either way, I'd like us to put some faith in youth and find out for ourselves. At the very least, what we have right now is good enough for the immediate future, since we know better than others how easy it is to do alot worse.

Needs to be the big fish in a little pond. Did well for ManU overall, but never looked as good as he did once he settled in at West Ham and started pulling the strings for them. Not talented/good enough to warrant that sort of role in a top team with quality/better players around him.

Phillippe Albert hits the post.

The numerous people who believe Martins may have feigned an injury the morning of the Stoke game don't pretend to know "better than" Shearer & Co. They just know that most managers will often protect their players, players who they need to give the benefit of the doubt as per the protocols of managing a team/squad, and will also avoid making baseless accusations in the media about their own players for which they have no proof. They know that some injuries can't be verified visually, or by scans, or x-rays, hence why the only option for a manager might be to accept what the player says. It's why players can often get away with feigning injury or exaggerating the time it takes to return from one, something which we all know happens in football (and in recent years has been reported at various times to be a problem at this club). So am I happy with your assessment of people who think Martins may have feigned an injury that day? No, I wouldn't say I am. You can believe whatever official line you want, that's fair enough, but to claim that any other view is "idiotic" is senseless imo.

That's just pathetic, Roger Kint. If you want to talk about avoiding points raised, how about you answer why Shearer, Dowie, and implicitly the club's medical staff have all said that Martins did not feign an injury prior to the Stoke game, and then explain why many of our fans are of the opinion that he did, and many more who will have thought it a possibility? Because they're all "idiots"? This is what I'm trying to get at. Thanks for having a bit of common sense. It's acceptable if he was shaken on matchday, but 2 weeks or whatever it was? Did he have a punctured lung or something? Just seems so odd. I accept that I'm not a medical expert or know fuck all about the subject, but as a football fan you see those sorts of clashes every week, and normally a player picks himself up after a few minutes, or if he's unlucky has to go off due to a clash of heads/bad back/etc. But winded for a week or two? That's a rarity. It's entirely possible that he was genuinely injured because of the knock during that period, just as it's possible that he may have recovered a bit early but had the same family issues which he's been suffering from this season, so who knows. I just find it difficult to see how someone can't even entertain the notion that the injury may have been exaggerated to get additional paid time off.

In other words, "I can't be bothered to respond so I'll resort to insults". Again, didnt read the rest. Like Blef said you seem to have some bizarre grudge against the bloke, judging by your desperate attempts to claim hes a cheat. Unsurprisingly you play the poor victim instead of answering why only 5 of our squad managed 25 games last year......no lets wage a witchhunt on a bloke who has the full backing of Shearer and various QUALIFIED MEDICAL STAFF! Your pathetic ramblings are laughable tbh. You bleat about insults while post almost slanderous claims against a bloke..... On the one hand, you claim you didn't read my response to you. Yet on the other hand, you're also saying that I've failed to respond to one of the points you've brought up. How could you know if I haven't responded unless you read it? If you had read the response you clearly feel yourself too good to bother reading, I've given a listen of reasons why I was a tad suspicious about Lovenkrands' injury. It's common sense that unless a similar list of reasons exist for other players, then I've no reason to doubt an injury. I don't see what the relevance of this "discussion" is to only 5 players having played more than 25 games last year (obviously reasons include injuries and player sales). Even so, I had already mentioned Martins' "injury" prior to the Stoke game (which Shearer/Dowie also backed eventually and which had also undergone medical examination by the club's staff). As for slander, saying a football player may possibly have exaggerated an injury whilst also stating that I am in all probability wrong on the matter, is to my limited knowledge not slander or defamation. Whereas calling someone an idiot repeatedly just because they're voicing an opinion on a football forum that differs to yours (an opinion that you can't even be bothered to respond to in a civil manner - maybe because you're unable to?) is pretty pathetic (imo of course).

What world are you in? The bloke got a LETTER off the club saying he wouldnt be getting a contract, how is that his f***ing fault? As tacky as it may have been from Llambias, the letter was a response from the club after his agent had announced that Lovenkrands wanted to play in a top flight league (and declaring an interest in Sunderland).

In order, not sure, only as long as it took to type it out, I'm not sure as I may be a bit bitter towards him after he thought himself too good for us at the end of last season, only then to crawl back after it was clear noone in a top flight league was going to touch him with a barge pole. Just like when Michael Owen was saying he was too good for us whilst at Real Madrid, we should have told Lovenkrands to fuck off, rather than giving a 29 year old with his best years long behind him (years which weren't all that great in the first place) a 3 year contract. On top of this, there's the suspicion that he's another in a long line of footballer in the twilight of their careers coming here for an easy last big payday. So on top of telling him to fuck off after his declaration through his agent that we weren't an option for him, we should have doubly told him to fuck off when he was asking for a 3 year contract. 1 year with the option to extend, maximum two, but 3? There's absolutely noone who is going to take him off our hands if he flops, so in all likelihood he's here for the next 3 years whether we like it or not. I dislike him slightly as a footballer based on what I've seen in a B&W shirt. Lightweight, contributes nothing to buildup, has pace but doesn't use it effectively because he's not talented enough to do so, useless in wide areas, useless in the middle. The only thing he's borderline half decent at is getting on the end of chances, chances which we aren't going to create with the current squad. In short, I think he's going to turn out to be a mistake, although naturally I'll be happy if I'm wrong, and I'll certainly agree that he's not been given a chance in this division yet so I am being hasty in any judgement.