tmonkey

Who on here said he was average?

Daylight robbery if Madrid win this.

Casillas double save from Eto'o (18 yards) and Messi (4 yards). What a keeper.

Casillas saves Eto'o penalty.

Some cracking last ditch challenges from the Madrid centrebacks.

Madrid are being fucking cunts, kicking Messi at every opportunity.

Nice from Messi, decent save from Cassillas.

Hope this lives up to it's name. Been looking forward to it for a while in anticipation of Barca giving Madrid an American History X style arse raping.

2-2 draw. Martins to score a 20 yarder, Owen to finish off a through ball to make it 2-0, then Kinnear's takes off Martins and we end up crumbling.

Your maths are bad, if you're saying letting Owen go would "save" money. Those two players would, unless they are Championship players or very young/unproven, probably run at least 7-10 mil per. At 50k per week, that's an outlay over four years of 34-40 mil. Keeping Owen, even on his current wages, is only 20 mil. A 12-15 league goals per season striker (like, oh say, Peter Crouch?) is worth about 15mil+ in the current market, I should think. So, replacing Owen would be about...12-15 mil for a conservative estimate. Plus the wages, of I'd guess around 50k minimum (that's what your fave Oba is on, iirc), over four years is 10 mil. That's 22-25 mil for a new player and keeping Owen is 20 mil. How is getting rid of Owen removing the financial burden then? Both of the options you've outlined are actually more expensive than keeping Owen. Fair enough, if you think scoring a goal every 1.8 matches isn't enough for a striker to contribute. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, after all. But it's enough for me. A striker scores goals. I don't ask Shay Given to do more than keep goals out, either (and he's a top-class keeper, no doubt). But then Owen will have no resale value by the end of his contract, and will become more immobile and over-reliant on chances being put on a plate for him as he ages. That wouldn't be the case for cheaper, younger alternatives (e.g. Frazier Campbell, Daniel Sturridge). We're going to have to replace him at some point, and I really struggle to understand anyone who claims Owen is either irreplaceable, or that we'll not see someone of his "calibre" for a long time. If we're worried about replacing him now, then we may as well pack our bags up and go home, because what will have changed in 3 or 4 years time when we come round to finally having to replace him? The situation will always be the same - established stars will cost a bomb, players who look like becoming established stars will only want to sign for CL clubs, youngsters who are available won't have shown enough to suggest that they'll be top class (hence why they're available), foreign unknowns likewise present a significant gamble, etc etc. We'll be in the same boat then that we are in today. It's amusing how other teams, even s*** ones, are finding strikers who look as good as Owen if not better (e.g. Santa Cruz, Zaki, Zarate) yet when it comes to us, these players dont exist because we cant replace Michael Owen, therefore they dont exist (because we cant replace Michael Owen, therefore...). Every year new talent is being introduced into the game, every year the big clubs will have to cash in on promising but not that promising youngsters who they can't accomodate into their first teams (e.g. Bentley at Arsenal), every year good but unestablished forwards will leave their clubs to play in a better league, for more money, for first team football, etc etc (think Jonas, who most of us had never seen or heard of, but a striking version). If you remove the filter "established, proven star forward, either an England international, established within the Premiership, or a household name on the international scene" in terms of looking for a replacement, then there are plenty of options to choose from - all of them admittedly having an element of risk, but then that's something that will always be present no matter who we go for. We've broken our transfer record twice for top class England international star strikers in the past dozen or so years, something you would assume would present the lowest risk and surest way of improving the team, yet both times we've neither won anything nor have we really improved as a team overall compared to before they had arrived. In fact, we'd probably have done better had we gone for alternative options (e.g. Anelka instead of Owen). So if he does leave, we should wish good luck to him to his face, say "f*** him he wasn't that good for us anyway" when he's left the room, and then go about finding a good replacement which is what I would hope we've got all those scouts for.

If he stays, then good - for now. If he leaves, then meh, I think we'll replace him easily enough if we really want to.

Guillem Balague has said that Valencia could be on the verge of administration, their debts are so big. Might see David Villa in the Premiership sooner rather than later.

If we kept with the current side and put Barton in there instead of Guthrie, I wouldn't be too worried about relegation, in fact I'd be hoping for an upper mid table finish. However, pretty soon we're going to have Smith, Duff, Butt, Ameobi, all available for first team selection, and the big worry here is that Kinnear will start with most of them. Duff is an almost certainty to start every game, as is Butt, and these two players will immediately take the team a step backwards compared to the likes of Geremi/N'Zogbia. Unless he's sold, I can see Smith having a big role under Kinnear, and I wouldn't be suprised if it's at the expense of Martins, who'll be benched every other week, subbed off, or put out wide. Maybe under Kinnear these players will perform better than under previous managers, however if they don't then they're easily s*** enough to take a team down. We're struggling to finish teams off as it is with 11 decent players on the pitch, adding players who do nothing except give the ball away whilst working hard would be like standing on a drowning man's head. It could easily get alot worse than it is right now.

If we had 3-4 Zidane's out there, then yes, it wouldn't matter what position they were playing or what the tactics are, they'd still play well and it would be fair to expect them to be able do to so. But with Kinnear fucking up the balance of the team out there on the pitch, it's difficult for these players to do their jobs. Managers do make a massive difference with their decisions, we're probably the best witnesses to this in the Premiership given the peaks and troughs we've been through and the corresponding massive differences between the Keegans/Sir Bobby's and the Allardyce's/Souness'. The players need sound management in order to be able to perform adequately. There's nothing more to it.

Barton in the team instead of Guthrie, and this would be a pretty strong mid table side.

Replace him with a striker with decent movement and who can finish adequately.

Zog has torn them apart in the first 20 minutes.

Excellent by Owen.

Bit worrying that we've now had two players using the media to hint to the manager what system he should be playing. Might be nothing in it, might be that they think he's not competent enough to see beyond the basic 4-4-2 formation and realise there might be a better way to deploy his best players.

Can't have been as Bassong was signed months beforehand. Pretty sure this was near the end of the window, and that after Zayatte joined Hull the only players who came in were Xisco and Nacho.

in the interst of balance........ lets assume keegan agreed to the DoF idea but thought he could get more power as time went on (think keegan at fulham). keegan dug his heels in over wanting certain players,players that the board felt were unrealistic,with the deadline approaching the board felt the need to get players in and hope keegan can make the best of them. neither scenario will be spot on,it may well be somewhere in the middle,as a fan even if it takes a court case i'd like to knoew what happened one way or the other. It's difficult to know what to believe, I know I keep changing my mind every time I think about the subject. On the one hand, if Keegan had as you say dug his heels in, then Wise & Co had no option but to sign players over his head. At the same time though, weren't we linked with a few unknown players who Keegan wanted, yet we for some reason did not sign? There's Kamil Zayatte who Keegan clearly wanted yet ended up at Hull. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_4422699,00.html "Speaking to the Hull Mail, Zayatte said: "Originally I was going to go to Everton but the two clubs did not agree on transfer fees. "The coach of Everton (David Moyes) then recommended me to the coach of Newcastle (Kevin Keegan), but the manager and the chairman did not get on. "Then I signed for Hull and I don't regret it. It looks like a brilliant decision." Reads to me like Keegan wanted him but the chairman said no, and Zayatte is hardly an unrealistic target. Hence, its quite possible that Keegan's targets were reasonable but Wise/Llambias had their own plans, thought they could bully Keegan into doing what they wanted, then cooked up the "he's a madman, a loony" story when things turned a bit sour.

What are you referring to exactly. I don't believe this is a defamation of character action. The "madness of King Kev" article which quoted an anonymous club insider and which came out about a day after the official website posted the "If is a FACT" statement (which contradicted previous statements by Wise/Ashley). The article was apparently written by a journalist connected closely to the current Newcastle hierarchy. Not saying that it's part of this lawsuit, what I was trying to get at was that it was a cheapshot that attempted to taint his reputation, so whether Keegan has any evidence or not is irrelevant, he'll have known what they were trying to do and hence he'd have even more reason to go ahead with this constructive dismissal case, which is where you would assume he has the evidence to nail them.

Let's assume Keegan's (assumed) version of events is true - that he was forced to resign by Wise/Llambias knowingly and willingly going over his head in the player recruitment department, essentially making a mockery of the agreement made that enticed Keegan back into the job in the first place. If that's what happened, Keegan has no choice to sue. And lest we forget, although there's probably no shred of hard evidence, it was obvious that was a clear attempt by someone within the club (hiding behind anonymity) to tarnish Keegan's reputation and sanity via the media. Dirty tactics, a low blow that goes against corporate/social ethics and should not be accepted by anyone, especially when it was targetted at someone who caries a great deal of respect from the majority of people. Maybe the club does suffer and ultimately it'll be us footing the bill for this, but even so, the likes of Llambias and Wise cant be allowed to get away with essentially being lying, snide, backstabbing c***s (again assuming Keegan's assumed story is the correct version). Even if it's the club that foots the bill and not them, at least some of the footballing or business world will know what they're like, added to which there's the ultimate aim that a hefty fine will discourage future directors/owners to act in the same away again at any club.

Best option would be him in an attacking midfield role under a new manager with Viduka replaced in the starting lineup and Butt's replacement able to both tackle and pass to a competent degree. Would be top 6 material easily.

Evra is such a class act.