tmonkey

Emre probably held back at the end of the season to flog on I suspect. Shame because he's shown flashes of the player he should be every week but, after years of sticking up for him, I think he's let us down to be honest. Right that he moves on imo. The only positive is that his 'demi-god' status in Turkey means he was never going to plummet in value. Cunt of the highest order imo if hes done that, which he probably has.

Was a fan of Shorey after his first season in the Premiership, where he was almost a playmaker from the left back spot at times, but this season hes been pretty mediocre overall. Still, worth a shot if he's cheap, and although this cliche has no backing in it whatsoever, he might be far more of a Keegan fullback than Enrique.

Looks like a top, top player from those compilations of him. I hope to God we sign him, he really looks like someone who could transform this club and have us back up there challenging for a CL spot. I know this is brash, but its obvious from the clips that he is a potential world class player - itd be daft to think otherwise. We just need to pray that the Depor chairman accepts our bid before any of the CL elite come in, then Albert will be ours.

I remember after the Chelsea 0-0 when Roeder was in charge you thought he was the business. That'll probably be his best ever game in a black and white shirt (if he does leave, it wont be to Juve), a one off excellent game. He'll not be the first to have that, plenty on here raved about Parker after his first game against Arsenal, Smith likewise when he bullied Toure. Added to which, ive never been a fan of him down the right, and when he switched to the left flank, at first I thought he had turned the corner and cut out all the nonsense - going from a predictable, repetitive robot down the right, to someone who was both cutting inside and going down the flank, passing and moving more often, getting into dangerous positions, etc. After a few other initial games down the left, however, he's been mediocre, back to his old self of shimmying in and out whilst everyone else waits in the penalty box with hands on hips in the box before he floats it out of play, on top of having little footballing contribution with regards to anything else. I mean, how many assists without crossing does the guy get? How many through balls has he pulled off since being here? He's a very one dimensional footballer. As stated, I think he'll be good player for a no-hope mid table team that needs an individual to add a bit of that something extra to an otherwise workmanlike team. He was commonly referred to as one of our "best" players last season and early on in the current campaign, but that was purely down to the team as a whole being utterly s***, and like Parker, Milner managed to shine somewhat because hes able to play his own game irrespective of what others around him are doing, i.e. pick the ball up on the flank, shimmy in and out, in again to create a bit of space on the fullback, then float an aimless cross into the box - repeat ad finitum and you'll get the occassional good cross whipped into the right area, but even so, thats all he needed to do to be "one of the best" since everyone else was doing fuck all due to crap tactics/players/etc.

I think you've got it exactly wrong. We didn't have any mobility up front, so Milner would have to work an opening instead of just whipping in a cross. Consider his assist against Villa as an example what he's able to do when he does have an option. When he's on his own out on the wing, and the midget strikers are sandwiched in between the defenders, then he doesn't have a choice. He doesn't have Nobby's sublime right foot, but it's far too early to say he's not adaptable to different roles in the team. And unlike Nobby, he's also got a useful left foot. I'm sure Keegan will get more out of him than Roeder and Allardyce did. Milner on the flank constantly turning in and out has little to do with the movement of our frontline. Its just a part of Milner's game, no different to Parker's pirouettes (and likewise blaming the team for him refusing to pass forwards whist turning back and forth), and although it achievies its initial aims of working an opening and gaining a bit of ground on the fullback, it both allows the opposition time to sort themselves out whilst killing any momentum built up, as well as usually being followed up by a poor delivery. The Villa goal wasnt an example of what good movement can provide and therefore how it can improve Milner's end product, it was merely an example of how Milner can eventually do something given enough attempts. He's tried crosses from that area all season, and they've either been overhit going straight into the keeper's gloves, or have gone straight onto the head of a defender. That cant be put down to forwards not making the right runs because its simply not the case with Milner's poor performances this season. If the ball is good, regardless of whether the forward makes the right run or not, you'll know it, because its all about getting it into the right area with the right pace. NZogbia a few times this season from the left back slot has done just that, hes whipped a devilishly good cross in without anyone making a run to get on the end of it, but thats what you want to see, and its only then that you can blame the forward for not making the run. Milner, on the other hand, has spent most of the season floating crosses into usesless areas, over the heads of our strikers, and so forth. In terms of other positions, maybe he'll be good in the middle, its not possible to say for certain without him having been given a run of games there, but hes not a good footballer by any means for me. He's a workhorse with one or two tricks and the ability to turn on the ball, but he lacks any real quality or technical ability. I've never seen anything to suggest he does have the required technical or passing ability for a central midfielder, yet he's forever being mentionted as someone who might be good there, which a year or two ago was the same case put forward for him being classed as a good right winger. Compare him to Barton for example (well, Barton under Keegan). He hasnt got anything like the passing range and technique, vision, composure, first touch, etc, all of which Barton has in his game to a relatively minor extent. Milner has none of those attributes imo comparable to a decent Premiership standard central midfielder. The best he could be in that position is a player who does all his work off the ball, and pops up in dangerous positions, but then even with a player like that theres no reason for them not to have good ball control and technique - e.g. Owen, who is effectively doing that role in terms of working hard in midfield and then getting on the end of chances. Overall, I wouldnt want him sold for the sake of it as maybe he'll improve, but imo we've seen enough from him that suggests hes one of the contributers to us being a side that is incapable of keeping the ball effectively, a side with little creativity or ability but lots of graft. If Keegan sticks with him, I'll have no complaints, but based on the types of players Keegan signed whilst last here, I just cant see Milner fitting in well enough to be worth keeping hold of.

Before he took his shirt off, I thought Pedro Mendez slightly resembled a rat. Having biw seen his face + body, I am convinced he is a giant mutant rat.

What a shit final. Wasnt long ago this could have been a League One playoff final.

Campbell caught out within a minute.

But theres a big difference in the way they play the game, and a small but signifncant difference on technical ability and control/passing style/methods. Geremi is more of a team player, someone who plays very simply, traps the ball comfortably and gives it to a team-mate. Sometimes he loses concentration or tries a clever pass and completely fucks up, but the rest of the time hes a decent team player. Whereas Milner is like that annoying b****** we've all played with, the one who whenever he gets the ball, always goes on a dribble, and generally hogs it whilst trying to work an opening. Hes capable of doing something good once in a while if he has enough attempts, but he destroys the team fluidity in order to do so. Of course, Milner isnt like that all the time, he wouldnt be playing in the Premiership if he was, but hes in that mould of player for me, and is essentially someone who might stick out in a really s*** side because hes capable of playing his own game regardless of those around him, but isnt capable of being part of a team that plays the ball on the deck. He's almost like the opposite of Nobby.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7393770.stm Cardiff's run to the final is wholly unimpressive (Boro are s***). Why dont we ever get an easy run like this? We always seem to get the Premiership contenders or Champions at some stage. On paper, this will be an easy victory for Pompey. 1997? 1998? By run, I also mean the final. In both cases, we came up against the Champions or contenders in the Final.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7393770.stm Cardiff's run to the final is wholly unimpressive (Boro are s***). Why dont we ever get an easy run like this? We always seem to get the Premiership contenders or Champions at some stage. On paper, this will be an easy victory for Pompey.

As always, 15.00 kick off, BBC1 (today). Although its novel not to see the big boys in the final yet again on the one hand, on the other its a bit of a shame because there are no top players on show and due to these being two relatively small clubs competing for the cup, imo there isnt that much interest amongst normal folk about this game (if this wasnt a Cup Final, who would want to watch this game? etc etc). Hope Cardiff win, dont want yet another mid table Premiership side able to intice new players with the lure of European football.

What is even more *impressive is that immediately after beating two players and hitting the post from 25 yards, he starts clutching his knee and rolling around on the floor. *Impressive from Emre's point of view.

Might fit into Martins' floating position, with Martins moving forward into Viduka's.

Annoying as f*** that there isnt a Great Britain team for the Olympics. Its a big competition, and quite importantly, its a good chance for "more developed" youth to be given experience on the big stage. And surely, even if no reconciliation between the various FA's is not possible, there is no harm in there being a play-off between the four nations to field a team at the olympics as has been suggested in various places? England on papaer would win every time, even with an under 23 team, but the FA Cup this year is concrete proof that bigger names or better players doesnt guarantee success, and the same applies with the 1-0 win for N.I. a few years ago.

Better off just having a mega transfer rumour thread whilst allowing seperate threads about specific links (with concrete sources and official quotes) to exist. If it doesnt have a concrete source and official quotes, then it goes into the mega thread. There'll be little to talk about over the summer (NUFC related) other than transfer rumours, so other than dividing the forum up even more, there'll probably be more confusion as to what should go into a transfer section rather than the main footballing one (e.g. if a big name player does sign) than any potential benefits. But then thats mainly down to browsing preferences. I've bookmarked the main football section and therefore as thats my first port of call, I would prefer everything related to NUFC and football in there for ease of access.

But surely that depends on potential replacements? I'd rather we kept Owen for next season, and lose him on a free at the end, then to sell him for £8mill and sign someone like Giles Barnes who might turn out to be total shit.

The possible drawbacks of Owen not signing a new contract and staying until he can leave on a Bosman: - He decides to piss about, not interested in playing for us because he knows he'll leave, and being on a free and having a mammoth reputation, he's confident he'll attract someone good irrespective of the nil contribution. - We lose a good player for free at the end of the season. - We build a team around the new found Owen, do well with him, then suddenly lose him. Maybe we wont find a replacement for him? The benefits of not signing a new contract, but keeping him until his contract expires (with the pretence that we'll negoatiate at the end of the season): - He'll be playing to attract new suitors, ie one of the big four, and therefore might give a whole season of good performances. Which in turn should help us out immensely. - Continuity. We'll be in a better position to attract a good replacement next summer (hopefully). Once Keegan has made a few additions to the side, removed the dead wood, and without the handicap of having taken over a Sam Allardyce team mid way through the season with an extremely tough fixture list making up the rest of the campaign, I bet we'll be pushing near the automatic UEFA Cup spots. And at 29, maybe thats a good time to lose a player who's best years might have been well behind him? - We cover ourselves from extending the huge contract of a player who hasnt delivered over the span of his lifetime here. 4-5 good months out of 3 years for 100k per week is mediocre, and we still cant be sure for certain that he's happy to play in this midfield role in the longer term. If worst comes to worse, and things turn bad for us, we can cut loose once the season finishes. Overall, I say the Owen situation is not a big deal. If he signs, then good, if he doesnt, we'll move on when the time comes. We've repleased better players in the past, he's not the biggest fish we've had in recent times, so I dont see why there needs to be so much fuss about him. In fact, we've already got a ready made replacement for him in Obafemi Martins, the player who scored 17 goals in an absolutely mediocre team under Roeder - hes not perfect by any means, but with the right team around him he'll get goals on a frequent basis.

There was one where he sat on the ball, which spilled out into Viduka's path and was tucked away. Certainly remember some of his fanboys at the time claiming it to be an assist and "good play". Derby? Faffing about and ended up getting tackled before FAB tucked it in no trouble. Aye, that one. Had a good chance to shoot, wasted it, tangled with the defender, got a last touch on it somehow, and Viduka picked it up and hammered it home. Just watching MOTD, he did get an assist for ManU when he set Rooney up with a delicately sliced volleyed pass, outside of the boot. So two assists for two different teams.

Is that Titus Bramble running randomly into nomans land and leaving Giggs unmarked for an easy goal?

There was one where he sat on the ball, which spilled out into Viduka's path and was tucked away. Certainly remember some of his fanboys at the time claiming it to be an assist and "good play".

Its not that big a reality check, considering we had good first teamers missing and utter dross replacing them (mostly).

Perfect playmaking midfielder. Silky skills, great technique, and a good team player. Although he was a good signing for Milan overall, he should have left Fiorentina alot earlier.

Wonder if its Owen's agents trying to stir up interest behind the scenes. /Cynic.

Maybe he's going on loan whilst he runs his contract down?