tmonkey

We should have a good, hard look at some of Getafe's players.

We'll dominate possession, a defensive error will result in a goal for Portsmouth, Owen will have two decent chances and one sitter, Viduka will spend much of the game losing the ball but will hold the ball up well a few times, and Martins will beat his man and get a shot in on several occassions. Diarra will be the best player on the pitch. 1-1, or if its just our day, 3-1.

Kaka and Ronaldinho in the same team at club level. Will be interesting, if Kaka stays.

Cant recall Defoe ever having caused us any problems when hes played.

Different types of players. Walcott = pace and dribbling, attacking mid/winger. Bojan = Zola-esque forward. Pato = out-n-out striker. Of the three, I think Pato will be the most successful, mainly because of his environment and the way Milan will blood him in. Milan have shown themselves to be an excellent club in recent times when it comes to sticking by their talented/proven/experienced players, and with Pato already having established himself as the main striker at the club, they'll stick by him through thick and thin whilst building around him. He'll be a natural Shevchenko replacement in a few years time imo, in fact he already looks the part in the sense that he does have similar attributes and a similar style.

Clearly don't watch Portsmouth too often. He was excellent in a quiet way against ManU in the FA Cup. Without really doing anything noteworthy, he looked a good player able to hold his own and play his game against a team of very good players.

Xavi. Skillfull without really doing pointless party tricks, technically elite footballer, great teamplayer, never dives or cheats, works hard, hardly ever loses possession, consistently good end product.

Bentley might be the better player certainly at this point in time in terms of end product, but Kranjcar looks to be developing into a tricky attacking player (ignoring last night's game), the type who is constantly probing whilst also being a good team player (i.e. doesnt easily lose the ball), and it does need to be remembered that this is his first full season in the Premiership as a first teamer, so its only really now that he's starting to show what he's capable of, whereas Bentley has had an extra season or so on him. Both decent to good creative players with potential imo.

Kranjcar is at the same level as Bentley imo in terms of ability level (different type/style of player obviously). Same age, same potential. Gudjohnsen is someone I would love to see us sign above anyone else right now assumiong we keep the formation/system that is working so well. He'd be excellent in Viduka's position as the central forward bringing others into the game, his consistent control and all round play is still very good based on recent appearances for Barca, and with Martins providing flair/pace and Owen the intelligent runs from deep, that could be an immense trio. On top of that, were Owen for example to pick up an injury, Eidur could comfortably slot into that advanced midfield position. Same applies were Oba to pick up an injury, but maybe not to the same extent as with Gudjohnsen/Viduka/Owen up top, we might suffer from a lack of pace.

Obviously jail time affects his availability, and attacking teamates is both abhorrent and poor for team morale, but apart from something extreme like that, what does it matter what a footballer does or what his personality is like off the pitch as long as he's producing the goods on it? Maradona was hardly a saint, yet practically every fan of any club in the world would give their right arm to have him in their current team.

He's an average midfielder/footballer who has that added extra bit of drive and shooting as part of his natural game. He's always going to be someone not scared to take on a shot or pass forward if its on. Well worth sticking by.

Liverpool doing what Liverpool do best - thieving their way to the finals.

Walcott with a smashing run from the edge of his penalty box, goal set up for Adebayor.

Great goal yet again by Torres. Gets the ball in penalty box, turns with one centreback behind him and the other closing him down, straight into the top corner.

To be fair though, there might be some agreeable difference when it comes to players who have come from abroad and still have family there to visit when theyre injured and have nothing else to do.

Its the change of position/role that very few would or could have anticipated to have worked. Its rejuvinated him and removed that huge problem of him spending an entire game up front doing little to nothing for the team and providing no outlet or pace for the team to work with, waiting for the odd scrap to land his way, then missing it, whereas now that sitter being missed no longer matters because firstly hes involved heavily in build up play throughout the game, and secondly hes getting more chances because of the way he's ghosting into the box from deep. Hence, the earlier criticisms of him as an out-n-out striker are still perfectly valid - as Keegan would no doubt agree, seeing as hes responsible for the role change. Turning a blind eye to the problem he was presenting, which is what most of his fans/backers were doing, may well have seen us close to relegation for all we know, a thought which seems laughable now but considering the woeful attacking display of the team overall prior to this positional/formation change, and the inability of Owen to actually partner anyone effectively, it could well have been a reality. As for writing him off, its something easily done for players who have been plain and simple crocks. Maybe he's past these problems, but half a season isnt enough to warrant writing off that lengthy past injury list. I would err on the side of caution when it comes to this, Dyer last season for example stayed injury free for over 6 months iirc, but broke his leg as soon as the season started in the summer. On the other side of the coin, Woodgate was another someone who was written off by most on here during his lengthy injury spell, whereas he seems past that, whilst right now Emre is being written off because of him constantly being in the treatment room. Point being, its impossible to tell who will be another talented player who unfortunately happens to be a sicknote, or who will come out of that bracket and reaffirm their status as a good footballer. That aside though, hes starting to look a real find in a completely different way than anticipated, so kudos to him and above all Keegan for the improvement. Like many a top player hindered by severe injuries, its taken a change of role and playing style for the quality he does have to become evident again.

Never doubted him, always been a good manager wherever hes been at club level.

Great performance, but considering this was at home to Reading... In terms of the best right back in the league, Chimbonda is considerably better imo, Sagna is probably the best in the league right now, and G.Neville would still be up there were he fit.

Holy fuck we are actually playing good football on the deck. For the first time in years.

If we score another, and they score two, then it'll be edge of the seat stuff.

Quality finish.

Get rid asap. Always going to be the type of player who picks up injuries due to his playing style and physique.

Liverpool and Chelsea are horrible anti-footballing sides. And the annoying thing is one of them will probably win it.

Arsenal are dominating.

His positioning is suspect as a centreback. Produces some great recovery and late tackles, but its far from ideal to have opposition attackers constantly getting to the ball first, and for that I would have him in midfield next season providing we can sign a good enough centreback.