tmonkey

He's worth keeping if we can use him as a bench player. Someone to come on and bag a goal when the opposition are tired, and then start when the first team strikers need a rest or are injured. But he'll naturally think hes to good for that, for us anyway, as no doubt hed be happy that sort of role for someone like Chelsea or ManU. As a first teamer, hes just not what we need right now, and for the forseable future. We cant build a side around a weak injury prone forward who has lost his pace and needs intricate service in and around the 6 yard box in order to score, on top of needing the other 10 players being good enough to carry him whilst hes being invisible in his 90 minute bid to pop up once or twice out of the blue on the end of a half chance. I'll also be very suprised if Keegan wants him in the team next season (praying we stay up, although if we get relegated Owen will be off anyway). Would Keegan's views from 2000 have changed much, considering Owen is half the player he was back then?

Nice reactions from Robinson.

Im not even sure that Smith is that mucy better than Sibierski. At least Sibierski carried a goal threat and was more dominant in the air due to his height. Got himself into better positions too. £6m and high wages replacement for someone we released on a free.

We have no pace in the front 6. Duff has a bit of pace, but he only runs slightly fast in useless positions, ie when hes running up to a player.

Very well? In what way? Turning a defender then kicking it out of play? Off the ball hes great, but on the ball hes only good at attacking the fullback high up the pitch. Everything else - contributing to the build up, passing and moving, picking players out, etc, hes piss poor at (remember Nobby? He was practically the opposite player, yet far better). And even being good at attacking the fullback is made useless when its followed up by a cross into the keeper's hands, over everyone's head, or straight into a defender. Got bored of counting the number of times moves broke down because of his inability to play a team game on the ball. Hes similar to Butt but not as obvious because he sees the ball less often. Very well in the way that he got an assist, his delivery from set-pieces regularly caused problems for United, he tracked back well and got on Evra's bad side plenty of times. Also his delivery was quite good today - certainly better than Zog's - but the lack of bodies in the box hardly helped. He can't be bad if Martin O'Neill was so eager to sign him and still is regretting that he missed out on him. It seems the guy can't do right by you lot. In other words, he put in about 2 decent set pieces and tracked back alot. Im pretty sure the assist will go to Carroll, but attribute that to Milner too if you want. I doubt Evra will have gone off the pitch thinking he had a tough time against Milner - had Milner's crossing been of an adequate standard, then maybe, but otherwise its like watching a slow version of Dennis Rommedahl - noones cares if he gets past the defender when he kicks it out of play or shoots 5 yards wide. Add a bit of Scott Parker to the mix, ie the need to hog the ball and slow things down needlessly, and what Milner does well is even less effective. When Milner plays well, I'll be one of the first to congratulate him and sing his praises to the hills. The last time he did so iirc was against Ferreira at home to Chelsea last season, when he caused them all sorts of problems, his linkup and passing were decent, and his crossing/shooting was accurate. That seems to have been a one off game though, because hes been piss poor this season and hes turning into a major bottleneck for the team (well, he cant really be a bottleneck if there are several players who are producing the same slowdowns and inefficiencies, so maybe it would be better to say hes a major contributor to the overall bottleneck). And being one of our better players means nothing when we're playing woeful as a team, we have s*** overrated players playing in the other positions, and the one player who has more ability and potential is playing at left back. All thats needed for Milner to be one of our "better" players is for him to pick the ball up, meander down the wing, check in and out to create a bit of space, and put an aimless ball into the box. And thats what hes actually doing. Again, a bit Scott Parker-esque, he personally does alright when the team is playing s*** because hes like a solo player, playing his own game, whilst you rarely see what effect he has when the team plays well because he contributes to the team struggling to do so (unfair to pin any blame on him, but were talking about a slow, inconsistent winger who holds up play whilst he twists and turns, so its accurate imo). I wouldnt be unhappy with Milner as a backup winger for either flank, and despite his faults im not saying hes a "bad" player per se - just that hes someone who contributes to a poor, slow team that cant play football and struggles with consistency even in the basics. Hes part of the massive problem we have right now, something which could see us get relegated, and the position that he plays in is probably the prime position that needs a serious injection of pace. If ONeill wants him and is willing to pay something like £6m, then I wouldnt miss Milner at all.

Criticism of NZogbia: Playing for Newcastle United. He's far from a good player right now, but right now hes still someone who can be very dangerous to the opposition (and not in the way Barton or Smith are). He has his flaws, he loses the ball often and runs into brick walls, but hes also got the ability to beat several players with pace and dribbling, shoot with power, or put a peach of a cross in. In other words, he has the potential to turn into a good or very good Premiership player, something which cant be said about anyone else in our squad, and unfortunately for him we're probably flushing that potential down the drain. And playing him at left back is doing him no favours either. No wonder he wants to leave.

Very well? In what way? Turning a defender then kicking it out of play? Off the ball hes great, but on the ball hes only good at attacking the fullback high up the pitch. Everything else - contributing to the build up, passing and moving, picking players out, etc, hes piss poor at - Nobby Solano anyone as an example of how much better a player is when theyre good at building the play up? And even being good at attacking the fullback is made useless when its followed up by a cross into the keeper's hands, over everyone's head, or straight into a defender. Got bored of counting the number of times moves broke down because of his inability to play a team game on the ball. Hes similar to Butt but not as obvious because he sees the ball less often.

He got an assist today and all. Zidane would be proud of that assist. On the volley, outside of the right boot, faint sliced layoff into Rooney's path. World class stuff.

Selfish player on the ball (we've all played with his type, the ones who think theyre Maradona and when you pass to them in specific positions will run off with the ball playing their own game whilst constantly fucking up), with no accruacy or consistency to complement the good ability to turn on the ball, poor passing, poor at building up the play with the team, and slow - both in terms of running and in terms of delivering his cross. Just get rid of the ex-Leeds contingent.

Disagree: Habib Beye was poor, couldnt handle Ronaldo. Its easy to say many players cant, but Beye has been dodgey all season with regards to giving his winger too much space on the flank and hence relying on the recovery tackle. Petrov murdered him earlier on in the season, Ronaldo just had an easy ride. Beye is a good defender all round, but this is a major flaw in his game, you just cant give top wingers that sort of room to attack. Owen - f*** all. Too slow now to be effective at this level. He used to be a top forward, hes now mediocre when hes not scoring, and hes hard to set up because he lacks the pace to trouble defenders. Duff - at least he can run with a bit of pace, has decent technique, and doesnt loose the ball easily. But hes a feeble, wimp of a player now - if hes through down the wing, his pace seems to evaporate and he produces a s*** cross, if he has a chance to score his shooting is weak. Decent overall, but its pathetic how some people still consider him a good player. Average at best. Harper - conceded 5. Could have done better on some of the goals, so I wouldnt say he played well. Caroll - did nothing except win a corner by barging a player over and heading the ball into the ground.

1-5 and 0-6 ? ? ? ? No, they f*****g DO NOT They don't beat everyone 6-0 at home and 5-1 away though. Only us. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

Dont you know? ManU do this to EVERYONE??? !!!! !!!! Our players arent shit, its just ManU are amazing. Ignore the fact that Butt, Barton, Milner, Smith, give the ball away like its a fucking charity match for poverty stricken kids with no limbs and every misplaced pass raises more money for them. Its not them, its ManU, dont you know?? !!

Nice assist by Smith. Good first time lay off.

Faye should play up front.

Nicky Butt is a useless thug. Does this every game.

We've had several tame shots straight at him. Duff in particular has a great feeble weakling shot on him.

"Smith lost it". No, hes still got the touch of a rapist.

This is just a pisstake. Rooney isnt even playing up front because its not needed.

Taylor, oh dear.

FUCK.

Welcome to July 2006.

In the space of about 2 minutes, hes recieved the ball 3 times, and given it straight away 3 times.

You honestly think we're playing well? I think we're just finding ourselves in decent positions, and completely cocking up.

Fuck me Barton.