tmonkey

Too risky. Better to hedge your bets on a manager who has achieved UEFA cup qualification once or twice in his lifetime.

Just do it. Get it over with - if hes good, hes good, if hes bad, we can at least move on.

Because ever since moving to Real Madrid and flopping there, he hasnt been at a big club, bar a loan spell at Liverpool where Houllier for whatever reason decided not to sign him (went for Diouf instead). PSG - parked there waiting for a move in a second tier domestic league. Man City - 3 years at a lower mid table club with serious money problems, sold for financial reasons (we would have landed Distin otherwise). Fenerbahce - a world class French player in the Turkish league? How long was that realistically going to last? Bolton - tiny club, almost certainly sold to fund moves for other players in a bid to stay up. How can he be expected to stay on at those clubs? And why should he? He was always too good for them, and all of those moves were just him waiting for a big club to look past the reputation and give him a chance.

His reputation in recent years has always been utter tabloid induced bollocks. He made a few mistakes when he was younger, but since then the media has slaughtered him and exaggerated every word and action of his.

Fucking hell. Freddy Shepherd, come back son. All is forgiven.

Live for today. Cherish the thought of Mourinho as our boss, just for one night.

This is so utterly raving mad it just might work Plenty of us are desperate for this - and can you blame us? Its like calling a starving Rwandan kid mad for craving a Big Mac - who cares if its unrealistic? Let him dream.

Lets say theres an £8mill offer a year to Mourinho on the table with large bonuses, 4 year contract, large transfer kitty promised (eg £50-60mill a season for the next 4 years, plus more if we can land a huge name). Would Jose turn that down? Would that be enough to get us back into challenging for a CL spot? Would Ashley be willing to fork out that much? Noone knows except them. Its very unlikely we'd land him, but theres no denying that money talks. Im sure everyone has a price, and if you look at all the factors, what does he have to lose realistically? He's only in his mid 40s - failing up here would not ruin his career, especially with our reputation of being perennial losers, such a failure could just be one blemish on an otherwise distinguished career (who cares about Lippi failing at Inter for example?), a career that still has a long way to go if he chooses. And im pretty sure he was fed up at Chelsea a while back because of the lack of recognition of his success due to big money spending at a time when noone else was able to compete - now the situation is totally different in terms of spending power, and if he wants a challenge where success would prove his class... Tiny, tiny chance, but its not pie in the sky stuff, because who's to say that £2million extra a year in his pocket wont make a massive difference to his options?

Shag a granny.

Hooray.

Kanoute? Huntelaar.

Toure is the only first teamer they'll miss. And in terms of us, thats probably a bonus for them, since as classy a defender as he is, Senderos will probably step in to partner Gallas, and hes more adept at handling strikers like Smith or Viduka than Toure is due to his increased height and strength.

I agree, but im thinking more of an equivalent to Kay in that john smiths advert. It would just be a laugh to have someone like Boris Johnson coming off the bench.

Can I just add that I would absolutely love us to have a forward like that Pickering fella who came on for Stoke. Fat/overweight, not shaved for months culminating in a biker's beard, chewing gum and looking like he could give a s*** and that this was just another jogging session, and could barely run after 5 minutes despite having come on towards the end of the game when nearly everyone else had played for 85. It would be an understatement to say he looks like your typical pub team footballer. If we're going to have players who get games irrespective of how good or bad they are, we should at least have one or two that look as cool as him.

B) would be a wise option if he wasnt such a crock. Even if he wasnt a crock and doesnt get any injuries for the forseable future, hes lost too much from his game to warrant his reputation or building a team around him. 35 year old Ian Rush, 34-35 year old Shearer, even 28 year old Robbie Fowler, it doesnt matter how good they were at finishing, they got to a point where they werent able to let the team create chances for them because of their own limitations, and needed chances on a plate to score. And it looks like its slowly getting to that stage with Owen - just look at the difference in the number of chances that hes involved in compared to Martins. He needs to stay fit to prove this isnt the case, in theory he shouldnt be there yet and maybe its just the injuries that are resulting in his poor showing, but otherwise we really must get rid whilst we might get a decent fee for him.

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:zVGDKiXK_5-VPM:http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2634771/2/istockphoto_2634771_hitting_a_nail_on_the_head.jpg

Thats fair enough, but when he plays up front, he plays like a forward with the qualities of a midfield battler, yet with few of the qualities you need from a striker. Thats why ManU played him in midfield so often, and why he didnt look good for them up front when he did get an occasional start there. eerr........apart from over a season on the injured list, I would say they played him in midfield because he isn't a Wayne Rooney, Saha, Van Nistelrooy and now Tevez [which is why he has moved on] Hardly a disgrace. eerr....Van Nistelrooy wasnt there last season, neither was Tevez, and Saha was frequently injured along with Solskjaer, which is why Rooney often played up front on his own, or with Giggs in behind him (and for a very short while, an aged Larsson was drafted in, but that was whilst Smith was still injured iirc). I specifically remember games where Ferguson avoided using Smith up front when he really had no other alternatives and Smith was fit. Thats not to say that Smith is s*** up front, just that he doesnt have enough of the qualities you want from a striker, and has more of the qualities you want from a midfield battler - which is ultimately why when he regained fitness, his chances up front were pretty few under Ferguson, despite their striking shortage. Anyway, arguing what his situation was at ManU is straying somewhat. The question is, has he earned a place up front for us in his few performances in that position? I would say maybe, and hence I would want him to get a run in the side up front with Martins on ANC duty. But again, thats ONLY because our other forwards have been so poor this season and our options are so limited - in truth, it looks like we will be getting very little from Smith other than effort in any position.

Thats fair enough, but when he plays up front, he plays like a forward with the qualities of a midfield battler, yet with few of the qualities you need from a striker. Thats why ManU played him in midfield so often, and why he didnt look good for them up front when he did get an occasional start there. Still would start him up front alongside/behind Martins though, only really because Owen and Viduka just arent up to scratch due to their lack of pace and incompatability with any other forward at the club.

If Owen was playing in that first half, hed have scored a goal or two by now.

Hes in on it. I knew it. Fucking messiah my arse (not you, him).

3-1 win, Stoke to be up for it but an early goal killing their hopes, and a professional, disciplined performance put in, bar the defensive slip up that gifts Stoke a goal.

Staying fit together would be the first step. Worry about playing well once theyve done that. Baby steps.

Martins is simply doomed under Big Sam. Go back to last year when Dyer was pushed up alongside Martins as opposed to Sibierski partnering Martins. Martins' form sky rocketed imo, his general play was much better and he was involved alot more in build ups than he currently is. And the reason for that improved form is pretty obvious - aside from the team going from "lump it to the big bald guy" to "pass it on the deck, thats where Kieron is", Martins is a forward who likes to play in front of the defence, i.e. hes someone who doesnt need to be through on goal nor go past his man in order to have a chance of scoring, and is more comfortable playing in front of the centrebacks and looking for that half yard in which to get a shot off. We know his linkup play is inconsistent, and that hes not very good at making penetrating, offside-trap-beating runs, but he does have the ability to shoot with both feet as well as turn sharply in order to create that half a yard in which to get his shot off, and hence that makes him a dangerous player if hes allowed to play his game rather than playing a different role. And playing alongside someone like Dyer, who irrespective of his lack of end product is a high calibre footballer (relatively speaking), someone with a good first touch, linkup play, and pacey/penetrative running off the ball, playing alonside that type of withdrawn forward allowed Martins' faults to be compensated because it allowed Martins to concentrate on what he does well rather than requiring him to do what hes not naturally good at (playing wide, dropping off, etc). Hence, that is why Martins is doomed under Big Sam. The partnership that's been described is essentially a slightly different take on the Beardo Cole one, and that partnership only exists in your basic 4-4-2 system with one forward dropping behind the other. We're not going to see such a system under Big Sam. For whatever reasons, and irrespective of whether its good or bad, Big Sam doesnt believe in a standard 4-4-2 system, and as long as that is the case, Martins has no chance, because hes not good enough a footballer to play up front on his own, or out wide, or alongside another out-n-out striker/goalscorer where he'd need to drop deep or go wide. And to be fair to Big Sam, I wouldnt argue that Martins is definately good enough to warrant asking a manager to change his beliefs, buy players and building a team around Martins, but the point does exist imo, point being that Martins could and most likely would be alot better in a different setup than the current one, of which he is of little use. The easiest thing to do is to get rid and replace him with someone who can fit into the manager's plans, although that then delves into the question of whether the manager's plans are something worth backing or something that we want to see on a weekly basis, but thats another topic altogether.

Always maintained from the start that we should never have sold Woodgate. Yes, he was having serious problems staying fit, but his age and his calibre should have warranted us sticking with him, because there was always going to be the chance of Woodgate staying fit again, and that is easily worth £13million in my eyes, especially at a time when we were struggling and were just as unlikely to replace him with someone in his class. I hope we never get rid of a borderline world class player at that age just because of injuries. If performances and physique go downhill (eg Owen slow, Duff empty) then yes, look to phase replace them, but Woodgate returned from injury every time looking just as good as before he picked it up. Again, stick by a player of that class and age because he has time for things to be right again. Prime example is Ronaldo, who from 98 to 2002 was constantly crocked, yet since then hasnt had a major injury and turned out to be a great buy for Madrid.

If we have the money, do both. Its hard to look past Ashton's injury record, but this is where Big Sam is meant to excel, so getting in a target man who is simply better and far more consistent (when he does play) then any of the other shit forwards we have up front would be a step forward. On top of that, hes come back from injury looking a better player imo, his touch and general linkup play has definately improved. Ashton is one of the few big forwards who could play in Big Sam's preferred system. Big risk as hes definately a crock, but if we can keep him fit hed be a huge bonus for Big Sam. Worthy gamble at £10million, but only if we bring in another pacey forward or two and ship out Owen/Viduka, otherwise we'd have a striking squad full of slow crocks and none of them compatible with each other.