tmonkey

He was a central midfielder for Inter and Galatasaray.

Edgar should be able to provide adequate last ditch backup at left back.

Its a midfield we should be playing at home against weaker opposition, which should be half the league - providing the central defence is solid enough.

A right winger certainly. Someone like Maxi Rodriguez, SWP, Quaresma, Simao, etc, would be a good adition. Ie, a winger who can play comfortably in a 4-3-3 as well as a 4-4-2, and will provide goals as well as assists on top of bringing that element of flair to the team. Any of that lot would cost big money and therefore would be a gamble, but unlike in previous years, we're now in a good enough position to take such risks.

Smith was class today up front as a supporting striker in terms of his linkup play. Thought hed be a shit signing, but im happy to eat my words - this has been the second game in a row where hes looked very bright in attacking areas. Dont think hes going to score many goals even as a forward, but if others around him are doing the business in that particular category, then it really doesnt matter, because his one-touch-passing and intelligence in his linkup play is arguably considerably better than that of Viduka's, Owen's or Martins'. If were playing a 4-4-2, from what weve seen thus far, it should be Smith + other up front (until Martins improves his basic play anyway), especially once Barton and Emre get fully fit, simply because were going to be playing better possession football with a frontman who is capable of recieving the ball comfortably and consistently finding a teamate. Viduka has had some good moments for us up front, but the rest of the time hes been chasing shadows, fouling defenders, and having a tug-of-war competition with his marker, which ultimately results in us wasting possession or doing little with it. Hes shit in comparison, and maybe its too early to call, but Smith could possibly be the closest thing to a Beardsley replacement weve had since Pedro was sold to Bolton - that link between the midfield and attack, someone bright enough and capable enough to consistently play other players in when in good attacking positions. Needs more games in that position at the very least.

Hes looked a good footballer from day one after signing for Villa, caused us a fair few problems despite it being his Premiership debut. O'Neil deserves praise for forking out a massive amount for an unproven player and then developing him well, especially from those who have been mocking him for signing Harewood and calling him a clueless manager. Hope Young is sensible too, and stays with Villa for now as opposed to falling for the trap of higher wages and the lure of more potential silverware or CL football. Hes at a club where he can develop comfortably and establish himself as a top player, surrounded by good players and a decent calibre manager to help him along. Given his pace and ability, as well as his versatility (possibly a perfect wide forward for a 4-3-3) it shouldnt be long before the likes of Chelsea are knocking at the door, and it would be a shame if he goes down the same route as someone like SWP, a promising and explosive talent wasted away on the bench. I like how some of the [upper] mid table Premiership clubs have one or two top class players who raise the level of their team, players good enough to play for CL elite sides, yet wont be sold to them. Everton with Arteta, Villa with Young potentially, Spurs with Berbatov, Bolton with Anelka - makes the Premiership more interesting when talented players arent all concentrated entirely at one end of the table, which was the fear a few years ago when Chelsea were buying most of the talent up left right and centre.

Kaka is great at them.

Following Ferguson's slow easing of Evra into the ManU first team, and the drastic improvement in Evra's performances to the extent that hes now arguably the best left back in the country, I think its a good idea to ease Enrique into Premiership football, no matter whether hes fully fit or not.

Given - 6 - OK performance. Beye - 3 - Honeymoon over, he was slaughtered by Petrov. Played the game like he was on his last legs and kept getting caught out of position. Rozehnal - 6 - Solid performance spoilt by the second goal. Taylor - 6 - Decent, but a few mistakes that he should be cutting out. N'Zogbia - 5 - Struggled to do much going forward, positionall poor defensively. Geremi - 6 - Decent performance, but he seems to be playing within himself. Spread the play decently enough. Butt - 4 - Needs to be dropped. Very poor footballer when hes not playing well, which seems to be every away game. Smith - 7 - Good linkup play, some smart passing, solid all round performance. Martins - 7 - Good goal, good performance overall, but still some elements of having no intelligence once on the ball. Viduka - 6 - Hard for him to play well with defenders climbing all over him. Milner - 4 - In poor form and struggling to adapt to a different role. Being read like a book by defenders, and his crosses are proving absolutely useless. Most likely needs a rest, followed by having to fight for his place in the team.

Same could be said of Martins, Emre, Owen and quite a few others in our team. We need to play to our strengths and today was a day in which we seemed to be trying to do the exact opposite. Theres two viewpoints here - either the manager plays the best system for the players at his disposal, or he sticks to his guns (even if sporadically) and uses the system he knows best, gradually changing the personnel to best fit this system. To be fair, I would rather we do the latter, because the potential to go further is when the manager gets to mould and incorporate players around the system he prefers. If that means gradually shipping out some of our best players who unfortunately cannot adjust to the preferred system, and replacing them with players who do have the ability to play in the system he prefers, then im all for it.

Hes not adapted well to the new system, and I dont think hes versatile enough to play as a wide forward - doesnt have the range of abilities youd want for that position, whereas hes fine in a standard four man midfield. May very well be a 4-4-2 player.

Certainly remember Allardyce being frustrated at one point with the new board because they were moving too slow, and as a result we missed out on two players or more according to him. We'll probably never know who those players were, maybe they were good attacking/creative ones, and theres also the trip to Barcelona that seems to have been fruitless, where Gudjohnsen and Guily - good creative players - were heavily linked alongside Edmilson. He must have tried to address some of the problems we're currently seeing, but failed to do so due to a lack of time, money, and willingness on the part of others due to our dilapidated state. Ultimately, regardless of performances on the pitch at this point in time, Allardyce has done well to build a squad that has plenty of depth and a good spine of solid, proven professionals. We have a solid platform on which to build imo, and the improvements will come when Allardyce gets to sign the attacking players he prefers according to the system he wants us playing.

Tell me how long are you going to justify this nonsense? Exactly what is nonsense about it? Point out the specifics and debate for once.

Our best defender last season was from a choice of Carr, Babayaro, Edgar, Ramage, Bramble, Taylor and Onyewu. Even with a squad like that, you were attempting to justify the purchase of the has-been Duff, despite us having a relatively small budget and our best player the season before also being a left winger - set to be dropped for no reason at all. Of course, this was in reality just another aspect of your pro-Shepherd stance, in which you twisted and refused to accept every single criticism aimed at Shepherd in some sort of fanatical mission - which in this particular instance included Shepherd being accused of failing to acknowledge the needs of the squad/defence and just attempting to appease fans by signing a big name from yesteryear to cover his own inadequacies in the market. Face it NE5. You were utterly wrong about a number of things, as has been proven by the course of events, and youre too stubborn to admit that you were wrong to boot. Not improving the defence was a daft thing to do, and it was why we were flirting with relegation in successive seasons despite spending huge amounts on attacking players. We wont be anywhere near relegation this season, and thats mostly down to us signing good defensive players (which includes Smith in my books as hes pretty much an away-day combatative midfielder), as well as having a healthy squad with good cover for nearly every position (bar competiton for Milner) - no massive, over-inflated transfer fees for a big name whilst also having a threadbare squad in sight. Of course we do need some more creativity, but thats partly because two big name, big wage, and in one case, huge money, signings that you were so keen on us getting, signings which those of us with enough sense foresaw as being large, daft, needless risks (and guess how its turned out with them?), have been utterly crocked for us, whilst a few other attacking players have been sold due to personal reasons or have picked up short term injuries. In no way does that justify those who last season were mocking fellow supporters for claming we should have purchased defenders, again something with which a mere glance at the names of last season's defensive squad should have been nothing but common sense.

I think Butt would be fine if he were the only defensive player in the 3 man central midfield, where he can concentrate on doing a defensive job and giving the ball to better footballers around him. Im glad hes not captain, as plenty of people wanted him to be. Been saying all summer that hes someone who's form could easily go downhill considering his age and the type of player he is. Ideally, he'll be slowly ousted from the first team squad by the likes of Faye and Geremi, purely because there probably better at doing the same job whilst being far more competent and consistent on the ball.

Not sure what this means but it must be a good description of Smith's play today. What happens anyway when youre on acid and you spot a seagull?

If Zoggy plays well, I think we'll win. If he doesnt, I can see us losing due to a lack of chances. Right now hes the only one who looks like hes capable of creating something.

That is still massive progress though compared to the Souness and Roeder regimes. Maybe when Allardyce gets round to signing the attacking and creative players he wants, as opposed to making do with players he doesnt (eg Martins, Owen, both of whom he clearly attempted to advertise, whilst hed almost certainly want to flog the likes of Ameobi), we'll see a marked improvement in those categories too.

It needs to be pointed out that Arsenal's B team is a match for anyone, especially at home. They played Chelsea's first team, former league champions, off the park in last seasons Carling Cup final. When they have players like Denilson in their reserve side (a midfielder superior to any of ours imo, despite being a kid), its a pretty damning indication of just how far ahead of us they are in terms of ability and the calibre of player at their disposal.

Doesnt work away from home imo.

Theres an elegance and class in his game that suggests hes going to be a good player at the higher levels. That never for once existed with Kuyt, or even Kezman. In any league in the world, there are always average strikers who score frequently in a team that they are well adjusted to - the Kevin Phillips, Doyles, and Bents are prime examples in the Premiership - but there are also ones who when you see them play, are clearly a class above your average solid goalscorer. Huntelaar is definately in the second category for me. Weve already had first hand experience of his talent. Even whilst playing for a two-bit pub side like Herenveen, he caused us, a somewhat decent Premiership side, severe problems, entirely on his own as well. Granted we had defenders who could create problems out of thin air at the time, but him causing us problems wasnt down to clown-like defending per se, but rather his own ability, strength and intelligence. This was a few years ago, and hes matured as a player since then - reckon hes a cracking prospect and could easily turn into one of the worlds most lethal forwards, another Van Nistelrooy so to speak, but obviously since hes not established himself at a higher level on a domestic basis, the fee he would command would no doubt represent a pretty big gamble. One thing about Huntelaar that im pretty certain off for no reason other than pure deduction - I think hes going to be targetted by Milan sooner rather than later, and it wouldnt suprise me if this time next year hes playing in the famous black and red stripes. Everything seems to be written like a script for this specific transfer - although hes nowhere near as good, and most likely wont ever be as good, hes quite similar to Van Basten. Tall, gangly, Dutch targetman playing for Ajax, lethal in the air and on the deck, good ability on the ball and a pretty intelligent player off it, and has the strength required to hold defenders off. Milan on the other hand will need to replace the aging Inzaghi, Ronaldo isnt getting any younger, Gilardino and Olivera are essentially flops, and as a club Milan need that big signing to stay up there with the cream of the crop and appease/compliment the likes of Kaka. Huntelaar is perfect for all this on paper - and to top it off, Milan's legendary Van Basten is currently Huntelaar's international coach. If he has a good Euro 2008, hes going to be untouchabble for a club like us. Which is why if we have big money in January, its got to be an agressive move for him, an offer that Ajax, who will be missing this seasons CL revenue, cant refuse. I think wed definately regret Owen's sale if it were to happen. But thats only because I also think whoever purchases Owen, will use him in the correct way - that is, use him the way Madrid did, wrapped up in wool on the bench and used sparingly. That will only ever happen however at a club significantly bigger than us, where Owen is just one small fish amongst many as opposed to being the biggest fish in the pond, and where he will complement an already completed team, a "bonus" to that team, as oposed to being the centre of the team, with it being built around him. Hes never going to get back to being a player who can start every game in consecutive fashion, but because of our current status, thats the only thing he can be with us - imagine the criticism Allardyce would get from both the fans and the player himself if we regularly rotate or bench a fully fit Owen and we were picking up poor results like the one at Derby - we would be screaming for him to be on the pitch because the rest of the team isnt up to his standard. It simply wouldnt be anything like as big an issue for other teams, and thats most likely the only kind of environment where Owen's fragile frame can flourish.

Yes. And I also laughed at the question.

Owen out, Huntelaar in. That lad is a bloody good finisher - better than Owen in that department, although hes playing at an inferior level domestically, as Kuyt would testify. Ajax were knocked out of the CL in the qualifiers and have always been a selling club, so get in early and strike a generous deal whilst its still possible.

They were. ManU should have scored 3+ goals easily, and on another day probably would have.

As mentioned, pretty big "if" - as big as they come really, not far off "if Luque gets his confidence and touch back..." standards. He was s*** for Chelsea for some time when we signed him. Hes been s*** for us in the exact same way. Im not one to say anything is impossible, but by all signs the Damien Duff of old that could tare teams apart is finished, and instead all thats left is a timid, workmanlike winger who will provide one or two assists and goals every dozen or so games. And its got nowt to do with the team, manager, players around him, etc, since as mentioned, his dire form for us is exactly what I saw for Chelsea for at least 1 and a half seasons prior to us signing him, except that it was hidden better in a title challenging side. At this point in time, hes an average squad player who is by no means top class and is purely living off reputation. I think you have alot of faith in players who had their best years several seasons ago, since youve held the same stance with Bowyer, Smith and Duff too, players who havent performed well for a few seasons now - maybe thats commendable since when they played well they were good players, but on the other hand I think thats too much faith to be putting in players who are giving no indication at all of turning back the clock.