tmonkey

To answer the question you have posed, yes, I would, in a heartbeat. Therell hopefully be no Shepherd, and no Shearer, to stop him, so why not? Hes probably reaching a more mature age as well, who knows. If Butt can redeem himself in the eyes of the fans purely by some solid performances, even Dyer has been forgiven after spitting in the face of a legend like Sir Bobby and shitting on the captains armband - so you can be sure that popularity wont be a problem with Bellamy.

Martins vs Spurs was stunning.

Kaka is the only one really. The rest are good but their time has been up. Bollocks; Pirlo was quality tonight as was Nesta before he went off. I agree that a lot of their players are past it to some extent but to say they're a s*** team is daft imo. Milan would trounce us. Nesta is the dogs bollocks. Insanely good centreback, but then everyone knows this, so his performances get ignored. A "Great tackle, ah its Nesta, oh well its expected from him, make that a decent tackle then because its Nesta" type mentality. As a side note, I like how our commentators are always the opposite with Carragher, who imo gets even more praise then defenders who are considerably better than him, eg Terry Ferdinand Woodgate Vidic etc - whenever Carragher does something decent, it seems as though its their mission to make sure the viewers know that hes the best thing since sliced bread. The sort of over exaggerated praise you give to retarded kids who suprisingly exceed your expectations.

Bit harsh on Benitez. The first goal was a fluke, nothing that could have been done about that, and his tactics were pretty sound, with Milan being dominated the entire match by a bunch of mostly mid table Premiership players who collectively form a strong side. The second goal was clearly only a result of them pushing up. Maybe there can be complaints about the substitutions, but then thats different to saying he got it wrong right from the start. And lets face it, hes taken an upper mid table Premiership side full of said average players to two CL finals, winning one, and an FA Cup in between, on top of establishing them permanently as a top 4 club with the potential to challenge for the title.

Strange that they would want to replace Evra in the first place.

Far more of a mercenary than Anelka is. Difference is he engineers his moves smartly and not in public.

Ballack Lampard Mikel Essien Makelele Diarra Sidwell 6 players fighting for 3 positions. On paper, that completes Jose's target of 2 players for every position. Honestly think this move has been done with a view to shipping him out a season or two later for a decent profit. The theory being that that way, both the player and Chelsea end up winners: - Sidwell gets a few winners medals that he probably wouldnt get elsewhere so something nice for him to look at when he retires. Probably an England callup in a useless friendly because he plays for one of the big boys now. Gets good coaching so will improve slightly, gets to look good in the odd games he gets selected. Will no doubt recieve a nice wage and large signing on fee, which sets him up nicely when it comes to negotiating his wage at the next club. - Chelsea get decent backup for a season or two, sign a domestic player which is always popular with the fans and another step away from the Arsenal style all-foreign-eleven, get to make a nice profit as his value will probably slightly inflate when as mentioned he gets the odd runout for England, or gets to look good in the odd games he plays (or even better, if he gets a run in the side). Or maybe he is seriously going to get a realistic shot at first team football there. Ballack to be sold, Essien to be played as a right back, etc etc.

Henry's basic game at the same age wasnt as hit and miss as Martins' is though, even when Henry was struggling. I think the concerns about Martins are sound. Its not about adapting, or settling - its the fact that his decision making and basic movement can be really, really poor at times. Hate to bang on about him, but look at Tevez as an example. Earlier on in the season, he was completely off form compared to what he is now. He hadnt settled, he hadnt adjusted, first season in the Premiership, young, wasnt scoring, team playing badly, etc etc. But his basic game was still very good. His first touch, control, movement, intelligence on the ball, decision making - it was all there, and all at a good standard, just the positioning, knowledge of how to play against Premiership defenders, luck, and to an extent confidence, were all missing. Theres a difference in the adjusting/settling Martins needs to make compared to those of players who have gone on to be top forwards in this league whilst struggling at the start. Not to say he wont sort it out, he might and he can easily go on to be a top, top player like eg Eto'o (who even today is still hit and miss and often a "wild" player, although his composure has gone up tenfold in recent years). But the concerns are vaild - if Martins doesnt improve these aspects of his game, then hes not someone you can build around.

Where did i said he didnt Since Owen is nufc player he never had hamstring injuries and groin injuries He had broken foot and ruptured anterior cruciate knee ligament. From this can you assume he is injury prone? Owen played something like 6-8 games in his first half season here, before he broke any bones. Thats 6-8 games out of ~30 games before he clashed into lard boy Robinson.

Ronaldo ? No. he didn't. Rooney did though. 8) That the fat lad who defenders let go because they know his weight will see him running into the keeper everytime hes through? no, its the fat lad who's one of the quickest and strongest players in the premiership, along with having supreme talent and a great attitude on the field. So its the same fat lad were talking about. The one who is quick, strong, talented, works hard, but whos weight/momentum results in him regularly running the ball into incoming keepers. In all seriousness, he just needs to tweak small amounts of his game to be a player who is often unstoppable unless hes surrounded by 3 of the opposition. That slightly heavy touch when he beats the last defender, and that slight amount of lift when he powers a shot in at goal from range. has the perfect player ever existed ? Is he as good as Maradona, will he be as good as Maradona ? One thing is for certain, if Gazza had signed for Newcastle instead of manure, or even better if NUFC had had a half decent club with a half decent board of directors at the time ..... We sold Gazza to sign Pele. Nowt wrong with that move. So what if Pele was 56 by that time and we already have 10 strikers in the squad and we paid 3 times the asking price? We sign top players, and intelligent boards sign players based on reputation, because thats what big clubs do.

Ronaldo ? No. he didn't. Rooney did though. 8) That the fat lad who defenders let go because they know his weight will see him running into the keeper everytime hes through? no, its the fat lad who's one of the quickest and strongest players in the premiership, along with having supreme talent and a great attitude on the field. So its the same fat lad were talking about. The one who is quick, strong, talented, works hard, but whos weight/momentum results in him regularly running the ball into incoming keepers. In all seriousness, he just needs to tweak small amounts of his game to be a player who is often unstoppable unless hes surrounded by 3 of the opposition. That slightly heavy touch when he beats the last defender, and that slight amount of lift when he powers a shot in at goal from range.

Ronaldo ? No. he didn't. Rooney did though. 8) That the fat lad who defenders let go because they know his weight will see him running into the keeper everytime hes through?

Theres the arguement though that theres no need to make them captain. Players who are leaders on the pitch will lead regardless of whether theyre wearing the armband or not. Hence, why many managers often use the armband to keep their best player happy and dedicated to the club.

You never know whats going to happen really, but is it not safe to say that Butt & Solano are consistant enough performers and in general you wouldnt want them out the team too much? Aye, Butt would be a good captain if we knew for certain hed continue his form, but given his age I think its a moderate gamble, as to be brutally honest, hes not good enough a player that if there were a dip in form, he wouldnt be ousted from the team by eg Parker, Emre, etc. Same with Nobby, who despite overall good form, showed some weaknesses in his game and some piss poor passing at times - I personally wouldnt be confident about them maintaining their form throughout all of next season. Just think it would be better if they werent in the positon of being club captain and therefore virtually undroppable.

Owen would be my choice if he were to stay, for three reasons: - Only outfield player we have who will always start when fit, regardless of form. Giving the likes of Butt, Parker, Emre, Dyer, Nobby, etc, the captaincy would be pointless as all of them could and should be dropped if in poor form. They should be considered squad players, able to be rotated - making one of them captain would just make it needlessly hard to drop them. - Tons of experience. European player of the year, top international forward, etc. - Like Beckham being handed the captaincy, it could be a good political move. Ie, maybe making Owen captain will motivate him to stay at the club, or to take us more seriously than he previously did (no fannying around here, his priority was to be in top shape for England/WC, and to use us as a stepping stone to a CL club). Obviously, im ignoring the downsides, ie of him not being a natural leader, acting like a mercenary twat at the moment, clearly wanting out, regularly being injured (might change under Allardyce, who knows), etc. But I do think the dishing out of the captains armband is a good chance to hand a psychological advantage to a player who needs it. As an example, maybe Taylor would be another choice? Granted hes too young and has alot to learn, but maybe this would be the big incentive he needs to push him onto the right road? And it also needs to be questioned if a natural leader needs to be captain anyway. Theyll still lead on the pitch regardless of whether they have a piece of cloth around their arm or not - Woodgate was a big leader for us on the pitch when he was here, it didnt matter that Shearer had the armband, he still controlled and inspired those around him. So I vote for a "political" captain to be appointed, prefferably Owen. And definately not Dyer, which is clearly what Roeder tried to do (linked to Spurs, reportedly unhappy, so Roeder gives him the armband in the next game).

What if I cant get over it? What do I do then? And suicide isnt an option. Wouldnt you agree though, that when hes been up front, hes been shiite, but when hes been played as a left winger, hes been moderately decent. Put in some top crosses from that flank.

He is strong, looks to organise and lead, is good in the tackle, quite good in the air and not too bad with the ball at his feet. Also isn't bad in the opposition box. right so he's decent in the air, not horrendous with the ball, decent in the tackle and is strong (no often you see then in a CB) massively massively overrated I remember John Terry at a similar age. Slightly better certainly, but then again he was playing alongside the likes of Desailly, Lebouf, Gallas, etc, top class international centrebacks, leaders of women as well as men. Only top class international defender weve had in the past decade has been Woodgate, and that was when Taylor was still a toddler.

Right so he's got all the basics to become a top defender. What's the problem? He's still got another 5 years learning the game before he reaches his peak. 10 before he should reach his peak tbh Not sure about that one mind... At 31 he'll have the experience and should be reading the game much better than he does now. However, after 11 seasons in the physically hardest league in the world, his legs will probably have gone. Any pace he may have had to get him out of trouble will have gone too. It's not his fault but (potentially) 400 games down the line - he'll be on the way down, sadly. Defenders peak late 20s to early 30s tbh. He has many attributes which could lead to him becoming a solid center-back for NUFC. If you look at his rivals in the u21's: Anton Ferdinand, Liam Ridgewell etc they all are error prone as each other. Experience will boost his decision making and good training could mould him into a good defender. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree then! I think he'll be f***** physically in 10 years time. He'll be able to read the game but won't be capable of influencing it. Could be wrong and I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens. £10 bet his legs will stay. Not accounting for inflation/deflation, purchase power, etc. Thread bookmarked and ready to be bumped in a decade if you agree to the bet. PS, this is not an offer, it is an invitation to an offer.

Awful first touch, all speed no control, some talent but no composure, attention-whore hairstyle whilst not being that good a footballer - despite all this, what makes you come to that conclusion?

Anelka is the only Bolton player I would want us to pay "serious" money for, as hes the only one who I would say is top 6 or top 4 calibre. The rest (eg Diouf, Nolan, et al) can be decent, effective when on form, above average when the form lasts, etc etc, but arent really that talented or good in the first place. This is what Big Sam is great at, taking average players with "some" talent and getting the best out of them in his system, but given our resources, I would hope we could attract above average players with more potential or ability than the ones he had at his disposal at Bolton. If Diouf is going for cheap however, its a different matter.

So it wasnt Freddy Shepherd in his car moaning at Owen's agents trying to engineer a move, it was the papers!

That grin when the reporter asked him about long ball football at Bolton - postively evil. Looked like Joker from the first Batman movie. http://www.geocities.com/~talotta/Batman/Batman3.jpg "You saying we played long ball football?" *Reporter goes quiet*

Dyer is a good footballer who has no natural position, and whichever position you put him in, he has some sort of weakness that makes him unsuitable for said position. - Has no distribution so unsuitable for central midfield. - Dislikes playing out wide, wants to be "involved" so drifts out of position, cannot cross, doesnt know how to play as either a direct winger or a free role wide attacker, all making him unsuitable as a winger. - Has no range of finishing (can only pass it into the net), drops extremely deep to pick the ball up isolating his strike partner, has no attacking instincts, is rarely on the end of a cross. In short, hes never a forward. Good player, and we shouldnt be getting rid of our better ones as hes another "talented" player who when on form sets us apart from the other mid table and below no-hopers, but on top of not having a position in the team, hes also a crock with a poor attitude and on massive wages. Ged rid.

Erm no its not. Its the end of the story because he says it is. End of.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/04/28/sfnfro28.xml I dont think anyone knows what the real deal is with both players' contracts. Hence the Wigan chairman wanting evidence that the contract with the third party was torn up, as West Ham have declared. Its certainly confusing.