tmonkey

He's just a realist, I agree with what he said above and pretty much everything else he says. Emre is so overrated on here, and even more so since he's been injured/out the team. He's scored 4 goals in 58 games for us, thats rubbish for this so called creative midfielder. I bet his assist count isn't much better either. He has played under two of the worst managers in christendom and often in a depleated team and 20 yards too deep. True, but you don't see people excusing Scott Parker because he's played under s*** managers. Because Parker doesnt look like he has the ability to play alot better in a team playing good football. Emre does in many of our opinions, hes got the technical ability but hes playing the wrong role in a shiite team. Its near impossible imagining Parker playing for Arsenal or AC Milan or someone similar, he doesnt have the required technical ability, but with Emre its feasible, as is the thought that he would play alot better in those teams because he has the ability to do so. This excuse is also used for Duff, because likewise, he has the ability to play alot better in a better team. Well, "had" would be the more accurate word to use as opposed to "has".

I just can't understand how 50000 can see it's a s**t combination but the man picking the team can't!! Still cant understand how 62 million saw Souness as a shiite wanker cunt of a manager, yet our main man couldnt.

Iniesta would be a good replacement. As would Xavi. We could attract them here as Barcelona dont have their own hotel and apartment blocks situated next to the club.

...is what Souness said to Freddy, who fell for it.

A day after the summer transfer window shuts, after weve lost 3 out of our opening 4 games, a continuation of the shiite form from the end of the previous season.

Selling Woodgate was the right thing to do, squandering the money from his sale was bordering on criminal. It was the right thing to do only if we had a replacement of similar quality lined up. We didnt. Ultimately, the sale has proven to be a pointless one - we're the ones who have lost out. We havent had a decent centreback during the time hes been crocked for Madrid, and we still dont have one whilst hes played practically most of the season and been a rock for a shiite team. We dont have the money either.

I still maintain selling Woody was a mistake, even though he didnt play for practically 2 years after leaving. We blew the 13million, theres no two ways about it. Boumsong, Faye, Babayaro, all dreadful buys, and the little weve recouped, weve blown on Duff. And now, we have pratically no chance of getting a centreback anywhere near as good as Woodgate. Hes world class, or at the very very least, almost world class. Waiting a few years for him to get fit would have been worth the wait. Instead, we have nothing. Neither a good defender, nor money in the bank. Nothing. What a waste.

Hector Cuper. Unemployed Argie manager who built domestic and CL challenging sides at Valencia and Inter. Saved bankrupt Mallorca from the drop when they were dead and buried, that was a miracle he pulled off given how bad they were and the finances. Would probably know a few bargains playing in South America, knows the Spanish and Italian markets well, would probably be able to attract Argentinian players (lots of talent, low prices) - quite a few positives there from appointing him. Some more on his career: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Cuper Obviously a risk and I wouldnt want us to bring him in right now, having no experience in the Premiership, but at least hes someone with a pretty good track record - much rather give him funds to build a team rather than the likes of Pardew, Roeder, etc. At least he has experience of taking teams to where we want to get to. Rumoured to have applied for the job when Sir Bobby was sacked, doesnt seem to have anyone interested in him because hes got the choker tag, so without a doubt imo someone wed get if we approached him. But obviously we wont, because hes a foreigner.

Not hard when your competition is Parker, Dyer and Butt, mind. True, but then itd be silly to drop or sell him when hes one of the few players we have capable of controlling a football with any sort of technique and passing it accurately. Even Nobby's passing has gone downhill recently. The central midfield is just a mess when hes not playing, nothing comes out of it. At least when hes playing we get some form of control and possession from that area of the pitch. He has his faults, pisses me off when he stands around in a deep position (probably Glenn's tactic in having him sitting in front of the defence), but his positives far outweight his negatives because of the simple difference he makes by wanting the ball and looking to keep possession. If he didnt have any inconsistencies in his game, hed probably be playing for a CL side as a regular/squad player. That might turn out to be the case anyway if he moves on in the summer, but itd be nothing but frustrating if he left with us only ever giving him a handful of games in a true attacking midfield role, where more often than not hes looked like being a class act.

Good player with often frustrating consistency problems. Regardless, hes head and shoulders above the rest of our other central midfielders.

Wheres Duff?

And thats where the manager earns his corn. Its the job of the manager to motivate the players, and if he feels he doesnt have the players who will respond to him, to then bring in ones that he thinks will. Hes failed in both aspects. He takes the most responsibility with regards to the performance - this is what hes employed to do. If hes shit tactically, and shit in the transfer market, the least we can expect is him to be able to motivate his players - otherwise, why the hell is he in the job? A few of us said this about Roeder a while ago - he has no motivational skills, expecially last season when he was caretaker apart from the first game. Far too many games weve come out with absolutely no urgency, determination or hunger, except when weve played a good side and the players have motivated themselves. Roeder does fuck all motivationally, the ONLY thing he seems to be able to do is give his players a bollocking at half time, and thats normally been the only way weve had a response. Prime example last season was the derby against Sunderland. We came out for the first half looking as though we couldnt give a shit, and it took a 1-0 deficit against the Premiership's worst ever side for Roeder to get a response from his players.

We wont get relegated imo. We're as inconsistent as all of the teams we have left to play, bar Chelsea. Arsenal at home we regularly seem to get some joy from, especially with the "stick it up them" tactics we employ against them specifically, and its also a game where the players will motivate themselves because its against a top team. Chelsea were almost certain to lose imo, despite 3 wins in 3 home games in the past 2 years - theyre going for the title this time, whereas with practically all of our previous wins they simply werent bothering (FA Cup Mourinho was pissed at the time with the CL fixtures and saying he wouldnt take the FA Cup seriously, 2 x league games were at the end of the season with the title wrapped up for Chelsea, ie nothing to play for, and both times they played exactly like that). We'll also win at least one of those away games, and draw several other games as well. Probably win as many as we lose. Its worrying, yes, but again, the rest of the Premiership is just as shiite as us outside the top 5/6, with similarly shiite managers.

Since the league was reduced to 20 teams, the only club to go down with 42 points was West Ham. Guess who was managing them at the time. I think I know the answer. If we are really struggling no doubt Owen's return will get pushed forward. Then when he gets crocked again, we can blame bad luck - again. Great plan!

Brown is a better version of Bramble. An improvement certainly, not a long ball elephant like Bramble is nor will he make the numerous slash/slices that Bramble makes, but hes still a ball watcher who makes rash decisions/challenges when trying to make up lost ground - not what we should be looking for. Especially considering the guy is a crock. If were going to sign a crock, at least let it be a top class one, ie Woodgate, and sign good cover on top to compensate.

If anything, their expectations are too low because theyve been around when the club was tiny and shiite, and their opinions should be ignored because theyre not in touch with modern football and the runnings of a successful modern football club, which has clearly moved on from just appointing your local manager and giving him money to spend. These people think its good to appoint managers like Dalglish and Roeder whilst the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool are appointing your Wenger's and Benitez's - football has moved on, they havent. Of course, im just playing devils advocate here, I dont think anyone's opinion is more valid than the next since opinions, intelligence, perspective, expectations will all be different, but its easy to argue that other groups' opinions are less valid just to make your own opinion/agenda seem stronger.

PS, with regards to Gerrard and his inspiring 9 minutes against AC Milan. He was good, and the biggest factor in Pool drawing level, but it needs to be remembered that the season before, Milan nearly crashed out of the Champions League after getting a comfortable lead against Sun Ji Park's PSV, when PSV went all out attack and Milan's defence crumbled. And the season before that, when Luque and his Deportivo side ripped into Milan, knocking them out of the CL with a 4-0 defeat, a result which turned around the 4-1 first leg victory Milan had. Again, good 9 minutes from Gerrard and in a final too, but Ji Park had a great 90 minutes and tore that Milan defence to shreds just by running at them directly from an attacking midfield position, yet noone claims him to be world class. It was a specific problem with that Milan team, its something they have been heavily criticised for (ie a lack of bottle and complacency, despite having all class players). Gerrard is clearly a great player when hes driving at teams from around 30 yards, but how hard is he to stop from doing this when he has no real pace, flair or trickery? There are a fair few good teams that simply wouldnt give him that luxury, moreso at international level, and thats the reason why hes so often been anonymous at higher levels. Granted, there will be moments when he gets the chance to do something, and he can deliver, but thats more the exception to the rule if anything.

Maybe Lampard and Gerrard simply arent good players at international level? I dont see why that cant be the case. Plenty of our lot in this country are happy to rule certain foreign players as "not suited to the style/pace of football in England", so why cant the opposite be the case for certain English players with regards to international football? 'Should Newcastle get Riquelme?' "Nah, hed be shiite in the Premiership, wouldnt handle the pace and having no time on the ball". Neither Lampard nor Gerrard are good for that level imo (whereas the likes of Riquelme are), and the same was the case for Beckham, who if you took away free kicks was utterly useless in all the major tournaments. These are carthorse players, good at thumping the ball with power, accuracy or swerve, but lack good technical ability and close control, and most importantly, comfort on the ball. When up against international teams who have these attributes in abundance, theyre useless - and no wonder, when theyre up against that type of opposition, England are constantly on the back foot because the other team can keep the ball all day long. They dont get the chance to make an impact, they arent afforded the freedom to do so, whereas against lesser teams they are.

Nice to know that you dont have a problem with Roeder, but care to explain what is specifically wrong with the "negative" responses? Dont you agree that its a tad daft to to label two or three "bottlers" when the entire team as a whole bottled it, and none more so than the manager with his ultra negative tactics and zero motivational skills in Alkmaar? Plenty of players had stinkers, some should be moved on because theyve had too many nights like that, but exactly who "bottled" it other than "all of them"? For me, it reads like hes just pinning the blame on two/three players who he knows will be shipped out in the summer. Yes, all managers talk shiite, but when a manager is particularly shiite at the job hes supposed to be doing, and on top of this comes out with bullshit that deflects all blame from himself, there should be no suprise when it pisses people off more then they get pissed off when a top manager talks shiite.

Would Phillipe Albert count? I think he played his entire career out of position, the man had far too much ability for a central defender. Would probably be an anchorman in todays game.

Yep, although we've not go that much to look forward to. At least its something to look forward to. I felt dead inside last weekend in terms of sporting enjoyment, just wished there was a fast forward button to hit and the internationals and all the crap surrounding them would just go away.

FYP. My bad.

England's performance was poor, but hopefully this is the end of Lampard's guaranteed spot in the first team, at least there may be a significant positive from this game. But most importantly - thank God the international games are now over and we can get back to club football.

Opted not to sign for us permanently. Shame really, he was a good centreback. didn't deportivo want him back or they were asking too much ? 4mill was the price iirc, a price we werent willing to match, but the papers also had a few stories saying Helder didnt want to sign for us permanently, he wanted to go back to Spain. Cant remember why, but theres the obvious reasons of failing to settle, fearing an end to his international hopes ala Goma, etc. Goma was another defender who was pretty decent in his time here, not "good" but decent in comparison to players like OBrien, Dabizas, Bramble, etc. Funny how along with Distin and Helder, weve failed to keep some of our better defenders up here for different reasons.

We should go for more South Americans tbh. Nobby and Acuna were absolute bargains, 2mill and 1mill respectively. Can only think of Bassedas being the only South American flop that weve purchased in the past decade or so - a few others were shiite, but they were loans and/or trialists anyway. Bet you theres a whole host of players playing in South America who would turn out to be suprisingly good in this country/league.