Mick

You'll not win anything with a team of 11 James Milners. :

We'll see.

Would anybody back the loans on top of the debt that the club already carries? Gates are falling and a lot of people might get turned off by the thought of Shepherd going it alone.

Keep HTT well away from the delete button, no more "I wonder what this does."

It's quite funny that Shepherd blames something that has been going on since June for all of the clubs ill's, it's just propaganda from him in his attempt to save face.

Vicky, Try as much as you like but you'll never manage to compete against someone to whom it comes naturally. He wasn't trying to compete with you, you're safe.

Was he any relation to Keegan?

John Craggs?

Very shortsighted. Sure we probobly could have bought a cheaper striker but I don't think we could have bought a cheaper striker that is proven in the CL, is only 22 and still has his best days in front of him. Oba is not the complete player right now but in a few years he will be. He may not fire us into Europe on his own now but when wehave built up the rest of the squad in a few years I'm sure we will be very thankful we have signed him. As for Duff I have no doubts he will come good. Sure he has lacked form and been unlucky recently with injuries but when he does get back i'm sure he will give us a massive boost. Do you really think we need a forward that is proven in the CL? Nobody can really complain about Martins, we'd still be in the bottom 3 without his goals. What Duff might or might not do in the future isn't helping now and that's a problem for us because we need all of our players working on the pitch. Boumsong may become a good player in the future, that doesn't get away from him being rubbish while here and it doesn't make Souness a better manager if he does become a better player. I know using Boumsong is a poor example, it gets the point across. bluebiggrin.gif

Last season when Roeder did well he had no pressure on him and played people in the positions in which they were comfortable, he hasn't done that this season, partly due to injuries, partly due to him and his blue eyed boys. He has players who will get a game regardless of form, they are straight in the team when fit. He bought Duff for a bargain but we didn't need him in the first place as we have plenty of cover on the left, at least plenty who would have played at least as well as Duff has done. That £5 million could have been spent on areas of the team that needed the money spending on it more. N'Zogbia has not been a anything like the player he was last season, my guess is that it's down to us buying a player like Duff and that's probably knocked the stuffing out of N'Zogbia because his confidence seems to have gone. This could just be part of the learning process for him, I doubt it. He comes across as a very moody/deep person, somebody who needs to feel wanted, a bit like Ginola and Robert, when they were confident, they were as good as anybody, when they seemed to be in a rut they were passengers during games. I think Roeder has weakened our teams attacking ability by losing the Zog that ripped teams apart last season and didn't fear any midfielder or defender, he just ran at them and usually got in a shot or pass. I’ve heard plenty of people saying Luque hasn’t got heart, that’s total bollocks, he’s got a lot in common with the flair French players we’ve had at the club, he needs to play with confidence but has never been able to do so. Firstly he had a terrible injury then has never been given a run of games and for me that’s crap because we’ve invested £9.5 million and never given him a chance, we’re robbing ourselves because we’ll be at least £6 million down if we sell him, I think we’ll be lucky to get £3 million for him if we manage to off-load him and he’ll probably go on to become a good player again if given the chance. The daft thing is that we’re playing untried kids when we’ve got him at the club, we’re not playing 1 or 2 kids, we’re playing far too many for far too long because of our injuries so the kids have nowhere to hide during a game and they’ll pay for it, they’ll lose all confidence if things go to badly for them, we could see that happening yesterday to Pattison who has done OK when coming into an experienced team. Roeder has failed in the use of the last transfer window although not totally, I'll give him credit for Martins, without him we'd be totally knackered and I'll give him credit for Sibierski who has done much better than I expected but I don't think he's as good as some people think, for a free transfer he's done well. Duff is a good player who hasn't performed and wasn't needed, Rossi coming here was a joke, so was Bernard and to a certain extent, so was Pav because we released Caig and then replaced him with an old man in football terms, keepers might not have to run around all day but they need reflexes which do slow with age. Roeder had a hard job taking over from Souness, it was going to be hard for anybody but that's no excuse for what he does with transfer windows, he's been given money and done with it what he's wanted, as far as we know. I gave Roeder credit for not using injuries as an excuse last week, within a week he’s tried it in a roundabout sort of way when commenting on other managers moaning about the injuries they have. Roeder seems a nice person but he also appears to lack backbone and comes across to me as being very indecisive which is dangerous in a fast moving game, he appears to not know who to bring off the bench and when to do it. He also tries to explain his reason for his indecision as him wanting to get things right all of the time, sorry Glenn, you need to act quickly in a game that’s played at the pace of the Premiership or it’ll pass you by and it does. I don’t think Roeder is a natural manager so has to think things out for far too long, he can’t make decisions naturally and that is a massive problem for a manager in a 90 minute game that’s played at pace, games change within a blink of an eye. He's better than Souness, nobody could really say that he isn't. I would say that it's close between the two on ability, Roeder gets the nod for being a nicer person, somebody you could probably see as a friend, that could also be a part of his failings, sometimes you have to be a bastard to people who work for you so that you can get the best out of them, you dangle the carrot and then use the stick if the carrot fails to bring about the right response. I think Roeder will do this with some players but not with others, he should treat them all the same.

This isn't a knee-jerk reaction, Roeder is a nicer version of Souness and makes all of the same mistakes except for two, he doesn't publicly fall out with players and so far hasn't wasted the clubs money.

Another quality thread, everybody in the office now knows what I'm doing.

:roll: The Oliver article looks like the excuses are being made early.

bluelaugh.gif bluelaugh.gif bluelaugh.gif bluelaugh.gif This has got to be one of the most laughable threads ever, FACT. I didn't think such a bitch-fest could become so funny. I'm getting dirty looks at work while reading some of these quoted posts, I'm struggling to see a single word in some of them. This must qualify for the Hall of Fame.

Checking to see where Feyenoord are playing this weekend.

They'll need dropping sooner or later to give them a rest from the pressure, I don't mind that happening if it's for that reason and to allow them to recharge batteries. They'll have good and bad days and will need protecting from time to time. I hope they don't dissapear altogether once the older players return.

Whatever the reason for the kids doing well, long may it continue. They'll be getting paid pennies and they're saving our season, brilliant.

How long was Roeder at the Academy? How many kids did he predict would come through to the first team soon after he became manager?

First-half diagnosis? End to end football, Man U could have scored 10, we could have probably scored 5. Second-half diagnosis? The goal so early probably helped us as they didn't seem to go for it as much as the first half. Full-time diagnosis? A point that we probably deserved but could have easily lost, I thought they were playing like we did under Keegan. They could have scored a lot more and could have let a few more in. Star man for United? Nobby, he played too high up the field in the first half but his header off the line was crucial. Worst United player? Probably Martins, he set the first goal up although they should never have had the ball for so long. Opposition comment? I hope they go on to win the title, they are far more positive than Chelsea. Toon-pros? A point more than expected, we deserved it for not giving up. Toon-cons? I still think we're only 90 minutes away from our next defeat. Post-match feelings? Over the moon.

The Souness record after Rangers. Souness took over Liverpool who were by far the best team in England and had been for years, his four years were the most barren they'd had since Shankley took over, he won one FA Cup. He gave them the worst league position they'd had for 30 years. He went to Turkey and as far as I'm aware, he won one Turkish Cup and one Turkish Super Cup, probably like our FA and League Cups. Galatasaray had won the league both sides of Souness, they won it in 94 and 97, Souness was at the club between 95 & 96, to be fair to him they do seem to have a different manager every year or two. Next stop for Souness was Southampton where he resigned because he fell out with his chairman, no idea why. While at Southampton he brought some great players to our country, who would forget Ali Dia? Next Turin, he was sacked after 4 or 5 months. Benfica, 2 years and the sack, won nothing and bought some right shite for the club. Blackburn came next, he did get them promoted, won a League Cup and into Europe but left with them sitting below us in the league and looking certainties to go down. He fell out with players and the recovery they made once he'd gone was proof of exactly what effect Souness was having on his team.

They need more forwards. bluebiggrin.gif

I've updated my signature. bluebiggrin.gif

You can ignore this if you want, Souness was a f***ing shite appointment, both on paper and in reality, nothing reasonable about it at all. I'm amazed that you've come out with that one, think before you type.

Aye mate, and who will be responsible for that failure should it happen? Abramovich for backing Mourinho or Mourinho for not getting it right? Or is it just one of those things where there are so few trophies and no matter what happens you always need a bit of luck? Mourinho has already won a trophy. If he had appointed Mourinho and he didn't win anything before f***ing up, it'd be Abramovich's fault. Boring as F***, tbh. I expected better from you, even though we don't agree I know you're not stupid. Is that your reply? Abramovich has appointed a manager that has won him trophies. This confirms that Roman has appointed a manager capable of winning him trophies therefore he has done his job correctly. If it goes pearshaped from there it's Abramovich's job to either keep faith with him or replace him with a manager to take the club forward. If Abramovich decided to keep faith and it didn't work out, then it would be his fault. If he decided enough was enough and appointed Souness and Chelsea won nothing and finished 14th, it'd surely be his own fault? Check-mate. bluebiggrin.gif

Oh well, Roeder is STILL the man for this Newcastle Utd bluesigh.gif We need SHEFFIELD UNITED to score and get a draw. How sad. The last thing we really want is for Sheffield to get a goal, if they get one then they could go on to win. Well yes, but we could do for everyone to draw IMO. You got your wish. bluebiggrin.gif