STM

Can't really argue with that. I don't believe Martins to be injury prone player, so lets see if he can find his scoring boots. Him and Sibierski might as well get a partnership.

What guts me the most is that Sibierski is over 30. Had we signed him for that price when he was 26 i'd love him but now i feel he can only be a stop gap. Has he signed a two year contract with us? For once Roeder got this transfer spot on. Keep us the good work!

At least we can go there and relax knowing we are through. Lets not do anything rash like fly into challenges or get needless bookings. We should just pass it about and try and find some form. Patterson, Huntington and O'Brien will have a freshness about them, which will not allow the team to do the easy thing and sit back. Combined with Luque who has something to prove we should provide enough. If not we can always bring on Martins, who looked dangerous against pompey. No need to risk Dyer. Given Taylor Bramble Huntington Ramage Butt Patterson Solano O'Brien Le Sib Luque Subs: Harper Carr Emre Martins N'Zogbia Whoever else is fit an eligible

Scottish? Not because they have a different style of play but simply because they aren't good enough.

Simple defender, i'd take him.

So was Borowski..... i believe. Think Neuville was born in Beligium or somewhere different to germany.

Prem: Schmeichel Neville Adams Terry Cole Keane Viera Cantona Giggs Shearer Henry Toon: Given Barton Woodgate Albert Bez Speed Nobby Lee Beardo Ferdinand Shearer

Why not Zoggy left back and Luque on the left wing? I suspect Roeder mite try that as he can play Martins and Sibierski up front!

Why are people comparing Parker and Carrick? Apart from the fact they arte central midfielders they are completely different. Long since he day that a football team was made up of a "typical" defensive midfielder, who's sole job was to break up the oppositions attacks with countless bone crunching tackles ala Keane, Gattuso or Parker in our case. Neither do they have the typical attacking midfielder accompaning him who gets beyond the strikers and general creates all of the teams attacking play i.e Cahill or Scholes. Don't get me wrong this type of play still exists but because of the changing world of football, teams have learned how to play against this set up. These days we are seeing a new sort of Midfielder. One who is a mix of both and generally uses a combination of defensive "positional" play and a passing attacking style. The best examples of this are Patrick Viera, Fabregas and Andrea Pirlo, this is the bracket that Carrick would go in. The problem Alex ferguson is having is the type of player to play along side him. I believe he is un sure whether to play an old fashioned attacking midfielder or the old fashioned defensive midfielder. I think his preference would be to play a Parker or an OWEN HARGREAVES along side him as playing these two types has worked for many other teams Arsenal (Gilberto and Fabregas), Liverpool (Sissoko and Alonso), Milan (Gattuso and Pirlo). However, he doesn't have a natural one, hense his links with Hargreaves. It's my opinion that Carrick would improve vastly alongside a capable defensive midfield tackler such as Hargreaves.

I was happy that we got a fee for Speed, that's the natural reaction when you get rid of a player of his age. He was a great player and a great servent of this club. However, in this game it is important that you keep on top of things and replace important players. We signed Kluivert for free in an attempt to replace Shearer in a transitional period over that attrocious year. What we should have done was kept Speed for one more year or signed a replacement for him a year earlier and had a "transitional season" for him. Getting rid of Speed wasn't the problem...... replacing him was.

Bridge 4m Upson 2.5m Nolan or Cahill 7m Viduka 500k = 15m Bramble out

Whilst we have striker problems, Dyer should be played in the hole behind Martins. When we have someone else who can play up front he should slot in alongside Parker. So long as Parker stays disciplined like he did at the end of last season. All i know is that Dyer has to be in our team when fit and we still need a midfield that can make late runs into the box like Cahill or Nolan.

It shocks me that so many people would not offer Moore a new contract! The guys been our only consisently solid defender. fair enough if people see him as a back up to the first team but surely he's done enough to warrent a place in our squad. It's not about replacing him, it's about building a squad an using useful players like him to bring on the youngsters. On the other hand, Bramble should be released as he has shown no evidence of his ability to cut out his mistakes on a consistant basis. If he is offered a new contract, i hope to god it is because we plan on recouping a transfer fee.

If we are going to play 3 at the back i'd like to see: Given Ramage Bramble Taylor Milner Emre Butt N'Zogbia Parker Sibierski Martins I'd love to see Patterson get a game. Still no sign of Bernard? Why have him on our books?

Given Taylor Ramage Bramble Duff Butt Parker Milner N'Zogbia Sibierski Martins Lets be conservative. Spaniards play possesion football so lets be patient and play them at their own game. Martins and Sibierski should give us enough aerialy so we should use the flanks and get crosses in. It's vital that Parker and co get in their faces. Fancy Martins to bag a couple and us to turn a corner. 2-0

I'd keep Moore as a back up centre half. He's been our best defender since Woodgate and has been great asset to our back four. One of Greame Souness' only successes. Nobby will always be a good player to have at the club. He can offer so much to our young players on technique and proffesionalism. Hopefully, he will be offered another year at the club..... as a back up. We should really be looking to replace Sibierski. He's been a good pro and come up with a couple of goals for the cause but he still isn't of the quality we need at the club. I say we review the situation at the end of the year. I wish Bramble could perform consistently at the level he did yesterday but long since the day that i have any confidence of him doing so. He should be offloaded in january and replaced by Upson.

Who else in our team provides the threat he does? It boils down this: we hardly ever score. Our defence isn't as terrible as people would have you believe, but if we never score, the goals we concede are that much more costly. It may be a bitter pill to swallow for some given his past record/antics, but we do need Dyer right now. It's a team game, oui, but his value to the team at this moment in time outweighs any other at the club IMO including the Givens who can be replaced [e.g by Kruls ]... Dyer's role in the team is one only he can perform. It's an essential role for us to stay up, and our biggest weakness in his absence. Agreed.

because? I didn't see any of the game so i can't really argue against your comment but it does seem that pretty much every other poster who did see the game thinks the exact opposite Martins may not of had much end product (which most wouldn't have one their own) but lazy? Whta a load of shite! did he chase all over the pitch like dyer did?! and obviously since everyone else who saw the game disagrees with me im wrong?! as for much end product?! try none Yes. He just didn't drop as deep as Dyer and get involved with the midfield.

Oh dear. Classic. Why is it when people on this board disagree with something they fail to come up with reasons? Fair enough if you think i'm talking shite. Elaborate? Care to go first on why you think a player with a sadly extremely unreliable fitness record is the saviour of our season after a single game and goal? That's more like it! I think Dyer gives us something that no other player has gave us consistently throughout a match..... energy. So far this season we have looked lethargic and as if we have had one less man on the pitch. As long as Dyer is on the pitch, i feel there is a chance we will score. He opens the game up and plays others into the game. Against Man City he cam on and looked a different level of player, he did the same again today. Should he stay fit, i highley doubt he will get relegated.

because? I didn't see any of the game so i can't really argue against your comment but it does seem that pretty much every other poster who did see the game thinks the exact opposite Martins may not of had much end product (which most wouldn't have one their own) but lazy? Whta a load of shite!

Oh dear. Classic. Why is it when people on this board disagree with something they fail to come up with reasons? Fair enough if you think i'm talking shite. Elaborate?

Arsenal have no cutting edge whatsoever, if they did then we would have been spanked. Martins, Given and Dyer were impressive. I can't critisise the back four either, the put in a dogged performance and deserve their place next week. The only way we were going to get anthing our of this game was if we played like we did. Given- 10 Unbelieveable performance, Harper who? Taylor- 6.5 Constantly let down by Nobby on the right flank but did his job. At fault for the foul whgich led to the goal. Moore- 6.5 Led the back four well. Bramble- 7 We got titan rather than titarse today but how long before his next mistake. Ramage- 7 Playing out of position..... again. Future captain of the club.... mark my words. Nobby- 5 Passing was fine as usual but let us down defensively. Parker- 6 Gave the ball away far too often for our captain, below par against a good team. Butt- 6 Gave it his all. Offered something different to Emre. Duff- 6 Again, gave his all but to little avail in the attacking sense. Dyer- 9 Saviour of our season tbh. Kept the ball well and gave us a good goal on the counter. Martins- 8 A good outlet. Formed a decent partnership with Dyer.

yea i heard he was having an argument with martins over who was faster, apparently it got a bit out ov hand and martins walloped him blueyes.gif I reckon Dyer is faster like.

Not specific to the toon but this one had me in stitches at the weekend................... The're here, the're there, the're everyfukin where empty seats, empty seats.

Shits now are great. Easy to slip out.