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I remember seeing Veloso playing against Man Utd and saying to my mate 'I could do what he's doing right now on the pitch, looks really easy man' but that was probably more to do with how effortless it looked rather than how good I am

Hopefully Edgar gets to start. I think he'll really impress alongside Faye.

I remember KK already mentioning that we need another LB but it read like (from the interview) KK was saying we just need more cover, not necessarily someone to relegate Enrique to the bench. I'd be really pleased if he did that i.e. sign someone pretty young and hungry to back up Enrique. Obviously the kid should be highly rated/quality, but that'd be the way to go imo since it'd be cheaper and wouldn't upset a player who's been in good form recently. It would also leave funds for him to sign players in the key areas of the park (central defence, center mid, striker).

Arsenal v Liverpool starting in a couple of hours. Seems Gerrard and Torres might be rested, but should Wenger rest his stars as well? Have they still got a realistic shot at winning the title or should he rest players like Fabregas and Hleb, who both looked tired on Wednesday, and save them for Tuesday night?

Agreed. And this is not overhyping him or basing it only the past couple of games - I've always thought this about him ever since his first couple of games for the club. Will turn out to be one of Allardyce's best signings.

It's a bad sign that Lawro's predicted us to win.

I have noticed this It's nice though because you feel better about the players, and you know they're feeling better about themselves as well.

I agree with this but would like to see him re-evaluate the situation again come preseason. I think Harper's been alright - better than I expected - but obviously not even close to Given at his best. I also still believe that in time, Given will recover his form if he can regain his confidence regarding his injuries, especially the niggling groin injury which has seemingly shortened his reach (when jumping) as well as his reaction time. But, quite pertinently, I'm pretty sure that an optimistic manager like Keegan will know what to say to help Given recover, unlike the dreary Roeder and Allardyce.

Nihat would be absolute quality. I remember when Souness was here, he was in his last year with Sociedad and we were linked with him for a measley £2m. He would have turned out to be one of our best signings for such a small fee because he's got most of the key attributes you'd want from a striker.

Doyle's shite man. Just because he says something good about us doesn't mean that we should be signing him

I thought Bramble would develop into an England international, thought Jenas would anchor our midfield for his whole career, thought the Speed sale was good business, thought the Butt buy was good business, agreed with the reasons for Bellamy's loan deal to Celtic, and then agreed when he was sold (even though I'm still a massive fan of his). I also thought Luque would be superb ('become our Henry' was what I told my bro ), and I also thought (still do btw) that Emre would excel in a team which plays 'carpet' football. But recently I swear I've been much better.

4 Champions Leage entrants: - Champions, - Runners-up, - Third place, - Fourth place. 3 UEFA Cup entrants: - 5th place, - FA Cup winners (if they're already in, then the runner-up gets it), - League Cup winners (if they're already in, the 6th place team in the league gets it). 1 Intertoto entrant: Highest placed team in the league who applied for entry. Simple enough really

My sneaky £2 bet for Fener to get through this round may still come off...

Voted Martins. He's been involved plenty over the past 3 games and I can see an explosion coming up soon.

mackems.gif I laughed at that as well.

Yeah, I'd say that the fact that they were missing two of their most influential players rubbishes your claim.

What's this shit about deserving it? Fuck off, you deserve what you get. If Man Utd don't win it this year (please god), then they won't have deserved it. Simple as. I hope Man Utd crash and burn at every opportunity and if Totti and Perrotta aren't ready in the second leg, then Messi better be fucking ready when the semis come around.

Totti out, and probably more significantly, Simone Perrotta is out as well. Can't see Roma getting anything out of this game, even though it'd obviously delight me. 2-0 to the scum.

Didn't Valencia spend something like £12m on him? Maybe a bit too expensive for someone like him I think, but then again I haven't seen him on that many occasions. Aye but they cant be overly impressed if they have sent him out on loan. I honestly don't know how good he is but would suggest we could get him for 6-7m. Wiki says Valencia bought him for £17m (!!!) so I don't think there's any chance of him signing for us for a reasonable fee. I wonder whether there's a permanent option in the loan deal with Everton and how much the agreed fee is.

Didn't Valencia spend something like £12m on him? Maybe a bit too expensive for someone like him I think, but then again I haven't seen him on that many occasions.

If someone makes a bid of £10m+, we'd be pretty stupid to refuse it. Decky, you said he's in good form and all that and I agree, and of course he's showing himself to be a good all-round footballer but he's NEVER scored 20 league goals in a season in his career. He's just not a durable player that we can depend on for a whole season. He'll always pick up little niggling injuries and this injury-free run that he's had is his best for something like 4 years - it says a lot about Owen's injury-proneness that 16 games in a row is his best run for 4 years. It's unbelievable that having been called 'one of the best strikers in the world, 'top quality', 'his left foot would cost £30m' (Houllier) and having won the Ballon d'Or, Michael Owen has never scored 20 league goals in one season.

that is so true of this forum

Nah, they'll easily get 5 more points by my reckoning, meaning we'll have to win 4 and draw 2 of our games. Too tough imo but if they fuck up their next 2 games and we beat them at Upton Park then I don't see them getting more than a point in their last 3 games.

We can get better than Arshavin.

Personally I think Fabiano is overrated, and Bridge is still living off the reputation he carved in his good seasons with Southampton and Chelsea. I think Enrique is better and is a more viable long-term option since he's got all the attributes a good fullback needs, and he's shown a marked improvement since Keegan came (no surprise really since he's actually been played!). I'm sure Keegan will encourage him to be more attack-minded in time, which is the only part missing from his game.