Unbelievable

Yes it was Klose, but no, it was not offside..

Fuck me. That should have been a goal..

Fuck me, he scores then cries. Shouldn't have been in the team..

Apparently not..

Not offside that?

Hate to admit it but I love that Germany shirt..

Their number 11 you mean..? Horrible diver though..

Croatia hasn't been as strong as I expected. They will have to up their game in this tournament, or I can see Poland and Germany progress to the quarter finals at their expense..

Austria should have scored at least one before the break with the chances they have created. Same as Switzerland really, they lack the cutting edge going forward..

The guy is definitely class and we are just going to have to live with that unfortunately. He's scored a penalty ffs. He's played football before this match you know?

Could well be right.. 92nd in the world I believe..

Hmm, I see Modric wears no 14 as well. Could he be Cruyff's secret love child..?

Modric always reminds me of a young Cruyff in the way he looks: http://cultureofsoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/cruyff.jpg

Modric scores..

Can be given I think..

Pen for Croatia..

Cool camera position from straight above the centre circle..

Like who? A top player costs >15 million in this market and won't come cheap in wages either. What you are talking about is bringing in a few youngsters who MIGHT make it at this level. For any of them to become the best in the world is a big ask I would think, and that is exactly what Ronaldinho is. Of course Ronaldinho is risky in his own right for different reasons, but his quality is indisputable and I think there would always be takers in the case it wouldn't turn out, because he has phenomenal technique and his a big name for any president of any club to be associated with..

100% correct in my opinion, half a dozen solid players will achieve far more in footballing terms. Finding them however is not always so easy. How exactly? A club can only have 11 players on the pitch at any one time. We are talking about Premiership clubs here, and in the case of Manchester City they already have plenty of good players on 40k a week. A top quality player wins you games you otherwise would't win, and I'm sure most of us realise Ronaldinho is in that bracket, if not one of the best in the world at it. We have plenty of so-called good players on 40k a week and they simply crumble when faced with players of a higher calibre. Trying to bring in players from a level above if they are available and would be willing to come could be the difference between midtable and possibly breaking the top 4, in which case income from Champions League football will offset the spending. Yes, it is a risky strategy, but you don't break into the top 4 from midtable without taking risks anymore unfortunately. We took the risk before under Shepher and it sort of blew up in our face eventually. Now we have a new owner and it is crunch time for him: will he take a risk and invest accordingly or consolidate, which in this case is moving backwards seeing as our competitors aren't fannying about..? wonder how many times this has to be repeated until the message gets through It's quality that counts Yes it is quality that counts, but one single player does not make a team, never has done. They need to get better players across the board, to break into the top 4, not one star player. What happens when he is injured? Top teams all have strength in depth, that in my opinion is the stepping stone to success, not wasting money on a former galactico who is just playing for one last pay packet. Top teams have top players, midtable teams have midtable players. You don't move from midtable to top by buying more "midtable" players. Oh, and to call Ronaldinho a former galatico who is just playing for one last pay packet is very, very premature if you ask me. As I said earlier, he has only just turned 28 and it isn't long ago he was World player of the year in back to back seasons. He's just had a bad season for his standards, partly due to injuries. There is nothing to suggest he will not be amongst the best players in the world for years to come, especially as his game was never about pace or strength. The guy is top class quality, and that's not something you lose overnight..

100% correct in my opinion, half a dozen solid players will achieve far more in footballing terms. Finding them however is not always so easy. How exactly? A club can only have 11 players on the pitch at any one time. We are talking about Premiership clubs here, and in the case of Manchester City they already have plenty of good players on 40k a week. A top quality player wins you games you otherwise would't win, and I'm sure most of us realise Ronaldinho is in that bracket, if not one of the best in the world at it. We have plenty of so-called good players on 40k a week and they simply crumble when faced with players of a higher calibre. Trying to bring in players from a level above if they are available and would be willing to come could be the difference between midtable and possibly breaking the top 4, in which case income from Champions League football will offset the spending. Yes, it is a risky strategy, but you don't break into the top 4 from midtable without taking risks anymore unfortunately. We took the risk before under Shepher and it sort of blew up in our face eventually. Now we have a new owner and it is crunch time for him: will he take a risk and invest accordingly or consolidate, which in this case is moving backwards seeing as our competitors aren't fannying about..?

Ashley and Co have got you all exactly where they want it seems with the braindrain of keeping the wage bill under control and putting in place a sensible scouting approach. Rather than wanting to see the best possible players appear in the black and white shirt the majority of the fans is more concerned with keeping the wage bill neat and tidy and the balance in check. Whilst I admit it is important to be financially intelligent in planning for success and a good scouting team can yield important results, there is no denying the players we put out every week are below par if we (and Ashley) want to achieve our aims. Scouting youngsters is by no means an easy way to success as well. Almost all other clubs do it, so what´s to say we will achieve in attracting the best possible talents in the world to here instead of to the big four or in the first team of their current club? Other clubs that we are in direct competition with are taking risks and spending big, which means we will only fall further behind the ones that succeed if we don´t. Of course some will fail, but you have to be in it to win it, and at this point in time if we are not prepared to take some risks we will go nowhere. There is still time in this transfer window, and I´m not saying we will not attract any quality players, but if Man City get Ronaldinho the way Spurs got Modric we will have to spend big to consolidate our midtable status, let alone move forward. When Ashley first came here people were adament the only way Ashley could get a profit from us was by bringing us success and that big spendings were going to be needed. Things have changed in the minds of people apparently, and now it is other clubs deploying the strategy that seemed appropriate for us at the time, yet somehow they are being ridiculed for taking risks because they may not pay off. So far, I am impressed by the levels of ambitions shown by other clubs outside the top 4 (Spurs, Portsmouth, City) and slightly underwhelmed by our own. I hope the board prove me wrong.

I´m amazed that some people on here talk about Ronaldinho as if he´s completely finished. He´s just turned 28 ffs and is a double World Player of the Year winner. What´s more, his game was never really about pace, so I fail to see why he couldn´t be amongst the best players in Europe for years to come.. He pisses all over our squad, and I would much, much rather pay him 200k a week than spend it on Barton, Smith and Geremi..

This could have gone in the Euro 2008 thread but hey.. Both games were a little disappointing. Switzerland didn´t deserve to lose but both teams looked poor. Portugal deserved their win and look a favourite to win the Euros.

Nearly everyone thought Allardyce was just what we needed at the time (and in the circumstances before the takeover) tbf. Me included, and I've admitted so a number of times. Same here. 85% of us did according to that thread. 75% of us thought appointing Roeder after he had got us into Europe was the right decision. My point isn´t that these have turned out to be great appointments, just that they weren´t `wrong` when they happened, they just turned out to be.. In my opinion with the way Shepherd was willing to spend on players more than our competition at the time he couldn´t have done much more than he did. Oh, and I was referring to Ozzie and NE5´s discussion above..

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. This is what you thought off Allardyce before he came to us Ozzie http://www.newcastle-online.com/nufcforum/index.php?topic=38118.msg765469#msg765469