Yorkie

Would you take Viduka? People scoff at the idea but he holds the ball up well and is good for a goal or 2. Yup. Exactly what i'm saying.

Pattison looked a decent player at the end of last season, but he was playing down the left. Would like to see a bit more of him.

I know they they keep messing with the laws of the game and one of the more recent updates was the offside law so I may be wrong here. I always understood that it matters not in which direction the player passes the ball but where the other player is in relation to him. If the second player is behind the first and the first passes the ball I understand that it matters not whether the first is in front, level with or behind the second. Could someone clarify this for me please? I don't really follow you, but i know that i'm right.

In terms of holding the ball up - Martins isn't too bad at all. We've seen Oba's best play for us coming from outside of the box. He is a creator, not a serial goalscorer. What Martins is begging for - is someone who will just stick the ball in the back of the net, because Martins' movement in the box is not that of a natural goalscorer. He is a playmaker. Owen is that partner. Owen will simply score if he has the ball. Owen shouldn't be asked to do all of the work - because that would be Martins job. Both of them are excellent at doing their job and they would make a mean partnership. Providing we play the ball on the floor; and with Milner, Dyer and Zoggy all behind them in the midfield, we shouldn't be worried about that. It would be a superb attackline. Their 'partnership' throws the bigman-littleman theory out of the window, and so it should. We need a short-term poacher in Jan. Someone who, this season, will do the things that i've described. Wait for the ball in the box and score. £2m on Viduka, or even better - a loan - would do just the job.

First goal wasn't offside. It was a cracking ball over the top, and Martins was a good half-yard behind the defender. Awesome run and an awesome finish. The nearest defender was three miles away by the time Martins struck it. The second goal was not offside. If you look at N'Zogbia's cross back - yes, Taylor is in an offside position, but N'Zogbia's ball is played backwards - therefore Taylor is onside. Had Zoggy have played the ball forwards, it would have been offside. It was a red card aswell. Yes, he won the header - but he headed directly into Martins' path. It was a pathetic defensive intervention and an overall rediculous bit of play from Henchoz. Martins may have been wide of the goal, but the nearest defender other than Henchoz was atleast 20 yards away. Martins was all on his own - he would have collected the ball and he would have had a clear goalscoring opportunity. But he was carelessly hauled down. Referee/linesmen were correct in every manner.

We won't get him now. Would absolutely love it, but he'll stay at Boro.

We would have scored a hell of a lot more goals if Shola was in the team. No doubt about it.

Wes Brown would be a superb capture... especially at £3m. He is a very good defender. Solano --- Taylor --- Brown --- Baines Very decent backline that.

What time's MOTD on tonight?

How many Prem goals today!? Christ! :shock:

Martins and Owen will be the fucking business. I'm tellin ya.

God i know! :shock: He's been in the first team squad since the Dubnica game... and it's taken this long - and when you consider how shite our defense has been, it's annoying. Glad he's had his first moment!

Martins has looked class since he's come back from injury. I never doubted he wouldn't be awesome player for us. I knew that goal against Reading was important - and i said earlier today that if he scores against Blackburn, he won't look back...

Brian Kerr.

Fine, two games then. :roll: Still not enough to say that he's 'changed our season'. He's still injured isn't he?

I don't think you can say Dyer's return is one of the main reasons, from an individual point of view - because he's only played one game. If we were to choose one player, it woul dhave to be Nobby. He's improved the defense, aswell as giving us service when needs be. He's perfect for us at right-back. He's cool and competent in defense, and yet he doesn't have to rely on pace and passing anymore, because they have both faded this season. Every so often, he'll pop up with something, but 75% of the time doing defensive duties. The Reading game/that cross is evident of that. Nobby's been simply immense since he's moved to right-back and that position, without a doubt, is now his best one. Second after Nobby, would be Martins. Looks a different player since he's come back from injury. I reckon that goal should kick-start him. If he scores against Blackburn, he'll never look back.

It's only the turning point if we get a good result at Blackburn, and beat Watford. But aye, that would be the turning point.

And so he shouldn't. :? We're a better team with Martins on the field.

We beat Chelsea and we're in with a chance. We haven't got a cat in hells chance of winning the FA Cup or the UEFA. I'd rather we go for the Carling Cup.

:roll: 11 clean sheets this season. Goals in EPL: 12. We could do with a defender or two, definitely, but they're not the priority. The defense is easily sorted by not playing Carr or Baba.

Agree with that... I'm officially with Howaythelads, and i want Butt and Emre as the centre-midfield pairing. He's right ya know... And come next season, i think we'll probably need a Butt replacement. The main thing bringing Butt through this season is his intelligence and experience - his ability and speed will fade, a la Nobby at RW. That Lassana Diarra sounded like a canny option. I've seen him play a miniscule amount of times (never badly), but he's a defensive midfielder and was highly rated when he came to Chelsea. People raved about him in his first two or three games there IIRC - never to be seen again. If we can get him on loan in Jan, with option to buy in the summer, that'd be grand.

Baines Distin Viduka Bent ... If we're mega-optimistic. To be honest i'll be annoyed if we go over the £10m mark in January. We don't need to - we'll stay up, we just need one or two extra bodies. Save it for the summer. Distin - £2.5m Bridge - Loan Viduka - £1m Another striker - Loan

------------------------ Given ------------------------- Solano -------- Taylor --------- Moore --------- Ramage Dyer ----------- Emre --------- Butt ---------- N'Zogbia -------------- Martins --------- Owen ----------------- 2nd Team: ----------------------- Harper ---------------------------- Carr ----------- Bramble ----- Huntington -------- Babayaro Milner ----------- Parker ----- Pattison --------------- Duff --------------- Sibierski ------ Ameobi ----------------------

Only 48,000 again, though. I'm sure it'll pick up.