Yorkie

I've only ever seen Krul once... but he looked great and seemed to possess the qualities of an excellent keeper. But Given's the best goalkeeper we've ever had. So no.

That might be alright actually... 4-3-3 with actually three strikers, so it's not 4-5-1. And we might see Luque excel there, as it's where he played for Deportivo. Aces.

Should never have gone and i knew we'd madew a big mistake when we sold him. Our midfield absolutely fell apart.

Wasn't expecting a reaction like this. I like him! Simon O'Rourke, the other Soccer Night guy, yeah - he is bloody awful. And a smoggy. The 05/06 season review is absoutely rotten for commentary, because you've either got Dean Saunders or Warren Barton doing that microphone-from-a-studio-pretending-to-be-there thing, which is vile. But Roger Tames, i think he's good. :oops:

I'll be seriously annoyed if Martins doesn't start. We're only holding back if he's not playing consistently now, now that he's tearing teams to fucking shreads,

Geremi would be a great buy in January if Milner goes... especially with our need for a right-back aswell. But Diarra...? Isn't he a centre-midfielder? Why? Just why???

And we've got Sibierski. 4 Reasons.

****ing pisses me off does that. Huntington is a relatively common name, i don't think i've ever known anyone called 'Huntingdon', so it makes it all the more strange. That and the clear ignorance of course. Same when people call Pattison, 'Patterson'. I know, it's daft, but it just annoys me. I hope you know why I called him Huntingdon :winking: Of course. I knew what you meant.

Just wondered what people thought of this guy. You know - the guy who does Soccer Night on ITV. I think he's done some really good commentary for us. A lot of hair-standing-on-the-back-of-the-neck moments have Roger Tames commentary on them. He does most of the DVDs aswell. I think he's canny.

Fucking pisses me off does that. Huntington is a relatively common name, i don't think i've ever known anyone called 'Huntingdon', so it makes it all the more strange. That and the clear ignorance of course. Same when people call Pattison, 'Patterson'. I know, it's daft, but it just annoys me.

Wasn't ignoring you, Delima. ;-) I think you were being a bit pedantic and i think i was probably exaggerating. But like i say, in the last few games that i've seen him play, he's thrown himself into some audacious penalty-area blocks, that have come off and have been bloody good.

:roll: I said his blocking is exceptional. Which it is. Or atleast has been these last few games. I didn't say 'Ramage is exceptional'.

Delete!!!!!!

Kris Gate in centre-midfield...? I thought he was a right-back! :shock:

Tell me you are over-exagerrating. I like Ramage as a central defender and I think he would eventually become a player like Moore, solid tough if unspectacular central defender. But exceptional!? Yes - exceptional. Defensively, i think Ramage is the one player who Pearson might have helped. The amount of flying tackles and blocks that Ramage has provided in the dangerous areas, just after or just before the striker has pulled the trigger, is countless. He is superb at the 'sliding' blocks, and i've spotted it in the last few matches. He made a cracker at Man City, and i can also remember one outstanding block from about 10 yards against Pompey aswell. And about Bramble, i disagree with Rodhaminho aswell. He's shit, but we should offload him in the summer, not now.

I bet Shearer would be an excellent coach. Just listening to his analysis of certain strikers on MOTD the other night, in-particular Martins, was absolutely spot on, and i bet Obafemi could learn a lot from Alan. On the whole, he's not a great pundit, but when it comes to the striking department, he unsurprisingly speaks a lot of sense.

Ramage has been good at the back, just shite going forward. That's because he's a centre-back... If Babayaro had Ramage's defensive abilities - he'd be a good player. There's massive potential in a Taylor-Ramage partnership. Ramage's tackling and blocking is exceptional. He just can't pass or cross, which makes him pretty useless as a winger.

Beattie just needs a new start. He never kicked off at Everton and never will now, due to the system they play. Like Jon says, i bet he could be useful.

Bramble's crap. End of. Bored of people living on the lie that he'll be good one day. Pearson might be doing alright, we can't really tell because we're not at the training sessions. Taylor has improved - but whether or not that's got anything to do with Pearson i don't really know, because Taylor undoubtedly had the quality anyway - i think he jsut needed a run in the side. There's absolutely no way he can be dropped now. And the defense has improved in organisation in the last two matches because Carr isn't playing and Nobby is a very competent and controlled player himself. With Babayaro, and Carr in particular, there's no shape when we're defending. They're both OK in the opposition's half, but at the back - they make it look like just a clump of players - not a defense.

I'd like us to go for him in the summer, but he'll be gone by then and i just like him far too much for us not to go for him in January. It bases entirely on what funds we have. If we've got the money for SWP plus another £6/7m, then it's alright. Plus - i'm sick to the hind teeth of the Milner speculation. He hasn't lived up to expectations this season, and i think he'd probably jump at the chance of going to Villa, so the whole 'keep Milner because he'll be great in a couple of years' policy goes out of the window to be honest. So, sell Milner. And if we were to do that, Shaun Wright-Phillips is such a brilliant player, i just think we'd be daft not to go for him. SWP, Dyer, Zoggy and Martins is just the fastest attack on the planet - we'd be absolutely lethal going forward. And if we can bring in a cheap targetman, like Viduka - just someone cheap and capable, perhaps even on a loan deal, to bolster the attacking options. There's goals in this team anyway, we saw that at the weekend. Dyer/Martins/Emre/etc were just mightily unlucky. Shaun Wright-Phillips would improve our team immensely. But again, it all depends on funds. If we've got £10m to spend in January (which i think is more than enough to sufficiently improve our squad for the rest of the season), don't buy him. If we've got funds: OUT: Milner - £4m Luque (let's face it) - £3m IN: SWP - £10m Viduka - £1m A left-back. No idea who that could be at the moment, to be honest. We don't need a new right-back now that we've got Nobby happily playing there. Roeder won't go after a right-back anyway cos he fancies Carr. Verdict: £10m+ in January: Definitely £10m in January: No Thanks

Ah that's a shame. No one knew me when i signed up late 2005. Meh! ;-)

Mate, there's another thread specifically about Parker, but you've mentioned him here again with reference to the holding role. What attributes do you think he has that make him suitable for that role? How much importance do you place on the ability to move the ball quickly and accurately, and for the pass to be the correct one, ie decision making. I'm thinking more defensive capabilities, rather than spreading the play, which i know he is not very good at. His tackling and doggedness should win him a few balls and will help the defense out massively, just like Butt does. I think he is an important player, and with him in that role, it's not as if he can screw up our attacks. But i'm not going to argue with you on this issue, because i know you will argue about Parker until you're blue in the face. And i don't know enough about the player to 'match' you, so i'm not going to bother. That's my opinion, you have yours. End! Tut tut. You surprise me, mate. It's all about opinions, we don't have to agree but that's no reason for you to duck the thing. So, I won't argue about Parker until I'm blue in the face because I've said what I think of him and I've said why I don't think he's that good. Rather than others (not you specifically) making statements along the lines of "Parker should be better than Butt" I'm interested in what it is people see in him that makes them believe he is a) good enough for us at all, b) can play the holding role, c) can play as an attacking midfielder. That's fair enough mate. I love arguing, don't get me wrong ;-) , just that it's pointless on this occasion because i'm to and fro about Parker anyway, and i don't know enough about the player himself.

Mate, there's another thread specifically about Parker, but you've mentioned him here again with reference to the holding role. What attributes do you think he has that make him suitable for that role? How much importance do you place on the ability to move the ball quickly and accurately, and for the pass to be the correct one, ie decision making. I'm thinking more defensive capabilities, rather than spreading the play, which i know he is not very good at. His tackling and doggedness should win him a few balls and will help the defense out massively, just like Butt does. I think he is an important player, and with him in that role, it's not as if he can screw up our attacks. But i'm not going to argue with you on this issue, because i know you will argue about Parker until you're blue in the face. And i don't know enough about the player to 'match' you, so i'm not going to bother. That's my opinion, you have yours. End!

Would rather... Milner --- Parker --- Dyer --- N'Zogbia Sibierski --- Martins ... with Parker in the holding role. But yours is good too. :wink:

I like Harewood, he was excellent last season and he was just the striker we could have done with in the summer. He's been in and out the team though this season, and off form. I'd take him in Jan for a cheap price, because he is the sort of striker we are looking for. But £11m? That's absolute wank. £4m at the very most... even that's pushing it for me.