Delima

Ronaldo. He was carrying injury for the semi final against AC Milan. No shame he didn't perform well that night.

Shearer should becomes Sam Allardyce's assistant and picks up his new ideas. It would certainly be one of the best football management education you could get in England. I am very glad that so far he has been patient and not jumping into the management bandwagon. I am glad that he has been doing punditing and mixing with other pundits with strong opinions (right or wrong) on the game. Shearer will at least get a lot of outsider perspectives and this will only do him good in the long run. It would be about time he steps into management once his BBC job is over. But be an assistant to a manager (Big Sam, Ferguson, Benitez, Mourinho etc) first before he claims things his own.

Edmilson, especially now he has a bit of rift with his team mates.

Crisis? What crisis? Loking at the table - we are 11th, comfortably in the mid table with a 5 points gap between us and Fulham. From all the big sam out cries you thought we would be lingering around relegation zone like we were during Roeder's time. But we are not. And I don't think Newcastle under could go any more worse. I will be glad if this is true.

Nani, Lampard or Gerrard.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2216346,00.html

Option Luis Van Gaal added. Good shout that.

I still believe that Premiership should Never set a quota for foreign players. I still believe that England nationl team have good enough players to compete in the world stage adequately. The failure of England national team is more down to the quality of manager than that of players. I still believe that England national team should appoint an English man as manager, after all England are not a small football nation and it is ridiculous if the manager of England national team is not English. However, I think it is ridiculous now the availability of top class foreign managers interested in this job. Who would you go for, should England do go down the road of appointing a johny foreigner?

Yes I would.

It also helps that Evra was a proven player in Ligue 1 and Champions League. Whereas Enrique isn't. Not at all trying to knock Enrique off, merely trying to point out that Evra was always going to have more chance to succeed than Enrique, if we do not see how they perform on the pitch. I still have a lot of faith in Enrique.

It is not too hard when you have some continuity, and you are financially backed by the owner. I would rate Big Sam, Hughes and Moyes better than Redknapp if taking them up antoerh level is the yardstick.

Who does the "them" in your sentence refer to? Muntari? Nugent? Utaka? I fail to see how Rednknapp has improved them to next level.

I can't comment on Redknapp during West Ham or Redknapp during Bournemouth. But how on earth does he manage to earn the nickname of wheeler dealer when he has spent an absolute fortune in Portsmouth? He bought Portsmouth safety in the miracle escape season. This year he has spent big in getting Muntari, Nugent and Utaka.

Keep the big man no matter what.

If Hargreaves is worth 23M, then Mascherano is worth that much as well. Both are quality players. The difference is - Man Utd need Hargreaves more than Liverpool needs Mascherano. When you consider the number of quality central midfielders they have - Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano, Lucas, Sissoko, it does seem abit silly to invest so much on a player that isn't that regular in the team. But his quality alone warrants it.

Good post Ohmelads

I find it disgraceful that fans of bigger clubs critisising other smaller clubs for the cardinal sin of, well, being small. Balckburn, Wigan, Boro etc are small, so what? They are in the Premiership, the very same league we are playing in. If anything they should be very proud of their teams, for their teams overachieve in relative to income and fan base. How can we, the supposedly big club, be proud of ourselves when after years of big supports still achieve very little? If anything is disgraceful it is this club, and the supporters, for being useless in spending money, for being hopeless in competing against the "smaller" clubs. You know, for many people life does not revolve around solely football, especially given the hefty costs you have to pay to fully support a team nowadays. Jealousy at its most naked form.

I remember the amount of scorns the posters wrote here regarding to this transfer.

"just making the best of what he had." Have you forgotten what Allardyce had done in Bolton, with the resource available to him?

1. His aim is noble but unrealistic. I just hope he does not go crazy in pursuing this dream. 2. Why would we want to sever tie with Adidas? Are we not getting enough money from them or what? Or is it because he has his own sports chain?

So what? Jesus christ, at the moment thats the worst thing I can see happening this season. If theres one thing I cant stand its losing to those c***s. Sort yourself out man. I don't harbour hatred towards Sunderland club or supporters as others do.

Even if we lost to Sunderland, so what? I will be dead certain against the sacking of Allardyce. The appointment of Allardyce is the next best thing that has happened to the club in recent years after the effing off of Freddie Shepherd. People forgot what he has achieved in Bolton, with very little money to spend and very little club appeal to consume. He has bought well - Smith is a mistake and I was against his transfer, but no manager is perfect in transfer dealing. Fergie makes a lot of mistakes, so does Rafa, so does Mourinho, so does Wenger. It is silly to critisise Allardyce so severely just because he bought Alan smith. People also need to remember that Allardyce is famous for his own brand of football - long ball football, percentage football, however you call it, though personally I think percentage football is the best description. It is a change of football style, so while we hope that players could adapt immediately, it is only prudent to give some time and space for the manager and players to deliver results. Alex Ferguson took god know how many years to sort his side out. Benitez's Liverpool in first year, in the Premiership, was not very successful. Wenger's newest side, with Fabregas, Flamini, Van Persie etc took a good few years to mature and flourish. Allardyce is not only a manager on the pitch, he is an excellent manager off the pitch as well. Look at Bolton, the infrastructure and the legacy he has left. And look at Newcastle - the academy, the training facilities, the coaching staff - so many things need to be sorted. The first people Allardyce wanted are sport sceintists. The first coach Allardyce recruited is Steve Round - a well reputed coach. So now we have a manager who is an excellent man manager - see the number of bad boys come good in Bolton, a manager who has a unique and proven tactic - percentage football, a manager who pay efforts to sort the club up behind the scene - see Bolton, a manager who buys well generally - see Cacapa, Rozenhal, Geremi, Enrique. More importantly, Sam Allardyce has brought Bolton, a small club, to the top echelon of Premiership consistently. Sam Allardyce is the English equivalent of Spalleti, Sanchez Flores, Schuter, Magath etc, except that perhaps Allardyce dispensed with even smaller budget. Why can't we be more patient? The team are not doing well at the moment but we are still 10th, a very acceptable position I think. If in the long run Big Sam proves not to be the right person to take us to the glorious pinnacle, at least he will leave the club in a very healthy state. Also, look around, are there still many top managers available? Or many promising managers, English or foreign, whom you think is a better bet than Sam Allardyce? Top manager - Luis Van Gaal perhaps, or Jose Mourinho and Marcelo Lippi who won't be coming. Promising manager - both Sanchez Flores and Martin Jol have proven that they are not that special after all. I like the look of Paul Le Guen but I bet no one bar me would like him to come here. Premiership is a tough tough place to compete. Money maybe helpful but it still takes managerial talent for any club to succeed. Top 4 are very hard to penetrate with well known reasons. David Moyes is not a special one but the club trusts him and his team are improving steadily over the years. Mark Hugh doesn't have much money but he has bought well and he has loyalty of the board to compensate for lack of money. Harry redknapp is a cunning old fox who just found pots of transfer golds. I would rather stick with Sam Allardyce than spend futile time and chasing the unlikely special one. If we lose to Sunderland next match, I will be dissapointed but nothing more.

Pace is not the most important but it is very important! Adebayor, Van Persie, Rosicky, Hleb, Eboue, Flamini, Clichy, Sagna, Toure, Gallas are not particularly quick but they are all pacey. They are all fine athletes. Fabregas, Scholes, Riquelme are not pacey but they are rarity in this world.

Overrated? I don't rate him one bit. good point, who rates him? The forum resident chuckle brothers that are {no name mentioned}

My own opinions: 1. Wes Brown at right back. Class right back, at times even better than Gary Neville. 2. Mathew Flamini this season. Unsung regular in the currently undefeated Gunners. 3. Alvaro Aberloa. Not an outstanding player but someone Benitez trusts immensely and someone who puts in very decent shifts in varying positions without getting noticed. 4. Christopher Samba. Getting more noticed now especially in this forum but could have got more plaudits in national media. 5. Tim Howard. A pillar in the Everton's defense. 6. Mark Noble. Getting many attentions as good young player but I think he performance warrants more than that. 7. Mario Melchiot. Might be a liability in the past but he has proven an excellent buy for Wigan this season. 8. Scott Carson. Criminally not selected by England senior national team. 9. Emile Mpenza. At this where Bianchi is out of form, Samaras not selected and Bojinov injured, Mpenza is the battering ram up front. Can't think of anyone else right now. Sure I have missed loads.