Delima

Prefer West Ham to go down. In all honesty don't think they will come back straight up next year, especially if they lose Bent. Personally not impressed by Alan Pardew even despite his last season West Ham heroic.

This. I am not overly impressed by Ronald Koeman. Lloydie is right to say that they are almost a one man team (Alex) (2 men if you add keeper Gomez) and they are very defensive minded.

Freddy said he would resign after we win a trophy. We won Intertoto. Freddy said he wouldn't shoot the bamby. Freddy said he would get a world class manager for us. Freddy said ...

I reach the conclusion by checking the FM stats.

I don't have much sympathy for Glenn Roeder, for me he has shown enough that he is a shape shifter, a person with no dignity. 1. Gone on record to repeatedly say that he definitely didn't want the job, yet changed his mind later. 2. Not only so, when doubts were raised with his coaching qualifications, he went on to say that he should be exempted because he had brain tumour. Wrong. He had had plenty of time to recover from the cancer and gone on taking the coaching qualification. Only a man with no dignity will use his own life threatening illness as excuses. 3. Repeatedly telling everyone he isn't using injuries as excuses, only to follow up, without fail, by mentioning the fact that everyone is injured. Yet, mostly with everyone fit now the results have not picked up. And the depleted Newcastle United haven't done any worse than when senior fit players such as Moore, Bramble, Babayaro, Carr are fit. 4. Telling us every day you won't quit the job despite the pressure, you relish the pressure bla bla bla. Yet you now resign. 5. Telling us you didn't want any old players yet you sign Duff, Sibierski and Bernard. 6. Blame the previous regime for the squad you have. Yet you rely on Given, Solano, Milner, Taylor, Parker, Emre, Dyer, Butt week in week out. The players you bring in - Rossi, Sibierski, Martins, Bernard, Duff - only Martins and Sibierski have done well. Roeder you shouldn't have resigned. By resigning you let Fat Fred slip away from responsibility again. You should have let Fat Fred have no choice but sack you. Then the whole world will understand more about Fat Fred. You say you have Newcastle United in your blood? You liar. By resigning you show again you are as selfish as anyone.

My concerns now are 1. Who will be the next manager 2. What will happen to the backroom staff (Nigel Peason, the 7 new full time European scouts, the Academy director etc) 3. Will HTL and NE5 now unreservedly condemn Fat Fred and the board since both have gone on record to say that the Roeder's appointment is Fat Fred's last chance? 4. Will Freddy Shepherd resign as well? 5. What will Alan Oliver say tomorrow ?

He said he will resign after we win a trophy. Well he lauds and parades the Intertoto trophy as if it is an achievement yet he hasn't resigned. Hypocrite, the biggest one, he is.

Apart from his shocking tackles in this particular game he is a good left back. And he is free. We should get him this summer.

There should be many other names that slip through my fingers but in 3 years Mark Hughes is in charge they have spent (according to the foolowing list) 7.75M, ie 2.9M on average every year. This season is particularly impressive as not only the volume of transfer is significantly larger, the only flop is Andre Ooijer (2M) who is out injured for the majority of the season. On a side note Stephane Henchoz would be a good candidate for Roeder - free, old and experienced, good. But Roeder didn't do anything, nothing and now he is regretting. In 2006/2007 Blackburn sold Paul Dickov - Free Craig Bellamy - 6M Jonathan Douglas - Free Shefki Kuqi - 2.5M Dominic Matteo - Free Lucas Neill - 1.5M James McEveley - 600K Total = 10.6M Bought Jason Brown - Free Francis Jeffer - Free Jason Robert - 3M Benni McCarthy - 2.5M Andre Ooijer - 2M Shabani Nonda - Loan Stephane Henchoz - Free David Dunn - 2.2M Stephen Warnock - 1.5M Christopher Samba - Free Bruno Berner - Free Total = 11.2M Net Spending = 600K In 2005/2006 Blackburn sold Jonathan Stead - 1.8M Garry Flitcroft - Free David Thompson - Free Blackburn bought Craig Bellamy - 5M David Bentley - Free Zurab Khizanishvili - 500K Aaron Mokoena - 300K Net Spending = 4M In 2004/2005 Blackburn bought Ryan Nelson - Free Robbie Savage - 3M Peter Enckelman - 150K

Hype is made by media and consumed by fans. Regardless of the hype, the eventual transfer feed 10M paid on Kuyt is a very good business for Liverpool and how could someone say that he hasn't lived up to his price tag? Now 5M on Damien Duff is a bad bad business, regardless of the hype and reputation he has. Had we sell Milner it would be another bad bad business.

What do you mean "team like us"? Financially comparable to us, or aspiration comparable to us, or club (fan) size comparable to us? I agree with you that we should have bought someone proven such as Kuyt, Johnson and Bent. I'd say no to Anelka as he is hard to handle. But Martin isn't exactly unproven, for he has had decent record in Serie A. Last summer I said that I would be happy for Roeder to buy any 10M bracket striker (Kuyt, Bent, Johnson, Berbatov, Martins). These players have different advantages and disadvantates and they offset each other nicely. The biggest boat we miss is definitely Berbatov as he has proven to be head and shoulder above all but we haven't done a bad business on Martins. Not at all. Talking about Berbatov. Who were the people who laugh at Martin Jol when he mentioned that Berbatov was coming to England?

In The Know

Sorry everyone. No 10 question should be 10. Will you be happy to trust the club's sizable tranfer kitty (assumption) on Allardyce's hand?

Is twat the word you wanted to say

Stevie I am not being fickle. I have always wanted to write a post about Carrick after Man U trash Roma 7-1 but I only write this eventually after Man U lost to Milan 0-3. Even so I didn't write the post immediately after the game. I am not jumping at any bandwagon (I don't see any mass critisism out at Carrick in N-O by the way) and the defeat only serves as a particular reference. I agree with you that he has assets that Roy Keane hasn't, but Roy Keane has more important assets that Carrick hasn't. As I said in my first post I think Carrick is a playmaker in Paul Schole's, Xabi Alonso's, Andrea Pirlo's mould. He is much better being played as an attacking midfielder than a defensive midfielder. In the game against Roma (2nd leg), Carrick was magnificient, because Scholes was absent and he was the attacking midfielder. Darren Fletcher had an excellent game as defensive midfielder that day and Carrick was thus able to concentrate on what he does the best, forward passing. In the first half of the season Carrick concentrate on being a purely defensive midfielder and he naturally failed to reach the standard desired. In the 2nd half he became braver, came forward more, attacked more and hence the upturn of his fortune. In terms of his defensive duty he is still the same, below par, not much of note. The reasons Carrick's sub defensive contribution could be tolerated much of the time are because 1) Paul Scholes tackles as much as anyone if not more 2) He has excellent tough defenders behind him. I think, with consistency, Carrick is NOW a better offensive midfielder than Scholes. If played with freedom, Carrick possesses better shooting accuray, is more direct, more offensive, more movements. It is not surprising Man U's best game came with Carrick assuming Scholes' duty during the 7-1 game.

FFS has never answerd any email. He has never answered to any banners and protests asking him to resign. The local media make up their own stories and polls despite contrary general consensus. Next game is a game of insignificance, we have no hopes of European or relegation positions. I would rather forfeit the few hundred thousands prize money awarded to better positioned team, if that means Roeder is gone and a better manager is brought in.

Didn't know that you prefer Jesus as our manager. Why don't you give your own answers for the questions I raise?

Michael Carrick is not good enough as a defensive midfielder. He is a playmaker, a deep lying playmaker, a poor man Andrea Pirlo, a poor man Xabi Alonso, though I believe with experience he could be as good as Pirlo. Playing him as a defensive midfielder (as Man U and England do) are a waste of his talent and place. Carrick offers no grip of the game. Putting him deep he makes no tackle, no blocking, no hussles and tussles. He collects the loose ball, makes himself available for passing (from the defender), but because of his position, his either simply squares it off to Scholes, or passing to wingers. This makes him a waste of space water carrier. And in a high level team there is little room for such position waste. Someone like Deschamp, Mascherano, Makelele, offers excellent defensive shielding apart from linking the defensive line and midfield. It is no surprise that even though Benitez bought Xabi Alonson for 10M£, he still proceeds to acquire the destroyer Sissoko (and later Mascherano). It's no surprise that without Hamann first half, Liverpool nearly lost the CL final against AC Milan. Xabi Alonso is a player I adore very much, the very brain and heart of a team he is. Even though he puts in a lot more tackles than Carrick, he is still not specialised enough. In the Premiership, Carrick has been very lucky to have Scholes alongside him and Vidic + Ferdinand behind him. Scholes a clumsy tackler he is, puts in many tackles during games. He is tolerated by Premiership referee, and hence doing Carrick's job too. Behind Carrick Man U have Vidic + Ferdinand who play high defensive line and who are not afraid to come into the middle of park to nullify the opponents. Instead of Carrick offering more defensive work to the team, it is the defenders and Scholes doing defensive work for Carrick. Against a good side, a specialist defensive midfielder is a must, no longer an option. Of course, a purely defensive midfielder without forward passing ability won't be good enough for a top team. Makelele is always clam and composed, and always passes the ball (if situation allows) to attacking minded players. John Obi Mikel does not fully acquire Makelele's nous yet, however he dribbles the ball and drives the team forward. Michael Carrick scores nice goals occassionally. He certainly has the class with him. But playing him as a defensive midfielder, while benefitial against lesser team for his attacking threat, is detrimental against high quality opponents. Man U dither at the transfer of Owen Hagreaves, and is playing for the price now. Newcastle United have a very good defensive midfielder in our rank, his name is Scott Parker. Yeah he does slow the team down, but as a defensive midfielder his defensive service is better than Michael Carrick's.

Assuming Sam Allardyce is indeed appointed as our new manager ... 1. How much time are you willing to give him before you demand success? 2 years at least. Allardyce has got ample track record for me to judge and believe that he is one of the managers who could steer our club towards the right direction. Even if in these 2 years we are just struggling about midtable like SBR's first 2 years. 2. What's the target you set for him? Establishing the club as a firm top 6 club. 3. If we play ugly, but get results, are you happy? If we play ugly, yet results are not good, will you still be happy? I don't care whether we are aesthetically pleasing, as long as we get results. I won't slate Allardyce just because his team play ugly. As long as the team is forward minded (even long ball forward), like Bolton. 4. If Sam Allardyce decides to pick a fight (verbal or whatever) with someone (FA, Arsene Wenger, Roy Keane, Freddy Shepherd), will you support him? No, never like anyone picking a fight with someone else. But enjoy such entertainments as always. 5. Will you applaud the board if the appointment of Sam Allardyce turns out to be a good one, eventually? No. The board have messed up too often too frequent. If Sam is good, it is the Law of Average. If Sam is bad, it is the Law of Stupid Shepherd. 6. Will you slag the board, if the appointment of Sam Allardyce turns out to be a sad tradegy? Yes. Throughout the years we have had 7. If Sam Allardyce turns out to be a success, will you gloat that you have always wanted him to be our manager? No, I have always prefered someone else (Le Guen, Hughes, Keane, Boothroyd, Lippi, Sachi) to Allardyce. Allardyce would be a decent choice I am more than happy with with but I still won't take the credit for "recommending" him. 8. If Sam Allardyce does not turn out to be a success, will you gloat that you have always NOT wanted him to be our manager? No, as I said, I am happy with the appointment of Sam Allardyce. Not my favourite but I don't dislike him. 9. Does it matter if Allardyce's recruitments are mainly foreigners, regardless if he delivers results? As long as his recruitment doesn't come at the expense of our academy, it doesn't matter. I am neither racist, nor nationalist. 10. Will you be happy to trust the club's sizable (assumption) on Allardyce's hand? Yes.

It is different though. Kezman is basically a poacher with a slight physique, whereas Kuyt, like Kalou, is an all rounder. It isn't surprising Huntelaar is yet to be bought by an European giant as he is similar Kezman, with his limitness rending him more highly floppable in foreign leagues. Kalou, like Marins, is bought with future in mind. I wouldn't them mind not scoring tonnes of goals immediately, as long as they show potential and promise. Kuyt is bought to deliver immediate results, and I definitely won't say that he hasn't.

Hyypia was a great player in his prime but he's garbage now. Hamann has been suprisingly crap for City. Although he's a big smoker as well as being old so maybe I shouldn't have been so suprised. Hamann cost only 400k, so it wasn't really a waste of money. Dabo was a free transfer too. I don't think Hyppia would play well for us (if he were to come) cos he is now old and slow. But surely his immense experience would help Taylor a lot.

Van Der Sar Andrea Pirlo Fabio Cannavaro

I agree with senor Benitez Dirk Kuyt

Sigh, Baggio. You win, ok? Good night.

1. So that's what you are hoping me to say? Do me another favour. Please dispute the merits of my points instead of the merit of me as a person. 2. Hypocrite.