Delima

First-half diagnosis? 50 - 50 Second-half diagnosis? 50 - 50. Once Emre is off Dyer is forced to control (which he failed) large chunk of midfield as both Zoggy and Milner are line huggin wingers. Full-time diagnosis? We should forgive Roeder as he has rightly pointed out that, we can only judge him after he got his own squad. Well Owen, Ameobi are not his players, right? Star man for United? No one stood out. Worst United player? No one in particular. Opposition comment? The gulf of class between Newcastle United players and Reading players is so evident. (Kitson, Doyle vs Martins, Owen; Oster vs Emre etc; Yet Reading played as a coherent team and played with a working plan. Reading seems to have an infinity of central defenders. Duberry has done well since Januray. So as Bikey since summer. Yet both are only replacements for the injured Sonko. Sodje is doing well on loan at West Brom too. And Leon Barnett is rumoured to arrive this summer. Will they miss Sidwell? Not much it seems. Toon-pros? Stephen Carr now seems a solid left back. Hopefully this won't mean that Roeder wouldn't seek a new left back in the summer. Owen is back. There is chemistry between Owen and Martins, though it is far and between. Toon-cons? All attackers bar Duff - Martins, Owen, Sibierski, Ameobi, Milner, Zoggy, Dyer, Emre are used yet we are still clueless. Roeder, are you ever going to shoulder the responsibility? Post-match feelings? I wanted Newcastle United to win as usual. But at times I can't help but hope we lost if it means Roeder would be replaced by someone else.

Personally, I would love to see big Sam managing a La Liga club or a Serie A club. His big man, physical, cynical, tough, persisting, long ball, set piece football are going to wind up many many clubs and I could forsee a huge impact Allardyce would make overseas. But then I don't think he is sophiscated enough to speak any foreign language!

Don't think West Ham could afford to buy him.

Leighton Baines + Curtis Davies or Carlos Tevez? Assuming both options cost the same, and both options are the only one available to us, then Tevez of course as Tevez is a class better than Davies and Baines. But should we sign Tevez at all cost? It would be a grave mistake if we do so. How much would Tevez cost? 10M? 20M? 30M? How much can we afford? Why do we have to buy proven product? A superstar striker will not give us the title. West Ham recent upsurge coincide with Tevez's form, but it also coincides with better and steadier defending with James Collins and Neill leading the line. Tevez would not come cheap, Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea all need new strikers in the new season. Can we compete with them financially? If we insist on signing him we would end up spending over the top. Just because someone says that we are missing Beardsley doesn't make it right for us to go all out to get a new pedro. We are also missing the class of Phillippe Albert. And signing a new Albert would 1) prove significantly less costly, 2) help addressing our weakness directly, and 3) immensely beneficial to our young defenders Taylor, Huntington and Edgar.

My apologies

Thanks for the heartfelt compliment Jon. Much appreciated.

1. It is AN academy in Buenos Aires, not necessarily a Boca Junior Academy. Imagine if Gateshead FC's academy exclusively invite Boca Junior to scout their best 3 players from England. ie the ones unwanted by Newcastle United, Middlesbrough, Sunderland etc. 2. Pape Diakhate seems to have the right profile (young, versatile, height) , but I really have no idea if he is good. Hopefully someone else would shed the light.

Had Sunderland been under Keane since day one they could now be a runaway leader in Championship too. Mick McCarthy had had years of experience whereas Roy Keane is still a managerial rookie. Where will they finish next season? Hard to say. Both Johny Evans and Danny Simpson (both have done very well especailly the former) are loanees from Manchester United but next season they are both going back. And their keeper Darren Ward isn't good enough. I think it really depends on which players they get this summer. They clearly need good defenders, good keeper and better strikers who are more clinical.

And Nugent has looked very in place in premiership? Funnily enough you insist on damning Chopra based on the very few premiership games Chopra has played (which many of them out of position) yet you have concluded that Nugent is better than Chopra, without even seeing Nugent playing in Premiership yet. Of course, say next year, both Nugent and Chopra are playing in Premiership and the former outshines the latter. So you will be proven right to think Nugent being a better player than Chopra. But your logic is very ridiculous to say the least. Yeah, Viduka is evidently better than Bellamy this season. You must be really clutching on straws if you think otherwise. Rasiak has only scored 3 goals more than Nugent, so I would say they are on similar level.

And to imagine that a player of Berbatov's pedigree and ability earns less than £40000 per week (which Keane is earning I believe). It is trully a fantastic buy for Spurs.

There are many possible explanations so instead of blind guessing and answering I prefer him to expand his point first. Taking everything into consideration (age, potential, pedigree, nationality, experience etc) I certainly agree that Rooney would be a better investment than Berbatov thus far. However, this very year in Premiership professional footballers think that Berbatov has outshone Rooney and I agree with them. According to CHampionship professional footballers' opinions Chopra has outshone Nugent, THIS year, and I agree with them. This is exactly my point, why is Nugent ahead of Chopra in whatever pecking order this very year? It is not that there is only meagre difference between Chopra's productivity and Nugent's productivity. Chopra has been significantly better than Nugent this year, and the footballers certainly agree with me.

The Independent

No Rooney hasn't been less productive than McCarthy.

From a club point of view I would rather Carroll playing for Scotland. I honestly don't think he is future England regular material so if he plays for Scotland he would have significant;y bigger chance to be a regular international.

How so (at the point of voting)? PS Nugent has been Significantly less productive than Chopra this season.

Your point being? I would have voted for Berbatov instead of Rooney myself.

Well, Chopra is included in the PFA Championship team of the year, instead of the much heralded David Nugent. Not to say I don't rate Nugent, but till now I still can't understand why, in this year, he is ahead of Chopra in whatever pecking order.

Glad to hera this. Only if we could make it a hattrick by signing Tal Ben Haim too.

Shay Given Noberto Solano, Steven Taylor (Sub) Kieran Dyer (sub), Scott Parker (Sub), Emre (Sub), Old Damien Duff, Charles N'Zogbia (sub) Michael Owen, Obefami Martins, Old Albert Luque

I voted for Noberto Solano

Why would Houllier prefer to be a director of football than a manager of a league winning side?

Playing a footballer out of position is good only 1. after he is proven not to be capable of producing the required level of performance at his original opposition. 2. The player of the other position is poor. Solano excels as a right back because he is an intelligent player. He has lost his pace but as a right back he doesn't need to run as much. Both A.Cole and Evra I believe started their careers as strikers. Perhaps they got plenty of pace and stamina but not the finishing touch. Putting them as fullbacks the teams would reap the benefit of their constant flank charging. Jan Koller started out as keeper. But his height and physical attributes prove too much to resist for his team to convert him into a powerful centre forward. RVN started out as midfielder, but his knack of scoring goals as a central midfielder convinced his coach that by teaching how to play with his back facing the net he would score more goals as striker. Our own Steven Taylor started out as striker in his early teens but he was asked to be a defender when the defender is absent. He never changed position since. Sibierski was a midfielder for Man City but an out and out striker for Newcastle United. So perhaps, if Lampard, Ballack and Mikel can't be dislodged then Essien should be converted to right back for his energetic running and shooting from range is very useful. Maybe if Steven Taylor couldn't progress more as a central defender convert him to a fullback. Steven Carr and Babayaro could be converted to audience too. PS Gejon takes note. FM didn't teach me this.

Known? Show us eih? I get a little touchy, of course. No one discuss or attacks the merits of my message, yet everyone loves a bit of ad hominem comments especially if he knows nothing about the subject of discussion.

I am a very disturbed man/boy/woman/girl ... Very Kind of you, clearly not a very undisturbed poster, indulges in shooting the messenger!

Thanks.