Delima

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Martin Jol

Hear, hear. How he uses his intelligence to compensate his inexperience impresses me the most.

The Chelsea fan said nothing wrong. The Chelsea players moved the ball forwrd, but it is hardly a few yards as Roeder suggested, a foot.

Ad hominen :thdn: An instance of naively trying to win the game - Zidane and Pavone.

Naively trying to win the game. Read properly. You should recognise the word NAIVE.

They attacked us yes, but their attacks were largely ineffective, due to the doubl shield of Butt and Parker. It is insane if you think we have smaller chance to lose the game with the likes of Drogba, Lampard and Ballack on the field. It's not easy to win a game against Chelsea. And it's just silly if we lose the game by naively trying to win the game.

May I add something. Do you think we have better chances winning the game from the spot kick or from open play? After Mourinho brought in 3 first teamer subs, should we surrender our working formula and try to win a game with more offensive play? My problem with Roeder remains the same. He should have taken Dyer off. He is ineffective offensively and he is also of not much help defensively. Other than that, if I were in Roeder's seat, I wouldn't make any other sub.

Except we did actually lose. We lose due to the combination of a silly rash challenge by Butt, an overreaction by Robben, and ball being shifted forward. I am glad we did not lose in open play. And we generally played as well as Chelsea.

Shay Given - 7 - Good. Nobby Solano - 9 - Excellent. Good interception, good distribution, good anticipation. Steven Taylor - 9 - See above. Some very good football intelligence. Peter Ramage - 7 - Good effort, but poor technical and some poor decision makings. Paul Hutington - 8 - Very good. Good intelligence. At first I doubt his aggression, but as the game proceeds his confidence improves. James Milner - 7 - Good effort. But too predictable. Kieron Dyer - 6 - Largely ineffective. Scott Parker - 8 - Done well in suffocating Chelsea's play. Nicky Butt - 8 - Quietly efficient. Emre - 7 - Tries hard, but drops too deep too often. Martins - 8 - Audacious. Glenn Roeder - 7 - Prepare the team well in not losing the game. Unable to make tactical change to win a game however.

Sure there are shortcomings in Parker's play, but there are also advantages brought by Parker to our team. The "grip" is significantly better with Parker around. And that's exactly Parker's job. Is Nicky Butt any better? His passes are wayward often. Of course I appreciate his vision and initiation. But if the ball falls to Parker's leg, I would rather Parker use the ball wisely, ie keep the ball and not giving the ball away. After all, long range passing, throughpassing etc is not biggest strength. Stop blaming players who have given 100%. They can't do what they cannot do. We lose the game, in my opinion, due to the conservative play of Glenn Roeder. He should have taken the ineffective Dyer off and put in Rossi, who play admirably against Chelsea recently. And no I don't agree that Sib should start. Against a narrow powerful midfield Roeder did well by playing both Butt and Parker in the middle. We frustrated Chelsea and our wing play by Milner and Solano are constant threat. However, Dyer is not playing well as a winger. Either put him upfront with Martin, or put him in the middle ahead of Butt and Parker.

Wenger or Hitzfeld?

You are kidding, right? How long have you been following football? Do you know how is Cannavaro doing now in Real Madrid? Do you know the defensive line up in Juventus? With Thuram and Buffon, and despite their general conservative play, they still conceded 24 goals last season. Even in the world cup Materrazi is equally instrumental in their defensive resilience. Would you say that Cannavaro is the best defender in the world before the world cup?

I appreciate that when you're a bit wet behind the ears it's hard to comprehend some things so I'll try to put it into simple terms for you. A house with a short lease isn't worth as much as a house with a long lease, and it's the same with footballer's contracts. A player with a long period still remaining on his contract is more valuable than one whose contract expires shortly. Wayne Bridge may have signed a new contract but he is still being hawked around the clubs. He may be sold in the January window, perhaps more likely in the summer, but signing a new contract is not a guarantee that a player will remain at a club. If you recall correctly, I was the first person here to say that there were problems with Spurs signing Duff and Newcastle were genuine contenders for his signature, mainly due to the fact that he was demanding an excessive signing on fee and the agent's son worked at SJP. Similarly, I also said that Parker's wage demands were too rich for Spurs leaving the way clear for Newcastle. I also was the only one suggesting that Glenn Roeder might well be a live candidate for the manager's job at SJP, partly because he had occupancy (if only in a caretaker role) but also based on what Glenn Hoddle had told me about Roeder. With Hitzfeld widely believed to be on the verge of accepting the job, you thought I never had a clue. Well, my £50 bet took me and my wife on holiday to Mauritius and very nice it was too. But my main knowledge obviously is regarding Spurs and what I hear I pass on for information purposes only for others, not for you to think I'm having a sly dig at Newcastle each time. I've said in the past about signing Dorian Dervite, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Didier Zokora amongst others, it was about a month ago I asked about Adel Taarabt who had signed subject to a medical (which was done yesterday) with effect from 1st Jauary. I don't claim to get everything right, but I get my fair share accurate. If you don't want want to believe it, not a problem for me, but there's no reason for you to think I'm sniping at Newcastle. If you still think I'm still having a pop at Newcastle every time, you really ought to find yourself a decent shrink as your neuroticism appears to be more serious than I first thought. Thanks Martin Jol. Some people don't appreciate you but there are many others who think otherwise. Please keep posting without being intimidated by others.

The Guardian

The Guardian

Apology accepted You lots need to make up yuor mind whether I am a Manc, or a , or a Mackem, or a Smoggie, or a Keegan Banwagon Jumper.

The Captains' Votes Ayala - Zidane, Cannavaro, Henry Lucio - Drogba, Henry, Buffon John Terry - Cannavaro, Kaka, Zidane Patrick Viera - Eto's, Buffon, Deco Michael Ballack - Henry, Cannavaro, Ronaldinho Fabio Cannavaro - Thuram, Viera, Eto'o Edwin van der Sar - Cannavaro, Eto's, Lehnmann Raul - Cannavaro, Eto'o, Kaka Delima - Henry, Ronaldinho, Buffon The Coaches' Votes Basile - Cannavaro, Drogba, Eto'o Dunga - Cannavaro, Buffon, Zidane McLaren - Cannavaro, Zidane, Ronaldinho Domenech - Cech, Gattuso, Drogba Low (Germany) - Cannavaro, Eto'o, Henry Staunton - Riquelme, Deco, Henry Donadoni - Henry, Shevchenko, Kaka Van Basten - Ronaldinho, Henry, Buffon Sanchez - Cannavaro, Henry, Klose Smith - Cannavaro, Henry, Gattuso Aragones - Eto's, Henry, Ronaldinho Toshack - Buffon, Henry, Eto'o The Results Your choices?

I think in Spain a player cannot sign proffesional contract until he is 18. Hence more and more clubs have eyes prying on the productive Barcelona Cantera. Man U "stole" Pique, Arsenal "stole" Fabregas, Merida, and lots of clubs wanted Dos Santos. If young players feel that there are too many senior players ahead of him in Barcelona that he is unlikely to get chances in near future, he might opt to go abroad instead.

bluebiggrin.gif Everton moving into Anfield, good suggestion! Seriously though, what do you guys think abuot the Kirby plan? Should Everton move out from Liverpool? And why is Liverpool allowed to use the greenbelt to develope a new stadium while Everton not allowed? Personally I like the way Goodison Park and Anfield are located, just a street apart. Shame that both have to move. In my opinion if Everton did move to King's Dock, the new stadium should look stunning. Again, shame that they couldn't secure the 30 millions pound needed. I like the way where St Jame's Park is located. And thankfully we don't face similar dillema. The Guardian

Sittu is not good enough, at least yet. Sheffield United bought Claude Davis; Reading had Sonko; Watford bough Sittu. Sittu did not turn out as well as Boothroyd thought, and the shaky defense (as a whole, including ineffective Shittu) is why Watford are still conceding goals despite having good keepers and good team work.

I always say that we were going to pay around 10m £ for a striker in the summer. If we want a striker of certain quality then we need to pay. I would be happy whether we ended up with Dirt Kuyt, Andy Johnson, Berbatov, Oba Martins or Darren Bent. I bet fans from Liverpool, Everton, Tottenham and Newcastle would not complain that we wasted the money. It was up to Roeder to decide whether he wanted instant goal returns, or youth, or speed, or skills, or all round play. If I were the manager I would possible opt for Kuyt instead due to his leadership qualities and his all round plays. But I could not begrudge Roeder aiming to build a fast and furious team with young speedy Martins spearheading the line.

That Hutington looks a far better prospect than Boumsong ever did, I certainly disagree. Boumsong at his peak is a very good defender and if Hutington ever scales to this height then all credits to Newcastle United academy. While on the subject of 3 young players on our back, we should try to emulate Arsenal's achievement of having Eboue, Djourou, Senderos and Clichy marshalling the back 4. If all Hutington, Taylor and Ramage continue to prosper as central defenders then the future of Newcastle United can only look good.

If you persist to think that Rossi is a terrible overrated footballer so be it.

What? You must be kidding. Dong is good enough for Belgium Division 2 but far worse than Rossi. Frezzie Campbell is also better than Dong!

R. I. P And shame to those who laugh at this tragic accident