Minhosa

I agree he needs time but thats a poor defeat today tbh. Really disappointing. I'd like to see Allardyce offer an apology to the fans and let us (and the players) know, in no uncertain terms, that the performance and result today are not acceptable.

I'd take him. He's only 26, doesn't get many injuries but my main concerns would be around; a) his constant fouling of his marker. You don't have to hold onto the fucking centre back when you're nearly 7 bastard foot. b) If he has a poor game as the spearhead of a 4-3-3 the other two alongside him will have very little to feed off therefore really limiting our attacking play. The thing with Viduka is that even if he's not having a good game his upper body strength will allow him to hold off his marker and he'll bring others into the game. I don't see Crouch doing that - certainly not as consistently anyway. But, that said, his hold up play and fouling of CB's can be coached out of him I would hope so I'd take the gamble - dependent on price.

Thats a fair point. You'd have to think we'd play 4-3-3 both home and away with Viduka coming off the bench. IMO.

I'd rather get rid of Owen and bring in Anelka. I thought they looked very good together at 'Pool. If he was coming at another fwds expense I'd be inclined to call time on Shola's NUFC career. If we signed Anelka we'd have two big strong players in Duke & Anelka and two little fellas to play off them. Plus we'd have the 'what the fucks he gonna do next' factor with Martins too. Shola's not a great finisher, not a great header of the ball for a big lad and his hold up play is inconsistent.

Brummie, Been meaning to ask you for a while.............what do you make of Bouma? I thought he looked shaky first month but since then he looks a solid, if unspectacular defender.

I stand by that. HATED Robert.

What do you want me to do Dave? If people make stupid statements like that in a topic then surely they should expect to have holes shot through it? Nothing stupid about saying paying big money for a player in that league is dodgy. We could just as easily spend £6m on an unknown right back from the Romanian first division because thats the standard of football up there. Magoo's got the hump cos he can't defend the shocking standard of football played in his homeland. Boo hoo hoo.

Tell me the last time there was a decent export from that 2 bit league to the Premiership? Larsson was a good player, granted, but taking anyone from a poor league to a good one for a big fee is a risk. I don't think you like someone criticising the homeland Magoo. Shame my points are true though.

I agree. 5-6mil would have been fucking stupid money for Henrik Larsson. I'm glad we didn't squander that kind of money on him. Do you actually use your brain before you post? How about judging a player based on his ability as a footballer rather than the league he plays in...? Honestly, never underestimate the sheer fucking stupidity of football supporters. Fuck off you condescending prick. That league is absolute dog shit and paying £6m for anyone who hasn't proved themselves out of it would be madness. See Boumsong, See Barry Ferguson, McFadden - the list goes on.

Good post - I don't know where the Geremi from August has gone but I hope we can find him.

I wouldn't pay that kind of money for somebody in the Scottish league to be honest.

Thats a great sign of Big Sams man-management skills given that he's dropped Oba on more than one occasion this season. Very promising. Just hope England don't come calling when the inevitable happens to Mclaren.

Horray! How much did you win?

I'm actually quite happy with the squad right now. The defence looks the best it has for years, in terms of both quality and amount of cover. We've got lots of options up front and, when Barton/Emre are fully fit I like the options across the middle. Plus we've got Duff to come back in and Owen to get fully fit (crosses fingers!). I'd be inclined to sign a couple of young, highly rated full backs and bladder the two lazy crocks that are currently being paid for doing shite all and costing us a fortune by taking up Physio time. Carr and Babayaro.

Good post Doc. Not jumping on the defensive here, or responding just cos he plays for us but I reckon Smith, at £6m, is a useful asset. Granted, he's not the best forward in the world and we could do without him in midfield at the minute but for the price we paid, given he's an England Squad regular, not too old, very professional by all accounts doesn't represent bad business imo. By that I mean, if we sold him in Jan we'd not lose much on him and moreover he could become a really useful asset, given his ability to play anywhere across the front 6 from mid to fwd and not let you down. I know he's taken some stick on here, and some of it rightly so, but as an asset I don't think it'd be fair to label him a flop and I still don't think Big Sams settled on a system yet - he may have bought him with a new formation in mind? In some respects people might liken his buy to that of Duff last year (i.e: a good player becomes available so lets buy him and worry about fucking off the Zog/others later, lets just make sure nobody else gets him) but I think we'll see more from him in the future. Anyhoo, Keiron Richardson - anyone?

I laughed out loud!

To be fair, if I was him, I'd play for fucking Torquay to be able to nail her whenever I liked.

Agree. It's like having Ronnie and Reggie running your club. THANK THE FUCKING LORD FOR MIKE ASHLEY.

Last season? What difference would it have made who or what we needed? Your mate Fred would've just signed who he liked anyway, wouldn't he?

Souness? Roeder? Gullit? He has some competition tbh He has - I agree. He's still the worst of that lot. The difference is Roeder and Gullit inherited shit teams. Souness was the only one who inherited a side comparable with KK's. I still hate Dalglish more though. Could never fucking stand him and his miserable, mumbling interviews after games and his old Pal's act bringing in Rush, Barnes et al. Wanker.

Can't stand Dalglish. He took a great KK side and dismantled it. Any bloke who can agree to the sales of Ginola and Ferdinand after their performances the previous season should be shot with shite. The worst manager in recent NUFC history imo.

haha can we impeach him? Impeached? He should be impaled for starting such a wank thread.

How the fuck is this lad a Moderator?

The thing that pleased me most about yesterdays performance was seeing the back four actually 'pass' the ball out into play instead of giving the ball to a defensive midfielder to pirouette (sp?) a la Parker, play it back to the Centre Half it's just come from a la Bramble and subsequently get launched 200 yards to a big lad to inevitably lose possession. Building from the back is where it's at and yesterday was the best we've done that in years imo.

He went to America and Germany. Saw the granddaddy of all injuries that is Dr Steadman. Isn't Steadman just a knee-specialist?