KaKa

The fact of the matter is that our players stink! Wake up and smell the coffee for goodness sake!

I knew once Owen came on we would get worse, just like we did against Chelsea. Yes he is more likely to score if he gets a chance but ultimately Martins attributes create more chances for the team on the whole even if he is less clinical.

For goodness sake Owen and Viduka upfront? ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDIN' ME???

The slowest most undynamic pair of players int he premiership up against Micah Richards and Dunne?

Forget about it.

Until we revamp our striking force we will be bloody useless.

OWEN OUT! VIDUKA OUT!

I don't know if Man City travelled over last night or not but could it have been Bianchi?

 

 

 

Definitely wasn't Bianchi. Don't know if there were any other Man City players around last night, because away teams do stay in the Malmaison too, so that could be a possibility.

Was probably their new Mexican guy Castillo.

I don't know if Man City travelled over last night or not but could it have been Bianchi?

 

 

Oh dear ... well that was exciting while it lasted.

HinduTimes wrote: Long straight black hair

 

KaKa wrote:

 

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9gnMiT0gXtHkrwA.BWjzbkF/SIG=1270l5oer/EXP=1199362932/**http%3A//www.fcbarcelonaweb.com/jugadors/ezquerro.jpg

 

Ezquero to the Toon!

 

Close enough

Owen to score tonight.

Owen will look like he is walking in quicksand against Micah Richards.

I think this is a game where we ought to play Martins up front. He scored a great goal up at City.

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9gnMiT0gXtHkrwA.BWjzbkF/SIG=1270l5oer/EXP=1199362932/**http%3A//www.fcbarcelonaweb.com/jugadors/ezquerro.jpg

Ezquero to the Toon!

Maybe we will say the same about Sam this time next year?

Amen brother, AMEN!

This is as bad as that thread about the bald guy. :lol:

That thread was awful  :lol:

We still don't know who the hell the guy was.

He was our best left back last season though! Even though he only played in one training session.

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9gnMiVfentHJVkBISOjzbkF/SIG=13kk9q9gs/EXP=1199360991/**http%3A//external.cache.el-mundo.net/elmundodeporte/envivos/fichas/imagenes/04100/4125_140x170.jpg

 

Is this the fella?

 

Nope, but who is that?

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTb_5tfXtHxe8ASAqjzbkF/SIG=12jh8eq7m/EXP=1199361773/**http%3A//www.marca.com/ficheros/marca/fotos05/gutierrez050809.jpg

Gutierrez of Real Mallorca a.k.a Spiderman. He's the one who wears the spiderman mask when he scores a goal 

He was linked with Man City recently so I thought maybe he had stopped by at ours for a quick chat too.

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9gnMiVfentHJVkBISOjzbkF/SIG=13kk9q9gs/EXP=1199360991/**http%3A//external.cache.el-mundo.net/elmundodeporte/envivos/fichas/imagenes/04100/4125_140x170.jpg

Is this the fella?

The Korean bloke? Maybe he speaks Spanish/Italian?

Sadly Allardyce is persisting with this 'stop the opposition playing' s****. In the paper today he blames the Wigan defeat on them having a days extra rest...

 

I think what he is trying to do is making us a counter attacking team, but we do not have the pace or directness in our midfield or attack to play this way at the moment. We need at least one player with these attributes to use as an outlet. Martins has the pace but isn't direct enough.

 

For example Villa have Young and Agbonlahor who set up most of their attacks. Man City use Petrov a great deal in this respect. Portsmouth have the likes of Benjani and Utaka. At Bolton Sam had the likes of Diouf and Anelka.

 

We currently do not have the personnel for this style of football. If we could just add the right kind of playeer or two with these attributes we ccould see a great deal of improvement.

 

if he's trying to play counter attacking football why the hell did he buy Barton, Smith and Viduka

 

these players plus Owen shouldn't be anywhere near the team if that's what we're trying to achieve

I agree completely. I think it is safe to say that the summer transfer window was a bit of a disaster and I think a lot of it had to do with the change in ownership. Barton and Smith could actually work in such a system, in the same way Hamaan and Johnson do at City i.e. as the hard working central midfield paie, but where we failed miserably was adding pace and guile to the wings and attack. Viduka was a poor signing for an Allardyce set up.

Sadly Allardyce is persisting with this 'stop the opposition playing' s****. In the paper today he blames the Wigan defeat on them having a days extra rest...

I think what he is trying to do is making us a counter attacking team, but we do not have the pace or directness in our midfield or attack to play this way at the moment. We need at least one player with these attributes to use as an outlet. Martins has the pace but isn't direct enough.

For example Villa have Young and Agbonlahor who set up most of their attacks. Man City use Petrov a great deal in this respect. Portsmouth have the likes of Benjani and Utaka. At Bolton Sam had the likes of Diouf and Anelka.

We currently do not have the personnel for this style of football. If we could just add the right kind of playeer or two with these attributes we ccould see a great deal of improvement.

"The reality is that you can't play every game and go out just to attack and open yourself up," Allardyce said.

 

"When you go out and see the Premiership in its entirety, and you go and watch a game like Manchester City-Liverpool and see City set up at home and say we are not going to get beaten.

 

"Well, Sven is getting the headlines, and he is putting up a 4-5-1. I watched the whole game live and he didn't let his side go out to attack. Apart from Martin Petrov down the left, Simon Ireland down the right, Darius Vassell up front, no one else got anywhere near the Liverpool 18-yard box.

 

"But he had got nine wins and two draws at home. So you know the balance of play in many occasions is that he sets up a team not to get beaten against a Liverpool side that if you try to attack, will punish you and win you the game."

 

Ahead of City's visit, Allardyce called on his players to reproduce the battling displays that brought a point against Arsenal last month and that nearly ensured a share of the spoils against Chelsea last weekend following a defeat at Wigan and draw at home against Derby.

 

"We need the spirit and performance like we showed against Arsenal and Chelsea, where but for the assistant referee we should have had a draw," Allardyce added. ''We need big performances."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml;jsessionid=JJAQ5VH5CW5QRQFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/sport/2008/01/02/sfnnew102.xml

Man City do essentially play a 4-5-1 rather than a 4-3-3 in all honesty, and if they had Milner instead of Petrov and Barton instead of Elano would they really be that much better than we are at the moment? Okay they probably would be due to their defence ... but attacking wise?

I don't want to knock our guys but we really do lack quality at the moment in our team and this is our main problem more than anything. With the return of Duff all we really need is a creative player through the middle and I think we would be much improved. An experienced left back would be nice too, to allow Zoggy to play further up the pitch at least occassionally.

This transfer window should tell us a great deal about the direction we are going in as far as the backing and support that will be given to Sam.

Yep, exactly the reason why I'm backin you for 5th. You have the best set of 2nd half fixtures of anyone IMO.

 

How do you think you'll go with in defence from now on?

 

MON said ages ago that once Davies got the shirt, he expected him to hold on to it. He was excellent on Saturday and good again today. I see him and Laursen in central defence now.

 

Harsh on Mellberg, but we need a proper right back. I'm a fan of his, he has been with us for, what, six mostly s*** years, he's very popular, but I wouldn't blame him at all if he took up this offer from Juventus at the end of the season.

Don't you think that if you got a right back that Laursen and Mellberg would be a phenomenal pairing though?

So have we signed anyone yet?

Erm, who wrote him off? He's not even really played enough games to be at a point where he can be "written off".

 

No one wrote him off iirc. I remember people being astonished at the price tag when it was rumoured that they spent £17 million on him but when that was revealed as being false, no one said much else.

Quite a few people said he wasn't good enough coming from a weak Croatian league and that sort of thing, from what I remember anyway.

Arsenal 1 - 0

 

Remember when people questioned Eduardo as a replacement for Henry?

 

Yeah whats your point?

My point is that people wrote Eduardo off but he has shown he has the quality to succeed here.

Not saying he is better than Henry ... not yet anyway.

Arsenal 1 - 0

 

Remember when people questioned Eduardo as a replacement for Henry?

 

What are you trying to imply? That his 3 league goals so far this season suggest he is going to be a worthy replacement?

No. That he is beginning to show that he will score a lot of goals in the league, and that no Arsenal fan is even thinking about Henry right now, due to Adebayor's emergence as well to be fair.

Arsenal 1 - 0

Remember when people questioned Eduardo as a replacement for Henry?

This club is a freakin' mess ...

If we've managed to drive Allardyce to wanting to quit then we have serious problems.

This to me is the advantage of having a foreign manager.

Could you imagine an English manager coming in and having the guts to drop someone like Owen for Agbonlahor? It would be so much more difficult in my opinion.

For England 

Looks like the new England manager will be brave enough to usher in a new era.

No more free rides for the big name charlies. Owen looks like he will be the first to get burned.

 

Gab’s just Fab - Agbonlahor is the shock name to get Capello call

 

EXCLUSIVE By NEIL ASHTON

 

Last updated at 23:32pm on 31st December 2007

 

 

Gabriel Agbonlahor has caught the eye of new England manager Fabio Capello and the electrifying Aston Villa forward is set to be fast-tracked into the senior squad next month. Agbonlahor, 21, joint leading English goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League, will get his chance as a signal of the Italian's new-look England regime.

 

With a friendly against Switzerland at Wembley on February 6, Capello is taking his first tentative steps in the job and has been impressed by Agbonlahor's speed and dynamism.

 

The celebrated coach has been watching videos of Barclays Premier League matches as he prepares to take over the national side, and was particularly enthused by the youngster's performance against Wigan last Saturday, which followed a vibrant display in the 4-4 draw at Chelsea on Boxing Day.

 

In the 2-1 win at Wigan, the Villa striker scored for the seventh time this season and Capello believes that his encouraging club partnership with John Carew could be mirrored alongside Wayne Rooney at international level.

 

Capello has already identified Agbonlahor's pace as one of his biggest assets and will continue to monitor his progress over the next month before making a final decision. The Italian wants to build a team around 'the three personalities' — skipper John Terry, Steven Gerrard and Rooney — but there will be no guarantees of a place.

 

Michael Owen's season, for instance, has been plagued by injury and Capello is casting the net wide to look for alternatives as he prepares for his first month in charge of England.

 

Capello is not happy just to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa — he wants to win it. That has convinced him to look at England's long-term future.

 

Owen returned to the Newcastle team as a substitute in the 2-1 defeat at Chelsea last weekend after spending six weeks on the sidelines with a thigh injury.

 

The striker injured his thigh during England's 1-0 victory over Austria last November, forcing him to miss England's disastrous 3-2 defeat against Croatia in their final Euro 2008 qualifier at Wembley.

 

Although Owen has an enviable goalscoring record at international level — 40 goals in 88 games — Capello is keen to examine his options. He is less than satisfied with the competition for places in attack and is looking beyond the obvious alternatives — Everton's Andy Johnson and Spurs duo Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe.

 

 

Although Capello does not officially begin his job until Monday, he has told the FA he will be in London on Friday to start. His first game as England coach may be Villa's FA Cup third-round clash with Manchester United on Saturday evening.

 

 

Although Capello has been made aware of Agbonlahor's indiscretions last summer — he went AWOL ahead of the European Under 21 finals in Holland — the forward has already left an impression on the Italian and could enhance that tonight at Villa Park, when he may come up against a Tottenham side featuring Bent and Defoe.

 

Agbonlahor plays on the right of midfield for Stuart Pearce's Under 21s, but has blossomed in his role alongside Carew in recent weeks.

 

Last season, he attracted interest from Chelsea following an exceptional display at Stamford Bridge and that interest, despite the change of manager to Avram Grant, is still alive.

 

But Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has no intention of allowing one of the country's finest talents to leave, believing it is only a matter of time before Agbonlahor receives senior England recognition.

 

Capello has also been impressed with Blackburn winger David Bentley. The former Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan and Roma coach has been watching live Premier League games in the build-up to his arrival and has been sent DVDs of the leading players available to him.

 

Watching from his Marbella holiday home he saw Bentley terrorise Derby County on Sunday and the gifted midfielder can also expect to be a big part of Capello's plans.

 

Bentley, who has also been forgiven for missing last summer's Under 21 tournament, is in top form and will push David Beckham for his place in the team next month.

 

It had been exected that Capello would name a large squad for his first game, but it is understood he believes that naming a smaller one may actually create competition for places.

 

That is precisely what England need after their disastrous qualification campaign under Steve McClaren, although Capello is no closer to finding a goalkeeper.

 

He had been impressed with Paul Robinson's transformation under Juande Ramos at Tottenham, but there are reservations again after his performance in the north London derby against Arsenal and the 6-4 victory over Reading on Saturday.

 

Capello's first instinct had been to promote West Ham's Robert Green, but his recent errors against Tottenham and Everton prompted a rethink.

 

Green still has an excellent chance of being included in Capello's first squad — which will be announced on February 1 — but Villa's Scott Carson and David James of Portsmouth are the predictable alternatives.

 

Despite spending the holiday period in Marbella with his family, Capello is fulfilling his promise to learn English inside a month.

 

The Italian spends four hours a day with a language tutor and those close to him claim that he is improving with each day.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=505459&in_page_id=1779&ct=5

I think we need better protection of the defense, so a static defensive midfielder like Makalele would be nice. A pacy right midfielder would be nice, someone whos actually gonna try and get behind the full back. Im actually quite happy with our forwards.

 

No dea why people keep mentioning Arshavin, how many ruski football fans do we have??

 

What happened to Routledge? Might be worth a punt for about £1 million.

 

Have him and we can throw in Tainio if you want?

Seriously though, what is the deal with Routledge?

He's no worse than Lennon but he doesn't even get a look in.

Did he fall out with the club?

I think we need better protection of the defense, so a static defensive midfielder like Makalele would be nice. A pacy right midfielder would be nice, someone whos actually gonna try and get behind the full back. Im actually quite happy with our forwards.

 

No dea why people keep mentioning Arshavin, how many ruski football fans do we have??

What happened to Routledge? Might be worth a punt for about £1 million.