KaKa

This just doesn't make sense thinking about it ... Fergusons strikers are struggling to score at the moment so he needs a guaranteed finisher. If he has a choice between Owen and Martins surely he goes for Owen right? As good a player as Martins is, i'm not sure he is the finisher they need. Owen is different to the other types of strikers they have, as he is a poacher and finisher, and he comes at a cheaper price. Also, when everyone else in the Man U squad is fit he can be rotated which will probably help avoid his repetitive injuries. They need someone in the box and depending on what happens on Wednesday against Germany, I think they might bid for Owen rather than Martins.

I wouldn't be too worried or concerned as long as there is a plan in place to move for a replacement quickly as we would be netting £13 million. However, we haven't exactly been quick in tying up deals this summer so it would be a worry for me. Tell you what is really frustrating though ... Sam it appears, definitely wants to play the 4-3-3 and because Owen was injured throughout our pre-season we never got a chance to see if he could function in this setup. If we knew for sure that he could be productive as a 4-3-3 wide striker, then selling Martins wouldn't be that much of a disaster as we could easily replace him with Diouf, and not even necessarily Anelka. If we were confident Owen could score regularly in a 4-3-3 I wouold be more than happy with an Owen, Viduka and Diouf front line. Problem is of course no one knows what Owen's role is going to be and it is making things more complex than it would have been.

I can't believe we could end up keeping Owen and losing Martins ... I would be distraught! If this happens we absolutely have to go for Anelka.

Wow ... Diouf it is then. Alan Oliver is going to love this ... I wish they would just take Owen instead for goodness sake!

Owen is a luxury in modern day football and it's a fact. Good player but it is shocking how little he gives to the team outside of being a goal poacher, albeit a darn good one. More evidence that Allardyce is a strong believer in the 4-3-3. Is it likely he will sacrifice his beliefs all for the sake of one man? If so is this the right thing to do? I think Owen will try to be adapted into the 4-3-3 as a wide striker and if it doesn't work he will probably be gone.

Diouf isn't that bad a guy. He had his problems but he has worked his way through them. Right now he is just a bit eccentric on and off the pitch. You only have to look at how well he gets on with his teammates and the Bolton supporters to know that. I would be happy to have him in our team, he is one of those that would be a fan favourite too. He is one of those players you love when he is on your team, but hate when he isn't. If you guys want creativity he is definitely a player that makes things happen in the attacking third. If Martins/Owens leaves he would make sense to me, otherwise, there really wouldn't be any where we could fit him into so it should be interesting to see how it works out. I would imagine that if he has been made available then Sam would definitely be interested. If Sam is determined to play the 4-3-3 then he would be a key addition as his skills set suit the system more than any of our current smaller, quicker strikers.

I thinkk I know what's going on ... Basically, all of the foreigners who have been trying to buy the club from Shepherd and his clan all of these years are now trying it on again. They didn't have a chance because Shepherd was anti aliens and was holding out for the "Geordie Abramovich" and so now he's gone, they're trying to get the club off Mike Ashley who doesn't see himself as the Geordie defender of the universe. I don't expect MA to budge though. Especially not at such an awkward time.

Agree completely. I think we could still use the 4-3-3 at home but with Barton and Emre in the midfield three. This would make a massive differnce I think. Also, when our new fullbakcs (enrique and Belleti hopefully!) are up to speed this will also offer additional width and attacking play, as both are good at getting forward.

Well if this is true , let us be grateful that we have at least managed to build a fairly decent squad for this season and the manager is in place to have us ticking over. Shearer from what I recall is a fan of Allardyce and so I imagine Sam will stay in place and would be supported. I'm not sure a change right now would harm us too much. If anything it might mean more investment in the team should this takeover go through.

Sidwell? Can't even get onto the bench! Joker :lol: We'll pick him up for £1 million next summer.

That may well be the ugly truth. I like the 4-3-3, but I don't think it suits either Owen or Martins. We switched to 4-4-2 to accommodate Owen, and we looked less effective. Interesting, but I actually think Martins looks a threat in the 4-3-3. He tends to run at people more and had a couple of nice runs during the game. He could definitely improve though and he would.

Owen is just a very limited footballer that offers nothing but getting on the end of things. Basically had 10 men when he came on, it's always been the way he's played pretty much. Really worried we will change things around to try to accomodate him. I thouht we definitely looked worse once we switched to the 4-4-2.

I think the 4-3-3 could definitely work with a bit more practice and direction, and in my opinion it has a lot of potential. Especially when Barton returns. Thought we looked worse in the 4-4-2. Especially as in a 4-4-2 we are essentially playing with 10 men due to Owen's style of play.

Alan Smith's scuffed shot after a beautiful cut back from Milner and Rozehnal's brilliant Volley are two just off the top of my head. I am now certain you haven't even seen the match. You have now been on here for a couple of hours attempting to wind people up regarding a match you didn't even see. Busy life you say? More likely a bit of a vagabond.

Maybe you should ask him and not us?

haha... resorting to classic winding-up material. I don't even know what that is. You obviously do though. Some of us have busy lives. Where were you last week? I was in London, where was you? Where was your wacky opinion last week?

In and out of jail all your life !!! You're entitled to an opinion, but if you're a career criminal I do object to your entitlement to oxygen You little f****** prick,i have been in and out of jail but its not what i would have chose for myself but i've been raised this way,and like i said i'm now working and trying to stay away from crime for me and my kid. Fair enough, but you probably shouldn't have bothered bringing it up as you were bound to get some responses you wouldn't like. We all have different backgrounds and a lot of us work very hard for a living just like you feel you do. We all support the team and that's all that should matter so can we calm this down please?

haha... resorting to classic winding-up material. I don't even know what that is. You obviously do though. Some of us have busy lives. Busy enough to go onto every thread and spout the same boring stuff? Where were you last week? And how come you didn't have a problem then? How about all through pre-season when we played the same system and looked great? You haven't got a foot to stand on man!

What the hell is going on??? Where were all of you last week??? Did we not play the exact same system? Yes we did!!! How come no one complained about the system then? Or throughout pre-season when we played the same way? This is really shitty guys. I expected better. People on here are practically pining for Roeder.

Man, fuck this. I hope Ashley heard the booing and he up and leaves with Allardyce and they take over at Middelsbrough. That'll learn yous lot! That way we can get Warnock in or something ... it's truly what we probably deserve.

I disagree totally about Martins. He'd completely disappeared from the game in the second half. We started the second half slowly as a team though. If Martins dissapeared then what did Owen do?

Exactly what he said the thing is, its the first home game of essentially a new era, and we play sloppy longball football. Its not like we tried to go forward and were stopped by an amazingly orginized villa side. the game plan we set out with was way too negative for the match. Believe or not our game plan wasn't negative. I think thats demonstrated by the fact that straight after the first whistle we drove forward and got a corner. It wasn't supposed to be a "negative" performance as you call it. Villa were very organsied and there wasn't a lot of space in midfield due to both teams playing 4 3 3. The midfield was far too crowded (not Big Sam's fault) for a game of open football and there wasn't much we could do about this, it was mainly down to Villa who were hardworking and organised. Don't forget they played very well at Liverpool last week, it's not as if we just failed to beat Derby or something. So many fans are giving knee-jerk reactions, after last week it was "we should be aiming for fifth", and now its "we can't even beat villa, we're a long ball team". Get a hold of yourself and give Sam the time he needs to do his thing. Amen! No one said we were defensive or boring last week did they. I honestly can't believe what I am seeing on here. After last season how people can even have the nerve to claim we were rubbish today is crazy! Things didn't come off for us today in the attacking areas and it was as simple as that.

This is a shocking thread! Are you racking your brain hard enough? Try the 5 - 0 loss to Birmingham at home last season. I for one thought we were no where near as bad as people on here are claiming. Our attacking play wasn't as good today because we couldn't play off Viduka who struggled badly, and was dominated by Laursen.

I prefered the 4-3-3 today. If Viduka had done a better job holding the ball up it would have worked far better. Viduka struggled today and Shola did a better job when he came on. Butt also had a shocker and most of the time lost the ball when we had chances to get something going. Taylor needs to be very careful, and should get rid of the ball earlier, still prone to some dozy play. Rozehnal was brilliant again, and covered for Taylor on a number of occassions. Carr is shocking and always looks a liability, and does nothing other than lose the ball when he gets forward. Owen is a bit too limited. 30 minutes on the pitch but his style of play means he doesn't do much unless we are creating a ton of chances in the final third. Not sure what is going to happen with our formation or tactics now he is back. On the whole I am satisfied. Villa deserved something from the game and a draw was fair. Also was the type of game we would typically lose but we didn't. 4 points on the board from Bolton and Villa and we are undefeated. No problem with that at all. I would like to see Butt out and Emre in for our next game, and I would also like to see us get someone in to replace Carr. I imagine with that late stunt Taylor pulled, Cacapa has also increased his chances of playing in the first 11. Thought Zoggy did well today too against some dangerous attackers so special mention for him. I think a lot of people are underrating Villa who are certainly a respectable side and who were very dangerous on the counter attack.

:lol: Hilarious guy.