Golfmag

Football was sublime today. To see the back four trying to avoid hoofing it at all costs was fantastic. Makes you wonder if we have been spun a yarn by Allardyce, Souness etc about all this tactical c...p. It was also completely different to the same match season which, easy to admit now, we were incredibly lucky to win.

Do't know what the theme of this thread is but Owen was superb today.

Harper 7 Beye 7 Enrique 8 Taylor 7 Faye 7 Barton 6 but better Butt 6 Geremi 6 Martins 8 Viduka 7 Owen 8 my MOTM, hold up and link play was superb. Just one bad miss

It's bloody cold up here!!

What's the weather like....?

Smith played well last week.

Generally, he played v well today

Just got on the train so don't know what's been said but that was daylight robbery. I hope that Hughes admits as much. Owen should be shot for his finishing today. And I can't believe that I've finally seen Smith play well. There was only one player who didn't play well today IMO and that was Barton who looks skilful but like he's running in treacle. He did put Own through with one fabulous ball.

Nice sunny day here. Can't see Zog warming up with the subs. Sorry, yes I can!

It's funny, when you speak to fans in Spain etc. they think OUR referees are the best........

Thanks. Sorted.......

Anyone help with a legal TV channel today's match is on in Hong Kong pls? I'm at the bloody airport.

My Spanish ex La Liga friend says he USED to be good...

God, apart from the last 10 minutes, that was like winding the clock back 10 years. Big Sam obviously doesn't understand that attack is the best form of defence. Given outstanding as usual. Wish we had the Owen of five years ago - we would have scored two.

Owen should have scored

Agree entirely with that summing up.

VERY understrength team. At least they tried to play the ball on the deck. I'm hopeful.

Of course. Everyone apart from most of the posters on this thread think he was our MOTM on Saturday and that he is one of the very best prem keepers but hey, what do they know. We must have the very best fans in the world for knocking confidence out of players and eventually driving them out of the club into another team where they are supported and hence perform better (Parker and Jenas the latest examples). Given pulled off an awesome save from Ronaldo in the first half. Tell me about the other wonderful things he did on Saturday. Once again i'll repeat, i really rate given as a keeper, i just don't understand how people can be so blinkered. Strangely, I'm not a big fan of him (he's certainly not the keeper he was 2 or 3 years ago). However, he cannot be blamed for Saturday's defeat, or any of the goals. The lack of protection the midfield gave the defence meant that Given was being pounded. People have an agenda against people like Given and Taylor, and I can't work out why. No other fans of other teams have that mentality Agree. The lambasting of Given is beyond belief. He should be appluaded for nearly saving the first goal, not castigated. God knows how this thread would have developed if he had made a mistake as bad as Cech's just before Christmas. That said, everyone is very entitled to their own opinion, just can't get my head around this thread!

Of course. Everyone apart from most of the posters on this thread think he was our MOTM on Saturday and that he is one of the very best prem keepers but hey, what do they know. We must have the very best fans in the world for knocking confidence out of players and eventually driving them out of the club into another team where they are supported and hence perform better (Parker and Jenas the latest examples).

I've established that you are a miserable man and/or your sole purpose on this forum is to bring everyone down to the level you are on with your negativity. People must get really bored of you. The fact people complain about Given astonishes me. He was our best or second best player against Man Utd. He has been with us for what 10 years? He's rejected advances from other clubs to remain loyal to us. We always expect players to be proud of the shirt they are playing in and to pay us back with what we put into our club. Given does this. Enrique and Taylor were, in my view, without doubt the best two players for us on Saturday. Given had a mare. I sometimes think that we don't deserve the loyalty Given has shown us.

Actually yes, he did nothing to warrant being dropped earlier in the season and i'd have him in the side at the minute. NB - i'm not saying given has played particularly badly, he had a good first half yesterday, but anyone who thinks he couldn't have made a difference with the first two goals is kidding themselves. Certainly not the first time this season either. No keeper in the world would have saved that freekick tbh. He only saw it when the ball was 3 yards from him. Given is miles better than Harper. Sad that when the team go through a bad patch (like the last few seasons unfortunately) then people think getting rid of Given will solve it. Madness. I don't want to get rid of Given, i just feel Harper had the jersey earlier in the season and did nothing to deserve having it taken off him. I also think since given has come back in he's looked a little dodgy with free-kicks and crosses. His distribution isn't amazing either, altho it's never been the best part of his game. Shot stopping is still (on the whole) amazing, such as from Ronaldo's shot in the first half. I also don't believe you can say no keeper would have saved that free kick - he got a full hand to it, which means he should have saved it, it wasn't hit totally purely and once he got down there he should have knocked it round the post. You could see he was annoyed with himself. I personally don't think that Harper could lace Given's boots now.

Don't know what you're on about. Given that Rooney's had about five clear chances on goal, i'd tend to agree with Felipao. What do you expect? Cacapa is a squad player on a free, he's not Maldini But he's got CL experience, but he was Lyon captain, but he's old, but he's Brazilian, surely he's 'our best defender by a mile' mackems.gif David Batty was that player.

Am I the only who takes some sort of sick, perverted pleasure when he cries (quite often)? The problem is that the referee will prob give him the benefit of the doubt next time..

I think that he said a whole lot, listening between the lines. I think he was telling us very clearly that HR will be our next Manager.

Trying to be positive..I was with my Spanish mate yesterday who used to play in La Liga and he (as an ex-professional footballer) said that 98% of a manager's success is about the quality of the players he has (buys) and 2% max about tactics etc. My only worry about that theory is that that is exactly the mantra that Souness used to preach!