ikri

I know it is, but as opposed to struggling to be brilliant consistently, he looked as though he just wasn't pulling his finger out. If he just upped the work rate and effort, who knows what could have been? Can't live with "what ifs" man. Not a personal dig, I just hate the whole philosophy. He was what he was. If he did have the attitude/application to go with it (at all times) then he wouldn't have been playing for us in the first place... Still think he was fucking ace. the thing about him tracking back was bit flawed, because robert was at his best on the counter attack and tbf i would want him in the final third of the pitch, as he could score from almost anywhere and could create chances no matter what, robert always put in 1 very good cross / through pass a game which would create a great chance he got 24 assists in 1 season ffs that's probably more than this whole team What I'd give now for a lazy bastard who could provide 24 assists. Nah, far better to have hard working, proper footballers who offer fuck all but will track back.

Best to watch? Ginola by a mile Most effective? Robert N'Zogbia couldn't compete with either of them at any level, even whinging.

I've heard plenty call in to argue with the whole would lose 4-3 than win 1-0 nonsense but I've never heard a fan say it non-sarcastically.

With the exception of Bassong, Beye & Guthrie would we really be that sorry to see them go? Their inept performances are one of the main reasons we're in this position. We could have substituted most of our midfielders for planks of wood for large portions of the season & no one would have noticed much of a difference.

So much blame to go around it's hard to know where to start. Ashley for somehow always managing to back the wrong person at the wrong time & failing to supply adequate funding for players. Keegan for walking out Kinnear for walking in But mainly the players. Most of them have international caps, some have won leagues and cups yet they can't seem to manage the most basic things like passing the ball to a team mate.

Love this quote: "As an aside hopefully Richardson,Malbranque and "Cissie" have played their last games for us. Absolute tossers of the highest order." Arguably three of their best players and he's slagging them off. Good move. They want to get themselves some proper players. I suggest Nicky Butt, Alan Smith, Joey Barton, Damien Duff and Shola Ameobi for starters. I'll even chip in for the taxi fares.

that looks like a fairly good team. Maybe Guthrie for Butt? No. He's a reasonable midfielder & if we have him in the midfield we might be tempted to pass the ball which will inevitably fail, better to try and ignore it as far as possible.

-------------------Harper------------------- --R Taylor----S Taylor----Colo----Duff-- ---------------Butt-----Nolan-------------- --Oba------------------------------Loven-- -----------Carroll-----Viduka-------------- May as well admit that we default to playing hoofball most of the time and try to make it work, plus the midfield has alternated between abysmal and non-existent all season so playing without much of one probably won't make too much of a difference.

Duff is the perfect example of why we're in the shit. Overpaid and unproductive. Jonas has looked poor in the last few games with Duff behind him, Enrique looks poor when Duff is ahead of him yet when Jonas is played ahead of Enrique they both look like decent players. Coincidence? Maybe, but Duff's lack of work, his shocking passing and lack of movement would stop him getting a game in the Championship if it weren't for his history. The last assist he got was from a deflection, fuck knows where it would have ended up without it. Guthrie and Jonas are the only midfielders I would try to keep hold of next season, regardless of what division we're in, they're the only two who aren't living off past glories.

This is my worry for Barton more than his off the field behaviour. He is seen by referees as being as nasty player so a foul that might earn anyone else a talking to gets him a yellow card, anything harder becomes a straight red. This isn't all Barton's fault, but we cannot afford to have a player in midfield who can't tackle in case the referee sends him off because of who he is.

We need to buy a midfield before we even start to look at keepers. We cannot go another season with any combination of Butt/Duff/Smith/Barton/Nolan as first choice midfielders. If Shearer can get Viduka fit and interested and keep him that way then he'll be worth another season.

Don't know of any Boro fans who don't believe he should be starting every possible game, he's really highly rated by their fans it's just Southgate who doesn't seem to think he's up to it.

Was there a case for it?

Guiseppe Signori at Bologna was initially on a pay-as-you-play contract as I remember, he'd suffered from a few injuries and other Serie A didn't want to take the risk on him. He got a basic wage plus a huge appearance and scoring bonus.

It's a team game & Owen simply doesn't offer enough to the team's overall play to warrant a place in the side. Every one of our strikers offers something to the way the team plays, whether it's pace, strength, heading ability, etc. Owen offers none of these. He's in the side because he's supposed to be our best finisher, but he's not scored in months nor has he even looked like scoring. We're relying on his timing to get himself into positions to score, but even if his reading of the game is perfect he lacks the physical ability to get into scoring positions by either outpacing or out-muscling defenders. Add that he's the club captain despite having all the leadership abilities of a dead rabbit.

Why would he do that? He's dropped him and subbed him off when we needed a goal. I think Shearer knows that Owen's not the same player anymore. The same reasons that will get Owen a contract wherever he ends up next season. The manager will believe that he's the man who can either get Owen playing at something like his best again or they can help him adapt his game so that he's still a goalscoring threat. I hope Shearer isn't the manager to take that task on because I believe that Owen is all but finished as a top flight footballer.

My only real worry with Shearer is that he might persuade Owen to stay.

This Might be worth offering him a pay-per-play contract for a season.

Great win. Rode our luck on more than one occasion tonight but we were the better team and we were finally able to make those chances count. Viduka was fantastic and had he been fit for longer this season the whole team would have performed better. Guthrie was magnificent, his crossing tonight was better than we've seen most of the season. All that said, no one is better than us at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It is imperative that we continue this into the Fulham game. We cannot afford to rest yet.

Get in!

MARTINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How did they not score there? Catastrophic defending.

Get in Taylor!

With the possible exception of Keegan, considering the various managers we've had in charge since Robson it doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

I don't think Nicky Butt will let us down, it's the strikers and attacking midfielders I'll be watching closely. We have attacking midfielders? When did this happen? Has anyone told Shearer? I'm sure he'd like to know their names so he can add then to the team ahead of the cloggers currently playing there.