Ronaldo

how about N'zogbia plays his best game for us this season on the left-wing then gets played LB when he's basically the worst full-back i've ever seen. incredible really

Without Oba we're nothing up front man. Our most important player by a mile and has been for a long time

big pal of Kinnear, who DOESN'T pick on reputations apparently

s**** as usual. Laughable how people think he deserves to be anywhere near the side. Another shining example of Kinnear NOT picking by reputation

The knee-jerking seems to occur mostly after a win. Suddenly people think that Kinnear's fit to lead a premiership side

Is there anyone who can defend Given's positioning for that freekick? Good keeper but an absolute master at conceding from long range, happens far too often

we all knew that surely. No industry, pace or shooting ability from outside the box

:lol:

With Martins out, we're not the same team. It all basically comes down to how the midfield perform without Oba in the side. And today it was all graft and no quality with the exception of Guthrie who had a few moments. Owen and Viduka man

needs quality around him and decent coaching staff or he's basically the next Lee Clark

Woodgate was quality but the hype he gets on this board is in no small measure due to the fact he was our player, for a small period of time

Goals were flowing past because Coloccini wasn't defending properly? The point is, Coloccini, even in his worse games, has been the best central defender this club has had since Albert & Howey. If not better. Should not forget Woodgate, even though he wasnt here for too long and also got him self injured, but he for sure was one great defender! I have not forgotten Woodgate at all. But he was here one and a half seasons, and barely played for us (28 games or so?). Coloccini is well on his way to going past that in his first season alone, and he does not look injury prone to me, having played every game for Depor last season. Fingers crossed, knock on wood and all that, long may it continue. I agree btw on fitness terms, but on pure ability Woodgate despite hardly playing for us is more than likely the best centre half we've ever had. woodgate was the best centre half i've seen play for us in my time. agree, after cannavaro he was the best i've seen in the flesh full stop who else have you seen?

Bassong was playing games at left back too in between then and Taylor was hardly a disaster that you're making out, it seems like you're moaning for the sake of the smallest thing. As for Xisco, since neither of us see what he's like in training then we're not in a position to judge, he hasn't done himself much good when he has had playing time but I'm sure if he did play well then Kinnear would keep him in like he has done with Bassong and Charlie. not really the smallest thing and as I said before, I'm not criticising. I'm just disputing the fact that he's putting reputations last when Duff and Taylor held on to their place for far too long and Butt continues to do so.

A fair few of us have been saying Taylor shouldn't be anywhere near our first 11 for a long while tbh

He seems to be a member of the "the man with the shirt keeps the shirt" (barring a mare ofc) school of thought. well lets pray to fucking god that he isn't and Martins gets straight back in the side come sunday

wasn't talking about the Man United game though. Kinnear was appointed on the 25th september and it wasn't until the 29th of November that Bassong started a game at CB ahead of a fit Taylor. Not trying to criticise Kinnear, just saying that all this 'he picks on performance, not reputation' talk is somewhat undeserved at this point. BTW I dread to think how bad Xisco must be in training for him to pick a not even half fit Viduka ahead of him

Several of us concluded from what we saw in pre-season that Bassong looked very competent and deserved a game in the centre. I wanted both him and Cacapa to be ahead of Taylor in the pecking order tbh

Looking forward to Guthrie being dropped when Barton comes back so we can see the dream partnership of him and Butt once again. Very happy with team selection atm it has to be said. But who knows where we'd be in the table if N'zogbia and Bassong had come in a month earlier

took injuries before he dropped Duff and Taylor like

reading this thread one might assume that Owen's goal record is considerably better than Oba's, it most certainly isn't.

by that definition, Andy Cole is a more effective striker than Dennis Bergkamp tbh Andy Cole was a striker, Dennis Bergkamp was a forward.

still chairman

by that definition, Andy Cole is a more effective striker than Dennis Bergkamp tbh

What might be worth remembering is that we've never seen Martins in this league with any real creative midfield force behind him.

average? and tell me which great team on the planet would have Michael Owen in their side right now He will get a better club than the bloke you have named yourself after just has. what's your point? Ronaldo's lucky to still be playing after what his knees have been through. The way you go in you make it out no decent side will take him, when he is on free he will get a good club. One of the 5 teams competing for a top 4 place this will take a punt on him. Outside the top 4 or 5, the league is basically bollocks though. I can see managers looking at Martins and thinking, yeah I could make him a great player.