Ronaldo

not forgetting that it is very likely shev will move on either in jan or the summer. and that Anelka isn't fit to suck Drogba's wang

to be fair, this season Arsenal have played a lot of route 1 football. Comfortably more than say Man u

i've seen little to suggest that n'zogbia will be much of an improvement on milner. we'd be going back to 2005/6 to see any form in that position. compare that with what brummie would say about milner's time at villa ? Duff's hasn't done anything to warrant a place over Milner or Zog yet either. he'll get his chance though and rightfully so. As much as I love Milner, Duff (even if he does return slower) is a better player

Martins can be abysmal all game but if he gets a goal or two he'll be forgiven. Such is the life of a striker. It's fair enough, but you can both surely see that it severely hurts the team in general on days where Martins doesn't pull out a goal from somewhere, as he contributes pretty much nothing in terms of build-up play for the rest of the team. I'd much prefer a player who scores less goals and can actually play a bit of football and improve the team with what he offers as a whole, rather than a headless chicken who scores the odd wonder goal here and there. Martins still has time to improve, but I'm really not seeing any development in his awareness sadly. OK, but it sounds to me that you're not taking into consideration that he's being player out of position. And still doing alright with it anyhow. When he's been deployed down the middle this season, he's been clinical and his movement have been much improved in comparison to last season. See the City goal for evidence of improved finishing, movement and touch. You can throw the Spurs goal in there aswell. I'm tired of people saying he's not improving, because he is. And similarly with N'Zogbia, i think it'll help his development as an all-round player being played slightly out of position, because he'll have to learn new things. Where to move, when to time his runs, how to find a goalscoring position in the box (not that he's bad at that anyway), and so on. His awareness isn't particularly great but it has and will improve over the course of the season, providing he's playing of course. I'll never say he's a headless chicken because i just don't think he is. Did you read what Sir Les said about him on Setanta ? This is on nufc.com today if you want to check... basically, he says that Martins is NOT comfortable OR suited to playing 4-3-3, and enlarges on this by saying that he is not disciplined enough to fit the system as he keeps drifting inside... This has been one of my biggest problems about Martins - he is an instinctive type of player and these`players do NOT have the right mental attitude to be a success at the top level ; every so often they will produce a moment of magic, but will then proceed to miss easy chances etc because they do not have the necessary discipline to either play within a framework or to keep a cool head when necessary - in the 70s, there was the case of Duncan Mckenzie, who had amazing skills but never reached the top even though he was given a chance in one of Leeds' best teams..there was also Stan Bowles who could undo teams like you've never seen when he felt like it, but then disappeared into obscurity because of his ill-disciplined private life... Neither Owen NOR Martins are the answer to our striker problem - for entirely different reasons. Owen gets too many injuries, but if he didn't, would be one of the top scorers in the Prem, whereas Martins just hasn't got what it takes to be a top striker . If Les`Ferdinand is prepared to say it, that's confirmation enough for me that my doubts are justified, and for all those saying that Owen doesn't fit the system, this is confirmation that neither does Martins .. . He cannot play as a target man either - too small and individualistic - may be that is why NUFC is never successful - the fans seem to prefer moments of brilliance from erratic players than a disciplined team, which is the only way to bring success. the fans in general may prefer that, but lets be honest, how many players have we had in the last 5 years capable of moments of brilliance, maybe 3

bid for Danny Mills asap Sam

what the hell happened to Wayne Quinn anol? Robbie Elliot never had the best luck with inuries either

Karelse Carr Moore Woodgate Marcelino Baba Bellamy Bracewell Dyer Cort Owen

absolutely if Owen was being played where Martins has been in the last few games he'd be twice as bad and Smith, he's been fucking abysmal, reminds me of James Beattie. Was his shot against Liverpool the only one he's had?

Beye - 8 composed, consistent, capable, very impressive Cacapa - 7 been a fan of his for a couple of years, he'll get there Faye - 7 Solid, very dominant in the air Rozenhal - 6 Needs to improve but he has time and talent Barton - 5.5 not match fit yet but improving constantly Smith - 5.5 average player with great work-rate, we could have done worse Enrique - 5 i like him, needs to learn the english game and he'll shine Viduka - 5 couple of good games, not fit or mobile enough Geremi - 4 poor to say the least, doesn't do nearly enough

Given is perfect fodder for those who claim playing in net is 'a hero's position' he made one decent save ffs

Do you really think Sammy is going to go back 442 or that is going to play 433 with only one of the front 3 a forward/striker. either way, Duff's in the team if we play 4-3-3 he's certainly going to be there, was class there for Chelsea and with Allardyce's preference for N'zogbia as LB he's also gonna start when we play 4-4-2

Duff getting back into the side will do a world of good for Milner

said it when we signed him and gonna say it again, he's an excellent defender and very strong personality to have in the team

that said, we'd have played Kluivert and Bellamy up top, Robson knew Shearer was no longer a force in the premiership 6th is where we'd have finished in 04-05 imo

you expect wonders from a combined £2m? Regular international for the Czech Republic and the skipper of a team that's played in the champions league regularly for a decade tbh. Personally I think Roz is a good defender, let down by his distribution. I think Cacapa is a very good defender, lacking in confidence after Pompey. How do you know he's lacking in confidence, he hasn't played since silly comment tbf

you have to be joking

good to see people are finally giving Rio Ferdinand the respect he deserves a defender, has been immense so far as he was last season

good attitude? are you insane? Hm..maybe just once.He went on to play despite his brother's death,I think that he deserve some credit for that.

good attitude? are you insane?

very happy to do both

Why would you get rid of Duff??? a know, what a stupid fucking comment

For saying it how it was, too bad the captain didnt do likewise indeed

And so so it was Robert's fault that SBR's successor - ie. Souness - couldn't accept the fact that the player in question didn't have the Neville brothers' defensive physical presence and therefore marked him as rubbish and a player 'who had to be sold'. Dunn's exit from Blackburn followed a similar path initially when Souness used to badger on about "Dunn not doing enough defensively". It was either season 01/02 or 02/03 when Dunn sunk us with a 2nd half winner at Ewood, which complimented a MOM performance. Souness' post-match press conference mirrored his Heereenveen/Robert one ie. "he played well, but doesn't do nearly enough in other areas". They're 'back-handed slap' comments, aimed at supposedly motivating players by constantly taking pop-shots at them in the press.... especially after MOM performance. Ridding Souness of blame, and at the same time laying it on Robert's door - when talking about his SJP exit - is bollocks. never forget his comment about Milner, scottish cunt

it's absolute madness but they'll never learn

for defenders: Maldini Nesta Addams