Ronaldo

No point attacking if there's zero cutting edge.

Perch and Jonas, man. What a good job Ashley's done.

Interpol and his FB wars, man.

Right, enough's enough. Been fun, dude.

As I've said, not withstanding the fact that all athletes are evolving, I don't think there's such a thing as a modern forward.

I understand (albeit disagree with) the point you've been trying to make, OCK, but you've made it terribly with laughable examples. Grant f***ing Holt and Neymar, for crying out loud.

Just seemed a strange question to ask. Shearer wasn't great in the air from open play. Big threat from set-pieces but there's been far bet players in the air at NUFC over the years and throughout the PL.

Both of them were far better, for a start.

Drogba could too.

Dude, come on.

Was this not refuted earlier?

Gamerio looks perfect for a 4-3-3 to me. Not that it'll happen but I'd swap him for Ba in a second.

Lovely. There was a chance I was gonna watch this with my lodger's boyfriend, who's a City fan. He can fuck right off now if he thinks he's coming anywhere near this house.

Taylor needed to lose weight back then. Pardew told him to do so, if memory serves.

How many English forwards are there starting in the PL, though? Look at us: you have Ba, Cisse and Ameobi. Spot the one who was developed in this country.

Plays to a far higher standard in midfield than Robbie Savage ever did for starters. Chuckled at this. Fair play.

I don't expect any credit. Actually that's a lie, I most certainly do. I think it's a little lazy of you to use players like Aguero and Duncan Ferguson as examples of strikers at certain points in time. They represent two extremes, both of which have always and will always exist.

Yes. It's called increased foreign presence. Not trying to sound dismissive, dude. I just can't be bothered to go into too much depth with this. But there were forwards of Tevez and Aguero's type in Shearer's day - they were just outside the PL. Messi is a force of nature that can't really compared to anyone, ever in terms of ability as far as I can see.

You're having a laugh, right? As I said, we're seeing a more diverse sample. Nowt's really changed; it's just changed places.

Perhaps, but he hardly had the same technical ability as modern day forwards - Tevez, Aguerro, Messi, etc. He was more like Drogba in that he was about determination and battling up alongside the defenders, using his strength and body to create space and gaps, rather than dropping into the pockets. They're hardly 'modern day forwards' like. They're 3 of the very best attacking players in the world - and their types were around during Shearer's peak. Well, I'll be happy to read your explanation in detail. Nowt to explain, really. We've seen an influx of more technical players in the last 15 years or so. Forwards aren't changing, we're just seeing a far more diverse sample in the PL.

That's the point, though. He's never been a good 'footballer'.

Perhaps, but he hardly had the same technical ability as modern day forwards - Tevez, Aguerro, Messi, etc. He was more like Drogba in that he was about determination and battling up alongside the defenders, using his strength and body to create space and gaps, rather than dropping into the pockets. They're hardly 'modern day forwards' like. They're 3 of the very best attacking players in the world - and their types were around during Shearer's peak.

I'm not sure you can pigeonhole Shearer like that. In his prime he was almost the complete forward. As for Adams, I remember him being great.

I don't blame you, lads. Everytime we won last season the stock of certain fan favourites went up, and there's no harm in that per se. It does lead to unreasonable expectations down the line, though.