AyeDubbleYoo

Sam

No Shepherd, no Bramble, Big Sam - time to start taking us seriously. Or we'll send Joey round

:occasion18:

And remember, it all goes to Saint Ashley the Redeemer, so it's all good!

Think it deserved to be highlighted. Pedantic tbh.

Yes, of course it is just a game - but it is VERY important in the lives of a lot of people. Poll should expect citicism for his mistake, but I think anyone with half a brain would realise that death threats etc are clearly going too far.

I can't believe the fines were anything serious if they did exist, didn't Okocha once have something like 100 shots in a couple of seasons?

I see what you're saying Ericz, and Utilitarianism would say let's get Barton in - we will profit from it in the long run. But I think in order to have this debate we have to have some sort of moral standards to measure against. I think most people agree that some of the stuff Joey has been involved in is pretty shameful. But is it bad enough to mean he shouldn't be given another chance, or that his career should be seriously damaged? I'm not sure... many players have some back from some fairly serious things and turned themselves around. It is going to be difficult to anaylse the Barton signing in the detailed way you're suggesting, I mean who really knows what the chances of Barton acting up again are? Maybe not even Barton himself (he seems to lack a bit of self-control!). I don't know what the answer is really, but I am sure that if Barton does sign for us, and repeats any of his previous antics, we should come down on him hard whether he is our player or not. In that way I think we can maintain some sort of moral authority.

Fair play and good luck to Bramble and Le Sib, both tryers with moments of quality - just not good enough for where we want to be.

The photo on BBC is amazing, the lad's got a face the size of a small country Got to love him though, can't wait to see him bullying defenders in the black and white.

One potential factor is that we are set to lose a lot less player-days through injury this season (fingers crossed), if Sam's record at Bolton is anything to go on.

I can see it happenning in a 5-3-2/3-5-2 type setup, but not sure if it could work in a normal 4-4-2. Dyer might not be a monster tackler, but he can certainly track back with pace and hassle his opposing winger. If he's committed to trying it out I would say go for it - whether or not he's on 80K a week is beside the point. Better paying 80K a week and using him than not. I would still rather see us bring in a quality specialist RB though, obviously.

To be fair though, we nearly scored on a number of occaisions against Germany and might well have got past them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6703431.stm Estonia goalkeeper Mart Poom has suggested England's difficulties at international level could be caused by the Premier League's competitiveness. Estonia face England in a crucial Euro 2008 qualifier on 6 June, with Steve McClaren's side desperate to win to boost their qualification hopes. ..... "It's very hard to have the best and the biggest league and also the best national team," Poom told BBC Sport All those players will be involved in the Champions League as well as the two domestic English cups. "That type of schedule is very demanding and by the time an international game comes around players often seem drained - they aren't robots. I think Poom has a point here, and it made me think - would it be better to take a different approach to selecting the national team, picking fresh and hungry players from the lesser Premierleage sides and even the Championship? Would we get better performances at international level?

a six-pack is a very easy thing to achieve if you exercise more than twice a week That's assuming your diet is right of course.

Could be our Stelios?

Noted

Don't see the problem with having this stuff in here, there's no actual football to discuss at the minute...

You do anyway - thats the old kit!!!! Give a lad a break, I only had a few minutes to choose a body that matched Viduka's stocky frame... it's Titus Bramble by the way!

More post appreciation here Stevie! Spot on...

I think Baines (or another quality fullback) is absolutely essential for us at this point. We can't start the season with the jokers we have at the moment, although all could potentially stay as back-up. If we don't get Viduka I'll need to rethink the avatar!

They are both done deals for Manchester United. what about Owen Hagreaves? mackems.gif That Scholesy's a decent player...

Aye he definately stopped "poaching" on arrival here These days he restricts himself to screamers.

I'd love to see Sissoko, might be an outside chance with them having quite a lot of competition for central midfield positions.

I suppose it is... fair play. Let's hope he turns it into some concrete developments now he's back, and that the boardroom stuff doesn't get in the way of his plans.