oldtype

The players have said good things about every single incoming manager up to and including Souness or Kinnear. I wouldn't put much stock into it.

Other than striker we actually don't really "need" first team players. I'd struggle to name realistic transfer targets that could significantly improve our first XI that are within our price range. "no marks to sit on the bench" is actually exactly what we lack. We need some reliable backup options about par with Routledge or S.Taylor quality-wise that can come in instead of players who have proven that they are blatantly not even good enough to sit on the bench. (Guthrie, Lovenkrands, Smith) January is a time to sign those last few role players who will help you meet your short term goals (for us, avoiding relegation.) It's not for buying big names who will instantly bring you up a notch quality-wise.

Not particularly, in my case anyway. I've realized that I'm just another mong because I honestly can't despise him to the degree that I did before the result.

The sad thing is that we're all warming to him now because of the afterglow of the Liverpool result but the second we drop points we'll be mauling him like a pack of wolverines.

Funny how all of our keepers for the past 10(15?) years have all had "dodgy distribution" Perhaps most keepers just aren't that good at kicking in general?

MLS?? SPL - Means we dont have to see it little our TVs. If we had a January WC, the training camps would start at the beginning of December and most players wouldn't return until February. We'd have players pulling out of league games so they dont get injured before the WC. Ridiculous predicament FIFA have got themselves into by giving the WC to a country about half the size of Jimmy Hills chin. Would be immediately after the end of the Asian leagues' seasons. By 2022 we could be good enough for this to matter.

Change of topic, but somebody I know who's not a toon supporter watched us v. Liverpool and said: "I saw a right-sided player with no.7 on his back delivering amazing crosses into the box and my first thought was 'David Beckham."

Nobody is defending Ashley here, just pointing out that the panic about losing Barton is probably unwarranted given that he's not a "fire sale" kind of guy. I'm surprised Dave doesn't see the distinction given his reputation for pedantry.

Just pointing out the truth. I think I've made it eminently clear what my general opinion of him is. (Somewhere between Hitler and Pol Pot) He's never been in the habit of selling key players though. (Except maybe Parker and Dyer when he first came in)

But it wouldn't surprise me if he did. It wouldn't surprise me if he's been secretly torturing and murdering Jews in an underground chamber below St James Park. It's still true that he hasn't so far though.

Mike Ashley has never sold a first-team player against his will. Hard to believe, but true.

He's a rarity because he doesn't have exceptional physical/technical attributes but has all the qualities that you would normally expect a young player to lack: first touch, positional sense, vision etc. He's also not being stifled by our admittedly rather unexceptional youth system and is being given European training from an early age. These two factors give me some hope that he could become something truly exceptional. Heck, he's playing first-team football in the Bundesliga at age 18. Barring a career-ending injury that alone probably makes him a lock for 100+ South Korea caps. I should also mention that there's another young Korean striker who plays for Ajax, "Suk" who's also looking very promising. He's huge and fast, Martin Jol (the real one, not the ITK one) used to call him the "next Adebayor." Been mostly stuck in the reserves but until very recently he was getting a lot more press than Son was. Already has an international cap too. I was at Hamburg-Leverkusen the other week and when he came on he was terrible. Lost the ball five or six times and looked incredibly nervous. Heard good things about him from other HSV-fans though. They're struggling bad atm so maybe not the best of times to force your way into the team. I think Armin Veh is on the brink... Well you'd expect him to be inconsistent at that age... HSV fans love him to bits apparently. Local press say that there's a post on one of their fan boards that says something like "Messi made his debut at 18 too" or something to that effect.

He's a rarity because he doesn't have exceptional physical/technical attributes but has all the qualities that you would normally expect a young player to lack: first touch, positional sense, vision etc. He's also not being stifled by our admittedly rather unexceptional youth system and is being given European training from an early age. These two factors give me some hope that he could become something truly exceptional. Heck, he's playing first-team football in the Bundesliga at age 18. Barring a career-ending injury that alone probably makes him a lock for 100+ South Korea caps. I should also mention that there's another young Korean striker who plays for Ajax, "Suk" who's also looking very promising. He's huge and fast, Martin Jol (the real one, not the ITK one) used to call him the "next Adebayor." Been mostly stuck in the reserves but until very recently he was getting a lot more press than Son was. Already has an international cap too.

Surely I contribute more to the conversation this way than just cut/pasting the entire Barcelona first XI like I no doubt would if I made a serious attempt at this.

Team of the Year: FC Seoul Player of the Year: Park Ji-Sung Young Player of the Year: Lee Chung-Yong Goalkeeper of the Year: Jung Sung-Ryong Defender of the Year: Lee Jung-Soo Midfielder of the Year: Park Ji-Sung Forward of the Year: Park Chu-Young Most Improved Player of the Year: Lee Jung-Soo Year to Forget: Lee Dong-Gook Player to look out for in 2011: Son Heung-Min Manager of the Year: Shin Tae-Yong Best League: K-League Worst League: J-League Most Improved League: K-League Favourite Football Moment of the Year: 2-0 domination over Greece Biggest Football Disappointment of the Year: Luis Suarez wonder strike knocking us out Most Shocking Moment of the Year: Chris Hughton http://cfs7.tistory.com/image/30/tistory/2008/05/27/02/20/483af15d48ae4

I'm sure I'd have other stuff to do yeah, but still, not getting to go to the match would be just about the worst thing ever. When I'm on these trips I have nightmares starting about a week prior about me oversleeping and missing the match.

I suppose the lesson here for me is never visit England for a match in the winter. Man how pissed off would I be if I spent $1000 for a plane ticket and the match got called off.

I reserve the right to be f***ing biased. He's also arguably been Man United's second best attacking player this season. Out of a possible 1440 minutes this season, he's played for a total of 685. He's scored four goals and has one assist. On what planet does that put him anywhere near the Team of the (Half) Season? Been starting regularly since October, single handedly won them four points against Wolves and Arsenal, four goals makes him their third leading scorer behind Berbatov(inconsistent) and Nani (their first best attacking player.) 685 minutes means that he has a goal ratio of roughly 171 minutes per goal, which is somewhere around Kevin Nolan levels of efficiency. That's not even taking into account his contribution to general play which is supposed to be his primary quality, not his finishing. For the most part he's been the glue that holds together a very disjointed ManU attack this season. People would be raving about him if he was some dashing Brazilian instead of a skinny looking Korean kid. And yes, I'm biased. But it's not any more biased than anyone else putting Tiote or Enrique in the team.

Ah yes, you even played sibierski upfront didn't you? Sib was alreet like. He wasn't the best player in the world but he surprised a few people with some of his performances. I'd certainly have Sibierski 4 years ago over Ameobi today.

Oh, anything's arguable when you're around.

If we flog Taylor and bring Wheater in that's pretty much like for like. Remember how us and Boro fans used to compare the two back in our relegation season. Looking back, it was all a bit pointless wasn't it?

I reserve the right to be fucking biased. He's also arguably been Man United's second best attacking player this season.

Hart Hutton Vidic Scharner Enrique Nani Nasri Van Der Vaart Park Carroll Tevez

f***ing hell, sorry Scrooge As if it was at all believable anyway. Thought you'd only just come back from a ban? Didn't realise people had a sense of humour transplant while I was gone. A club statement in the middle of the night ffs You don't fucking joke about the club being sold. It's like joking to your terminally ill grandmother that they've just discovered a cure to cancer.