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Brilliant. What a way to start my week. Given - Some super saves in the opening minutes to keep us in it, did his job tidily for the rest. Hopefully a sign that he's back to his peak. - 8 Beye - Exploited a few times early in the match and a bit static throughout. Solid work, but I know he's capable of better - 6 N'Zogbia - Obviously cannot defend, but I can see where KK is coming from here since Guttierez seems capable of doing more than enough defending for everyone on the left side. Certainly helps on the counter-attack when you have the pace of Zoggy on the left as opposed to the relatively immobile Enrique, but I'd much rather have an actual defender that doesn't cause me heart problems whenever an opposition player goes near him with the ball. - 5 Coloccini - Started out very shaky but was a much better player once he began to establish an understanding with the rest of the defensive line. Love his strength and how comfortable he is on the ball, although perhaps it's that very comfort that's making him dwell on the ball a bit more than a CB should. - 6 Taylor - Think we saw the very best of Steven Taylor today. Got into all the right positions and made vital tackles and cuts to stop ManU's attacking momentum. Also provided a great attacking threat for set pieces. As has been mentioned, Conceding the goal today was a direct result of Taylor being out for treatment. - 8 Jonas - Oh my God, where do I start. Amazing work rate that puts him all over the pitch, quick feet and a quick head that allows him to spearhead counterattacks, and that brilliant attitude of his: you can clearly see that he's enjoying his work. Reminds me a bit of Man U's Park but with much better strength and being offered a lot more freedom . I'm going to blatantly knee-jerk here and say he's going to be our player of the season and this year's equivalent to Martin Petrov. If any single performance can justify that sort of praise, it was this. Only wish he had scored. - 9 Milner - Clearly appeared to be the least talented of our "front 4" today and the weak link in our attack. Think he'll do a lot better when he's not up against one of the world's best defensive units like this week, but howay... How poor does Jonas make Milner look in comparison - 5 Guthrie - Decent debut. Took a bit of time to settle down and establish himself and made some decent creative efforts. Think he'll be a very good player for us given time, but obviously not the solution to our playmaker problem. - 6 Butt - Did what Nicky Butt does best, right down to the very, very unwise last minute foul. He's still capable of doing his job, but I would love to see us replace him with someone with better passing range. - 5 Duff - This is the fastest and fittest I've ever seen Duff in a Toon shirt, and while he frankly didn't contribute anything solid, gave me a lot of hope that he can still do a job for us. Loved how he, Jonas, and Martins used their pace and work rate to switch around and try to confuse the Man U defense. Nothing came of it today but would love to see this partnership continue to develop. - 6 Martins - A match that showed what Obafemi Martins is all about. Looked a bit unfit, and was bossed around by two superb central defenders for most of the game, but still able to pull a brilliant header out of nowhere and caused Man U a lot of problems. - 7 Overall I have to say I'm very impressed with our new signings, but even more so with how much better the team seems to work with each other. Obviously having a full pre-season has done wonders for KK's ability to build a cohesive unit: both tactically and mentally. Also have to mention that I'm intrigued how KK basically tried to play Man U's formation from last year, using three free-roaming attacking players behind a lone striker. While the end result obviously wasn't as destructive due to the sheer gap in quality, the work rate, pace, and unpredictability of Martins, Jonas, and Duff did seem to alllow us to pull of a similar strategy with good effect. Would be very interested in seeing how the formation would work with Owen coming in for Milner and playing as a withdrawn striker behind Martins, with Jonas and Duff on the flanks. At the very least, it would make for some brilliant football to watch. It's fairly obvious, but with a new LB, a new DM, and a striker in for backup, we could be in for a cracking season.

Seol scores for Fulham mackems.gif Hull 0:1 Fulham Looks like a looong season for Hull...

Surprising how low supporters of other clubs have tended to rate Faye. Most of my friends seem to think he's the new Boumsong. Obviously that's bullshit, and he was one of our best defenders last season, but he's also not as good as a lot of people on here may think. All in all, he's an average Premiership defender at an age where most players start to decline. I don't think selling him is wise (especially at 2m,) but it's not necessarily devastating either.

If we were interested in him then you would of expected him to have been scouted by the club. Was he scouted by the club?

Aside from the fact that there's no evidence whatsoever to suggest we are or ever were in for Derdiyok, how do we know if the lad's any better than Ameobi? He had a decent-ish Euros, but far from anything impressive and it's not like tournament performances are worth anything anyway. Hell, Kazim Kazim had a far better tournament than he did.

I don't get it, suddenly he can't speak English anymore

If you feel that you lack depth, we've got just the player for you... "He can play in any position"

Jesus, looks like we'll basically be fielding the 6-0 team again. Fucking glory hunter friends are going to be laughing at me for a week.

that was seriously it?

CLASS!

if it's Shola-Smith up top I'll probably bleed my eyes out in pain.

where was this mentioned by the way?

Christ, that sounds like something somebody on a Mackems forum would post. Hope Ashley takes him to court. Quite ridiculous that you're allowed to write completely unsubstantiated shit like that about someone.

Would like to know what's going on with that bit about Jonas though. Has the registration still not been resolved?

tbf, i think pompey will have a very poor season, we should of won at their place end of last season, and they really don't have a squad at all What makes you say that? On paper their first-team are on par, if not better, than ours. Crouch doesn't fit in with their counter attacking football, they won't be as much of a threat away from home this season imo, at home they aren't that great either, they can't break teams down with football, they rely on the other teams moves breaking down and then attacking quickly, wierd signing. They lost Muntari, even that alone is a pretty big hit considering how influential he was for them. Mvuemba is nowhere near an adequte replacement. Also agree that they seem to have no idea how to use Crouch yet, nor do Crouch and Defoe have any sense of how to work with each other. Still have a great backline though. That alone should get them comfortably into the top ten.

This is at Old Trafford, so it's still a long shot. Might have felt we were in with a chance if it was at SJP. As it is, I think grinding out a 1-1 or 2-2 may be the absolute best we can hope for

NEVER, EVER boo your own players. End of discussion.

nice rocket Diarra! Can't get myself to care about this shit. Wish we were playing.

good enough for KK, good enough for me.

91% humidity. Jesus Christ. (...crickets chirp)

Lmao NO WAY!!!!!!!!! deluded smog infested supporter Rest of England is free to continue and think that way if it keeps the big clubs from sniffing around Beye.

South Korea v. Cameroon in about half an hour if anyone else is bothered. We've got some exciting young lads in the team, and they're arguably playing better football than the senior squad right now. Should be a pleasure even if the Cameroonians plaster us.

Please, please, please let it be true. 'He would make a squad player, if he was rubbish, utd wouldnt of brought him. As for a bad season at Newcastle? tell me a player that did have a good season apart from Milner. Even owen was not as good as he should of been. If the price is right, i would take him. He would also have to work hard here, which as we can see by last season, no one has had to at newcastle.' 'If he was any good United wouldn't have sold him. Ask yourself why Newcastle are willing to let him go for half of what they paid for him just last year , surely they need good players more than what we do . He is on £60k a year at Newcastle and so thats a lot of dough to pay someone who you say will be a good squad player. Football is all about opinions and you seem to like Alan Smith. However I do not and think that of we have any aspirations to improve our squad , then we shouldn't be buying cast-offs from a team like Newcastle' 'Newcastle played some of the most absurd formations last season. 3 strikers in Owen, Martins & Viduka, then 3 holding, defensive midfielders in Barton, Geremi & Butt. What was Smith supposed to be doing? - he was meant to be a playmaker/winger all of a sudden?!... Here's a quote from Sir Alex Ferguson about him playing the deep-midfield role ; Quote: "Roy sees characteristics in Alan that he saw in himself as a young player, which could help Alan develop into a very good player in that position." Now, if Roy Keane, Sir Alex and now Moyes think he's truly got what it takes - who does anyone think they are to argue?.' 'decent player, and was used as a hard tack-ling type midfielder, and he could be your future replace ment for carsley, and he can grab the odd goal or two. you might not think that he is all that, but for everton he would be a good buy, and even a bargain! and like some said, you also need the numbers aswell, and you could infact do alot worse with the likes ong f fernandes (in-consistant) and moutinho (un-proven). all 3 are good players, but atleats you know smith can handle the PL!' EFC opinions. Whoever the lad arguing for Smith is, get him a fucking medal!

Why don't we? Because Smith is better than we can actually get? A Premiership club can't sign a striker capable of having more than about five shots a season? Howay. Should've picked up Dong Gook Lee when Boro released him, at least he can score against League One opposition.

no he isnt, he's worse than nothing It's a tough call, they're very similar players. Roughly the same number of goals, assists, or even shots on goal per year. I think I'd still give it to nothing though. He can play any position so he's more versatile, plus he's on significantly lower wages. Oh, and nothing doesn't have that ugly as fuck hairdo.