oldtype

Do you think Arsene might be kicking himself a bit? Didn't Bentley ask to leave ... in fact from what I remember he pretty much demanded it! Besides is he really better than any of the players in their first team right now? better than Rosicky and Walcott who also play wide midfield roles Agreed. He's also a much more effective player than Hleb. To sum up, Arsenal have a s*** midfield Better than Rosicky or Hleb!?! Rosicky has always been world class and Hleb has had a phenomenaly good season. Bentley is excellent but he's not as good as either of them. Honestly wasn't much between them last season IIRC. Just a matter of one progressing while one stagnates.

Off topic, but Under Pressure would be the perfect background music to any of the last three seasons.

Given Beye Taylor Cacapa Enrique Milner Barton Faye Duff Martins Owen Go out like this and I can somehow concieve us playing decent football. Taylor and Cacapa being outmuscled by Carew will probably still cost us the game, but the alternative is to be completely run over by a superb Aston Villa midfield. At least this way we have some hope on the attack.

Reffing will never be perfect in football because so many decisions are pretty much 50/50 borderline. Depending on the ref's personality, he'll either always give these decisions to the home side, due to influence from the crowd, or always to the away side, in order to appear more "neutral" even though he's being just as unfair. The ref will always be biased to one side or another. The top 4, of course, will always get decisions just by being who they are. In a pardoxical way, I think Uriah Rennie is actually the fairest ref in the league. He'll almost invariably get every borderline decision wrong, regardless of which side is involved.

I found his post insensitive and stupid but it's not the end of the world. I'm guessing that you find "chinkies" offensive. I've never really known the word to be used in a derogatory manner so the use of it doesn't matter to me. I'd hardly bite if you called me a Brit which is very similar. Think you're just misunderstanding things. "Chink" is about as derogatory when describing Asians as the term "N*****" is when describing Africans. Perhaps it's different in British English. Either way, a term the vast majority of Asians would find extremely offensive shouldn't be allowed. and you're right, aside from the unfortunate word usage, the general attitude of his post was pretty stupid too.

What part of his post made you bite? What part of that post seems acceptable to you? I don't even care if it's some kind of sick windup and I'm biting. This sort of thing should not be allowed even in jest.

Don't be daft, you don't get banned for being stupid. So if someone came on here and spouted off the n word that'd be fine too, since they're just being stupid? No reasonably moderated board would allow this sort of thing to happen unpunished. Granted, I've now found out that the t*** is only 14 years old, so my desire to shove sharp metal objects down his dirty throat has abated somewhat. r shut up will you, give yourself a slap man, just taking the piss a little bit, rather sad you trying to get someone banned I just feel sorry for your parents.

Don't be daft, you don't get banned for being stupid. So if someone came on here and spouted off the n word that'd be fine too, since they're just being stupid? No reasonably moderated board would allow this sort of thing to happen unpunished. Granted, I've now found out that the twat is only 14 years old, so my desire to shove sharp metal objects down his dirty throat has abated somewhat.

This lad is not a "chinky" though he is from South Korea. sorry, but admit they all look the same! what is he? a korean, well how many of them have become a top player? hardly any I am going to be furious if this does not result in a ban.

Crumpy should just have his own forum methinks. He can shout at empty air and we can program bots to reply to his windups.

Not sure what the precise circumstances were but the agent's version was that it was nearly a done deal but the Newcastle management pulled out at the last minute due to conflict between Mort-Big Sam.

Aye. Dyer is technically a good player. A good first touch, good pace, good movement and most of his passes found a team-mate. Attributes we sorely lack. We moaned about Dyer for 8 years but he's far better in midfield and upfront than Alan Smith. To be fair, he was crocked for something like 4 of those 8.

http://kr.img.blog.yahoo.com/ybi/1/8c/11/corealion/folder/7/img_7_15015_1?1184807499.jpg South Korean international midfielder Kim Jungwoo left for England today to have a trial with several Premiership clubs including us. He's apparently also stopping by at Wigan. Kim was part of South Korea's 2004 Olympic Squad which reached the second round, and was a key member of the 2007 Asian Cup squad. He's mainly a box-to-box central midfielder but is very versatile and can play anywhere in the midfield or even up front in a pinch. He's on a free after leaving his J-League club so he can join up immediately if we decide to sign him. Personally, I'm very happy that Keegan/Wise/whoever seems to be recognizing that we need emergency cover in the central midfield, but I don't think he'll make it. He has an amazing workrate and is at least a better passer of the ball than Butt or Smith, but he's painfully thin for his height (182cm) and just doesn't have the physical strength to go toe-to-toe with Premiership midfielders. Not the fastest of players either. Possibly a similar type of player to Scott Parker. Like Cho Jae-Jin, who we almost signed in January, he's not even an automatic South Korean first teamer so I don't see him being a starter in the Permiership. Maybe a decent squad player for a team like Wigan. Then again, not much difference between Wigan and us now at the moment is there.

Agreed, Owen is frustrating but you know he will pop up with a goal. You don't have that confidence in Martins. I think we need 2 new strikers. Precisely the opposite, imo. When Owen has one game plan and he sticks to it. You know what to expect from him. When he's playing poorly, he probably won't get a lot of goals. Granted, he's still a pretty skilled player so I'm not writing him off completely. Martins on the other hand, even if he's shit for 89 minutes, you never know when that speculative midrange screamer is going to hit the net (at WHL last year), or when he'll twist and turn impossibly in the box to get a body part on the ball (3rd goal at Bolton on opening day). That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to seeing him play under Keegan. I think Allardyce stifled him a lot with instructions not to shoot too much from outside the box etc. Even more than his pace Oba's greatest asset is his utter unpredictability. You never know where the goal's going to come from and even if he's not particularly prolific, that's absolutely horrifying for a defender to defend against.

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging. Give your head a shake man for God's sake. Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best. I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging." I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header. He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose Yes cos he's missed SO many chances on the deck hasn't he? About 3. Who cares what his goals are like? So what if they're headers? f*** me. I just find it funny that what used to be a small part of his game (his superb set-piece positioning) is just about all he has left to score goals. The worrying thing isn't that he's missing chances on the deck, it's that he has no ability whatsoever to create them anymore. Even then, he's missed far more than three easy chances with his foot this season. Honestly mate, what do you expect a player to do when the ball is constantly played to him in front of the defence? We next to never really get in behind teams, Owen gets the ball 'in the whole' because he's forced to drop in search of the ball. Owen in a team like Tottenham would be awesome. That's what they try to do every attack. Get the winger in behind and lay or chip a ball in. He ffeds off s****. He isn't the same player as when he joined us even, but still has it. Have you considered that he's only getting the ball in front of the defence because he's not fast enough/not mobile enough to make piercing runs in behind them anymore? Our central midfield may be incompetent, but they're not completel idiots. If Owen moves into a good position they will try the thru pass. It just hasn't happened a lot and when it has, it hasn't worke dout. Don't give me that, seriously. You probably think Martins is better cos he runs fast. No, Martins actually has the exact same problem because he doesn't have the footballing brain to pick out spots to run into. Can't finish either, but he's ridiculously agile and has a fuck hard shot, so he gets random goals sometimes. They're both horribly frustrating players.

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging. Give your head a shake man for God's sake. Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best. I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging." I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header. He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose Yes cos he's missed SO many chances on the deck hasn't he? About 3. Who cares what his goals are like? So what if they're headers? f*** me. I just find it funny that what used to be a small part of his game (his superb set-piece positioning) is just about all he has left to score goals. The worrying thing isn't that he's missing chances on the deck, it's that he has no ability whatsoever to create them anymore. Even then, he's missed far more than three easy chances with his foot this season. Honestly mate, what do you expect a player to do when the ball is constantly played to him in front of the defence? We next to never really get in behind teams, Owen gets the ball 'in the whole' because he's forced to drop in search of the ball. Owen in a team like Tottenham would be awesome. That's what they try to do every attack. Get the winger in behind and lay or chip a ball in. He ffeds off s****. He isn't the same player as when he joined us even, but still has it. Have you considered that he's only getting the ball in front of the defence because he's not fast enough/not mobile enough to make piercing runs in behind them anymore? Our central midfield may be incompetent, but they're not completel idiots. If Owen moves into a good position they will try the thru pass. It just hasn't happened a lot and when it has, it hasn't worke dout.

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging. Give your head a shake man for God's sake. Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best. I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging." I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header. He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose Yes cos he's missed SO many chances on the deck hasn't he? About 3. Who cares what his goals are like? So what if they're headers? f*** me. I just find it funny that what used to be a small part of his game (his superb set-piece positioning) is just about all he has left to score goals. The worrying thing isn't that he's missing chances on the deck, it's that he has no ability whatsoever to create them anymore. Even then, he's missed far more than three easy chances with his foot this season.

Appiah is more of a box to box, or even attacking midfielder, than a DM. reckon he'd work alongside a cultured, defensive playmaker tho. Futilely suggesting cultured foreign central midfielders who we never get has become a tradition for NUFC fans over the past few years. The club will obviously just go for some top4-reject who will flop. Steve Sidwell or Darren Fletcher for 8m next up on our agenda?

sshh...don't let the facts get in the way of a good slagging. Give your head a shake man for God's sake. Sorry but I don't see the point in complaining about Owen when he's scored two goals even though our attacking play was blunt at best. I'm not just talking about today. In the Premiership, your centre forward has to be able to do more than just score the odd from a set piece. With the ball at his feet these days, Owen is totally impotent. He just won't put chances anymore. It's a matter of accepting that rather than categorising it as "a good slagging." I find it insanely comical that the only goal Michael Owen seems capable of scoring these days is a header. He's like shorter pre-WC2006 Miroslav Klose

What amazes me was that Alan Smith was being linked to Cardiff for a season-long loan during the summer. Then we go along and buy him for 6m. Staggering.

I don't think anyone's going to disagree with the topic. Just amazed how much people bigged up Butt last season.

I think we can all agree that Dean and his band of fools just had a lot of questionable decisions all around tonight. It's silly to think that they had a vendetta against any particular team of course. Bad refs are like the weather. Their calls can be good or bad, but you can't really do anything about it either way. We've just had more than our share of bad weather this season.

Just like last season, and the one before it. Reminds me of this restaurant in my neighborhood. They were getting a decent amount of customers but they just keeped renovating and chaning their menu every year trying to get better. They never did and their renovation costs ended up driving them to the ground.

any decisions on Keegan will have to be reserved until next season when he has his own players and has had time to impose himself on the team. Have to say though, the rush of good feeling that was one of the biggest strenghts of his appointment has now truly and completely disappeared. He'll have to stand purely on his own merits now.

Both have been injured a lot so they haven't been featuring that much I think. Although Nobby at leats has been key on the right wing when he does start. Remember him having a great game when I watched them against Spurs in November.