Segun Oluwaniyi

Holland would not be in my (or UEFA's I believe) top six leagues. It has fallen off a lot in recent years. Tbh, I think the first five you mentioned are definitely the top five, but it is up for debate after that. Russia, Portugal, and maybe even Greece and/or Turkey have moved well ahead of the Dutch. Anyway, any signings outside of the top three would be considered a good find for the club, imo and will probably be at a reduced cost.

Our lastest signing, Cheick Tiote. I see you made this statement well before we signed him, but from what I can gather the club has done a decent job. Don't forget the likes of Vuckic and the interest in Arevalo.

Yeah, cos Bolton will happily sell him. Seriously people? We missed the boat on him bigtime. Should have been in for him while he was banging them in for my local club over here and was willing to go for peanuts to any Prem club that would have him. If he moves at all it'll be to one of the 4th~8th place clubs. i've just mentioned him in another thread, think he is a cracking player and would fit in our style well and i would love us to sign him. Biggest problem would be getting Bolton to sell though. The bonus of getting him would also be the extra money we could make on the merchandise side of things over in Asia and the far east. This is a myth by the way. Man United sells shirts in Korea because they're Man United, not because Park plays for them. I have literally never seen a single person walking around in a Wolves, Spurs, Reading, West Brom, Boro, Wigan, Bolton, or Celtic shirt around here. Are you sure that they wouldn't be more likely to support a successful club if one of their players played for them? That's been my experience. They stick with the biggest clubs but change allegiances if one of their compatriots make it to the the upper echelons. Maybe it is different in Korea, but when Kanu was at Arsenal, 99 percent of people supported Arsenal. Now that Mikel Obi is at Chelsea, there are embarrassingly massive "Mikel" advertisements by the major roads in Lagos and 90 percent of people support Chelsea. No one gave a damn when Okocha was at Bolton or Martins was at Newcastle, though.

If you offer people massively large sums of money they tend to give you the entities that you desire. If the money is there they will oblige, but it is questionable if the Korean would be willing to make a lateral move, though I suspect that may change if we offer him a large sum of money per week. However, it seems unlikely to me that Ashley would be wiling to finance such a large expenditure. He is probably out of reach. Still it is good to hope and look at players we desire. You never know when a Jonas or Gosling type situation will arise.

I don't see how it is wrong. If Nolan was able to track back and defend competently we would be able to play a traditional 4-4-2 with two midfield players who are allowed to get forward. I am not even a proponent of that system, but it is something to consider once the prospect of Alan Smith playing regularly is brought up. At the moment, both Nolan and Tiote are both playing to instructions and to the roles most suited to them. It's great for now, but could be a problem if injuries arise. We don't really have other players who complement Tiote or Nolan well in a 4-4-2. Both are reallly better off in three or five man midfield, imo.

If we play 4-4-2 long term, a holding player isn't essential. It will be interesting to see what Guthrie and gosling provide us. Part of why Tiote has been so crucial is because of Nolan's inadequacies.

Meh. There will be no harm done to him. The toxins would only affect him if he was to ingest large amounts. He could even put tea sweetener in there to lessen the bitterness. It is not all bad for him. It will done quickly.

Simpson has played five decent or good halves of football this season. I am not overly impressed at this point. I am not the biggest fan of Williamson either, tbh. I find him to bit clumsy at times. Decent player though. Probably better than Sol and Steve.

The club should aiming to win every match and therefore the title. I don't care about financial position and all of that. The players should be going into matches with the idea that they are going to win and that winning is what is required of them. Going into the season aiming for less than the title is conceding that you will not win matches and no competitor should do this. There is a difference between what you aim for and what can be expected of you.

Unfair comparison considering their roles on the pitch. If someone playing Fabregas' role never loses the ball in a match, there is a good chance he is not fulfilling his duties correctly.

Can be in your system for a number of months before the symptoms show themselves You not bother taking anti-malaria tablets or do they not work? Yeah, that is true. It's just caught me out a bit. Usually with footballers, they seem to get it directly after a round of qualifiers or the ACN. I don't bother taking malaria pills personally, I don't find them necessary. There are many precautions (especially for those who live there) you can take not involving drugs. However, the cousin who traveled over with me this summer (American born, rarely visits) took them and they seemed to work pretty well. However, some of the ones distributed in the West are rubbish that you simply should not ingest. If they try to give you one called larium, throw it in the bin and don't let it near your body. It is only marginally effective against certain types of malaria and can have very bad side effects on you mental state.

Malaria isn't that bad at all if you access to care. I've had it a few times and honestly have a good resistance to it. The doctor jabs you in the arm with some needles, you get some rest, and it usually goes away depending on the case. It's different from person to person and case to case though. When has Drogba been to Africa, though? I don't think he was even called up for the last qualifier. Weird that he has it.

Makelele was never overrated. Even today he is still very good at his profession. Some people went OTT with wanting to make him WPOY and things like that, but the man is/was a great footballer. Benayoun is not in the same class in any way.

This recent run of results is exactly what the club needed. Mitigate the relegation risk and start look upwards into the higher numbered places on the table. Arsenal were awful today, btw. We didn't even really bully them or anything of that nature. They just never arrived. They must have left their intensity in Ukraine.

Don't know why you'd be angry with him, tbh. He put all of his best efforts toward giving Newcastle a penalty and a man advantage.

Hargreaves' career is over.

Spurs are pretty good, man. That's a lot of currency to be burning. Once you finish in the top half, that betting against yourself thing needs to stop.

It is sad that the likes of de la Red, Savidan, and Thuram have been made to retire early, but I am just pleased these are being caught before an incident. God forbid, any of these players ending the way of Foe. I wish likes of Foe, Feher, and Puerta could have been made to retire peacefully.

Last year PSG-Marseille had to be canceled because of swine flu. Hopefully we can avoid such complications this time. They decided to ban away supporters from PdP about a month ago, anyway. Shame such matches have to be treated like this. I feel like Madrid are going to walk over Atletico, btw.

I still do not understand who designs these stadia. It's like they cannot conceive of a situation where a player might stray a few metres off the pitch. Why is there a staircase to underground that close to the pitch. Where the hell does it even go? Honestly, I am failing to think of what purpose there could be for a staircase in that position that goes under the pitch. My father is an architect and he be shot for sending that in. It actually reminds me of that horrible incident a few years ago where a Croatian player died because he slammed his head on a concrete wall that happened to be a metre away from the touchline. It's reckless.

Nice article from 2003: ------- By Dan Warren BBC Sport Online January is a bleak, depressing month, brightened only by the occasional snowball fight and the fact there are no wasps. But if you are an English football fan, there is at least some reason to continue living. The recent steady flow of talented young stars has turned into an veritable torrent, with a new teenage hero seemingly unearthed every week. A brace by 19-year-old Michael Tonge against Liverpool on Wednesday, while 20-year-old Neil Mellor was scoring at the other end, added two more names to this term's astounding production line of promise. And future England manager Alan Shearer must be rubbing his sensible hands together in glee at the pot of gold maturing before his very eyes. Your say: Pick the best of the bunch? Goalkeepers Chris Kirkland, 21 now, will be the world's finest goalkeeper by 2008, especially after another five years of shot-stopping practice at the back of Liverpool's attack-shy team. Leeds' Paul Robinson, 23, is unlikely to be far behind his Liverpool rival and the two of them are likely to vie, Shilton-Clemence style, for the number one jersey for many years. Defence History has shown that every successful England international team has contained brothers, and Rio and Anton Ferdinand will form the bedrock of Shearer's defence. Rio will be the team's veteran at 29, but Anton will possess the same assured approach and, let us hope, the same "funky" goalscoring celebrations. Blackburn's Martin Taylor will be there to mop up when the siblings' rivalry causes them to lose concentration. Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips will be devastating wing-backs, whose surging runs will leave Italians crying into their capuccinos and Germans blubbing in their bratwursts. Midfield This is where England excel, with the maverick talents of Joe Cole and David Dunn backed by the steel and vision of Steven Gerrard. With Dunn (28 in 2008) and Cole (26 in 2008) possessing maturity and talent, all England need is for Gerrard (27) to end his current run of form which is, unfortunately, rubbish. All three will be at their peak, and the onlooking David Beckham, who will probably retire from football at 30 to pursue a rock career, will smile in the stands as his successors shine. Forwards Everton's teenage superstar Wayne Rooney Rooney is but part of England's talent avalanche England will have so much talent up front it will be embarrassing, and other teams may concede games before kick-off to avoid the humiliation on the pitch. The original odd couple will spearhead the attack - Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen. Off the field, the pair will fight like dogs, but on the field they will combine to create flowing football poetry which will reduce even the most toughened defenders to mere shells of men. And to keep them alert, the likes of Liverpool's Neil Mellor, Aston Villa's Darius Vassell, Leeds' James Milner and West Ham's Jermaine Defoe will all be in the prime of their careers. A warning No doubt England's rivals will be gnashing teeth at the land of milk and honey awaiting fans of the Three Lions. But a look back one decade offers hope to those who thrive on England's failure. When footballers go bad: Under-21 stars of 1993 Neil Ardley Billy Kenny Eddie Newton Scott Minto Richard Hall Andy Awford The England Under-21s side of 1993 does not exactly read like a list of world beaters. For every Steve McManaman - himself an international disappointment - there is a Billy Kenny, a Neil Cox and a Nicky "Swindon Town" Summerbee. Perhaps the end to what is rapidly approaching 40 years of hurt is not quite as close as it appears. ------------------ I found the part about Kirkland to be interesting. Amazing how these things work out.

I thought he had signed for some nondescript lower division team in England. Maybe not. Pires does not need a role. He's a 36 year old without a contract in November. He'll not be picking and choosing his spots. At this point in his career, he would be unlikely to turn his nose up at decent wages and nice, warm place to escape the cold.

Chelsea were already a pretty good team, though. It would be similar to if a billionaire came in to buy Tottenham. They need a lot of investment, obviously, but the roots of success are already there. Man City were nothing. They've had to essentially buy a completely different squad and completely new identity.

According to Soccernet (which is generally a decent source), Gareth Bale is rated at 50 million pounds.

This same team outplayed l'OM and should have won at the Velodrome last match day. I am in shock at the result. Just getting back in, and I thought it was a misprint. I wonder how BEN BEN BEN ARFA feels, now. The donkey has risen. Big result. So far we've made up 10 goals in the GD, and gone even with Spartak on points, but still need to get results at Chelsea home and Spartak away. Difficult.