Segun Oluwaniyi

Are you serious by the way? He's definitely improved, but I just have trouble looking past his sometimes immeasurable stupidity. When he eventually cost us a match by getting sent off for randomly shoving his forearm into someone's neck, we'll see what the reaction is. He's a good player is he cuts out the bulls***.

So would i. Did you also nearly qualify for the second round of the Champions League with close to a pub team? If you think that's enough proof to suggest him as an actual candidate, then fair enough. I totally disagree though. It's churlish to suggest he got that far on blind luck. It's clear he's a talented manager but just how talented we wont find out until he's managed elsewhere so why not take a chance? Give him five years, give him cash and allow him to do his thing. He can't be any friggin worse than the shower in charge now. I just think it'd be absolutely mental. He's managed in a league that is a million miles away from anything like the Premier League. I don't know my Cypriot football, admittedly, but i daresay it's lower than Championship standard. He's had a decent season where he's surprised a few people getting his side into the Europe's elite. We've seen it before though; half the time it's the motivation of the players that have carried them through them games. It's not as if they've had owt to lose is it. He's not proved himself nearly enough to warrant an appointment, never mind a five-year contract. And again, it'd an appointment fuelled by sentiment to appease the fans. Hiring Ketsbaia would definitely not "appease the fans with sentiment". I'd imagine there'd be more of "he's not experienced enough to manage a club like Newcastle". That kind of rubbish.

Did you see the incident? Almunia was dry-humping and raping all over Raylor without being near any balls other than Raylors in any way. Sorry man, what I meant was that I felt Raylor went down a bit easily. Don't get me wrong I'm glad we got a penalty but hey, nothing came from it. It was definitely a penalty though, Almunia must have been out of his mind. Also Ryan Taylor looks a decent player to me. Ideally he'd be a player on the bench and fill a number of positions competently. I'll think he'll be a useful player regardless of what division we play in next year.

Jesus. Anyone see what Kader Mangane did to Jonathan Lacourt in Ligue 1. Very nasty challenge and very similar to Martin Taylor on Eduardo.

Although the goals weren't there, the football on display was excellent to watch, in particular Messi skipping past players for fun. This, this a thousand times this. I didn't see much of an attraction. It was perhaps because stupidly I believed the hype it was going to be 4-4 in each game. Of course it's good to see Messi play so well. But he does in most league games as well. The only difference, particularly IIRC at Old Trafford, was that Man Utd's defence was too solid/packed for intricate passes to work. And as much as the talent is there, it was frustrating. Don't get me wrong I'll hypothetically be tuning in for, as you say, the technical ability on show, but I'll most likely watch generally more end-to-end, entertaining matches this year. I don't know man, I watch both these matches when they happen last year, and to me they were the typical "big" team stalemates we've all become used to seeing these days. Barcelona played some nice technical football and Man U executed their tactical plan very well, but in terms of being a great match; it definitely wasn't. The best match to watch in this round is going to be Arsenal-Villareal. That will be the one I'll watch if I can find it somewhere other than my computer screen.

People are stupid. I think Barca are going to walk over Bayern by the way. They're not better than Lyon in my opinion

They reek of Boro 05/06, or whenever it was, when they barely squeezed past the OK-ish sides then got Sevilla in the final. There's two or three quality outfits still in it this year, and the same thing will happen imo. They'll get trounced by someone who is actually deserving of winning the competition. PSG, Dynamo Kiev, Hamburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Udinese, Marseille and Werder Bremen. There are alot of good teams still playing. Every team left is full of talent and quite a few of them have extensive European pedigree. No idea why anyone would think City are "nailed on" to win. Also, Allez l'OM!!

Hatem Ben Arfa is easily the least likeable player in world football. I think pretty everyone outside of Algerians would like to smack him.

Yes!!!! Marseille through! (barring insanity) And yeah Tyrone F***** Mears! He's been playing well too. Man, l'OM really has to win some silverware this year.

Fabregas has always been a c***. But Shearer was absolutely rubbish in that game iirc Yes, but Fabregas is a fantastic c***, and there isn't much better than a fantastic c***.

Again, f*** off!

Someone needs to kick his arse right to the Newcastle dugout. Best manager in the world.

Hey f*** off. Dave's right though Oba is one of the most important players for the run in. I think him, Owen, and some combination of Nolan/Guthrie/Barton is what is most necessary for us to experience success.

Absolutely nothing wrong with signing him up. Decent young player who's put in some decent performances this season. I'm not drooling over him, but I don't see any reason why he shouldn't be kept at the club.

Balotelli constantly looks average when I see him.

The attitude some people have towards foreign football is just atrocious. Almost pitiful. Almost.

Hence the name "OTT"-er? Jose is one of the best players that we have. Solid defensively and can be a threat going forward. I think sometimes he is too passive, and can hold the ball too long in bad situations, but he has undeniable quality about him.

Blatter is correct in alot of what he says. I strongly disagree with 6+5 and the other methods he has suggested for fixing it, but the Premiership is definitely spiraling out of control.

He's bulls***** his way out of quite a few. The guy is a fairweather national team player. Only wants to show up for WCQ/World Cup matches and the ACN. Regardless, I'm excited to have him back. The sqaud is taking shape and looking pretty good for qualifiers.

None of the good players from Valencia would have come here anyway. The have ALOT of s*** players we could have picked up though

Not that I particularly give a damn about who signed Bassong, or any of this other mundane rubbish, but I don't think Bassong knows exactly who "spotted" him or who facilitated his transfer. In all likelihood , it makes the player feel better about coming to a club, if he thinks the manager has been looking at him. As he says himself, "it was a big thrill when Kevin Keegan wanted to sign me". I doubt he's jumping with glea because Derek Llambias is an admirer.

Oba would be off. Immediately. Same with Bassong and Jonas. I could see all three of them (Enrique as well) moving to a top six club in any of the top 3 leagues +top teams in Russia, France, Germany.

Why? What do you think about my points re: it being impossible for smaller clubs to attract promising youngsters? edit: and as for the second part, why do you think they signed Manucho then? Man U signed Manucho for the same reason they sigged Dong Fangzhou or whatever the hell his name was. To create a foothold among African supporters and such. The man is nearly 26, he will never develop into a Man U level player.

Unless the money is more evenly spread, then there is no real reason for the players to want to go to smaller clubs. There is no problem with the loan system.

In my real world, I am constantly indoctrinated with the idea that Vidic and Ferdinand are the best two defenders in the world. I don't think I've ever heard any of them criticize him in the last few years o. Rio does have a bad personal reputation, but frankly he's earned it through some of his actions on the pitch and some off. It's not even like Michael Owen, where we are just speculating. We have tangible proof that Rio has done some pretty bad things.