Gallowgate Toon

Nah he lived at the other end of the estate, not sure he's sold his house yet either.

He will come imo, OM are just playing hardball atm. Let's not forget there's plenty of time left in the window, why would they let him go on loan when someone may come in with a sufficient bid over the next 2 weeks? Ben Arfa's only going to accept an offer from a Premier League or La Liga team imo so unless a someone from either of those leagues comes in with a bid, he's ours. OM wouldn't be stupid enough to pay all his wages when he's just not even going to play and if he does, he won't even try. I don't think anyone will bid for him fwiw, he's just too much of a risk for most teams with the new 25 man rule.

We might have been taken over by then? Who knows.

He has an interest in the Premier League imo, not Newcastle unless he's been speaking to Habib.

His stubborn-ness will definitely pay off for us, they'll have to let him go because his wages are so big and they can't afford an AWOL superstar.

I think he will force OM's hand tbh he wants to play here, his heart is set on it and i guarantee he will be such a twat they will be forced to let him come here. His bad attitude and stubborn personality may just work in our favour.

You have to take 2 factors into account though: 1. Rangers sat back, teams in the PL will do the total opposite and attack us, opening up space for us so we create more chances. 2. It was a friendly, i doubt we were playing to our full potential.

No he's not, far from it. Last time he got a run of games was at Racing and he scored a very impressive 13 in 19. Did you just see that miss? He cannot play football, shocking footballer. No, you're judging him at a time where his confidence is shockingly low. He's a good player and has a good record everywhere he's been but only when he's been played consistently.

No he's not, far from it. Last time he got a run of games was at Racing and he scored a very impressive 13 in 19.

But the best players are defined by doing great things against great teams, scoring bagfuls in La Liga consistenly (although it's been a poor competition this season) is obviously the mark of a very good player but for me when he has to step up from that level aginst the big teams, i can't help but be disappointed and i'm not just talking about aginst Inter this season either. Imo he can be the game's greatest but he's not ready to have that title yet, he's got another 10 years to prove it though. He was awful against Arsenal. And in what way are Arsenal a great team may i ask? In fact the team they sent out that match were hardly brilliant with a patched up defence etc.

I noticed that Aquilani scored but isn't on the pitch, did he play well? Read an interesting stat that he has the most assissts of any PL player in 2010. Thought it was ridiculous people (aka the media) wrote him off so quickly, he's a player with a lot of potential imo, a very classy and proper footballer.

But the best players are defined by doing great things against great teams, scoring bagfuls in La Liga consistenly (although it's been a poor competition this season) is obviously the mark of a very good player but for me when he has to step up from that level aginst the big teams, i can't help but be disappointed and i'm not just talking about aginst Inter this season either. Imo he can be the game's greatest but he's not ready to have that title yet, he's got another 10 years to prove it though.

Because the ref gave them everything. Referee also gave Barca a ten man advantage for 70 minutes. Shut yourself and stop complaining. If he hadn't raised his hands, he'd have still been on the pitch. It's his own f***ing fault for being stupid enough to push the player away with his hand. And if Barca players hadn't come into contact with Inter players they would not have opportunity to dive. Do not let minor infractions from players excuse vast incompetence for highly paid and qualified referees. The ref had no other option man. He raised his hands above the neck - EVERYONE knows that's a sending off - he shouldn't have f***ing done it. You can shield the ball without putting the palm of your hand on someone's face. It's only a sending off with intent, He didn't even look ffs.

Why was he taking his test? I've seen him drive before, used to have a Bentley Continental iirc.

He gets kicked all over the place in La Liga though, and it doesnt stop him. I dont see the difference. It's not like Messi is like Robinho. Ferdinand, and particularly Vidic can be nasty bastards, and he wasn't afraid of them. I think if he was the type to lack any kind of courage then he wouldn't be where he is now. He's always been smaller than everyone else. He scored a hat trick against Arsenal, he walked all over Man United. Whether you think they're tough or not, they're still two of the best teams in the league, which is enough. Am I missing something, when did Messi walked all over Man United??? In the EPL, Arsenal is as far as you can get in terms of being an English team. Arsenal's philosophy is to attack and play beautiful football which is exactly the type of teams that Messi loves playing against. Still don't think he will do as well as Rooney against defenders who go out to nail and bully strikers Er, only every time he's played Man United, particularly the CL Final. Arsenal IS an English team from the PL, one of the better ones. Man United are too, Messi has come off better against both. Tbh i was pretty disappointed with him in the CL final, he was kept at bay for massive periods of the game. I'm curious as to why you think Messi is so much better than everyone else, i admit he a fantastic player but if you compare his scoring records in the league this season with Rooney, both have played 30 matches and Messi has scored one more and he's not exactly amassed a mammoth total of assissts either (9), so how/why is he so much better? Because statistically he is ridiculous, last time I checked he was responsible (goals and assists) for 35 goals in 25 games. and just by looking you can see that he's amazing. Better than any player I've seen since the original Ronaldo. Fair enough, can't argue with that!

He gets kicked all over the place in La Liga though, and it doesnt stop him. I dont see the difference. It's not like Messi is like Robinho. Ferdinand, and particularly Vidic can be nasty bastards, and he wasn't afraid of them. I think if he was the type to lack any kind of courage then he wouldn't be where he is now. He's always been smaller than everyone else. He scored a hat trick against Arsenal, he walked all over Man United. Whether you think they're tough or not, they're still two of the best teams in the league, which is enough. Am I missing something, when did Messi walked all over Man United??? In the EPL, Arsenal is as far as you can get in terms of being an English team. Arsenal's philosophy is to attack and play beautiful football which is exactly the type of teams that Messi loves playing against. Still don't think he will do as well as Rooney against defenders who go out to nail and bully strikers Er, only every time he's played Man United, particularly the CL Final. Arsenal IS an English team from the PL, one of the better ones. Man United are too, Messi has come off better against both. Tbh i was pretty disappointed with him in the CL final, he was kept at bay for massive periods of the game. I'm curious as to why you think Messi is so much better than everyone else, i admit he a fantastic player but if you compare his scoring records in the league this season with Rooney, both have played 30 matches and Messi has scored one more and he's not exactly amassed a mammoth total of assissts either (9), so how/why is he so much better?

I'm not shooting you down, but it would be rank management to drop Guthrie because Nolan is unfit. If Nolan can't hack it in the Premiership, leave him out until he can. This. Guthrie has potential to be a very good player even in the above league, to waste his talent just to accomodate Nolan is lunacy. I hope we get rid of Nolan, yeah he's been good this year but sentimentality in football is often suicide tbh. He's too fat, too slow and just generally not good enough to be a centre midfielder anymore. I would only keep him as a CF as he's just not built for the midfield. He's been a decent leader too but i'm not convinced that he's a positive influence overall and next year when we're going to be losing an awful lot more, i'm sure the cracks will show.

How was his face/jaw looking? Fine, he comes in in quite a lot been in every week since the incident i think and it looks as if there's nothing wrong with him.

Saw Steven Taylor at work today, one of the lads on the till thought it'd be funny to ID him when he was buying some wine, the look on his face was hilarious as if to say 'you know who i am, don't you?'.

Colo has an amazingly disproportianate head compared to his neck like.

He won the Chammpions League with Porto, surely that's evidence that he can do well with a smaller budget and lesser players?

Exactly. Anyone see his masterclass on Iniesta? Not a powerful striker but a quick, extremely tricky and supremely intelligent footballer. Colo has never ever had problems dealing with sheer pace, it's the power/pace combo where he struggled. But it's not like that was even exposed that often by those particular attributes. Someone tell me in which games was he obviously physically pummelled and it led to a goal? I can think of the Stoke game where Fuller turned him but any others? The only oher terrible game Colo had was against Liverpool where he was outdone by some poor positional sense which was probably down to his naivety of the English game. Colo's main flaw last season was his apparent lack of heart, he seemed to give up on causes that weren't necessarily lost and he just didn't seem motivated to do well. Next season should see that dispelled though, he could have generally fallen for the club now a la Enrique.

I agree. I love a ball playing centre half but he dosnt win enough headers or have a quick enough turn of pace to cope in the prem. Carvalho is neither a quick player or an aerial beast but is one of the PL's top CBs. You don't need to be physically great to be a good defender, you need intelligence and that Colo has, he at least deserves a chance. I think he'll do a lot better next season, he has a better understanding of the English game and you could go through countless names of foreign defenders who have taken a year or so to settle in.

See him all the time at work, another Mackem player that lives in Newcastle.

What the hell's happened to Juve and more importantly Diego, he seemed to hit the ground running. Has he been injured a lot or just faded badly?