ShearMagic

thats just incorrect. i thought owen looked very good today. great control for his shot on goal, and was never offside in the 20th odd minute. i would have brought martins on earlier, but you cant deny he did well when he had the chance, its just it was obvious he wasn't going to get enough chances to score. viduka imo was very poor today, much worse than owen, and i say this as a big viduka fan. I can't agree with this. I've given Owen plenty of chances, and he fails to deliver all of the time. I just don't rate him anymore when he's wearing the black and white shirt. Great control for his shot on goal? If thats the only thing he did that was good all game, he had a poor game.

To be fair, the offsides aren't the referees decisions. I didn't think he was that bad in the first half, however, in the second I thought they got lots of soft frees, and we couldn't buy one.

Can't believe some people are bagging Viduka. He's a brilliant hold up player, he drags the defenders away and we looked more threatening today than we have in either of the last 2 matches. Michael Owen on the other hand? What does he do? Overrated piece of shit, start Martins, bench Owen. Easy sorted. Anway: Steve Harper - Didn't rate him for the goal to be honest. He came out, then stopped, and then just sort of lay down and let the ball go above him. Steven Taylor - Was very good I thought. Provided great energy and run going forward, revelled in the atmosphere. David Rozehnal - Very accomplished centre back, I'm always confident with him there. Abdoulaye Faye - Another solid game from him. Not really his fault for the goal, yes he made an error, but it didnt result directly in the goal and the corner should've been dealt with. Charles N'Zogbia - He's a left winger, didnt really get the chance to shine like he does at left wing. Still had a reasonable game. Alan Smith - Didn't see him at all for the first 20 minutes, then worked his way into it and made a few vital challenges and interceptions. Joey Barton - I actually thought he was decent. First half an hour he was disappointing, after that he started to find the ball and used it well the majority of the time. James Milner - Dont really rate him on the left, he lacks skill for mine, struggles to take people on, but he did score our goal so I can't bag him too much. Emre - First half he was probably our best player (well one of), second half he got back to his usual lazy self, didnt really chase or put much effort in. Mark Viduka - As I said above, we need him. Michael Owen - Again disappointing, looks disinterested really. SUBS: Habib Beye - Should never have been dropped. He's a gun, plain and simple. Obafemi Martins - Why oh why only give him 10 minutes Sam? He did more in those 10 minutes than Owen did the entire game. Geremi - N/A, not enough time spent on the pitch.

Haha what a man!

------------Harper--------------- Beye---Roz----Faye----Enrique -----Geremi--Barton--Zog Owen-----Viduka------Martins

He's been very poor whenever I've seen him for Chelsea tbh. Although he was very good at Bolton under BSA. For a nominal fee I'd take him.

The crap bastards even lost to dog shit like us! Poor decision I think. Although I hadnt really noticed that they'd slipped so far down.

Some of the stuff is believable, others are just rubbish. He says we will be premier league champions within 5 years? You can say that Mike, but I don't exactly know how. Even if we manage to build a world class squad, it wont be as good as Chelseas, and whats to say other teams wont improve dramatically as well? The part about Niall not wanting him to wear the colours is gold though

Cacapa just had a shocker really. Sam Allardyce made the right choice by subbing him, but also gave him a pat on his back, because he knows, as well as all of us, that Cacapa is a very good footballer. Every player has shockers, this was one of Cacapa's. Unfortunately for him, because of the quality depth we now have in the CB area, he'll find it hard to get his spot back. Rozehnal - Faye is my preferred pairing all the way.

Hardly. Well no, its not. But, we're only on 17 points after our first 11 games AND we haven't played anyone of note yet.

Correct, which is worrying. A run down of our season: @ Bolton - W3:1 - Our first result of the season had us all thinking we were in for a good one, but Bolton really are terribly average and we wont be the only team to win there 3:1 this year. Aston Villa - D0:0 - Pretty lacklustre performance, boring, boring match from what I can remember of it. Brought us back down to earth slightly. Villa are a decent side this year though, and I can see them finishing upper mid-table. @ Boro - D2:2 - Played well in patches, poorly in others. Probably a fair result against a Boro team that will struggle to stay up this year IMO. Wigan - w1:0 - We played very well in this match with no reward, until a late Micky O winner. If we failed to win it would've been a travesty. Again though, Wigan are a side that will be battling relegation this season. @ Derby County - L1:0 - Pathetic peformance. Derby are probably the side that's going to finish bottom and we lost to them. Whats more, they deserved to beat us, no matter how good their goal was. West Ham - W3:1 - Perfect way to reply to a defeat of Derby. Came out and played some exceptional football, all be it against a severly understrengthed West Ham side. @ Man City - L3:1 - Wasn't too disappointed with this, we played well, but Man City just played better. They'll finish top 6 or 7. Everton - W3:2 - Good, solid performance against a handy outfit. Deserved to win, and we delivered. Tottenham - W3:1 - Looked very solid defensively, and threatened going forward. Tottenham, despite struggling this season, have been unlucky, and are a decent lineup. Very good win. @ Reading - L2:1 - Very disappointing result/performance. Reading will struggle to stay up this season, and they dominated us. Portsmouth - L4:1 - Very poor first 11 minutes, after that we settled and looked better, but you cant afford to give sides a 3 goal headstart. Didn't threaten going forward, deserved to lose (although probably not by as much)

If anyone can say 'must win' now is the time. Our season is in tatters, what a better way to get it back on track by an away win at the Mackems

Mark Viduka is a huge out for us, especially the way BSA likes to play. Portsmouth are a team full of big, strong, fast, black men. They were always going to be our weakness with Owen and Smith playing up front. I'd like to forget about it, but our season is in shambles considering we're sitting on 17 points from 11 games, and still haven't played a single one of the big 4. Our season hinges on how we go (especially at home) against the big 4 for mine.

I expected us to lose and the lads duly delivered. I wasn't confident at all, and all of a sudden our start isnt looking so rosy considering we haven't played any of the big 4 yet.

Given Beye - Cacapa - Faye - Enrique Geremi - Butt - Barton - Zogs Owen - Martins

I shall definitely be getting this. How much is it selling for?

Anyone else noticed we don't actually have a left winger? Martins has been dropping back there on occasions.

Haha one wonders why Pattison constantly gets games. Whats more is he gets them with every single manager we have.

Hanging on for deal life here. Emre on Ameobi off. Good to see the turkish fella back in action.

Won't be long until they score.

Might need to recall Carroll now Owens out for 8 weeks, unless Emre and Barton get their arses back and we can use Smith upfront to not score any goals. Can't recall him until January. Blow for Owen, but it should only be a 3 week injury and we have a quite capable backup in Martins on the bench.

He is such a brilliant young prospect. This will give him lots of confidence We have a real beauty on our hands here, and with Donaldson coming up through the academy as well we are set for some exciting times.

How much did Beye cost us?

If you haven't blown for the free kick, and in the box the attacker is still having his shirt pulled, its a penalty. Silly defender tbh.

basically. he's a money grabbing prick who is desperate to leave. not committed at all and doesnt even want to play for us. he's probably sitting outside old trafford right now waiting for it to open since he's so desperate to join them. its amazing how this is pretty much the same as martins has been saying and he gets "good lad" and "good to hear he's staying" and owen will get (tomorrow, its early) ripped to pieces for saying it. Erm, calm down. I said get rid as I think he's shite. Yeah, he's shite How can you even say that?