Neil

The trouble at the West Ham end of season dinner is starting to become clearer. Robert Green tried holding someone back but let him slip through his fingers, Carlton Cole took a swing at someone but missed while Matthew Upson just sat back and watched.

Man Utd have had a good season, certainly. But they've not exactly excelled and will win partly due to their resilience and also due to the feeble challenge they received. Edit: see above.

Never got why teams arrange testimonials for the middle of the season, or in this case 4 days before one of the biggest games in their recent history. I know it'll be a light knockabout but still, surely they could've waited until after Barca? Edit: oh, seems it'll be some of the ex-players.

See Johnson, Glen. Took the average footballer... - no, I'll stick with name - right out of my mouth.

I concur with this. Was 3,000 spare seats at the first leg on a Friday night. MK Dons v Peterborough match there was 10,000 empty seats, and Posh brought a full allocation. Yuck.

McDermott has done a superb job at Reading.

Re: Man City Hart Richards Kompany ?? ?? - what happened to Boateng? Johnson? De Jong Toure Silva Tevez (though could well be off) ?? - Balotelli and Dzeko more so haven't set the world on fire. Put 4-4-2 there but Mancini seems to prefer 4-2-3-1/4-3-3.

That defending beggars belief.

Man City playing 5-3-2 is news to me.

Solid miss there, would've completely killed Cardiff off.

Walker hasn't impressed me defensively. Huge liability. Going forward, sure, but if he can't defend why not just stick him on the right of midfield? Got time on his side to establish his position, like.

It's OK though Jonny, because Arsene's giving youth a chance.

the slight difference is that we are basing our idea of the player on what he has shown throughout his career as opposed to the last 3 games. Yes, but again playing devil's advocate, given his rather bitter departures from his previous 2 clubs I can see why some outside NUFC wouldn't be fully convinced on him. How many are genuinely basing their opinion of him on what he did for Lyon and Marseille?

Has he got serious management aspirations? Moreover, has he given any indication he's going to take management seriously and try to build a reputation for himself and actually succeed in a job? Is he prepared to drop to the lower leagues to get some experience; surely he has to?

Turn the tables and say Ben Arfa went to Sunderland (I know, I know ) and the same events transpired. With one wonder goal under his belt and, what, 3 and a half games, if Sunderland fans were raving about him as much as Newcastle fans do - for whatever reasons - are you telling me there wouldn't be some pisstaking? From the outside looking in you can easily question why Newcastle fans seem to think he'll be so amazing. And I'm not saying I don't think he's shown moments of class already in this league, but it's still very, very early days with him.

Never, ever seen the fuss about Reo-Coker. Mr Average personified. Him and Sidwell in CM for Villa probably sent brummie to sleep.

Less.

Where'd that money come from?

Staggering. FA have dismissed our Bily appeal. What fucking planet are they living on? Morrison even gave an account in support of him. Utterly ridiculous decision, and probably the last we'll see of him.

Still a huge club, yes, but why on earth would he want to go to Juve?

Good move for Atletico getting him to sign a new contract in January. Ensures top dollar.

Source, btw?

Pipe down lads, leave this deal to Kenwright.

Why wouldn't it be Barca? It's feasible. And are Man City really that well stocked up, up front? Adebayor's unlikely to have a future there, Dzeko's struggling to establish himself, Tevez doesn't seem to be at all sure about his future, and Balotelli is.. well, Balotelli.