Frazzle

Me? I'm a massive Carroll fan. Been talking him up since August.

I do agree with Ronaldo's assesment of the strikers though.

I reckon that if Barton, Guthrie and Nolan chip in with goals from midfield then we could (at a push) stay up with Carroll-Lovenkrands up front. I think it's a myth that you need a 'proven goalscorer' to stay up. Look at last season: Stoke top scorer: 5 Fulham top scorer: 8 West Ham top scorer: 10 Wigan top scorer: 10 Wolves top scorer: 9 Bolton top scorer: 8 Blackburn top scorer: 9

And they've missed off the accent in his name.

Having said that, if they sign Maicon, Lampard, Cole and a couple others they'll win most trophies with Higuain as striker. Barcelona will be their biggest rivals domestically and in Europe as Lampard-less Chelsea, Man U and Mourinho-less Inter won't be anywhere near them IMO. All hypothetical of course.

Higuain is 10 years younger though. Drogba is obviously a more complete forward but he won't score more goals than Higuain will. Why not just stick with Higuain and let him blossom into an even better player. Like I say though, they want trophies now. Mourinho has said he likes players at 29/30 because these are the sort of players that win you titles. That's why he'll want to sign Maicon, Lampard etc. and why he signed Lucio, Milito etc. Let's be honest, Drogba is probably the best striker around at the moment. I don't see why it would be mental to sell, granted, a very promising striker and replace him with the world's best. Edit- I reckon Drogba would score at least as many goals as Higuain. He's just scored 37 in the last season!

He's way better than Torres and Drogba at that age. Doesn't matter to Real Madrid though, they want success now. If they signed Drogba and his legs packed in after 2 years then they'd just sign the next big thing or another top striker.

I don't get the whole 'Perez is mad if he sells Higuain.' Surely if they replace him with Drogba it won't matter? And I'm sure that's what Perez/Mourinho's aim will be. Higuain is good but he's not on Torres/Drogba/Rooney etc. level.

I think Simpson has probably already figured that one out. Anyway, a new RB is an absolute necessity. Never mind, completely missed the point. And you really think a typical soundbite in the local rag from Hughton is going to encourage Simpson to get lazy? Simpson knows he's first choice, he has been since he was loaned in August/September. If it's just a typical soundbite in the paper then why did you get your knickers in a twist about Hughton because of it?

I think Simpson has probably already figured that one out. Anyway, a new RB is an absolute necessity. Never mind, completely missed the point.

I saw somewhere today (can't remember where) saying Milito is now the worlds' best striker. Crackers some people.

As a coach you should want to build competition, saying Raylor is second choice RB is hardly going to keep Simpson on his toes.

Might just be my eyes but I can see faint stripes on the inside of the home shirt. Wonder what colour the numbers willl be?

Rooney? I reckon football has come on a bit both fitness and skill and tactically wise since the early nineties so I reckon some of this team that aren't rated that highly would be contenders for the 90s team. Having said that, the likes of Gazza were class. So...dunno...

None, all too young.

Charlie Adam is 24? I thought he was in his 30s, he looks like he is anyway.

I agree but you can't deny that for a lot of the second half of the season, at least, he played as a striker. IMO, anyway.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-360747/Hibbert-wouldnt-place-England--Moyes.html All managers do it. Greg and The Prophet are right here. Won't stop lots of fans going mental though.

I don't know what stops Messi being a striker to be honest. Last season when Eto'o and Messi were swapping, what stopped Messi being a striker? He took over Eto'o's position in those games which I'm sure we'll all agree was as striker. He's done the same this season but even more often. For best defender Filipe Luis has to be considered even if he has missed a big part of the season.

nufc.com

If we resign Jenas it would be a damning indictment on our scouting system, regardless of whether he's better than Barton/Guthrie or not. Considering Spurs will be looking for £7-8m, we should be looking abroad for someone who, for that money, will probably be much better than Jenas. Not to mention the fact that we'll more than likely not spend that much money altogether, never mind on one player.

We don't have a better centre half than him though. We don't have a better left winger than Gutierrez but if we sold him for good money we could improve other positions. Football is all about the collective unit, teams like Fulham are the perfect example of this, even Barcelona to be honest. Look at Inter this season, sold their best player (arguably anyway) and used the money to get Snieijder, Lucio and Eto'o to improve the team as a whole. Saying we shouldn't sell Coloccini because he's our best CB is a bit naive IMO, for the reason above. That's not an attack on Coloccini and he is our best CB (although the criticism Taylor gets on here is way too harsh considering how comfortable he was in the Championship as well) I just think if we can sell one player to improve the team as a whole then we should do it. Obviously, that is easier said than done and chances are we will struggle to find a replacement for Coloccini.

Thd odds on Higuain to finish top scorer were around 40-50 few weeks ago. Down to ~20 now, wish I had bet some then. No chance imho. Maradona is pretty defensive and their group is rather decent, so no 6-0 to Saudí Arabia to pad out the goalscoring stats. On the other hand, whilst he may score a few against North Korea, Fabiano will probably find it difficult to score against Portugal and the Ivory Coast in what is quite a tough group. I can see Higuain and Messi taking apart the Group B defences. On the third hand , Brazil are probably a better bet to get further in the tournament even if I do think Argentina will surprise.

There were enough articles like this: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/football_league/article4692140.ece

Listening to Sunday Supplement there (it's **** I know) it was funny to see how poor little lamb Zola was being defended. I can't remember Keegan being defended by the press when the idiots running our club were undermining him.