Hughesy

I don't get the Bent dislike - he's a good player.

I actually think Bent is one of those players who is massively underrated - it just seems 'fashionable' to say he is crap, when he quite clearly isn't.

Stuff like this always cracks me up.... ("you show no ambition blah blah.........oh, and if you do show ambition and win the champs league, still wont like you") It is a laughable thing to say.

I have been unimpressed by Vuckic every time I have seen him play.

Not sure a glacier will be able to help much.

Don't think we should mourn missing out on Mpenza too much.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Mpenza

Not sure if I am reading it wrong, but it sounds like he 'fatigued' and not depressed?

I remember Boumsong having a a blinder at Highbury, we should never have sold him. You can't base things on one match. Shearer was still scoring 20 a season at the age of 35. He scored 17 league goals in his final two seasons. 60 Games. You can pretty much draw a line in Shearers decline when he lost Bellamy's legs to do the graft for him. So he still managed about Bellamy's career goal per game ratio in his last two seasons? Bellamy brought a lot more than just goals to the team So did Shearer. Throughout his career. I think people underestimate how much Shearer did that made Bellamy look good and how brilliant he was at holding the ball up and bringing other players into the game.

I remember Boumsong having a a blinder at Highbury, we should never have sold him. You can't base things on one match. Shearer was still scoring 20 a season at the age of 35. He scored 17 league goals in his final two seasons. 60 Games. You can pretty much draw a line in Shearers decline when he lost Bellamy's legs to do the graft for him. So he still managed about Bellamy's career goal per game ratio in his last two seasons?

I agree that Shearer should have been played less - no reason why we couldn't have rotated Bellamy, Kluivert and Shearer and retained a still very good strikeforce and got the most out of all of them. But.. nothing Bellamy has done since has shown that we could have built a very good side around him alone. He wasn't and isn't good enough to have a side built around him. 1 in 2 for Blackburn. Earned himself some big transfers and played well in those teams. Lasted longer at City than Shay for one. He's also the type of player that can do well for most sides. By build a team around him - you just play him tbh. Not denying he is a good player, but I don't he has ever been the type of player you build a team around. You build a team around a player like Ronaldo or Bale or Suarez etc. Not a guy who has never scored more than 13 league goals in a season and averages a goal every 3.25 games.

I agree that Shearer should have been played less - no reason why we couldn't have rotated Bellamy, Kluivert and Shearer and retained a still very good strikeforce and got the most out of all of them. But.. nothing Bellamy has done since has shown that we could have built a very good side around him alone. He wasn't and isn't good enough to have a side built around him.

I know you like him, but let's not go over the top.

That bit must have slipped his mind.

Glad somebody was seeing what I was seeing... Is anyone saying he was a great finisher a la Shearer? Nope - but when I stated that his finishing was abysmal and never really improved and that his ability to score a one on one with the keeper was a joke, I was told that this was nonsense.

Glad somebody was seeing what I was seeing...

Most of which were in the UEFA Cup tbf... Even if you discount the 3 goals against Bnei Sakhin, I don't know you would suggest goals against the likes of Dinamo Tblisi, Heerenveen, Olympiakos and Sporting Lisbon. Hardly European minnows.

Which book, dude? Mirror is serialising his autobiography. Got the Shearer bit in and stuff about Riise.

Just read some more of the extracts from his book - he comes across appallingly. Sounds like a nasty bit of work.

Think he only got 7 for us in 02-03. Didn't change the fact he seemed to be involved in just about every goal we scored. His finishing was abysmal and never really improved. His ability to score a one on one with the keeper was a joke. Nonsense, man. It really isn't nonsense. He missed so many chances for us. I am not saying he wasn't good, he just missed a lot of chances.

Think he only got 7 for us in 02-03. Didn't change the fact he seemed to be involved in just about every goal we scored. His finishing was abysmal and never really improved. His ability to score a one on one with the keeper was a joke.

Bellamy - what a wanker. Come back when you stop beating up women and have scored more than 13 goals in a Premiership season.

Not sure why Hughes gets such a bad press to be honest. He did a very good job at Wales, Blackburn and Fulham. Did a pretty bad job at QPR (along with Redknapp and, to a lesser extent, Warnock) and Man City. I don't quite know why that is enough to write him off as being awful. Please note he is not my dad. Nor am I Mark Hughes.

It depends by what standard you are juding that midfield. By most reasonable standards, it has most of the qualities you claim it is lacking.

Shane Long is massively underrated.

Aren't tactics and Alan Pardew effectively the same thing? ie Alan Pardew.