Updated: Keegan & the group of players he inherited (their futures?)

[Wullie]

We'd probably have won today if Viduka had played imo. The type of player with magic you need when you're struggling to break a bunch of cloggers like Bolton down.

 

He's lazy though. And fat. We need someone like Berbatov who breaks his back to get to every ball.

 

berbatov's movement is excellent tho, always buzzing about, drifting wide and making mazy dribbles in and around the area. this helps him brings others into the game far more than viduka can nowadays. with berbatov it's "i'm going to bring the ball to you" with viduka it's "you're gonna have to come over here to get the ball". fitter and scores more too, and while viduka-owen never really looks like a good partnership i'm pretty sure berbatov would be an excellent partner for owen or martins.

 

No doubt I'd rather have Berbatov, Vids is getting on. He's still total class though and just calling him "lazy" is bloody stupid imo. Same people who slag him off will slag off Smith for being shite. You can't have it both ways without paying incredible amounts of money.

[Mick]

We need a replacement for Butt for next season. Hes already started too many games this term, hes not doing a good enough job in front of the defence, his passing is somehow getting worse, and centrebacks like Faye and Rozehnal in their brief appearances in the same position have already looked considerably better than Butt.

 

I would love it if we could get Carrick in to replace Butt. He's struggling for form at ManU, and although hes not a £15mill player per se, hes the sort of reliable defensive midfielder who you can build a very good team around because hes a consistently good passer of the ball on top of having a good engine, physique, etc. Spurs have struggled to replace him, and when he was in the side they were pushing for a top 4 team. If we've got the money, make a move. Its not entirely sentimental either, its hard to find a solid defensive midfielder who is good at starting moves off, and thats what Carrick is.

 

Maybe thats a bit of a pipedream, but its far from impossible and would be a very, very good start to spending Ashley's money.

 

You must have watched a different Rozehnal to me, he was shocking, much worse than Butt.

[johnnypd]

We'd probably have won today if Viduka had played imo. The type of player with magic you need when you're struggling to break a bunch of cloggers like Bolton down.

 

He's lazy though. And fat. We need someone like Berbatov who breaks his back to get to every ball.

 

berbatov's movement is excellent tho, always buzzing about, drifting wide and making mazy dribbles in and around the area. this helps him brings others into the game far more than viduka can nowadays. with berbatov it's "i'm going to bring the ball to you" with viduka it's "you're gonna have to come over here to get the ball". fitter and scores more too, and while viduka-owen never really looks like a good partnership i'm pretty sure berbatov would be an excellent partner for owen or martins.

 

No doubt I'd rather have Berbatov, Vids is getting on. He's still total class though and just calling him "lazy" is bloody stupid imo. Same people who slag him off will slag off Smith for being shite. You can't have it both ways without paying incredible amounts of money.

 

aye, don't think he is that lazy really just doesn't have a lot in his legs. i'd rather have class over attitude any day.

[The College Dropout]

mounts of money.

We'd probably have won today if Viduka had played imo. The type of player with magic you need when you're struggling to break a bunch of cloggers like Bolton down.

 

He's lazy though. And fat. We need someone like Berbatov who breaks his back to get to every ball.

 

berbatov's movement is excellent tho, always buzzing about, drifting wide and making mazy dribbles in and around the area. this helps him brings others into the game far more than viduka can nowadays. with berbatov it's "i'm going to bring the ball to you" with viduka it's "you're gonna have to come over here to get the ball". fitter and scores more too, and while viduka-owen never really looks like a good partnership i'm pretty sure berbatov would be an excellent partner for owen or martins.

 

No doubt I'd rather have Berbatov, Vids is getting on. He's still total class though and just calling him "lazy" is bloody stupid imo. Same people who slag him off will slag off Smith for being s****. You can't have it both ways without paying incredible amounts of money.

 

aye, don't think he is that lazy really just doesn't have a lot in his legs. i'd rather have class over attitude any day.

 

The top teams have both. None of the main players in the top 4 have players as laid back as Berbatov and i'm sure Alex would whoop that shit out of him.

[STM]

Peoples perception of Viduka was that he is good in the air, which is why they kept on playing the long ball into him all the time. He isn't that great because he cant jump but he can score with the head due to his intelligence. If the balls played into his feet he's terrfying at times. Hopefully KK will exploit this.

[Guest Brendan_Rice]

GO

-----------------------------------------

Carr - has always cost us goals in the past

Viduka - Lazy and slow though Keegan has already mentioned his quality so he will likely stay

Smith - I do not see what he brings to the team.  Is he a midfielder that doesn't fit in midfield or a striker that doesn't score

Ramage - Not good enough

 

IN

-----------------------------------------

Central Defender - Need to get at least 3 central defenders in that are quality

Central Midfielder - Who can command a team i.e. Deco

Right Winger - Speedy winger who can beat his man and get a good cross in anyone remember Gillespie and his crosses?

Striker - A quality striker who battles for the ball in the Shearer mould (difficult to get)

 

STAY

-----------------------------------------

Given - Has saved us so many times, quality

Owen - Needs to get his confidence and some service and will come good again. How many times has he been written off to prove people wrong?

Martins - Keegan could do magic with him and let him fulfill his potential

Zog - One of the best young players we have

Taylor - The guy is a rock and bleeds black and white

Beye - Quality

Milner - At times has been class, has had a poor run of form under Sam he will definatly improve and get his confidence back to beat a man

Duff - Doesn't look himself.  He used to be the best left winger in the game, you do not just loose it like that, he will come good again with the right coaching.

Enrique - Will keep getting better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fredbob]

We need a replacement for Butt for next season. Hes already started too many games this term, hes not doing a good enough job in front of the defence, his passing is somehow getting worse, and centrebacks like Faye and Rozehnal in their brief appearances in the same position have already looked considerably better than Butt.

 

I would love it if we could get Carrick in to replace Butt. He's struggling for form at ManU, and although hes not a £15mill player per se, hes the sort of reliable defensive midfielder who you can build a very good team around because hes a consistently good passer of the ball on top of having a good engine, physique, etc. Spurs have struggled to replace him, and when he was in the side they were pushing for a top 4 team. If we've got the money, make a move. Its not entirely sentimental either, its hard to find a solid defensive midfielder who is good at starting moves off, and thats what Carrick is.

 

Maybe thats a bit of a pipedream, but its far from impossible and would be a very, very good start to spending Ashley's money.

 

You must have watched a different Rozehnal to me, he was shocking, much worse than Butt.

 

I thought he was good tonight, won alot of posession and kept the ball moving, made some good passes kept his position well as well.

[Cajun]

Viduka is a very talented player just not all that mobile or hard working, still more likely to create that bit of magic when playing than any of our other strikers though. Would get rid of Owen long before thinking about getting rid of Viduka, yes Owen is (was?) a good goalscorer but he doesnt do much else and over the next few years I can't see him playing many more games than "fatty" Viduka.

[Yorkie]

Is Mascherano really available?

 

It'd be brilliant to get him in. Probably unrealistic, he'll have a large selection of clubs you would have thought.

[Cajun]

Is Mascherano really available?

 

It'd be brilliant to get him in. Probably unrealistic, he'll have a large selection of clubs you would have thought.

 

For £17m. Would like him here but only if we have that sort of money for creative players aswell.

[Yorkie]

Is Mascherano really available?

 

It'd be brilliant to get him in. Probably unrealistic, he'll have a large selection of clubs you would have thought.

 

For £17m. Would like him here but only if we have that sort of money for creative players aswell.

 

Yeah precisely. I don't know masses about him, but he is very very highly regarded isn't he? Obviously, you have to forget the West Ham debacle, isn't he one of the most highly rated defensive mids in Europe? In snippets i've seen of him for Liverpool, he's looked very very good. It seems a fair price in today's market, especially when you consider it's just about what Makelele cost and about half as much as Essien!

[Guest Brendan_Rice]

Viduka is a very talented player just not all that mobile or hard working, still more likely to create that bit of magic when playing than any of our other strikers though. Would get rid of Owen long before thinking about getting rid of Viduka, yes Owen is (was?) a good goalscorer but he doesnt do much else and over the next few years I can't see him playing many more games than "fatty" Viduka.

 

I can remember people saying Shearer was finished when he went through a bad patch, his legs have gone.... 

 

The whole Owen thing is very similar or as a bangkok whore would say "Same, same but different!"

[fredbob]

Viduka is a very talented player just not all that mobile or hard working, still more likely to create that bit of magic when playing than any of our other strikers though. Would get rid of Owen long before thinking about getting rid of Viduka, yes Owen is (was?) a good goalscorer but he doesnt do much else and over the next few years I can't see him playing many more games than "fatty" Viduka.

 

 

Id agree with the OWen thing i think, before he lost his pace he was definitely a top striker who was very dangerous, but now his pace has gone he offers nothing except clinical finishing in front of goal. Compare him with other strikers inthe Prem and he doesnt offer half as much....

 

Rooney, Tevez, Drogba, Anelka, Benjani, Adebayor, Van Persie.

 

All top strikers who Owen was on par with a time ago are now well ahead and reflect the change in the game where strikers cant just be goalscorers but have to offer something else to the team.  

 

If we're looking to replace Owen (which will never happen) then it has to be someone who can offer more than just a goalscoring threat becasue that isnt good enough nowadays, one of the main reasons he was shipped from Real.

[Cajun]

Viduka is a very talented player just not all that mobile or hard working, still more likely to create that bit of magic when playing than any of our other strikers though. Would get rid of Owen long before thinking about getting rid of Viduka, yes Owen is (was?) a good goalscorer but he doesnt do much else and over the next few years I can't see him playing many more games than "fatty" Viduka.

 

I can remember people saying Shearer was finished when he went through a bad patch, his legs have gone.... 

 

The whole Owen thing is very similar or as a bangkok whore would say "Same, same but different!"

 

But Shearer didn't have constant "niggles" throughout his entire career" and due to his strength had a lot more to offer than Owen.

[Guest SeattleToon]

Viduka and Owen are completely different types of strikers.

 

Owen is the type of centre-forward who needs space to exploit and usually scores at the end of multi-pass sequences that end up with him being in alone on the keeper or with space to shoot from the edge of the box. In a closed down match like today's where he doesn't get any space and gets no service, he is pretty useless.

 

Viduka, on the other hand, is a magician inside the box, but useless for anything else (a little like RVN to some extent). He scores goals from positions where others would not even be thinking about shooting, let along get off a shot on goal. Both of his goals against Derby were like that...scrappy goals on shots through traffic that were created out of pretty much nothing. 

 

You need both types of strikers, depending on the opponent. Viduka would have been much more useful than Owen today, since Bolton played with ten men behind the ball most of the afternoon and completely closed down the match. Owen would be much more useful against an attacking team where the play is going to be wide open and we are going to have a lot of counter-attacking chances.

[Guest eltsacwen]

Keegan seems to like Ameobi alot!!!! according the post match interview with World. It almost shocked me to hear all the positive things he said about Shola. Hopefully Owen, Martins, Viduka and Smith is infront of him in the queue

[The College Dropout]

Viduka is a very talented player just not all that mobile or hard working, still more likely to create that bit of magic when playing than any of our other strikers though. Would get rid of Owen long before thinking about getting rid of Viduka, yes Owen is (was?) a good goalscorer but he doesnt do much else and over the next few years I can't see him playing many more games than "fatty" Viduka.

 

I can remember people saying Shearer was finished when he went through a bad patch, his legs have gone.... 

 

The whole Owen thing is very similar or as a bangkok whore would say "Same, same but different!"

 

But Shearer didn't have constant "niggles" throughout his entire career" and due to his strength had a lot more to offer than Owen.

 

 

Aye. Shearer had 1 big injury.

 

Owen's had 1 big injury and DOZENS of little ones. Never scored more than 19 Premiership goals? That's because of injuries.

[Guest kevin carrs gloves]

I can't believe how many people on here rate Smith. He is abysmal as a midfielder and not much cop as an attacker.

[tmonkey]

We'd probably have won today if Viduka had played imo. The type of player with magic you need when you're struggling to break a bunch of cloggers like Bolton down.

 

He's lazy though. And fat. We need someone like Berbatov who breaks his back to get to every ball.

 

berbatov's movement is excellent tho, always buzzing about, drifting wide and making mazy dribbles in and around the area. this helps him brings others into the game far more than viduka can nowadays. with berbatov it's "i'm going to bring the ball to you" with viduka it's "you're gonna have to come over here to get the ball". fitter and scores more too, and while viduka-owen never really looks like a good partnership i'm pretty sure berbatov would be an excellent partner for owen or martins.

 

No doubt I'd rather have Berbatov, Vids is getting on. He's still total class though and just calling him "lazy" is bloody stupid imo. Same people who slag him off will slag off Smith for being s****. You can't have it both ways without paying incredible amounts of money.

 

Hes lazy without really being class imo. He does have the ability to create his own goals, some tremendous bouts of close control at times, but he's the type of forward who tries that five or six times and pulls it off once, which basically equates to a handful of goals a season through playing that way (judging by our current side). In between, hes frequently dominated in the air, hes slow with little movement, and hes frustratingly snail-like at releasing the ball (like Parker, a fair few moves broken down because of this).

 

Hes the type of forward that a lower mid table side would accomodate, and if given a whole season he'll certainly score his fair share of goals. But his weaknesses are pretty debilitating to the team's potency and general all round play. And thats probably why, despite having a good season last year and being one of the higher goalscorers in the league, none of the successful clubs were interested in him even though he was on a Bosman.

 

On top of all this, hes been frequently injured and will be 33 next year. If im honest, I think hes a better forward individually than any of our other forwards at the moment, and I am being harsh by highlighting his weaknesses - all players have some bar the truly class ones. But the biggest, single problem I have with him is that in the current squad, there simply isnt a good partner for him, even without watching all of the possible combinations im absolutely certain of this (and hes played with practically all of our other strikers up front at various points, and on his own too, yet none any of them have looked a decent partnership, irrespective of excuses like a poor midfield). To get the best of Viduka, we need a Bellamy type forward to provide pace, width, and direct running in behind the defence, to stretch the opposition and allow Viduka to play inside the box with the ball at feet, which is what his game is all about. But hes a 32 year old crock, building a team around him just isnt feasible for me, and getting that forward in to suit Viduka would be a bigger ask imo than buying a creative, even if slow, forward who someone like Martins or Owen could play off (and for the reasons mentioned previously, Viduka isnt that creative player).

[Cajun]

Viduka is a very talented player just not all that mobile or hard working, still more likely to create that bit of magic when playing than any of our other strikers though. Would get rid of Owen long before thinking about getting rid of Viduka, yes Owen is (was?) a good goalscorer but he doesnt do much else and over the next few years I can't see him playing many more games than "fatty" Viduka.

 

I can remember people saying Shearer was finished when he went through a bad patch, his legs have gone.... 

 

The whole Owen thing is very similar or as a bangkok whore would say "Same, same but different!"

 

But Shearer didn't have constant "niggles" throughout his entire career" and due to his strength had a lot more to offer than Owen.

 

 

Aye. Shearer had 1 big injury.

 

Owen's had 1 big injury and DOZENS of little ones. Never scored more than 19 Premiership goals? That's because of injuries.

 

2 big ones now really for Owen but the rest of your post is spot on. Injury wise its like comparing Given with Kirkland.

[Tooj]

Viduka is a very talented player just not all that mobile or hard working, still more likely to create that bit of magic when playing than any of our other strikers though. Would get rid of Owen long before thinking about getting rid of Viduka, yes Owen is (was?) a good goalscorer but he doesnt do much else and over the next few years I can't see him playing many more games than "fatty" Viduka.

 

I can remember people saying Shearer was finished when he went through a bad patch, his legs have gone.... 

 

The whole Owen thing is very similar or as a bangkok whore would say "Same, same but different!"

 

But Shearer didn't have constant "niggles" throughout his entire career" and due to his strength had a lot more to offer than Owen.

 

 

Aye. Shearer had 1 big injury.

 

Owen's had 1 big injury and DOZENS of little ones. Never scored more than 19 Premiership goals? That's because of injuries.

 

Shearer had 3 big injuries iirc.

[Begbie]

Keep:

Given and Krul

Enrique, Baye, Faye, Taylor, Cacapa, and Rozenhal.

Zoggy, Milner and lett Butt finnish his career here, and become a coach here after his playingdays.

Martins

 

get rid off:

Harper isnt getting any younger, and we need to let our youngsters get experience.

Carr, Ramage, and Babayaro

Emre, Duff, Barton, Geremi,

Owen, Viduka, Smith and Ameobi

 

Buy:

Cover for Beye and Enrique.

Hole new midfield, Priority should be a creative and a defensive midfielder(PS! The defensive midfielder needs to know how to pass the ball)

1 topp class striker, and two real talented ones(no ameobi talent).

[Mick]

Keep:

Given and Krul

Enrique, Baye, Faye, Taylor, Cacapa, and Rozenhal.

Zoggy, Milner and lett Butt finnish his career here, and become a coach here after his playingdays.

Martins

 

get rid off:

Harper isnt getting any younger, and we need to let our youngsters get experience.

Carr, Ramage, and Babayaro

Emre, Duff, Barton, Geremi,

Owen, Viduka, Smith and Ameobi

 

Buy:

Cover for Beye and Enrique.

Hole new midfield, Priority should be a creative and a defensive midfielder(PS! The defensive midfielder needs to know how to pass the ball)

1 topp class striker, and two real talented ones(no ameobi talent).

[Begbie]

Keep:

Given and Krul

Enrique, Baye, Faye, Taylor, Cacapa, and Rozenhal.

Zoggy, Milner and lett Butt finnish his career here, and become a coach here after his playingdays.

Martins

 

get rid off:

Harper isnt getting any younger, and we need to let our youngsters get experience.

Carr, Ramage, and Babayaro

Emre, Duff, Barton, Geremi,

Owen, Viduka, Smith and Ameobi

 

Buy:

Cover for Beye and Enrique.

Hole new midfield, Priority should be a creative and a defensive midfielder(PS! The defensive midfielder needs to know how to pass the ball)

1 topp class striker, and two real talented ones(no ameobi talent).

 

Dont remember if we released him, but he is still on our official homepage

[Mick]

 

Dont remember if we released him, but he is still on our official homepage

 

He's gone.