Dr Gloom

no surprises there

no milner?

i'd pick exactly the same side as david kelly with perhaps the exception of beye coming in for taylor. smith should be dropped. owen and viduka to start up front and n'zogbia given the chance to start further forward on the left flank with enrique given a go behind him. it is derby ffs - how much time does the lad need to adapt to the english game?

absolutely. mclaren really ought to stick with this winning team but i suspect he'll draft in the 'star' players for the final games despite them unbalancing the side. on paper, lampard is better than barry and rooney is better than heskey but as a unit, owen plays better alongside heskey and gerrard plays better alongside barry. it would be nice to see mclaren stand up to his star players. a bench including rooney, beckham and lampard would also be pretty tasty.

It does look like he's going, although not until the Jan window, obviously. Probably no bad thing (assuming we can get a decent amount back for him) as it doesn't look like Allardyce either especially rates him or thinks he'll fit in with how he wants us to play. who could replace him tho...if were gonna get rid of him witch obvious that we will, we need a top class creative midfielder to come and and replace him but then who would you drop in midfield We wouldn't exactly need a top class creative midfielder to replace him, as he's not that himself. However, even if he stays, we're seriously lacking a creative player in there. he's still probably the most creative central midfielder on our books. i'm not saying there aren't better players out there but we'd be foolish to sell him and allow smith to replace him. geremi, barton, smith and butt are a decent selection of central midfielders to call on but none of them are what you would consider flair players. only barton from those four gives you much in terms creativity but even then he's more of a box to box grafter than a 'door opener'. if we do let emre go, we need to replace him with someone that can run at defenders, pick a pass and maybe chip in with the odd set piece too. For a creative player he doesn't create very much though does he? You describe the attributes his replacement would need yet Emre can't run at defenders (with much success), pass a ball or take set pieces very well. We're best rid of him, get Barton to play that position until we can sign a top-class attacking midfielder. he does all those things far more than any of our other centre midfielders! he's shown signs of quality since he's been with us. i think he's suffered from playing in shite teams under shite managers and alongside players. i'd like to see if big sam can get more out of him. i remember him being quality player for turkey in the world cup a few years back and him putting in some good stints with inter too.

It does look like he's going, although not until the Jan window, obviously. Probably no bad thing (assuming we can get a decent amount back for him) as it doesn't look like Allardyce either especially rates him or thinks he'll fit in with how he wants us to play. who could replace him tho...if were gonna get rid of him witch obvious that we will, we need a top class creative midfielder to come and and replace him but then who would you drop in midfield We wouldn't exactly need a top class creative midfielder to replace him, as he's not that himself. However, even if he stays, we're seriously lacking a creative player in there. he's still probably the most creative central midfielder on our books. i'm not saying there aren't better players out there but we'd be foolish to sell him and allow smith to replace him. geremi, barton, smith and butt are a decent selection of central midfielders to call on but none of them are what you would consider flair players. only barton from those four gives you much in terms creativity but even then he's more of a box to box grafter than a 'door opener'. if we do let emre go, we need to replace him with someone that can run at defenders, pick a pass and maybe chip in with the odd set piece too.

parasite tbh

i can't believe he's behind smith in the midfield pecking order like. if he goes we HAVE to replace him with a new creative midfielder

bound to be at least 5th best in the division under fat fred

i've never sat in the east stand. i'm sure the views are great from gemmil's seat but isn't the stand a bit of a shithole compared to the rest of the ground? it's the only stand left from before the 90s isn't it?

legend. would love to see him, gary speed and rob lee coaching under shearer as manager - assuming they're all up to it like. they might not make it as coaches but the sentimentalist in me would love to see them return and win a trophy for the club. those four were more than good enough to win something for us. it was the management and other players that let them down.

but will big sam drop smith to accomodate him?

not before time

Dan you really are a miserable shit, aren't you? just being realistic. do you see us getting anything there? i don't, especially now they've done away with replays - and our recent history at penalty shootouts. this competition is our best chance of silverware. we're unlucky to get such a difficult away tie in the third round. i can't see us progressing tbh.

what a joke. his 5 goals in 40 odd internationals says it all. he had more than a fair chance and never did it at international level. in fact, he's been pretty shit ever since he left leicester.

So clueless. Easy to say now that Owen's goal won us the match. But whose cross was it? Martins's. tbh I also couldn't see Martins muffing those clear chances that Owen did. Owen doesn't play for this club. He makes cameo appearances. I have to put my trust in workhorse Martins. The point is that Martins would never find himself in the position to miss the chances that Owen did yesterday because he hasn't got the brain that Owen has. Owen's makes runs and anticipates the play to find himself in these positions, and once he's got a few more games under his belt, he'll start scoring a lot more of these chances than he's missing. And what's more, he's been making runs like this since he was a teenager, because it just comes naturally to him. The only thing that comes naturally to Martins is running fast, and if he plays til he's 100 he will never learn to make these sort of runs, or anticipate the play in the way that Owen does, because it's just not in him. The gulf in class between the two players is enormous. PS Fucking workhorse?! Trying to use Owen's ability to ream the game and use great movement to knock Martins is pretty pointless, to start with their styles of football is completely different and you won't find many players in World football with better movement than Owen, on the other hand Owen could only dream of scoring some of the quality goals Martins has scored here and defenders panic when he gets anywhere within 30 yards of goal, two important players who will play a big part if we're to do well this season. One thing about Owen thought is his pace has gone, I know he's lost alot since he was a lad but even when he first came here he had the pace to sprint away from defenders (Man City at home a good example) now though he doesn't look like he's going to pull away from anyone so he's going to need intelligent balls to his feet, he needs space created for him like Bellamy did for Shearer so it's even more disappointing that we replaced Dyer with Smith who done nothing again yesterday apart from a few sliding tackles and a few poor attempts at goal, certainly not what you're looking for from someone wide right. agreed. i can't see why we spent so much on smith, nor where he's going to fit into the side when everyone's fit. on the evidence so far, he doesn't look much of a midfielder.

i reckon that if sam can get duff back to the form he showed at chelsea, he has to start ahead of zoggy but i'd say that competition for places down the left side is as good as it has been for a while now. we've got four genuine lefties in duff, zog, enrique and, urm, babayaro.

great. don't fancy us to get anything at arsenal's place. our best chance of silverware this season is probably over now thanks to this draw.

on paper - if everyone was fit and firing - i would go with -------------------------------Given------------------------------------- Beye---------Cacapa------------------------Rosenhal------------Enrique Milner-----------------Barton-------------Geremi-----------------Duff- --------------------------Viduka--------Owen----------------------------

sounded like a solid performance. good to see that sam has sorted the defence out. not conceding gives you a platform to go on and win the game (even if it was a late strike) - something we've rarely been able to do under our last two managers.

gutted to lose him. it would have been fitting for him to end his career with us but he'll always be a legend to me - he's been one consistent bright spark of creativity and vision over the past decade in what have often been teams that haven't been good enough for him. good luck nobby. he's bound to get a great reception whenever he returns to st james.

sounds like nobby will be off to west ham if we sign beye and faye :-(

leazesmag is giving it the same old spiel on newcastle-online if anyone fancies a laugh

shut up man. we can take fm as fact.