Dr Gloom

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.

fuck me, 5,000 at wigan...that makes the smogs look good

my problem with smith is that it seems he's been bought primarily as a midfielder. if everyone's fit he's probably going to be 4th or 5th choice striker and 3rd or 4th choice for centre mid - where he's largely ineffective imo. nowt wrong with signing good squad players but £6m on a player who probably won't start when everyone is fit isn't the most sensible use of our budget.

he's mostly bought well - especially in sorting out the defence. but i don't think spending £6m on smith was a particularly wise use of our budget. nor do i see the point in signing faye from bolton. we're well stocked for players that can play the midfield holding role - i'd sooner that money went on a more creative midfielder. if it did, i'd say we have our most balanced squad in years. all in all though a vast improvement on last year's fiasco with last minute panic buys siberski and bernard.

no chance of us getting him

juninho????

great through ball from shola. i'd start those two again for our next game. could be a good partnership in a 4-4-2

what a wanker. loving that giles smith book review - well worth a read.

call me cynical but i wonder whether they'd have retired the number 9 shirt if that was his. 31 is hardly the most fashionable. still a nice gesture though

i feel sorry for him. wouldn't wish a broken bone on anyone, let alone a double fracture.

he's still got to be better than carr, ramage huntingdon etc. apparently he did pretty well for pompey last season.

I think a new Defensive midfielder would see Geremi move to right back. i think we'd be better buying a specialist right back and playing geremi in his prefered position tbh. Yeah I think so too. however in the short term I would have geremi playing there instead of Carr. absolutely!

I think a new Defensive midfielder would see Geremi move to right back. i think we'd be better buying a specialist right back and playing geremi in his prefered position tbh.

the man's hard as nails. 'cancer? i've shit it'

i don't see the need for another defensive midfielder like, unless we're getting one in addition to a new right back and a creative midfielder

Not sure that's a very valid comparison, considering the massive difference in their respective games, and the fact that we don't know whether Owen has been compromised in any way by the injury. he says himself he's lost a yard of pace. owen used to work the channels and scare defenders shitless with his pace. he's sill a top goal scorer but his game is more one dimensional now because his movement isn't as good as it once was. i think shearer was the same after his first year for when he picked up a bad injury. i remember him taking on players and beating men out wide when he played for blackburn and during his first season for us but he had to adapt his game for the majority of his time with us and we adapted our game to suit his strengths. i think it's worth it with both players because they both guarantee goals. but i wonder whether you should sacrifice those goals for a more expansive overall game.

not quite ready for the knackers yard? thank fuck for that! i think owen is going to be a carbon copy of shearer for us in the sense that we signed him when he seemed in his prime but then he picks up a horror injury and is never the same player again in terms of pace and penetration. we then build a team to play to his strengths despite their reduced overall contribution to team play. if we set the team up to play to owen's strengths - like we did with shearer after he lost a yard of pace - it wouldn't be surprised if he goes on to score a shitload of goals for us just (like shearer). it also wouldn't surprise me if like shearer, if we don't win anything while we build a side around an old fashioned goalpoacher instead of using more mobile strikers who may not score as many goals, but have more to their all-round game.

good riddance. biggest parasite since marcelino

to be fair to the lad, i've never heard of him