Optimistic Nut

Now come on, that Whittle bloke got stuck into Shearer and kept him quiet-ish for 89 minutes against Leyton Orient.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=19122006 They've now been linked with Le Tallec, Traore & Mellor.

If no-one is lined up, I'd sooner keep Souness than give temporary charge to Shearer, Beardsley, Roeder, etc. As soon as someone has said he'll come, then sack him straight away.

I'd hang myself from the Tyne Bridge if that happened.

Souness & Murray take Blackburn 6th, Roeder takes a very good West Ham out of the division. No thanks. (and this isn't sticking up for Souness, I'd sack him now, but NOT for someone already at the club!)

Decided to have a little look over on www.marca.com, and they're saying Joaquin is being lined up to go to Juventus in the transfer window to replace Nedved for €10m ...although Betis want €20m. They also say Mutu could be used as bait.

Where is Jaw D these days anyway?

Just been on Sky Sports News plugging his autobiography. He says how Bill Shankly asked him to sign for Liverpool, then Division Two, but Ian St John said, "You joking? I've already agreed to sign for Newcastle...plus what about my wife and kids?", to which Shanks replied with, "leave them with your mother-in-law". A few weeks later, his family were still in Scotland, and Ian St John was a Liverpool player.

It's pissing me off how the press seem to be claiming this goal should have counted (which it should have), yet last season against Liverpool when the ball was played to Bowyer (onside with Kluivert offside in the middle not in "Phase 1"), and then pulled back to Kluivert (then onside), there was uproar saying how it shouldn't have counted.

Using Michael Wray's spreadsheet, I get the following. 1...Chelsea....101 points 2...Man U.......80 3...Arsenal.....79 4...Liverpool...74 5...Bolton.......72 6...Newcastle..67 7...Spurs........64 8...West Ham..61 9...Man City....55 10.Boro..........54 11.Wigan........52 12.Fulham.......49 13.Blackburn...43 14.Charlton.....42 15.Everton......42 16.Aston Villa..39 17.Birmingham.32 18.West Brom..32 19.Portsmouth..28 20.Sunderland..18

Has anyone got a link to that spreadsheet thing where you can put in predictions & results, etc?

Any need?

Have you mathematicians taken into account the 3 games before £28m was spent? 69477[/snapback] Of course But come on! No club (with the exception of Chelsea, who are in a league of their own) has spent more money on new players in the last year than we have. Are shit performances and 10th place a fair return on investment? 69480[/snapback] I may have had a crack on the head at work, but I'm pretty sure there's 21 games to go, and we're the 5th best in form since over the last ten games, so I doubt 10th will be where our "investment" leaves us.

I would be gutted if 63 pts only managed us 7th spot considering 69 & 71 got us two top 4 finishes a few years back. *EDIT* Just checked the Premier League website, and since the Premiership went to 38 games a season in 95-96, 63 points would have earned 4th spot 4 times, 5th 3 times, and 6th 3 times.

I think there's going to be a striker who comes from nowhere a la Crouch last season in the reckoning...perhaps Bobby Zamora.

If that had been Vieira, Keane, Gerrard or whoever, we'd have been saying he had a good game. He never made one bad pass all game, he was controlling the midfield alongside Parker even before Gilberto saw red, and got stuck in.

...or maybe because people actually thought he had a good game.

"See, I could have been in The Matrix"

Parker Boumsong Faye

And you like Joaquin off.

Main problem with the 3, 2 or 1 marks is that there will be games where they all play well, and some who gets a 7 out of 10 may be one of the worst players that game. On the otherhand, there's plenty of games where 6 or 7 is as good as it gets. Basically, I think an average rating each game would be the best way of doing it.

Of course it's the players but it doesn't help being sent out with no game plan and as we all know that's the managers responsibility. 66685[/snapback] Yeah, I know that, but was there honestly any difference in gameplan between the Villa & Arsenal games? I couldn't see any difference, just the players played 10x better yesterday in general.

So are you admitting that it's the players too, and not just the manager? Because I didn't see a lot of difference in tactics today, as what I saw the previous week, difference was, we had players performing well individually.

Boro's defeat means we're now in the top 10 again.