David Kelly

Mulholland Drive is more of a mindfuck if you've not seen it. And it has some cracking lesbo action to boot! Oldboy is without doubt the most disturbing film I've seen in god knows how long though.

That looks leathal. (in attack) I'munsure if it would work properly. Maybe with Martins playing behind the other 2 strikers as people were saying he was weak in that position against Sampdoria(I missed the game). I'm pretty sure the midfield would work due to the engines on those 3 players. A lot of industry and leg work with Barton and Smith timing their runs into the box. And, as I say, the likes of Butt, Emre, Milner, Duff, Nobby dropping in depending on opposition. With our options now, defences won't be able to play a high line of defence as Owen/Martins could rape them on the break, but if they play too deep, Smith/Viduka could impose themselves and hold the ball up, linking Smith/Barton etc. I would have thought you would play Martins on the left and Owen on the right if we go with a 4-3-3. You could also play Smith on the right and Emre in midfield as he might end up being a lot more productive in a 4-3-3 than he has been so far a 4-4-2. Well, people have been saying that Emre is a perfect fit for the left hand side of a 4-3-3, so it'll be interesting to see him there. Also, you're right about the Owen/Martins bit, although I can't see Owen wasted by being asked to play too deep. He's got the experience of playing in a 4-3-3 for Inter and I would think that it would be the type of formation that would suit his style the most. And yeah, I don't think 4-3-3 suits Owen at all really but if you're gonna play him in one I can only see that right hand side slot as worth a go. He's not big enough to play at the point and there's no reason for him to be on the left other than if you're wanting to swap players over for a while during a game.

I would probably have O'Brien and Carr as my two most disliked. Both are total shite but at O'Brien looked like he wanted to do well. Carr has never looked like he was here for anything but the money which is a shame since he was a good player once upon a time.

That looks leathal. (in attack) I'munsure if it would work properly. Maybe with Martins playing behind the other 2 strikers as people were saying he was weak in that position against Sampdoria(I missed the game). I'm pretty sure the midfield would work due to the engines on those 3 players. A lot of industry and leg work with Barton and Smith timing their runs into the box. And, as I say, the likes of Butt, Emre, Milner, Duff, Nobby dropping in depending on opposition. With our options now, defences won't be able to play a high line of defence as Owen/Martins could rape them on the break, but if they play too deep, Smith/Viduka could impose themselves and hold the ball up, linking Smith/Barton etc. I would have thought you would play Martins on the left and Owen on the right if we go with a 4-3-3. You could also play Smith on the right and Emre in midfield as he might end up being a lot more productive in a 4-3-3 than he has been so far a 4-4-2.

Overall you've got to be far happier going into this season than last. We have a manger who's not trying to do a job that's far beyond him, an new owner who's idea of sucess isn't the be in the papers shouting his fat mouth off every week, Owen's not out for the whole season, we have made most of our signings before the season has begun, we have a leftback for the first time in years, we've added proven quality in Barton, Viduka, Geremi and Smith and what looks like good quality (judging by what we have seen and the reaction of the Villereal fans), we've got shot of Bramble so we don't have to wait for his inevitable cock up every game and it's looking less and less likely that we will need to play Ramage, Huntington & Edgar for large parts of the season. The expectation has got to be that we can do a lot better than last season in every area. That said, I still think we are way off the top four and Spurs but I think we should be a match for the likes of Everton, Blackburn and most of the other teams who finished above us last term. My only worry's are the apparent lack of any real attacking explosion from midfield (N'Zogbia is still working his way back up from where he ended under Roeder, Emre is yet to deliver in anything more than fits and starts while his injuries remain a concern, Duff hasn't delivered at all and tbh looked finished on many occasions last season, Nobby still has quality but offers no pace, and I am still to be convinced by Milner) and our rightback (Carr is a fucking idiot which leaves us with only players who should be nothing more than cover there by rights (Geremi, Nobby, Taylor and Cacapa)). If I had the choice of signings I think there is still three players we need; A Rightback A pacy, skillfull attacking midfielder A defender who can cover leftback and in the middle (like this Drago apparently is). However it is probably asking way too much to get all of those in this summer so tbh I would be more than happy with one of them and if Sam works his magic then I think challenging for 6th place and a Wafa cup spot is what we should be looking to.

I think we aren't going to see the massive funds that we might have hoped for after being taken over by a billionaire (at first at least) but it certainly seem that there is enough for us to make the positive steps forward that we need.

I think the problem with Roeder was that due to his lack of competance everyone beleived that he actually rated Babayarou and Carr and was happy with their performances. Allardyce hasn't (as yet) given us any reason to doubt him.

Their defence is canny if players are fit (which seems to be a fairly big if with Woodgate, Pogatez and Huff) and they seem to have some decent young uns (like Cattermole) but they don't have much else. I don't rate Boateng, Rochemback, Downing, Aliadiere or that Korean bloke so they've only got Yakubu and possibly Tuncay going forward that really offer them anything at all.

white heat - classic "hey mom - on top of the world" Quite possibly his four best films. I was surprised to see it was those when I clicked on the link.

James Cagney box set, Angels With Dirty Faces, White Heat, The Roaring Twenty's & Public Enemy. £9.99 from HMV, bargintastic!

Happy Birthday, try having a wank for each year!

The Terminator T2 Predator Total Recall Nearly all of them are really entertaining films and I do miss the days when you knew that if nothing else each new Arnie film was going to be an action extravaganza. He's also in the brilliant Long Goodbye, again credited as Arnold Strong.

Spiderman 3. Too much going on and what the fuck was that bit when he thought he was in Saturday Night Fever? Good Sandman and Venom effects though.

Bizare statement for him to issue. I suppose he's just trying to lower fans expectations but judging by their season ticket sales they're pretty low to start with. They could be in trouble this season with their current squad. Their defence is canny if they can keep Woody and Huth fit but unless Tuncay turns out to be a bit special, their midfield is poor and their attack is pretty weak too. Can't think of much depth to their squad either, except for kids.

Fairly happy with this. I don't think many people would have had him high on their list for potential signings this summer but I do believe he's a good footballer and his attitude could never be brought into question. Good addition to the squad but I still feel we are without a quality playmaker in the squad unless Sam can get more than the odd flash out of Emre.

I know what you mean about Ozu (like you Tokyo Story is only one of his films I've seen) but he must have been doing something right to keep me interested in a film where barely anything other than the mundane happens in 2 hours +. I just thought it was really touching, especially at the end with the youngest daughter and the wife of their dead son. Their son dies! Already dead at the start so I'm not spoilling it for anyone by saying this. I'd like to add that I think this would be an ideal film for Wacky to see

I know what you mean about Ozu (like you Tokyo Story is only one of his films I've seen) but he must have been doing something right to keep me interested in a film where barely anything other than the mundane happens in 2 hours +. I just thought it was really touching, especially at the end with the youngest daughter and the wife of their dead son.

Must have been quite a bit ahead of his time though old Shakesy. Writing about rays guns and robots

Aye well, it's quite slow, but it's very atmsopheric and it's beautifully shot. I meant to tell Happy Face to watch it but I forgot as I think he'd love it. Me, Patrockles and someone else were on about it a while ago on here. I got a hold of it on your recommendations tbh but as I say I've just been struggling to get through it. Although after watching Tokyo Story (which is also very slow and lacking in anything aproaching action) last night I feel a bit better about trying again. I'm also having the same problem with an Indian film called Pather Panchali which also comes very highly recommended.

Good film. Based on 'The Tempest' btw. I knew that but don't know anything about most of Shakespear's work so didn't bother mentioning it.

I'm sure you'll manage to post from an open office. I used to spend half the day on Champ Manager and rest on here in an open office in my last job.

Tokyo Story - Brilliant Japanese film about an old couple who live in the sticks and go to visit their grown up children in Tokyo but their children don't really have much time for them and end up passing them from one to another until they go home and the mother dies. Sounds shit I know and tbh I really didn't fancy watching it despite being told it was a classic, but it's just an amazing film and I loved it. Forbiden Planet - Somehow I have managed to avoid seeing this before despite it being on TCM about once a week for the past god knows how many years. Another film that I didn't really fancy seeing but I thought it was excellent. Clearly an inspiration for Star Trek but much better than any of the Star Trek films. I could easily imagine Shattner playing the lead instead of Leslie Neilsen but doubt he would have been better. Probably one of the best sci fi films prior to 2001.

In reality what do we have to offer a player like him other than money. Sevilla is (from what I've heard) a lovely city with a far superior climate to ours. They play in one of the best legaues in the world, they win things (regularly at the moment) and they are in the champions league. The only reasons for him to prefer us is a desire to play in England, a need for first team football or the better wages we can pay. If said he wanted to come here to fulfill a boyhood ambition or win things we would just say he's talking shite anyway. At the end of the day the reason most people chance jobs is for money, why should he be any different?

They've spent lots of money but it remains to be seen how well they've spent it. I'm still confident that in the likes of Owen, Viduka, Martins & Barton at least we have players who are considerably better than what they have.

He looked alright at the end of last season and in pre-season tbf. At the end of last season he looked ok at leftback which probably isn't that surprising considering what we had to suffer the rest of the season. I've seen nothing other that the goals from pre season so I couldn't really comment but I'd still be surprised if he's more than our 4th best rightback at the club after Nobby, Geremi and Taylor.