Isegrim

The style seems to suit him better. He was also always struggling with injuries during his time at Bayern and behind the likes of Makaay etc. in the pecking order. I am really surprised about his success. Probably not as far fetched as hit seems. He is struggling since 2006 and Bayern probably wouldn't say no to a good offer. It's depending on what Klinsmann thinks though. The Quayside wouldn't be the ideal place for him anyway...

To be fair, I don't think there are that many who would be available and really adding quality to the team. I agree about the general sentiment though. Most German players (or in case of Berbatov from the Bundesliga) adapted to English football quite well. One thing that has always gotten me, is people say a lot of South Americans don't adapt to England very well and to avoid them as much as you can. Yet from my eyes a lot do go to Germany and seem to settle in quite well. There are loads of South Americans who have failed to settle in Germany, namely players signed by Bayern and for example most recently Carlos Alberto at Bremen. I wouldn't say there is that much of a difference between England and Germany in general. Just because of different work permit regulations it's just easier for German clubs to sign Brazilians etc. Because of the larger number of players there have been more players who were successful (without the large number of failures being noted outside of Germany). Alex is right though. The biggest successes have been those players who were signed by Leverkusen (Jorginho, Paulo Sergio, Emerton, Lucio). Through their connections with Bayer they had close links to Brazil and indeed looked after them as good as possible and minimising the number of failures.

To be fair, I don't think there are that many who would be available and really adding quality to the team. I agree about the general sentiment though. Most German players (or in case of Berbatov from the Bundesliga) adapted to English football quite well.

I went up there last summer and made some nice photos (I'll see if I can find a way to host them as they are wide panoramas). An excellent piece of modern art and absolutely perfect as it is.

fyp Wolfy........please tell me you thought Jimbo was serious when he said jazz movies?! I am German, I take everyzing seriously... ...I just wanted to demonstrate my porn language skills. (note the retarded-smile-emoticon)

fyp

trying to prove something? That your spelling is as dodgy as your penalties.

So Keegan has a reason to scrap them in a couple of days.

Questo. And Wolfgang, if next time I'm in Stuttgart and some dirty little Swabian pizza restuarant is selling my pizzas, I'll be round your place with Craig Moore looking for our % of the profits or at least a couple of cans of weiss bier! To be honest my approval was foremost my demonstration of the rankness of supermarket pizzas in comparison to freshly made pizza. The recipe doesn't look to bad though. But what is bottled oregano? Is this Craig Moore pouring herbs schnapps over the pizza?

I don't think he's exceptional, but it depends what you look for in central defenders. I think he has the strength, courage, desire, heart and committment that you want in a centre half. I think people are overstating his supposed lack of positioning, reading the game etc, of course he's made some mistakes. All goals come from mistakes, according to coaching manuals. They learn from experience. There are loads of centre halfs that have played and improve all through their careers ie Richard Dunne, Jamie Carragher, going back further, Jackie Charlton [and don't tell me the game has changed because Richard Dunne in particular is just like what Jackie Charlton was] Taylor for me is like those players, he'll just get better all the time as he plays. He'll be solid and dependable and won't hide when the chips are down. Thanks. I just wanted to know as I remember you saying that he will be an England international for the years to come. No, I won't say that the game has changed in that way, but I very much disagree about people overstating positional skills and reading of the game. I think these are the skills that separate players of international standard from ordinary players. And imho Taylor is lacking seriously in these departments and more worryingly not really learning to edge out his shortcomings. Making mistakes is one thing, making the same mistakes again and again is another. His poor positioning and timing often means that he realises problems far too late. He is making up for it by his commitment, but this is far too often resulting in needless fouls. Also his distribution to the game is very poor. His passing too often puts his team mates under pressure (especially Given who is very poor with the ball at his feet anyway). Again this imho down to his poor understanding of the game. I am not saying that I don't think that Taylor won't get better and prove himself as a decent Premierleague player. But I can't see him becoming a leading defender at club or international level. I hope to be proven wrong though.

LM, genuine question. What do you think are Taylor's (maybe a bit raw) strengths that make him an exceptional talent?

Questo.

As a matter of fact, yes. Mental homes have half-terms?

I was about to post something similar earlier. Of course a great leader next to him would have been a bonus, but he should have been able to start cutting out his faults on his own. When I compare his development to someone like Mertesacker here in Jormany over the same amount of time, it's frightening and depressing tbh. You do love a bit of Mertesacker like and tbf I do trust your judgment more than most on here so he must be a cracking player. Watch him, if you get the chance. I'm normally not really one for hyping Jorman players, rather the contrary, but he's really someone who continues to impress me. He's 23, so only slightly older than Taylor. 1,98m (6 ft 6?) tall. Has a fantastic reading of the game (similar to Woodgate) and mostly gets the ball out of danger by passing it nicely. I can't think of many better central defenders in Europe at the moment. If he was playing for a bigger club, more people would know about him Why I compare him to Taylor is that he broke into professional football in 2004 and was never really considered to be a great talent before. But wherever he played (Hannover, Bremen or the national team) he quickly became the first choice central defender. If only Taylor would have progressed half as quickly.

I was about to post something similar earlier. Of course a great leader next to him would have been a bonus, but he should have been able to start cutting out his faults on his own. When I compare his development to someone like Mertesacker here in Jormany over the same amount of time, it's frightening and depressing tbh.

STOP! Wumming time!

We had a strip with uneven stripes for a while and the name came from that - from what i recall it has never been an insult and wouldn't bother me now This strip was an insult though. Horrible.

He doesn't seem to improve and that is the most disappointing to me. He's still making the same basic mistakes as he did when he broke into the first team and that is worrying.

Fat pigs seem to be breading fast...

So seeing your boss with his head in his hands sitting with the fans in his newcastle strip, on the front page of the news of the world football section will have a positive impact on the team??? dont think so Yes, that's exactly what I said What's the difference between him doing it there and in the Director's Box (where you reckon he should be)? He'd be equally (if not more) visible there, he'd still react the same way etc. It makes no more or less difference to team morale either way. Im not being funny but how often do you get pictures of club bosses sat in the directors box on the front page of football sections?? club owners who are sat in the away end with the fans will have cameras trained on them, just think its a stupid thing to do and no way to be taken seriously Have there been any negative pictures about our owner in the press yet? Anyway, cameras are as well trained on owners and chairmen when they sit in the director's box. The face of Fat Fred always seemed to be very telegenetic for some bizarre reasons...

Yes, everything would be totally different if he sat in the director boxes. The players and the manager are clearly affected by this as they don't want their owner to be stamped down during goal celebrations. You've convinced me.

As I said in another thread some days ago, I have more believe in Owen proving his worth (just as he is sort of doing at the moment) than in other players. But before offering him a new contract I'd rather like to see what he is capable of doing in a squad that is playing to his strengths.

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer. Really?The season was already over. Giving your new manager a head start of six months to have a look at the squad and the things he wants to change is much better than to try to do it with limited time in the summer. But it's not though, I might agree with you if we were sitting on 40-odd points but there's still games to win and I can't see us winning any at the minute. Of course it's not over in respect of the relegation battle, but it was in concern of any top half finish. Would we be in a different scenario if we had stuck with Allardyce? I doubt it. Of course we might have got a result in one of the recent games. Though looking at the form in the games preceding his sacking this is questionable. Of course, if the club gets relegated the "plan" went tits up. But at the moment we are on 28 points, having a couple of home games against other relegation candidates. Ending up on 37+ points should be enough to be safe in the end. From the two scenarios of sticking with Allardyce for the remainder of the season or hiring Keegan with the outlook for the next season, I'd always chose the latter. The development of events some might say points to the fact that the SA sacking wasn't planned. MA is on record as saying that Mort 'called him' to say that SA needed sacking/he had a problem with SA. Of course this doesn't support the theory many have cuddled upto cause they want to believe there was some grand plan (there might not have been). I am told...this was followed by a video conference (involving the three) with MA still in the far east where events took a turn for the worst and it was at this point MA sacked SA. (I'm guessing over transfer funds). Although they had doubts about SA and it seems some parties 'waiting in the wings' a lot of factors point to the idea that perhaps the sacking wasn't as planned as some believe. The consequent flirting with 'Arry (Rumoured Kemsley's idea) also tends to support this. Pixies and the voices in your head don't count tbh. Anyway, I didn't want to say that the sacking was "planned" as I just don't know. I was rather on about the hiring of Keegan. Well if it wasn't planned how can you say it was done at the right time? Because I think the "vision" that was put in place instead is the better option for the future - especially with a head start for the next season.

Hence the mystery timing of the sacking. Fresh starts are better made in the summer. Really?The season was already over. Giving your new manager a head start of six months to have a look at the squad and the things he wants to change is much better than to try to do it with limited time in the summer. But it's not though, I might agree with you if we were sitting on 40-odd points but there's still games to win and I can't see us winning any at the minute. Of course it's not over in respect of the relegation battle, but it was in concern of any top half finish. Would we be in a different scenario if we had stuck with Allardyce? I doubt it. Of course we might have got a result in one of the recent games. Though looking at the form in the games preceding his sacking this is questionable. Of course, if the club gets relegated the "plan" went tits up. But at the moment we are on 28 points, having a couple of home games against other relegation candidates. Ending up on 37+ points should be enough to be safe in the end. From the two scenarios of sticking with Allardyce for the remainder of the season or hiring Keegan with the outlook for the next season, I'd always chose the latter. The development of events some might say points to the fact that the SA sacking wasn't planned. MA is on record as saying that Mort 'called him' to say that SA needed sacking/he had a problem with SA. Of course this doesn't support the theory many have cuddled upto cause they want to believe there was some grand plan (there might not have been). I am told...this was followed by a video conference (involving the three) with MA still in the far east where events took a turn for the worst and it was at this point MA sacked SA. (I'm guessing over transfer funds). Although they had doubts about SA and it seems some parties 'waiting in the wings' a lot of factors point to the idea that perhaps the sacking wasn't as planned as some believe. The consequent flirting with 'Arry (Rumoured Kemsley's idea) also tends to support this. Pixies and the voices in your head don't count tbh. Anyway, I didn't want to say that the sacking was "planned" as I just don't know. I was rather on about the hiring of Keegan.