Phil236849

lucky that rafa now seems to be saying he trusts carra who is fit then, aintcha!

are we doing so well that the fear of mockering has gone?! i've seen the odd snatch of kitson and thought he's not a bad player - had a long time injured but looks big, awkward to handle, good touch and technique and desire. lita's got exceptional pace and can do the spectacular, but is erratic. if i see hobbs on the t/sheet, i'll be touching wood...particularly if no chief. i can see finnan alvaro sami riise

we may end up getting a central defender on the cheap!

met some croat fans in a bar last night - very nice fellahs they were. mentioned big igor and they said that he has retired and has taken up tennis! they echoed what many of us have said - that physically he had all the attributes to be a big player but he wasn't all right in the head. they were laughing that he thinks he's now going to win wimbledon! dunno if this is true...think he was out of contract last summer....

it always seemed sander was pretending to be a keeper. like he was trying to convince himself as well as the crowd. always had an intense expression on the best keepers are all more laid back than our sander you see

he meant didnt - the interesting point was he wenton to say now riise and aurelio are back, they will be the left backs, and arbeloa will fight with finnan for right back which means a better natural balance going forward, and probably some rest for arthur, which i find is an easier name for him

still doesnt mean he'd get into rafas team!

when the team was geared all around him. i think rafa likes to play a more sophisticated system.

disagree, only in respect i think everything you have said stevie relates to the conoisseur's view of "better than". Because a top manager in a top team will expect his players to have mobility etc.

mascher - do you really think that? dont get me wrong, hamann was a good player for us, but i really think mascher's ina different league it was widely reported at the time that when madrid "swooped", contract negotiations with owen were advanced, and a big wage increase was being seriously considered, and that rafa indicated to the board that owen wasnt worth it and we should take the money. my recollection is that it was echo-level reported. it also stands to reason.

neville last played in 1973 - fact!

yes and whilst there's a number of their other players they would maintain are better than ours, i think even the most one-eyed sincere manc would struggle to deny that they'd take into their first team reina, finnan, mascherano, gerrard and torres

hamann would not oust alonso or mascherano from anchoring defence berger more arguable, but not sure he would have been seen by rafa as enough of a player who would stretch a team with width owen does not meet the rafa team player striker mould. he doesn't pick out and out goalscoring pygmies, and, when push came to shove, he told the board he didn't rate that sort of player high enough to warrant the sort of contract owen wanted.

good thread another way of looking at progress is comparing this team with recent "vintages". i was thinking the other day that there's a number of players who played a lot for us over the last 5 years or so who, even at top form and at the age and fitness of their peak, would not get close to getting in this team: eg henchoz hamann smicer murphy berger heskey baros cisse ?owen? another thing i remember is an article i before we won our 4th against roma in rome when i was a lad. think it was in the times. the guy was saying we had a chance as when we won in 81, we had four world class players (cant remember who he selected but suspect dalglish souness and clemence appeared in his selection), and he said we again had 4, and i think he picked souey kenny rush and lawro. yes, no jockey - in those days i recall the broadsheets often rated lawro higher - but the point is we had a number of world class individuals and some who were close to call. Now, I'd say that Gerrard and Mascherano are stand out world class players, and good cases can be made for carra, pepe, alonso, and torres. and i don't think we have had such a collection of really impressive players for some time making good progress, that's for sure. the interesting thing will be that if we have say a £30m kitty in the summer, where will we spend it? depends how the season goes and what's on the market, but i do feel we are closer to having a squad we dont need to change significantly for as long as I can remember. well at least since the end of kenny's managerial era.

Shouldn't that read "And assistant managers are v important if you have a manager who's great at getting his players to try to move mountains in fear of him but who hasn't got the foggiest on tactically how they go about it"?

blimey. they are teenage girls. or looking at it the other way...rafa's a ruthless phucker alright

latest on derby mood from bbc 1306: Chairman Peter Gadsby is playing down expectations at Derby. "The indications are that it could be another frustrating day for the club," he has told the club website. "To date we have had numerous offers rejected for the players Billy Davies has targeted and, similarly, we have rejected many offers made on our players." not really trying to focus on the positive is he? rafa or parry would tow the party line of some discussions, probably nothing further this transfer window, happy with squad. in fact rafa has said basically that. not this another frustrating day, we've made numerous offers etc. gadsby's comments only sound like an admission they know they are phucked with the squad they have. granted, parry would perhaps have better reason than peter gadsby to be happy, but you've got to try and be positive and come out fighting

real men like pako and rafa, who have worked in each other's pockets for years, do not have bust-ups. they're not like teenage girls!

wtf? no heinze and now no baptista. sack parry!

no, he doesn't look strong yet, but potentially could be strong enough. he's 20, in another continent playing for a massive club for the first time ever, visibly nervous. if mike marsh, brett emerton, and wayne bridge can be converted into fullbacks...

in contrast to lucas, leto looked very nervous. after he was starved of any involvement from 20 mins on, he seemed a little lost on the couple of occasions he received the ball. too early to judge, but i can see why people aren't convinced he has enough in his locker to play lw for us. long term, these big strong wingers are often converted into full backs, i wonder if he could replace riise?

was it me or did andy townsend say at h-t that he doesn't mind rotation when the players who come in are this good? although the commentator had earlier said that whilst it ensured freshness and competition, it would affect consistency over the course of the season

arent sunderland's best players whitehead and carlos edwards and both out plus media reckon keane's had enough of yorke and stokes so they could be out can really see keane going dogs of war on us, no option but to is there? we have to attack...from the start...

paletta but not insua? threlfall in - not hobbs - interesting...

relatively cheap? 6.8m? for a 29 year old injury-ravaged defender?