Phil236849

AG, scroll back and you will see that i didnt say that the electorate was hypnotised by recent events. i said it was a wise electorate, but you still get the recent years bias, hence fowler and carra ahead of some of the old greats above (and you could even argue against gerrard being ahead of them given fewer big medals and has not yet had full longevity of career), and mark lawro - did someone say in at 34 - WTF?!

like any 'best of' polls, it is suffering from an electorate placing too much emphasis on recent events, wise as this electorate is

not sure how rafa's going to manage this but i can see appearances (inc subs) for all of crouch with the other strikers, warnock riise and aurelio on the left, garcia, gonzalez and pennant on the flanks, and sami as well as the carra-agger duo in CB. as well as bolo and even fowler possibly. given up trying to guess rafa's actual selections though. Anyone want to try?

whatever the rights or wrongs, terry mac has let himself down with that rage. he's clearly too personally wound up with bellers. he should have just said that they had a disagreement, it was heat of the moment, but its now over. it's undignified to go into details, and worse to start calling people upstarts and trouble. souness himself has fallen out with people everywhere he went. terry mac sounds a bit like a wife berating her ex hubby i think roeder and rafa, or parry and god forbid freddie, should have a word and tell both of them to let it go before the next fixture ps i hope bellers doesnt respond in the press now. come on rafa, one of your dignified putdowns required

well rafa seems to have decided to play 2 up front generally and he loves his rotation, and he loves his options. i just think just as he wants two defenders who he sees as being particularly good in the air, he'll want two strikers with real pace, cos then he can feel confident in his rotation of his strikers, and keep them all fresh, which he clearly places massive importance on. i can really see him wanting 4 first team strikers. i dont know if lindfield or mr popoudopoulous will be ready for first team action. and linfield's not the quickest is he? naah. i think rafa still seems him as v valuable and different. plus i dont know who would pay the price we'd want anyway. i can see rafa often preferring kuyts greater mobility though

there's question marks about whether he can score goals at this level. according to cascarino and the times

who will it be... not robbie unless he has a blinder i suspect. rafa couldnt afford to buy 3 strikers this summer. i reckon, just as he has bought different types of central defenders to complement sami and carra, he'll be looking to but a striker with pace. maybe a young guy who's prepared to be patient? any thoughts anyone?

another point of order all mentions of barcodes gk harper need to be prefixed by "needs to be a damn sight s"

stevie g is up there, or going to be, with the club's greats. yes, he's not got all of king kenny's qualities - the lack of doubt re his loyalty, the humility, the dry wit - but have we been spoiled? or are we judging him fairly? we'll miss stevie when he's gone. and it would be horrific to seem him play for another premiership side. so yes, i think we have to love him, (any) warts and all

collymore is quoted in the times today as saying he could name 6-8 managers "we could definitely approach and they'd be up for this [a bung], no problem". it then goes on to quote collymore as saying "i can categorically state that i have never offered nor accepted a 'bung', to or from anyone" hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...! and when we have a market of 6-8 managers interested in the bung part of the deal!

i think it's called kalenka. for some bizarre reason we sang it in school in wales when i was a nipper it went something like Kaaaalenka, kalenka kalenka my dear your name is a whisper in pine trees i can hear kaalenka.... ps i was in the east stand near the away fans on my chelsea mate's spare season ticket and i thought our boys did us proud

i reckon rafa's priority will be a clean sheet. for the big matches last season, we often had a tight central midfield of the 3 big guns sg xa ms

4-5-1 or 4-4-2 i think it will be Reina Finnan Carra Agger Warnock Pennant Alonso Sissoko Aurelio (Bellamy?) Gerrard Kuyt just hope we get something out of it. i'm going with a chelsea guy from work and would love to leave all proud. 0-0 will suit me fine though

i think rafa should say that he respects chelsea although its not surprising they've had a bit of success given they are far richer than any other club. demeaning jose's achievements is what gets him really riled oh, and we all think ashley's a phucking @rsewipe

yep, and hyppia's too slow to do the job

do the clubs know they'll get an extension or are they reliant on fa discretion. seems a bizarre way to approach multimillion pound deals

fear that would be like trying to get rafa to coach a team for kk to manage

so, those who grew up, locally, in the friendly derby era, was it like the other one is your no 2 team? cos my impression is that we're all chuffed to bits now when they're in the relly zone, when they sign the wrong player based on misstaken identity, when one of their players may have drinking problems, etc? those sentiments are what makes it like other derbies now imho

thats really interesting. dont think that happens/there's that attitude in other cities!

i think carras got a greater interest in the details of the game. he, with xabi, are the football anoraks, out of which mould managers are made. i'd dare to say that carra may also have more of an instinct at how a team and tactics work whereas stevie's more instinctive...maybe that's part and parcel of being a flair player, but then is it the more prosaic types who make the best managers?

oh well, door's shut on that writer's sentiments then? as an OOTer, whose parents were not interested in the game, i dont have real knowledge of how friendly exactly the good ole days were, but i find this friendly derby concept difficult. granted, i can remember say the 86 cup final very clearly and the talk of it being all one family etc. but how friendly was it really. did everyone drink together, agree that the best team one, and praise the oppo players? has hindsight gone OTT? i'd be interested to hear from people who attended derbies home and away in the 70s and 80s...

but it was hardly a strategy geared to likely consistent success. just like the fab five at spurs, and ole baseball bat victim's set-ups at the barcodes

Blimey, we're going to win 5-4, keystone kops, kevin keegan and ossie ardiles? i dont think so. rafa wants to get a better balance between defence and attack but i honestly think he has a better gamplan than ged had. remember 442 with a midfield of kewell, gerrard, smicer, diouf?!

tbh its subjective innit. the mancs will say whitesides was the best @rse will say alan sunderlands i suppose chelsea- di matteo everton - paul rideout....

i was suggesting too he has the best chance of the current crop to stay at the club beyond his playing days, maybe