Dublinred4ever

I mean he has very fixed ideas about how the game should be played and won't see beyond that sometimes. He can also be over simplistic, although not neccesarily wrong. For example he often talks in a vague way about "moral courage" and "honesty of effort being your starting point". Which is perfectly fine but when he's drawn into a tactical discussion he doesn't seem to be able to hold his own. The other night he asked the rhetorical question of Bill O' Herlihy .... " What ARE tactics Bill?" He went on to say that football was about using the ball well when you have it and working hard to get it back when you don't. Thats valid, but more like something you'd coach into young kids learning the game. Maybe it was because as a great player he found the game so simple that he didn't have to think about it too much and can't see why others need to. He's often spoken about his disillusionment with the modern game and its prima donnas and cheats. Again fair enough, but i think it sometimes clouds his judgement and has him looking at the game in his day through rose tinted glasses. Still a very honest pundit who understands the basic values of the game better than most.

Etoo and Henry would be some combination. The best two centre forwards in the world when on form? Only problem is they both favour drifting out to the left. So I couldn't be arsed.

Pure hypothesis this but can anyone see Henry going to Barca and Eto'o going the other way as a very logical move for the two clubs Henry was on the verge of going there last year and he's not right in himself there this season. Eto'o is surely on his way from Barca unless they ditch Rijkaard. Todays Mirror mentions that Wenger is interested and I'm sure Barca would like Henry. Could see it happening.

Glad somone who knows their stuff agrees with me. The fact his goal the other night was his first in Europe since his debut and he hasn't scored for England in four years ( I think ) is damning. Think his temprement is too suspect to be a truly great player. When things arent working out for him he loses the rag instead of persevering and letting his ability turn things. He doesn't have Gerrards athletism, and his range of ability isn't as broad. I suppose he has time on his side, but at the moment he's a level below the very best.

Intersting biography/expose on Pope John Paul being released. Apparently not as saintly as those campaigning for his beatification might have you believe. You'll hear the same schite if Sunderland go up - how Big Niall forgave Roy the sinner and welcomed him back into the fold and performed a miracle in turning water into wine, or whatever the football equivilant is.

He's "the best right back in the world" but he doesn't bother to "show it much" ??? I don't know much about him but I know that doesn't make a lot of sense!

Poor mans Peter Crouch.

Saying what?

Who actually owns Tevez? Is it MSI, West Ham or Corinthians and is he available to buy or is he on some kind of loan deal there?

Yeah I do as well, but he's far from infallible and is too old fashioned at times.

Doesn't look hard enough though does he? Roberto Ayala .... proper hard man!

Do you ever feel that Rooneys judged as a great player based on his age and talent in comparison to players that young? In other words people are imagining how good he might become if he progresses as a normal player would. John Giles who's not prone to rash statements said a couple of years ago that Rooney was as good as Pele and could become the greatest player of all time. I think he's stagnated a bit. Very very good player but is he going to go to the next level or will he a bit like Robbie who in football terms 'lived fast and died young'

Absolutely, but is often sloppy and loses posession very easily. It's an obvious flaw in an otherwise very good player. If Rafa saw an alternative who was less wasteful, like maybe tevez, he might be tempted. Especially bearing in mind his fondness for Argentinians. Just playing Devils advocate

How are you incorporating that into your speech?

True up to a point, but the quality of the teams you've got to face in the CL and the variety of styles especially the big teams superior control of posession makes it a different challenge entirely to the Premiership. The reason United have been so dominant in the league and poor in Europe in my view is that they don't have the ability to vary their game to suit circumstances. It's attack at all costs. Give Rafa another season or two and he'll bring the League title to Anfield

Would be a less wasteful alternative to Garcia, if rafa was inclined to let him go?

If he had such a bad attitude, the two leg breaks would've seen him pack it in or never regain full fitness. He had a lot of fire in his belly when he got going. His reaction to Terry in the CL semi at Anfield is one of the enduring images of that campaign to me. He was a bit of a playboy but i think he cared a lot about the club. He had no say over what we paid for him either. We paid too much, but there's been worse players. You're forgetting his derby goal, pressure penalty in Istanbul and the goal in the Cup final. Had a lot of bottle I'd say

Overrated, not bad. He did well enough for us in certain games, some of them big ones. Showed great courage to get back playing so quickly after two bad leg breaks. If we'd signed him for 4 million it'd be considered good business, 14 was too much. In hindsight

I would've agreed with that up to recently but i think Giles is losing the plot a bit First he's critical of us after we outplay Barca over two legs. On tuesday at half time he (correctly) stated that PSV were there for the taking and Benitez needed to instruct the players to go or the jugular and the tie could be done and dusted after the first leg. Thats exactly what we did second half. Ripped into them from the off, scored three without conceding. Impressive performance and score at this satge of the competiton. But Giles had a go afterwards saying Rafa was too cautious and wouldn't take the shackles off and let this team express itself. They've scored seven goals in the last two games FFS!

Here we go ..........

Thats rubbish. Everyone thought he was going to be the business. Don't you remember all the carnage s**** before he came. Anyway he was by no means the worst player we've signed over the last few years. Even Benitez has signed one or two duds. Josemi, Nunez, Pellegrino. Fair enough they were cheap enough but still errors of judgement. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that

Yeah, but in fairness English fans abroad haven't really done much over the years to alter that view. I'm referring to the Ingerlund brigade obviously and a minority of g*******s following their clubs abroad.

Bit of a hypothetical one this. In view of the aggro at Uniteds games in Lille and Rome, tonights hassle at the Spurs game and to a lesser extent the problems Kev outlined at the PSV game, are we a big riot or serious casualty away from another European ban on English clubs? There's been so much of it over the last couple of years in Italy, Holland and the racist chanting etc that Uefa will eventually HAVE to be seen to do something. Could we be the unlucky recipients of any sanction they may make?

Fair enough, but he didn't half leave a lot of very average players behing him when he left. Cheyrou, Diao, Diouf, Vignal, Biscan Traore etc.

Sound! Thanks