Leo No.8

Pennant for me was absolutely superb tonight, easily our best player. One thing I think you need to actually be at the game to appreciate about him, which I picked up on watching him at Anfield with Brum last season, is for having been such a soft lad, he is an exceptionally intelligent footballer. His movement off the ball is absolutely fantastic.

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They haven't been let off - the suspension is just going to kick in after the first game thats all. I saw Rooney's sending off; wasn't much in it really, jumped with his arm out in front of him, very little contact. If a Liverpool player had been sent off for that in a friendly I'd be furious. However as it was Rooney I of course wholly support the ban and agree with the referee's excellent decision.

Cheers for that mate. Wor Freddie will have to stop the spending fairly soon then the big, fat baldy plonker...

Local papers are reporting: Campbell Comes To The 'Mouth...

One of the biggest mysteries in football to me is where the f*cking hell do Newcastle get their money? People are saying they've got money to spend - how? They've just blown £16m on the player they are having to cover because of injury. We're always talking about funds being tied into Champions League qualification etc - they rarely get into the Champions League, never get anywhere in Europe, continuously under-achieve and yet seem to be able to spend more than us or at least as much consistently. They waste incredible amounts on expensive failures, and their wage bill must be astronomical as well because they pay huge amounts to tempt players who wouldn't normally join a club which achieves so little. Luque £9.5m, Boumsong £8m, the list goes on. Before people say they make lots of money from shirt sales because all those moronic Geordies are either wearing them or swinging them round their heads, surely ours are still greater Worldwide. Match day revenue is the one I'll give on, they must make a bit more than us there, but we probably have that many more games by routinely qualifying for the CL. I don't get it, I really don't.

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I definitely agree that 'protecting' young players can do them more damage than anything. I reported on the reserves for another website for a season, and Christ almighty those games are dire. Reserve team football really is no environment for a young player to grow in, they will be more likely to have their level dragged down than improved. When Baros played for the reserves he was awful, didn't look good enough even for that level; but its all about motivating yourself for what is essentially a totally unimportant game with no atmosphere, I'm not surprised they find it hard. When he played for the first team he looked like a player. Young players with genuine talent need to be thrown in when they are quite fearless. A player with great talent can be made by being given that taste of what its really all about. But if a young player reaches 20 and hasn't broken into the first team, its almost certain he'll never be good enough...

Doesn't fancy England though does he? Similar situation to Villa...

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I started to have my doubts when they were with Le Havre for that season. Everyone was saying how amazing they were going to be, and I was very excited by what I'd seen of them in the World Youth Cup. However, I always believe if players are going to make it, 99.99% of the time they are capable of showing it with the big boys by the time they are 18. In a crap Le Havre side which was relegated from a crap league they were only bit part players. I know they were only 17/18, but by the time someone like Rooney was 17 he was doing brilliant things in the Premier League. At 18 Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, most of the truly top class players were already performing at the highest level. I thought, yes they are only 17 or 18, but they should already be standing out at the top level, at least in flashes. At that point I became a bit dubious as to how good they really were - every game report I found seemed to suggest they were generally not contributing that much. And if they couldn't do it here with the facilities and support we give young players, they wouldn't have done it anywhere. Potential only cuts it until you're 18 in the modern game. At that age you're already either up to it or you're not...

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Yes. I would turn down £4.9m for Diao, definitely...

To use a fabulous football cliche, up there with the likes of 'Good touch for a big man' and 'Game of two halves'... 'It's a nice problem for Benitez'.

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If he can't understand European seedings are based on European performance then I really feel sorry for him, bless his little Portuguese socks...

Poisson Rouge - ha ha. Is that your interpretation Stevie or do the French actually say that for Red Herring? Our cheese eating friends have some great exclamations. My favourite is 'Nom D'un Pipe!'...

I honestly just thought he was too ugly to have his own clothes line. I mean surely he'd actually have to model them at some stage. Who'd look at the pictures and aspire to look like Dirk? Its sheer lunacy! I mean, can you imagine Ian Rush Wear?

Paletta should be nicknamed 'Drilly'.

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I think the media have talked up Fabregas one hell of a lot. He's a very young player with a lot of ability, but at the end of the day you'd struggle to remember that many games he's really dominated. He played really, really well a couple of times in high profile Champions League games, but in terms of overall influence he's still a fair way behind Alonso's ability to control a game. How many times could you say he was exceptional in the domestic game last year? I must have watched Arsenal live about 10 times last season and I'm struggling. Fabregas' potential advantage over Alonso is greater mobility, he does get up and down the pitch and into positions to run on and score much more often. But for me Xabi passes the ball better than him or anyone else in the game, and that coupled with his football brain makes him really special. Thing is though although that is my genuine attempt to be objective and lay my loyalties aside, I understand Arsenal fans believing otherwise; every fan is the same, we all believe in our own players don't we?