goodrobotusses

Think only Elisha mentioned Milner. Guessing the press hasn't got wind of it. Yet.

Glad to have him aboard. Don't claim to know anything about the lad, but I'm happy to give him a chance if Rafa rates him. Sounds like he's very attacking, which is handy - having two defensive midfielders instead of fannying about with Gerrard at CM means we can afford the luxury, especially against loaded defences. His injury record is a worry, but hopefully the lad is over that, has a good Euro 2008, and proves himself an astute signing. Hell, I'd have stumped up the £20million+ needed for Alves, but my overdraft is maxed out. Seems me and Hicks have something in common. Hopefully we'll get Dossena and Barry tied up in the next couple of weeks too. Think after that we'll probably only be looking at a forward and a winger in terms of our summer business. Fingers crossed for Silva if we can find the funds.

Serie A is in a pretty poor state, yeah. If you look at the top 2, neither is any great shakes. Inter have never been convincing in Europe despite winning the last 3 titles in Italy, and Roma are pretty average IMO. After that you've got Juve who're slowly getting things back together after relegation, but whose key players (Trezeguet, Del Piero, Nedved, etc) have all seen better days. Milan are in a similar boat, Pato and Kaka aside. Then you have some talented younger sides like Udinese and Fiorentina who don't really have the finances behind them to build on what they have and are likely to lose their better players sooner rather than later.

Zing.

He was horrible against us. Can't really comment on his other performances, mind.

Gera has been the best player outside the top flight, though whether he's any better than Benayoun is debatable.

I know. That's what I mean - Ranieri seems to have had interest in our players based on old form.

Was discussing my team of the season with a mate in the pub the other night. Think I had... Reina Sagna Ferdinand Vidic Evra Fabregas Mascherano Essien Ronaldo Torres Young

Villarreal?! Pretty contrasting styles of football there. I can imagine Villarreal playing their nice short passing game, goes to Riise then BANG! and the ball is gone. Juventus makes sense though, with Ranieri's out-of-date Premier League scouting reports (Sissoko, Kewell, etc).

He's a good player, but he's a whiny little t*** from the William Gallas school of poncing around and believing a football club's main priority should be keeping him happy.

Think the lack of Raul might be what makes them go further, tbh. He's rediscovered his form this season, but he wields (or at least tries to) too much power both at Madrid and the national side. Apparently the rest of the squad couldn't stand being around him at the World Cup because he spent the entire time moaning about not getting picked. Aragones has got rid of him for the sake of team harmony. Weird using the words "Aragones" and "harmony" in the same sentence, mind. But still, as Aragones barked at someone who questioned his persistent non-selection of Raul in recent times, "How many tournaments has Raul played at? Five. How many have Spain won with Raul? None." Pretty black and white, that stat.

He plays a wing-back in a 3-4-3. Can't say much more than that because I am utterly ignorant. Udinese are nice to watch though - Gokhan Inler's a good player.

They're both bloody brilliant. Cech has been a little less convincing since his injuries, but he's still top drawer. Plus, unlike many of his team mates he doesn't come across as a total prick. Pepe has fantastic positional awareness that makes him far more effective than "flashy", even if he is prone to the occasional mad moment (a side effect of being the defence's sweeper and his desire to win every ball in the air).

Seems his knee is a glutton for punishment. A true great, though.

In the (admittedly few) games I've seen, Arshavin seems to flatter to deceive an awful lot. Showed good ability for the goals last night, but a lot of the time he seemed to make poor decisions.

Maybe that's why Jol accepted the challenge.

He's not happy at the idea of doing that for Newcastle. Maybe they could make up the remainder with their fabled love of a striker.

Can't feckin' wait for Euro 2008. I'm supporting Spain, though whether they'll go and Spain things up by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory remains to be seen. I'd have had Croatia down as dark horses but for Eduardo's thoroughly broken leg.

STOP! Kaizer Time.. Think he's just gutted we bought Skrtel instead of Brede Hangeland. Following Hangeland's performance against us at Craven Cottage, I can see why. In terms of Skrtel and zonal marking - all of our defence struggled with it in 04-05, Agger struggled with it shortly after he arrived here. Bodes well for Skrtel then.

Drenthe started out as a left-back at Feyenoord before being moved forward to left-mid, where he made his mark with the Dutch U21s. Whenever I've seen him play for Real this season it's been at left-back, not that I've seen him much.

This mean all of Hamburg's squad is going to get fat now?

Yeah, either stay there or play him right-mid - not centre-mid though. Our balance and distribution improved a lot this season once Gerrard was moved forward from centre-mid.

Angulo?

Torres, Masch, Hyypia, Reina, Gerrard, Skrtel Those are probably the only ones who've played to a high enough level of consistency often enough, really. Others have had a combination of some very good games, or very good spells (ie. Kuyt in the run in).

You stole my answer.