honourablegeorge

Echo are even having a go - check out the headline on this article. SPIN Echo Story

Good to hear you making constructive suggestions. You were a bit negative yesterday. You're still mental, mind.

He had a six-inch gash in his leg, apparently. Wonder if this will stoke up our interest in Ashley Young a little?

I was kind of hoping he was a replacement for Jerzy. Doesn't look like he's anywhere close.

Padelli hasn't actually ever played for Sampdoria, played half an hour as sub for the Italian U-21s during an injury crisis, and returned early from a loan to Crotone as he was being kept out of the side by Juve's fifth choice keeper who was also on loan there.

I just hope he's still here. When's his contract up?

Spurs only get to cup finals if there are no numbers in the year.

Always been the case that the Academy has been autonomous. Steve Heighway need to jsutify hsi existence though, because he's producing exactly f*** all. Rafa should be in charge.

Hopefully we also have a verbal agreement that Dudek won;t play in any leage games, EVER. Shame, such fond memories of him, and I like the guy a lot.

According to Sky Sports News, so I'm told. Anyone confirm?

Aye, bit of perspective needed, really. Guthrie, Peltier and Paletta in defence, with Jerzy behind throwing them in. It was never going to be a recipe for solidity. And it was only the Carling Cup, like.

I think Babbel was better, but only just. Finnan's been quality for longer, though. It's hard to split them,

Jesus, the United Vilal game at half time on Sunday - Lineker, Hansen and Shearer fawning over highlights of Schmeichel on that f***in' dancing programme and his Danish TV work. Match of the Day needs to be taken off the air, it really does. It's absolutely shocking stuff nowadays, it just makes me want to kill. I remember always looking forward to it, before ITV nicked the highlights. Since the return, it's been a mess.

Rooney's been utter pup all season, though.

We should be in for this kid in the biggest way possible.

United and Arsenal; have a lot of players who are comfortable receiving and using the ball even when they're tightly marked. And players right throughout the team who are comfortable using the ball, and in many cases running with it. We lack a lot of that, and try to make up for it by working to win more 50-50 situations.

I think there's a bigger issue with the team than just signing players here and there - a handful of quality will help, but I think we have deeper flaws in thwe whole ethos of how we approach the game, and they need sorting out. Anyone watched Riise lately? Flinging long throws up the line at every oportunity, making a 50-50 situation at best out of what should be possession . Johnny Giles highlighted this lately on TV(in fact he absolutely slaughtered the team for their performance against Watford) and it really made me think. I remember Rafa absolutely b******ing Riise for doing that when he first arrived, now it seems to be OK to do it constantly. I'm citing Riise as an example here, but it's not just him - as a team, we just don't value possession enough. United, Arsenal, Chelsea - their games don't generally involve anything like the level of hoofing as ours - the way we play towards Crouch is an element of it, maybe our lack of pace is part of it too, but unless the opposition are utterly hopeless, we just don't make use of possession the way we should. Giles used Alonso as an example too, he was stood in the middle of the park, acres of space, but motioning for Riise to lash the ball up the wing, so Gonzalez could maybe get on the end of it (Might not have been Riise & Gonzalez, can't remember exactly who). Another 50-50 instead of keeping possession. Now fair enough, lack of quality is part of all this, but I can't help wondering if Rafa's made too many compromises to his own ethos in order to cope with the more physical and direct stye of the lower reaches of the Premiership, while United, Chelsea and Arsenal simply play a different standard of football altogether. I dunno if that makes any sense, but it certainly depressed and worried me over the holidays.

West Ham fans I know say the club do own him, but that MSI hold a 90% sell-on clause. Pinch of salt, etc., but that's what they say.

Couldn't agree more, Henry's cheating, hypocritical, arrogant t***. I can't stand the sight of him. Not to mention hsi lecturing the Arsenal fans on how and when they should be cheering the team, his endless whinging about how he can't win the Champions league on his own and that other players may have to contribute, and his pathetic attempt to justify his own (unbelievably hypocritical) cheating and diving on the grounds that other decisions had gone against him.

Didn't Figaro say he was promised a payrise and a move in the summer for a reasonable fee, in exchange for staying for the rest of the season?

"Well, Elisha said he wants to move"

Heinze might well be Chris Kirkland's twin f***in' brother, though. Riise, for all his failings, has served us well, and I like him. There's a lot to be said for a bloke who's really, really good at kicking a ball very, very hard.

They shoudl piss off with their honours. "Sir" Alex Ferguson and "Sir" Jimmy Saville are more deserving than Shankly or Paisley? b****x TO THEM.

The thing about about Villa is this - The Spanish league really is so different from ours. If we signed the top scorer in the Spanish league last season and put him up front with the current top scorer, we'd expect to have an amazing strikeforce. In reality, we'd have Diego Forlan and Freddie Kanoute. We've already seen a player with undoubted class come here and fail completely, not through lack of effort, but becaus ehe just couldn't adjust. Villa's about the most exciting out-and-out striker in the world at the moment (maybe Eto'o excepted), and he's a player that I'd love to see in a red shirt. But the chance of him being an abject failure is always there, and I'd say his comments about English football make it doubly likely that he wouldn't settle here.

I reckon if Wenger squared up to Rafa the way he did Pardew, he'd be picking Spanish knuckles out of his face for a month.