windy city red

I was looking for an example and you got it right there. I was very surprised Pennant actually got to the ball before Clichy.

For the first half of the season, yes, he has been improving and is quite an offensive threat when he plays from the start or as a sub. if its anything he lacks, he lacks goals. He isnt the quickest, but he doesnt lack pace running with the ball though. Hes no Ronaldo or Lennon, but he has pretty good ball control and is able to run with the ball at a decent speed. are you serious? the only thing I dislike about his delivery is that he favors his right foot alot, he needs to learn to cross with his left more. Other than that, his delivery is pretty good, to me of course. i can understand him being here next year, but i will be rightly pissed off if he`s actually our first choice right winger next season Stevie g for the right?

Crap - so I stand corrected regarding whether Rafa had the final say, sorry.

I really dont know - thats why I said I could be wrong. Although its quite clear you dont know what actually happened too, so in the end, whether we actually paid 14 mm up front or whether rafa had the final say, its just conjecture. Like I mentioned, which you conveniently ignored, he doesnt deserve to play for this club, but to use any opportunity to attack him as a player or to use him to attack Ged as a manager is just a cheap shot.

Maybe...trophies won? I dont know, just a hunch. And Ged did win trophies for us when he was here. FWIW, I doubt its 14 million up front. And I always thought Rafa had the final say as to whether Cisse should come once he took over, he said yes and the rest is history - I could be wrong. I didnt say I had the ability to be a manager did I? If you followed the posts carefully, my first post was about how we can solve this problem. He didnt perform badly in every single game he played and he contributed his fair share when we won our 2 cups. That obviously didnt justify the price tag he had but thats why he gone - to cut our losses. Hell I dont even want Cisse to come back, but calling him crap footballer or using him an an opportunity to bash Ged is unwarranted. Its clear as day you dont like Cisse - you jumping on every posts that suggested that he has any ability as a footballer was indicative of how you viewed him even though the posts were actually directed at Nunez. Keeping the biasedness within reason wouldnt harm.

Nice post. I dont think he should come back too and I doubt Rafa has him in his future plans. But some of the comments that make it sound like he's the crapy-est player around are very undeserved.

I think he did say he was looking at signing Cisse at Valencia as his scouts had recommended him immensely. Well, people choose what they want to hear. I dont think anyone expected him to be that lazy on the field and to have such limited footballing knowledge - if he had worked as hard as kuyt and scored as the number he had scored, he might have been viewed in a different light. Then again, if that happened, he wouldnt have been loaned out in the first place.

I am not too surprised to be honest - he just came back from a bad injury 4 months ago, seem to have problems settling down over there (at least for his wife, if reports are true) and unfortunately have a little bit of an attitude problem when subbed off in games. Maybe a loan to another club next season? I wonder if Rafa would consider him back into the team.

cheers nr, i am taking a week off so I can finally watch some games!

fecking knew it - scholes off, 0-1 down initially, it was too good to be true.

Great. Watch the mancs score 3 now.

Er, the offla just stated that he suffered a complete rupture of the achilles tendon in his right leg. Out three to four months. I just hope he makes a full recovery - it would be a great shame if his career ends just because of this.

is de rossi and mexes playing? I hope they irritate rooney and co. enough to get at least one sent off.

what happened? am at work

I think so too. I could be (very) wrong, but I just feel that rafa wants his attacking players to do some defensive work, even if it means sacrificing a little bit of their attacking flair. Look at Pennant, I have never seen him close down players as he has done here as compared to when he was at Birmingham. Same with Gonzalez, the way he tracks his man in our half stands out more than his wing play on the opposite end more often than not (abit unfortunate and no, I am not giving him stick, I think hes a good player). I used to think Quaresma would be good for us, but for the above reason, perhaps someone like Ribery might be a better shout. Hes a good ball carrier and more importantly, isnt afraid to get stuck in. Not sure if we can get him though

Aye for me, this is a very important point. I thought he played well in the early part of the season but got injured. I will keep him for at least one more season.

Agree - plus I cant imagine woodgate coming to play second fiddle to carra and agger. You just dont rotate your centerbacks as often as you do for the midfield and strikers.

In jest surely? They are heroes now and when they play badly the next time round, they will crucified. It was just maybe 2 weeks ago everyone was advocating buying berbatov and selling crouch. All four deserve their place in the squad imo, not everyone can play every single game.

mascherano did a good job of picking out pennant. wtf ref? that was a corner

Hell, if he brings us No.19, I wouldnt care if he grows a rapunzel!

Aye, that was terrible too.

I hope he cuts his fricking pony tail when hes with us - its hideous.

It doesnt matter, people are still going to jump to their own conclusions. If he isnt famous or well-known or doesnt look good in youtube or worse, you cant even find him on youtube, he isnt "world class".