deacon

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James Milner's going to have a good season.

Robert Earnshaw is going to score a fair few for Derby next season. He has scored plenty of goals whereever he's been, he really is a quality player. I also expect Agbonlahor to keep on improving. I really fancy Villa to do well next season.

Sure, Quaresma looks great in the stats and highlights packages of games, but these can be misleading. Frank Lampard looks like one of the prem's best under these 2 categories, but we know he's not. I haven't watched Quaresma that often, but whenever I've seen him play he's too bloody lazy.

I'd be amazed if Rafa goes in for Quaresma, he's just not his type of player as he's so lazy off the ball. Could you imagine how many times a game you'd see Rafa screaming at him on the sidelines for not working hard enough? Malouda is far more of a Rafa type of player. I would love it if we signed Mancini and Simao. Those 2 and our squad is as good as anyone's.

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Biggest omission is Xavi. He is pure class. And as much as I hate him, Rio Ferdinand is the best defender in England. How is Neville better than him? And what about our very own Mascherano? Agreed that Marcotti is an idiot. At least when he's writing though, you're not hearing his whining, smug voice.

Fabregas should be in any top 10 list of footballers. As good as Tevez is and will be, no way is he a top 10 player in the world.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle1963015.ece Interesting read this. Good to see Carragher get some recognition and Gerrard make the top 10. Don't know how Lampard even makes the list, let alone top 20.

Holland just equalised with a minute to go

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Why do people keep on saying that we should go in for Quaresma? Nobody as lazy as him will ever be signed by Rafa, never in a million years, and rightly so I say.

Paul Kitson

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Hamman was immense away at Roma in the UEFA Cup in 2001.

I tell you what, after the game finished, I wasn't that gutted, despite the fact that I really fancied us to win and Milan looked very ordinary throughout the whole game. I was far more gutted after we blew it in Leverkusen in 2002, which is hard to explain. That's just the way I felt. I had a feeling we were due some bad luck though given how much luck we've had in cup finals in the past 5-6 years. Rafa was tactically spot on for this game, we were so comfortable. But we needed to play 2 wide players capable of being a goal threat, which Zenden and Pennant are certainly not. It was these 2, combined with the fact the Kuyt can't play up on his own, that explains why we lost.

I cannot believe what I am reading from some of you lot. Of course Xabi will play in the final. He didn't play against Chelsea at home for tactical reasons. We had to play 2 wide players to stretch Chelsea, Gerrard is undroppable, and we needed a disciplined and physical presence to break up play. Mascherano is better than Alonso in that role. Keeping the ball against Chelsea isn't that important as they hoof it so often you are going to get it back pretty soon. Against Milan, keeping the ball is far more important, and for that reason Xabi will definitely play. As good as Mascherano is, his passing isn't in the same league as Xabi's. The pair of them will play in the middle, and Gerrard will be on the right. That is a certainty.

I was looking at our squad earlier and reckon this is the list of first team players able to play in the final: Reina Dudek Finnan Arbeloa Riise Carragher Hyypia Agger Gerrard Mascherano Alonso Sissoko Pennant Kewell Gonzalez Zenden Crouch Kuyt Bellamy Fowler That's 20, and with the 11 starters and 7 on the bench, 2 are going to miss out. Who do you reckon they will be? I have a horrible feeling it will be Momo and Fowler, which would be a shame as Momo was brilliant against Barcelona and it would be great to see Fowler involved in the final, if we won it'd be the best way to end his career with us.