fred milne

I'd probably go along with that although a player like Bellamy would be handy in the Nou Camp.

Clearly something happened otherwise we wouldn't have had the official statement. I think the whole thing is pathetic. These are players who represent the club and are rewarded beyond our wildest dreams. A little self-control surely isn't too much too ask.

That looks good to me.

I thought he might be pointing out that now the record of our clubs in Europe is good and Utd are top of the league.

And now what?

I think Bergkamp had the edge in terms of natural ability but Cantona unquestionably had the bigger impact on English football. He won the title each year he was here (including 91-2 at Leeds) except for 94-5 when he missed half the season through suspension. You could make the case though that the quality of the league at that time was pretty mediocre, as evidenced by the record of our clubs in Europe during that period.

The same article speculated that Kuyt might turn out to be our version of that player but I have my doubts. I don't think he is mobile enough and, for someone who I've heard compared to Mark Hughes, his back-to-goal play isn't that special.

There was an article in The Guardian a week or so ago about how the top teams are increasingly favouring a more mobile, all-rounder as centre-forward (Saha and Drogba being good examples) and that out & out finishers like Owen are becoming more the preserve of middle-ranking teams.

I think Europe is probably as good a guage of the standard of English football as you can get. Since Wenger arrived, the standard of the Premiership has gone up a notch and you can see that in Utd and ourselves winning the European Cup, Arsenal making it to the final, Chelsea making it to two semi-finals, Utd making it to one semi-final etc. Compare that to the record of Premiership sides in Europe before Wenger. Remember Blackburn in the Champions League, Utd's travails against Barcelona, Gothenburg and Galatasaray?

I think at least part of the reason for that must be down to the decline in the calibre of our strikers from the heady days of Fowler in the Evans era and Owen in the GH era.

I thought Real have said he's already been signed by Boro. In any case, isn't his playing style a bit too similar to Agger's to be complementary?

I'd go along with that. Although we finished 4th in the end, we were real challengers in 96-7 and that's something you can't really say about last season or, in my view, 2001-2.

The Milan-Barcelona final from 94 was another example of one team at the top of their game pretty much flawlessly routing another quality side.

Although Istanbul was as dramatic a final as you could possibly hope for, I think a victory like Rome in 77 was more satisfying based on the quality of football played. There were far fewer mistakes (having no Traore in the side helps there) and we outclassed a quality side. (That they were a quality side was clearly demonstrated when one of the few mistakes we did make on the night - Case's backpass - was clinically converted by Simonsen.)

I suspect that winning the league again will mean more to me than Istanbul.

There were loads of memorable home games from 95-6 season: Blackburn, Utd, Arsenal, Forest, Leeds, Villa and Newcastle. My favourite season of the 90's probably. He and Dicks got dropped on a pre-season tour for "bad attitude". IIRC, Wright made his come-back in a cracking 2-0 victory over Utd - the one where Redknapp scored and Bruce deflected a shot from McManaman in.

That's simply not true. Wright was dropped in 1994 and Scales was sold in 1996.

The Barnes - McManaman - Fowler axis was definitely good enough but too few of the other players were ultimately up to the job.

I agree. Reina is one of Rafa's best signings and key to the way we defend.

After Alonso, Reina has been Rafa's best signing for me. His game is ideally suited to the way Rafa wants us to defend.

I think the Crouch - Kuyt pairing is a fairly blunt instrument. It worked against Chelsea but only because their CBs on the day were physically weak. Bellamy and Kuyt is a profligate partnership but it does offer a real threat to the opposition. Shearer was quick enough in his heyday (before the injury at Everton).

I'd be reluctant to do that as the threat of Bellamy's pace in behind has been one of the key factors for the upturn in our results since December.

He's a good, honest, hard-working player but I think he will end up falling between two stools - not quick and/or clinical enough to be a truly world class striker and not clever enough to be a truly world class deep-lying forward. Rafa clearly likes him though, as he is one of the nucleus of players including Reina, Carragher, Alonso and Gerrard who are not rotated. His pairing with Bellamy is also by far our best partnership up front.

You know well enough that stranger things happen in football.

Crouch for the suspended Alonso and we are rocking.