fred milne

OK I'll re-phrase that: I wasn't saying "ikle mikey did no wrong".

I'm not sure anyone is saying that.

Come again?

How long was he at the club for? Maybe 15 years? And all that is reduced to nothing because of the way he left.

I don't buy that.

I appreciate you don't want another Owen thread but I'd be lying if I didn't say it stuck out like a sore thumb for me at the game yesterday.

It was good to see Danny Murphy get a warm reception from the crowd yesterday. However, it did leave me asking myself why Michael Owen couldn't have received a similar reception when he returned with Newcastle last season. Murphy was a reasonable player, who was rather fortunate to figure in a midfield with players of the calibre of Hamann and Gerrard. Owen on the other hand was a great player, who saved the team's bacon in more matches than I care to remember. Granted the manner of his leaving wasn't ideal and I'm sure he would have expected some ribbing over missing out on Istanbul and ending up at Newcastle, but it wouldn't have hurt to show some appreciation for what he had done for the club through the years.

I thought Gonzalez looked quick and lively yesterday when he got the ball. A promising display.

I actually thought Sissoko was pretty average yesterday. (In fact, he has been for a few games now.) However, Alonso is getting his game together and that's more important.

Worthy of a topic in its own right?

Tunnel bust-up Bellamy blastedSep 21 2006 By Alan Oliver, The Evening Chronicle Terry McDermott has accused Craig Bellamy of being "100 % out of order" for starting a tunnel fracas between them at Anfield last night. The bust-up after the match between the two who have both played for Newcastle and Liverpool was the talk of Anfield - even more so than Xabi Alonso's amazing 60-yard goal which wrapped up a 2-0 home victory. There was a bit of history between the pair of them before the Welsh international left St James' Park in the summer of 2005. But last night's confrontation came out of the blue, even though Bellamy had been taunted for most of the night by the travelling Toon Army who, in their own words, had suggested he was scared of Alan Shearer who watched from the the directors box. In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle, Terry Mac (pictured) told me: "I was upset that we had lost the game in the way that we did. "We felt that at the start of the second half we felt that we should have two stonewall penalties something which was backed up by the TV replays and in the first instance by Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez. "I was talking to the referee at the edge of the tunnel when Bellamy appeared on the scene and suddenly started calling me names. I thought he was just joking and I put my arm around him, but he kept on calling me names and that's when it all kicked off. "I had my say and when he got to the top of the stairs he started shouting at me again, but of course he had security guys around him." I have known McDermott for nearly 30 years as a player and coach with Newcastle and I have never seen him involved in any post-match trouble before. However, he made no apologies for reacting to Bellamy in last night's flare-up. He added: "I was talking to the referee. It had nothing to do with anyone else and I take exception to little upstarts like him (Bellamy). "I do not like it when people like to think they are bigger than clubs. "When he was at Newcastle he thought he was a big cheese. When he went to Blackburn he caused trouble there and everywhere he has been he has been in bother and it is all starting again at Liverpool. "There was no need for it at all and he was 100% out of order." McDermott's comments will reverberate around football and they will not go down well in the red half of Liverpool, even though he has legendary status among the Anfield fans. However, Terry Mac's loyalties are clearly with his adopted city of Newcastle and he said: "I love this club and like the fans I want success for Newcastle United." Chances for the Toon were few and far between at Anfield - but they did have three second-half penalty appeals turned down, two of them for handball against Jamie Carragher. Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder said: "The second one was a blatant penalty, handball. "It was probably the best save of the night. The defender moved his arm enough to stop the ball. "We would have liked a penalty at that stage, assuming we would have taken it. At 1-1, it is game on again and we could have come out with a point." http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/newcast...-name_page.html

Certainly ahead of Fowler.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Sissoko and Kuyt rested with Pennant and Crouch coming in: Reina Finnan Carragher Agger Aurelio Pennant Gerrard Alonso Garcia Bellamy Crouch Subs: Dudek, Hyypia, Sissoko, Gonzalez, Kuyt

If Rafa can accomodate a player like Garcia then I'm sure he could have coped with McManaman.

Fowler ahead of the likes of Hunt and St John, Carragher ahead of Hansen, Thompson, Smith and Yeats. I find that odd.

Why do you say that?

McManaman and Fowler.

I've done it. They've got all right players but a few in the wrong positions.

I think it was Rushian who said way back that Gerrard needs to move away from idolising the likes of Keane and Vieira and start seeing himself as an attacking midfielder who can influence games in the way Nedved, Zidane or Ronaldinho do. Rafa was clearly listening. Let's hope Gerrard is too.

The second part of the article is interesting too: The Guardian has additional quotes from Rafa on this: http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1876496,00.html

Its telling that he (rightly, imo) makes a comparison between Gerrard and an attacking midfielder like Ronaldinho.

Me too. Better the devil you know and all that.

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