Billy Talbot

Robin van Persie. Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone. bbc van Persog?

Thinking of the run in... anyone know who we / the mancs have suspended and are one yellow away from suspension in Europe? I think Rooney's on two. I've got a good feeling about Porto for some reason.

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By the letter of the law I though it was a nailed on red. The thing that's saved Friedel is his effort to get out of the way. if the ref had noted that at the time, he might have just yellowed him. Corinthian spirit and all that.

Is it pens AET?

In his pants.

As much as I rate (unlike many) Dossena. I think Barry would make an excellent upgrade. He'd be cover at LB and he'd give greater licence for our left back to go forward when he played CM. A midfield of Barry, Mascherano, Alonso and Kuyt would be very f***ing solid.

If we can sell the Doss for 6-7m and sign Barry for about the same everyone's a winner. Except for Villa and O'Neill.

My Team top scored this week with 119. Top out of 1.7m teams by a clear point Magnificently helped by Gerrard being captain, Pepe's assist and Dirks opener. My "no mancs" policy is starting to pay off.

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That's all true, but what proportion £10m players have been unqualified successes compared to the £20-£30m ones? It's a general point I know, but it still holds true - some good players are available for £10m or so - but there's nearly always more of a risk with them than more expensive players - not the risk that they don't settle, as that's a risk signing anyone, but an extra risk - be that their injury record, their lifestyle, their age, their "potential" rather than their actual progression as a footballer etc - otherwise they would command a higher transfer fee. Shevchenko is a poor example. He was a trophy signing for Abramovic - no other club would have considered paying that amount for him.

I agree to an extent. He does sometimes look weak compared with other more physical players we have in our league. However, like carrafan I'd keep him on for a year or two yet. By "not on his wavelength"... - watch how many passes he makes into open space, nobody has made the run. Watch how many passes are 1-2 metres off, and check out how the recipient has misread where the ideal and most efficient pass should be going. I agree he'd be outstanding in Italy. Here, not only is it sometimes too fast paced for him at the moment - but some of the players around him are too busy rushing around themselves to actually help him out by being in the right place at the right time.

Too true. Shakespeare would have a field day.

Both young and walcott were / and are risks and reflected in their price. Jeffers and Wiltord are the other side of that coin. Sure, you can get good players for £10m, but you're more likely to draw a blank than if you can spend £30m. That's why they're £30m players not £10m.

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Quite possibly the worst game of football I've watched. And I've watched an awful lot of non-league. Was Boro's gameplan to bore us into submission? If it was it certainly worked... Btw - did anyone else think Wheater's pulling of Alonso's shirt was a little too much for that OG to have stood? Even he looked straight at the linesman to make sure he wasn't flagging for a foul. Anyway, I've never had a real dislike for Boro even with our record up there - but that's it for me. There's another team I now cannot stand. Morons. I hope they end up in league 2.

I was a bit stunned by the picking up of the ball when we were about to take our corner at the end of the first half... 45:02 the time was when he blew. And the ball wasn't even in play.

Anyone seen the Real Team?

Coupled with a three match ban for Ronaldo. Talking about handball's not being given... my mind is cast back to the 0-0 vs Fulham. Paintsil handled the ball 3 or 4 times that game all were deliberate in that he was either "protecting his face" or some s****. I'd like the rules of handball to be changed. It should be the defenders' responsibility to get their arms out of the way of the ball. That would mean that a few free kicks and pens would be given where the defender had no chance to do anything else, but it would also mean that defenders would stop cheating so much and would also mean the refs didn't have to decide on "intent". At the moment it seems like defenders have free reign to handle a ball that's travelling anywhere near their face, and that refs are reluctant to give pens for anything other than playing basketball. There was one in the first Everton FA Cup game - I think it was Jagielka, in "protecting his face" he managed to touch the ball with both arms the cheating c***. Dunne's was absolute stonewall for me. If it was one of ours that did that away from home I'd be saying how lucky we were not to have a pen given against us.

I think Lucas is the opposite of a thick player. His off the ball movement is excellent, his timing of runs is good, and his passing is good too. His problem is getting on the same wavelength as other players who aren't as good at knowing how to show for him. The freekicks are a different thing altogether, he needs to cut them out.

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