sned

Suarez Dirk Gerrard

after last nights f*** up I can understand why...

you need a map...?

ok so a 1-0 win will do.

Had the all round ability to be one of the best strikers in Europe. Had the attitude of a self loving t***.

much as I don't particularly rate kuyt, his all round never say die attitude & effort level is exactly what we need here. SG is gonna get some right stick and the fans need to get right behind him and the team as a whole needs to perform. anything less than 100% and we'll come unstuck. Everton are a far better team than earlier in the season. We've got the class to kick their a***, but we'll have to perform to do so.

depends on how you define `say on transfer policy' if it's a case of simply the CEO giving rafa a budget, asking him who'd he'd like to sign and how much he's willing to pay and then makes it happen then i don't see the problem. nothing wrong with the CEO having a financial input, but the manager is ultimately accountable for results on the pitch and every decision on who or who not to sign should be 100% down to him.

despite Tony Barrett writing:~ I've no idea why it's proving so difficult to get the new contract sorted, but bear in mind he's only just come back from being long term injured and the club aren't going to commit to 70k a week for a crock. (OK so we did with Kewell) I guess Agger needs to prove his fitness over the space of a few games and then the club can be assured he's over his problems, get the contract sorted and job done. I also think 70k a week is the going rate for someone of Agger's quality and potential. I can't think of any CB with maybe the exception of Rio Ferdinand who has the all round game Agger has. Skrtl might be a better tackler, but he doesn't bring the ball out of defence anything like Agger does.

Draw would do nicely please - Keeps Chelsea more then a draw points wise and stop the Mancs taking top stop if they win their games in hand.

Agree about the advantge being gone, but there will be a lot of points dropped by all 3 teams before this seasons done & dusted. Can only hope we have as good a run in as we did last season.

doesn't mean it'll work every game, against all different types of opposition though does it. I'd be far less critical if we'd changed the formation once it was clear it wasn't working, but we didn't - we plodded on hoping for a lucky break.

Hyypia Skrtl Reira

That's the exact issue for me as well. We should be in a position where we could afford to not beat the Mancs & Chelsea and still have enough points in hand to still be clear.

Newcastle tried to play football, they left space for us to work in which we exploited. Stoke didn't. We needed something different yesterday - that spark to break down a packed & well organised defence. Kuyt up front on his own will never be able to provide that. Torres could - Keane could.

It is a good opening post, but also a bit defeatest. It comes across as "well it's ok to f*** up against Stoke, because we're doing better than last year" and I think that approach is wrong. Yes we're still top of the league, and we'll still be there at the end of the day regardless, but Stoke was a decent opportunity to pull clear & build up a bit of a points buffer, and yet again we didn't take it. Exactly the same things happened against Hull, Fulham, West Ham - all games we should have done better in if we have any grand ideas about still being top at the end of the season. Not just with yesterday, but we should have pulled clear of the rest by now, but we haven't. As Carrafan says we have a problem against teams who sit deep, and yesterday yet again Rafa showed he can't deal with that problem.

Much as I dislike the person, got to give him credit as a manager. No-one has ever come close to the way he has over the years of managing to manipulate & use the press. Eventually this rubs off on the match officials which is why they get a lot of the 50/50 calls at OT. He's also psychologically very clever and this is just another example. Definately a t*** though.

same as that. Chelsea will drop more stupid points that the Mancs will, and today's Chelsea drawn Cup match and extra replay match won't have helped. Mancs have also I think been to Anfield, Arsenal & Stamford Bridge in the league already.

Imagine the media hysteria against Rafa if he'd done that & lost. Learnt his lesson from the Burnley game and as it was PNE gave us a good run for our money with us having almost a first choice 11 available.

Alonso Hyypia Gerrard

Babel would have stood on the ball & put it out for a goal kick, and Keane would have scuffed it in off the crossbar. Lucas on the other hand would have played it backwards to a better placed defensive midfielder.

Without opening up a whole can of worms that's been discussed to death already, we already have a player who can do exactly that. He wears the Captain's armband. Would also allow Alonso, Maschareno & Keane some space in the centre of the pitch as well...

If you're going to take it to the extreme and start talking about players who only offers pace then yep that's entirely possible. But then again that's not what I'm saying though is it?

His work rate is fantastic granted, it always is and he can't ever be faulted for his effort, but this thread is talking about pace on the flanks, and Kuyt offers zero in this respect. There were numerous instances on Sunday when we could have broken quickly with a proper right winger/midfielder but we didn't, Kuyt got the ball, ran 20 yards and then passed it right back to exactly where it had just come from. The momentum was lost, Arsenal re-grouped and the chance passed us by and we had to build from the back all over again. I don't like Kuyt on the right. Never have. He offers a workrate second to none, he offers defensive assistance with his ability to continually `get up & down' the pitch, but when it comes to attacking we often miss opportunities simply because of his lack of pace. Unfortunately saying all that I'm not sure we actually have a better option right now.

A fair amount of points is going to be lost by all of the `top 4' before this season's done & dusted. The Mancs also have to catch up a couple of games and don't look anywhere near as likely to gain all 3 points as previous years. Chelsea seem to be even more dour & are struggling more than normal and Arsenal flit between breathtaking and toothless. Our saving grace is three fold IMO. Torres (when he returns) is going to have bundles of energy. We're gaining points week after week even though we're playing well, but more importantly in recent years we have finished the season more strongly than our main rivals. If we do that again this year then you never know...

I like Riera. He's willing to take on his man, and when he's got a little space he often succeeds. He isn't the quickest around but he's quick enough and has a decent level of skill. The other thing he offers is natural width to the team and he balances things out well.