The walters step over

I'd play Henderson instead of Kuyt, if City had a left sided midfielder that held his position then Dirk would be a decent option for tracking back/doubling up on him. If City go with Nasri/Silva /Toure/Aguero then they will be drifting into the middle all game, if Kuyt tracks them and we break up play the idea of him having to take possession in a central position 30 yards from our goal to help relieve pressure makes me very nervous. Technique is going to be crucial in this game, if we give the ball away cheaply too many times then City could really do a Valencia on us. I'd trust Henderson far more to retain possession in dangerous areas of our half.

I'm sure I remember a press conference where a journalist asked Hodgson about his poor away record with us (at the time Holloway had a better away record in three months in the Prem then Hodgson had in 2.5 years at Fulham and us) and he said something along the lines of "when I was in Sweden we once went two years without an away win" . It was as though he couldn't understand any criticism because in his mind you're not supposed to win away games. I can't wait for all the journalists to turn on him when/if he gets the England job. They'll wash their hands of him in the same way they did when they tried to pretend that it wasn't a media campaign that got Keegan the national job.

I think it's a residual of the boot room days, you pick the first XI and if they get into trouble then you put trust in them to figure a way to get themselves out of it, that was a major flaw in Roy evans time in charge. Saying that, imo Kennys shown enough adaptability in picking formations and personnel to suit the oppo' that it's a minor flaw that with a higher standard of finishing this season probably wouldn't get mentioned. It was a perfect game in a way, we've shown that we can play good football against a very strong team and the way we responded to Chelseas pressure indicates that we have players willing to work for each other when things are going against us. It's alright playing at home to Utd and playing well but imo this game should be the benchmark for the rest of the season, if we can get close to todays level in our remaining games then I think a Cl place is easily achievable.

Agreed, it doesn't matter if he's heard someone else call Evra that, doesn't make it any less acceptable, or less offensive, for him to say the same word to someone he barely knows who plays for his clubs biggest rivals. I'll probably get abuse for saying this but some of the stuff in this thread is imo, out of order, "look, here's a package with "coon" on it" is pathetic and if Rooney had said the exact same thing to GloJo then this place would be kicking off as much as RedCafe is now. The depressing thing is that the kn*bs on RedCafe almost certainly give less than half a f*ck that someone was racially abused in the 21st century than they do about sticking the boot into a Liverpool player. In a similar way, this thread is making for uncomfortable reading because there seems to be a lot of people that think calling someone a "little black boy" shouldn't be made into an issue because a) it was said by one of ours against a manc and b) hernandez said it as well, so what's the problem?

One way of looking at it is that the Fa won't want to paint themselves into a corner over Terry by setting a precedent with Suarez. If they give Suarez a large ban when the evidence amounts to basically one mans word then logically they'd have to give Terry more due to him being caught on camera. IIRC, didn't he get off with a racism charge against Spurs a few years ago because of lack of evidence? Add on his previous acts of c*ntness and the FA will know that if they give Suarez a six game ban then they have to give Terry the same. I can see Suarez getting a three match ban and a heavy fine so when Terrys turn comes the FA can say "well, suarez is the precedent", give him the same length and hope it calms things down in time for the Euros.

It really is, it only gets complicated when kn*bs like Littlejohn etc try to justify themselves by saying things like "well, if you called me a white b*stard I wouldn't care". The inference being that it's a completely level playing field where all are treated equally and anyone taking offence is just one of the PC brigade. As a white man I wouldn't take any notice of being called " a white.." but then again I'm also about five times less likely to be stopped by the police because of the colour of my skin. My ancestors weren't judged as inferior for hundreds of years because they were dark skinned and there has never been any signs on hotels saying "no whites, no dogs, no Irish" and despite what the Daily Mail wants people to believe very few people have had the absolute living sh*t kicked out of them because they were white. The colour of someones skin isn't the same thing as having a big nose, or being ginger or tall or short because of the hundreds of years worth of history when it comes to discrimination, I've been followed around shops on two occasions because of my accent when I've been down South and it's a massive pain in the ar*e, as well as embarressing and slightly humiliating, if I was dark skinned and had to put up with it periodically over my entire life f*cking right i'd kick off about if I thought someone high profile had insulted me because of skin tone. I honestly can't see why some people don't get that, it's the same with positive discrimination. That gets bleated about as unfair to white people because jobs are specifically given to minorities with not a thought given as to why we reached a situation where whole sections of our society are completely unrepresented in jobs like the police, politicians, etc. I've no idea what Suarez called Evra, but if he racially abused him then he's a c*nt and deserves a ban.If Evra is proven to have made the whole thing up then HE deserves a ban. Plain and simple.

He's a spineless two faced c*nt.He once wrote a piece about Beckham being finished for England, really having a go. The next week Beckhams PR paid for Holt to have an exclusive interview with Beckham in Madrid and Holt then basically used his columns to big up Saint David whenever he had the chance. If he's after Suarez it'll be because he wants to keep in with Ferguson/the Mancs. The sad thing is, it'll work. Suarez will get f*ck all decision wise when we play at Old Trafford, and you can guarantee that in away games any decisions that are not 100% clear will go against him.

Redknapp must have been earning close to those amounts every two weeks, what's the fecking point of taking the risks of backhanders when the money involved won't change your life one iota?

Tbh, I think Babbs price is realistic - if you compare the price of Jones at Utd and what Babb had achieved when we signed him I don't think it's too far off the mark. I was made up when we signed him, saying that, I did once write to the Echo demanding that we bring Dion Dublin to the club as our domineering centre back so maybe I wasn't the best judge..

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Which is fine, but there are plenty of games were he's more of a liability then anything creative, and I was trying to compare a player that regularly contributes little going forward but gets given the benefit of the doubt against someone that's been here 5 minutes and generally isn't. We knew what Downing was when we signed him, a decent player that probably won't win many matches on his own but if he's playing well can contribute to the overall team performance. If we were in the CL and Kenny still bought Downing I'd be disappointed and if we finish top four this year i'd put money on someone better being brought in and Downing being used as back up. I don't see how the lad can be criticised for being exactly the player we've seen for the last five years.

We might have tried for Mata and got knocked back, we certainly tried for Young and he said no, so realistically (ie, better than Downing and would want to join a team not in Europe), who else is there? He's never been the type to beat three players and smash in a thirty yarder,so the management knew exactly what he could and couldn't do, but he is the only midfielder we've got that can provide genuine width and good crosses into the box if he has someone to aim for - I think we'll see an improvement when/if Carroll starts playing regularly and the two of them figure out each others game. I just find it weird that a majority can jump to kuyts defence whenever his limitations are pointed out and yet Downings fair game after less than a third of his first season.

I think he's better than average, personally I think he's done o.k. so far and i'd much rather have him in the team giving us natural width and stretching the play than someone who'd want to cut in and narrow Suarez's space to work in.

Wasn't that player some extremely average no-mark as well? Can't remember who it was but I know that he wasn't one of their big names.

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But what was the market for Andy Carroll? none of Chelsea,Arsenal,City or Utd were the slightest bit interested in him which leaves him realistically looking at either us or Spurs as a place to step up his career. I get that we were limited in who we could attract and I can see why the club would want to make a statement after Torres left but we weren't involved in an auction for him. It just looks as though we panicked. Darren Bent has scored sh*tloads every season for years and he went for around £20m,Tevez went to the richest club in the world for £25m , surely those transfers between English clubs were what we should have been using as a guide to price up deals? I do think that Carroll will do alright for us with the right service, and I like the look of Henderson as a player but I also think that if we'd paid closer to their true worth then we would have either an extra player in the squad or cash in the bank waiting to be spent.

Pity he wasn't saying this a year ago instead of saying that the fans "weren't helping" with chants against the owners.

If we'd paid anywhere near what Carroll and Henderson were actually worth then we could have brought in another player with the money we had and strengthened the squad/team.

Benitez said at the time that he wanted Kuyt and Alves but didn't have enough money so he brought in Dirk and spent the rest of his transfer fund on Pennant.

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We can't give up on him. Nobody that could afford to pay anywhere near what we paid would want him, so he's here for the forseeable. Whether he plays or not is anyone's guess - I can see why he didn't start against Utd after scoring at Goodison but if Kennys not willing to start him at home to Norwich why did we bother bringing him in?

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Wonder what the locals thought of the French guy we had, or the Spaniard that replaced him? Where they hounded out as well for not being from Scotty Road? This re-writing of his time here was always going to happen but it's still kind of funny the lengths that his pet journalists will go to to defend him.

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