yellow jumper

certainly seems to be throwing his weight around a lot better. think his upper body strength's really under-rated. reminds me a little of dalglish the way he shrugs off defenders, or holds them off with his big backside. think there's still a bit more to come in terms of speed off the mark and confidence and power of movement from side-to-side.

no offence taken, just means that for the time being you're short of credibility too.

they were originally called woolwich arsenal. the woolwich was dropped after they moved to north london.

the refusal to be held to ransom and protracted nature of these transfer dealings as a consequence are all down to benitez in my opinion. his budget each transfer window may be an issue for some, but personally i can't see him changing his approach whatever he has to spend.

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they're probably the best two in the premiership. and our two most valuable. but yesterday they were up against the twin force of n'zogbia and faye. once they've over-run emerson and viera in the same way i'll join in the backslapping. we haven't even seen them regularily dominate midfields away from home as yet.

not interested in seeing him back in red, but i thought owen deserved better from us. no need for the booing. the players got it about right; formal handshakes pre-game, trounce newcastle, give him a hug at the end.

molby was spot on about hleb. he reminds me a little bit of mcmanaman, like macca his goal scoring and assisting will probably improve. arsenal don't have a fowler at the moment either. i'd like us to have that type of option. even if the final pass or shot aren't precise most of the time, that kind of tricky, running player can cause chaos in a defence for other players to capitalise upon.

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i agree, he's improved. but we're comparing two careers. the fact that platt scored consistently throughout shouldn't be held against him when comparing the figures. who knows what lampard might go onto achieve. personally i think he should be dropped by england so that the real talent can start going about what he's best at.

so his record only counts from the point at which he started scoring goals? platt made 11 sub appearances. giving him a record of better then a goal for every two starts. in an era when england were generally s**** too. personally i would agree he was a very average all-round player, and that his goal record probably makes him look better then he actually was. i'd say the same for lampard too, though.

27 goals in 62 internationals for platt. 10 in 38 for fatty.

there are similarities, but mourinho's midfield system is more effective. wonder what houllier could have achieved if he'd been prepared to use natural wingers. ginola hangover?

scholes is head and shoulders above either of them technically. definitely the more instinctive footballer. platt's international record isn't to be underestimated. and his best years were probably spent in italy. they're both self-made players, rather than exceptional natural talents. erikkson loves 'em.

rafa speaks.

they're obviously a good side with a good manager. who's saying they aren't? they also clearly have their limitations, which i'm sure benitez has made carragher aware of. ferguson's an average tactician,didn't stop him from winning a shed load of trophies. like mourinho he's driven to win at all costs, knows how to pass on that motivation, and was blessed with some great talent he understood how to deploy. mourinho did very well at porto, but he was not working with the threadbare resources some would have you believe; they were stuffed full of quality international players including carvalho, deco, maniche, carlos alberto, ferreira. frank lampard is an exceptional goal getter from advanced midfield positions, he also benefits from a system that allows attacking freedom in that role. he's a decent passer, not a great one. a clever distributor, or quicker-footed creative talent in that position would have caused us far more problems on tuesday night. if he goes to barcelona, chelsea could immeadiately go out and buy a player like ballack and normal service would be resumed. we're happy to criticise our own players for their faults. don't have a problem picking a few out in chelseas' players, whatever records they broke last season.

that's it right there. somehow lampard has you believing he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as thierry henry.

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all valid arguments Knox. hard to talk in absolutes about any of this. and in a way it's the vagueness of the current situation that frustrates me. there are new centre back links every week, no shortage of targets there obviously, a £6 million bid turned down only this week. right midfield seems less easy, but we we've been linked with plenty over the weeks. what happened to our interest in victor for example? deportivo have just sold luque, it's not as if they're unwilling to sell if the cash is right. and now we're spending millions on owen. loaning cisse out perhaps. what kind of effort is that taking behind the scenes? i know not many agree, but it baffles me.

we've been tracking daniel alves of sevilla for over a year and had bids turned down. he's obviously someone pretty high up on the wanted list and yet we've never offered over £6 million.

i'm not arguing he doesn't score goals.

mike bassett school of management this. "all these tactics are doing my head in lads, let's just stick the nippy lad with an eye for goal up front and see how things go." not how the european cup was won.