MFletcher

I was actually thinking we might move for Owen in January if Crouch was sold. English, not cup-tied, counts as homegrown, would be able to slot in easily as he knows the club etc. I suspect Rafa's rotation policy would suit him as well. I don't think it's any coincidence that his season at Real Madrid coincided with his best non-injured spell for quite a while. Then again, he'd have to take a huge paycut and I don't for one second see it happening, Then again, maybe Rafa would see Owen as another Fowler signing. The experienced player who would jump at a chance to rejoin the club and set about proving himself. It didn't work with Fowler, he just didn't have the legs. That doesn't mean he won't try his luck again. </Wild speculation>

Finnan Reina Sissoko

If he hasn't signed by mid-January, I imagine we'll make it known we are open to offers for him.

I have no doubt that some are deliberately exaggerating their "outrage".

They're also completely misinformed and dismiss reasoned argument completely because it doesn't suit their point of view. Most of them are trying to prove their credentials - which is jsut disgusting. The irritating thing is that Carra would no sooner break the boycott of the Sun that any of them.

I'm 19 and I'm firmly in the camp of maintaining the Sun boycott and the Sun boycott alone. I don't need to start a vendetta and expend fake anger in an effort to prove my supporting credentials.

Quite unbelievably, Masch has taken a long haul flight to Australia to play for Argentina in a friendly in Melbourne tomorrow night. He'll be too jet lagged to play on Saturday.

I think the same. That BHB character on RAWK presents himself as an uber fan. He feigns outrage all the time. He's usually misinformed as well, which makes it even worse. The voices of reason on RAWK were drowned out by those who refused to construct coherent arguments and instead filled the topic with "NOTW is the Sunday S*N!!!!!!!!!!"

The amount of misinformed people on RAWK is stunning. Some of the things being said against our players is sickening really.

Rubbish. The paper is not part of the boycott and there should be no problem.

Some of the s*** directed towards Chris Bascombe was terrifying. I got the genuine impression that some would have kicked the crap out of him if they bumped into him on the street. It's a disgusting way for our support to behave - it really is.

That BHB character is the worst one. He likes to portray himself as the "uber fan". I just think it's disgusting.

The club officially co-operate with the News of the World. As far as I'm aware, the Hillsborough families were consulted before Owen wrote a column for them. Some of the s*** in the RAWK topic is shocking. It's an embarrassment really and completely takes away from the real campaign.

My thoughts exactly. He'll be nice and fresh come Pompey away.

I think Tomkins is an excellent analyst. Very interesting article indeed.

Any time I've seen Dos Santos play, he has been the best player on the pitch. I reckon he'll be one of the best players in the world in the future.

Tremendous post. Keep up the good work.

I do feel we're leaving players like Riise and Crouch behind. They're not quite able to play the slick passing game based on speed and aggression, and have have a tendency to slow our play up. And the argument surrounding Michael Owen is pointless. He was a great goalscorer, with wonderful dribbling skills and an excellent finish - but no-one can seriously claim they team wasn't geared around him. We were always looking for long balls over the top and persisted with Heskey up front for years because he made Owen's life easier. He was a great player for us, but he clearly believed that playing for Liverpool was a step towards playing for England. He might have struggled with the type of system Rafa plays, and I doubt he'd have been happy chasing after defenders for the cause. He was a goal hanger and had the attitude "give me the ball and I'll score." All fair and well, but that's not the system that Rafa likes to play. My opinion of him was really influenced by his conduct in summer 2004. His dishonesty about his new contract was shocking. One minute he was saying he was close to signing and the next he was being paraded at Real Madrid for £8M... EIGHT MILLION. About a quarter of the fee we could have commanded a couple of years earlier.

Mascherano Torres Arbeloa

He has made a decision that significantly increases his career prospects and bank balance. The paper is not part of the official boycott. Where's the problem?

Your Pennant-bashing is becoming tiresome. Whilst I accept that he should contribute a bit more in front of goal, his entire game doesn't rely upon his goal scoring record. He was excellent yesterday and made some excellent crosses and dribbles. I doubt Quaresma could have done much better...

Bascombe never said we were completely skint, but he gave the impression that we'd have to scrounge around to find players wihlst the Mancs had went and spent £50M like it was going out of fashion. He did himself no favours with some of his articles.

Some of his articles over the summer were very, very questionable - especially the ones before we bought anyone. He was pushing the whole "we're completely skint" line and some of them were written in a way that made him look petulant.

Even if the deal isn't permanent at the minute, I'm sure we agreed a reasonable fee in the contract with MSI. If we didn't, then it would be a mistake of monumental stupidity on behalf of the management. To be honest, I can't see why Rafa would bring Masch in, play him ahead of other established players, pick him in the CL final, keep playing him this year and then let him move on without buying him. I'm expecting an announcement - probably around March/April - that he has "extended his contract" - basically we've paid MSI off and he's now our player on a permanent basis.