Hope won't be another Burnley game like last season away there.

He was first choice and scoring lots of goals for Bordeoux the last time I read about him. It was a season or two back though. Not sure if he's a regular now.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/5...bellion?cc=4716
07/08 first choice. 30+ games started, 12 goals
08/09 squad? 17 games started, 4 goals
09/10 backup 7 games started, 3 goals
this season so far, 2 subs..

I don't think he should be considered as a flop. He wasn't bought to be fighting to places in the first team. He was brought in as a gamble. If it works out, great, if it doesn't, it doesn't bother us one bit kinda signing. He's the kind of signings teams do now and then. They saw the raw ingredient and thought it could turn into something better. But as is with most cases, not everything works out. We had Ole, Ruud, and Forlan and we operate with only one striker back then.

He was first choice from the day he broke through until Scholes become too good, along with Keane still there, and a loss of form because of injuries, meant that he was a backup/squad in his final years with us. Counting back, it's still worth 5-7 seasons as first choice for us. Not the greatest of players, but very good on his day. He was a good player for us. In the big games in the treble season, it was him alongside Keane who played in the middle.

Flop, sign to be a someone in our team(first choice/squaddy) but fail to cement a place or perform while with us. Veron, Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Forlan.

Manucho and Dong ain't one for me. Those are gambles, although in the case with Dong, more of a marketing ploy. Diouf(early days, but with the amount of strikers we have, we won't keep him) and Tosic is another one. Not enough chances.

---

Added on November 29, 2010, 1:15 amProbably not a legend. But he deserve far more respect than 'always a backup player' considering he was a very important member of the first team from the day he broke through in our successful years in the 90's

This post has been edited by Wan: Nov 29 2010, 01:15 AM

I
Spurs.

The sooner they move on ad forget about Benitez, the better they would be. They need to wake up people see them as a joke because of Benitez. They are where they are because of him. Woy is just trying to clean up the shit, but it's hard when the likes of Benayoun and Mascherano who was very important for them left.

If it's Benitez in charge and they lose, they would blame the new owners.

I hope we don't boast. Remember it's a cup game, and what's more it's Liverpool vs us. It doesn't matter if we are 1m times better than then, come these sort of games, those things along with form don't count. Even a shitty side can win.

Carrick.. ahem.
*looking at sheep.

Oh shit!
I'm not a jinxer.. I think.

Hope to see Morrison the most. Skillful player.. but is currently playing as a CM for the academy lately.

Both are effective. Both score lots of goals. Difference is that these days CR is a goal scorer only. It makes him dangerous in front of goal, but outside of that, in terms of creating chances for others he's not that good anymore. Messi is better in that regard, and for me the better player right now. Both are the top two though. I would love to have both of them with us.

That's what sets them apart. Messi can be effective in scoring goals himself, along with setting others up. Ronaldo is a goal scoring freak. That's all he does these days, not that it's a bad thing, but he could have been so much more. He was a 20/20(goals/assists) player for us, before turning into a pure goalscorer in his last two seasons with us. I would like to see that Ronaldo again(along with a bit more goals).

I would love to have them either of them in my team. Two best player in the world right now.

Messi is a natural player with vision. He can spot a pass, and is not that selfish with the ball. He pass the ball rather than hog it all the time. Put him in any team, he would still play the same way and be effective at least assists wise provided he's not played upfront(Maradona..)

If we have a small squad then maybe we should consider doing that. But we have a lot of players who need the games. We can afford to go all the way in all competition with the current squad that we have and it's a good chance for us to blood in the youngsters. The likes of Macheda, Hernandez even, Fabio, Smalling, Evans, Gibson, Obertan, Bebe and those in reserves.. it's a good chance for them to play. And we can use this game to play players that just recovered from injuries and squad players that need games. Giggs who just recovered, Brown, O'Shea, Park(behind Giggs and Valencia), Gibson, Ando..

VDS
Rafael-Rio-Vida-Evra
Valencia-Scholes-Fletcher-Nani
Rooney-Berba

--O'Shea, Park, Carrick

Kuszczak
Brown-Smalling-Evans-Fabio
Obertan-Gibson-Ando-Bebe
Hernandez-Macheda

Speaking about our squad, I whenever someone says we have an average squad. Really drama queen.

Last season lost by a single point in the league, and we trashed Bayern who got to the CL final until Rafael was sent off. If that's an average squad, I don't know what it means for the other sides. 95% of them are shit maybe?

This post has been edited by Wan: Nov 30 2010, 06:28 PM

Messi have all those, except for height and power. But he doesn't need the power when he can go past people and not lose the ball. And he has the vision to unlock teams with his passing, something Ronaldo don't have. 23 goals, 11 assists so far. Those assists count will get higher throughout the season.

---

Added on November 30, 2010, 7:02 pmAway game huh? Then we might see some first teamers play. Brown/O'Shea, Fletcher, Giggs..

This post has been edited by Wan: Nov 30 2010, 07:02 PM

It doesn't affect us IMO. It's the Carling Cup competition which provide lots of chances for our young ones to get games. And in any case it's a good chance for us to give games to our squad players as well to help them keep up form.

Interesting that. Maybe we prepare ourselves to last the distance by doing just about enough to be around the top rather than trying to run away from the start? We did start great in 06/07 though.

SAF knows better?
It could be because of a clause that after a certain amount of games, or each games that he plays until xx amounts, we have to pay his old club and maybe we didn't wanna have to invoke the clause having us to pay? Certainly surprised why he doesn't feature much if at all in the first team. Although he look impressive for Serbia and previous at Koln, he never really turn it on at reserve level or anytime he played in the first team, except that sub appearance against Spurs I think where he look good. He's just another 'good' player there in the reserve, when he should be a level above everyone else. Centrally and maybe cutting inside from the right he would look good, but as a winger putting crosses in, I thought he looked poor for us in pre-season friendlies. And with the 25 squad cap thing, maybe we just don't want to have to make a decision of leaving someone if not him out of the squad.

It just won't end. For me personally although I don't think he deserve that number, but then again, it's just another number. I could care less who wears them as long as they perform. If we gave Ronaldo a #69, and he kept it for his time with us, it won't make him a lesser player. Again, it's just a number.

Maybe it's just SAF's way of shutting the 'Utd need a new #7(ie, replace Ronaldo)' things from ever becoming something that would be distracting knowing how the press works. One bad game, and everyone will be in full force saying Utd is a spent force and that the reason we are in the shit(because of one game), is that we missed #7.. blabla. Picture that.

---

Added on December 6, 2010, 9:41 pmRoman is messing up with the team again. Wilkins, Arnesen, and hiring that scout as the new assitant manager who Ancelotti says won't be involve in training and stuff.. Something fishy is going on there. And the fact that they let so many experienced players go without replacing them properly meant that the once feared squad is not anymore although their core squad(first 15 or so) is one of the strongest in the league. Maybe Roman is preparing them for the new rules which is about to come in place. Clubs can only spend relative to what they make up in revenues.

This post has been edited by Wan: Dec 6 2010, 09:41 PM