₦airaland Forum

THIS IS THE AWARD FOR BEST FORWARD IN THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, NOT THE EUROPEAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD!!!


MARKED DIFFERENCE!

THEY ALREADY HAVE THE REPLACEMENT FOR CORLUKA, VINCENT KOMPANY ! ( I DONT KNOW HOW COME THEY SNATCHED THIS GUY FROM EVERYONES NOSE, HE'S SO HIGHLY RATED!!!!!!! USED TO PLAY FOR ANDERLECHT IN BELGIUM, EVERYONE WANTED TO BUY HIM YEARS AGO, BUT HE CHOOSE HAMBURG INSTEAD, AND NOW IS IN MAN CITY, ACTUALLY WON MAN OF THE MATCH AGAINST WEST HAM IN HIS FIRST MATCH FOR CITY)!! GUESS MARTIN JOL WOULD RATHER DIE THAN SELL HIM TO SPURS ANYWAY!!!

CORLUKA HASN'T LEFT MAN CITY YET, so lets see as the transfer brohaha continues,

By the way we still need a holding midfielder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NB. BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!! HERE WE WANNA SIGN MUGUEL VELOSO!!!!! HOPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE NEED DEFENDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!

We arent stressing Man Utd with this transfer, Levy just has issues with Ferguson, similar to how Ferguson refused to sell Ronaldo to Real Madrid!

Any team will want to hang on to it's best players ,


Though the sga will be concluded in Monaco tonite and 'Le-sulk' will finally go to Utd,

MAYBE, MAYBE NOT!

WE'LL WAIT AND SEE!

Take heart Xsay, norin spoil, Things will definitely get better,

By the way latest news is that Pavlyuchenko is on his way to the Lane, so out you go Le-sulk!

Savesoul, [/b]Supporting a team has nothing to do with losing/senilty of the coach/being relegated or any other disaster to the Team!!

Its about undying passion that you have for the team even when things have gone totally wrong!!

We in Nigeria are hollow and we tend to get it wrong when it comes to supporting a team.

Its myopic/fashionable the support here,
[b]
My advice: Arsenal may NOT be a top team 20 years from now, do you realise that teams like Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Stoke, Luton Town, Ipswich, Leeds etc were good teams in the past?

Have your grouse with Arsene Wenger, not with your team, its like that, times change, situations change,

By the way watch out for Queens Park Rangers (QPR) they have the most money as we speak in all tiers of the English game, a couple of years from now folks will start supporting them( Sigh!), so remain with your LOVE (Thats if your affection is really genuine!)!!

Hi Lilywhites , just saw this response from a BBC blog, Sorta made sense, Please read and give ur verdicts!

[b]I never fail to be amazed at how so many fans can seemingly see the blindingly obvious and how so many managers can totally miss it. Arrogance, perhaps, but surely so many footballing people cannot be wrong.

Zokora is not a right-back and is only filling a void left by the injury to Hutton, but why on earth shouldn't Chris Gunter get that opportunity? By putting him on the bench, Ramos is clearly saying that he is capable of competing at this level, and yet seemingly he prefers to take a player out of position to put there. I can't understand it.

As has been mentioned by so many posters above, we need a midfield general to play alongside either Jenas or Modric. Neither of those can be the hard case in midfield, and neither of them will happily sit back whilst the other goes forward and defend counter possible counter attacks. Also, neither of them can perform the quarter-back role that Carrick could perform; sitting back and using his vision to pick out forward players with superb long passes. Zokora may not be the answer to this void, but either he or Huddlestone are the best we have.

Us Spurs fan pined for a left-winger, any left-winger, for years. Duff, Pedersen, Downing - I even remember hearing pleas for the club to re-sign Matthew Etherington! Malbranque's work-rate and tenacity papered over the lack of a real left-sided attacker for a season or two, but I can't explain how excited I was when we signed Dos Santos - a genuine, left-footed, forwad thinking player. What does Ramos do? Bungs him up front for the first game and on the bench for the second. It's beyond my comprehension.

Ok so Bale played against Sunderland, which is at least putting a left-footed player in a left-sided position. But for me, Bale is a left-back, not a left-winger, and whilst he's pretty good out there, how much better would he be linking up and dove-tailing with Dos Santos? Assou-Ekotto has never really done much wrong, but I'm fairly sure having been signed to replace Lee Young-Pyo, he then lost his place back to the South Korean before Bale was signed, presumably to shove the other two into the shade.

As for Bentley and Lennon, I'm afraid deploying Bentley behind a lone striker, and putting Lennon on the wing, when he is quite clearly a far inferior crosser of the ball that Bentley, is another head-smacking error. Lennon, though quick, I'm afraid to say seems to have been exposed as limited after a smashing start to his career in 2005-06. The only time I have ever seen him really rip into opponents away from the right-wing is the season before last when he was deployed in the hole behind Berbatov and Keane in the FA Cup tie against Chelsea. Against Sunderland I think he would have been far better in that role, and Bentley's crossing may have actually given Bent some aerial service.

Before even considering selling Berbatov, these are fundamental, and to my mind really simple, obvious mistakes that Ramos is making. The team is totally inbalanced, has not gelled in an effective way, and seems lost at sea. Ramos must have known Keane would leave in the summer, and the world and his wife seem to know that Berbatov is inevitably going to depart. So why on earth wasn't he making plans to deal with these absences in pre-season? At the moment it feels like we're desperately searching for our strongest XI, and until we find it, we are at the mercy of the most mediocre of opponents.

Yes, I think we should sell Berbatov, and I think some sort of burden would lift from the club the moment he leaves and our bank balance takes a bump.

More pressingly however, I think Ramos needs to hand each player a little piece of paper, get them to write down their position, and then play them there. We are lacking fluidity, balance and goals. We will win nothing, and qualify for nothing, if we continue in this way.[/b]

Hey A-40, Na wah o! Maybe with only Anelka as their only striker we MAY score!!!!!!!! Na wah o!

We have only Darren Bent, I think its time we play our youngester Thomas Pekhard up front.

The latest news from the Berbatov saga is that Levy has insisted that Berbatov's price tag is 30m pounds and if Man Utd don't meet that valuation he will train and rot in the reserves! Phew! This brohaha with Fergie has reached the peak! lol!

When will there be peace??

Senderos has gone to AC Milan!

Hoyte, Traore, Hleb, Flamini, Diarra, Gilberto etc, Thats a lot and thats not all, (oh well maybe managers tend to go senile after sometime)

I didnt like the idea of selling Malbranque and co to Sunderland, in fact Malbranque should have stayed !!! We have 5 ex-spurs players in Sunderland, Chimbonda/Tainio/Malbranque/Fulop/Andy Reid, and u expect us to win with vegeance on their minds??

Managers are puzzling sometimes!

Typical beef comments Vieira, your team showed flaws (no beef from me), am definitely not gloating in your loss (I'd prefer to focus on my team), though we are Life-Long 'Enemies',


You've just loaned Senderos out, error prone I guess, maybe he will improve like Cygan did at Villareal,

Hey Guys! How was the weekend?

Remember when I said Sunderland would give us horrors! I was right!

I wished for a draw at least and got none, we are a team in a mini crisis actually, and thats the truth!

The Berbatov saga has diverted our attention, NO new central defender; NO new defensive Midfielder; NO new striker!

What do you expect? Apart from loving my team with a passion , I am always objective and to tell the truth, things are NOT looking good as we now face Chelsea next Sunday. Am just gonna watch the match with a hopeful heart, cos if we dont at least solve the CB & Striker positions soon, we are are ziltch!

I honestly agree with Roy Keane that a Manager should be the most powerful when it comes to footballing decisions and I feel that we should have sold Berbatov ages ago!! Now we have 1 week! 1 week to get a new striker, !

I have heard names such as Diego Forlan, Ashavin and now Hesky being touted for the soon to be vacant position but honestly you wanna know who I feel is the ideal person for the spot?

DEAN ASHTON of West Ham actually. He is tall; Has some skill; and commanding in the box , the only problem is his fitness!! He gets injured so often!

Really we need someone with Premier League experience that is why I'd rather go for him OR maybe Forlan, Arshavin is still a vague product to me.

VERDICT: We are TOO light weight in Midfield, creative but lightweight (Gio; Modric; Jenas), We lack experienced cover in defence and set pieces are our horror show (Put Dawson on the bench, get Hutton back; play Zokora back in Midfield and buy Corluka, Maybe we should have even bought Silvestre before Arsenal did! We need back up experience, then a STRIKER!

Sigh! Its gonna be a long season! 1 week left till my final verdict on our squad!

PS. Arsenal also lost. I watched that match and the VERDICT: Their squad is too inexperienced, too thin; No perfect replacements for the injured stars (Fabregas; Rosisky);Denilson was appalling!!!!! Fulham played a VERY disciplined game and deserved to win, So did Wigan against Chelasea if not for Deco's 5 min free kick.

Man Utd playing tonite! I reckon the season will be tough for everyone, Well that I like than the same ol' teams dominating all the time!

Its time for a Stoke / Aston Villa or Blackburn as the Premier league champions! lol!

Have a good day all!

A-40, we definitely have to sell Berbatov!!!

His presence is causing too much distraction in the team and we need peace to focus and work well!!

Go to www.thesun.co.uk/football and see the pictures of Ronaldo's first training session with Man Utd!, better to sell an unhappy player, than have one that is not gonna give his all for the club!

Manmustwac, it's just the way people tend to analyze football in Nigeria,

Majority of them have absolutely no clue about what support of a team is all about, whether they play well OR not whether they get relegated OR not!

As mentioned a long time ago, its the DSTV, HiTV bandwagon effect, anyway lets not go there. It can become so tiring at times!

Whats up this weekend?? Well, Sunderland is coming to town, and the prediction from Lawro (BBC Pundit) is that we will win 2-1.

Lets see as it goes,

Still new DMF or CD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK OK all calm down on this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chill on the aggressiveness and insults and even if, maybe the next party just took the joke too far!!! lol; lol!

OK, as mentioned previously, Boro could be unpredictable, I watched the match and the Boro team is a completely new team! Gosh! All the 'Old-men' are gone and with Stewart Downing and Alfonso Alves they have top quality,

Anyway, our defence is still a mess with Dawson, he's not so assured, but our midfield is a little lightweight also, we still require that strong defensive midfielder, the Makalele, Diarra type!!!

All in all we weren't too assured and with Sunderland coming to the Lane, am not so convinced of a win (remember last year, they started our wretched season!), and with our old boys in Sunderland now, anything may happen,

Come on Ramos we need defensive cover at the back and midfield!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A-40, how you dey?? Thats not very nice language on this thread (i.e. mofo), ( I wont bother to explain what it means).

Anyway guys, I just read this Preview article I thoroughly enjoyed !

Have a Read! Cheers!


Premier League preview No17: Tottenham Hotspur[/

[b][b]Rob SmythAugust 14, 2008 10:09 AM[/b]guardian.co.uk writers' prediction: 5th Odds: 66-1

Spurs are blessed with a plethora of attacking talent, and if they can keep their defenders injury-free, they could be unlikely title contenders
The first weekend of a new season is not unlike the first day back at school after the summer holidays. There are a few new kids to bully, and everyone wants to see what everyone else has been up to during their break. Most haven't changed much at all, save for an expensive new coat, a snazzy new haircut or a new pair of brogues from Clarks. But there's always one who comes back having had a major makeover; who is a different, barely recognisable person, and the talk of the playground.

This year, that team is Tottenham. After taking a good look at what he had last season, the impressive Juande Ramos has overhauled a decent but ultimately inadequate squad with decisiveness (seven of the side that started the first game of last season have gone, and an eighth, Paul Stalteri, was last seen scrubbing toilets), imagination (Luka Modric, Giovani dos Santos and possibly Andriy Arshavin) and audacity (Modric, Dos Santos and possibly Arshavin).

As a consequence Spurs are surely the most interesting of the 20 sides we will see for the first time in the league this weekend: partly because of their unpredictability, partly because they have bashed 33 goals in eight pre-season games, partly because they may have lost the Premiership's best strike pair and actually improved, but mainly because of the talent they have assembled.

There should be no assumptions of hegemony among the also-rans: too often in the past Spurs have presented a brilliant trailer, only for the actual movie to suck. But on paper Spurs are the best of those competing for the hallowed fifth place - and, if they get Arshavin and a proper replacement for Dimitar Berbatov, arguably even better than Arsenal and Liverpool. Certainly it's Spurs' best array of attacking talent since 1986-87, when Clive Allen scored 49 goals and Chris Waddle and Glenn Hoddle ran amok.

One thing's for sure: they should be great to watch. Of their three marquee summer signings, it's hard to know which represents the biggest coup: Modric, the Croatian schemer whose wit and grace sent English football into a prolonged bout of navel-gazing last November; Dos Santos, one of the world's best teenagers, who scored a hat-trick in his final game for Barcelona and whose signing, for a maximum of £8.6m, is a remarkable steal; or David Bentley, the best emerging player in England, followed by plenty of daylight, and someone who will surely be playing for a top-four club within two years, whether at Tottenham or elsewhere.

While Bentley is close to a banker, the Rule of Rebrov provokes legitimate concerns as to how the physically light pair of Modric and Dos Santos - and Arshavin, if his move is resurrected - will handle the muck and bullets of English football, although Modric is a deceptively tough nut. There are also issues about how the new players will gel and fit in tactically. Spurs have so many options that a best XI might not even exist. Modric, a very modern kind of playmaker, could play alongside either Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas in an orthodox 4-4-2, or wide left in the same system, or in the Deco role in a 4-2-3-1, with a combination of Dos Santos, Bentley, Aaron Lennon - whose directness offers an important complement to the patient craft elsewhere - Gareth Bale or Benoit Assou-Ekotto in the wider positions.

If only they had such depth up front. The first-team squad page on the club's official site lists only three strikers: one of those is Dimitar Berbatov, apparently about to leave, and another is Dos Santos, who is more of a second striker than a first. That leaves Darren Bent, who is seemingly about to become the first player to win an England call-up based on form in pre-season friendlies (12 goals in six games), but who surely lacks the subtlety to play up front on his own for an extended period. It would be a major surprise if Berbatov was allowed to leave without a replacement having been lined up. A big man capable of linking play, and taking advantage of Bentley's consistently outstanding crosses, would seem the most desirable option. And if they keep Berbatov? Bloody hell.

For the big man in midfield, Huddlestone, this is a huge season. He is still only 21, yet it feels like he has stagnated for the last 18 months. Excess weight should no longer be an issue now that Ramos has seemingly banned everything except water from the training ground, but the lack of bite within this gentlest of giants is still a concern. If he can add that, Huddlestone can achieve anything, because he is a brute of a man and a simply exquisite passer of the ball, particularly short- and mid-range.

Alongside him, Jenas seems to have convinced his manager of his worth: Ramos made him vice-captain, a role that has more significance than at other clubs in view of Ledley King's injury problems. Jenas hinted at the addition of the most important ingredient - authority - to his game last season, but there are still many fans who wonder what he actually does in the grand scheme of things; 12-15 goals from midfield, an achievable target for someone with his energy, timing of runs and coolness in front of goal, would be a good place to start.

Yet for all the thrilling attacking permutations on the tactics board, the key might be in the treatment room, and the presence (or absence) of King and Jonathan Woodgate. Both are top-class centre-backs, who might be inferior only to Rio Ferdinand among English defenders. But King's painfully protracted rehabilitation from a serious knee injury means it is difficult for him to play two games in a week; and Woodgate, ironically for someone who increasingly looks like he's just shambled out of a caravan park, seems to have had a curse put on him. If Spurs could keep them both fit for an entire season, they might even be title contenders.

The probable absence of one or both puts pressure on the talented but fragile Michael Dawson, who seems half the player when King is not there to prop him up mentally, and the likes of Huddlestone and Didier Zokora, who may have to fill in. No wonder they are so keen to sign the impressive and versatile Vedran Corluka. Alan Hutton and Bale are an excellent pair of attacking full-backs; and even if the new goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes has a minor shocker it will be an improvement on last season's Paul Robinson/Radek Cerny show, although for £7.8m Spurs will expect a genuinely safe pair of hands.

They certainly have that in Ramos, behind whose inscrutable phizog lies a furious, bubbling intelligence. He has experience of gatecrashing an apparently exclusive club, when he almost led Sevilla to the title in Spain, and he has skilfully built not only for the present but also the future: a possible starting line-up of Gomes; Hutton, Woodgate, King, Bale; Jenas, Huddlestone; Bentley, Modric, Dos Santos; Bent has an average age of just 23. Ramos is in this for the long haul, but that's no reason not to tick off a few ambitions in the short term.

In: Luka Modric (Dinamo Zagreb - £16.6m), Giovani dos Santos (Barcelona - £4.7m), Paul-Jose Mpoku (Standard Liege - free), Mirko Ranieri (Perugia - undisclosed), John Bostock (Crystal Palace - £700,000), Heurelho Gomes (PSV Eindhoven - £7.8m), David Bentley (Blackburn - £15m)

Out: Robbie Keane (Liverpool - £20.3m), Paul Robinson (Blackburn - £3.5m), Teemu Tainio, Pascal Chimbonda, Steed Malbranque (Sunderland - undisclosed), Radek Cerny (QPR - free), Joe Martin (Blackpool - nominal fee), Tommy Forecast (Southampton - undisclosed), Younes Kaboul (Portsmouth - undisclosed)

Well to be frank 'Boro can be a very unpredictable team on a good day, but I think we will get pass this one, then our season will commence on a good footing unlike last season.

Hey Manmustwac & Xsay, I really think Berbatov should go, in fact the team is balanced and united at the moment with the newer guys on-board and Berba's stay is just adding discontent to the team as a whole.

NO, I don't want him to go to United. I'll rather let him go to the continent (Barcelona), BUT in reality his attitude is depressing (he was unnoticed during the game with Roma) and he should just leave!

We need peace in the back room. Then we can use the money to finance another big move. Ashavin? Stalled at the moment, David Villa? Dunno wassup with his contract talks at Valenica, Corluka? Man City's holding back,

What we need really is a new face striker and a new/tested/experienced central defender,

With what I watched on Sunday the midfield (modric & jenas) are holding the ball more with Giovanni in tantem,

Anyway, The time as come for US , Let the games begin!

You have to realise that when you leave football, you have to begin at a lower level in coaching.

It is a much different world and you have to acquire all the coaching qualifications etc in order to get to a higher level.

He also is staying close to his family, maybe he's just coaching for the sheer love of the game and has other businesses he more focused on.

Come on give the guy a break!

Hey Guys!

manmustwac & xsay!

Did you both enjoy the game against ROMA?

GOOD SHOW,

ETUHU?? HE'S STILL YOUNG! RECKON HE WILL STILL PLAY FOR NIGERIA, HIS BROTHER EVENTUALLY DID

OK OK! THE OWNER OF THIS THREAD IS BACK!!! KAI! YOU PEOPLE HAVE BEEN HAVING SO MUCH FUN BEHIND MY BACK.

I REALLY HAVE TO THANK XSAY[i][/i] FOR KEEPING THIS THREAD ALIVE.

ANYWAY BACK TO THE BALL, ROBBIE'S GONE, BENTLEY/MODRIC/GOMES/DOS SANTOS ARE HERE, BERBATOV IS PROBABLY NOT GOING TO MAN UTD, BUT TO BARCELONA.

IT WILL NOT BE WISE TO SELL TO MAN UTD AND WE NOW HAVE A SORTA GOOD RAPPORT WITH BARCELONA WITH THE SALE OF DOS SANTOS TO US, ACTUALLY I BELIEVE WE SHOULD LET HIM GO, AND LET HIM GO QUICK, SO WE CAN HAVE MORE STABILITY AND PEACE IN OUR BACK OFFICE!

OK, WHAT ELSE? WE NEED : 1 DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER; 2 CENTRAL DEFENDERS (IN CASE OUR EXCELLENT SICK NOTES- WOODGATE/KING TRIP!) 1 MORE STRIKER!

RUMOURS: CORLUKA FROM MAN CITY(CD); ASHAVIN/VILLA/FORLAN/PAVLUYENKO (STRIKER), NO DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER, YET!

WHAT REALLY KILLED US LAST SEASON: POOR DEFENSE; POOR HOLDING/PASSING OF THE BALL IN MIDFIELD; POOR KEEPER; LACK OF CONCENTRATION/ZEAL FOR 90 MINUTES!

ANYWAY, AM ABOUT TO HAVE SOME BREAKFAST NOW,

SEE YA!

Take it easy Mr. Software,, we won, you guys won, but unfortunately, I really dont know who can now stop Man Utd!!!!!!

Well, good match last nite ( I had to watch it from Midnight till 1.30am!!)

Shame on HiTV, they REALLY messed up!!!

Anyway, it was another grand Spurs performance, Chelsea was also very good last nite,

4-4 it ended and we could have nicked it at the very end, kudos to Cudicini!

Arsenal to me have blown it, Man Utd need to lose and Chelsea, well we spoiled the show for them,

Really Entertaining Premier League Finale!

Good morning, May I ask who you support A-40?

Response to A-40, we started the seasson extremely badly,

Weve picked up with a new coach, new regime and a better attitute.

Yes, we lost 4-1 to Birmingham, Yes we lost 0-1 to PSV, but remember we still have our defensive frailties and OUR best defenders are still 'sick-notes!'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woodgate & King.

We have improved and improved we have, we won the Carling Cup against all predictions and we now beat West Ham (who is above us in 10th position), 4-0!

End of Season

Ramos will buy in the summer, his own crop of players, many will come from Spain and the attraction of an upwardly mobile Spurs side will convince better players to come to Tottenham,

Football is like Life, NOT STATIC, Chelsea WERE NOT a force to be reckoned with a few years ago! Things happen things change, Now in football, once you have the CASH you can achieve a lot (watch out for QPR soon!),

In conclusion , Man Utd LOST to Pompy, Chelsea TO Barnsley, Boro TO Cardiff and oh, Arsenal DREW with Strugglers Wigan, That is football, that is the beautiful game,

I for one , likes upsets, it makes the game more adorable and romantic, finally my prediction, A championship side WILL win the FA cup, I think it will be BARNSLEYor WEST BROM, They face each other in the semi's,

Have a good day ALL!!

Well, the the good guys didn't play against Birmingham, Now to more recent news! PSV!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn, we lost to them last night, F**K that!

They are a pretty good team, although Gilberto (our Brazilian debutant) gifted them the goal!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, they beat Arsenal last year to knock them out of the Champions league last term, they are a really good side, Damn!

Good test for us, moving forward I must confess, the 2nd leg will be a pretty good show, win or lose!

Have a good weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah Vieira, thank you for the good insight, how are your Gunners doing by the way, (I'll get back at you)

Anyway, peeps, I knew we were gonna lose to Birmingham actually. The euphoria was still in our heads and we also had to field a sub-standard Spurs side with Kaboul!!!!!!!!!

No Woodgate, no King, come on, what did you expect, but 4-1!!! Glad for Mikael Forssell though, he's such a fine player just like Woodgate that is injury prone.

Anyway, our attention now shifts to PSV at the Lane on Thursday, I hope King and Woodgate are back,

Well the season as a whole has not been as depressing as it started and we have some silverware too since 1999!

Ramos will definitely do well in the transfer market come the end of the season, he will buy HIS OWN players and let the lame ones like Kaboul go!

Back to Arsenal, Vieira, Po Deep is not a fanatic, I am not one either, he loves his team, but appreciates other sides that play good football, The beautiful game in NOT about irrational, blind support, but logical support for YOUR team and also giving kudos to your rivals when they play well,

In fact, I want Arsenal to win today against MILAN, I like the way you guys play, BUT I still love my team so cut US Yids some slack and lets have constructive, intellectual & honest, unbiased discuss on this SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quite Nice to see your thread,

Its refreshing to see something new in here,

Oh I'll inform a loyal Newcastle Friend of mine of this thread, however I think its coz of Martins that the support came up initially, Like how peeps started supporting Okocha's Bolton, Oh well that's moderately acceptable sha!!!!! But what will happen when Martins leaves Newcastle Does your support wane??

Its nice to hear people like Po Deep, not fanatical, loves his team and when they paly crap, he accepts that they just did that, Nice to see you and welcome you to the Lily White Thread!

Ok Guys! Damn!

I havent been on this thread for a while (again),

During this period I see the thread has been flourishing thanks to Xsay! Kudos,

So we are leaner, fitter, faster, hungrier and better than ever, thanks to Ramos, Alvarez etc, we have lost a combined 50kg , so our players move sharper and faster, Just look at the tranformation of Jermaine Jenas who always had so much potential as a kid in Nottingham Forest,

Anyway, I lost my voice as all the Chelsea supporters were subdued, Its rather pathetic that most Naija peeps are short sighted and think only 4 clubs EXIST that need support, Common guys !! There are 20 teams in the Premiership!!!!!! Jeez!!!! Dont follow the Joneses!!!!!!!!

Again Kudos to Juande for improving our fortunes in a short time, We still have work to do, Bigger stadium, Ramos buying his own players, 50kg less from our boys, no doggy hotels with laced lasagna (lol!!!), anyway, am feeling a bit down today,

Thanks to my BOYS for making me smile!

TO DARE IS TO DO!!!!!

PEACE!

Wow! I created this thread but I havent been here for a while, But I like the tone!

Anyway, we are playing rather pathetically after a good pre-season, The defence is still porous, we have no leader,,, but we showed better Character on our anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But we meet Liverpool , we arent having the best of all times, but our season might just change after the Villa match.

Anyway, back to work.

[b]PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From www.sunonline.co.uk


The battle of the big five!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

July 27, 2007


JOSE MOURINHO claims there will be five clubs in contention for the title in the new season — and the cost of success has never been higher.

Everyone knows about the top flight’s big four — champions Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

But Mourinho predicts Spurs are ready to come to the party as well.

With the Premier League contenders all spending a small fortune on new signings, the pressure to deliver is immense.

And no one will be feeling the heat more than the men whose job it will be to deliver the goals.



Here:


GOALS , Saha and Ronaldo

MANCHESTER UNITED

STRIKERS

WAYNE ROONEY (Goals last season 23, Dream Team value £8m)

LOUIS SAHA (13, £4.5m)

CRISTIANO RONALDO (23, £8m)

OLE GUNNAR SOLKSJAER (11, £3m)

VERDICT

IT is not hard to see why boss Alex Ferguson is so determined to sign Carlos Tevez.

Solksjaer and Saha are injury prone and, with the best will in the world, Ronaldo will struggle to score so many goals again from out wide.

That leaves Rooney as United’s only true world-class striker and he spends much of his time outside the penalty area.

Argentinian Tevez would be the perfect addition to the United strikeforce, judging by his superlative efforts in keeping West Ham up last season.

But the red tape shows no sign of being sorted, so Fergie may be left a little short.



BACK-UP , Kalou and Pizarro

CHELSEA

STRIKERS

DIDIER DROGBA (Goals last season 32, Dream Team value £8.5m)

ANDRIY SHEVCHENKO (14, £5m)

CLAUDIO PIZARRO (12, £3m)

SALOMON KALOU (9, £3m)

VERDICT

IF Jose Mourinho plays with only one up front next season, the prolific Drogba is in for a busy season.

If he plays with two, then Ukrainian hitman Shevchenko is going to have to show a major improvement on his first disappointing campaign in the Premier League.

Despite the arrival of free transfer Pizarro from Italy, Chelsea still look short of attacking options.



RED HOT , Crouch and Torres

LIVERPOOL

STRIKERS

FERNANDO TORRES (Goals last season 15, Dream Team Value £5.5m)

DIRK KUYT (14, £5m)

PETER CROUCH (18, £4.5m)

ANDRIY VORONIN (10, £3m)

VERDICT

IT’S all change again in the striker department at Anfield where £21.5m new-boy Torres will lead the attack while the rest battle for the right to partner the Spaniard up front.

Yet in spite of his glowing reputation, Torres has never been a 25-goals-a-season marksman and Rafa Benitez could have cause to regret edging Crouch towards the sidelines.

Craig Bellamy has also been moved on — to West Ham — so expect more squad harmony.



LIMELIGHT , Adebayor and Van Persie

ARSENAL

STRIKERS

ROBIN VAN PERSIE (Goals last season 13, Dream Team value £5.5m)

EDUARDO DA SILVA (34, £3.5m)

EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR (12, £5m)

THEO WALCOTT (1, £4m)

VERDICT

THE giant shadow of Thierry Henry still looms over Arsenal and there is huge pressure on Arsene Wenger’s young strikers to deliver.

New £10m signing Da Silva will find goals a lot harder to come by in England than they were in Croatia.

So Van Persie will carry a hefty burden after finally recovering from a six-month injury. Adebayor will give a more muscular option.



OPTIONS , Keane and Bent

TOTTENHAM

STRIKERS

DIMITAR BERBATOV (Goals last season 22, Dream Team value £7.5m)

DARREN BENT (15, £4.5m)

ROBBIE KEANE (22, £5m)

JERMAIN DEFOE (18, £4m)

VERDICT

SPURS have more natural finishers than any other club in the country and the arrival of £17m Darren Bent leaves Martin Jol with an embarrassment of attacking riches.

Bulgarian Berbatov remains his main man but whether Bent can become an effective partner remains to be seen.

Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe are also established internationals so keeping them all happy will be Jol’s biggest problem in the months ahead.

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