Shabado

I still don't understand why this 50k seater stadium is expected to fill when Goodison doesn't.

He'll suprise a few people, he's no world beater but every seems to be expecting him to be shit. His close range, tight angle volley for Leverkusen was one of the best finishes I saw all last year, if it'd be Rooney we'd be seeing it every day on some Sky Sports advert.

Tevez was West Hams best player all season, even before he scored he was clearly a class above every other player they had. I'm not saying he's the best player in the world, but he had an excellent season, not just 3-4 months. He was played on the left bloody wing at first by the twat Pardew. As for the World Cup, he barely played as the Argie system meant Crespo and Saviola were prefered. Not the best player in the World, no, but would clearly be a huge asset to Man U. Saying that, if they get him I think it'll be a loan. 20 million is far too cheap, given the dodge guy that owns him is all about the money.

A 4 year contract wouldn't be smart, seeing as if he's a success we'd be renegociating in 2 years time. If you're going for 5, why not 6?

He was poor in the second part of the season, but then there was a lot of speculation about him leaving - him meeting up with Bayern chiefs and the like, and he's not the only player to suffer post World Cup. For the first half of the season he was brilliant, which is an understandment if anything, as were Bremen, but it all went tits up for both of them. Is a shame, for about a year before the last mid season break they were, in my opinion at least, the best side to watch in Europe. Not the best side before people start jumping on me, but Diego, Hunt and Klose would be breathtaking at times, and the rest of the midfield wasn't exactly shite. Defense could be though, but that was part of the charm. Toni is excellent too, regardless of what anyone says. He doesn't get nearly enough credit for his link play. Fiorentina were a noticeably different team when he wasn't playing, so much of their play went through and around him, and he still manages to get onto the end of crosses. He was playing injured for a good few of his games last year too. Would have been interesting to see exactly how well Fiore would have done with a fit Toni all season and without the point deduction for being cheating bastards.

Crouch always scores against teams of a standard that England traditionally have difficulty beating? Jesus, drop the fucker. International teams are mostly shit, so if he scores against shit, I fail to see a problem. It should be fucking praised. Stupid twats. Rooney generally scores never, but the Beeb still spend half an hour after every England match telling how key he was. The CL must be shit too though, because wasn't Crouch 2nd top scorer this year?

Another great goal today for Voronin and a good performance all round I thought. No links to it, but it was a sweet finish.

Tevez was awful for West Ham when they tried to play him wide, I don't understand the logic in saying he could play wide here. He's a striker, end of.

So, he'd rather the team that was caught match fixing and shouldn't even be in the CL this year won? Riiiight. The whole "Champions only" arguement is bollocks. If only the champions played in the CL, it wouldn't get half the interest it does today. And can you imagine the articles calling for a return to the top x teams when someone gets to the final without having played one of the dangerous European teams? The only problem anyone can really have with the CL format is that it's all but killed the UEFA cup.

Well, at least I appreciate my humour. Basically, you might want to post a link, not everyone is a multi-board lurker/poster. I do know the song your on about though.

Celtic sang it first.

I will have to remember that. I've been watching Ashton since he broke into the Crewe team in the 2nd Division, and watched him make the step into the 1st Division and then the Premiership without it phasing him at all. He scored, what, 20 goals in half a season for a completely shit Crewe team that went something like 20 games without a win after he left. He kept Crewe in the Championship that year and he was only there until Christmas. Plus, he looks about 40 but he's still only 22 years old. I should shut up about Ashton though, like I said it hardly matters.

Saying you don't rate Pennant and saying he didn't stand out at Birmingham are two very different things. He's been one of the few Birmingham players to come out of this season with any credit, and has been head and shoulders above the rest of the team at times. That said, head and shoulders above complete shite isn't necessarily that high. I rate him though, would like him here.

I think Ashton is a cracking player. Lived in Crewe the past 13 years, so I've developed a soft spot for them. Tend to keep tabs on all the Crewe players that move on. Don't think there is anyone better at attacking a ball into the box in England right now, and he's the type of player that is a nuisance even when he's having a bad game. I'll be very suprised if he isn't 3rd choice for England by the time the next Euros roll by (behind Rooney and Owen, but offering something different). Would love him here, but I can't really see him moving again. He's only been at West Ham half a season, and was only at Norwich a year before that. Added to the fact that West Ham don't need to sell, and that they paid over 7million for him anyway, I think discussing Ashton is all a bit pointless. Makes you ask why I'm discussing him, doesn't it?

Bit of a miss leading title, no? And Ferdinand is shite at holding midfield. I'd rather have Phil Neville. That's how bad he is.

Suprised me to read that Crouch has 12 goals in his last 24 games, but I suppose baring his early season, erm, barren spell he's done pretty well.

Robben was signed in the January transfer window before Raneri left, as was Cech. Sky likes to give Jose credit for some reason though.

I liked the black tops the subs were wearing, personally.

Winds me up a bit too. It was expected though, the Chelsea bandwagon is where the ratings are, forget about which is the more interesting encounter.

We were always amoung the top spenders when Evans was in charge. 10 or 15 million was a massive amount to spend in one summer back then, times changed. Was Collymore not a British record transfer when he signed?

I remember Camara going on loan to Celtic last year, with Celtic paying a 1.5 million pound loan fee which was a record at the time. If a club doesn't want to loan a player, a fee is normal. Think about it, while they're away for a year their contract winds down so they lose a little value. Also, if a club is willing to pay 16 million and sign a player for 4 years, it works out at 4 million a year anyway.