JaseFace

Souness was a defensive midfielder? Now I've heard everything. What a fucking spaz. Do you even know who it is that you're talking about?

If only English people weren't so obsessed with tackles...

Why? What makes you think that? If you mean we wanted Downing over Mata in the sense that we weren't interested at all in Mata, then I can't find fault. If, however, you mean we had both of them on a list of potential signings and it came down to a straight choice between the two of them and we chose Downing, well then you're a disengenuous whopper, regardless of what Mata's da told you.

Mata's dad said he'd join us, you think? That's it? That's your whole argument as to why we could have signed Mata but chose Downing instead? Not one single journalist that was close to the club ever suggested we were interested in him but you reckon his dad said we were in for him. Despite the lack of Champions league or even Europa cup football , despite the fact that Chelsea are a much more attractive option, for a variety of reasons, you think we could have signed him but chose Downing instead. Just have think about it, just for a minute, before you commit your thoughts to words that I then have to read. For the love of God, please, I implore you.

Indeed. It was your conclusion that was bullshit.

I couldn't agree more with Zig - he's a good player that's not hitting his straps and probably needs a spell on the bench. And i couldn't care less that he cost 20 million, or whatever. Anyone thinking Mata was going to come here is as deluded as the ones that think we had a shout for Aguero instead of Carroll. Utter nonsense. Mata, like Aguero, had his pick of clubs - I doubt we were even on the shortlist.

2003: some of it spent on loan at Sunderland. You can fuck off with using that as a stick to beat him with. He'd not even got into the first team. 2004/2005: first full season and has a stormer. 2005/2006: misses 5 months with a serious knee injury. I don't know why I'm engaging with you, I really don't, but I'm going to stop now.

Last season at Boro, he handed in a transfer request in Jan and Boro got relegated. Unsurprisingly, he had a poor season. First season at Villa he sustained a serious injury, possibly just before he joined them, I think. So, first season at a new club + serious injury and Downing fails to make an impact. What a surprise. Second season, settled and no injury problems and he gets player of the season for them, which incidentally means far more than those fucking stats you've put up. Foolish, foolish stat boy. You thought you saw a pattern emerging from the stats and you've bravely tried to fashion a reason to go with it. Unlucky. Perhaps this will teach you to be more distrustful of stats in the future and to use your fucking brain and eyes a bit more. Look at the time you've wasted both yours, mine and everyone else. Downing is settling in at a massive, massive club - way beyond anything he's ever experienced before. He could have had a couple of assists and a couple of goals but he's been a bit unlucky/shitwhatever. He's a good player and he'll be much better for us in the future, barring injuries. He's not world class, I don't think anyone thinks that but calling him mr average is just plain old retarded and calling someone a dickhead was just uncalled for. That's the second retarded post of yours that I've spotted recently - is this a pattern?

I'd like to see a 3 man midfield with Spearing, Adam & Steve. A front three of Lewis Carroll and Bellers. Skrtel and Agger at CB, with Johnson and Enrique at fullback. Not sure about the goalie - can we not play an extra man in midfield instead?

You must have missed the plethora - that's right, plethora - of quick, first time passes up to the front two against Stoke. That was the bonus for me. Thundering into the tackle I expect from the little red goblin. Quick incisive passing through the oppos midfield was unexpected.

I hope you're reading all this, Michael. In case you were wondering which way the wind was blowing these days...

Unless, of course, the Police knew at the time they had blundered...

The unnamed Tory MP was the Right hon member for Finchley, obviously. Thatcher owed the police big time for the miners strike, as did Murdoch for Wapping. A rather disgusting quid pro quo seems quite likely, does it not? The Sun was always the mouthpiece of conservative propaganda back in the day - see 'Gotcha!' and other bullshit like that.

My footballing hero was and is Kenny Dalglish. He's never let me down and I doubt he ever will. I feel very sorry for the younger generation of fans - they might be mostly SkySports blerts, but prick them, do they not bleed? The game has changed and not at all for the better. In no way is this seen more clearly than the estrangement between player and fan.

As far as I'm concerned, the only player bought with an eye to the future was Henderson and then latterly Coates. Everyone else was part of the here and now - even Carroll. Carroll may end up being a fantastic striker in the future, but at the age he is now, he's already proved he can hack it at this level. If anyone - our owners, or our more deceived fans - thinks that we can overturn several years of underinvestment and our best players leaving, in two transfer windows, they are off their fucking titties. Arsenal imploding has given us a sniff - no more than that - of 4th place. 100 million my arse! 50 of that went on replacing the 50 million pound striker we'd just lost. I think we've bought players for now and a couple for the future. As it should be.