Page 7 of 9
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 6:20 pmby Sabre
as am sure sabre will tell you, hes a basque lad and they are made of tough stuff
We do this as sport, that stone is of 280Kg, and the record is 320Kg 
Yes he's tough, in Spain we have the reputation of being English in how we play. But we also produce skillful players.
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 6:24 pmby The_Rock
I think i am saying this for the 3888th time......Moro & Crouch combination does not work...It never did, it never has and it never will.......... 
Anyway, 3 points won...can't argue with that. But i don't think Moro & Crouch combo will get the goals needed against benfica....
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 7:35 pmby 7_Kewell
onizukaeikichi wrote:i was surprised we cant kill them off with a man down on their side... it was suffering to watch the 2nd half
story of our season........today could have easily been another Birmingham match.
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 7:43 pmby teamleader1
I was at the game, and to be honest I thought that Nando got through a lot of hard work, hes done this for a little while now, but I get the feeling that he is finding a bit of a comfort zone playing behind the forward line, even though he is supposed to be the forward line, I like everyone else in the ground admire when a player puts his shift in, but Im of the same opinion as mick,I think he wont make it in the prem as a regular goal scorer, and dont forget he was bought to end the goal drought,two class forwards to accompany crouch and fowler must be brought in over the summer, plus a right winger,
Nando & Cisse must go, they are passengers we can ill afford to carry, we cant stand still waitning for something that looks distinctly like its never going to come.
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 7:55 pmby 7_Kewell
teamleader1 wrote:I was at the game, and to be honest I thought that Nando got through a lot of hard work, hes done this for a little while now, but I get the feeling that he is finding a bit of a comfort zone playing behind the forward line, even though he is supposed to be the forward line, I like everyone else in the ground admire when a player puts his shift in, but Im of the same opinion as mick,I think he wont make it in the prem as a regular goal scorer, and dont forget he was bought to end the goal drought,two class forwards to accompany crouch and fowler must be brought in over the summer, plus a right winger,
Nando & Cisse must go, they are passengers we can ill afford to carry, we cant stand still waitning for something that looks distinctly like its never going to come.
i'd add Fowler into that bracket as well. He's slower than Morientes (ok he was never fast, but he wasn't this slow) and i've not seen anything in his performances that warrent a 40k a week long term contract
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:52 pmby teamleader1
If we give fowler a quarter of the time Nandos had to come good, then we can make a fair judgement
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:57 pmby 48-1119859832
Teamleader,
Very ture and at least Fowler looks like a threat in front of goal. Moro and Cisse do not.
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:20 pmby teamleader1
And dont forget he was scoring goals for city only weeks ago, so hes still got it
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:33 pmby Woollyback
that's twice now that rafa has taken crouch off and left morientes on the field, truly baffling.
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:50 pmby Gracias King Rafa
Just a thought but is Samaras Nando's long lost twin brother? 
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:59 pmby Archetype
Gotta admit we were kinda quiet today, the Man City fans were singin their hearts out. Hmm...
Maybe the game was too early eh?
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:10 pmby bigmick
7_Kewell wrote:i'd add Fowler into that bracket as well. He's slower than Morientes (ok he was never fast, but he wasn't this slow) and i've not seen anything in his performances that warrent a 40k a week long term contract
I'd stick with Fowler to be totally honest. My hope is that in the close season we move on Cisse and Morientes for a probable combined fee of around 10 million quid, add another ten million to that and go and buy one absolute top class striker for maybe 12-15 million, and another up and comer for 3-5 million.
We would then have Crouch and two other guys on the rotate, with our probable first choice front two being Crouch and David Villa or whoever else fits the big money signing profile, and the third choice being your up and comer.
The fourth choice striker is a difficult one. Do you give the job to a Pongolle, all the while knowing that he needs games to improve, not time on the bench? Or do you give the job to a guy like Fowler who can regularly come on in the last 20 minutes and have an impact on the game?
My suspicion is that Robbie would be happy with 15 starts a season along with 20 appearances as sub, whereas a younger bloke maybe harder to keep contented. I think his contribution sofar has been pretty good with the exception of the Benfica game, and he has yet to play with either of the strikers who he could form a partnership with. Until you see him with somebody other than Morientes, it's just about impossible to judge I reckon.
Posted:
Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:19 pmby 7_Kewell
bigmick wrote:7_Kewell wrote:i'd add Fowler into that bracket as well. He's slower than Morientes (ok he was never fast, but he wasn't this slow) and i've not seen anything in his performances that warrent a 40k a week long term contract
I'd stick with Fowler to be totally honest. My hope is that in the close season we move on Cisse and Morientes for a probable combined fee of around 10 million quid, add another ten million to that and go and buy one absolute top class striker for maybe 12-15 million, and another up and comer for 3-5 million.
We would then have Crouch and two other guys on the rotate, with our probable first choice front two being Crouch and David Villa or whoever else fits the big money signing profile, and the third choice being your up and comer.
The fourth choice striker is a difficult one. Do you give the job to a Pongolle, all the while knowing that he needs games to improve, not time on the bench? Or do you give the job to a guy like Fowler who can regularly come on in the last 20 minutes and have an impact on the game?
My suspicion is that Robbie would be happy with 15 starts a season along with 20 appearances as sub, whereas a younger bloke maybe harder to keep contented. I think his contribution sofar has been pretty good with the exception of the Benfica game, and he has yet to play with either of the strikers who he could form a partnership with. Until you see him with somebody other than Morientes, it's just about impossible to judge I reckon.
it's going to be interesting come the summer.....Cisse isn't in Rafa's plans, that's now obvious. I think Morientes is going to be more difficult for Rafa to admit to, because he knows he's a quality player but sadly not suited to the Premier league. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see.
Posted:
Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:22 amby Lando_Griffin
I thought we had a good first-half today (Well yesterday now!!!!!), and Kewell took his goal well, showing composure and skill.
In the second half I thought we missed Xabi's calming influence. (Sorry if I'm repeating anything anyone else has said - I haven't read all the posts.)
We seemed to be all over the shop, and I think Agger needs to adjust a little more before he can expect to play more than to cover injuries/suspensions. He came with a big billing as a good passer, and some of his long punts were pretty good, even by Gerrards standards (Not Alonso's, though!), but his short passes were wayward at times, and I think his nerves may have got the better of him.
He seems a decent header of the ball, but his positional gullability should receed in time.
All in all, he looks like being a top player in a couple of years.
I thought Samaras for City was a complete pile of sh*te, and I couldn't blame Sami for sticking his elbow out after the pummelling he got from the little b*stard.
Regarding the sending off: Agger was lucky to play on after Barton's lunge, as was Sami. Definate red-card.
A good result, if a somewhat uncomfortable performance.
Posted:
Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:25 amby Lando_Griffin
Regarding the striker issue - I think every man and his demented dog can see that all Fowler needs is games (to get sharp again), and a decent partner who doesn't run for a ball from an offside position, when Robbie's clean through on goal.
Again - as much as I hate to say it, we need to give the Fowler-Cisse pairing a go.