Can still only play 11 in a team waggy, and after last week I suggest Bothroyd and Dickov are in pole position with Djorkaef and Stead next in line. ps Only Cloughie ever dropped in-form players for reserve team regulars.......... but what did he know about football?

'Pacy player'?!?....... Sorry Speeedie for a minute I thought you said 'pacemaker'.

Too right Phil.......it's important.

I'm totally with Hughes here! Lets hope that early but accurate criticism motivates the pair of em enough to get their arses out of their own little personal cocooned comfort zones and fight to get in the first team squad. Lets hope that one of the things MH learnt from the old rat-faced whinger was his motivational techniques. They have certainly stood the test of over almost 20 years in charge at MU and have incredibly survived right through the troubled Bosman, Cantona, PoshBex, Keane etc years.

Blowing my own trumpet here but I posted this on the portsmouth thread... Gotta say I was mighty impressed with what I saw of Bothroyd. It wasn't much granted, but he certainly looks good, and his presence may allow Stead a little time in the reserves / on the bench to regain his confidence which it appears that he needs. Well I am even more impressed with his ability now. Dickovs fine but he needs a big man alongside, depending on Stead and Jansen to find some semblence of form would see us relegated, whilst Djorkaef is a provider. I hope this doesn't prove to be the kiss of death but Bothroyd whether he has a suspect temperament or not appears to have most of the attributes required by a good cf. He is fast, mobile, strong, good in the air, appears genuinly two footed and has good control and first touch. I know that he is only on loan but if he can buckle down, and he as at a stage in his career where he must do, then he could be the find of the season (albeit by GS ) and hopefully provide the cutting edge that could keep us up. Time inevitably will tell but his performance yesterday validated my first impression and gave me much cause for optimism.

One thing that left a sour taste in my mouth was the constant play acting by Lpool. Ok poor old Cisse had obvious justification for staying down after the incident but can I make the point here that he never moved an inch! No one wriggles about with a serious injury but particularly in the second half too many Reds were giving it the dying swan in order to get Rovers players carded. Sure Styles to his credit was in general having none of it but I bet its a tactic that Benitez has instilled and will prob work far better at Anfield. Credit to the Rovers for playing fair........ at one point Johanssen actually did the opposite by getting up and hobbling around whilst clearly in some pain. I guess that maybe down to the attitudes of both Souness and Hughes.

Indeed but he was even worse than useless at ch v Sheff Wed.

I thought yesterdays piece by Jason was excellent and forthright too aesf. In fact after I reading it I did wonder what the clubs reaction might be. ............It did cross my mind that maybe after a year and a bit of watching complete rubbish on and off the pitch he's simply pished off with doing it for buttons too! A case of constructive dismissal possibly? The latest stat which has us top of the lost sport league says that we have lost 11000 supporters compared with the same time last year.......... maybe he intends to become 11001.

Patrick Anderson played centre half for us.

Are we talking about the same man ? Yep we are Brownie Maybe I went I bit over the top on here, but to me he was not integral to us winning the league (I think even Ronnie Hildersley could have played there and we would still have won the league) and other things just go towards my feelings against him. And with that comment you just lost the last shred of credibility that you had Capt. Does your seat actually face the pitch? Or are you an aged trilby and car coat wearing stupid old git from the Riverside who all hated him cos he had long hair and misplaced one pass in 20, and couldn't see how integral he was in that team? btw how many peope have captained a Prem winning side? He's in quality company. Please dont post again on this thread.

Says it all really. End of the argument for MA I'm afraid. Prob great bloke with a good (if slow) engine, but this is about 'greats'.

Didn't he get a cap for the debacle in Dublin whilst he was with us or was that game deleted from the records?

OK but none of them played at the top level for us.

This is almost as easy as picking Duggy on the right. Clayton (one club man who captained both club and country) and Sherwood (vastly underrated in his influence and playmaking abilities, rarely missing through injury unlike Sellars Ferguson etc) captain of our Prem winning team. Sorry but any other opinion can be discounted out of hand.

it was 0-0! It might indeed make you weep, but only if you were still awake.

Oh aye, and just who is going to take underperforming, unfit players aged 30+ on massive wages from us? Get real.

I actually didn't want Mark Hughes to come in the first place and said so on here. Smashing bloke by all accounts but for us in the position we were in to appoint somebody totally unproven in club management and even more incredibly the 'players choice' ( ffs I have never heard anything so stupid as comments attributed to the players at that time callng for Hughes to be appointed ) was at best foolish and probably suicidal. Having said all that i do recognise the fact that the players he has been left with are poor, but so are the players at Everton, Soton, Palace. WBA and Norwich and they are all above us! A Moyes, Allardyce, Megson etc would at least have instilled some fight into the team. This lot (Dickov and Brad excepted) just lie down and die at the first available opportunity. So up to now I can see no sign of any motivational ability in the new management team. Still I have reason to believe that something major may be in the offing by Dec / Jan, so there may still be hope.

That same approach to the game is working well about 10 miles up the road too.

But we've nothing else to judge Hughesy on Den! And thats precisely why given our squad and position I was against his appointment. The choice of Hughes as manager represents a huge gamble by the board, and given the options available maybe too big a gamble.

Todays closest equivalent as a scheming 'inside forward' able to make ordinary strikers look brilliant but obviously without Duggies mesmeric dribbling skills would be Eyal Berkovic. As for those 30 caps. Gained after displacing Tom Finney and Stan Mathews from the England team! Just how much does that tell you about his ability? btw I bet it was Jim who voted for Fergy, probably with the intention of keeping Duggy for the inside forward position. Am I close Jim?

Yeah Paul...... Like Burgess, Richardson, Peter Thorne etc?. Panic selections are invariably useless.

Crikey! That must have well hurt! Come to think of it though, I reckon its almost impossible to chuck one of these new st thingy's out of your own piggin shadow.

Blimey Scotty. To misquote the Greatest....... Bergkamp, Sheringham and Djorkaeff! If Gally ever dreames of being mentioned in the same breath as those 3 he'd beter wake up and aplogise!

Gray! Matteo! and Short! in a back three Impossible! Milk turns quicker than any one of them! The only way anything lke that would work is if we adopted shady (but ruthless) Allardyce / Beck / Moyes type tactics and brought the touchlines in by about 2 metres each. hmmmmmmmm

Granted these two should know more about footy than me, so many on this board want to see him playing (even at the expense of Dickov ffs!) but for the life of me and try as I might I cannot see much remotely resembling Prem quality in Paul Gallagher. Is it me or does anybody else share my opinion?