Leo No.8

Cisse, Morientes and Traore in my opinion are probably most likely to go. Mellor and Whitbread I can see heading for the exit door of the less well-known players.

At first, like many I wasn't sure on Crouch. But as others have said on this thread, it really surprises me to see people questioning him at the moment. Despite the fact that he hasn't been scoring, he has caused opposition defences more problems than everyone else who's played up there with him put together. Sometimes its havoc in the penalty area when Crouch is about - Dirk Kuyt would score about 50 a season playing with the big fella, he's a ginger Van Nistelrooy reincarnated, and even uglier God love him...

Didn't sound as vociferous as usual. Far be it from me to criticise any of our lads who travel far and wide to support us, they are absolutely phenomenal most of the time, heroes. Just sounded a bit quieter than you'd expect yesterday, from what you can tell on the TV of course. Don't know if anyone who went could correct me, or would agree. They'd know better than me as I'm in my armchair mostly for the away stuff...

Well in speedy - at least one red had a good day anyway...

My thoughts exactly. Was amazed to see Warnock's name in the starting eleven yesterday...

sIgN BlinKING aNYonE!

Cherno Samba...

Or perhaps Greer? She'd be stronger on the ball than Morientes and more intelligent than Cisse...

I think its the one area Rafa hasn't addressed properly since taking over from Gerard. I agree Viking that Gonzalez will help us there - he's lightning quick, but it'd be a lot of pressure on him in his first season in England to expect all that much. Thing is, players with this kind of ability guaranteed cost a lot of money. Simple as that.

Not you teasing again - come on spill the beans...

...Apart from Gerrard, we so desperately lack players who can run with the ball at the opposition. Kewell has been starting to look like the player he once was, but it's too early in his comeback to look to rely on him again yet. So still, as it has for years now, it comes down to Gerrard to run at defences; Birmingham in midweek it was him as ever, and even yesterday when he wasn't at the top of his form he was still the only player to actually run at the Chelsea defence and cut the ball back across goal. Practically every time we score in open play its down to him in some way or another. That little c*** Robben looked frightening when he got on the ball yesterday; when we played Chelsea at home Drogba ran at us and wreaked havoc. Every time we play Arsenal Thierry Henry gets at us, Rooney caused the panic which eventually led to their goal by running at us again and again at Old Trafford; we desperately need a striker who can beat players, as well as an attacking midfielder with pace to do the same. Our woeful attempts to bring in a right winger and missing out on Owen are going to prove the difference between pushing Chelsea and finishing a distant third. In the chess games of Europe, it doesn't affect us, but at home it is our biggest problem. If we want to challenge next season, this must be addressed properly with a big wad of cash.

You look at strikers around the Premier League, and our forward line. Who is the more effective, Jason Roberts or Morientes? Is Cisse really any better than someone like Robert Earnshaw? Look around the top teams in Europe and in our league and you'll see players like Henry, Rooney, Crespo, Shevchenko, Adriano, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic... We need a striker who can run at players, score goals and take some pressure off Gerrard to create problems for the opposition. People have been criticising Gerrard for his performance yesterday which amazes me - he's the only player in the side who consistently looks like getting in behind the opposing defence. Kewell has been showing flashes lately, but our lack of players who can run with the ball positively will continue to hold us back from being in amongst that top echelon of teams. We need another wide player with pace and skill, and a striker with the same, both straight for the first team. Its going to cost us £20-30m but it'd be money well spent; we don't need any more squad players, the squad as a whole is strong enough now.

Stop him Kev or you'll be run over by a bus, or even something worse may happen like you'll develop a first touch like his current namesake...

Change your forum name; perhaps not being named after quite possibly the worst £14m footballer in the history of the game would cheer you up a little...

Same here...

Crouch is being hurt as much as anyone by the ineptitude of the players he finds alongside him. He isn't a goalscorer, but people are expecting him to do that job - the lad is causing a lot of problems with his unusual frame and way of playing, but no-one is there to take advantage. A centre forward with half a football brain, a goalscoring instinct and a yard of pace would be making an absolute killing from his knock-downs and the chaos he causes in the area. Problem is Cisse doesn't have half a footballing brain, Morientes hasn't got a yard of pace and both have been deserted by their goalscoring instincts. Those two have been complete failures, and we're suffering badly because of it. Lord knows we need Robbie to get fit and quickly...

My Mrs arrived in the living room just after Robben's little performance had taken place and I was in a state of apopleptic rage. She had to sit through some distinctly colourful language as I repeatedly roared at Warnock to 'cripple the bony little c*nt, for f*cks sake break his f*cking leg'...

What disappoints me about him is I think he has the ability to be a good Premier League left-back, but his concentration and decision-making are terrible. He makes bad choices when he passes the ball far too often; you could probably highlight 5 or 6 times through the game when he gave the ball away under no pressure at all. We could also have been punished when he gave it away to Cole straight after we'd conceded the first - again he made the wrong choice by trying to carry the ball out and being too casual. Later on in the game, again his lack of concentration was to blame when we conceded the second goal as he was strolling out, fully 5 yards behind the centre-halves rendering Crespo onside. As someone else said, if Traore had made the same errors he'd have been massacred; Warnock was very poor indeed yesterday.

Souness is a complete gobschite and a dreadful manager. I'll be as emphatic as I like thanks...

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So what he won a few minor trophies? He won the FA Cup with us, but was still an abject failure as a manager. Maybe he should have entered Newcastle into the FA Vase, so when they won it he's have been a success, in your eyes at least. When you look at the enormous funds he's been given, the large clubs he's only succeeding in winning minor trophies, I absolutely believe his record is as bad as anyone's around. I'll tell you what a load of old schite is - counting trophies without any consideration for circumstance and calling that success. My Sunday league boss has won a couple of league titles - does that make him a better manager than Sam Allardyce? After all he hasn't won f*ck all yet.

You're right Lee - thats why I'd have Carra staying back. He's about as dangerous from corners as a eunoch in a tossing contest...

Here's a mark of just how good a manager Souness is. At Benfica he had Deco playing full-back. He gave Deco a free-transfer so he could bring in Gary Charles...

Oh aye!

Gerrard is actually a decent aerial threat as well - he'd be better in the box.