Mad Scientist

Apparently he has a clause written into his contracts so that he can watch all the matches from everywhere he's filming on-location.

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There were rumbles from Spurs but they'd just bought Defoe. It wasn't until Defoe got injured that their interest became serious. I'm assuming we did look at alternatives (Saviola's name cropped up a few times), but at the end of the day decided that the offer was too good to turn down.

We only got a decent offer from Spurs at the last minute. So Rafa has a choice - keep Keane in the squad for the rest of the season or sell him now for a 3 or 4m loss (actually less when you factor in the wages we'll save). Given Keane's underwhelming contribution to the cause so far and his failure to settle properly or strike up any understandings with our other players, it seems likely that he wouldn't have played much if he'd stayed. His value could well have dropped significantly lower as well. Plus we'd be paying a big salary to someone who wasn't contributing. So it was a combination of two things - we get a good offer for a player, and at the same time that player has been underperforming. The downside is we don't have time to get in a replacement. So it's up to Rafa's judgement - is the squad we have good enough - without Keane - to provide cover for Torres if he gets injured (or needs a rest)? Would Keane staying significantly strengthen the squad? The ability gap between Torres and any of the potential replacements is massive - we'd be gambling on the fitness of Torres whether Keane stayed or not. I would guess that Rafa decided that the squad was good enough without him.

Actually now that Keane has gone I'm hoping the standard of discussion will rise tremendously - because we'll not have to listen to you bleating about him all the time.

Kuyt is not enough of a flat track bully. I think the same thing about Masch - needed vs the very best teams who otherwise would pass us to bits in the middle of the park, but he doesn't offer enough going forward (and you probably don't need that level of defensive cover) vs mediocre teams.

Don't understand this argument. The fee we bought him for was 19m (the extra was performances that he will now never play). It looks like we've sold him for 16 rising to 19, so it looks like an initial 3m 'loss'. Except we'd have to pay him the best part of 2m in salary over the next five months, possibly more by the time we'd got rid, with no guarantee of recouping even as much as 16m in the summer, and half a season of having to listen to the press and their endless handwringing over Keane being dropped or treated like a dog or having a sore toenail or other insanely boring tripe. Having now got rid of Keane we don't actually need to mention him again, except to thank him for scoring some goals against the Mancs. He came, he was judged to be not good enough, he has now departed. Thank you, and goodbye. Time to move on.

The 'smithdown smokescreen' - sounds more like something from american football.

At least he has a song he can sing while he's there: (Oh yeah) All his life he been in the dog house We guess that just where he belongs That just the way the dice roll Does his dog house song Ain't the kinda blues he has for one day He has it his whole life long Ya got ta be a professional To sing the dog house song Robbieee! Does airshots Robbieee! Waves his arms Robbieee! Sits on bench Sings the dog house song! Dog house! The dog house The dog house! Ya hear his dog house song

The Mancs have won 7 games 1:0 in the league this season, we've won 2 by that score. They have the knack of nicking a goal when it's 0:0 late on and they have the knack of holding on to their 1:0 leads if they get a goal early. We (on the other hand) have drawn a bunch of games 0:0 and have let a couple of 1:0 leads slip. We need to master the art of winning 1:0.

The other problem with the 'form criteria' is what do you do if you all your wide players are off form at the same time (as ours arguably are at the moment)? Do you play the ones that offer the most in other aspects of the game (probably Kuyt and Riera) or do you go for the more hit and miss talents of Benayoun and Babel and hope that they can play themselves into some form?

The implication is that someone who has had two good games and then doesn't play the next is suddenly going to lose their confidence and form. I don't buy it. Why would they? Sometimes we go two weeks without a game (international breaks) - do all our players suddenly lose their form if they don't play for a couple a weeks? No. Why would a player who plays at the weekend, in midweek and then gets a rest at the weekend suddenly lose their form for the next midweek game? What happens when one of your 'on form' players has a stinker? Do you play him in the next match (or three) in the hope that he regains his form? Or do you put someone else in and give them a run and a chance to build up some form? How do give players who aren't 'on form' - and aren't playing - a chance to build up their form? What happens when one of your 'on form' players gets injured, and the guy coming in hasn't played for months? I dunno, but it seems a little simplistic to me.

11 goals in 137 appearances for Spurs, according to the infallible wikipedia. Pennant got 3 in 55.

Complaint? We should make it crystal clear to the FA - in no uncertain terms - that we are absolutely 100% delighted that the spurs manager is talking about buying Keane, and we encourage him to not just talk about it but do something about it too.

I can't recall us ever playing it.

Have they actually played together as a central defensive pairing yet?

This was the kind of game where we miss Crouch. I know 'lump it up to the big lad and feed off the scraps' is not the most elegant kind of football, but at least it would have offered another option rather than constantly trying to pass our way through a well-organised wall of 9 players. I'm happy overall that we've switched to the 4231 system, but we need more attacking quality in one or two of the three behind Torres, and in one of the two deeper midfielders. I think both Masch and Xabi are excellent players, but it's rare that you'll see either bursting from deep and I think we need someone who can do that half a dozen times a match as well. We're also looking useless from set pieces again (the Newcastle game was an aberration due to their rank defending) - we need to start nicking a late goal from a corner or free kick.

That was one hell of a pass for Gerrards second. Inch perfect. Even - dare I say it - Guthrie-esque?

Have you ever seen Groundhog Day? Didn't you just ask me that?

He did well again. A few moments of inexperience but overall he performed very solidly. He turns 20 in January, and Agger and Skrtel have both (just) turned 24 - we look well set in defense for years to come.

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