Dr Gloom

it's like choosing between being being burried alive or hung, drawn and quarted. neither are going to be a good option. Not really, both are far better central midfielders than Smith. i'm no fan of smith as you know.

it's like choosing between being being burried alive or hung, drawn and quarted. neither are going to be a good option.

"this matter is best disposed of from a great height...over water"

trainspotting

slightly more obscure than most we've done so far but one of my favourite films "you come in here with your hearts bleeding all over the floor about slum kids and injustice. what's the matter with you guys? He's got to burn! You're letting him slip through our fingers."

jaws

Blazing saddles yeah, made me giggle just typing it out

i think that's it. if so, here's another belter "sheriff murdered, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped"

big trouble in little china?

Airplane? correct

just realised i think of the next one. here's another easy one to keep things rolling "looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue."

trading places. next

is smith ever going to get a game up front again?

you could be right as hughton seems to rate barton, but who sits and holds the midfield if we play that line up? I'm assuming we'll play a five man midfield with Nolan given license to come forward like we did last year which would negate the need for an out and out holding midfielder. We may as well start with ten men if we play Smith, God knows we'll finish with that man players on the pitch. got it's depressing isn't it. man u will tear through whichever midfield we put out of the current lot. just hope it isn't too big a caining.

anyone seen the pictures of barton's tache? too funny - he looks like a west end of newcastle charver.

Man U, Man U will tear us apart....again. Big Andy to tear Vidic a new one. i'm just hoping rooney carries on his world cup form into this game

you could be right as hughton seems to rate barton, but who sits and holds the midfield if we play that line up?

without further additions, i reckon this is probably our strongest lineup. we will probably go 5 in midfield against man u. looks like we'll do well to avoid a spanking. -----------------------------------harper pirch--------- campbell (if fit)-----------collocini------------enrique -----------------------------------smith -------------------------guthrie------------nolan ---------routledge---------------------------------------jonas ----------------------------------carrol bench - krul, williamson, barton, lovenkrands, best, r taylor, (xisco/vuckic)

pretty gash this like

Canny, really? Or just better than the dross we have? And I'm not even sure about Zamora in that respect, he had a great season last year but before that was an absolute joke. Maybe I shouldn't have said I wouldn't take either Cole or Zamora, but I wouldn't pay a fee for either one. problem is it would be a hefty fee for either because they're english. you'd get much better for the £5m+ either of them would cost if you looked abroad

i didn't think smith would do much here but i've been amazed at just how crap he's been. same goes for barton.

i always thought shola would become a half decent player after shearer packed it in because the two weren't suited to playing alongside each other. turns out shola was just always shite and had nothing to do with his partner. the smith comment is a funny one. can't remember who it was that noticed but when i was trawling back through old threads, someone pointed out that he's on a goal run of 2 in 5 seasons.

probably had one of those inclusive all you can drink and eat honeymoons by the looks of it

sol-ossus campbell's response "It's pathetic. I had been training for three days – just three days. I am three weeks behind everyone else in pre-season. Don't they know I have just got married and been on honeymoon? "I accept that the picture wasn't flattering, and I do need to catch up on my level of fitness, but the training kit was not very flattering and showed up all sorts of things. The truth is that I am now in better shape than when I started off back at Arsenal after a long lay-off. I got myself back into shape at Arsenal, and I think I had a reasonably good end half of the season. "I am a naturally big guy, but I cannot rush my conditioning, otherwise trying too much too quickly could result in injuries. Of course I can understand the manager wants me to be in the side, but the season starts in just two weeks and I really need three to four weeks to get back to peak fitness. "I've seen it all before, done it all before, heard it all before, but that means I also know exactly what to do. It's a long season and I cannot listen to idiots. I know these things cannot be rushed. What I do know is that I will achieve peak fitness given the time I need to do it. It might be that I will need to play and then put in extra training in between games.

i'd probably take zamora and cole ahead of lovenkrands and probably carrol too because they've got the pace to play the lone ranger role. that rodallega got me a few points in fantasy football last year. don't know if he's a one season wonder but he's got the sort of movement our front men lack. lovenkrands looked a good striker in the championship. i'm not sure he's good enough to be more than a bench warmer this year. hope he proves me wrong obviosly as it doesn't look like we're getting a new striker in any time soon.