Gemmill

Nasty business. You'd have to be a bit of an arsehole to knock a schoolkid down, check the damage, and then take off.

Have you tried rebooting?

Pool ball in a sock.

Wait til Leazes finds out that spongebob is no better than one of those tax-dodging benefit-bludging immigrants.

A full recovery in 5-6 months is quite possible. I had mine operation excactly one year ago and was allowed to do full sports again in December. The biggest problem normally is rather the lack of match practice which means you need another couple of months to rediscover your form. 151708[/snapback] I reckon rediscovering your form as a chubby, bespectacled German lecturer is a different kettle of fish tbh.

Look at my above post, Eriksson said he was fit to play but whatever reason he didn't even make the bench. 151654[/snapback] those quotes don't paint the best picture i admit. but i find it hard to believe that a fully fit and confident michael owen would have refused to play for us, regardless of what erikson says. maybe i should be more cynical. i'm basing my opinion of his commitment to nufc on the performances i've seen him put in for us. he was obviously desperate to get fit for the world cup but does that mean he isn't committed to newcastle? was he deliberately misleading our medical staff or was he genuinely concerned about coming back too soon? i don't know. to be fair to him it was the last game of the season - he didn't want to take any chances. 151664[/snapback] A match very important to us (NUFC), the club that pays his wages. It has been widely reported that the sole reason Owen joined us from Real Madrid was to improve his England chances. Have you forgotten this? 151671[/snapback] Renton man, he came to us to get regular football for two reasons: a) he was pig sick of sitting on the bench, and b ) he wanted to play in the World Cup. You're making far too much of the England thing. Yes, he clearly loves playing for his country (although I think a lot of the shine will have been taken off by this World Cup), but he's not stupid enough to want a football career where he just went through the motions at club level to get to big tournaments with England. He's still got to have a club career and that's with us at the minute. He broke his foot and now he's buggered his knee. I don't know what you want from the bloke???

It's weird. It was such a nothing incident. No one near him, no studs stuck in the turf or anything. Just a weird buckling of his knee and now this. Apparently his missus was inconsolable during the game, bealing and that.

spongebob, I reckon you're gonna have to watch Defoe play for Newcastle next season.

I've heard he spacca'd his knee deliberately because he couldn't get stotties in Germany.

David James to partner Rooney up front vs. Ecuador.

He's a stop-gap man! You'd be looking to Defoe to get double figures and Hasselbaink to hold the fort til Owen's back. Like I keep saying, I'm not saying he's a wonder-striker, I'm saying that we're slightly screwed at the minute and have to come up with a plan that doesn't involve forking out a load of cash. I don't remember commenting on Larsson tbh, but I might be wrong.

He's currently the top scorer at the WC, so he's not gonna be cheap. Not to mention the fact that he wouldn't be interested in coming to Newcastle.

As a stop-gap I think he's an option. Either someone like that (Hasselbaink is another option) or a youngster on loan from somewhere is our best option for our second striker signing. 151578[/snapback] come on gemmill. we dont need to be raiding the boro subs bench just yet! there are plenty of decent strikers available for the right price. i reckon freddy willcome through for us 151582[/snapback] Chris Sutton? I'm serious - we have to be strengthening other areas too, and we can't be signing "decent strikers" who'll just be sat on the bench picking up wages the minute Owen's back. We need a short term option alongside the main partner that we're signing for him. I'm not suggesting that Viduka or Hasselbaink are my dream strikers, but we have to be sensible and take a pragmatic approach here IMO.

Bloke at work is saying he was out at lunch and listened to an interview with one of the England physios who was saying that: - there is ligament and cartilage damage - reconstructive surgery is required - he won't be available even to train for 6 months

As a stop-gap I think he's an option. Either someone like that (Hasselbaink is another option) or a youngster on loan from somewhere is our best option for our second striker signing.

I reckon we'll end up with Defoe and someone like Viduka/Hasselbaink. According to the Spurs ITK on N-O, Shepherd's already been onto the blower to them this morning asking about Defoe. Could be bollocks though, obviously. Talk of Torres, Toni, Tevez, Saviola etc. is pie in the sky (Saviola is a possibility on loan, but unlikely). I'm not even sure we're in with a chance of Kuyt. Seriously, if you convince yourself we should be getting these sort of people in, you're setting yourself up for a massive disappointment because it just isn't going to happen.

Owen was braver though, I remember Shearer screamed when he did his, Owen just seemed to fall to the ground with no expression on his face. Weird. 151511[/snapback] Aye, when you watch the slo-mo replay, he just looks down at his knee as if to say "That can't be right", but he never even flinches. NAILS!

I think 5 month sounds like an underestimate tbh. He's a dead slow healer, and how can they accurately predict anything the day after an injury like that. It's taken him the best part of 6 months to recover from a broken foot, the little hermer!

Have we announced it? I can just see Shepherd doing that to alert any club to whack their prices up forthwith, the numbnuts.

Is this based on the scan and medical opinion, or someone like Kenny Sansome watching the replay and making a guess? I'm always wary with SSN cos they talk such shit a lot of the time.

Do you think??

I just think we need someone with pace down the right, and Lennon gives that, plus he'll stay on the wing. Beckham would just keep drifting inside if you tell him to play on the right, and Lampard hasn't done enough to keep his place. So basically, mine's the best, so ner.

I would play: Hargreaves Lennon Beckham Gerrard Cole Rooney from now on in. Crouch comes on if we're really struggling. We need to be offering something down the right and currently there's nowt as Beckham keeps drifting in. Lampard comes on for Beckham if we're struggling an'all. FM2006-tastic!

He acted like a petulant child. For God's sake, he's supposed to be a grown up. If I went round kicking desks everytime something went wrong for me at work, what do you think people would say? This is the perfect illustration how people think that it is acceptable for footballers to behave below the normal levels of common decency. I may talk shit at times, but I find you highlighting that particualr sentence astounding. 151421[/snapback] If you screamed "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!! FUCKING GET IIIIIIIIIIIN!!!" and ran to the corner of the room and did a robot dance every time something went right at work, I suspect your colleagues would have something to say too. Are you getting how being a professional footballer and being a medical writer doesn't really bear comparison? It's nothing to do with common decency and everything to do with things being taken in context - he was annoyed and he showed it with a petulant strop. It looked a bit silly, but I wouldn't have said it was outside of the realms of decency or anything. 151426[/snapback] Alright, the comparison isn't perfect, but neither is yours. Of course players are going to celebrate when scoring a goal, it's part of the emotion and has entertainment value. However, only certain players act like twats when subbed. He was playing shite, it was for the teams benefit and his he was subbed. He acted like a twat, showing no resppect for the other subs or his manager. If you disagree then fine, I take it you're happy if every player acts like a primadonna when they are subbed from now on. 151432[/snapback] It's part of the emotion in the same way that celebrating a goal is man. You can't expect them to be full of good emotions when they score and then emotionless robots when things don't go so well. Yes, I've conceded he looked a bit daft, but I could understand his frustrations - he's come back from injury and knows he's better than he's currently capable of playing, and it must be incredibly frustrating. He let it show and I don't think that's a crime. 151436[/snapback] I just think it goes to show Rooney is not in control of his emotions, he's a loose cannon. Pampering him isn't going to help. Not that I care, hopefully he will continue to go into full self destruct mode for ManU. 151440[/snapback] Get a grip man, he took his boots off in too angry a fashion for your delicate sensibilities? 151446[/snapback] Get a grip man, I made one comment about "twattish" behaviour (imo of course), and I get all this grief! I don't care! 151455[/snapback] ....he stropped before getting up and kicking a colleague's desk.

It's Shearer all over again. Sign one of Europe's top strikers, he cattles his knee and is never the same player again. The curse of NUFC strikes again. 151439[/snapback] There are a few differences - Shearer's determination and committment to the club ensured he was an asset to us pretty quickly. I really can't see the same in Owen. And for a player who's main asset is pace, this injury may be even more significant. 151441[/snapback] Ok, so the comparison doesn't work exactly. They've got different names too.