Baggio

This is like a school boy scrap!

Someone to chat to over on N-O, keep you entertained

Is your mate Kingdawson stopping in too?

A lot of money has gone on the Porto/Arsenal match on wednesday to be a draw, that result would see both teams qualify to the next stage of the competition.

Is it down again?

I'm on the under 2.5 goals today. 1.73 (about 3/4) on Betfair.

I have to agree with Leazes here, that is plainly not true. When Bellamy first arrived he was a nothing player who'd just flopped at Coventry, he'd only managed 4 caps for Wales and most thought we paid over the odds at the time. Martins on the other hand has managed to score 1 in 3 at a far bigger club than we're ever likely to be, got an average of 1 in 2 in the CL, 7 in 6 in the UEFA cup and 11 in 13 for his country. For someone who likes to spout about facts so much LM I hope you enjoy these, do you think the Bellamy we signed then is better than Shevchenko now? after all he hasn't settled in yet and with your poor knowledge of football outside of this country I doubt you've ever heard of him. BTW are you still backing Roeder? I've asked you several times over on N-O yet you seem to be avoiding the question. You're a clueless arse. A few people rated Bellamy before he signed for Newcastle. He was a bargain and it was obvious in his very first game, if you couldn't see that it is confirmation you are blind as well as having poor judgment. A few goals doesn't make Martins a better footballer than Bellamy. Bellamy is a support striker, again if you can't appreciate this - or the difference between the roles - by now and cling onto a goals stattistic then it is simply more added proof that you are clueless. BTW, I am not avoiding any questions unlike quite a lot of people on here and NO. And to be honest, I don't give a flying fuck who is better than Craig Bellamy, all I saw is a player who was brilliant for Newcastle United and prolonged Alan Shearers career by at least 2 years. I mean, I can ask you a question. Are you really so dumb as you seem ? [but to be fair you aren't the only one] Very very few had seen Bellamy never mind rate him Leazes. He was appalling all season at Coventry. He himself acknowledges that he had a poor time at Cov. He was injured prior to that at Norwich so how people had managed to rate him is beyond me. Norwichs live performances on telly were few and far between. I thought his pace would be useful and a few Norwich fans I knew said he would do well but beyond that few people had a clue about him. Shearer benefited, but it is daft to imply that the partnership was anything other than complimentary. Certainly 70 goals didnt score themselves. If it was that easy then the 27 year old Craig Bellamy would have more than Alan Shearer scored in those 3 seasons. Martins needs time and decent players around him. It is unfortunate that some hanker after an arsehole who couldnt give a toss about anyone but himself. That statement is so bound up in empirical evidence that it doesnt need qualifying. Nor reiterating no matter how fanciful the defence of him can be. Give Martins a chance and wait til we have someone worthy of the shirt to play alongside him. He has shown decent glimpes and scored good goals. However, he is ploughing a lonely furrow when we boot 50 yard balls over his head. We wont see anywhere near his potential in my view until we get shot of the current manager and/or replace half a dozen faces in the first team. Well I thought he had good potential at Coventry, when he played through the middle near to Hartson it was obvious it was his best position rather than out wide where Strachan played him [good manager and better than Roeder because he's won the Scottish League ] and I was very pleased when we bought him, although I realise I have no proof of that, having said it on talk of the tyne and the old nufc.nu forum at the time. Of course the partnership with Shearer was 2 way. But Bellamy and Robert DID catapult Newcastle from being a mid table team with no pace or creativity into a top 4 side. Most players only care about themselves, people generally do. Bellamy however played over 50 games for Newcastle with a knee needing surgery, you won't find many players doing that. Martins may just need a chance, but I - along with isegrim - share the concern over his wild finishing and slashing at chances. You either have it or you don't. Micky Quinn was a player who wasn't really good outside the box but inside he was deadly, accurate and came alive. You watch him...he only needed a split second and 99 times out of 100 he hit the target, no matter where or how the ball came to him, the keeper had to stop the ball or it would have been in. Thats an example of a limited player, but one who had the goalscoring knack. If Martins is going to be an out and out goalscorer, and not contribute much to team play, he needs to be accurate and take his opportunities to justify it. I obviously hope he does, as he has pace he would be hard to contain. The purchase of Robert and Bellamy were right for the positions that needed filling at the time. They helped the rest of a very good midfield and attack push us to where we got. We also had a very effective Gary Speed and highly effective Dyer Solano conbination in Dec/Jan/Feb and more the second season. On top of that we had a bloke who could finish like no other Newcastle player (or any other club) recently had. They didnt catapult us, they were the last pieces of a jigsaw that was very effective. Splitting hairs I know but it always suggests to me that they did more than the rest and they didnt. It was highly effective team play. At present we are nowhere near buying for appropriate positions, have a bloke injured who could replace Alan Shearer but we will see, Martins is nowt but a youngun who needs time. He COULD be very good but we wont know til we sort out the rest of the shambles. Even our back four in that first season of Hughes, Distin, Dabizas and O'Brien were light years ahead of our current set up. Its hard to see one player from the current side who would oust one player from that side on current form. Duff has the ability to but hasnt managed to as our system just isnt working for him either. Emre is a good player but limited when we need some physical presence. Parker is good but not as good as many rate him - certainly Gary Speed was better and offered more going forward. I would personally prefer to see him as a box to box player with somone commanding alongside him in the mould of Sissoko or Papa Diop. Martins needs someone up front with him as I mentioned. The back four need binning altogether. Not one of them from Ramage, Taylor, Carr, Babayaro or Bramble is good enough for the shirt. Its hard work at present but its been coming for a long long time. Mismanagement of players, wasting money on clueless managers aswell as players acting/playing like arseholes have all been evident since 2003-4. something has to change. Whether it is policy or personnel is open to debate but watching that shower of shite in a stadium well short of capacity should send alarm bells ringing. Good post gram. I agree, top post LeazesMag - I'll ignore your insults as its clear you're still upset with me for saying your forum was shit

As Renton has said, I was talking about their career before they joined Newcastle. Having said that Bellamy did have the advantage of playing under a far superior manager who actually uses tactics, he also partnered one of the best strikers in the league at the time. Martins on the other hand has to play under a clueless manager with long ball tactics and has the pleasure of partnering either Shola or Sibierski. If the whole team were playing well apart from Martins then I'd be worried about him, but as the whole team looks awful, is creating nothing and seems as motivated as they were under Souness then I'll reserve judgement on his Newcastle career. The same as most have with Duff.

I have to agree with Leazes here, that is plainly not true. When Bellamy first arrived he was a nothing player who'd just flopped at Coventry, he'd only managed 4 caps for Wales and most thought we paid over the odds at the time. Martins on the other hand has managed to score 1 in 3 at a far bigger club than we're ever likely to be, got an average of 1 in 2 in the CL, 7 in 6 in the UEFA cup and 11 in 13 for his country. For someone who likes to spout about facts so much LM I hope you enjoy these, do you think the Bellamy we signed then is better than Shevchenko now? after all he hasn't settled in yet and with your poor knowledge of football outside of this country I doubt you've ever heard of him. BTW are you still backing Roeder? I've asked you several times over on N-O yet you seem to be avoiding the question.

Martins has been poor so far, but has he really been that much worse than the rest of the squad? Everyone seems to be playing below par with the exception of Carr, Ramage etc who are playing to their usual shite standards, Parker played better under Souness than he has under Roeder this season and Duff has gone from one of the best wingers in the league to average in the space of a summer. They're not on their own, Solano was one of our best players at the end of last season yet some are writing him off as 'past it' after half a dozen games this campaign, Zoggy looks lost and Taylor is looks like he's been taking tips off Bramble on how to defend. The blame has to lie with Roeder, his tactics this season seem to be for Martins to stay close to Shola and feed off any flick on or have Emre play 70 yard passes behind the opposition back line and hope that Martins gets there before it reaches their keeper. We'll never get the best out of him like that, he's a far better player than Bellamy was when he first arrived but with the right coaching we transformed him into an excellent player, I just can't see Roeder and Terry Mac doing that with Martins.

He's certainly not the sort of player we should have gone for if we were planning on playing long ball football all season.

If a bookmaker has set his odds wrong he's well within his rights to cancel the bet, even if the event has already taken place. Its happened to me a few times.

I will bet you 100 quid and give you odds of ten to one that you are wrong. Having had my nose stuck in Harrington all week, I'm tempted to take you up on that offer, even though I know it's wrong. He's wrong, I think The Fish is getting confused with Texas hold 'um and Omaha.

Just been playing on Betfair poker for the past hour, started with £20 and finished with £62.45 Quite a few pissed up mongs on there.

Just starting on BBC2 if anyone's interested...

And Children of the corn

27 so far.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/kmki...adult-celeb.jpg

Just got one of these, a Nokia 6234 Anyone know if they're any good?

£240 on a O'Neill snowboarding jacket. I'm shite at it but I look the part

I've got a Sharp 903v The camera is top quality but the phone is just to big.

About the same for me, if the roads are clear I can do it in 4 hours 192748[/snapback] You must be close to the motorway, took me 7 hours last time. 192751[/snapback] About 15 miles from the M5, pretty straightforward from there. 192752[/snapback] Jammy bugger, I've got 2.5 hours of single carriage way before I get to the M1 192753[/snapback] How much does it it cost you in fuel? I usually end up spending around £80!

About the same for me, if the roads are clear I can do it in 4 hours 192748[/snapback] You must be close to the motorway, took me 7 hours last time. 192751[/snapback] About 15 miles from the M5, pretty straightforward from there.

About the same for me, if the roads are clear I can do it in 4 hours