Those of you who wanted

[wiw]

[Reece]

I wouldn't dream of naming them

And I'm going home now so that's your lot.

[MrMichael]

Oh dear, this might not end well

Its amazing what you can find in the Trash if you know where to look Reggie.... ...... trust me, leave it alone

[Reece]

Oh dear, this might not end well

Its amazing what you can find in the Trash if you know where to look Reggie.... ...... trust me, leave it alone

As you know, I know only too well :sniff

[Kenneth]

I bumped that a few months ago so it's pretty fresh in the memory. Syd saying something like "Torres is decent but won't score many goals" was a good one.

Bob: "I don't think he'll be a success in his first season."

AFII "Torres isn't that good in the air."

But to be fair:

Tee: "I rate him very highly from the limited times I have seen him. Looks strong, athletic, quick, good in the air and a 'Rafa type player'. All good."

[Skillz]

So are we now.

Only we got Xabi like accuracy from the majestic Pepe.

(By the way, keep meaning to ask any of our Spanish speaking members, how do you get Pepe from Jose Manuel?)

If only every team allowed us to play the long game. I suspect it won't be long before no team dares attack us, such is our devastating ability on the counter. Rafa just has to break down the walls at Anfield and he will.

Rafa is building his dynasty

[DannyMan2006]

Agree 100%. Also against Man U, Dossena's goal came from getting on the end of a Reina goal kick. It wasn't a long ball drop-kick out of the goalie's hands aimed at anyone in particular, or just hoofed upfield in blind hope, it was just a bog standard goal kick that Man U's defence didn't deal with

Actually was it not a clearance from Martin Skrtel??

[DannyMan2006]

If only every team allowed us to play the long game. I suspect it won't be long before no team dares attack us, such is our devastating ability on the counter. Rafa just has to break down the walls at Anfield and he will.

Rafa is building his dynasty

Absoloute key for us to win the prem. Real, Mancs and Villa played an open game against us and we ripped them apart. In fact in all our big victories the opposition has attacked us and allowed space for us to play.

We are the best team in Europe when it comes to counter attack football and is a large part as to why we are the number 1 ranked team in Europe. But put two solid banks of 4 in front of us and we struggle.

[Joe King]

Let me bump up the Torres thread in General Football

[simey85]

In agreement with this thread, while o'neill is great at organising teams and motivating players i've always thought thats about as far as he'll bring you, at celtic i think he was very lucky to have larsson on fire to make a pretty ordinary side into something better!

[DannyMan2006]

In agreement with this thread, while o'neill is great at organising teams and motivating players i've always thought thats about as far as he'll bring you, at celtic i think he was very lucky to have larsson on fire to make a pretty ordinary side into something better!

I would say he was in a **** league with only one other decent team and really did no better than I would expect. Basic tactics too and he really struggled in Europe, but that is also to be expected. Bar runners up in the UEFA cup I should add - to Mourinhos divers.

But lets not forget he also managed other teams and he excelled at Wycombe and Leicester. A good manager and he is doing a good job at Villa. He has lived up to expectations so far at both Celtic and Aston Villa, but done nothing sensational that would have me praising him from the hills.

To break the top 4 would have been his best achievement to date and something worth writing about.

[Neil Young]

I don't buy all this Bible stuff about the etymology of the nickname 'Pepe.' It's possible of course but I think it's more likely to be an urban myth.

Lots of diminutive nicknames in Spanish have very little to do with the associated original name in phonetic terms. 'Paco' is short for 'Francisco' for example. I think it's far more likely to be a baby name (like 'Didi' for 'Dietmar' or 'Momo' for 'Mohammed') - the repeated syllable is further circumstantial evidence.

The fact that 'Jose' is the Spanish equivalent of 'Giuseppe' (and there are close linguistic links between Spanish and Italian) with its "pe" syllable and the consequent likelihood that 'Jose' is itself a contraction of 'Josepa' (or similar), as suggested earlier by Joe King, plus the fact the Basque version of the name is 'Joseba' (strengthening the interpretation that 'Jose' has lost a syllable) also support the idea that the diminutive, 'Pepe,' has its origins in the phonetics of the name instead of a rather fanciful notion of a direct Bible connection.

[Leyton388]

Martin O'Neil as our manager bow your heads in shame and go and join the buffons who wanted us to sign Darren Bent instead of Torres.

It was like watching the old Wimbledon play, I'm sure at some point in the 2nd half I saw Wally Downes launch one towards the head of John Fashanu.

O'Neil has always been a long ball merchant and as for playing a RB in Luke Young at LB and picking Nigel Reo-I've always been **** but thought I was the bollocks Coker at RB while you have a LB in Nicky Shorey that you've spent circa 8 mill on warming the bench is clearly all the signs of a manager capable of running our club.

The only shame is that I can't see them getting anything at OT and that Arsenal will finish in the top 4

[simey85]

I would say he was in a **** league with only one other decent team and really did no better than I would expect. Basic tactics too and he really struggled in Europe, but that is also to be expected. Bar runners up in the UEFA cup I should add - to Mourinhos divers.

But lets not forget he also managed other teams and he excelled at Wycombe and Leicester. A good manager and he is doing a good job at Villa. He has lived up to expectations so far at both Celtic and Aston Villa, but done nothing sensational that would have me praising him from the hills.

To break the top 4 would have been his best achievement to date and something worth writing about.

I think he done well at wycombe and leicester because he organised them well, and he is very good at that. Just the fact i look at some of the players he buys and they're usually 6ft bruts, i think likes the long(direct) game and could never see a o'neill team playing great football. He's had plenty of money at villa and the only real skillful player he's got has been young!

He also has a habit for buying players from his previous club!

[Ben_Itez]

I think he done well at wycombe and leicester because he organised them well, and he is very good at that. Just the fact i look at some of the players he buys and they're usually 6ft bruts, i think likes the long(direct) game and could never see a o'neill team playing great football. He's had plenty of money at villa and the only real skillful player he's got has been young!

He also has a habit for buying players from his previous club!

Are you Alan Shearer per chance?