craig

Hutton would have been a certainty had he been here for the full season. Cuellar for me - I would have McGregor second and probably Weir after that.

The only thing that spoiled Thomson's day was the first-half booking which now rules him out of the next Old Firm game at Parkhead on April 16. That is a real shame as he really drives our midfield. Good thing though is he can be replaced by Hemdani, although a different player he has good qualities too.

Cheers Gribzy boy !!

But he retracted his comments on the Taylor tackle, right ?

Again you are being selective with what you post Jon. How about going on to say that the day AFTER the game Wenger came out and said he was rash with his "ban him for life" comment and that he had said this the day before due to the raw emotion of seeing his players leg basically snap in two. If you are going to post one side of an interview I think you should be balanced enough as to give him credit for retracting that comment afterwards, when he had calmed down. You hit the nail on the head Gribz - any manager worth their salt will NEVER criticise their own players in public, it isn't good for morale - but the chances are that Diaby loses wages over his tackle (I still havent seen it). As I havent seen the tackle I am surmising here - but could by "protective" Wenger mean that Diaby feared that either he or the other player were going to get hurt so he was making sure it wasn't him ? For Jon.... I am GUESSING with this as I havent seen the tackle.

I was shouting at the TV for the first 60 mins of the game for Broadfoot to show McGeady inside !! McGeady had Broadfoot for pace every time he had the ball yet Broadfoot continually showed him outside, knowing full well he would get skinned for pace. When you dont have the pace you should force the player inside where you can get help. Broadfoot isnt an RB though so hopefully we can get Papac or Smith back for LB and then have Whittaker over that side. Notice how WS beat Chesney tactically though.... in the 1st half Celtic were outplaying us primarily because IMO Samaras was dropping off the front line and because McGeady was skinning Broadfoot. In the 2nd half WS made some tactical changes and both Samaras and McGeady were pretty much non-existent. Chesney is having a laugh if he thinks he can compete tactically with WS !

Ummmm, yep - that is EXACTLY what I meant to say. I should have said the "official reason" they wanted it postponed was P O'D's passing. It was obvious they wanted it postponed as Hutton was still here but looking like leaving and McGeady was suspended - etc etc etc. Yet here we are the ones justifying THEIR paranoia !

Not voting..... Out of those 4 even as a gooner I would be tempted to vote for Wenger though.

Nope, same rules... but then I havent ONCE spoken of Wenger's defence of the tackle - read my posts and you will see that - I CAN'T comment on his defence of the tackle because I havent seen it !

Umm, Craig wasnt ignoring, Craig was out for dinner. YOUR point in the thread is the tackle/sending off - MY point is that he is no different to ANY other manager in that he will not openly criticise his players in public - if he did I would actually think less of him. Makes sense not to affect team morale and keep it in house (and I bet you that WS does the same). Did Wenger see the tackle on replay before making that comment Jon 0 you originally said you don't know - makes a world of difference if he did. If he said it was protective AFTER seeing it again then that is different than if he is basing his opinion on only seeing it in real-time. As I have said before, I cant comment on the tackle itself because I havent seen it. I dont think we are being blinkered at all - Gav has not defended his description of the tackle. We are simply saying he is no different to the vast majority of other managers. It would appear that you are more blinkered in your dislike of Wenger and Arsenal. I am just glad Arsenal will pump Liverpool oot the CL next month to shut you up :fish:

But what manager would openly criticise his own players ? It is detrimental to team spirit. That is all that Wenger is doing IMO - defending his players in public - no different to SAF, Mourinho, Benitez et al.

FFS - the reason the two OF games have been at Ibrox is because THEY wanted to postpone the New Year game due to Phil O Donnell's untimely death. Did they expect the SPL to somehow alter the fixture list to ensure that they had a game at Parkhead prior to this fixture which hasnt been moved ? And as I said before - those players did NOT withdraw from the Scotland squad - the Scotland medical team withdrew them because they were not fit ! Muppets !!

Sorry, should have said most of our players - I didnt think Davis had a great game to be fair, but what would I know.

Brown was pish, Nakamura was pish, McGeady was the best of a bad lot for them but still disappeared 2nd half. Thomson was easily the best player on the pitch. The Sunday Mail (or is that Liam after all.....) seemed to get our players ratings spot on but seemed to attribute a point or two extra for each Tim !

EXACTLY. Ref played advantage, he got a shot away - you can hardly go back and give a pen after that. Typical moaning Tims - never their own inept performance but always a conspiracy !

Great article S_A - that needs to go on newsnow. I whole-heartedly agree - Thomson has outshone his old team-mate. Thomson to me looks more cultured, more refined, with better judgement and a better reading of the game. I don't necessarily think we made a lucky escape with Brown but I doubt we would have got value for money on him (although if you believe the hype the Tims could get double what they paid for him). I think that Brown and Thomson could have been very effective for us - but as of this moment I am MUCH HAPPIER we got Thomson and he has already, for this bear, proven value for money ! He should be getting the "Hartley" role in the national team for me.

Novo barely budged Boruc, he almost bounced off him. But got to love the wee man, he is scared of nothing. And yes, I think that our team spirit is the biggest difference between the two squads.

You like the short articles then Jon ?

I dont think Wenger had a pop about Taylor's tackle at all - that is clutching at straws - I saw the interview but not the tackle. Wenger was asked what he felt the tackle was like by comparison to Taylor's and simply gave his opinion that there was no comparison because Taylor's tackle was higher. I hardly think that is having a pop - he was asked to give a comparison and he said there was none. That isnt having a pop at all.

But why do you only ever seem to have a go at him ? MOST top managers have the very same attribute Jon.

Someone at Setanta is also at the wind up then. It was on after the game yesterday that Steven Davis was MOTM.

How about doing an article critiquing Arsene Wenger and his comments Jon ? :fish: How long you signed off for this time ?

Had he seen a replay of it ? If he had then he would be making a reasoned interview (I havent seen it so cant comment). If he hadnt seen it then he can only go on what he saw at the time of the incident - and we ALL can get that wrong. You really have a stick in your arse about Wenger Jon. He isnt the only manager to defend his players you know - but he didnt even defend Diaby in this instance.

gisabeer - someone is at the wind-up with you. As Pete says, the Setanta MOTM was Steven Davis.

Technically I think we can secure it prior to the split - if the Tims lose their next 3 games (unlikely) whilst we win our 4 games prior to the split then it is all over. The SPL have a problem because if we haven't won it by the split but win all our games up to the split then they will have to make the first game post-split an OF game to ensure we dont win it in that game or take the risk that we win it with results against other teams so the last OF game means nothing. They will likely make the first game post-split the OF game but that game could very well, to all intents and purposes, win the league for us.