JuanPabloAngel

Richard...Google, it's a marvellous thing. I found this:

Gordon Strachan

Friday January 28, 2005

The Guardian

I've been following the Craig Bellamy business since Sunday with particular interest, having managed Craig for a season at Coventry. I don't know exactly what brought things to a head at Newcastle so I can only go on the information we all have, but it seems Craig still needs to take a few things on board.

During the year Craig spent at Coventry I have to say he was never a bother to me. I had players who kept me up at night but he wasn't among them. On the training field he was a great lad to coach. I think I might have had him in my office once and it was over and done with in 30 seconds.

Craig has a lot going for him but he needs to learn that, for all the weapons he has - pace, goals, hunger and a great engine - what you need most as a footballer is your team-mates with you and the respect of people round about you: the manager, coaches and players.

They are your biggest weapons in being successful and what holds Craig back sometimes is his relationship with those three parties. Every top player I know is a right good lad and no problem to deal with and it looks as if Craig has got to be more player-friendly, manager-friendly and coach-friendly.

Those people don't have to like you but they need to respect you. Then if you make a mistake they'll cover for you. If you have a problem off the field they'll look after you and you'll be part of the group. There becomes a bond between you and the rest of the team.

I'm not suggesting there's no bond between Craig and the players at Newcastle. I'm not there so I can't know that. But in my experience the problem for Craig was the way he got on with players. He wasn't very political and his interactive skills could be better.

Craig swears a lot, for example. That's not just him on the field, it's the way he speaks all the time. Also at Coventry he didn't understand that not everybody is as good as him. A lot of players are like that when they're young. They think: How can he not do that or how has he not seen my run? But not everybody has that vision or ability. You have to be able to talk to your team-mates.

Craig did annoy the players at Coventry now and then with his bickering but you laughed at him after a while. Then he grumbled even more, but it wasn't a big deal.

When any player grumbles you can turn it on them and have a laugh at their expense. I might say something like "It's a bad time of the month for him." It just needed a light-hearted comment so everybody knew Craig wasn't at his best and we had to get on with it.

Craig was gobby with plenty of people but then smaller lads generally are. He always talks a lot but the trouble at the moment is he seems to be saying things that will alienate him from the coaching staff and supporters at Newcastle.

The falling-out seems to be about the position he's playing in. But if Craig wants to be at Newcastle he has to put up with certain things. You can't have the world being great for you all the time.

It's not as if Graeme Souness has picked two strikers and asked Craig to play on the wing. Newcastle are playing with one striker and then him on one wing and somebody else on the other side.

I played Craig wide lots of times at Coventry and he had some wonderful games there. I said to him that if it went wrong I'd take the blame because I pick the team and the system. He was OK but he was a young man then and wanted matches.

He was also a great trainer. He loved to get information, whether it was about his game, somebody else's game or the game in general. He's a decent student of the game and intelligent enough to pick up things that you pass on. I also found him an honest fellow. I felt that if you talked to him you were all right.

In this situation at Newcastle the only person Craig will really harm in the long term is himself. Newcastle will survive, Graeme will survive and football in Britain will survive without Craig. But he needs football. It's the one thing he really likes doing.

I can imagine what it's like at Newcastle now. Every time Graeme and Craig are close together the players will be looking for the reaction. There will be an uneasiness in the dressing room and players will wonder what will happen on the training field.

So this is a big test for Graeme. In the end the manager has to win by making Newcastle a better team. If Graeme takes them into the Champions League next season he's won, whether that's with Craig Bellamy or without him.

Judging by that, he'd be happy to take Bellamy back and Bellamy never had any run ins with him, so he probably wouldn't mind playing for him.

O'Leary should set Mellberg on Bellamy if he gets too mouthy.

Solano said Angel and DLC being here was a major factor when he signed for us, it could be the same for other south americans if we bid for them.

We could have easily got Ashton, but O'Leary was too busy sulking, claiming he had no back up target.

Steed Malbranque was brilliant today, as he was in his last game. Just shows that form is temporary, class is permanent.....we should definitely bid for him, he is so much better than any of our current midfielders.

I'm going with Palace. I think Dowie's done a great job.

Don't want the Baggies to stay up because they screwed us over twice this season and their fans are thick. Don't want Southampton to stay up because of Rupert Lowe. Norwich because of Delia Smith.

We'll hopefully have a new striker in the summer, which should mean Angel won't be on the pitch to link up with anybody.

He's always injured, rarely scores, is a troublemaker, he's south american and lightweight. I think most of you only want him because you've heard he's good or you've seen him on FM. D'Allesandro has nothing to offer us IMO.

bit like bowyer and you want to father his babies...

Nothing like Bowyer. Bowyer plays regulary, hasn't been in trouble for most of his time at Newcastle and most importantly he's proven in The Premiership.

So D'Allesandro is leaving because he's a troublemaker, he rarely plays and when he does play, he's rubbish.....yea lets get him! :roll:

Drat, dig the article out if you want. I said Liverpool were there for the taking and we had a great chance, I didn't say we would beat them, just that we could. Everton have shown that 4th place up for grabs, like I said.

*Puts blanket on Drat's cage, tells people to stop rattling it* :wink:

This whole thing started from my article. In which I said Liverpool were there for the taking in the Premiership, which Everton have shown. I was right, I never mentioned how they would do in the Champions League. JC is just getting his fanny in a twist.

Now that I've finished laughing, the only real candidate is Solano. UDLC and Barry a tie for second.

How can you laugh at the suggestion of Mellberg, then include DLC? Mellberg hasn't been at HIS best, but he's still been better than most. DLC is only getting picked because he's gone from awful to average, still nowhere near one of our better players.

Thomas Hitzlsperger

1% [ 1 ]

Ulises de la Cruz

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Tommy and Ulises' Moms must post on here.

I think McCann was our best player this season, he was playing well up until his injury, which cannot be helped.

Jez You can put that bit about me being your hero in your sig if you want, it might catch on......

Round of applause for me.

Such ashame it takes the rest of you 10 months to catch up. I was saying all this about Angel that long ago. Just like I said Sorensen wasn't in the top 5 'keepers in The Premiership and Liverpool and Newcastle were easily beatable in the race for 4th place....I don't get the credit I deserve.

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani believes the Rossoneri will lose out to Barcelona in the fight to sign Dutch international midfielder Mark van Bommel.

PSV Eindhoven captain Van Bommel impressed against Milan in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday night, but Galliani is adamant the 28-year-old is bound for the Nou Camp.

"I believe that he will be a Barcelona player," Galliani told El Mundo Deportivo, before dismissing suggestions the snub is a blow to coach Carlo Ancelotti's plans for next season.

"We already have good players in that zone of the pitch."

I think Beasley is going back to America.

Viduka's a great finisher, bit lazy, but he knows where the goal is. He'd be a good signing.

Lee Camp has signed a new 3 year deal at Derby, he was supposedly a Villa target.

Dean Ashton. Has 5 goals in 11 games. He's strong, bit slow, but he had a trick to beat a man yesterday.

Wouldn't be a bad alternative if we don't end up getting a 'top' striker like Keane, Smith, Yakubu etc.

Van Bommel will join Barca, apparently. It doesn't matter how much money we offer, he'll be off to them.

John Terry. Great leader. He dominates games, he never loses a header. He was brilliant against Bayern in both games, he held them together against Barca. He scores important goals. He is the best defender in europe at the moment.

Lampard will win because he scores spectacular goals.

Ive heard Rommedhal can run the 100 metres in 10.2/10.4!! Olympic standard sprinting that is (if true)

Martin Laursen is supposedly quicker than Rommedahl according to the Denmark coaching staff. He regulary beats Gronkjaer and Rommedahl in races.

Laursen is definitely the quickest defender I've seen this season, mainly noticed it when he misjudged a couple of headers against Boro so he had to chase back after the ball.

And Parker is off to Birmingham City, too.

For certain?

I can't see this. They're one of the poorer teams in the 2nd tier. I imagine most of the other teams in the 2nd tier will be in for him.

In an ideal world?

Bernard on a free.

Parker.

Yakubu.

Gera.

Svensson

I'd take Svensson, the ginger one from Southampton. Been out for most of the season, but he'll be cheap if they go down and he's one of the better defenders around.

Nice edit Lancs :wink:

JC, it's easy to rubbish all the players we are linked to. 'Malbranque has been poor this season', 'Gera is built up by the tabloids', 'Parker only had half a good season at Charlton', 'Keane is too unpredictable', 'Yakubu was rubbish against us', 'Berger is old', 'Huth is reckless'...these are some of the comments on the site. They are some of the better players in the league, they are all better than Hendrie, Hitz, Berson, Moore, Cole, Ridgewell IMO. In the end we will run out of targets because no player we 'chase' is perfect.

I'd say all the players linked so far would be improve the squad. They may be built up by the media, they may have bad patches, they may not destroy Villa, but they're better than what we have.

I know we have signed alot of players depending on how they've played against us, but it's not the best way to do dealings.

Rooney was shit against us, I take it nobody would want him at Villa because of this?

Imo Bernard wouldnt be a bad choice if we were to by a left back. Wouldn't want to spend more than 2 mill on him though.

Available on a free. He only signed a 6 month contract with Southampton.

Alan Brazil, Mickey Quinn, Thomas Brolin and Jan Molby hopefully. Our team lacks presence.