Fabio Quagliarella

He is one of the strikers to be linked with Manchester United. A relative unknown, he has made a name for himself this season with a couple of stunning goals for Sampdoria. Man Utd are reportedly tabling a 11 million pound bid for him. He got his first Italian cap this season.

Standing at 182 cm, he has clinical finishing, accurate long range strikers and possesses the knack for the spectacular. He has scored 13 goals in 35 Serie A games this season.

Here are some highlights of this 'future' Man Utd striker, perhaps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh2m2Gu0cQA

In response to Adrian's Vieri long-range strike, our boy here can do it as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhaIq9W_cI

My team

Some may not be on form but if you ask me to name a team to save my life, this would be it.

4-3-3

Cech

Essien-Carvalho-Terry (C) (Carragher-based on this season)-Gallas (Cashley)

Lampard-Fabregas-Gerrard

Ronaldo-Drogba-Rooney

Sub: Reina, Gilberto, Carragher (Vidic), Berbatov, Henry (Scholes)

( )- performance based on this season who should be in the team

Premiership Team Of The Season

I thought I'ld start a more interactive blog.

Put in your Barclaycards Premiership team of the season in the comments.
As we all support different clubs, its gonna be hard to be as un-biased but please try =).

11 players in any formation, with 5 substitues and a captain role.
Feel free to expand on your particular choice if you feel the need.

Here is mine:

Formation - traditional 4-4-2

GK: Ben Foster (With defenders like Shittu and a club almost destined for relegation from the get-go, Ben stil managed to NOT conceed the most goals in the Premiership in 06/07. This experience will only make him stronger. Will be a force *finger-crossed* with United next year)
RB: Gary Neville (C)
CB: Nemanja Vidic
CB: Ricardo Carvalho
LB: Patrice Evra
RM: No lollies for guessing. The real Ronaldo
CM: Michael Essien
CM: Steven Gerrard
LM: Ryan Giggs
CF: Diddier Drogba
CF: Dimitar Berbatov

Subs: Van der Sar, Jamie Carragher, Mikel Arteta, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney (23 goals this season, enough said)

Very non-biased selection. =)

I want everyone on the list putting their team selection up.

Why I Know Allardyce Would Be Good For Newcastle

Yes, yes we all know about Allardyce's achievements. How he worked with a shoe string budget at Bolton yet still manage to transform them into a club challenging for a UEFA Cup spot etc etc.

Discarding Titus 'Clown' Bramble, is the biggest reason why I think he will be good for Newcastle. All the managers which has taken over the reigns at Newcastle, Robson, Souness and Roeder somehow persisted in using Bramble in their starting line-up. Ridiculous. One of the first things Allardyce did as manager of Newcastle was deciding not to renew Bramble's contract which I think is a stroke of genius. I am sure he will make a move for Ben Haim whose contract is running out soon.

Good luck to ALLARDYCE and good BYE to BRAMBLE!

Food for thought #31

A : Manchester United may have won more silverwares than Arsenal, but did you know that Man Utd actually came from Arsenal?

B : How's that?

A : coz manure comes from the arse

so the season at the epl is finally over. congratulations to mu, rather deserved champions but that adds to the hatred even more. but this post is not about singing their praises. rather id just like to say that the relegation battle was very interesting indeed, and theres nothing i can add here that you cannot read elsewhere. just glad that westham survived the drop. a club with so much tradition shouldnt be playing anywhere but at the top level. was thinking about napoli, a club of similiar stature, powerhouses of old. am also glad that theyre 3rd in serie b, with a realistic chance of mingling with the serie a big boys and regain former glories. i dont pretend to know the detailed histories of both westham or napoli, but i know enough to consider them as sleeping giants. unfortunately the modern game is obssessed with the bank. these sleeping giants should just jump onto the bandwagon and entice some rich american fucker to buy success. i wouldnt mind that.

*****

so harry kewell is back from surgery by his famous australian surgeon. played against charlton and played well, rather surprisingly. will he make the starting eleven for the athens final and hobble off to make way for better fortunes? hmmm.

Abigail Clancy

Who is Abigail Clancy? Well... she is Peter Crouch's girlfriend! Goodness man. Lucky Peter Crouch. Damn!

*click picture to enlarge, this pictures are not safe for viewing at work

If you compare Crouchie's girl and Rooney's wife, Coleen McLoughlin (in case you are blinded by Abigail's hotness, Rooney's wife is the last picture in this post), who is more Shio? FUCK YOU man, I can't believe you are even thinking. Of course Crouchie's girl la! Even a blind man can tell.

Buruk la Rooney. She can't even get a job and only spend Rooney's money. At least being a lingerie model offers you good pay for making the world a Happier place.

John Barnes - England's Greatest Goal?

I was talking to Adrian the other day about John Barnes. So I decided to YouTube him. This goal is amazing. It was as though he was teaching the likes of Pele and Zico how to score.

"The 10th June 1984 will always be a day to remember for Barnes, he scored one of the most breathtaking individual goals ever seen, when he outpaced and out-thought several Brazilian defenders before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting the ball into an empty net during a friendly match at the famous Estádio do Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The goal brought him worldwide fame but also a sense of heavy expectation, with unreasonable observers and supporters expecting him to produce moments like that on a match-by-match basis."

Giuseppe Rossi

In discussions with Manchester United fans, the topic of Man Utd needing another striker was always brought up. In our youth squad we have this kid, Giuseppe Rossi. I'm pretty sure most of you have heard his name. He was loaned out to Newcastle earlier in the season, played 13 games but only started 5 of them with only 1 goal to his name.

Then during the winter break, he was loaned out to Parma. Parma is involve in a relegation battle. However, they now sit 13th in the Serie A albeit being only 3 points away for safety. A huge part of this maybe down to Giuseppe Rossi. Since joining Parma, he has started all 15 games and scored 7 goals along with 3 assists.

He stands at 173cm and has a slight frame in comparison to guys like Rooney or Ronaldo. This begs the question on whether he can survive the physical and lightning-paced nature of the Premierleague. Also, he may be too similar to Rooney for them to start together, as both tend to prefer playing behind a targetman upfront. Despite all that, there is no denying that this 19 year old has talent.

"Rossi's agent, Andrea Pastorello, has admitted that he is a big fan of Milan. Pastorello has also said that Italian giants such as Milan, Inter, Juventus and Roma are all following him. In the past, Rossi himself has exclaimed that he is a great admirer of Van Basten and dreams of wearing the Rossoneri jersey in the future. Van Basten was also a famous Milan striker with Rossi bearing similar technical characteristics to him. He is contracted with Manchester United until June 2010. It is anticipated that he will spend the majority of his career at Manchester United who see him as a great prospect for the future and would not let the circling vultures of the Italian giants to pick the bones of a player they overlooked as not being good enough."

Here are some highlights of him playing for Parma this season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBxOEcxxOA&NR=1