Rumours worringly surfacing again about Steve Stone coming to NUFC with Griffin going in the other direction.

If there is a semblence of truth to this is it a clear indication that we'll be playing 5-3-2 next year. Wayne Quinn is a natural wing back and Stone is a adept at the right wing back position.

Robson has stated in the past that his preferred role for Dyer would be part of a three man midfield.

It would also enable us to sign another Geordie in Robbie Elliot to compete with Quinn for the left wing back slot.

Solano wouldn't fit into a 5-3-2 very well.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

Answers

Hughes O'Brien and another the new dominating Centre Back for the back three?

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

Actually, after his goal celebration in the Cup, I'm not sure he's not a Makem in disguise. I can't help thinking that the club are taking our demands for more Geordies a bit to literally. Interesting that a Griffin swap is being mooted. My Villa mate thinks Griffin is the most over-rated player in our squad....

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

That's cos Ginola lasted 70 minutes before he had to be subbed, if you were a really classy full back Gregory wouldn't have even bothered picking Ginola

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

Griffin is one of the few players in the current squad worth keeping.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

You're preaching to the converted, Rik. Actually, according to Mr Villa, Stone is the only rightsided midfielder they've got and he just can't see it happening.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

if there was ever a reason to hibernate in the summer and pray to the gods above that some disaster befalls the board at nufc, this has to be it. ;(

FFS. Either interpretation acceptable...

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

What the f*ck is going on here. How can robspn seriously be considering such a move. What does Griffin have to do to convince Robson that he is better than Barton. The one criticism of Griffin that I have heard come from Robson, is that he reckons the lad's a bit on the short side. Bollox, it's not as if he's playing in the centre of defence.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001

You could add: continually injured, reluctant to get forward and disappears after half an hour. Aside from man-to-man-marking jobs (the simplest job in football as you have no responsibility for anything but your man - e.g. Charvet marked Ginola in the 1-1 draw against Spurs at WHL but nobody seems to rate him as a defender) he has demonstrated very little in the reserves (when fit) to suggest that he should be an automatic choice for the first team. He's been here under 3 managers who have all considered him second choice at best and you can't tell me that they all had it in for him.

The constant elevation of other players through their not being Warren Barton is seriously counter-productive. The reality is that in the position of right back we have such a paucity of talent that Barton will remain first choice (warts and all) until a new and better player is signed. Barton is suffering his worst spell for 4 seasons, is clearly injured (you don't go from being the fittest player at the club to one of the slowest in 3 months otherwise) and would deserve a decent chance to get over it instead of being publicly humiliated. Sadly, Griffin has developed yet another minor injury and I defy anyone to name one of the reserve right backs without looking them up.

Of course, while we rail and hurl abuse at Farcelino and the rest of the shirkers, we insist on attacking a player who turns out week-in- week-out however bad his form or lacking in confidence he is. He's played right across the back 4 and twice in midfield this season and has been entirely alone in giving his best (however shit that best may be) for the full 90 minutes every week. When you crap on a bad player doing his best rather than good players doing as little as possible you use a value-system I simply cannot identify with. The fault here lies not with Barton for trying to do what he's been asked to and paid for, but in the manager for picking him (supposing that someone else currently here will do any better or try any harder) and the club itself for selling Charvet without signing a replacement: Griffin's injury-proneness is not a recent development and they should have seen this coming.....either that or they recognise that Barton was one of the most reliable and improved players at the club for the previous 2 seasons and didn't expect his form to slide.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

We're sorry Mr Barton. We love you really. And we're sure that punting the ball upfield to nobody is really a good tactic. All is forgiven.

Sorry for being an arse. I do genuinely agree with tfhe above sentiment. If YBR asked any of us to play right back, we'd give it 100%. We know we'd be shit, but we'd have to trust YBR's opinion and play. We can't blame Barton for playing when he's asked.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Another spirited defence of the Brazilian Warrinho there Softus - though on the Griffin tack I think you raise both valid and invalid concerns. Def agree re. his atrocious injury record of late, but reluctance to get forward & disappears after half an hour... ????

I'll just point to the Spurs semi at OT to show the level of what Andy Griffin is capable of - with Bobby Lee he absolutely played Ginola off the park until Daveed was spared further humiliation by being substituted. How many PL right backs you can say that about in recent years ? And having got Ginola in his back pocket, Griff goes on to make a number of right-sided overlapping breaks in the second half & in extra time when the rest of the lads are winding down. Get the lad fit and to my mind Barton would be an acceptable reserve right back for another season or two while we see if AG really is the finished article.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

The thing with that semi was that Griffin, Lee and Howey each came accross and planted Ginola. It was beautiful. Clearly pre-planned because if the same player had kept doing it he'd have been booked. Got the distinct impression when I watched the video the next day that Howey and Lee were settling a score there.

The bottom line though is that if you are told to stick to one player like glue and anticipate his runs, it's a lot easier than being told to cover everything down one side of the pitch and get forward whenever you think it prudent i.e. we'll shit on you for not getting forward and crucify you if they score while you are upfield. I know which job I'd prefer.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Try telling that to Dabizas and O'Brien after Owen took the piss out of them.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

The thing that gets me is that Barton is universally reviled because:

a) He keeps giving the ball away.
b) He keeps backing off.
c) His positioning is awful.

I have always agreed with c), he assumed he would be played in midfield like he was at Wimbledon (that's why he cost 4mil by the way folks, going rate for midfielders) but has worked hard to hold down the only place open to him.

The bit that annoys me though is how people account for him "always giving the ball away" when he surely can't win it through "always backing off". That's the point where you begin to notice that he always makes himself available. If just 2 of the others tried that once in a while we would have a thing called "options". Sadly, Warren gets the ball, looks up and is faced with a wall of opposition shirts with a stray lock of hair here or scrap of black and white shirt peeping out there from behind them as that bunch of shirkers hide.

This has left him with the unenviable choice of either hoofing it up field (surely his duty as a defender with no options) or running into trouble with no support leaving a space behind. In recent weeks he has finally been presented with an option since Dabizas steps into space alongside him giving him a flat pass (also followed by a hoof forward but without the booing) as an option. He has even taken to passing it back to Given since no other bastard wants the ball but he gets booed for that as well. It must be great playing for the best and most knowledgeable fans in the world.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

I have been a critic of Barton for a few years now however I am rational enough to understand and agree with most of what you are saying Softie.

You can only pass to what you see which may be his problem sometimes, because more often than not he is looking for a Michael Owen to catch some of the balls he forces forward. True it is a fault of our side that we don't have the forwards to offer this but if the option is not there, why continue to go for it? It would probably work if we had Shearer back or a Mark Hughes!

His positional sense is exposed too often by his defensive colleagues who do not understand the concept of the 'shift defence'.

In these exposed situations he is left to make a decision and invariably Barton is seen to be wandering with his blonde locks bouncing up and down in a wide open space wondering where to go.

It is testiment to Warren that he tries to plug the gaps but if he stuck to his man and left the men in the middle looking stupid they would get the flack and not him.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

That's why he's been wearing the captain's armband DB, he takes responsibility.

As for hoofing it forward to an imaginary Owen: he doesn't have a choice. Nobody comes short for it, the medium options hide and he's left with hoofing it into space as his priorities are:

1) get it away from our goal
2) avoid sending it into a 50/50 situation since only Speed can head the ball
3) don't wait until you get caught in posession.

The ball will keep bouncing in between our forwards and their keeper. The real question is, who nailed our forwards' feet to the floor?

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

He could try taking a man on like a true Bartinho would! (JOKE)

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Apart from the commitment bit which I'm sure he does have, all the excuses for his failings could be as equally put against any of our defenders. If he has no other option but hoofing it forward then so does every other defender.

If the defence is blameless then it must be either the midfield or the forwards to blame. For the first half of the season we had an apology for Shearer as a centre forward, injured, static, back to goal, but always trying, cn't be his fault. Cort was injured early so can't be his fault. Cordone took Cort's place and we can't accuse him of hiding, just of running into blind alleys with his hair in his eyes. Shola was a breath of fresh air, putting himself about.

In midfield, Solano has been told to stick to the wing and when Dyer was there this worked fine as Dyer was always running. Speed/Acuna/Lee all do stacks of work that none of us see and are indispensable to the success of the side.

Having looked at it like this all I can seem to conclude is that it is the fans fault. We have not made the noise of previous seasons, despite a higher position than of late. We have criticised players who are trying their best and made things worse. We need to get behind our team more and support the players in black and white and then we'll return to the glory days of ........

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

There are certainly players as bad as Barton in the team but that doesn't excuse him being shite....and yes I do blame the manager for picking him....

He's a fucking useless steaming pile of wank...put him out to pasture...

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

we need some fresh faces badly

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Not true Swift....we need some football players badly!! and a manager/coaching staff who can meld them into some semblance of a team!

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Swift, I think that Gary Speed has proven us both wrong in his time at the club and is now indisposable

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Speed will be off to Fulham in the summer once they make another bid, following their failed attempt on transfer deadline day.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

I agree, Speed is indisposable at the moment, Neee b@ggar wants him!!

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Actually in Wozza's defence, when he was being laughed at at Anfield on Saturday, I remembered the crowd singing "Barton for England" because he played so well in the previous year's fixture. There was also a reasonable case for him being in KK's England squad this time last year. Seems like a long time ago, but it happened.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

You must be imagining it Dougal. I've lost count of the number of times this season where the team has been operating like a well- oiled, precision-built machine. Slick interpassing has left the opposition completely flat-footed as our confident and joyous players switch the point of attack at will. Just as Dyer has shrugged off half a dozen tackles and is shaping to shoot Barton appears from nowhere, nicks the ball off his toe as, dribbles down the other end and slots the ball home past a despairing Given. It could all have been so different if only they would let Griffin onto the pitch with his wheel-chair and drip. Apparently he has illegal tread on the tyres.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2001

Actually, a further memory is of Freddy Shepherd saying that he thought England would have done better with Barton than with Frankneville in Euro 2000. I don't remember that causing too much merriment on here. I admit that his form hasn't been great lately but don't crucify a good man.

-- Anonymous, May 11, 2001