Just noticing that yet again in the Pink (in the "You're the Manager" section), the supporter says that his first move would be to sell our South Americans. This is starting to p..s me off a tad. Acuna has a fantastic work rate and will always hold a place in my affections for his running like a mad man at the Spurs game when we were down to 9 men. He did some relatively valuable defensive work last season, too. Then there's Bassedas. Admittedly he started poorly but I think he may be like Solano and need that settling in season. He hasn't whinged about anything and seems determined to make a go of it. I also have a feeling that his passing may be too good for the rest of the team. You see him putting a ball into space and our lot just look at it, making him look like the tit. Reminds me of what Pedro said about playing in the lower divisions - they are so bad, they make a good player look even worse. As for Cordone, he cost 500,000 and owed no one anything. Anyone agree/disagree?

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001

Answers

Then there's the Nobmeister...

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001

Couldn't agree more Dougal. I couldn't understand why Bassedas was dropped for Lee in the Munich game. Lee is all too predictable so our lads know what he'll do, Bassedas plays a lot of good balls through that need our lads to antcipate or start running earlier. I've only seen Bassedas play a few times but in those near the end of the season esp. Sunderland away, he was a class above, not diving in but eary passing that a player such as Andy Cole would love.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001

Bobby was played against Munich purely to get fit - with Speed it would tighten things up.

If Speed gets injured Lee is our only holding midfield player until Acuna gets fit - then there'll be 3.

Bassedas was a class above the rest last season - Beardos comment is spot on -- but if he's putting it into space then the players should be told to make the runs into that space by the coach - oops he's gone to Soton - and now we're scoring goals.

Give Bassedas a run and I reckon like Nobby he'll turn into a gem.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001

I've avoided being critical of Christian Bassedas as he seems a very genuine pro, has knuckled down in his new environment, learned the langauge, and had some injuries that hindered his acclimatisation. He is also as brave as a lion.

Having said that, some of the praise he has been getting on here imho seems to be way, way over the top - either that or I must have missed all of his best games.

In all honesty, I can't recall a single "intelligent pass into space" that his colleagues "haven't been able to read". In fact, the only memorable thing I can recall him doing was cleverly beating that Belgian blerk and laying on our goal at SJP recently.

To be clear, I'm not knocking the guy, and I genuinely hope he settles down, does the biz this season, and becomes a massive star for us - but let's keep a sense of proportion. He still has a helluva long way to go - even to displace 35 yr-old Rob Lee.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001

I was on a flight to Auckland on Friday (from Sydney) which was the destined for Beunos Aires so I took the opportunity to have a chat with a guy that had a River Plate shirt on. He reckons that Bassedas is a great player and that he will do very well for us. I think he could be right.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001

Haven't gotten to see much of Bassedas, but for me he was a revelation in the Leeds home match last season. I couldn't believe one of our own players was passing the ball so well. If it's the other players' inability to get themselves into positions to take advantage of his passing, then that needs to be addressed pdq. He also played out of position much of last season. If played in position, and the rest of the team learns to play with him, he could be very good for us.

And his attitude has always been great, right down to proudly talking about how his young son had already become a Geordie during some newspaper interview last season.

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001

The anti-South American thing is a little strange - we have generally had far more problems with our European imports. The present bunch - Solano, Bassedas, Acuna and Gavilan seem solid professionals and genuinely good characters. That is a lot more than could be said about the following selection of European comedians - DD, Andrea, Sylvia, Franck the Pie Man, and Marcia, to name but a few.

The South Americans have all struggled to settle in and really show their skills - and perhaps this is where the negativity is founded - but they certainly don't appear to have lacked character, application or professionalism.

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001

Another thing about this "South Americans don't work" is that a certain George Robledo is one of our greatest EVER servants.

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001

I didn't read the Pink article so I can't comment on that. However, isn't much of the "criticism" of the South Americans down to Nobby's absence and the potential effect on the squad if say, Nobby, Acuna and Bassedas were all away on some tin-pot (sic) competition? That to me is the biggest risk of having someone from that part of the world. Hopefully any signing we make from that part of the world would be a (potential) international. Unless we can get them to aggree (cf Acuna) to forego internation appearances we will always run the risk. One, or possibly two could possibly be accommodated as long as we had a good squad and it didn't interupt the formation (ManUre can lose players on a regular basis but have a ready-made replacement). More than that and it would be foolish.

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001

Faustino Asprilla done alright while he was here, nah it seems like the writer wants a scapegoat the nosedive in form since Keegans departure.

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001