Appears to be getting better and better. BR's interest is well documented but we clearly haven't a hope in hell of signing him. For one, Souness hates NUFC for some reason and I doubt he'd do business with us. Two - how long before O'Dreary the child snatcher attempts to 'prise him away from his club' as a replacement for Bowyer?

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001

Answers

Lynda, I thought Dunn looked ace in the U21s although, honestly, none of the others really impressed. There some nice touches but Dunn looked the only nailed on certainty for a senior cap at some point. I thought Carrick was disappointing and, in fairness, Shola didn't do much either.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001

Dunn looked like the finished article. Carrick's form is poor - he needs a move to a better club!! As for Shola he doesn't seem to be improving as well as he could but is hampered by lack of first team football probably.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001

Shola appeared to have the classic failing - trying to beat one man too many. If I was Bobby, I'd drum into him that he'd be far, far better off taking shots from ridiculous angles and distances, rather than trying to go past one more defender looking for a better shooting position.

I'd rather see him wasting balls by shooting, than wasting them trying to get past one tackle too many. There doesn't appear to be the understanding yet for his team-mates to get to positions where Shola can lay the ball off rather than beat another defender.

For what it was worth, the 'experts' were of the opinion that he still made a noticeable difference because of his height.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001

In the first half, I thought England's passing was awful and the defending was panic-stricken and Shola did make a difference in that he was able to hold up the ball. As the TV presenters said, he's got a lovely smile, too ;0) BTW, that Mendes De Silva who we were after looked ace.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001

Not sure Bill, his way into the Toon lineup is as Shearer's replacement with Chopra being another nimble, shoot-on-sight player. The targetman who can hold onto the ball is the niche he has to aim for. Reckon he has done extremely well with the limited chances we've given him. Let's face it, any time we go 2 goals clear in a game he ought to be on. Any points we might lose taking this risk will seem like chicken-feed if he suddenly gets handed a run of competetive starts when the others get injured again if he's hardly kicked a ball.

It's prfectly sensible mid-term planning: Shearer will stay fresher, Shola will progress and it won't look like desperation next time he gets drafted in. Don't forget the calmness he demonstrated at Elland Road when some of the rest were panicking. He's an odd one for us: a youngster with all the craft but not so good at the easy stuff yet.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001

That's probably the better way round Softie, the easy stuff will come with experience. He probably tries much, much harder than he really needs to because of his youth.

The teletext report seems to have seen a lot better from him than I did.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001

He'd be a fantastic buy for us.

Can't see him joining us unless Blackburn are really struggling in March or April time, but nevertheless I'd be well chuffed if he turned out for us.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001