Phil236849

alonso is not going to play in the hole behind crouch. he does not have the mobility or dribbling skills

mate, you're way wide. like a geoff thomas finish 1. the point for saturday is that we cant win the league this season, and there's no real difference between 3rd and 4th 2. i think you're in a minority of 1 if you think that a full rest doesnt benefit players (many of whom may have been playing solid for best part of a year) before a match of the intensity that we will see at stamford bridge. let alone the risk of injury.

you would have thought the favourites would be: putterill lindfield astratjeveciscic hansen although some may be too young. other possibilities - ryan, threlfall and spearing. that's my guess anyway

heres to resting 8 players who will start against chelsea reina arbeloa sami paletta riise pennant zenden momo gonzalez fowler bellamy

oh yes that's right...still...i think he's flattered by barca...

there was a quote from xabi recently suggesting he was seriously flattered by reports of barca's interest. i think he's a catalonian, so there probably isnt one team he'd be tempted by more than barca. he's also waxed lyrical before about playing with xavi i think. given the ruling, he would be affordable, if barca decided to go for him, unless we secure him on a longer deal b4 the summer. i get the impression the other deals are about agreeing terms, with the players wanting to stay, but xabi needs to be persuaded not to hold out for his dream team. the good news is that it sounds like we are making progress, but until a new deal is announced, there must be a risk that xabi will leave this summer

apart from putterill who was by far the stand-out player i thought

was i the only one who didnt think it was remotely a pen? always bad to slide in the box ad not contactc the ball but i didnt think there was any conact with brandy until brandy stood on spearing. marwood was going on saying there was no reaction from spearing - phucking drove me mad - you saw spearing say to the ref immediately after that he didnt touch him - he was professional enough to accept the verdict though. but if you dont have a tantrum you must have fouled him of course and ronny didnt help saying it was deffo a pen either..grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

official site says astrit aj is missing 2nite after all, back for return leg

apparently hit the post twice and was again one of their better players on sat

copy and pasted this from RAWK - hamill is getting some excellent experience up there HAMMILL: DEFENCE KEY FOR PARS Dunfermline winger Adam Hammill believes the Pars' solid defending can pave the way for a Tennent's Scottish Cup final place after they held Hibernian to a goalless draw in the last four. The Fifers were pushed back for much of the second half but their back four and goalkeeper Dorus De Vries were on top of their game. And Dunfermline had their moments going forward with Jamie McCunnie hitting the post early on. Hammill said: "We defended really well and hopefully a week on Tuesday, if we play like that, we can get a result. "If we can put our chances away we've got a good chance." Hammill caused havoc at times with some piercing runs down the left but he was not entirely happy with his performance. "I did okay but I can do a lot better," the on-loan Liverpool player said. "We left (Jim) McIntyre up front and didn't really support him, but we created chances. We said from the word go we were going to attack them. "The pitch was very wide, I felt my hamstring in injury-time of the first half. I got cramp because it's such a big pitch." The England youth international may have found the Hampden pitch hard going but he is a fan of the stadium. He said: "Even not full, the atmosphere was great. The Dunfermline fans played their part really well, they were noisy throughout, they showed a lot of support and we're grateful for that. "Hopefully if they come out in numbers again next Tuesday we will give them something to cheer about." The Pars are four points adrift of St Mirren in the Bank of Scotland Premier League but Hammill does not view the April 24 replay as a distraction from the relegation battle. The Liverpudlian said: "Next Tuesday we go into the game and the next game is the Monday, so that is good preparation for another big game against St Mirren. "We are confident we can win most of our games from now until the end of the season." Hammill is due to return to Anfield then and try to establish himself in the first-team squad - but he would have no hesitation in returning to the SPL if the situation arises. He said: "In Scotland the standard is very good, they don't get the recognition for it. "The quality today you can see, the likes of Scott Brown did very well. "They have good technical players, down south it's more of a physical league."

but he is "up there with maradona and pele" and we are "running out of superlatives"

because zhar is so much more promising a name than hadji

there was certainly a bad odour coming from one half of the ground and their heroes after that magnificent save from zamora's pen caused a sudden bout of pant-cackin

every team has its t****. it's like drug barons, get one banged up and another emerges to fill the void

apart from the goal they conceded in each leg but i agree - very cagey, at least until someone scores. can foresee this xi as the ultimate solid xi reina finnan carra agger arbeloa masch alonso gerrard kuyt riise crouch and they no longer have bogarde

ged does seem to end up confronting pliers in a way that will always be destined to end unhappily and i wonder whether there's a smarter way...

attack of the dwarves! gotta find a place for bolo too...

this 'so-and-so deserves a start' business is very un-rafa like. as for dudek, i'll miss the match and give him his game in the park if it means it keeps him out of our goal tonight!

Their run in isnt the easiest... 7 Sat Barclays Premiership H West Ham United 3pm 9 Mon Barclays Premiership A Newcastle United 3pm 14 Sat Barclays Premiership H Bolton Wanderers 3pm 17 Tue Barclays Premiership H Manchester City 7.45pm 21 Sat Barclays Premiership A Tottenham Hotspur 12.45pm 29 Sun Barclays Premiership H Fulham 4pm May 6 Sun Barclays Premiership H Chelsea 4pm 13 Sun Barclays Premiership A Portsmouth 3pm

need to get some away goals. Reina finnan carra agger aurelio Gerrard masch xabi riise bellers kuyt 4-1-3-2 with crouch, pennant and gonzalez as attacking options on the bench

ordinarily he'd have another year but as we have leto coming, if rafa (a) is offered big wonga to spend this summer and (b) has his eye on any left wingers who he thinks would be better than gonzalez. it is possible he could be off this summer. i think he will stay though and i'd like him to have another season. it does feel as though the promise is currently a long way from being fulfilled ie that he can do a lot better

well, he's got high hopes for anderson, hobbs and lindfield, we can see that...

get shanks and gate resurrect david coleman from the dead for his minimalist style of commentating and wait for the line "Shanks, Gate, ONE NIL!"