genghis

It needs saying that Kuyt is the most shot-shy player I've ever seen. And seems to need 8 extra touches whenever he gets inside the oppo box. Sigh. In other news: did anyone mention that Wiley is a c*nt?

Not the best game for Keane. A lot of awful touches, bad decisions on when to pass, and now blocking a certain goal. Dreadful. By contrast Kuyt has looked good I think - available a lot, crossed with both feet, won corners and kept possession. Whodathunkit?

Very generous. First 10 mins have been shocking. C'mon you red men...

Hmmm s*** offside call against Benny to go with the lack of 3 red cards these Belgian c*nts should've had already.

Christ, I'd forgotten that. OK, it's a tie then. The bozo in today's game seemed to think he was helping prevent extreme violence in some Milwall vs Wimbledon kick-a-thon from the 80s, rather than just a normal match with average mis-timed tackles and much injury-feigning. He wasn't bent (as I remember wondering about the WCC bloke) just staggeringly inept and unused to professional footballers tackling each other!

Late in the 2nd half he's hit a couple of beautiful Xabi-esque 40 yard cross-fielders perfectly to feet. Didn't see the first half...

**Easily** the worst reffing performance ever. Comical. (FIFA are a joke with their "handing out reffing jobs to everyone" whether or not the official in question has ever handled high level games, or indeed shown any competence at all. )

We were warned, about 5 posts further down: "just wait till he starts with his stats..."

Both Plessis and Ngog hit their shots left-footed from what I could see on those clips...they both lefties?

I nominate RP as my spokesman on the matter, as I believe he has covered all the angles.

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Erm re: Keane not being "quality", last time I checked he's scored roughly 1 in 2 since he went to Spurs 5 years ago? In the very league we need to score goals in? What debate is there about this? Or do we think Spurs has so much a better team than us that he's had a succession of tap-ins? Sweet baby Jebus! I doubt there's a player in Europe with a better strike rate, *and* he offers a lot more than just goals (i.e. movement and clever play) *and* he's already used to the Prem. Brilliant move (if it comes off, ES )

check out the hook while my RB* revolves it** *artistic licence ** the midfield options, clearly. Hmm, I'm not sure rap works with footnotes.

Please answer this Kaizer, with special reference to every set of stats you've trotted out over the past 12 months about "goals per minute played" without taking into account the context. Ever. Oh and while you're at it, please can you dig out Iniesta's "pass completion percentages" for this tournament. I'd guess until the semi-final they were sub-50%, which apparently makes him barely a professional, eh, if all the arguments about Kuyt, Pennant, Alonso and Riise are anything to go by? I've never completely 'got' the hype about Fabregas before. He always seemed a little invisible in big games. But so far this tournament, I can't see how anyone can argue about his ability. He also appears to be about twice as strong as most of the Spanish midfield, bar Senna. Meanwhile Iniesta's "ability" to hold off a challenge makes Garcia look like Shearer in his prime.

Anyone else see this after the Holland-France game on Dutch TV? Top comedy from Dirk, reported on a Guardian Blog here: "I'm following this from Amsterdam, where I've just been watching the long postmatch analysis, with the Dutch prime minister dropping in to the dressing room, then moving on chat with Cruijffie and the upstairs anchor, while the second anchor interviewed various members of the team and Marco in a cupboard beside the dressing-room downstairs. TV bloke: 'Would you like to ask the PM anything?' Dirk: 'Could we have lower taxes?'

1) The FA - run by bureaucrats with no care for the game: grass-roots footy being sh*t on, not teaching referees how to not be s****, allowing teams to f*ck with the FA Cup if it suits them. Being mindlessly officious, and having totally warped priorities e.g. bookings for over-celebrating or taking off your shirt, but not using video evidence to catch cheating f*cks. 2) UEFA - run by bureaucrats with no care for the game: allowing the big clubs to run the champions league as some kind of closed shop to make money for the big boys; never standing up to business, or the EU, or Italian racist Ultras, or violent european policing. 3) FIFA - run by bureaucrats with no care for the game. Sepp f'cking Blatter. World Cups being run purely for big money. Creating and sanctioning dozens of sh*t internationals for no good reason. 4) All of the above (but especially the FA) ALLOWING CLUBS TO BE BOUGHT BY ANYONE, instead of saying "if you're not run as a non-profit cooperative, your team can't play in any of our competitions". And given that they allow clubs to be bought and sold, never stopping scumbags buying clubs - see Man City, Glams, us, Leeds, Wimbledon, Cardiff, Brighton, Chelsea, etc etc etc - and doing what they like e.g. asset-stripping, ground-selling, embezzlement, etc. 5) Not replacing the maximum wage with a max salary budget for every team that is related to overall league turnover - would have meant that any individual hadn't had their employment rights infringed, but would've kept wages sane. Which means footballers still being connected to the real world, not behaving like c*nts, not being dumber than a box of spanners, and supporters still able to identify with them.

Heard he was on a free, and seem to remember us being linked to him shortly after he started played in the Prem for WBA, as he seemed to settle in pretty well at first, and look exactly the sort of "between the lines" player that Rafa likes so much, plus he can cross. And am I making it up, or does he take a very good FK too? As a freebie, he'd been exactly 1,378 times better than the Status Quo reject who promised so much before this season actually kicked off.

But, but, but..... they've spent millions and millions, so they must be top fellas. Or something. Agreed, 'tis a sh*tter of a situation. (The off topic bit: The incredible thing is that the only basis for thinking those t*ssers wouldn't just come into the club, cream off TV money, and use mid-table mediocrity as a way of funnelling millions into their own pockets is the BELIEF that they would value "sporting success". That belief only stands up if sporting success is a requirement for cash; in the modern premier league it isn't, hence the leeches can suck us dry for as long as we let them.)

Actually I place it at the moment Th*tcher decided the best way to get kids prepared for the future was to sell off most of the school playing fields, and start a property bubble that meant green spaces got flogged off by councils to the nearest developer. F'cking witch. Ten years later (the mid 90s) everyone started moaning that kids were too into their PS and watching TV, without wondering why their habits had changed.

On the upside, I don't think we'll beat the Mancs cos of the aforementioned Mental Block - and I can't bear the idea of losing to them in that match. Hence losing to Chelsea wouldn't now be as painful.

Messi has placed £10M on himself not taking a shot tonight. Good odds too.

for Bojan more likely?

you know they're about to ban that kind of filth in the UK don't you?

Oh yeah. 'Bout the only player who can do what Cronaldo does (minus the headers). Surely worth £50m of our hard-earned...