genghis

indeed

Agreed. Utter, utter c**ts. How incredibly unprofessional of the HEAD of the WORLD refereeing body to single out one player. Moreso that he doesn't do anything wrong other than 'be taller than other people'. Anyone know if this might be illegal under EU law? By directing refs to give him more yellows (effectively) than other players, isn't that ensuring he won't play (i.e. work) as often? Restraint of trade? Not to mention defamation - if I went to a work conference and told managers of other companies that a particular contractor was a cheat I would be sued out of existence by whoever I'd accused. Just an idea, like.

bingo. Plus the UK has become the residence of choice for the discerning asset-stripping despots of the world. If the Govt wanted to wave goodbye to huge (taxable) sums of ill-gotten gains, it would already have deported the half-dozen Russian ex-pats living here and spunking their oil & gas money all over the UK. Don't think it will lift a finger to get rid of anyone who's decided to live here, and is worth over a billion dollars.

these are the funniest, most rubbish awards imaginable. Seedorf??? Maldini? WTF? Do they seriously think that if you gave any team the pick of any player to put into their team, they would choose Grandad Maldini over Carra (or Terry), and any of those mids over Gerrard? No, every team in Europe would take Gerrard in a heartbeat. Comedy!

true. Probably gives them time to get the balls to different temperatures/covered with rough/smooth spots too, so they can 'randomly ' manage to avoid the problem

erm, has anyone else raised the question of how the hell they can do the draw with Sevilla/AEK not resolved? Completely bollixes the whole same-country clash thing, unless they 'miraculously' keep that pairing away from any other group with a Spanish or Greek team? Quite a slight of hand if they manage it... (if this is being massively debated on TV/radio, then apologies - am at work and without access to any but the interweb)

Just said in the match thread about how good we look. It's not about scoreline or anything, it's about the fact that we're starting to play a very attractive style that looks like it can rip crap teams apart, and that's what we've been missing for 10 years.

I know the oppo tonight were gash, but b*gger me I haven't seen us play like we did in patches of the 2nd half since... the eighties. Lucas, Beni and Babel all look very, very tasty. Seriously as happy as I've been for as long as I can remember. We looked a lot like Rafa's Valencia tonight.

You are joking aren't you? This is a Roy keane team, which means they'll only stop kicking us if they're down to, say, 9 players.

1) Styles - dominant performance. Rarely seen someone on the pitch so influential. Genius. 2) Abramovich - tactically superb, ensured that in the modern game money talks, and you can't beat some really good preparation off the pitch. 3) enormous unmarked bank account - so often overlooked, wonderfully supported Styles, a quietly effective performance. Oh apart from that, Gerrard was immense, Torres brilliant and Arbeloa is indeed being an ace surprise packge.

Because they are paying the right people/have sympathisers on the right committees and have been for a long time Been saying this for 3 years now. Man U are c**ts, but they've earned the right to be c**ts, spent a long time in our shadow, lost an entire generation of footballers, spent two decades trying to get past us for a title. They are w*nkers who we hate, but they are 'worthy adversaries'. The Russians are just a bunch of overpaid arrogant c**ts. Total mercenaries who were brought in to a rubbish club with the lure of millions, and the organised into a cu*tish rabble by a morally bankrupt spiv. No class, no appreciation of history, no respect. I can't say what I'd like to happen to their club and their team as I'd get into trouble. Agree 100%. I'd be prepared to stake money on the fact that he's on the take. If you're an idle billionaire whose plaything wasn't working like Football Manager said it should then what do you do about it? Cheat - simple. Expect quite a few 'surprising' decisions like that this year.

sh*t, that's quite scary actually. I found that whatever part of the body it was injected into you could have turned a blowtorch on and not minded. If childbirth can give you pain through that then I'm definitely not going giving it a go. In other news: ketamine anyone?

Knew there was risk of this: "tis but a scratch, I've had worse etc, come back I'll bite yer knees". Problem is not the pain or lack thereof (I had reasonably quality drugs too - pethadin, for the medically inclined, it's like a horse tranquiliser) the problem is that if the fracture runs to the joint, when you try to put force through it, the bone/joint doesn't cooperate and you're suddenly hobbling whether you want to or not. As I say, when you're sprinting you can easily put a force of more than twice your bodyweight through your toes - and if the f'cker is broken it won't take it and just goes limp. I so wouldn't risk it. But then I'm not made from compressed titanium and bits of anvil like our indomitable captain is

Thing is, I don't worry about Masch not being here on a permanent deal, or at least no more so that any other player. If he was on a contract there'd be just as much time spent worrying about him being close to a bosman/having his head turned by Real/buying out his contract etc etc etc. All I know is that for the moment, he plays for us, and plays very well. I'm sure Rafa's made up about it, and if Masch decides not to stay after 2008, he has plans. Those plans may be called Lucas, but we'll see. For the moment we have an embarrassment of riches, and let's celebrate that fact!

If it really is a broken big toe then I can't see him playing for a few weeks. Did that myself many years ago (a hairline fracture from the joint to the tip of the toe) and putting any weight on it was painful. Driving off on it (like sprinting or god forbid tackling) would make the joint fail with the pain - it feels like you've had it amputated - and it does something like 70% of the load-bearing of the foot, so it ain't a smart plan. If there's one part of the pitch we've got masses of quality cover, that's it. Pick any two from Masch, momo, Xabi, Lucas and Benayoun. Not (very) worried, apart from the b*gger that Stevie had started the season like a f*cking train.

(well I think I got it - though I reckon it's only tails.) In other news: JE's not lightning from what I've seen of him, in fact I thought he's not too dissimilar a player to Kuyt. For the sake of forum cliques, I refuse to be drawn on whether that makes him dangerously all-action or useless and with a heavy touch.

Surely the hardest means being able to take it and dish it out? Too many names on that list are just dirty f*ckers - means nothing. Any tart can slide in studs-up and then spend the whole 90 minutes running away from revenge tackles. Someone like Souness would remember if you did it to him, and 2 minutes later would try to end your career via the medium of compound fractures. Really nasty. And he didn't hide after he'd dished it out either. He and his generation would be physically disgusted by the 'oh I've been shot' feigned injury of the tarts in the modern game! Even someone like Best was tougher than most of the so-called 'hard men' people think about. He took a huge amount of damage and still didn't hide.

Narnia.

actually yes, I think you're right - I remember RB talking about someone to hold-up play after he bought him. That obviously was before he realised that we didn't have the kind of midfield that charges up past the target man and gives him options. We had the kind that stands 10 yards off him and gives him the 'option' of laying it back Ah, all change now though

:D I'd be angry if the papers' comments weren't so funny. Anyone who can't see what Torres has got or thinks there are 'growing doubts' about him a) has never watched football b) isn't on strong enough medication. Hilarious these clowns have jobs as sports writers!

Exactly the same starting point. Was half-supporting LFC before the final just because of all the pointless Manc-support at my school (we were in the middle of Sussex for feck's sake!), and this crystallised solid the Monday after the final with all the gloating Manc songs being sung in the playground. Apparently even 8 year old Man U fans are obnoxious! A few days later, our teacher got us to make cardboard cut-outs of a footballer, with pins joining the legs and arms to the body so they could move around, and coloured-in kits and faces. Mine was Terry McDermott, and I remember being the only one in class who'd added a 'tache to their player! Still remember colouring in the big curly perm with a black felt tip.

Well, yes, but as I said above, Rafa goes and buy a freakishly tall (but slow and not that very aggressive) striker in the belief that he's already a good finisher/footballer and with some training could pretty simply become a good header of the ball (in theory) and be a really potent force. If Rafa didn't think that, then surely he buys Johnson, or Bent, or Keane, Defoe or...any one of the indefinite list of strikers who are pacy finishers that we were linked with at the time? Anyhow, it was just a spur-of-the-moment thought watching Carew dominate our back line in the air, following the non-selection of England's top scorer over the past 12 months. Who knows the inner workings of the mind that sits atop that Iberian goatee ?

I'm sure he'd seen him play but I wonder if he thought he could be coached into being aerially dominant in a year... but he hasn't been

I only care because I wonder whether Rafa is slightly losing faith in the big man - not being on the bench today was a big surprise for me. a serious top 3 would be: Gerrard Kuyt (closer than I made out - he was immense) Torres (was always a danger, and changed how Villa defended agaist us)

As an aside, I wonder if Rafa wishes he had Carew instead of Crouch? Seriously. For me, Crouch is the far better footballer, but he isn't the aerial threat he should be, and which Carew is...and surely one of the reasons Crouch was bought. Oh and your options for MoM are: 1) Gerrard 2) Gerrard 3) Gerrard