beejay

Here's the latest table with the european contenders 1 Chelsea 26 21 3 2 52 16 36 66 2 Manchester United 26 16 6 4 52 27 25 54 3 Liverpool 26 15 6 5 32 17 15 51 4 Tottenham Hotspur 27 12 10 5 37 24 13 46 5 Arsenal 26 12 5 9 39 21 18 41 6 West Ham United 26 12 5 9 39 34 5 41 7 Blackburn Rovers 26 12 4 10 33 31 2 40 8 Wigan Athletic 27 12 4 11 32 34 -2 40 9 Bolton Wanderers 24 10 9 5 30 23 7 39 10 Manchester City 26 11 4 11 36 30 6 37 11 Everton 26 11 3 12 19 32 -13 36

Won't do us any harm if spurs are looking over their shoulder leaving us to fight it out for 2nd. Coupla weeks ago I was beginnning to think we could be in a dogfight for 4th but 2 1-0's in the league later and others dropping points, we seem to be pretty secure in 3rd.

There is such a thing as black humour and the singing of the Riise song when Smith was receiving treatment comes into that category, just as the old manc ditty "always look on the bright side of life" as he was beiing carried off. We were all having a laugh at manusa's expense, so what? Most people were also saying "it looks a bad un" and "poor bast*rd's in pain" that sort of thing and he was clapped off. Basically, most people felt sorry for Smith personally because he was obviously in a bad way, but that wasn't going to stop us from enjoying what the media kept telling us all week hadn't been done for 85 years. I bet most of those, if not all, in the pc brigade today either weren't at the game - when you are caught up in the atmosphere and the moment - or are middle class guardian readers who think they are better than the rest of us.

And we get to see the great man for at least one more year according to a snippet in the guardian " As part of a clause in his contract, the German midfielder Dietmar Hamann will be offered a new one-year deal if he faces Manchester United, who have not lost to Liverpool in the FA Cup for 85 years."

I've been trying redial since 8.45

No sh*t

That all makes sense but what is so frustrating is that we were saying exactly the same things last summer and again in January. For whatever reason(s), we have really struggled to land our targets and as much as I want to believe the nods & winks that defoe & pennant or swp are on their way this summer, it doesn't work like that because until they've signed anything can happen - eg owen looked a dead cert last year. We will also need to dump a few players on big salaries and that can make a difference to the budget. When you go through the list of players on loan, out of favour, or not up to the level we need it is a pretty daunting list and rafa/parry will really have their work cut out to move the players out in order to create the funds for the quality you refer to above.

Is it a blip or are we reverting to type? We need to regroup and start another run. Rafa has to retain a (relatively) stable team with the same back 4 and go back to 2 strikers. If we can beat charlton, we are back on course so that's a huge game now.

Where's your European Cups... Still think we are in with a decent shout this year as well and it will be hilarious if Barca & Real Madrid knock the Cockneys out leaving us as the country's sole survivor after starting from the 1st qualifying round.

We also need to be a threat up front. And we're not because our strikers aren't goalscorers.

You f***en stupid pr*ck. I'm still well upset about the result but coming on here and seeing you go on about your usual sh*te about our BEST f***** player when it's obvious to anyone with a peabrain that our problems are elsewhere - jesus you dumb tw*t

The muppets on brekkie with jimmy hill actually thought we might nick it (ian ridley & matt dickinson) then that senile old git decided it was funny to suggest that chelsea might get beat. We will go with our usual game plan against chelsea. Make sure they don't get space out wide so have to come through the middle where they are nowhere near as effective. I can definitely see us playing crouch & cisse with gerrard on the right and sissoko with xabi in the centre. Neutralise their attack and make them go long ball again. Their pitch is truly awful, particularly through the middle so it will not be a classic. I guess you would have to settle for a point but IF we did sneak a win, we might just be back with a very outside chance of the title. A Villa mate of mine said they were p*ss poor midweek so maybe, just maybe there's some life left in this season.

Cisse scored with an overhead kick straight from a corner away to anderlecht. And we've scored a few from 2nd balls in and been very unlucky on occasions esp with riise coming in late and whacking them on the volley. I would have alonso & kewell taking all the corners and most of the freekicks as well.

Wenger's just been interviewed and he said he'd not seen or spoken to sol since the game and they don't know where he is. Said they will support him and his life wasn't in danger but otherwise was non-committal - probably because he doesn't know what's going on.

This is looking like the thread before manu away when everyone was certain we would win. We have an awful record at the bridge and in london generally and we are 4-1 with the bookies to win. That said, if there is any chance whatsoever of the premiership title race lasting beyond this month we have to win and the neutrals/sky tv/the fa premiership will all be hoping we can put some pressure on them. I f******* hope we don't do our usual trick and go there all timid, concede possession all over the park and try and nick one on the break. Let's get into em.

You do realise that, after surviving all 66 pages of the January Transfer Window Sticky, you have just started on page 1 of the Summer edition.

Wonder who will pick the team? I can't understand how they continue to spend so massively without europe or a league position to pay the bills. If I was souness I'd refuse to leave the premises without his cheque - seem to remember O'Leary & Eddie Gray ended up writing off millions cos Leeds went under.

For the goal, it looked to me like Heskey's header down could have been comfortably collected By Reina but Alonso was in the way so he left it for him to avoid bumping into each other. Then Xabi was caught in two minds and tried to chest it back to pepe but knocked it past him instead. Anyone else get a view of it?

Over two thirds of the pitch that could be argued. But in the final third we were poor. Our most impressive patch was just after they scored - bodies in the box, winning 2nd balls, tempo and urgency. I don't understand why we don't play at this intensity more. It's almost like some players are thinking we have to conserve energy for the next game when there's still a game to be won - yet the whole point about rotation is to have 11 players on the pitch at any one time who are giving 100% with fresh players coming in for the next game.

The cross for the goal was top, top class. Pennant was very impressive and on last night's performance must have made an impression on rafa. The little b******

I can't see how anyone could argue against this summary. Morientes is playing without any conviction, is no goal threat whatsoever, he loses the ball constantly but he remembers enough of his former skills to make 1 or 2 decent contributions per game. Frankly, that's not enough for a Birmingham City striker let alone the Champions of Europe. It is very, very worrying because with the business end of the season now upon us we can't afford any passengers particularly in the strikers department where we only have 4 to choose from and for various reasons, none are currently consistent goalscorers.

Don't think there's much chance of Robbie making the England team in the next 6 months. He feckin SLAUGHTERS Sven in his book. Reckons he's a long ball merchant who hasn't got a clue and in the dressing room at half-time v Brazil in the last world cup, he never said a word to the players (who had their heads down after rivaldo's equaliser in the 45th min) not one single word.

He's an option when - for the reasons given earlier - we may need one. Rafa must have promised him a loan when they had their little chat the other week, it's the only explanation.

I don't understand this either. Mellor & Pongolle out on loan with Fowler brought in? Rafa himself says he doesn't expect to see a fully fit Robbie until the last month of the season, we are facing a big fixture pile-up, all our frontline strikers are showing signs of tiredness, lack of confidence or poor form and as a result, our goal scoring is universally accepted to be our biggest problem. A loan is either to save on wages or to give someone experience. Flo won't be on mega wages so it must be the latter - yet surely we have enough games to come for him to feature? Strange