Woodsyla

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He f***ing did, It was Franco Zola this and Luca Vialla that. He f***ing loved it, talked about them like they were his mates down the pub. On his day though he is a good commentator and better than Motson.

Newcastle have an extremely dodgy defence particularly in the centre, their centre backs are quick but not great in the air. Makes perfect sense then to play with two wingbacks and to rain crosses into the box. Worked a treat. Newcastle were on a decent run, IF we had let them into the game it could have been a tough match. Rafa killed the game off with that formation, inspired.

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The Spanish Premira Liga 15th October 2007 -----------Pl W D L Pts Osasuna 9 2 2 5 8

Nah A cole is England's answer to LB, played with a J Cole type midfielder he is perfect because he will overlap and provide width. To bring this back on topic, I've never heard of this lad but we must sign him for the F.A.B.I.O song

Exactly, negative We have dropped 7pts at home all season, we should win all our remaining home games and should beat West Brom and Portsmouth. That in itself is 5 wins from 8 games and will put us out of reach of Bolton. If we lost to Bolton then theoretically they COULD put some pressure on but they still have to face Man U, Chelsea and Spurs. I'm supremely confident we will finish 3rd or better this season.

We will have to agree to disagree, I think Utd have a much tougher run in, they are however in a good run of form at the moment but there are places they can drop points in that lot.

You can't have it both ways Spurs Birmingham v Tottenham Tottenham v West Brom Newcastle v Tottenham Tottenham v Man City Everton v Tottenham Tottenham v Man Utd Arsenal v Tottenham Tottenham v Bolton West Ham v Tottenham To catch us they need to gain 9pts back from one game more. Therefore they must beat at least 2of a***, Bolton, Manu Arsenal Arsenal v Charlton Portsmouth v Arsenal Arsenal v Aston Villa Man Utd v Arsenal Arsenal v West Brom Man City v Arsenal Arsenal v Tottenham Sunderland v Arsenal Arsenal v Wigan To catch us they need to gain 11pts from one game more. Therefore they must win all their game beating both Spurs and Utd Bolton Bolton v Sunderland Middlesbrough v Bolton Bolton v Man Utd Birmingham v Bolton Liverpool v Bolton Bolton v Chelsea West Brom v Bolton Bolton v Charlton Tottenham v Bolton Bolton v Birmingham To catch us they need to gain 13pts with 3 games in hand. Actually, on paper, the most likely to catch us, however, the least capable of performing it IMO. Need to beat either Utd or Chelsea at home and must beat us away. Also need to beat Spurs. Any ONE of those teams above could challenge us and if they go on a remarkable run they could pip us to 3rd. If two teams were to go on a remarkable run, firstly they would take points off each other thus making it harder to catch us. Secondly they would have to take points off Man U thus making it easier for us to catch them. IMO none of the above will put a good enough run together to get near us and Utd will win against enough of these teams to stay above us. I am looking above not below if Utd slip up they have a tough run of fixtures and we could reel them in.

b******s, we are two points behind Utd and 9pts ahead of Spurs and 13pts ahead of Bolton. Even if all three win their games in hand we will be 8pts behind Utd, 6 ahead of Spurs and 4 ahead of Bolton. Bolton, Spurs and Arsenal all have to play Utd so either Utd will be out of sight and we will have recoupled the game in hand and maintained our advantage, or Utd will have dropped a s*** load of points and the race for second will be on. You are being negative, 2nd is more acheivable than 5th. If we finish 4th so be it, 3rd or 4th means the same thing in terms the CL.

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I don't think he the lacked the wherewithal to take us to the top, I think his illness took away the opportunity for him to do it. Houllier is naturally defensively minded, the team he built at Liverpool was a counter attacking side and was very succesful. Who is to say what would have happened if GH had not been taken ill. Bayern won the European Cup and dominated their league playing an effective brand of defensively solid football who is to say that if instead of signing Diouf, Diao, Cheyrou from his sickbed GH had signed Eto, Carrick and Duff that things may have taken a different turn. I don't dispute that GH failed what I don't accept is that we werent heading in the right direction when he was taken ill.

But why did the ball come to Carragher because Traore went for a header and fell on his a***. So much of the defensive pressure was caused by an inability to clear our lines. Hyppia was sorely missed last night.

You were the one who asked if you were a s*** fan. Not clapping their goal but staying to the end is fair enough. Not clapping their goal and f***ing off immediately afterwards would IMO have made you a s*** fan. There is no club its just decent behaviour.

Don't agree with that at all. This team, finished on top of a group containing Chelsea, last years team had to score 3 goals in 1/2hr to avoid going out at the group stage. Baros was awesome against Juve at home, however he couldn't link with any other player on the field. That's why we are a better team now. It's all hindsight but if we'd signed Figo, Simao or Joaquin and we'd resigned Owen we probably would have seen off Benfica. Had Hyppia been fit we probably would have seen them off. It's just unfortunate, IMO that team is better equipped to win the CL than the one last year. We just didn't get it right on the day.

Did you stay to the end and applaud Benfica of the pitch ?

Well you weren't because you were halfway down Breck road ... You can defend it all you like but staying behind to the end and applauding the opposition off after they have ground out a hard fought victory shows class. Singing YNWA at the top of your lungs when the game has gone shows class. Singing Rafa's name when the game has gone shows class, leving early, in my book, doesn't.

Every pore of my being is willing on Barcelona tonight, I realised how much I don't want Abramovich to get his hands on Big Ears. For me he symbolises everything that is wrong with football and you should not be able to throw a load of money at a club and win the ultimate (club) prize. So, the $64,000 question. Does my loathing of everything the Russian has made Chelsea overcome my desire not to see Man Utd win anything. On this occassion yes. Turning into Keegan for a second, I would just love it if he pumped money into Chelsea picked up a multitude of league titles but never won the big one. What do you think ?

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