heighway

The international calendar is stupidly bloated. And how can football be at all developed in San Marino by them getting tonked 11-0? They should use the existing ranking system to have a pre-qualifier round like they have for the UEFA club comps and only have 4-team qualifying groups for the championship proper. Maybe they could have some kind of small-nations tourney for the countries omitted from the main do.

Enjoyable read that, thanks for posting the link!

Excellent! Well done La

I couldn't read through them all, could feel the blood starting to boil again like it seemed to be doing nonstop in the dark days of last Autumn. But I missed this pearler when it was first uttered by the Dalai Hodge; “Look into the mirror rather than look for excuses elsewhere” -dammit that shoulda been up on some Kop banner and brandished at the fraudulent owl's face throughout one of his many on-field travesties last year. Too bad no journo had the gumption/balls to slap it up at him during one of his regular blame-dodging blather-sessions. (Takes deep breath) Thanks be to jebus we have not only seen the back of him but now have a fantastic ownership/management team/squad and things are looking soooo much more positive and exciting. Hope to feck we slaugther WBA when we play em mind!

Private Eye will have to add an extension to Pseuds Corner called Lawton Boulevard

Annoyingly, they have a friendly v Ukraine

Enjoyed this from the Telegraph's match report: "On the sidelines stood the man credited with restoring Liverpool’s feelgood factor. Kenny Dalglish has always been a man apart, an island in the storm. The technical area is his personal fiefdom. It is the only part of Anfield that belongs to him. Every other blade of grass, belongs to Luis Suarez, the man who brought the fear back. The Uruguayan is a terror. He is a bewitching, bewildering menace, trailing roiling panic in his wake. The 24 year-old did not score in this dismantling of Bolton Wanderers. He does not need a goal. Often, he does not even need the ball. His presence alone is a torment. An example, drawn from the moments just after Liverpool had taken the lead. It was just after Suarez, bristling with the impudence of genius, had cut Owen Coyle’s defence to shreds with a swerving pass played with the outside of his right boot and Jordan Henderson had curled his first goal for the club past Jussi Jaaskelainen, after the Finn had denied Stewart Downing. Suarez stood on the halfway line, the ball at his feet. In front of him, Gary Cahill, rated at £17 million but not, as Coyle later confessed, at his “absolute maximum” thanks to the unsettling effects of a mooted move to Arsenal, and Zat Knight, a reliable campaigner. The forward feinted one way, then the other, and then accelerated away. Cahill looked left, Knight right, and the two collided. A pratfall, with Suarez as Road Runner, the defenders as a pair of Wile E. Coyotes. The pair exchanged barbs. A defence reduced to fear and loathing by their unrelenting foe. Fear spreads and mutates, infecting, afflicting. Jaaskelainen dropped a high ball. Gretar Steinsson handled just outside the box. Coyle’s team shook, and splintered, and shattered."

It was in his post-match interview with Sky, mentioned that the fella -whatever his name is - had said we were mad to play Suarez and Kenny says "he must be very intelligent" or something like that while his expression clearly said he thought just the opposite!

Between 1980-85, Aberdeen won it 3 times and Dundee Utd once. Then you have to go back to Kilmarnock in 1965. There have been previous long stretches of Celtic/Rangers hogging the title between them -between 1905 and 1939, there was only one year when neither of them won it. But at least in those earlier eras Scotland was still producing plenty of good players and teams that could compete in Europe etc. Football up there is just so enfeebled at the moment, you'd wonder what it would take to turn things round -and if the governing bodies have the wherewithal to make necessary changes.

Could do one of those as well, I bet there would be an avalanche of votes for the manager. And harsh to put Heskey in there with Diouf and Keane.

I sense a Cult Hero XI thread coming on

It is very sad how it turned out but you can see the awkwardness of the situation where he was hanging round the training ground, still being called 'boss' by the players, it obviously made things difficult for Paisley. And even if he had been offered a kind of honorary club president-type role you'd wonder would he have been able to distance himself from the day-to-day team affairs?

Mad time to be playing a footie match though isn't it? Can't imagine a game in UK ever being played around midnight

I picked Enrique while he was still listed as a NUFC player, it means I now have 4 LFC players where I should only be allowed 3. Anyone know would I get away with picking 4 reds in my starting XI or would that selection be nullified/penailised?

Maybe this should be in General footy forum, mods feel free to move if so, but there is a good interview with Didi in The Guardian today about his new role as manager of Stockport County. Hope it goes well for him there. Says he would like to manage Liverpool some day. Here

5.30

Saddo that I am I went and looked up our previous pre-season friendly results on LFChistory.net. Regardless of your valid point of these matches being like "youth team games" in none of those years did we ship 15 goals in five games. Pre-season can offer some indicator of team's strengths/weaknesses and these games so far do give some cause for concern about when things start in earnest. Here's a sample of earlier years' outings; Pre-season friendlies: This year: P5 W2 D1 L2 F13 A15 2010: P3 W0 D1 L2 F0 A2 2009: P7 W2 D2 L3 F9 A7 2008: P8 W5 D3 L0 F13 A3 2007: P8 W6 D2 L0 F17 A6 Glory-years sampling: 1989: P6 W3 D2 L1 F6 A3 1988: P5 W3 D1 L1 F16 A8 1987: P7 W5 D1 L1 F18 A5 1986: P6 W3 D3 L1 F8 A 4 1985: P7 W3 D2 L2 F18 A12 Friendly embarrassments 2009: 0-3 v Espanyol 2006: 0-5 v Mainz 2002: 0-1 v Chester 1988: 1-5 v Atletico Madrid

And what about that stuff in the tabloids in last few days that he might be getting a knighthood?!! FFS

I wonder do wannabe footy commentators in south America get auditioned on how long they can sustain gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

That Coates lad is pretty useful too

I don't get the fatalism/resignation that we may end up losing him next year to the likes of Real or Barca. He's already spent what is it, six/seven years in Holland, so it's not like he can't get on in non-Hispanic countries. If LFC can deliver trophies and be there or thereabouts I'd say we'll have him here for the next 3/4 years at least. He doesn't come across as the Tevez type who tries to engineer a move every other year.

8pm UK time, just noticed this -I had assumed it was later. Best scoot over to offy and get some beers in. Come on Luis!!!

There's a £3 or £4 per month option as well though it's not clear whether you can sign for one month then leave or do you have to get a year's subscription

The white and blue kit getting its first outing.