The Guv

What part of "If you have a big squad and all the players are ready..." do you not understand?

"If you have a big squad and all the players are ready and know what to do, you can rotate your team." (Quoted from Rafa's post match interview). Link

"Yo mommas" food bowl maybe? Back to football, a game of opinions, where it is my opinion that having a large squad is at times a gift & a curse. Yesterday was a perfect example of the latter (whereas Toulouse at home illustrates the former). 2 out of 3... I'm crushed.

OOOk-k-k-kay. Prick.

Oh please excuse my adolescence. So what is happening then?

Man Utd played their strongest team and won today. Chelsea will play their strongest team and will win today. We, on the other hand, are too busy trying to show the world how big and strong our squad is. Edit: Oh, did I mention Arsenal...?

Does. Benitez. Not. F***ing. Learn. FFS!

It is, when reserved for a young black player. Accusations of indirect-racism aside, as the very least, as administrator of a public forum he should have been more sensitive and aware that such terms do insinuate racial stereotyping and therefore will offend.

That's bulls***! Who was he threatening? For you to use terms such as "wannabee gangster homee" as an "Admin"-istrator (or whatever your role is) of this site is a disgrace. You can act dumb and play the fool all you want but it's a disgrace and a let down to this forum.

Did you refer to Gerrard as a "wannabee gangster homee" when he punched that Feyenoord player in the face? Or when Carragher got booked yesterday by also reacting angrily to a poor refereeing decision did you label him a "wannabee gangster homee" too?

Did they just pluck these ratings out of thin air? Pennant & Riise 7... played better than Kuyt and as well as Gerrard...

...I thought he had a decent game. Linked very well with Gerrard, was confident on the ball and always looked for openings when in possession. I think his partnership with Gerrard in the middle, albeit not our most solid is certainly our most creative and poses the most problems offensively to the opposition team. The dilemma for Rafa now is whether to sacrifice creativity for solidarity in the middle against Chelsea by bringing in Mascherano.

Sir Gerrard! Best. Player. In. The. World. Bottom Line.

Would love to see this line-up. Babel looked lively against Feyenoord when he came on and Kewell hasn't really impressed me pre-season. Masch and Alonso is a hard one to call with masch offering solidity and tidyness in the middle whereas Alonso will offer that extra bit of creativity. Alonso just edges it for me on the back of an impressive pre-season. My prediction: 0-2 Gerrard, Torres

Agree 100% - kewell has to fight for his place in this team, so far i think there is quite a bit to go for him to warrant a start. Pennant has to push for a starting place going on his form end of last season and this preseason, has been quite impressive. Also would like to see crouchy or possibly veronin ahead of kuyt for this match,

if gonzalez doesn't make every list then i dont know what will....one of the biggest dissapointments i can honestly remember. others worth a mention are cisse, morientes, kewell (yes our beloved harry!), kirkland...but the award must go to the infamous hype of 02 with cheyrou, diouf an diao, plus the tellapathic french twin whizzkids pongolle an le tallec

Exactly. To be honest its a regular occurance on this board whenever cisse's name is mentioned yet i dont hear anything like this for other players who were not good enough such as kronkamp, gonzalez..bellamy. This relentless scapegoating is pathethic. Yet another 5 page thread slating off a player who had 1 full season and didnt even kick a ball for us last season.

Spot on.

Actualy mate, I have been on here a few years even before you. Dont post much and have had different usernames and accouns as YNWA have cancelled my account thinking I dont exist! Im not one to post on every topic only when I feel strongly about something and it always seems to be cobs who has the most ludicris remarks. Im sure he remembers our discussion about his obsession with morientes... As for Cobs stating Cisse don't care about the fans, what justification is there for that? Th\t is a completely unfounded statement, when I was on a tour around anfield last year, the guide said Cisse was the only player to give all his shirts away to the fans at the end of each game, even sometimes his boots. he's no Bob Geldof but saying he doesn't care is another one of my friend Cobs' silly comments

Cobs you are a F****** Disgrace. There is no Justification for that. Cisse appears a decent bloke, Maybe not good enogh but I cant understand this reaction. Sums you up really. Pri*k

I knew this would happen! Anyone who tells me that rafa hasn't made a few bad signings is the one living in a dream world and I think you are getting a bit carried away when comparing him with Wenger in the transfer market aswell. I wouldnt go as far as saying rafa is astute in the transfer market, he has made some good signings as i said, and quite a few bad ones.

Mate, I know this board is notorious for lynching anybody who questions the gaffer but if there is one critisism of rafa, it has been some of his signings. fair play to him though, he is not the stubbon type and does drop them when required. And he has also achieved his success with the players he has bought. but your defence is unfounded for the signings of nunez("few good matches" is not good enough) and Pelligrino "great influence on coacing" - well we didnt sign someone for the backroom!, Josemi turned out to be poor, morientes the same, kronkamp started and always was crap, gonzalez hasnt realy shown potential and looks to be heading the same way, Zenden was free but he isnt exactly going to win you the title, bellemy has lived up to his rep and kuyt IN MY OPINION did not warrant the £10m although he is a good player and wouldnt label him a bad signing. If I am completely honest here aswell, the signing for next season of Veronin doesn't strike me with significant confidence either (only bieng honest!). He seems like another workaholic like Kuyt. This is far from rafa bashing, just observations on some of the players brought in. With this said though there has been the good buys such as Agger, Alonso Crouch and Sissoko and most of all i feel is Reina.

Most definatly one Michael Owen. Although I still rate this guy ahead of most...It is poetic justice how his career has gone on a down hill slope since he left this club. "I want to win big trophies..." This statement I think will come back to haunt him once more on the CL final night. His story is a testament to those who want to jump of a sinking ship when their clubs need them most. Owen, this is Karma, you enjoy your england games and race for big trophies like the intertoto cup with newcastle. YES

Cheers mate

If anyone gets a webstream link to the game please email it to me: c_odogwu@yahoo.co.uk Cheers.