growler

frmo the sidelines its perfect. neither united or the russians coming out smelling of roses from this one. Makes us a more attractive option in the english game for emerging players. I think the russians will end up 'paying off' man u, which is probably what they are waiting for to be honest. Its the player you have to feel for. He will never be remembered for his football now.

the russians will prefer scum to finish 2nd to us, as boringho knows we are a bigger challenge next season, so that will play a part in their game. Isn't nice to know that we are talking about finishing 2 or 3, rather than will we qualify for CL at all? I hope that Arsenal miss out on CL. Will bring them down to earth. Its one thing to win things with young players a la funguson, but another to win things with a team of youngsters with no english players. When Cole leaves, they will not have ANY english players in their first choice 16!!! What was walcott thinking???

of sion?

anyone got a link to it? Have to appreciate good goals, whichever toad scores them

possession may be 9/10th of the law, but it doesn't give you points, shots on target or anything else. unless we make more changes, we can't get close to scoring, and until we hit the target, we aren't going to score.

depends. would you count Beckham as a manc? what about Owen as a liverpool lad? I think that if a player comes through the youth system at a club, then they are considered worthy of the 'heart' analogy.

if Henry hasn't signed by Walcotts 17th birthdfay, perhaps we should give him a little chat. without Henry, cole probably jumping ship, and campbell all but finished, they won't even have an english player in their first 16 let alone first 11!!! On the other hand, we won the CL last season from a similarly poor position, and real madrid are hardly the world beaters they were.

sooner or later Borinho will learn that no matter what he does at chelsea he will not get the respect of his peers. he needs to do it in a top league with a 'normal' club. That is why Benitez will always have more respect because of how he did it at Valencia. its why Fungus gets respect for bringing through Beckham, scholes etc and building that team. wenger ditto. borinho did it at Porto, but until he does it in a top league it won't mean anything. Its the equivelant of the scottish championship.

the basic problem was, that when one of their players passed the ball, it went to another chelsea player. simple. If we cannot do the basic pass and move CONSISTANTLY then we are screwed. How many shots on goal, on target did we have against them?

just one thing it was a FOUR minute hat trick

I've always said that the easiest and fastest way to stop divers, is to book them 'post match'. by that, I mean the referee goes over the video, and any unsportsman like conduct, shirt pulling, bad mouthing and diving can be given match bans, fines etc. What Robben did was in line with what Rivaldo did at the world cup, where he held his face after the ball hit him in his leg. Anyone else notice the diving that chelsea defenders do too? stops the attacking team and the flow of the game. Ironic after boringho used 'faking' as a reason for not usinf fair play when an opposing player was injured

what are you on? Heggem, bjornebye, babbel, riise to name four. As for Finnan, he's always gotten forward, and sometimes used to play RM for us too.

depends what you class as local really. spurs got loads of english players, but how many are 'local'? also, I think the scum could count fletcher, giggs, o'shea and brown as local too.

on the topic of past potential players, anyone see that d'allesandro joins portsmouth? think we should keep an eye on him. If he does well, it may be worth it. also, what is teh situation with Van der vaart? what about Viana, quaresma and Chivu? all other players that we wanted to sign, but didn't go as planned. are they actually qualityplayers caught in a bad club, or just not realised their potential?

when is garcia back? thank god we haven't got anyone at the ANC. Could we see Barragan get a run out? Anyone know which ones are on in Oz?

the new library is not the same as leeds situation. Arsenal are building an asset, and have lots of experience in proprty and gearing of assets. As soon as the stadium is finished they will refinance, and not be any worse off. they may need to tighten their purse strings with regards to players, but I can't see them imploding like leeds. Personally, I think they have a great model, and its a great achievement to have a stadium like they will. Its a shame the fans take their flasks, soups and blankets to the games, as a 60000 will make it harder for us to generate an atmosphere for them when we play there.

I think people underestimate the impact of the court case too. woodgate and bowyer were lynch pins in the team. Can you imagine if gerrard and carra were caught doing that whilst playing for us??

also, no matter how bad they are, they still manage to break the top teams. stopped both Chelsea and arsenal's unbeaten runs, so fully expected this.

oh the irony.... did mori touch the ball?

I think you have to admit that they are a 'big' club. Whether they are bigger than us, I doubt it, but the size of their international 'machine' is bigger than ours. Also, if you went on trophy haul alone, you could claim that notts forest are bigger than arsenal and chelsea.

he won't go to chelsea. SWP, Parker, Johnson and bridge will see to that. also, why would he go to arsenal? they have just signed two more frnech based players, and players like pennant, upson, wright, jeffers, bentley, and the fact that they have Reyes, Van Persie, Lupoli and many others who still don't get a game, that would be a crazy move. on the other hand, surely we us he can see a quick route to the first team? If he was to sign, I can see us not buying a right winger. also, whats this crap about buying him and then loaning him back? Why bother? surely southampton see the benefit of keeping him, and selling him next summer for more money instead? If I was the player, I would sign the contract, and wait until summer to move so I could buy a house, move the family,(and finish GCSE's... :-)) etc

they will be next week, because we are playing man U then. why unsettle him now? must wait until then.

there are some interesting stats arising this season, and was wondering if there are any stattos out there who can give the details. how many red cards against us? How many chelsea goals have been deflected? (A difficult one) how many times have sunderland been unlucky? looking at games, I think scum have a low chance to goal conversion rate, anyone know whos is the worst (and best). Spurs look like they have improved the most (other than us) on last season. any performance indicators?

If I was a liverpool player, I refuse the offer until they recognise paisley. Also, why should we get one? we finished 5th in the league. United won the title and the fa cup in the same season, which was unprecedented. I actually don't think we should get them, and its embarassing that we think we should. the CLUB should get recognition for winning its 5th, but as for the players, winning ONE European cup in a season of otherwise poor performance should not get that much attention. I think this year however, after we have retained it, it makes more sense. all in all though, after its all said and done, those awards are the equivelant of the charity shield winners medal.

I hear that spurs put in 20mil (Pounds) for torres, and its being considered. how come us, and no other 'top' club looking at? thought real, scum, a*** and even the russians would be interested, not to mention others. figaro or others, any truth to this?