to put money on another large win for Chelsea. Drogba back, the only team to have not conceded a goal in Europe this season, Atletico one of a few to have not scored a goal in Europe this season etc etc. Probably shit odds though.
Newcastle go top of the Championship after a 1-0 win at fantastic, fabulous, top class Sheffield United.
Champions League tonight. Man United v CSKA Moscow and Atletico v Chelsea.
FA Trophy replays tonight as well. Wealdstone, Hornchurch, Billericay treble for me.
Beckman signs for AC Milan
Johann Cruyff has been appointed coach of Catalonia.
The Premier League is to investigate the deal that took Michael Turner from Hull to Sunderland with both Brentford and Coventry writing letters claiming that they've missed out on big sell-on fees after the £12million valued defender's fee was undisclosed.
Stephen Appiah signs for Bologna
Man City in for Yayayayaya, Maicon and Cesar Azpilicueta.
Chelsea in for Angel di Maria
Birmingham in for Shevchenko
Sunderland in for Adam Johnson
Pompey in for Gary O'Neil and Benjani
Spurs in for David James
Bolton in for Marvin Elliott and Nicky Maynard
West Ham in for Chamakh
Newcastle in for Matt Killgallon.
Ipswich in for Ibrahim Faye
Torres looks like he might need surgery.
Yup.
to put money on another large win for Chelsea. Drogba back, the only team to have not conceded a goal in Europe this season, Atletico one of a few to have not scored a goal in Europe this season etc etc. Probably shit odds though.
given it's a cup derby and Boro have a nasty habit of winning about half of them. Admittedly they get thrashed the rest of the time, but still...
when I looked last night.
SUREFIRE.
I have a feeling that's going to come a cropper - especially with Rotherham coming up on Sunday. Hoping the feelgood factor around the place is enough to take them through.
IS THIS NEWS.
I don't understand how there can even be transfer rumours at this time of year.
just looked at catalonia's international record - they're really good! beat columbia, chile, lost 1-0 to argentina
They lost to Lowestoft costing me about £6. They're filed under 'Truro'.
if someone, somewhere deliberately and knowingly concucts them out of literally nothing or if they're so deluded they honestly do believe they saw Marlon King talking to Massimo Moratti.
1 with players names, 1 with club names. You can work the rest out.
journos making up stuff to pretend they are connected
agents feeding journos rubbish in order to get their clients better deals
it pains me sometimes, it really does.
file under people who are ok
of drogba scoring and 4-0 could get you a few quid
Can we shove him off to Germany?
Get two tickets for the ferry.
I know there are some papers like AS and Marca who are little more than a mouthpiece for certain clubs in Spain, but generally do the foreign media spoonfeed their readers/viewers as much bullshit as over here?
Michael J Fox wore a bowler hat in his portrayl of CLint Eastwood in Back to the Future III.
I'm pretty sure Bill 'Fatty' Foulkes used to wear a bowler hat while he played footie.
you can thank me later
was betting against Lowestoft. Silly.
we're above the blades in the league!
tee hee
generally 5/6, still some 10/11 around a couple of firms. Around 5/2 to win by more than 1 goal.
All of this is academic, of course, because I've backed them and they'll therefore get humped.
Benik Afobe a 16 year old academy player at Arsenal has been flown out to the Nou camp with a view to signing a deal there.
but he knocked them back, good lad.
Can't really blame this Afobe kid for being interested, firstly it's Barca, plus he's supposedly been offered a spot in their B Team and €5000 per week.
Nice to see that the academy is starting to churn out top class kids rather than just bringing in 15 year olds and polishing them up.
Stan Kroenke has moved to within about 200 shares (0.3%) of the magic 29.9% where he'd be obliged to bid for the club as a whole.
Still not certain he wants to own the whole club so maybe he'll just make a nominal offer and happily see it rejected. Not sure what happens after that, does he have to make a bid for the whole club everytime buys some more shares or is there another threshold at 50%?
Absolute bargain.
Silly Hull http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/03/michael-turner-adam-pearson-hull
(unfortunately I support England)
it looks like Kettering are getting Elding on loan. Him and Ashikodi up front could be both the greatest non league partnership and also the most dislikable.
£4m would be ridiculous
so it's more than a feeling?
I posted this at 09:32.
That was the last rumour I'd heard. I love Anthony Elding. Even more so now, if he's not off there.
Adam Pearson: "It's not incremental, the total amount of cash we will receive for Michael Turner is £2.8m. Those are the facts."
Regards Hull. Sounds like they've been lying about, or at least leaking stories fabricating, figures received for players whilst at the same time hopelessly blowing loads of money on agents when signing shit replacements, and are pretty much fucked. Lovely stuff. Phil Brown's the new Harry Redknapp.
As for us being linked with Yaya Toure, nothing more than two (Hughes being in Barcelona), plus two (his brother playing for us) equalling five. I'd like the player here, sure, and i believe he'll sign at some point, but not in January. Unless we play him at centre-half, as i've always suggested, i don't see why we'd want him now, our problem is that we've got too many central midfield players, if anything.
Also, Maicon's always struck me as sort of a good Glen Johnson, can be brilliant going forward, saw a bit of him against Palermo, but could be better defensively. He's basically a winger. As for Luis Suarez, not sure how he's suddenly worth £30m+.
RVP: no, who did we get?
interviewer: man city
RVP: great, i'd love to play in that game if the manager lets me.
the guy's clearly obsessed.
not really sure why he'd play for us over them though, he spent about 6 months here before and didn't get on with anyone, forcing a move in the end.
wouldn't put it past them, the tykes.
Ultimately, i don't think he's good enough to play for us.
Turner for £4m and Cana for £6m are real bargains, particularly the latter.
Much as I dislike him, I think Bruce could go on to be a really good manager. In 3 years the likes of Fergie, Wenger and Redknapp might all be edging towards retirement and if he's made progress with Sunderland then he could be right in the frame.
time for Gibbs to stake his claim for a world cup place.
and
b) I think the chances of him wanting to play for City anyway despite being better than Craig Bellamy are fairly slim.
Clichy started the season really poorly and I'm a little surprised Gibbs hasn't played more often. Wenger is clearly a big fan of his and if he does well then Gael might struggle to win his place back.
Now for Diaby...
i'm confident he will be at Arsenal for a good few more years yet
I still reckon he's got mad talent if he can sort his massive ego out.
No doubt about it whatsoever.
Hughes is still pushing forwards his dream formation - 5 defensive midfielders pumping up balls to RSC
or something
we're not great but we do the job, as long as our home form holds up we're going straight back up
Hughes has denied we're ready to offer Joleon Lescott in part-exchange.
I think he recently said he won't be in charge at 65. I could see him going if he won either the Premier League or Champions League, especially the latter.
"we are talking about a top player who is fighting for the league title, the Champions League, the best player in his role, what would he be doing at City? Let's not joke about it."
I'd imagine he'll change his tune when someone points out the bump in his 12.5% he could expect if his boy heads for Eastlands.
Personally always thought Zabaleta was a perfectly good right back, has he pissed off Hughes or something?
Ok, so he did well getting Hull promoted and flying high for half of last season, but i don't think Harry's ready to be dislodged as the greatest English manager of the last 10 years, just yet.
doing his stuff for Espanyol right now, well either their u-19's or B team anyway. Can't think of his name though.
Amazing.
He once said he'd have retired by 60, he's like Fergie I think in that he just can't imagine a life away from football.
I agree though, I think he'll pack in full time club management by 65. Could easily carry on as a national coach or running Clairfontaine or something similar.
He's a Hughes buy aswell, and a great character, so i don't think he'll be going anywhere. Hopefully Micah Richards will be leaving the club in January, talk of a new long-term £100k-a-week contract for him is just plain puzzling.
Maicon's agent's right in what he's saying. As for what he'd be doing at City, well, defending quite a bit, i'd have thought. Could see him getting found out, and he's certainly not worth £25m.
but we already have at least one more of Shola's brothers in our reserve/youth squads
http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Club-news/2009/November/Join-Craig-Bellamy-for-dinner
Only £172.50 a head.
like that football magazine (forget which one) said he was. They did a top 100 players thing about a month ago, why can't I remember their name? Dunga prefers him to Dani Alves which is slightly puzzling. He is basically a winger and although most of the better left/right backs are at the moment he can't defend as well as his closest rivals.
Perhaps the most overated player in world football, even ahead of Ibrahimovic, Essien, Ribery, Berbatov or Vidic.
I'd be quite confident in saying Maicon's better than him.
And no, Roy, I will not stop going on about it. You mentalist.
I think he's certainly up there, maybe slightly better than Bosingwa/Sagna/Johnson, definitely better than Sergio Ramos, close call between him and Alves. None of them are incredible players by any stretch of the imagination though.
If Earl Barrett came out of retirement he'd be slightly better than Johnson.
The boy hasn't even mastered the basics of defending. He's no better than Micah Richards.
is this important news?
who I trust loads, and he thought he was overrated when Barca first signed him but has been very impressed with him since. He wasn't very good against us and is clearly a complete cockend but from what I've seen/heard his performances last season put him ahead of Maicon who's never struck me as anything special, the latter has loads of talent but is yet to prove himself at the very top level IMO. I'm going to wait until he's played great in a CL campaign or had a great World Cup, and maybe he will in the coming year, lets see.
I think most people would accept that Berbatov hasn't fulfilled his potential but no one doubts his talent, is that overrating someone? Essien (lol) and we've been through this before so I won't go there again. The others certianly are, fair enough.
The problem is that there are currently a lack of great full backs so the best ones don't have to be quite so good to be admired. Dani Alves vs Bosingwa/Maicon = he's right up there. Dani Alves vs Cafu = no contest.
Does this set some sort of precedent?
do you really think Johnson could mark Messi out of a game, any game? No. Could he do it playing left back, hahahaha. He'd get slaughtered. Their not even on the same planet (in footballing terms, no jokes).
he was quite wonderful for 2 seasons at Spurs.
Great news.
The Times has decided Torres is going to have an operation. Good job it's The Times.
was it?
i can't remember properly, Curbs sort of got kicked out the news by a certain BIG MASSIVE CLUB
Course you do.
but he's now playing at the very top level for a huge club, there's the extra pressure to perform and the added challenge of Champions League football, once he cracks it at this level he'll be recognised as a great player.
I loved watching Berbatov play for Tottenham and couldn't stand the fact he signed for Utd, in fact I'm sure there must be some past evidence on here of me wanking myself over some of his performances.
and based on past experience (of 9 years) he doesn't let bias cloud his judgement. You should hear him moan about the quality of some Leicester players even when they're winning (like they are now). Unless you just don't believe me, which would be weird.
if your two players are still out. The only real danger then would be Benayoun. We'll just get our whole defence to mark him.
It doesn't matter if he is having an op though, because as Benitez rightly says you've got enough quality back-up in Voronin, N'Gog and Kuyt for it not to matter.
Hmmm.
that Ivanovic has been one of Chelsea's better players this year. He'll have Bosingwa out of his starting role soon enough, mark my words. He'll toddle of to Bayern, part-exchange for Ribery next summer. Though I'm less sure of that part...
it's a good option to have but Bosingwa should stay and Ivanovic will end being Carvahlo's long-term replacement. I wouldn't like to see Ribery at Chelsea, not for the amount he'd probably cost anyway.
although that's not been disclosed. Apparently the hammers breached his contract by selling ferdinand and mccartney against curbs' wishes.
and recently signing a new long term deal, I'm inclined to disagree with you.
I could make up loads of shit about Chelsea. Maybe I will.
that I didn't say Johnson and Bosingwa (or Sagna while we're at it) were as good as each other, just comparing Maicon to the better right backs in the Prem.
As it happens I don't think there's much between them, but as a Chelsea fan you've doubtless seen Bosingwa play more often than me, so maybe I'm missing something.
What about John O'Shea?
he's got a proven track record of judging players ability regardless of who they play for. There's no reason for him to make anything up around me, let alone make up an opinion about a footballer.
cheers
Damien Delaney left QPR for Ipswich in the summer saying "I want to try and get promoted"
And how's that working out for you Damien?
and subsequently other forums...could be bullshit, but still...
""A £15m bond on Liverpool FC has been issued for Roma as that amount remains outstanding on the Aquilani deal. Three £5m intallments are due Jan 2010, June 2010 and Jan 2011. After several attempts it has been confirmed that no bank will guarantee it due to their current form on the field. They have had to resort to issuing an Insurance backed bond, a very risky way to aquire finance, mainly as 2 out of the 3 payments will fall beyond the period of guarantee, this means that they are insuring the bond against Champions League receipts"
The last team that did this was Leeds when they bought Rio Ferdinand.
£10 pays £84.
With my immaculate betting record i'm sure you'll all back this banker.
Chelsea to win 4-0 is 50-1. Can't happen again, can it? 4-1 is the same odds...
a little bit better than 10/1
Not sure I'd back Bayern though
and £88 for 2008
I don't talk about prior years.
Mine:
Reina (GK)
Insua (DL)
Agger (DLC)
Skrtel (DRC)
Johnson (DR)
Aquilani (MLC)
Mascherano (MRC)
Aurelio (AML)
Benayoun (AMC)
Babel (AMR)
Kuyt (FC)
Kuyt is infinitely better than Voronin/N'Gog even if he does just run around like a madman at least he can poach a goal or two and be a nuisance.
I'd rather have a really talented player who's usually shit but is capable of doing something special over a player who is usually slightly better than shit without ever looking a threat so... Babel > Riera. And you can't really stick Riera on the right anyway. Aurelio is better than both of them and offers a good set piece option.
Carragher is bloody awful.
Benayoun needs to play centrally so he can have more influence on the game.
The rest of the team picks itself.
That's enough for about 330 Wispa's or so, good going.
no.
numerically you get a lot more.
just shows how shit Liverpoool are really.
along with Chelsea, Man Utd, Porto and Juventus, 13-1. Had a cheeky quid's punt on Chelsea winning 4-0, Drogba scoring first and Chelsea winning 4-1, Drogba scoring first. Both 155-1.
Fiver down the drain, eh?
not confident about tonight. both of our 'top two' central defenders are out, out of our main two central midfielders one is injured and the other is just back from an injury. Also looks like neither of our two main strikers will be playing, and add to that the absense of Giggs, Park, Wellbeck and Gibson.
should still be able to get a respectable team together but im not sure about subs liek. for all lpool's moaning about injuries i'm sure they couldn't cope with an out list like that.
Bayern Munich 1 Bordeaux 1
Maccabi Haifa 0 Juventus 1
Besiktas 2 Wolfsburg 1
Man Utd 2 CsKA Moscow 1
AC Milan 1 Real Madrid 1
Marseille 2 FC Zurich 0
Apoel Nicosia 0 FC Porto 0
Atletico Madrid 1 Chelsea 3
Part of me regrets not putting that Chelsea to win 7-2 with Bosingwa scoring first bet on...
he's been masterful lately
The Little Prince will be fit, Johnson should be back, Masch will play and as you say, Benayoun will be alive.
That said, who knows who he'll start? It's only a league game. He'll probably give Gulacsi (youth keeper) a run out.
yeah, you know which big match i'm talking about
we've been fucking shit, mind. Everyone at the club seems to have lost all defensive capabilities. Anelka and Drogba will have a fucking field day if we carry on like this on the weekend
created loads of opportunities.
and ALL of our main back four are out, what can you expect?
Brown and Neville are way past it, unfortunately.
I'd give Brown the benefit of the doubt for now since he's had so few games since coming back, but I agree about Neville. I'm starting to wonder whether Evans is everything he's cracked up to be, though, to be honest.
he's done nothing to suggest that today really.
lots of balls going through the defence but a bit too much sauce on them
loads of chances
obertan looked brilliant there, just keep him from shooting.
could have had five in the closing twenty minutes with the penalty/machedas header/owens header etc. draw will do though
Probably at fault for our equaliser though, very quick to throw the ball back out so CSKA could attack, not what you expect.
Terrible penalty decision, but glad we didn't suffer too much from it.
Macheda looked impressive, great touches, and composed when it came to shooting.
Owen was alright, got in some fantastic positions but his touch and finishing let him down at times.
Thought Brown and Evans were good, Evra showed how important he is though.
Fair play to CSKA though, they were impressive. Came at us, closed us down, really went for it, looked completely different to the team we played last week.
C'mon Lyon!
I thought Neville was outstanding tonight, and Brown didn't do much wrong.
Scholes and Fletcher failed to take a hold of the game and we struggled. Some nice moves from Macheda, though, kid looks class. Obertan also looks a smart player, though could have done with seeing his shot and cross...best game for Neville for a while.
Nice to see a side have a go at us for a change, not nice to see us defend so poorly and lack direction. Still 3-3, exciting game and we're through.
brown didnt impress me much though
The last thing we needed before a trip to the Bridge was a nice easy run out, let complacency set in.
Without wanting to get carried away; Obertan has something about him I think, that swagger, and the way he carries the ball. Excited about him.
As long as i have a hole in my arse Manchester United will be the flukiest team on the planet. It's not skill, or fitness, or endeavour, or craft, it's fucking luck. Lucking forward to them getting mauled on Sunday.
Did you watch the game, or is this another of your outlandish statements, designed to provoke a reaction?
At 1-3 i said United would equalise in injury time. A fucking OG as well. There's never been a more undeserving side in the history of football. A mediocre pile of shite.
WELL DONE. Shoulda put some money on it!
stick a sock in it.
Was a bit bambi on ice on Saturday, promising though.
Good luck with someone else biting though.
PS Better things to do? If I check the kik diary, you had 'doctor's appointment' pencilled in. Careful not to wear yourself out.
either KiK will look daft, or KiK will be right and Man Utd will have won nothing. Either way, there's an upside to either outcome.
great goals from Kun, is his name actually Kun or is that just a nickname? I thought it was Sergio Aguero but he always wears Kun Aguero on his shirt. Anyway we're through now so we can concentrate on the league, Essien and Ballack only played part of the game each so hopefully that'll make them fitter for the match against Man Utd.
FAO Jordan: looks like your strikers were the problem once again, yes it's definitely your strikers that are letting you down, not that godawful defence of yours. Bring on Sunday ;)
Bayern are amusingly rubbish.
'As long as i have a hole in my arse Manchester United will be the flukiest team on the planet.'
if they don't he'll just go,
'i told you all they are shit'.
you have to hand it to him, he's got his bases covered already. well played kik.
One of the cups, and i think they've a reasonable chance of the title. Chelsea would be *slight* favourites as things stand, but you can never write the fluky cunts off.
Couldn't be bothered tonight, eh?
I know it wasn't sold out. Should've popped down, gave your team a bit of vocal support, not to mention valuable pennies in the coffers.
does anyone think Liverpool WON'T win tomorrow?
ITV1: "another magical night in Europe" @ 1/28
0-1.
IF Ballack scores on Sunday. You can beat us 15-0 as long as I don't have to see his face celebrating.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_05/Ballack2604_468x481.jpg
i like to base my footballing predictions on imagined media hyperbole. This is where they shush out the haters and everyone does a complete u-turn on them, at least until they lose next week
and three goals of which one came from our third choice striker and the other two from midfielders?
i dont see your point..
when was the last time you went to a game? or, in fact, had work the next morning?
Rooney 26, J.Cole 77, Ballack 90+4 (p)
Lampard will get injured in the 93rd minute leaving the German to step up for the spot kick which Drogba won with an outrageous dive. I can see it now. Weirdly, even though Lampard has scored 21 consecutive penalties I'd rather have Ballack take one in a game this big, maybe it's because he's German and I'm a racist fuck :) well, he has scored a winning penalty against you lot before, in fact he got both goals if I remember correctly.
it's very obvious (to me) that your defence needs improving a lot more than your attack regardless of who's on the pitch.
Maybe a goal and a freekick, both perhaps winning.
Scunthorpe. Was at Wigan & Arsenal. Should be at Burnley on Saturday, and Arsenal in the League Cup, possibly Hull. Would've gone to the reserves derby tonight but went to see a pal play instead.
Last time i had work the next morning would've been June-ish 2008.
the one I'm thinking of was a Ballack header followed by an awful Carvahlo backpass leading to a Rooney goal and then an 85(ish) minute winner from the penalty spot by Ballack.