I didn't see the Liverpool v Chelsea game last night so don't really know who deserved what and whether it was much of a spectacle. I do know that John Arne Riise is going to be feeling pretty awful this morning. He had to make some kind of intervention otherwise Anelka just had a tap in - a diving header bulleting into the top corner wasn't what was required. All to play for in the 2nd leg. Say what you like about Chelsea, they are not pretty on the eye but they don't know when they're beaten.
Tonight sees Barcelona take on Manchester United in what promises to be a decent game. Probably won't be now I've said that.
Also last night, Wrexham lose their league status for the first time in their history after a 2-0 defeat. Wolves beat Cardiff 3-0 to kill off any play off hopes lingering in Wales and to move to within 2 points of the play offs themselves.
At Imber Court a lively Tooting (beep beep) and Mitcham side beat Hendon 3-2 in the London Senior Cup Final. No complaints from me, we were well beaten over the 90 minutes. The referee was enjoyable as he played 'when is a red card offence not worthy of a red card' on a couple of occasions. Still, it had no bearing on the result.
Tottenham are alleged to have had talks with Samuel Eto'o last week.
Everton have been linked with Andrei Arshavin and Dudu as well as Sean Davis.
Kevin Phillips is likely to go to Wigan or Derby on a free after rejecting a new contract.
Titus Bramble claims that Newcastle fans 'aren't as good as everyone thinks they are...'
Morning all :)
If Tottenham sign Samuel Eto'o
I will get a lifesize tattoo of his face on my face.
And the back of his head on the back of my head.
Then I will call myself Samuel Et2.
anyone feeling...
...like we're being softened up for the Berbat-OFF* inevitability in the summer.
*if this hasn't been used yet, I want credit for it when The Sun use it.
Maybe
Chances are we'll be able to get some decent in the summer to replace him though...
If Ramos sells Jenas or Huddlestone I'll be upset.
The following players can do one:
Tainio
Chimbonda
Stalteri
Lee
Bent
Gardner (he's only on loan, right?)
Agreed
I like Teemu, but you're right.
Thudd and JJ need to stay. I'll fight anyone who says they aren't at least more than adequate cover for a Champions League standard midfield, because they are and/or will be.
...i'd like to see Bent stay...
his form over recent weeks (when he has got a kick) has been encouraging...
Apparently Scott MacDonald's a done deal...
...i clearly don't mean scott macdonald...
I mean Allan McGregor obvs...
Them Scotch
they all look the same
a lot of people might have already seen this, but
if you haven't, it's endearingly and brilliantly silly:
http://i30.tinypic.com/jr4r3s.jpg
:D
That is the funniest thing I have seen today. Brilliant.
Poor title. Very poor.
Spurs are also alleged to have spoken to Ronaldinho, Puyol and Henry...pinch of salt required methinx.
Cracking finish by Riise. Liverpool get all they deserve for being the luckiest team in Europe like EVER. Benitez is such a fucking moaning prick that i instantly want them to lose, even against the horrible Blues.
Last night was dire
Chelsea derserved a draw insofar as that Liverpool didn't do enough to win. Sure they had a few decent chances but were hardly battering the Chelsea defence. Not surprising really that the equaliser was an own goal, if Grant had fielded 11 Rugby playing amputees there would have been more foward passing. Some pretty despicable sub decisions from Grant as it is.
I'll eat all the hats in the world if Eto'o goes to Spurs.
you're blaming grant?
why? it's not his fault that eleven supposedly world-class players couldn't pass the ball a few feet. blame the players.
Grant's tactics were shocking
He can share the blame with the players
i don't know
if jose took off joey cole for kalou (who crossed the ball in and actually looked like he cared) then we would be saying it was an inspired sub from the special one.
the only difference between the two managers is that when the players play for avram, they look a lot more apathetic, which is sometimes costly.
as an aside, i don't think frank lampard should have played last night.
I wouldn't have said that at all
Taking Cole off for Kalou when that sack of shit Malouda is on was senseless. Then bringing Anelka on with 4 minutes to go (by which point we'd been behind and lacking an attacking edge for a good 40 minutes) but pushing him out right and pushing Malouda up front? Its absolutely ridiculous. Chelsea's seeming desire to only pass backwards or side-to-side is also a tactical choice. You'd be really unlucky to field 11 players who all had that mediocre ability inherent to their game.
The real difference between the two managers is that Chelsea players had some respect and more importantly fear of Mourinho. I don't care if we win a double under Grant, he is ruining Chelsea as a footballing entity, much more so than you could possibly argue 'the special one' ever did.
good points, well made
i agree with them all actually. the thing is, malouda last night actually looked quite decent! joey was looking lacklustre but at least that means he can't play any worse in the second leg (i think he'll score at the bridge). also, playing anelka on the left was ridiculous but at least by bringing him on we had more than just drogba in the box and ultimately nico's presence resulted in the ginger spectacularly heading in to his own net.
whatever happens now, we know grant is not the right man and we know he's not going to be there next season, but being three points behind one of the best footballing sides in the premiership and in the same situation as the best manager this country has ever seen is not bad for your first season in charge, especially considering the injury/African nations set-backs we have had.
"In the same situation as the best manager this country has ever seen".
How so? Both in the semis admittedly but, as you say, he's 3 points ahead in the league.
you know what i mean
three points behind, yes, but also in two competitions (only) and still with a chance of winning.
Oh, right. I'm with you.
I wasn't being sarcastic or owt - I was just being a bit slow and wasn't clear on what you were getting at...
haha
i know :D my point wasn't very clear re: the three points behinds thing but yes, basically i feel avram has done an ok job.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa19/jimxdfa/23wp9h5.gif
:D
He's not been disastrous by any means but what he doesn't do is create the air of invulnerablility which was probably Mourinho's prime strength. Under Mourinho you often felt that the players felt unbeatable, the fans felt unbeatable and that this had an effect on the opposition where they subconsciously wrote off their own chances and allowed Chelsea to dominate. Grant just doesn't pull this off...
Frankly you would never have scored without Liverpool assistance.
Until Riise's fuck-up Chelsea didn't look a threat at all. As you imply above it's ultimately Liverpool's fault for not taking their chances (or indeed creating as many as maybe they should have done) but even if you argue Liverpool didn't do enough to deservedly win, Chelsea certainly didn't do enough to deservedly draw and, although I think you will scrape though to the final, it'd definitley be a mistake to allow a fluke own-goal to paper over some very obvious cracks.
Which is exactly my point
We've ridden luck, luck that will not hold out next season and potentially not for the duration of this season. A new manager and a overhaul of how we play is necessary. I'd personally like to see a move away from the defensive, long-ball approach both Grant and Mourinho have favoured.
Liverpool scored as the result of 4 Chelsea players monumentally fucking up (as an aside, can a player who is at most 4 or 5 feet from the ball really be considered as not interfering in play in offside decisions?) and really never looked dangerous themselves so I stanuchly believe neither team deserved to win. Only leaves one fair outcome really.
The Babel thing perplexed me a bit
He went for it just before it broke for Kuyt too so it has to be interfering with play. But the collective Chelsea errors were shocking. It's hard to fault your analysis that, if neither side deserves to win, a draw has to be the fairest outcome but nonetheless a 0-0 draw would have probably been a fairer reflection. Chelsea are very fortunate to have the advantage of away goal.
I guess the other thing is I don't think Liverpool are out of it by a long shot, whereas I certainly would have done under Mourinho.
Unlucky Hendon
I will still be there on Saturday to cheer you into the playoffs.
Borehamwood went down to a crushing 2-1 defeat to Staines. The second half was so bad it actually defied belief. Hopefully we can pick up that win we need to stay up.
Apart from that, the combination of Riise’s last minute wonder own goal (You’ll never walk *silence*) and Wrexham getting relegated made it a wonderful night for football.
Why Wrexham getting relegated?
FA Cup 1992
Ah, fair enough :)
Not one to bear grudges?
Tongue in cheek of course
Mention DiS
or claim you're a student or something when you come in through the turnstiles. Half price awaits. Defeat by Staines is nothing to be ashamed of, particularly with their form of late and the fact that you've no manger right now.
i hope that
"claim you're a student" wasn't aimed at me, in a pithy way...i am a student! in fact, i've got a meeting with my thesis supervisor today to prove it!
No, not at all
It's just people might prefer it rather than the awkward social interaction involved in talking about obscure internet messageboards. Anycase, you showed me your student card :o)
Bizzare thing
is the referee managed to do the one thing - showing a yellow to Dave King - that you'd have thought wasn't actually possible from the rules. It wasn't persistent misconduct, or a particularly late challenge. He also missed pretty obvious fouls in the build up to both team's first goals.
More to the point, Tooting deserved the trophy on their performance and we certainly didn't. Well played them.
I'm sorry
but Arshavin and Dudu? That's nearly as bad as the old Villa midfield of Brown-Arce-Hole
(Oscar Arce, argentinian, Barry Hole, Welshman, and somebody Brown)
Fortunately
I was watching iLiKETRAiNS last night so I didn't see this abomination of a result.
Shame about Wrexham...I'll always remember that cup win over Arsenal.
I'm delighted about Wrexham...
...perhaps never have a team deserved it more... Tried their hardest to kick every team off the park all season.
I saw them down at London Road ealier in the season and they did nothing but kick, cynically foul and just generally thug it up. Horrible side.
I'm one happy bunny this morning.
We got a lucky break in a game against Liverpool, who'd have thought it, great ball by Kalou (who was pretty lively when he came on).
I though we deserved something despite a couple of awful periods of play from us, at least we went out to get an away goal. I was so frustrated during the 1st 15 minutes of the 2nd half, I kept shouting at the screen "you're better than them, prove it you stupid fucks" amongst other things. I think I would have jumped off a building if we'd have lost. :)
I watched the first half and the second up till the goal
It was so dull I decided to watch a documentary on the IRA instead. I flick over on 88 minutes and it's till 1-0.
Just before going to bed I check the score online. I didn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes
heh
Thierry Henry is "today's featured article" on Wikipedia
Newcastle fans
say a similar thing about Bumble...
And it's a fair point
on both sides of the argument.
They're both right
Nah...
How can Bramble possibly not be as good as everyone thinks he is? No-one thinks he's any good!
But he's worse
than that.
Bloody Hampton
Played like Brazil apparently. But as the Rock would say...
IT DOESN'T MATTER
Whoever told you that
obviously lied.
Surely you're getting Brazil
confused with Bolton...
Well with all the carjacking and shanties
who wouldn't?
I'm guessing we
couldn't be bothered anymore, seeing as we're already up. But still, 6-0?
Did their keeper
score?
.
St Albans pick up a point at Maidenhead to confirm their conference south status next season, hurrah!
^^ ^^
Best away fans in the league.
Well done
that's a hell of a comeback after being seemingly dead and buried a few months ago...
Well done indeed to
Stale Buns, quite enjoyed our little battles over the last couple of years.
We got a point at Aldershot to confirm out status in the BSP next year.
Does anyone have a prediction for tonights game?
By that I mean the Barca vs Manu one, in case there are any others which I'm sure there will be.
Barcelona 1-1 Manchester Utd
Park-Ji-Sung followed by Messi.
Manu will go through, I don't think Barca's form or defensive qualities are good enough.
I think it'll be close, 2-1 Barca maybe
but Man Utd to overturn that in the 2nd leg.
2-2
Marquez and Iniesta scoring own goals to give Man United a 2 goal lead before Wes Brown and Carrick score an own goal each to give Barca a well deserved draw.
The way Chelsea are playing
I'd be very worried about their unbeaten home record at the weekend. If I was a Chelsea fan. Which I'm not.
I'm a Chelsea fan and I'm reasonably concerned.
Although no matter how shit we play we still manage not to lose at home. I have a felling that playing shit this weekend, could have serious consequences.
well
i obviously hope we win, but if we were to lose it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world; there is such a pressure to maintain this home record that we have often forgotten how to win at home this season. drawing so many games at home has cost us.
Anyone know what Phil Thompson shouts when Chelsea score?
http://www.skysports.com/video/0,20285,12606_3462053,00.html
Damn, it's not working.
Was it something rude?
don't know
it's difficult to tell.
I think it's
'Oh my god'. Can see some form of Kaiser Chiefs/Phil Thompson mix making its way on to youtube shortly.
That;s pretty funny
especially the guy celebrating in the background
Hopefully it's something along the lines of
'I'm dying'
:D
Father Jack much?
If Chelsea
get through in the 2nd leg against Liverpool will this make Avram Grant better than Jose?
No
It will mean Liverpools luck has finally run out
^and this
We were pretty bad last night considering how good our players are "supposed to be" and Liverpool still couldn't beat us. A bit of luck went our way for once and look what happened.
No, because he hasn't won anything for us yet.
I'm sure lots of people will be silly enough to say so.
People forget the problem with Champions Leagues and World Cups and other knock out competitions is that so much of it comes down to form and luck on the night.
I've always found it a bit silly when people berate managers for failing to win these competitions as, even with the best team in the world, the best preparations in the world and the best tactics in the world, you just can't legislate for the random element.
^If the performanc is there you can't fault the manager
It also explains how Liverpool have reached 2 Champions League Finals over the past 3 seasons, the random element.
Plus beating
Juventus, Barcelona, Arsenal, PSV, Inter Milan, Chelsea twice, all over two legs.
I didn't say ever win was random or undeserved..
..that would be harsh and simply untrue. My point is that it's not always the best teams that win things and luck plays a part in that.
*every win
This is true.
I mean Liverpool certainly have put in some excellent performances too but it'd be silly to pretend luck wasn't a factor.
If competitions were always won by the teams who play the best the Czech Republic would have cantered to Euro 2004 and Argentina would be current world champions...
Luck again?
I think I'm always posting this on this board, but why do people harp on about luck like it's a tangible attribute?
It's nothing but circumstance which arises due to a number of variables. It wasn't luck last night which gifted Chelsea a draw. It was a left footed player needing to clear a cross from the left with his right foot, and his (under pressure) decision to use his head instead.