English Football Thread! 2006-2007 Season

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Originally Posted by Resha

Whoa whoa whoa. What's up with this influx of Liverpool fans all of a sudden? :p

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The balance has been restored.

Anyway, Doc forgot to mention Aurelio is also out for us, which is a shame because he would be ideal seeing as Gonzalez is out. I thought he did quite well on the left with Warnock behind him against PSV Eindhoven in the away tie.

Regarding Zenden, I think he'd be much better on the left side of midfield. as he was last season until he got injured, but we have so many other players who can play there - Gonzalez, Aurelio, Luis Garcia, Riise and Kewell. That, and the fact that he is still yet to find his feet after recovering from a serious injury is why I'm showing him leniency when he plays in the middle. To be fair, he is only our fourth choice central midfielder and I think he's good enough to be that, but it would've been better if we'd sold him and kept Didi.

Still, can't complain. We got the 3 points.

yeah keeping didi looks like it would have been a good move right around now. went to the game. everyone clapped and cheered when his name was read out for the man city substitutes.

also i've been around since the dawn of time, i am not a new influx!

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Originally Posted by Paul

also i've been around since the dawn of time, i am not a new influx!

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Never said you were, mate! :p It's just that before this thread was overrun (and rightfully so) by Arsenal fans, and now we are diminishing in presence in the face of y'all.

Gimme 4000 theiving scousers over 10 filthy Arsenal scumbags any day. :spin:

Nice work, Dan.

And now it seems Zenden is out for five weeks, and it also seems like Rafa is planning to use either Carragher, Hyypia or Agger in the middle. It's got to be a slap in the face for the likes of Peltier and Guthrie.

Wait, didn't I do this yet?

Yayyyyyyy! 1-0 against Pompey this weekend. :jess:

It's a shame old Shodey got banned, we need moar Geordie's here. Plucky underdog fans of teams who are crap are awesome.

iluJess :jess:

Don't you come within the same group, Dan? ...Man City?! :cool:

ilu2Dan. :jess:

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Originally Posted by Jess

Don't you come within the same group, Dan? ...Man City?! :cool:

ilu2Dan. :jess:

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Exactly! :D

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Originally Posted by DK

It's a shame old Shodey got banned, we need moar Geordie's here. Plucky underdog fans of teams who are crap are awesome.

iluJess :jess:

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I remember him. He used to crease me up, how come he got banned?

Another indifferent result from Liverpool tonight. Like you say Psy, Guthrie and Peltier have got to feel fairly aggrieved not to have been given their chance this evening. Can we call Salif back from Stoke? ;)

I think Rafa absolutely has to bring in another midfielder, whether short term or otherwise, in January just to sure us up a bit. We are seriously missing the Didi at the moment, and it's not until situations like this arise, you realise it. Undoubtedly I'll have more to moan about after the highlights, so at least that's something. :p

Well, Guthrie did get a chance. 8 or so minutes. Peltier wasn't even on the bench, although El Zhar was.

If we do buy a central midfielder, I'm not sure how often they'd play with Xabi and Momo coming back, and Stevie seriously staking a claim to being played there all the time. It's Catch-22.

Oh, and YES! SALIF DIAO! <3333333

Yay for derby victory. :cool: I'll be honest though; unbiased and fair and all -- that second goal wasn't a penalty in any way; Chimbonda got the ball fair'n square, so we were really lucky there.

It was a great game for Adebayor. He really, really showed what stuff he's made of today, like he's never ever done before imho. :) That makes me so happppy. And we did it all without Henry too!

Edit: ...4-0 at half-time? The hell is WRONG with Wigan!? O.O Liverpool's away fortunes would've turned indeed xD

Looks like Bellamy IS guilty of assault... against Wigan.


Take care all.

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Originally Posted by The Captain

Looks like Bellamy IS guilty of assault... against Wigan.


Take care all.

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this post wins the thread

hes a great player but hes a thug!

Apparently Liverpool are very close to a takeover by the world's fifth-richest man, who goes by the easy to remember name of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum. His wealth totally outstrips Abramovich's.

Ugh. With this and the abandoning of Anfield for a 60,000 stadium, it feels like the soul is being ripped out of the club, and there is no club in England with a soul like Liverpool's. I'm all for glory days at Anfield Road, really I am, but not at this price.

I can only hope we don't become a bunch of diving whining cheats like Chelsea are, and that we don't get s like Mourinho and Peter Kenyon in. I'm still going to support the club no matter what, though, and will until the day I die.

Anywho, it seems we're letting the kids have a run in the Champions League on Tuesday. Squad:

Dudek, Agger, Riise, Alonso, Crouch, Fowler, Pennant, Bellamy, Kuyt, Carragher, Paletta, Luis Garcia, Guthrie, Peltier, Darby, Martin, Anderson, Roque.

I am looking forward to seeing Paul Anderson play, but then anyone who has seen the English football threads over the past two years should already know that :D

I think it's a good move to get some of the younger guys some playing time, especially since we've already clinched a spot in the next round.

As for the takeover.... it's a very complex problem. For one, the way the EPL looks like it's going, you need to have some sort of rich owner to afford to compete with the spending of Man Utd and Chelsea, but like Paul said, the price to pay might be too steep. To draw a parallel, this has really been hit home the last few years in American Major League Baseball, where a few teams, such as the Yankees and Red Sox have a seemingly overwhelming amount of money to spend and thus usually end up with the two best lineups, whilst other squads have to be much more cut-throat and shrewd, but never enjoy the consistent level of success. As a lifelong Yankees fan, I've been very sad to watch my team go from a ball club to a high priced all-star team with no chemistry. I fear that money eventually does that as you pass over players that might not have eye-popping stats but make up for it in chemistry and intangibles. However, the silver lining is that just because a team becomes wealthy doesn't mean they always win, as the past few World Series have shown.

In the end, if Liverpool uses the money to regain an equal footing with Man Utd, Chelsea and the others, it makes sense because they need to level that playing field, but they also have to remember that they are Liverpool and a lot of the allure comes from their history which is filled with great players and teams, and not with just rich ones or overwhelming stats.

Take care all.

And after all that, Paul Anderson didn't play. Good to see Miki Roque get a chance though.

Dunno what Rafa was doing playing Guthrie on the left, though. Surely the logical thing to do would be to play Agger at left back, Riise on the left of midfield, Carra in the centre of defence and Guthrie in the centre, but apparently not.

Why is Gabriel Paletta trying to be Mauricio Pellegrino?

Guthrie, Roque, Paletta, Paul Anderson? Are you speaking in tongues :p

Didn't see the Liverpool match (will watch highlights tonight), but congratulations for making the knock out phase. Was also nice to see Robbie Fowler net a couple, reminds me of the good old '97 days when he was scoring by the bucketful.
And how about a round of applause for Spartak Moscow for making the UEFA cup

I AM BACK FROM A GREAT SLUMBER!!...though I doubt I was missed....

Man U better beat Benfica tomorrow.....

I'm going to the derby so my presence alone should inspire them to thrash City.

I hope we can beat Reading tonight, although it's unlikely, but I feel uncomfortable with us in the bottom three. :(

Oh, and for smurfs sake about Keiron Dyer - not again! :(

Er, Liverpool played yesterday

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

Er, Liverpool played yesterday

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This is Psychotic's doing. :mad2:

I'm a Newcastle fan! :jess:

EDIT: Yes! We win and we're up and out of the relegation zone yet again. ^_^

1-0 to us, firstly - Sibierski.
1-1. Harper
2-1 to Reading, Harper again.
2-2, penalty Oba Martins!
3-2 to us, Emre. :heart:

I'm so happy!

Another sound effort at Anfield today.



Take care all.

And another 4-0. Looks like we're finally finding some form.

I hate Chelsea. Arrogant @%@*s. The newspapers are full of Mourinho "dismissing" Arsenal. *shnip* Was that inappropriate language?! My bad. :p

Nothing new there from Mourinho. Though I do think we'll be be bloody lucky to even get a draw today. Hell, we'll be lucky to score! :(

Have faith in us, Charlie chica. :) I believe we can do it. Miracles are just coincidental smurf-ups, or so they say...:shifty:

Well we got the draw, which in the circumstances isn't too bad. But curse us for not keeping that lead! :( Still considering what things have been like for us in the last six weeks or so, this is one of the better moments of the season so far comparatively.

God, Essien's goal was incredable! Either way i'm happy with a draw, It's setting us (Man U) up nicely for the title with the blues dropping points. :)

3-1 at the weekend against Blackburn. :cool:

I'm very doubtful about tomorrow against Chelsea (obviously) but ofcourse I'm hoping for the best! :jess:

Can't see there being any surprises tonight...Cheating scum Chelski are too good at home, and Arsenal are on fire.
On the other hand, at the weekend, I hope you're ready to be embarassed Paul :P.

You've got no idea, mate. Today will be the day we beat Chelski away!

...I hope! :jess:

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Originally Posted by Valiant

Can't see there being any surprises tonight...Cheating scum Chelski are too good at home, and Arsenal are on fire.
On the other hand, at the weekend, I hope you're ready to be embarassed Paul :P.

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We're on fire? Not sure about that yet... :confused: - maybe if we win EVERY game we have left this month will be, and fat chance of that!

Losing Henry for a while will hurt and might push some interesting transfer decision for Arsenal.

Question to all you Liverpool fans: Will the takeover be before this season's transfer window closes? It usually takes a lot of Anfield news (the juicy gossip and rumors) a day longer to get to us in the States, so I'd imagine you all have more current knowledge than I.

Take care all.

...Not quite on fire but did just enough. I reckon that if Fabregas would've started it would've been much more comfortable.
And dream on Jess :P. Did better than expected though, I'll give you that.
Bring on the scouse!

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Originally Posted by The Captain

Losing Henry for a while will hurt and might push some interesting transfer decision for Arsenal.

Take care all.

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We've been playing better without him seemingly! That's not to say we'll miss him of course but hopefully it'll give him a much-needed break anyway.

:mad2: Drogba.

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Originally Posted by Valiant

...Not quite on fire but did just enough. I reckon that if Fabregas would've started it would've been much more comfortable.
And dream on Jess :P. Did better than expected though, I'll give you that.
Bring on the scouse!

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You can keep dreaming about beating those scousers. :jess:

posted by jess
You've got no idea, mate. Today will be the day we beat Chelski away!

thats the worst game of football i have seen chelsea play for years if u was goin to beat us that would of been the time!

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Originally Posted by Jess

You can keep dreaming about beating those scousers. :jess:

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I will :D. I'm not genuinely expecting anything though tbh.
The prediction on BBC is 0-3 :|. Mean! That even makes Sky Sport's 0-2 sound pretty sympathetic.

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

thats the worst game of football i have seen chelsea play for years if u was goin to beat us that would of been the time!

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Haha :P.

Full Last 16 draw
FC Porto v Chelsea
Celtic v AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven v Arsenal
Lille v United
Roma v Lyon
Barcelona v Liverpool
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich
Inter Milan v Valencia

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Full Last 16 draw
FC Porto v Chelsea
Celtic v AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven v Arsenal
Lille v United
Roma v Lyon
Barcelona v Liverpool
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich
Inter Milan v Valencia

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Good draws for everyone besides Liverpool, who've obviously got a hell of a job on their hands. Good luck with that one, guys. :p

If Liverpool keeps playing like they are of late, I think the Champions League match will be a good one.

Solid AWAY win yet again for the Reds, who though they didn't kill the game as quickly as they probably could or should have, ended up really dominating play. Gerrard looks in fine form as does Bellamy and Kuyt and maybe it just took a shot to the face to get Pennant going too.

3rd place now and I still think our best football is ahead of us.


Take care all.

Yep...we got completely battered :P.
Liverpool did look really impressive, and I definitely think 3rd place is a realistic target. But we were awful and let them play, and if things don't improve it's looking like Championship football for us next season!

On a separate note...bloody Alan Curbishley :|.

1. Is it just me or do Arsenal always get easy draws (Europe)?
2. Does anyone agree that playing the second leg away is the advantage and should be bestowed on those who finish top of their qualifying group?
3. Drogba's goal = Quality

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

1. Is it just me or do Arsenal always get easy draws (Europe)?
2. Does anyone agree that playing the second leg away is the advantage and should be bestowed on those who finish top of their qualifying group?
3. Drogba's goal = Quality

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1. Yeah because getting the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus last season was just so easy :rolleyes2 - add to that getting Chelsea a few years back...
2. Yes, but people tend to disagree about what is more advantageous
3. Yes

not sure PSV is as easy a game as you're suggesting. I think man U have the easiest draw of the english teams.

Brentford til i die!

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Originally Posted by blim

not sure PSV is as easy a game as you're suggesting. I think man U have the easiest draw of the english teams.

Brentford til i die!

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You poor sod, my friend supports Brentford, and they havn't won in three months or something have they :(

yeah, its not a good time to be a brentford fan but you never know, the seasons not half way through yet. There is still time to turn it around

I'll just confirm Arsenal's previous 5 year European group opposition

2006 Porto, CSKA Moskva, Hamburger
2005 Ajax, Sparta Praha, Thun
2004 PSV, Panathinaikos, Rosenborg
2003 (ii) Valencia, AS Roma, Ajax
2003 (i) Internazionale, Dynamo Kyiv, Lokomotiv Moscow
2002 Dortmund, PSV, Auxerre

Only one Italian in the last five years (first round), no Spaniards

And what do you expect? When you reach the latter stages of the Champions League Real or Juve are bound to be around the corner, and don't forget we were miles better than Chelsea back in 03/04

What a GREAT game at Anfield today.


Take care all.

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

I'll just confirm Arsenal's previous 5 year European group opposition

2006 Porto, CSKA Moskva, Hamburger
2005 Ajax, Sparta Praha, Thun
2004 PSV, Panathinaikos, Rosenborg
2003 (ii) Valencia, AS Roma, Ajax
2003 (i) Internazionale, Dynamo Kyiv, Lokomotiv Moscow
2002 Dortmund, PSV, Auxerre

Only one Italian in the last five years (first round), no Spaniards

And what do you expect? When you reach the latter stages of the Champions League Real or Juve are bound to be around the corner, and don't forget we were miles better than Chelsea back in 03/04

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the gooners always have a easy draws thats a fact!
you was better than chelsea in 2003 but chelsea have done a lot better in europe than arsenal, even before abramovich

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

the gooners always have a easy draws thats a fact!
you was better than chelsea in 2003 but chelsea have done a lot better in europe than arsenal, even before abramovich

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Er...no you havn't - your European record has been as mediocre as ours really - havn't we both only won two European trophies (we've reached a fair few finals, we just keep losing most of them! :p ). Unless of course losing to the likes of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the years before Abramovich makes you better than us.

Look,you can't simply go on and say that the gunners and gooners.Chelsea is neither anywhere near Arsenal's youth team before the arrival of Russian so called billionaire.Even with his money flowing like water tap Chelsea couldn't even produce good results remember mr.Chelsea fan?It's because even with the budget Chelsea couldn't get the expected results so they sacked the tinkerman Claudio Ranieri.Even now,Chelsea are full with international players but they just managed a draw with Arsenal with a youthful side and more importantly a very young back four.

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Originally Posted by charliepanayi

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

the gooners always have a easy draws thats a fact!
you was better than chelsea in 2003 but chelsea have done a lot better in europe than arsenal, even before abramovich

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Er...no you havn't - your European record has been as mediocre as ours really - havn't we both only won two European trophies (we've reached a fair few finals, we just keep losing most of them! :p ). Unless of course losing to the likes of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the years before Abramovich makes you better than us.

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apart from last year you have been very poor in the champions league usually getting knocked out in the group stages! every time we have been in it we have got further apart from last year when you reached the final in 99 we got to the semis against Barca in 2004 we throw it away against Monaco with the "tinker mans tactics" and the next 2 years we got to the semi final against Liverpool were the ball didn’t cross the line! and the year after against Barca were they out classed us at Stamford Bridge but if it wasn’t for the sending off it wouldn’t of happened! and as for the gooners winning 2 European trophies I didn’t know that I thought you had never won anything in Europe.

Fact: Arsenal, based on their successes in European competition over recent years, are ranked higher than Chelsea.

Ranking obviously means bugger all in European draws. Chelsea (champs of England) AND Barcelona (champs of Spain and holders) in the same group for the second consecutive year? Really...

This year...I think Barcelona would have a chance to not retain thier Euro cup...I just felt that way...Ronaldinho is kinda inconsistent lately...Yeah they've world class players...but I think they lack Eto'o and Messi-ah :)

(Note:I'm not a Barca fan...)

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Originally Posted by XandrewX

This year...I think Barcelona would have a chance to not retain thier Euro cup...I just felt that way...Ronaldinho is kinda inconsistent lately...Yeah they've world class players...but I think they lack Eto'o and Messi-ah :)

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However, they want to find their way to FIFA Club World Cup again (since they lost horribly last Sunday - maybe not horribly, but still lost), and the only possibility of doing so is by winning the Champions League again. I know, most European teams arrive at Japan for the World Cup not caring as to whether they win it or not, but that's the only Cup Barca hasn't claimed yet (and Real Madrid has, if that's motivation enough).

Liverpool's foe aside, I'd say Chelsea is in for a heck of a ride in Portugal, though. Porto isn't half as weak as most people portray it.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Fact: Arsenal, based on their successes in European competition over recent years, are ranked higher than Chelsea.

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the rankings system is a bit mad its like the world cup rankings how can Chelsea not be seeded when we are champions of England for the second year in a row and some lesser teams in less competitive leagues are?

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Fact: Arsenal, based on their successes in European competition over recent years, are ranked higher than Chelsea.

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the rankings system is a bit mad its like the world cup rankings how can Chelsea not be seeded when we are champions of England for the second year in a row and some lesser teams in less competitive leagues are?

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Because it's not ranking English teams, it's ranking European teams. In other words, it doesn't matter how well you do in your own league, it matters how well you do in European games. Chelsea, quite simply, have not got a reputation prior to this year for going far in European games. They'll get that in time, probably, but at the moment, no.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Fact: Arsenal, based on their successes in European competition over recent years, are ranked higher than Chelsea.

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the rankings system is a bit mad its like the world cup rankings how can Chelsea not be seeded when we are champions of England for the second year in a row and some lesser teams in less competitive leagues are?

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Because it's not ranking English teams, it's ranking European teams. In other words, it doesn't matter how well you do in your own league, it matters how well you do in European games. Chelsea, quite simply, have not got a reputation prior to this year for going far in European games. They'll get that in time, probably, but at the moment, no.

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Agree...the ranking of European Cup is base on how well you did in the competition and how far you've gone from group to knockout stages...For the last 10 years or so...Sometimes...Chealsea can't even make it to the European Cup Competition...that's why...Chealsea isn't seeded.

but apart from last year you have got knocked out every year in the champions league group stages Chelsea have got to 2 semi finals and a quarter final.

Yeah. Boy, those three years. What a history.

Chelsea would of been the first team in England to qualify for the European Cup if it wasnt for the Fa, when Chelsea won the league in 1955 we was invited to join the European cup the Fa didnt let us! the next year Man United won the league and joined.

How many times did you win the league between 1955 and 2004?

Regardless, again, only European fixtures in the past ten years count towards seeding. So stop complaining.

EDIT: Quick checks tell me that the FA didn't refuse Chelsea access to UEFA - Chelsea themselves refused. "Bullied" or not.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

How many times did you win the league between 1955 and 2004?

Regardless, again, only European fixtures in the past ten years count towards seeding. So stop complaining.

EDIT: Quick checks tell me that the FA didn't refuse Chelsea access to UEFA - Chelsea themselves refused. "Bullied" or not.

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What I mean is how can sides from smaller leagues be seeded and not the champions of England it doesn’t make any sense but If we keep getting to quarter finals and semi finals it wont be long till we are seeded I don’t think it makes a huge difference anyway

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

What I mean is how can sides from smaller leagues be seeded and not the champions of England

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If they do better in European games over the past ten years then that's how.

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it doesn’t make any sense but If we keep getting to quarter finals and semi finals it wont be long till we are seeded I don’t think it makes a huge difference anyway

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That much is certainly true.

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

but apart from last year you have got knocked out every year in the champions league group stages Chelsea have got to 2 semi finals and a quarter final.

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Isn't BoB a Man U supporter?

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

How many times did you win the league between 1955 and 2004?

Regardless, again, only European fixtures in the past ten years count towards seeding. So stop complaining.

EDIT: Quick checks tell me that the FA didn't refuse Chelsea access to UEFA - Chelsea themselves refused. "Bullied" or not.

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Chelsea won the Cup Winners in 1998, that's more European honours than Arsenal in the last 10 years, add that to better performances European Cup wise prior to last year and they should have been ranked higher

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

What I mean is how can sides from smaller leagues be seeded and not the champions of England it doesn’t make any sense but If we keep getting to quarter finals and semi finals it wont be long till we are seeded I don’t think it makes a huge difference anyway

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Finally a little bit of justice!

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

but apart from last year you have got knocked out every year in the champions league group stages Chelsea have got to 2 semi finals and a quarter final.

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Isn't BoB a Man U supporter?

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Yup.

Quote:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

How many times did you win the league between 1955 and 2004?

Regardless, again, only European fixtures in the past ten years count towards seeding. So stop complaining.

EDIT: Quick checks tell me that the FA didn't refuse Chelsea access to UEFA - Chelsea themselves refused. "Bullied" or not.

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Chelsea won the Cup Winners in 1998, that's more European honours than Arsenal in the last 10 years, add that to better performances European Cup wise prior to last year and they should have been ranked higher

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Obviously on whatever system UEFA use, they haven't outdone Arsenal on average. Maybe over the ten years Chelsea have won once and got to two quarter finals and a semi final (or something), but obviously in the other years they didn't do so well. Either way, there is some set-in-stone system they use to rank them and Chelsea didn't get there.

It's a pretty useless debate anyway, you must admit. If Chelsea beat Barcelona, should they really be scared of anyone else?

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

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Originally Posted by Bart's Friend Milhouse

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

but apart from last year you have got knocked out every year in the champions league group stages Chelsea have got to 2 semi finals and a quarter final.

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Isn't BoB a Man U supporter?

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Yup.

Quote:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

How many times did you win the league between 1955 and 2004?

Regardless, again, only European fixtures in the past ten years count towards seeding. So stop complaining.

EDIT: Quick checks tell me that the FA didn't refuse Chelsea access to UEFA - Chelsea themselves refused. "Bullied" or not.

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Chelsea won the Cup Winners in 1998, that's more European honours than Arsenal in the last 10 years, add that to better performances European Cup wise prior to last year and they should have been ranked higher

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Obviously on whatever system UEFA use, they haven't outdone Arsenal on average. Maybe over the ten years Chelsea have won once and got to two quarter finals and a semi final (or something), but obviously in the other years they didn't do so well. Either way, there is some set-in-stone system they use to rank them and Chelsea didn't get there.

It's a pretty useless debate anyway, you must admit. If Chelsea beat Barcelona, should they really be scared of anyone else?

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sorry to insult you bob i didnt know u was a man u fan ha ha

I just want to acknowledge that Swansea unleashed total pwnage upon Sheffield today. Premiership clubs are easy money for the might of Tom Butler and Leon Britton! Away too!

Lee Trundle didn't score so who cares.

Also, Arsenal can never, ever, whine about teams sitting behind the ball and defending for 90 minutes ever again. Hypocrites. :p Full credit to my fellow Liverpool fans for today though. Absolutely incredible atmosphere. Full credit also goes to Dirk Kuyt, best player on the pitch and I love him in naughty ways. Full credit also goes to Wenger for his tactics, even if it does make him a hypocrite it was a good result. It's annoying that we lost to that lot again, though, 'cause at the moment, Liverpool are least the equal of, if not ever so slightly better than Arsenal in my (and the league table's :D) opinion. But eh, that's the way cups go I guess. Hopefully we can even things out in the Carling Cup and in the Anfield league game, and hopefully Arsenal will come out and play like we all know they can.

George Graham, I missed you.

Arsenal 6 - 3 Liverpool. Eeeee!

*cue mocking Paul*

Yes. I mock you, Paul. I mock you most severely. :cool:

Thing is, first half arsenal weren't even that good. I'd hate to be a scouser this morning. Reckon even Chelski wont score 6 tonight

Don't listen to them Paul. DON'T LET THEIR MEAN WORDS GET TO YOU :mad2:

Also, of course they won't, not if they start Shevchenko. :monster:

just seen the team sheets, be lucky if they get three. Come on Wycombe!

Oh no, our B-team + Gerrard and Bellamy was beaten by the Arsenal B-team + Fabregas and Toure. How ever will I live this shame down?

The FA Cup loss is more shameful. Especially 'cause that :skull::skull::skull::skull: Henry scored.

Liverpool were truely awful in both games. Tactically owned. Unless they perform miracles at Barca. Their season is over....which is nice.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Oh no, our B-team + Gerrard and Bellamy was beaten by the Arsenal B-team + Fabregas and Toure. How ever will I live this shame down?

The FA Cup loss is more shameful. Especially 'cause that :skull::skull::skull::skull: Henry scored.

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Oh, but I mock you for that as well. Although I'd disagree with your suggestion that it was a more shameful defeat. After all, you had a pretty decent penalty shout in that game, and you know what we're like when we go a goal behind. If luck had been on your side, you might have gone through on Saturday.

Compare that to the Carling Cup match. I'd say that conceding six goals at home for the first time in 77 years (when clubs played with a bajillion forwards) is pretty shameful, whether your B-Team's playing or not. I'd say that fielding a B-Team in the first place is pretty shameful, considering that you're out of the FA Cup, you've got the draw from hell in the CL, and out of the title race. And then bringing on Jamie Carragher to replace Luis Garcia when you're 5-2 down in a cup match...that's just madness.

But enough of that, because the real story of the competition is that Wycombe held a certain blue team at Adams Park. And then Mourinho tried to pretend it was a good result. xD

Both victories were very nice and all (especially the FA Cup one as few thought we could win), but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We might still return to our bad old ways at Blackburn on Saturday and we could still potentially still be out of both cups by the end of the month. So I'm remaining vigilant on our current situation.

Liverpool could probably have guessed Arsenal would put out a B team and should have gone all out as CZ said

Quote:

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Originally Posted by charliepanayi

Both victories were very nice and all (especially the FA Cup one as few thought we could win), but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We might still return to our bad old ways at Blackburn on Saturday and we could still potentially still be out of both cups by the end of the month. So I'm remaining vigilant on our current situation.

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Oh yeah, of course. Although we were lucky enough to get a home draw, I'd rather end up playing United or Chelsea than Bolton at the moment. And it is rather like us to beat Liverpool away twice in a week, only to go and embarrass ourselves against Blackburn the next game. Good old Gunners. :rolleyes2

Just seen this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...pe/6248835.stm

There was a commentator on Sky Sports news last night who said "there is less focus on technical ability in the american game so it would suit Beckham" (or words to that effect), Talk about damned by faint praise!

Ashley Cole vs. David Beckham - Fight! Play ball! Pay!

£400,000+ a week! For Beckham!

Who will be next then? At that pay scale even Ade Akinbiyi would be on about £100,000!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cz

Oh, but I mock you for that as well. Although I'd disagree with your suggestion that it was a more shameful defeat. After all, you had a pretty decent penalty shout in that game, and you know what we're like when we go a goal behind. If luck had been on your side, you might have gone through on Saturday.

Compare that to the Carling Cup match. I'd say that conceding six goals at home for the first time in 77 years (when clubs played with a bajillion forwards) is pretty shameful, whether your B-Team's playing or not. I'd say that fielding a B-Team in the first place is pretty shameful, considering that you're out of the FA Cup, you've got the draw from hell in the CL, and out of the title race. And then bringing on Jamie Carragher to replace Luis Garcia when you're 5-2 down in a cup match...that's just madness.

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Yeah but I actually give a :skull::skull::skull::skull: about the FA Cup.

Even assuming Barca do beat us (I'm guessing they'll tank us 3-0 in the Nou Camp and we'll win 2-0 at Anfield and come so close but yet so far) that means we only have the league to worry about, and should be able to secure a CL place, something you Arsenal fans should know isn't easy. Out of the title race? Yes, unless something crazy happens to Manchester United, and things like that have happened in the past (hello Newcastle!) But consider this: We're only 8 points behind Chelsea. What with their thinning squad, with replacements in January unlikely, and their participation in all 3 cup competitions wearing them down, who's to say we can't catch them? Especially if we beat them at Anfield next week, cutting the gap to just 5 points. I can't see Man U falling apart - the title is theirs to lose really - but Chelsea, well, you can see the cracks forming already. I'd be happy with 2nd place, even if it meant no silverware.

As for bringing Carra on, psshaw, midfielder for midfielder.

Liverpool have as much chance of finishing second as we do. I come off it, we're only one point behind you still, so theoretically I could say Arsenal have the same chance to finish 2nd, using the same reasoning as you. But I'm not daft enough to think we'll be able to string the necessary run together to do so.

I would laugh so hard if Bolton finished second.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Yeah but I actually give a :skull::skull::skull::skull: about the FA Cup.

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Yeah, fair enough. *shrug*

Quote:

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Even assuming Barca do beat us (I'm guessing they'll tank us 3-0 in the Nou Camp and we'll win 2-0 at Anfield and come so close but yet so far) that means we only have the league to worry about, and should be able to secure a CL place, something you Arsenal fans should know isn't easy. Out of the title race? Yes, unless something crazy happens to Manchester United, and things like that have happened in the past (hello Newcastle!) But consider this: We're only 8 points behind Chelsea. What with their thinning squad, with replacements in January unlikely, and their participation in all 3 cup competitions wearing them down, who's to say we can't catch them? Especially if we beat them at Anfield next week, cutting the gap to just 5 points. I can't see Man U falling apart - the title is theirs to lose really - but Chelsea, well, you can see the cracks forming already. I'd be happy with 2nd place, even if it meant no silverware.

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The advantage of being able to focus entirely on the league is certainly a factor, and it's for that reason that I can see you taking third place this year. However, once Chelsea have got their big players back, they'll almost certainly recover. They've been scoring pretty regularly even in the game where they've dropped points (their draw against Villa the other week was the first time they've failed to score this league season) so when their big defensive players return they'll start winning games again. Admittedly, you've got a decent chance against them next week, but across the whole season your problem is the same as ours: You don't seem to be able to beat teams week in, week out. That's why a top two finish seems like wishful thinking for either of our sides at the moment.

Also...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

I would [strike]laugh so hard[/strike] pull out my eyes if Bolton finished second.

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I knew we should have re-signed Nicholas Anelka. :D

Our problem isn't beating teams week-in, week-out. We can do that. Unless it's between the months of August and November, and in which case we're liable to fall apart, and therein lies our main problem. As Alex Ferguson said last season (lol!) "We need to hit the ground running", as United's favoured title strategy used to be what we're doing. smurfing around for a few months before sweeping all in their path. It's why our points last season would've been enough to win the Premiership in a few seasons. Consistency is not a problem once we get going.

Liverpool better win this weekend.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Liverpool better win this weekend.

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I'd be more concerned about your own team's result if I were you. :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

Liverpool better win this weekend.

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I'd be more concerned about your own team's result if I were you. :p

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I'm confident of us winning or at least drawing. Arsenal's form is certainly very good, but Liverpool are in poor form and I don't want them to pick up somewhere inbetween playing Chelsea and playing us. I'd rather they pick it up right away.

On a different note...

Goalscorers for Manchester United this season.
Patrice Evra
Rio Ferdinand
Cristiano Ronaldo
Wayne Rooney
Louis Saha
Ryan Giggs
Park Ji-Sung
Nemanja Vidić
Michael Carrick
Henrik Larsson
Paul Scholes
Ole Gunnar Solskjær
John O'Shea
Kieran Richardson
Darren Fletcher
Mikael Silvestre

Non-goalscorers...
Edwin van der Sar (keeper)
Gary Neville
Gabriel Heinze
Wes Brown
Alan Smith (injury)
Giuseppe Rossi (only just returned from loan - although he scored for Newcastle)
Tomasz Kuszczak (keeper)

So excluding keepers, Rossi & Smith... we have three players who haven't scored. Include Lee from the reserve squad, we have 17 goalscorers this season to date, and 17/20 = 85% of our players have scored. C'mon, Neville!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

I'm confident of us winning or at least drawing. Arsenal's form is certainly very good, but Liverpool are in poor form and I don't want them to pick up somewhere inbetween playing Chelsea and playing us. I'd rather they pick it up right away.

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Liverpool's league form hasn't been bad at all, and their domination of Watford this weekend showed that they haven't been too rattled by their two cup exits. With Chelsea still missing some key players, I'm sure Liverpool will be able to cause them some problems.

As for our game, I'd say it's too close to call. Our undefeated home record speaks in our favour, but we haven't hosted you or Chelsea yet, and with Gilberto suspended it's unclear how well our defence is going to deal with your lot. Still, it seems that Wenger's finally worked out how to take on the big teams, so I can see this encounter being very different from the Arsenal-United clashes we've seen in recent years.

I'm not sure we'll be able to pull it off against Man Utd for the second time this season - the match at Old Trafford was like both teams swapped places for the day and I'm worried Man Utd will remember that.

Liverpool? bad form?

Last 8 league games: wWwlWwWw (capitalised means home)

One loss, seven wins. 'nuff said!

I do believe Makelele will be suspended for the game, and brings a huge smile to my face, because he and Essien are the two (undervalued) keys to their success. I seem to say this all the time, but it's just a shame Momo isn't fit. :D Ah well, if I were Rafa, I'd make Stevie Gerrard man mark and harass Essien throughout the game, and then hope that Alonso, Kuyt and Bellamy are able to cook something up.

For those that didn't see the loss

I give you Liverpool's recent form
WWWLWWWW
Home games are underlined

Ordinarily I'd prefer Chelsea to flop in the kop match but since it is not them we are vying with for third spot I think I'd enjoy a London victory a little bit more this time around. Just a little bit, not much

I did say one loss. :p

(Blackburn away, for those who care)

I know. And you just said it again and advertised it and gave some extra detail.
For those who care we beat Blackburn away recently, yes Saturday infact as I recall

The two losses to Arsenal also can't be discluded entirely just because they weren't first-side or weren't Premiership games. They still affect the whole squad. Not as much as a Prem loss, but enough to make me less optimistic (but still hopeful) of them going one up on Chelsea.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jess

Arsenal 6 - 3 Liverpool. Eeeee!

*cue mocking Paul*

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Karma karma karma karma karma chameleon.

Eeeee! :jess:

to lose 6 3 at home against the gooners is bad who ever you play in the team.

Oh please, that's so last week. We're talking about losing 5-1 to Birmingham at home with a full-strength team now.

Paul, I hate you! :(

Full strength team, what? We still have 11 first team players out. (However, two of them don't count as first team - being Babayaro and Bramble.)

I think that is the worst I've ever seen us play.

Did I mention that I hate you? :(:(:(

Oh yeah 'cause the likes of Milner, Taylor, Martins, Sibierski, Solano, Given. etc. etc. are really your reserves. Everyone knows that Birmingham are just the Arsenal reserves, heck, they're worse because they're the reserves Arsenal don't want! Sweet, delicious karma :love:

We're missing: Scotty Brilliant Parker, Turkish Delight Emre, Damien Chelski Duff, Steven Baldy Carr, Craig Aussie Moore, Little Mikey Mikey Owen, and Rubber legs Ameobi!

So I suggest you be quiet, woman!

Oh, lets not forget the likes of Alan Shearer........:( :(

Oh yeah, look out Birmingham, here come Shola Ameobi and Craig Moore! :eek:

Hey! You can't just pick up on those and miss out the actual good players. :mad2:

ihateyoupaul :(

I'm sorry for missing you out, Scott Parker.

Liverpool must lose.

We win/draw (the former is preferable of course :D) and rise above them to third on the table. MU suffer shame and feel the full glory of Emirates wrath.

My envisioning good.

*Chelsea's win is a bit unfortunate of course, but in the course of all things, required.

The best thing would be for Liverpool and Arsenal to win and keep on winning, and then Chelsea and Man United to fall apart and lose until all four teams are level. Four-way title race would be the greatest thing ever. Oh, and before all you lot start listing reasons why that isn't going to happen, I know, I don't seriously expect it to. I just think it would be awesome.

Anyway, this is uefa.com's team of the season, as voted for by the general public online (including yours truly!)

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona)
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid)
Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Kaká (AC Milan)
Ronaldinho (Barcelona)
Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona)

Three Premiership players. Presumably the Arsenal duo got voted in because of their CL run, and Stevie because of his FA Cup and World Cup showings. People say he had a bad World Cup, but I honestly can't see how being your country's top goalscorer from midfield is a bad thing.

Also, something interesting from the official Liverpool site:

As Rafael Benitez prepares for his 100th league match in charge of the Reds he can justifiably look back with pride on a record that is superior to almost all of his recent predecessors in the Anfield hot-seat.

With 55 wins already under his belt, Benitez boasts a better record than that achieved by Bob Paisley (54), Gerard Houllier (49), Roy Evans (48) and Graeme Souness (40) over the same period, while victory over the Champions at Anfield tomorrow will see the Spaniard equal the tally of legendary Scot Bill Shankly (56).

By contrast Arsene Wenger won 54 at Arsenal and Alex Ferguson 45 at Manchester United.

Go go Rafa! That muppet Wenger equalling Bob Paisley is pretty lame though. He's not in Paisley's league.

There aren't really many people who ARE in Paisley's league though: three times European Cup-winning managers don't exactly grow on trees (also Wenger at least has managed what has eluded Liverpool's managers over the last 16 years, a league title =P). And the idea of assessing how many wins a manager had in their first 100 games is a bit daft, Ferguson took six to seven years to make Man Utd decent after all.

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Originally Posted by charliepanayi

Ferguson took six to seven years to make Man Utd decent after all.

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To make them decent? That's harsh. To make them great he took that long. I wouldn't call winning the Premierhip just "decent". To make them decent he took just a few years at most. He took over in '86, won the FA Cup in 89/90, the European Cup Winners Cup in 90/91, the UEFA Supercup in 91/92. I'd say a "decent" side would win those, wouldn't you?

I agree with the other point of the first 100 games, though. How many did Mourinho win in his first 100? Might not have had 100 games yet, mind you. The first 100 games is predominantly based on how well the players were before the manager came along.

This is Mourinho's 100th league game too.

I think this is a good estimation of our manager's ability, anyway. Graeme Souness inherited a fantastic side, but because he's a :skull::skull::skull::skull: manager and smurfed us up just before the financial side of football was about to boom, we haven't won the league in god knows how long. 40 wins says it all.

Still, cracking player.

EDIT: Unf! 2-0 at half-time. Absolutely fantastic goal from Jermaine Pennant. He gets better with every game.

I just wish my...perfectly legal...:shifty:...stream didn't keep packing up.

EDIT2: I take it back! It's just frozen on the lovely face of Ian Rush. :love:

Scousers up 2-0 at half-time? :O_O:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

I agree with the other point of the first 100 games, though. How many did Mourinho win in his first 100? Might not have had 100 games yet, mind you. The first 100 games is predominantly based on how well the players were before the manager came along.

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Since they came in at the start of the same season, I'm pretty sure this is Mourinho's 100th game. At a quick glance, it seems he's won 73, drawn 18 and lost 8 (probbly 9 if you include today's result), which is a bloody good record, billions or not. He's been getting progressively worse each season, though, which bodes well for the rest of us. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PsyPsy

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Gianluca Zambrotta (Barcelona)
Fabio Cannavaro (Real Madrid)
Carles Puyol (Barcelona)
Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Kaká (AC Milan)
Ronaldinho (Barcelona)
Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona)

Three Premiership players. Presumably the Arsenal duo got voted in because of their CL run, and Stevie because of his FA Cup and World Cup showings. People say he had a bad World Cup, but I honestly can't see how being your country's top goalscorer from midfield is a bad thing.

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I can't see how our pair got into that side, either. There were certainly better players in those positions, and while our CL run was impressive, I can't say that those two were the driving force behind it. As for Gerrard, I don't think he had a particularly good World Cup (we didn't exactly have much going for us up front, did we?), but his domestic performances still justify a place in the side.

Oh, and I'll agree that Wenger's no Paisley, but I'll be damned if Benitez is Shankly's equal. Hell, I'd make a case that he's not even Wenger's equal. Have fun with that one. :p

Quote:

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EDIT2: I take it back! It's just frozen on the lovely face of Ian Rush.

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This is the closest thing to proof of God's existence I've ever come across. Please tell me you took a screenshot.

Champions League with Djimi Traore in the side + La Liga twice (against the might of Barca and Real Madrid, no less) = no. :strut:

I thought the Arsenal duo deserved it though. The Gunners deserve some recognition for that fantastic run, although I think maybe someone should look at the defenders first when dishing out praise.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Champions League with Djimi Traore in the side + La Liga twice (against the might of Barca and Real Madrid, no less) = no. :strut:

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Ah yes, the second greatest league in the world. If only there was some greater league that Wenger could have won that could trump such an achievement. Alas, I know of no such competition. :(

Quote:

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I thought the Arsenal duo deserved it though. The Gunners deserve some recognition for that fantastic run, although I think maybe someone should look at the defenders first when dishing out praise.

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KOLO 4 CAPTAIN!?!? :hyper:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cz

Quote:

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EDIT2: I take it back! It's just frozen on the lovely face of Ian Rush.

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This is the closest thing to proof of God's existence I've ever come across. Please tell me you took a screenshot.

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I join the chorus for screenshots of the mighty Ian Rush :love: He's like the Chuckle Brother the parents never admitted to

You people could've told me that while he was on screen. It froze with him smiling. He looked very happy and it was so cute!

Finished 2-0. No Makelele + Essien and Ferreira at centre back = lawl. That biased twat Andy Gray was ranting on about how Chelsea were dominating, but imho they were poor and didn't have a single decent shot on goal, whereas we could've had 4-5 easily. Dirk Kuyt = buy of the summer, thank god those barcode tits didn't get their hands on him.

And thus the title race ended, and the race for second place began. You gunners are welcome to join us if you like. ;)

An e-dit: Oh wait, Man Utd are only 6 points clear. Admittedly they still have to play Arsenal but I thought it was a 9 point lead.

Andy Gray is seriously the second worst pundit about today. (After that Kris Kamara asshole who is just a dodgy league 2 manager type)

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Originally Posted by DK

Andy Gray is seriously the second worst pundit about today. (After that Kris Kamara asshole who is just a dodgy league 2 manager type)

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Oh yes oh yes oh yes.

Awesome result for Liverpool (and all right-thinking people) today. Sure, Chelsea were weak at the back, but three points against the back-to-back champions is a fantastic outcome. The only down side to this result is that it means the title race is pretty much over if United win tomorrow. It'd take a pretty spectacular collapse for them to squander such a lead, anyway. Here's hoping for another good result tomorrow.

I am [almost] disgusted. Why did it have to be Crouch and Pennant, of all eleven players? :p Ahahaha bollocks. But congrats, Liverpudlians and Pawl and all! It's an excellent result, and it's always nice watching Chelski eat humble-pie. :D

Considering Andy Gray's history of being an Everton player, he's never likely to be very fair when talking about Liverpool XD - he never seems to like them muh anyway.

And Chris Kamara is one of the most hilarious people on the TV! He's in no way the rubbishest! That prize goes to Ian Wright or Jamie Redknapp...

And just to say about Ferguson's early years: yes he won the FA Cup and Cup-Winners Cup, but let's not count the Super Cup as much of a prize ;) - they did win the League Cup in 1992 though. But as that famous story goes, he was almost given the boot at the start of the 90s. And Man Utd were pretty poor in the league until 1992 anyway.

*Kuyt, my bad~!

I am beyond ecstatic. :-)

Jesus Christ, what a finish. O_O

This may not last (especially with the three Cup games coming up) but for the moment it's a very sweet feeling indeed :)

Well, after getting over the initial "Damn!" of losing, I have to say that it was a fantastic game overall where either side could have won (or we could have had a draw) - I think neither team really deserved to lose but United just let Arsenal off in the last ten minutes with a bit of relaxed defending what with the long balls. They should have kept attacking and keeping the ball down the other end, but instead they just kept booting it away all the time. We should really have gone for a second goal but I never felt that it was coming, sadly. Too little aggression for a team like United, that's for sure, and Arsenal made us pay.

Still, content with the overall result of the weekend with United's odds of winning the title cut even further. Down to £1.44 from £1.80 (bet365) with Chelsea losing... and the fun thing is that now Arsenal & Liverpool are just as close to Chelsea as we are, if not closer. I would very much love it if Chelsea ended up third or fourth.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

thank god those barcode tits didn't get their hands on him.

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:mad2:

You be shh!

Newcastle 2-2 West Ham. It should have been an easy game for us, but with the way we played against Birmingham I wasn't that suprised when West Ham got the lead.

The season ain't over yet. Man Utd and Arsenal still have league games to play at Anfield if I'm not mistaken and with the way we keep holding serve there (mixing sports metaphors!), we can still pick up points.

Take care all.

Hi, just came here to say I've been supporting Fulham for years now.

I'm confident we can make it to top 10 this season. Also our management shows more signs of ambition and we've gotten some very interesting players during the transfer window. Montella on loan spell has already scored 3 goals in 2 games.

Also watch out for our newest attacking midfielder, USA international Clint Dempsey. I'm confident he will leave a mark to this league too. Link to his goal complication : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAr6m-mD5W8

We just need a good centreback at the moment. I hope CC can snatch a quality one before window closes. Also we're still in FA cup and facing Stoke next. I'm being overly optimistic and hoping Fulham could win it. I'm just glad to see we're building a good team looking for next season. It was awful how Jimmy Bullard got injured for the rest of the season after shining in his first games as a FFC player...he'll be back!

It's hello Waterloo again :-( Bolton. The memories of being punted out of last year's FA Cup by the selfsame Wankerers still rankle in my soul; 0-0 at halftime, and with the start Bolton got today it could well be the same. I don't know though, I hope not. The second half remaaaains, and and and I reckon our game DID pick up somewhat towards the end of the first half; Henry back-heel, but it was a beautiful clear by the defender, whoever he was (I missed his name).

Hopefully we continue in the same vein we finished the first half in. I really really do not want us to lose to Bolton again and face the same :skull::skull::skull::skull:ty criticism hurled at us time after time of losing to them: "Arsenal can't play physical sides etc etc etc hit repeat etc etc etc"

No. Just no :mad2:

Argh I really hate playing Bolton, we just can't get this monkey off our backs >_<

No way are we going to get a win at the Reebok. It's just not our style. Say goodbye to the FA Cup, guys.

The reason why Arsenal can't beat Bolton is because they're a boring side with no flair. Being boring works fine against Liverpool, but you need flair players like Peter Crouch who can pull off an unexpected piece of skill and trickery to win you the game if you're trying to take down Allardyce's army.

Henry has never scored so beautiful a goal.

Maybe Arsenal should invest in someone creative like Paul Dickov or James Beattie, instead of relying on bully-boys like Hleb and Eboue to out-muscle their opponents.

Hahahahahahah

Nice one Psychotic, that post made me laugh

...wait, it was serious?

What do you think? :tongue:

Although I was deadly serious about Crouchie's goal. It truly is mesmerising watching him bicycle kick it.

Well with Arsenal now seemingly doomed in the FA Cup, the crushingly inevitable Man Utd v Chelsea final looks even more likely. Either that, or they'll face each other beforehand and we'll have a 'Man Utd/Chelsea v Some poor team that's likely to be steamrollered' final ;)

Seriously, the best thing for the FA Cup would be for none of the Big Three left in it to win it, or for one of them to be beaten by another team in the final. But it's never likely to happen.

But two of the big three, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, are out already. So basically you mean Man United.

Get back in that time machine to 1978 ;)

Are you trying to suggest Arsenal are a bigger club than Nottingham Forest?!

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear!

Next you'll be saying you're a bigger club than Aston Villa!

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Are you trying to suggest Arsenal are a bigger club than Nottingham Forest?!

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Forest haven't got a patch on Chapman's boys. With our pioneering W-Formation and the likes of Alex James and Cliff Bastin, we're unstoppable!

Isn't Alex James the guy who used to do the commentary on ISS Pro?

That game was so awesome. I was such a beast with Holland, 4-5-1 formation with De Rijk up front, constant through balls to him to score. I remember how proud I was when I beasted France 11-0.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Isn't Alex James the guy who used to do the commentary on ISS Pro?

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Chris James, I think. Which is why when I discovered that the Fulham reserve player Chris James was on PES6, I jumped for joy and made him the captain of my Master League team. His stats aren't great, but when I see his name appear on the screen, it reminds me that life is good and that anything is possible. :)

Did they include Terry Butcher in the legends? The James-Butcher partnership lives on!

Seeing the FA Cup draw I'd like to congratulate Chelsea on getting a third training session in a row in the competition and a bye to the quarter-finals...

lol lucas neill

Now, although we have played a game more than all of these clubs, let me have my moment for the time being.

Liverpool are currently closer to Man Utd in 1st (8 point gap) than Bolton in 5th (9 point gap), and closer to Chelsea in 2nd (2 point gap) than Arsenal in 4th (4 point gap). If only the ol' red machine could get fired up in August instead of November.

One thing that won't change with the games in hand is that we've conceded less goals than any other team in the league. Carragher, Agger (Carragger?!) and Reina = very, very underrated. I wouldn't swap them for any of the other members of the big three, oh alright Arsenal, you can join the big four if you really want to, any of the other members of the big four's CBs and GK. Especially Agger. That boy is going to become the greatest CB in the world in 10 or so years if he keeps this up. Let's hope we can hold onto him.

Also, I dig Rafa's newfound love 3-4-3 formation.

I wonder, will he stick with the 3-4-3, since it essentially answers the Crouch or Bellamy or Kuyt rotation question.

Can't argue with the results so far though.

Take care all.

We wasted an excellent oppurtunity today. An away draw against Middlesbrough is a perfect example of the sort of games that are keeping out of contention for the title. Championship winning sides don't drop points against average sides; away from home or not. With Van Persie out for the rest of the season, and the schedule about to get a whole lot more hectic with FA Cup replays and Champions League fixtures piling up, it's hard to be optimistic about our prospects outside of a Carling Cup victory.

Still, at least we managed to put our pesky neighbours in their place in midweek. :cool:

Wrong, today's result was nowhere near as bad as the endless draws we've had at home, and the two horrible defeats against Sheffield United and Fulham. Bear in mind that Middlebrough are undefeated in 2007 as well. It wasn't a good performance but most other times this season that has resulted in defeat, at least we fought back here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by charliepanayi

Wrong, today's result was nowhere near as bad as the endless draws we've had at home, and the two horrible defeats against Sheffield United and Fulham. Bear in mind that Middlebrough are undefeated in 2007 as well. It wasn't a good performance but most other times this season that has resulted in defeat, at least we fought back here.

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Oh sure, it's by no means our worst result of the season or anything, but we both know that we should be beating teams like Middlesbrough, and I was starting to think we might have put this sort of slip-up behind us. Seeing as Liverpool dropped points against Everton today, I'm disappointed that we couldn't capitalise on their mistake, that's all.

Middlesbrough are one odd team though - a team that loses to Watford and beats Chelsea 0_o

So in come Gillett and Hicks. It seems this is the only way for football teams to remain competetive these days, which is sad, but there we are. From what they've said, they seem to respect the culture, the history and the passion of the club (which is second to none), and that sounds promising enough to me, although whether or not they mean it or whether or not it's just a hollow PR tactic remains to be seen.

Not too pleased about leaving Anfield either, but at least there won't be a groundshare with a certain SMALL CLUB! :D I think Rafa meant crap team rather than small club but oh well. :p He has a point, though. What a lousy attitude to such a big game, the derby, which is usually exciting and fast-paced. It seems only the Goodison derby will be like that from now on. Even if there is "£100m between the two teams" (yeah smurf off was there, Moyes you muppet, considering that would require us to have paid over £9m on average for each our players, and we did so for only one of them, Alonso (although Kuyt's was rumoured to be £9m, it's undisclosed), I don't think so.) there's no excuse for doing that in the derby. Still, they're nowhere near being a big club either. The only big clubs in English football are Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal. Chelsea are a good team, hence why they're included in the current big four, but they're not a big club yet. Winning a couple of league titles does not make you a big club when you compare it to the dominance of the three teams I have just named.

Leaving Anfield is one of the worst team stadium moves I've ever heard. It has so much history and everything, it's gonna suck. :(

Well if you want to live in the past, stay at Anfield. Obviously there's a lot of history there but like us with Highbury, the fact is you know that sooner or later you'd have to move to somewhere bigger if you want to try to keep on a level footing with the Mancs etc. Liverpool will be able to fill a 60,000 stadium easy and that can only be good for them.

Highbury was a shiet stadium for a shiet team, though. :heart: :love:

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Originally Posted by DK

Highbury was a shiet stadium for a shiet team, though. :heart: :love:

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You're just jealous because no-one gave a smurf when your team moved grounds. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that quite a few people didn't even notice, and showed up at Maine Road on away days, wondering where the hell everyone was. :p

OH NO THEY CALLED US "Liverpool Reds" AND A "Franchise" OH NO OH NO SOMEONE HELP US MAKE THEM GO AWAY :(

Oh what the heck, make them buy us Ashton/Torres, Daniel Alves, Abidal/Lahm and then make them go away. :jess:

EDIT: Simao Sabrosa too kthx.

About the England match: What a suprise. :rolleyes2

When your player with the most flair is Kieron smurfing Dyer, what do you expect? We lacked the inventiveness of the likes of Rooney, Cole (J! No offence, Carlton, but you just can't cut it) and Lennon and paid for it by being flat and uncreative.

Why is Fatty Lumpard still an automatic starter?

Dyer is Dier!

Frank lamped is selected because he’s been the best midfielder in the premiership for the last 3 years! always getting at least 20 goals a season and setting up i don’t know how many goals.

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Originally Posted by charliepanayi

Well if you want to live in the past, stay at Anfield. Obviously there's a lot of history there but like us with Highbury, the fact is you know that sooner or later you'd have to move to somewhere bigger if you want to try to keep on a level footing with the Mancs etc. Liverpool will be able to fill a 60,000 stadium easy and that can only be good for them.

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I agree completely, to compete Liverpool need a bigger stadium and Anfield cannot provide that, obviously every liverpool fan will miss Anfield but the current structure of football means the move is neccessary. My team need to move to survive let alone prosper.

how rich is that American guy? because if he is loaded you don’t really need a massive ground to compete and all the fans that go their wont be all real fans its impossible if its going to be 60 thousand!

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

Frank lamped is selected because he’s been the best midfielder in the premiership for the last 3 years! always getting at least 20 goals a season and setting up i don’t know how many goals.

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The key phrase in your post was "in the Premiership". That sums Lampard up perfectly. He's good in the Premiership. He's great, even. But here's the kicker: England don't play in the Premiership. At international level he has been diabolical for the past 12 months.

Also, Liverpool have more than 60,000 "real" fans, considering that more than one million people turned out for the Champions League victory parade. But plastic fans are an inevitability in football these days, but they pay just as much as real fans do, and apparently moving to Stanley Park is a money-making exercise.

You cannot expect the new buyers to subsidize the club, it needs to pay its way to be viable long term. Stanley Park is a money making exercise but also an economic neccesity to compete with Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Urine let alone other European teams.

[QUOTE=Psychotic;2089070]

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Originally Posted by chrisfffan

Frank lamped is selected because he’s been the best midfielder in the premiership for the last 3 years! always getting at least 20 goals a season and setting up i don’t know how many goals.

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The key phrase in your post was "in the Premiership". That sums Lampard up perfectly. He's good in the Premiership. He's great, even. But here's the kicker: England don't play in the Premiership. At international level he has been diabolical for the past 12 months.


he wasn’t good in the world cup that was a understatement but if you remember he was one of our best players in the European championship where Stevie G didn’t turn up!

True, but that was two and a half years ago, when Darius Vassell was guaranteed to play in every game (usually as a sub). Things change.

i have faith in Lampard but then again i would im a Chelsea fan i don’t know why Steve and Frank cant play together and bomb on forward while Carrick plays the holding role its seems easy to me.

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Why is Fatty Lumpard still an automatic starter?

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And why does GERRARD, get subbed off rather than him? :mad2::mad2:

So he can rest for the game against you lot ;) Xabi didn't play either, ahahaha.

I thought only Gerrard and Dyer even played decent in their game frankly. Phillips for all his pace seems to have little control and the defense had a lot of gaps.

In other news, I was very pleased with the US team's performance and really disappointed to see the poor sportsmanship on the part of the Mexican team as they didn't even shake hands after the match but just left the field.

Bring on the real games I say.


Take care all.

[QUOTE=The Captain;2089545]I thought only Gerrard and Dyer even played decent in their game frankly. Phillips for all his pace seems to have little control and the defense had a lot of gaps.


Wright Phillips plays the same for Chelsea it really annoys me when people say why don’t Chelsea play him more often, he loses the ball all the time and i think we would be lucky to sell him for 5 million that’s all he’s worth at the moment.

Well you do generally tend to lose your touch when you get bought when you're playing at your prime and then get benched for two seasons. :monster:

he has had chances started games and done nothing.

He's proven it to people in the past that he's capable of playing very well, so if his move to Chelsea has squandered his ability then it is obviously his own fault for moving to a side that don't need him and also Chelsea's fault for not managing/coaching him well enough.

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

He's proven it to people in the past that he's capable of playing very well, so if his move to Chelsea has squandered his ability then it is obviously his own fault for moving to a side that don't need him and also Chelsea's fault for not managing/coaching him well enough.

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Absolutely right. Plenty of other teams were interested in SWP (us included) and could have pretty much guaranteed regular first-team football. If he'd been smart, he'd have gone where the games were, not the silverware, and he'd almost certainly be England's starting right winger today. His last season for Manchester City was fantastic, and I'm sure that form would have continued had his career not ground to a halt at Chelsea. Now England have to make do with an SWP-lite in Aaron Lennon, who isn't bad for a Spurs player, but still not at good as Shaun was a couple of years ago.

Not that I'm blaming the state of our national side on Chelsea. Everyone knows that's our fault. :p

Hey man, Lennon is still awesome and will almost certainly be a big player for the future.

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Originally Posted by Cz

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

He's proven it to people in the past that he's capable of playing very well, so if his move to Chelsea has squandered his ability then it is obviously his own fault for moving to a side that don't need him and also Chelsea's fault for not managing/coaching him well enough.

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Absolutely right. Plenty of other teams were interested in SWP (us included) and could have pretty much guaranteed regular first-team football. If he'd been smart, he'd have gone where the games were, not the silverware, and he'd almost certainly be England's starting right winger today. His last season for Manchester City was fantastic, and I'm sure that form would have continued had his career not ground to a halt at Chelsea. Now England have to make do with an SWP-lite in Aaron Lennon, who isn't bad for a Spurs player, but still not at good as Shaun was a couple of years ago.

Not that I'm blaming the state of our national side on Chelsea. Everyone knows that's our fault. :p

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some times players just don’t work out at clubs but some players can never take the step up i thought joe cole was the same 2 years ago he was a show pony he would do a trick and just lose the ball all the time he proved me wrong i hope its the same with wright phillips but he doesn’t even beat the first man

Doesn't everybody love how Newcastle beat Liverpool (escpecially Paul)? :):):)!

Congratulations on witnessing the greatest moment in your club's history. :)

Oh boy, the curse of Manager of the Month has struck. Just like last season, we're having a very lousy February so far, and we seriously need to pick ourselves up before the Gooners manage to build up a lead over us. As long as they're within 3 points then that's alright, as we are seriously owed a win over them by fate or Jesus or Ian Rush or whoever decides these things, and hopefully the showdown at Anfield will seal third.

But there are more pressing concerns, namely Barcelona. Good god, if we can't even beat the likes of Newcastle freakin' United then I'm not even going to be able to watch the Barca games. And apparently Samuel Eto'o (Far superior to Ronaldinho imho) is due to return for them, which is just wonderful.

I've finally given up hope on Zenden ever producing anything good, and the fact that he was substituted for Danny Guthrie while we were losing says it all really. And now Riise, apparently realising that without Warnock and Traore, we need someone to be completely crap at left-back, has decided to offer his services in that department. And from what I saw of Arbeloa, he looks like being the next Josemi/Kromkamp, although the jury is still very much out on him, and I hope he proves me wrong.

Still, Xabi Alonso has had a little break thanks to suspension, so hopefully he'll be in fine form. And I also hope the Premier League finally get their fingers out of their arses allow us to sign Mascherano, and then our central midfield will be solid enough even for the likes of Xavi, Deco and Iniesta...I hope! With Sissoko recently coming back from injurt against the barcodes, and with Kewell aiming for a return in the Barca game, there does seem to be some hope that things can pick up a bit.

We were rather lucky to get a win today, but considering how many points we've dropped in 1-1 home draws in which we were the better team, I think we were due a proper comeback for a change. Plus, our victory has the pleasant side-effect of keeping the relegation battle interesting.

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Originally Posted by Cz

Plus, our victory has the pleasant side-effect of keeping the relegation battle interesting.

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Nice try. We all know you despise West Ham. Three London teams down = :strut: (Well, Watford is close enough to London for my liking)

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

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Originally Posted by Cz

Plus, our victory has the pleasant side-effect of keeping the relegation battle interesting.

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Nice try. We all know you despise West Ham. Three London teams down = :strut: (Well, Watford is close enough to London for my liking)

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Of course I despise West Ham. That's why I want to see them relegated with the last kick of the season, for maximum impact. It'd be even better if Alan Pardew kept Charlton up, considering how they played the blame game and ditched him midway through the season.

Well, I dunno. I'd like to see West Ham and Charlton go down, purely on Pardew's behalf. :D Whatttaaa :skull::skull::skull::skull:.

I'd also love to see West Ham relegated. Curbs is crap, he just keeps throwing money away. Literally. Look how much they've spent this season, look at the results.

Anyone watched Bolton- Fulham last weekend? >.< It was a pathetic performance by cottagers, and I blame CC's tactics. He was going 4-5-1 using Heidar Helguson on the wing? And why is that Fulham always only change their formation and players in the middle of the game when it's TOO LATE already! No wonder we are the worst away team. Need more creative players, instead of those "gritty hard workers" for a change when on road.

Liam Rosenior has been aboslute crao recently and it shocked me how he was playing against Bolton too. Really, CC should've just played Volz on right side. Rosenior is a good kid with a lot of talent but his passing is just shocking - About 8/10 passes by average by him went straight to the opponent.

However I'm expecting nothing but vicotry this weekend FA Cup quarte finals against Tottenham. My ideal lineup would be:

--------------Niemi-----------------------
Volz-----Christinval----Bocanegra-----Quedrue
---------------------------------------------
Routledge---Smertin----Bouba Diop----Dempsey
---------Montella-------McBride---------------


Wish we had Jimmy Bullard fit. :( That guy is a legend already

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Originally Posted by Mikztsu

--------------Niemi-----------------------
Volz-----Christinval----Bocanegra-----Quedrue
---------------------------------------------
Routledge---Smertin----Bouba Diop----Dempsey
---------Montella-------McBride---------------


Wish we had Jimmy Bullard fit. :( That guy is a legend already

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compared to those its not hard to become a legend. Liam is nearly as useless as his old man. We're going down cos of Leroy

Fulham's defence is crap, it's no secret. Probably the worst in the premiership. But I myself rate Fulham's midfield potential very highly at the moment. I mean we have names such as Bullard, Routledge, Smertin, Bouba Dip, Dempsey ( very exciting guy to make his mark in England, you'll see), Simon Davies, Michael Brown. That's plenty of decent quality to choose from.

Also Brian McBride is very underrated forward. Strong and very reliable guy. I wish Mohammed Al-Fayed would at last give Cookie some cash to shop players next summer. Buy Montella permanently, buy him a good partner up in front. Midfield is fine as it is. Buy whole new two centrebacks and put Liam on passing training, or sell him while he's still generally highly rated prospect. I wish we would've gotten that Onyewu guy who went to Newcastle. His transfer seemed almost certain at the start of transfer window, but something happened and it fell through.

Need more ambition, not start away games defensive minded and start attack only when you're two goals down. No aimless long balls straight to the opponent anymore.

i think if you get too ambitious you might end up going the other way ambition is good but in stages Chris Coleman has done a good job at Fulham.

You're very right about that. And I'm very happy how CC has done, seeing how young he is and is getting more and more experienced every day.

About ambition, I meant that as for financial side, MO Al Fayed needs to start investing again so we won't always be the selling side selling our top players like Van Der Saar, Saha and Malbranque.

On the management side...imo it has something to do with FFC's away form as I said. It's sensible if we look at the pre-game interviews and tactics + starting line ups. Fulham need to go win those away games, not draw. Not like we got much to lose if we go for more attacking strategy, as we're already the worst away team in the league.

There's something really wrong, if you're pretty much safe from the relegation battle yet you are the worst away team with just, like 2 wins within one year.

Sort that out and we'll be on top 6 next year easily.

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Originally Posted by Mikztsu

About ambition, I meant that as for financial side, MO Al Fayed needs to start investing again so we won't always be the selling side selling our top players like Van Der Saar, Saha and Malbranque.

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In my opinion, the best player you sold was Steve Finnan. Best right-back in the league by a long way, although an honourable mention goes to Pascal Chimbonda of Spurs.

No love for Zat Knight, Mik?

Yeah I miss Finnan a lot. Forgot to mention him. He's really pure class, was that when he was here as well.

As for Zat, he's been too inconsistent. :(

Even when given enough opportunities to finally stick it to Bolton, we almost managed to spurn it - a terrible miss, a penalty I could have taken better and then letting in a late equaliser..

Don't give me a heart attack guys!

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

So in come Gillett and Hicks. It seems this is the only way for football teams to remain competetive these days, which is sad, but there we are. From what they've said, they seem to respect the culture, the history and the passion of the club (which is second to none), and that sounds promising enough to me, although whether or not they mean it or whether or not it's just a hollow PR tactic remains to be seen.

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I can say nothing for Gillett, but Hicks is the owner of the Texas Rangers. When he bought the team they had won 3 division championships in 4 seasons. Since then they haven't finished better than 3rd in the division and are a collective 64 games under .500. When he makes investments in the team, he far overpays for marginally good players. When that doesn't work out he goes into a complete unwillingness to pay for anybody.

I was going to ask you about Hicks. Well, that's wonderful news! :( Still, hopefully he'll leave Rafa in charge of signing players rather than trying to take control himself.

Unlucky, Bolton. You didn't deserve to lose, although then again, neither did Arsenal. Still, great work in taking Arsenal to 120 minutes, depleting their stamina for future games. I hope Blackburn do the same. :D

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

I was going to ask you about Hicks. Well, that's wonderful news! :( Still, hopefully he'll leave Rafa in charge of signing players rather than trying to take control himself.

Unlucky, Bolton. You didn't deserve to lose, although then again, neither did Arsenal. Still, great work in taking Arsenal to 120 minutes, depleting their stamina for future games. I hope Blackburn do the same. :D

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Well yeah, they'll have lasted longer against us than you guys did anyway ;)

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Unlucky, Bolton. You didn't deserve to lose, although then again, neither did Arsenal. Still, great work in taking Arsenal to 120 minutes, depleting their stamina for future games. I hope Blackburn do the same. :D

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Nah, we deserved that win. If we hadn't wasted those two golden oppurtunities in the second half then it wouldn't even have been a contest. As it happened, we let Bolton get into their stride and were fortunate enough to score first in extra time, when they were looking the better side. Still, it's really irritating to be taken into extra time when we had the ability to put the result beyond doubt, and with the Champions League coming up, I'm sure that the issue of stamina will have a big impact on the Premiership campaign. I mean, in a month's time, we'll have four competitions to think about, and you'll only have the one. That's a pretty big disadvantage, I've got to admit. ;)

I hate Big Sam and Bolton. No particular reason, but Big Sam annoys me a lot.

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Originally Posted by Mikztsu

I hate Big Sam and Bolton. No particular reason, but Big Sam annoys me a lot.

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Let's be friends. :thumb: