Liverpool :foc:

Yeah we're still gonna get 4th :shifty:

Yeah I rarely see Liverpool games on the T.V, and I couldn't figure out how Liverpool could be underperforming when they play games as good as that. I thought they were pretty good at Stamford Bridge, they were the better team, and deserved to win, and I thought they played well and were unlucky not to draw with Chelsea on the opening game of the season. I guess its just inconsistancy, plus you seem to play better against big clubs, like Chelsea and ManYoo, and for the first half against the Arse the other week. To be honest, I can't see what the fuss is with Houllier, you still have a great chance of being in the Champions League, and you have done no worse in the league then Newcastle, yet people aren't caliing for Robson's head.

that's cause newcastle have like no history of glory, and they'd be willing to take the whole uefa cup she-bang thing.

But they have the players to perform better, they must still be like 'with the players we have we underperfomed'. Newcastle should have done better, so should Liverpool, with the players they had they both underperformed, unlike Villa who made the most of the players they had, and have done well, much credit to David O'Leary.

Leeds should never have sacked O'Leary.

it's true, but then look at the leeds side, most of their first team look pretty good on paper.

True,most of it does.But key areas like central midfield and central defence do not look so great.:(

At the time I thought it was the right move, as with the money he spent they underacheived. He thinks they didn't underacheive because they made the semi final of the Champions League once, despite coming like 6th in the league the season he got sacked. I thought that when Venables took over they would be competing for the title, but instead they sold Ferdinand and did rubbish.

Looking back, I agree, they should have kept O'Leary.

didn't he buy like 8 strikers or some shit though?

I don't think they ever finished outside the top 5 under O'Leary,so to sack him was very petty.I guess they didn't know how things would turn out though to be fair.

He bought Viduka,Fowler,Bridges.That's all i know right now,so anyone feel free to add.

Huckerby, wasn't Seth Johnson an attacker, but changed to a midfielder when at Leeds, and I'm sure they finished 6th in his final season.

Also, Ronaldinho is playing amazing, he missed an easy header earlier but other then that he has dominated the game, 1-1 Vs Deportivooooooooooooo, he just headed the equaliser, Sky Sports One, its worth watching. LOL the commentator just said "Manchester United must be kicking themselves, if they had Ronaldinho the title race probably wouldn't be over and they would probably be in the Champions League still".

goddamn kenyon :rant:

Nah Johnson wa always a midfielder.

Damn it,they're only drawing with Espanyol.LETS GO BARCA!!!!!!!11

Exactly, and its not just the history, its the last 5 years as well. We were amazing a few seasons ago, all the cups, the 2nd in the league etc... we should have been looking at winning the title, and thats not just as an optimistic Liverpool fan, thats realistic.

The whole problem with Houllier is simple. When we should have been trying to win the title, he bought some of the worst players the club has ever seen. Diouf, Diao, Cheryou, Traore, Biscan, and Diomede, cost us combined £30 million. Other players we've signed who've not played up to full potential, like Smicer and Heskey, thats another £15 Million. The signings of Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou highlighted how inept Houllier was in the transfer market. Diouf cost us £10 million, we could have bought Anelka for that. Diao for £5 Million??? Cheyrou for £4???? Thats £9 million worth of sh</>ite. We failed to get into the Champions League last season, meaning we could only spend £8 million this season. Which was probably a blessing.

Ok, that was a disjointed rant, but my point is, Houllier has made some truly terrible signings, has showed a complete disregard for tactics this season, and it has taken him until the last 7 or 8 games of the season to find his best side, thats 30 games too late. We've lost only 1 more game than United this season, yet we're 15 points behind them. This is disgraceful. Ok, we're finishing the season well, the pressure is off him now, but the season has been shambolic, and for that he should go. Knocked out of the Carling Cup by Bolton, the F.A Cup by Portsmouth, both games we should have won. Going out of Europe after an inept first leg against Marseille, and never looking confident when we played at home. Why the hell should we be settling for 4th place, indeed, struggling to get 4th place, when we have a team like the one that carved apart Middlesbrough today.

I think he should go, but the board wont sack him, so basically, give him another season, if we get to the Champions League, give him £30 million to sign Cisse, Mexes and some decent young talent, preferably British (Michael Dawson, Michael Tonge for example) and go after the top 3 next season, its a sad day for football if the gulf between 3rd and 4th is truly as big as it seems.

Oh right,2-1 :cool:

I can't express how I'll feel if we make the Champions Leauge. It would simply be the best thing ever I've always wanted to see Villa against the cream of Europe. Juan Pablo Angel for president

Robbie Keane??

And I don't think Seth Johnson was ever an attacker Dazz (I only say that cos he's never played there as far as I know and I always remember him as a DM in Champ Man :$)

Anyway yeah Newcastle have mad underperformed this season. Don't get me wrong I know we aren't anywhere near the top 3 but the fact of the matter is we are 6th, we have way fewer points than we did this time last season and we are like 30 points behind the leaders. We should be fourth (definitely no higher) but the fact of the matter is our team has underperformed and we haven't made enough strides in the transfer market.

Signing Lee Bowyer on a free and Michael Bridges on loan for a team that finished 3rd is criminal. We should have built on the fact that we were really popular and that everyone was appreciating our football and the fact that we were in the Champions League (that feels so wrong saying that now :()

This season should be a sign that we need a way deeper squad. The bench this weekend was an absolute joke. Harper fair enough...after that ?!!? Chopra Britain and Taylor are unproven youngsters and Bridges is a Leeds reject.

If we win the WAFER cup then the season will be a moderate success and I'll just be pleased that Shearer has won something with us but I feel like this season should generally be nothing to shout about - and the cup feels a long way off at the moment too.

Don't you find it funny that Stephen Caldwell tried probably harder than anyone aside from Alan Smith in the Leeds team and he is actually contracted to Newcastle and knows he'll be going back there next season?

I was quite impressed with that little rant though. :y:

Who do you want as manager next season then (because surely the Frog is gone)?

I didn't see the game to be honest :$ Steve Caldwell is an alright player :y: I would hope he wouldn't be our first choice centre back anytime soon but he's an ok squad player. I think he'l most likely be leaving soon though I think his contract is up at the end of this season.

You are one humourous japester Rob Harvey :lol::lol::lol:

Oi :mad:

:'(

The reason for the penalty is so that clubs cant benefit from having wreckless boards.

Every team could take a loan from a bank and buy great players and then go bankrupt cancel their debts and tehn take a great squad to promotion or Europe. But then thats just punishing clubs who manage their club properly and dont do what Leeds do and spend way beyond their means.

Why would clubs manage themselves properly if the easiest way to get ahead is to spend like crazy?

the reason for the penalty is to avoid what happened at Leicster. The board didnt run things properly and they nearly went out of business. But they cleared their debts and went straight up because they had a team they shouldnt have been able to afford.

Now if clubs are mismanaged they arent going to benefit from it and they have an incentive not to mess up.

Though I hate leeds and hope they go bankrupt in the summer because it would be hilarious to see them go straight down to division 2 :D

Its hard to say, obviously everyone is going to say Martin O'Neill, and he would definetly be top of the list, but aside from him, maybe Hitzfeld from Bayern seeing as he's stepping down, Ranieri would also be up the top of the list, if he is leaving, what better than a thick-skinned manager, who doesn't make excuses constantly and is tactically sound.

For an outsider, might be a shock, but Kevin Keegan, he's Liverpool through and through, why not give him some money and a chance.

i wish our board would be a bit more reckless in signing players like ronaldinho, rather than wasting millions on shite like djemba

Ronaldinho preferred Barcelona, United matched the bid.

Djemba-Djemba is 22, for ****s sake, give the fellow a chance. He got 22 yellow cards in France last season, you have to respect that.

i'm pretty sure we didn't match the bid. he seemed pretty set on united, he even said he wanted to be the first brazilian in a red shirt after he joined barca.

djemba is... meh, i think we have better ways to spend our money really, than going for potential all the time, cause it rarely ever works out for us.

Ronaldinho also said he was "dreaming of white" when asked if Real Madrid wanted him. He's a bit of a tart, really. If he was that desperate to go to United, he'd have rejected Barcelona and told PSG he wanted to go to Manchester, thus making any auction pointless.

Djemba-Djemba looks a good player. He is an excellent passer, he just needs a run in the side like anyone else.

what i've seen of him, he looks pretty shaky at the moment. at 22, he has time on his side i guess. i think kleberson has got a worse rep though, i've been impressed with what i've seen of him so far.

Its not as if we didn't try to sell players though,hell even the fans favourite wa sold against everyones wishes(Matt Piper). Fact was that no-one else wanted anyone other than Izzet i guess but no bid was spoken of.

Finally, someone else that knows what happened, I said this in the post you made in the Casual Forum Mask, but you ignored it :'(.

The only time Ronaldinho expressed interest in Manchester United was AFTER the Madrid transfer collapsed and BEFORE Barcelona made a bid, I.E when he had no other options.

Premiership is gay.

Not as gay as your Mark Henry and Prince Albert fantasies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/3057925.stm

Man Utd looked to be in pole position to sign the PSG forward, but Graille says the Spanish giants' offer is the superior one.

Asked whether the offer from Old Trafford was insufficient compared to the sum which Barca are prepared to pay, Graille said: "Yes, completely. However nothing has been done yet."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/2935890.stm

:'(

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/2953934.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/3056759.stm

His brief statement of "tengo la mente en blanco," can be translated either as "I have an open mind" or also "I am thinking about white".

None of these links are convincing, as you see in the first two, there are no other clubs linked to Ronaldinho at the time, hence why he was keen on Manchester United.

In the last link, it says it was AFTER Real Madrid had withdrawn their bid, and Barca and Chelsea had no confirmed interest in him.

The link in your other post doesn't quote Ronaldinho saying that he would prefer to go to United when Barca were also bidding, it just says you wouldn't cough up the goolash. NEVER in it does it claim Ronaldinho would have preffered to go to you.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/3056759.stm

Real Madrid were linked with the player but have decided not to make a bid, <i>while Barcelona and Chelsea are the other clubs believed to be chasing him. </i>

Bottom line is, Ronaldinho is a tart, and he touted himself about to alot of clubs. If he really wanted to go to United, he would have. Players have the upper hand. Look at Beckham: he turned down the Barca offer, so United had no option but to take Real Madrid's, the club he actually wanted to go to.

Kleberson has always been pretty highly rated. He played in the World Cup winning squad, so he's got a bigger rep than Djemba-Djemba. I think he is an excellent player, but his form has been poor for club and country, so he needs to sort himself out overall.

Djemba-Djemba has impressed, though. The thing is, he only ever starts when Fergie is putting out a terrible side, so he ends up playing alongside Forlan, Bellion and Phil Neville, and the like, then they lose and he looks stupid.

I have to say, this season has somewhat tapered off towards the end.

- Arsenal won the title in April
- With 2 weeks to go, Leeds, Wolves and Leicester
- Chelsea are going to take second

The only thing that's still alive really is the battle for 4th place.

For example, just watching Boro yesterday, you could tell they really didn't have anything to play for against Liverpool. Full credit to Pool tho :o

YES,Les Ferdinand could stay at Leicester.:love:

I knew he might delay retiring but i thought he'd go back to the premiership or something.:D

You know, its kind of sad how the United fans are STILL harping on about Ronaldinho

Personally i think they have every right too,considering how well he's done at Barcelona and how poor United have been this season(compared to others).

I'm sure they wouldn't go on about him should their season been better,at least in the league and Europe.

why? he's a world class player and any team that close to getting him would be gutted.

Ronaldinho on his own wouldn't have stopped Arsenal being unbeaten in 35

i know, but the run in would've been far more interesting.

Besides, who would you rather watch playing for you, ronaldinho or darren fletcher? :|

Nah, seriously, Ronaldinho or no, United's season fell apart pretty much right when Ferdinand got suspended.

Fletcher wouldn't have had more than 10 games this season if Solskjaer hadn't been crocked...I dunno, you could argue they'd have been just as effective if Solskjaer had stayed fit, since he was really fitting into the wide right role.

Anyway, cry about it

solskjaer hasn't been that great on the right. He has no real qualities that make him stick out as a winger.

I don't think we'd have won this season, ronaldinho or not, but we'd have had a lot less 1-0 defeats.

I think Ronaldinho is better as a support striker anyway,so even they got him they should have still been playing Fletcher or signing Cristiano Ronaldo,or at least they should imo.

imagine what our midfield could've been though if we sold giggs instead of beckham

ronaldo keane ronaldinho beckham

:'(

JOBBED AT THE MOLINEUX
YOU WENT AND JOBBED AT THE MOLINEUX

17 Man City 36 -2 38
---------------------
18 Wolves 36 -37 32

LOL and you lost to us both

yeah but i pissed all over some city posters in revenge, so i'm going to have to like turd on your pillow now or something :'(

What are you going to do to Pricey

hug him slightly too tight.

I find this to be disproportionately revengeful

<font color=white>Absoloutly off subject here but I only live like a 10 minute walk from the Molineux

And Arsenal wouldn't have gone unbeaten all season if the Ruud Van Man hadn't slammed a penalty against the underside of the bar in September</font>

Well no, obviously :wtf:

But he did

and they wouldn't if pires wasn't a diving cun</>t either. then they'd have lost to pompey too and i'd have less reason to hug him slightly too tight.

whyat RBF said :'(

Give your players SOME credit. Fletcher is 20 and playing in his first full season as a first team player. He is not a wide right player, but he looks a potentially world class central midfielder. That combination of Fletcher and Ronaldo down the right could be dominating Europe for the next 10 years, if they fufill their potential.

Ronaldinho could very well have been exactly like Veron. I watched Veron for years in Serie A, and I genuinely consider him as good a player as Zinedine Zidane, but it didn't work out for him in the Premiership. Ronaldinho wears perfume, any player who does that might find it difficult playing in England.

Actually Peter Kenyon agreed a £26 million deal for him and then the Man United board told him his limit for the transfer was £22 million and to go back and get the deal done at that price. He refused and the deal was pulled. I'm not saying he would have chose United over Barca but that is what happened.

I am trying to like Djemba but I don't see him cutting the mustard at Old Trafford. Hope I'm wrong though.

In every game he played on the right this season, Solskjaer has shown none of the form that kept Beckham out of the team last year. Fletcher has looked impressive at times but definately needs a good run in the team. I swear him and McFadden are the only thing keeping Scotland from sitting alongside the San Marino's of the world right now (actually Canero looked good last week so him too).

Canero :love:

Come on now, he is 22 and has spent much of the season injured, or playing for Cameroon in the African Nations.

I like him, he has alot of talent. He is an excellent passer, and a brute.

You can't really blame Solskjaer for a lack of form, it's more a lack of match fitness. He had a pretty serious knee injury. There was talk of him not actually playing this season at all, to allow it to fully recover.

Djemba-Djemba looked like he could be quality before he got injured, I remember in the Charity Shield he was just picking up the ball and running straight at the opposition...not in a technical, Giggs-style running at your man way, I mean literallly running straight at them, smacking into them and running on with the ball because he's built like a brick shithouse.

Anyone else watch Soccer Saturday?

Rodney Marsh and (I THINK) Frank Mcanalli (sp?) were having an arguement about who is bigger out of Everton and Man City, and Rodney Marsh was sticking up for City, saying Everton aren't, and he said 'Lets see what happens today when Wolves Play Everton, any half decent team will beat Wolves at the Molineux' and Mcanalli didn't even mention the fact Man United lost there, what an idiot.

What I find funny about the whole season is that apart from Leeds, Tottenham have lost more games than anyone (19 to Leeds' 20)

Yeah, by tradition we beat them twice.

They would be equal is Jens Lehmenn learned how to control his temper.

We have the most draws out of everyone.:-\

I try, but apart from a few players, there's a high level of inconsistancy in the team these days, and our midfield isn't nearly creative enough compared to the teams of old. We don't have enough depth apart from defensive midfielders, where we have far too many. I don't doubt we have a lot of potential in our current backup players, but too many of our recent signings have fallen short of what I think we're capable of. I have a bad feeling too many of our "rough diamonds" or whatever are going to end up like forlan.

For our first team, it's pretty ideal on paper, but throw in a few injuries here and then, and our backup players aren't up to the standard that I think we need. I'm not saying they're all shite, just that we should have better.

Frank McLintock?

Anyways, Marsh is a proven moron.

could be McLintock or Alan McInally by the looks of it.

Yeah I thought it might me McClintock, but I went to McInally coz it popped into my head first.

Yeah, but when he lets in 24 goals in 35 games, the response is generally along the lines of "who gives a fu</>ck"

I know I'm stating the obvious here, but:

If Wenger had sold Ljungberg in the summer
If Sol Campbell had missed a drug test and been suspended for 8 months
If Wenger was aware of this but still signed a striker instead of a defender
If Edu/Gilberto had been crocked and would have done well to have a year off and had to come back playing out of form
If Arsene Wenger had a dispute with 2 men involving the frozen semen of a horse

We'd probably be worse off than ManYoo are right now.

Na

You've still got Henry

Also looking at each individual bit.

Ljungberg has had a minimal impact on Arsenal's season, he has been highly disappointing.

If Campbell had been out, I'm sure the defence would cope somehow, Cygan/Keown may not be the best, but they do a job.

If Wenger had bought a striker instead of a defender, it would enforce Arsenal as a more attacking side, like Real Madrid, attack is the best form of defence.

Edu has popped up with some key goals, yes, but Gilberto has been pretty crap this season, Vieira can cope with the extra load, and I'm sure someone else could pick up the reins.

The whole Magnier/McManus thing is sh</>ite, it shouldn't effect what happened on the pitch.

Even if those things did happen to Arsenal, they wouldn't have lost 10 games this season, and they'd still be champions.

Well it's up for debate.

Maybe substitute "Vieira" where I wrote "Ljungberg". Got carried away with the right wing thing.

Never, NEVER put the words "Cygan" and "cope" in the same sentence :mad:

Or maybe a side with 1 too many strikers and not enough defenders :o

Whatever. :roll:.

Shouldn't. Does. Did.

Again, it's up for debate

<font color=white>Wow. An Arsenal fan who's got some worthy views and respectful comments. Stone the crows. The again I don't know many...</font>

Liverpool linked with Smith now,and Kezman has said he'd rather move to Anfield apparantely.

1-0 Yakubu, Lehmenn and Campbell should have done better.

I don't really give a shit about any club teams. English nor Scottish teams mean nothing to me, and the game here is a really, really bad joke.

I support the Irish team and the players, but mostly I just love football.

I think Real Madrid have well and truly proved that wrong, by the way.

Did you ever support anyone?

I only ask because I always watch football on TV, but I only REALLY get into it when its Chelsea, and I love going to their games, I couldn't imagine watching football without supporting a team. :'(

Well at least we've had a shot on goal :mad:

Stupid Fox Sports, showing some tennis thing and making me go on the net to watch the game :mad:

I think we should start a poll and pick who ECG should support. :y:

Come on Pompy

On the flip-side Arsenal have proved it right. Arsenal are by no means a good defensive team, they happen to have 2 good central defenders and an average goalkepper. Lauren and Cole go forward constantly, and are both not exactly fantastic at the back.

But would you rather have Seaman or Lehmann as your stopper? :o

Pompey 1-1 Arsenal

Reyes <font size=20>FINALLY</font> gets a Premiership goal

I think that this is a good idea.

I supported Man U when I was a little kid, because everyone else here does and people from my family do, but I realised as I got older I liked seeing them lose more often than winning. Now I just don't really care.

It is still an excellent defense. You'd think the theory would be better proven by a team who have 4 or 5 players who have been argued to be the best players in the world at different times (though Raul is the best and most underrated, in my opinion, and Beckham never really came close to justifying that).

Arsenal have a strong defense, and also a solid defensive midfield. Madrid have neither. Arsenal's side is built on a tough core with flair around it.

You could do it, and taunt me when they lose or whateverm but I'd find it really hard to care about a side I have no connection to.