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When it comes to the crunch Chelsea cant hack it though!

Apparently you're right. Not starting with Cole on the left was slightly mad and Mikel only turned up for 20 minutes which rather ruined Chelsea's best efforts to stop Spurs running through them.

That said, the 4 that Spurs played in the Final yesterday should be as good as any other defence in the Premiership bar Man Utd. Woodgate, without needing to score should have been man of the match for the casual way in which he subdued Drogba. King makes players around him look twice as good and the full backs are both more than capable of both defending and attacking.

Get rid of Zokora and get more than 3 moments of excellence out of Malbranque per game and Spurs will finally look like a serious football team rather than the best of the rest.
 
Slipperduke's Glamorous Assignment

Liverpool’s senior side may not be performing as well as we all suspect they could, but Reds supporters can rest easy in the knowledge that the next generation are doing just fine. Liverpool’s reserve side dished out an emphatic 2-0 beating to Manchester United’s second string on Wednesday morning in a hotly contested game in Warrington watched by over 10,000 enthusiastic fans.

Former Liverpool defender Gary Ablett is in charge of the reserves and this result takes his men nine points clear at the top of the table. Ablett, who won two league titles in the 1980s, has turned his team into a homage to those classic Dalglish sides, playing everything out from the back with crisp, short passing. It’s refreshing to see that, while the senior side routinely resort to the long ball, the patient, superior ethos of the club is still alive and well at the level below. In the old days of succession from within, Ablett would be in with a chance of replacing Rafa Benitez and, on the basis of this performance, Liverpool could do a lot worse.

Mind you, they weren’t short of experienced players. Harry Kewell played a full 90 minutes and looked so good that it was like a watching a former professional footballer turning out for a friend’s pub team. He was so bewitching and dangerous that I actually had to look in my diary and make sure it wasn’t 2001 again. Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel played a half each at the back to help recuperate from their injuries and, in the middle, poor Xabi Alonso dictated the play. Quite what the Spaniard is doing in Ablett’s team is absolutely beyond me. He is a magnificent footballer, surely more worthy of first team football than Lucas?

Liverpool fans would also have been delighted to see a vibrant performance from their number 8, a fiery local lad who kept trying to pick the game up by the scruff of the neck. Nope, not Steven Gerrard, but young Jay Spearing. Insiders at the club reckon that, of all their young prospects, Spearing has the potential to go the furthest. Like Gerrard, he has played in defence in the past, but has since evolved into a dynamic central midfielder with a certain degree of omnipresence. Wherever the ball went, you could see his little bald head trying to keep up with it, even in the final moments. It’s obviously far too early to predict whether or not he can do as well as Gerrard in the future, but there’s certainly something about him. Keep your eyes peeled.

There were no such bright spots for Manchester United fans, but it was good to see Gary Neville in action again. Neville has been out for almost a year with a worrying ankle injury and he settled into the game with the composure and professionalism that has served him well in his long career. It is notable that Kewell only sparked into life when he moved away from Neville’s part of the pitch.

United’s only achievement in the game was to provide one of the most astonishing misses I’ve seen in years. In the last minute, with the score at 1-0, a cross was swung into the Liverpool penalty area, evading everyone. Danny Simpson, the young United defender was standing on the goal-line, not two yards away from it, but actually on the goal-line and he headed it…well, along the goal-line. It was incredible. Simpson could actually have just closed his eyes and it would have hit him and gone in. Naturally, as always happens after a miss of this kind, Liverpool kicked the ball out and Kewell ran the length of the pitch to score and wrap up the game.

The result means that Liverpool have almost secured the reserve league with a number of games still left to play, always the sign of a healthy squad of players. Life in the first team may be fraught with stress and tension, but behind the constant talk of DIC, The Gruesome Twosome and the Rafalution, this proud old club looks in fine fettle.
 
United’s only achievement in the game was to provide one of the most astonishing misses I’ve seen in years. In the last minute, with the score at 1-0, a cross was swung into the Liverpool penalty area, evading everyone. Danny Simpson, the young United defender was standing on the goal-line, not two yards away from it, but actually on the goal-line and he headed it…well, along the goal-line. It was incredible. Simpson could actually have just closed his eyes and it would have hit him and gone in. Naturally, as always happens after a miss of this kind, Liverpool kicked the ball out and Kewell ran the length of the pitch to score and wrap up the game.

Awesome!!

Was playing Paul Anderson playing for Liverpool? I know he's been touted as a big prospect before.
 
I think he's on loan at Swansea at the moment, but I've heard a lot about him as well. They snatched him from Hull's Academy, didn't they?

Jay Spearing looked really good. A bit like Jamie O'Hara at Spurs, but maybe that's just the bald thing.
 
I think he's on loan at Swansea at the moment, but I've heard a lot about him as well. They snatched him from Hull's Academy, didn't they?

Jay Spearing looked really good. A bit like Jamie O'Hara at Spurs, but maybe that's just the bald thing.

I think you might be right actually I don't know where he came from tbh.

I've not heard anything about Spearing before so I'll keep my eye open for him.
 
about Jay Spearing... he is the mainstay of my stevenage team on FM2008... in the premiership and UEFA cup winners in 2017. he is a class act
 
any thoughts about Aliadieres extended ban for "frivolous" appeal?... it's about time there was some consistency between the leagues, especially after Freddy got his extended ban for pushing someone IN THE CHEST!

if you raise your hands it's a red card, it doesn't matter if you're provoked or whatever
 
any thoughts about Aliadieres extended ban for "frivolous" appeal?... it's about time there was some consistency between the leagues, especially after Freddy got his extended ban for pushing someone IN THE CHEST!

if you raise your hands it's a red card, it doesn't matter if you're provoked or whatever

Seems fair after what happened to Freddy.

Mascherano got away with it though by the letter of the law he should been sent-off aswell!
 
any thoughts about Aliadieres extended ban for "frivolous" appeal?... it's about time there was some consistency between the leagues, especially after Freddy got his extended ban for pushing someone IN THE CHEST!

if you raise your hands it's a red card, it doesn't matter if you're provoked or whatever

Yes, good decision by the League. Am appalled at the nonsense spouted by Keith Lamb the Boro Chief Exec....saying the FA are out of order, no consistency etc. If he paid any attention to the lower leagues he would have known this is what happens. Didnt the Hartlepool guy get an extra game as well?
 
Yes, good decision by the League. Am appalled at the nonsense spouted by Keith Lamb the Boro Chief Exec....saying the FA are out of order, no consistency etc. If he paid any attention to the lower leagues he would have known this is what happens. Didnt the Hartlepool guy get an extra game as well?

yeah he did. I can understand the boro chief being annoyed that Mascherano didn't get any punishment and that the ref made some kind of statement that he saw the whole thing and didn't think Mascherano's behaviour was worthy of punishment (or something like that), however prevoked or not he still you can't raise your hands.

worth the ban just for slapping someone, tart!
 
Frankly, and I'd love to put this in a column, they're both a bunch of gaylords and they deserve everything they get. Mascherano should be banned for three games for tweaking Aliadiere's nose and another two for the shameful dive he executed two minutes later. Aliadiere should get three matches for the slap and he should be instructed to head-butt or dragon-punch his assailant like a man should it happen again.
 
Frankly, and I'd love to put this in a column, they're both a bunch of gaylords and they deserve everything they get. Mascherano should be banned for three games for tweaking Aliadiere's nose and another two for the shameful dive he executed two minutes later. Aliadiere should get three matches for the slap and he should be instructed to head-butt or dragon-punch his assailant like a man should it happen again.

I suspect if he tried to head butt someone though his nose may get in the way and strike first, which could have painful consequences....

If Lamb's argument is based on Mascherano should have been punished...thats a childish argument and he may as well have simply wrote on the appeal "But Miss, he did it first".

Going by precedent Alliadiere should have been sent off and any argument to the contrary (under the current laws), is indeed frivilous.
 
Frankly, and I'd love to put this in a column, they're both a bunch of gaylords and they deserve everything they get. Mascherano should be banned for three games for tweaking Aliadiere's nose and another two for the shameful dive he executed two minutes later. Aliadiere should get three matches for the slap and he should be instructed to head-butt or dragon-punch his assailant like a man should it happen again.

Mark Lawrensen was saying the same thing on MOTD
 
Ribery Set To Shine

With Euro 2008 now less than 100 days away and UEFA showing no signs of inexplicably kicking anyone out of the tournament to make room for England, it’s time for acceptance. Naturally, this acceptance will come easier to you than it will to me, which is why I decided to get the heads-up on a few of the probable stars of this summer’s competition by tuning into Bayern Munich’s cup clash with city rivals 1860 Munich. The more I whet my appetite with European superstars, the less I’ll fall to my knees, wailing in anguish and cursing the name of McClaren. That’s the theory anyway.

I couldn’t have picked a better place to start. Bayern Munich responded to missing out on a Champions League place in much the same way as Ivana Trump responded to heartache. They went shopping. In came a host of players including Frank Ribery, Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose. Their rivals, 1860, were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2004 and have never recovered from the shock. This really should have been a very one-sided, Chelsea versus QPR kind of clash, but the underdogs had other ideas.

For all their quality, Bayern just couldn’t break their opponents down. Young winger Tony Kroos had the best chance to score, stealing the ball away from a defender, but firing over from the edge of the box. The talented playmaker is touted as the next big thing in German football, though Euro 2008 might be a little too early for him. Kroos only has to look towards his team-mate Lukas Podolski to see the dangers of premature hyperbole. Podolski was 2005’s ‘next big thing’ and this was a rare start for the striker who has struggled to settle at the Allianz Arena. He didn’t capitalise on the chance to impress, wasting possession and failing to trouble the 1860 goalkeeper.

His strike-partner, the gigantic Toni, has had no problems settling into life at Germany’s biggest club. The former Fiorentina hitman has scored 13 goals already and if he hadn’t have been so selfless, he might have added another here. Rising at the far post in the first half, the Italian elected to nod the ball back to a team-mate rather than go for goal and the chance was lost. Toni is a constant handful for any defence, but he didn’t like 1860’s physical approach and repeatedly retaliated to nudges and shirt-pulls, eventually earning himself two yellow cards and an early bath. He grinned as he left the pitch, but with the score locked at 0-0 and extra-time looming, manager Ottmar Hitzfeld didn’t return his smile.

Thank heavens then for Franck Ribery. On as a second-half substitute, the French winger was a real threat. He’s as quick as Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon, but with more technique and close control. He’s also got guts. With a penalty shoot-out looking certain, Bayern won a fortunate spot-kick in the 120th minute. Ribery stepped up and slammed it home, but the referee refused to allow it to stand. Two Bayern players had charged into the box for the rebound, invalidating the kick. Without a flicker of emotion, Ribery took the ball, placed it on the spot again and, waiting for the goalkeeper to hurl himself to his right, simply lobbed it gently down the middle of the goal. It was straight out of the Cantona handbook.

Bayern progressed then to the Semi-Final, but Hitzfeld still wasn’t going to smile about it. The veteran manager knew that he had only been moments from humiliation. Ribery had no such concerns. Despite being kicked across the pitch by his furious opponents for over an hour, he celebrated jubilantly at the final whistle. Will he be doing the same in Vienna on June 29? You certainly wouldn’t rule it out





STAR PLAYER - Franck Ribery (France)
 
yeah he did. I can understand the boro chief being annoyed that Mascherano didn't get any punishment and that the ref made some kind of statement that he saw the whole thing and didn't think Mascherano's behaviour was worthy of punishment (or something like that), however prevoked or not he still you can't raise your hands.

worth the ban just for slapping someone, tart!

& Lamb reckoned they discussed if to appeal or not for 2 days - if they think it wasn't a red why did it take them 2 days to decide - ****s!
 
Slipper - next time you plan to watch a game, can you let us all know cos i dont fancy sitting thru games without barely a goal in them ...

Thanks
 
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