WHOO HOO! What a great England game to watch last night! For the first time in ages I really feel as though we may have a good squad up and coming through the youngens! We are actually going to have a hard time choosing the team when all injuries are healed instead of struggling and trying to fill the gaps!
I really felt for Defoe not scoring but the boy done good! Becks looks like hes regained his form and finally sorted himself out. Hes looking fit a stone lighter , and was his old self - here there and everywhere with enthusiasm. Wright Philips and Smith look promising, Cole & Terry looked good and James produced some safe saves. All in all I think the only one who didn't perfom well was Nicky Butt . He has to go - too many mistakes for my liking.
All we need now is Rooney back (not only for England but for my fantasy team goddamit!!) By the time it comes round all these newbies will be ready and I think we may well win the next world cup. (Oh dear god I hope so!).......
Pffffffff....why are Scotland so shite at the moment. Last night was, in my mind, a half-decent side that Berti put out, but they looked lacklustre.
Webster and Pressley have a good relationship at Hearts as centre-backs, Naysmith's a half-decent wing-back, Fletcher is a great prospect, Ferguson is a great box-to-box player, McFadden is creative, Miller is a persistent striker and good with the ball at his feet. Pearson at Celtic will be a good player for us.
Last night half of them looked unfit, and OK it is the start of the season...but I know think that Berti Vogts has lost the squad, and he should go. I don't want to see Ranier Bonhof get the sack from the U21's though. He's uncovered some good players for us (Marshall, McFadden, Fletcher, Webster, Pearson, Miller) and we need a good national youth policy like Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, etc....countries of the same stature as Scotland seem to have, and be able to consitently qualify for tournaments with.
Scotland shite ?
Laughingcrow, you should have watched Poland losing 1 : 5 against Denmark. Now that was shite. I cannot find words to describe our performance except that I felt embarassed watching it.
If you don't know what is wrong with me
Then you don't know what you've missed
Invis my friend....Denmark are a good side, Rommedahl, Thomassen, Gravesen, some good hard-working players in that team (and I think Gronkjaer and Rommedahl are the best pair of wingers in any international team).
I suspect we're in a similar situation in terms of both being 'below average' European sides who might consider getting a draw in Iceland 'not a bad' result. Then again, we were beaten 3-0 at home last night by a team that you finished 5 points above in the qualifying group for Euro2004, Hungary.
I used to be in the camp that said 'Berti got us to 2nd in the group, and we were never gonna win a group with the germans in anyway...then we drew Holland and got knocked out over 2 legs (and beat them at Hampden!). So he has actually done quite a good job.
I've changed my mind after the last couple of friendlies though, we are playing with no fire in our bellies - San Marino seem to show more passion ...if we start badly in this campaign, Berti will be sacked.
At least we don't have to play the brilliant Faroe Islands to qualify for Deutschland 2006...we've got Norway, Italy, Slovenia, Moldova and the mighty Belarus. Will we qualify??? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm???????
Who should be the next Scotland boss.......simple:
Otis Westinghouse wrote:WSS? - you shouldn't have had Woodgate anyway as he's been out injured!
I know, but it wasn't indicated as such when I selected him. Oh well - live and learn. I don't know what I was thking selecting a Newcastle defender in the first place. They're slightly tighter at the back than they were under Keegan, but still leak a lot of goals. What is Titus Bramble doing in the Premiership?
Otis Westinghouse wrote:
WSS? - you shouldn't have had Woodgate anyway as he's been out injured!
Otis Otis Otis ! You gotta realise some of us are fantasy virgins here (maybe in more ways than one!! ) I too picked some injured players hoping they would be fit in a couple of weeks! Until we get the hang of this game and learn all the tricks expect us propping up the bottom of the league!!
Gordon Strachan was just on Football Focus, talking about Scotland....asked if he'd be interested in the job if he was offered it...''Goodness me, Im a Scotsman for goodness sake...HOW COULD I SAY NO TO SOMETHING LIKE THAT''
Looks like I'll be in London in December for a client meeting - it's also the weekend of the Arse-Chelsea match at Highbury, and I've managed to get a ticket.
Would love to get together for a drink with any of you Londoners (or from thereabouts) while I'm in town. Will be arriving on the 11th, leaving on the 14th.
OK, I'm on my way to London tomorrow night. Hope to God I can get some sleep on the plane or I'm gonna be wrecked on Saturday. Looking forward to meeting all of the London crew and having a few pints (you cheapskates better be paying, 'cause the exchange rate is brutal! ))
I'm also off to The Library for the Arsenal-Chelsea match on Sunday, thanks to one of my Chelsea friends. Come on you Blues!!!!!
Gilli, your sons must be up for it. Are you going to be able to come along to the Coal Hole on Saturday? And what about you Jackson Monk? I'd even agree to get my wallet out if you were to show up!
Glen fooking Hoddle.....pffft....what were they thinking???...and to top it off, they offer him a 6-month contract....just to show how much confidence they have in him! He has already hired his unemployed brother as a scout....oh, and we might be signing Dean Richards back from Tottenham...joy of joys.
Good luck Glen, you'll need it!
laughingcrow wrote:Glen fooking Hoddle.....pffft....what were they thinking???...and to top it off, they offer him a 6-month contract....just to show how much confidence they have in him! He has already hired his unemployed brother as a scout....oh, and we might be signing Dean Richards back from Tottenham...joy of joys.
Good luck Glen, you'll need it!
I disagree. Hoddle has had some success with clubs that have low expectations. Swindon and Southampton did very well under his stewardship. I think he'll do ok. He seems to piss off the superstars and Wolves don't have many of them. He needs players around him who don't question him and I think his problem at Spurs and with England was the clash of Ego 'situation'.
Well I hope so...admittedly he did improve Southampton and Swindon, but has a funny habit of pissing off when a better club comes around. I don't really think he did a bad job with England either....it's just the baggage that comes with him (Eilleen is our new physio?) and the whole '6 month contract' affair stinks of a doomed situation.
We'll see...but already talk of us 'doing a Palace' by Hoddle and some of the players just seems ridiculous. We'll be lucky if we finish 6th seeing as there are over 10 teams better than us in the league.
Jackson Monk wrote:David Moyes must be a football genius to get that squad into second place.
It's not even a squad, it's a team - even our subs are unchanged every week. Maybe the lesson to be learned is reduce your squad to a 70's/80's level (we only have 19 if you add Campbell, Naysmith and Li Tie to our usual 16) and play the overpaid prima donnas even if they aren't 100%.
Championship sides before the 90's tended to win the league using only about 14 players all season and playing 42 league games plus all cups and Europe. Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd can afford to squad rotate, most of the rest can't.
We always hear "it's a short career" when footballers' wages are discussed. Since it is so short maybe they should spend more time on the pitch and less resting because they played on Saturday, have been on international duty or are carrying a slight knock.
Back from London. Attending the Arsenal-Chelsea match was great fun, even if I was among the Arse fans in the North Bank Lower. Surrounded by rabid Gooners, I was forced to sit on my hands the whole time. The only goal scored at my end was Terry's bullet header in the first half. A superb match all around, and it was fun to see one at Highbury - so different from the other English grounds I'd been to, wedged in between row houses as it is. The lack of pubs in the neighborhood is a little troubling (or maybe I just didn't know where to look) - I waited until I got inside the ground to have a pint.
In addition to attending the Arse-Chels match, I took the train down to Selhurst Park on Saturday to see Crystal Palace-Blackburn. The game was of very poor quality (has there been a year in recent memory with so many poor teams in the top flight?), but a bunch of yellow cards and one sending off made it interesting. The ground (at least in the Arthur Wait Stand, where I was sitting) is falling apart. The pre-game and half-time entertainment was terrible - some awful three-girl group in mini-skirts with dance routines straight out of a strip club. But "Glad All Over" by the Dave Clark Five - the club's unofficial anthem, is a lot of fun. On the whole it was very enjoyable. Great cheap beer at the pubs outside Norwood Junction station, superb fish and chips and friendly fans. I hope Palace avoids the drop, but on the evidence of Saturday, I would expect them to go down.
As long as they go down against MU on Saturday, with me there in ecstasy, I won't be complaining. We need to make up for fooolishly throwing away 3 points against Fulham.
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
Cracking Spurs performance today and 4 wins in a row as well. Norwich and Palace over the xmas period, so the run will end next week!
I have mixed feelings about Defoe's wonderful display. Every time he plays like that, he edges closer to the door and the Chelsea megabucks. Stories of Ledley King going to the Arse for 20 million as well.....
"'ll take these blue skies however fleeting, it might be too late tomorrow"
I'm floating on a alittle Old Trafford shaped cloud. Friends, I have been to the Theatre of Dreams, and it is an awe-inspiring place. Can you imagine how brilliant it is to be surrounded by so many like-minded MU lovers? Why has it taken me till my 40s to get there? I'll be back. Palace were ropey, though so were MU defensively to let in two goals easily. Fortunately we came back quickly each time. The second half, with MU attacking the Stretford End where we were, was paradise. We were on our feet for most of it, non-stop attacks, with Giggs at his Welsh wizard best, Scholes on cracking form and the whole team giving it their all. Shame Rooney didn't score, missed at least one sitter. It could have been 7- or 8-2 easily. Palace were close to falling apart in the second half.
Highlight of the whole thing was waiting outside for the players to emerge, my son hopeful for an autograph. Scholes emerged, gave the briefest of waves, clutching his man of the match magnum, and then hopped into his super-sleek silver Audi. We waited ages, Andy Johnson came out and signed programmes for fans of both teams! Then, eventually, the one and only Eric Cantona emerged, looked at us briefly, very sadly didn't stop to sign, just a brief wave and off. What a thrill to be so close to a bona fide MU legend, and so magisterial looking. The programme told us he was there, so there were many choruses of 'Ooh Ah Cantona', and 'On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me five Cantonas, four Cantonas', etc.
Comedy of the day was when the announcer asked for a Mr Mystery to make himself known to the ground staff. The fans had a field day, singing the above adapted to 'five Mysteries, four Mysteries...', as well as 'One My Mystery, there's only one...' Mr M (probably Mistri, or something) then enjoyed his moment of glory by waving to us all in the Stretford End and being cheered massively. There was a good ten minutes of Mystery-worship going on.
A brilliant day, and great to see I'm extending my lead at the top of the league too!
There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more
Can you imagine how brilliant it is to be surrounded by so many like-minded MU lovers?
And all from Cambridge too!!!
Shame Rooney didn't score, missed at least one sitter.
Including a penalty, the scumbag, I have him in my 'other' fantasy team in the DT and it's minus five for penalty miss.
I made a big mistake in bringing in nancy-boy vanwank, who now can't be assed to turn out in the pl. I hope he gets dutch elm disease and dies slowly and painfully.
A shit day all round what with Chelsk totters manure and SlaughterCity all getting loads. Couldn't bring myself to watch motd last night for fear of choking .
Arse will probably round it off for me by losing to pompey and TH getting sent off. And Baros will probably get a hat-trick for miss otis.
so lacklustre wrote:A shit day all round what with Chelsk totters manure and SlaughterCity all getting loads. Couldn't bring myself to watch motd last night for fear of choking .
Starting to feel the heat, are we?
By the way, can someone explain to me why Arse supporters, among others, accuse Frank Lampard of being "fat" (it was part of that ridiculous "Chelsea ain't got no history" chant I heard at Highbury)? I wish I were fat like Frank - he is in tremendous shape and plays the full 90 minutes almost every time he's out there.
Superb game for Lamps and Robben, but two of the goals were absolute gifts from Norwich defenders. Robben's goal was a thing of beauty - gorgeous backheel by Tiago.
Last edited by Who Shot Sam? on Sun Dec 19, 2004 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
) I too picked some injured players hoping they would be fit in a couple of weeks! Until we get the hang of this game and learn all the tricks expect us propping up the bottom of the league!! 
)) 
