Beren

He's pretty good at doing that.

Hey, next weekend, could I have your £20 instead?

Self-deprecation bites ass! Choose to Believe, Luca! It's highly plausible.

Butt is absolutely woeful, pissed me off no end when Kinnear said a while back "for me he's brilliant" and what pisses me off even more is that the f***ing media think he's our best player and we love him. He is the only midfielder who can break up opposition play, he still does this pretty well imo, just the other aspects of his game and his psychical attributes that have gone to cack. Needs replacing in summer but i can see why he is played tbh. I agree with you about the media, never understood that, has been going on the whole time he has been here too. Don't agree with the bolded part myself. He hasn't got an exceptional ability to read the game, his physical attributes are so poor that he can't break it up with sheer force of will and that impacts negatively on his ability to tackle. His ability to break up play has been propagated largely by the media IMO. In my mind, the reason we couldn't get the ball back from Pompey in the last 15 minutes after Butt was substituted was down to the low fitness of players returning from injury coupled with a very hard-working [if not somewhat ineffectual] first 75 minutes. I am anything but a fan of Butt, but no one else looks like playing that defensive role ATM. Guthrie has bottled many big matches for me, despite the fact he's clearly got enough talent to walk into this midfield. I am really worried if he plays against boro he'll miss a few passes then hide for the rest of the game. That's reasonable however we are facing Boro - lowest scorers in the league and hardly renowned for possession football. Giving that winning is a priority and we've been especially toothless of late, with respects to priority: Scoring Goals > Not Conceding. [i know a score-draw is no better than a goalless draw, but I just think we've got more chance of outgunning them at SJP].

Butt is absolutely woeful, pissed me off no end when Kinnear said a while back "for me he's brilliant" and what pisses me off even more is that the f***ing media think he's our best player and we love him. He is the only midfielder who can break up opposition play, he still does this pretty well imo, just the other aspects of his game and his psychical attributes that have gone to cack. Needs replacing in summer but i can see why he is played tbh. I agree with you about the media, never understood that, has been going on the whole time he has been here too. Don't agree with the bolded part myself. He hasn't got an exceptional ability to read the game, his physical attributes are so poor that he can't break it up with sheer force of will and that impacts negatively on his ability to tackle. His ability to break up play has been propagated largely by the media IMO. In my mind, the reason we couldn't get the ball back from Pompey in the last 15 minutes after Butt was substituted was down to the low fitness of players returning from injury coupled with a very hard-working [if not somewhat ineffectual] first 75 minutes.

I thought Guthrie was better personally. Also, I have more faith in both his potential/consistency than either Butt/Smith. Also, less likely to give away set-plays, get booked, lose possesion.................

Spot on! I hate to say it, but I love watching Man U at their best. Agree also, but further than just as a spectacle, attacking in the style of a Man Utd is way more effective than Arsenal/Barca's walk-it-in strategy. Invariably sides with good defenders/grafters will just park the bus, and it will be somewhat ineffectual for Barca/Arsenal. I think France struggled in the same way after they won Euro 2000 - they struggled in qualifiers to break down poor, poor teams and drew 0-0 against Israel etc because despite their plethora of talent, they had no penetration. "No edge... no eye of the tiger " I can't believe you've just said that. There's a thing called 'small sample size' in statistics, look it up. Just because Barca couldn't score in one game against Chelsea doesn't mean that you can conclude that their style is ineffective. In fact, I'd say the 100 (yes, one fucking hundred) goals they've scored in the league this season, plus the 30 they've scored in the CL (leading the charts in terms of total scored and goals scored per match) shows that their style is incredibly effective. I'd like you to say to the other 37 teams in La Liga, especially Real Madrid, who've been thumped for 8 goals this season, to say that all they needed to do was park the bus and that's Barca contained. Alright, alright, hold your horses mate! I know you like Barca and you've been doggedly defending them all night, but breathe first... In fairness to the point I'm making, I do mean at the very top level - which is why I think Barcelona have had so little luck cutting open English sides, let alone thumping them as easily as they do everyone else over the past few years. My statement wasn't formed from just these two legs [the last half hour of which I missed!!]. Granted, you may say that Barcelona are a better side this year than they have been in previous years, but their attacking mentality has always been there. This serves to prove my point that if you do want to win playing like Brazil 1970, you have to be Brazil 1970 in quality - ie. capable of cutting up clubs at the highest level consistently. If not, you need a more penetrative style. EDIT: Or at least the capability of a more penetrative style. Do you know how devastating Arsenal would be if they shot more than once every 20 minutes? You're entitled to your opinion, and this is hardly something I can quantify for you, but there you go.

Spot on! I hate to say it, but I love watching Man U at their best. Agree also, but further than just as a spectacle, attacking in the style of a Man Utd is way more effective than Arsenal/Barca's walk-it-in strategy. Invariably sides with good defenders/grafters will just park the bus, and it will be somewhat ineffectual for Barca/Arsenal. I think France struggled in the same way after they won Euro 2000 - they struggled in qualifiers to break down poor, poor teams and drew 0-0 against Israel etc because despite their plethora of talent, they had no penetration. "No edge... no eye of the tiger "

Missed the last half hour because of various women. How did Messi do in the second half, anyone?

Why do they appeal for so long after the card has been shown - as though he can/would take it back on the spot!

Soaking it up baby Perhaps. I'd like to say "we'll see", but I imagine both sides will enact some form of change after the break [be it a substitute or tactical]. Chelsea were beginning to get stretched there IMO.

Chelsea looked over-run at the end of that half.

Me too. In all seriousness, only Shearer, Lolo and Nobby could hit it like that in recent history IMO, and they've all been gone a while.

Yeboah-esque bounce off the underside!

HOLY FUCK.

Iirc last time he played at the bridge he was man of the match. I mean world-beater class. Making people look silly/himself untouchable.

Messi is as yet unproven against EPL defences. This will be an important night for him.

it softens the pain mate A few years ago, I couldn't have, but on Sunday I did too.

Poor spectacle. Blatter will ban all-English semi-finals for this.

No more numbers!

Hopefully as Hull push forward, Young/Gabby should finish the game off on the counter to make this less uncomfortable for us.

If Villa win this, the Hammers can't catch them and with their European spot secured they can blood their kids for the rest of the season. [butt's often[/incessantly]-lauded experience should make mince meat of them............. right? ]

Agree. And with all 3 of them on the pitch against Pompey we managed to create 3 clear-cut chances. Sacrificing one of them for someone who can link up the chasm that exists between defence and attack could may create more [arguably better] chances. I'd either drop one to midfield [as our creativity in midfield is shite] or stick Loven on a wing.

The best username I've seen on there is "Bassong's Third Leg". It's Ridzuan.

Incidentally, any hate we receive is probably worsened by the feathers we ruffled on our way up to the relative heights that we did reach under KK and SBR in recent history. It's only natural on our way back down, there'd be those who are happy to be rid of, what used to be, competition.