gazza ladra

I'd say Smith yeah, or Butt

Ok, who comes off for Enrique?

I think that Rozehnal may be given a rest. ------------------Given----------------- Beye----Faye----Taylor----Enrique Milner----Geremi----Emre----N'Zogbia -----Martins----------Viduka/Smith----

Harper Beye Rozehnal Taylor Enrique Milner Geremi Faye N'Zogbia Smith Martins

Think we'll crush them. Three goals at least.

Del Horno? A flop? Hardly. Far better player than any one on that team. Still one of very best, if not the best lb in the game.

My "ffs" was in response to a pretty ridiculous comment-- it's gone now.

ffs

EXACTLY, WELL SAID! Would you class being racist as equally acceptable? Beat me to it.

By the same reasoning we should all turn a blind eye to racist chants. Pure BS imo.

What kind of schedule did the team-- the players who weren't on international duty--have during the break? Maybe worked with Beye, Cacapa, Faye, and Enrique as a unit? Is Enrique in the Spanish U21s? Did they play?

Read that Milner got a knock against Bulgaria. Maybe he won't start against Derby?

Have we played anything but 4-3-3 this season? I think that Allardyce may start some unexpected players in this game. ------------------Given------------------- Taylor--Cacapa--Rozehnal--Enrique -----Milner-------Faye----N'Zogbia---- -------------------Smith----------------- -----------Owen---------Martins--------- Bench: Harper, Geremi, Butt, Ameobi, Beye. Edit: had Ameobi starting. But he won't do that. Probably switch to 442 at some point and move him up top with Owen.

Funny, I think it might be Cacapa. Not that I've seen a whole lot of him. But there was one point in the Boro game where Downing (?) was on a breakaway down the left flank -- looking dangerous, and Cacapa dispossessed him of the ball with incredible ease. Love at first sight. Before that Solano. And Robert went from being one of favorites to being a player I just despised.

I'd heard that Americans visiting Cuba (usually via Mexico) routinely pass through Cuban customs without getting their passports stamped-- as it is against the law for U.S. citizens visit that country.* Don't know if that is an urban legend or not. * Rather, I think U.S. citizens can visit Cuba, but are forbidden to spend money there-- or something stupid like that.

Actually, geographically Cyprus is Asia. Politically and culturally, it is Europe. Kind of like Armenia (and Israel?) in that way. In Asia, but culturally European. I think Greek Cypriots far outnumber Turkish Cypriots.

Obviously, it is not all about geography. We have Asian teams in UEFA. Australia in the AFC. South Americans in CONCACAF. Israel used to play in AFC and then the OFC before joining UEFA.

Yes. And yes.

Israel playing in UEFA is a political necessity. Egypt is in Africa and does not play in the AFC, but the CAF. I swear I saw a scoreline that had Nicaragua playing in an OFC tournament. They were never very active or competitive in CONCACAF, but that is a jump.

--------------------Given---------------------- Chimbonda------Lescott-----Campbell----Baines Milner-------Arteta----Barton-----Barry ------------Anelka-----Owen------------ Cahill, King, Yakubu, Diouff, Friedel

1. Chelsea 2. Arsenal 3. Liverpool 4. Man Utd 5. Newcastle 6. Everton 7. Tottenham 8. Aston Villa 9. Blackburn 10. Man City 11. West Ham 12. Portsmouth 13. Reading 14. Middlesbrough 15. Fulham 16. Birmingham 17. Wigan 18. Bolton 19. Sunderland 20. Derby

Think they might lose to Everton. Don't see Arsenal losing for a while, FA Cup excepted of course. You mean Carling Cup? Yeah-- Carling Cup, FA Cup, save difference. You've got a strong squad. Be surprised if you lose before November.

Beats being stupidly pessimistic. No such thing, apparently its called "realism". Nah. Don't think so. A person can be stupidly pessimistic-- it's called "depression". Or, for the religiously inclined, "despair"