alpal78

Ya in an ironic way the ban strengthens his case

To be honest, I don't see anything wrong with that, most neutral observers would agree that Chelsea was very hard done by some weird decisions in 2009. I don't read "not clean" as corruption or something malicious just that the win was marred by some bad decisions. Yes, but that's exactly what Mourinho was getting at. He was deliberately s***-stirring. Yes he was, that's neither slanderous or defamation though

And that this year's CL win would not be clean. Do you blame him? replays show clearly that there was no contact on Alves. Yet Alves rolled around on the ground clutching his ankle/shin, went on a stretcher and jump straight back down after Pepe was sent off. Ref made a wrong decision abetted by Barcelona's play acting so of course it was not clean.

To be honest, I don't see anything wrong with that, most neutral observers would agree that Chelsea was very hard done by some weird decisions in 2009. I don't read "not clean" as corruption or something malicious just that the win was marred by some bad decisions.

I would be annoyed sure but I am not sure it meets the legal standard of being a libelous statement would depend if small boys were seen being taken in and out of your house at night, or not, surely? no idea? I just don't think it's that clear cut

I would be annoyed sure but I am not sure it meets the legal standard of being a libelous statement

which part was libelous? He asked questions, he never made any accusation

Do you honestly think that if Enrique hadn't had his head turned the club would force him out? Enrique wants to leave, all the club can now do is maximise the amount we get for him, and replace him properly. Does it not worry you, the amount of players who seem to want to leave Newcastle? Should the club not be doing something like... making them want to stay by showing ambition? It does, but it is not surprising. In an ideal world Carroll would have stayed, and Barton and Enrique would have signed new contracts, along with Tiote. We're a newly promoted club, who seem to be just coming back from the brink of financial catastrophe. In that context, what is showing ambition? I don't think anyone can argue that the club seem to be focused now on cementing top ten finishes over the next couple of years, and I don't think anyone sensibly doubts that we will be in the top 8 spending wise this summer. The Carroll deal seems to have clouded things, and it is difficult to say if we are showing ambition or not because of that. If it wasn't for that one deal, which was ridiculous money for Carroll, then I'm not sure there is any evidence of the club showing a lack of ambition. Ben Arfa has been signed permanently, Tiote has a 6 year deal. I realise I'm falling into the "see what happens in the summer" camp, but the Carroll situation was unique really, so we do have to see what happens with replacements for Carroll (and perhaps Enrique) to see what sort of club we have to look forward to for the next 5 years. Financial catastrophe? Where on Earth do you get such a statement from? I don't think it was ridiculous money for Carroll, so we'll have to agree to differ on that one. How much would've been ridiculous money for Carroll? No amount is high enough to be considered ridiculous money for Carroll coz I'm living in la la loony land!

I'm with you, can't stand Man Utd. I mean we're gonna loose anyway, just give them a few more goals (with a deal that if they don't win the title, they give us back those goals next season)...think they'll take it!

Yah I'll give you that, not much contact, think Owen made the most of it, but have seen penalties given for less.

crazy that's not a penalty!

No idea how that's not a foul, he literally dropped himself in front of Wilshere and ref thinks its ok!

Did look like he was taking it easy against us tbf. Yeah, definitely. So when he scores he is world class, when he doesn't it's coz he took it easy

Wait till Liverpool win tonight with Carroll scoring the winning goal. I'm not getting near the post match thread, quite a few (the usual suspects) will be suicidal!

Good to see Keegan agreeing that 35M was too good to turn down. I would not take the other parts of him saying that the money is not going to be reinvested seriously, nobody knows for sure and after what he went through, he's not the most objective person when talking about Ashley's plans for the future.

It's a tribute to Prince William.

All accounts? Can only think of Pardew and the Board, which doesn't count for much. And contradictorily, it's also been said Tiote's new contract came from the Carroll money, suggesting any supposedly inflated Carroll contract would've had to have been financed by his own sale. Doesn't count for much? Pardew's only the manager and the board kind of decides who can be offered how much Fair point on the second bit though, no idea where the money for Carroll's new contract were supposed to come from, you don't know and I don't know. Well, 'all the accounts' that suggest Dave was wrong in thinking we will happily pay a £15m striker's accompanying wages come from three very interested parties who are all on one side of an argument, so it's hardly as circumspect a case as ON seemed to be suggesting. An old argument, but they're not the most trustworthy bunch either. Various other facts + statements go to suggest he isn't wrong, though, as you kind of note regarding my second point. When I say, I don't know I mean exactly that, not inferring that we don't have the money or that Pardew + board is lying as you seem to do. Not very sure what you mean by " three very interested parties who are all on one side of an argument" though? Which three parties and which side of an argument are they on?

Interesting bet I must say, one to keep an eye on. Can appreciate people putting their wallet where their mouth is

All accounts? Can only think of Pardew and the Board, which doesn't count for much. And contradictorily, it's also been said Tiote's new contract came from the Carroll money, suggesting any supposedly inflated Carroll contract would've had to have been financed by his own sale. Doesn't count for much? Pardew's only the manager and the board kind of decides who can be offered how much Fair point on the second bit though, no idea where the money for Carroll's new contract were supposed to come from, you don't know and I don't know.

Our balance sheet is f*cking insolvent by about £70m man, if you're relying on that we're down. Antec wanted to be sarcastic but could not even get the facts right, same old same old

Yup we need 3 more points

I know many might have read this article on soccernet, but this article captures my view of last night perfectly. Yes Mourinho played defensive football (its the only way to beat Barca) and yes Madrid players were no saints but Barcelona's cheating was of another level and they did not need to resort to such underhanded tactics.

They were very different type of players, hard to compare. Ronaldinho and Ronaldo were more striker type scoring lots of goals whereas Zidane to me was a midfield maestro bar none

Absolutely, I initially thought there was minimal contact but that youtube video (can I link it, it's a Frech football show with replay?) shows that there was absolutely no contact coz Alves withdrew his leg. Might still be classified as dangerous coz the foot was raised but no way is that a red card. The way Alves then rolls around holding his shin and knee makes it clear as ever that Barcelona was not just diving and cheating but were looking to get Madrid players sent off. And we have some donkey (hint: has an avatar of an ex world player of the year now more commonly known as fatty) saying that the 'tackle' was worse than De Jong's leg breaker on HBA!

Disagree, there is a difference. Players like Maria and Marcelo for Madrid do dive but they don't roll around the floor trying to get the opponent sent off. Example when De Maria dived against Alves, he was frustrated and held his hands up but he wasn't clutching his face like Pedro did or his knees like Alves did. Cheating nevertheless but different degrees. Christ what a load of s***. Yes, you're right. After Madrid players dive they immediately get up and tell the ref not to give a free kick and they'll never do it again. Di Maria showed 3 fingers to the ref when he went down, indicating how many times Alves had 'fouled' him, which got Alves booked. And if you can't see the difference between showing 3 fingers to the ref indicating number of fouls, (which many players do by the way) and holding your face pretending to have received a blow when there was absolutely no contact and rolling around on the floor, then I'd afraid you're the one who is full of shit or maybe piss.