tmonkey

How is that a foul? The guy is just obstructing him without any intention to play the ball.

Sinclair is so fucking shit it's unreal. Absolute coward of a footballer.

I hate him. I hate any player who strolls around the pitch with an arrogant smug swagger. He's shit yet the way he walks and strolls around suggests he thinks he's class. Sissoko too, when he does that little jog with his chest out and his back and arse in a straight line, as though he's the man.

Legend has it that Glenn is still scouting Dirk to this very day.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/hatem-ben-arfa/profil/spieler/18900 Only £12m. Come on Rafa, that's only double the price of Atsu and solves our number 10 problem!

Bit torn on this. On the one hand I think he's maybe too lightweight for the Premiership, and that given his pace/abilities he didn't really stand out enough or produce enough chances for others in a second tier devoid of any real defensive talent where most players are one-paced. £6m might not be much today, but if that £6m could be redistributed to other bids to increase them it could be the difference in us getting someone of real quality who we really want/need for the first team. But on the other hand it's £6m for a moderately skillful and pacey winger who might be no different in the Premiership (ala Routledge), either starting games in rotation or providing 20-30 minute cameos when needed. He already has good experience in England with NUFC so it's relatively low risk. Plus I think there's a possibility that that nonchalant free kick will have boosted his confidence and self-belief, and that even though it was just one free kick he might well be a better player for it.

Stuck a tenner on 6 fold, with 5 winning but Nice letting me down. Fuming.

He had an utter shiite group of players completely demotivated by Allardyce's insanity, a group that could barely string passes together by the time he took over, and within a couple of months had them playing pretty decent football on a par with teams around 6th-9th. The man still had it because I'm guessing what he has can't be lost - he's just a naturally damn good manager. Unfortunately for us we've not had the owners to reflect and support his mentality, whilst he's also not had the "right" mental and personal traits to stick things out long term at a football club when those above him don't share his vision.

Glorious. He felt like the whole world was unfairly against him, out to get the King. I imagine it's similar to how Hitler felt in the bunker when realizing it was all over.

Zanetti vs Cafu vs Alves. We should make it a club policy to only sign promising South American full backs.

Juve being lazy with their finishing. Just wallop it low and hard towards the corner you pansies.

Can't wait to see who he'll bring in now that we're in the Premiership again and so can attract players by virtue of being there/having the money. The only time we've had a manager of his calibre - a winner with continental experience of managing at multiple top tier clubs in the strongest leagues in Europe - was Sir Bobby, and if it weren't for time and the natural aging process being against us we'd have gone on to win things with him and establish ourselves as a real force. For once things seems to be on our side with Rafa, who wants to be here and probably has 20+ years left in him at the very least. You'd imagine given his personality traits and recent experience that he has a network of contacts throughout Europe and knows some real talent out there that the big boys haven't yet decided to go for. He probably knows everyone that the likes of Real Madrid, Inter, Chelsea, etc, had scouted, and all the good youth prospects from their setups as he probably went to youth games whilst there in addition to doing his research. Our signings over the summer after the relegation have by and large been great and absolutely key to promotion, and this was with Rafa supposedly stating that he couldn't bring in some of the players he wanted to because it's hard when in the Championship! I'm not expecting miracles, but I do imagine with sufficient funds we'll be seeing much better use of Rafa's preferred system (and weaknesses eradicated). All we need is for Ashley to not fuck things up.

Great save by Forster.

Liverpool win a cheap penalty from nothing. Really lucky. They've played for an hour and not created a single chance - not one.

Judging by that one game alone today, Joe Hart is absolutely finished. Really all over the place.

Player jumps, barely gets touched, lands on his arse cos he jumped too high, is down for 2 minutes. Coincidentally his team is ahead, so in addition to writhing around on the floor he walks off at the pace of a pensioner on a walking frame. Italian football for you.

Juventus are playing like absolute retards. Just constant laziness, sloppy passes, players generally being thick as mince. I know it's not their full first team, but it's like they've fielded half a team of mongs and the other half aren't bothered.

I'm guessing the new stadium is what is holding them back a bit financially. Otherwise it doesn't make sense - they're raking it in with the Premiership TV deal, will have CL income yet again, and I imagine Son being such a big star for them this season is amplifying income from the Far East too. On top of this they've barely spent anything looking at the transfer dealings, their net spend over the past 5 years is roughly nil.

http://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?351528-CH-interview-in-the-Guardian Ideal scenario is Brighton win tomorrow, Chris gets a little wasted from the champagne celebrations, then after partying hard come the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday morning leaves a series of nasty voice mail messages for Ashley, Llambias and Pardew, calling them out for being slippery, snide cunts with how they treated him.

Gallows will be pleased.

That shot by Noone sums up the quality in this division. Gets a golden chance, does utter, utter shit with it.

Probably be losing if we hadn't secured promotion. Some of our players look a little bit better in possession compared to normal, as though the lack of pressure means they're not panicking as much.

Cardiff are fucking abysmal. Every few passes they're sending it back to the keeper for a hoof. Dull as dishwater, cowardly football.

I loved the way Keegan gutted that team in a short space of time too.

Betfair are offering 3/1 for Monaco to win. Feels like the bookies know something about Monaco's chances.