Taylor Swift

Looks like Koscielny has a concussion.

Just as I was singing Arsenal's praises, Fulham score

Nasri's been excellent so far, just skipped past two Fulham players and was so close to finding Arshavin with a cut-back for a tap-in.

Arshavin's been better in the past couple of weeks as well. If Fabregas and Van Persie come back and play to their standards, who knows... It's been a roller coaster season so far, many big teams have lost matches that they weren't expected to, but Arsenal look like the best team to me, if they play to their standards. I don't think Man Utd have the players to challenge for the season - Scholes will tire soon, for example - and I have the feeling that Chelsea is prioritising the CL. Taking the League Cup seriously might actually be the best thing Wenger's done for a few years.

I say this almost every week (maybe not on here, but in real life definitely), but Nasri's becoming one of the best players in the Premiership. He's certainly in a Premiership Eleven for me right now.

Adebayor's been linked with real, man he's not realistic, at all. With keane and the wages, I think we've just got to accept that this new regime doesn't overstretch itself financially so if he signs, he won't be on a crazy wage, and we won't be handcuffing ourselves by signing him. Ashley's not Shepherd who wasn't spending his own money, so was far more risky.

our guy got bought Shame, I would have been there for that, even if only to shout shit at all the top 4 boys.

The only time Qatar seems to be able to host sporting events is early/late in the year because the heat is less of an issue. That's why they have a good quality tennis tournament in January, some exhibitions in December. That's also why they're hosting asia's flagship continental competition in early january next year. I don't think anyone doubts their capability to organise a good sporting tournament, which was why they got a decent score when they bid for the '16 olympics, but the heat will be a massive issue for a summer competition that's traditionally been a month-long beer-drinking football-watching party for the people who come to watch. I'm just not confident that the wc atmosphere will exist in Qatar, unless they pretty much air condition the shit out of everything. The reason that brazil '14 will be a great wc is the reason that I have my doubts about Qatar hosting a summer football competition.

Yeah.... that's what some people thought about Japan/Korea. sorry, but i just have to flag up the fact that you're seemingly comparing Qatar, a country that a few years back was one big sand dune, to the ancient cultures of Japan and Korea, with their rich heritages and many, many millions of people, cultural and technological accomplishments, legacies of artistic and scientific brilliance, high levels of human development, well respected civil societies, freedom of the press and so on. who the hell said Japan/Korea had no culture or atmosphere? idiotic in the extreme. qatar is just a few dozen rich royals who probably live in london or paris paying off some corrupt bastards in order to stage an event that they should never have even been considered for. Japan and Korea are some of the most well respected and most well developed countries on the planet. it's kind of like comparing newcastle with sunderland... Whats idiotic is your totally irrelevant and off the point post. Frankly, I couldnt care less about those factors that you mentioned. Stick to football, thanks. When nessy asks how any culture and atmosphere is going to be generated in the place I instantly thought about the atmosphere and the passion in the stadiums. This is what I was certainly referring to. I dont know how off the pitch events held a thousand miles away is going to spoil your enjoyment of the world cup. Fucking hell. only few weeks back there was a thread saying politics and religion shouldnt mix with football. Were you one of those people that agreed with that, by any chance? Politics and football shouldn't mix when we talk about football actually being played. There's no room for sectarianism and racism in football. However, when we're talking about organising a WC, we're not really talking about just the football, are we? We're talking about money, infrastructure, tourism, transport, investment etc., and that is a bunch of things that are, by its nature, political. So hosting a WC definitely has political aspects towards it. How do you think Qatar will build all these fancy stadiums? They'll bring in migrant workers for India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, treat them like slaves, pay them like slaves then deport them when they've finished their jobs. That's how they've done it, that's how Dubai did it, that's how the ME has constructed themselves. So when FIFA says 'ok, we'll let you host the WC', they are sanctioning and condoning the way Qatar and other countries in the ME treat migrant workers. That could not be any less of a political decision. So yes, football and religion/politics shouldn't mix when we're talking about football being played, but when we're talking about spending billions of dollars, that's politics whether you want it to be or not.

Full results of 2018 voting: Round 1: England 2 votes, Netherlands/Belgium 4 votes, Spain/Portugal 7 votes and Russia 9 votes. Round 2: Netherlands/Belgium 2 votes, Spain/Portugal 7 votes and Russia 13 votes (Russia obtain absolute majority) As commented on the BBC... So two people who voted for Netherlands/Belgium in round one, switched allegiances to Russia in round two even though Neth/Bel were still involved. I don't really understand that. Full results of 2022 voting: Round 1: Australia1 vote, Japan 3 votes, US 3 votes, South Korea 4 votes and Qatar 11 votes. Round 2: Japan 2 votes, South Korea 5 votes, US 5 votes and Qatar 10 votes. Round 3 South Korea 5 votes, US 6 votes and Qatar 11 votes. Round 4 US 8 votes and Qatar 14 votes (Qatar obtain absolute majority)

Effectively one vote and you got it from us I should receive an honorary forum award for this one vote, tbh.

Supporting the English bid for this one. You guys deserve it. Your infrastructure is great, the fans are great, you're generally a sensible lot so there won't be corruption/other scandals. It would be one of the best wcs in terms of organisation, IMO. And you deserve it because it's been so long. The only annoying thing would be how your newspapers would make you instant favorites based on '66 and all that shit.

Yep. They're completely dominant in possession and their pressing to retrieve possession hasn't been seen in football for a long, long time. 684 - 331 passes in favour of Barca tonight. 67% possession, overall. When Barca hit 8 last week, I think Ronaldo made a comment saying Barca should try to hit them for 8. Well, they were a few goals off but I'm pretty sure the message was sent. I continue to think that the past three years of football played by this Barca team is the best ever pure/total football, bar none. I mean, at one point tonight they reeled off almost 15 consecutive first time passes in Madrid's half, and this is against a fucking 500 million team, man!

And that is classic Mourinho behaviour. Cuntish, as expected.

Who cares about people fawning over Barca? It's like saying you don't like the Beatles because everyone else does, which is an idiotic thing to do.

Mourinho's influence coming out now. Go on, get another and send the cunt home completely humiliated.

That's a red at 0-0, IMO.

Messi's shown up in the second half and shown up big time.

4-0 against your rivals and you bring a defender on. Fuck off, Mourinho.

Holy shit

Easy.

Mourinho can fuck off, the moaning twat. His teams have always been dirty and cynical, a tactic which Inter perfected last year. The love he gets is only because he wins, but it's still hard to like the guy because you know that he's doing all this shit on purpose and has the ability to be better.

The ref's done well to let this game flow.

That wall was Arsenal-esque

Ronaldo What a twat. Pep just needs to show a replay of that in the changing room.