Taylor Swift

I think it's more about a sense/feeling about who you expect to deliver. You expect (that cunt) Gerrard to deliver when it matters. The key is to consistently deliver in these big moments because those are the only moments that will matter 20 years from now. That's why even though players like van Basten had a short-ish career, they'll always be remembered for their 'moments'. What's Ronaldo's 'moment' so far? What's any top footballer's 'moment' so far? I'd say that even Ronaldinho hasn't had his and will not go down as one of the greats. Great players have moments/tournaments which are forever associated with them. Eusebio had his 4 goals against North Korea as his moment, van Basten the wonder goal, Baggio with his incredible play in the '94 WC, Zizou the double in the WC final and the goal against Leverkusen - obviously I could go on but that's the gist of my argument.

Gerraway. What does he have to do man? Do you think he's the greatest player you've seen in your lifetime? This isn't taking anything away from him as I think he's class, but I seriously don't know how people can say he's the best in their lifetime. Unless they're 8 years old or something. Which Nut isn't btw. Nowhere near as good as some of the recent greats. I remember Zidane running rings around Keane and co in the Champs League, they couldnt get close to him all night, that sort of skill and abilty in every touch is on another planet. Ronaldo here on the other hand, is playing for the domestic champions in the Premiership against a mid table side with average to above average players, and even then hes lost the ball on numerous occassions with poor attempts to beat a man. Good end product and a cheeky goal that should have been easily saved to be fair, but lets not get carried away - hes a very good player, in extremely good form domestically in terms of end product, and is benefitting greatly from being in a team that is firing on all cylinders with numerous players capable of pulling the strings and carrying him when hes playing poorly. Couldn't have said it better myself. He's a fantastic player and he's definitely on form but terms such as 'great' and 'legendary' are being thrown around too often these days. I'd say only Zizou and Ronaldo (fatty) could be considered a 'great' if you consider the past 10 or so years of football. But tbf, perceptions will always change and probably 10 years from now we'll be laughing at the fact that there was even a debate about this. I can't believe he's still only 23!

I think these are Villa's recent results against Man Utd... L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L D L L D L L L Doesn't make for good reading for a Villa fan

4-0. Come on, get to 6 - at least we'll have someone to share the pain with.

Just because Man Utd and Arsenal have been treated unfairly in the past does not mean Chelsea should be subjected to the same treatment now. Two wrongs don't make a right

What's the official reason for the move? And what does their fixture look like atm in comparison to Arsenal's and Man Utd's? If, based on what they've said, the fixtures are very similar and thus there is no real reason to move this particular one, then they have every right to complain about it.

If they lose tomorrow then they'll be depending on the two London clubs to beat Liverpool, and then they'll have to win all of their remaining games as well. Tomorrow's a big big game for Everton.

Why does it matter that Chelsea's the team that's complaining? If it's wrong, it's wrong; it shouldn't matter which team is on the wrong end of the stick.

Can we start a new thread for this weekend? This mega-thread thing is quite hard to follow.

Duff was spent, Reyes is still fairly young. No one said that when he signed though, which was kind of my point when I said that the way Reyes is being talked about is quite akin to the way Duff was talked about when he was signed ('bargain at £5m!' etc.). I still think that he has some quality left in him but the fact that he hasn't produced anything remotely close to a full season of quality football in about 5 years should be a warning sign to KK. He was good, and did have a lot of potential but he never excelled in his two or so seasons at Arsenal, did not reach his potential with Real and is now struggling to get into Atletico Madrid's first team. The signs point to him becoming another run of the mill inconsistent player and we have enough of those players here. Even at £5m, I'd hesitate. I'd rather overpay for an actual quality player rather than pay small money for different players and merely hope that they improve and turn out to be 'bargains'. It's always worth overpaying for quality because you know exactly what you're getting.

A lot of what's been said here was said when Duff was signed btw, and coincidentally his price was also £5m. After thinking it through, I'd rather we sign players who are hungry and on the way up, not someone who's so obviously stagnated and maybe even on the way down like Reyes. Of course there's the possibility that he'll turn out to be a bargain but given his track record in England (poor) and the cause of his initial departure (dislikes weather), I think £5m can be spent better elsewhere.

Would be a difference-maker although last I saw (last year with Real), he was still as inconsistent as ever.

I've always thought he was quality Allardyce deserves credit for having the balls to spend that much money on an unproven young foreigner who doesn't play in a glamour position. He'll be our longterm leftback if he's given time to grow into the role - he's certainly got all the attributes anyhow; can pass, can defend, good positional sense, doesn't hide and he's deceptively pacey as well.

I might have missed something here, when did we win that League Cup? Bah, my eyes are playing tricks on me.

4-5-1 would be a beter way to to nick a resuly. Depends upon whether gaining a point would be viewed as a 'good' result. Did you see their game at the weekend? Portsmouth parked the bus and played for a point and got beat. We don't have good enough players to play 4-5-1 and park the bus and get something out of the game. they put 4 past chelsea, we haven't got a hope in hell of shutting up shop yes they put 4 past Chelsea, well done to them. But they also let 4 in. Just cause they scored 4 against Chelsea doesn't mean they are going to put 4 past everyone. Even Birmingham put 4 past them recently. Exactly. We have to go there aiming to score goals or else we're fucked.

Fucking hell, I'm watching the highlights program and in the one out of two fan interviews that they showed, the 30 something fan said [before the game] 'it's either Keegan's first win or his last game'. How long must have the producers been standing around searching for that kind of idiot to show up?

Same formation. We'll lose a couple of goals because Spurs are very good offensively so obviously we'll need to create chances. And with the formation we've been playing, we've been creating a ton of chances. Reverting back to 4-4-2 will be us betting on keeping a clean sheet and/or our ability to nick a goal, and that'll be way tougher than just trying to outscore them.

Third. Playing in a rubbish team but still a spark, the sort of player that would have helped us much this season Exactly. We've signed far too many "good" players that have turned out not to have any drive apart from their obsession with buying more and more bling. And I'm not just talking about those that spring to mind in that - Dyer, Jenas and Bellamy Jenas showed enough hunger in his first couple of seasons, but people seem to be forgetting that. There's a reason why he stagnated but now that he's doing it for Spurs, I find it harder to place the blame wholly at his feet for the shitty last season and a half. Bellamy not having any drive or passion? I want some of what you're smoking, mate. With Dyer, I don't think drive was the problem - injuries were. The frustrating thing with him was that it was always niggling injuries, but anyway, whenever he played, I always came away remembering a few of his lung-bursting lungs so it's not like he was a lazy git who never ran for the team, was it? There seems to the idea that the 'gangsta bling bling' lifestyle is associated with a lack of drive - I have no idea whether this is true, but with Dyer at least, I don't think that is/was true.

I can't believe this thread got past the first page

Blackburn Rovers Titles won: 3 FA Cups: 6 League Cup: 1 Newcastle United Titles won: 4 FA Cups: 6 League Cup: 1 In the past 15 years, Blackburn's got a title and a league cup to show for. We, on the other hand, obviously don't. The reference to Jack Walker's money is irrelevant - they won it, who gives a shit how? History won't put an asterisk next to their title, and history won't be putting asterisks next to the numerous trophies that Chelsea have won in the past few years as well.

Keeping possession is a concept that our players don't seem too familiar with, and I agree with Keegan when he says that Owen rarely gives the ball away, so I'm really liking this new formation. You can't lose a goal if you have the ball

What makes a club big? Previous success? Fanbase? Current success? I'd be interested in anyone's definition of 'big' because when considering recent history and things like titles/cups won, Blackburn > Newcastle. I'm not saying I believe that to be true, but obviously belief in this case depends on a definition of what 'big' is and the comparative weighting that must be given to factors such as fanbase, titles, revenue, brand loyalty etc.

It's very refreshing to see a manager changing the team when needed and not sticking to the same formations which have resulted in losses. With Allardyce we were all subjected to the same old useless shit (Smith in midfield, Martins wide right, Milner on the left etc.), and with Roeder, he wouldn't (couldn't?) change the team unless it was forced upon him by injuries.

Arsenal have dropped 11 points in their last 5 games. Shame, I really would have preferred them to win it.

Title race over?