LooneyToonArmy

Oman 1 - Australia 0 Not gonna happen any time soon though. Produced nothing since Paulino Alcantara! Erm....DAVID SILVA? He`s half Spanish/Phillipino like Alcantara (Wiki is wrong...not half Japanese...he confirmed the Spanish paper reported it wrong )

Deal essential for Newcastle United to compete - Llambias BBC Newcastle radio interview - 7 mins http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/15672457.stm

not called upto the latest Argentina squad for their qualifiers (same as Jonas).....but Demechelis and Burdisso still got called even though they`re far from convincing as central defenders. The only other central defender in the squad is Federico Fernandez who is still very inexperienced.... Seems to be a fair few average players in there like Jose Sosa and Denis too..... I suppose it`s good for us he`s not there but I feel a bit sorry for him since his form seems to go unnoticed.

agreed....Bellamy and Kluivert did very well as a partnership up front and their goal record was good together IIRC ......but got unfairly dropped the minute Shearer recovered from his injury at the time, no surprises (tin hat on)

So who would have won? Personally I think Gooch would have killed Zlatan ------ AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Oguchi Onyewu and I almost killed each other http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=goal-acmilanszlatanibrahimovicog

[glow=red,2,300][/glow]hopefully we'll be targeting a few players and be in discussions early doors with some (I know I know). The fact that we're unbeaten so far and in the top 4 for now is a good selling point right now while we're in the higher league positions..........

He was s*** in the World Cup. It was hardly a surprise. He didn't last long enough to register as a disappointment. aye, he only played 4 games (most as sub I think) and he scored 1 goal.....hardly had a chance likewise Xisco. Maric for me was a disappointment after watching the Champions league game with Dinamo Zagreb. Looked top class in that game (alongside Prosinecki) but never did the business with us. Only ever remember him setting Shearer's goal in the FA cup....but other than that.....

Iran players facing 74 lashes Two players at Iranian club Persepolis have been suspended for 'immoral acts' after their celebration of a goal during the 3-2 win over Damash Gilan last Saturday. Sheys Rezaei and Mohammad Nosrati were fined almost £25,000 each for grabbing their teammates' backsides during the celebration and have been banned indefinitely from all football activities by the Football Federation of Iran (FFIRI), with the possibility of 74 lashes awaiting them. "[it is] a violation of public chastity based on current Iranian social values", Judge Valiollah Hosseni told the Fars News Agency. "It is even worse to do these actions before the eyes of thousands of spectators and TV cameras. The punishment of this crime is up to two months of prison and 74 lashes." Ultra-conservative Iran has made steps to eradicate bad language and any acts of inappropriate behaviour by both players and spectators and the FFIRI could use the pair as an example, with the lashes to be carried out on the field where the incident occurred.

http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,,18932_7290797,00.html Geordie sure Teamwork the key to Toon's stunning start Jamie Redknapp Posted 4th November 2011 view comments I don't think anyone really expects Newcastle to still be in those Champions League places come May and it is still too early to pass judgement, but I'll be honest and say I expected them to be more concerned with relegation. If they should manage to stay in that top four, it will be a minor miracle. I don't think they will but if they did, it would be the equivalent of Arsenal or Tottenham winning the title. Yet here they are, sat in third with a very winnable game against Everton coming up on Saturday. After that they go to Manchester City and Manchester United and face Chelsea at home. After those three games we will know more about what they are about. But it is certainly a case of so far, so good. And what makes it more amazing is the fact that they have let some really big, high-profile players go for big money. Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll and Joey Barton have all left St James Park and it's hardly as if Alan Pardew has spent all the £35m they got for Carroll, is it? Look at the players he has brought in; with all due respect, the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan hardly had the big boys queuing up for their signatures did they? But they have all turned out to be pretty shrewd signings. I saw a bit of Cabaye at Lille and although he is clearly a good footballer, I did worry about the physical side of his game, moving from France to the Premier League. The obvious way to sum up Newcastle right now is that a couple of injuries in key areas and they will start struggling and drop down the table. But the other way of looking at it is that they are just a couple of good signings away from having a really good squad. But he has got a bit of bite in the tackle and he and Cheik Tiote have been outstanding in the middle of the park. I don't know whether it is Pardew or the club's scouting system that spots these players - it's probably a bit of both - but whoever is spotting them is doing a great job. In fact everyone at Newcastle is doing a great job. I watched them closely against Stoke on Monday night and what struck me about them is the confidence they have got in each other. People always talk about organisation, but sometimes when you feel fit and sharp it is so much easier to close teams down and it has a knock-on effect on your team-mate. If you know someone is going to go and close down, you step across to cover them, knowing full well that the next guy will do the same for you. Against Stoke whenever Ryan Taylor looked like he was having trouble, there was Jonas Gutierrez, helping his mate out, doubling up and putting in that extra bit of work. Football is not rocket science; if you see your mate in trouble you go and help him, you don't leave him isolated to deal with it on his own. Newcastle are showing the simple benefits of working as a team. They have also got some very good partnerships down the spine of the side. The midfield two are the stand-outs but Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor - neither of whom I have ever been entirely convinced by to be honest - are doing their bit in central defence and the pair up front have clicked. Demba Ba is getting the goals and the headlines, but for me Leon Best has been the star. I was at Southampton with Besty when he was just a kid and when you think that is a club that produced Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and numerous other youngsters dotted around the league, believe me when I tell you he is just as good. He has taken some time to get going in the Premier League but his work rate has been non-stop. I am sure Ba has profited from that and I am sure he will be the first to tell you that. Any successful team defends from the front and those two work their socks off. I remember when I was at Liverpool, we had Ian Rush and he would never stand still, if we weren't in possession he was always chasing down the centre-back or filling a hole in midfield. It's the same at Manchester United, the same with any good team and is another reason Newcastle have surprised us all. Outstanding Then there is their keeper Tim Krul, another player I was not really sure about. He has been outstanding and is a solid base to the spine of that team. Just looking back through the players I've listed, they are not exactly a bunch of waifs and strays, but you wouldn't necessarily have gone for any of them to be in a team sat third in the Premier League. Put them all together though and it works. Alan Pardew has to take a lot of credit for that. I get the impression Alan is not the most-liked manager in football and I don't really know why because whenever I have met him, he has been very nice and very easy to talk to. I think maybe it is because he is so confident and people perceive that - wrongly - as arrogance. And I do think he has been tainted by his time at West Ham. Don't forget he was only a Stevie Gerrard wonder goal away from winning the FA Cup and then I think he was just unfortunate to get caught up in the whole Carlos Tevez-Javier Mascherano farce. He was basically lumbered with two players he didn't want and didn't pick them because of that. Of course, seeing where they both are now, people will think that was wrong. But back then Alan didn't ask for them, they weren't his signings, so what was he supposed to do. As it turns out Tevez came back into the team and helped keep them up that year, but Alan was the first to experience the problems that he can bring. Management is all about fine lines and so too is success in the Premier League. The obvious way to sum up Newcastle right now is that a couple of injuries in key areas and they will start struggling and drop down the table. But the other way of looking at it is that they are just a couple of good signings away from having a really good squad. As I say, I don't think they will get Champions League football and I am sure Alan won't be looking at that. I might be wrong, but I would imagine his aim is still to get to that 40-point mark and sharpish. There is no way they are going to go down, barring a complete and utter disaster, because they have too much quality to do a Hull or a Blackpool. But I do think that if they can make a couple more signings in January and keep the side fit and settled, then the Europa League should be a realistic target. Everyone keeps expecting the bubble to burst, but why should it. I was speaking to Gary Neville this week and we were both laughing about how wrong we were in our predictions for the Stoke game on Monday night. I am sure Newcastle will prove a lot more people wrong between now and the end of the season.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/football_focus/15573320.stm Newcastle just keep on going, and they passed a real test of their aerial defensive capabilities by beating Stoke on Monday. I was really impressed by how hard their midfield worked too, let alone their defenders. But the Magpies' great start to the season has just built up the pressure. They will be expected to beat Everton but cast your mind back to when they played Wigan at St James' Park on 22 October. Everyone expected them to run the Latics over but, in the end, Roberto Martinez's side were unlucky not to get a point. The Toffees have not had great results of late but have played better than a run of five defeats in six games suggests, and I am backing them to sneak a win here because I think the big problem for Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is stopping his team from thinking they just need to turn up to get the three points. Football has a nasty habit of biting you on the backside just when you think you have cracked it, so Pardew and his players have to be careful. But, even if they are beaten on Saturday, it has been an exceptional start to the season and they are in a fantastic position ahead of their games with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea later this month. Prediction: 1-2

Spurs have a reputation for selling players at knockdown prices as well.......regular bargain basement! plus he wouldn`t be pissing off in Jan since Cameroon didn`t qualify for the African Cup of nations IIRC. Would take Ridgewell or Bassong for a knockdown price.

Guardiola 'lacks balls' Swedish publication Aftonbladet reports that the striker reveals in his autobiography, which will be published in two weeks' time, how he told Guardiola that he was afraid of then-Inter coach Jose Mourinho and that the Barcelona coach could "go to hell". "I yelled to him: 'You have no balls!' And probably worse things than that. And I added: 'You are sh***ing yourself about Mourinho! You can go to hell!' I was completely mad. If I were Guardiola, I would have been frightened," Ibrahimovic writes in the first chapter of his book. The former Ajax star also took the time to reveal his true feelings for Barcelona trio Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. "The atmosphere in the dressing room was way too quiet for me. Messi, Iniesta and Xavi always obeyed without protesting. They were like schoolboys. I'm not like that and I couldn't be myself." Ibrahimovic also explained that Messi is Guardiola's favourite, while also stating that the coach made little attempt to communicate with him. "Messi asked to be played in another position. He wanted to play as centre forward and got his way. I didn't have a relationship with the coach. He hardly looked at me." The 30-year-old attacker left Barcelona for AC Milan in the summer of 2010 after only one year at Camp Nou.

Facundo Ferreyra linked again in one of the BBC gossip column links.......

he used to be the translator for Cheik Tiote according to the Chronicle.....but I guess that's about the extent of his involvement with the club so far.

"But I don't care what people say about me. I am focused on my football, my manager, my girlfriends, and my family."

Jovetic`s goals were canny

he`s off to watch an NFL game straight after the game isn`t he? The Glazer`s are flying him over to the states for the Tampa Bay game against whoever else they`re playing.

sure the "Six and the City" headlines will be churned out in tomorrow`s papers

24 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Diam%C3%A9

Blatant cheating from Iniesta in the Sevilla game....shameful dive Javi Varela? Outstanding goalkeeping 8 mins of stoppage time....Man U esque

nicely detailed article there...full of facts and quotes

Bayern fans stabbed in Napoli The ANSA news agency reports two men, aged 42 and 47, were admitted to hospital late on Monday. They told police they walking the town when people aboard two scooters stabbed them in their backs with a knife.

Alex Del Piero leaving Juve at the end of the season and the (normally reliable) Guardian have linked him with us

cracking sub by Pardew