brummie

The CL drop outs thing is the most cynical of the lot. I felt sorry for Fulham the other year, having started in the EL in July, to play what seemed like hundreds of games, only to then have the likes of Man City dropping into it. It's just wrong. Television screws up everything in football. It fucked up the format of the EL (and, ironically, doesn't even work, as the competition attracts sod all TV money anyway), and fucked it again with the CL drop outs. It's all so cynical. I honestly think I preferred football in the late 80s, when people thought you were nuts to go to matches, the government hated us, and it was never on the telly.

You've got some belting away trips. Bruges is one of my favourite places in Europe. It's a stunning city.

I know what you mean, but really, the UEFA Cup was a cracking competition. Why did they have to fuck with that? (Well, money, obv). I'm a traditionalist, mind. I'd bring back the CWC too.

Very good. I didn't enjoy it much when we were doing well in it, mind. We'd got to a decent point, had drawn CSKA Moscow, and MON decided finishing fourth was more important, and decided to play the youth team. It's a bit sad when finishing fourth gets seen as more important than European silverware, but the worst thing is, I thought he did the right thing at the time. That problably says a bit about what's wrong with football these days.

That's the M.O. of the Pozzo's; Granada are built exactly the same. They just buy a crapload semi-promising players on the cheap and send them over the teams they own. They currently have one in Italy's top division, Spain's top division and England's second tier. It's a player agency on steroids. I had no idea they had a team in Spain, too. It's all a bit too sinister for my liking.

Absolutely. Almost as bad as Villa fans, in fact It's alright, we're used to being in the top flight.

A lot of our fans use him as a piece of evidence in the prosecution of Martin O'Neill, and to be honest, they've got a point. He cost a lot of money and hasn't done much, but he's been incredibly unlucky with injuries until now. He and El Ahmadi look decent in the middle, they keep hold of the ball well. I just wish Delph would break forwards more often than he does. One thing I don't like - and i saw this against Tranmere in the week - is he still has a tendency to put in really rash tackles. if you're interested in that kind of bet, I'd say if you stuck a quid on Delph to get booked or sent off every week, you'd finish the season well up. El Ahmadi is a player I rate. Doesn't Bannan get in your team lately? He's a player I rated, true that sometimes he doesn't make the best decisions on the pitch, but I think he's got great potential. I have to watch you more often this season. I think you'll end up somewhere with your current project, hopefully not the Championship. We're not going to go down. I am as pessimistic as they come, but there's a right load of old bollocks being written about us at the moment, with dickheads like Robbie Savage tipping us to go down. We've played two league games. One, at West Ham, we had 65 percent possession, and they scored from their only chance, after spending 90 minutes lumping the ball long at us. The other was against Everton, who scored out of nowhere after 2 minutes, then got gifted one by Given. We were never going to come back after that. Lambert wants us to pass the ball, you can see the change in the way we are trying to play even after two games. It isn't going to happen overnight, though, it'll take time. El Ahmadi is a very decent passer of the ball, he's impressed so far. Vlaar always looks to play the ball out of defence rather than hoof it as James Collins would have done in the past. What we are doing now is trying to fully throw off the bad habits we were left with when MON flounced out (incidentally, read some of the Sunderland fans comments about the way they played today, they're doing the same), with a young progressive manager who will look forward not back. So no more playing with wingers and whipping hopeful balls into the box continually. No more lumping it out of defence. It isn't going to happen overnight, it will take a long time, and we'll continue to pick up some piss poor results along the way, but I genuinely do not care, so long as we make that change, it will be worth the short term pain. Bannan is a decent passer of the ball, and will get plenty of games. My main criticism of him is that he looks for the Hollywood ball a bit too often when he should just keep it simple,

Well, we've got three LBs. Stephen Warnock, who is shite, and is training with the kids until someone takes him away. Enda Stephens, who is a kid. Joe Bennett who we signed last week. We played Nathan Baker there last week, but he'll be in his natural position at CB tomorrow as Ciaran Clark is suspended. Baker is very impressive.

Genuinely, no, I don't. The novelty wore off pretty quickly when we were in it. Although we did make it easier the last two years by going out to Rapid Vienna in the first round :-/ It's a ridiculous format for a competition. The only thing I did use to like about it was the fact that I've always liked night games, and was working in central Birmingham at the time, so it was convenient. It's good when you play Ajax or some mental Eastern European team you've heard of before, but ties against the likes of FC Harfardhahahaha of Iceland or MSK Zilina aren't really that much of a draw. It really is the format. It just goes on and on and on.

Isn't it on Sunday because you're involved in that Europa League nonsense on Thursdays?

Sorry, but I can't agree with that. There's no place for goal music, in any form or level of football. It is the work of the devil.

A lot of our fans use him as a piece of evidence in the prosecution of Martin O'Neill, and to be honest, they've got a point. He cost a lot of money and hasn't done much, but he's been incredibly unlucky with injuries until now. He and El Ahmadi look decent in the middle, they keep hold of the ball well. I just wish Delph would break forwards more often than he does. One thing I don't like - and i saw this against Tranmere in the week - is he still has a tendency to put in really rash tackles. if you're interested in that kind of bet, I'd say if you stuck a quid on Delph to get booked or sent off every week, you'd finish the season well up.

No. We've got a lot to do this season, we're going to lose a lot of matches in the meantime. We're completely changing the way we play, so we're going to have a few games where we take a hiding. The pain will be worth the gain in the end, but like i said, we'll take a few kickings in the meantime. Ta. Any idea how you'll be lining up? Something along the lines of the below, but Lambert is notorious for changing his line up from one week to the next (he's the anti-MON in that sense). Guzan Bennett - Vlaar - Baker - Lowton N'Zogbia - Delph - El Ahmadi - Holman Ireland Bent

Crouch's legs are ridiculous.

No. We've got a lot to do this season, we're going to lose a lot of matches in the meantime. We're completely changing the way we play, so we're going to have a few games where we take a hiding. The pain will be worth the gain in the end, but like i said, we'll take a few kickings in the meantime.

Given was good for us last season, but you have to put up with the fact that while he'll pull off amazing world class saves, he has absolutely no idea how to marshall a defence. Guzan will be our first choice keeper by the end of the season, and will possibly start tomorrow.

Redknapp is so stupid, he can't even fucking speak properly. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?

The standard of punditry on MOTD is truly shocking. It's like being pinned down for an hour every saturday evening and having the same bucket of sick poured over your head by a couple of tits in smart casual dress.

Mind you, Wayne Routledge scored at Villa Park in that match. That's something I never, ever thought I'd see.

I like Swansea's style of play, but I have to say, i fucking HATE supporters of newly promoted teams, and their lot were the worst last year, with their predictable "premier league, you're having a laugh" and various chants designed to communicate the fact that the grounds of established PL teams are actually "libraries" and their fans are so noisy, they're like nothing we've ever heard before. Yes, we understand you're all excited, you've only just got here for the first time, but SHUT THE FUCK UP, THE REASON WE'RE QUIET IS BECAUSE WE'RE USED TO IT AND PLAYING A NEWLY PROMOTED TEAM IS TOTALLY FUCKING UNINSPIRING.

From RTG It's not like they weren't warned I have watched countless away matches under MON which involved hanging on for dear life, getting about 2 chances all match, and taking them. He's very, very much a 20th century manager. He'll do ok with them but the price will be like it was for us when he left - a squad of overpaid, over-expensive players who only know one way to play - a way which everyone else stopped playing three years ago.

I have a nagging feeling that at some point, the person we know as "AVB" is going to reveal that, actually, he's not the real AVB, he's a clueless imposter of some sort. The guy is utterly clueless. Ha ha ha.

Ah, the most retarded people in football - the people behind the bloke outside Stoke's training ground.

The only thing you need to know about QPR is that they're going to be the next Portsmouth. Surely their fans must be worried?

"Yossi Benayoun earns £92,000 a week at Chelsea" And that sentence explains what a fucking freakshow English football is.