toonarmy

extra time at anfield.

liverpool controlling the game now, but offering nothing even resembling a decent chance at goal, with liege's defense holding strong. not exactly peppering the goal like. can't remember their last real shot that might have troubled the keeper. but liege offering nothing in liverpool's half either.

you know, onyewu has actually looked pretty good today. much better than he did for us. (though that beard is hilarious)

being based in the US, we get very little of Andy Gray the EPL commentator, so I can't speak to the bias portion of it. We had him in Euro's, and in that regard, he was incredible for us. His popularity exploded here, and he was one of the reasons the tournament had phenomenal success and ratings here. He started out as part of the number 2 announcing team (announcing the worse game of the day), but he quickly proved to be so popular for enthusiasm and obvious knowledge of the game (as opposed to the other crap voices who might as well have thought they were watching a game of baseball), he was the star voice and on the number 1 team within a week of the tourney's start. So while he may be biased in England, strictly as a commentator, I have to say he's great.

KK said that he only put Smith on the bench to make it look stronger, he was never going to actually be used due to injury. If that's actually the case, doesn't seem likely at all that KK would risk throwing him out there for an early round cup game. KK also said he threw Owen out last game even though he was only 75% fit, I don't see KK risking starting him in that condition on only a couple of days rest for a cup game, especially with the lack of strikers available for Arsenal, though Owen will probably come off the bench in the second half. No Oba, Viduka, Caroll also, and I'm not sure about Duff's little knock in the Bolton game, but wouldn't think he'd be available either. That leaves...no one.

some great play and control here. very neat, tidy passing.

Give over, Geremi has for a long time been our most creative player. well, it's not that i thought he was awful or anything, it's just that i always thought his crossing was awful, especially off corners. had the amazing ability to never find a newcastle player with a cross. Crossing and corners are completely different. true, i just meant it to mean any pass into the box that was meant to find heads, not feet.

Give over, Geremi has for a long time been our most creative player. well, it's not that i thought he was awful or anything, it's just that i always thought his crossing was awful, especially off corners. had the amazing ability to never find a newcastle player with a cross.

this new world where geremi crosses into the box actually find the heads of newcastle players is making my head spin. what's next, taylor not using his hands? milner learning how to cross? owen playing a full game? anything is possible now.

i love how the team is still going forward. no sitting back and hoping and praying. defense is staying back on the whole, except zog, but we don't have 10 men behind the ball, which is great.

FUCKING LOVE IT! love the look of sheer joy on his face! thank you jesus, mohammed, vishnu, buddha and whoever else!

he doesn't look that bad. hopefully just a slight knock, nothing major.

zog's crossing has been awful all game. wasting the ball

so frustrating, just when seemed like something might get going there. probably didn't quite deserve a red, was still too far from goal, but it felt like it deserved something harsher than just a yellow. ughh.

fun opening day. but i'm actually happy we got 2 "big 4" games in August. tough games we're unlikely to get much out of anyway, might as well get them out of the way when we're still getting back into shape. might as well play our winnable games when we are closer to full strength and form

baxter on for everton. only 16 years old.

same problem for spurs that everyone predicted would happen this season. spent all this money on the midfield, and it shows in some exciting stuff being created likely. but no keane, no berbatov (once he goes), who's going to score the goals?

blackburn equalize immediately

you can't blame Shay for that. Another reason I wouldn't want Shay is this new "respect" campaign. Who knows how effective if it will be, I certainly have my doubts that anything will change. But if they really do start making captains settle disputes at least part of the time, I'd rather our captain wasn't a keeper. Hopefully, in a few months, Colo will be familiar enough to take the band, but obviously not yet. Suppose it will have to be Butt for now, none of the other choices are really any better.

Champions: Man United Champions League: Barcelona FA Cup: Chelsea League Cup: Chelsea Top Scorer: Drogba Surprise Package: Us (don't see that many good surprises happening this season, so a modest increase for us is as much as will happen) UEFA Cup: AC Milan Top Four: Man U, Chelski, Pool, Arse in that order Drop: Wigan, Stoke, Hull

I live in the USA, and can't just get the magazine where I live, and can't have anyone send one to me. Will it ever be available online, in any form at all? If not, would it be possible (allowed?) for someone to post the full article or at least the excerpts?

russia just never showed up for this game. surprised at that, guess Guus hasn't quite figured out how to get players in the right mindset for a semifinal, 4th time in a row he's going to lose one. if there's one thing that comes out of this tourney, i hope it's that coaches abandon the mindset of playing for penalty kicks. just about every time that a team put all the players behind the ball, that team lost. doesn't mean you have to play reckless all the time, but you can't hope the other team never scores in a tournament. spain came out to win today, can't necessarily say the same for russia, and that might have been the difference.

great save after a nearly perfect free kick!

it's like turkey can't start playing well until they fall behind

i think there's more goals in this one, not over yet