Segun Oluwaniyi

Whereabouts are you from in B-more Yankee? Very nice city.

Since when is the CL round of 16 spread over two weeks?

I'm not sure that being thrust into the CL with an inferior set of players is necessarily beneficial. Lets just have the same four teams every year then. Nobody else even try. And forget the extra 20m quid or whatever it is, that's not beneficial at all really. I'm not sympathetic. If you want CL football football finish fourth or above in the league. If there is too much monotony, than introduce some revenue-sharing. Do not interfere with the sancity of the league. I don't think it would be beneficial for someone like Birimingham to finish 7th win the playoff and be in the CL. It would be interesting to see them sign more expensive players based on the expectation of new income, only to be knocked out in qualification becuase their low coefficient resulted in a bad draw.

I'm not sure that being thrust into the CL with an inferior set of players is necessarily beneficial.

This idea is horrendous and a disgrace to football. The season has to mean something. A legitimate fight week in and week out will always be more exciting and interesting than some contrived playoff. We have cup football for that. Take this season for example. What are the likes of Aston Villa, Man City, and Tottenham fighting for? They aren't likely to fall out of 7th place and probaly can't catch 3rd. If there's one thing we don't need more of it is meaningless fixtures. Clubs earn their position on the pitch.

Why so defeatist? Spurs probaly have the second best team left in the tournament.

I love the way papers exaggerate this sort of thing. "6 ft 2 ins giant pummels helpless Craig Bellamy leaving him in a puddle of blood." Ridiculous.

I think giving penalties for infringements outside the box is a ridiculous and stupid idea. I'd say the last man outside the box denies more clear goal scoring opportunities than 70% of shirt pulls, trips, handballs, etc that happen inside the box. Would have no problem with this being brought in one bit. And? Who gives a damn if it is cynical and prevents an opportunity. You get a yellow or red for that, it is not like there is no punishment. If it doesn't occur in the oenalty area, than it is not a penalty. That is really all there is to it, imo.

It not a huge amount of money at all. No need to pander to the masses. Guthrie is grossly underpaid.

I think giving penalties for infringements outside the box is a ridiculous and stupid idea.

Montpellier won again I see. Surely they can't really win the title? I wouldn't put much into today. It was a 1-0 victory over the bottom team. I've been telling myself Montpellier would fade away since the early part of the season, but they keep ticking along and punctuated that with big wins over Lyon and Marseille. The title (as well as European places) is legitimately up for grabs this season. Bordeaux haven't looked too good recently.

Mamadoud Niang!! 2-1 l'OM. Awful match, thus far though. Valenciennes win it at the death!! 2-1 over Nice.

He's 22 for goodness sake!!

He should have been sacked after the Euros in all honesty. France is one of the world's premier nations and they were on the brink of not qualifying for 2010 several times.

Further proving Domenech to be an idiot. Yesterday he came out with some nonsense saying that Vieira will captain Les Bleus at the World Cup if he gets a run of games at Man City.

So...all in all a good day for Newcastle's fortunes? Back at the top, with forest looking worse than us. Nice headline on soccernet: "Carroll gets Toon out of jail"

Ridiculous statements! Sven was brilliant at club level, and led England to one of its more successful periods in its history. In 2002, they gave Brazil its hardest test, and they went out on penalties in 2006. Mexico was disasterous, but he's done well everywhere else.

So, Sven is available, then? I need to call the NFF. I see you called them. If we get Hiddink or Sven I'll be walking in a World Cup wonderland. According to reliable sources they've made tangible contact with both!

You can have him back. I'm done defending him. I never kneejerk but when a guy gets owned by David f***ing Jones, it's time to call it a day and stick to balai. He has no heart. Against Leeds at the Lane he was getting owned by League 1 misfits and now he makes Wolves cm's look like they belong in the Barcelona squad. I don't want him back. Well actually, yes I do as long as he's very cheap, but that's only to help stop the committee members getting into the team. BTW, calling Snodgrass a League 1 misfit is daft, he's a genuinely good player who should be nowhere near Leeds Utd in truth. I'd take Jenas back in a second. He's not fulfilled his potential but he remains a very good player with quite a bit of career left to go.

In France, how about Toulouse. Very big club, with big support, and very unique colors, who have had some big players over the years. They seem to come close alot, but they never win anything.

I think l'OM aren't a good comparison simply because they are the biggest club in France. Newcastle is nowhere near being that.

How about Napoli? Massive club with a huge support, but haven't won anything since the early 90's. Recently had terrible ownership and faced massive debts as well as being dissolved and being relegated to C1. Despite all of this, they maintained some of the highest attendance in Italy.

So, Sven is available, then? I need to call the NFF.

Make it fair VI and do one per team!

Chelsea lead.