Segun Oluwaniyi

Imagine what you had to say if Pardew decided he couldn't be bothered to turn up for the most important fixture of the season. Mind, you'd probably be ecstatic and think we'd be better off with the players managing themselves.. The correct comparison would be if Pardew had suffered some sort of temporary serious brain injury and was unable to impart any of his tactical and motivational knowledge upon the players. There would be no requirement for him to turn up in this case. Coloccini is paid to football. Right now, he cannot football. Even most of this nonsense about him fulfilling some captain role is strange to me. There is not one tangible increased responsibility that comes with the armband.

For appearances sake, it would be useful to have him around, but at this point, I am much more concerned with him being in an environment that is conducive to his rehabilitation and eventual return. If there is any indication that Argentina is going to slow the process or is a move to distance himself from NUFC than action should be taken. To me, the actual "club captain" is not so important. We saw Tiote carry the band well on Saturday and even saw the likes of Williamson come and take authority. It is more vital that there is a culture of leadership and professionalism at the club, which is more tied to the manager, imo.

Is Kevin Constant really much better than Onyewu?

Amazing "goals" scored seconds after the whistle.

For the fee they paid he should probably have scored eight already, disappointing. Have a feeling Liverpool won't feel so butthurt about the whole Andy Carroll thing after this. Or I could be really, really wrong. Even if Bale replicates last season's form over the next three seasons, he's not worth what they paid for him. Especially when Ozil, a markedly better player, left for less than half the price. Anyway, old, re-hashed debate. Carry on. I don't agree.

Just get up after that, why ask for a penalty?

The entire "bookings for accidental arms in the face when jumping for headers or jostling" phenomenon needs to be eradicated from the game, unless it is a blatant attempt to injure, such as the Obi-Tiote incident two seasons ago.

Juve have been extremely unfortunate with decisions tonight. Even the penalty is something that isn't always given.

There have also been several incidences of racism towards players of African descent in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, yet Lisbon will host the CL final this year and Madrid and Rome have done so in the past five years. They even gave Poland and Ukraine the past Euros, despite their history of violence and racist behaviour. There are legitimate concerns in Russia of course, but people should stop pretending they care about this racism. One-off incidents of racism ≠ institutionalized racism. That doesn't excuse racist fan behavior in western Europe, mind. Also, that last sentence is utter rubbish, particularly if it's directed at me. Not towards you at all. Just European football in general. If we are being honest a majority bigger football nations in Europe have had overt displays of racism from crowds in recent years. Of course there are differences, Deuce, but nothing about tonight was institutionalised or different from what we see throughout the season, so what is your point?

There have also been several incidences of racism towards players of African descent in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, yet Lisbon will host the CL final this year and Madrid and Rome have done so in the past five years. They even gave Poland and Ukraine the past Euros, despite their history of violence and racist behaviour. There are legitimate concerns in Russia of course, but people should stop pretending they care about this racism.

I guarantee he would have smashed it into the crowd or missed completely if the whistle hadn't gone. That sort of player.

Another injury pushes the current squad to its limit, but I am fine with Yanga-Mbiwa + 1 for 1-2 months if Colo is injured.

Sorry, but I don't agree with this at all. He's become woeful at keeping the ball as well, he can't go on the sort of runs he did when he first arrived, at best he might win a free kick, because we sure as hell don't want him to attempt to pass the ball. He's one of the clumsiest tacklers I've seen as well, which means he's always close to giving away a free kick. Hope to f*** we don't have to see him on the pitch on Sunday, he's easily one of the worst players in our squad. Just because he's not a good attacking player doesn't mean he's got no value at all now. Sometimes you need to bring on a player to close down the space and track back. Jonas is very good for that and he'll usually put in a good shift as well. Pretty stupid to write him off as a squad member when the alternatives like Obertan and Sammy are purely attacking players. Who are either complete rubbish or not ready for this level yet.

If you wanted people to ignore your comments you should probably have deleted the post instead of seeking attention by posting that. I committed an error and the first part of the post was still relevant. Schalke controlled the first half, but Chelsea were relatively comfortable throughout the entirety of the second. The opposition just didn't have the quality to break down the wall in front of the box.

Actually I am a complete fool. Ignore my comments.

OM the door mat...it is a shame. I don't think Arsenal make it out of that group, fwiw. I believe Napoli are more likely to win at emirates than Arsenal at San Paolo.

Marveaux will be playing for a mid table Ligue 1 side or in Turkey/Russia by either January or next August.

Zlatan has been brilliant of late. I think he will carry Sweden on his back to the World Cup. Portugal will once again flatter to deceive. I think the other three will be boring, cagey, and generally one sided, but I thought this about the African playoffs and was completely incorrect.

So, 2002. This went well. I cannot wait to lose to Argentina for the fourth time in our World Cup history. Brazil at home and Portugal in a Portugese speaking country. That sounds brilliant. Anyway, we should make sure we aren't derailed by Ethiopia (or angry Somalians by proxy!) before talking about groups. World Cup is always proper no matter where it's played. It's the fuckign World Cup, biggest sporting event in the world. Once every four years, I don't care if it's played in Siberia, Alaska, Fiji or w/e. It's great and the best thing about the sport. Yep. Nah. 2010 was almost ruined by the f***ing vuvuzelas. The shitty weather, ball and pitches didn't help either. I think Russia can pull something decent off, at least. what was wrong with the weather ? It was cold and dull, WC is much better in warm weather just down to aesthetics, let alone it affecting play what gubbins! why is the world cup better in warm weather ? why not have it in a northern europe autumn or winter for a change, after all europe is the power house, and in europe it's a winter sport and makes it fairer to have it in a variety of conditions, wouldn't you agree ? No. It was just not as fun to watch while the play was in cold weather. Especially when it's the bright and sunny where I was. I'll always associate the World Cup with warm, summer weather and that always added something to it for me. The vuvuzelas are what held back the last one. Any other football serious Black African nation and it would have been actual music but Sa gave us that rubbish. Is there anything better than watching Paraguay-New Zealand battle to a scoreless draw while constant droning noise fills your ears without break. Even during goals and incidents, there was no cheering. Just louder droning. That SA culture thing was rubbish as well because I've seen football there pre-2010 and it wasn't that prevalent.

Their team is genuinely atrocious. They lost the stand out player from a team that wasn't special in the Championship. Look at it. Who would you want? Jedinak? Bolasie? The sad failures of Chamakh? I like Joel Ward, though. We should pursue Joel Ward.

This will sound very foolish written, but I'll put it down any way. At one point, directly after Gerrard had scored, the commentator on my viewing said something along the lines of "Gerrard has scored a century of league goals for Liverpool and twenty of them....". He went on to say "penalties, but for that tenth of a second between words, I genuinely and irrationally thought he was going to say that twenty of his goals have come against Newcastle. This is how much the guy has terrorised us over the last fifteen years.He has been a demon. I'm glad he got your team to the World Cup, because they are always entertaining and controversial, but he shouldn't be clapped at the scene of his crimes.

apparently he can speak English fine but doesn't want to talk to the media in english Maybe he doesn't want to make a fool of myself. Theoretically, I know enough French to write statements, answer simple questions, and recite them for the media, but I would be reluctant because it may make me appear less intelligent.

Fowler then promptly tried to score from that falsely earned penalty and Liverpool did eventually score because footballers are paid to win matches and should try everything outside of blatant cheating to reach that goal. For me, there is a difference between a dive and falling when you have been adversely contacted. That contact from Yanga-Mbiwa on Suarez looks light, but at full speed this is more than enough to send someone off balance for .5 seconds, which is enough to end a goalscoring chance when a keeper who is also running full speed is a few yards away. If the illegal contact from our player means that his chance of scoring has been lessened by any amount, it is the proper decision to go down. Call me when the guy actually dives or starts biting again, I will join the outrage. IS THIS WAR? War, where massive entities pay sums in the millions to simply subsist and take the profit from clubs with no desire to compete. War, where small contacts are harshly punished by an arbitrary judge and losses rarely affect the players. The arena of sport is much different. If we are playing a serious game with refs, I will act accordingly.

People act like the referees are going to make the proper decision if people don't make it obvious they were fouled. This simply is not the case.

I don't understand comments like these. He was fouled, and it is likely the penalty wouldn't have been given and Mapou would have been able to impede him with impunity if he doesn't go to ground. The guy has every right to fall in this situation.