themanupstairs

Cabaye is having a horrible first half. Really needs to fucking pick it up in the second, or we will get battered! Arsenal first to every ball at the moment.

Santon ball watching Needs a proper rollicking at HT

Our shape is all over the place. Coloccini is doing the right thing coming out to occupy the dangerous space between midfield and the final third, but it's because we're not covering well enough from midfield. Dangerous game.

Reckon that Cisse will sneak under their radar tonight and bag a brace. Whether they win us the game or not I'm not sure.

Shame that all this interesting tactic and formation talk has gone in the transfer rumours thread instead of the designated thread(s).

Lionel Penissi? (I feel like I'm 12 now) Pissi surely?

why not wear them in training as opposed to on telly in front of thousands then. c***. Suarez wore one himself as well iirc Johnson made me laugh when claimed that when people go abroad, they would still use their own native slang. Yeah, right, I'd like to see your average Greek's reaction to being called an endearing cunt.

It's the color the fans wear. The story goes that they played AEK Athens in a European tie, then AEL Limassol in successive fixtures, and all 3 teams' main color was yellow. To differentiate themselves, the Apoel fans turned their black bomber jackets inside out to show the orange. It stuck from then on.

For what it's worth, I reckon Hodgson is actually a better manager than Dalgleech.

Except Omonoia fans Naah, they trash talked Apoel throughout the group stages, but their fan association announced that they were behind them tonight. Fair play, couldn't ever do that for the mackems though. Nowhere near the same significance obviously though.

Like Hodgson? Right. Because Hodgson wasn't obviously driving the side towards his mid-table comfort zone from the second he arrived. Working or not, at least Kenny's aim is to improve the side, not to entrench it where it stands in the hope of avoiding further decline, like Hodgson did. Let me see if I got this right. Hodgson WANTED his Liverpool side in mid-table, so he could avoid further decline?

Except Omonoia fans Naah, they trash talked Apoel throughout the group stages, but their fan association announced that they were behind them tonight.

Celebrations have already started on the streets down here, and this isn't even Apoel's city!

Don't care who it is. I'm buying tickets for the match the minute they are released. We don't see many CL quarter finals here

Fucking yessss!!!! Cannot believe APOEL are through!! Party all night tonight on the little island

The N-O spring

Simpson made one excellent run forward to overlap with HBA, who in turn dribbled and took out two mackems and played Simpson in. The cross from our fullback was lacking in anything resembling a threat, but if he can do that more often, much more often, he could end up causing some serious problems for the opposition. He is going to have to learn to cross if that is ever to happen He will if he does it more often in matches. Not saying he'll be Beckham-esque. But he's much more likely to hit one or two dangerous crosses in a game if he gets 6 or 7 opportunities to do so.

Simpson made one excellent run forward to overlap with HBA, who in turn dribbled and took out two mackems and played Simpson in. The cross from our fullback was lacking in anything resembling a threat, but if he can do that more often, much more often, he could end up causing some serious problems for the opposition.

That's the attitude

IMO it will all boil down to how many chances RVP gets. Nullify him and we'll get a result. Also, we'll have to score as I think Walcott will get one.

O'Niel jumps up and down like a demented tramp on speed during every game. It's his trade mark and for some obscure reason why the media love him so much. Aye, sort of like this fella only with specsaver's finest

1st! Seriously, if we get 6th this year, i hope we end up around the same place next year. What i want to see next season is a positive development regarding our play. If we get 6th, and we can dominate more games, play better football i am happy. then we can build on that in the future. I would say 7th or better would be a great follow up season, preferably with a better challenge in the cups. Be mad to assume our summer will be without the obligatory cockup/hickup and that the other 'big 6' teams dont improve. Particularly Liverpool & Chelsea. Yep. We should still be looking to improve though, otherwise there's no point. This includes reasonable investment in the playing squad over the summer. There's no telling what could potentially go wrong for Spurs should Redknapp take the England job, and if they see Bale and Modric get sold. The instability at Chelsea and Liverpool's apparent lack of vision could see a top 4 spot seriously open up. If we're smart enough and keep a shrewd eye on the prize, there's no reason we can't challenge for that spot come next season.

Yup. When he's on the pitch he tends to marshall the midfield, and you can always see him pointing to players to move or come short. Love seeing that. Love the way he decided to switch the play that ultimately created the chance we scored from. That little dinked pass to Jonas that started the move was a thing of beauty.

Same thing for me when i watched the wolves match 2nd time round - thought he was very poor on the initial showing but 2nd time round i appreciated that he did have quite a good game. suppose it's that he's doing a lot of work without fuss rather than being full of eye-catching moments. Im a huge Cabaye fan but this is a bit pointless. You cannot give much credit to a play-maker doing some simple play-making against ten men under no pressure. It's the least you should expect. You cannot expect him to magically open locks....he is not that sort of player! That is HBA Cabaye should perform a role akin to Xavi of Barcelona, creating space, supporting team possession, and moving the ball around (and, at the correct time forward) quickly. Cabaye is far more a central midfielder than an attacking one... Agreed. He's more of an all-action type than a Xavi or Alonso. The scope of pitch which he operates within is huge at the moment, but that's what you get playing alongside Tiote with two forwards. Apart from him getting more shots on target, and finding forwards with early keyhole passes on the deck, I can't ask more from him tbh. He's no shrinking violet, and even in the games where his passing has been a bit off, his still gets stuck in, and goes about his business without fuss.