themanupstairs

Won't be for too long. I reckon if he carries his current form for another month or two, he'll start in goal for Holland against Germany.

Yes, apparently we cut him because he was too short... Can't always get it right! Barca...ditching a player for being too short!? Wiki says he's 5'7. He looks more like 4'7 to me

Soldado scores with his first touch on as a sub to put Valencia back in the lead. Expert finish

Sturridge really needs to improve his finishing, it's not the first time I've seen him be very wasteful. Can only recall one wasteful opportunity when he ran onto a ball over the top and should have buried it but hit straight at Krul who dived to collect. The rest was a combination of excellent defending (to put him off) and excellent goalkeeping imo.

We are apparently in for him. I would utterly love him as our LB. Seems like he's got the lot. Pace like a spitfire, and bundles of energy. Still needs to learn defensively, but he's such an exciting little player.

One touch to take it wide of the goalkeeper and another to slide it in. The pass and run were perfect. Ludicrous decision, just like last week. This is Ba, not the Brazilian Ronaldo. First touch out of play for a goalkick, the next touch would be Ba's head hitting the ground as he falls over. www.mikedeanfans.com/forum

He bottled the decision. But I don't think it had anything to do with Chelsea per se. If the roles were reversed, I don't think he would have sent our man off either. There is absolutely no excuse or reason he could give to justify his decision (or lack thereof). Getting the decision wrong would have meant him waving the play on. He pulled up the play for a foul, correctly adjudging Luiz had brought down Ba who was clean through etc.... But there is an excuse/justification. He thinks Ba won't get on the end of that pass, and therefore it's a cynical foul but not a goalscoring opportunity, hence the yellow. That's not to say that he's right, just that he does have a justification. Nonesense. There was millimeters in it. Not like Ba would still have had a long way to go to reach the ball, or a lot more to do to have a goalscoring chance. The ref can't take it upon himself to make assumptions, especially as his decision was so easy to make. He used that excuse to cover his ass, the wanker that he is.

Valencia are a lovely little team. Jordi Alba is a monster of a player, the tiny fella that he is.

He bottled the decision. But I don't think it had anything to do with Chelsea per se. If the roles were reversed, I don't think he would have sent our man off either. There is absolutely no excuse or reason he could give to justify his decision (or lack thereof). Getting the decision wrong would have meant him waving the play on. He pulled up the play for a foul, correctly adjudging Luiz had brought down Ba who was clean through etc....

Ba would have got on the end of that pass, and had a go at goal, most probably finished it with aplomb. Mike Dean bottled the decision. It's fairly obvious.

They do the basics right! Least I would expect from that collective heap of primadonnas. They used to do much more than the basics though. Not these days.

Pretty much. Nothing wrong with the lad except his decision making, which obviously is largely detrimental to our attacking play. He could be such a vital cog on that right hand side but lets himself down again and again. Needs dropped no doubt about it.

Sunderland can go fuck itself as far as i'm concerned. Let that whole nondescript cavern of incestuous lepers wank themselves silly all they want. MON will be just another manager in their lukewarm history. Meh

Did reasonably well today. No comical moments or anything like that. Credit to skipper Taylor who marshalled that defence superbly until he came off.

How f***ing unlucky! How we never got something out of that today I'll never know. Tim Krul was absolutely majestic in goal today. Really thought we wouldn't concede at some point. Then Colo went off Coloccini and Taylor were excellent at the back, Cabaye and Guthrie were also very good, especially at finding space to collect and lay off passes all day long. Ba was inventive and deserved a goal along with Ameobi who was fantastic coming on. On another day we'd have shat on them from a great height, as Chelsea were mediocre by their standards, and the scoreline flattered them to f***. Worst thing about this game is the injuries obviously, and I hope they're not too cruel on us.

Lovenkrands starting doesn't fill you with confidence, but then again, he is a poacher, so hopefully get on the end of something or other in the box. Let's beat this rabble. HTL

Cat and midds :clap: wow! You guys are incredible Thank You

fantastic post

When the teams are announced on the tannoy, "Number 11, Gary Speed" should be read out 11 times and cheered by SJP.

Sounds like he's saying something for the sake of saying something.

Absolutely grinds on my testicles when they do that. You don't see Latin papers printing news stories about David Bekum and Wayn Rouny. It's not a paper. It's an article from one of our own fans. I understand that, which makes it even more stupid.

Absolutely grinds on my testicles when they do that. You don't see Latin papers printing news stories about David Bekum and Wayn Rouny.

Spot on! Erm, don't think thomas was definitively diagnosing it as depression whatsoever. His explanation was an offshoot from alpal's rationalisations as to why depression would or could not possibly make sense. [/my understanding] We are all grieving in one way or another, but I'm sure we all have our own questions. Gary Speed's passing is as sudden and as mysterious as it can get. alpal wasn't being offensive or owt, and I don't think he should be chastised for hoping that the police not let this incident go. No one is belittling depression and its dangers. Nothing is established yet, so until then, I'd rather we didn't speculate in any way.

Spot on!