Neil

I did warn you.

LET'S TWAT THESE SHITS UP TODAY <ahem>

Most random bet of the weekend so far.

Even without blue-tinted glasses on, I'd be hard pushed to put Man Utd in an accumulator today, let alone -1.

Just keep the same teams, or near enough. The Blues probably had the better team last time but we'll be here until eternity debating what are "equal" teams. Besides, it's Reds v Blues, so may as well keep the rivalry.

We will.

It's an acceptable goal.

This post is kind of embarrassing. I know he plays for Sunderland and everything, but this is just ridiculous. What's wrong with it? Bent is a limited player, but a good one nonetheless. He does his job very well.

Good article, that.

Some of those figures seem incredibly low. Bojinov, Sanchez and Acquafresca, to name 3, all getting less than 1m euros a year. Also interesting to see the huge gap between Toni and Eto'o, and the rest of their respective squads. Particularly Eto'o.

That's not to say your death is imminent btw. I feel I should make that clear.

Ronaldo's epitaph there.

Hopefully.

Also, Gareth Barry's still there. Fucking hell.

I didn't actually see the game tonight apart from the goals, and the first half an hour - how did Jagielka do, because he looked extremely composed and commanding in the period I saw?

I'm not saying I don't want us to win, far from it. But Capello has proven he can get us through a qualifying campaign against mediocre opposition with ease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_%E2%80%93_UEFA_Group_6) and starting with tonight the signs are that the same will happen this time. Means absolutely nothing when we come up against anyone decent, as South Africa showed. It's just uninspiring. Yep, exactly my point. Until we look like we can mix it against the best then I don't think I'll feel excited about watching us play. It's good to see us win even if it is qualifiers but there is that very major feeling of knowing we'll once again get whipped by the numerous better teams. Oh well. We're gonna win the league! Cup! Something!

I'll gladly cheer us on in the qualifiers like anyone else but I don't think I'll be 'excited' about England until we give a convincing performance against a good side. And even then it'll more than likely be me wanting to believe we're good, rather than being it.

Great result and start to the qualifying campaign. Not much else to say.

Not sure what you mean about the first bit. I agree we have played some absolutely shit football, at least in my lifetime, but it's obvious we've changed a lot under Moyes and increasingly over the past few seasons we've become a more attractive, offensive side to the point now I'd say we're easily one of the best sides to watch in the league, albeit obviously without the quality of Man Utd, Chelsea or indeed Arsenal. I can see exactly why a lot of people have us as a bit of a 2nd team, or a club they want to do well. We're seen as an underdog (and financially are) in terms of the Premier League's higher positions and who doesn't like an underdog? Each to their own, anyway. I naturally love Cahill but can see why he'd irritate the fuck out of opposition fans, mind.

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=521166 Had a look at the Carroll v Gyan thread. Most of them recognised the opening statement of "Carroll is cack" was way off the mark, and a few comments along the lines of "let's see how they both do at the end of the season before slamming Gyan's price or getting carried away with Carroll's start". Reasonable points of view.

I don't think he's saying it does.

So we can hear a big SLAM sound, obviously.

I would obviously 'take' 17th position if I were in your shoes, but it wouldn't necessarily mean I'd be happy with it. Survival is, as everyone has said, the priority but at the same time, getting further up the table than the 17th is a very realistic aim.

I don't understand a lot of the Spurs hate on here but on this occasion it's a simple case (if we are to believe those reports) of them not meeting the deadline, and as such, the transfer shouldn't be allowed to go through.

Agree. The dealine is the deadline. The FA made it 6 pm on the 31st August and if the paperwork wasn't done, for whatever reason, then the transfer shouldn't happen. It will though. Yep. If this goes through then why the hell is there a deadline?