leffe186

I think he's pretty good and wouldn't mind having him as a back-up DM who can play a couple of other positions. He'd be a massive help to replace Tiote against Sunderland. Asking for 60K pw is just pathetic though. He wouldn't be first choice in any of the top 8 or 9 teams in the Prem, which surely is a minimum requirement to demand 60K.

I know nothing about Makoun, but he can't be any worse than Reo-Coker. NRC's contract is up this summer and he's been demanding 60k a week to stay on. What a f***ing joker. That's nuts. I know the Larsson stuff about wages is all hearsay, and if you don't ask you don't get, but where do these agents/players think the money is coming from? Most teams are having to cut back wages ffs, particularly with the new FIFA regulations due to take effect soon.

It's what people said about us and look what happened. Never say never. Who was saying that about you? Me for one, I thought they had enough quality and that Hull would totally implode. Too many silly results in the end. I'm saying similar things about Liverp......hang on.......

What a waste of time and money. Future bids from the UK, Spain, US, Australia etc should just be a letter to Blatter saying "just watch our video from the 2018/2022 bid. Cheque enclosed."

Probably because there's absolutely no competition involved in games like this. I'm by no means saying Barcelona don't play great football etc or that it's their fault but it's been f***ing boring for some time now IMO how they just hammer everyone. A big part of what makes sport great is the competition, the feeling that an opponent is worthy, provides a genuine test and the outcome is unpredictable. Just doesn't happen with this team. Again, I'm not saying they're not brilliant at what they do - they clearly are - I just find it a bit boring to watch. Tin hat on. If only Hercules and Mallorca thought that just a few months ago. I was at that Mallorca game, 1st 35 mins was the most one-sided game I've seen in front of my own eyes. Finished 1-1 though. So your argument against the one-sided nature of Barcelona's games is that a few months ago someone drew 1-1 against them? Good luck with that. I'm with Dave a bit here. Not that I don't love watching them play, but it's a different kind of entertainment. I was more engaged in the Blackpool Liverpool game today, for example.

I love that Blackpool have already done the double over Liverpool, and we haven't even played them once yet.

My first thought too (actually I went with gnat's chuff). Five points separating the bottom 9, 8 points separating 8th from bottom.

Obvious, but Charlie Adam has been fucking magnificent tonight.

I think it was the one where the ref ended up giving offside.

Supposedly because we lack leaders, which makes some sense. Story is that there was interest, but Everton don't want to sell, so that was that. Then the press had some space to fill.

You did all notice that Arsenal had a player sent off after ten minutes, didn't you?

It was delima, obviously, conducting some psychosexual experiment.

Well I'm sure the last thing you want to hear is a Spurs supporter's view, but it was the only full game I got to watch in the 3rd round, so here goes. Given your line-up, the only thing truly shocking for me was how good Stevenage were. There have been a few comments about the lack of desire and commitment from Newcastle, but I didn't see too much of that. The game simply showed up the lack of depth in your squad. Having made allowances for Barton being woefully out of position at LM, every other player performed at the level I would have expected. Krul was a little shaky, and Perch is Perch (although also out of position). Other than that, the defence was exposed time and time again by an ineffective midfield. I wondered if that early injury got to Nolan, but even so, he and Smith were lamentable. As for the forwards, well they're just not very good, and there was little or no hold-up play. If your midfield is getting overrun then the forwards have to give them a chance to recover - something they signally failed to do. Stevenage were playing in familiar positions with familiar players around them and it showed. They were well-drilled and confident, and usually had at least one passing option, often out wide. Smith, Best, Lovenkrands and Perch are really not great, and when you couple that with your best player out of position and unconvincing games from Nolan, Routledge and Williamson, that doesn't leave much. In particular, when your midfield is getting outplayed (and they really were) in these games you need some class up front to tell. I think you could have replaced either Best or Lovenkrands with Carroll and won comfortably despite that midfield, although obviously that wasn't an option. Tough to know what Pardew should have done, although Lovenkrands on the wing is never the answer. Guthrie and Barton in the middle, Best and Ranger up front, kids like Ferguson or Kadar? None of it's convincing. Your first XI is pretty good, particularly Tiote and Carroll, but after that there's a BIG drop-off. We had to play BAE yet again today because there is no cover at LB, and I'd have thought Jonas should have played for exactly the same reason. At least people can largely play in their proper position then.

Couple of nice potential punch ups there. Weird that of the 14 Prem teams left, 10 are playing each other. Arsenal at home to someone shite again though.

Walker is a right back isnt he? Maybe, always thought Naughton was the young Spurs right back and Walker was a left back. I believe Young is injured and it may be long-term, plus Houllier doesn't apparently rate that American kid Lichaj. Seems strange to me, but if one of our players gets some games in the Prem then great. Still hate the loan system in the Prem though.

Bosse Petersson? Who wants him to stay in Birmingham, despite Seb clearly not being happy there, or for him to go to Everton because it would be a "step up". Same guy who stated that Louis Saha has proven too many times he's not good enough for the Premiership. Also tried to convince everyone that Bales fluke headed goal from van der Vaarts free kick was something the two of them had practiced in training. Complete tosser. Can't speak for anything else, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had practiced that free-kick before, or at least talked it through. Did you watch the reactions closely?

Am I the only person who actually likes it? He just missed out the "Comedian" one. This is just crying out for a series of spoofs. Edit: Sorry Willow. Playmaker for me.

That guy will get lynched.

Worse than Stevenage? Harsh (but fair).

Almost all the Blackpool contracts are. They didn't want to go mad and go bust, and fair play to them.

Spurs, hopefully

Just seen this. So it's a Spanish crowd, and (I believe) the only black player on the pitch has loads of stuff thrown at him. Hmmmm. Keita and Alves were also in the pitch but stuff was thrown to the pitch irregardless of player color, tbf. The atmosphere was very heated and Bilbao fans have a story of object throwing. San Mamés can be a pretty nasty place, a friend of mine claims that he was peed upon from the higher stands when he went there as an away fan. Plus call Bilbao fans "Spanish" at your own risk Fair point!

MON wasn't released though, he stitched them up by jumping just before the season started.

Just seen this. So it's a Spanish crowd, and (I believe) the only black player on the pitch has loads of stuff thrown at him. Hmmmm.

But why buy style when you can buy mediocre defensive football? To be fair, they're in second place. I'd say that's very good defensive football.