leffe186

Some of the reactions by commentators to Gomes have been pathetic. I remember Warren Barton (who commentates on some of the FSC games here) going berserk at Gomes when he made one straighforward save, tipping the ball over the bar - saying that he "spilled it". Too many commentators aren't bright enough to develop their opinions based on what actually happens on the pitch, instead picking one (usually cheap and nasty) line of thinking and sticking to it, come what may. Alan Green, I'm looking at you too. We love Pav, but he's deeply unconvincing at times. He's exasperated all of his managers at one point or other.

How is that Nigerian kid Ekpo? He looked decent in the Olympics. It's so difficult to tell how good people actually are when watching MLS. He looked decent, skilful, not a world-beater. Decision-making not always the best.

Haway the Crew!

It's a pity that probably the most interesting player is a left back, the one position you guys don't need. Boateng might be interesting, plus one of the forwards.

That's going to be an insane week. We have the Semi on Sunday, then Arsenal at home the 14th, then Chelsea at home the 17th. Brummie's got the Semi on the Saturday, then you guys the 14th. It's the Manchester derby on the 17th as well. Liverpool have an easy run that week, can see them clawing a lot of points back on us all.

1878 & Niel, good luck tonight. Not only would you be doing us a massive favour, you've still got a chance of pipping Liverpool to seventh which would be hilarious. Chances are, that would be Europe.

In the NBA teams wear a retro strip for a handful of matches (e.g. the Cavs wearing a strip from the mid-80s). There are a million games a season in the NBA, but I'd love each Premiership team to commit to one year/month/whatever in their quintessential strip, next season. Say, the whole of September. Spurs in their 60s kit, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea the 70s etc etc. Newcastle the Supermac kit with the round collar?

Why molest the majority of the stadium, when you can inconvenience a small minority? But you're not doing that, are you - you're molesting the minority by not inconveniencing the majority. I realise it's not going to happen, but the argument is that keeping the away fans behind allows the home fans to disperse to prevent trouble. Surely you could get the (usually much smaller) away following out quicker than the half hour they're usually kept in, and with greater ease? If you're a home fan then (a) obviously you live locally *cough* or (b) you have a regular route in or out. If you're an away fan then chances are you either have a limited number of trains to catch, have a coach sorted or have a bugger of a drive home. Would it not be more humane to get them out of there sharpish? It's a pipe dream, but I've been on the wrong end of ludicrous away situations too many times. Would be nice to see roles reversed. I'd also like to be in a packed home crowd serenading the away support as they slunk away.

Always seemed to me that the justification used to keep away fans in the stadium longer would actually be better served by doing the reverse. The (relatively small) away following can leave quickly and make the last train home/avoid the usual twats laying in wait/get out of Dodge.

Why on earth did we (Spurs) sell Malbranque? I know Modric came in, but Malbranque has been class for years.

Yeah. Don't get me wrong, got no love for the Mackems.

What on earth was Richards complaining about? How was that anything other than a booking?

Best I've seen for a while. Sorry, but I confess I want City to lose more than Sunderland. Pitch looks to be cutting up - has it been raining over there? Oh, and what's with the Arsenal "gritting it out" love-in? Two away games against pretty dodgy teams who were down to 10 men relatively early sandwiching a home game against Burnley? Oh, well done.

I think he'll be off come the summer but i'd rather we kept him. Great attitude, technically very good, good passer, i want him to be a squad player next season. Thing is, he said he'll be off if he's still not getting games and i think Harry will let him go (although Harry does rate him). Think we'll sell for around 4m but my feeling is he's Fulham bound. how harry prefers jenas to ohara i don't know, if i had a choice id pick ohara He prefers Huddlestone to either. Jenas is quicker than O'Hara and more two-footed, but I'd prefer O'Hara too.

Spurs do well because of the immense ticket prices they can charge, being in London. ...but clever and commerical management too. Check out this link for a little more info - Spurs and Newcastle's "commercial" turnover was almost the same in 2003-4, the discrepancy coming in matchday (SJP being far bigger) and TV money (much better performance on the field - the season given was right at the beginning of Martin Jol's reign when we finished 14th or thereabouts). http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedKingdom/Local%20Assets/Documents/DeloitteFootballMoneyLeague2005.pdf I think it is fair to say that a fantastic position was pissed away by a combination of FFS and some of his Managers. Matchday income was always going to be massive, commerciality seemed together and a nucleus was there to keep a strong squad near the top. Vast wages and unfortunate management choices didn't help.

Quite like that actually, very old school look. The Italy strip, on the other hand, is an abomination. Only place you'll see that is in Trade (may be showing my age here).

I think the US shirt is pretty good. Isn't that similar to the kit they wore in 1950? New Zealand is mint. Pity they're going to get absolutely battered. That England strip is almost good enough to convince me to wear red.

With no Lennon, Bentley, huddlestone and Jenas right now, we're looking at Kranjcar-------Modric------Palacios----------Bale That's still f***ing mint. Kranjcar It's a nice idea, but when Palacios gets suspended there is literally nobody to make any tackles in midfield. You're looking at Kaboul or Corluka as defensive midfielders

They get excellent prices for the players they sell. Worth re-emphasising it's a revenue list. No mention of costs, as such, profits. it can't all be transfer revenue for spurs though, do they have a huge corperate section? high ticket prices compared to everyone else? secret gold stores under whl? We do have high ticket prices, though being in London helps that. We've had to swallow it for a while because we know our ground isn't big enough, plus demand is great. Supposedly our merchandising is very effective (and the last sponsorship deal was pretty damn good), though it's a hell of a testimony to Levy that we've consistently been in that list despite no Champions League and a relatively small ground.

I don't agree. The commentators got all excited about Arsenal laying down a marker, but it was against ten men and now they've lost a player who would have been useful in the run-in.

Yeah, he looked gutted. The thing is, the Martin Taylor thing was pretty straightforward, studs up and straight down onto the shin. This just looks like he tried to kick the ball, and Ramsey nipped it away, and as a result he kicked Ramsey. One foot and the instep.

I've rewound it and it actually doesn't look that bad a tackle to me at normal speed. Didn't seem to be two-footed, looked like Ramsey just got the the ball first. I'm sure it will look worse at slow-mo but it really didn't look like a horrible tackle, just a bit late and with an obvious, immediate bad injury.

Couldn't even bring myself to set the drumkit up.

I see your Eboue and raise you Gaby Agbonlahor.

Whiteside definitely. Surprised no-one's mentioned Ledley King yet. I think he would have been one of the top handful of players of his time if he'd remained injury-free.