ponsaelius

Generally surprised how shit Boro have been in this division. I honestly thought they'd cope better than us.

Yes but they drew both times against Athletico Away goals in head to head. Pile of shit that if you ask me, APOEL robbed there.

If we win tomorrow I'll be over the moon! 7 point gap would be bliddy fantastic.

Couldn't give a flying f*** who scored the winning goal, if it happened. Could even be a mackem, wouldn't change a thing. Meh, it would really erk me tbh. Say he scored off his shin or something and then seeing his smerking grin all over every paper in the world. Annoying dick.

If Owen got into the England squad then scored a shitty goal to win the World Cup final for England would it dampen it for you? Would for me.

Blackpool have had 63% of the possession against Boro. EDIT: On the subject of which teams I'd like to see get promoted along with us, Blackpool would be my choice. Basically because they'd be guarenteed to fill one of the relegation spots next season.

He's s****... really I've seen Bolton twice this season and even though he scored against Everton, he's still no good, he's just fast, nothing else... awful handling of the ball... Disagree there like. I've seen him play a number of games for Bolton and he looks a clever little player, skilfull on the ball with an eye for a pass, looks very out of place in the Bolton team in that respect! Has the typical work-rate of Korean players aswell.

That Muniain will be a good player like, already scored a few this season at 16.

This Rome derby is pretty tedious stuff.

North Korea's diminutive centre halfs against Drogba. Oh dear.

I've always really admired Zlatan, but since he went to Barca he's became one of my favourite players. Absolute class act, hopefully he can stay fit all season and put the doubts to rest.

Don't want.

Xerez against Barca tonight. Top vs bottom, hopefully will be a nice goalfest.

League Cup is turgid at times. Merge it with the Scottish League Cup, makes it a bit more interesting.

I'd rather we got one from Slovenia, Slovakia, or Greece from that pot. The Swiss won their qualifying group (ahead of Greece) and did fairly well at the last WC.

No way. They're dirty foreign mercenaries who can't be trusted! Seriously, if they (Colo and Jonas) are willing to stay and fight fair play to them, they were the two players I expected to be off first in the summer.

It's a shame I'm just about too young to remember them days, would have been great. I doubt we're gonna get back there again any time soon. The way the game is now we'd need a shitload of cash and even then it wouldn't really be the same.

to think: in the beginning of this decade we could've gone on their forums and they would have been jealous of us. Fortunes change quickly. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/2050221.stm Dodged a bullet I think. He was never the same after the 2002 WC. But yeah, I won't pretend being a Barça fan isn't pretty swell... the early 2000s are considered the lowest point in our recent history, and the lowest we did was finish 6th... You were better in your two title challenges under Keegan, though. I guess it's right he went downhill after that tournament, but looking at that news article with Bobby in charge and us being 'close to signing' a player that's just carried Brazil to World Cup glory is heartbreaking. It's just such a far cry from where we are now.

to think: in the beginning of this decade we could've gone on their forums and they would have been jealous of us. Fortunes change quickly. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/2050221.stm

It must be pretty fucking good being a Barca fan.

Found this article, which makes the comparisons with Zidane. Good read. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/jun/19/barcelona.brazil

To be honest I still think Harewood is shite, but he's earned a start in this game.

I rate the one against Valencia (the hat-trick game) just as good as he was playing against better opposition. I say one but he scored two peaches in that game. Or the one against Deportivo when he was on the floor and got up and nicked the ball away from the defender. Bobby Robson's reaction to that Compostela goal was brilliant like. On retrospective we kinda came out fine. But for long time I thought that losing Ronaldo would have been one of the biggest turning points in our recent history. The things we could have done with a Ronaldo in his prime and the squad we had in the mid-late 1990s (Figo, Rivaldo, Luís Enrique... might not have signed Rivaldo with Ronaldo on the team though), not sure who could have stopped us. Out of interest, how highly do you rate Rivaldo? I loved him when he played for Barca, but I often thought he never got the recognition he deserved. I mean, he's considered a great player, but I don't think he's ever really mentioned up there with the likes of Zidane. Some of the things he did for Barca were simply unbeliebable (the Valencia hattrick being a prime example), and he was Brazils best player when they won the WC in 2002. Maybe his reputation is marred by the Turkey incident or the fact he has continued playing at a lower level has detracted from how good he was during his Barca period. Anyway my opinion is that he's not regarded quite as highly as he should be, but I'd like to know the opinion of a Barcelona fan.

Hope he can cope next year if we go up, because I really do like him as a player. Refreshing seeing a centre half that is comfortble on the ball, tries to play out and can read the game defensively. His shortcomings were shown up last season, hopefully he is adapting to the English game and is not looking good purely because of the drop in ability.

What a stupid, stupid red card.