Village Idiot

Kasey Keller is so good he even has a theme song, like wrestlers! Okay, probably I stretched it a bit, but 5-6 years ago he was better than anybody you put in an England shirt, and I will fully stand by that. Spain has the best set of keepers in the tournament (not *the best* starting keeper, mind, Casillas is not who he was 5 years ago, thank fuck)

My heart bleeds for Mido. Not.

That's all I have found about the seeding process: Croatia is a somewhat surprising top seed.

Time to beging the title defense The draw is this Sunday, probably after a gruelling and cruelly drawn out ceremony. Pot One: Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia. Pot Two: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania. Pot Three: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Pot Four: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus. Pot Five: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia,Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein. Pot Six: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino. Amusing to see Liechtestein *not* in pot six.

Our second dip was worse than the first, I just don't think we would have had the second if we hadn't of had the first. We'll never know. And if you had not signed Robson you'd not have signed Sounness afterwards. Causality is a slippery slope. Better take all the events separately. Can I be a bit controversial? I think it was the second coming of Keegan. Not because of him as a manager, but because it was the time when I realized that your board had truly no plan whatsoever and you were f***ed in the long term (still, I wasn't expecting relegation). As I feared they would just jump the gun again and again (Kinnear, Hughton, Shearer) until disaster abated.

I will cherish the day when Souness returns to managing in the UK.

for some bizzare reason I had a dream the other night that Barca signed Arda Turan. Would be a pretty good signing for you's imo. I once dreamt that barca signed me. Even in my dreams I was so s*** that I cost the manager his job :lol: I once dreamt I signed for Real. Best part was that all of a sudden it dawned on me. "f***, what are you doing playing for Madrid", and I turned round and scored an og. Then I woke up.

for some bizzare reason I had a dream the other night that Barca signed Arda Turan. Would be a pretty good signing for you's imo. I remember him from the Euro 2006. He was pretty good there, but haven't watched him ever since.

We thought the away game was going to be tough, but in the end we turned them over pretty easily. Fingers crossed for the same again. pretty easily ? I watched that game and I distinctly remember Cardiff having a boatload of chances and Newcastle scrapping a 0-1 win by sheer luck.

I rate Guzan pretty highly, plus Howard and Friedel (both currently better than Guzan). And if you're going to draft James, I'd put Keller before him. And I don't think people like Hart are better than Perkins or Hahnemman. The USA have a great goalkeeper tradition (I assume due to the prevalence of hand coordination sports - yank footie, basketball, baseball... that kids play there)

In the usual merry-go-round of "who's Barça going to sign next", today we have been linked to Benoit Cheyrou.

Moses wasn't in the Wigan squad for today. Guess he was in the stands to make up the attendance numbers.

Why aren't you flaunting your keepers Mike? One thing that the USA has over the English. Can think of half a dozen yank keepers I would have over the dross listed here.

Arsenal will have another chance to cling themselves to the title race. Will be interesting to see if they don't bottle it. Really looking forward that game now.

Wikipedia lists 17 league appearances, I assume most of them will be bit parts, but it's still poor.

He hasn't scored for them this season has he?

Palace go one up against Wolves...

Almunia I voted Green, Hart and James. James shouldn't start, but his seniority and experience wold be helpful.

Heh, Keane starting for Celtic already. Wasn't he still training with Spurs yesterday?

Yes, to a degree, but it is all part of making home games all important, do they not do this in Spain? To be completely honest, I have no idea. I know that the Barça home dressing rooms have a jacuzzi and the away ones don't, though!

Fully expecting to somebody come up and go all Jimmy the Greek now.

All these "make opposition feel uncomfortable in our stadium" tricks are a bit unsporting, don't you think?

I think referees are more easily pressured by home fans, and they play a part in cementing the home advantage. Not that they do it intentionally, or that they will conjure penalties out of thin air for the home team. But maybe they will call less fouls for the home team, be hesitant the get the cards out, etc... that can mean a lot.

That's it for Frazier Campbell then? Now that's a forward I can see scoring loads at the CCC.

Awful news.