Yeah, it was beautiful... but I won't gush over him yet. Not until he shows some goddamn emotion! Is this the latest cool thing or something, with him and Ronaldo? Be mean and moody and not celebrate? Don't like it. One thing I loved though, was Rooney coming on, and basically ignoring everyone else and shooting on site whenever he got the ball.. lol.

I remember Giggs doing that when he was about 20... he soon grew out of it, obviously, being the legend he is.


But yeah, Berbatov has been good so far, he's immensely talented. It'll be interesting to see him tested in the big games, and CL games though.. see if he goes missing.

All your bases are belonging to us

What the fuck happened today?

Well... Liverpool showed their true form (they're improving, but still a long way from winning the league...can't keep winning games in the last few minutes), and the table has now started to take on a more expected look.

The Premiership proved why it's the best league in the world (lots of goals, lots of upsets), and generally, it was confirmed that Man Utd are awesome, Hull are awesome (no sw.. what a great showing they're putting on, I mean, they won't finish top 8, but gotta admire them), and that Chelsea are a far more interesting side to watch/support now, since Abramovich took over. Mourinho may be a legend, but he sure had a boring, solid approach.. tactically.

Oh, and something's wrong with Arsenal. Like, there's some serious problems with egos/discipline or something there.. Also, lol @ any Arsenal fan calling for Wenger to go. Jesus Christ.

Looking forward to MOTD today.

Mourinho is a legend as long as he isn't managing a team you support, wouldn't want to have to watch his teams play week in week out. As for Arsenal, they still need someone to kick lumps in the middle of the park. Spurs third goal midweek showed that up big time, Clichy may have slipped but how far did Jenas run with the ball? Was screaming out for someone to just smash the boot in and take a yellow that late in a game.

QFT. Never really replaced Viera... I really hated him, but maybe that's a compliment. He stopped teams playing through them, and could also spray passes around. I mean, Arsenal still like to pass the ball around a lot, but maybe too much, without meaningful direct passes.

There's other areas too that it's hard to replace, Henry obv, Pires, etc and Almunia sometimes looks shaky, but it's hard to replace everyone in that way and I think Wenger should be granted the respect of being given time to get things right. But def start with a midfield hardman, otherwise the team just looks too flimsy.

Also.. Gallas? Captain, or liability?

Also.. don't suppose anyone was watching Soccer Saturday today, but there was a very lol-worthy part, when they were re-playing Berbatov's skill, and Phil Thompson just started talking about the defender and how bad he was for not closing him down, and saying that he wouldn't have let him do that (giving Berba no credit, obv)... there was a pause for about 2 seconds, then all the others.. Le Tissier, Merson, Stelling just burst out laughing at him.

Just thought I'd share, funny moment!

Very interesting match tomorrow... Arsenal v Man Utd.

Arsenal, on paper, in very bad shape. Adebayor, Eboue, Van Persie out. Walcott and Gallas major doubts (but wouldn't be surprised to see them both play here, worth the risk imo). In a bad run of form too, Stoke being the major recent upset.

They're at home though, and this game could be coming at a perfect time for them really... they need some thing to get them going, and after all the criticism they've had, they'll want to prove themselves.

I can see this being a very open game though, mainly because I can't see any way how it can't be. Previous tighter games between Ars/Utd have been because the games have been decided by who can win midfield battles, and previously, we've both had much more solid midfields, going back to the Keane/Viera days. Arsenal's defence used to be tighter too. (the 1-0 to the Arsenal days, lol)

Now, Arsenal don't have much of a tough midfield, so they're gonna have to open up and try to play their free-flowing football to win. We don't seem to care that much for midfield battles anymore either, with Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson basically midfield attackers... I'm sure Fletcher and/or Scholes will feature, but still, it's got to be a far more open game.

I hope Tevez features at some point tomorrow.. I really like the guy and want to see him really get at Arsenal, but if Rooney's working well having a player like Berbatov who he can play off, well I guess I can understand Fergie's choice.


Anyway, I'm rambling... Arsenal 2 - 3 Man Utd

here's an interesting stat...

this will be only the thrid time in ten years that arsenal will not start favourites at home!

they did hold Fenerbache to a draw and even though i am a gunners fan, i dont think we have a chance

Man utd to win 2-0

Well Manu Utd fans, at least Rafael looked amazing. That tackle and goal were perfect

pretty much spot on with your prediction of how the game would go down, outside of the result of course . nice analysis though.

as for the game, its been pretty painful to be an arsenal fan in the last couple of weeks but a performance like yesterday's reminds you why you love this team so much. incredible attacking flair and audacity going forward - nasri, fabregas and walcott all pouring forward at every opportunity. a normal team would (and should) run out the clock in the last 5 minutes but we seem to be of the opinion that scoring will kill the game better than keeping it in the corner. i am pretty sure arsene isnt an advocate of this but it definitely makes for entertainment.

obv i am biased but, imo, the last 2 weeks have seen 2 of the all time top 10 premiership games with both involving arsenal. i dont think anyone will dispute the spurs game but i would also include yesterdays game in there in terms of excitement, action, skill, pace and entertainment.

gg united and as the previous poster said, rafael is one hell of a player. i am semi jealous

Huge weekend for United. Beat City, Chelsea lose, and Liverpool draw, so couldn't ask for much better.

6 points behind the scum, with a game in hand, it's still very early in the season but we're in perfect position (actually better than being leaders, imo... we always come strong in the second half of the season, and it's better to have something to aim for).

Also, all of our remaining games against the top sides are at home, from now on... that's just the way the fixture list has worked out.

At the start of the season I predicted Chelsea to win, but now I'm not so sure. They look uncertain, uncharacteristically so. I think it's ours again! Back-to-back double?

This is going to be one of the best seasons ever. Obviously not saying this from my Newcastle standpoint.

Agreed.

So, who's your top 4 then?

And who's going down?

In the (as unbiased as possible) opinions of some of you more football savvy posters, what are Liverpool's legitimate likely outcomes for the year?

Premier League predictions for Liverpool, genuinely unbiased:

25% - 4th

50% - 3rd

20% - 2nd

5% - 1st


It's a long old season and they simply don't have the squad to be champions. Stranger things have happened, sure, but I really don't think they've got the staying power at all. They blew a chance to open up a clear gap at the top on Monday, at home to West Ham... that kind of exemplifies what I mean.


Champions League - Semis

Tough one of course, I'm with you James on the Liverpool team. At least 5 maybe 6 of their players wouldn't get into the other top 3 teams. They haven't got any depth. My two closest friends are liverpool fans so I'll be rooting for them. The rest are Man U fans including my father, and I love Arsenal so I'm all over the place with predictions.

1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea.
3. Arsenal
4. Liverpool

I want to put Arsenal higher, but with the quality of Man U and Chelsea its a real tough challenge. They need a Roy Keane midfielder, or at least someone more charismatic then.

When they played Man U in the first few minutes, Rooney gave Walcott a pretty bad clip/kick, Arsenal need a player who would have ran up to Rooney and said "do that again and I'll have your kneecaps" a bit extreme but you get what I mean.

As I'm writing, Keane just left Sunderland so my bottom 3 is harder to predict. If they don't get someone good they are ruined.

Blackburn need to sort things out but with the quality they have they should start moving up when the real fight begins.

Fulham and Bolton and Wigan have become such tough teams, if Newcastle are engaged in the relegation battle, I'll be terrified, it gets harder and harder to compete between the bottom teams each year.

I reckon Stoke, West Brom and West ham.

Sunderland if they don't get a good manager will be in there probably

Sigh 2-0 up against Stoke and they come back. I love how Owen decides to score when the transfer seasons approaches

I suppose this is all we have to excite ourselves for awhile.

I'm really not enamoured with the prem at the moment. Same 4 at the top, and Liverpool will crash soon enough to 3rd/4th. The bottom 3 I'd quite happily see go down I don't even have it in me to dislike them, I nothing them.

Transfer window could be interesting but the top 4 will only sign players eligible for the CL, otherwise what's the point? And the papers will be rife with Man City signings but what superstars are going to jump ship to a mid-table (relegation?) battle when they will probably be challenging for at least 2 trophies.

Yea but it could be an amazing season if Liverpool stay top through to January and Man U don't catch up on points. Arsenal are really interesting to watch this season and theres been some great games already.


I read an article about how Man City could become even more powerful because of the market crash and the rich cats can't compete with it. Well it was a blog and I didn't quite agree with it but they are talking about signing Villa, one more big powerful name there along with Robhino and Villa and the best wages around any player will have a hard time turning it down. Del Piero and other heroes obviously not but the average footballer would go for it

I wonder if Real Madrid is still appealing to Ronaldo now they are having a bad season, does his boyhood dream really overpower money and medals.

Valencia, despite their drubbing at the weekend are still in contention for La Liga and will probably remain around the CL places. Man City won't be close. I'd be dissapointed in Villa if he left in January, but the summer is definately an option.

And Madrid are hardly having a bad season. They're 5 points behind Barca, riddled with injuries. Granted Schuster has just been booted but thats just the way the impatient Madrid board operates. And at Madrid Ronaldo will still be able to compete for medals, they are twice-defending La Liga champs and a regular CL side. Maybe Ronaldo could push them back to a side that goes beyond the QFs again.

ok to be fair I'm basing my real madrid knowledge on what prem writers have breifly commented on them while harping on about the prem

pfft soccer...for the weak...

Thanks for your imput. Great post.

sorry didnt mean to offend the hardcore football fans..

only ljb...

carry on.

Heh, wouldn't have anything to do with my post in the mustangs thread?

Ramos??? Never seen that coming, really interesting though

His stock hasn't fallen all that much in Spain tbh. I think he's still held in decent regard for his success with Sevilla. And with no other big name managers available Real are just taking a shot. His contract is only until the end of the season I believe.

Seriously. Liverpool at HOME to Hull, hugely important match for the title hopes, 2-2 4 minutes left, he makes a sub, brings on Lucas and leaves Keane a 20 million pound striker on the bench. 4 or 5 minutes, put on the poacher regardless of his form! Lucas??? jesus.

I was so fucking tilted listening to it.

I think it was a little too cold and rainy for Ronaldo and Berbatov today... poor guys.

Maybe we could get roofs on all the stadiums and special heaters for them? ****ing piss poor.



Missed opportunity.

I heard Gomes played well???? Surely this is mistake. I'll have to watch MOTD tonight!

But good to see Arsenal and Liverpool reverting back to their old ways. Dropping points to AVERAGE (at best) sides. Chelsea will be loving this.

Also, I heard Jamie Carragher has scored more career own goals than goals. Stick another +1 in that column lol

Yeah, the only comfort is Liverpool (at home) and Arsenal dropping points too. Gomes played well, but so did Van der Sar. Bentley had another cracking strike saved, and another good save down low from a swivel shot from.. someone, I can't remember.

We had most of the possesion and should have created more proper scoring opportunities, but it never came. I guess it's not that bad a result (I was going to post a prediction earlier, and it was a draw), and Ferguson was laughing and joking at the end so he can't have been that upset, lol. We've only won one of our last 8 games in London now.


Question: Do you think the gap between the 'big 4' and the rest is closing, or is it a coincidence that we're all under-performing slightly, at the same time?

Real Madrid barca. Barca playing uality

Good call.. watching now.

New youth product?

No, maybe they raise their games but I don't think the current monopoly will be broken for awhile.

the q on my poxy laptop has seen its last days

Wow. Owen scores again. He really does want out.

Man City to overpay in January? Owen injured again before the month is out? It writes itself doesn't it?

Seriously, Im so confused. Bastard.

Should we try dump him in january so we get some money or keep him to make sure we stay up this season.

lol Martins scores while injured. Was asking to be taken off, scores and limps off.

This will be our first away since March if we keep it up.

Good win. No danger of Newcastle going down I think. You'll be around to underachieve for another year at least

Chelsea West 'Am next. Zola walked into the wrong dressing room, what a scamp! His team is going to get pummeled though. Don't think he'll be smiling come 6 o'clock.

I'm sensing an upset.

1-1

I sense a bet...

Haha! Not really fair is it?

You'll have to give me odds... so, you get to change only my signature, but I get avatar, sig and title. I get the draw, and West Ham win.

Still waaaay in your favour, but what the hell.. go Hammers!

Book it. May as well exploit my chance to get one over you! What am I? 0-4?

Yeah, 0-4, but this one is ridiculous.. lol. I just had a silly feeling, because all the other of the big 4 drew.

This is your avatar, if I win



With the title 'I adore this man'


I can decide the sig if I need to, later.

I think its more of a desperate want that Chelsea don't pull 7 points clear of you than a spidey sense.

Christ that picture is hideous! Who told Gary he looked good with a goatee. He looks like a gay Chuckle brother. And the big spot on the head - nice touch. Not even a bit of foundation for the panini sticker photo?

I'll think of a sig later too. I'm writing an essay at the moment and listening to the game. Could do with a Lampard stormer, he's captain of my dream-team, which is currently careering - Man City style - down my league. I'm only ahead of a guy who is touring Asia at the minute and has little to no internet access.

Oh for ****'s sake...