if only robben could not miss so many chances, the fucker. im worried about boateng's injury because bayern is also missing bender in the back.

he is what h8kurdt was saying the other day about suarez. he needs hypnosis or something.

btw the dortmund/augusburg was similar except that reus can score. augusburg is in first place... for relegation!

man u/ aston villa gonna start but i won't have time to see it live. however-- looking forward to chelsea liverpool tomorrow! (yes it might be a massacre, but still...)

Liverpool invariably play well against big teams. It's the games they're expected to win but don't that tends to screw them. They may not beat Chelsea but I think it'll be very close.

And yeah, I agree with you about Robben. One of the most frustrating players I can think of.

I feel sick just thinking about Fellaini leaving Everton.

It's a real shame and another example of how impossible it is for any but the very richest of sides to try and build things long term when they're always faced with having to replace their best players. I'd love for Everton to really compete for a top four place but just as it looks possible this kind of thing inevitably happens.

Can't believe West Ham held on for the win today. A few seasons ago Newcastle would've buried us. For better or worse that was textbook Allardyce but 3 points feels bloody good.

Zaha!!!! Just watched some highlights of him. Fucking Hell!!!!

was just about to write a post about him!

I'm in 2 minds about him tonight.
I want him to start the game (which i dont think he will) or at least play an entire half. I think he is good enough and the thought of him on one wing and Rahim Sterling on the other wing is pretty damn exciting.
With all the press and hype around him right now it'll be good for him to go out and show what he can do.

But at the same time i want to protect him. I dont think he'll bottle it or freeze on the big stage, but it is very unusual for a player to be called up for the 1st time at the weekend and then play his 1st game 3 days later. I'd like him to get used to the England set up first (i gather the new training ground is a bit of a step up from Selhurst Park!) and be let in gently.
there is no need to rush him in and reading between the lines of what Roy Hodgson has been saying i gather his 1st 3 days as an England player haven't been all rosey

then again maybe thats for the best. He is fucking amazing and is full of confidence at the moment. I know Sweden will pose a different challenge to Peterborough but i think he's more than good enough to run rings round them

I tend to agree about wanting to protect him, although I don't think anyone will jump to conclusions about him if he freezes up tonight. For his sake, though, I want him to play solidly but unspectacularly to ensure the media don't get too carried away - which they obviously will if he does something silly like score a hat trick.

i've never seen this guy play but they were talking about him in teh news last night (yes, finally i get football news!)

is he really that good? if he's so good, why does he play for a 2nd-rate team?

At this point it is just speculation. Every year or so a 'new saviour' emerges - last one was Oxlade-Chamberlain. Sometimes they come off but usually they don't. But Zaha looks like a genuine prospect.

As for him playing in a lower league, he's only 20 but does just seem to have passed under the radar, although I don't remember him playing this well in previous seasons - Sonicbebs is better placed to comment on that, though.

Anyway, Zlatan's final goal. End of story.

Ibram...just incredible.

cheek!


Palace have a pretty good youth accademy which regulalry produces decent young players. Recenty it has produced Victor Moses (Chelsea), Wayne Routledge (Swansea), Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton), Ben Watson (Wigan) and, err John Bostock (Tottenham?). And now Wilf

In England it's regular practise for lower division clubs to develop young talent, give them a couple of seasons of first team action only to see their boy snapped up by a big club with wads of cash and the lure of a premiership relegation battle.
It happens all the time. And we have been expecting Zaha to go for a long time now, it's just been a matter of when (january transfer window or end of season?)
suddenly we are playing fantastic football and are top of the league. people are whispering about promotion and our co-chairman has come out and said Zaha is not for sale. He'd rather keep him and get promotion (not that we're a 1 man team at the moment).
It's quite refreshing for us really

but he'll probably be sold to Wigan in January...

Rumours that Man City are willing to pay £50m for Suarez.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...n-Rodgers.html

Daaaaaamn I watched that game yesterday. INSANE.

Incredible, wasn't it? In fairness, England were doing OK in the second half until Zlatan decided to turn into Superman for twenty minutes.'d absolutely love it if he came to the Prem.

yeah he's a fucking ballet dancer is what he is. always with his flying kicks and acrobatics. amazing coordination. he's always in mid-air doing something impossible.




aaaaaaaah. i've been watching the germans where the big clubs have their schools and gotze has been playing pro for dortmund since he was 17. (i think he's just 20). anyway didn't know you were a fan of crystal palace. sorry lolol-- first time i ever hear about that team. keep zaha & make it to the prem i say!

A man can dream. A man can dream. I honestly don't know what Suarez would want to do. He, like all players, would like to see more trophies in his career and right now that certainly isn't going to happen for Liverpool.

Suarez has made a statement on liverpools website

"I have a very long contract here and it's a dream come true to be playing at a club like Liverpool because, as I've said, as a boy I dreamt of playing for a team like this.
"Now I'm here it's all about enjoying myself and trying to be here for as many years as I can, because I'm at a club where I'm very happy, my family is happy, I've got fantastic team-mates and a manager from whom I'm learning so much.
"As a player, it's vital to have the backing of your manager and so I think that the confidence Brendan is showing in myself and the team as a whole is very important and it's down to us to repay that trust out there on the pitch. Let's hope we can keep improving. I'm working well and I'm very happy at a club where I've always wanted to be."

pretty much sounds like a statement written for him by a liverpool's PR team!

Not happy.

And Neville out till probably February.

TBH I'm kinda glad. He too often makes too many mistakes, his age is certainly showing, and yet for some unfathomable reason Moyes loves him.

Really? He's been a rock for you this past couple of seasons. He may not be the most gifted player you have and he does make mistakes but for me he's a great captain and the glue in that defence. Who would you rather have as captain? Neville's seen everything. His experience is invaluable, I think.

good to see man city making a comeback. with so many good players it was a shame what was happening to them. i hope they kick real madrid's ass and cronaldo cries like a baby.

also: liverpool! and arsenal! i missed those games but it was good to see both teams are shaping up against all bad omens. caught the highlights and will try to watch the full games during the week on replay-- haven't seen cazorla play in a while and appears he's doing great-- i heard one of the news guys call him "little stoichkov". ha!

Jagielka being captain will certainly be a big help. It's all well and good Neville having experience but when you compare Neville to Jagielka with skill, fitness and likelihood of a dodgy pass there's a chasm of difference. And to be even more of a wet blanket I don't think this injury is going to help him.

Maybe I'm being too hard on him but I just don't see him being able to keep up with playing week-in-week-out.

The Arsenal game was weird.

It seemed like Tottenham were ready to destroy Arsenal. Everything was going great for them, Arsenal defence was just not happening and then they just crumbled when Adebayor got sent off for that dreadful tackle. But they game just further showed how great Bale and Cazorla are.

As for Liverpool *sniff* they got lucky.:D

daaamn. this now made me really really curious.

The thing about Adebyor is that the only reason his foot was that high is because the ball was that high. Yes he was late, and yes it was a red card but its not like the ball was on the floor and he went in knee high. The ball was there to be won and he went in. Just miss timed

Yeah, the red card was harsh but by the book. Spurs were definitely on top until then. I'm hearing a lot of anti AVB talk from Spurs fans on the phone ins. He seems to have a personality that's guaranteed to upset supporters when things aren't going well.

Before their financial transformation I had a real soft spot for Man City but I'm really struggling to like them now. Real may be the current pantomime villains of European football but there's a brilliance about them that I can't not like. For all Man City's great players, there's a core mediocrity there. I even want Man Utd to finish above them this year, which I never thought I'd ever say. I suppose I'm just really seduced by the whole cult of the manager thing and while I find a lot in Fergie and Mourinho not to like, I am slightly in awe of them, whereas Mancini just irritates me. I suppose I just like the bad guy in sport. I was a big Michael Schumacher fan, which probably explains a lot.

once i'd got over his scarf Mancini started to wear thin. he doesn't really look like he's in control. he gives the impression of a man under alot of stress whose job is running away from him and he cant cope, but he tries to give the impression that he can cope. He looks like an alcoholic waiting to happen

but i have a man crush on David Silva, and I think Tevez and Aguero are incredible so i like to see City do well

Di Matteo sacked!!!

It was always coming but I'm slightly surprised Abramovich didn't give him till the end of the season. Rumours that Rafa Benitez is gonna replace him.

Personally I think it was a bullshit decision. He got them the bloody champions league AND the FA cup. Benitez? Cos yeah he's gonna do so much better...

Tell you what though if Guardiola did go to Chelsea next year Abramovich is gonna be screwed if he doesn't do everything he hopes.

Bullshit decision.

Benitez hired till the end of the season.

I do think Di Matteo got lucky with the CL and I wondered if he'd last the season but, like you, I don't think Benitez will do any better and why take the risk just for an interim appointment? I can see the fans really turning on Abramovich for this. Replacing a Chelsea player who won them the CL for a Liverpool cast-off. As you say, bullshit decision, even by Abramovich's standards. Guardiola or any other top ranked manager would be absolutely mad to go to Chelsea.

dortmund 3 - ajax 0 at halftime

lol @ yr club owners. FUCKED UP!

That's part of the prem's appeal. Seriously, this is a great story. Keep your eye on it cos the likelihood of it turning into a monumental Abramovich cock-up is mammoth. Large sections of Chelsea fans will never ever accept Benitez. A guy on a radio phone in I'm listening to now will only refer to him as "that man". Couldn't care less about Chelsea or Di Matteo but for sheer entertainment value, Benitez going to Stamford Bridge is pure gold. I actually quite like Benitez but ... well just keep your eye on this one.

Benitez at Chelsea. You couldn't make it up.

that's what i mean, running a team like a private fucking fiefdom according to the oligarch's caprices. how can one be a fan of such an outfit.

this is one of the things i hate about the NFL for example [that's "american hand-ovoid"]-- i could at least have liked the washington redskins who were my home team, but the owner daniel snyder is a despicable piece of shit. the only nfl team that's run like a proper club is i believe the greenbay packers who are owned by its home city as a nonprofit enterprise.

capitalism is great for some things but for others the anglosaxon model is fucked. cool thing about the bundesliga is that at least 51% must be fan-owned by law (even though there are some cheats and loopholes and there is still major corporate influence). but fuck, this-- this is a joke.

of course i'll try to follow the soap opera that is seeing fans getting fucked in the ass by a russian oligarch, but... for shame!

purist