just

Brilliant, brilliant goal. Had everything. Pace, touch, control and finish. Very reminiscent of a young George Weah.

Then the "Fack Off Rijkaard" campaign starts here. Sign your name and say no to the greasy, spit boy. I'd rather have Anders Frisk.

Bepe? I used to watch him regularly on Football Italia Pauly. My favourite ever Italian player is Maldini. A true footballing God. I also revered Franco Causio. Only an Italian or a scouser could play football with hair and a moustache that huge, and shorts that small. Favourite world cup player ? Only one contender for me. Pele. For f*cks sake he won it when he was 17 and he scored two goals in the final !!!!!!

Ideally I'd like Kerry Dixon to get it.

That's superb Dorset. I dare you to post it as a geniune piece on a United forum. Bet loads of them would bite on it.

Ruud G. The only manager ever to be sacked when his team are in two cup semi-finals and 2nd place in the league. A man that exuded confidence with everything he did. A man that could play the game with his eyes shut. The man that finally made us winners again after 26 years of nothing. For those that loved sexy football, if JM goes, let him come back and finish the job he started.

My missus has had a good close-up look at the picture and she said, "Call that a lunch-box. Looks more like a small goosebump to me" Then she said "I thought G4 and Pauly liked their ladyboys to have ponytails". Ranieri was a bloody nice bloke. And as a manager he'll always be remembered for ..................... being a bloody nice bloke.

I was at the match and it was the Wycombe fans who booed Ballack because he was having a running fued with the short bloke with the beard all game. Though Sheva had two nice goals, an assist and played well throughout he wasn't my MOTM. That chance where he was clean through the middle but elected to square it to Frank proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that he HAS lost pace. Two or three years ago he would have shown those chasing defenders a clean pair heels. They would not have got near him and that ball would have ended up in only place. The back of the net. Drogba though he didn't score, was involved in practically everything we did defensively and offensively. His work rate is staggering. Maka was back to his imperious best and when Fergie and Wenger see him screening the back four like that they must have sleepless nights. Obi Mikel was superb IMO. You can argue he should have scored, but his passing, strength on the ball and touch under pressure was awesome for a 19 year old. The boy has very quick feet. When Essien returns to midfield, I would have him in the team before Ballack. But MOTM goes to Mr Versatile, Essien. Watching the game last night you'd have thought he had played CB all his life. Now Tommy Mooney is not a name that will go down in football history, but he is big, as strong as a bull, works his nuts off and he knows every little con and dirty trick going. Last night he used them all and still never got a thing, not a kick, out of Michael Essien.

Tim if you're at the game tonight I will be in the Peli about 6.00-6.30ish to buy you a beer. I'll be with a few others standing by the fire exit doors close to the bogs. Extremely good looking fella, with very little hair and wearing either a Lambretta hoodie or a white parka. Somewhere close to me will be a little chubby fella with a bottle of Bud in his hand. Hope you can make it.

What I've heard about JT injury is that the trapped nerve he had in his back had affected the power in his calf so he's been building that power back up. When he'll be back I don't know but I'll have a guess and say it will the Blackburn game. As someone who has had a fair share of back problems I said after the Reading game it may have been better in the long term if JT had suffered a broken leg rather than a back injury. A broken leg would have been easier for the doctors to treat and once it's healed that's it. I wouldn't mind betting this calf injury is related to the back problem. http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hli ... gh+battle'

Jesus. Another cheer me up post from Stanley. Stan this is for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCZLHhDH4lA

Who is right Kenyon ? http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hli ... +new+deals or the agent ? http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hli ... &channel=& Hope Kenyon has learnt his lesson from his woeful handling of the Gallas situation. Hopefully he doesn't keep stalling Frank for months and then try to get him on the cheap.

Como estas Pauly ? He is 19. 20 in April. He needs to stay focused and avoid headlines like this though. http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hli ... d=8&cpid=8 Apparently, he has a bigger entourage than Mike Tyson.

A hollow victory but let them feed on scraps do you notice how whenever anyone beats you its hollow because you werent very good. We didnt let you be any good. We played well and could have scored many more. When you beat us 4-1 at anfield was it hollow because we were sh*te and Hyypia was playing with a virus? Was it F***, you took great pleasure in it, was that feeding on scraps? You playing sh*t is something i take as proof that we played well. as for Barca, lets just see. I'm not going to be stupid and think we'll hammer them, but i certainly am not fearing them, we can definately take them over two legs. I agree. If Ronaldinho is out until April with a broken foot, and Messi gets taken off injured in the first ten minutes. And if Xavi is suspended. And if Puyol and Marquez are out injured and they have no other centre-halves at all, and Zambrotta and Deco have to play there instead. Then I think you have a great chance. I do hope you get the whole ball over the line this time though.

Apparently SKY have already offered Gerrard a top media job when his football career is finished. They want him to be Andy Gray's Personal Knob Polisher. Everytime he hears the word Gerrard the twat has to take his nadger in his hand and grab a tissue.

No it's not. The incident was in the first half. SWP went down from the blow.

I'll just re-post what I put on page 19 of the other thread.

I agree. I have high hopes for the boy if he gets his head and attitude right. He looks extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet and has a lovely first touch. He is big and strong but is certainly not the tackling, harrying type of player that Maka and Essien can be. Pauly has another thread going asking for a no: 10/trequartarista/playmaker. Mikel may one day be that player.

ManU looked very special to me -- 8 players with exceptional pace, and all of their defenders willing to make agressive runs into the box. We really need to learn from their attacking gameplan. I know they lost, but they deserved to win that game. We are back in the race, so let's not slip up now. What fricking game were you watching Phillip ? Have you seen the stats ? Le arse had 8 shots on target to United's 6. 19 attempts in total to United's 9. Won the corner count 8 to 6, and overall, had 10% greater territorial advantage. Man U started with a defensive formation, five across the middle and Rooney deployed on the left. Then when they went in front, (totally against the run of play at the time), they sat behind the ball and tried to hit on the counter, exactly as they did at home against us. So much for that "all out attacking" bollocks everyone spouts off about them. You're right on one thing though. There was only one team that deserved to win yesterday........................ The Gooners.

That is a very fair point. With the problems we've had over the last two and a bit months United should be home and hosed, but they ain't. At the moment it's a case of us losing it, (due to injuries/suspensions to key players and having an under sized squad for certain positions), rather than United winning it. IF the gap was down to three/four points by the time we play them, and we have all our top boys back by then, I reckon the wheels would fall off their bus big time.

You regularly see footballers get their ankles and knees in all sorts of strange positions and you automatically think, "that looks bad" and yet nine times out of ten they get up and walk away unscathed. Can't recall what game it was off the top of my head, but I remember Essien had his foot bent right over in one game this season, got up and played on. Robben is injury prone, end of story. Either that or he is the unluckiest bloke that ever kicked a football. He has my sympathy as well. Won't make him any less injury prone though.

Well, to be honest I'm not too sure. At this moment in time I think he's a lot like Stevie G. He's made out to be a whole lot better than he actually is. Don't get me wrong he has all the tools. He can look a world beater on his day. But his day is normally against Wigan, Portsmouth and the like. I'm also 100% convinced he is not the bravest soldier in the fort. The two big problems with Robben is: 1. Consistency - AJ has some great games and some bad games. 2. Injuries - He has a great game and then gets injured. It's not big bad injuries but it's bad enough. Agreed. And the look on Jose's face said, "Christ, what the facking hell is wrong with him now!" It's a fact some players are injury prone and therefore never find that level of consistency and form. We've had them in the past: Hay, Durie, Hazard, Forssell and have let them go. There may come a time when it is the same with Robben. He is young, we have top quality medical staff looking after him, he should be trained and tuned to perfection. At his age his body shouldn't be constantly letting him down like this.

Well, to be honest I'm not too sure. At this moment in time I think he's a lot like Stevie G. He's made out to be a whole lot better than he actually is. Don't get me wrong he has all the tools. He can look a world beater on his day. But his day is normally against Wigan, Portsmouth and the like. I'm also 100% convinced he is not the bravest soldier in the fort.

I'm not too gutted. When I saw we had no recognised centre-halves whatsoever I saw the writing on the wall. And even with that team, and at thier place, they still never looked like they were going to take us to the cleaners. If we could have nicked one 2nd half it would have been interesting. In fact, for me, quite a few pluses out there. SWP did alright I felt. Got more out of him than we normally get out of Robben in a big match. Thought Mikel done what was required of him. And of course Big Pete is back. The one query I have from the game is the Stevie Me 1st half punch on SWP. There wasn't an ounce of doubt about it. He nicked the ball past Sweepy, Sweepy followed the ball and Gerrard lashed out and caught him smack in the face. He knew exactly what he was doing. You knew straight away it was intentional because Andy Gray shut right up for at least 20 seconds. And when he did start speaking again he muttered something totally unintelligible and avoided the subject. And of course SkY didn't show the incident again in replay or at half-time ? Hhhhhhhmmm. Let's just take a moment to imagine what they would have said and how many times they would have shown it had it been Essien or Drogba lashing out like that.

Responding to BJD on the "All time disappointing Chelsea XI" thread started me thinking. Football is not only the beautiful game it can be a brillant social occaision as well. A fantastic day out with all your mates. The banter, the travelling, the beers, the laugh. It's probably the main reason I still go. The football is important but it's often secondary to having a laugh with my friends. So what's your best/worst days out at football ? I have quite a few but here are three that jump straight into my mind. England V Sweden. Germany 2006. Probably the only entertaining match we played in the World Cup. The size of the England support in Cologne was staggering. It had to be seen to be believed and of course Joey Cole's wonder goal !! The pre and post match piss up in town was excellent. Chelsea V Sttugart. Sweden 1998 - ECWC Final. At that time this was the biggest airlift of people to a single destination in Europe since the second world war. Walking round Stockholm it seemed there were 6 Chelsea fans for every Stuggart fan. Getting over there was a five hour delay because so many flights were going out and Stanstead and Heathrow were badly affected by fog that morning. Undettered the Blue Army drank Stanstead duty free dry and then had a game of 200-a-side football inside the airport terminal. I didn't take part as I was busy chatting to Chopper Harris. Once in Sweden the weather was excellent and we ended up in an open air bar happily getting pished and having the crack with the local police who had amongst their number some of the most gorgeous blonde women you will ever see. Now that is a police force ! Afterwards we avoided the coaches back to the airport, (they were held in a massive car-park by the airport for hours), and went back into town. We found a bar, where the owner, yet another gorgeous blonde, gave us drinks on the house. Ended up asleep on the airport floor and finally went home on the last flight out. 28/4/84 ? Chelsea 5 Leeds United 0 "Promotion from the old 2nd division is confirmed in emphatic style as the old enemy are humiliated amidst wild scenes of celebration at the Bridge. Mickey Thomas slams home the first and Kerry Dixon scores a magnificent hat-trick, before substitute Paul Canoville seals the win. The match ends with the Leeds players encouraging the referee to blow early as there are thousands of Chelsea supporters lining the side of the pitch. The visiting fans take it out on the scoreboard". This was without doubt one of my greatest day out at football. Chelsea were back were they belonged. Every second of the day was superb. We had graduated to the old North Stand by this time and of course the "banter" with the Leed's faithful was intense The game itself was a romp with King Kerry doing the business. The attacking quality of our football during this season was brilliantly entertaining. At the final whistle the pitch invasion was huge, the scenes of joy, both players and fans, were amazing. The pubs around around the Bridge and the Kings Road were packed long into the night with celebrating Blues fans. I have never been so pished.