sweet waffle

Touchline bans are an absolute farce if the manager is still allowed to interact in anyway with his team.

Man Utd have named 7 defenders in their starting 11!

I've got no problem with snoods, in fact I've been wearing one during this winter at PowerLeague. I think the banning of them based on the claim that they are potentially dangerous is nonsense, players have long been wearing them on the continent and as far as I know without any incident and indeed this season in the Premier League I can't recall anybody coming a cropper through wearing one. Also what's to stop players wearing polo necks under their shirts in future, the principle is surely more or less the same.

Torres fee small change for Abramovich as Chelsea owner's wealth revealed (Guardian)

Our current propensity to not win "must win" matches concerns me greatly and doesn't bode well for the season run in. Too many players look like they're going through the motions and simply don't have any real impact on the match.

The old the formation doesn't suit Lampard excuse, brilliant. The formation doesn't affect his passing ability which today was shoddy and that's being generous.

A classic example of a smash and grab from Liverpool and Chelsea fell for it hook line and sinker. I thought we controlled the game to some extent in the first half but the second half was pathetic. Far too many passengers out there today.

Yeah and yet there was no condemnation from the commentary of either incident and Agger should have definitely got at least a yellow card for that foul.

Not the best of halves but not the worst. Some of the passing in the final third has been more than a little lacklustre. Torres looks as though the occasion is getting to him a wee bit, he just needs to concentrate on doing the basics and wait for his chance to come, the same could also be said for the rest of the team to be fair.

Beyond reckless and yet Muscat has the temerity to give the ref a mouthful for sending him off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwHzCtRa2SE

You're correct, that's the first point in the article.

As seen in point 2 of this article: 5 Ways Porn Created the Modern World (cracked.com)

Blocking internet pornography ... that's censorship, isn't it?(Guardian)

Anybody else hear the commentator on Sky Sports refer to us as Chelski when Cech came out and did that slide tackle near the end of the first half?

Predictably the Guardian isn't impressed by the inclusion of JT. The 55-man list of 2010's supposed best players overlooks two Ballon d'Or nominees and yet includes John Terry

Terrible news, in terms of a potential signing in January, what about a Gary Gahill, he's similar to JT and only 24 years old with plenty of Premier League experience and Bolton have said recently that if a team comes in for him they'd probably have to sell due to their debt.

Now this is a ongoing bug bear of mine, if Drogba was fit enough for the bench then in my mind he's fit enough to start. Imagine if Anelka had got injured in the first 10 minutes or so (barring his late shot he played like it today), would Carlo have not put Drogba on then? I'm inclined to think he would. So Drogba starting on the bench hamstrung us from the start today and I'm sure it would have given Liverpool a massive lift when they saw that was the case.

My vote went to Cech, based purely on that save from Kuyt which meant we didn't have to suffer the further embarrassment of losing 3-0.

No Essien and Drogba's on the bench!!

Just seen that Webb is refereeing us today, so prepare for some contentious decisions.

Spain dominate Ballon d'Or list as no English players are nominated (Guardian) World Player of the Year nominees: Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc Fábregas (Spain), Diego Forlán (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain). The chances of Didier winning it are slim but it's nice to see him in the running. FIFA are also doing a World Coach of the Year and Carlo has been rightly nominated in that, but somehow so has Wenger, a manager that has won nothing for 5 years!! World Coach of the Year nominees: Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea), Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United), Pep Guardiola (FC Barcelona), Joachim Low (Germany), José Mourinho (Inter Milan/Real Madrid), Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay), Louis Van Gaal (Bayern Munich), Bert van Marwijk (Holland) and Arsène Wenger (Arsenal).

Here's the full team, the inclusion of Gerrard is just wrong.

I'm planning on witnessing my first bit of live A-League action next month when I visit Perth, they're playing Melbourne Victory at home on the 14th and for me it will be interesting to see how Robbie Fowler plays at that level.

My vote goes to Woy, on the strength of this doozy: "I thought the shape of the team was good today, the quality of our passing and movement was good. We didn't score goals and Everton did but I refuse to accept that we were in any way outplayed or any way inferior."

I certainly wouldn't be adverse to the idea of him playing for us, as on form there's no doubting he's a very good player, but I don't think there's a cat in hell's chance of him joining us, especially considering the transfer fee and supposed wage demands. But you never know.