PloKoon13

Belletti's on for Bosingwa. What's up there? Is Bos injured or is Scolari trying to sure things up defensively?

The Sopcast link to LiveSport is down.

Wasn't JT a similar age when he was appointed captain?

Holy sh*t! WHAT a header!

Why the hell haven't we been playing 4-4-2 before this? Almost every single player on the pitch (aside the perfect finish, I don't think Lampard's been great) has been completely revitalised by this formation. The two Coles in particular have flourished. I think the fact that we scored 2 more goals in the last 45 minutes with 4-4-2 than we did in the previous 180 with 4-3-3 says it all ¬___¬

Get in I can't believe Scolari actually listened to us :D

I want at least some of the credit for everyone apparently warming to Malouda. :P I want even more credit if he plays well on Boxing Day. :D

So a fifth-placed finish this season?

I didn't know about his wife! :D I hope he makes a full recovery.

You know, that might not be a bad idea.

Meh. Some of the entries are Christgau-esque bilge, whose only aim in life is to exclaim how he doesn't like prog rock.

Stoke v Manchester United 26/12/2008 12:45 GMT - Away Chelsea v West Bromwich 26/12/2008 13:00 GMT - Draw Portsmouth v West Ham 26/12/2008 13:00 GMT - Home Tottenham v Fulham 26/12/2008 13:00 GMT - Home Liverpool v Bolton 26/12/2008 15:00 GMT - Home Manchester City v Hull 26/12/2008 15:00 GMT - Draw Middlesbrough v Everton 26/12/2008 15:00 GMT - Away Sunderland v Blackburn 26/12/2008 15:00 GMT - Home Wigan v Newcastle 26/12/2008 15:00 GMT - Home Aston Villa v Arsenal 26/12/2008 17:15 GMT - Away

Something I've noticed without Malouda is that we don't make any chances any more. When we had Malouda - Anelka - whoever, we'd have at least 20 a game. 19 of them might have been absolute sh*te, but it's better than none... How many goals have we scored in our last four league games? Isn't it three?

If Alex is banned for that (not even a stamp) then I might just boycott football.

We're missing a certain attacker, who was Premiership assist leader until he got injured. D 0-0 vs Everton - Malouda doesn't feature D 0-0 vs West Ham - Malouda doesn't feature L 2-1 vs Arsenal - Malouda brought on as a late sub Before he was dropped/injured, we were flying high at the top, and now we're languishing in second, looking over our shoulders for Man Ure and Villa. Bring back Florent Malouda! (It's up to you how seriously you take this topic ;))

I'm not sure we can really complain about that considering what happened vs Man Ure...

The thing that really pissed me off was Osman's play acting afterwards. He rolled around on the floor for a bit, and lay there , visibly grinning and listening for the red card, and when he got his reward, he got up and tried to look as downtrodden as possible when being treated for his non-injury. Alex's "stamp" wasn't a stamp. Cahill was rolling around on the floor as usual, and tripped Alex over. It almost looked like Alex was trying to keep his balance, and at worst he just put his foot on Cahill as he was on the floor. It was far from a stamp and if he gets punished for it, it's a complete load of bollocks.

West Brom beat City away from home. I can't see them having any trouble keeping our pathetic excuse for an attack out.

I think I might just agree with you. Someone obviously disagrees though; he's got a vote!

I don't think there's a chance in hell we're gonna win the Champions League this season, and it looks like it's all downhill from here. Let's concentrate on the League, where every single team has been nothing but mediocre this year, so we might have a chance of winning if we actually get into a decent run of form...

Completely agreed. How much worse can Stoch or Sinclair be than Ballack or Deco? At least Stoch has blistering pace on his side... And I agree with you that it's just a matter of time until Man Ure catch us up... isn't that one win in five now?

No. I didn't say I agreed with him, just that I understood what he meant. Not literally meaning that he wants the other team to score... but that we were so damn terrible that a defeat would have been completely and utterly deserved. Believe me though, no one would have been happier to see us nick it in the last minute, completely undeserved, Dipper-style.

Do people really think Lampard played well? :S I thought he was absolutely terrible.

In the spirit of tonight's embarrassing display, I resurrect this topic.

No no, I think I understand what he means. We were so bad, and they deserved victory so much more than we did that (in a sickening way) he wanted them to score...