youlots

Manure cruising now

8 - 0 (to make up for the embarrassing dip against Stoke & to so as to help avoid the goal difference threads come the end of the season)

Excellent piece Dorset and I for one shall never tire of any close examinations/dissections of Syed or his ilk or of any others comprising the self-righteous, insidious commentariat that comprises much of the Murdoch press.

If one wants evidence, by rather telling omission, of UEFA's continuing dislike of Chels then you don't have to look any further than what transpired during the initial stages of the draw when Lineker was drawing the balls to slot the first eight into each of the groups. During that process the UEFA master of ceremonies made some brief comments about the CL history of each respective team drawn eg. L'Arse finalists in 2006...Barca - 3 time winners...etc etc. Then when Lineker pulled out the eigth & last ball being Chels, the MC said nothing at all. No mention of being finalists in 2008...not one word was said. Good old UEFA - consistent as always. It gave me cause for a big grin.

Blitzkrieg

See ya

Yeah - Chasing Amy was pretty good too. Joey Lauren Adams especially...

Well at least we won a match - and with some style. All a bit frenetic, end to end stuff as we like it down here. Well done boys you salvaged some pride in the green and gold & perhaps in Holman's stunner a possibility for the goal of the tournament so far.

Perhaps but at least this WC will feature what is (and always will be) a blockbuster & as Liam quite rightly pointed out this fixture is what us neutrals have wanted all along: after watching both England & Germany games last night I can't help but feel that Germany may have peaked too soon and that you lot may have started to gel at the right time. Old heads against young legs: has all the promise of a classic tie.

The more things change... Watch Italy progress by means of cheap theatrics through to possibly yet another world cup final aided by referees whose qualitative standards are hampered by a sporting body's perpetual recalcitrance concerning the use of available technology. But hey, like us, the kiwis are merely football minnows there to make up the numbers and of course antipodean football is so monstrously crude that what does it matter in the end. Who will be next to suffer the stanislavskian charm of italian football I wonder?

Toy Story 3 commences down here tomorrow. Can't wait. Pixar Animation & Lasseter: the best in the business.

Harsh but true.

Forgot to add: wonder if the better hacks are now seeking Wenger's post match comments. Hah Hah!

As much as it pains me to say it: thanks Germany for clinically revealing & smashing the hype (down here) concerning this Australian team. Given the group it was always going to be difficult to go through but most of those I speak to on footballing matters and whose views I respect were pretty fearful of this match-up as soon as the groups were announced because the team is so unbalanced and because Loew has been quietly going about his renewal program over the last 12 months with real purpose. And to make matters worse, Verbeek then elects to use this game to blood the likes of Garcia. What was Culina doing on the left?!? As for Moore and co as your central defenders what can one say? Old hackneyed jokes. One can only assume that Verbeek's selections were the result of desperation & that it was a game for containment. However, if so, why we went with 442 is unfathomable and extremely naive. Anyway without Cahill (no use cavilling over his dismissal - it was from behind) nothing short of a miracle will stop our blokes from exiting this tournament within 6 days. And on today's performance - deservedly so. I can only hope that against Ghana and Serbia we can avoid further humiliation.

We should buy him.

Big, big mistake letting Ballack go. Joe was odds on ages ago.

You're right he's a genius - we should have begged him to stay and rewarded him with the manager's job for life. We're fools.

No it's a reference to a football manager who's taken himself and his looking glass with him after receiving an offer to good to refuse... or then again perhaps you're right after all.

But Brit it's merely another example of the Peter principle merging with the Dunning Kruger effect and imposter syndome all at once. Elementary. Management is full of it; particularly football management.

Nostalgia

Heineken, f**k that sh*t....Pabst Blue Ribbon!

Heckel, an honest man...

No you didn't miss anything ethical. Inter clearly superior this year and deserve to win it hands down.

How can you tell?

Well said g4, bjd & liam: whilst there have been numerous examples of anti-chels bias in the press over the years this is not an example of it at all. in my view zonal marking has emerged as one of the top football sites in recent times and in part because it confines its erudition on what takes place on the paddock - no more no less.