i was only messing mik, i actually quite like sunderland, as much as it pains me to say it
i was only messing mik, i actually quite like sunderland, as much as it pains me to say it
Why, bad throat?
hahahaha that's quality. i'm gonna spread it around the thames estuary.Originally Posted by da_man
Southend will have a big Eastwood-shaped hole up front this season, I'd honestly be quite happy if we finished top half of the table. Hopefully the club will still have some faint momentum going when the new stadium arrives
yeh, i think murphy infected me with something
I forgot about Larsson, the few times I saw him in the Championship he looked a different class, definitely looks Premiership quality - will he not be first choice next season?
He's a bit too slow imo.
Either him or De Ridder probably.
He's not lightning fast but his skill and passing and crossing range and accuracy more than make up for it.
We'll be alright with the side we've got. The side is stronger than the one which won league One two seasons back. The keeper won player of the year at this level last time, there won't be many stronger defences than ours and the midfield looks particularly strong thanks to last week's signings. Obviously we need to replace the 25 goals that Freddy brought to the side. Hopefully Charlie McDonald can do the business up front but we'll need to bring someone else in as well because Foran/Hooper/Paynter/Bradbury and Harrold don't have many goals in them.
We need to bring another defender in too. Barrett & Clarke are good but they need back-up.
Darryl Flahavan
Simon Francis
Steven Hammell
Adam Barrett
Peter Clarke
Mark Gower
Nicky Bailey
Kevin Maher
Alan McCormack
Charlie McDonald
????
Plus there's Che Wilson, Michael Black, JCR, and The Moose, with Ray Parlour still rumoured also. Top ten should be the minimum and the play-offs should be the aim. A lot will depend on where the Eastwood money now goes.
Good point. How much of the 2m will they have to spend on players with having to pay for Fossets Farm though? That's the one thing that worries me Eastwood was usually good for a goal and generally the most likely source of even creating chances whenever I saw us at Roots Hall or on telly. JCR is a bit rusty round the edges but has the pace and that to be some kind of productive force
My best mate works with JCR's missus. She reckons that JCR wants out, that we've rejected £200k from Barnsley but that we've told him that we'll let him go if anyone makes us an offer which matches our valuation.
Apparently team spirit is pretty shitty. JCR and Gower seemingly hate eachother and most of the players are relieved that Eastwood has left as they felt that he got preferential treatment from the manager.
Really? Campbell-Ryce was excellent at the Brit last year, easily your best player on the day. I kind of assumed he was considered one of your star players. If he's going for less than half a million it might be worth a look- could provide some good competition for Liam Lawrence as he seems like a more natural winger
Particularly as Lawrence is currently being investigated for rape and so could be a bit pre-occupied next season
If the team spirit's crap chances of promotion are pretty slim, aren't they? With Eastwood's goalscoring record I think I'd settle for him getting preferential treatment to be fair. I can't see him being replaced in that vein any time soon
Last night Mark Hughes asked our new forum journo friend Alan Nixon how his new website was coming along!
Class!Probably not best pleased at how his every transfer dealing is being revealed to us play-by-play.
He's a good player which is why he doesn't want to drop back into League One again. He's very infuriating though. Stoke fans will be just one set of many opposition fans who will have thought that Campbell-Ryce was our key player. He's very eye-catching with his close control, blistering speed and ability to beat players, unfortunately it very rarely gets us anywhere. He's scored twice for Southend in the 18 months we've had him, both in the same match, and he has barely as many assists too. It doesn't help him that we don't ever get anyone into the box for him to cross it too, of course. He definately got the better of Heinze agaisnt Man United and also did against Wayne Bridge when England played Jamaica last summer so he's got a lot about him.
I don't know, I'd like him to stay because he has the potential to destory teams at this level but I'm guessing that in the next couple of weeks we'll get an offer of around £300-400k from a Championship club and that will be enough to let him go. We're still rumioured to be after Ray Parlour and him coming in for JCR would allow us to go back to the same kind of shape that we had in both our promotion winning seasons with one winger (Mark Gower) bombing on and the other one tucking inside and helping out the midfield.
Yep. The rest of the players in the squad should have been too busy asking themselves why every team who played us felt that they could just stick two or three men on Eastwood and that would be enough to stop us (and were mostly right) rather than worrying about Freddy getting special treatment. Do you think Francis Benali or Neil Heaney used to complain if Matt Le Tissier didn't pull his weight in training?
If the team spirit's crap chances of promotion are pretty slim, aren't they? With Eastwood's goalscoring record I think I'd settle for him getting preferential treatment to be fair. I can't see him being replaced in that vein any time soon
Ooooo...a new view of the Bentley/Dunn dance off with a special guest ringside appearance from Benni McCarthy, no doubt casting his eye around for drunk white girls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFMnQy5OtmA
Ahahaha, mental Rovers.
On a different note - Liverpool Football Club will launch its very own dedicated television channel - LFC TV - in September after signing a major three-year deal with Setanta Sports. LFC TV will be carried at no extra charge as part of the Setanta Sports Pack, a nine-channel offering, available on satellite.
Time to subscribe to Setanta then.
I think I can live without Setanta this season. Any Rovers games that are on I'll go down the pub to watch. 2 live games at the weekend is more than enough for my fix so no need to have anything other than Sky.
Been thinking about Chelsea going back to the 4-3-3 formation. To be honest, its kinda worrying when you think about the players they have available.
Nani, Anderson, Tevez and Hargreaves better make a significant improvement this year or I think we're losing the title to them.
There's a picture on the front page of The Guardian's Sport section today of Tevez and his kid at the airport...all it's missing is a cardboard sign saying "Please you give generous money for help baby", the pair of them look war-torn.
Well Tevez's face looks war torn for sure.
You don't actually need a 25 goal a season man to be successful though; look at us last season for instance - as far as goalscoring went, we were abysmal. In 46 league games, we managed to score just ONE more goal in a season where we finished fifth than we did the previous season when we finished fifthteenth. Wayne Gray was our top scorer with 12.
As long as you have goals coming from Midfield, and then a set of strikers who will between them contribute goals (Bradbury and Harrold should have at least 10 each in them), you'll do fine. Especially if your defence is as solid as it was two seasons ago.
You'll make the playoffs at least I would have thought.
West Hams new £6m signing Julien Faubert has been ruled out for about 6 months today.
Its funny when it happens to other teams. Especially West Ham.
You're probably tabling a bill for him as we speak.
2 questions...
1) If the FA thoroughly investigated the whole Tevez ownership deal, and it was proved they did nothing wrong - which removed any chance Sheffield United had of successfully appealing against their relegation - why is there a problem with the Man Utd transfer? Surely the hitch shows that Sheff Utd still have a case against the league?
I'm not arsed, I'd much rather West Ham in the prem than Sheff Utd, I just don't see how there can be any problems after the FA said everything was kosher.
2) What is the fascination with rubbish black strikers that Turkish teams seem to have?
All I can say is both Man Utd AND West Ham have asked FIFA to step in, and I don't think West Ham would do such a thing should they be in the wrong here.
They must be pretty confident they have ownership of Tevez.
We don't have that many goals coming from midfield though I wouldn't have thought, at least not enough to compensate for the loss of Eastwood's.You don't actually need a 25 goal a season man to be successful though; look at us last season for instance - as far as goalscoring went, we were abysmal. In 46 league games, we managed to score just ONE more goal in a season where we finished fifth than we did the previous season when we finished fifthteenth. Wayne Gray was our top scorer with 12.
As long as you have goals coming from Midfield, and then a set of strikers who will between them contribute goals (Bradbury and Harrold should have at least 10 each in them), you'll do fine. Especially if your defence is as solid as it was two seasons ago.
You'll make the playoffs at least I would have thought.
I've only seen Bradbury a few times but I get the feeling he couldn't hit a cow's arse with a machine gun
Bradbury is a worker - but that's it. He had a brilliant season for us back in 97, we then sold him to Man City for £3.5m and he's been shit ever since. Great bit of business that.
I like Bradbury, he brings a lot to the side and the fact that our 17 match run without a win last season started the game after he got injured and ended the game he came back speaks for itself. Unfortunately he just can't/won't shoot. So many times last season he'd be even in the six-yard box and he'd look to lay it off to Eastwood or Gower rather than shoot himself. Without Eastwood in the side we need both strikers to chip in with a fair number of goals so I don't think Bradbury will start too often.
Hooper, Foran, Paynter, MacDonald & Harrold all have a bit of potential about them. Hopefully two of them can hit it off sooner rather than later.
Owen has already picked up another injury.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...ed/6908908.stm
Bloody hell, he best not keep getting injuries.
No, they must be fairly confident that FIFA can sort it out without them having to be punished again by the Premier League. The Premier League probably thinks this too. Tevez isn't staying there for another 4 years so I'd guess at this point West Ham want him gone and the whole thing forgotten about. They'd have given him away already if they could I'd say.
It wasn't the FA who investigated the transfer either, it was the Premier League. FIFA have said they may refer this back to the FA for arbitration if they themselves are not the correct body.
Last edited by El Capitano Gatisto; July 20th, 2007 at 12:44 PM.
To be fair to Owen, the last couple of years have been from the Wes Brown school of unfortunate injuries, a broken foot and cruciate injury could happen to anyone. I'd be more worried if it was a bunch of constant muscle injuries like Saha always seems to pick up.
It used to be Owen's recurrent hamstring problems, that doesn't seem to have troubled him for a while. Probably because he hasn't been playing.
Alan Shearer suffered a couple of serious injuries, people forget that. He's seen as some kind of iron man. Newcastle fans are used to this.
He's only out for 10 days... Still. Hope we can flog Dyer quickly before his hamstrings go again.
So after a dissapointing season last time round, and only a couple decent signings of note i am quite worried Midlesbrough will be at the wrong end of the table again this year.
We do not seem to have much squad depth apart from in defence and i think if injuries strike again we are in serious trouble.
We have a decent first XI and some promising youngsters that dont have much experience, however Southgate seems to have alot of faith in them which is good, but i still see us struggling.
First XI
Mark Schwarzer - Could be on his way though, future uncertain.
Luke Young - Decent signing I feel if we secure this!
Emmanuel Pogatetz - Arguably our best player last year apart from Woodgate.
Jonathan Woodgate - Great permanent signing, Injury free one of the best CB around, Class.
Julio Arca - Played midfield last year but I think he is a better LB
James Morrison - Young Lad, Good Prospect, Good Pace, Decent Crosser of the ball.
Lee Cattermole - Boro Lad through and through, Good Tackler, Grafter and scores goals.
George Boateng - Captain, good player last year, more of the same this year would be good, without the injurys.
Stewart Downing - Key Player, Needs last years form though.
Yakubu - Needs to find form this year, can score goals from everywhere, big strong and powerful....when he wants to be! Can be very lazy.
Tuncay - Not heard much but am excited about him, Hopefully a good partnership with Yakubu on the cards.
After that we have maybe 5 players ready (not including youngsters like Davies and Taylor who i feel should go on loan) that are any good to come in if injuries strike!
Riggot - Always Injured
Huth - Always Injured
Alliadiere - Could turn out good for us if given a run.
Rochemback - Hate him, gives the ball away to much but does have some class when he wants to play.
Adam Johnson - Good young Left Winger but no real expeirience
The rest are wank really, we need a new goalkeeper (Jones is crap), a defender, one more striker and two more midfielders to stand a chance of doing anything worthwile!
I would flog Euell, Lee, Mendieta, Rochemback and Jones and if we cant sell them give them away.
Gutted we couldnt sign Koumas of Kamara as I feel they would have helped the team trmendously as they both have a real talent, Smith for 6m I would take but he wont score 20 a season, theres not many class players available, and we dont get linked to many either.
In an ideal world I would try and sign Leighton Baines, Alan Smith, Craig Gordon, Tom Huddlestone and Zolten Gera to strengthen the squad and they are all decent players who could come at decent prices, who could be the difference between a relegation scrap or pushing for Europe.
Aye. Shearer was out for years when he was at Blackburn. It seemed like he'd never get back playing again.
Is the Galaxy/Chelsea game on Sky?
I think it's on ChelseaTV
Gay.
Indeed.
I thought it was on 5.
I thought it was on 5 too, but I can't find it anywhere on their listings, whereas it is on ChelseaTV's listings.
Probably on ChelseaTV then.
Clearly.
This news hasn't been released by the club yet but Joey Barton broke his foot yesterday and will be out for two months.
SHHHHH........
Yeah, saw on SSN last night. Fucking brilliant. That'll teach me for laughing at fucking Faubert.
This news hasn't been released by the club yet but Joey Barton broke his foot yesterday and will be out for two months.
SHHHHH........
In the same incident, Shay Given has a broken face.
Ahahahaha. The Newcastle curse strikes again.
He'll be just fine. And then score 7 against the Mackems.
See Chopra had a great debut yesterday. Fans chanted "What a waste of money" and he got hauled off at half time. Good luck to him.....
Championship players mate.
As hard as it is to be impartial because it regards Scotland but could someone give me a honest opinion on James Morrison of Middlesbrough. He's apparently pledged his international future to Scotland and I haven't been watching much EPL in the last year (apart from the big games). So what about him is he any good?
He's decent from what I've seen. Not particularly quick but quite skilful, good crosser and gets a few goals from midfield.
He's a lot better than Nigel Quashie, so he should walk into your team no problem.
Picked up my ticket today for the first game of the season.
5.15pm away to Aston Villa. Train into birmingham around midday. Good afternoon on the ale watching the early kick-off's/soccer saturday, out in the blazing sunshine (fingers crossed). And then off to watch the reds start the new season, and Torres bag his first goal for the club. Adrenaline is pumping, I can't wait. I fucking love football!
And fair play to Aston Villa. In this modern day of 'newer' football clubs constantly ripping off travelling fans (Bolton, Wigan, Reading, etc.charging £45+ a ticket), it is nice to see Aston Villa sticking with the likes of Liverpool, Everton and United, offering reasonable prices. In fact, at £19 for my ticket (under 21) i doubt i will find a cheaper ticket across europe all season. Thank you very much Aston Villa!
Our pleasure.
3-1 Villa btw.
What would Senderos' chances of starting this year, will he get much 1st team action. Actually who will be in Arsenal's back 4.
clichy toure gallas sagna
with eboue and hoyte covering rb and traor/gallas and sagna covering left back. Leavingt djorou and senderos as 3rd and 4th choice CB i would say. Talk of one of them going on loan but i cant see it with the ACN in jan. Will get games
From the game with Inter I reckon E boue might see time at RM too.
Yeah, it's taken Wenger this long to realise that Hleb is not a right midfielder. He'll play on the left or in the centre behind the forward/s.
What's happening with Eddie? If he doesn't get the work permit, will you be stuck with £7m's worth of unusable but unreturnable goods? Or does the deal only go through pending the work permit application?
Ask Giraffe Man.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH"
most deals are subject to permit.
Is croatia not part of the EU? I lose track of the membership of the shitter states
It's subject to a permit I think. I've heard that we're sending Hleb down to the home office to demand one for Eddie, or he'll chew their faces off. ITK TOLD ME.
Anyone seen the new poster for Setanta Sports? You can see live games featuring Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool United, apparantely.
Liverpool United? I look forward to seeing them play.
Stupid fucking cunt faces. How hard can it be to get a fucking poster right? I was reading the other day about them being “real competition” for Sky Sports and that they’ve showed how serious they are by signing Des Lynam. I don’t mean to be harsh, but Des Lynam doesn’t know his own name any more.
I wonder what the actual coverage will be like.
the coverage means fuck all though at the end of the day as long as they get the angles for replays
im royallf fucked off with sky and sentana anyway
before the new deals where announced the media where like
"oh , sky cant monopolise the premier anymore so from 07/08 terestrial tv will be showing x% of premier live matches
i was like
then turns out the other live matches will be on ppv ffs , on a channel already carried on sky anyway. bastards
Have they said who the commentators will be?
I’m trying to remember names here.
I know the Richardson fellow from the Italian games is on board. He’s pretty good, IMO.
Steve McManaman.
I remember seeing the promotional picture, but can’t remember any more.
Found on Wikipedia:
Presenters
* Rob MacLean
* Jim Delahunt
* Angus Scott
* Adrian Durham
* Rebecca Lowe
* James Richardson
Pundits
* Scott Booth
* Craig Burley
* Steve McManaman
* Les Ferdinand
* Tim Sherwood
* Emmanuel Petit
* Neil Warnock
Commentators
* Ian Crocker
* Jon Champion
* Jock Brown
* Jim Proudfoot
* Archie MacPherson
* Brian Etherson
* David McKinney
* Ken McRobb
* Steve Bower
Co-Commentators
* Scott Booth
* Craig Burley
* Mark Hateley
* Paul Parker
Reporters
* Stuart Lovell
* Rebecca Lowe
* Alex Hayes
* Des Lynam
Can't wait for the new season to start. I even got a semi on for the new design of the score in the top left hand corner during a friendly last week...but then the Arsenal/Inter game had the same design as last season, so maybe they won't.
The best thing about the start of the season is The Guardian's Football Guide. My mum throws it out accidentally within a month of the season starting like a twat EVERY YEAR WITHOUT FAIL, but by that time I've eaten all the information up anyway.
Can't wait
Bit annoying that the CL qualifiers aren't next midweek though, it won't feel like the season has started with the Community Shield if you have to wait another six days for more football. If Arsenal or Liverpool were playing midweek then it would feel like it has started.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6926637.stm
Great news. Finally someone's addressing one of the real problems in football instead of coming up with new reasons to book players for celebrating.Scottish referees will be able to use video evidence this season to punish cheating in football.
New Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith has launched a new scheme to clamp down on diving.
Referees will review match footage and, if they feel they have missed a player diving or feigning injury, they will punish them retrospectively.
The scheme will start as a pilot this weekend at the start of the new season and come into effect on 1 January.
It forms part of a range of measures designed to improve the image of the game in the coming season.
Smith said: "In recent years, one unhealthy development in the game in Scotland has been that of simulation, the term used within football to refer to cheating by players - either to gain an advantage by 'conning' the referee or to provoke the referee to issue a sanction against an opponent.
"It can often be the case that the perpetrator of the offence is successful in his intentions and also escapes punishment.
"When this happens, there is little doubt that the image of the game is harmed. In these circumstances, the cheat wins.
"It is the intention of the SFA to address the problem by introducing an initiative from 1 January 2008 to target the offence of simulation when committed by players who escape sanction from the referee."
Smith made it clear that clubs and players must address the issue.
"The problem is not a referees' one - it is their job to apply the Laws of the Game," he said.
"If players did not seek to indulge in cheating, the problem would not exist.
"At the top level of the game, players have a duty to set the correct standards of sporting attitudes and conduct for the benefit of current and future participants in football, whether they be young players or spectators."
Among other disciplinary initiatives taken by the SFA in the coming season, referees are being told to be tough on a range of misdemeanours, such as holding and pushing in the penalty area, mass confrontations, serious foul play and unacceptable behaviour in the technical area.
Head of referee development Donald McVicar said: "Referees in Scotland are instructed to be particularly strong in identifying these offences and suitably punish offenders.
"This is not a clampdown but an effort to improve the game's image."
I'm going on holiday for two weeks. They better fucking show football in the Caribbean.
na theyre too busy drinking rum
That's what I figured
Leeds are going to start next season with a 15 point deficit
Fantastic
Turns out Leeds fortunes are changing...
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...496815,00.html
Antigua they do. Not sure about elsewhere. I bet they all do.
just got back from the derby-espanyol match
2-2 final score
my conclusion
espanyol geting to the uefa cup final is a joke, we shit all over them
and yeh we drew 2 all but the 2nd goal was a very dubious penalty
and raul tamudo is a complete twat
Yeah this won't be happening apparently, the SFA has to have approval from UEFA/FIFA and this won't be happening anytime soon because a) they hate us for the whole McBeth thing and b) they've publically stated they don't agree with "Monday morning refereering".
On BBC3 right now there's "goals galore". It's goals from last season, looks pretty good.
They just showed Martins' goal against Spurs, the 85MPH one. I love that goal and I loved that game.
Terry's out for four weeks
Also who's the bird with Des Lynam in the Setanta ads? HOT.
Thaila Zucchi. She was the actress on Big Brother.
Terry's out for four weeks
Also who's the bird with Des Lynam in the Setanta ads? HOT.
That Royston Drenthe started every single flashpoint in that game. Dirty little animal. Cheating, diving, fouling, pushing players about, appealing for everything, will probably end up signing for United.
because liverppol are the cleanest club in the world
We were a bit shit today, we kept possession well but we had no final ball. We better improve a lot by Saturday.
Got tickets to Arsenal/Man City in three weeks time
They're gonna beat us
The Guardian's 2007/2008 Season guide just came. And so have I.
I'm not enjoying it that much mate. Don't get me wrong, it's worth the 35p that I paid for it*, but it's lacking something.
*I took it out of the Guardian and put it inside The Sun
It's shit. I only read the Southend bit but they had us to struggle because we've got such a small squad. We have one of the biggest squads in the division. We've got eight strikers FFS.
Yeah but Maher is shit. He'll leak goals now at any level if you keep trying to build the team around him.
And Bradbury is never going to get you 20 goals now is he. Hooper might be worth a shout but I dno't think Tilly has the faith.
You have convinced me, The Rosk, with your stunning analysis. You're actually right about most of that, which is worrying. Hoops looks like a class act but Tilly has never shown any faith in him. It looks like he might start on saturday though.
There's a million reasons why we might struggle, squad size isn't one of them though. That was the point as you well know.
Gerrard thinking he was boxing was good.
Yeah and there were some nasty tackles flying around considering it was supposed to be a friendly.
BastardsThe Times reports today that Man Utd have completed a major coup by poaching Rovers fitness coach Tony Strudwick who has turned Rovers into "the fittest team" in the top flight. Mark Hughes is understandably none too happy about this happening so late on in preseason but the clubs are working on a substantial compensation package.
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