Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35285678)

I fancy Bradford tonight..don't know why

Originally Posted by ChrisLUFC22 (Post 35287192)

It very nearly was :shocked:
Absolutely hate Ken Bates and the fact he won't plough money into a squad that everybody can see has been depleted. Wants to pay League 1 wages but expects fans to pay Prem ticket prices. I aren't going again until he starts puting his hand into his pocket.

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35287193)

The problem isn't him putting his hand in his pocket...it is taking it back out that is the problem :D

Originally Posted by ChrisLUFC22 (Post 35287194)

:LOL:
Trust me, when you read stories that he won't even pay for a trialist to stay in a hotel, well... it's depressing.
When players are turning you down for the likes of Bristol (Kilkenny) and Ipswich (Andrews), then you know its bad. And no disrespect meant to those clubs either.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35287195)

You think thats bad well perhaps you want to support my club Plymouth Argyle.

Originally Posted by ChrisLUFC22 (Post 35287196)

Isn't Ridsdale (:mad:) busy trying to bankrupt you lot? I bet your matchday ticket doesn't cost £36 though :(

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35287466)

Suarez has missed a early penalty for Liverpool but has now just scored

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35287478)

Yes, I was happy at first...but they scored :D

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 35287557)

Gervinho Dives, Gets dragged to hit feet by Barton! Gervinho slaps Barton, Barton dives and Gervinho gets sent off.... Lesson Learnt new boy?

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35287558)

Lesson learnt, person of undesirable character gets away with it again..joey barton, a rioter on the pitch

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 35287560)

Yea well its about time someone gave a diver a good kicking! Get in Barton!

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 35287560)

Yea well its about time someone gave a diver a good kicking! Get in Barton!

Originally Posted by Jameseh (Post 35287565)

Ameobi was about as useful as a pale of...

Originally Posted by Jameseh (Post 35287565)

Ameobi was about as useful as a pale of...

Originally Posted by iadom (Post 35287621)

It was a dire game from start to finish, if Wenger thinks he is in with a chance of the Premiership he is more myopic than I thought.:rolleyes:

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35287603)

lol..yes..pail or pale

Pale ale?..or pail of nails for a concrete house? :D

Originally Posted by iadom (Post 35287695)

Wouldn't anyone want to stamp on Barton, he should have been given a red for dragging the Arsenal player off the floor and another red for his play acting and lying when trying to tell VP that he was punched instead of lightly tapped on the cheek.:rolleyes:

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35287670)

Song has to control his temper, it's starting to get on my nerves.

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 35287718)

I find it really funny that 'The Diver' gets sent off because Barton took a dive. The Irony eh.

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35287974)

Chelsea look poor, devoid of ideas...only player looking good is torres..who'd figure :D

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35288032)

Noooooooo..rooney :(

Originally Posted by Kymmy (Post 35288555)

Swansea though are not playing to bad.. I can possibly see them staying in the premiership next year if they continue

Originally Posted by Kymmy (Post 35288604)

I did say that Aquero would play well with Silva :D

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35288559)

Agreed...though i like an open game..swansea look like they will get taken apart by most teams if they play this open...but I'll enjoy watching them play :)

Originally Posted by sherer (Post 35288623)

just catching up on MOTD. have to say i do wonder what is happening with the game these days.

In the Liverpool game Suarez trips over his own legs and it's a certain pen.

In the Newcastle game Song trod on Barton and then went down injured. When he realised no one had seen it his injury then seemed to heel itself and he gets up to shout at the ref and the fourth official.

Still the same old diving and cheating going on that there was last season and once again the officials don't act on it and the presenters cover it up by trying to find the smallest contact they can on super zoomed in slo motion to justify it

Originally Posted by nffc (Post 35288624)

Not if they are good enough at keeping hold of the ball, they have some dangerous attackers who will still have it in the premiership really. You can't cope with pace and skill which is what Sinclair and Dyer have and literally every one of them is brilliant on the ball.

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 35288650)

Barton is to blame for getting stamped on? Injury or no Injury its a red card.

I do however fully agree with what you are saying. Commentators claim they 'Maybe' went over a little too easy when its as clear as day a dive right in front of you.

They do zoom in and find the tiniest bit of contact that somehow send the player flying across the penalty box! Diving should be a straight red card but it seems its now acceptable in the game.

Originally Posted by sherer (Post 35288688)

Does anyone remember playing Touch Rugby at school. It's the version where so you don't get injured or hurt you play the girls version and just have to touch someone for a tackle. Sometimes I feel like that is what they are doing with football now.

Originally Posted by sherer (Post 35288688)

There are some younger people who have only ever seen the game played like it is today which is a very sad state of affairs and is starting to make me lose my love of the game

Originally Posted by iadom (Post 35288700)

Song charged with violent conduct by FA.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35288782)

2) UEFA are going to ask Manchester City questions about their stadium deal. All eyes will be on UEFA and if they now enforce FFP.

Originally Posted by Russ (Post 35288822)

Let's hope they get City ripped apart :)

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35288701)

No surprise. The idiot will now be suspended for the Liverpool and United games. Idiot. Baptism of fire for Frimpong. He was good in pre-season but I don't think he suspected to be involved in such big games! Still that's how Sczesney broke into the team and he is now our no 1 keeper.

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35288914)

Sigh...it is ok to bribe officials..and be corrupt...it isn't right to spend your own money..strange

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35288929)

Not much implication of UEFA in the FIFA scandals.



Most clubs have built up organically. United and Liverpool etc all built up large fan bases which allowed them to afford better players, better stadiums, more money and so on in a sustainable fashion. Those two clubs especially became big before the era of big money transfers by winning trophies and playing good football.

The key issue is that can sustain the level of spending as a club, protecting the club from going under. If the owners of Man City suddenly left they wouldn't be able to support themselves. At least with United they can spend big because they earned it, by winning things before.

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35288946)

Are you saying that none of these clubs were supported by resources beyond their means in prior years?

And as I said...it isn't fair play. It is merely making up rules to benefit a few people, mainly clubs who have built up support before.

Fair play it is not. If you want fair play...make the finances the same for all...but please don't call this set up fair play

Personally, if people want to spend their money...they are entitled.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy (Post 35289187)

I tend to agree, the G14 or however many it is now seem determined not to allow anyone else into their exclusive little club

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35289197)

Well Arsenal were lucky last night to get away with a 1-0 win against Udinese and have many problems to boot as well as at times they looked all over the place in the match, up front Chamakh was absolutely woeful but walcott was probably their best player but midfield and defence would be my concerns as Song again went missing in his so called defensive midfield role and Rosicky looks past it by a mile and defensively their full backs are alright going forward but are not that good at defending.
All in all Arsenal play lovely football but my concerns are when they have not got the ball and also Arsenal lack leaders on the pitch as well like Adams/Petit/Vieira and until they get these type of players in their side l fear that they will struggle to win anything.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35289209)

G14 disbanded ages ago with 191 clubs being members of the European Club Association take their place. From the UK the following clubs are members:

• Arsenal
• Aston Villa
• Chelsea
• Everton
• Fulham
• Liverpool
• Manchester City
• Manchester United
• Newcastle United
• Tottenham Hotspur

It's rather disingenuous to claim it's only the rich protecting themselves albeit that was probably the prime motivation for them. It's main goal is to curb wage inflation, when clubs are purchased by rich oil barons who think nothing of paying wages of over £200,000 a week this creates upward pressure on the clubs who are constrained by actual economics. Wages bills in football are already absurd and unless we create some kind of pressure to push them down they will only get higher and higher.

As an example the Football League, hardly the preserve of the rich, are also considering implementing a Fair Play System.

---------- Post added at 09:15 ---------- Previous post was at 09:08 ----------



The defence were fine. They were the reason that Arsenal did a get a draw. Sagna and our center-backs were dominant and when they did make a mistake our keeper was equal to the challenge. They were also confident and clam in dealing with set-pieces.

In midfield we need someone to replace Nasri and Fabregas but Wilshere was also missing last night and he is quite an important player for us now. Has the creativity and control that was missing last night.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35289213)

l think you will find looking back at the match that the defence was all over the place and were lucky not to concede at least three goals and what happens if Wilshere gets injured because if he does Arsenal are up the creek without a paddle and even if he is fit Arsenal lack strength in depth in many areasand need to purchase at least 3 or 4 quality players to replace the ones that have left.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35289216)

I was at the match and the defence was not all over the place. That's why Udinese only had 2 decent chances - one where the defence did make a mistake and a player ran though the gap - and the other from a free kick. Both incidents were well saved by Szcesney. Otherwise the defence was decent. Koscielny incepted a lot of dangerous passes, Vermaelen was solid, Sagna as good as he usually is and Jenkinson, looking like a steal at £1 million, was winning every ball in the air. All in all the defence ensured that Udinese were restricted to speculative long-range, off-target, shots.

What did happen was a lack of control and successful passing in midfield putting a lot of pressure on the defence. There was a lack of creativity and a lack of chances created, the only reason we broke though at all was because of Walcott's pace. They gave the ball away cheaply and that was discouraging. We need new midfielders and probably a new striker and left back. We'll see what happens.

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 35289264)

A new striker? Like Chelsea then 4 strikers is not enough?

V.Persie
Chamakh
Gervinho
Walcott (Wants to be upfront)

Fancy swapping one of them for Ameobi?

Originally Posted by DocDutch (Post 35289524)

Don't know much about gervinho yet and chamakh hasn't done much last season but have to say that van persie and walcott are both more supplying then scorers so we need a goal poacher

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35289537)

Yes someone in the Henry/Wright class.

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35289688)

Who's Henry Wright?..is that one of the Wright brothers? :D

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35289693)

Thierry Henry and Ian Wright.:D

Originally Posted by colin25 (Post 35289702)

lol..I couldn't resist.

But I agree with you..Arsenal is badly lacking a decent striker...van persie is injured too much...and the others don't know how to poach goals..they want to dance through the defence....if it was "come dancing "premiership..i would fancy arsenal to win hands down :D

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35289758)

The theory and hope is that Walcott will be pushed toward and play striker down the center ala Henry.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35289759)

But has Walcott got the physical strength of Henry and that would be my worry about employing him in that position.

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35289773)

Spurs have took the lead at Hearts with Van Der Vaart scoring

Originally Posted by denphone (Post 35289776)

2.0 to Spurs now with Defoe scoring after a wonderful move.

Originally Posted by Kymmy (Post 35289955)

You'll have to move down south Derek... I believe that there's a good job going in London that only has 4 candidates atm ;)

Originally Posted by Derek (Post 35289926)

A grim night for Scottish football all round. A last minute sickener for Rangers after dominating the first half, Celtic unable to score at home against a Swiss side fielding 4 ineligible players and Hearts getting a doing off Spurs.

Sad times and shows how far Scottish football has fallen in only a few years. :(

Originally Posted by Niles Crane (Post 35289981)

The state of Scottish football is unsurprising for a number of reasons. In particular this (courtesy of the Swiss Ramble blog):

Originally Posted by adzii_nufc (Post 35290328)

Brilliant defensive display by Newcastle the past 2 games. Colo has looked brilliant and no signs of missing enrique yet.

Dan Gosling has looked awesome in pre-season and almost scored today too.

Originally Posted by Kymmy (Post 35290352)

A win over 10 men isn't something to feel "over the moon" about :rolleyes: