On the Eve of the new Season...

[Barcelona]

quite happy for today´s game in Glasgow. we may be recovering Ronaldinho, Henry, Messi and Deco, and Etoo is back from the Africa cup. These players along with Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and the rest can fight for the Champions League and the spanish league, difficult but not impossible.

[Frank Gallagher]

All I can say is I'd rather tie 1-1 away than 0-0 at home   :p  
 
 Also, what am I missing with Gerrard? I find him totally average. Scum do quite well with a team of average players and Gerrard is just one of them, as it shows only too well when he's on a squad of great players like England. (England's underachievement accepted BTW, but they do still have great players)

[godsshoeshine]

when i watch liverpool play well, they have 10 guys doing exactly what the system tells them to do and stevie g freelancing. the way he plays and the what he says in the press, he does not believe in the system and he doesnt believe in rafa. now, if rafa can grab 4th and keep his job, his best move would be to sell gerrard. he needs to buy the players to compete with arse, manusa and chelski in the league and gerrard would get them a boatload of cash. of course you even mention that to a liverpool supporter and they get all    :eek:   on you, so i dont know if he could get away with it
 
 of course they could finish fifth, fire rafa, lose a bunch of the players that love him. i know they have some financial issues, maybe smackie can shed a little more light on that though
 
 i guess what i'm trying to say is i pretty much agree with mankie

[vansmack]

Saturday, February 23
 
 7:30am Birmingham City vs. Arsenal (Set)
 9:45am Liverpool vs. Middlesbrough (Set)
 10:00am Fulham vs. West Ham (FSC)
 12:00pm Newcastle vs. Manchester United (FSC)
 12:15pm Portsmouth vs. Sunderland (Set Del)
 4:30pm Wigan vs. Derby (FSC)  
 
 Sunday, February 24
 
 7:30am Reading vs. Aston Villa (Set)
 9:30am Carling Cup - Final: Tottenham vs. Chelsea (Set)
 11:00am Blackburn vs. Bolton (FSC)

[Frank Gallagher]

Shoeshine, one single player is never bigger than the whole....Beckham, Stam and Nistlerooy can attest to that. United fans couldn't believe Fergie dumped any of them but we got over it and moved on. (even though I still think he was wrong to get rid of Becks) Admittedly scousers aren't exactly blessed with intelligence, so probably couldn't get past the fact Rafa got rid of one of their own, but anyone with a brain can see what a great manager he is by what he's achieved with the players he'd got.
 
 Put it this way...if they sack Rafa and O'Neill gets the job, Villa should jump all over Rafa and they'd be getting the better deal in my opinion. My 80 year old mother could win the SPL with Celtic for crying out loud.

[brennser]

that was almost too easy - Newcastle have big big problems

[godsshoeshine]

guess kev improved newcastle 2 goals vs fat sam. only 5 to go
 
 guess that wasnt technically on sam, but i'm kidding anyway

[Frank Gallagher]

I guess Keegans tactics haven't changed over the years....but you think he might have learned by now that you do actually need a defensive game plan!!!
 
 Congrats to Spurs....chelski won't win shit this season, and hopefully the rich russian will get board and they'll be playing Leeds United by 2010. If Leeds are still around in 2010 that is.

[godsshoeshine]

i think its the players more than the tactics. no passing from the central mids, sub par passing from the mids, attackers that cant make plays, shambolic defenders, and ZOGS IS NOT A LEFT BACK
 
 but then again, apparently no one else on the team is either. sam set us back even further than we were. seems like nearly everyone below newcastle lost this weekend, though

[vansmack]

SATURDAY MARCH 1
 
 9:30am Fulham vs. Manchester Utd (Set)
 9:30am West Ham vs. Chelsea (Set Xtra)
 10:00am Arsenal  vs .  Aston Villa (FSC)  
 12:00pm Manchester City  vs. Wigan  (FSC)
 2:45pm West Ham vs. Chelsea (SDC)
 4:30pm Newcastle  vs. Blackburn (FSC)  
 6:00pm Birmingham City vs. Tottenham (SDC)
 7:45pm Derby County vs. Sunderland (SDC)
 
 SUNDAY, MARCH 2
 
 7:30am Bolton vs. Liverpool (KO 8:30am - SET)
 11:00am Everton  vs. Portsmouth (FSC)

[godsshoeshine]

sdc = setanta?

[vansmack]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  sdc = setanta?

Setanta Delayed (I'm not sure what the C stands for, communication, channel?) but it simply means that the match is not a live Setanta broadcast.
 
 And of course Set Xtra means channel 670 on DirecTV.  It's not available on Cable or Dish, just ITVN, Broadband and DirecTV.

[godsshoeshine]

interesting, never saw it called that before. of course setanta will spoil all three during the man u match   :roll:  
 
 my goal for saturday is not to throw up in my mouth. could be the first time for a league game in 2008

[vansmack]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  interesting, never saw it called that before.

When I get the info off of Setanta's site, I usually change it to (Set Del).  I just got lazy this week.

[godsshoeshine]

Originally posted by god's shoeshine:
  my goal for saturday is not to throw up in my mouth. could be the first time for a league game in 2008

unsuccessful attempt