The Football.....

[SpokeyDokey]

Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get eight-year bans

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35144652

Good - absolute blight on the game this pair. And the others that have already been dealt with.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Hope he recovers (Pavel Srnicek) - only a young guy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35150322

 

[Roadhump]

I blame Sakho. A liability. He plays football like I used to: no finess, no skill, no ability other than to muscle someone off the ball. The one thing he has that I didn't is a deep belief he's actually good. Hence all the attempted tricks and backheels etc, you're a defender just feckin hoof it!!

Strange player, in the derby at Goodison a couple of months ago, I thought he was LFC's best player, although he looked very gangly and uncoordinated in his body movements. Some reds I know think he's okay but others think he's not the future.....a loose canon as well according to a few rumours.

 

[Inertia]

It's appeal time!

He has given us some classic quotes like his idea to make womens football more popular

"Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts.

"Women's football is definitely my baby. I consider myself, a little bit, as the godfather of women's football in Fifa."

and his pearl of wisdom to gay fans thinking of going to Qatar

"I'd say they should refrain from any sexual activities."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32942104

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Anyone else watching City/Gooners tonight.

Will either be spectacular or a damp squib.

I would normally want one or t'other to win depending on how they were doing against Chelsea but as that is irrelevant at the mo' I guess I'll have to support the London team - much as it grieves me.

 

[13 rider]

Anyone else watching City/Gooners tonight.

Will either be spectacular or a damp squib.

I would normally want one or t'other to win depending on how they were doing against Chelsea but as that is irrelevant at the mo' I guess I'll have to support the London team - much as it grieves me.

As a Leicester fan a draw wouldn't be a bad result

 

[vickster]

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Citeh are going to be brutal and I don't mean it in a good way.

 

[MarkF]

I can give the Valencia bloke time to bed in, but how long has that Mangala been there? Surely any top £2m division three CB would be better? I love the attacking instincts of Manuel Pellegrini but he has blind spots, Mangala and Navas cannot cope with PL football, they are rubbish.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I can give the Valencia bloke time to bed in, but how long has that Mangala been there? Surely any top £2m division three CB would be better? I love the attacking instincts of Manuel Pellegrini but he has blind spots, Mangala and Navas cannot cope with PL football, they are rubbish.

Mangala is a joke.

Walcott - what a scorcher!

Decent watch but very odd by Wenger chasing a third instead of closing it out.

I think my money is on Arsenal this season - both Manc's are way off the pace and if Wenger can't take advantage of his big three opposition being in the doldrums then he really doesn't deserve the job.

 

[AndyRM]

Totally agree @SpokeyDokey about the Manchester clubs.

United in particular have lost the plot. Moyes was a good bet but given no time and Mata as an apology for the crumbling side that Fergie knackered him with. Van Gaal has spunked a quarter of a billion on mediocrity.

 

[Roadhump]

Mangala is a joke.

Walcott - what a scorcher!

Decent watch but very odd by Wenger chasing a third instead of closing it out.

I think my money is on Arsenal this season - both Manc's are way off the pace and if Wenger can't take advantage of his big three opposition being in the doldrums then he really doesn't deserve the job.

Interesting stats on MOTD last night - in 5 out of the last 6 seasons the team top at Christmas has gone on to become champions - encouragement for Leicester, but tend to agree with you that Arsenal are most likely to win it. Some of their movement is fantastic although they do seem to over complicate things in the opposition box at times.

 

[AndyRM]

Meanwhile in Kilmarnock, it looks like we'll be losing Greg Kiltie to Hibs for nothing as we've allowed his contract to run down and offered insulting terms to try and keep him.

The way the club is structured and run is infuriating. We've lost great players for next to nothing so often in the last few years.

Bryson - Our club captain to Derby for £150k
Sammon - Goal machine to Wigan for £100k
Kelly - Ran our midfield, went to Bristol City for £80k
Shiels - Went (on the advice of his father, our manager at the time) to the Huns for free
Bell - Huns for free
Fowler - Loaned to Cowdenbeath (FFS!!!) ended up at Queen of the South
Dayton - To Oldham on a free, having rejected a new contract
Harkins - Dundee on a free, now scores against us for fun
Heffernan - Hibs on a free

Granted, these are likely names most of you won't recognise, but in the context of Scottish fitba these are all quality players who we shouldn't have let go. Especially not Fowler, who held our defence together for many years.

The last decent fee we got for a player was Steven Naismith for whom we got £2m (almost certainly ill-gotten) off the Huns.

It does my head in that the club places so little value in key players, seeming happy to punt them for short term book balancing over a successful longer term.

 

[User482]

Meanwhile, the latest fotball stadiums quiz: http://www.theguardian.com/football...iums-then-and-now-interactive-quiz-part-three

I got 9/10, mostly through inspired guesswork.

 

[Andrew_P]

Arsenal looked comfortable until Wenger did his substitutions. Wenger always looks a nervous wreck on the bench and hasn't got a clue how to celebrate a goal properly.