Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The beautiful game - the boys are back
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Oscar the Grouch: Why? Two words - TV money. The Euro clubs rely on it. If they rebel against FIFA, they run the risk of being kicked out of the competitions which give them the money they need and crave.
FIFA don't run any of the competitions those clubs enter, with the exception of the "oh hey, is that thing still going" Club World Championship. UEFA run the Champions League, and the various national leagues are run by their national FAs. And frankly, I think those organisations would rather rebel against FIFA than have their clubs secede from them and form a breakaway league.
I mean, can you imagine UEFA just sitting back while the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Man Utd, etc. decide to bugger off and organise their own competition? Because let's be absolutely honest here - if they did that, the TV money would follow them without a shadow of a doubt. The big competitions make money because the big clubs are in them, not the other way around.
-------------------- Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Proper football back tomorrow!!
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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South Coast Kevin
Shipmate
# 16130
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Posted
Okay everyone, when do I start seriously thinking Southampton could do something special this season? We're battering Sunderland 7-0 and sitting pretty in third place, only behind Chelsea and Man City.
I suppose I start believing we can qualify for Europe when we get a result against a top team - of them, we've only met Liverpool and Spurs so far and lost narrowly both times.
-------------------- My blog - wondering about Christianity in the 21st century, chess, music, politics and other bits and bobs.
Posts: 3309 | From: The south coast (of England) | Registered: Jan 2011
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Oscar the Grouch
Adopted Cascadian
# 1916
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by South Coast Kevin: Okay everyone, when do I start seriously thinking Southampton could do something special this season? We're battering Sunderland 7-0 and sitting pretty in third place, only behind Chelsea and Man City.
I suppose I start believing we can qualify for Europe when we get a result against a top team - of them, we've only met Liverpool and Spurs so far and lost narrowly both times.
Full Time - 8-0!
I'm shocked (pleasantly, of course). Sadly, if this goes on much longer, Koeman won't be at the Saints for too long. Even if he turns down the soon-to-be-vacant Netherlands post, I can see him being snapped up by a "bigger club". Perhaps Spurs will come acalling again??
-------------------- Faradiu, dundeibáwa weyu lárigi weyu
Posts: 3871 | From: Gamma Quadrant, just to the left of Galifrey | Registered: Dec 2001
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Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
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Posted
Yeah, what's up with Southampton? Good on them though. I've got nothing against them.
Nice win for West Ham yesterday. Fourth in the Premiership. Sakho is on fire. That's six goals in six starts. We're above the Arse snd Spuds, which is nice.
Posts: 2606 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2013
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
I tell you what, I dread to think what Real are going to do to Liverpool this week....
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Coleman and Barkley are back, Baines and Lukaku hit form and Everton keep a clean sheet!
Be afraid, be very afraid.
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Arsene really made an arse of himself when being interviewed by the pretty journalist, didn't he?
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Sioni Sais: Coleman and Barkley are back, Baines and Lukaku hit form and Everton keep a clean sheet!
Be afraid, be very afraid.
You've been due, for sure.
United, on the other hand, continue to struggle. We visit Old Trafford on Sunday, and I must say, it's been a very long time since I've felt this confident before that particular fixture. In fact, logic and reason suggests that the odds are so much in our favour, I'm considering making an offering to the football gods to make sure that they don't take this opportunity to remind everyone who is really in charge!
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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South Coast Kevin
Shipmate
# 16130
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Imaginary Friend: I tell you what, I dread to think what Real are going to do to Liverpool this week....
I was listening on the radio, and Liverpool were indeed taught a bit of a lesson, by the sounds of things. Mr Rodgers still has some work to do, especially with the defence - yet they've spent a small fortune on defenders recently, hmmm.
I'm out this afternoon so won't be able to properly follow the mighty Saints as they try to make up ground on Chelsea at the top of the Prem Also, for one afternoon only, I am a Sam Allardyce fan - hoping West Ham can nick points off Man City.
Any other hopes, dreams, fears for this round of fixtures?
-------------------- My blog - wondering about Christianity in the 21st century, chess, music, politics and other bits and bobs.
Posts: 3309 | From: The south coast (of England) | Registered: Jan 2011
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
We're away at United, so the pressure is on us to expose their rather weak defence and run up a cricket score. Problem is, one of our strikers has a groin strain, one was hospitalized with a stomach virus this week, and the other is too old to run around for ninety minutes. So we either have to draft in a youngster*, rely on a non-specialist, or hope that the old man can cope with sixty minutes or so and we can win the game in that time. Personally, I suspect that José will go for the latter option.
Other than that, apart from the obligatory things** I don't know that I'm too bothered about other results. I reckon the league is in our hands (mathematically, that's certainly true) so I'm just going to focus on our own efforts. The rest will come out in the wash.
* During our European Cup game this week, we gave a debut to seventeen year old forward Dom Solanke. He looks like a decent prospect, although I wouldn't go so far as to say he's ready to lead the line for us at Old Trafford.
** Liverpool loss, QPR comedy, vague benevolence to Everton, and wishing the very worst on Leeds and Bristol City.
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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South Coast Kevin
Shipmate
# 16130
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Posted
Your lot had better get a result against Man U (I expect you will, tbh...) as Koeman's red and white army are hot on your heels! Second place, oh my goodness.
-------------------- My blog - wondering about Christianity in the 21st century, chess, music, politics and other bits and bobs.
Posts: 3309 | From: The south coast (of England) | Registered: Jan 2011
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Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
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Posted
Another good win for West Ham and another goal for Sakho. Still only the start of the season but a good start nevertheless. Is it too early to start dreaming or will they fade and die, as the song goes?
Posts: 2606 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2013
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Well how about that?
José did indeed go with the geriatric striker. Who proceeded to score a goal direct from a corner, but otherwise look every bit his age.
At one point, after defending a corner, he was running back up the field away from our box, and I was reminded of an old steam engine lumbering away from the platform. Chug. Chug. Chug, chug. Chug, chug, chug. Chugchugchugchug, chugchugchugchugchugchugchug whooooopwhoooooooooop!
It's a bit sad to see, really.
And while I don't want to blame the referee for our loss (we should have scored a second goal in the second half while we were dominating the game) I am intrigued as to how Ryan Shawcross can give away a penalty for wrestling in the box last week, but one not be given against the United defenders this week. Am I being one-eyed for hoping for a bit of consistency?
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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deano
princess
# 12063
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Posted
Aw bless, and you so wanted a cricket score...
-------------------- "The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
Posts: 2118 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: Nov 2006
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Of course I wanted a cricket score. Doesn't every fan always want their team to win resoundingly? I was never very confident that it would happen though.
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Somebody needs sacking at White Hart Lane!
I owe my colleague a Guinness: his side Arsenal got better. The powers that be at my side have decided that defense is no longer necessary. I was so upset I fast-forwarded through the second half once the score was 2-1! I've got some eight-year-olds that need a coach...
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Sir Kevin: Somebody needs sacking at White Hart Lane!
The 'Manager of the Year' award is well deserved, but not within a single club. It's about as good for a football club as the Year of the Four Emperors was for Rome.
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Tukai
Shipmate
# 12960
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Posted
The big football news from the other side of the world is that Western Sydney Wanderers have just won the Asian Champions League! Along the way they beat in succession the champion clubs of Korea, China and Saudi Arabia, each of which has a player budget about 10 times greater than the Wanderers, a club which has been in existence only for the past 3 years.
The WSW manager is Tony Popovic, once of Crystal Palace, so those who remember him won't be surprised to learn that a strong defence (and a fanatical support base!) are the keys to their success.
-------------------- A government that panders to the worst instincts of its people degrades the whole country for years to come.
Posts: 594 | From: Oz | Registered: Sep 2007
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Brendan Rodgers: Buzzword charlatan.
Resting those players mid-week worked so well for you, didn't it? Gerrard was a paragon of pace and vitality in midfield, Balotelli the picture of an engaged centre forward, and youthful energy effervesced from Sterling. And you lost your third game in eight days.
Great work, Brendan!
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Some odd results in the Euro 2016 qualifiers: Germany 'only' scored four against Gibraltar but the highlight must be the Faroe Islands winning in Greece!
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
The Tinkerman just got sacked off the back of this result. Shame really, I still have a soft spot for him.
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Get the Kleenex. Stan is back.
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
So, when was the last time that Arsenal v United had so little bearing on the title race?
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Imaginary Friend: So, when was the last time that Arsenal v United had so little bearing on the title race?
Is it permissible to say that I don't f*****g care?
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
For sure. And in fairness, I only "care" because it's gloriously amusing.
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Arseholes were fecking awful last weekend! Can my Spurs catch them up? A pint of Guinness at the local pub with a colleague rests on your predictions!
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
That was one of the most impressive bits of skill I've ever seen. Fabulous!
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
I was in Sunderland on Saturday to witness Chelsea's laboured efforts first hand. I'm sincerely hoping they were saving up their sparkle to give Spurs a proper thrashing tonight. (I'll be at that game too!)
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Mo****f****r, Mo****f*****r,M*****f*****r! - You are so fired! You ruined my Spurs - now we are a laughing stocK! You should be burned in effigy and all of your wages should be forfeited. You are the manager from Hell!
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
(Go to Hell IF!) I hate you too! You are a barm pot!
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Smudgie
Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
Sir K, a bit of banter on the sports threads is all well and good (and saves a poor sportsphobic host from dying of utter boredom when she reads it), but can you just make sure that you keep it appropriate for a circus thread. That comment was on the verge of crossing the line from banter to personal attack. Play nicely, boys, please.
Smudgie (Circus host) *hopping down from the hosting rock*
-------------------- Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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The Weeder
Shipmate
# 11321
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Posted
Catching up on Ship affairs after a busy time, I found this thread. I naturally assumed that 'the Beautiful Game'was Mornington Crescent
I think I need to get out more.
-------------------- Still missing the gator
Posts: 2542 | From: LaLa Land | Registered: Apr 2006
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
3-0 is alright by me. Seeing Didier score was great, and Rémy's goal happened right in front of me, so I was very happy. Anyone who leave Vertonghen the wrong'un on his arse is a hero! And the Spurs fans mostly left early and were booing their team so the Schadenfreude kept me warm all the way home. Most enjoyable. [ 05. December 2014, 18:03: Message edited by: Imaginary Friend ]
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by The Weeder: I think I need to get out more.
Or alternatively, you could just start a MC thread. We haven't had one for aaaaages...
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
You are so fired, you Portuguese-speaking idiot! Go back to effing Sunderland and stop ruining my Spurs!
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Ummmm....
Perhaps I have misunderstood you. But Mauricio Pochettino is Argentine, and played his professional football in Spain. So he is likely a Spanish speaker by birth and upbringing, not a speaker of Portuguese. And what's wrong with speaking Portuguese, anyway? The best manager in the world does, and he's doing all right!
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Starbug
Shipmate
# 15917
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Posted
Pochettino did very well at Southampton (not Sunderland - we're the other team in red and white stripes). Maybe it's the players..?
-------------------- “Oh the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do? Assemble a cabinet at them?” ― The Day of the Doctor
Posts: 1189 | From: West of the New Forest | Registered: Sep 2010
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An die Freude
Shipmate
# 14794
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Starbug: Pochettino did very well at Southampton (not Sunderland - we're the other team in red and white stripes). Maybe it's the players..?
But then again Southampton do even better without him - maybe that was the players..?
-------------------- "I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable." Walt Whitman Formerly JFH
Posts: 851 | From: Proud Socialist Monarchy of Sweden | Registered: May 2009
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
But half the players are now "succeeding" at Liverpool. It's a mystery.
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Imaginary Friend: But half the players are now "succeeding" at Liverpool. It's a mystery.
Another is doing as well at Old Trafford too.
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
Beautiful my eye! Spurs manager is a complete fuckup: he should go back to Portugal! That said, I am also a supporter of the Oakland Raiders, another team run by Freddy Fuckup, the man who can do no good. They should both be in charge of teenage girls...
God knows I'd like to see Spurs in their traditional place in the top 4: better to stop the hemorrhaging now by firing both of them! Does John Madden have no male offspring with talent? I miss Super Bowl 9 in 1976 when Charles Phillips, my junior varsity quarterback at BHS was backup quarterback for the Raiders at Super Bowl 9, circa 1976 at the fabulous Rose Bowl. I no longer follow the NFL since Madden retired and left his former team in the lurch!
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Some interesting ties in the FA Cup third round draw.
United will have to travel to either Accrington or Yeovil. There's a replay of last year's final. Liverpool travel to AFC Wimbledon, and Palace have to go to Dover Athletic. Plenty of opportunity for a bit of "giant killing".
(And Chelsea? We've got a relatively tame home draw against Watford.)
-------------------- "We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass." Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Sir Kevin: God knows I'd like to see Spurs in their traditional place in the top 4:
Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992-1993 Spurs have been in the top 4 exactly twice. Everton, have done practically as well and the highlight of our Premier League history has been staying in it! (three 17th place finishes, including one injury-time turnaround).
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
That said, what are the odds of the Portuguese bumbling idiot getting fired and Palace choking on their own vomit and losing three-nil or worse on Wednesday? Likely about the same as Happy Harry Redknapp coming to the rescue of Spurs before the end of 2014? Is this season to be completely written off? I am not a realist. Miracles have happened before. If worse comes to worse, I owe a colleague a pint of Guinness if as is likely his side (Arsenal) remains in the top 6 and ahead of Spurs...
-------------------- If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
A fairly ugly advertisement for the beautiful game at The Bridge today. Apart from a couple of very good goals there was a contender for Worst Challenge of the Year (Huddlestone, Hull) and three outright dives by Chelsea players, despite which Jose Mourinho asserts that his players do not dive. FFS three of them did just that and two were booked for it. Had the other been booked Chelsea would have deservedly been a man down. Still, a big, rich club at home, what do you expect?
-------------------- "He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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