Link: Nike threatens to cancel United sponsorship

A bit of a long post this one for a change.... 20 years after the most shameful night in European Cup history, Liverpool produced the single best comeback in a European Cup final. A few teams have come back from 3-0 down before in the European Cup, but only in a two-legged tie. Never in a final. Last season AC Milan also lost a three goal lead in the competition. They beat Deportivo La Coruna 4-1 in the Quarter-Final 1st leg, before losing the 2nd leg 4-0. (The best comeback in a European Cup semi-final was in 1986, when Venables' Barcelona lost the 1st leg to Gothenborg 3-0, before winning the return leg at the Nou Camp 3-0 and going through on penalties.) Amid the scenes of jubilation from the scousers last night, are there one or two lessons to be learned about player loyalty ? Shortly before Euro 2004, the odious Peter Kenyon made furtive contact with Steven Gerrard and offered to significantly increase his salary if he made the move south to Stamford Bridge. Gerrard agonised over the decision (later admitting that one of the reasons he had a poor Euro 2004 was because his mind was in turmoil weighing up the possible move.) In the end, Steven decided to stay with Liverpool for at least another year and turn his back on the extra Russian roubles. It was a rare display of turning down a bigger pay cheque. Most players only see the £ signs and don't give a monkey's toss about loyalty. Gerrard was rewarded last night by lifting aloft the biggest club competition in Europe. Shortly after Gerrard decided to stay last year, Michael Owen made the opposite decision. The young England striker (who has admitted to losing 30 grand at a time on gambling and playing cards on the England team coach) decided to leave Anfield and try out a bit of Spanish paella in Madrid. I suspect that Michael may have watched last night's enthralling contest and wished that he'd displayed a similar loyalty to Liverpool last summer - rather than spending much of his time last season on the Real Madrid bench. Never has the old cliche about football being a 'game of two halves' been more apt than last night. In the first half, Milan produced some sublime attacking football. In the 2nd half they went to pieces. Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti described the three goals conceded in six second half minutes as "madness", while defender Alessandro Nesta described it as a "blackout". Milan should have won in extra time. Some of the Liverpool players were dying on their feet with cramp and Shevchenko must be wondering how the hell he missed from a yard out in the closing minutes. A few moans.... While Liverpool's comeback was a heroic one, I continue to hate the Sham-pions League format. I think it's a disgrace that clubs who fail to qualify for the group stage are moved to the UEFA Cup and get to enter that competition at the third round stage. The Champions League should be for League champions only (and the team defending the trophy.) Also, as has been mentioned by others on this thread, I struggle to identify with so many foreigners in an English team. Football has become too cosmopolitan for my tastebuds. The Liverpool side which lost to Juventus in 1985 only had one non-UK/Irish player - the goalkeeper. Liverpool played an attacking 4-3-3 lineup that night, with Grobbelaar being the only non-British Isles player in the team. Grobbelaar Neal, Hansen, Lawrenson, Beglin Nicol, Wark, Whelan Dalglish, Rush, Walsh. Although the 1985 result didn't really matter after 39 lives had been lost, the Juventus penalty was for a foul outside the box, while Ronnie Whelan was clearly brought down inside the penalty area - and the penalty wasn't given. Apparently, according to the Liverpool players, the ref waved away their penalty claim saying: "I'm not allowing this match to go to extra time." Those who don't like a few stats, you're advised to look away now.... Liverpool's victory last night means that they've now overtaken Ajax and Bayern Munich in the all-time winners table. Real Madrid 9 wins Milan 6 Liverpool 5 Ajax 4 Bayern Munich 4 Wednesday's result also means that England as a country are now level with Italy and Spain - each with 10 victories apiece. Countrywise list of winners: Italy 10 Spain 10 England 10 Netherlands 6 (West) Germany 6 Portugal 4 France 1 Scotland 1 Romania 1 Yugoslavia 1 But whereas Italy have won only 10 out of 24 European Cup finals, England have won 10 out of 12. (The only two English defeats being Leeds to Bayern Munich in 1975 and Liverpool to Juventus in 1985.) Liverpool's comeback, as I said, was the best ever in a single European tie. In terms of two-legged ties, one team has come back from being 5-0 down. In the 3rd round of the 1987/88 UEFA Cup, Panathinaikos came back from being 5-0 down against Honved Budapest to win 7-6 on aggregate. Twice before has a team come back from being 4 goals down in European competition. In the 2nd round of the 1984/85 UEFA Cup, Queens Park Rangers beat Partizan Belgrade 6-2 in the 1st leg at Loftus Road, before Partizan won the return leg 4-0, going through on the away goals rule - 6-6 on aggregate. In the 1985/86 UEFA Cup 3rd round, Borussia Monchengladbach beat Real Madrid 5-1 in the 1st leg. The Spaniards won the 2nd leg 4-0 to go through on away goals - 5-5 on aggregate - Madrid going on to win the trophy that year. Final moan... I did mention this earlier on another thread, but it's 25 years since Nottingham Forest successfully defended the European Cup, beating Hamburg in the 1980 final I'm not foolish enough to think that Forest should still be playing in Europe, but the players should at least be trying in every match. This season, with Forest becoming the first ever European Cup winners to drop down into the third tier of domestic competition, the players have been an utter disgrace to the Forest shirt - going out on heavy booze benders during the middle of a relegation battle. I hope that some of the Forest players watched last night's heroics and were suitably ashamed of themselves.... Incidentally, before the 1980 European Cup final, Cloughie told one of his players, Garry Birtles, that if he didn't go back to the hotel to have a shave, then he wouldn't be playing in the final. I wonder what Cloughie would have made of the various hairstyles of French plonker Mr Cisse...

I dare say that Hughes felt bad about the way Tony's departure was handled and has apologised to him for it. Hughes probably now wishes he had done things differently and had informed Tony earlier before the news leaked in the press. I hope that John Williams and the directors have also learnt lessons from the episode. With hindsight, it was a big mistake to have a board meeting on the Tuesday about sacking Parkes - and then nobody had the balls to inform Tony before the Friday, by which time it was in the back pages of The Sun. As Tony said back in November: "Usually Blackburn Rovers do things the right way. This time they got it badly wrong." After the circumstances of his departure, this testimonial was the least Tony deserved. Unfortunately, the match last night got little coverage in the national press - whereas the club got hammered (rightly) in the media for Tony's sacking. I'm grateful for the job that Hughesy has done this season to improve our defence and keep us up, but from a public relations perspective, this season hasn't exactly been a resounding success.... Bottom of the Fair Play League with only 32 goals scored - (the worst goalscoring record in the Premiership - West Brom were the only other team to fail to hit 40 goals) , and unwanted press coverage about negative defensive tactics to go with headlines such as "The Worst Sacking in Premiership history" about Tony's departure. For any floating fans in the Lancashire area, this season hasn't done a lot to improve our image and attractiveness as a team. Among other supporters in the rest of the country, we've probably become one of the most unpopular clubs in England, especially with Savage and Dickov in the side. But as the old Millwall chant goes: "No one likes us. We don't care."

Freddy Shepherd has either been on the whisky or is going mad.... Freddy says that Newcastle are second only to Chelsea as the biggest club in the country. (This is despite Newcastle having just finished the season in 14th place - their worst ever position in the Premiership since being promoted in 1993.) Shepherd says: "Newcastle are one of the hardest clubs in the world to manage. We're the second biggest club in the country. Anybody leaving here, unless they go to Chelsea, is going down. Where do you go when you leave Newcastle? We're a big club and a one-club city. Everything is focused on Newcastle United in this city." Link to mad Freddy's thoughts: HERE Titus Bramble meanwhile, has labelled Newcastle's season a "disaster". Bramble says: "It's been a hugely depressing season for the club and for me. Our Premiership form has been the worst since I came to the club. We've pressed the self-destruct button so many times, it's embarrassing. I don't think any of us can look back on this season with any pride because, as a team, we've not done nearly as well as we should." Link to Bramble's thoughts: HERE Graeme Souness will be aware that in the last decade three Newcastle managers have left the club early in the season (by the end of September) after getting off to bad starts - Dalglish, Gullit and Bobby Robson. A bad start for the club next season may well have the Geordie crowd chanting for Mr Souness to go.... Newcastle's managers in the last 20 years: 1985-1988 Willie McFaul 1988-1991 Jim Smith 1991-1992 Ossie Ardiles 1992-1997 Kevin Keegan 1997-1998 Kenny Dalglish 1998-1999 Ruud Gullit 1999-2004 Sir Bobby Robson 2004 - ? Graeme Souness

Sounds like you're doing a bit of PR work for your fellow compatriot, American.... Did you design the new kit for next season as well ?

Only a tiny minority of United fans actually go to Old Trafford. United have something like 75 million 'fans' worldwide - 40 million in Asia, 20 million in Europe and millions more across the world. Glazer will be looking to the overseas markets in countries like China to earn himself big bucks. Glazer probably won't be too bothered if a few thousand supporters boycott Old Trafford - they'll be thousands more armchair fans willing to take their place. His PR campaign has already started - Glazer says that he and his son are "avid lifelong United supporters". They want to keep Ferguson in charge and he'll be given £20m to spend in the summer. (Peanuts compared with the £90m Abramovich spent last summer.) It's laughable that the United fans demonstrating now are complaining about the "heart and soul" being ripped out of the club. The heart and soul went out a long time ago - about 14 years ago in 1991 - when United became a PLC and Martin Edwards said that the club was a "brand" which had to be exploited in the marketplace. They ceased being a football club in the traditional sense a number of years ago. The flames outside Old Trafford might burn - but there'll be thousands more from the prawn sandwich brigade willing to keep pumping money in...

Police have confirmed this afternoon that Wayne Rooney is to be charged with careless driving after being involved in a car crash which left a woman with whiplash injuries. Greater Manchester police said in a statement: "A BMW X5 was in collision with a Nissan Primera. The 19-year-old male driver of the BMW from Cheshire has been reported for summons for driving without due care and attention." In September last year Rooney was found guilty of failing to produce driving documents. He was driving his BMW when he was pulled over by police. He was asked to produce his driving licence and insurance certificate at a police station, but failed to do so.

I agree with Ste B that while it's nice to see Red Scum fans up in arms, I'm concerned that in the long-term the bearded American gnome could be bad news for the whole of football. One of Glazer's main interests would be to increase the profitability of TV rights. A break-up of the collective TV Premiership rights would benefit the richer clubs at the expense of smaller ones. Glazer is a dangerous man - "a snake in sheep's clothing" as one American judge put it. When buying the Buccaneers, he promised the Tampa authorities he would go halves on a new stadium with them. After getting control, he backed out of the deal and gave Tampa two years to build it themselves or he would move the team to another city. The Jewish tycoon then sued Tampa fans for defamation after they complained about being moved to inferior seats at the new stadium. When Glazer owned a trailor park he put up the rents for elderly residents and tried to charge tenants extra for having pets and babies. He was known as the "slumlord". As Glazer's sister says: "No one who has ever worked with him has a good word to say about him. He's incredibly mean." I don't think the United players will be too happy with Glazer taking over. (Especially Rio Ferdinand who's trying to get his hands on a 120 grand a week pay deal.) This is what some of the players had to say earlier in the season: Ole Gunnar Solskaer: "I'm absolutely on the side of the fans who don't want him at the club." Ryan Giggs: "Of course we sympathise with the views of the fans." Rio Ferdinand: "The club's interest should be with people who have grown up with the club and have got it's interest at heart." I hope that Mr Glazer does as much damage to United without damaging the whole of football....

I agree with Ste B that while it's nice to see Red Scum fans up in arms, in the long-term the bearded American gnome could be bad news for the whole of football. One of Glazer's main interests would be to increase the profitability of United's TV rights. I'd be concerned that a break-up of collective TV Premiership rights would benefit the richer clubs at the expense of smaller ones. Glazer is a dangerous man - "a snake in sheep's clothing" as one American judge put it. He's a man who breaks his promises. When buying the Buccaneers, he promised the Tampa authorities he would go halves on a new stadium with them. After getting control, he backed out of the deal and gave Tampa two years to build it themselves or he would move the team to another city. The Jewish tycoon then sued Tampa fans for defamation after they complained about being moved to inferior seats at the new stadium. When Glazer owned a trailor park he put up the rents for elderly residents and tried to charge tenants extra for having pets and babies. He was known as the "slumlord". Glazer's sister says: "No one who has ever worked with him has a good word to say about him. He's incredibly mean." I don't think the United players will be too happy about Glazer taking over. (Especially Rio Ferdinand who's trying to get his hands on a 120 grand a week pay deal.) This is what some of United's players had to say earlier in the season: Ole Gunnar Solskaer: "I'm absolutely on the side of the fans who don't want him at the club." Ryan Giggs: "Of course we sympathise with the views of the fans." Rio Ferdinand: "The club's interest should be with people who have grown up with the club." I hope Mr Glazer does as much damage to United as possible without damaging the whole of football....

Well said Timmy. Rooney is sponsored by Coca-Cola. The two of them are well suited to each other. Too much coke can rot your teeth and turn you into a crazed lunatic - which is what happened to Rooney on that shameful night in Madrid when he charged around the pitch like a demented bull, pushing the Spanish keeper over the stands and ripping his black armband off. Last summer he had the opportunity to demonstrate a bit of loyalty to Everton. "Once a Blue, always a Blue," he said. Instead he chose to spit in the face of Merseyside by joining the one club, the Red Scum, which unites both the blue and red half of Liverpool in loathing.

Jose Mourinho describes himself as "the special one". His team wasn't too special on Tuesday night though. In 90 minutes at Anfield, the only shot that Dudek had to save was from a Lampard free-kick. This was despite having 60% of the possession. Without Duff (and Robben for most of the game) Chelsea lacked the width and penetration needed to open Liverpool up. Without those two wingers, they can be a dull over-cautious side to watch. As Arsene Wenger says, Chelsea don't like taking the attacking initiative early on. They prefer to try to wear their opponents down. For the 2nd successive year, Chelsea lost at the semi-final stage partly due to bad tactics by the manager. Last season against Monaco, it was due to the ridiculous substitutions by Claudio. This year it was due to their lack of attacking invention at Stamford Bridge and Anfield. While the Liverpool goal was obviously highly debatable, Mourinho didn't have the grace to acknowledge the Reds performance. Instead, he complained that the best team lost and that Liverpool were defensive. Mourinho clearly wanted to wait until after Chelsea's European fate was known before signing his new contract. He knew that if Chelsea won the Champions League it would increase his bargaining power and wage packet. Not content with the 750 grand he's getting for his American Express adverts at the moment, Jose wants even more for himself. He's a greedy arrogant man who lacks style, grace and humility. And even with all his money, he still doesn't want to buy a packet of razor blades....

And just over a month ago (after a draw against Portsmouth) - Souness said: "I don't need to moan about lady luck." Link HERE When Newcastle were thrashed 4-1 at home to Fulham earlier in the season, it was the same "lady luck" excuse that's become familiar to Geordies.... Link HERE

As Gordon mentioned on the Baggies thread, Shearer has apparently told Craig Bellamy that if he ever sets foot in Newcastle again he'll knock his block off. Bellamy allegedly taunted Shearer with a gloating text message after Newcastle were beaten 4-1 in the Cup - "You're legs have gone. You're past it. You can kiss my ar*e." As an individual, Bellamy is an odious creature. But it has to be said that without him, Newcastle have looked a poorer team - lacking pace and thrust up front. Bellamy isn't a prolific goalscorer - he managed only 28 goals in 93 Newcastle Premiership appearances. But he does offer pace, directness, purposeful running and plenty of goal-assists. I'd like a player of his ability at Rovers. But I wouldn't want a person of his character at Ewood. By all accounts, Bellamy is a thoroughly obnoxious git - (once allegedly throwing a £50 note at a girl behind the bar, saying: "Here's your wages for the week bitch.") Someone who feigns injury, refuses to play on the wing and is generally a pain in the ar*e and a disruptive influence in the dressing room - is not someone I would warmly welcome at Ewood. But Newcastle seem to have missed him. Souness has won only one of his last 8 matches (The 1st leg against Sporting Lisbon.) In the last six weeks, Newcastle have lost to Aston Villa, Spurs, Norwich and Man Utd in the Premiership, drawn with Portsmouth and lost 4-1 to both Lisbon and United in the cups. And with Celtic 5 points clear of Rangers and looking as if they'll win the SPL, who's having the last laugh here. Is Bellamy missing Newcastle, or are they missing him more? Looks like there's a "Souness Out" thread on a different forum.... http://www.big-football-forum.co.uk/forum/...der=asc&start=0

Fitness levels under Mr Souness... Obviously Garry Flitcroft wasn't a big fan of Souness towards the end, but reading the Flitty interview in the Rovers matchday programme on Saturday, I noticed Garry said of the Hughes regime: "As a squad there is no doubt that we are fitter and stronger than before." Jon Stead went a step further. Last December Jon said: "There has been a massive improvement in our fitness levels since Mark Hughes's arrival." (A link to those comments from Stead HERE) And after coming back from a broken foot last year, Steven Reid said of the Hughes regime: "The training has been magnificent. The lads are feeling fitter and stronger." All of which appears to back up what Sparky said: "Fitness was something we needed to address. Within days of arriving here, I felt the squad needed to be fitter and stronger." Links to some unhappy Geordies: Newcastle are a disgrace to their fans Pampered players

Taken from the NUFC.com website.... The Current Newcastle Squad: Shay Given - top class keeper Stephen Carr - rotten crosser, liability at times Robbie Elliott - can still do a job as cover for injured colleagues Jermaine Jenas - England player, my arse Kieron Dyer - final warning should have meant exactly that Alan Shearer - needs some young legs to do his running Craig Bellamy - not welcome back Patrick Kluivert - disgrace, go somewhere else and pick up your fat salary Charles N'Zogbia - worth developing Amdy Faye - some passing practice required James Milner - big fee, not yet justified Darren Ambrose - out of favour Andy O'Brien - decent squad member but simply not good enough Aaron Hughes - same as O'Brien Nicky Butt - Old Trafford spy Jamie McClen - Gullit liked him.... Jean-Alain Boumsong - quality defender Lee Bowyer - hanging on by a thread, somehow Laurent Robert - self-deluded. Gridiron goal kicker Shola Ameobi - not good enough. A poor man's Tino Tony Caig - reserve keeper, no more no less Michael Chopra - won't be coming back Celestine Babayaro - shirker Martin Brittain - brief sightings Hugo Viana - foppish flop, stay in Portugal

That's the same with me Radagast. When I first saw it, I thought it was intentional. But looking at it again, it appears to be more a case of Van Persie running into the path of Todd. Andy wasn't looking at the Dutchman when his arm went out. That's how I see it as well, Phil. But I suspect that after all the adverse press headlines we've had - the men in grey suits at the FA will be looking to punish "disgraceful" Rovers.... Hughes has criticised the BBC for their coverage of Saturday night's highlights. Sparky said: "They showed four bookings from Rovers and none from Arsenal. I always thought the BBC was supposed to be impartial." (Saturday night's programme was presented by Ray Stubbs rather than Mark's old team-mate and friend Gary Lineker.) In his 1989 autobiography called "Sparky", Hughes said: "The Welsh method is based mostly on the physical side of the game. We haven't got the same amount of skill as the rest of the top teams, so we go out to smother and stiflle rivals with application, workrate and aggression." "Aggression is a natural and fundamental part of my game. I have always believed there has to be a physical, competitive edge otherwise football would never be the spectacle it is. I'm not talking about the naughty bits. You can always do without the nasty, over-the-top stuff that actually threatens the livelihood of players. But tough, uncompromising men are always welcome in my idea of football."

Apologies to Scotty, Tris and any others who may feel I've been overdoing the slagging of Souness a bit recently. My criticisms haven't just been of Souey, but of Newcastle United as a whole and the way the club has been run by Freddy Shepherd. It was a dark day for football when the arrogant Shepherd was allowed back in charge to run the club, after previously boasting about how he liked to charge high prices and rip off Toon supporters. After resigning in disgrace, he should never have been allowed back through the door at St James' Park. Speaking at a conference in Dubai last year, Shepherd said that he had "no sympathy" for smaller clubs who were struggling. He boasted of the fantastic support Newcastle gets - 52,000 at home games. Freddy keeps telling us what a massive club Newcastle are - but rather like Man City, they continually underachieve. Newcastle haven't won the League since the 1920's or any major trophy since 1969. There are 12 teams in the Premiership who have won major trophies since 1970 - and the "mighty" Newcastle are not one of them. Although Bobby Robson did finish 4th, 3rd and 5th in the Premiership in his last three seasons, Shepherd described the club's 5th place finish in 2004, when they missed out on a Champions League place as "unacceptable". If 5th place is unacceptable, how does he describe 13th place now? Under Shepherd's leadership, the club have become a comedy soap opera. He warns the players that they'll be thrown out of the club if they misbehave - and then he lets Bowyer off with a fine after having a punch-up on the pitch. Shepherd should do the decent thing and resign. But with the Geordie natives getting restless though, I wouldn't be surprised if Freddy decides to wield the knife on Souness next season and appoints Shearer as boss - which would be a popular choice among Newcastle fans, thereby saving Shepherd's skin from more flak. There was an interesting article in the Telegraph on Monday, suggesting that Shearer should walk away from the shambles at St James' Park, rather than subject himself to more grief. A link to that piece below: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...18/ixfooty.html

This article was posted on the main page of the NUFC.com website, after Newcastle's second 4-1 thrashing in the space of a few days: An awful pain in the Butt... How Newcastle have finished in the Premiership in recent seasons: 2001/02 4th 2002/03 3rd 2003/04 5th They currently lie in 13th, with just 38 points. Newcastle now have to decide if they want to play in the Intertoto-bob Cup. The current squad are clearly not good enough to win the UEFA Cup, as last Thursday's humiliation against Sporting Lisbon showed. When Souness was appointed Newcastle manager, Freddy Shepherd told the media: "I won't accept that this is a transitional year for us. All the ingredients are here for success. Everything is in place at the club. Graeme is the man to take us a step further." Is going from 5th place under Bobby Robson to 13th place now "a step further"....?

Harry Redknapp is still licking his wounds after Saturday's capitulation against Aston Villa. The Saints were 2-0 up at half-time, before allowing Villa to come back and win the game 3-2. Redknapp says: "We've got it all to do now. It's about nerves." The Saints are at the Reebok stadium tomorrow night (Tuesday) and Harry's side have won fewer Premiership points on the road than any other club. On 24th April, Southampton are away to Portsmouth. Wouldn't the Pompey fans just love it if they helped to send Harry down.... The Saints, who've been in the top flight since 1978 - before Thatcher came to power, haven't got an easy final match of the season either. Their last game, on 15th May, is against Man United. The Saints' penultimate match of the season is at Selhurst Park, away to Crystal Palace. That looks like being the proverbial classic six-pointer.... A win for Rovers on Wednesday against Palace should virtually guarantee us Premiership football for next season. Harry Redknapp doesn't seem to think so Flopsy - Le Saux was dropped to the bench for the Villa match. A lucrative media career beckons....

Before the days of Jack the Ripper, it was Mr Todd who gained particular notoriety in the country. Sweeney Todd enjoyed shaving the faces of gentleman who were never seen again. The mythical barber cut their throats and the remains were then served up in a meat pie. To judge from reading some of today's press and listening to the weekend phone-in's, Andy Todd is just as much a violent monster as his more famous namesake - for giving Van Persie a cut lip. "Blackburn are in disgrace," said the Observer. "THUGS!" screamed a headline in one of the red-tops. If the elbow was deliberate, then I wouldn't in any way condone it. But I feel that some of the anti-Rovers press coverage in this case has been a tad over the top. Todd is adamant that it was an accident. He says that he apologised to the Arsenal players and that he hadn't meant it. I intitially thought it was deliberate, but I'm prepared to give Todd the benefit of the doubt. It will be interesting to see what happens with the FA. Will they be able to prove 100% that it was deliberate? Will they be relishing the thought of punsishing little Rovers - who had the audacity to reach the last four and then complain about the kick-off time? What perhaps doesn't help Todd's case is that he has "previous" as far as other facial injuries are concerned. At Bolton, he was shown the door by Bog Sam after he gave the assistant manager Phil Brown a broken cheekbone and a fractured jaw. At Charlton, he gave goalkeeper Dean Kiely a black eye on the training ground. I must admit that Todd, despite playing well this season, has never been my favourite player. Those two previous assaults at Bolton and Charlton can't be condoned. Plus he refused to pull on the Rovers shirt last season.

I had a mixture of pride and disgust as the Rovers team walked out onto the pitch. Pride in the fact that Rovers had reached the semi-final for the first time in 45 years, and disgust at the imbeciles at the FA who chose to play this game in Cardiff at 12.15pm. Had the game been played at Old Trafford with a 3pm kick-off, I believe it would have come close to a 67,000 sellout. It certainly would have been more than 52,000. In recent weeks the FA have proved that they are unfit to run our national game. They should be ashamed of themselves. After doing well for the first half an hour of the game, we began to retreat and defended too deep. With Henry missing for the Gunners, we could have defended a little higher up the pitch in the final ten miutes of the first half. The Spanish gypsy Reyes had a good chance shortly before the first goal. Brad made a good save - diving low to save his shot and the follow up from Pires. I could see the first goal coming. We were defending too deep on the 18-yard line which invites pressure. England made the same mistake in Euro 2004 against Portugal. It seemed to me that Lucas Neill was particularly at fault for not picking up the run from Toure. Vieira's chipped ball into the left-hand side of the box found Toure - who provided a simple tap in for Pires to score (below). For the second goal, Lucas Neill was again at fault - allowing Van Persie to turn past him and score. The third goal was a case of chasing the game and getting caught on the break. It's the first time we've conceded three goals in a match since the 3-3 draw with Birmingham back in November. Hughes and Bowen deserve credit for tightening things up at the back this season, but I felt we were guilty of a bit of naivety in our defending at times against Arsenal. Some people may think I'm being a bit harsh on Rovers, but I was also disappointed with our lack of creativity during the game. We created virtually nothing and this is obviously down to the midfield. Dickov was left isolated on his own up front with little support from his midfield colleagues. I know that we had to be careful of throwing too many bodies forward because of how dangerous Arsenal are on the counter-attack, but I was nevertheless disappointed with our lack of imagination up front. David Thompson again had a disappointing game - offering very little except huff and puff. If we want to move on next season and be challenging in the top half of the table, then as well as a new striker, another creative midfielder would be beneficial too.

Another chapter tonight in the long-running comedy soap opera known as Newcastle United.... The comedy actually started prior to tonight's game. Laurent Robert launched an attack on the club in the press - saying that Newcastle were not good enough to win trophies. "Are we better than last season? No, I don't think so. Are we the same? No, probably worse. We have not played well in our last three games. We have been very very bad," said Laurent. A furious Graeme Souness launched a tirade against the French winger. "Once again we've had to take our eyes off the ball because of the selfish attitude of one of our players," said Souness. "We've been sidetracked by a selfish player at a time when this club is playing it's most important two games in 35 years. It is totally unacceptable," said Souey. After Kieron Dyer put the Geordies ahead early in the game, Newcastle just had to make sure they didn't concede three goals to go through to the semi-final. Instead they were guilty of capitulation and defensive shambles. Newcastle needed to keep hold of the ball and not allow Lisbon to get back into the match. But Souness's team decided to press the self-destruct button. You have to give some credit to the Portugese. They were technically gifted going forward - playing an attractive passing game that made full use of the width of the pitch. But Newcastle were still guilty of some shambolic defending. The 4th goal, where Stephen Carr made a complete mess of things, summed up Newcastle's night. Earlier in the game, the abrasive Lee Bowyer escaped with a yellow card after another reckless challenge. When will this obnoxious cockney yob ever learn? And so Souness will be boarding the flight back from Lisbon tonight - in the city where he once managed local rivals Benfica - knowing that once again when Newcastle get close to a trophy, they fail at one of the final hurdles. I suspect it will be the same for them in the FA Cup this year. A consolation for Souness in going out tonight is that he can now take his wife out for a meal on Thursday nights..... (When he was with Rovers, Graeme didn't seem terribly keen on the UEFA Cup, saying that he'd rather be at a restaurant with his wife rather than facing European opposition on a Thursday.) As he often said - Premiership survival is the main aim. The good news for Souness is that with another point or two in the League, Newcastle should be safe from relegation this year. The bad news, as Laurent Robert rightly indicated, is that they've gone from being a Top 5 team under Bobby Robson that was challenging for a place in the Champions League, to a mediocre mid-table outfit this season. Happy days....

It certainly was.... Juventus is known as "La Vecchia Signora" (The Old Lady) - and tonight the Italians showed all the style, grace and beauty of Nora Batty in a pair of saggy beige stockings. I thought it was a dreadful attacking display from Juventus. They were unwilling to take any risks going forward. Their performance tonight illustrated what I dislike about Italian football - it can be negative, defensive and dull. To open up a solid-looking Liverpool defence, the Italians needed to have some pace down the wings to get behind the defence and create some openings. They needed to play some quick incisive attacking football. Instead what we saw was a pedestrian Italian performance that offered nothing going forward. The onus was on Juventus to attack to recover the defecit and they completely lacked the imagination and width needed to break down Liverpool. With the score still at 0-0 after 60 minutes, Juve needed to take the risk of at least getting one or two more bodies forward in the final half hour. At the final whistle, I was pleased that Fabio Capello's side had gone out. If that's the type of dull risk-free tactics that he favours, then the competition is better of without his team. It would have been an injustice to see Juventus reach the semi-final if that's the best they can offer going forward. 20 years ago, when Juve won the European Cup on that tragic night in Belgium, they had a player who could carve open chances with some magical passes. Michel Platini was a wonderful midfielder (albeit a Frenchman) - and Juventus back then played some good attacking football. Tonight Juve created virtually nothing from open play. Their only decent chance was a header from a free-kick which hit the post. Apart from that, the lack of imagination from the Italians was chronic. Thankfully, this season Juventus won't be adding to their six other European trophies. (They've won two European Cups in 1985 and 1996, three UEFA Cups in 1977, 1990 and 1993 and one European Cup Winners Cup in 1984.) The Old Lady tonight had no flair or penetration whatsoever - and she fully deserved to go out of the competition. At least from what I've seen of AC Milan recently, they try to play with a bit more attacking invention going forward.

Threaten to resign and get yourself a £1million a year pay rise, seems to have been the motto recently for Jose Mourinho. A new £5.2 million-a-year contract making Mourinho the highest paid manager in world football was offered to him by Chelsea last week - who were worried that their manager might leave the club. I wonder if perhaps in a couple of years time, Mourinho will try out the same trick again - throw a hissy fit, stamp his feet and complain about the footballing authorities being unfair (letting it be known that he might quit the club) - and then wait for a new bumper pay rise to be offered to him. His assistant at Chelsea, Baltemar Brito, said that Mourinho had given 100 per cent to the club but that he had "not been backed 100 per cent by the club". Peter Kenyon then offered Mourinho the improved pay deal. I can't imagine any other industry apart from football which would pander to such an arrogant man like Mourinho by giving him such a big pay rise for threatening to quit.... Watching the Chelsea/Bayern game last night, I was disgusted to see Claude Makelele walk onto Mehmet Scholl's hand when the German was lying on the ground. It must be bloody painful to have a pair of football studs stamped onto your wrist - but Makelele seemed to have a smile on his face as he walked onto Scholl's hand. Makelele is a dirty barsteward. Last season in the Champions League quarter-final he made a scandalous dive to get Monaco's Andreas Zikos sent off. I really hope that Chelsea don't win the Champions League this season....

Edited - although this 10 page thread has covered a diverse range of subjects (including murder, the death penalty, burglars in the home, war criminals and even one member talking about Barry Manilow records) my earlier piece in 2005 about a black sex offender was deemed to be "not relevant" to this thread. The piece seemed to upset people and has therefore been edited.