RevidgeBlue

Just what I was thinking. On the one hand they may need another striker. On the other hand they may have been hoping to utilise any funds from his sale and getting him off the wage bill. Also does it affect Pongolle's situation at Anfield any?

Gab Marcottin was saying on Talksport yesterday this fellow employed an innovative 3-4-3 formation. The midfield consisted of 2 holding midfielders and 2 glorified full backs. The 3 forwards were all strikers and were left permanently up penning the opposition defence back all match. Could be interesting.

Ladbrokes are again doing a "millionaire" coupon for the World Cup - you win a million if you get 24 predictions right and lesser amounts for predicting fewer games correctly. The games are Poland Ev v Ecuador 2/1 09/06 Holland 8/11 v Serbia and Montenegro 7/2 11/06 Australia 5/4 v Japan 7/4 12/06 Czech Rep 4/5 v USA 3/1 12/06 Korea 10/11 v Togo 12/5 13/06 France 8/11 v Switzerland 4/1 13/06 Get those first 6 right to win at least 20 quid Spain 4/5 v Ukraine 3/1 14/06 Tunisia 10/11 v Saudi Arabia 5/2 14/06 Ecuador 11/10 v Costa Rica 2/1 15/06 Sweden 4/5 v Paraguay 3/1 15/06 Holland 4/6 v Ivory Coast 7/2 16/06 Czech Rep 4/6 v Ghana 12/5 17/06 Get those first 12 right to win at least 1000 quid Croatia 8/11 v Japan 10/3 18/06 Poland 4/5 v Costa Rica 11/4 20/06 England 5/6 v Sweden 11/4 20/06 Iran 5/4 v Angola 7/4 21/06 Portugal 11/10 v Mexico 2/1 21/06 Ivory Coast 5/4 v Serbia 6/4 21/06 Get those first 18 right to win at least 20,000 quid Argentina 5/4 v Holland 15/8 21/06 USA 11/10 v Ghana 2/1 22/06 Italy 11/10 v Czech Republic 2/1 22/06 Croatia 5/6 v Australia 11/4 22/06 Ukraine 8/11 v Tunisia 3/1 23/06 Switzerland v Korea 9/4 23/06 Get all 24 right to win 1 million quid I'll make a similar offer to that I made at the last World Cup. The stake is normally 2 quid but for the first 10 people to give me their predictions I'll place the bet and we'll halve any winnings. Four years ago as I recall it all went t**s up in the first game France v Senegal

More tediously predictable "Blackburn bashing" from you - the only problem with your theory being that about 90% of the people who post on here aren't from Blackburn! Seriously though do you think this Board is any more or any less "angry" than the other 91 up and down the Country? Because I seriously doubt it!

Colin, stop being deliberately obstreporous. If that's how it's spelt. Neill is obviously trying to engineer a move away from the Club by refusing to consider a contract offer from the club prior to the World Cup. That's entirely his right and prerogative and in a totally commercial sense you can't blame him. But it's silly to pretend it isn't happening. Personally I don't rate him that highly and I hope we get as much money as we can for him. Losing those eleven or twelve yellows and two reds per season won't do any harm to our fair play rating either!

If Neill stayed I'd suggest we'd struggle far more to replace, and without, Reid than Nelsen. Not that I want to lose the Kiwi or that he isn't a key player or anything. You're right in saying Bellamy is utterly indispensable with the staff we have at this precise moment. Nothing too out of order with what Bentley said but imo on his performances to date he's got some way to go to prove that he's any better than Paul Gallagher let alone the next Dennis Bergkamp!

Spurs are backed by that Joe Lewis character of ENIC who's worth 2 billion.

It's beyond any reasoned argument that he was one of the worst performers in the team during that period. The only doubt is as to whether he was THE worst.

Definitely incorrect Colin. He was arguably our weakest link in 2003/4 and 2004/5 but had a much better time of it in 2005/6. Which many have noticed coincided with his contract coming up for renegotiation.

Oh, and if he moves I can only really see Spuds or Newcastle being remotely interested out of the bigger sides. He will find the grass isn't necessarily greener unless he is solely interested in one last big pay day.

What I found more interesting in the article was that he seemingly now views centre half as his best position, which I would entirely agree with. He obviously wants to try and engineer a move away after the World Cup and I'd be fairly happy if we got a big fee for him. However his procastination is throwing our plans into confusion and not giving us much time to find a replacement and it would be slightly irritating for us if he emerged as an outstanding centre half after years of being a poor right back for us!.

Can't condone incidents like that either Smiffy but to be fair I think Savage has worked quite hard to cut that sort of stuff out of his game since. The Gerrard incident doesn't stop him being a great player, nor does the Highbury alter the fact that Savage is great at what he does best - stopping the opposition play.

Personally I was disgusted with Gerrard's actions and it was in some ways a good job it was only a friendly. What does it matter if everyone else is using shady tactics?. All you can do is plough on as best you can within the laws of the game and hope that the officials are good enough to spot any skullduggery. Where is the satisfaction in winning through cheating? There is none. None whatsoever. I'd much rather lose knowing that my team has done their best within the rules and spirit of the game. The game is moving increasingly towards the stage where matches are being decided not by genuine footballing skill and good play but by who can manufacture the cleverest "simulation" allowing their dead ball specialist to whip in a delivery from a dangerous position etc. The recent European Cup Final very nearly being a case in point. If this sort of thing gets much more prevalent there'll be little point in competing or coming out of the dressing room at three o clock in my book.

Very strange incident. Green had already spilled a simple shot which nearly led to a goal. Looking at the replays of the goal it looked more like a case of wounded pride than anything else after he missed the ball. Although the suggestion afterwards is that he aggravated a groin injury. Never mind Owen or Rooney - our most important player imo will be Robinson. Given that the alternatives are Calamity or Scott Carson. Call me a heathen but I don't even know who the latter plays for. :ph34r:

Dickov was supposedly on c13k p.w. . Cheap, but no use whatsoever if he isn't good enough and you get relegated as so nearly happened.

Souness seemed to reach a certain point after which everything he did both here and at Newcastle was a disaster. There's no reason to suggest it would be any different anywhere else but I've no objection whatsoever to him and his rent a mob coaching staff ruining yet another club. Jordan won't stand for any messing though. The only thing that kept Souness at Newcastle so long was the cost of sacking him. I'd lay odds he won't see the New Year in if he starts at Palace.

Funny thing about Cole, when his buddy Yorke was on the pitch he looked lazy and disinterested. When Yorke wasn't I thought Cole always worked his socks off. Comparing goalscoring stats doesn't tell the whole story. Cole could take defenders away with his clever movement/mere presence.

I wouldn't be that surprised if Henry simply fancied leading Arsenal out as the first captain in the new stadium and then moves at the end of the coming season. Even if he does that, he's done the right thing by Arsenal though. The new contract would ensure the Gunners a huge fee if he did move whereas he could simply have negotiated a twelve month extension to his contract. Quite refreshing in this day and age. (Re: the discussion above I agree for once with Eddie I actually think there's far more expectation and pressure on him at Arsenal, he practically has to carry the team, the club, and the expectations of the fans singlehandedly. At Barca he would only be one of several megastar players.)

Listening to Talksport in the car today one of the contributors Gabriel Marcotti has apparently compiled a book about the differences, or similarities, between English and Italian football. That's by the by but he said one of the best people he interviewed for the book was Graham Poll who he said was was extremely honest with his views. Poll's view on the reason why so many decisions seemingly go in favour of the big clubs was: If a referee sees an incident clearly and is certain as to what's happened he'll give the decision accordingly. If he doesn't see it properly or there is an element of doubt in his mind subconsciously the referee thinks "If I get this decision wrong and it affects (say) Brighton's season it's not going to make any headlines outside of the Brighton Argos. If I make a bad decision involving (say) Man Utd the whole Country will be on the case." Hmmm.......... what does everyone think? Part of me says that's a perfectly reasonable explanation. The other part says it's cheating dressed up in a load of flowery language.

Tend to disagree. It's more a case of "We very nearly went down because Dickov was our main striker" Without his goals we would have gone down sure, but with the then blossoming partnership of Cole and Stead or a better player of genuine Premiership quality in his place who's to say we wouldn't have done a whole lot better?. Wasn't it more like seven (including a couple of penalties) in the League anyway? Not a good return from your main striker, nor could he link up with any other strike partner. Never was Premiership class and at 33 seems to be sharply on the decline as well. I'm really really surprised there is reported interest from another Premiership Club. This is a fantastic week for the Club, Dickov and Amoruso off the wage bill in the space of a couple of days. Before that Flitcroft Gresko and (sadly but inevitably) Jansen. I'm tingling with anticipation as to who Sparky might be bringing in the other way.

Have to disagree with that totally, thought Arsenal were by far the better side, even with 10 men until Barca scored. Once they got level, it was always going to be an impossible task for Arsenal and there was only one likely winner after that. Henry was magnificent up front on his own, practically unplayable. Really hope he stays in the Prem. Ronaldhino on the other hand was all full of posey flicks with no real end product. I've only watched barca for a full 90 minutes twice and on both occasions thought Ettoo was their most effective player. I think Arsenal would have won that game comfortably with eleven v eleven. One of those things that Lehmann was technically correctly sent off which more or less guaranteed a Barca win. Although at the time as the ball was breaking to a Barca player for a tap in, I'm sure both sides would have been happier had the goal stood and Lehmann been yellow carded.

All this discussion about Walcott will probably turn out to be completely irrelevant. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even get on the pitch. Sven is far more likely to try Gerrard/Cole in an advanced role if he's struggling. Wenger has been very crafty and played an absolute blinder from the point of view of Arsenal FC. The experience Walcott will get from mixing with the squad will be absolutely invaluable.

I had to laugh at parts of this article in the Daily Mail yesterday by Des Kelly. You do wonder if there is an element of this about it: Watching Sven Goran Eriksson unveil his World Cup squad was a disconcerting affair. It was like watching the office bore mark his last day in the job by leaping onto the photocopier and running off portraits of his bare backside. .......................So could Eriksson explain the extraordinary decision? "No not logically" he replied, wrapping his necktie around his head and pinning a scan of his bare buttocks up on the notice board. "When did you decide to pick him" "Oh er this morning" he added pocketing a desk stapler and sticking another close up shot of his derriere in the internal mail for the attention of the chief executive. "Sometimes it just feels right" he grinned, revealing the wild, hit me with another dry sherry side to his personality only glimpsed previously by Nancy, a gaggle of FA typists and old Swedish weather reporters.

I can only repeat what I said on the Walcott thread, and assume that either a) Sven has lost the plot or Knows what he is doing but is sticking two fingers up at everyone or c) Is a lot more confident than the rest of us that Owen and/or Rooney will be fit