Football XXI

[Iskaral Pust]

Torres stays!

Now if we can just turf out Hicks and Gillette before the end of the transfer window.....

[Renasko]

Now if we can just turf out Hicks and Gillette before the end of the transfer window.....

Indication is that there are numerous bidders, so they could be out soon. :thumbsup: That'd be a real big step. Hodgson should have a successful time with the Reds anyway.

[MercenaryChef]

torres stays.

and newcastle's sol campbell is a tubby fuck.

[Fireball07]

Sunderland have just made an offer to loan Joe Hart.

Man Utd against the Airtricity XI tonight.

[Renasko]

Do or die. 3 goal deficit to turn around tonight. Time to see what this Lennon regime is going to be like.

[Alcibiades]

Wow, it looks like this Liverpool deal with the chinese man might actually happen. It sounds more like a hostile takeover, with him going straight to RBS instead of tabling the bid to Hicks and Gillette.

[Mme Erzulie]

:love: Torres :love:

[Jon AS]

Wow, it looks like this Liverpool deal with the chinese man might actually happen. It sounds more like a hostile takeover, with him going straight to RBS instead of tabling the bid to Hicks and Gillette.

Apparently this guy has close ties to the Chinese government, that connection would fit well with Liverpool's red shirts.

[Daeric]

Fulhams first press conference with Hughes was a laugh, with Hughes digging away at Man City and Al Fayde firing wierd broadsides at Hodgson. My favourite one was when he said it doesn't matter as Fulham will do better because Mark Hughes is so better looking.

[Mme Erzulie]

That's it. I'm never going to Harrod's (well, maybe I'll go and look, and take up a lot of the shop assistants' time, but never actually buy anything. Let's see how he likes that).

:commie:

[ljkeane]

Encouraging performance by Liverpool against admittedly modest opposition. Cole and Gerrard linked up well, with Cole in particular playing well behind the striker and Ngog got another goal even if he wasn't exactly clinical. It looks like Hodgson is leaning towards playing Gerrard in central midfield which I think is probably the way to go given the lack of other options.

[Iskaral Pust]

Ngog scores one and wins a penalty, but still underwhelming in front of goal. I think this kid can still develop and get a lot better but he needs to play against soft opposition to nurture those skills for a while.

I think we'll have a tough game against Arsenal for the opener, but hopefully they will be rusty too.

At least the team seems to playing with a much improved attitude compared to last year. As qualifying games go, this opposition was so weak that it was basically like any other pre-season warm-up. Thankfully.

[Mme Erzulie]

I, too, think it was an encouraging game. And while the opposition wasn't all that, we managed to look feckless against some pretty dire teams last year, so I don't take anything for granted any more. As Hodgson pointed out, it was good to see the lads playing the whole match, instead of turning it off after the first half.

Cole is looking superb, pure class. His cross to N'Gog on the first goal was sublime. And N'Gog, well, say what you will, but he keeps scoring.

This was also a game without Reina, Agger, Mascherano, Kuyt and Torres. I know Masch will probably leave, but we'll probably get Poulsen or someone else as a replacement. If we could get our hands on one more pure striker, I think we could have a vastly improved season compared to the last one.

I continue to be impressed by Martin Kelly. He was close to scoring with that one shot when he took it inside, and generally played well.

[Mathis]

That's it. I'm never going to Harrod's (well, maybe I'll go and look, and take up a lot of the shop assistants' time, but never actually buy anything. Let's see how he likes that).

:commie:

I doubt he'll be that bothered. Fayed sold Harrods to the Qataris a few months ago.

[Slick Mongoose]

Spurs get Young Boys.

[Mme Erzulie]

I doubt he'll be that bothered. Fayed sold Harrods to the Qataris a few months ago.

All the better! I'll splurge like a madman, then! He'll cry bitter tears seeing sales skyrocketing just after he sold out.

:smoking:

[Horza]

Bolton set to surge right back into our birthright, upper-midtable.

[Fireball07]

Spurs luckily get Young Boys, while Werder Bremen play Sampdoria, which is a pity because I'd have liked to see both of them in the CL proper.

[Jon AS]

Draws for the next round of European fixtures today. Werder-Sampdoria is probably the most interesting one in the Champions League, though with Dynamo Kiev and AFC Ajax you have two former greats facing each other.

The Europa League is still at the stage where you can learn interesting things just by looking up the clubs that you've never heard of before: Leverkusen will face Tavriya Simferopol, the "most succesful Crimean football club". They are one of only three teams to have ever won the Ukrainian Premier League.

And Dortmund's opponents are FK Qarabag Agdam from Azerbaijan. The interesting bit? The city of Agdam was mostly destroyed and is still deserted following fighting between the Azerbaijani army and Armenian seperatists (who are still in control) in the area in the early 90s and thus the club now plays its home games in the nearby town of Quzanli which is still under Azerbaijani control. I think they might move their game against Dortmund to Baku, though,

[Horza]

Sad that that dispute can't be resolved so the sporting prowess of Nagorno-Karabahk can be unleased on an unsuspecting Europe.