Mr.Mike

Eh? Lovell did fuck all except miss sitters by the radio accounts, so I don't think it made any difference at all.

well they won their first game of the season and it was the first one he didn't start (if i remember correctly) so I'd suggest that maybe it did have some sort of effect on the team.

ooh eck derby got a right tanking today by liverpool

oh aye. top the league with a game in hand. fookin av it! :up:

just need villa to hold chelsea at home tomorrow and things get really interesting...

Finally a win for the dons. Just coincedence that Mackay didn't start this one? probably not

Calderwood is always a target for someone.

contract killer?

Suspect Rangers might be leaving the Champions league with a mighty 0 points. worst possible draw from their point of view. Mind you, the CL group draw's a fucking joke these days. Am I the only one who thinks it's wrong to seed teams just so you can garauntee more top teams on TV throughout the tournament? I know there's arguements for it but it just seems to be against the concept of a fair tournament in my view. draw them all from one pot. if the 4 league winners end up in one group so be it, let's see who's best. likewise with 4 teams from one country, surely that's the whole point of a draw?

still, Liverpool look to have got away with an easy group but Arsenal's is taking the piss.

on the subject of Transfer deadline day: Appiah seems to have been linked with just about every team in the Premiership as has Adriano, Easyjet must be having a field day today. If Ronaldhino joins those cunts at Chelsea I'll slit my wrists.

Poor wee toot's having some time of it is she not?

Nearly raped, bit o' wood rammed into her neck, car accident, incinerated, ribs sticking out through flesh, broken neck, autopsy "Y" incision to name but a few - and that's just in the first 5 episodes!

Good series - I've got all 24 on me external drive, just the ticket for those boring nights in Luanda.

hehe, certainly is. mind you, I suspect she might have a lot more to worry about in the future what with the whole "save the cheerleader" schpiel...

I've only recently started watching heroes (I'd heard great things but I don't have sky or the option to download episodes so I'm straight up BBC2 terrestrial scheduling) but I have to say I can see me going the distance with it. My major gripe with Lost was that there were just too many questions and not enough answers. At first that was fine but slowly i've just got fed up guessing and being confused. Heroes seems to balance the questions out with a few more answers. Plus everyone has cool powers and there's a stupidly hot cheerleader in it

can't wait to find out what the wee lad's powers are. With a dad who can phase through walls and a mum with a psychotic superhumanly-strong alter ego my guess is he's gonna be a wee fucking raj!!

just wondering if anyone who watches heroes could answer (or point me to a site that can) a question for me.

what's the name of the guy who plays cheerleader Claire's male friend? talking about the guy that was filming her when she jumped off the bridge. either his characters name or his real name would be a good help.

ta

He's seen as the model pro because of his loyalty to his club (despite several offers of big money to go elsewhere when he wasn't getting regular 1st team footy.), his lack of complaining about being left on the bench on multiple occasions (when most modern players would have thrown a tantrum), his influence on younger players at the club and his desire to play through a knee injury that has dogged him for the latter part of his career. I think these qualities slightly outway 2 admittedly unsporting incidents which if we're honest are no worse than some of the shit i've seen coming from players such as Shearer and Beckham who are repeatedly sighted as consumate proffesionals and good role models for youngsters.

Also, he's got a lot more to his game than finishing and lurking around the 6 yard box. Apparently his skill on the right was one of the main reasons Fergie felt he could part ways with Beckham. Sadly he never got a chance to test him in the position because of his knee. (although i have no real proof of this, just paraphrasing something I read on the BBC sport website today)

Oh, almost forgot... best thing to happen today has got to be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer retiring hate the little prick.

what could you possibly have against one of the most consumate professionals English football has seen in recent years? I'm a Liverpool fan and even I can appreciate that he's pure class.

Also, it's probably about time to give up being surprised or complaining about anything that orange muppet down at Pittodrie does. He blatantly doesn't listen to a word anyone else says and seems intent on running the team into the floor this season. If he's short of cash how could he even consider selling Lovell over Mackie? We're going to get embarressed out of the UEFA cup in a couple weeks time...

words fail me

Just watching the game from anfield again. That cunt Styles should definitely be banned for a few games. I know refs have a hard job but he was fucking shocking today. More evidence (as if it was needed) that video technology needs to be introduced into the modern game.

i just can't make up my mind wether the dons aren't fit enough at the moment of they just cant be arsed trying for 90 whole mins. I pray it's the former.

With you on Brewster. Thought he played very well in the first half today and hopefully did a lot to prove to his doubters why he's still getting a game. Compared to Mackie he looked different class, that's not really saying much though I suppose. I just hope this De Vischer lad gets back soon so we can play some sort of 4-3-3 that doesn't involve Mackie in any way shape or form...

so today's footy:

United lose to City in a game they really needed a point from. only saw the 1st half but saw a lot of missed chances from a team that should really be doing better. City look like a different team now.

Aberdeen play a great 45mins against a Celtic side that didn't look to be all there. Then decided they weren't gonna bother coming out for the 2nd half and threw it all away. 2nd goal was a great example of our defence falling asleep at a crucial moment and the 3rd was a piss take. Darren Mackie once again showed no signs of why exactly he stills gets on the team sheet every week by missing a perfect opportunity to head home an excellent cross. Only way he could've missed that was with his eyes closed. Strachan got sent off for being a mad wee raj.

Liverpool comfortably beat chelsea 1-0 after a beautiful finish from Torres after Gerrard set him up with an inch perfect through ball. Unfortunately nobody told Rob Styles who decided to give Florent Malouda (who looks to be every bit the diving cunt that Drogba was 2 seasons ago) a penalty for his blatant dive which Lampard then slotted home. He then proceeded to have a complete shocker for the last half hour, should have sent off 2 men (Essien, Ben Haim) and let Chelsea make his decisions for the rest of the game. Mind you, 90mins is a long time, maybe he just got a bit tired?

Never saw Arsenal - Blackburn. I did, however, see the absolute shocker that Lehmann let in to allow Blackburn to draw. Fucking muppet.

Top of the league so far. No complaints this week:up:

depending on how much I won:

I'd put a few million into aberdeen fc. pay off my folks mortgage for them. buy a plush flat or two in various gig-worthy cities around the uk. artist loft in New York. pay off my debts. finish uni course and never use my degree.

i'd put the rest in the bank and live off the hefty interest whilst indulging in a life of booze/drugs/music/art/women.

Are McFadden and Fletcher going to be getting a game at their clubs you reckon?

fletcher came on as a sub against reading yesterday. looks like he's being used as a midfield utility sub these days. McFadden should hopefully be getting a gamefor everton, still rate him as one of (if not) the best scottish players right now so it'd be a shame to see him lose his sharpness warming the bench all season.

personally, i wouldn't mind seeing agbonglahor in a scotland shirt. He's got bags of pace and scored quite afew in the prem last season. not sure where he'd play for us but it's always good to have the option to bring on players with his qualities.

i thought Agbonglahor from Villa was gonna be added to the Scotland team?

You can't say "each to their own" then say that man-marking isn't football. Make up your mind.

last time i checked "each to their own" meant that you were entitled to your opinion and i was entitled to mine. Maybe I misunderstood the term?

I'm not trying to start an arguement, i just meant that I prefer watching an open ended attacking game to a defensive one where the players energies are spent trying to nullify the attacks of their opponents as opposed to focussing on their own.

I'm sorry if that offends you in any way

Speaking as a fan, I'd rather see my team be negative and well organised and grind out results than see them lose 4-3 every week for the sake of neutrals watching at home, most of whom seem to have no appreciation of the fact that it takes a hell of a lot of skill, commitment and organisation to pull of something like what Reading did today.

each to their own but personally I'd prefer to watch football than an excercise in man marking (Regardless of how much skill and organisation is involved) and trying to force a nil nil when reading have a team perfectly capable of beating united. It's dull but I do see your point.

He had just taken up a post with Uefa i think when he said it, so no link to the FA really.

This guy doesn't appear to have put much thought into what he has said, he's failed to cover up his obvious personal dislike with England in any way and ends up just looking like an idiot.

England would have a really strong case for hosting it. I couldn't see them losing if they try again. Unless Fifa is made up of a lot of people like this.....which it probably is.

nah I think this guy is a one-off (thank fuck). I seem to recall Beckenbaur or someone along those lines saying he strongly supported an English bid and thought there was a very strong arguement to hold a WC finals there in the near future.

it would make sense, England has some of the best stadiums in the world and arguably the best league in world football right now so why not?

The sad thing is that negative play is poisoning every level of football, just look at Reading playing 9-1-0 at Old Trafford this afternoon! Managers of not-all-that-much-cop sides are having to do it to cover their arses, it might be in the best interest of grabbing a point from a 0-0 draw against the Mould Firm or such like, but it's horrible to watch, especially when you're forking out in excess of 20 notes in the case of the SPL.

Mini-rant over.

couldn't agree more. utd vs reading was shite today but i dont blame reading. managers are so scared of being publicly criticised then sacked after only a few bad games that they'd now rather put all their men behind the ball and scrape a 0-0 than risk having a couple guys up front and pulling off a victory. In fairness it's not just small teams though, Liverpool tried to pack the midfield against milan in the CL final in order to stop MIlan playing and that game was pretty shite too.

fans need to start voting with their feet and wallets but i dont see it happening any time soon sadly...

should probably add that, much to my dismay, Chelsea certainly looked to be playing much more exciting footy today. Malouda looks like the best signing mourinho's made since Essien but they're looking a little less solid at the back. should hopefully make things at the top of the PL a bit more exciting.

1st day's gone okay. hoping to score a good few more points tomorrow though.

here's to hat-tricks for Ronaldo and Van Persie!

BBC SPORT | Football | Internationals | Fifa man opposes England 2018 bid

Although it's not entirely confirmed wether or not those are his exact words, that's a pretty harsh statement...

i'm not sure about the soccernet one but the metro game last year let you join at any point in the season.

hope you're not waiting till the season starts to see who's worth signing:up:

lexmark aren't reknowned for their high quality output but I'd imagine for what you're needing it for it'd do the job. They're pretty reliable as well so it should keep you going for a good while.

If it's just text for essays and letters etc you're best to go and compare the prices of the actual ink-cartridges. In my experience that's where you can get really ripped off by the manufacturer.

hope that helps, if not we'd better get someone in to close this one...

Heard that too, assumed it was internet bullshit .

Signing Alan Smith tomorrow apparently, not sure what to think...

normally i'd agree on the internet bullshit but this guy's connected to the club and he's usually spot on about this sort of thing. Guess we'll know in time.

Smith/Viduka combo could be a winner for the toon but it still won't help that abysmal defence will it?

The Metro one was good last year but I checked it out this year and it's a bit shit to be honest. Players are WAY too expensive (21mil for Drogba?!?!?) and you need to buy a manager as well. I figured picking four subs instead of a manager might be more fun...

Jimmy Calderwood's Fake Tan Experience 2007/2008:

GK: Jose Reina - Liverpool

D: Matthew Taylor - Portsmouth

D: Nick Shorey - Reading

D: John Terry - Chelski

D: Emmanuel Eboue - Arsenal

M: Carlos Edwards - Sunderland

M: Mikael Arteta - Everton

M: Claude Makelele - Chelski

M: Christiano Ronaldo - Man Utd

ST: Kevin Doyle - Reading

ST: Robin Van Persie - Arsenal

SUB: Manuel Alumnia - Arsenal

SUB: Mathieu Flamini - Arsenal

SUB: Russell Anderson - Sunderland

SUB: Dave Kitsoon - Reading

subject to them updating the teams and me finding out how much Elano's going to cost...

On the Newcastle front, I heard from a pretty reliable source that the new club owner (Mike Ashley is it?) isn't a big fan of big Sam and wants to give him the boot already! Hence Allardyce not getting decent cash to make big signings over summer; looks like they want to push him out before the season's even started!

Oh and Joey Barton's been charged with assault but that probably isn't much of a surprise to anyone...

I fancy Spurs to do pretty well this season, lot of firepower up front now but their defence is still fucking rubbish and they've done little to improve it really. Wouldn't write Arsenal off for a top 4 finish though. Fair enough they could do with some wingers but I agree with what Alex Ferguson said last week, they'll be a better team without Henry. Thing is, I can't see either of them finishing anywhere near the big 3 this season.