2010/2011 Season Thread

[Bigsby]

So after all that fuss Kris Boyd is dropped from the squad... for Iwelumo? Ha.

Good to see Darren Mackie getting his chance for Scotland at last too.

[Lemonade]

So after all that fuss Kris Boyd is dropped from the squad... for Iwelumo? Ha.

Good to see Darren Mackie getting his chance for Scotland at last too.

I made that mistake last week when I logged on to the BBC website and saw the headline "Mackie being considered for Scotland call-up" and I loudly proclaimed in earshot of a rather crowded internet cafe "Fuck off, Darren fucking Mackie playing for Scotland?!". Then I read the article and was quiet.

[Nev]

Is it wrong that I saw this headline: BBC Sport - Wigan's Gary Caldwell keen to aid Scotland's cause

...and thought "Great! Pull out the squad then, ya dick"?

[Murrr]

Slide-Show EXTRA! Inside Stephen Ireland’s House | Broadsheet.ie

Wasn't this pink-wheeled prickhead chirping on about the evils of money in the game shortly after joining Villa?

[Soda Jerk]

I think Ireland was just merked, because Yaya is earning a million a month, and he wasn't, so money is evil. I still think he's better than Yaya though. I think Man City were stupid to let him go. I think Man City are stupid in general.

[Paranoid Android]

Yaya may be earning silly money that he's not worth, but he's a much better football player than Stephen Ireland.

[Soda Jerk]

I disagree. I think Stephen Ireland is a quality player and very talented. He just wasn't given enough chances during City's transition. Yaya is very reasonable and effective, but he's nothing more than a much more expensive Tom Huddlestone, minus the Darron Gibson-like eye for goal.

[Murrr]

They're both very good, I think, but they do different jobs. City's selection of midfielders is mighty fine, really. I'd personally play Yaya in a holding role alongside the Legbreaker, with Silva in the hole and Johnson/Milner on the wings. Gareth Barry can jog on. Ireland is clearly a very good player, but I don't think he's good enough for where Manchester City are going. Villa are the perfect club for him.

[Paranoid Android]

I rate Ireland highly and think he can rightly feel aggrieved that he was forced out of City at a time when they were throwing silly money at Villa for James Milner. I'd still take Yaya first though, he can do pretty much anything in midfield. He was often restricted to the holding position at Barca but on occasions when others were missing he showed he was more than capable of stepping up into a more creative role. I really wanted him to stay at Barca, although I am happy Laporta's habit of spending lots of money he didn't have didn't extend to matching City's ridiculous wage offer.

Mancini does need to find a way of playing Silva and Johnson in the same team. Have they both started a game together yet? Johnson is just playing far too well at the moment to be left out. Preferably any solution would involve Gareth Barry being on the bench.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Mancini does need to find a way of playing Silva and Johnson in the same team.

Play Silva in the middle of a 'three behind the striker'. It's where he's best.

Tevez

Milner - Silva - Johnson

Yaya - de Jong

Kolarov - Kompany - Toure - Richards

Hart

Beast.

[Soda Jerk]

There'll be no room for Richards now that BWATENG is fit. Silva needs to be played in the middle though too. He's not a winger, but seems to be mistaken as one. Then he's lauded as a poor player because he is played on the wing and doesn't play in that position well.

Obviously Yaya wasn't the reason for Ireland's exit. It was probably more to do with David Silva, since they are very similar players. Still, I think Ireland could easily play that role if they never acquired Silva, to the level City will be expecting. Excluding Silva, I reckon he was easily City's best passer of the ball, and the player who posed the most threat from a central position. I realistically think he could have joined a better team than a declining Aston Villa too, and think he would have been a great acquisition for Man United considering the ageing legs of Scholes and the utterly useless legs of Anderson. He's an absolute fruitloop though, and seems to manage to come across as a genuinely stand-up lad and an abhorrent human being, depending on the time of day.

[Paranoid Android]

I'd probably go with that team too, someone needs to point out to Mancini that it would be better. Playing De Jong, Barry and Toure in every game is silly.

[Soda Jerk]

Especially when it means there's no room for Silva except for out wide. STOP DOING THIS BOBBY.

Then there's Mario Balotelli to come back from injury and continue his fine form of being FUCKING MENTAL. Maybe they'll revert to 4-4-2, and sacrifice Yaya, Gaz Baz or the UFC Champion De Jong.

Why are we talking about City anyway? Fuck City. I just like David Silva. The rest of them can do one.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Gareth Barry is so overrated and wouldn't be anywhere near as lauded if Owen Hargreaves wasn't chronically dead and had to give up his England place. RIP in peace Owen.

Balotelli to replace Milner/Johnson when fit. It'll be a little rotation system. Milner/Johnson/Balotelli/SWP.

[Soda Jerk]

With Mario Baller back, surely that MUST usurp SWP forever and ever and ever? It just must!

Saying that, Maz Baz looks pretty shite out wide, and always looked better as a striker. Playing non-wingers as wingers could be the downfall of Citys season.

Owen Hargreaves should be making his comeback against Wolves in the Carling Cup this month. For real this time. Honest. He'll have his kit on under his tracksuit, and he might even jog up and down the touchline. He won't play though. Don't be daft.

[Paranoid Android]

Balotelli has to play just so we can see him do something mental.

I really hope that Sky have cameras permanently recording at City's training ground to capture the moment that De Jong puts in a crunching tackle on Mario who will retaliate by kicking Nigel in the face. If that doesn't ever happen I might have to give up on football.

City are very disappointing, they should either be failing miserably or thumping teams 5-0 every week. Squeezing past Newcastle with the help of a couple of dodgy decisions is just rubbish.

I think I said this last month but what is this fucking shit of internationals being played on Fridays and Tuesdays? I hate international weekends. Last Sunday I was able to wake up hungover and watch 4 football matches in a row. What will I have this weekend? The commonwealth games? Fuck off, I'd rather take a shower and actually go outside!

[ca_gere]

I just wrote a massive shpeil about how Mancini is employing the tried and tested Mourinho/Van Gaal system of the 4-5-1 which interchanges with a 4-3-3. I then accidentally deleted it. It was awesome. Fuck, I even included Italian phrases for marauding midfielders (Silva) and Iron enforcers (De Jong) in an attempt to explain that Silva has in fact not been playing as a winger and that starting Barry, Yaya and De Jong together isn't a silly idea. There was a huge article that I read somewhere on the Italian system that is now taking over the game and means the death of traditional positions. I'll try find it, instead of half heartedly recreating my original post. It was pretty much paraphrasing anyway.

I reckon when Balotelli comes back Mancini will switch between a 4-3-3 with silva and Balo supporting Tevez and a 4-5-1 with Johnson and Milner in less advanced roles, depending on the defensive or attacking performance needed.

[Soda Jerk]

The International qualifiers should be played as a mini-tournament in the summers when EC/WC's aren't played. Qualify in summer 2011, Finals in summer 2012. Job done. International breaks are rubbish. Even FA Cup breaks are rubbish. Football should never ever stop. It should be played every day, like American 82-game-regular-season sports.

I hope Balotelli rips the shirt off his back, and perhaps proclaims that he hates England. Maybe he could be filmed kicking a bag of fish and chips into a river, or setting a box of teabags on fire amidst a busy supermarket on a Saturday morning. He's on the recieving end of some serious racist abuse in his own country, so perhaps he'll give some of that back to us beans-on-toast-eating, rain-loving honkeys.

[Soda Jerk]

Keith Gillespie's bankrupt.

You shouldn't be crap at gambling then, should you?

[Murrr]

NUFC statement, Tuesday afternoon:

Newcastle United FC have today written a strongly -worded letter to the Football Association in relation to the tackle by Manchester City's Nigel de Jong on Hatem Ben Arfa in Sunday's Premier League fixture, which resulted in Ben Arfa sustaining a broken tibia and fibula of his left leg.

The club has asked the FA for the appropriate action to be taken against De Jong for the tackle which in the club's opinion was unnecessary and used excessive force.

Newcastle United will also be writing to the appropriate body regarding the performance of the match officials, specifically the referee, in relation to a number of incidents during the game including the tackle on Ben Arfa.

[Paranoid Android]

Q+A with Andrei Arshavin. This is awesome.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 part 4 part 5

I'm on part 3 and this is definitely my favourite so far...

7. From RinaBeer

Hi. I am 25 years old and Im still not married. My parents are very upset about this. They say I can end up a spinster. But I dont want to get married yet. What shall I do? (Sorry if this is off topic; just

want to know your opinion)

Arshavin: I think I can help you.

Step 1: You need to find a scruffy heavy drinker.

Step 2: Once youve found him, try to persuade him to marry you. I think that for a small amount of money, he will agree to fulfill the role of your fianc

Final: Bring this guy home. Tell your parents hell live with you

I think next time they will think better before forcing their opinion on you.

[Soda Jerk]

I like his short sharp uninformative answers, like when asked how his favourite player is, and he says "There's 2 or 3"

[Paranoid Android]

Sometimes it seems that the longer the question is, the shorter an answer he'll give.

This is another favourite

From knopka42

Ive already written you three letters but they havent been delivered...Well ... My name is Olga, Im 13 years old. I go out for football and Im your biggest fan..... Well, my dad does not allow me to play football but I want to- Andrey, tell me what to do?

Arshavin: Listen to your Dad.

Arshavin crushing the hopes and dreams of 13 year old girls everywhere!

His answer about it being more important for girls to have big breasts than be able to chest a football was great too.

[delboy]

Another defeat for Cambridge United against a bunch of part time relegation BSP fodder last night. Into the relegation zone we go. We're in a bit of a pickle right now!

[Soda Jerk]

Arshavin is very stern about women. He doesn't like them smoking either. He seems like a bit of an arsehole. I like that in a footballer