[Bonanzoid]

Someone said that they might reduce it so they can get away with not giving Terry as harsh a punishment. If they don't however, Terry better be hung out to dry too. There's actually evidence in his case.

[chrysostom]

Context is king though?

A term that friends use for me affectionately that may make reference to my race, when used by someone else in an aggressive tone can be found very offensive.

[Yudster]

Home win. We appear to be up to 9th. I think I will celebrate now. this could easily be as good as it gets.

[Yudster]

Glad I celebrated when I did. At home to Scunthorpe, its only quarter past three and we're a * goal * down all * ready. Scunthorpe!!

[McGuinness-89]

He scores goals galore (and papers over the the cracks). Paul Scholes

[Bonanzoid]

St. Johnstone getting done by the officials to lose to Rangers and Liverpool unable (yet again) to find a way past Stoke. Miserable.

[Yudster]

I have never wanted Arsenal to win a match as much as I did yesterday. Its funny, I have never had negative feelings about Liverpool before, but Kenny Dalgliesh is an epic arse.

We managed to win at home yesterday - woo bloody hoo. Too little too late. I blame the chairman - but only quietly because Mr Yudster works for him.

[Johnny 1989]

Posted this in the wrong thread yesterday:

Seems we've finally woken up again this season, OK so we were rubbish this week but at least we won with two nice goals

Also this gif is just awesome, Sky time the "Goal" bit perfectly:

I have never wanted Arsenal to win a match as much as I did yesterday. Its funny, I have never had negative feelings about Liverpool before, but Kenny Dalgliesh is an epic arse.

We managed to win at home yesterday - woo bloody hoo. Too little too late. I blame the chairman - but only quietly because Mr Yudster works for him.

Yeah I didn't mind Liverpool under Benitez & I felt sorry for Woy Hodgson, I hated the way he was treated by the fans & that the captain never came out & defended him. Woy is doing a good job at WBA & they're only four points behind Liverpool, it'd be great if he manages to finish above Liverpool, especially by something like 1pt by the end of the season

[Yudster]

I can't see Jose going back although I agree it would be great for Chelsea if he did. But if you look at his career, he's planned it and executed it very carefully, always moving forward, always moving towards something he has never done before - I can't see him breaking that habit and stepping backwards. I reckon he'd be more likely to take on Spurs if and when Harry takes the England job. It would be far more like the kind of challenge he would be up for, going by the precedents he has already set.

[Bonanzoid]

Each and every player should hang their heads in shame, their petulance and ego complexes have cost a promising young manager his job. That's not to say he didn't make mistakes, but it must sadden Chelsea fans to see their own players seeming to care so little about the badge. I guess that's what money buys. Insane to think they paid £13m to secure his services yet didn't give him over 9 months of his 3 year deal. I think it's shocking from Roman Abramovich.

As for the Liverpool match, it annoyed me intensely. Solely because we were so impotent and unimaginative going forward. We were the dominant side for most of the match and yes we played some nice passing, but each and every single attack just seemed to crumble so easily. Misplaced passes happen far too often and it has to stop. Bar the one attack which led to our, rather flukey, goal which was only forced forward by an intelligent Jay Spearing, there was no pace. They may have been determined, but when you're breaking away, you do so quickly, and we just seem far too happy to play slowly, let the opposition get back behind the ball and try once again to naively prod our way through like every other time.

We're such a one dimensional team and it's beginning to get on my tits. I've been holding that back ever since the game when I had my head in my hands.

That said, credit to Robin van Persie and Wojciech Szczesny - they won Arsenal the game. A rather average team performance capped by two stunning shows at either end of the park.

[chrysostom]

I reckon he'd be more likely to take on Spurs if and when Harry takes the England job. It would be far more like the kind of challenge he would be up for, going by the precedents he has already set.

I don't think you're right here.

Jose is a brilliant manager, and has a huge amount of ability and arrogance. When he took the Chelsea job, he knew he'd get the backing to buy any player he needed. He set them up for immediate success, knowing that when he left that there wouldn't be any vision for the future and whoever succeeded him would have a very difficult time moulding those players into a successful unit - then when he took over at Inter he had a squad of players who were in their prime and added to them to make his treble winning team.

At Real he moved to a club with great players - but most importantly he's been a massive dick while being there. Acting (as he always does)contentiously and bringing the team into disrepute, turning it into the Jose show. He's taken one of the greatest clubs in the world and made it about him. He's a one man machine, who wants to show that he is the most important manager in modern day football - and that he's bigger than any club or player in the world.

He took on Sir Alex, Wenger and Benitez in wars of words - and usually came off looking something of a victor. At Spurs he wouldn't have the wage structure or budget that he would need to get the team he wanted, at Arsenal he wouldn't either. At City he would have the money, but I don't think a club like that would appeal to him in England because of their dominant position in a very tough league.But Spurs aren't a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination. There's too much risk for them to just be a gap in his CV. I could be wrong, but they don't seem to fit his type as they're unable to guarantee success.

Man Utd is the job that I think he wants - but I don't think that the top brass at Utd want him for the club (quite rightly). He wouldn't stay for 5 years, let alone 10, and the board would probably be loathe to be at odds with such a megalomaniac.

A return to Chelsea would complete his fairytale in my opinion. He takes them over in 2004, wins their first league title in 50 years, does it again the next season and wins over most of the fans in England. He's indulged by the unique (being nice there...) English media - revered by the fans who demand results as opposed to a 'footballing philosophy' - which is the most important thing. Results are the one thing that he can deliver easily. I think he fell in love with Chelsea as a club - but things blew up with Roman, and someone as arrogant as Jose doesn't like to lose power plays.

He left, won it all with Inter, is on course to win the league with Real - and then if he tops it by beating Abramovich by forcing him to admit defeat and becoming a resurgent hero back at the club where he excelled, he'll bring to a close the first part of what will be an incredibly long story for a great manager.

The only thing the owner should worry about, is that if he goes back to Chelsea, he'll be unsackable in the eyes of the fans in an age where protests are commonplace.

[Munki Bhoy]

Arsenal would be in relegation danger without Robin Van Persie this season.

I haven't done the maths on that, but it can't be far off.

[chrysostom]

Do you mean with 10 men on the pitch in every game, or with a striker who would definitely score no goals (insert Arsenal striker here), or having sold Van Persie with the money to buy a replacement?

Either way, the style of play would be adjusted to at least account for some of the results without RVP's goals. If you remove the statistics of the focal point of any team then it's going to look skewed, but noone knows what would have happened in any of those games if RVP was injured for the whole season and we had to play Bendtner/Chamakh/Park there.

Pretty similar to saying that Celtic would have conceded 176 goals and be bottom of the league without Forster in goal.

[Yudster]

Andrew you think far too much about football.

[Bruvva]

I have never wanted Arsenal to win a match as much as I did yesterday. Its funny, I have never had negative feelings about Liverpool before, but Kenny Dalgliesh is an epic arse.

Dalglish.

Misspelling that name irks me.

[Yudster]

I thought it looked wrong. Apologies.

[Bruvva]

But while we're on Liverpool, other fans can piss off with their self righteous "you know what you are" songs. It wasn't THAT long ago that I was at Old Trafford and a jewish player was subjected to the ENTIRE home support making gas chamber "hissing" noises (I did reclaim my trainfare by picking up the 50ps thrown at me though so it wasn't a total downer). Yeah, I dislike what Suarez did (and frankly, I don't like him OR the way the club behaved) but the whole self righteous thing that football fans seem to have going on gets right on my thrupenny bits. Fans and players are both capable of being monumental arseholes and for some to try and claim any moral high ground is just laughable.

[Yudster]

The rumblings of discontent with our Chairman are reaching fever pitch - not that fever pitch is very impressive when your home support only number three and a half thousand or so. We really are a shower.

[Bonanzoid]

But while we're on Liverpool, other fans can piss off with their self righteous "you know what you are" songs. It wasn't THAT long ago that I was at Old Trafford and a jewish player was subjected to the ENTIRE home support making gas chamber "hissing" noises (I did reclaim my trainfare by picking up the 50ps thrown at me though so it wasn't a total downer). Yeah, I dislike what Suarez did (and frankly, I don't like him OR the way the club behaved) but the whole self righteous thing that football fans seem to have going on gets right on my thrupenny bits. Fans and players are both capable of being monumental arseholes and for some to try and claim any moral high ground is just laughable.

Brilliant post.

Out of interest, was the player mentioned Yossi Benayoun?

[Bruvva]

Haha, no it goes a bit further back than that - Ronnie Rosenthal. Point still stands, though.

[chrysostom]

Sadly, when you're the 'poster boys' for racism in football (which Suarez and Terry are), at a time where it's being seen as an issue which needs to stop - people will scrutinise your standards a lot more heavily. Suarez is a pretty nasty character on the pitch - which is fine. Robbie Savage was nasty on the pitch, but never contemptible off it.

Woodgate and Bowyer were charged with assault & racism, and they're not fondly thought of by a lot of the fans of other clubs - especially those of an ethnic minority. It's Dalglish that's been the problem in the Suarez situation - defending his actions, telling him that he's done nothing wrong. Suarez is a victim of gross mismanagement, in a country with a media that he's not familiar with. If he'd have been banned for 8 months for biting a player here, he'd be booed everywhere he went in England (unless the ref missed it despite a player being given a concussion *cough*)

I think Suarez himself has made a mistake and misread the competitive situation, but should have come out and apologised for his actions as opposed to the motives behind them.

If Man Utd came out with a statement supporting their fans, claiming that the chants weren't anti-semetic - and that they were just misunderstood, they would be destroyed in the media and public opinion.

Andrew you think far too much about football.

Also shush. it's all i know. On that note I remember reading this article about football, and an average enthusiast's knowledge about it - with an element of addiction. A really good read.

[Bonanzoid]

I can see your point too. Dalglish's stubborn defence of Suarez did himself and the club no favours at all. When he claimed to have not seen 'that handshake' I couldn't quite believe it. I'm not going to delve fully in to the debate again, because everyone has an opinion and it just goes on and on. That doesn't mean I condone what's happened, far from it, but all I want to happen now is for Suarez to buck up and show what he can do on the pitch with a football. He was found guilty, he served his ban, now let that be the end of that particular chapter.

Obviously it's different with John Terry as his hearing is months away, but Liverpool and Suarez should want to distance themselves from this whole fiasco and prove they're not a classless club.

As for Jordan Henderson knocking out Mikel Arteta, I think it was accidental. Arteta himself has thanked Liverpool for how it was dealt with.

Edit - meant to say too, did anyone catch the documentary about QPR's 4 year plan? Quite a good watch, although it's scary just how much power naive owners can have.

[Yudster]

I thought Henderson took Arteta out deliberately - but I doubt very much that he meant to catch him quite as badly as that. To me it looked like he meant to stop him, but I doubt very much he'd have had any intention of doing the kind of damage that was done.

[G-Sizzle]

It's clear as day that Henderson knew what he was doing when he clattered Arteta. Like u say, he didn't mean to injure him quite so badly but he definitely wanted him to "know he was there"

[chrysostom]

Well, no doubt someone will come in with the 'he's not that kind of player' argument.

Arteta thanked the Anfield crowd for clapping him off, and some of the Liverpool players for texting him. He didn't comment on the incident.

Shawcross & Taylor didn't mean to catch Ramsey/Eduardo that badly either, but that kind of clumsy, unnecessary, physically aggressive approach that is designed to intimidate opponents is what leads to horrible injuries.