Isegrim

I would post my answers, but unfortunately those I sent to Glasgow Mag aren't in my PM folder anymore. I am also to lazy to do it again... I think Peasepud got mine from Glasgow Mag, so he is free to post them for me.

Having the pleasure ( ) to be able to see the Austrian league I can say it's true that they aren't happy there at the moment. Though, our half-blood brothers down in the south have only themselves to blame. The "rebranding" of Salzburg was just the final step after football in Austria already had become just an advertising event anyway.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch.

Hmm, what about a proposal that the host nation has to qualify, too. EDIT: Ah diddums, too late.

Overall Souness indeed seems to be a nice bloke - off the pitch or training ground that is. Probably he just took the wrong job advice. He should try something else, accountant maybe.

Strange day. I took a long train travel to see this game. The first half was awful. No it wasn't awful, it was close to Conference league football. I was watching the game with a couple of lads from Newcastle and we were all in agreement that another 45 minutes like this and Souness would be out of job the next day. It probably was the worst game of football I have seen for a very long time. Then we were in agreement again. The 1-0 was a mixture of shear anger and desperation. It was a fantastic well taken free kick, make no mistake about it, but it came totally out of the blue, because nobody was expecting it. The next goal was also well taken, and Zoggies last one was brilliant. It was a good win and I really hope the team goes from strenth to strength now. I don't mind if it is with Souness or not. Though, but was with todays performance? For over 60 minutes it looked worse than a conference team. A lucky free kick, a cross and a counter attack changed everything. Looking at the squad you think with the likes of Emre, Solano and Parker it would have looked different anyway.Still, I am really sceptical after todays performace. A great win, but probably just an eye teaser. I do think Souness is hanging from game to game. Today 2/3 were plainly rubbish, if the team is building on a win then great, but I never, never want to see anything like the first half again.

Poor old Chronical Ali.

Milner scores for Villa after Jenas gave the ball away... Milner nearly set up another one soon after.

Don't think/hope so. IMHO Souness has 1-3 poor results left. But at the next loss at home or tonking away will seal Souness fate.

Well, you can say this about nearly every French player since Euro 2000. Sagnol is playing very well for Bayern at the moment. He has been offered a huge new contract and hinted that he will sign it. If he moves on a couple of big teams like ManUre and Valencia have been expressed their interest in recent times.

Ritchie or Gemmill? 33243[/snapback] Ritchie. Gingers only have a chance in the porn business if they are female. Though, I don't know about the size of Gemmill's breasts...

"Militant Black Man", "Balls of Steel"??? Sounds like some dodgy porn from Jimbo... Where you watching it with Manc-mag?

Not wanting to excite Jimbo, but have you thought about giving a career as a porn star a chance. The rebirth of Dirk Diggler...

Sorry, but even if people in England are still angry about 98 the fact who was the ref has nothing to do with this decision. Nielsen was totally right to send Rooney off. Applauding sarcastically few inches in front of the referee's face leaves no referee a choice... And Beckham was rightfully send off too. 33130[/snapback] I'm not denying the fact that both deservered to be sent off, my point was more that Rooney should have known that that sort of carry on will not be tolerated by Nielsen from what has happened previously. With some referees you can get away with stuff like that, but not him. Do you think he would have done the same had the ref been Collina?? No, me neither! 33137[/snapback] Yep, I do think that Rooney might have reacted in the same way if the referee was Collina. Rooney has lost his temper so many times, showing absolutely no respect for anybody on the pitch - at least the officials. Bellamy sometimes looks stoic in comparison to Rooney who also not only looks like an ox, but would get beat by one in any IQ test.

Yep, I think it is totally harsh to the real working people. Winning hereditary seats for life at SJP should be made compulsory at every pub quiz in Newcastle.

Sorry, but even if people in England are still angry about 98 the fact who was the ref has nothing to do with this decision. Nielsen was totally right to send Rooney off. Applauding sarcastically few inches in front of the referee's face leaves no referee a choice... And Beckham was rightfully send off too.

You forget that we aren't playing Aussie Rules...

There exist trainee programs in car theft?

It's this kind of threads that I feared when Shearer announced his decision to play on for another year. He still can be useful if the teams plays to his strength. But as already stated his lack of pace and immobility doesn't help a team that is lacking creativity and flair anyway. When Shearer had Bellamy alongside him his weaknesses could get compensated. But when Shearer is lacking service he is reduced to ineffictiveness. At least he battled well agaisnt ManUre...

I think Owen was on his mobile talking to his agent. 31918[/snapback] 32034[/snapback] "Hello Mr. Holmes, it's Michael here. We did include those release clauses into the contract, didn't we?"

Not defending him here cos I cant after watching that today. Is this the same boost as we had when he took over? 9 or 10 games unbeaten wasnt it? 31306[/snapback] Well, actually I think the boost was just in his first game when we beat Southampton away. The rest of the games we played against the likes of West Brom, some dodgy European Teams. Same can be said for the second run IMHO. I only listened to the game, but I think some decisions, especially regarding eam selection are unbelievable.

Because he is doing well at one of European's top football clubs? It seems easy to make the bloke from a foreign league the main culprit... 30472[/snapback] Playing the English xenophobe card again, Isegrim? 30627[/snapback] I didn't want to imply that. It's just that the player seems an easy target as rarely anybody sees him play at club level. The same happens (happened as there are hardly any players playing abroad anymore) in Jormany as well... Oliver Bierhoff was always a good target. Though, thinking about it, a player like Hargreaves isn't in the focus of the English media hype around players like Beckham, SWP, Cole, Gerrard etc. ... 30637[/snapback] I couldn't care less if he's amazing for Bayern, it's what he does for England that worries me. You say he's not been given a chance? Well are you saying that he would have more influence than either Gerrard, Beckham or Lampard? I didn't say that he would have more influence than either for them. They are rightly ahead of him in the pecking order. Though IMHO a squad player who was brought on in the 80th minute when England were already 1-0 down and playing rubbish facing more criticism than those players who had much more time to break down a mediocre Northern Irish team is ridiculous. So why isn't Lampard targeted for the poor result against Northern Ireland in the same way? I have now seen the game and he was really poor, as was Gerrard. In the Guardian they wrote that Hargreaves wasn't in form. Granted, his England form it probably isn't good enough to warrant a place in the team, but from what he has shown at the start of the Bundesliga (where he scored the first goal in the opening game of the season) warranted a call up. Most papers are furious that with Hargreaves a defensive minded player was brought on. Yes, Hargreaves mostly plays in defensive positions. Though, people who have seen him in action probably know that he also is able to play in more attacking roles as he is an dynamic and agile player (with really poor passing abilities, a bit like Bowyer IMHO). So as an outsider looking at the scenario Eriksson faced on Wednesday the introduction made perfectly sense. He had only had Upson, Kirkland, Neville, Hargreaves and Bent on the bench. Bent would have been the only attacking option. Though, there were already Defoe, Owen and Rooney on the pitch. So the manager took off another midfield player and brought on someone who at least in Jormany can score goals. It is not as Eriksson did bring on an abortion of football like Phil Neville... Again IMHO the criticism should be launched at the likes of Gerrard, Lampard or Wright-Philipps who had between 54 and 80 minutes on the pitch to get a result against Northern Ireland. But to single out a player for not changing the match who only played 10 minutes is a sign for hypocrisy. To me it just looks as that the bloke from abroad seems to be a much easier scapegoat than all those underperforming superstars... Anyway, good luck for the two remaining matches - be it with or without Hargreaves. A World Cup over here without England would definitely be missing something ... ...and be it the hype around the English team.

Because he is doing well at one of European's top football clubs? It seems easy to make the bloke from a foreign league the main culprit... 30472[/snapback] Playing the English xenophobe card again, Isegrim? 30627[/snapback] I didn't want to imply that. It's just that the player seems an easy target as rarely anybody sees him play at club level. The same happens (happened as there are hardly any players playing abroad anymore) in Jormany as well... Oliver Bierhoff was always a good target. Though, thinking about it, a player like Hargreaves isn't in the focus of the English media hype around players like Beckham, SWP, Cole, Gerrard etc. ...

Because he is doing well at one of European's top football clubs? It seems easy to make the bloke from a foreign league the main culprit... 30472[/snapback] He was far from being the main culprit, but for me he's never done anything in an England shirt which justifies his place in the squad. 30482[/snapback] And in probably 2/3 of his international appearences he came on as a sub . IMHO it's a tad bit harsh to judge players who don't get the opportunity to prove themselves over a whole game. The criticism of him in this thread becomes even more ridiculous when I see that he was brought on in the 80th minute yesterday ... when England were already 1-0 down. Until I had looked it up a couple of minutes ago I thought he was thrown on earlier. Wow, so Hargreaves wasn't the supersub who single-handedly turned around probably rubbish English performance within 10 minutes...

Because he is doing well at one of European's top football clubs? It seems easy to make the bloke from a foreign league the main culprit...