ChezGiven

I thought the way Madrid hunted down Barca in the first half was great to watch. Real were still lucky though as Casilas must have made at least 2 incredible saves (the chip from Pedro?) to keeop them in the game. Then again when the goal came for Real it was because the game was swinging back to them. Everyone has had their say on Mourinho since the draw on saturday but as with every club he is at, the players fucking love him.

Got to hand it to Mourinho. Quality header from Ronaldo too.

There's a difference between saying where you think the squad needs work and where you think actual work will be done

Agreed but we would then only be utilising his delivery on dead ball situations. An option off the bench however is a good idea. One that routledge would give us but if we can get better then id be happy for it. Lens? Meant to be a great prospect and although i've not seen him play, i'd say someone like him would give us more balance. I'd like to see another central midfielder too as i think a decision needs to be made on whether Guthrie can develop more or needs to be shipped out. A good squad player but if Nolan is out, we are weak in the middle. I think the reason Pardew didnt bring Barton inside and put Colo there instead was because of how weak it would have made our flank. Barton has to be seen as an option in the middle, not just as an out and out winger. However, he was left out there because he has the discipline (positional) and know-how to play there and compensate for his lack of pace. Guthrie cant and is not showing himself as a dominant sort in the centre so both positions need extra depth for me.

Barton has been fantastic out wide of course but he is more than capable of playing in the middle too. His lack of pace does limit how we use him wide right, there is much to be gained from attacking with pace down both sides, not just the left. It would give us options anyway.

We need two new strikers. Lovenkrands isnt fit enough for another season, nor is he good enough. We need a better Centre Back than Williamson, weakest player in the team. We need a RB, Simpson is decent but i'd prefer him as cover. We need a pacey right winger so we can mix things up a bit more. We need more quality and pace to play alongside Tiote in the middle.

The facts are he would have stayed for the rest of his career if we'd offered him another 120k per week contract. The owners were too tight and didnt make him an offer so he had to leave. He didnt want to leave, we didnt make him an offer to stay though. What other facts could possibly be relevant? Apparently we could have let him known about our feelings earlier. By that i think he means we should have booed him when he was playing for us.

BILLIONS? 69 million shares at circa CAN$ 0.40 = around £25 mm quid I think it must have been referring to Niko Resources (worth 4bn), or an estimate of the potential in the field in Kurdistan. I didnt check.

I thought it was a good match, plenty of quality from us in the first half and some crisp attacking moves from them in the second. 'Pulsating encounter' and 'blood and guts' is how a few journos have gone with it. Not high on quality overall, entertaining enough but mainly because what was at stake on both sides.

Well for a start, if booing him distracted him or made him over desperate to score its all fair, there were much needed points on the table. Having said that the borg-like twat would have probably been more clinical because of it.

I must insist in being a prick and asking why the fuck you weren't at the game? I must insist 'on' not 'in'. I did have that very (internal) debate before posting. Thank the Lord I have a pedantic prick such as yourself to correct a wannabe pedantic prick like meself. I was just getting into the spirit of things. You 'persist' in fyi.

I must insist in being a prick and asking why the fuck you weren't at the game? I must insist 'on' not 'in'.

We're playing 3 teams below us and 2 teams who we've already taken points off. We should be ok, that was a massive point we got tonight.

Williamson was probably the weakest performer, not that impressed with Shola, Loven, Ireland or Simpson. No one had bad game though. Thought Smalling had a great game, was all over Shola.

Hernandez is starting to dive before the contact but there is some gentle brushing of feet. Simpson lucky though as they do get given. Full marks to Jamie Redknapp for talking down Bright Yorke and showing him the impact movement on Anderson's knee as he takes down Lovenkrands. He quite rightly said it was the better claim. Pissed myself at Fergie who saw a brushing of contact in one box but not a clash of knees in the other. What an ignorant tit speaking like that about the two incidents.

Was going on about Cudiccini at one point. Culucinni or something. "Nice to see Enrique, a player i brought to the club, doing so well". Should be ahead, lack of top quality up front showing because the strikers have played alright, just not really composed themselves. Jonas should have come inside a bit and gone far post instead of belting it near post. Not the best chance but probably the one we should have scored from.

Not sure about the result but I think we'll give a good account of ourselves tonight. Wish I was there

The board of advisors for a oil company that came into existence in 2003 and is now worth billions. http://www.vastexploration.com/index.asp?pid=53 Hmm.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/polit...aq-2269610.html Secret memos expose link between oil firms and invasion of Iraq

Jonas to make his 100th appearance for the club.

"Shop window tbh 'wink'" and he's lost it.

Giggs is playing in the centre now, him and Carrick will start there i reckon.

There was a game where we beat them about 3-0 I think where he looked good but missed at least 3 or 4 really good chances - I think that's why people were a bit dismissive when the interest in him was revealed. Could've been typical fan bitterness but the Coventry lot didn't seem too bothered to see him go and thought they'd ripped us off a bit iirc. Anyway, great signing as it turned out, obviously. Old Coventry-fan colleague of mine got me an Arsenal mug for a secret santa (i think we got pummelled by them a couple of weeks before). The next xmas, we'd signed Bellamy off them so i got a photo of him from the club shop. Got someone to sign it with a personal message, which made it funnier. What then made it even funnier still, is when i found out he had had it framed as he thought the signature was real.