Matty Taylor for England & GOAL of the season

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/live/tables/premiership.html

Pompey third in the premiership - are you watching....are you watching ... Steve McClaren

DCgraceful. :-(

Mat Taylor = 9 rating
http://home.skysports.com/matchratings.aspx?fxid=298547

9 = Excellent - Top-class display, probably the matchwinner.

http://home.skysports.com/matchreport.aspx?fxid=298547&cpid=8

However, just 12 minutes earlier Taylor had thumped home an outlandish 45 yard volley that will live long in the memory and surely claim the goal of the season award.

NO WAIT, what about Van Persie against, erm *gulps* Charlton?

Taylor vs Sunderland 40 Yarder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlvXm_PxssI

today's goal was further from the goal

Matty Taylor is a good player, but you suck for the "yank dummy" line. From now on, consider us ENEMIES.

Sincerely,

Me.

Thanks

http://www.thatsweird.net/Pictures/prince_charles.jpg

brad friedel, the other yank dummy, last seen in the newcastle penalty area as martins scored the Toon's third

brian mcbride goalless as his team lose 4-0 at anfield

marcus hahnemann the only non-dummy yank by the looks of things

SAFEHANDS SINGH WHEN YOU'RE WINNING

john & yoko's tribute album to jagger and martian

Also nice easy target Louis but I don't see any UK people in any of our leagues.

I love you guys but seriously is this how you think of American footballers? Hahaha that is hilarious.

damarcus beasley utterly ineffectual in same game

matt, i'm only winding you up! howard has been goalkeeper of the season so far...

although there are lots of English women footballers on your leagues!

born and grew up in

"Little England beyond Wales"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_England_beyond_Wales

Bend It Like Beckham, what a brilliant documentary that was...

(no hate for Britishers or for any of you, just separate your issues dammit; I admire the films of Powell/Pressburger, I totally rock out to Super Furry Animals, and I am on record as preferring Rachel Weisz to US pizza)

A Matter Of Life And Death/Stairway To Heaven (as you guys call it) was actually commissioned by the respective governments to promote goodwill between the US and Great Britain, so there!

and yes, our national team has a lot of problems, we aren't all that good, i have never said otherwise. we have very good players though. we need a) a coach and b) a winning tradition to build on and c) to learn how to dive like European players

Bruce Arena is hilarious. After you beat portugal 3-1, he came up with the gem "And that's why we're the greatest country in the world!"

exactly like England, except 'we' have already made great strides in (c)

"hiiiiiii!"

did klinsmann quit? uh? who's in charge now?

SOMETHING ABOUT HOW GOOD RANDY LERNER IS THAT I CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO THINK OVER

Matty Taylor is a collossus and gives entertainingly sullen post-match interview, obv.

I like Matty Taylor, he is a good player. I'll like him even more when he doesn't play for Portsmouth. He is not as good as Wayne Bridge though.

PS - that goal was jammy as fuck. He didn't mean it.

i think he did mean it. he is blasting the ball forward towards goal too hard and fast for Kanu or whoever to have been able to get onto it. the keeper wasn't that far off his line tho. i guess it was just one of those "you won't expect THIS" moments.

Soon Newcastle will win a trophy, and Robbie Williams will Break America, and the world will be entirely grey and devoid of things to laugh at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjFGdRRlt90

3 elements

power: immense power when the ball was volleyed
pace: the speed at it which it turned and twisted in the air
accuracy: bang in the net

forget: bend it like beckham, turn it like taylor

power and the fact he caught it sweetly enough to get the requisite dip, more like.

i do agree that it gets better every time I watch it. much better than the sunderland one, because it was hit instinctively on the full volley, and tied with van persie for GOTS so far.

timing: the coordination of striking the ball at the right time

As a Portsmouth fan, I'd like to say two words: Matt Taylor.

Before any other Pompey fans start a Taylor for England campaign, though, we should just recognise that the national team's really well-served on the left at the moment (Kieran Richardson of Manchester United fame can't even get a start!), so let's not get carried away.

It's so nice not to be complete crap this season.
David Lloyd

Arsenal 0 Portsmouth 2 [Pamarot 45 [end of first half], Taylor - start of second half]

LOL@CHARLTON THEY R SO AWFUL etc.

kudos to Taylor

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/live/tables/premiership.html

a: norwegian
b: arabic
c: china
d: a.n.other

We also occasionally get Polish and Japanese ones for Celtic games, which I shall be relying on come December 30th.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/clanpompey/
The Bon Accord in Glasgow - is this a celtic or rangers drinking hole?

ihttp://members.lycos.co.uk/clanpompey/Images/Home/portsmouth4.jpg

Contrary to popular belief, not all pubs in Glasgow align themselves to either side of the Old Firm.

Are you related to Tuomasbot?

Out-singing Arsenal fans does not equal being a cunt with a fucking bell. Congratulations to Matt Taylor and all the people who have him in their fantasy league team, where he is still classed as a defender.

Jussi Jaaskelainen's quarter-of-a-fingertip save from Gary Cahill's 35 yard drive is literally the greatest thing I have ever seen. Cahill himself remains Pele accidentally reborn into the body of a sullen brummie dude with the face of Steven Gerrard if he was moderately attractive.

Sam Allardyce remains a cheating wide-faced cunt.

*Who are going down. I said so in July, I will be proved right. Just like with Andrei Shevchenko.

perhaps the championship will be a bresh of freath air after all this Premiership bullshit...

Of course, 2-3 after leading 2-1 with 9min left is far worse than the routine 0-2 I predicted when turning on the radio at 2pm.

To some Toffees, the title race boils down to: pleasure in Rooney not winning anything more significant in his whole ManYoo career than the Carling Cup vs a further slice of that transfer cash for EFC if MUFC do win something major with the Croxteth Cro-Magnon* in their ranks. It's a tough one. But I hate Chelsea more than I hate Man Utd.

(* - this doesn't really work. The Gillmoss Godzuki? It would be easier if he came from Netherton).

Spurs only 3pts behind Liverpool! Important, that.

I thought that Villa could maybe do it but confidence in that has ebbed away over the past few weeks. I fully expect Bolton to cock it up at some point and I would've put Pompey in that bracket as well but now I'm not so sure. I'd like to think that a first away win for Spurs could be the springboard to the sort of consistency we've been looking for, but I'm used to being disappointed in these matters.

Obviously it'll almost certainly be Manyoo/Chelsea/Arse/Pool again, but a man can dream, can't he?

Arsenal are more interesting as their inconsistency is hanging around. More likely than Liverpool to finish outside the top four, I think (but still not that likely).

And that's how tedious the Premiership is; qualifying for the CL means you're more likely to...qualify for the CL again. And on and on it goes. That bizzaro Dudek double-save from Shevchenko in Instanbul preserved Liverpool's membership of that club, though I don't suppose they'd have faded like a Leeds or a Newcastle in subsequent seasons.

also curious as to why Gerrard has 'no respect' for Les Reed (this from his book).

Told him he was a grown man and not far from home so there was no need to be 'homesick', was what I read (on the BBC, I think).

Meanwhile, I quite enjoyed COLCHESTER on the television.

"They didn't seem to understand that not everyone can board a plane, settle in a strange hotel far from the family they love and find it easy.

"My homesickness worsened whenever I was forced to be in their company."

That's just pathetic.

poor Emre will be lucky to make the top ten at this rate

Also was it me or Bellamy's goal against Charlton also ridiculously off, even though no defenders claimed it and no commentators mentioned it?

United were poor and didn't deserve more than a point yesterday (not that they got one). The atmosphere was a bit wank as well - probably not the best fifty quid I've spent. Far too much negativity: loud-mouthed cockneys constantly slagging off the team, silent zombies who never made a noise all match, Mancs spending more time shouting at the zombies or singing anti-Liverpool & anti-England songs than cheering on the team. I was at FC United the weekend before for the big FA Vase match against the improbably-named Quorn (another defeat - I'm on a bit of a roll) and that was about a million times better.

they need a fox in the box

Oh c'mon, all we Charlton fans have left is melodrama...

Ha ha.

Man Utd fans: "Rio, Rio"
West Ham fans: "Anton, Anton"
Guy next to me: "Franz, Franz"

The gamne was a triumph of effort over technique.

I've been spending far too much time on the Guardian website when I should have been on ILX2 being annoying about Chelsea.

Jamie - that was a great couple of hours to be a Chelsea fan on Sunday. Thought United were pretty poor to be honest; they've won a lot of games on fear and reputation already this season and West Ham called their bluff.

I really like the look of Huddlestone. Much more than Lennon and Dawson, who I'm not sure would cut it at a much higher level.

Drogba's goal on Sunday was great, but I think the one against Liverpool was better, tighter space to turn, more powerful shot.

The Ferdinands are the Allens of the 21st century.

What is this site? Is the other one finished? Holed like like Saint Sebastian by too many DJ Martian lyrical arrows?

beyond ;_;

now onto :-O

Harold Bishop (sorry, Les Reed) must die

I'm sure there have been shorter-serving full-time managers in the Premiership, surely?

And can we please now grab a proper manager (hint: PARDEW)?

Nah, not really.

Someone's making a living off the people making a living.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70SHYg6_6dI

...and Boxing Day was pretty damn fine for me. For the first time I actually feel United are slight favourites for the league now. I've only just started to appreciate that Chelsea have sold loads of players and their squad isn't quite able to cope with the current mini-crisis.

Which (former) pariah for player of the season: Ronaldo or Drogba?

Amazing how fragile and unbalanced Chelsea suddenly look, isn't it? They miss Terry badly, especially as having spunked £7m on Boulharouz in the summer they're now opting for Paulo Ferreira at centreback instead of him. If Drogba gets injured now they're fucked. Also where was Makelele against Reading?

Still, I fully expect Chelsea to spend like madmen in the transfer window and just throw a huge amount of money around, so who knows?

Just tell yourselves that Fulham really aren't very good. They're not.

me too, but that's because i got to see liverpool v. rovers at ewood down in the visitor's section. liverpool lost, but the game was nice (first match i've been to) and the atmosphere was good.

pissed (off) scousers are hilarious.

I reckon Pardew has got it okay at Charlton right now - he won't be blamed if they go down (which they will), especially as the board has been upfront about there being no money for new players. The real pressure will be on him to take them swiftly back up (which he could well do).

if we'd played like that all season we wouldn't be in this mess. JAMMY FULHAM JIZZBALLERS

I thought it was quite exciting, myself. Both teams were eager to score, both put players forward, and you got four goals, controversy, and an exquisite drag-back from El-Karkouri for your money's worth. What's not to love?

(I accept that the weather, and the pitch may have played a part in the Chelsea match.)

Oh look, Reading have scored. And now they have a corner. I wonder what happens? Oh, it's cleared. Sorry, panic over.

1) Chelsea score two last-10-minute winners in as many games
2) Chelsea concede two last-ten-minute equalisers in as many games

1) Charlton concede a heartbreaking last-minute equaliser, robbing them of two points
2) Charlton score an uplifting last-minute winner, gaining back those two lost points

Yeah, still a couple of points ahead of us, but hey...at least we've crumbled with a shred of dignity intact!

Crouch was superb today for Liverpool, who themselves were as brilliant as Bolton were diabolical.

-- Comrades, meet Tildo Durd (papiermachealamphibia...), December 30th, 2006.

qft

but we reckoned without justin hoyte :-/

Mourinho gets on with just about every manager (Coleman, Jol, O'Neill, Fergie, Moyes, Warnock and Jewell especially) except Wenger (who doesn't get on with anybody), Rijkaard (who takes it all too seriously) and Benitez (which is bizarre, given that he doesn't have a personality to speak of).

I watched the Fulham game from the executive SUITE next to Roman A. We didn't have prawn sangers but we did have champagne, deep-fried oysters and a blanket to cover ourselves with if it get a bit parky. It was all wrong, but everybody in there was an actual fan and most went to a lot more games than I did, so it just goes to show, eh.

Guy is bonkers for Liverpool, though. Will be making the trip over to Nou Camp in a bit here, etc.

It's definitely a lot more exciting and unpredictable this season, but I don't see BOTH teams dropping enough points to let Liverpool through. (Also I don't really see how United's 'meh performance' of a draw at Newcastle is worse than Liverpool's defeat at Blackburn).

After Chelsea (and before them Arsenal) dominating the league completely, I've almost forgotten what it's like to have a proper title race. Now they should both drop points and let Liverpool catch up.

I agree, it feels like there hasn't been a race for ages, but to be fair to Arsenal they never actually dominated like Chelsea did. Last season nobody else had a chance: Chelsea were 11 points clear by the end of October, and 16 points clear by this time last year. At this stage of Arsenal's 'invincible' season they weren't even top of the table - they were a point behind United and Chelsea were only three behind them. In the end Arsenal walked it, but there was a race for a while.

I still think that, despite everything, if Cech was in goal we'd be top. The FEAR has spread from back-to-front and knocked us all asunder. But we'll right ourselves soon enough.