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!"

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.