itt liverpool not winning things; sandbox i love football

What are your thoughts on the Ivanovic penalty? I can see it's true that (a) he had his arms in front of him; (b) he couldn't've put them anywhere else, sort of; and (c) Cech would've got it anyway (maybe). But I'm not sure how any of that is relevant, clear penalty imo.

Chelsea were even worse on the highlights.

"I'm not sure what Cech's doing there"

I bloody hate this Shearerism - everyone says it now, for every mistake. Cech was trying to pick it up, you prick, don't make like he was off on some crazed frolic.

I'm not sure what IK's talking about there.

Ngh. I suspect my hatred of that way of putting things comes from a work function where I was cornered with an eminent old academic who kept telling me he didn't understand what I was saying, my response to which was to keep repeating my points in ever-simpler language while wondering why on earth I was unable to make myself clear to this guy - not comprehending that this was his way of telling me I was wrong. Not a great mingler, me.

up early for the world club cup. let's do this ganso

Damn, I forgot about this - I've arranged to go out for a bit now. Hoping for some tight 0-0 catenaccio 'til I get back late doors.

ivanovic ball to hand, hand not even out. Never a pen.

agreed

Barca have given up on pretending that Alves is a RB. Playing a sort of 3-1-3-3 from what I can make out.

They've done that a bit against lesser opposition this season i think. Take that Santos

Fuck what a Goal! Messi you magnificent bastard. Xavi you magnificent bastard.

pointless watching barcelona, the results always obvious. no tension

Being a Barcelona fan is like b eing a Beatles fan at this stage. Yeh alright, you're the best, and what? It's like watching a super-computer beat the world champion at chess every match. Barcelona have broken football.

Xavi 2-0. ho-hum.

so good

don't get me wrong I'm not a hater it's a magnificent monotony

fabregas off the post (thought he was offside mind)
Barca not even playing at top speed, their passing quite slow for them. Probably shading possession 75/25 so far mind.

commentators musing on whether fabregas could play as a 'false 9' at the Euros now that Villa is injured. Poor old Torres completely forgotten.

neymar Vs. messi lol

has neymar had over 5 touches yet?

poor old soldado
xp

lol the russian commentator just referred to 'Elano Ralph Rubinstein Blumer' which is some wikipedia vandalism

'There is no Ralph,' Elano explained a few days ago. 'I don't know where that has come from, I never heard it before. My name is Elano Blumer, but because I learned they use your surname only in England I didn't want to become known as Blumer. So I said Elano. And I think my goal against Newcastle last week was the most beautiful I have ever scored, but I don't mind if I score a few ugly ones as well.'

Hernandez is back. Nice surprise

3-0 Cesc. 4 of them queuing up tbf.

http://www.youtube.com/?v=zKWaVDxpTYk&

Try again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKWaVDxpTYk

Ow poor Santos, they threw half their season to prepare for this one game. I hope they get a goal at least, they can't do worse than United.

Uncalled for

Cesc misses a good chance. Barca not clinical enough. It's like watching LFC (hollow laugh)

Ganso just did something good, which is the first time I've thought that in the half dozen times I've seen him play.

tis the time of year for cooking the goose

I've come to the conclusion that having iniesta/xavi/messi on the same team isn't fair. UEFA should step in.

i dont think ive ever watched the club world cup final before

even by messi standards his touch is insane today

First non Liverpool one that I've watched.

I wonder what Masch really thinks about being a CB now.

tbf on a heat map he is probably only playing 5-10 yards further back than he did at liverpool

that's true actually.
neymar fluffs his chance.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Neymar_visiting_Red_Bull_Arena_%28cropped%29.jpg/450px-Neymar_visiting_Red_Bull_Arena_%28cropped%29.jpg

It's a fair point, should Barca's formation properly begin with a zero?

lol that shanked shot by neymar turned out to be a dangerous pass

http://i.imgur.com/hkifW.jpg

I watched the Corinthians-Vasco one, most lolworthy primetime entertainment the BBC ever bounced themselves into showing live

every single game about a dozen times I think the opposition has xavi trapped, and every single time he wiggles out. Every fucking time!

alves also proving his worth today imo

he did that about six years ago

rooney helps my fantasy team out. Yes Fergie, he's a CF (when not playing RB obvs)

this xavi fella is quite something

looking forward to seeing what he does next

sometimes it's even possible to imagining him gracing a stage like the emirates, or the etihad

steady

Keane told the Sunday Times newspaper: “If you want to question my managerial record; listen, you could question every pundit’s managerial skill in relation to (Ferguson’s) and we’re all going to come up short.

“But I would also say that without players like myself, maybe he wouldn’t have such a good managerial record because players who go down the punditry road, it’s soon forgotten that we put bodies on the line for him.”

Keane also accused Ferguson of failing to stand by him following his abrupt exit from the club in 2005. “People say he stood by me in difficult times. But he didn’t when I was 34, not when I was towards the end and had a few differences with (former United assistant boss) Carlos Queiroz. All of a sudden then, (it was|) ‘off you go, Roy, and here’s the statement we’ve done.”’

could maybe come off the bench for the gunners. song/wilshere got the centre mid spots sewn up for next 8 years.
xp

messi walks in the fourth.