itt liverpool not winning things; sandbox i love football

finish worthy of Walcott right there ...

it's time for defoe pav in a 352 imo

Grand, some saving grace in this week.

lovely

raaah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY6BycKCD3M

Good win for Spurs. Took the edge off Anderlecht conceding in the 84th minute to balls up a 30-1 accumulator.

bale/modric/ade etc are awes to watch, especially enjoying kyle walker too atm

i guess their exhaustion-derived springtime slump will coincide nicely with redknapp's trial

:(

how much did you have on it?

Not very much. I only gamble for fun, really.

never trust anderlecht

I'm finding it difficult to pine for second-tier players when we're playing this well. Darragh OTM about Walker and Corluka on the right, would rather see Walker in more of an advanced role than any of the other options. Pienaar and Kranjcar are left-side cover really. We do seem freakishly left-heavy considering the paucity of real options on the right.

Anyway, three-horse race.

I dunno, I still feel it hasn't settled yet. You should be gutted if you're not top London club, but I wouldn't quite count it out. Spurs can't get much better I feel, whereas Chelsea obviously can.

Was going to add that you should be disappointed not to finish above Utd tbh, but who knows how they're going to go from here. It must be a little devastating to City's fans at least to have them right on their shoulder after all that's happened so far.

I don't think Man City fans have quite grown into that "entitled, big club" mentality yet so none of the ones I know seem all that devastated by only being top on goal difference.

And yeah, while Spurs should certainly feel like third is for the taking, actually challenging for the title? Umm....

Is it possible to slide tackle without endangering the safety of an opponent?

Indeed there is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdxGI91Rbk

It's all about the instep.

why have I just watched that

wasn't all required viewing sorry, just the lace/inside of the foot bit at 2:50. i was thinking about slide tackles after that milijas red card. don't think i was ever actually coached how to do slide properly.

anyway, that milijas foul was a red all day obviously.

Not your fault at all, I had ample warning during the first 2:30 of what trousers to choose. It's quite a nice video in its way and I'm glad they're teaching it, it's just that the potential for use in my life is slim.

And yeah, while Spurs should certainly feel like third is for the taking, actually challenging for the title?

i don't feel any such thing tbh, still reckon that the away games at the other cl runners will see us pushed hard for 4th by the other london teams

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/27/robberies-napoli-footballers-mafia-rumours

And one question in particular irks Dalglish - a question he was again asked in the aftermath of another unfulfilling afternoon for £35m striker Andy Carroll. He may not like the question, but it will not go away until the giant Geordie at least hints at riches - not to mention value for money - to come.

just looked at spurs' run in

how soon til people start taking them seriously? if they're still within 6 points come april?

never

We'd have to beat one of the Manchester clubs for that to happen. We will never beat United no matter how shit they are on the day. While I think January is the best possible time to be playing City (and we REALLY want the Ivory Coast to get to the African Nations Cup final) I still think we'll be lucky to not lose.

That said, we keep possession amazingly well right now and Parker and Sandro are so quick at winning it back, it's just a case of getting as much daylight as possible between us and fourth while the going's good.

The run-in is really nice though, certainly better than two years ago when we had to play Arsenal, Chelsea, United and City within like six games.

Spurs are comfortably the 3rd best side in the league I think. The groupings in the top 6 as of right now are a true reflection of the state of the teams/squads. City, Utd, Spurs in one group. Chelsea, Arsenal, LFC in the other.

The way they finished last season I must admit that I was expecting Spurs regress if anything this season, instead they've moved steadily forward. Also the only team to completely outplay us this season, badly.

Starting to think that Chelsea are more than a year away from sorting things out even if they do stick with this manager. Kind of amazed at how close LFC are to 4th place given the amount of points squandered at home.

Spurs, City and Utd are averaging well over two points per game. Some years only one team manages that.

Was kind of amazed that Liverpool's home record is still no worse than any side below them, though it's still way worse than the top five. So many dropped points from day one. The away record's great though (though Utd's is something else), as is the defence. It totally reflects what the side has become though - bar Suarez and Bellamy, when he plays, I'd never fancy us to have the guile to break down defences. Faced with a top side, or playing away, we're much better.

The defense has impressed me because I don't really think that we've often set out to play defensively or negatively. Have been attacking in most games. The lack of guile is stark though, as you suggest.

Selling Meireles doesn't get much attention now, but it was really stupid.

(Swansea have a better home record after yesterday)

We have too many CMs that do the same kind of thing to varying standards. Meireles was slightly different at least, as is Maxi although he often plays wide.

Not buying the idea that we've been simply 'unlucky' at home either. Norwich game was unlucky/wasteful, but Swansea, Blackburn games were both poor imo.

Exactly right re saminess. There's Cole and Aquilani elsewhere too, so this is deliberate. I wouldn't be surprised if we were to offer Lampard a way out of his flexible midfield hell.

I do think luck is a factor though. Terrible as patches have been, there's been a fair bit of steamrollering in patches too, and a lot of woodwork, and even Carroll's had a few big saves where he wasn't really at fault. It could be a long famine for the never in doubt feast a few years back.

Forgotten about Joe Cole. Doing okay for Lille too by all accounts. Aquilani has looked good when I've seen Milan this season but it's Serie A so who knows, I mean Dossena has looked useful for Napoli too!

Can it really be true that Torres has scored more league goals in 2011 for LFC than he has for Chelsea?

Apparently so! 4 vs 3.

He's still got time tbf.

One v Bolton, one v Blackpool, and two in the win over Wolves.

So he was in form when they got him. 4 goals in less than a month. Crying shame what that there London has done to the fella.

Feel sorry for him tbh. Would love it if he had an absolutely amazing Euros. Golden Boot etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwREHz7k5s

B+

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/dec/29/bbc-football-league-show-faces-axe

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/default.stm

probably the most lamentable bbc fitba lead story

http://juanmanandhisdug.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/tony-evans-in-the-times/

http://www.blacklawyer.org/?post=lawyers-accuse-liverpool-and-chelsea-football-clubs-of-condoning-suarez-and-terry-racism

so no games in france right now but that just leaves more place in the news for hilarious PSG hijinks. they just fired the coach, kombouaré, who hadbrought the team to first place. because he got eliminated in pitiful fashion from the europa league. and now ancelotti is being touted as his replacement tho apparently they're still working out some details in the contract (my guess would be salary issues... the new owners have more money than sense so if you push them hard enough you get what u want).
before that, they'd gotten beckham, tho that's probably not news for anyone here. he's going to be paid 800k€/month which is twice the highest salary in ligue 1. and we're also getting daily rumours : kaka a couple of days ago, tevez was mentioned etc. latest one is pato for 50M€.

How is Pastore doing?

sacking koumbaré in midseason while they're top of the league is a p shitty thing to do

also difficult wrt fans id have thought, since ak was a psg player of some reknown

Ouch xps - no way Blackburn are going to lie down at Old Trafford after that.

What about Giroud, Jibe? Ludicrous amounts being quoted for this guy right now.

pastore started off quite well. but lately he hasn't been that impressive or decisive. tbh though this team has a problem what with having a line of 3 made up of him, nene and menez. those three all like to have the ball and dribble. meanwhile gameiro is upfront trying to run behind the defense but he hardly ever gets the ball.

also yeah, ak is a psg player of reknown, he scored a decisive goal in extra time against real madrid in 92 or thereabouts in a european game, qualifying the team to the finals or semis or smth like that. this earned hime the nickname casque d'or iirc (golden helmet). but then agaain fans can be fickle bitches as some say that honestly with the team he had it's a shame he got eliminated out of the europa league, that the team isn't playing that well together, that with all those great players psg have and are buying, they need a great coach etc

as for giroud... well he's having a great season thus far. this is a guy who was playing in ligue 2 just 2 years ago though so i'd wait a bit before paying insane amounts for him. i think i talked about him a bit on ilx, basically he's a good target upfront who appears to have a good technique too. but tbh i haven't seen him play that much so i'm just going by what i read here and there. as for the ludicrous amounts, i'd say the fact that psg is throwing out millions all over for players is making everyone giddy and they just tend to give ridiculous prices.

http://soundcloud.com/takeover/03-mario-balotelli-ruff-sqwad

Perhaps a sometime England international who, despite registering 11 goals in 19 appearances for Newcastle early last season, had only been playing Premier League football for five months when he was bundled into Mike Ashley's Anfield bound helicopter is as much in need of regular first-team action as decent left wing crosses from Stewart Downing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/dec/29/andy-carroll-newcastle-liverpool/print