itt liverpool not winning things; sandbox i love football

:' )

Utd being awful yet pummelling everyone was too depressing to go on forever

This didn't happen, though. When United were pummelling everyone (at the start of the season) they were great. Then they completed lost the ability to defend and had some rubbish results. Then they turned into a dull 1-0 machine that sometimes misfired. Then (against QPR, Fulham and Wigan) they looked great again. But that performance today was just dreadful (and the team selection was bizarre, even with all the injuries).

Those 1-0s feel like a pummelling to everyone else though

Great seeing old Nani back, couldn't do shit today.

team selection was fine, it was the tactics that were bizarre. it was if ferg actually said 'do what you want, it is just fucking blackburn'

oh and nv when you are about - what ye think of frimpong going on loan to Wolves? I have been really impressed by him this season but do Wolves need a DM? Seems an odd place to go?

Ferguson's recent diss of City, saying it's being top at New Year that counts, is quite pleasing.

☰☰☭☰☰ SHEFFIELD UNITED ☰☰☭☰☰ 8 WINS ON THE BOUNCE ☰☰☭☰☰

happy birthday sir alex.

Villa living up to form with an incredibly poor Dunne tackle. Egad.

surprised by that equalizer. Also should have been a a red for Terry. Interesting and ugly, which is a huge improvement over the usual plain ugly.

stephen ireland still has value

a day of surprises

it was purely accidental, I assure you.

Spurs ahead through VdV after being second best all game.

Blackburn going back bottom as things stand. Seems unfair.

Wolves can't hold Fletcher for much longer if he keeps this up can they?

lolcott

Stub it out, Mario! Mancini begs Balotelli to quit his five-a-day smoking habit

Man do I miss 'The Life and Times of Mario Balotelli'-thread ;_;

rrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvvvvvppppppppppppp

veni vidi venkys

if rvp gets two more can shearer, at the end of the day, fuck off for good?

Ha! Commentators writing off Chelsea's title challenge on a weekly basis atm.

Oops, there goes Spurs'.

sounded like Swansea's equaliser was overdue

lol that'll do as compensation mind

Minute-by-minute basis I mean xps.

That Wigan equaliser was greeted by the sort of cheer you get when a ballboy slips over.

arsenal within 3 of spurs as it stands

the run in to st. toteringham's day begins

chelololsea

Oof. By the end of that game I was quite relieved with the point. Swansea looked very good, way better than Norwich last week.

they are a lot better, lambert must be something special cuz that team is full of dreck (is holt/morison even midtable champo level?)

tottenham played pretty much their first xi again which is going to cost them in injuries/exhaustion again in the spring

Chelsea made Villa look good, which is damn near impossible. Chelsea is extremely slow in the back - I think even Dunne and Collins outpace them, which is incredibly sad.

so the suarez judgement is out

The FA's case, in short, was as follows. In the goalmouth, Mr Evra and Mr Suarez spoke to each other in Spanish. Mr Evra asked Mr Suarez why he had kicked him, referring to the foul five minutes previously. Mr Suarez replied "Porque tu eres negro", meaning "Because you are black". Mr Evra then said to Mr Suarez “say it to me again, I’m going to punch you”. Mr Suarez replied "No hablo con los negros", meaning "I don't speak to blacks". Mr Evra continued by saying that he now thought he was going to punch Mr Suarez. Mr Suarez replied "Dale, negro, negro, negro", which meant "okay, blackie, blackie, blackie". As Mr Suarez said this, he reached out to touch Mr Evra's arm, gesturing at his skin. Mr Kuyt then intervened. When the referee blew his whistle and called the players over to him shortly after the exchanges in the goalmouth, Mr Evra said to the referee "ref, ref, he just called me a fucking black".

Mr Suarez denied the Charge. His case, in short, was as follows. He agreed with Mr Evra that they spoke to each other in Spanish in the goalmouth. When Mr Evra asked why he had kicked him, Mr Suarez replied that it was a normal foul and shrugged his shoulders. Mr Evra then said that he was going to kick Mr Suarez, to which Mr Suarez told him to shut up. As Mr Kuyt was approaching, Mr Suarez touched Mr Evra's left arm in a pinching style movement. According to Mr Suarez, at no point in the goalmouth did he use the word "negro". When the referee blew his whistle to stop play, Mr Evra spoke to Mr Suarez and said (in English) "Don't touch me, South American". Mr Suarez replied "Por que, negro?". He says that he used the word “negro” in a way with which he was familiar from his upbringing in Uruguay. In this sense, Mr Suarez claimed, it is used as a noun and as a friendly form of address to people seen as black or brown-skinned (or even just blackhaired). Thus, it meant "Why, black?" Mr Suarez maintained that when he said "Por que, negro?" to Mr Evra, it was intended in a conciliatory and friendly way. Mr Suarez said this was the only time that he used the word “negro” in his exchanges with Mr Evra during the match.

http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/Disciplinary/NewsAndFeatures/2011/~/media/Files/PDF/TheFA/Disciplinary/Written%20reasons/FA%20v%20Suarez%20Written%20Reasons%20of%20Regulatory%20Commission.ashx

liverpool fans will have some coruscating opinions about that but right now they're holding a candlelit vigil for shrivelled troll jay spearing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sfp3X_E2gY

Mr Dalglish does not speak Spanish, other than what he called "restaurant Spanish".

that fa report is a stone cold classic

"There is no word that means "Nigger" in Spanish and I was
not aware of this word until the allegations made by Mr Evra."

I'd have sent Cabaye and Spearing off.

I predict big things for the author of that report. 2012 is going to be a big year for him/her.

Mr Dalglish does not speak Spanish, other than what he called "restaurant Spanish"

Didn't he get the Rangers European super-scout role in the 90s because he could get by in a number of European languages? I also seem to recall the jokes at the times were all about him doing not much else other than playing golf in Spain while he had the job and when was he going to visit some other countries (or watch some football matches).

340. Mr Suarez plays with black players in the Uruguay national team and has no problems
with them. When they are on international duty, the families are together. When Mr
Suarez was in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, he became involved in a charity in
conjunction with the black Cameroon goalkeeper, Carlos Kameni, and Andres Iniesta, the
Spain and Barcelona player. Each of them was filmed meeting a young South African who
played football as part of a project with young black and white children to encourage
solidarity and stamp out racism. The central theme of the film, which the Commission
watched, is that the colour of a person's skin does not matter, they can all play together as
a team. It shows Mr Suarez meeting one of the young footballers. The DVD of the film is
advertised on Mr Suarez's Facebook page, via which it can be bought with all the money
going to help the charity.

353. On occasions, Mr Suarez has used the word "negro" to address people with black skin
without any intention to offend and in a way that would be seen as inoffensive in
Uruguay. He is familiar with this use of the word from his upbringing in Uruguay. He
said he uses it in this way when speaking to other black players in England, such as when
he says "Just pass the ball, negro" to Glen Johnson.

I liked Mr Greaney invited the Commission to attach no weight to paragraph 8 of Hernandez's statement, which largely contained a statement of his opinion on the use of the Spanish language (on the basis that a witness may generally only give evidence of facts, not opinion unless he is called as an expert, here in the Spanish language, which Hernandez was not).

Only read the conclusions but it boils down to:

• one man's word against another
• Evra came across well
• Suarez didn't so much; some of his evidence was self-contradictory
• he's no racist; but that wasn't the charge
• on the actual charge, he's bang to rights
• eight games might be too harsh

The charge brought is that Mr Suarez used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Mr Evra contrary to Rule E3(1), and that this breach of Rule E3(1) included a reference to Mr Evra's ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race within the meaning of Rule E3(2) ("the Charge").

Tevez is being carted into the transfer window in infamy – at worst, boarded up like some gibbering, drooling freak for a distant, barbarian circus; at best, offered as a disappeared masterpiece to a private collector who doesn't ask questions.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/article6283511.ece

blatantly ending up at anzhi