rip gary speed

little ronaldinho

spanish dudes scoring from the halfway line

spurs are *only* 20/1 to win the league—is this not worth sticking a fiver on?

johan cruyff is the worst.

Former Arsenal player Eduardo is facing financial problems with his former agent claiming he is entitled to 20% of the player’s earnings since 2007.

Full story: Daily Mail

Shit poor bugger is only making about £2.1m a year plus bonuses. Won’t someone think of the children?

Don’t hate on Cruijff, the man’s bringing us all huge lols over here

What’s he gone & done then?

Hostile takeover of Ajax innit?

fitba

Fitba was great at the weekend. We have a new starlet for everyone to gush over until he disappears into the reserves and gets punted on loan to Burnley.

very nice

a bit surprised spl is broadcast in france these days

I’m surprised it’s broadcast at all (& it might be better if it wasn’t—we do a hell of a lot of fixture shuffling to make ~£1.5m a year from the telly deal).

My reaction to wonder-run at the time was “ffs, pass it to Stokes!”, fwiw.

Xabi Alonso put it best: “Iñigo Martínez is my idol.” He scored an injury-time winner to give Real Sociedad a 3–2 victory over Betis. From inside his own half. It was the second time he has done so this season. The only question now is which of his two strikes is the goal of the season.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/27/inigo-martinez-second-halfway-line-goal

is this something they teach at real sociedad

Former Brazil winger Mancini, 31, has been jailed for two years and eight months after being found guilty of sexual assault by a Milan judge. Mancini, who has been playing for Atletico Mineiro, was accused of assaulting a young Brazilian woman while playing for AC Milan on loan from Inter Milan.

oh, Mancinipaws.

You once had a decent season at Roma, doesn’t mean you can now take advntage of ladies.

is Iñigo Martínez actually any good? He is 20 so is this his Beckham v. Wimbledon moment? lol 2/3rd of his career goals for the first team have been from his own half.

Thread title’s all wrong btw—Liverpool very much winning things atm, moral victories, hearts of the nation, etc

hearts of the nation?

the nation of uruguay

wait how did speed die? just saw a headline that ramsey was ‘devistated by suicide’

Hanged himself.

That is what, two football related suicide attempts within a week? Damn.

On that note I thought Ferguson singling out the linesman was particularly poor (“not for me to say if he should ever get a game again”). Did you get one bad decision, diddums?

yeah i thought that was unnecessary

spurs are certainly in title-winning form having taken the most points (28) from the last 10 games of any team in the league. Dirk Kuyt still doesn’t think of them as a big team though

“The way we have played against the top sides has been fantastic – we beat Arsenal and Chelsea away and I think we deserved more against United and City. We will keep going in this way. We have also played well against the other teams and I think the future is bright.”

i thought it was fucking cuntish. what’s the shit decision count for/against at OT under the old bag of shite?

xp i’d imagine lfc tryin v hard to forget playing us

spent the whole of tinker tailor that evening thinking “4–0”

tinker gerrard

tailor lol spice boys

soldier sgt carragher

spy agent carroll still working for newcastle imo

ask a mexican futbol legend anything

is there a dumber “trick” than the Cuauhtemiña?

how dare you, I have fooled more than a dozen Columbus Crew players in my time with the bunny hop!

“We are a bunch of dwarfs and we need to improve”—After Barcelona’s 1–0 defeat to Getafe, Dani Alves sums up a problem that will not go away, with or without special hormone growth medicine.

They really did look like Arsenal, is the thing.

multi-layered zing

Fantasy talk: Week after week I think I should get rid of the underperforming Rooney, but week after week I look at United’s upcoming fixtures and think “No, that’s an easy one, if I sell him he’s bound to get a hat-trick” so I lose my nerve, keep him in, and he scores next to no points. However, this week I finally took the plunge. Come Saturday afternoon, while disappointed with the result against Newcastle, I was slapping myself on the back (metaphorically) for shipping out Rooney and bringing in Adebayor. Except, when I checked my scores, I remembered that I’d bottled it again, reinstated Rooney and gone for a pointless Barton out-Pilkington in masterstroke instead.

lol why the shit do you have rooney? who is he keeping out yr team? rvi? aguero? dzeko? ba? also lol at then trusting ade—that guy is going to get bored any game now, it is adebayor.

Rooney’s slumps rarely last all season, he’ll come good at some point.

except for last season iirc.

“You know why I’m leaving, but I can’t explain myself publicly because it would damage the good name of Everton Football Club and I’m not prepared to do that.”[16]

Why did Gary Speed leave Everton?

Howard Wilkinson:

He left one of his clubs after having been required to give a half-time talk, as captain, in place of his manager, whom drink had rendered temporarily incapable of speech. The fans of the club in question were mystified by his departure, but he had signed a confidentiality agreement and never spoke of the incident.

lol/wow

ade has had a mini-slump already and i do acknowledge the likelihood of sam’s doubts

i just want him to acknowledge that rvp will break very soon indeed, and then who’s more fucked?

Wenger: “We have a few players on the edge like Van Persie and Walcott, who had a hamstring alert, and Ramsey. We’ll have to see how they respond to 24 hours rest.“

if rvi breaks, and i genuinely don’t think its gonna happen*, then still spurs. because we then move theo upfront and arshavin or benny noon on the wing, whereas spurs will then... play pav, i guess?

None of them are playing midweek, so its cool.

I didn’t finish that post. Could have mentioned lol Park, who Wenger ‘believes’ in and we’ll see how he does v. City tomorrow. Also the *was to say i’ve most prob jinxed him now.

Chris—did you enjoy big Andy’s cameos the last two Sundays?

adebayor is somewhat baffling to me. when he had that great season for arsenal i was convinced that he wasn’t that good, he was just putting away chances created by others. watching him play every week for spurs, i can see how good he is at holding the ball up and creating chances for others, but his finishing seems poor. he had 9 shots on target against west brom, the most of any player in a single game the last 5 seasons.

He has the ability to be the best forward in the world. He can have an astounding first touch, a beasty shot, perfect in the air, knows his positioning, can beat his man with ease, has strength to stay up and intimidate, can spot a pass in a way only top players can...

Unfortunately he’ll only be working on half of these, at most, in 95% of matches.

That and he just stops caring to play, you know, football, every couple of months or so. I think we got 3 amazing months out of him post-Eduardogate and that was his longest reign of form.

I thought that was an xp until you mentioned Eduardo

spurs def need to sell pav and buy a young-ish cf in january to either replace ade or at least strengthen their negotiating position.

Wonder how Coulibaly is getting on?

he’s 16 and short, don’t think he can lead the line yet

Nah i know. Just an idle thought

xposts. Not watched the Chelsea game again, but was Andy’s control as lol-worthy as I think it was? Good save from Hart last night.

It really was—he had half-a-dozen touches in his three minutes and every one gave the ball away or iirc a risky free-kick. Not ideal when you’re trying to see out injury time. He looked like the kid at school who gets picked first ‘cos he’s big, but can’t actually play football. Yet for a moment yesterday he looked the business.

Hart had more than the one great save too—was gutted when I saw the highlights.

Matty Taylor for England & GOAL of the season

Ah, the sandbox of five years ago, when Pardew had gone to Charlton, Chris Coleman was still somebody, DJ Martian still existed, and there was speculation about Liverpool’s chances of overhauling both United and Chelsea to win that elusive league title...

what happened to DJM?

out

if rvi breaks, and i genuinely don’t think its gonna happen*, then still spurs. because we then move theo upfront and arshavin or benny noon on the wing, whereas spurs will then... play pav, i guess?

u crack me up

i try

is ade playing for togo again? just remembered we gots a anc come jan.

It really was—he had half-a-dozen touches in his three minutes and every one gave the ball away or iirc a risky free-kick. Not ideal when you’re trying to see out injury time. He looked like the kid at school who gets picked first ‘cos he’s big, but can’t actually play football. Yet for a moment yesterday he looked the business.

Aye, just watched the last few minutes of Chelsea again and that’s spot on—so Jekyll and Hyde. Thought we were great v City. Lucas just keeps getting better, and Adam’s really impressing me now. The defence is looking very good—great to see Skrtel and Agger getting a run of games together.

Argh, just remembered Spurs v Villa. What a shame ILX was down for that one.

yeah i think he’s going back to togo. psyched for the pavness

carroll very unlucky vs city imo

yaya p much the only player the league is going to miss, right?

cameroon didn’t qualify. thank the fucking lord. going without song would be 3000 times worse than going without rvi.

uhm

Newcastle might miss Demba Ba

& tiote

yeah, that just occurred to me also. Of course the wheels might come off before that

coulibaly gonna come into his own late on imo

Chelsea losing Mikel might be a blessing in disguise

draw at old trafford seems like a high water mark

they’ve had a run of form so strong ppl have even talked about the championship level ryan taylor as a ‘top fullback’

oriol romeu played on saturday and got good notices in absentia mikel

stephen and ryan taylor will surely start to happen to newcastle very soon

lol ok yeah my bad for forgetting newcastle

they do of course have former new maldini davide santon to blood into lb

never rated stephen taylor, a nonsense of a no-nonsense defender

coloccini was alright at depor but is eminently nonsensical and i doubt this new composure will last

togo and nigeria didn’t qualify

trap in (extnded through 2014 qualifying)

unsure what i think of that

ledley king has been booked once in 69 games. phenomenal defender.

Going back to 2007! I should pay more attention to that guy, I’m willing to accept that that probably is phenomenal defending rather than just plain being unable to move around the pitch.

well tbf it’d be going back to 2009 had he a normal injury record, but yeah he’s the great lost english talent of his generation, fuck a jokehole or dyer

Rio had 2 in 71 going back to 2009

That’s fantastic, you get so used to Lucas or Vidic seemingly always taking a yellow for the team that I’d never noticed guys not operating like that. I wonder how it breaks down for DMs in general, actually.

up until this weekend rio got exemptions in home games iirc

That’s mainly Vidic in fairness

Still better than Ledley King though (xp)

That stat includes England games by the way

i’d rate them closely, alright. if both had enjoyed injury/drug free careers there wouldn’t be much room for john terry.

What, are you blind or something?

Terry can be grateful for ILF being down, he and cohorts were all over the place against Liverpool.

Ferdinand would have faced some slightly more challenging opposition over that time of course

is tony hart defending rio or terry?

If king had stayed injury free he’d have left, tho tbh defending at spurs prob left you a lot more exposed that rio might have been facing this past few years.

spurs taking andy najar on trial? good move

For comparisons sake Vidic has 32 (+ 4 reds) in 142 appearances over the same period.

is tony hart defending rio or terry?

You’ve blacksided me there

i’m only observing yr chosen manoeuvres

Ledley, had his knee not given out, would probably have turned up at United or Liverpool in the mid-00s.

He’s been immense this season, although I’m wondering if his improved fitness is down to Parker being in the team and saving him from a shedload of additional running and tackling he was having to do.

the biggest link icr with ledley was after euro ?2000?2002?

Anyway, he’d had a good run and it was to arsenal he was headed, apparently

Euro 2004 I think, the France game in particular was what really established his reputation.

yeah could be, jesus that was seven years ago

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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.

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

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

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

I worry about that, but otoh that first xi has only really been fighting on one front all season. Interested to see what Redknapp does in the FA Cup, got a feeling we’re either bombing out in the third round or winning it.

Just read the whole report. If there is an appeal, I can’t see Liverpool’s conduct since the verdict (the Suarez t-shirts, the official statement, etc) helping—if anything the punishment could be extended. This bit is damning:

356. Mr Suarez’s pinching of Mr Evra’s skin was not an attempt to defuse the situation. On the
contrary, it was an attempt to aggravate Mr Evra and to inflame the situation. Mr Suarez’s
admitted use of the word “negro” when speaking to Mr Evra was not conciliatory and
friendly. It was unfriendly and was used as part of Mr Suarez’s attempt to wind up Mr
Evra. The whole tenor of the exchanges was confrontational and argumentative. Adopting
the words used by the Spanish language experts, Mr Suarez did not use “negro” with any
sense of rapport or in an attempt to create such rapport.
357. Not only did we reject this evidence of Mr Suarez, but we found it remarkable that he
sought to advance a case that was so clearly inconsistent with any sensible appreciation of
what happened. Even Mr McCormick accepted in his closing submissions that the
pinching could not reasonably be described as an attempt to defuse the situation. To
suggest otherwise, as Mr Suarez did, was unarguable. Mr Suarez’s evidence on these
topics, which was shown to be flawed, profoundly undermined our confidence in the
reliability of his evidence.
358. Mr Suarez’s account of his admitted use of the word “negro” changed several times. He
seemed unsure of when the admitted use took place and what triggered it. His account
seemed to change in an attempt to fit in with the video evidence.

The weirdest bit, I thought, was that both Dalglish and Comolli said to the ref after the match that Suarez had said “because you are black” and Dirk Kuyt also confirmed Suarez had told him the same thing in a separate conversation carried out in Dutch. “According to Mr Suarez, Mr Comolli misheard what Mr Suarez said in Spanish and Mr Kuyt misheard what Mr Suarez said in Dutch.” The findings of the commission that the defence only used the word “concilliatory” after it was presented to them as one of the potential language modifiers smacks of lawyers who know their client is likely to be found guilty but are looking to win on technicalities.

To be honest, the whole thing reads a bit like an attempt at coaching and damage limitation after the game by Comolli—which then went wrong because, as is often the case with a not-entirely-true sequence of events, it’s hard to all agree on exactly what story you’re all going to use.

TheLFCZone

What the hell is that?

It seems that Rooney was dropped yesterday for having broken a curfew and gone drinking. Twat.

Nice work by motd, playing ferguson’s interview (“you see those in the box every day not being given. That sums up the referee’s performance today”) over the clearest possible footage of Berbatov hauling down Samba.

btw there’s a difference in legal-speak between credibility and reliability. Credibility is whether you’re telling the truth or not; reliability is whether or not you’re accurate. Suarez is mostly found wanting on reliability, not credibility. They sound the same but they’re not quite—it’s normal for witnesses to be unreliable on certain points because of bad memory, time lag, things happening fast, been drinking, etc. Lack of credibility is much worse, but even then iirc he’s incredible about explanations more than facts.

Also the comments about standard of proof are interesting. They’re working to ‘balance of probabilities’ i.e. on the evidence before them Suarez was more likely than not to have done it. The CPS work to a different test—they have to consider there to be a realistic prospect of proof beyond reasonable doubt before they can prosecute. We don’t know what evidence they have against Terry, but as it passed the tougher CPS test it’s got to be very likely that, when he’s charged by the FA, it would comfortably pass the ‘balance of probabilities’ test.

Was there a statement/explanation from the police about Suarez not being charged?

Not that I’m aware of. I don’t think there was even a complaint made to them. And reading the FA report, there’s no way he’d’ve been convicted—this was a marginal call in which they essentially had to choose one or other and preferred Evra’s version—an actual criminal trial isn’t like that, you have to get over the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ hurdle and anything short of that means not guilty.

Also the charge would’ve been different. The FA’s ‘insults with reference to colour’ is weaker than ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress which was racially aggravated’ like Terry’s been charged with.

Is Scharner some kind of hipster or something?

― Number None, Wednesday, December 21, 2011 11:34 PM (1 week ago)

I feel like we never really got the bottom of this. A cursory GIS yields not very much. Bad mistake for the goal completing a bad day for our Williamsburg-dwelling, tweed-wearing hero.

Need a gif of Hodgson’s Head Banging to go alongside the Face Rub. #HodgsonForEngland

Not that I’m aware of. I don’t think there was even a complaint made to them.

Right, but there doesn’t need to be a complaint does there?

I don’t know why, but that does seem to be the rule that gets cited. I can’t imagine that’s how they decide whether to get involved in gunfights or unclaimed dead bodies, right enough.

City laying siege is something to behold

Good lord.

Woohoo!

That was a beauty

Clearly offside!

half a step, but yeah.

Well-taken by the lad tbf.

keeps the league interesting

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

best weekend of the season?

ayo!

Nobody actually wants to win this league, do they?

I do

Then you can have it.

You know what I thought last night? It’s like the pension thing—a race to the bottom. Look at Liverpool over the past few years; up for the big matches but dropping points like crazy to teams in the bottom half of the table: still one of the ‘Big 4’ (until Man City did what they did.). And what do we have now? Looking impressive against each other (City’s 6–1, Utd’s 8–2 etc) but losing to sides in the bottom three.

Martin Tyler bested his MACHEDAAAAA moment there. Missed yesterday’s game due to being at a wedding, wonder if i should subject myself to the highlights

no

Yeah, didn’t think so

The Suarez Report is weirdly engrossing. Quite amusing reading references to Mr. Kuyt and so on

I’m sure that was done for his benefit

<stands up>

<applauds>

Heh!

quality

A+ footcelsior material there.

so will liv appeal?

not if they’ve got any sense

Be mad to IMO. Comolli, Dalglish and Kuyt both largely agree with Evra’s version of events and said as much to Marinner, Dowd and the FA (respectively) and Suarez himself said he wouldn’t call an Englishman ‘black’ because they might find it offensive (implying he knows full well it could be taken the wrong way).

Where this leaves Glen Johnson, who apparently gets called ‘negro’ all the time during training without question from anybody at the club, fuck knows.

Yeah, I’d’ve thought not. Assessment of the evidence is usually a matter solely for the panel hearing it, and they’ve been so meticulous about it in the report that there’s not a great deal of scope to argue that they’ve made an obvious error. There might be scope for appealing the length of ban, but again they’ve carefully explained why they considered & rejected longer & shorter bans, so that’s probably a no-goer too. Put City to the sword on Tuesday then quietly let the whole thing drop while muttering about it being harsh, lessons learnt, chance for the summer break he hasn’t had since 2009, etc etc would be best I think.

glen johnson at a liverpool team-building session.

I thought that was John Barnes?

suspense of waiting to see what Hartson would choose for his goal of the month on MOTD2 slightly undermined by him saying Van Persie was his goal of the season three minutes earlier

Martin Tyler’s commentary for that Ji goal was sensational.

ffs

Swansea winning at Villa! Stoke winning at Blackburn! Torres starts for Chelsea! Is Drogba injured? Not even on the bench.

eh drogba moved to PSG yesterday dude

Real ilx is back now Chris—some pure gold immigration rules discussion going on on that thread atm.

Ah sorry, didn’t realise.

’salright, Drogba moving to PSG would’ve passed me by otherwise

Fun fact from Beeb ticker: seven clubs into his career, Wayne Routledge scores his first Premier League goal.