Liverpool still won't win the premiership (2007/08 edition)

When, if ever, did you stop thinking Tottenham were one of The Big Clubs?

oh christ I'm going to cop it in work tomorrow

still picking paul robinson.

he doesn't have any tactical knowledge. he can't change a game. he never, never picks the best eleven available. he never drops a player.

wow how ever did Spurs manage to finish 5th last season with such a useless coach. and picking the England #1, i ask you!

do you mean how did they manage to finish behind liverpool and arsenal despite both being poor in the league and despite spending more than any team after chelsea since jol came in?

i don't know.

and picking the england no. 1?

there are at least three better english goalies in the league. and there are at least ten better goalies in the league, never mind the world (which we are allowed to buy from).

are you even being sarcastic?

Typical whingeing Spurs fan.

:)

I'm more of a typical apprehensive Spurs fan, I think. Not really a great start. I think I might get the hell away from merseyside for a couple of days.

Don't look at me, I support Man City. Nice to see a big club back where they belong.

I switched my support to Fort William a long time ago.

lol @ england no.1 = good

no-one claimed he was good

Seriously though, advocating sacking the manager who has delivered a proper European run plus back to back 5th places for the first time since the 1980s after a couple of dodgy results is BBC website at best.

We're in the middle of a serious injury crisis, especially in defence (what was wrong with Kaboul?) With the best pre-season planning in the world I really don't think Jol could have expected to start the season with Paul Stalteri, Anthony Gardner and Ricardo Rocha making up three quarters of the back four, and it was defensive fuckups that led to at least two of the Everton goals.

That said, I think Spurs may continue to come undone if Jol doesn't get a bit more ruthless with his team selection. Playing three strikers just didn't work, especially when you ended up with people hoofing up long balls to them, bypassing the midfield which still had no width in any case. Ditto failing to make proper use of what is a very big squad - if you have no wingers, why start with Wayne Routledge on the bench? What is the point of buying Taarabt if not to play him in these situations?

Also Defoe was by the far the best of the four strikers today, let that be a lesson to you.

Fair play to Everton though. Lescott is a fantastic player, would love to him in my team.

Robert Green on life in the West Ham dressing room: "The other players think I'm a weirdo as it is. I was scorned this week for saying I hated Big Brother. I can't think of anything more boring than watching people sitting in a room. Comments like that don't go down too well"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/6947333.stm

Roy Keane is RAGING

Jeez, that Spurs team last night - Robinson, Stalteri, Gardner, Rocha, Routledge, Jenas, Malbranque - these are not good players. I know it's difficult to get proper strength in depth when you're not one of the big four, but really, is that the best around?

Martin Jol - Claudio Ranieri in a fat suit? Discuss.

Actually, the opposite problem to Ranieri. Jol refuses to change things, even when it's patently not working. And that isn't just during games, that's from week to week.

Even allowing for the fact that Jol is sticking to the same underperforming players every week (whether in the right position or not) and isn't using his squad (see point about Taraabt above), Spurs are at least two players off competing for that fourth spot, and that's when we get all the injured players back.

And centre back wasn't really the problem last night, the real issue was left back. And we didn't buy one of those this summer (Jol has been quoted as saying he sees Bale as a winger).

When you see individually less gifted players hand out a beating like that last night (and it could have been more, let's face it) then you have to wonder how good we will ever be under Jol.

Spurs will not qualify for the UEFA cup this year through the league.

ironic thing about this year might be, that the 'top 4' may be able to lose a couple more than the last couple of years, as the 2nd tier have spent so much, with some looking really not bad...this means that its actually the 2nd tier that might need to be hitting the ground running, and its this that doesnt bode well for spurs. of course its very early days, but blackburn, everton, mancity(!!!), newcastle...could all conceivably rack up good early points

Yeah, the Ranieri comparison was more that he can take a club so far, but no further. The way Spurs folded in the 3-3 at the Bridge last season was very Ranieriesque. I remember us going up to Old Trafford, battering United, going 1-0 up and then taking off all our forwards as we waited for the inevitable United winner (Forlan, 90).

Have Spurs spent as much as Ranieri did at Chelsea now?

the Ranieri comparison was more that he can take a club so far, but no further.

He wasn't given the chance to take them further - unless there really was a big shared sense of 'well you've taken us to our highest league position in decades, but clearly there is no way you'd actually be able to maintain/improve on this especially with our new oligarch chairman with bags of cash, so bye bye'. Had this argument before I know, but hindsight so overbearing.

I'm enjoying being a newscastle fan one game in.

It won't last

Hey, it isn't hindsight on my behalf!

Point taken though, Ranieri was supported by the majority of the fans (largely because the alternative was Sven). And he did get us into the Champions League after spending zero in the summer and took us to a supine defeat in the Cup final, which were genuine achievements. But he spent a lot and won squat - them is the facts.

everton in top of league shocker. (did something similar last year iirc)

It only lasted about two hours last season, Koogs (until Pompey won their 3pm k/o after Everton had won the derby) - at least we've a day to bask in it this time. I'm going to stick my neck out and say - however meaningless this is - that Liverpool won't achieve this, even for 24 hours.

I think people might be getting a bit carried away with Man City after one win against West Ham, who everyone and their mum managed to beat last year and really haven't made much significant improvement in the problem areas of their squad.

is that 'our' tuomas in the f365 mailbox?

"LOL" at the xenophobic whingers now Sven is large and in charge.

I might even wear me Man City shirt in public before all hope is lost as usual.

Elano looks mighty good. Then again, so did Brian Roy.

the keano quote in the <a href="http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/article.html?in_article_id=61550&in_page_id=43";>metro</a> (based on the dom link above i guess) is proper 2002, i phoned the gaffer, stick it up yr bollocks ROY:

'But I have to say I think the game is getting less and less characters. They are more motivated by lots of different things like money and London and living in shopping areas.

MONEY AND LONDON!!!

it's grand to have you back, sir.

Perhaps Keane should sign an entire team of homosexuals? Or would gay WAGs bring incessant demands on their partner to a whole new level?

insert spurs joke

Results 1 - 10 of about 598,000 for ashley cole mobile phone. (0.34 seconds)

Women like to go shopping? There aren't many high-priced shops in Sunderland?

Who knew?

Anyway, surely the club could chip in an extra few hundred a week so the lads can use the services provided by local ladies of the night if their WAGs don't want to head up to sunny Sunderland?

This all started with Emerson's wife hating the North East, she must have got word out to the WAG's Guild.

Danny Murphy RIP.

Mr. Danny Taylor, please

1525: Remember all the brouhaha off the field at that final in Athens about Liverpool's fans, demand for tickets outstripping supply and how they're the best supported club in Europe?. Well, only a reported 640 have made the trip to France with the club for today's game.

and Toulouse is so lovely this time of year

20 min: The first shot in anger of the match, and it's from Elmander. It's not particularly good, either; it just manages to reach Reina on the edge of the Liverpool box. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE DO SOMETHING?

1550: A burst of energy from Steven Gerrard as he bustles into the box, but a bit too much elbow was used by the Liverpool skipper and the Greek referee spots the infringement.

Steven Gerrard? Cheating? Surely not. (btw I missed MotD at the weekend, is it right that Alan Hansen called him a cheat?) How much elbow is "a bit too much"?

weird that - I'm watching it and that was called for Crouch's flailing arms, nowt to do with Gerrard

it is a dull game tho, Toulouse are parking the bus somewhat

lol@BBC getting things wrong.

great goal there from the Dark Lord of Chaos

Why is this a 3:30 k/o? Shame, I was sort of looking forward to swearing at the telly later on. Now they've got an away goal one can only hope for some amusing Liverpool injuries/suspensions...

French bank holiday, apparently.

on a wednesday????

ooh assumption!

It's August 15th. It's a holiday in Italy too (Ferragosto? Madchen?). Christmas is on any day, it's not like you're unused to the concept.

christmas is the exception (oh, hold on, and new year's day)...

...but apart from those two!

it's a bit like when Inter played Norwich on a Thursday lunchtime.