NAMING RIGHTS THREAD: Liverpool really won't win the Premiership 2010-2011

Classic Chelsea buzzkill. Tactically abysmal from Ancelotti, it was obvious as soon as he named the team what would happen and he NEVER has the balls to change things when they're going wrong.

Still, 'Fuck your history, you burn your own shirts' made me laugh (although so did, 'You should have joined a big club' to be fair).

Seeing Dalglish in the dugout reminded me of one of the greatest performances I've ever seen by an away team at the Bridge, 5-2 Liverpool win in 1989. Ray Houghton was outstanding, first time I saw what a real player can do with movement and space and talented teammates. That Liverpool team was one of the three best I've ever seen.

Jonathan Pierce describing Scholes handball as 'rascally' annoyed me more than anything else this weekend

why did it annoy you? because 'rascally' isn't a real word? because it was trivializing what you regarded as a serious bit of cheating? or something else?

Thierry Henri was rascally imho.

So when to make a 'new shevchenko' thread? too soon, right?

so not gonna happen

Jonathan Pierce describing Scholes handball as 'rascally' annoyed me more than anything else this weekend

s'just the way with the national treasure that is Scholesy, isn't it? Like every time he comes a couple of inches from snapping someone's leg we get a chortle and for a few seconds aggressive clumsiness becomes a virtue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF-v6uU97EE

btw lots of rubbish about meireles around with regard to hodgson signing him etc. i've read plenty of times that he had been lined up way before roy's reign of terror.

The fact he kept sticking him on the wing suggests as much an' all.

Really? The one good thing Woy did and you are taking it away from him? He signed a decent player who took a while to settle and figure out how to play with Gerrard - not the first good player to be struck by such a problem, may I add.

I'm quite able to believe that deal had been lined up for ages, these things happen.

Any Liverpool fans expecting Aquilani to play again? Looks like he could be worth keeping about now he's getting a regular game for Juve. There's a tasty squad forming there now, needs a winger or two though.

So when to make a 'new shevchenko' thread? too soon, right?

Too soon. You'll also have 'new fowler' and 'new owen' titles to choose from when the time does come though.

New Collymore more likely for one, Uraguay Fowler otm tho

yeah i've read that aquilani's been playing well for juve, in a few diff places. i'd hope we try and give him a go again, he did show flashes.

Aquilani won't be back. There's nothing about the whole affair that doesn't mystify me. He'll probably reëmerge as an astronaut or in Obama's last cabinet or something.

Come on, if anyone's going to be the New Collymore it's Carroll.

The squad does need width though Kelly and Johnson show a bit of promise on the overlap, and the defence needs shoring up too - was a great performance yesterday but it was pure organisation, there were few commanding presences. Would take that over a few big guys actually, but it must take so much effort to play that way.

Was delighted to see my three-at-the-back take root though, was the only way I could get the side to work when we kicked through formations before.

Aquilani's looked great for Juventus. I've been hearing that they mightn't be able to afford to sign him after all. Fingers crossed.

http://leftbackinthechangingroom.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-defence-of-football.html
http://leftbackinthechangingroom.blogspot.com/2011/02/making-sure-reds-are-using-red-sox.html

Theo Walcott as Arsenal's Shearer

That's a good article a hoy hoy, although the argument re San Fransisco Giants is kinda bullshit when it says they had no superstars aside from pitchers, as if pitchers weren't the most important players on the roster.

Former Sky Sports football presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys have moved to radio station Talksport.

New contender challenges Luke Varney for Least Likely Premier League Hitman 2K11 crown

poor Aliadière, nothing ever goes right for him

I've always wondered if his less than impressive goals to games ratio is due to his seemingly painful goal celebration. Perhaps subconsciously he fears scoring because his body knows the pain that awaits, especially as he gets older. Or maybe he's just crap.

xp

Thank fuck they're giving West Ham the Olympic stadium.

Yes thank fuck, is Levy gonna appeal tho?

Why the fuck would he? The plan was always to pressure the government into thinking redeveloping WHL into Naming Rights was a good idea so they could get planning permission and for TfL to sort out the transport etc.

oh good, wasn't following it that closely

Really? I thought the plan was for Levy to use the Olympic Stadium deal as a way of increasing the club's value and give it a trophy asset for when he tries to flog the club to Qatar in two years' time.

How the fuck does a bunch of scaffolding you have to knock down increase value?

RIP West Ham - that's gonna be horrible

Because being an Olympic Stadium redevelopment it's a) more attractive to sponsors and b) has a load of cultural cache that will impress someone looking for a marquee football club to buy. In any case Tottenham already had planning permission for the WHL redevelopment so your theory doesn't really hold water.

Can West Ham actually afford this if they get relegated?

Did they? As of a month ago they didn't have planning permission, guess I haven't been playing that close attention to it.

Lots of issues to do w/ not enough room to want to properly police a modern site iirc.

Should go to the Mighty O's, get the Hammers out of it.

The keen-eyed amongst you may have noticed that Stoke striker John Carew unveiled some fresh ink not so very long ago, though you may not have spotted the rather embarrassing spelling mistake that lies therein.

The big Norwegian has had a tattoo on his neck that reads ‘Ma Vie, Mes Régles’ – which theoretically should translate (Babelfish approved) as ‘My Life, My Rules’.

However, a French professor at Oslo University has highlighted the fact that the use of the accent over the word ‘Régles’ means Carew’s motto translates rather differently.

Apparently, by incorporating an acute accent (é) instead of a grave accent (è), Carew’s daubings translate literally as either ‘My Life, My Period’ or ‘My Life, My Menstruation’.

quit bugging him

I'm glad that Tottenham likely won't get the Olympic Stadium now.

Was just thinking, though, that Liverpool will probably finish above Tottenham in 2012, if not this year. Would be worth a bet if it weren't perhaps too mainstream a thought (and if one was into betting). I feel like the old Premiership Big 4 is going to be restored with City as 5th member, and Spurs a likely 6th place team.

I think it's more likely that Liverpool and Spurs will be scrapping it out for fifth and there'll be a new Big Four with Man City as fourth member. It doesn't yet feel like Liverpool have the sort of money to spend to catch up, or indeed a manager who'll build a dynasty Ferguson/Wenger style.

Or to put it another way, with Man City's money coming into play, Liverpool picked the worst possible time to drop out of the reckoning and it'll be very difficult to catch up.

It might be more likely that the Champions' League gets another expansion and we end up with a sustainable big five or six.

I fear Spurs' biggest danger might be in overreaching to try to make fourth before the new stadium makes money for them, especially with Harry's history. For all the talk about them not strengthening in the transfer window, they already have more internationals than any other club. The wage bill must be close to dangerously high levels.

I agree re City, didn't mean to say that they would finish 5th but that they would be major part of a new big 5, with the old big 4.

Agree that Spurs vs LFC will be fighting for the tail-end of that set. But think LFC will pull ahead again under KD, which will tend to leave Spurs 6th.

also agree that Spurs shouldn't have needed to buy players, when people spent several months previous saying 'they have the strongest squad in the league!'

a problem really has been not using the existing squad effectively.

Use / non-use of Jamie O'Hara arguably an example.

O'Hara's just come back from a serious back injury, he wasn't frozen out. Too much chopping and changing upfront and in defence has been the biggest problem, some of that enforced, some not.

OTOH, Liverpool and Spurs if they continue roughly on the paths they're on now will certainly be considered more of a threat to the top four than previous 5th and 6th placed teams - Villa, Everton, Blackburn (!), Bolton (!!!) etc. But yeah, events...

I should have put the Martin Jol era Spurs in that list as well.

Yes, O'Hara's been injured; but if he's now good enough to play, he's probably as good for Spurs as Pienaar, and wouldn't have cost £3m.

Except they play in different positions, you'd never put Pienaar in central midfield in a defensive capacity. He's probably better than Jenas though, although I assume that Redknapp has loaned him out to see how he progresses for the rest of the season rather than risk him in the Spurs midfield, can kind of see the point there.

http://www.footballticketsonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Top-5-wage-bill.png

Top five clubs' wage bills - Spurs looking okay there, unless it's ballooned recently.