Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

yeah but no-one else has gareth barry

Eboue ;_;

Dead? Kidnapped?

turkish

This is a bit of a long-shot, but I have this vague memory of being in a pub in Islington on a Friday night back in about 2003 or 2004 and being surprised to see there was a live Premier league game on the TV. I think it might have been Arsenal v Newcastle, but I wouldn't swear to it. Google isn't being particularly helpful on this front. Can anyone confirm if they have shown Premier League games on a Friday night? And if so, what game did I see and when was it?

Yes, there was definitely one around that time and my memory says Arsenal-Newcastle too, because I looked up tickets and it didn't sell out. But I didn't go, I wasn't a diehard gunner then.

I thought you'd always been a true blue gunner-gooner?

26/09/2003 apparently. Do not remember this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UmNtb_3TB4

Thanks

I should've gone, that looks great.

Oof, that Lundberg chip <3

Schalke have said they expect a quick decision on whether Raúl, the former Real Madrid striker, will join Blackburn Rovers

lol yeah a very quick decision indeed

haha

Were Arsenal trying to sell Vela and couldn't find any takers, or was the plan to loan him out for a year all along?

Think the writing was on the wall for Chippy when he couldn't get into the West Brom team.

3 matches for Gervinho, ridiculous.

standard

@Nanas08 Just to make things clear i dont have a facebook so i never said i was leaving with bitterness the guy who said that use a fake account, wah wah wah

"He rang me after I stuck up for him (in September 2009 when Adebayor scored against Arsenal at Eastlands). I said he shouldn't have run to the fans, but they were giving him almighty abuse all game. What are you supposed to do? You stick it up them, which is what he did. It was a bit over the top but I stuck up for him and he rang me to say he appreciated it. I'm sure I'll get on well with him. When he was at it at Arsenal, he was almost unplayable. That's what we want him to do here and there's no reason why he can't do that."

Cech out 4 weeks with a knee injury. Adjust yr fantasy teams accordingly. Can never remember if Hilario is any good or not.

clue's in the name

aptronym innit

ave we signed adebayor or are we just avin a go

No way is Hilario now second-choice keeper at Chelsea? That's ridiculous.

no, it's Hilarious!

Who else do they have?

I wonder how much he's been paid for playing ~20 games in 5 years.

Who else do they have?

Ross Turnbull

They also signed this guy then loaned him immediately to Atletico Madrid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibaut_Courtois

they have Turnbull too, though as I assume he signed in order to quietly see out the last ten years of his career on the bench I don't know if actually playing him would be a good idea. (xp)

Turnbull is there purely because of homegrown rules, right? I don't think even he can remember if he is any good or not.

"I find it frustrating with Joey Barton how he's not in the England squad," Cattermole told BBC Newcastle.

"There's no doubting his ability, but they [the England management team] see him as some problem."

"I don't understand it, I think he would do well for the England side."

@themichaelowen
michael owen
About to embark on the biggest challenge of my life. yfrog.com/h66xdcbj

something to do on matchdays

there's something about piecing together all those broken bits while knowing that the final result will still be fragile and shirt-lived that's somehow significant here

Hilario is never quite as bad as you think he'll be. Keeps a fair share of clean sheets, much better than Turnball. (Prepares to eat words after weekend fixtures.)

Courtois is a long-term replacement for Cech, though we also have another young Czech keeper parked somewhere or other in Mittel Europe I think.

Not feeling this season yet. Only player I'm interested in seeing is Aguero and he'll only get allowed out the box once a month by Mancini. Vaguely contemplating supporting Swansea.

Hilario is never quite as bad as you think he'll be. Keeps a fair share of clean sheet

last season, played once vs Man U - lost 3 goals

previous season played 11, 6 clean sheets, conceded 3 vs Wigan, 3 vs Blackburn, 4 vs Man City

Hmmm, bit misleading that.

Wigan he came off the bench when Cech was sent off to face a penalty that made it 2-1; Blackburn was CC and experimental team. He was poor against Man City, but the whole team had a brainfart.

Don't even remember the United game last season. Charity Shield was it? Say no more.

He's not a great keeper by any stretch, but he's not a walking catastrophe.

that he's barely played a game in five years must be a concern though?

Yeah, well obviously I'd rather Cech was playing - best keeper in the league and all that - but Hilario is better than Turnball. Prefer it if we had a better No 2, but it's a hard role to fill. Don't think anybody has two very good keepers these days (*waits to be corrected.*)

If Cech got a really long-term injury we'd be buggered. But could be fun with Hilario and De Gea at either end at Old Trafford next month.

I'm pretty happy with whoever our second-choice keeper is, it's the first-choice that sends me into a blind panic.

Substitute keeper is such a weird profession though, I wish I understood the sporting psychology of it.

Yeah, the one position that is never really subject to rotation. No club really wants the expense and agitation of 2 v good goalies (see Man City last yr). Although he's had a rough start Utd have probably got 2 good goalies tho one of them won't really be able to develop if the other does well.

Substitute keeper is such a weird profession though, I wish I understood the sporting psychology of it.

I often think about that.

We've had Dominic Cervi as our #3 goallie for years. If someone leaves he briefly gets a go on the bench until someone else comes in above him again. He spent six months on loan at Dundee as their second choice keeper and didn't play a single game.

He seems to give not one shit about this.

Getting paid to practice essentially, without the pressure of actual games. I'd take it. Then again I'm not one of the 1% who make it as a pro footballer.

Yeah, you get sub goalies who have ambition who are gagging to play and go out on loan a lot and eventually leave, and then you get the career sub goalies who are those weird Stuart Taylor types, with this combination of being just good enough at being a keeper to be worth having around for an emergency, but not good or ambitious enough to actually play under any other circumstances

yeah,it's interesting. Every top player, more or less, is motivated by the same three things in the same order:

1 Winning
2 Work/life balance - being happy with teammates/boss/club location
3 Wages

But most like to play a physical part in 1, even if it's just for 20 minutes every other week. Back-up keepers don't even get that, so presumably are more motivated by 2 and 3, unless being part of a winning squad is hugely psychologically rewarding in a way we can't really comprehend.

(Presumably if you are back-up in a non-winning team you are content because you feel that at least that gives you a better chance of one day become No 1.)

Also the Carlo Cudicini types who are easily good enough to be someone's #1 and are content to sit on the bench for a bigger club.

Maybe they're just more philosophical and recognise that it's a specialist position with a much more limited chance of success. Goalkeepers on the whole seem to be mostly chill dudes.

Yeah, you'd think they'd be the most angry people in football, right?