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

Of the remaining relegation-threatened teams, Villa only have to play Bolton, so the potential for six-pointers is pretty low. They still have Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, United and Spurs to play though, plus games against clubs like Norwich, Fulham and Sunderland who you'd expect to comfortably take them down.

They'll be cheering McLeish from the rafters when he brings them to the promised land.

yeah. there are a lot of points still to play for and tho i fully expect it to be 3 from the current bottom 5 history has a habit of throwing up a last-minute disaster and a pointless run from Villa now cd get some nerves jangling

i suspect the degree of anticipation i'm feeling about today's game is more to do with not having been to the pub all week than anything

Finding it increasingly hard to imagine QPR staying up.

That's the impression I get from most R's fans and the players too, to the extent I've read any quotes from them. Still, while it seems like inside the club there's this sense of resignation to the inevitable, outside observers seem to have much more faith in the side's capacity to stay up. I wonder, therefore, if a little bit of self-belief (although I guess that might require a decent win, so catch 22) could go a lot further at Loftus Road than any other club because, as Matt says, they do seem to have the talent to stay up. I never really thought that a lack of self-confidence be so debilitating but it would be such a waste if QPR end up going down, simply because everyone involved assumed they would.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/03/ryan-giggs-paul-scholes-manchester-united

really interesting article.

i'm still v. wary of QPR putting a run together. Bolton and Wigan seem like the no-hopers, but after that us, Rangers and Blackburn all seem to be capable of more than we're achieving when we click.

Wonder if Rafa has a masterplan to get Liverpool into Europe?

I think if QPR do go down, Cissé's red card against Wolves will be seen as the turning point. With him in the team, alongside Zamora, I think we would have beaten Wolves, Fulham and Everton. And that would have buoyed confidence for the run-in. I supect we'll end up having a string of glorious 3-2 defeats against the big clubs, with all observers saying how unlucky we were, and ignoring the myriad games we failed to win but should have. I have no time for the notion of luck over the course of the season: lot's of Rs fans saying we're unlucky to be where we are. Bad luck might turn a game, but incompetence turns a season.

LFC already in Europe next season.

NB52!

Like Lennon and McCartney, the hits keep coming for Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes

Honestly don't think you could write a cornier first line than this if you tried.

pretty poisonous atmos at the sportsdirect arena

xpost And gramatically incorrect. In what sense do Lennon and McCartney keep coming for Giggs and Scholes?

fear that their wives have been bedded

or their kids taken to school

I was talking about Bolton (many xps), Burnden Park is what I meant.

Burnden Park is no more. You meant the Reebok all along.

Fifteen years ago I'd've been right.

also about Liverpool

Surprised you made it to the Emirates last week and weren't standing forlornly at a block of flats insisting the Gunners play at Highbury
xp

what is that on demba ba's bonce

(looks jizzy)

Heh xxp. My dad & I sneaked into Highbury Square afterwards (it's a gated development with guards naturally, but has quite a long delay before the gates close). It's quite swish. One of the flats had a big Liverpool flag on display. There was nothing corresponding for Arsenal.

xpost Did have a Coventry-supporting friend who in the early 90s turned up at Plough Lane for their away game v Wimbledon. Several years too late.

Ha
Almost broke my ankle at Plough Lane, the away terrace seemed to consist of nothing but rubble iirc

Catching up on MOTD. Sturridge looking v much like Torres. So Chelsea have two £50 million centre forwards. They must be pleased.

AVB doesn't want to work for these shower anymore does he? Give me my payoff and I'll go somewhere where the players ego is a little closer to their current ability rather than their ability of 5 years ago.

That one-on-one he missed was completely hopeless.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17249760

Moyes OTM here. It'll never happen clearly, but nice to see someone in a prominent position actually saying it.

Looked like he was going to do a Pele, and then he couldn't even manage the heroic miss.
xp

It was as if he was trying for that, only halfway through to forget what it was Pele actually did.

Or who Pele actually was more likely.

1337:
BREAKING NEWS

Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked as Chelsea manager

AVB gone!

bye avb

Farewell AVB. Fuck Chelsea.

hope he gets a decent job

One of today's papers had Rafa ready to be announced "by Tuesday". Maybe the Fourth Estate called it right?

Don't go to Inter!!!

Poor AVB. He seemed so sad last night.

(and fuck Chelsea)

save, keeper!

are they going to sack torres while they're at it?

should've been kept on and got rid of the troublemaking players. Whoever comes in is going to have to deal with that (unless mourinho comes in end of season and they like him obviously).
I can see chelsea going the caretaker route and appointing Mourinho or someone at the end of season

Lamps, Drogs, Cechy and all them are going to suddenly start performing now?

unless rafa really is a done deal

Spurs could do worse if we need a new manager in the summer. Suspect it'll be Inter, though.

Di Matteo in interim charge. Would prob be a good gig for Rafa, but don't want to have to root for Chelsea so hope he doesn't go there.

I would happily take AVB at Anfield. Kenny not going anywhere tho obviously.

Chelsea say it's RDM to the end of the season.

"With immediate effect Roberto Di Matteo has been appointed first-team coach on an interim basis until the end of the season."

That's so shit. RdM seems alright in general, but this is just basically an acknowledgment that boss at Stamford Bridge is just a popularity contest.