George Costanza

I thought we should have stuffed them. They were very poor/niave. We played well int he first half but the second half was pretty poor and looked a bit of a mess. Not going to bother to single out individuals for praise or otherwise. Just to say that we should easily qualify now but we have to improve 100% for the knockout stages

Cisse finally gets a start & he's put up front on his own :no

your confident playing with 10 men :D

pretty defensive & i echo the 'fucking Josemi' comment

as Red Nick points out, Simao will depend on whether Benfica qualify from their CL group.

http://www.goal.com/NewsDetail.aspx?idNews=94106 Goal.com has learned from sources on Merseyside that Liverpool have verbally agreed a deal for Real Madrid defender Ivan Helguera to move to Anfield when his contract expires at the end of June. Helguera is understood not to be seeking a new deal at the Bernabeu, but will instead pursue his career in the English Premiership under former Valencia manager Rafael Benitez Sounds dubious though

He'd have no problem ditching Newcastle to come back but has he burned his bridges by not waiting in the summer? I think we'll go for Kuyt again next summer

you missed out drogba

Thought Zenden was poor today Sissoko is our player of the season so far by a million miles.

did they :dunno: they were better but they still nearly put me too sleep. Poles weren't exactly up to much IMO. not exactly a groundbreaking result

aye. sums him up well that. thought Carra's response after the recent CL game was fucking class. How he's not captain is beyond me but thats a completely different discussion

not seen the film but it looks fucking shite. Best football movie will still be Escape to Victory. beat me to it Milan :D that ossie ardilles flick is just legendary

Mixed feelings on Mourinho. Often he can come across as a complete twat (although I do think some of that is playing with the media) but sometimes he comes across as a decent fella. Got sent a 4 minute clip after the chelsea semi final & it showed Maureen applauding our fans as he went off the pitch. Thought that was a good gesture.

Lack of pace has concerned me & it is very noticeable. It certainly will help us defend a higher line (& therefore allowing us to condense the play better which will inturn allow for a higher pressing game) + it will also enable us to support the striker(s) better and prevent him/them from becoming isolated.

Thats what I found strange about his signing. Presumably he was bought because of the very good season he had last year playing the centre. So far he's played out wide where, previously playing there for Barca, Chelsea & Holland, he was average at best.

wouldn't get overly worked up about it. Its hardly a major injury is it. we've got more than enough players to cope with 3/4 games withut Stevie. Momo & Didi the obvious choices but what about playing Zenden in the middle where he played the majority of last season at Boro last season.

Crouch done well in the first half contrary to what Jocky thinks >:( All 3 lads have had good halves. England continue their dull continental style though. Hope the enormous headed Joe Cole gets sent off & god forbid an injury to Lampard :whistle:

I don't believe Rafa wasn't interested in Joaquin but has ended any such interest due to Betis' demands for the player. I think he could be a gem of a player but if Betis want brewsters for him then I do think we are better looking elsewhere at cheaper alternatives i.e Simao

Whatever my thoughts on Cisse as a player, I think he has been treated very poorly and looks almost certainly to be on his way out without ever being given the chance in his best position. Another greatbit of buisness by the club & no doubt a 4-6m loss at best.

He's been very poor so far this season (Betis aside) & today was no different. Despite what Rafa has constantly talked about, he still refuses to do the simple thing. Today he was either invisible or gave the ball away.

We look fucking toothless at the moment surely we have to change something?

I just don't think we have the quality of wide players to make 4-5-1 work at the moment. Its square pegs & round holes again.

Outplayed, outclassed & out thought albeit by a very, very good team. This one hurts a fucking lot & because of fucking internationals its two weeks till we can recover from it. Our defence look suprisngly shaky today but more worrying (again) is our lack of cutting edge & guile in the final 3rd. Hate to say it but we look like a one trick pony at the moment. Gutted :(

he's due a goal :yes: