Manny

Fuck it, after the shit we've had to put up with I'm not being denied some Arsenal-related schadenfreude. If there's no Europa League, we concentrate on finishing as high as possible in the league and have a good crack at a domestic cup. It's not like we've got the squad for competition on the European front as well anyway. There's some bad twats in that Birmingham side, so I'm not particularly pleased for them either.

For the love of christ can we stop the Torres-esque body-language analysis of players and the conspiracy theories that go with it? Pepe perhaps should have done better in the game but to suggest that this is entirely because he wants out is absurd. I think we all know who needs to stay, whose importance to the first team is elevated and who should be shipped out asap. Games like today show up the lack of quality in the first XI and the utter paucity of the squad.

The BBC will keep the agenda as banal as possible anyway. Football Focus isn't exactly hard-hitting.

I could easily see Copenhagen getting at least a draw tonight. They're no pushovers at home - didn't they draw at home with Barcelona earlier this season? As Code says though, the winter break they're just coming out of, whilst making them fresher, will also make them rustier.

I listen to them on the bus. They're pretty good.

I don't know which one's which.

Those two Brazilian full backs at the mancs. Don't know which one's which but at least one of them's a bad twat.

"Hello Mr Piss."

Would love to see us win this competition. I'm not saying it'd put us back on the map - there's a long road ahead - but it'd draw a line under a horrendous couple of years on and off the field, and it'd be great to see Kenny pick up European silverware.

To be honest, the theory that international football is about honour and patriotism over money and glamour is all well and good in some nations, but it's evolved into a different beast in England. So parochial is the club game, that representing England is the only way of uniting the clans. A good example of this is going to play the likes of Stoke, who'll give it the whole "oo are ya" chants at Gerrard, screaming and contorting their faces at him if he scores - but come June in a World Cup/Euro Championship year a load of them'll have Gerrard 4 on their backs and be screaming the same obscenities at an Eastern European who tackles him. Thus is born Team England - a load of fucking bullshit that seizes on this unifying effect for the purposes of printing money, creating the whole awful idea of footballers who are bigger than any foreigner despite lower levels of ability. It's hard not to be cynical about it all.

Too right. I've an absolutely irrational hatred of Spurs thesedays - I'm fucking hating every little moment of their carefree run in Europe. Every fucking moment on TV wishing them well and revelling in their results is met with utter bile from me. And it's entirely because they're doing what we should be doing - playing at the top level. Spurs' place is mid-table, in constant turmoil with division amongst the fans. Ours is Champions League football. We have to get back in soon, for my own sanity. The awful thing is that outside of Spain, there's not that much quality at the moment. EDIT: Oh, and this cunt can take his stupid face and fuck off - he's been shite all season but he pops up like this on BBC Homepage:

Winning in Europe is our job. Fuck the rest of the English clubs, may they lose every game.

A sudden thought entered my head today. I believe Jose Enrique was signed during Allardyce's ill-fated tenure as Newcastle manager. Given the fact that he basically claimed discovery of Gael Givet despite his earlier appearances in the Champions League, he'll blatantly appear in the media trying to take the credit for whoever signs Enrique. Just a thought.

The fuck is Redknapp's reaction about though? "Oh I know who'd win in a fight." How fucking old is he!?

Totally agree. He flirted with retirement a few years ago but decided against it. He also commented on Robson retiring I seem to remember, questioning what a lifelong football man would do in his retirement. The only way he'll leave castle greyskull is in a wooden overcoat, or by doing a Clough and overstay his welcome while all collapses around him, but bring too big a legend to sack too soon.

Players are worth what people are willing to pay for them.

I had a strong feeling that'd be the case. They haven't misquoted him, or made it up. They've simply merged the answers to several questions and stuck a headline at the top. The interview could have gone along the lines of: "Do you think you'll stay at Liverpool come the summer?" - "I'm under contract here, but who knows." "Do you want to be challenging for silverware?" - "Yes, of course I want to be playing in the top competitions and challenging for silverware." "What about Manchester Utd?" - "It's true that van der Sar will be retiring at the end of this season, so they'll be in the market for another goalkeeper. But I'm happy enough where I am." All that (and I don't know if they were his exact words) could easily be cut and pasted to say "I'm under contract but who knows. I want to be playing in the top competitions and competing for silverware - van der Sar will be retiring at the end of this season, so Manchester Utd will be in the market for another goalkeeper." And he'd have said every word of it. He may well go at the end of the season - I would resist any attempts to sell him to the scum mind - but if he does then we do what we did with the Rat. Take the money and go elsewhere, moving on swiftly and decisively. There's enough good goalkeepers mentioned in this thread - Adler, Neuer, de Gea, Lloris, Akinfeev etc - for us to be able to find a successor, surely. I don't necessarily think he will though. Torres was always aware that his career will wind down alarmingly as his pace and physicality diminish. That may happen by the age of 31 so he's thinking of the next few years as crucial. 2 years out of the CL and nowhere near the title is a significant portion of his career. Pepe, on the other hand, could well have a decade (give or take) left at the top level. His loyalty would be far less costly to his ambition, so he may yet decide a season extra, speculating to accumulate if you will, is worth it. I hope so, because I bloody love the bloke.

I really, really hate Spurs thesedays.

It would be raw, but I'd love a front 3 of Suarez, Carroll and Mueller. Bayern probably wouldn't sell him though.

No problem with what he said, personally. Anfield's a much more inspiring place than the Britannia when it's at its best, but in general the Stoke mongs are still delirious to be in the top flight so every game is still pretty special to them. We say ourselves on many occasions that the Anfield atmosphere for league games (bar the obvious) isn't consistently great. They're absolute knuckle-draggers though, and the style of football and the fans seem to fit perfectly together. Pulis doesn't generally annoy me - his teams play shit football but he doesn't pretend that he or his team are anything they're not (take notice Fat Sam). He's still a snivelling arse-kisser for the stunt he pulled with his players on loan at Preston.

Not the difference between the sides, but the ref was shite, first Nani, then Giggs just had to throw their hands in the air and look at him and he'd award the free kick.

Gutted. Should he go, I'm fully aware I'll eventually turn optimistic, adopt the (correct) "no-one is bigger than the club" mantra and look forward to the rebuilding - try and see the money bringing balance to the team. However, such is the emotion we've all invested in him, and supposedly seen reciprocated, it's difficult to swallow. Chelsea are the very antithesis of what we are, and perhaps just as importantly, what Atletico are. I remember reading early interviews with Torres, where he discussed being a young lad supporting Atleti, in the shadow of Real. He always talked about how proud he was to identify with a club that was rooted, and that had proper fans who had a real passion and empathy with the team; rather than Real's fans who turned up on some vague notion of being entertained. Chelsea aren't that, not at all. And you can guarantee they'll nick our song, substituting the word "Chelsea" for Liverpool. Because they're classless, unoriginal cunts.

I remember Arsenal's unbeaten side of a few years ago - when they lost at Woodison to "remember the name" Wayne's goal, they spiralled for about a quarter of the season before even looking like they'd properly recovered from it. 28 games unbeaten now? No matter how much they deny it, and that they're just concentrating on the next game, it'll be playing on their minds now and it'll play even more as it goes on. Ginsoak is a better instiller of belief, but when they lose - and they're too fallible not to - it'll be interesting to see how they recover. Or, of course, they could just keep getting away with decisions and carry on avoiding defeat until the end of time.

Apologies, I meant on the post-match roundup after the Arsenal-Ipswich game on the TV.

Horrible old cunt, trying to curry favour with the little clubs. Probably expecting Oyston and Holloway to fall in line like Whelan, Allardyce, Pulis et al.