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Today, I finished building a play area for the kids at the back of our garden that included putting in a wall, moving three tons of soil and walking round in shorts, boots and gloves. Grrrr. What manly stuff did you do today?

That is all.

Don't want to post it in the Hillsborough thread but looks like this dickhead is going to have his life ruined. Part of me thinks just ignore the cunt but fuck him. For those who missed it on Twitter, this photo went around asking if anyone could identify the man in it. Then it turned out the pub he was drinking in, in Worcester threw his arse out and barred him for wearing it. People then found out his name and Facebook account and found these: Next thing his address ( which I'm not going to post here ) was up and details of his employer ( he's a truck driver for the Stobart group I think ) who have been getting bombarded with calls to sack him. He's also had a shit load of stuff apparently sent to his house including take aways, JCB's and a load of Lilt!

Fellow geekites, With this hot weather, have you been attacked by the midge? I now have three of the feckers in my monitor, any way to get these buggers out? and will they cause any harm? Thanks

Whilst I was away at Glasto, I noticed that The Guardian ran a series of great lyricists and said Mr. Turner was included alongside the likes of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Morrissey. This got me thinking about him. I wouldn't actually say he belongs in the upper echelons of songwriting alongside Dylan and Cohen (yet anyway) but is it premature to actually call him a "great songwriter?" I know people will say that he's only made two Arctic Monkeys albums and a Shadow Puppets one, but for me, quantity is irrelevant as, for instance, Nick Drake only released three albums, yet many would class him as a great songwriter. So anyway, I've been revisiting his back catalogue since I got back from Glasto to try and decide. I'm not really a fan of the Monkeys' debut but in fairness, it's something really special to write songs like I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor and Fake Tales of San Francsico at such a young age. The second album is a different story as, in my opinion, Do Me Favour, Old Yellow Bricks and 505 are absolute gems and show the lad's evolution and his progression as a songwriter. Even some songs that haven't been released on albums like Despair In The Departure Lounge and The Bakery are fantastic pieces of work. The Shadow Puppets stuff adds another string to his bow as some of the melodies are out of this world. Anyway, I've had the same discussion with a few mates and I thought I'd open it up to the good people of the GF; putting all NME hype aside (they'll probably hate him in another year anyway- the fickle cunts), is it premature to class him among the great British songwriters?

It's pretty straight forward really. Should we change from that complete fucking dirge that we currently have to this: A0mtSjQvk3o Poll to come; fuckers.

LIVERPOOL 2 Boro 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) - Steven Gerrard (2)Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Wed 18 Apr 2007 Star Man - Jermaine Pennant As much as Rafa and the players say they’re focusing on league games and not thinking about Chelsea, you can’t help but get the feeling that the boss is experimenting a bit with the game at Stamford Bridge in mind. This was a routine three points in the end, but the game threw up some interesting questions ahead of the CL semi final. Where should Steven Gerrard play? Has Jermaine Pennant played his way into the side? Has Momo Sissoko played his way out of it? This was a pretty dull game in truth, but I’m sure I wasn’t alone in not being surprised by that. As much as the players will want to be professional and play for third place, the intensity of performance is just not going to be there for games like this. It’s the same with the fans. We’re thinking about Chelsea next week, and it’s only natural the players are too. So with that in mind, this was a good professional display. A couple of things are really concerning me though. Firstly Steven Gerrard’s position. In theory, playing him in a free role just off the striker should work. He has all the attributes to make it work, and allowing him to concentrate on attacking and not having to do too much spadework should make him more effective. It just doesn’t though. It’s worked ok on occasion, but it’s never really worked spectacularly well, and sometimes, like tonight, it just doesn’t work at all. He was hardly in this game until he was moved back into his favoured midfield role, and all of a sudden he was a different player and he ultimately won the match for us. Yet I still wouldn’t bet against him being employed as a second striker next week. Either that, or he’ll be on the right wing, another position in which he SHOULD be a world beater but is often ineffectual. One thing is for sure, he won’t be playing in the middle of midfield. Neither will Momo unless he shows a drastic improvement on this performance. He’s been struggling for a few weeks, but this was really bad. Hardly anything he tried came off, and he just kept giving the ball away time and time again. What makes him look even worse, is the way Mascherano just effortlessly keeps finding a red shirt whenever he is in possession. Momo has dominated Chelsea’s midfield in recent encounters, but can we really take a chance on him next week? As fast as he’s winning possession he’s giving it away again. We can’t afford to have that happen at the Bridge, and that’s why I’d expect Mascherano and Alonso to keep him out. I feel sorry for Momo right now, as he’s in a very bad spell. His game has gone to pieces since Mascherano came in, and right now he’s definitely fallen down the pecking order. Let’s not forget how good this boy is though when he’s on top of his game. He’s going through a bad spell at the moment, but he’s still very young and he’ll surely bounce back. Until he does though, we surely can’t afford to risk him in any of the important games we have coming up. He’s still boss though. Momo got forward more in the first half of this game than I’ve ever seen before. Rafa’s formation initially seemed to have him playing alongside Mascherano, but as the half wore on he was more alongside Gerrard playing just off Crouch. He was in the box whenever we attacked, and wasted a couple of excellent chances, both created by the superb wingplay of Pennant. Jermaine had a field day. He’s been in good form for a while now, but clearly Boro weren’t aware of that as they opted to allow him all the space he needed. All game the ball over the full back to Pennant was on, and we exploited it to good effect. It was so obvious right from the opening minutes that the ball into the corner for Pennant would be productive. Any time the ball was on our left flank, Boro’s left back tucked in alongside Pogatetz to help mark Crouch. Pennant just hugged the touchline meaning there was thirty yards of space to drop the ball into. It didn’t even need to be a pinpoint pass to reach him, there was so much room for error even I’d have fancied my chances of picking him out. Agger and Mascherano especially looked to exploit this whenever they could. The result was that Pennant saw a lot of the ball, and he used it very well. He produced a load of good crosses, none of which came to anything. Sissoko misplaced a header after being picked out well, and also stabbed a shot wide after more good play by Pennant. The winger was the one really bright spark in a pretty dire first half, although Mascherano was also a joy to watch, albeit in a completely different style to Pennant. Boro offered nothing in attack. Yakubu huffed and puffed but threatened little, and the one opportunity Boro actually had came after a rare error from Carragher, who was dispossessed as he strode out of defence with the ball. Thankfully whoever it was who partnered Yakubu (Morrison maybe?), blasted the ball into the Kop. It was the closest Boro came to threatening Reina’s goal, and the lack of ambition from the visitors contributed to the non-event that was the first half. Rafa’s formation didn’t help either it must be said. Playing Crouch as a lone frontman against a top side is all well and good, and it worked well enough against Arsenal. But Boro are poor, and this played into their hands. It was only when Sissoko was put out of his misery early in the 2nd half and the reds switched to 4-4-2 that things improved. Although saying that, initially I don’t think it was 4-4-2, it appeared more like 4-3-3 to begin with. Dirk went to the left of Crouch, Pennant was on the other side, and Zenden tucked in more to make a midfield three. I could be wrong there, but it certainly seemed that way to me for ten minutes or so after Kuyt came on. It made a difference, as Kuyt gave them something else to worry about and Gerrard was able to get more involved. Rather than having the ball played up to him, Gerrard was now able to arrive onto the ball from a deeper position, and it paid off spectacularly when he smashed a 25 yard shot past Schwarzer into the bottom corner to open the scoring. It sparked a good little spell of pressure, with Pennant heavily involved in everything. He was the provider for the second goal, when he somehow managed to squeeze in a cross without even having to beat his man, and Crouch was manhandled as tried to meet it. It was a blatant pen, and Graeme Poll had no hesitation in giving it. Gerrard despatched it with no problems for his 11th goal of the season, and it was game over. Southgate sent on Viduka, but it was too little too late. If Premiership clubs were hobbies, then Boro would be a stamp collector. They are dull, very dull. Even their own fans can’t be arsed watching them, hence all the empty seats at the Riverside. Not many of them bothered to show up at Anfield either, but who can blame them. Apparently Southgate has released the shackles on his side somewhat since the turn of the year, so how bad must they have been before that? We’re talking the priest from Father Ted (you know the one, “I have an incredibly boring voice Ted”) boring here. Boro are in big trouble next season I reckon. There was no way they were coming back from 2-0 down, the question was whether we would add to it. We should have done, as some good openings were created. Zenden blazed over from close range after being set up by Kuyt, and Pennant continued to be a menace to the Boro defence with his skill and crossing ability. He picked Crouch out with a lovely cutback, only for the striker to completely miss his kick. In the end, the reds’ won at a canter and didn’t need to put too much into the game. Ideally, the same thing will happen this weekend against Wigan, so we will go into the Chelsea game with no injuries and with the players fresh. Personally, for the Wigan game I’d rest virtually everyone who is going to play at Stamford Bridge. Getting third place is important, but not to the extent that I’d risk any key players picking up injuries. If we did that and lost, Rafa would get all kinds of flak and no doubt Neil Warnock’s head would explode, but the bigger picture is the semi final and I want all our players fresh for that game. Some players seem to be coming into form at just the right time. Pennant has been in and out of the side all season, but he looks fresh and sharp now and could be a key player against Chelsea. The same can be said of Mascherano. He’s fresh, and is playing great now that he’s getting his sharpness back. For someone still so young, he’s got such a fantastic football brain. His positional play is flawless, and he’s always there covering for team-mates and filling spaces. He’s class. Mascherano would have been the star man but for Pennant. Those two were comfortably our best players, although Arbeloa impressed once again. Rafa’s January transfer dealings are really looking shrewd at the moment, as Mascherano and Arbeloa have settled in brilliantly. The win puts us back into third, and if we can do another professional job on Wigan at the weekend it should more or less confirm a top four spot. Once that is out of the way, we can concentrate on the big one. Roll on next week! Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Riise; Pennant, Mascherano, Sissoko (Kuyt), Zenden; Gerrard; Crouch: