The C&R football thread - armchairs & plastics welcome ;-)

[steg666]

Like him or not, anyone and I mean anyone would love him in their team.

[ratsoalbion]

I can honestly say, hand on heart, I would never want that bloke to play for Brighton (not that he would)!

[Buckled Kipper]

I can honestly say, hand on heart, I would never want that bloke to play for Brighton (not that he would)!

Your managers not much better (though I loved him when he was at Leeds).

[ratsoalbion]

It's true Gus said some stupid things in the wake of the Suarez 'affair'. But overall I find him cool, charismatic, honest and entertaining.

Still, we're all biased ain't we?

[TheFonz]

Gus is a legend, but he was an idiot opening his mouth about the racist! Suarez is over rated and is one of the most risible characters ever to play in the prem! He is up there with the likes of Diouf, he is a talented player no doubt, but apart from a hat trick at carrow road every now and again his g/s record is poor.

Funny to see the typical reactions about his diving, and by the way he dives in every game! Ironically there have been occasions where he should have been given a pen, but his amateur dramatics have prevented him............ahh sweet Karma!

[ratsoalbion]

A disappointing draw with Ipswich for us last night, although on chances we should have won it - probably. A win away at Derby on Saturday (tough) and the Albion will be back on 2 points per game. Annoying as we hit top and had a wobble at the exact same point last season.

We need Bruno, Crofts and Mackail-Smith back ASAP!

[Guy_JD]

I am a life long Spurs fan, being the first of my family to be born outside of Scotland and living in London since birth, from the age of 6 when football banter was in full flow in the school playground Tottenham has been the team for me, it's not very rewarding in the way of trophies with them only winning a handful of cups since I've been a fan but not many other teams can have you on the edge of your seat for 90+ minutes like the boys from White Hart Lane.
You'd think living only 30 minutes drive from the stadium I'd be there every week but alas I've only been to watch them 4 times in over 25 years, that's not to say I'm not a real fan, I just can't afford to be a season ticket holder and rarely get in there for that 30 minute window when sales open to the general public
My oldest son is also a Spurs fan and curses me for it every time we lose but I did take him to see them play against Barcelona at Wembley and his birthday present this year was to play on the hallowed turf of White Hart Lane not many of his friends can say they've been able to do that.

[DomsBeard]

Can't be arsed watching the game tonight, delighted Roy's not picked Defoe no chance of injury. Don't get me started on Rooney for Captain either.....

[ratsoalbion]

I find myself watching, though I'd probably be better off playing games.

[catbhoy]

I wish I had played the Xbox instead of watching Gareth Bale v Scotland.

[ratsoalbion]

Could be worse, could have watched Ireland.

[steg666]

A win is a win at the end of the day. It's a rare occasion that you come away from a 5-0 win feeling dissapointed.

A side point on the Bale 'dive' versus Scotland. If that was Suarez he'd have been hounded out of the country by now but he's not a media darling is he? Bale's diving is horrific but barely gets a mention by comparison.

[NokkonWud]

Personally I'm surprised so many were calling it a dive, it looked like pretty clear contact on the leg causing him to trip himself, just like Valencia when Glenn Johnson fouled him against Liverpool.

As for England, wasn't a great performance, but it was nice to see Carrick play, he was like a Rolls-Royce in there, magic. Sadly it's the none eye-catching kind of performance where you earn little plaudits but everyone else shines off of it.

[ratsoalbion]

Cleverley did a similarly useful job at least as well as Carrick (who I do like and appreciate). Oxlade-Chamberlain caught the pundits' eye and he does look like he's going to be a proper talent at this point. Used to watch his Dad play for the Albion at the end of his career.
Didn't have the physique of his boy though!

[NokkonWud]

Cleverley does well, but he plays a lot of short balls to the recipient which put them under pressure, that or he plays it straight to a CB. He does both of these very regularly for us and it's going to result in an injury to who he passes to. He did well, he'll get better (although he's not as young as people like to make out) over time I'm sure, he needs to smarten up.

As for Oxlade-Chamberlain, he was all over the place (in a bad way) for the first 30 minutes, then settled down a bit and improved. The lad is so young and has a lot of potential though, and his physique is scary. He just needs to stop being so wasteful.

[MarkyG]

Hello, although i'm from Hampshire I am a massive armchair Liverpool fan ever since my 7th birthday when my dad refused to buy me an Arsenal kit and got me a Liverpool one instead. Don't get up to Anfield much but will watch any football really (live or televised) already had the (dis)pleasure of visiting St. Marys and Ashton Gate this season

[NokkonWud]

Well, we were fortunate, despite some great performances (Rafael, De Gea, Ferdinand and Van Persie in particular) but some of the saves from DDG were unreal. I can honestly say that I've probably not seen a better, consistant, shot-stopper than De Gea, some of the things he's done are just jaw dropping, especially his free-kick save last season against Mata which is the best save I've ever seen in the Premier League.

Today he did this, incredible:

[DomsBeard]

I wish Chelsea got screwed over in every game like this .

Another away win for my boys and I'm already looking forward to the derby v Arsenal in 2 weeks time!.

[DomsBeard]

So Roy drops Defoe and he scores a hat trick! Good psychology Roy!

[strickenmcq]

Another footballer displaying their role model behaviour!! http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... _page.html. This guy has allegedly turned down an offer of a contract for £20k per week lucky him eh.