dubai_phil

MKD have the best ground in the League... They have McDonalds, Domino's & KFC right next door. Clearly more interesting thinking of Junk food than commentating

C'mon, admit it, you've had that on Cut & Paste since the start of the Season

We have a good area to whip our Ballls into

I'd post up the weather report but it has so clearly not worked of late I have gone for a major tactical change this evening. So no waether and no fizzy drinks today. Instead have opted for a nice refreshing glass of Zubrowca & Apple Juice with the perfect amount of Mint & squeezed lemon 377 minutes without a goal

Two passes and a panic hoof - lack of confidence there clearly.

You can't ask for anything better a Good Pitch, good Weather, good Entertainment - DM wishing he was somewhere else already.

Dave must have spent the week with Miss Whiplash - He's on about Domination again. Jaidi's warming up already

And before everyone asks - MARTIN IS OUT INJURED AGAIN!

We need our Balls to be Quality today. Dave starts us off with a new approach, a new manager and a new hope

And of course, if he DOES come on, I hope he scores a 40 yard screamer

If having Pulis on the bench is the answer, perhaps we are asking the wrong question. I hope he doesn't come on. I could lose my record of being one of very few TSW'ites who have seen him play at SMS

No idea, but it may be possible while batting to say that Over X would be a Maiden. Or that the batting Powerplay might be taken after Z overs.

And AGAIN??!! FFS how thick can someone be? The whole world is watching and The Sun alleges the ICC were tipped off about scoring patterns yesterday and low and behold.. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3143052/Cricket-chiefs-probe-new-Pakistan-fix-claims.html Mr Big allegedly in Dubai - that explains the apparent arrogant naivety to keep going, rumours used to be that it centred on a couple of 'well known" Asian restaurants down here back in the Sharjah ODI days. So next up will be the sweepstake on who is the brainless idiot in the team that was involved. A ring leader in the team. This suddenly pops up after two matches in the series. Hmm Time to go the next level, perhaps this is now more than match or spot fixing, their neighbours really don't like them and this would be a wonderful way to discredit an entire Nation. Or are they really, simply that Thick and that Greedy?

Harrods Potted Stilton, smoothest creamiest and tastiest by a long mile (when I can afford it or be arsed to get into London on a trip) Run a close second by Roquefort Societe And a Vintage Extra Mature Cheddar in 3rd

I got all optimistic and enthusiastic before MKD but... I think Barnard will make a huge difference today. Connolly is simply too small to play without the big front man firing properly. The fitness issue will not have been solved in one week so expect us to struggle again in second half. Mental fatigue from the pressure will not help and we will go back to having no outlet from defence. For that reason alone, if I was Adkins I would put Bart in goal as he is able to roll the ball out and get the ball around the half-way line rather than KD hoofs up to an outnumbered tiring Lambert. Other change would be one of Guly OR Wotton for Hammond. That depends on what Adkins saw of Morgan in training as to whether he drops into the holding role or Wotton does. Certainly would have Dickson on the left & Punch on the right then we look to have better options on the bench, Oxy is a fine talent but again in a tiring team feel he would be better being the spark for the final 3rd of the game (assuming we're not getting tonked by then) Jaidi looked slower & more unfit than me when I saw him, do not believe he has turned that around in a week So tough call on CM, Guly looked to have potential with his movement if not impact against Rochdale but not having seen him since that game or in training would go ------------- Bart------------------ Butterfield--Fonte---Martin (if fit or Seabourne if not fit)---- Harding Puncheon--Wotton---Morgan-----Dickson ------Lambert---Barnard---- Subs - KD, Jaidi (Seabourne if Martin fit), Mills, Connelly, Oxy, Guly, Holmes

Big decision coming up. DO I dig out some weird Arabic fancy dress? Or do I just wear the Saints Shirt? One thing I do know, having watched tonight's game, I'm gonna pack a fleece and my thermals, feck it's 37C here and even the locals looked frozen at the Oval. better get my mate to take a nice flask of hot soup. Think the Dubai Saints flag is going to have to make the trip - I'm in row AA, (yes members enclosure and no they cost fecking 65 quid) no intention of hanging the flag up though - I'll have it wrapped round my lap to keep warm! Well done to Umar Gul tonight, may still have a contest with edge to it Wednesday

It's OK chaps - I've killed two birds with one stone. Echo will be out of business within 3 weeks after I supplied them the details of the new independent Spokesman for the Saints Dubai Massive. Yep I gave them EricofArabia's number - will cost them a fortune in calls

Great idea. Won't work. Unless it has one organiser/co-ordinator. Heck TSW couldn't even get a full team out for the forum match at SMS (a dream for many) and had to scrape around at the last minute. Democracy is a wonderful thing until you try and organise something by Committee, so it needs a general set of "strictures" in place where the one co-ordinator can pull the weekly top 3 issues from the forum threads and work on a poll. Then how the hell do you turn a Vote into a Statement that anyone can be interested to read? It needs someone to then read all the poll comments and select a precis, that then becomes one person's interpretation and as we have seen one person's interpretation is anothers rant against. Perhaps the poll comments could be read by Dan as a finger on the pulse article, but then it competes with the Echo Comments. So, a lot of work for one person every week and what happens on holidays? So not easy and I would expect a weekly Hot Topics poll is about as far as it can go

I respect Nick's rights to be interviewed as a "typical Saints fan" I also respect his right to comment as a spokesperson for The Saints Trust, SISA, Camra or any other body. However I do NOT like the way he "positions" himself as a spokesperson for Saints fans. He does not have a consituency, I did not vote for him.... Ah but then I suppose that's Brit Politics, one person voted for him so he can do what he likes. Seriously We need a different organisation, these SISA & Trusts are mired in some weird Tooting Liberation Front/Land of The Committee time warp from the 70's Not in my name Nick.

Interesting one for Statisticians. What was the ratio of goals scored when one of Papa or Antonio was on the pitch versus when they were not. It might show the defence were tweaked to contain a different type of threat. The "Winger cutting inside and playing narrow" means less space in the middle for the strikers. May be signisficant, may not be

In Cyber Crime circles, the organisation you mentioned is one that appears to be having allegedly more problems with security in their card reader area than any others. Chip & Pin, great... Unless you are a foreigner where such technology is not used/enforced The number of times I get a shop assistant doing the open mouthed "what do I do with this" look when I give them my ME "old fashioned style" credit card

Isn't that what the Manager is supposed to influence? As in don't waste the ball pass instead of shooting? Seemed listening last night that he did have more pops than would have expected. Let's hope it's the first sign of not trying to pass the ball into the net

The very first Prince's Trust concert at Wembley Arena about 1984. Went expecting to see Big Country, Joan Armatrading, Suzanne Vega & Level 42. Ended up seeing everyone - Elton John, Phil Collins, Midge Ure, Fracis Rossi & Rick Parfitt, Brayn Adams, Tina Turner, Mark Knopfler (with Sting doing money for nothing) George Michael, Rod Stewart, Paul Young, Howard Jones, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger & David Bowie plus others. Utter shock - find the You-Tube and you see Prince Charles beaming and boogeying with Diana - once in a lifetime as nobody expected it Coldplay in 3 separate Thunderstorms in Abu Dhabi last year stunning night would have been stopped for Health & Safety in UK, things kept blowing up but the band played on, have never seen anything like it, even their web site said it was their best ever gig Muse in Dubai - enough to have simply gone, but I was stood on stage filming their encore, met the band and wow Howard Jones unplugged in a pub 2 years ago here Springstein at Wembley '84 (and the 3 times susbsequent) Tom Jones the first time here in Dubai - seriously did not expect it to be such a great night and great show we only went to chase nickerless women at the front of the stage Bryan Adams - just a great rock show The Subways at Alpha Club Oh and D-P singing along in a bar with members of Steppenwolf, Toto, Foreigner & Wings in a you are joking jam session (yep on stage singing Smoke on The Water with them - lol) Queen Alexandra Palace Bicycle Race Tour The Pretenders as support to U2 at Wembley in mid 80's Def Leppard in Dubai in about 97/8 Mika's gig was great and how the hell did he NOT get arrested for the whole Gay Furry Animal thing on stage here in the ME! And of course, Madness 2 years ago here as a warm up for their Glasto gig Glasto favs - close between Lady Gaga, Prodigy, Springstein, Leonard Cohen, White Lies. Think Gaga just gets it for the JUMP in her first song and by feck all 50,000 of us did Worst gig - Kayne West. We went to the pub

Yawn, yes it is. Yes a White Witch was brought in to Exorcise it, yes that all went wrong and she undid her undoing, Allegedly reading the thousand similar posts on here & it's predecessors over the past years. Yes I think something should be done, even if it is a simple dedication service

No way. Jeez, against Reading he made me look quick at my age. Sorry, but much of the problem is Connelly for Barnard at the moment, good player but doesn't get in the faces of defenders like Barnard does. He just seems a small lightweight now in this league And we have to shake up the midfield. Chamberlain still has pace and potential BUT hasn't turned that into assists or goals yet. Dickson in on Saturday for sure, Chamberlain the impact player agains a tiring defence, maybe Guly for Hammond hell at the moment even Wotton for Hammond. Actually hell, even Pulis for Hammond