stevegrant

To be fair, there were loads of people stood near me in the Northam who were shouting "you fat bastard" at him rather than the "you skate bastard" that a few of us had started

Looks like the Ashes are going to be added to the list of "protected" events, which means they have to be broadcast on terrestrial TV. I think this decision is going to be disastrous for the game in this country. Firstly, they're doing it for the benefit of those who couldn't give a toss about cricket unless the Ashes are on, so it's not going to make any difference in terms of getting people through the gates to watch county games, and the international games generally sell out anyway. Secondly, it's going to have a massive knock-on effect to the ECB's development programmes. As Sky won't have exclusivity for the headline Test series, the value of the rights package will fall, which means that the ECB will have to cut the funding to the programmes that are aimed at bringing more people into the game.

I'm struggling to understand how that Charlton side are second in the table, they were probably the worst team we've played this season. The scoreline doesn't come close to reflecting the dominance and just how comfortable we were from start to finish, and we didn't even play *that* well.

If he tripped accidentally then how can it be a dive? :confused:

Thought he actually played really well tonight, composed on the ball, didn't panic at any stage. Unlucky with the own goal, had to try to get something on it and it can go in any direction off your knee.

I remember that - it was even more ridiculous than Ngog's one last night, and Match of the Day gave it the caption "Moroccan Roll", which was quite amusing. He looked a complete tit and I can't remember him diving again after that...

With Torres almost certainly playing and Gerrard a possibility, I can't see past Liverpool/Liverpool on the HT/FT. Not much value in 10/11, really. I might keep off the betting sites for a while, had a big win at the weekend with a 10-team FA Cup accumulator coming up trumps (thanks to a 96th minute winner for Burton Albion yesterday!), so probably best not to push my luck!

Probably people getting in the ground late and not realising the minute's silence was going on, tbf.

How is Ted Hankey seeded number 2?!

He's proposed it a few times and each time it's reported that they'll discuss it at the next board meeting and then all of a sudden the idea gets swept under the carpet. I'm not expecting any different this time. Scudamore has already stated that Celtic and Rangers won't be invited to join the Premier League (amusingly stating that he's a traditionalist and that Scottish teams should play in Scotland, failing to recognise the irony having proposed the 39th game nonsense), and Gartside is only bringing it back to the table because Bolton's financial situation is up the ****ter and they need the fallback option a PL2 could bring.

The discounts and freebies I get for having been with them for that long mean it's really not worth my while switching

I've never had a problem with Orange's customer service, and I've been with them for 10 years. The signal's a bit crap in some areas (on the train to London and at my parents' house being the two main places), but otherwise they're alright.

To be honest, I'd try to avoid that road at all costs. At least on the M4 you've got a choice of 3 lanes.

Sky Sports seem to think he's rejected the chance to go on loan either to Torquay or Gillingham with a view to fighting for a place here. Credit where it's due for wanting to do so, but I also suspect in the bigger picture, he would have been better served going away and getting near-guaranteed first-team football elsewhere for a while.

They'll be embarking on another boycoutt...

Best thing to do is leave...

And there's not really an awful lot of point discussing any of the other parties as they'll never come to power... *here fishy fishy*

Christ, this is ****ing tedious.

Only 100% of it...

Can you two get a room please? Will, Alpine raised a perfectly valid point. If you can't argue it without resorting to petty name-calling then leave the topic alone.

Disappointing, only 69%

It'll happen occasionally, we're not going to be able to win every single game. Obviously being out of the UK, you probably can't get the extended BBC highlights for the game but I strongly recommend you trying to get hold of them for Saturday's game if you can, if only to see Lallana's two misses - the first one, he was practically level with the keeper but still put it into his arms Make no mistake, we absolutely battered them for 88 of the 90 minutes on Saturday and on another day with a combination of a bit of luck and a bit more composure in front of goal, we'd have scored 5 or 6.

I wouldn't say that's particularly controversial at all. With the players we have at our disposal, I would probably suggest that we should be looking to impose our own game on the opposition rather than tailor our tactics to spoil theirs, but obviously with a Plan B if things don't go well for the first hour or so. It's a bit of an odd situation because we've actually played pretty well in the last two games but have found ourselves behind at that stage in both games (slightly concerning that opposing teams seem to be scoring with their only attempts on goal - we've only kept two clean sheets in the league this season) so there would still be an argument to keep things as they were, but the more direct approach with two up top just puts that added bit of pressure on the opposition. I'm not convinced we'd be able to keep that sort of tempo going for a whole game though, which is probably why Pardew is still persisting with the 4-5-1/4-3-3 with Connolly and Antonio coming on with fresh legs when the opposition are getting tired.

I've never had a problem with any of those three companies.

And poker, pool and (I think) snooker.