sharkyvilla

To be fair the spirit (hate that word but screw it) between the two sides was great. Drogba was a tit but it had a role in giving Chelsea a breather every now and then, he wasn't trying to get anyone booked. It was also nice that they did it without kicking lumps out of Barca, something hopefully Jose can learn from for Saturday.

Cracking game that. Chelsea were utterly brilliant but still could have got raped so they were lucky but fully deserved it. Terry and Cahill were top notch. I think having Iniesta out left was a bit of a waste as he and Xavi together would have increased the tempo at the right times meaning Messi wouldn't have had to spend so much time on the half-way line. Fabregas was a bit shit in truth so didn't really deserve starting in the middle instead of Iniesta anyway. I fancy Chelsea to score at the Nou Camp so would put them slight favourites as I find it hard to see Chelsea shipping 3.

I think the Chelsea-Barca game will be quite tight. Unlike Utd in the final last year where Sir Alex mentally put Giggs and Carrick up against Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta, Chelsea are quite strong in the middle of the park and have Mata and Drogba who can create something out of nothing. I haven't seen enough of Bayern this season but I would still back Real against anyone other than Barca.

I'd try to get rid of both from our wage bill, they've let the club down too often imo. Jeffrey Bruma is one that interests me alongside Clark or Baker. Maybe a bit too green to go into a season as a centre-half partnership though.

He wasn't exactly Mr Popular before that though with his diving. I think Ronaldo thrives on the need to be disliked and show he's the best thing since sliced cheese (and know it) unlike Messi who seems to not really care that much either way. He is a truly great player though. Question, do people think Ronaldo's better than Maradona?

That just sounds undignified to me. Also, one would assume that the chance of making a mess were higher. Imagine standing for a curry or Guinness shit, carnage. Yeah I desperately needed a shit so much when backpacking in Australia I didn't have time to take off my backpack so had to stand and try and get it in, ended up with some on my flipflop. Not great.

My flat has a great bathroom but it has no towel or bog roll rails so the exact same thing happened to me not long ago. I have tried sitting down and wiping but my anus feels a bit too exposed and I'm scared of getting shit halfway up my forearm. So I just stand up and do it.

It would be hilarious if they didn't though

Agreed Brody's wife is top notch. Also agree about Saul, he sort of failed the lie detector didn't he before walking out but the next day when asked the same question there was no shake on the graph, before Brody was able to lie through it.

What about £12 million paid out to MoN and houllier? Money paid to blues as compensation? Pay rise to Mcleish? Why are the browns shit? Is that MoN's fault as well? Correct me if I'm wrong but the Browns have always been shit, and Cleveland is a shithole that probably doesn't even deserve and NFL franchise. I have no idea why O'Neill got compo, Houllier was a little unfortunate. Why he went for McLeish I have no idea and I said up until that he made some decent decisions. It's the wages of the players that we can't shift and don't use (O'Neill even didn't bother using some of them) that has done the most damage.

his cv looked shit before we appointed him relegated with hibs took motherwell from 2nd into 2 relegation battles 3rd with rangers longest ever winless streak with rangers in spl longest ever losing streak in old frim derbies relegated with birmingham twice That is just such a stupidly distorted summary of his career, I really don't know why people bother to post stuff like this. Because people read it and take it at face value. It doesn't matter how many times people list his successes, he is so widely hated that it makes no difference at all.

Cool kids? It has nothing to do with being 'cool' and everything to do with having some common sense and the ability to see that Lerner has made far more mistakes than just appointing McLeish. You are perfectly entitled to your opinion but I just think you will struggle to find anyone who shares it. I agree with lexicon's sentiment, although I do think Lerner has made mistakes beyond hiring McLeish. However, I think some of the criticism of Lerner on here is completely over the top. Particularly as I think everyone is actually fully aware of the reality of what has panned out over the last few years. Lerner threw money at MON with the hope the he would achieve Champion's League football and change the commercial fortunes of the club. As MON came close year on year, Lerner continued to throw money at him until, having failed for the third year to make it, he was forced to begin a process of rartionalisation (especially with the financial fair play rules looming) with the hope of bringing the kids through before perhaps having another crack. We're now a couple of years into that process. Lerner was sold on the idea that Houllier had a track record of bringing youngsters through and a fantastic scouting network with which to supplement our own promising youngsters. I still believe that if Houllier hadn't fallen ill, had a full close season, and had been able to bring more of his own players in, we would be starting to see progress. It wasn't to be. Was it a mistake to hire McLeish - possibly, or perhaps, given the limited number of managers willing to take on the role, he was the best of a bad bunch. For me, much as I loved him, MON made far more mistakes than Lerner. Perhaps Lerner's biggest mistake beyond hiring McLeish was putting so much trust in MON. People have been through it many times before on here, but some of the contracts MON signed squad players on were criminal. He failed to make the correct signings at crucial times and worse of all, when the cash dried up he spat his dummy out and **** off. Totally agree with this post. I too loved O'Neill but sadly at none of the clubs he has managed has he left a decent legacy and we have been probably left with the worst of the lot. Randy just couldn't afford to bankroll O'Neill without actually getting into the Champions League as he isn't rich enough. Since then we've haemmorhaged money because O'Neill got such poor value. Up until he appointed McLeish which was always a disaster waiting to happen I think Lerner made pretty decent calls, some of them quite hard ones to make. I'd love us to get rid of McLeish in the summer, get rid of the deadwood and get David Dein in with a manager well versed in 21st century football with a reasonable transfer kitty. It probably won't happen though.

Thiago's sending off last week was wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cleSnyEHN6c They were only 1-0 up at the time but got on with it and won 2-0

I love cricket as much as football tbh. Snooker I've loved since I was small and I quite like watching rugby league players batter each other all night long. Not too arsed about rugby union, a bit too technical for my small brain.

I would love to have heard the final line-up of Oasis with Liam's vocals of 94-98. Chris Sharrock is a beast on drums and the wall of noise from Gem, Noel and Andy was quality, shame Liam's voice went downhill.

As captains go he has been excellent for us when there's been all sorts of division in the dressing room and mess on and off the field. Wish him all the best for a full and speedy recovery.

You hate a manager who saw us winning games and challenging top 4. You loved a manager who saw us losing games and fighting relegation. You now hate a manager for doing exactly the same. It's very strange. Actually, I used to quite like MON before he threw his toys out of the pram five days before the start of a new season. Like some on here I used to think he was the messiah but after he left I realised that the legacy he left behind wasn't all that great. I also realised that he spent a lot of money and that the job he did while decent, wasn't the sutff of miracles like people make out. I never loved Houllier. I really don't know where you get this from. As always, putting words into my mouth. Yes, I do hate McLeish, but it's more than a bit unfair to lump the two together. Overall McLeish has been working under easier circumstances. Also with McLeish, there have never really been any good signs where as with Houllier there were at least some. The most important point at all is McLeish's negative attitude. I know we'd sometimes surrender before the game had even started under Houllier but we seem to be doing this way more often under McLeish. Even the games we don't surrender we still don't put up much of a fight. We never dominate teams. We play the worst football I've ever seen. Of course, this will probably all go over your head and you'll accuse me of loving Houllier and being hypocritical for hating McLeish in a couple of weeks time. God knows. I criticised Houllier a number of times and have said on multiple occasions that whatever the circumstances we shouldn't have been in a relegation battle. I don't see how McLeish has been working under easier circumstances. OK Houllier didn't get the preseason but he had Downing and Young plus £30m to spend in January. McLeish came in with Downing and Young getting sold and less than £20m to spend plus the hatred of 90% of our own fans to contend with. He has been shit but Houllier was shitter imo.

Yeah Nesta and Ambrosini were excellent at keeping Messi quiet, but the way Barca set up was likely to keep Messi quiet. They had no attacking threat down the left at all meaning that when Messi dropped deep Sanchez was isolated. The pitch seemed to be cutting up too which didn't help the game much imo. I think both sides will be happy with the result though.

I think he shows glimpses but this is not a very good environment for youngsters to thrive in at the moment. I'm sure he'll develop over the next couple of seasons if we get a manager that can get some enthusiasm back in the club and the team. Otherwise I get a feeling that he and most of the other players are on a hiding to nothing.

Seems a pretty stupid thing to do. It's basically blindly supporting Lerner. Surely unless the owner takes charge of transfer activity like Ambramovic, it is the manager (or sporting director or whatever you call them at some clubs) who is in charge of getting value for money. All the owner does is give a certain budget for them to work to.

I'm pretty sure he was brought in with the brief of changing the footballing culture of the club over time. In those terms I think he was a decent choice given his reputation in football development and with Lyon. If Randy knew that instead he would take an instant dislike to half the team, ostracise them, look totally disinterested and need a £30m bail-out in January then he wouldn't have appointed him. It's last season and Houllier's poor job that really set us back imo.

The Houllier appointment was only bad in hindsight. He let Lerner down badly and was the biggest disaster of the lot - he had Downing and Young plus £30m to spend and we were left with those two going, a divided squad, no manager and no hope to attract a decent manager in. Nobody really gives a shit about the Browns, they have won **** all in his lifetime let alone since he's owned them. Plus it's a gay sport and Clevelend is a shithole nobody in their right mind would want to go to.

It's been mighty tough to get rid of O'Neill's deadwood though. Not sure what Randy could do other than to pay off their contracts which would cost as much plus you need to get new players in. We've sold our best players and as a result have needed to replace them. I think this will change in the summer when we can finally get rid of Heskey and co. I still blame the wage situation solely on O'Neill. Lerner will have given him a certain wage budget to give him the best chance of succeeding but O'Neill got so little value for money it is untrue.

If's and but's. He didn't do that and now we are really deep in the shit and things aren't anywhere near being rosy. We've been in some sort of transition phase for the past 18 months with a terrible manager and we look like relegation fodder. He needs to sell as soon as possible. I just don't see who he could possibly sell to. If you don't end up with an oil baron, you end up with a crook. I'll always stick up for Lerner apart from with McLeish which was a gamble that would never work. We need a football powerbroker like David Dein to work with a manager who knows what 21st century football is all about

Anyone see Thiago's red card? Even if it was handball, which it wasn't, in no way should that offence be a yellow card. It's ridiculous that someone can get sent off for a second yellow for unintentional handball. This trial they are doing is silly.