carlitobrigante

looking more and more like theres gonna be a stalemate, at least for the short term..

looks like Sirte wont be a walkover at all, i think if it does fall to the rebels, Gaddafi will follow within 48 hrs...

It is, yes. While accepting that the situation in Libya is more severe than in other middle east /North african nations, I believe the only reason "we" are acting is because it's got Oil. I'm not at all sure that a nations resources should form the major part of a reason why "we" intervene (Militarily) in what goes on there. There are sadly multiple nations who abuse their populations, where people are killed, tortured or "disappeared". I'm not sure that "we" should be self appointed guardians and policeman for the world. Yes the UN authorised this action (at our instigation) which makes it different to some other instances, but there's no consistency. Israel can and does do what it wants, so too China, Parts of the far east, South America and so on. The part where we see people being killed on the telly of course inspires "wthat's awful, someone should stop it" emotions. The problem I have is reconciling that with "we should send our sons and fathers to risk their lives to stop other people's lives being endangered or taken. And the "our sons" are almost never politicians sons. It's politicians sending other people to die or kill or be maimed. This Libya action risks being dragged into a mess the same way many other interventions end up a mess. Ideally, other N.African or Middle Eastern nations would be sorting out things on their own doorstep, not the West. The Vulcan's are long gone. But it raises a question - should we sell Vulcans, or Typhoons or whatever to places so they can police their own areas? Many people say not, because we can't trust them to use them for solely defensive reasons. But if "we" are therefore going to act, as democracies, and if people call for us to act, we should accept the cost in lives, in money and in there being arms companies making offensive weapons and systems, and not call for cuts to Armed forces which we have decided need to be able to act as the World's police force. Ad we need to pay and man the Forces appropriately, not cut them when we run a bit short of cash. Ideally yes other African / Arab nation would take ownership of problems like this, but we know they wont. To not intervene would have meant another slaughter, this time unfolding live on youtube and CNN, while the leaders and nations with assets to hand that could stop sat by and watched. Just because we cant intervene in every trouble spot in the world doesnt mean we shouldnt when we can. Yemens government have been a vital ally against terrorism and has kept a lid on the most deprived and volatile state in the Middle east. Bahrain is under massive threat of Iranian influence. To intervene in either would be alot more tricky, and also alot less welcomed. Besides in other cases you havent had such dramtic footage of civilians and citys being attacked by heavy weapons beemed across the world on every news network. Getting involved will be messy, costly, and could well end in tears. Regardless of the outcome im proud we live in a country willing to take a gamble to do whats right. The worlds a small place these days, isolationism isnt an option. And unfortunately with crazies like Gaddafi force is often the only option. And finally i think part of your problem is in thinking of the armed forces as our fathers and sons. That they obviously are. But they are also trained proffesionals who signed up to do exactly that job which you say is too dangerous for them?? Isnt that the whole point of the armed forces? And besides i see no threat of ground troops being comitted, and i doubt the RAF has much to fear from the remants of Gaddafis army.

think weve done the right thing from the start of all this. We as a world cant really sit back and watch what would undoubtably have unfolded once he got into Bengazi. You get involved, your accused of intefering, if you dont get involved, you risk being witness to another Rwandan type genocide. Difficult decision for a leader to make, particulalry when he knows he has the military assets at hand to do something about it. I personally think we are doing the right thing, that Gaddafis grip now the UN is stepping in is weakening and he wont last 6 months. After that though who knows what comes next.

hi General, big fan of what Houllier is trying to do, I and the majority of fans i know are backing him all the way....just get Randy to give him a couple of PR tips and all will be well.

no no no chaps, i felt the same after 4-5 epiosdes of boardwalk empire... then it just gets better and better as the story picks up pace, trust me, stick with...

stay calm peeps. Bolton are a solid team, and but for sloppy defending with a makeshift defence, and a missed ash pen, and we would have absolutely dominated them 3-1. the football we are playing is exciting and we now always look capable of scoring. Sort out the calamities at the back and things still look promising.

doesnt look a weak side to me, petrov / bannan / bradley will hopeully be a strong and hard working midfield. Herd at RB is a mystery though, wheres Walker? Glad to see Delfouenso and Bradley getting games. Too risky to through too many new or young players into the team when we are still near the bottom 3, however they both need game time so this is a perfect game for them and a big test. Likely getting a spanking, although that was still likely even with Ash and Downing playing.

I agree with the ones saying people need their own exit strategy when working out in such places. From the little i know, the UK has got as many flights into the airport as possible, with us getting similar amount of planes in as all the other countries. Cant really attach too much blame to our government for not being fully prepared what is such an unprecedented, delicate and volatile situation thats developed so quickly.

wow, just got back, what a second half! We started and ended the first half well, the bit in the middle was pretty shoddy... it was like a different team in the second half..the passing and movement was sublime. Walker is going to be Englands right back for the next 10 years. Utterly superb. To see Pires (one of my all time fave players) re-producing his Arsenal form in a Villa shirt was pure joy to me. Delph filling in at LB and looking completely composed and confident was great to see. In Delph, Downing, Walker, Albrighton and Ash we have 5 players all skilled and confident with the ball when running at players at speed. When it clicks like it did today it can deadly. Massive credit to Houllier. So many big calls today he got right, Delph in at LB to cover Bakers injury was bold. Leaving Petrov and Gabby aswell was unexpected. I know Blackburn were very poor, but i cant help feeling that today was us turning a big corner. Im sold now on what Houllier is trying to do with the team, and willing to be patient while he does his thing. We only need more fans turning out to the games now for things to be looking really positive again.

worrying now to see Gaddafi still has a grip on things. At one stage i thought he was going to be toppled any minute. Now he seems to have Triploi on lockdown, plenty of militia still doing his bidding. Will be a civil war no doubt before he goes for good. shame. Ive just watched Hagues press conference and Camerons Cariro and Kuwaiti speechs and i have to say im liking the responses from Cameron and Hague on all this. Im no fan of the conservatives, but for some reason I feel much more confident with these guys handling our foreign policy than Blair and Brown.

wow, cant believe Gaddafi looks like he will be toppled too. i thought he had an iron grip over his people, a kind of African North Korea. Whats encouraging is that despite the deaths the revoloution seems to have the upper hand. The fact Gaddafi is calling in foreign mercs is a sign he is on his last legs. It shows he has lost control of large sections of the armed forces. The fact even Libyan airline managers are resigning shows he has very little support. Ive no doubt it will end in a blood bath, hopefully with Gaddafi and his son strung up in green square like Mussolini. very scared what comes next. Such movements are easily hijacked by worse people that the ones you are outing. The fact this is regionwide means it is different, i i hope countries who pull it off offer massive support to the ones having problems. It seems its not all quiet in Cairo either. Massive moment of history this, will at the very least decide ours and Amercias foreign policy for the next 20 years.

ST holder in upper trinity for the last 4 x seasons. never had one, nor my mate who sits with me.

to those criticising the money the 'few select people who earn millions a year for free', most including the Queen work very hard promoting the UK, are highly respected ambassadors abroad, and most improtant of all bring much more money into the country through tourism than they get it handouts... 'all the do is add to the tax burden'.....mental, although id maybe allow that one if only talking about Prince Charles, although even that nutcase has his good points with his charity work etc.

was there today and he looked very good indeed. Seemed to just be so much quicker and more accurate with his distribution than anyone else on the pitch. He also seemed to pick the right option, and looked to move the ball on first time, not needing to take 8 touchs like Petrov. Its obvious he is no DM although he covers space well and works hard enough.

some fecking lethal front lines lining up at the top of the prem now... Man utd - Berba / Roony / Hernandez Chelsea - Torres / Drogba / Anelka Man city - Tevez / Dzeko Arsenal - Chamakh / Van Persie / Walcott Liverpool - Suarez / Carroll Carroll is a risky one but all the ingredients are there for him to boss this league, Suarez is one deadly mofo, if he can settle he will be dynamite, i rate him higher than Torres.

apprication? whats one of them? :-) seriously though congrats to friedel, still going strong too

In your opinion it is. The guy has spent most of his time at Villa doing less than sweet **** all, saying that he wanted to be on a beach, that he didn't want to play in the cold over christmas, that he was pissed off that he wasn't starting (he then got started against Sheff United and was utterly dreadful - had it been any other player they would have been training with the reserves) and gobbing off to the press more than Carew. He scores a goal in an FA cup tie (and possibly is having a good game, we can't see) and suddenly it's 'undoubted quality', 'only needed to get up to speed', 'general fitness levels' (though he was apparently training with Arse). Talk about crazy talk. no, he is undoubted quality because of the football he has played wherever he has been throughout his career. 'All his time here', what is it? 2 starts and 2 x sub appearences? Plus werent all his previous appearances so far during the period we were playing awful football with no confidence? I tend to give our own players more time than that personally before insisting they get out of our club asap. And i certainly wouldnt say such a thing right after he has scored and cleared off the line. No-one is saying he is anything other than a option to have on the bench for the rest of the season. Today he is showing he can be an asset for us this season, as i always thought he could be if given time.

Yes and I'm still groaning. He shouldn't be anywhere near our bench let alone a starting spot - should have been sent packing back to London a while ago. crazy talk. the guy has undoubted quality. Given his age, lack of football and general fitness it would always going to take him a while to get up to speed.

just got back, my oh my what a game. you could feel the belief flood into players and fans alike once we went 1-0. Collins, Dunne both gave performances reminiscent of Laursen at his best. Utter rocks. Collins in particular. A mention for Cuellar aswell who seems more composed with the ball at his feet than before, and is as solid in the tackle as always. Petrov was very good, i pooed myself a little at first with the thought of a Downing / Petrov combo being utterly demolished by De Jong and co, but he held it together well. 5 or 6 very wastefull easy passes though, particulalry in the 1st half. Young was back near to his best. Bent i thought did very well with the little service he had. Great poachers goal. Great atmosphere aswell, been like a morgue recently. Shame we still didnt get a full house though it will come. Onwards and upwards ''Darren Bent is fast as lightning Darren Bent is Claret and Blue, He gets the ball, he scores a goal Hes just put one past you''

So glad to see the majority of fans now coming around to Houllier, or at least laying off him abit. I was truely worried that fan pressure would build to a point where Randy caved in, and sacked him. I think all this would have done is de-stabilised things further and increased our chances of being relegated. Dont get me wrong, Houllier was by no means my first choice when MON went, and some of his media comments and systems he has tried to introduce into training etc seemed to have beeen done poorly. However he inherited a very dodgy team at a bad time that regardless of what he did was always going to fall back into mid table once Milner left. Add to that the injurys, the dressing room unrest he inherited, and its fair to say not many managers would have done much better in the time so far. On the plus side its hugely exciting to see the amount of very good youngsters on the threshold of the first team. Add to this some of Houlliers signings and im looking forward to what he could do with this team. I was a massive MON fan, but only the truely blinkered can deny what an awfull mess he left us in. I think if Kmac had been put in charge full time we would be in exactly the same position.

Pressure from the fans on the manager has a massive knock on affect with the player. Players loyal to him will start having doubts, players causing trouble will start thinking the manager is on his way out soon away, and in some cases may even do what they can to help it happen. The atmosphere at most games this season has been shocking. Houllier didnt get much of a welcome at his first game, and has yet to have a single chant in his favour. Im sticking with the bloke till after the next few games which are very tough, and the January window. If he doesnt show us some improvment soon though the 'Houllier out' chants will start, and from there theres normally now way back.

why the Khan hatred? So he's a 23 year old millionaire, and the worst you can throw at him are 'motoring offences'?? Im sure he has made mistakes and done silly things, havent we all though? Cut the guy some slack for gods sake. One of the few boxers we have who might be able to hold his own at the very top. We should be supporting him all the way. Great performance from him and was a terrific fight to watch. He was taking a pounding in 10 & 11 and i thought he was going to go any second. His chin has obviously improved. He still seems to stop moving sometimes when on the defense, and gets hit alot, but he is still very young and is improving all the time.

Boardwalk empire and Dexter both excellent as usual this week. Anyone know how many Dexter seasons left after this one? Waiting impatiently for the next Breaking Bad season. Utterly brilliant tv. Go watch and stick with it if it doesnt grab you at first.

Bit negative from Houllier, but ill give him benefit of the doubt for now... I think its obvious that O'Neil has left us in pretty poor shape. We are a mid table team, that briefly punched above our weight thanks to one or two players no longer with us, and O'Neils enthusiasm that rubbed off on the players.. Cant believe Sidwell started. I really think he is useless. Please please get rid Mr Houllier.. Made me cringe when Carews name was chanted.....hasnt deserved his own chant for almost a year... Warnock has suddenly stopped making any forward runs?? I want Cuellar in at CB asap.....our strongest central defender for me....Dunne too prone to errors at the moment, Collins is worse at hoofing that Carlos is... Heskey has made me do a complete u-turn. Deserves to stay and can be a usefull player given support. Lots of work needed. We are in for a poor season i think. I hope fans have the patience to let our new boss have some time to build his own team.