Euro 2012 Qualification (pre-empt to handball cheat phase)

Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, SCOTLAND Lithuania, Liechtenstein

Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland

Group G: ENGLAND, Switzerland, Bulgaria, WALES, Montenegro

Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta

Group E: Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino

Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg

Group C: Italy, Serbia, NORTHERN IRELAND Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands

Group B: Russia, Slovakia, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra

Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan

what a good draw for Ireland. also England Wales...amazing.

the Czech Republic are rubbish now, right? RIGHT? Good.

Oh look, we have the best fucking team in the world in our group *again*. looking forward to the torres vs the caldwell brothers lolz already :-(

(liechtenstein are the faroes with hills instead of water, aye? 2-2 draw of lolz there). good luck craig levein :-)

Berbatov's got to play in a tournament sooner or later. this is my bulletproof reasoning for Bulgaria qualifying.

Spain, England and Holland can book their hotels already I reckon. Probably Greece too, the boring bastards.

France get Romania again ugh. Looking forward to a very boring draw. Well maybe not, because by then, Domenech won't be there anymore.

all the top seeds will go thru

by hook or by outstretched palm

It's the last 16-team (i.e. entertaining) tournament

the Czech Republic are rubbish now, right? RIGHT? Good.

― FC Tom Tomsk Club (Merdeyeux), Sunday, 7 February 2010 11:51 (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://i47.tinypic.com/28gv694.jpg

:'(

That's one narrow face.

So, who goes through then. Top teams. Hosts? then what, play-offs for the last few slots?

best runner up goes thru with top teams, 4 play-off winners = 14 + 2 hosts

Rosicky might be back from injury by 2012, who knows?

Umm, he has played in like 10 games this season. It's like he's a regular player again.

cheers, steve. scotland will come third.

good draw for us.

(not a qualifier but)

8/11 on Sweden to beat a pish Scotland with half of their better players missing = buying money imo

Scotland's back four expected to be Broadfoot - Berra - Kenneth - Wallace --- I think Zlatan might enjoy his return to the international fold :(

McGregor's reaction to hearing the team
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/48687000/jpg/_48687519_mcgregor282.jpg

Could be worse, could be Danny Fox at left back.

(presume that Wallace is Lee and not Ross...)

ooh you've only gone and made us angry, Zlatan.

a terrible stream, intense confusion regarding the teams wearing each other's kits (???), and it being Scotland means I don't think I'll be bothering with this game any longer. Plz b letting me know if I miss anything pure amazing.

uh, boldly assuming that anyone is actually watching, that is.

Scotland mostly pish, Sweden strolling it. 2-0 and counting - really annoyed I didn't get a bet on this.

I am watching with mild horror, and being grateful for small mercies (i.e. that Charlie Mulgrew not playing means they are only making us look stupid down one side rather than have a choice of laughable full backs to torment)

ir4qg04ls channel 7 has a decent stream, btw. And surely intense confusion only lasted until you saw either team with the ball?

Consolation: we're an entire back line and half a midfield away from what will hopefully be playing in the real games.

ah, forgot about ir4qg04ls over the summer, thanks. That is true re seeing either team with the ball, although I still have no idea why the kit thing is the case. I'm imagining the discussion descending in to talk in the "if Lisa goes to school, then I go to school, but then Lisa stays home, so I stay home, so Lisa goes to school..." vein, before settling on this setup.

if you prefer Craig Burley, and why wouldn't you (haha), then ESPN coverage available at http://str34m.c3ltict4lk.org/ch2.html

(degoogleproof, obviously)

and 3 :(

Craig Burley criticising Scotland for not pulling jerseys enough in the box :/

"Chris Iwelumo, who will unfortunately always be remembered for that incredible miss against Norway". Aye, he will if you keep mentioning it every fucking time you see him, you twat.

Craig Burley doesn't know what irony is.

(it doesn't involve someone saying "he couldn't miss from there" about Iwelumo)

They have talked about nothing else since he's come on.

hahaha

Just realised I wasn't on the SPL thread, sorry.

Weirdly enough that miss is not how I remember Big Chris.

Only just got home btw but this England game sounds tremendous.

xpost, that's because you watch football other than the stuff you're paid to. Craig Burley wears his lack of knowledge like a big shiny badge. A move to BBC World Cup panels surely awaits in his future.

Oops I forgot Wolves did have somebody playing tonight, kinda took my eye off when Doyler pulled out of the Ireland game. Am cool with Berra picking up a knock for the weekend really.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

^ x 10000000.

Decent goal from Gerrard, and also enough to stop the commentators chuntering on about goal-line technology until I poke my ears out.

HERO ONCE MORE.

Commentators be hatin' on Fabio.

if there's anything that will convince me of the need for goalline technology it's meaningless goals in meaningless friendlies, it's true.

Ha ha, why the fuck is this on telly?

Not enough booing, not enough of John Terry dying in a fire.

Gibbs needs to cunt Gerrard in the bastard now before Sunday.

Hungarian goalie is wearing his pyjamas, so evidently not even awake enough to see Stevie G's awesome awesomeness being awesome.

not enough of John Terry dying in a fire

ahahahaha <3

(mods please delete if John Terry ever actually does die in a fire)

aw bad luck Bobby.

should wish for a more outlandish Terry death to avoid being incriminated.

It's pretty much guaranteed, it's not like his wife will be there to save him.

Did I hear on the news that Vanessa thingy has said that they were just friends? Trying (really unconvincingly) to rehabilitate him with the Great English Public before the qualifiers start, because hating on Fabio is a thing, so people are going to have to like the players instead?

Hang on, is Terry playing? Just turned it on.

Maybe he is screaming for an ambulance somewhere.

Dawson came on for Terry at half time, cuz Terry was being eaten by coyotes iirc.

She said that before the world cup - I think it was just ignored because if it's true then nothing makes any sense any more

Terry going off at half time makes sense if Gerrard scores twice in the second half, because they fucking hate each other.

Mexico-Spain's where I'm at right now - pretty excellent game from the ten mins I've seen

lampard went off at half time too
xp

xp Even though I'm supposed to hate them, El Tri @ Azteca is a sight to behold.

I'm sure the Vanessa didn't shag him thing is back being news again. Or it was a REALLY slow news day on whatever station I was flicking past earlier.

I totally forgot there were other games on I'd rather have watched :-(

Get the Mexico-Spain game on for the second half - it's of world cup quality (and the unofficial world title's up for grabs!)

highlights of the first half of MEX ESP looked good - anyone got a stream with English commentary?

good luck

Is Efrain Juarez playing </Celtic-based>

Iraqgoals has Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish if that helps

yes xp

I was hoping it'd be on GOL TV for some Ray Hudson action.

eh if I listen to them simultaneously maybe it'll cohere into something. (xxp)

I honestly don't think I've ever seen Mexico broadcast in English except when they're playing the US.

this might help a bit

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast?id=290887&league=FIFA.FRIENDLY&cc=5901

pretty sure I just heard that Spain is getting $2 million for this game o_O

Just put on a stream to see Ramos washing his hair with a bottle of water. Is it warm over there then?

cracking turn of pace and strength by dos Santos there

at least 3 Hernandezes in this match

Go Sweden! btw

Spain get out of jail in injury time. Not really deserved tbh.

Could've won it too - two good chances missed in the last couple of minutes.

How is this not offside?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDs60HWmfuk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKE4IyZ7yKQ&feature=player_embedded#!

you already know what he's going to say, but it's not Andres Cantor so it's a little different

WORST REFEREEING DECISION I HAVE EVER SEEN EVER CHEATING BASTARD REF CNUT etc etc etc

xpost

you're right, it was a fairly good decision during the france ireland qualifier.

How is this not offside?

a cursory knowledge of the rules would set you straight there

popcorn.gif

<pulls up chair>

Go on then LJ.

local garda, I was mocking a well-known thread meme regarding ridiculous and unwarranted hyperbole, I don't *really* think a dubious offside decision in a friendly is the worst decision in the world.

And, yes, Louis, do explain.

higuain (?) never touches the ball

yeha he does, and a lovely touch it is tbh. great goal, but dimaria's offside.

How's the new ground?

:)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7fxZ5Kbt24k/S-PK1av0-JI/AAAAAAAADhc/B3hfPR8QHU4/s400/aviva.jpg

Top idea having a rollercoaster round the outside

giant cinderella slipper imo

Distinct lack of Louis in the past 11 hours.

swear he's still onside tho

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offside_%28association_football%29#Application

Regardless of position, there is no offside offense if a player receives the ball directly from a goal kick, corner kick, or throw-in.

fools

never in doubt

oh wait a moment, I thought ppl were calling the assister offside, not the scorer, who's MARGINALLY off

whatever

o lj u hilarious clown

Why the fuck would we be talking about the assist? di maria's off, the ruling re: goal kicks (was it a goal kick, as such, or just a clearance from feet?) don't enter into it

I do admire the sacrifices this clown makes to court controversy. A career on talksport beckons.

heh me or lj or w/e?

Ha, I didn't think that through - careers on talksport for all!

true story- i don't care what kind of abuse alan green gets lobbed at him in teh street/through his letterbox- fucker wouldn't swap jobs with me if my wages were doubled.

Alan Green wouldn't want some Irishman doing his job anyway

... a good patriotic Englishman like himself or no-one

all i really know about him is that he's a rafanatic troll tbh

Liverpool supporting, jingoistic Englishman from, uh, Belfast

seek him out when he's covering a Liverpool game - I think you'd get a kind of enjoyment out of it

actually yes, an England game would be better

^ heavily qualified post imo xp

it was very carefully phrased

never saw a hyphen so obviously denote a three minute pause before

ireland should win by one or two goals today, but i have a nasty feeling we may draw.

I am making no predictions at all about Scotland. None at all. I am not going near a bookies, I am not mouthing about it on the internet (yet). This may suggest an element of fear on my part, but I couldn't possibly comment.

ireland better no draw. they're on my coupon and their the first team to play (15.55 KO iirc. just surreal).

4pm - should make it home for the second half.

these 4pm kick-offs are a pain - for everyone apart from me as i have day off today - yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

i'll be able to leave work at four to get the end of the first half all going well

ireland by a goal i reckon

yeah scuffed 2-1 victory would do nicely

That was, um, not fun.

good performance by ireland for a 1-0. keane missed two actual sitters, not pretend ones.

Chelsea target Daniel Sturridge scores for England's U21s.

I see ITV have drafted in Danny Murphy to talk shit about Capello and big up Stevie G. England's "best player" don't you know? Actually No Danny that'll be Ashley Cole.

1-0 with 5 mins gone. But that's how the WC campaign began...

AC in particularly annoying mode tonight

"England winning it back as quickly as they lose it" says Clive T admiringly. Err that's not actually a GOOD thing Clive you moron!

Estonia beating Italy btw.

Estonia just clipped the bar there. I have no doubt Italy will find a way back, but they look terrible.

well they have for four years

1-0 with 5 mins gone. But that's how the WC campaign began...

― xyzzzz__, Friday, September 3, 2010 7:09 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^this. unfortunately we've got 2 years to wait for the misery loop to end, at least the usa game was 90 minutes and us in the world cup only about 2 weeks.

Yeah, maybe I'm putting too much faith in one flukey draw v New Zealand

Ha, Italy do equalise - during a commercial break

I like this new England kit.

shame it's still the same dull players and tactics in them

Cassano with the Italy goal:)

Italy got a corner and Rai cut to a 'mini break' - whereupon they took it quickly and scored before it cut back. Two minutes later, another corner and Italy score again, but fortunately they thought better of the mini break idea this time.

And Klose scores for Germany. It must drive Bayern fans mad.

tbh i had no idea they had mini breaks like that. this is not common in other countries right?

portugal behind at home against cyprus, not a good week for quieroz

Just turned over to France/Belarus game and was astonished to notice that Malouda appears to be wearing the captains armband.Shame Jibe isn't about to tell me which new French players I should be looking out for. Ooh Belarus just missed a good chance.

Is that Dawson's ligaments just gone?

It was only ten seconds long xp and featured Willis and Stallone, but might've been better deployed at a goal kick or throw-in one's own half I would suggest.

englande has found a keeper?

Is that Dawson's ligaments just gone?

― pandemic, Friday, 3 September 2010 21:09 (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's good that Spurs fans can rely on such strong, not-at-all-injury-prone centre halves such as Ledley King, William Gallas and Jonathon Woodgate then.

at least new signing KJ huntelaar scored 3 times tonight

Pronunciation clarification sought re Mesut Özil: in the world cup they were mostly saying something like "oozle", but the bloke tonight's gone with "O'zeal". Which is correct?

O-Zil as far as I know but to be honest I'm going off English Bundesliga commentary from last season. Adam Johnson scores England's third.

And now Defoe has crocked himself scoring his hat trick. 'Arry start twitching!

american german limited knowledge says ozil is pronounced the former, ik

Stupid (and offside) goal for Belarus in Paris. 1-0, four mins left.

Domenech In!

Only saw the end of the goal Ismael. Was the offside in the build up?

yeah wtf - really like both the new england AND rangers kits. first time tht's happened for bigotted old me

is the england kit made of the same 'sportwool' shit the rangers strip is?

One guy walked through the French defence using an offside Hleb as decoy before cutting back for the goal - but it was more blatant than it sounds, Hleb basically stepped over the ball and blocked the covering defender, so even if it wasn't offside it shouldve been obstruction. Must be hell supporting France.

like the england blue too tbh

Ha, I was wrong xp - the through ball came off a French defender, so it was a good goal and Hleb was just shielding it.

lol Scotland

so it continues...

Hardly any draws tonight, and hardly any shocks - feels a bit like half the teams are basically out already.

3-3 now in Portugal

and 4-3 to Portugal. Cracking hit. There's basically a goal every other attack at the moment.

Ha, 4-4 with a minute left. Portugal brought out the party tricks a bit too early.

do any of the irish fans think brady should not be on the panel on rte for ireland matches? he seems compromised by his previous involvement in the set-up, and the others are tiptoeing around because of it.

anyway, i thought ireland were solid, and we have to be pleased with 3 points. given, dunne, o'shea, lawrence = immense. and well done fahey. am still of the opinion that doyle is a little overrated, even though i lke him a lot and he had a good second half.

do we have any wales fans on ilx? can they explain what on earth toshack is still doing in that job?

France burst my coupon. 90 quid :(

Thankig you Cyprus! ^_^

Have watched short highlights from most matches now; Hamit Altıntop's goal straight from a corner kick going where it usually shouldn't had me hanging my jaw a bit. If this was a conscious move, it's pretty damn audacious.

amazing

Yeah, that's pretty special.

"Sometimes over the course of a season it is like players have a chemical moment.

THEY ARE IN A CHEMICAL MOMENT

I've had a couple of them, shd be picked over Barry at least

oh lol well done cyprus

would've thought Spanish dudes wd be sympathetic to Portugal getting done but the waiter in the bar I was in looked quite put out when I roffled

spanish waiter

"Spanish Walter" = character in next Guy Ritchie shitscapade

played by mark strong in one of his increasingly bizarre iterations

"his ma was a famous bull fighter..."

Kind of Raoul Moat type fantasist figure

It's on in a minute and I'll not be able to watch, but I'm eyeing Turkey-Belgium as the most attractive of tonight's fixtures. Bosnia-France next, with England as backup.

Slovakia won in Russia btw - i'd've thought probably good news for Ireland that this Russia has turned up.

Jamie Redknapp's fascinating.

Redknapp on Capello: 'It doesn't matter if he speaks English good or bad.'

You guys, I'm on Sky Sports 3 listening to Jim White, Charlie Nicholas and Craig Gordon. It's just as bad for us.

has jim white been talking about transfer deadline day?

Haven't been listening to him, tbh. They started with a pretend Sky Sports New story set at the start of Euro 2012 about how Scotland is deserted as everyone goes to Poland to cheer on our team, and also had a montage of all our glorious failures since 1998, featuring a lot of people missing good chances a lot. Way to go with the optimism, guys.

so if England win this they'll be better than Spain who are better than Holland who are better than Brazil who are better than [...] everyone except true World champions New Zealand, right?

Liechtenstein's national anthem is the same tune as God Save The Queen. Popular with the Scotland fans :-)

Yeah heard it the other day before the Spain match.

(actually suspect there might have been a couple of the Scotland players going to sing along then realising no...)

Explained to Mrs V that not only are our words bollocks but the tune is as common as dog shite.

fackin Amy McDonald, I thought she had disappeared. It's like when Sandi Thom reemerges from the void when someone vaguely Scottish and vaguely arty is needed for something. Also, what an ugly bunch the Scotland squad are. When Stephen McManus looks ruggedly handsome amongst them you know it's bad.

Lithuania are beating the Czech Republic? INNARESTIN.

We didn't concede to them. We WIN!

FFS STOP GETTING INJURED ARSENAL PLAYERS

When LIE play ENG, do they play it twice? Also yay Eduardo! (and Carew (except injury) and Huseklepp)

KEVIN DOYLE

ANDORRA

TWO PEACH GOALS

Turkey-Belgium is pretty great right now btw. Three (admittedly rubbish) goals in the last ten minutes - 3-2 to Turkey with ten mins left.

Good news about Doyle, don't think he's reached match fitness yet this season so hopefully he's reaching it now.

Scotland pish. Think our keeper's had more to do than theirs.

doyle scored a 25 yard left foot beaut from an acute angle. playing well, getting roughed up a bit tho

tell you what tho any manager that get 8m+ for mcgeady knows what he's doing. hasn't passed the ball all night, it could be a parodical performance art piece on stupid greedy wingers

Fabulous helter-skelter ending in Turkey, 3-2. I feel sorry for Belgium, I've seen them play well twice now and lose both. Turkey are good though.

keane clip first time past goalie and in to corner 3-1

kilbane's 62nd consecutive competitive match tonight. phenomenal

HOLY FUCKING SHITEY SHITE

?

scotland 0 - 1 lichtenstein

1-0 Liechtenstein.

abolish Scotland

Amazed that the pubs are RAMMED. 3 potential reasons:

1) People are more likely to go out on a Tuesday than a Friday
2) People will not give up their 'normal' Friday night out to watch England
3) People were 'boo the Wc was shit you told us we would win it' on Friday and 'WOO WE WILL WIN THE EC BECAUSE WE BEAT BULGARIA BY LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOADS' on Tuesday

My vote is with #3

!

comedy non-peno for rugby tackle on doyle. lolling.

now watching scotland game instead of england

^Jagz with the killer timing

aaagh mcgeady is just wrecking my head

Czech Republic beaten by Lithuania (Milan Baros missed a penalty). Pointless what-would-otherwise-be-a-good-result-from-Scotland's-point-of-view at this stage.

darragh, welcome to my world for the last few years. Embodiment of frustration (am not watching, can imagine well enough).

did think Switzerland had plenty of potential to worm their way through England but... that's not quite what happened

Atmosphere at Hampden sounds suitably poisonous

1-1, Kenny Miller

"back in it!"

Who is doing the Beeb radio commentary for the Scotland game? The crack of relief in his voice at Miller's goal is super endearing

Norway 1-0 Portuglol

I KNOW! Commentators making out that equalising with less than half an hour to go is a good thing! xpost

(way we're playing, it actually is, but that's not the point)

Ireland drew with this lot once iirc

Kris Boyd was on the pitch?!

Not remarkable in itself I realise, it's just that I'd been watching for fifteen mins thinking surely this is the type of opposition Boyd deserves a chance to play against.

PRAISE DRILLO! MAIN FOOTBALL GENIUS #1 OF LAST 20 YEARS! Ahem sorry for shouting.

Yeah, so much for his "only scores against the wee teams" thing...

3-1 England btw

Finally sth goes right for France - Benzema scores.

jesus this lad keogh is just awful. not anything like international class, even against andorra

clear timewasting

looooooool

xxpost

Good luck, Cardiff

hahahaha this referee is trolling the nation of scotland

Indeed he is. Longest five minutes ever coming up here.

Haha did commentator just say "...can we claim the game?" wrt to the apparent Graham Poll tribute act

i dunno what channel this is off iraqgoals but tim sherwood is the worst pundit you've never heard. unbelievable cockney gobshite.

"that jordan shakira, ere tell you what, he might be sniffin rahnd the england team playing like that, cor"

"wot i reckon is capello's avin a little larf there, finking i'm the maahn, i'm the maahn."

trevor francis trying to get an unconvingingly thoughtful word in edgeways. ("shaqiri... doesnt he remind you of jack wilshere, cutting in like that, mm?")

lawl

OMG STEVEN MCMANUS!

I fecking had money on him scoring on Friday, btw

Congratulations to Scotland and all their supporters!

xps that was about Scotland's triumph, not to disparage you Gareth

http://www.reellifewisdom.com/files/images/braveheart.bmp

CHAMPIOOOOOOOONIES.

???

kind of feel cheated tbh

God bless our utter rubbishness, I am sitting here laughing at myself for being so pleased about a goal against fucking Lichtenstein.

GIRUY Poverino

liechtensteinian idiots trying to keep the ball by the corner-flag - comeuppance imho

Top of the group!

* Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901), composer
* Sabine Dünser (1977-2006), composer, songwriter, singer
* Ernst Joseph Walch, former Secretary of State
* Klaus Tschütscher
* Mario Frick, prime minister (was in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's youngest Prime Minister when he was elected)
* Prince Alois of Liechtenstein (born 1968), regent since 2004
* Prince Hans Adam II, current Head of State, one of the world's richest royals
* Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein, longest reigning monarch (1938–1989) in Europe from 1964 to 1984
* Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein

your boys took a hell of a beating tonight

http://s305.photobucket.com/albums/nn236/LaceannDomination/?action=view¤t=scottishPride2-

Xp actual lolz
Spain taking a beating btw

I've been spelling Liechtenstein wrong! Why did no one tell me. :'(

who's scored / who's playing for Argentina?

Seriously, though - can't even get humiliated properly

Messi, Higuain, Tevez

2nd arg goal - lol reina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BNUl1U-SCA

Classic material

lol Spain, playing Scotland next. Good luck Xavi, Iniesta, Torres, etc

Context: England are currently worse than WC qualification.

Fucking Argentina killed our (admittedly microscopic) chances of being Unofficial Football World Champions :(

mencap missed the actual greats from Liechtenstein: Andi & Hanni Wenzel! Not to mention Paul & Willi Frommelt! Ah, the memories...

The bad thing about the late goal is that now the only way isn't up

"Wayne Rooney to silence critics by scoring away from home"

Ummm...

Fucking Argentina killed our (admittedly microscopic) chances of being Unofficial Football World Champions :(

If Liechtenstein had beaten Spain on Friday, we'd have won it tonight :-) That's about as likely, tbh.

Spain got a thumping tonight and were pretty well beaten by Mexico but for an undeserved injury time equaliser. It's not out of the question that oh I can't even say it, Liechtenstein felt comfortable enough to stroke it around at times tonight.

apparently they're cancelling scottish international football next year

thought they'd cancelled it for 96 minutes tonight lol amirite?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlbjYF2pUTY

http://imgur.com/Zxmsx.jpg

maybe it's the pic but that's the best shape i've ever seen fatty in?

You’d think that after the embarrassment of hearing the BBC claim that not a single member of the German starting XI would be good enough for the Three Lions, only to then get thumped 4-1, that England would have learnt some humility. Wishful thinking, I’m afraid.

The offender-in-chief on this occasion is Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, who said of the Swiss in this morning’s Sun column about the game:

“I don’t feel any of their players could do a job in the Premier League.”

Wilfully uninformed, and just plain wrong. What of Diego Benaglio, one of the World Cup’s outstanding goalkeepers and winner of a Bundesliga title with Wolfsburg? Or Gokhan Inler, who not long ago was the subject of a £15m tug-of-war between Udinese and Arsenal? And perhaps Redknapp has forgotten that one of the Swiss starters, the winger David Degen, played in Young Boys’ 3-2 first leg victory over his own Spurs team.

there's a reason they keep going back to wright and redknapp tbf

very few foreigners in the premier league tbf

ey you all seen doyle's wondergoal yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2E2pb2d1bU

51 secs

wow that panel is old

that Spain U21 set-piece is completely cribbed from one their U17s did against England a coupla months ago

sorry U19s

here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkwmxuVicbI

Wow Doyle doesn't do that kind of thing often enough.

wow that panel is old

― sonderangerbot,

why you little

doyle is a 10m all round centre fwd, and fuck anyone with a prob on that

doyle at arsenal >>>> van parttime

Nah he's a tremendous player but I would love to see him having a dig like that more often for the Wolves.

the chances he's been putting on plates for keane this past few games, he's the new quinny imo.

Like I said before I think he's only just getting back to full fitness so am quite cheered at the prospect of him setting them up for Nu Seb or Fletcher. Or lol Marcus Bent.

fletcher imo. would like to see odds on 25 league goals between them, if i though mick would consistently start the pair.

Fletcher was pretty thrilling for 45 minutes against Stoke but Ebanks-Blake has obv worked hard on his fitness and he's looking well worth a go at the moment.

Solution is obv 4-3-3

Hahnemann

Zubar Mouyokoulo Craddock Stearman

Guedioura Mancienne Hunt

Fletcher Doyle Ebanks-Blake

Should be ready by Christmas.

Ebanks-Blake has obv worked hard on his fitness

has he? still got the biggest backside in football last time i saw

branislav ivanovic's ludicrous musclebooty excepted obv

He's just a chunky lad I think, but he's a lot quicker and sharper than last season.

451 with doyle as focal point you mean

Either way yeah but a bit more attacking intent/ability than last season's 4-5-1. Doyle is a natural target man/work horse. Jarvis still worth a place as a pacey inside forward tbf, tho he's cobblers as an out and out winger.

it is an odd one how no one else seems to have gone in for doyle (injuries?). would be just the ticket for everton, villa, spurs, predictably enough

imo fm2010 and it's designated 'player roles' quickpick has revived 'inside forward' and i welcome it heartily.

doyle at villa or spurs would be absolutely perfect, there's no doubt.

xpost

Yeah I've pondered this re: FM 2010. Jarvis totally fits the bill - right-footed, prefers to play on the left, accordingly he can't really cross a ball but when he cuts inside and runs at/gets behind defenders he looks pretty dangerous.

aaron lennon needs this, even taking into a/c his improvement this past year.

darragh otm....doyle is a little genius. would love him at pool.

Don't see why he'd want to take a drop down the table tbh :D

has he? still got the biggest backside in football last time i saw

Dudes, ANDERSON.

jeez doyle's little headed flicks landing at torres' feet. unconscionable prospect tbh

anderson does have a fat little arse, it's true

I take it Stephen Fletcher is borked, btw? If he's improved this dramatically, need him back up front for Scotland pronto.

Would stake everything I own on Doyle moving to Sunderland to partner Darren Bent actually.

Fletcher took a knock against Stoke first game, he was on the bench last time out so in theory he's fit again.

Oh, turns out we sent him home because his foot is knacked.

Cheers for that

You're welcome. Hey, apparently we could have injected him with drugs and played him anyway, but decided instead that Stevie Naismith and Kris Boyd would be suitable partners for Kenny Misser. Levein out, etc.

Yeah I've read the story now, dunno why Mick's so keen to give him a shot for Fulham on Saturday, let him recovery properly imo

Ebanks-Blake has obv worked hard on his fitness

has he? still got the biggest backside in football last time i saw

― r|t|c, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 15:14 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

YAYA GOT BOOTY

You guys, Kris Boyd is a professional footballer.

Capello out... ...after Euro 2012. Yawn.

wait wtf that's actually true

good luck england

cant wait for allardyce's england killing every team with a tory government endorsement.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/sep/09/darron-gibson-ireland-euro-2012

what a dickhead...yeah lets pick united reserves for ireland just cos they have a carling cup medal. don't even reckon gibson is good enough for stoke anyhow, hopefully that's the end of him internationally. god knows why man u have kept him.

He scored a goal once.

And yet he is still pish.

scored 2/3 screamers...still rubbish tho.

Rio being set up for a fall by the tabloids.

Gerrard was praised for how he deputised in the World Cup

not sure about this tbh

He scored a goal once.

scored 30/40 screamers, still rubbish though.

OTM.

Not quite sure what Gerrard did as captain that was praiseworthy during the World Cup, other than go missing when it was all going wrong off the pitch.

Had the sense to suck up to Capello once Terry's comedy coup went tits up.

Has Gerrard ever criticised a manager? Doesn't seem the type.

capello played triphop once when gerrard wanted trance

Don't get me wrong, I think players shd shut up and be respectful to the manager.

I don't think Gerrard's mentally equipped to be England captain, his head drops too easily and he gets too caught up in trying to save the day all on his own to be much of a troop-rallier imo.

gerrard captaining liverpool is ace, but he's not the same figure for england

but in fairness to the guy (and with due deference to ronan) i can see where being the man man (or one of two) at club level is a bigger motivator than being just another underperforming star in an england system that never really clicks.

As a Scouser once told me in a pub in Camden, "We don't care about England, those bastards all hate us anyway"

Gerrard hasn't even been that good at club level for the last two years or so, not even approaching Lampard's contribution.

^^this is the thing...

at his best he's of course england captain material, barnstorming, game saving etc. but he was shit all last season (less goals than david ngog lets not forget) and he's not looking fantastic this year either, though it's early days.

He's never really barnstormed or game-saved for England tho, is my point. I think discussing Gerrard as a club player is almost wholly different from his international career, and I don't only attribute that to underperforming national sides - he's contributed to that underperformance.

Agree with Scousers in the pub that bollocks to England really tho.

ha maybe he's just another underperforming star in a liverpool team that'as not clicking. true enough i suppose.

gerrard's opening goal against ze germans in the 5-1 is p much his club template effort tbh

As a neutral (stop laughing), Gerrard has never really impressed me for England

well yeah but i mean it's the same for lampard too. tbh it's the same for most of em.

capello's been disappointingly week in not dropping fuckers en masse tbh, my biggest complaint against him.

He's dropped enough of 'em though, and I'd be happiest to see JT etc just gradually fall by the wayside rather than Beckham-style 'event' deselections. Just gradually call these guys up for squad duty but don't give them a game and they'll mostly get the message and retire anyway.

let's be real- the day gerrard, lampard and terry get called up and don't start isd the day before they retire in a media shitstorm.

capello's been disappointingly week in not dropping fuckers en masse tbh, my biggest complaint against him.

Was moaning about this this morning but Ismael's got a good point really.

the day gerrard, lampard and terry get called up and don't start isd the day before they retire in a media shitstorm.

Rio's coat must be on a shaky nail too

True, but a shitstorm where they're the ones throwing the toys out the pram is to be vastly preferred xp

Thing about Gerrard at club level is, as people always say, he's effective in a free role, ie when he can charge about everywhere and not worry too much about tactics or positioning or even having to retain possession that much.

How many World Cup-winning teams field players like that? The idea of anyone doing that for Spain or Italy is ludicrous. Brazil yeah maybe but Gerrard was never going to match someone like Ronaldinho for skill.

the redtops are gonna side with the players regardless, really. i'm in favour of an ELE approach and when the dust settles capello will have two years as the equivalent of a house sized gerbil

Thing about Gerrard at club level is, as people always say, he's effective in a free role, ie when he can charge about everywhere and not worry too much about tactics or positioning or even having to retain possession that much

not necessarily true...he's good in the central role if he's playing well, he's just not playing well at the moment. i'd much prefer a central role gerrard to the mythical roy of the rovers stevie that's come about, eg gerrard at the start of his career. he used to win the ball.

particularly with mascherano gone, i'm guessing

I sort of get the feeling that Gerrard isn't really interested in being that player though?

I think Lampard will be cool w/ the dropped to the bench, jus' doing his bit, saving the day if needs be old Beckham role.

xp

i don't know about that. he enjoyed being indulged under benitez, maybe, but i can't say i've ever seen him throw sulks.

but then, i think that about berbatov too so i mean

not really sure gerrard is interested in being any sort of player now he's finished winning any sort of trophies.

AFAIK Gerrard has always said that the central midfield role is his favoured position, think this was cited again recently now that Woy has started playing him there. There was a moment in one of the Europa games where he sprayed a 40 yard pass from deep to Jovanovic and I just thought "fuck...been 3/4 years since he's been in that position."

with LG on that- i think gerrard's always seen himself as the all action midfielder (it's THE english position, after all?) but at the same time nobody's complaining about benitez's redeployment of him (even though i'd argue it was only to allow the central mid to be packed with needlessly defensive players a lot of the time)

the ongoing Lampard rehabilitation round here is kind of confusing, emotionally

THE English position

definitely. Jonathan Wilson (in The Anatomy of England) is scathing about Emelyn Hughes hogging the role in the 70s

xp blame nakhchivan

I'm pretty sure that singing "you let your country down" at Lampard isn't anywhere near as much fun since the disallowed goal. Suggest transferring that song to John Terry.

rooney surely

Frankie doesn't seem as much of a crybaby/cunt as Terry so I think he'd be cool with a spell on the bench

no fucking way

he's not as hair trigger as terry but if he goes he's gonna go old school.

i mean he might actually sit on the bench and cry for 90 mins

He's a bit too cool and composed for that? Or likes to think he is?

yeah, and in liking to think he is as opposed to revelling in the image of the guy ritchie gang boss, that's about the only diff btwn him and terry i reckon.

yeah, I was trying to work out why I was thinking he'd be a decent chap about it despite being a fat Tory scumbag, and I think trying to give the impression of being very reasonable and pragmatic about it all for the sake of saving face is it.

just think of cameron. tho i spend enough time on politics threads popping in and kinda poking fun at that attitude, i reckon with lampard it's a pretty likely analogy.

i mean, has anyone ever said 'no' to ffl? his lower lip would trip him.

a friend of a friend who works in pr claims frank lampard propositioned her for oral sex in a lift and when she refused shouted "i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...

I wish that was true.

I've been warming to Lampard myself, but the true test for these guys should be whether they insist on retiring at the top or wind down their careers with half-a-decade at, say, Derby, Peterborough, Bristol Rovers and Orient. When players start doing that again I might start thinking they're decent lads.

Sol isn't making the case particularly well so far, it must be said.

http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/files/2008/04/x-files-believe1.jpg

xpost

David James is doing alright.

james has always been ahead of the curve in terms of not being a fuckhead

tho i'm not for a second claiming that as a millionaire 32 year old i'd be looking for a move to doncaster.

fuck that.

james has always been ahead of the curve in terms of not being a fuckhead

Or a moron

I await John Terry moving to Carlisle just for a chance of first-team football.

Goalkeepers always strike me as being more articulate and with more perspective than yer average footballer. Takes a certain sort of character to do that job mind you.

hullo

Pope JPII, Albert Camus, Paddy Kenny...

Also Jamie Theakston and the kid at my school who got sent down for murder.

http://www.yanksarecoming.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Stallone-Victory_l.jpg

packie bonner paid for my first ever pint

Lot of time to think, no? I had a kids' book, Goalkeepers Are Different (Glanville I think), I think that was the crux of it. I need to find a copy now, see what players got up to offfield in those days.

Yeah it is a Glanfield.

Glanville rather. Read it as a kid too.

They say the same about wicket keepers in cricket... which, when I think about it, is bollocks 'cos they then go on to claim everyone in cricket is "different" apart from middle order batsmen and medium pace seam bowlers

It was light on hookers, drink-driving and insatiable greed iirc

that's a class thing though in fairness

(xp or maybe not)

I read a book called An English History Of Goalkeeping or something and that was pretty sweet - forget the author

lol I'm a legspinner-turned-opening-bat i.e. MADMAN

are goalies less likely to be the lower orders y/n?

Maybe that's how goalkeepers are different?

in a class sense or a cricket sense?

I mean traditionally in the East Midlands you found them by shouting down t'pit so maybe they are naturally more proletarian. And/or subterranean.

Wicket keepers seem like a lower class bunch to me

Jack Russell is one of our foremost artists and deserves a Turner.

a raging turner

and Deadly in his prime

No w/k likes one of them (xp)

Sorry to break it to you, but even David James did the dirty on his wife. They're all pricks.

chris powell is not a prick

seriously, that guy is the model for how top-level, even international footballers should behave

If Mrs James is open to doo doo brown then who are to judge?

we had the 'cheatig on your wife is a crime against society or not' chris, am still undecided. one of my best mates has his dick worn out on random shags, it's not a judgement criteria with me anymore, so why it'd be the first thing i called d james on is dubious

At Charlton he delighted the crowds after each home victory with his exuberant leaps of celebration.

all-time <3

xp i know, shit happens. david james is my favourite footballer ever btw. i don't actually think he's a prick.

one of my best mates has his dick worn out on random shags

Dick Wornout & Random Shags <--------- actors in 70s US cop series

btw here is the PFA's management committee - upstanding, intelligent spokesmen for their trade

* Chairman: Chris Powell (Retired)
* Scott McGleish (Leyton Orient)
* Marcus Hahnemann (Wolves)
* Gary Neville (Manchester United)
* Darren Moore (Burton Albion)
* Neil Cutler (Retired)
* Ben Sedgemore (Stamford)
* Gareth Griffiths (Retired)
* Clarke Carlisle (Burnley)
* Chris Hope (Corby Town FC)
* Colin Murdock (Retired)

gonna assume that they're all pretty responsible fellas - despite being a twat I'd say Gary Neville is actually quite a good bloke to have in the upper ranks of yr trade union - and we all know about Clarke Carlisle. also Darren Moore!!!

always try to balance out how i'd behave if i even looked like d james, let alone had his money and free time.

i don't compare well tbh

gonna assume that they're all pretty responsible fellas

Clarke Carlisle is the sex addict dude, right? Hope I'm not slandering him.

Clarke Carlisle is the dude who was on Countdown, no?

The auld sex addiction has been the downfall of many a man.

Especially on Countdown if all you can think of is "todge" and "fanny".

Countdown has been the downfall of many a man. Also like the booze, old Clarke, but who disnae?

remember when hansen blamed clarke carlisle's crap performance on him being on countdown the day before the game (it was filmed about 6 months ago!)

Hansen was just jealous tho cos he got knocked out in the first round of Fifteen to One.

that was brilliant :D

yeah Clarke Carlisle is basically a beast of all things TV and brainy - on Britain's Brainiest footballer his chosen subject area was scientific, possibly anatomical

todge and fanny again

"Un-be-lievable... you cannae win Fifteen to One with kids"

In the final, Countdown addict Carlisle looked to be heading for defeat after stating the medical name for the navel was the abdomen.

oh Clarke

He's more interested in what's below the navel amirite?

is that true about packie bonner darragh?

DID HE DROP IT ON THE WAY BACK. I'D SAY HE DID!!!

HOPE IT WASN'T A DUTCH PINT CIRCA 1994 EH??!

Oi, less o' the Packie-bashing

steady on

yeah that's a true thing about packie bonner, bought me and my mates pints in the minaun bar (which is already mentioned on ilx as a seriously dodgy IRA establishment) in achill in the summer of 1996- i was 15.

maybe it was 97 and i was 15 tbh, but anyway. sweet deal.

John Leslie was a goalkeeper, iirc.

this thread has been gold today, you all deserve a round of applause. also

i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...
i'm franky lamps baby..." with his pants down...

been offered four tickets to the russia game, on the halfway line. looks like i cant go

any irish ilxors interested? 70 quid each, unfortunately, but they're good seats.

idk for £86 you can sit on the subs bench

£100 buys you any county in Connaught iirc

sterling isn't worth anything here now that the PIRA have started up again, you dont want to be caught with any on you

i got my ticket. what do you reckon, darragh? im somewhat confident. russians have fallen off since that european champs run. although duff is out and arshavin running at mcshane/st ledger/klibane is worrisome. not expecting a goal feast either.

Try not to break Doyler, he's all we've got tbh

i'm not confident, but under trap we're not likely to get whipped- it's 50/50 i think, my natural pessimism aside, that we take four points from these two games- and that would be a great start.

armenia lead slovakia 2-1, with 25 mins to go. here's hoping they hold on for at least a point.

ireland will draw tonight. and on tuesday.

Scotland parking the bus, train, spare bus and a couple of taxis - so far we've managed three passes outside our own half and given away about 8 fouls to 1.

Bus parked out of position tbh only a matter of time till the Czechs score.

class result for ireland already. win here tonight and i'm booking hols

oh dear robbie crucifying amhran na bhfian

Couple of half chances for us - bastards making me dare to hope again :(

Beginning to question if I actually want to see my country playing this boring piss at a major championships. Put one fucking guy in front of the ball ffs :(

not sure it's worth worrying about

LJ if you're here your 2nd half outwhatevered us mightily. I *do* sympathize except yknow 3 points rule all.

stay strong NI!

So bad - conceded all of the pitch to an ordinary team, haven't offered anything creatively. It's like the manager doesn't even trust them to attempt to play football until they're losing. Levein out. He's a fucking coward and he's sucking the life out of the team.

Ireland are making a game of it now

Serbia 1-3 Estonia?

wow that was much worse than 3-2 would suggest.

st ledger and doyle should both have walked for shocking tackles.

long ball is all we got, just wish we'd play it with some intensity. green and whelan in midfield embarrass.

Congratulations to Japan btw for beating Argentina 1-0, Messi and all, thereby taking over as new Unofficial World Champions

i know i've moaned about this before, but the fuss surrounding kevin doyle (particularly in the irish media) really does not stand up to any sort of scrutiny. he's slow, he doesn't have any kind of backlift when he strikes the ball - i personally dont reckon his linkup play is anywhere near as good as his biggest admirers seem to think it is. to be fair, part of the problem is that our only tactic when he's on the pitch is 'hit it long for a doyle flick-on', which is why it was such a relief when he was substituted today (not to say that we didnt just keep hitting it long after that, but shane long did at least seem offer something a little *different*, and we badly needed to shake things up).

as regards tonight - long was brilliant when he came on, mcgeady did quite well, and robbie keane at least rallied in the last 20 mins - everyone else was bleh or worse - dunne winning motm was the most bizarre decision of this type i can recall. on the subject of shane long - does anyone see this guy regularly? i don't, and he's played very well every time ive seen him, but his club career seems to have been very mediocre and low-scoring. if he could do this sort of stuff more regularly in his club career he'd provide a little more first-place competition for keane and doyle, which is badly needed. his career has been every bit as mediocre as keogh, stokes, folan etc - yet when ive seen him play, he seems miles better - pacy, sharp, an eye for goal. i wouldnt start him on tues, but i'd bring him on at half time if the others are labouring as per.

doyle is probably one of the best target man in england, he gets his head on just about everything and his flicks are unerringly accurate. he's not slow and his control of the ball is as good as any player we've got under pressure imo.

i agree that we overuse his main asset, he'd be a much greater boon to the team were we to play with at least one midfielder (out of four, it shouldn't be too much to ask) that even every now and again came near the box to link up play. god forbid aiden mcgeady would cross a ball in any match soon, because that's where doyle's goals wil come from.

robbie's dire, has been dire for two years now. he still gets goals for ireland but that's because the likes of doyle are set up only to supply him- and he wastes most of that by diving or trying to do too much with his first touch. i'd drop him in an instant.

long was a very highly rated youth prospect, but although he gets games his goalscoring record at club level hasnt really taken off. good record for ireland though (4 goals, twelve caps, only one start i think)

st ledger and doyle should both have walked for shocking tackles.

I wonder what, what's the guy's name, Dave Anderson or something, had to say about that, since he tends to explode after Dutch fouls ;)

george hamilton? think he actually called the st ledger one tbh, it was a fucking shocker.

from mark bright's twitter

# How can Tiny Ireland hold the former World Champions 0-0? Well done Ireland. about 14 hours ago via ÜberTwitter

# People are so touchy, N. Ireland ok! Well bloody done. Been out and now back, night nite. about 12 hours ago via ÜberTwitter

mark dim

george hamilton? think he actually called the st ledger one tbh, it was a fucking shocker.

hmm his name was mentioned on Nigel de Jong's Wiki-page couple of days back, but it's gone now, anyway boring troll from me anyway ;)

i just saw in my newspaper that Montenegro had 9 points out of 3 matches, i need to double-check if that's true, but it would be rad if they qualify :)

it's true, and all 1-0 wins, that's the proper way to do it (cf. Italy, Spain and.. Norway)

Albania topping their group too. Why isn't there a Kosovo team?

I love how pissed off he is in that second tweet. The whole issue has just passed him by, hasn't it?

xxp btw Andy Townsend was the pundit I referred to earlier.

yeah Albania need to qualify too, i remember Greece visiting Albania right after their EC win and there was a banner "Albania is not Portugal" (obviously Greece went on to lose the match)

San Marino really needs to quit altogether, and that's coming from someone who's a big underdog/minnows fan.

i think Kosovo needs to be an UN member, at least that's what IOC said and FIFA is probably more conservative than IOC

Albania topping their group too.

More or less equal with Belarus, after the latter's excellent draw against Luxembourg... :-P

OK, France have a game in hand, but am thinking B&H should have a fair chance here as well.

Estonia doing well too, they were unfortunate to lose to Italy in the first round. And Montenegro were already in the world top 40, they've got to be favourites in that group now.

Also, 'Tiny Ireland' is quite a good name for the north, I'm now thinking Brighty might be onto something there.

I wonder what, what's the guy's name, Dave Anderson or something, had to say about that, since he tends to explode after Dutch fouls ;)

― Ludo, Saturday, 9 October 2010 12:29 (8 hours ago)

how is the suspension of de jong regarded in holland?

Who is Romania #5 w/ crazy headgear btw?

positively Laibachian, it is.

Pics or it didn't happen

ah it may simply have been Cristian Chivu.

On 6 January against Chievo Verona, he was stretchered off early in the second half after colliding heads with Chievo striker Sergio Pellissier.[4] He was in two hours of surgery for a skull fracture[5] and later cleared of any danger. Although it was initially thought he might be out for the rest of the season,[6] he returned to Serie A on 24 March.[7]

Doyle out for Tuesday :(

there goes plan a-z

long's a good player, but playing up front with robbie keane, and no discernible midfield- thankless job, that.

how is the suspension of de jong regarded in holland?

most seem to think it's a good decision, heck the almighty Cruyff said so, so it has to be true right. You got this whole clan/gang of 'we played awesome in the seventies',* who are calling De Jong a 'criminal' and a dumb mother*** (the irony here is that De Jong is an idiot on the pitch he's actually a very smart guy off pitch)

*like those guys weren't butchers. Personally I heart any guy who can play seasons without a yellow card (Frank Lampard!) but I hate how everybody in this country went into a 'well we didn't deserve to win the Worldcup since we played soooo unfair) like the Uruguyans or Brazilians wouldn't butcher your ass if they had the chance.

does seem hypocritcal when the whole team were at it in the world cup final but de jong is a cunt

and yeah, probably hypocritical to say holland didn't deserve to win, as if they would have the nerve to say that had they actually won (cruijff probably would i guess...)

but i do hope holland go back to playing football

that made me sound a little grumpy.

it's funny, and tragic, i don't know if it's modern football. with this new coach, we have won almost every match and yet one still wishes for more, something else, maybe even Van Basten's excitement who selected 10 new players every cap. (and didn't book any success in the end)

i do think one shouldn't expect too much of national teams, they can never be Barcelona, well unless you you got all those Barcelona players in your national team. :)

van persie, robben, sneijder, vdv, elia....and some good subs like babel, huntelaar, afellay

it's correct that national teams seldom have the time to develop the fluency of a club team, but i think it's reasonable to expect more from a team with resources like that

oh sure. more goals please!

btw to prevent misunderstanding that made me sound a little grumpy.
on that comment i was referring to my own post (ok hilarious), i was going to correct it in an xp, but then the internet crashed :)

Poor old "injured" EBJT.

Scotland U21s last night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI-tvDC-xJ4

lol Iceland getting a little cocky there (they are supposed to be really good, having trashed Germany, what was the end result of this game?)

in the meantime, the Dutch Football Association and Bayern Munchen are having a new round in their FITE. after Robben supossedly played an entire World Cup being injured (but he is always injured anyway so what does it matter, Franzie?)
right now Van Bommel is semi-injured as well, yet deemed capable of playing tonight against Sweden. (Bayern wants him back in Germany IMMEDIATELY)
:)

yeah so i see. up to the player to assert himself one way or the other there i think.

Ludo, Iceland won 2-1 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate, knocking Scotland out.

That level of ambition from Chris Maguire will never see him get a game under Craig Levein.

fair play to him though.

don't understand why a goalie would be out there.

Ludo, Iceland won 2-1 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate, knocking Scotland out.

ah, bummed for ailsa, but as a non-Scot Iceland reaching the final round ís cool. :) hope some of the Icelandic youngsters will help them qualify for a real tournament as well, at some point. (with 24 participants in 2016, you'll never know)

england's heroic youth have just prevailed in a very english way

put £2 on the Faroes winning a few mins ago, albeit only at 12/1 - now they've scored :)

RIP

ah well my smart money's on San Marino 2 Moldova 1 later

lolling @ turkey as well tbh

like, azerbaijan have in their time lost to liechtenstein

hiddink is shit basically

and lol @ litmanen on for finland

FORSSELL

amazing Finland strikeforce also has Kuqi

this after some appalling linesmanship denied Hungary a transparently onside goal

BRILLIANT Hungary winner on the break RIGHT on full-time! Knew it was a good idea to watch this

To get 4 forward in the final seconds when you've been defending at 1-1 away from home...awesome

need to turn my lj match reports up to 'detailed' as opposed to 'goals'

anyway whoever won that game they both speak a language nobody else can be fucked with learning

out of

Italy v Serbia
19:50

Netherlands v Sweden
19:30

the england match and a morbid interest in swiss v. wales - what should i watch?

Netherlands-Sweden is most promising I think - Serbia crashed & burned badly on Friday.

I actually think the England match might be pretty interesting. I'll be watching Scotland v Spain though, despite every fibre of my being telling me to do otherwise.

green looking absolutely wretched already

1-0 ireland set piece scuff

great ball in from fahey to create it, just made the goalie work with tricky volley too

The fuck is this pish about Gerrard being an inspirational captain in Rio's absence?

wc glory innit

Against my better judgement I'm going to try to find a stream for Scotland vs Spain.

GOT EM RATTLED EARLY DOORS (i.e. two poor crosses)

had a few decent chabces since but 1-1 now header from a set piece

We've almost picked Miller out in behind a v high Spanish line a couple of times. Rest of it has been Spanish possession & us retreating though not giving anything away.

And my stream's just died :(

Long's doing alright. Keane crap as usual

keane misses a sitter after great run and cross from long.

green off thank god

Ref giving fouls for good challenges - wee bit worrying considering we're likely to be diving in fairly often.

Free header for Villa straight at keeper, should have scored.

Silva through and hit shot too close to McGregor who saved well. Pressure pressure pressure.

great long ball and goalies taken mcgeady out peno

ball's going nowhere after mcgeady's touch yellow to goalie

keane peno:

imma say miss

saved

Got England on as well btw - not much to report, mostly England but Montenegro look ok going forward.

Wee half chance for us came to nothing.

good half, good performance.

Ghosting on my stream sometimes looks like Spain have 22 players, which is probably what Davie Weir is seeing.

Horrible camera angle in the Ireland match. Difficult to make out anything on the left wing.

yeh it's a little flat alright.

Kenny Miller doing really well on his own. Sort of thing I'd have liked him doing against a lesser team on Friday.

Keane is seriously fucking terrible. He missed a sitter before that, miscontrolled the keeper's duffed clearance, he's just not mentally there half the time, too stupid to play football.

Some poor possession play by us in our own half inviting trouble - players trying to turn with no room etc. It's like they keep expecting Spain to back off and concede a bit of ground when everyone knows Spain don't do that.

Keane looked, from the short time he was at Celtic, to be a fairly smart footballer imo - makes a lot of good runs & reads the game well. lol SPL and all that though.

The fuck is this pish about Gerrard being an inspirational captain in Rio's absence?

― san te cross (onimo), Tuesday, October 12, 2010 6:56 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah this has become a thing, heard it a few times myself. He seems to just be one of those guys that other guys (i.e. pundits) need to like - it was the same when Liverpool came back to 2-2 at Old Trafford, totally down to the force of his personality apparently. And don't get me started on that night in Istanbul.

Silva just turned Scotland inside out then sclaffed final shot, then McGregor saved well from Villa with my Spanish commentator guy warming up a big GOOOOOOAAAA--- shout.

Was just thinking we'd had about as good a first half as could be expected then realised that was only 30 minutes gone :(

would really love to see the possession stats please, espn mexico

silva fresh-air dig was hilarious there.

Puyol free header goes wide from a corner. Silva clean through from a high ball over the defence and missed the ball.

Spain making chances faster than I can type.

Shot from Iniesta comfortably saved. PLEASE MAKE THEM STOP.

He defo has ability, keane, but he tries too hard to look as tho he's trying, moaning at the ref etc, or attempting showy touches etc, think this is a bigger prob at Liverpool, cos he supports them, and Ireland than elsewhere.

Scotland's intervals of possession are a bit like my break-building on a full-size snooker table

keane's clever but lazy, incredibly lazy. he plays like a man that has paid all of the dues he's ever going to pay in an irish shirt.

believe me, it's a problem at spurs too- he puts more effort into dishonesty (diving, whinging, flicks) than he does into his football

Long shot from Silva saved.

Interesting tactic from Spain who are frequently leaving someone behind our defence when they are pressing - making the safe ball back to the keeper much more of a risk. We then have to play a forward pass that inevitably goes to one of them.

In theory this gives us a space somewhere to exploit, fucked if I can see it though.

keane supports liverpool? claimed to be a celtic man.

penalty for spain :/

ooh, got in behind them for a moment

Great chance on the break there - Kenny Miller just failed to pick out whoever the Scotland player was supporting on the right.

Pen them :(

not unusual for irish lad to have celtic + premier league team tbf

weiss looks dangerous. mcgeady lookin good too but not getting his dues from ref imo

44 fucking minutes

More bad news from Genoa where the match at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium between Italy and Serbia has been suspended because of the crowd trouble. Referee Craig Thomson has called a halt to proceedings after 15 minutes.

spanish stream i'm using just had the voice of sara carbonero. does this mean she's in glasgow? to hampden i go, going to steal her away from multimillionaire model-resembling goalkeeper iker casillas. nae danger.

Risky for Spain, taking the lead so early

Villa scored it btw

Whittaker's hand in an unnatural position when ball hit it (his natural position is dragging it along the floor)

serbs and italians all happily booing black players together yould have thought

camera work really dreadful here tbh

I know, I couldn't believe the Serbs were involved in mindless sectarian violence tbh

i need england and italy to score for my coupon to come in :S

Has it been abandoned? Luigi Ferrara looking 90% empty on tv.

Italy mayn't get a chance to score but I assume if it's abandoned your coupon doesn't go down?

Last abandonment I can remember was that troublespot, uh, Denmark v Sweden

The BBC news ticker is ambiguous but I'm reading it as match abandoned, yeah.

xpost

There is long-standing beef between Danes and Swedes btw

persistent fouling not a thing in slovenia, mcgeady's man has been tripping him all night

The abandonment footage is fucking strange - masked men with skull & crossbones and Albanian flags, hurling flares

not sure of status of my coupon if this is called off :/

as apparently it has been :(

They might be dicks cos the game actually started but I'd've thought any of the big bookies will write it off as a null and void.

Your bet will be on the remaining matches.

aye just read that :) just need merry ol' england to score - which obviously is asking a lot :P

andy keogh for fahey

keogh's terrible

Think it has been - Serbia out applauding their fans atm

terrible

Yep. That's youse fucked then.

Charlie Adam replaces Elbow McCulloch - bit of a positive step.

wil be whelan that costs us, if anyone

charlie adam: secret weapon.

neither long nor keane showing for theball this half, mcgeady's tiring at this stage. final ball still utter shite though

5-on-3 break there wasted

McGregor adds to his catalogue of good saves. I expect the roof to fall in soon.

cracking keeper greegsy. if he wasn't a hun and a rapist i'd be a big fan.

it's half Scotland at the moment

ha, bad timing.

James Morrison is a pointless footballer. There is no point to him.

2-0 :(

Iniesta, 2nd best footballer in the world, cleaning up after a Villa shot is blocked.

xps masked men *torching* Albanian flags - guess that clears up who the troublemakers were, then

if u find footage of the abandoned game post it itt plz thx

KEEEEEEEAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEE FFS

NAISMITH

another sitter missed. he's got money on a draw the cunt

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL NAISMITH

cracking play by that pair of hun bastards just there, miller especially.

aye Whittaker aside the Rangers contingent have looked pretty good vs the world champs.

Worrying, from a domestic pov

(Raiuno periodically cuts to the crowd trouble scenes here, presumably because they've got nothing else to show but a couple of chuckling blokes and some sexy adverts)

miller to break his leg equalising in 90+ minutes please.

I like that Spanish telly calls qualifiers "eliminatorias" like they're not so much trying to qualify as to knock out all the shit that's beneath them on their way to the real tournament.

mcgregor clears better with his head than any of Celtic's defenders, bar big dan.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

OMG

ireland have ball on break but have to kick it out cos slovakian down. he'd been down throughout an entire home attack.

game over. no bad away points but fuck's sake keane hattrick tonight makes it an easy win

???scotland

!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

o.g. lolololol

SCOTLAND

Pique o.g.

that morrison's some player

pique en propia puerta :D

Keane needs to be dropped. Good result nonetheless.

SARA CARBONERO YOUR MAN HAS SHIPPED TWO GOALS AGAINST MINNOWS SCOTLAND, TIME FOR A CHANGE, HEN.

absolutely gutted as predicted Swiss to win 4-1 days ago but didn't bet

that morrison's some player

aye, clearly worked out that failing to beat the first man is the way forward for wing play

miller kind of lucky there?

aye studs up at waist height could definitely have been red.

got the ball, no?

not that kind of player iirc

McGregor keeping this in single figures tbh

didnt get the ball i dont think, certainly got some of alonso high on the thigh. but may not have been watching for him either from my first look so

thats that then

gah. oh well.

jeez mcmanus wtf

suspense, guys

deary me, mick.

fucking fuckity fuck

Llorente was totally the right sub to make, they'd been dinking in a lot of lovely crosses and misdirecting or getting muscled out at the last

'Charlie Adam' seems to be a joy to say for Spanish-speakers, like maybe 'Lizarazu' is for us

gah Fletcher.

dunno why he's copmlaining, could have been straight red there?

scotland playin really well there too

aye I thought he'd be straight off

did his best to get sent off on Friday as well tbh

thought there was good pressure building too. c adam looks very useful, can we have him? swap ye mcgeady

charlie adam has turned into a right decent player down at blackpool.

Terrific match, really had not been expecting that at all.

Turns out England were playing too.

england wtf

Terrific effort from Scotland overall. So why not play that way against the Czechs. What threat did they pose that Spain didn't?

playing at home probably helped (doesn't apply to england obv)

Ashley Young's head-first dive was the highlight of the game. Shades of John Terry v Germany.