Football Focus

[Jah Lush]

Afraid not Anna. In fact, I don't think I've been to see the Spurs since we beat Chelsea at Wembley back in February. Still, I haven't missed much have I.

[atila the gooner]

I've seen Bollock play against us a couple of times, both time he was the invisibe man. He is an overpaid has been. He was good in the Bundesliga but he is average here.

[Keef]

I think another season will tell, he has undoubtedly been disappointing overall, but think he has started showing what he can do, and think he will be a different player next season. To be fair Atila, you pretty much said that Torres was shite because he was a bit anonymous against you in the first leg of the CL QF, but you can't base an opinion of a player on one or two games.

I remember Gerrard being probably the worst player on the pitch in a game against Charlton at the Valley, but thankfully it was an off day.

[SimonM]

Can I just point out that for 19 minutes on Sunday afternoon Sheffield United were in a play-off place? :))

As they did not make it I hope Palace do....and the opening televised game of 2008/9 will then be Palace v Liverpool/Colin v Benitez...

[Annasfield]

I hope so too Simon - would be nice to give him something else to moan about. That's assuming Palace do the business and that Rafa is still an employee of LFC.

[SimonM]

It's the shot of them shaking hands after the game which would be the real collector's piece >:D

[Annasfield]

Just a thought, following on from the from the Rafa/Warnock theme.....

Pompey are playing Fulham at the weekend - Should Harry elect to "rotate" his key players ahead of the FA Cup final the following Saturday and Fulham were to win, do you reckon he'd get any stick from the press?

[atila the gooner]

Annasfield Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just a thought, following on from the from the

> Rafa/Warnock theme.....

>

> Pompey are playing Fulham at the weekend - Should

> Harry elect to "rotate" his key players ahead of

> the FA Cup final the following Saturday and Fulham

> were to win, do you reckon he'd get any stick

> from the press?

The press giving stick to our 'Arry? Never!!! It's only foreign managers who seem to attract the bile of the gutter press. Either they sign too many foreign players (Wenger) which strangely enough there is no restriction on, and Rafa because he rotates. Funny how Curbishley, Southgate, et al are supposedly doing wonderful jobs according to the press. Yet the national team manager is Italian. What does that tell you about the quality of our home grown managers??? Nuff said.

[Annasfield]

With the exception of England ;-), I think that the more successful teams (or those with larger funds) attract foreign managers and that will always be the case. I suppose that if you look at what the likes of O'Neill, Redknapp and Southgate have to spend, they haven't done too badly.

Every team will feel victimised by the press - especially if successful. My penultimate post wasn't a moan as such - was just thinking out loud.

[atila the gooner]

On the subject of resources, and of course I'm very biased, but I think Wenger has done extremely well given the limited money he has had at his disposal compared to Man Ure, Lokomotiv Fulham and Liverpool.

[Annasfield]

I agree with you there Atila, but I don't think you'll find that Liverpool have spent as much as everyone seems to think. Fair enough, we have had more than other clubs in the Premiership but we have spent nothing like the likes of Chelsea and United.

The sad thing is that to compete, we have to spend like them too. We then enter the realms of "buying our success". Football ain't what it was and it is such a shame. I can understand Wenger's ambition to grow his squad without splashing the cash. Sadly for you guys, this season the squad tired towards the end.

I've said it on here before, but Rafa's youngsters are doing very well - did you catch Insua at the weekend? Plessis when we played at the Emirates and Craven Cottage? There are several youngsters waiting to break through in to the first team and I imagine that if Rafa stays, he will be looked at in the same manner as Wenger in a couple of years time.

A sad day for football, but it's the only way to compete these days.

[atila the gooner]

if the cost watching Premiership football continues, I may start going to watch semi pro footie which is far easier on the pocket!!!! It will be a wrench but the cost of following The Arsenal is becoming prohibitive.

[mockney piers]

That's what I've ended up doing Atila. Dulwich Hamlets you can do entrance, cuppa, pint and food and easily have change from 15 quid (especially if you win the number of balls out of the ground sweepstake).

On the subject of Managers buying too many foreigners, wassnt it our own dear Harry who started the whole trend (with some horrendous signings) after the 94 world cup? Remeber Florin 'Kings Rd Shopper' Raducioiu?

[Keef]

Liverpool Transfer records

Not sure if the figures are spot on, as I thought we spent a bit more than that on Torres, but the point I wanted to make was that until this season, our record spend was ?14m on Cisse (oh dear), which is peanuts compared to the sort of money Man U and Chelsea have spent.

Would have to actually call Torres a bargain at that price too, when you look at the fees the top world players (of which I definitely think he is one) are going for.

[ratty]

Arry (Judas) Redknapp has promised Birmingham and Reading that he will not roll over to Fulham - shame he could not have promised the same against Man City, Boro and fooking Wankburn too!

Expect to see a majority of fringe players playing on Sunday at FP so early apologies to Brum and Reading but you are going DOWN!

FAO Spurs fans - lots of conjecture about Diarra moving over to WHL in the close season. If this comes off then your lot should be very pleased! Hopefully will set you back over ?20m though!

To LFC fans- Crouch - done deal subject to PFC in Uefa Cup next year. SO it all depends on Cardiff rolling over cos the way we are playing at the moment we could not beat a drum ffs!

To AFC fans - if you pay more than ?2m for Kranjckar then you have been properly done. Offer ?12m and I think PFC would bite your hand off to the shoulders! Please please let this happen because he is pony!

Shant on! Win or Lose, Pompey on the Booze!

[Jah Lush]

Not so sure Spurs would want Diarra. The boy has a huge problem with his ego and we've just spent ?16.5 million on Luka Modric from Dinamo Zagreb.

[ratty]

Precisely what I thought but our friends in the guardian think differently. Here's hoping he'll stay!

[Annasfield]

Keef - I believe that's about right for Torres. A proper bargain - not sure exactly sure how it all worked but I'm sure that Gracia (he drinks Sangria ;-)) was part of that deal. So the final figure was actually less than ?20m.

[Keef]

I thought it was around ?24m, but maybe the Garcia thing brought it down to 20... Either way, he's worth it!

Jah this new lad you've signed looks like a quality player!

[Jah Lush]

He does Keef. He certainly gave the England midfield a bit of a runaround in the Euro 98 qualifiers. I just hope he settles in as quickly as Berbatov. I bloody hope we hang on to him too because he's been the business up front this season with Robbie Keane and selling him would be an outrage.

[Keef]

It's whether they can convince him to stay rather than whether they decide to sell him... Maybe with this signing, and a couple more over the summer he will decide that they are showing the right kind of ambition... But the boy will want Champs League footy, and I think he might only give it one more season before cutting his losses (should Spurs not make it).

I hope they do well next season, they are always a good team to watch!

[SimonM]

>>On the subject of Managers buying too many foreigners, wassnt it our own dear Harry who started the whole trend (with >>some horrendous signings) after the 94 world cup? Remeber Florin 'Kings Rd Shopper' Raducioiu?<<<

I thought Ardiles & Villa were the imports that got the ball rolling?

[Jah Lush]

Indeed they were Simon and bloody brilliant they were too. "Ossie's going to Wembley, his knees have gone all trembly, la la la la, la la la la."

[Jah Lush]

Apart from my father's side of the family being Crystal Palace fans there are a few other reasons why I'd like them to get promoted this season and I think Sheffield United fans might well agree with me.

Crystal Palace obviously are one of the more local sides in the area and are managed by Neil Warnock (love him or loathe him).

Richard Scudamore is a Bristol City fan and he perpetrated one of the worst football injustices of recent history when he fiddled about while West Ham escaped a points deduction for fielding an ineligible player (Carlos Tevez) and sent Warnock's Sheffield United down last season.

So it would be nice for the Premier League's chief executive to get a small taste of what that kind of disappointment feels like.

Come on you Eagles!

[SimonM]

>>bloody brilliant they were too. "Ossie's going to Wembley, his knees have gone all trembly, la la la la, la la la la."<<

..and Villa's amazing goal in the Final replay still gets shown again and again! :))