Football Focus

[Jah Lush]

There's lies and there's damned lies. Of course it's about money. Tapping into a global audience is a betrayal to the fans at home. Scudamore is paying lip service to the greed of the chairman of Premier League football clubs.

Already there is talk that the top teams will be seeded to avoid each other. This smacks of fixture maniplulation and once that happens the league will have no credability because only the rich and powerful clubs will have a chance of winning anything. It's a total sell out.

How is this going to make supporters feel, season ticket holders and the like. Die hard fans who already fork out hugely over-inflated prices for tickets week in, week out some of whom haven't missed a match in 25 years or more? It's an absolute disgrace.

[????]

I miss dark scary saturday afternoons in crumbling stadiums beyond belief (genuine non ironic post)

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I miss standing behind the goal. And football rattles.

[atila the gooner]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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> I miss standing behind the goal. And football

> rattles.

Get yourself down to Dulwich Hamlet, you'll get all that.

[citizenED]

The overseas games are such an overt piece of commercial exploitation. Ridiculous! Exhibition matches overseas for ex-pats and a newer footballing audience, fair enough, but proper games? Whose legs are they pulling?

[Keef]

Aston Villa 2 v Newcastle 0

Bolton 1 v Portsmouth 2

Derby 0 v Tottenham 3

Everton 2 v Reading 0

Middlesbrough 2 v Fulham 0

Sunderland 1 v Wigan 1

West Ham 2 v Birmingham 1

Chelsea 1 v Liverpool 2 - Okay, heart not head, but Terry out, and Drogba not back, so you never know... Although losing Torres is a massive blow for us!

Man Utd 3 v Man City 1

Arsenal 2 v Blackburn 1 - This could be interesting after Wenger's comments about Blackburn's physical style last time...

[SimonM]

I do agree with all the anti-foreign PL fixtures sentiment. Can you imagine what it will feel like if your club has been relegated because they failed to beat an opponent in that vital, 39th game in Tokyo or Miami? It is all unspeakably cynical..

[citizenED]

Aston Villa 2 v Newcastle 0

Bolton 2 v Portsmouth 0

Derby 0 v Tottenham 2

Everton 1 v Reading 1

Middlesbrough 1 v Fulham 1

Sunderland 2 v Wigan 0

West Ham 2 v Birmingham 1

Chelsea 1 v Liverpool 1

Man Utd 3 v Man City 1

Arsenal 2 v Blackburn 0

[atila the gooner]

Keef Wrote:

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> Given our current form and the fact Torres has

> gone and done a hamstring, I'd be happy with a 1

> all draw at Chelsea! I just pray Torres was taken

> off as a precaution and has just pulled something

> minor...

Keef you got your wish. If only Crouch had not been so wasteful, you'd have won the game.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Anyone else hear Daniel Day Lewis extolling the terraces of Millwall last night? What interesting fans we have!

[Keef]

I know Atila, happy with a point, but agree with Rafa that really it's 2 points dropped as we could have won the match. MOTD2 slated it last night, but I didn't think it was too bad a game.

Great weekend for Arsenal if they can capitalise tonight!

[atila the gooner]

I'm going tonight, and I agree with you it wasn't a bad game, well the highlights looked ok to me, and you looked to have had the better chances.

[Jah Lush]

Watched it in the pub. A bore draw if ever I've seen one. Second half was really dire. Still, the beer and whiskey was going down a treat so I can't complain too much...apart from the raging hangover I'm suffering right now.

Spurs looked a bit tasty in the second on Saturday against a very poor Derby. It just goes to show how important Berbatov is to us. Darren Bent is just a totally useless waste of space. I find it hard to believe that we got rid of Defoe and kept Bent.

[Keef]

I just don't understand it, Bent was a class act for Charlton, what has happened?!? Maybe Curbishly will take him to West Ham in the summer.

[atila the gooner]

Jah you're spot on , Defoe is a decent player. Still I suppose Ramos knows what he's doing. Bent is about as useful as a bike to a one legged man!!

[Keef]

Well I still think he has a good future in front of him, but maybe not at Spurs...

I was chatting to a big spurs fan at work, and he said he'd heard lots of rumours that Defoe is a horrid little git, so maybe it was a personality thing. Just to clarify, am I right in saying that he's only at Pompey on loan for the time being?

[atila the gooner]

So rumour has it, but that is supposed to be rectified shortly, if you belive what you read.

[atila the gooner]

Just picked this up from the BBC website regarding Man Ure defeat yesterday and after reading it I thought "Come again?"

"We believe the team was affected by international call-ups," said Queiroz.

"But talking about that would be an excuse. It was not our day. We didn't play well and need to accept that

So either your team were or weren't fatigued, not forgetting that most premiership teams had players involved in mid week internationals and nobody else chose to mention as far as I know.

[Jah Lush]

Pathetic excuse. I bet you're laughing at the result though.

[Keef]

Well, all in all a pretty perfect weekend for you gunners. Not won yet, but 5 points at this stage will be difficult to overturn! I was having a look at Newcastle's fixtures yesterday, and they really have got a fight on their hands to stay safe!

[atila the gooner]

Newcastle are certainly not out of it, but Derby are doomed I think Fulham will go. It will be a scrap between 3 or 4 clubs at the foot of the table currently. I wnet last night and if we'd had our shooting boots on we could have had a hatful, and Brad Friedel performed heroicly in the Blackburn goal. Bentley was largely anonymous thanks to a great performance from Clichy. Still a long way to go though, but feeling good at the moment.

[Jah Lush]

Kevin Keegan has always struck me as the nearly man of football, especially first time around at Newcastle.

Premier League title? He couldn't quite pull it off. Champions League? He couldn't quite pull it off. Balaclava of cowardly thug who wellied him with baseball bat? He couldn't quite pull it off.

But there are growing fears on Toonside the one thing King Kev CAN pull off this season is relegation.

Newcastle are now just 6-1 to go down, with Keegan's record in his second spell at St James' even more horrific than Head Over Heels, his 1979 chart-bottomer. He couldn't hold a toon even then.

Most pundits warned Toon fans when they celebrated Keegan's return that they were living in the past - on Saturday some were even chanting "Roeder out" - and now it's all threatening to go not so much head over heels as arse over tit on Tyneside.

God knows what prompted Newcastle's appointment of archetypal southerner Dennis Wise, who was told he only had to spend three days a week up north, presumably freeing up the other four for visits to the theatre.

The Geordie nation is more likely to embrace Sharia Law than a dodgy geezer like Wise, especially if Sharia can play wide on the right.

Bookies Ladbrokes are betting who will last longest at St James' - King Kev or Dirty Den - and it's Keegan who is considered most likely to walk first at 1-2, with Wise 6-4.

Newcastle are 33-1 with Hills not to win another Premier League game this season and Keegan is 5-2 to be out of the job before the end of May.

He's 11-2 with Bet365 to sign his dream striker Thierry Henry, although Lenny Henry is a more realistic target the way Toon are playing.

[atila the gooner]

Just secured a ticket for the game against AC Milan.............YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAA

[SimonM]

Well I am off to Bramall Lane on Sunday to watch United v Middlesbrough >:D< - and am wondering if we will still have a manager then...

[atila the gooner]

SimonM Wrote:

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> Well I am off to Bramall Lane on Sunday to watch

> United v Middlesbrough >:D we will still have a manager then...

If you wait a couple of weeks Keegan will be free. ;-)