On the Ball (new Football Focus)

[Keef]

That was in response to Jah, didn't see the last couple of posts.

[????]

There is some of that agreed Matt - players like Tevez and Ferdinand always get a good reception at UP (as did Dicks when he was at Liverpool)and tend to show their appreciation.

[mockney piers]

Yossi got a couple of intermittent boos the other day (not many admittedly) but it was enough to annoy me as he's a good lad and I wish him well.

I remember being very pissed off wih the boo boys when Bilic first visited after his move to Goodison Park, despite a great offer he had stayed a while season with us with the express intention of keeping us up (which he managed) and that was his reward.

I saw Rio's first return with leeds when he got his first goal at Upton Park in over two years and he got an ovation from the home crowd. I guess you can never work people out.

[matthew123]

Am I right in thinking the worst reception from any Premiership team given to an ex-player on his first return back was at Upton Park for Paul Ince? Which I think was 5 years after he'd departed?

[Atila Reincarnate]

Could be, or Cashley when he came to play or when Sol went back to his old employers

[red devil]

Has Anna gone to Florence?

[Sharon_H]

Yes, I think she went last night.

[????]

matthew123 Wrote:

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> Am I right in thinking the worst reception from

> any Premiership team given to an ex-player on his

> first return back was at Upton Park for Paul Ince?

> Which I think was 5 years after he'd departed?

Frank Lampard gets a fairly lively one too

Campbell at Spuds is a contender too

[Sandperson]

Sharon_H Wrote:

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> Yes, I think she went last night.

It's a good job the architecture is so beautiful...;-)

[Mick Mac]

matthew123 Wrote:

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> Am I right in thinking the worst reception from

> any Premiership team given to an ex-player on his

> first return back was at Upton Park for Paul Ince?

> Which I think was 5 years after he'd departed?

Not English Premiership, but Mo Johnston playing for Rangers at Celtic Park got a hot reception.

[????]

Figo's return to Barcelona if we want continental hatred

[mockney piers]

Blimey yes. Even Ince never got animal carcasses thrown at him.

[matthew123]

Not a good performance by Liverpool last night. At times during first half it seemed Yossi, Aurellio and Lucas were the central midfield whilst the guy needed to put down anchor, Gerrard, was kept upfront. If the midfield is overrun then Torres and Gerrard upfront will have to feed on scraps. IMO he should have swapped Yossi and Gerrard around early in the game once the tactics proved ineffective.

Maybe this will be a wake up call for Sunday at Chelsea..

[Sandperson]

Yossi gets better and better thought doesn't he?

Sounds like your two yanks are going to try and get out of the club too which can only be good news.

[Jah Lush]

Why doesn't Rafa Benitez use Kuyt alongside Torres and Yossi on the right to allow Gerard to slip back into midfield as a 4-4-2 when the pressure is on and things aren't going their way instead of the 4-4-1-1 he prefers. It makes perfect sense to me.

I'm not impressed with Fiorentina, a couple of mistakes and you're two-nil down. It'll be a different story at Anfield.

[Atila Reincarnate]

Liverpool will probably win at their place but don't write Fiorentina off, they are not a bad side at all. AS for mistakes, they usually are at the root of most goals at this level or even in the Prem and the lower league, it's not always about flashes of brilliance, why do you think Chavski have done so well over the past few years ( apart from the fact that they've been bankrolled by a Russian Mafiosi).

[matthew123]

Seems my original response to Jah never got posted properly..

Anyway, Kuyt does a job on the right flank - whereas he is too slow to run down the middle and plays with a bit more freedom when he is not expected to chip in with a strikers rate of goals.

[Mick Mac]

another injury for michael owen i guess shows why its ok to have signed him as back up but no club can afford to depend on him being there every week. Def feel for the guy as he had just moved back into capello's radar.

[Sandperson]

On a brighter note, Giggs looked great again last night and then there's the nes that Hargreaves will be back training in the next few weeks:

The Original Owen!

[matthew123]

I am not suprised Owen picked up an injury last night as that is how he spends the colder parts of the year nursing muscle injuries - it's no coincedence that whilst at Madrid he was pretty injury free in their warmer climate but not so either side of that 12 month spell. What does surprise me is that Owen started last night when he'd missed the previous day's training due to same problem that forced him off the pitch against Wolfsburg. Could it be that Capello had been told Owen would be starting and thus Ferguson felt obliged to pick Owen regardless of injury concerns?

[Keef]

Since when has Fergie ever cared about England over his team? I don't think that is the case somehow.

[Sandperson]

I'd say not. I'd have thought it was a fairly low risk game to try out a forward combination of Owen and Rooney. It's also still relatively cold in Madrid during the winter so whether that's a contributing factor or not I am not sure. Still, we have the luxury, at the moment, of having replacements for him and I am sure he will be fighting to get fit again.

[????]

It's hardly been winter weather Matt has it....

[matthew123]

14c is cold enough for some - which it has been up norf. I just think over the last 8, 9 years Owen has had a lot of niggly muscle injuries which usually keep him out for 3 or 4 weeks at a time. When he was in Spain he didn't seem to suffer from such injuries and I put that down to a warmer climate. What other reason to explain Madrid being injury free but not so when he had the North Sea and Irish Sea sweeping in every day..

[matthew123]

14c is cold enough for some - which it has been up norf. I just think over the last 8, 9 years Owen has had a lot of niggly muscle injuries which usually keep him out for 3 or 4 weeks at a time. When he was in Spain he didn't seem to suffer from such injuries and I put that down to a warmer climate. What other reason to explain Madrid being injury free but not so when he had the North Sea and Irish Sea sweeping in every day..

EDIT - so it refreshes