blonde poker forum

Most people on here think I talk alot of bollocks regarding football :D I kind of play up to it and talk some bollocks to wind people up on here.

I do have some quite "debatable" thoughts though, so will mention them in here.

I always wanted to be a sports journo and whilst I am more to the point and not very "flairy" I do enjoy talking/writing about football and studied journalism at uni.

(http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/197210_1313038044065_1774080254_560432_3110598_n.jpg)

Although being a good footballer doesn't mean you have a good knowledge about football, but I definitely think it has an advantage, I have a lot of friends who say things about football that make sense but in reality it just doesn't work. One thing is for sure, being good on Football Manager doesn't mean that you know what you're talking about :D

I played football since I was 5, captained every school team I played for, was captain of Newcastle city team untill I was 16 and played for a competitive county football side too. I was on the books of Southampton and had around 8/9 teams trying to sign me (including Man Utd) for a few years and played in the same team as Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott. The latter murdering the former every session in training. Almost everyone on the team thought they were better than Gareth and I guess a lot were bemuxed why he, Dexter BlackStock, Nathan Dyer, Andrew Surman and Leon Best were  given pro contracts whilst the rest of us went to university or some other form of work/education. (Pic above is myself next to Gareth)

When I returned to Newcastle, I played for a good senior team, Walker Central when I was 16 after impressing in a under 18 match vs the senior team. I quickly was scouted by Blyth Spartans and signed a contract with them in the Blue Square Conference (North) I was only 16 and 5ft5 (9 stone) and lots of the teams were extremely physical/dirty and pitches were terrible. I didn't really feature in the team, but trianed 3 times a week/sat on the bench and held my own whenever it came to football.

I decided to go to uni (journalism - Sheffield) and played for the uni's football team which is really hard to do, lots of cliques and thousands applying for 50 spots. Was good fun and good standard.

I'm currently in Gibraltar and have just signed for a team who play in Gib's second division and have lost 7 games, genuinely a decent outfit and although this season is a write off next year we should win the league and play in the prem.

Anyway, I was always the clever player who was 1) small 2) slow, meaning my football mind had to be 1 step ahead or I would have no chance.

Will be writing mainly about the team I support, Newcastle United whom I have always had a season ticket for and gone through some huge highs (Keegan) and some horrible, horrible lows (Relegation) ((pic below is me playing for Blyth Spartans at St James Park, my dad took the photo from the same seat he watched Newcastle for every week)) will also talk a lot about other English teams and will try when possible to speak a little about the football I play and some stories from the past.


(http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/374877_1711494125218_1774080254_873293_1522269904_n.jpg)

Should read - Pleno1's footy d'ohs

This was on the front page of the evening chronicle (biggest newspaper in Newcastle) when I was 15 and trialling with Southampton. Front page and page 3 :D



Boy soccer skipper aiming to retrace idol's route to stardom

Teenager Patrick Leonard is hoping for a double success with his hero Alan Shearer this weekend.

As the Toon legend leads his troops out at Anfield on Saturday in the FA Cup fourth round his schoolboy counterpart will be doing the same against a Liverpool Boys' team.

The opposition and timing of the game is not the only similarity between Patrick and Shearer.

Patrick attends Gosforth Central School just like the striker did and amazingly sat at the same desk as his hero.

And now 15-year-old Patrick is hoping to land an apprenticeship with Southampton after impressing bosses in a trial.

He is due there for another trial next month.

Shearer began his career with the Saints before his record-breaking moves to Blackburn Rovers and then Newcastle. Central defender Patrick of Kirkstone Gardens, High Heaton, Newcastle, said: "I'd love to end up playing for Newcastle.

"It'd be great to be taken on with Southampton but playing for Newcastle would be a dream come true.

"Shearer has been a great role model for the game and it would be amazing to follow in his footsteps."

Patrick will lead out the Newcastle Boys' team against Liverpool Boys in the fifth round of the FA Schools Trophy.

And both are hoping for victories to take them through to the next round. Liverpool are the favourites to win the trophy having won it a staggering 14 times already. They have also been beaten finalists three times.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have only won it once back in 1930. Newcastle skipper Patrick said: "We think we've got a good chance.

"We've already beaten some good teams to get this far, including Sunderland in the first round. They were one of the favourites."

it would make more sense than the actual title. that's gonna tilt me every time I see it

how many teams in the gibraltar league? with 2 divisions most of the population must be playing

One of the main reasons I am doing this is because I've had some sad news over the last week.

My Godfather, Barry McQueen passed away on Thursday. He was only 50 and one of the nicest men you could wish to meet.

He was a football journo in his spare time and was respected throughout the internet. He had a really popular blog about Newcastle United where he posted a new feature every month.

He was the kind of family friend that you see once every few months but is extremely close to the family. My Dads best mate.

I was invited to go and play 5 a side with Barry and his friends when I was 14, a 5ft2 kid turned up and these guys were like "Phil (my dad) sorry but we cant let a kid play, its a pretty physical game" my Dad finally convinced them to let me play and I played most weeks for the next couple of years. I always enjoyed playing, but used to look forward most to the drive home with Barry where he would talk so enthusiastically yet accurately about Newcastle United. He spoke with such love as if he was talking about his family. The fact is with most Newcastle fans (similar with Liverpool and others) Newcastle is such as important as your family!

RIP Baz.

Theres a main league which has 5 leagues in and most/every player in the league would be good enough for the conference premier, then other two leagues are your typical amateur league.

Although Gib is small, a lot of Spanish guys cross the border for some good organised football as Spain grassroots is awful. All games are played on a 3g pitch and you get some great games. Also there are so many people from the UK working in Gib in industry's such as gaming where the average age is around 25 and sporty which I guess helps things. Bet365's staff team for example would probably compete in the Northern/Southern leagues in England.

Gib national team is really good, they beat the Faroe Islands a few months ago, and in December beat England C team (the conference best 11 players)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dPovDox059o/Ts-ovXrt8uI/AAAAAAAAAHk/-OVuXtE30dI/s1600/P1010040.JPG)

looking forward to reading - always fun to talk football with you ;)

sorry to here about your godfather as well mate.

So jealous that you got to step onto the grass of SJP and play football, life long dream for me right there.

Look forward to reading, sorry about your Godfather.

Did you think this?
If so do you think you were wrong or have better players not made it?

I agree 100% about University teams being clique's. I remember I went to Leeds Uni football trials and had to mark some African forward who didn't know the offside rule, the 1st team captain wasn't interested he already had his mates/team set for the year. I just sacked it off and played 5 aside instead (winning the top league and playoffs for the uni with all the other rejects :) )

I played a bit for USF in the states and it was more open, they wanted the best players and it didn't matter who you were, where you was from as long as you could play, i loved it.

I agree with the above. Leeds uni team was full of wankers when I was there too

Dexter and Leon were both huge huge guys who just battered most 16-18 year olds with sheer physical presence. I think get a 3/10 footballer who is a 9/10 athlete into an academy when he is 14 then by the time he gets to 18 he will be able to be very very effective. Its one of the reasons why the premiership has developed into the league it has whilst La Liga and Seria A opt for bringing talent through like Messi et al.

One of the reasons I didn't get a contract was because one afternoon they brought us all into the indoor centre and had a 10m, 50m 70m race tracks lined up and if you didn't hit the speed that they thought was acceptable they literally didn't think you could ever make it. I was slow/immobile at this time and flunked this pretty bad, I was in a group of 3 with 2 other guys who were rapid and stole a march on me and I basically gave up. 2 weeks later I won the 1500m city championship, 1 month later the county championship and then ran nationally :D Didn't have that first 5 yards though..

Nathan Dyer I guess is the opposite to this theory, he was 5ft3 but lightening quick. I always remember him being really loud and cocky and I didn't really like him. Although he was my age he was progressed through the youth teams quite quickly so didn't play much with him.

The best player in the academy (except Theo) was Adam Lallana, pure class.

Yeah this is in almost any uni team. I remember at the end of the season, our captain was like, yeh X from the 2's, Y from the 3's etc will be with us next year, Jonny will be in goal etc. I was like wtf theres 30,000 new students coming next year!

Doubt I'll ever agree with you again on the subject of football, but I do in this instance. Went to school with Greg Halford (Pompey right-back) and technically he was pretty average but he was an unbelievable athlete. He had quite literally every single athletics record from year 7 onwards. Was a massive surprise when he turned pro as those of us who remembered him always thought of him as more of an athlete...

Was Theo as poor technically as he is now? He looks massively out of place at times with us.

He was always absolutely rapid. As a centre midfielder he could turn a bad ball into a world class one, ball bouncey.. bouncey... bouncey.... half volley ping into the corner, sighhhhh overhit, oh wait, Theo gained a 20 yard head start on the full back. Good ball Pat, wow, worldy :D

He was actually good technically and moved up the teams quickly too and played in the under 18 team when he was 15/16. I remember he couldn't do "round the world" but he always finished well and had a good end product. Without doubt though, his pace was his best attribute and always will be.

Cheers for the reply. How full on and professional was it at that age? Pretty decent set up I guess as Surman, Best, Walcott & Dyer all scored in the prem this weekend. I remember reading about a striker (can't remember who) going to Darren Campbell for sprint training as he needed to be quicker, was your acceleration ever identified as a weakness and worked on or at that level do they have the numbers to know that one player will have what they need even if they have to keep 4 or 5 players in that position to find him?

It was never really a big deal, I played in a 451 team almost all my life, the problem started at 16 years of age, Southampton started bringing in 3/4 new trialists every week, the best player in the school from here, the best player in the school from there etc. I started being asked to play on the wings as they wanted to see the new guys in their best positions. I played against Watford one horrible horrible Sunday morning. I was playing against some 6ft4 Black guy who looked about 28 and I stood no chance really as they loved their wingers to be attacking, quick and direct. It just wasn't my game. I actually remember Bale scored a free-kick from about 35 yards and we won. But I was abit moody and down in the dumps.

My Dad rang me that night saying Malcolm Alias (head of Saints academy - now at Chelsea I think) had told him that they had concerns about my pace and I didn't look like I could run. Was weird to my Dad because I was county champion and breaking records all the time at school. But it shattered my confidence I think I cried when he hung up the phone and the realisation that I wouldn't be the next Alan Shearer sunk in.

Regarding sprint training, I don't think that is worthwhile at all, I think going to Michael Owen and learning how to steal a yard is a much much better idea.

Me in the middle - Captaining Newcastle City team in cup final. Top right is Lee Novak who didn't make the squad and currently plays for Huddersfield.

(http://www.nufc.com/images/boys-2004.jpg)

what iyo is the main reason why so many players who have exceptioanal talent @ 16 - 19 fail to make it?

Drink, drugs and woman ldo.

Attitude ainec

Leon Knight was so much better than Defoe when young, one had a good attitude, one had a bad attitude

Not givien exposure to first team football, however this is more the fault the way football clubs are ran rather than managers not believing in players. Managers are sacked so often/quickly now, I read yesterday QPR have had 11 managers in 10 years?! Just ridiculous.

Every club should have a minimum of a 3 year plan where the managers job is secured/insured massively. Managers are scared to take risks/play young players incase they go on a 3/4 match losing streak. Almost every team in the prem will boo their manager if they lose 4 games on the trot. Its 4 games! LOLVARIANCE!!

When I was 8 I was already starting to play almost 6 nights a week, I went to development schools, school training, NUFC training, Sunday league training. My dad was approached by the head of the NUFC adamey and asked if we could house 2 players in the under 17 team.

In came Stephen Brennan and Joe Kendrick, they were going to leave NUFC and sign for Blackburn because they wern't being looked after and were super homesick. We had a nice big house, I was like a little brother and my parents were exceptional parents to them. It was supposed ot be a 2 month thing before they got a flat, but they begged to stay and were my brothers for almost 5 years!

Stephen won Ireland under 20 player of the year and Joe was a great left footed left back. Neither got even close to being on the bench of the first team even though they were miles better than Andy Griffin and whoever else we had on the full back positions.

Although Stephen was an awesome player and had won prestigious awards he didnt receive ONE offer from anybody in English football and went back to Ireland and played for St Pats. Such a disaster! Luckily Newcastle have Ashley who has a clear 5 year plan and believes and supports Pardew. Pardew may be a little bit of a puppet man but he knows exactly what Ashleys vision is and he does his best to support it (even if he doesn't agree)

One match I went to watch was Newc U18's vs Bolton U18's. Shola Ameobi, a tall, lanky streak was subbed at half time and told by Kenny Wharton never to come back to training. Shola drove off at half time and by Tuesday afternoon Bobby Robson told him he was going to start for the first team on the Saturday against Chelsea and Marcel Dessaily! 10 years+ later, Shola is still here has scored 30 goals in 230 appearances and the guys whom he couldn't tie their shoelaces are stuck in Ireland getting paid pittance per week.

Football is a funny game!

Basically, to answer your question..


LUCK!

And yeah variance is obviously massive

This too, ofc.

Many of these young guys make some ridic mistakes.

One premier league footballer, who will remain anonymous but was bought for over £30m last season ;) was playing 5aside when he was 17 against some absolute animals in the same 5aisde league I played in. He got a really bad tackle to his ankle and was out for 4 months! When asked by the club what happened he replied "I was jogging, doing some extra fitness and fell over a curb"

This same guy was a good friend growing up but never spoke after we turned about 14/15 as we were in different friend groups.

We were both at NUFC when we were 8-11, Man United opened an academy in Newcastle and Andy was asked to go and sign for them, he snap accepted and NUFC got the academy closed. At the time he was a free running, athletic, talented, skillful, tricky, old school winger.

Newcastle United turned him into a defensive left back and drained all his ability out of him. He was without doubt thebest technical kid I played with. In a under 18 match against Man U, they were getting beat 2-1 with 10 minutes to go. Beardsley put Carroll upfront as a target man, he scored 2 goals and the rest is history. He had already been told he was getting released at the end of the season, but after his cameo he played 5 more games and bagged goal after goal.

Funny old game...

(http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/nechronical/feb2011/2/1/dynamic-andy-carroll-with-pal-chris-boyle-888082557.jpg)

Playing top of the league tonight, they've played 9, won 7 drawn 1. Teams in this league usually bring like 100 fans who get overly excited, my team is all British guys so we have 0 fans, last game got so much stick from their fans after some debatable tackles.

Been raining all morning, sunny now, perfect pitch. Buzzing for it! :D

where is game? i will come support for the sweat!

Novak,
Novak,
Our carpets are dirty,
'Cause we've got Novak...

 :D

Hang on, you were a centre-half?

ha nah, misclick by the reporter.

Was a really really wet and dirty Wednesday afternoon, the reporter had me sliding tackling my Dad in the park. Did like 20 sliding tackles, was so dirty.

Got a call the next day telling me he had lost the photos and if I could do them again.

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Pleno does the name Gareth Macklin ring a bell with you? He was at Newcastle for a few years as a kid was highly thought of back here in N Ireland but the pro football thing went to his head and he went out of control in Newcastle.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1341542/I-blew-career-birds-booze-says-Manchester-United-Newcastle-trainee-Gareth-Macklin.html

He was outstanding as a kid but attitude ruined him.

Hey Micko,

I haven't heard that story before, but it looks like it was just before my time.

So sad to see talent go to waste, when I was told i wasn't getting a pro contract at Southampton I basically drank/chased girls/and caused quite alot of bother with friends. This is basically exactly why Newcastle wanted Joe and Stephen to live with us.

Although when my family went on holiday one of the Caldwell brothers slept with a girl in my bed at a house party.

sigh!

(http://goalstage.com/wp-content/uploads/9a7c97bc73Cisse.jpg.jpg)

We signed Pappis Cisse today for £10m proving again Ashley will spend £ if we can get the right player.

He plays upfront for Freidburg (sp) and in 17 games scored 9 goals and had 60 shots! He plays upfront for Senegal with Demba Ba so hopefully they come back from the ACN and we really push on.

Thoughts on Shane Ferguson as a player?

Enjoying the thread keep up the good work :)up

Not sure if this is meant to be a brag or not.

Suprised and pleased with the signing, wp Pardew  :P

i like him - think he has a lot of potential to be a solid utility player for us - not sure where his best position is but looks to have a lot of raw talent. The fact that he's not out on loan this year suggests that he's in Pardew's thoughts as part of the group (Vuckic, Abeid, Gosling...) who are knocking on that door.

every time I've seen him when he's had the odd start or sub appearance he's gotten more aware and a better player. Defo one for the future imo.

wow. Never have i seen so much optimism around newcastle united and believe me we have some optimistic fans.

Its the biggest signing from the current regime since bringing in captaih colo in fro  deportivo.

This season many on here predicted we would get relagated and there was little to no pressure on us. Although the guys have done fantastic the fans have repeatedly said, yeh but the fat bastard wont give any money to pardew to build on the team.

Now the fans are even turning around and backing ashley. Ive said from day 1 he is the right man for the job and will sort things out, ive had argument after argument with my dad. A lifelong season ticket holder who has vowed never to go to a game again, i even bought him a season ticket/ticket for match last month which he politely snubbed.

Demba ba has done brilliantly this season but hes had no pressure, hes played with a smile on his face and not been booed once. He hasnt had the jon dahl tomasson treatment. He hasnt had the andrea anderson trearment, he hasnt had the srephan guivarch treatment. He hasnt had the number 9 shirt.

We now bring in his international partner who has been given the number 9 shirt and expected to move this club up from an overachieving mid table side to a european side. If he doesnt start well it could end very very nasty.

Some may say im a deluded newcastle fan that is overly optimistic, i beg to differ whilst the rest of newcastle parties tonight, i worry that this great, great  expensive talent could end up being the party pooper.

Your best ever post in this section ainec  ;)

Not sure why you love Ashley so much but we've had that debate before.

hey micko,

everytime i see him he just looks abit like a lost boy, he doesnt have that swag or attitude about him that ive seen on players coming through in recent years. He looks like he is in a 14 year olds body. He doesnt play like it though, he gives 100 per cent, has a great work rate and he is left footed.

He wont make it at newcastle united thougg, pardew could have and perhaps should have played him at left back when we were very short, instead he chose ryan taylor to play left back when we had jonas who is a right footed left winger infront of him meaning we were totally unbalanced.

Santon currently plays lefr back but could easily move to right back witth shane coming in at left back, it would definitely benefit the team and if pardew trusted him and believed in him. I guess this goes onto what i spoke about before about how managers are scared to trust in younger players incase they have a bad run and the fans boo and protest to get him the sack.

Going to write a post about why or if Barcelona are better than Stoke city soon.

Guest post from one of my Dads mates.

I have supported this club for over 50 years and in that time, I have seen some desperate situations and subsequently, some shocking abuse from the fans, some warranted and some not so warranted.

Whilst the initial mistakes made by Ashley culminating in relegation were borne from a clear set of circumstances where his ignorance of how a club should be run have resulted in a gigantic change of heart and a huge turnaround in the fortunes of the club to the present day. I dont think he is entitled to a vote of thanks but I do believe the constant personal abuse from many quarters should stop. It is clear to me that Newcastle United Football Club s being run in a very good business like manner.

If people on here, especially the older ones, hark back to the old days of Westwood, McKeag etc, they will understand that what has happened since Ashley took over is not an isolated incident to this club.

I remember the days in the 70s when we sold Pop Robson and Alan Suddick, our two best players at the time to West Ham and Blackpool. I remember the 80s when Beardsley, Waddle and Gascoigne were all sold to pay off debts and the 90s before the KK revival when all Ardiles could field was a team of kids and we were dive bombing out of existence.

I was one of the few on here, although upset with relegation at the time 3 years years ago, but quickly came to terms with it as a blessing in disguise. We had a squad of gutless, spineless, moneygrabbing under achievers on large contracts and the loss of these was a necessity just as immediate promotion was.

The Ashley business plan of buying young, cheap hungry players in starting to reap rewards. I remember KK cancelling the reserves and youth teams because he didnt want them playing at SJP. The total opposite is in place now and we are begiinning to see the fruits of our academy coming through. Ashley has poured millions into the academy development and with the lokes of Ab eid, Krul, Carroll, Ferguson, Ameobi, Tavernier, Forster and others coming through the ranks, we will be in a much better situation in the future. With the Fair Play rules coming in, we are better placved than many rdgarding home grown talent and living within our means than most other clubs.

The transfer dealings and the employment of Graham Carr, Alan Pardew and John Carver have also been master strokes. Our scouting network appears to be vast and rewarding. To get players of the quality of Tiote, Cabaye, Ba, Cisse, HBA, Marveaux etc etc etc for less than the 35 million we got for Carroll is outstanding and isnt it great to see the list of excellent players from abroad we have either signed or have been linked with now espedcially when you consider that not 12 months ago, we were being linked with the likes of Larsson, Gardner and Heskey.

Whilst some people may still be upset about the renaming of the ground, get over it. As Ashley and Pardew have said, it is purely a financial arrangement to bring more players to the club and supporters will always know it as SJP.

I cannot see an awful lot Ashley has done wrong since we were relegated to be honest. In fact, I believe he has moved the club along quicker than anyone could have expected. The facts are:

After relegation, he got rid of the crap from the club. He cut costsz accordingly swhich was a necessary fact.
He backed the manager at the time with resources, although limited but within the financial framework.
He continued in the winter transfer window bringing in 4 players which virtually guaranteed instant promotion
He added to the squad, once again, limited due to the financial constraints once back in the PL.
He sold Andy Carroll which I think everyone now agrees, was an offer too good to refuse. Look at AC now.
OK, He sacked Hughton and was ruthless but results at WBA and Bolton were nowhere near good enough.
Pardew has so far proven to be a very good replacement and is even being talked about as England manager.
Look at the players who have come in and who has left this season.
Are we not 10 points or thereabouts better offthan the samed time last season.
Is the squad significantly better than last season?
Brought Virgin is as a shirt sponsor, a world reknowned brand.

In my opinion, Ashley has learned his lesson big time and is supporting the club to the hilt. We dont owe the bank and we are not losing insane amounts of money in interest as Ashley has taken over all debts interest free. If he takers someof the mpney generated back, who could blame him.

So, guys, lets not get stuck in a time warp of circa 2009 and get off the blokes back. He is turning this club around in an exceptional manner and we have never been so better run.

I have been reading quite a lot of articles this week trying to downgrade the spanish football league.

Yes barcelona are the best team in the world. Yes real madrid are fantastic, yes messi and ronaldo are the best two players in the world. Yes xavi and iniesta are the two more glorious players to watch in the world. Yes pique is better than any other defender in the spanish league. Yes casillas is the best gk in the league, yes both of these teams are way way way above anybody else in the league.

No this does not mean it is a shit league and all the rest of the teams in the league are terrible.

Did you know that over the last 10 years a spanish team has won the europa league/uefa cup 4 times? Not bad for a league which only has two teams huh?

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH0teRkYHSA

Interesting!

Spurs without Ledley King: LDDDWDDLDLLLWWLWD.

Spurs with Ledley King: WWWWWWWWDWWWWWD

Name the highest scoring player in the Premiership for each letter of the alphabet

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Thoughts on today ?

I'd take a draw.

I think a loss would be really bad.

Our midfield will be a combination of

HBA Guthrie Gosling Jonas

HBA Raylor Gutrie Jonas

with perhaps Abeid/Vuckic getting a look in.

I looked at Fulhams team and WOW! It is super super old, the oldest in the prem surely. I think that they can perhaps pass through our midfield and if we had Cabaye/Tiote we would stroll to a victory today.

I htink HBA can exploit John Arne Rilse who was alwyas better going forward and Senderos is definitely suspect.

Their forward line is tricky and always hate playing against Andy Johnson, but I'm quite positive and think we can keep our first third consecutive clean sheet since 2008 when Keegan was manager.

0-2

I'm a disgrace at these sorts of things. Not going to google it either.

I'd imagine they are the most obvious selections.

Is the X- Xavier ?

lineswoman for todays game. sigh.

(http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/268/sianmassey.jpg)

Live link (give or take 30 secs -1min) here for you guys, not sure if it works in your area PL

http://www.firstrow.tv/watch/103346/1/watch-fulham-fc-vs-newcastle-united.html

finding link 2 on that is working best

Geo

yeh she fucked us. she is always absolutely awful. such a joke token to keep people happy. gtfo

(http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/4126/capturewxo.png)

With the greatest respect, you must be one of the most deluded posters I've ever met. You seem like a really nice guy and have obvious football knowledge - alongside having played at a decent level - but your bias is incredible!

As the results this season have shown, no game is easy. My club Arsenal have lost at Swansea, Blackburn and Fulham away amongst others; whilst the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool have drawn at Wigan. To suggest that had two of your more influential players been fit then you'd stroll to a victory is ridiculous.

Hopefully today was a wake-up call.

that's not bias - almost everyone would have gotten on Newcastle winning today and Fulham were awful, Riise is better going forward, Senderos was really suspect, etc etc.

freak results don't mean you can't expect to win a game.

I wouldn't have got on Newcastle to win. In fact, unless I'm much mistaken, Newcastle were priced up at 10/3 when I had a look on Ladcrokes, so how you can say that is beyond me.

If Fulham were awful yet managed to win 5-2, what words would you use to describe Newcastle?

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58024000/jpg/_58024425_zambia.jpg)

Stunning pic from Zambia's game against Senegal yesterday.

omg lol

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LhZasz5vBk

Wow, some quality there.

Although you're obv deluded about Newcastle, this is a good diary, enjoyed the earlier posts about your time working to break into the high levels - great stuff.

Why omg lol?

If it's because of the high standard of shooting i'd suggest that these guys are the elite players in England, practicing a closed skill that they earn a living performing on a day to day basis.

It's not surprising to me that they are shit hot in training.

The gulf in class between high level professionals and decent amateurs (me) has always been something that has interested me.  It's pretty demoralising to watch videos like that and realise just how shit I actually am in comparison though.

 

I have to disagree with this.

They are undoubtedly excellent against lesser opponents but have twice been found out against Barcelona at their own stadium.

I can't help but dislike them after last weeks El Classico where they scored early and proceeded to spoil the game by kicking 7 shades of shit out of Barca and playing a very poorly executed containment game.  They are a gang with Mourinho the ring leader and Pepe his on-field enforcer.

I used to like the Special One but his overly pragmatic (win at all costs)  approach leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Hey Ricardo,

Yeah I agree with you on almost all parts of your post. Almost any of those goals would be a contender for "goal of the month" if scored on a match day.

I kinda wanted this response so I could bring up the debate about why good trainers don't play good in matches.

I watched Obertan playing for Man U against Newcastle Reserves in a behind closed doors friendly, he was absolutely world class, constantly taking on the majority of our defenders and bagged himself a hat-trick. Now watching him he just doesn't look like he could ever beat a man. I know Ashley COle is better than Jimmy Smith or whoever played left back for Newcastle that day, but it didn't matter who was left back then, thye wouldn't have stopped Obertan. If I remember correctly, Obertan never went out on loan and basically just played reserve team football in front of 30 people.

Take Daniel Sturridge or Tom Cleverly for examples now, they went on loan to teams where the games were scrappy and learned how to  play in hostile atmospheres on less than perfect pitches and as a result have came out way better than Obertan who on his day was every bit as good as them in reserve team football.

Regarding the actual video, I think it is actually quite sad. I watched around 15 U21 videos from training and the players were absolutely amazing. As you say, the best talent in the UK and because of pressure from fans and chairmans, unfortunately most of them will "fail" and play Championship football at best.

It's funny because when you look at what happens when you do give them a chance (Henderson/Welbeck) who were probably two of the least talented guys in the squad, they actually do quite well. One gets sold for 15m and the other one keeps Berbatov and Hernandez out of the second best team in the premiership.

People going to think I'm a geek but I just watched this video.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15UaIcBe6zk

Really fun highlights to watch and the talent that some of the players posses is absolutely frightening. How many of them will make it? Less than 3 I guess. How many will play for Chelsea in 5 years? Probably 1 maximum.

I think any team who is 5 points or more clear of Barcelona at any stage of the season deserves to be called excellent.

What are we supposed to be looking at in that video?

All I see are professional footballers sometimes managing to kick the ball in the goal when there are no defenders on the pitch, which is the very very least I expect them to do.

Loving this thread. This post is just bang on.

Hey,

I know you are clued up on poker ecology etc not sure if you're a football fan or a "22 men kicking a ball around a pitch for 90 mins" guy.

I think you can see from the game that almost every player is super talented and very comfortable on the ball.

Lets look at the best defence the premiership has ever seen (after Newcastle)

(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2009/5/8/1241780622202/Arsenals-Lee-Dixon-Steve--002.jpg)

IMO, not one of these would make it in the Chelsea academy and not one of the Chelsea academy defenders will play for Chelsea in 3 years.


So what does this show us? Fantastic, our kids are REAL footballers (whatever that nonsense may mean) but they will never produce on the highest level as to be a world class defender you need a little bit more. It would be super interesting to find out what % of players who develop through academy's in England are defenders. In the past I actually think it was quite alot, and most of the defenders in the prem were English whilst we bought lots of attacking players. Look at the Arsenal team who were undefeated for example, all defenders were English and they spent the majority of the transfer kitty on Henry/Bergkamp etc etc. Ofc we get the odd defender coming through the ranks, but our defence at the last world cup was Johnson (technical fullback who can't defend) Rio (Maybe past it) Terry (Maybe Past it) Ashley Cole (good) there was nobody really challenging these four and they almost picked themselves. The next world cup everybody is going on about our great new players, Wilshire, Cleverly, Sturridge etc all of which who have progressed through the U21 set up and played lower league football/loaned out to poorer teams to enhance their "game experience" but looking at the possible defence we will be fielding in 3-4 years is quite worrying imo.

With the exception of Phil Jones who despite me thinking he is a leader and potentially a very good defender is way off the finished product (Shola Ameobi bullied him last week ffs) I am not filled with optimism about our defensive options.

The current u21 defenders are:

Craig Dawson (who?)
Martin Kelly (Meh)
Adam Smith (Who?)
Joe Bennet (Who?)
Nathan Baker (Who?)
Jo Flanagan (Meh)
Nathaniel Clyne (OK)
Lewis Dunk (Who?)

Now lets look at the teams they have come through..

West Brom, Liverpool, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Millwall, Crystal Palace.

Ofc its great they are choosing players who aren't in the premier league, but the real fact is there are no goo, young defenders coming through and it could be the downfall of a potential very exciting England team.

It's getting a little TL;DR, but I'll just quickly give you the teams of the midfieldersa in the U21 squad.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Villa, Everton, Blackburn, Tottenham.

And the forwards?

Villa, Man United, Newcastle, Watford.


When I was at Southampton the players who I mentioned have broken through from the "best academy in the UK) Dexor Blackstock, Leon Best, Gareth Bale (was a left back, too good a player so they make him a winger :D) Walcott, Chamberlain, Lallana, Surman.. Whats the common trend there? Oh yes, all attack minded attacking midfielders or strikers.
Instead of the top teams spending 50m on a Fernando Torres when they already have Anelka, Drogba et al, perhaps they should start trying to bring through some English defenders.

Spurs have Walker and Caulker and Man Utd have Jones and Smalling. City have Richards. All have 10 years playing ahead of them.
Only Cole and Terry of the current defence made it through the big teams.
Maybe it just shows defenders need games and games at whatever level is better than reserve games and being part of a good academy.

Also CBs especially aren't going to really develop to their maximum until their mid/late twenties with the exception of a few.

Kinda backs the point up.

Spurs defence- Walker/Ekkoto, good footballers, great on the ball but very suspect going back. Kaboul who has been an average player for years, all playing behind a world class midfield/forward line.

The fact that they don't let King train all week just so he can play shows the problems they have.

City spend hundreds of millions, but their defence is Lescott and Savic who are both very very average and exploitable, playing behind a truly world class midfield/forward line.

The fact the title is so open this year is because any team can go to Man United and win 3-1 and any team can go to Chelsea and be confident of winning.

When I was younger it was always an absolute certainty Man United (do you see how I say Manchester as if they aren't the only United in the country) would win at home or Arsenal would get three points.

The fact is Man United had Schmeical (sp?) Gary Neville, Stam, Irwin, Bruce et al, and Arsenal built their team from Keown, Adams, Dixon and Winterburn.

Spend millions on attackers sure, but if City had defended well this afternoon they would only have needed 1 goal scorer not three.

(http://65.55.39.103/att/GetInline.aspx?messageid=983b8750-4466-11e1-bb66-001e0bcc497a&attindex=0&cp=-1&attdepth=0&imgsrc=cid%3aFF230E86-1EC6-4FEC-87F1-0D90D5673D41%2fphoto.JPG&shared=1&blob=MHxwaG90by5KUEd8aW1hZ2UvanBlZw_3d_3d&hm__login=patrick.leonard&hm__domain=hotmail.co.uk&ip=10.12.246.8&d=d2741&mf=0&hm__ts=Sun%2c%2022%20Jan%202012%2015%3a35%3a40%20GMT&st=patrick.leonard%25hotmail.co.uk%407&hm__ha=01_4214d567d0eeb7fa0c42c1591f792feaed5006298f631cb1040aead999f05c67&oneredir=1)

He was on the front page of Newcastles biggest newspaper - The Chronicle. He was such a modest man who would never have expected such a fuss, thousands die everyday and for him to be given this gesture is amazing.

Proud  :)

Sorry thought your point was that we are producing attacking players (Wilshere, Cleverly, Sturridge) but not producing defenders?
I think the defenders I listed are of the same standard as those. Whether they are going to we "world class" is open to debate but don't think they is an attacker bias.
Now seems that your point was that teams focus on attackers and you can get away with having weaker defenders. Didn't get that from first post so apologies.
Full Backs are also key to attacking atm and that's one of the reasons for weaker defences. I think Corluka is a better defender than Walker but I'd have Walker in my team over him everytime because he more than makes up for the difference with what he offers going forward.

I guess this is why Mancini is the best.

Richards >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Zabaleta, but Mancini picks him for the right games.

Man City vs Man U last week in the cup. Half time getting beat 3-0, Mancini brings on Savic and Zabaleta for Silva and Nasri and boooooom 2 goals.

Somebody described Vermalen (sp) as the best centre half in the world. Just flicked on the game and see he is playing LB. Yeah, because Terry would ever play RB for Chelsea, Pique would ever play right back for Barcelona, Vidic would ever play right back for Man U and Collocini would ever play right back for Newcastle.

I see Arsenal are playing 4 centre halfs at the back with Djorou on the other side. Perhaps the nut worst tactic that Arsene Wenger could choose against Man U whose main threat is Nani and Valencia. Oh what just happened? Nani to Valencia?

If they had Dixon and Winterburn.... Oh but Adam would probably be LB right..

U know they have no fit right/left backs lol? It's not a chosen tactic! It's just neccessity

The kid they are bringing on isn't even a specialist fullback- he a dm

Miquel? Was going to put him in my fantasy team for the reason he was the only left back left and was good for set pieces. But yeah, I'll concede that I was wrong here :)

EVen so its bad by Wenger to play Walcott and Chamberlain on the wings where the wingers will be extremely important, Ferguson would always have a Park or a Fletcher even an Oshea playing there.

Miguel is a centre back who has filled in. He is not and has never been a left back- as I said it's a case of no other options

Not sure if srs ?

he must mean like 'the best' as in 'really good', not the actual best...

Not a freak result.

A confident 20 minutes was all it took for pegasus to take a 2 - 0 lead in last nights rivals encounter with cannons fc. Aaron Edwards who finally got a start was the first on the score sheet as he chipped a ball into the left hand side of the goal over the keeper.  10 minutes later skipper Matt Powell volleyed in a cross coming in from outside the box.
 
 Pegasus looked to be in control of the game. Chance after chance could have sealed the points inside 30 minutes, but cannons held on. As we approached half time, the blues began to get a little complaicent as Cannons started to push forward more often,  although it finished 2-0 at half time. Into the second half, Pegasus remained with most of the possesion but still failing to place it at the back of the net.
 
Approximately 65 past and Cannons had a man sent off for a second yellow as a result of verbal abuse towards the referee. Minutes after, tackles flaired up from the Pink side and suddenly the game was more of a battle. As we reached the 80 th minute, Cannons had a free kick outside the box. Pegasus keeper Justin Pou who had only 1 save to make so far, couldnt get to excellently hit ball as Cannons pulled one back late on. from there on, Pegasus manager brought on 2 changes to change formation. A 4-1-4-1 kept Impressive Pau Escoler as an anchor man and Patrick Leonard as the playmaker who had an exceptional game. His throughballs and skills for the crowd was no short of brilliance.
 
The blues kept Chances from cannons at bay till the last minute but went home with the deserved three points. It finished Pegasus 2 Cannons 1 .
Man of the match - Patrick Leonard

ldo, bitbaments

Did you see/hear anything of Jason Prior when he was up for his recent trial with Newcastle? Wimbledon have just signed him instead - interested to see if he can get anywhere near replicating his phenomenal non-league goal-scoring form in the league.

guess i can answer as well...

he scored in a couple of reserve games/behind closed doors games and generally impressed in training but picked up a small knock just before the final reserve game of his trial. Pardew said that he was absolutely sure Prior would make it as a pro somewhere, but he wasn't sure it was Newcastle right now and he didn't want to sign the guy just to make a wedge of cash on him later if he could challenge for the first team.

Basically: He's good, but not Demba Ba and should be a really good signing for Wimbledon.

yeh exactly this. Best of luck to him and hopefully wimbledon and newcastles faith in him pays off. Keep me updated please?

Thanks for the replies, I will be sure to let you know how he gets on with us. Could be making his debut at home vs Aldershot tomorrow. I like your assessments of him - hope he proves you both right!

if lionel messi was playing against a decent amateur team, like around about 15 leagues lower than the premiership, how many goald would he score on avaergae per game? Most ridic argument with my friend atm.

Prob like 8 or 9 depends on how good the rest of the team was imo

in what country? if he was in england he'd score very few because he'd spend half of the game being kicked up in the air before being subbed in tears

Congrats, pleno.

http://www.skybet.com/cms/breaking-transfer-news.shtm?name=pleno

haha my mate setme up couple years ago when Ryder Cup was on

http://europeansportsnews.paddypower.com/video.php?gf=Dave%20&gs=Shallow&gc=Royal%20Birkdale&ght=Essex&gh=18

Still comes up when u google me which is funny- was some Paddy Power thing they were doing

Who is this Shallow clown?

Love it

Opinions on my initial thoughts on tonights games?

Everton v Man City 20:00- 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, City to win narrowly, Everton have been brave but without much quality at home in last few games.

Man Utd v Stoke 20:00- Both teams to score, De Gea looks to be in goal for Utd, think Stoke will put a lot of pressure on him- could also lay Utd at the 1.38, Nani/Rooney/Jones likely out.

Swansea v Chelsea 19:45- Low scoring game, Swansea excellent at home, interesting to see how Chelsea cope without Terry/Lampard/Ramires. I don't know what their team is going to be like. Think laying Chelsea at just over evens is a good bet.

Tottenham v Wigan 19:45- Usually I dont underestimate Wigan's ability to contest games in which they are underdogs, but I'm going for a comfortable Spurs win with lots of goals here. Planning on IP betting goals even after a quiet start.

Wolves v Liverpool 19:45- I generally stay away from betting on Liverpool as they are my team, but HT/FT Liv/Liv @ 3s seems a decent bet to me. Scoring goals has been our problem even before the Suarez ban, but 4 goals scored in last two games might give us some confidence.


I'd welcome people disagreeing with me to give me another perspective and hope this is the right thread to be discussing bets

Just saw this, apologies.

I agree with Everton/City although City have not been in as amazing form as earlier in season but expected them to keep a clean sheet vs a shotshy Everton team.

I disagree with Stoke scoring at United, I had United to win to nil. The only threat was set pieces but after the performances from Manchester UNited vs Newcastle and Blackburn in the air I expected Ferguson to sort this out, especially as Stoke are reknowned  for their physical presence.

Agree with Swansea/Chelsea, Torres just can't get going and Sturridge being wide restricts their attacking presence imo. Ramires is so so so important for Chelsea he has so much dirve and very underrated player.

Liverpool - I believe in Carroll so much, as soon as the kop got on his side he will start delivering, I had Bellamy in my dream team and always thought the Bellamy/Carroll combo will work as well as any strikeforce currently in premiership, apart from Ba/Cisse OBV :P

rofl, <333333333333

Betting wise I put a small amount on all the likely headers-of-goals for Stoke, which obviously lost, and lumped on over 4.5's in the Spurs game, had faith in a late goal so only traded my stake back at 3-1, goes down as a near miss.

So my Stoke thinking was wrong, Ferguson often plays a bit more solidly after a defeat I notice. Something I should remember.

Do I take it from your faith in Carroll/love for Ba/Cisse that you're a Newcastle fan? Hope you see this before the game, cos I'm sure you'll be thinking opposite to me... I've gone in heavily backing Blackburn tonight...!

I was impressed with them beating Fulham after getting the Yak sent off, this is a must-win game for them in light of their upcoming fixtures, and while i've backed Newcastle many times this season due to them often being overpriced, I really don't see them being impressive without Ba, Cabaye AND Tiote, although Coloccini is back. These four for me have been the heart of Newcastle this year, and though they've managed OK without one or two of them at any one time, I think they will struggle with 3 out.


Other than that:

Sunderland vs Norwich- I like Norwich as a team this year, performed excellently away from home at times this season, coupling that with that I think the recent results have been flattering to Sunderland, I think Laying Sunderland is a decent bet.

Fulham vs West Brom- Fulham look good for a win here, but West Brom are unpredictable imo, so I personally am staying away from this.

Bolton vs Arsenal- Haven't looked much at the game, but Arsenal not-winning would certainly not shock me.

Villa vs QPR- Think QPR are a litte overpriced; they've definately improved their squad in the transfer window... again I'm staying away from it as Villa have been in good form.


(Let me know if you don't want me writing essays in your thread mate!)

Sigh, HT 0-1 Blackburn Newcastle... one of those days so far... 

Yeh I'm a Newcastle fan.

I actually really rate Blackburn though, at start of season I had them down as certainties to get relegated, but I'm really impressed with them since, they play good football. The forward they have just signed is absolutely awful though, missed so many chances tonight, if Samba was playing he would have had a field day from set pieces, luckily we saved a penalty, if we hadn't it could have ended up like Fulham where we conceded one, really need the guys back from Africa.

Said it most of season and Solaris et al all mocked me but Krul must be best keeper in prem atm. Got us 3 points today, about 10 great saves and ofc a penalty save, he came and punched almost any corner/freekick that Pederson wizzed in.

Lol, it really does show how much important a good manager is.

At the moment we have:

Simpson - Championship quality
Ryan Taylor - Not a quality midfielder, decent backup
Guthrie - No form for couple years
Jonas - Playing centre mid for the first time ever
Best - Back up at best
Shola - League 1 quality
Perch - Championship quality
Obertan - Championship quality
Lovenkrankds - Championship quality

And we've missed Ba, Cisse, Tiote, Steven Taylor, the backbone of our team for the whole of January and some even longer and Pardew has managed to put us in a position ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool, every or at least the vast majority of players on the bench of Arsenal and Liverpool would be starting for Newcastle atm.

From February we have Tiote, Cisse, Ba, Cabaye coming back, we are really close to being full strength and having this team line up for the rest of the season and hopefully push us on into Europe

                         Krul

Taylor Colocini Williamson Santon

                Tiote
          Guthrie  Cabaye

Ben Arfa                      Ba
                 Cisse

Jonas can play on either wing or in the middle and Best/Simpson/Obertan is OK backup for a few months.

If Pardew can keep this team together, add a quality right back next season and perhaps another 10-15m player then we can really push on and cement ourselves as part of the top 6.

#5yearplansftw

Wow, so so sad

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJyyPRj6aWo

(http://i.imgur.com/CSHyU.png)

mug!

(http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sunderland-table.jpg)

Like

Dislike, don't put stuff like this up plz, kthxbye.

Coming home for the derby, surely ?

most shocking and surprising stat ive seen in ages. Pardew is 38th most longest serving manager in the football league atm, meaning he is in the top half after only being in the job for just over 1 year.

Ive said it before and will say it again, find a manager you really believe can take your club to where you want it to go to and support him both financially and with time. None of this terry venables for a season or assistant managers such as steve kean who will without doubt leave the club within 5 years.

Watched the zambia/ivory coast penalty shootout today, will postt a link tomorrow, the tekkers on almost all the penalties were so amazing. Shows that african players have more than just pace and power, or that you will never find a good black goalkeeper....

Just joking ofc.

Chelsea will sack AVB soon and it's so stupid, truth is there team just isn't that good. Pick a manager and have faith in him by giving him 3/4 years to make it his team, Chelsea isn't his team, it's so ridic.

I don't know what to make of Chelsea and AVB.

It cost them 15m to get him and will be like 20m to sack him!!!

On one hand, hes done a poor job so far, seems naive as to the ways of the English game and what has he actually acheived as a manager? 1 year doing great things with an extremely talented Porto side, but before that he was at Academia for a year and before that, absolutely nothing.

On the other hand, hes taken over an impossible job. An ageing squad with a £50m striker who hasn't had any confidence in front of goal since his big injury in early 2010. Age has unfortunately caught up with Drogba, hes lost his power. And despite what English people like to think, Sturridge is no more than an average footballer who shoots way too much.

Aswell as that, Essien has been injured years and is just coming back, Kalou and Malouda are desperately out of form, Cech has been decent this season but still makes too many bad decisions/errors and even Ashley Cole, usually the model of consistency has had a poor season!.

Probably will be a decent effort if they can come 4th.

I also am undecided on AVB's abilities, but if your going to try so hard to get someone surely give them time to actually make there own stamp on the club than the fans get on his back after three months and sack him within a year. I still think it was a joke that they sacked Ancelotti. Agree it will be an achievement if he manages to get them 4th.

Agree completely with Horneis, great post.

What ever happened to John Obi Mikel btw? Just totally out of favour?