OTF

Here's the actual contact from Tiote as he went by.... Here's Alex going down... ...and from another angle... Pay particular attention to the position of Campbell in the above images. He may have been obscuring Phil Dowd's view, given his hefty frame. Williamson trips over him to make it look worse... ...Dowd immediately after blowing the penalty walks away talking with Williamson grabbing his shirt indicating this is what the foul was for... ...Alan Smith comes across and Dowd points at Williamson while talking... ...and finally Williamson walks away muttering to himself like he just got dudded (which he did)... And.. The far too high pants of Sol Campbell...

The contact was definitely from Tiote on his way past, but the delayed nature of the dive meant that Willamson was on the scene when their player went down. Not a penalty obviously but I've got it in my head that it was called against Williamson, which makes it more blatantly wrong. I will watch it again and see if it changes my mind. There's no denying however that against Everton Williamson was more handy than a Swiss army knife AND more handy than Mike Tyson in a strip joint. Good in the air and pretty good positionally, I think he's a solid defender especially considering his lack of experience. Doesn't deserve dropping for it, I don't think but may struggle against Stoke if they're overly physical up front.

He cost us a penalty against Chelsea courtesy of the reputation he gained from the Everton game where he had hands everywhere all over their players - most notably Fellaini and Beckford. You can't ge away with those sort of fouls for long before the referees really start cracking down on you and being overcritical - unless you are John Terry obviously. Not saying that Campbell should start, though Hughton blatantly gave him game time with both Colo and Willo to see if they'd play well together. Campbell did do quite well, though I wasn't impressed with the height he had his shorts pulled up to. I know he's old, but really? THAT high?

In with a shot....

Don't worry, I'm enjoying it. Even though I was up before 5am to watch it then had a whole day of training that required concentration and focus in the city. On the train going home now feeling more than a little tired..... But still very happy!

I wouldn't say Perch is necessarily a better defender than Jonas, certainly though Jonas will stay on the ball and try to beat people a lot more than Perch or Simpson. Will beat people most of the time, but will be too costly on occasion. It's not a viable option. N'zogbia at left back was the same, ocassional attacking bonus is not worth the continual defense frailties. If we had a proper right back we'd not even be talking about this.

Our left back today was quality attack, similar to van aanholt. Not the greatest defender, he was supposedly marking Ranger when he scored our first. On topic Guthrie is a good player who usually doesn't give up possession cheaply. He can also chip in a few goals. There will be time and chances for him this season. Gosling I'd like to see first, don't know a great deal about him.

Vuckic was ordinary, but on the back of that Shola deserves a look in to the Premiership side. Next cup game we should play a mix of age and experience as we did in this. We'd be devastated if a couple o our key players picked up injuries like Benayoun and Kalou did, so if I was Chris I'd definitely have that in the back of my mind, alongside of course an ambition to win the cup! Some strong sides went out here, so it's now a heck of a lot more open for someone like us.

Even though we won with Alan Smith he was quite possibly our worst player out there. Vuckic was unfortunately poor as well, seemed to always rush in when defending and was consequently easily beaten with a jink or pass. Lovenkrands was quiet but was still making the runs off he ball. Should have scored obviously. Tiote was poor at right back, but it's obviously not his position, he was just filling in against their most dangerous side with van aanholt pressing right up the pitch and Anelka drifting out that way.

carlo ancelotti's eyebrow Really is crazy just how high that eyebrow gets. Must have some powerful forehead muscles!

Shola will be begging for a run out against Stoke now, and on the back of that you can hardly begrudge him the chance. His horrible misskick is forgivable on the back of two well taken goals (the header clearly superior) and what should have been a quality assist. Paired with Carroll might seem odd, but against Stoke his size and clattering nature could come in handy. Plus no doubt he'll be on a high after the win so worth a shot to put him out there. Nolan was decent against Everton so it would be harsh for him to lose his spot. Edit- If he does play against Stoke don't let him mark anyone on their corners, he gash at defending corners unlike Carroll who is ace at it.

Such a quality match to watch. Soft goal by them early on after Ranger played like a forward in a dangerous position, then the shot through Campbell's legs probably made it harder for Krul, though he still probably should have done better with it. Next up the excellent reply from us after some patient build up play. Great ball into the box by Ferguson who looks a pacy attacking left back, reallty good finish from Ranger as well (sadly not the case shortly after). The free-kick from Ryan Taylor was well hit, but if I was a Chelsea supporter I'd be more than slightly dirty at Turnbull for not at least getting a hand to it. The Shola gola was surprising to say the least, but he does have a cheeky habit of squeezing those lengthy rolling shots in. Again though Turnbull could be questioned, so too Alex who gave Ameobi too much space. At 3-1 up we should have forged further ahead. Lovenkrand's run off the ball was good, Shola's prefectly weighted ball was better and Lovenkrand's right foot shot was best.. left unmentioned. Shortly after Shola had an excellent chance to punish them, but woefully misshit a toe poked right footed shot with only the keeper to beat. Chelsea's second was the result of giving them too much space to run into. It was a superb finish from Anelka giving Krul absolutely no chance. Their penalty was not a penalty. I can't help but think that the referee's have some sort of post weekend discussion regarding incidents in matches. If so it's entirely likely that Mike Williamson's wandering hands were a topic of discussion and he was found guilty as a result*. At 3 all, even with 10 men the crowd really came into it. And fair play to the crowd as well, I thought it was a very good crowd for a Carling Cup Match where it was known that the first teams of both sides would not be played. They shouldn't have been even, but they were and they were pressing for victory. A well earned corner for us and up stepped Jonas Gutierrez to take it (with Ryan Taylor being subbed earlier). He sent the ball into a dangerous area, and Shola Ameobi's diagonal run met the flight of the ball, despite close marking from Alex. The header was absolutely top shelf from Ameobi and was a goal from the moment it left his head. Shola Ameobi, a curious mix of the divine and the downright awkward. A fitting winning from an extremely entertaining match. The lads should really be buoyed from that performance. :lol: A 4:45AM kick-off over here. A great way to start the day. * - Like Nolan incorrectly had a foul called against him in the penultimate match in the 2008-09 season vs Fulham (when Viuduka scored from a corner) after plenty of discussion the week prior about Nolan 'taking out' the opposing goal keeper.

Where is accadacca? If he was here I'd be a lot more confident about our chances. The more he's posting the more games we're winning. I think anyone here would be happy with a top ten finish let alone what you're talking.

If we win half of them? TAKE. True that. Even if his intention is to use us to move off elsewhere we're hardly in a position to do anything but grin and bear it, and hopeful enjoy a few magical moments along the way. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but from what we do know of Ben Arfa everything can change in a very short period of time.

If people would just learn that Kevin is a gen Y fucktard that needs feedback and confirmation or derision and outrage to everything he posts we'd soon slow down the rate at which he posts and he'd move on to some other folly where he feels that he is the centre of attention. Doesn't offer any credible value to the forum, so please just stop fueling his ego and replying to his inane and idiotic posts. That's all I have to say on it.

6 a side or indoor? Where you playing OzT? Our summer comp doesn't start until the end of October. 6-a-side - Super 6 comp in Baulkham Hills.

That graph is slightly more meaningful, but why choose 2001 as the year to compare? If you take it back over the same amount of time, is would be between 2004 and 2007 for an increase of 38%. At any length this table is largely useless as there as so many external factors that are an influence. Key for me is noting particular decisions and actions undertaken by the current owner and board that have contributed to an increasing debt. More important of course is what is being done to turn an operating loss into a profit so that the debt can begin to be reduced. Forgive me if it's a silly question, but where has the figure of 175m come from? If you're taking that table as the only evidence* then it indicates that relegation only had a maximum 'cost' to the club of 26m. * - Which I don't suggest anyone does.

It would be good to be able to talk some sort of solution to our current predicament, given that no amount of financial nous will change what has happened in the past. I'd guess that there wouldn't be one too much better than what we're doing currently. That is trying to bring in players who improve the squad on a relatively limited budget on non-excessive wages to ensure our survival and to make sure the positive ground we made last season continues. Improved performances will keep the crowds up, and in turn we should see improvements on the corporate side, with sponsorships, ground advertising etc.

First game of the new season for us. A grading match* that we won pretty comfortably against a pretty weak opposition 4-1. maybe we should have sandbagged it * It's a new competition so they're grading teams to put them in appropriate divisions.

Seems a silly thing to do. It will happen regardless of who does it, so it may at least go to a local mob. It's not as if they're working on the Death Star.

Video of it? WTF. I don't suppose they start charging people for the desktop version now?

Fair play you've proved your point perfectly.

Yeah, if he turns into an empty channel he can easily get out of there again because he has the turning circle of a Scott Parker.

Wouldn't go that far Christmas tree. He's had a good start to the season, but still has a long long way to go to pay off the shit he's put the club through. He was very good against Everton, having someone like Tiote operating behind him gave him more freedom. Fed an inch perfect pass through to Nolan which should have resulted in a penalty when Nolan was brought down by Coleman from behind without touching the ball. Long may his good form continue. I think his personal frustrations about not having played enough of late contributed to some of the brash challenges he made on the field, with a full pre-season and a solid start to the season hopefully we don't see him doing anything too foolish on the pitch, as that would be the most likely reason for an end to his good run.

Corporate income would be way down for the majority of sides, the only ones that would have been in somewhat of a bubble are those with extremely large profiles in places where the financial crisis had much less of an impact - like Manchester United in Asia. That's not simply a Mike Ashley issue, though he hasn't helped it at all. That's not to say that the other fat Bastard Shepherd couldn't have floated his own money to prevent interest from being due, or even just paid the interest out of his own pocket which is effectively what Ashley is doing if he's provided an interest free loan. The wage bill was previously at 75% of annual turn over, which is just flat out shocking.