Football talking points

First topic message reminder :

Rather than hijack the "which team do you support" thread where some of these are being talked about...

Some of the events of the weekend that are getting people talking

1) Mario Balotelli: plenty to say about him in general but specifically the alleged stamp on Scott Parker and his subsequent charge by the FA

2) Lescott's elbow on Kaboul(?) - FA say no charge to answer

3) Conspiracy theories in general about Man City!

4) Wenger's decision to take Chamberlain off and put Arshavin on - and Van Persie's reaction

5) Peter Crouch and the "eye-gouge"

6) Harry Redknapp and the tax-dodging allegations and court case

Discuss!

Another unwanted record today Blue

For the first time ever, I bet against my team today. Had a small wager that Fleetwood would beat Rovers 3 - 0.

Could become an expensive ritual, as Rovers ran out 3-0 winners!

So not only is John-Joe O'Toole getting man of the match awards he is also getting goals for you then Mary! Can we have him back please?

Win, win all round by the sound of it then Mary

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:Another unwanted record today Blue

Yes Grumps, thanks for the reminder. Dropped into the bottom four after todays defeat by fellow strugglers Scunthorpe, manager Joe Dunne just said on the radio that he is "considering his position"

BlueCoverman wrote:So not only is John-Joe O'Toole getting man of the match awards he is also getting goals for you then Mary! Can we have him back please?

Hopefully he will be with us for a while longer! One fan tweeted before the game that he'd put £1 on Rovers to win 3-0 with John-Joe to score - it was odds of 486/1 so I guess that he'll be having a good Saturday night.

Only 486/1 Mary?...I think that he was short-changed, the odds should have been a lot higher than that!

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:I'm not even sure all the king's horses and all the king's men could help QPR again. Having said that Wigan were in trouble last year and beat top teams to stay up so you never know.

Well last season QPR won their last 5 home games, beating Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Swansea and Stoke, so miracles do happen.

There are still 16 games to go, so being 5 points from safety is not the end of the world when there are still 48 points to play for. There are some really poor sides in the league this season... Reading, Southampton, Wigan, Villa and QPR probably all deserve to be relegated for their consistently poor performances.

That's why I said you never know Ray. I don't think many people would have expected them to get any kind of a result against Chelsea. But 4 points out of 6; it might happen especially as there are a number of clubs struggling this year.

Including Arsenal Grumps, Arsene Wenger must be wrestling with his own defensive problems this morning

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Blue

What not even in the interests of a bit of friendly banter Grumps?

Mary I see we have signed goalkeeper Sam Walker on loan today who has been on loan to you from Chelsea.

Let's hope he does as well for us as John-Joe is doing for you!

BC - not too sure how that will work out, the Rovers fans were glad to see him go back to Chelsea. In fairness, he was playing in a very poor team - hope the lad fairs better for you.

Word is that John-Joe will be back with you before long - we are hoping that our Chairman will get his cheque book out to see if there is a deal to be done!

To be honest Mary he can't be any worse between the sticks than our current custodian!

Yes we are hearing that as well. Our central midfielder Anthony Wordsworth is out of contract at the end of the season so he is likely to be sold in the January transfer window. John-Joe will be back to replace him, now that you have done the decent thing and got him match fit for us!

[quote="Mary_S" One fan tweeted before the game that he'd put £1 on Rovers to win 3-0 with John-Joe to score - it was odds of 486/1 so I guess that he'll be having a good Saturday night. [/quote]

Coral are refusing to pay out the £486, will only pay it as two single bets. They say that it was a mistake by the member of staff to take the bet as a double, although it's all written down on the betting slip which went through the till.

I see you got a twitter reply Mary from @Coral explaining the situation! It seems that it wasn't an acceptable double as the two events were "linked" but the cashier failed to spot it

Seems they are trying to sort something out with the fan but it still sounds like they won't pay the full amount!

Last I heard they have now recognised it was their fault, but say the odds were worked out wrong. However, they will pay out @ 204/1. I think that he's going to accept that, as he's won the point of principle.

Big night for Bristol Rovers fans. Planning permission has been granted for Sainsburys to build a store on the site of our current stadium. This paves the way for us to move to a new ground, which will be built on land belonging to the University of West of England, with the stadium being owned by the football club.

Nigel Adkins takes over Southampton when they were 22nd in League 1. Wins back to back promotions, and takes them into the Premier League, earning them almost £100m doing it. He gets off to a dodgy start in the PL as anyone would with the backbone of the team being L1 players. Adds a couple of decent players, but not top draw and starts getting some decent results, which leave Southampton 3-points clear of the drop zone, and only losing 1 match in the last umpteen.

what a joke to replace the man, with someone who we've never heard of and will not have a clue what to do in this country, with the players he has. This smacks of the stupidity QPR showed last season when sacking Warnock and replacing him with Hughes, who spent shed loads and never did anything.

Bizarre decision in the extreme, haven't they only lost 2 of their last 12 Premier League games?

Massive shame for the Southampton fans, imagine there won't be too many tears shed elsewhere if the Saints are relegated now.

Stunning decision. You have to wonder how long they had this plan in the works. The other relegation threatened clubs must be delighted with this news.

I love that one of the facts about the new guy is he fouled Michael Owen in the 2002 World Cup. Oh yeah, can remember him clearly now.....

I'm sure Adkins won't be out of a job for long given his recent track record.

Apparently Nigel is looking forward to getting a call from Robbie Cowling at Col U...

Looks like you got a good result this weekend Blue

First time we haven't conceded in ages

So was there too much contact on Coquelin and just enough on Ramires

That said, we've looked a little clueless out there, the old cliche: men against boys. We've had about 4 players, Vermaelen, Coquelin, Wilshere, and Walcott, work out that the game plan isn't working and the rest seem to be sticking to that setup leaving us chasing shadows.

We need a Kanu comeback (last man to comeback from 2-0 down to beat Chelski) but I'm not sure we have a Kanu. Although we have started a bit better in this half. Come on Arsenal!

Much better second half but are we turning into a second half team? Not for the first time recently we pick our performance up after the break. Both FA Cup games against Swansea come to mind and then again today. Oh well, it wasn't to be today, no Kanu in the team.

Entertaining 2nd half GG. Whatever Wenger says at half-time, he needs to actually say it before the match, to get them going from the first whistle.

Hoping for a Spurs win this afternoon, as I want to see the gap closed at the top of the table.

Oh bollox, forgot to make a pick

Oh well, I only dropped a quarter point as I probably would have picked a 2-1 win for Utd. I'm more pee'd about my drop down the global rankings

I wasn't too disappointed with Arsenal's performance Grumps - at least the 2nd half anyway. We were all over them in the 2nd half - as Mary says I just wish Wenger would get them playing that way from the start!

Considering the 2 Chelsea goals had a definite foul in the build-up and a dubious penalty/dive then I think they performed OK

Shame the spuds got a point though - puts them 7 in front with a game in hand for us. I have my usual bet with a spuds fan that keeps getting doubled (currently only at £20 but I can see it rising) - 3 (relatively) easy home games in a row now - we need to turn them into 9 points

They did miss some good opportunities of their own so I don't think we had it all our own way in the second half. I was a bit worried when they took Torres off; he was one of our best defenders. I think we were lucky to go in at 2-0 nil despite some interesting refereeing decisions. Szceszny was lucky to stay on really once he decided it was a foul but once they had that lead we looked shaky for the rest of the first half. Still plenty of points to play for and hopefully we'll get it done.

Bradford against Villa in the second leg of the whatever the League Cup is called now. Can they hang on? You'd have to think Swansea and Chel$ki are supporting Villa, as probably the easiest team to play in the final. I'm not being mean, I can qualify that by the Arsenal getting a draw at Villa and losing to Bradford.

Phil Parkinson was the manager who took Col U to the Championship, so I will rooting for Bradford tonight

Heady times eh Blue? How long did you stay up there?

Just got home so didn't see the game tonight but what a fantastic result and achievement by Phil Parkinson and Bradford City.

Two seasons Grumps. We finished 10th in our first season 2006/07 (higher than Ipswich, Norwich and obviously Southend!) and had a run of 11 consecutive wins at Layer Road. At the end of the season Phil was appointed Hull City manager who were then Premier league and 5 or 6 of the team got big money moves to Premier league teams. The core of the team had gone and we really struggled the following season only amassing 38 points and were consequently relegated. It was brilliant times and great fun in that first season, when a club with the lowest average attendance in the league were rolling over all these so called big name teams at Layer Road week after week.

Phil also took us to the 5th round of the F.A. Cup where we lost at Chelsea despite taking the lead and I remember us dancing around in a packed stand daring to believe that we were going to get a result. I really felt that Phil would establish himself as a permanent Premier league manager but things went a bit downhill for him after Hull. Hopefully this achievement with Bradford will put him back on the right track.

I knew it was more than one season but couldn't remember how many you stayed up for. Sounds like it was a great time at Layer Road and that small ground would have been a good leveler for those "big" clubs. What would you give for 5 wins on the bounce at the Weston now? Is Joe Dunne still the manager or did he resign?

It was a great time Grumps, the fans were so close to the touch-lines you could get right in the faces of the opposition players. I remember Ian Wright getting particularly upset when he was playing there in a wide position towards the end of his career, and he was getting plenty of stick from the home fans! It could be intimidating and there is no doubt that the atmosphere created assisted our success in that first season.

But as much as we loved Layer Road, for the football club to progress long-term we had to move from there. It was old, run-down, antiquated and well past it's sell-by date, but I will never forget the excitement I used to feel when walking down Layer Road, especially for a night game with the floodlights shining in the distance. It was basically bang in the middle of a residential area and I guess those householders were more than relieved when the club finally moved home.

I drove past there the other day. Where our hallowed green turf used to be is now a mixture of houses, flats and apartments. The Drury Arms pub on the corner of Layer Road which used to be buzzing and mobbed out on match-days now looks rather forlorn as it stands silent, empty and boarded up. Made me feel a bit sad really.

In comparison the new stadium is smart, modern and futuristic. But it is completely soulless and lacking in atmosphere. It stands in a position on the outskirts of town, surrounded by areas of wasteland and uninspiring industrial buildings with just the noise of the traffic on the adjacent A12 speeding by. There are no pubs, no shops and no feeling of the community and togetherness that we used to have.

I hope that as the years pass that will change, personally I think that for a lot of people it will never quite be the same at the Weston as it was at our spiritual home.

Lets not get carried away Grumps, one win will do for a start. Joe Dunne is still the manager having received the dreaded 'vote of confidence' from the chairman. Hot off the press is the rumour that Charlton have offered £250,000 for our midfielder Anthony Wordsworth today.

I remember back in the late 80s, early 90s talk of a new stadium. I think friends of the family or something were involved with the project. I've been to the new stadium a couple of years back and remember the park and ride bus taking us to the outskirts of nowhere. It's a nice ground but similar to the identikit stadiums that just get a different paint job.

Another vote of confidence, maybe the chairman needs a vote of confidence. I think you'll probably need 5 wins quickly to ensure your League 1 status. Good luck for Saturday against that Polish lot.

Not sure that it will be on Grumps to be honest. Still a thick covering of snow on the ground here today (Nothing like what you're expecting obviously!)

What do we make of the Swansea Ball Boy and Eden Hazard incident?

Couldn't really believe what I was seeing and initial thought was that it was on a Cantona scale but after reading more today I'm not so sure now. Certainly Hazard shouldn't have done it but when I read that the ball boy had tweeted BEFORE the match that he was "the best ball boy in the world and was looking forward to some timewasting action" then I'm beginning to think he deserved what he got!

Also read somewhere that he is the son of one of the Swansea directors - pretty embarrassing for the club and sadly overshadows what was a great achievement for them

I understand now the Man U are in talks with the ball boy as they realize he can keep the ball longer than De Gea

Well personally I think that Swansea should be totally embarrassed by the ball-boys behaviour (17 years old by the way, so hardly a 'boy')

This was not an isolated incident but the culmination of blatant time wasting throughout the whole game, as he had promised he would do in his tweets earlier in the day. When the moron deliberately 'fell' on the ball and it disappeared in the midst of his fat gut I can perfectly understand Hazard's attempts to get the ball free.

In future Swansea need to take a good, long hard look at how they instruct and 'train' these juvenile delinquents before they are let anywhere near the football pitch.

I haven't managed to see the footage yet but it just strikes me as bizarre. Timewasting by ballboys is nothing new and sometimes it does seem to be encouraged by the club. I remember seeing an example of this on Soccer AM, a long time ago, where a club had a multi ball policy to get the ball back into play quicker but once they scored all the balls were collected in.

If all the nonsense is true then the kid should be punished in some way too. I'm not condoning Hazard's behaviour, he got punished by the ref and, it should be a three game ban but that should be the end of it.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:If all the nonsense is true then the kid should be punished in some way too.

An excellent idea. He should go without his daily supply of Cheeseburgers until further notice.

BlueCoverman wrote:

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:If all the nonsense is true then the kid should be punished in some way too.

An excellent idea. He should go without his daily supply of Cheeseburgers until further notice.

Ha, that would be cruel and unusual punishment for the chunky monkey. Maybe make him run laps of the pitch instead.

1GrumpyGolfer wrote:I remember seeing an example of this on Soccer AM, a long time ago, where a club had a multi ball policy to get the ball back into play quicker but once they scored all the balls were collected in.

We tried this at Col U, but we are still waiting for the balls to be collected in

I believe you have to score first for this to be an effective policy Blue

Keep up Grumps, that was the joke I was making

Alright, I wasn't sure if you were insinuating that your ballboys were thieving toe-rags

So "ballboy/man-gate" is still going with the world and their dog weighing in now, including the FA. A charge of violent conduct has been leveled at Hazard and the potential for additional games to be added to his 3 game ban.

Also, what to make of Wenger's take on the January transfer window. He's called for a limit of 2 players to be signed by each club and is pointing at Newcastle saying it's unfair for them to have signed four players. Arsene, I have to say I find your stance a bit idiotic. What about clubs, like Newcastle, who have had players leave? Would it be a net increase of 2 players in those instances? What about players going out on loan; would that count? What about clubs who have players out with long term injuries leaving their squad thin? The transfer window is there, deal with it, buy more players to keep up with other clubs then. Don't act like a little girl and moan about it.