MikeO

Fourteen of twenty premier league managers identified him as "... the player who would take the Premier League by storm this season." He started out that way, ran out of steam a bit (not surprising given the amount of games he was playing) and then got injured. £20m is derisory. Double that and you're getting closer.

Big argument between the two guys next to me over whose fault it was....one saying it was a back-pass and Distin should have got out of the way, the other saying it was just an overhit pass. I agreed with the second view at the time and having seen it back I still think Rodwell takes 80% of the blame.

AirMiles.co.uk Can use them for flights, hotels and car hire amongst other stuff. Flight availability is always good as well as long as you book far enough in advance, mostly with BA .

Love it....but then I've always been a sucker for fairy tales .

So I'm bored. Looking at the last 32 games after the first leg I think these are the teams that will progress....then I've put in bold the ones I think will make the last eight (although I wouldn't be overly confident about beating Galatasaray). A very strong line-up. Guess on the face of it the best draw at that stage would be Rubin Kazan, but it's quite a trip. Benfica v Marseilles Hamburg v Anderlecht Galatasaray v Everton Roma v Standard Liege Lille v Liverpool Rubin Kazan v Wolfsburg Juventus v Shakhtar Valencia v Werder Bremen

Jagielka & Yakubu's love child .

"Everton fear midfielder Tim Cahill could miss their next three games with the calf strain he picked up against Sporting Lisbon." Hold on to the could, mind you that means he could be out for even longer I suppose .

Osman/Billy ? How can you even consider dropping Leon after the last couple of games? I'd drop Arteta first.

He's done well but player of the month for January was Fellaini by a street. "The American international was delighted to be bestowed as the acknowlegdement comes from the Club's fans." Really? Who votes in it then? And how?

You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself .

Apparently they're now asking the league for special dispensation to sell players outside of the window...the only way they can raise funds to avoid going bust I suppose. Will this mean that other clubs will have permission to buy them? I suppose it must, but can they then be played? Surely not. If you're going to buy a player who's not going to be available until next season the prices would be much lower. Makings of a real fire-sale here.

I meant The Post. My mistake but the point's the same .

Supporters of other clubs are always welcome...we've got a fair few but you're the only Arsenal fan I think (I have to be realtively polite about them, wife and father-in-law are gooners).

Cook Islands look nice. We're planning a big long-haul trip in the next few years. Got 17,500 Air Miles (growing at about 2,500/3,000 a year) so anywhere is possible (Oz is 10,000 return). Not decided yet exactly where but it'll be nice to finally get into the southern hemisphere. Made it as far as the tropics but not crossed the equator yet. Fancy a camper van in Australia myself, but I'd like to see India. And South Africa, China, Japan and about another hundred other places .

Word for word copy from the OS....why bother posting it ?

Sounds a bit more upbeat than recent quotes . Encouraging.

Updated now. Had eighty-seven votes for the Chelsea game and forty-nine already for this one....good numbers and the overall votes are well up on what we had in previous seasons . Question now is whether anyone can take the Player of the Season off Marouane now his contribution is finished. Happened last year when Pienaar took it off long time leader Jags after his injury. Fellaini is 116 points clear of Pienaar as it stands with Heitinga another sixteen points back. Keep the votes coming.

Never been in a position to spend that much on a holiday sadly...our "honeymoon" was one night in a hotel in Devon, about a mile and a half from our house. Nice hotel mind....and a memorable occasion . You going for a week or two? If it's only a week I'd stay closer to home (Europe I mean, not Scunthorpe) and go for luxury but if it's two or longer then I'd go further afield. Maybe South Africa? June/July-ish .

Merged .

Saw that blog before...the most annoying part is... "It's not hard to imagine how this is going to go down with the chairmen. For the genuinely ambitious clubs like Aston Villa, Man City and Spurs, frustrated at banging their heads on a glass ceiling, it's going to be attractive.... ...A couple of seasons without Champions League football for Liverpool at the moment would be a huge financial blow. Yet the attraction for the upper mid-table outfits like Birmingham, Everton and Fulham is clear to see." I think (if he makes a very cursory check of recent league tables) he'll find that it's us who have been "banging their heads at a glass ceiling," and even breaking through it once.

Didn't realise last night that Howard had pushed Izmailov's shot onto the post so it could have been worse. Good save. Also lucky Distin's goal counted....was surprised last night that it was allowed and the TV confirms we were fortunate (although last night I thought the keeper was saying Distin put it in with his arm, but looked like he was complaining about being impeded by TC...he certainly had a case).

I agree....looked lively. I was pleasantly surprised.

I counted one glimpse personally so I think pluralising is a bit of a stretch . Maybe I was in the toilet for the other one.

Probably of no use to you but extended highlighs on ITV4 in five minutes. Do they get ITV4 in Brazil ?

Ossie without a doubt for me. Was a toss-up between him and TC at half time but Tim wasn't as effective in the second half. Pienaar, Donovan and Arteta very disappointing.