MikeO

Joleon's not played at all well for England. And anyway by that logic he wouldn't have called up Beckham, Ferdinand, Terry. Lampard, Barry etc etc (he knows they're all good enough so doesn't need to play them!?). It's a pretty daft argument tbh, Lescott's not been called up because he's fallen begind Jags in the pecking order, simple as. I agree with that....I just don't think he should have fallen behind Upson as well.

So was (is?) Scolari....that's why they gave him the job .

Posted this link further up but you must have missed it.... http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64...sid=754085.html This is the format... http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/n...sid=788365.html According to the UEFA site there's no place for the Carling Cup winners, it goes straight to sixth place but I'm sure the FA have over-ruled that.

Complete bastards (the S*n for "reporting" it and Sky for reporting what the S*n printed). They take one answer from that whole interview and fabricate a conclusion. I really don't know how anyone who works for that piece of shite can look at themselves in the mirror.

Potentially yes, but (assuming we finish sixth) it would need someone who is not us, Villa, ManU, Arsenal or Chelsea winning the FA Cup (along with Spurs beating United in the Carling), and you'd get pretty long odds on that. If we finish seventh we don't deserve to qualify .

EDIT---Beat me to it^^^^^. No runner-up rule and the fair-play place is dependent on England's performance in the European fair-play league...we were down in 8th place at the turn of the year and only the top three get a place http://www.uefa.com//MultimediaFiles/Downl...80_DOWNLOAD.pdf. (Bit irrelevant really but at the end of December we were sixth in the FA fair play league http://www.premierleague.com/page/FairPlayTable) You're pretty much right Oz. Fifth qualifies along with the two cup winners, although if the cup winners qualify through league position then the places pass on to sixth and (possibly) seventh. Change this year is that the FA Cup runners-up won't get the place if the winners are qualified already, it'll go to the league. There's also a change in the competition next year from the UEFA Cup to the Europa League ()http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64...sid=754085.html.....different format with the most notable bit being that the league stage will be groups of four playing home and away (as in the Champs League) rather than the idiotic groups of five there have been recently.

Fine example of an oxymoron....like "caring conservative" and "military intelligence."

Guess they're busy because the Villa tickets went on general sale this morning . Probably calm down a bit by lunchtime.

It's the World Ganja smoking champs in St Kitts Louis. The score means that 26 out of the English team of 33 have become comatose during the second phase or "innings" (skunk over 15% THC). It's a poor show to only have seven potheads left in the competition at such an early stage <_< . Shame on us.

Four players in Garth Crooks' "Team of the week," Baines, Jags, Arteta & Jô plus Ossie in the squad . I realise the man's a complete plank, but it's still nice reading. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/s...bci/7631245.stm Also Lee Dixon on MOTD 2 last night saying we're the "Team of the moment," they even went down to sixth place in their "Top of the table" graphic for once! More little bits of recognition.

Not to mention the late goals from Villa and Arsenal that cost us another three points . We had the same problem with White Hart Lane until a few years back. Records are there to be broken .

Agree with you completely TC....you're a whacko .

Kapo in an Everton shirt .

Except he's not .

Done it Louis, all sorted for Monday 16th switch....so if I disappear you'll know why !

Think everyone's had their say Louis, we pretty much know (among regular members) where we all stand. You've put a lot of time and energy into the process but for the rest of us it's now about politics. I'm sure once the decision is announced there'll be a lot of debate but currently it's out of everyone's hands.

Pretty much two thirds of the way through the season we've reached the forty points that not so long ago was the extent of our ambition every August, so how many points will we finish with and what position will that put us in? Worst case scenario we go back to playing like we did at the start of the season, we got only nineteen points from the first thirteen games, so that would give us fifty-nine points. That would almost certainly put us exactly where we are now (unless someone behind us goes on an incredible run...unlikely). So sixth. 95% certain of Europa Cup qualification (none of the "four" winning either cup is the only thing that would stop us). We've taken twenty one points from the last twelve games so if we were to carry on at that rate we'd pick up another twenty-three and finish on sixty-three (more points than when we finished fourth in 2005) which, given the lop-sided nature of the table this year, is still only going to be sixth. But, without going through it game by game, we've only got Chelsea and Villa of the teams above us yet to play. Both are beatable but the other eleven games we'll be favourites to win....not a chance we'll win them all because things go wrong and luck goes against you and some of our opposition will be fighting for survival. I reckon we'd need to get close to thirty points to get in the mix with the teams above us....twenty-eight minimum. Eight wins, four draws, one loss? It's a huge ask but could we do it? Between 12-1 and 25-1 for a top four finish with the bookies which is about right I think but two or three consecutive wins and the odds will drop a lot. Could be an exciting run-in...let's hope so .

He exaggerated it....put a little pike in it I'd say calling on my extensive knowledge picked up from watching the Olympic diving (they're all so :gay: )....but it was a pen .

Paul Merson... "I thought they were a different class," "That's as good a performance as I've seen in a first half from any Premier League club this season, they were that good." "It was important to start the game well because of what happened in the week and to keep the feelgood factor up, but I thought they were outstanding." "Jô was outstanding and Mark Hughes will be pulling his hair out because he looked like a top-drawer player today, a different class. His touch and turn was Bergkamp-like for the goal." "Arteta was just absolutely outstanding as well. Just class, class." "They were outstanding because Bolton are not a bad team and they really ripped them apart." "You'd think Bolton would come out and try to steamroller Everton but it was the other way round. They got the fans going and they were always on their side." "I was disappointed in Bolton. There was a 10-minute spell in the game where they were good and a chance of getting back in it." "Apart from that, Everton were absolutely outstanding." I think what he's trying to say is that we were outstanding .

He can wear a wooly muffler and a mink codpiece and no-one will complain if he keeps scoring Louis !

The BBC report on the squad is f'king pathetic. First part is all about Beckham (fair enough I suppose), then they say, "Carlton Cole and James Milner could win their first England caps after being named in the squad." Then they talk about the Spain squad, giving special mention (predictably) to Torres and the other Liverpool players involved. Not a word about Jags ! That's made me very angry. But pleased for him, ridiculous Joleon's not in it as well.

Going back to the original point of the thread I've switched to BT, saving myself around £15 a month (and, if their tests are correct, tripling my connection speed). I've got the MAC but they didn't ask for it in the order process which I was a bit surprised by, presumably they'll ask for it once they process the order and give me an activation date .

Difficult to tell from that....I'll reserve judgement until MOTD....but it does look suspect .

England 26-7 in the second innings against West Indies. Shocking.