java2001e

reading are also on the market. madejeski reckons he's done all he can, new stadium and promotion, he can't afford to bankroll their premiership ambitions.

keane will have to learn the meaning of the word diplomacy if he doesnt want to upset his players at sunderland. my guess is that most of the guys at manu thought he was a pain in the ass off the field.

the situation today with chelski is different. plus the fact that football is a sport, as well as a business. they are in the same position as say, microsoft, who can control the software industry because they own the only decent operating system on the market. its the same with any other monopoly. they have the power to drive up prices beyond the reach of most clubs, creating an unfair advantage in the market place. in business there are rules and laws, (as microsoft have discovered), to prevent unfair trade practices. there are none in football. plus chelsea have been accused of tapping up players and heavily fined for doing so. they can unsettle players at other clubs, thus affecting performance and team selection. cole hasnt played for arsenal in recent weeks for just this reason.

"If you say cheating is cheating, does that include timewasting in the last 5 minutes or is that tactics, there are too many grey area's in this topic to give a difinative answer. It is just going to be personal opinions." no, thats not cheating thats a skill, keeping possession. and if youre not as skilfull as your opponent you will be dispossessed. i think cheating can be quite clearly defined. the fact that there are a few grey areas shouldnt make any difference. as someone pointed out, in other sports, golf for example, millions can depend on one shot, and players dont cheat!

last season our attack was considered our weakest position. its amazing just how quickly things change. i would say we need more muscle in midfield today. our midfield seems to be more attacking than defensive, and we need both qualities there. neville is a good defensive midfielder but he's playing in the back four at the moment. i think when that situation is corrected it will be a help.

there wont be millions involved, more likely a retraction and costs. maybe some compensation, bot not a lot. a professional in moyes' position has to defend his reputation in circumstances like these. this whole case tells us more about rooneys lack of intellect and poor character than anything else. but then, who didnt know that anyway?

yes, if you can win games like that, (it takes a bit of luck) its a good sign. the team defended well, and if cahill and artetas shots had gone in it would have been a convincing victory. the start of the season is always a sticky time. last seasons start was atrocious, but i always believed we were too good to be in the bottom segment, and time proved that we were. we should get a top ten finish this season and if results go our way, as they did on saturday, weve got a good chance of finishing in the top six. i dont think its realistic to start condemning players after just one game. if it was that easy to judge a players quality no side would ever buy a dud. even the experts can't do that.

really. that will come as a shock!

Chelsea Michael Ballack free Khalid Boulahrouz (£6 million) Hilario (free) Salomon Kalou (undisc.) Jon Obi Mikel (£16million) Andriy Shevchenko (£30m) its getting beyond a joke. what are they going to do with all these players? jus a couple of weeks ago mourinho claimed that they werent spending anymore and theyve signed a couple since then. and cole still isnt settled. i tried to sell them vdm's dog as mascot, but they only offered a couple of mill so i sent it back.

according to skysports news: "The Belgravia Group have confirmed they are weighing up a potential takeover of Newcastle United. The Jersey-based investment company are thought to have held informal talks with Newcastle officials over acquiring the St James' Park outfit. Newcastle club president Sir John Hall is believed to have been approached by the Belgravia Group over his family's 40 percent stake in the club." there must be money somewhere in soccer!

theres a lot of talk about cheating in football today. with particular regard to 'divers' who go down in the penalty area. but if you are against that kind of cheating, why would you be in favour of ANY kind of cheating? and that would have include cheating by default like not informing when you know that a mistake is being made by the officials. It's a tough one to answer, considering how much money is involved. so are you saying its ok to cheat for a large sum of money, but not for a small sum? and if so, where is the dividing line where cheating becomes acceptable? a thousand quid? ten thousand quid?

who were nicknamed "the black watch"?

ok. what if he did see it? should he have said anything? is there room for sportsmanship in soccer?

we saw Everton get a lucky penalty against watford. the ball definitely wasnt handled it was headed away. should cahill have told the ref that it wasnt a penalty? should we expect sportsmanship in soccer?

Burscough i thought that was one of those funny dresses worn by muslim women in afghanistan!

i think weve got a lot to look forward to with AJ an BT. and when one or the other goes off the boil weve got anichibe, faddy and who knows, maybe even vaughn just waiting to take their chances. from being our weakest position attack now looks like our strongest. i think watford played well and tried hard to make their mark in their first premiership match. they had most of the possession but they relied too much on muscle. and this showed. when they gotta goal it was virtually scored by one of ours. we were very unucky not to get at least one more, we hit the woodwork twice, but thats just the way it goes. we had our share of misfortune, they had theirs! thats life. theres bound to be times when we come off on the wrong end of a result. overall i think weve got good reason to be optimistic. altho we had less possession we still won and were probably unlucky not to have got at least one more. for all the possession they had watford never looked that threatening. the defence did a good job, and when they did get a shot in howard didnt look troubled. in fact i think howard shows real promise. he probably feels that he's got something to prove and lets hope he proves it. so the first game of the season is under our belt and its a winner. so no real need for whiners! weve gotta couple of tough aways coming up next, blackburn and spurs, and then at home to our next door neighbours. now a win there would be really nice.

watford are a good side. but there a bit like bolton, they rely too much on muscle to get a result. theyll have to develop a bit more than that to be successful in the premiership. but they played well and they had most possession, but they didnt score. and thats usually the case were you rely on muscle rather than genuine skill. when the ball did go in it was an own goal. we got a lucky penalty, but we hit the woodwork twice, so overall we deserved the win. but the midfield lost possession a lot or didnt get possession when they should have done. whenever there was a loose ball it seemed to go to watford. carsley fiddled around with the ball and gave it away when he should have cleared. that led to the watford goal. overall it was a pretty even game, and its nice to come out on top in those encounters. i think we have to toughen up the midfield to control the game more. we relied a lot on defence to keep watford out, when they shouldnt have been allowed in to begin with.

shittu's not all that, average championship defender at best. 2-1 to the blues, AJ and Arteta well done blue rob! you got the score and the scorers. dont agree about shittu tho. he's a tough tackler with a touch of flair.

what i guessed it would be! GOAL HOWARD DEFENDERS HIBBERT – LESCOTT - YOBO - VALENTE MID-FIELD ARTETA – CAHILL - NEVILLE – DAVIES FORWARDS BT – AJ WHAT IT WAS. Everton: Howard, Neville, Yobo, Stubbs, Nuno Valente (Lescott 49), Davies (McFadden 73), Carsley, Cahill, Arteta, Johnson, Beattie of course hibbo is sick so a couple of changes had to be made. tim howard loks promising i thought, he dealt competently with a couple of good shots. BUT AJ IS THE MAN! i reckon we got our moneys worth there and if he and BT can both get goals, with contributions from faddie, cahill and arteta we should see a top 6 finiish.

we were lucky, but even a lucky win is 3 points. the penalty was bad decision, the guy clerly headed the ball away so he was penalised for a great piece of defending. good to see aj and bt teaming up and aj getting his first goal, of many i hope. watford muscled us out of midfield and looked dangerous at times. on the other hand arteta and cahill hit the posts. a great start to the season. but weve got some tough games coming up. blackburn and spurs away and then the auld enemy at home.

2 : 1 as i predicted! must do the lottery this week

from Everton site "Everton go into their opening Premiership game of the new season with four players set to miss out through injury. David Weir, Alessandro Pistone, James Vaughan and Tony Hibbert will all sit out the clash with Watford on Saturday, whilst Victor Anichebe and Leon Osman will have to prove their fitness on Saturday morning before being considered for the squad. Osman is suffering from a minor groin strain whilst Anichebe continues to be troubled by a back problem. Both players are expected to come through their fitness tests in the morning. A groin strain is keeping Weir out of the running, whilst Hibbert continues to regain his fitness after overcoming a tropical parasite and Vaughan has only just returned to training after winning his 12 month battle with a knee injury. Everton boss David Moyes revealed: "David Weir will be out of the game (with a groin injury) as will Sandro Pistone but Victor Anichebe and Leon Osman will have fitness tests in the morning but that is about it. "At a push he could probably play but he has lost a lot of weight and he isn't in peak condition at the moment." is the game getting too tough nowadays? are we asking too much of our athletes, not just soccer players?

yeah. theres probably a direct relationship between rising tickets prices and rising profits.

"David Moyes saw his side lose more League games than they won last season (won 14, lost 16). The Toffees were also involved in more single goal games than any other club in the highest echelon. They achieved 1-0 wins 10 times, and lost by the same margin four times. The Toffees hold a 100% Premiership record over Watford, having completed the 'double' over the Hornets in 1999/2000. They also hold a perfect home League record against them of seven victories out of seven, since hostilities began on 15 January 1983." on the plus side they tip us for a top six finish! that makes a change. BBC Sport verdict: Were unable to match the heady heights of 2004/05 last season, but boss David Moyes will want better this term. New signings Andrew Johnson, Joleon Lescott and Tim Howard bolster a squad which already has plenty of talent. If Moyes can find the right blend, a top-six place should be their aim. Key man: Andrew Johnson. His strike partnership with James Beattie is vital to their chances of reaching Europe.

andys got his dog back!!! hooray. but if he doesnt pull his finger out the next time i swipe it i'll flog it to a korean restaraunt!