Stevie

Speaking of Irish 'pundits', I thought Niall Quinn used to be a really good pundit. He didn't have any nasty snipes at anyone, and was pretty honest and interesting. Shame he went to Sunderland.

Was that some sort of request?

If the stories that have started to emanate from the papers are true, then I can't see Stevie being charged with anything. If the people he's been with have taken things too far then that's down to them. Maybe the drink made them (and the DJ) do what they did rather than someone just stepping in and having a quiet word. If this would have been anybody else who wasn't in the public eye then I doubt they would have been charged. I can imagine he's feeling quite emotionally shaken up and confused how it's all come about.

On the bright side, he can only get better.

Fair play to the guy. He's improved significantly over the past few weeks, so it looks like his hard work is paying off.

Dolby sounds good though.

Well when Fergie stops laughing and thinking he's got one over on us, maybe the penny will drop what such a t*** Pako is for even contemplating going to join them. I certainly wouldn't trust somebody like that.

I think it would be quite brave of the scum to employ Pako seeing as he was Rafa's best mate. It's not like friendships can't be mended.

Once the rumours start you never know. The press may get to hear about it and run with a story. They can't get enough of us at the moment!

Obviously this won't happen, but we could start by boycotting our home games. Not only would it hit them hard financially (and give them a possible shortfall in gate receipts they were expecting), but it would also show everybody what we think, and show them that actions speak louder than words.

Maybe you would be better supporting Real Mardrid? There's was enough talent on the pitch to get the points today - you can't just point the finger at Rafa. In the real world, your boss doesn't get sacked because you've had an average day.

I remember seeing an interview with him a while ago and he said that was his biggest regret in football.

Why didn't he go to Madrid instead of coming here when he left Valencia? Not an awful lot seems to have changed at Madrid whilst he's been with us - it still seems a circus there from the ground up. Coaches never seem to be appreciated there and when things go wrong it's always their fault and they are soon shown the salida. Thankfully their hierarchy seem oblivious for this trend. As for it being inevitable that Rafa will one day manage Madrid, maybe he is wise enough to understand that dreams don't always turn out as they wish, and that some dreams really should stay as a fictional fantasy.

If we bunged the FA a few quid do you think they could push it through a bit quicker?!

That can't be right. It's usually one of our players being linked with the opposition before a big game.

Ah, but are those statistics accurate?

Apart from the typo...

I think it's only fair that Gerrard now gets to play in his most comfortable position i.e. in the centre. He's seems quite out of sorts by his own standards, and playing him out of position seems to only exasperate the problem. He looks like he could do with people getting behind him rather than on his back. He's not the only player playing below par.

That'll be daylight Ribery if that deal goes through.

As a matter of interest, what other teams use zonal marking?

But you can't really expect the players to be able to play in all games though? I think the real problem is we just don't have the quality and depth in the squad. In most cases we can't just bring a like-for-like player in and expect the same sort of quality. I'm sure Rafa is doing his best, but it all takes time if you don't have a infinite supply of funds.

And that's just with his hair. He makes Parry look likes he goes to Toni and Guy.

That's what I thought. If the ref and linesman had been doing a proper job in the first place, none of the persuing acts would have happened.

I'm pretty sure it was 2 yellows he received.

It's quite sad to see, but you just seem to see it so much in the modern game. I think the days are gone when players will grin and bear it to show how hard they are.