woody365

I've been in Sydney for 9 years and for the past 5 years have watched matches at The Aurora in Surry Hills. There's rarely more than 15 reds in there and maybe 20-30 fans in all for a big game, but they're a friendly bunch and 99/100 the Liverpool game will be on if available.

Harry Kewell going to Roma - just announced on the Australian Footy Show.

I kinda like it.

I also thought his willingness to thread passes showed great confidence and he was happier than a lot of our more established players to play the ball forwards. Excellent debut.

We can talk all we like about Mascherano getting sent off, Gerrard going missing or Reina having a couple of brain explosions, but the one thing that depressed me most was seeing who Ferguson was able to bring off the bench in comparison to Rafa's options. There's still a fair gulf between the two squads and until that recedes, we're unlikely to close the gap.

Simply not true. Masch was outstanding out there for large parts of the game.

You missed this little nugget a little later in the thread from your reliable Manc mate, Sauxees Moi Hui: "I hardly ever watch Zenit, so I don't really know. I've seen him play maybe a handful of times, but I can't recall anything concrete about his performances."

I only get to one match a year thanks to living in Oz. Harry had a promising first half but was utter gash in the second, with almost nothing he tried coming off. Still, at least he did keep trying. Oh, and it was an absolute pleasure to watch Torres in the flesh .

He'll need some broad shoulders to bear the weight of expectation.

It's nicked from the end of Bascombe's Bellamy "6 million quid bid" exclusive.

I've always been fairly ambivalent about England in major tournaments, but when I see how much it obviously means to Stevie, Carra and Crouchy, I find myself really wanting England to do well.

Seems reserve team players are the new baggage handlers . Read the first post in the thread.

Was just about to mention 'El Macca.' By far my favourite book by an ex-red. Superbly written compared to a lot of football related books and has an impressive cast of galacticos and famous footballing folk who seem happy to add to the content. Also thought 'A Season on the Brink' was decent for a similar reason. Thought Robbie's book was s***, unfortunately. Quite enjoyed Collymore's as it's an interesting insight into his psyche. Got Tomkins' book on the shelf still to read.

Also worth mentioning our defensive record. We have the best home record and second best away record. A little more attacking ability and intent and we should be right up there.

D'oh. My fault, I forgot Australia put on hold changing our clocks for the sake of a worldwide TV audience being able to watch lawn bowns and table-tennis at sociable hours .