I was out at a party while this was on. I got back in time for the Liverpool West Brom game. But yeah, what a result. I was talking to an Arsenal fan earlier in the day, and he predicted a loss to the Blues. Goes to show only the most optimistic Arsenal fan would have bet on a win, let alone the scope of it!

Bring on another weekend of Premier League football. I have a feeling that Bellamy is going to be a key player in todays match at Swansea. He'll either win it or get sent off.

hahah Brilliant sig Terri.

Didn't catch the Liverpool game, but I heard they should have won and that the woodworks was their best opposition

The Newcastle game was okay, it would have been more indicative of how the game went with a tie though. Well Everton should have gotten the penalty, so there is that. Even still, Saha was off his game and Newcastle we having trouble getting the ball through the midfield to the forwards. Often seeing Ba drop deeper to get the ball, but with very little impact in these actions. I'd also like to see more of Drenthe, he seemed to be in and out of the game. Highlight hands down is Ryan Taylor's beautiful volley, which is a good contender for a goal of the season.

I opted to not watch much of the [very boring] Chelsea vs Blackburn game so as to watch the highly entertaining BVB vs Wolfsburg match. Wow what a howler, Dortmund showed why the won the are the defending champs. They had the flair, pace, strength, and heart everywhere on the pitch. To many standouts (about 10 of them), but Subotic is a beast and I still wish the USA had convinced to play with our national team. Also Kagawa was in the best form he'd been in for a long time. He was unstoppable, causing havoc left, right, and central and was a key man to about half the goals.

Nah, we didn't deserve to win that game. We played so poorly, it was reminiscent of the Hodgson era of tepid uninspired football. We picked it up in the last 5-10 minutes, and really started to play then, but it was too little, far too late. If we played like that throughout the whole game, there's no telling how many we would have scored. Swansea fully deserved their point, and if it weren't for a blatant miss themselves, they may have taken a fully deserved 3 points. We still have the same serious problem of little to no creativity, especially when Stevie doesn't play.

Bolton really imposed themselves today. Stomping Stoke into submission. I like Bolton and I hope that they can take this win and turn it into getting positive results in the games ahead because they need them.

Barca let Madrid gain a 3pt advantage, not that it means much right now. Though Madrid have to be weary about losing any games. They already lost one, where as Barca haven't lost any (only tied). A few more losses then the other team can come back and really bite a team in the ass, come end of the season.

Yeah man, where the hell did Bolton pull that one from? I put in a couple of Stoke players in my fantasy team haha, that backfired a little!

I don't follow the Primera Liga much, its hard to keep track of everything in football. I still expect Barca to win the title at a canter though.

Finally, today will have the first highlight from this Bundesliga season: Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund. With Schweinsteiger missing, there is certainly the possibility for Dortmund to pull off a victory, but I'm primarily expecting a heck of a match... at home, Munich were phenomenal so far (except for the first game against the other Borussia team), but I always felt the opponents had too much respect. So this may be their first real challenge.

I haven't followed the Bundesliga at all this year, but I'm still under the impression Bayern are by far the best team in Germany.

All eyes are on Stamford Bridge this weekend. This is the sort of game Liverpool will win going by form this season. Chelsea certainly aren't the team of 2 or 3 years back, and are very beatable. With Suarez looking somewhat likely to be missing up to 6 games after this one, due to what certainly appears to be dubious circumstances at best, I would back him to bag a few goals, he's certainly deserved it.

Three wins in a row against Munich say something different nah, it was a very close one, Bayern had more ball possession, Dortmund was strong in defense and used one of their very few chances. Other teams won't be willing to invest so much energy into their match against Bayern, so they'll probably win the championship anyway, but it's good to see that they still are beatable, also at home, and that they aren't miles ahead yet.

2-1! Great result! Not sure how it works, but we beat The Arse, and Chelsea, and draw and lose to teams to like Stoke, Norwich and Swansea. Go figure.

Sounds like not too many people follow American auto racing around here, but for those who watched today's season finale- MAN that was about as intense as an auto race can get. Top two championship contenders finish 1-2, Stewart wins the championship points in a tiebreaker by number of wins. Even aside from all that, five wins in ten races is a remarkable accomplishment in and of itself.

Stoke away is generally a very tough fixture. Not many teams enjoy visiting their ground. The way they play is very difficult to break down when you're the away side. We were very unfortunate in that game as they had only one shot on target (the penalty), whereas we created a plethora of chances. Finishing has been our problem but, hopefully, yesterday might have put that problem to bed. Excellent result. Until recently we haven't won at the Bridge for around 13 years, or something ridiculous. It's nice to have that hoodoo off our backs.

I was also very pleased to see Torres and Miereles shoot widely over the bar and waste some precious seconds.

Playing soccer thanksgiving morning is the best. I got my team's offense playing like Barca

(Don't feel like talking about the games now though. )

Weird that no one has mentioned the death of the Welsh football legend and the coach of wales Garry Speed.
He committed suicide Sunday morning by hanging himself on his room. The police found him dead at 07:10 am.
Fucking disturbing to see this guy finnishing his life this way since he had 2 sweet children and a great wife. Not to mention the great 3 consecutive wins in Euro 2012 qualifiers and a friendly game.
Everything seemed to be perfect and then the blow came up suddenly.
Rest in peace.

Yes, rest in peace Gary Speed. I couldn't believe the news when I heard it.

R.I.P.

I sort of just sat there staring at my screen for a minute when the headline popped up. He was on TV the day before and Wales have been doing well recently.

Was very happy to see B.C. beat Winnipeg in the Grey Cup. Spent almost the whole evening watching that in my university's cafeteria instead of doing the essay I should have been doing.

Rest in Peace Gary Speed.

How incredible was that game between Man City and Liverpool? And why can't Liverpool play the way they did there every week? The last quarter of that game we tore City apart, and if it wasn't for a world class performance by Joe Hart, we would have torn them apart. Easily the best we have played in quite some time.

Yea the game was great! Liverpool did very well. But did you see the body language of Toure and Barry? During those last 30min they were completely spent and did absolutely no pressuring in the midfield (against Adam for the most part). They were perfectly content containing. You mentioned Hart, but he actually had some very piss poor distribution. The only long balls that got to his team mates were when either Dzeko or Ballotelli came in (still only a few each though). Also interesting note: Liverpool have yet to score off a cross this season and have only scored off one corner. That needs to change and the more they play Carroll the more it will.

Yeah, that stat doesn't surprise me. We never seem to threaten from set pieces. We only remotely look dangerous when Carroll comes into play. I have faith in Carroll though, and have no doubt that in time he will come to be a great striker for us. He might make in roads into that tonight, with the game against Chelsea in the cup. I expect him to start alongside Bellamy tonight.

Hart's distribution may have been average, but he was still the only reason that City got a point in that game at all. I really felt Carroll should have come on earlier, he looked so dangerous when he came on.

FOOTBALL: Ripper McNabb has been waived by the Vikings and is interested in playing for Chicago. While it would be cool for him to finish out his career in his home town and all, and yeah Cutler is likely done for the year, but I've been saying for years that Hanie needs a shot because he's always impressed me the few times he's played. Granted he made me look stupid by choking so hard last week, but I'm giving him some leeway for his first start jitters. Either way, this will be interesting, I have no damn idea where he will show up, but I'm sure it won't be Houston.

HOCKEY: Foul mouthed sphere gut Boudreau is now coaching Anaheim. I have no clue how this works out, it's like Washington in the sense they have a beastly top line but no D, but the overall talent isn't as high as the Caps.

EDIT: And oh yeah, Boston? Chill out. 13-0-1 in November? Fucking insanity.

Yeah, Boston's not fucking around. All in all, I'm loving the hockey this year. Eastern Conference is tight. My Sens are looking promising for the future... Rebuilds: who would have thought they could be this fun?

If I were Chicago I wouldn't touch McNabb with a ten foot clown pole. He's looked horrible in his last two stints with the Vikings and Redskins. I haven't seen Hanie play much being a Texans fan, but he did look pretty good at times in the NFC Championship game last year.

Lucas out for the season. Fuck that sucks. He's been our best player for the last 2 years. I think Spearing will come into replace him, but I'm not sure he's the answer. I've never really rated him, though, to be fair, he's had to contend for one position with Mascherano and Lucas for his entire career.

Poor McNabb...

Fuckin' right! I think we still need to tighten up in terms of being able to clear the puck out of our zone in tight situations, but I'm very much satisfied with the way we've played lately. We just signed Krejci for another three years today, too!

Pfffffffffffff!

Yeah, Boston's having a spectacular reason after their cup last year, why? because they managed to win it without a superstar team which all the good players are quitting after because they want a better salary (Chicago is a good example).

Chicago was just bad luck because we had great players in rookie contracts (Toews, Kane, Niemi, Buff) and great players with salaries smaller than those of equally skilled players across the league (Keith, Seabs, Sharpie) and that blurry, overpaid bastard, Brian Campbell. Cup or no, we were boned that offseason. I'm surprised we kept as many guys as we did.

And fuck I forgot about Hossa and his monster deal. Jeez the team probably couldn't afford a snickers bar.

I don't agree with this. I feel like Anaheim has just as much talent. Are they playing like it? No, not right now. Do they have the talent? Yes.


Having said that, I'm pleased with the Flyers and Giroux is having the breakout year that I knew he would.

That is a big loss. Lucas has very much come into his own and his work rate and positive productivity on and off the ball shouldn't be besmirched. I don't know if Liverpool have someone to step up to the challenge. Spearing or maybe hold out until January and bring in a player or two.

ahh, Man U losing to C. Palace. Maybe they were afraid of facing City more then they need to this season.

I watched that Palace game, and they fully deserved their win. Good on them!

Liverpool have Henderson and Spearing that can both do it, but yeah, I'm not sure they are long term solutions. We'll probably bring someone in if they can't fill Lucas' boots. I've also heard rumours that Dan Agger may step in and do it, with Coates coming in to replace his position at centre half. Coates was immense against Torres and Chelsea midweek, and fully deserves a start.

Hmmm It'll be tough, but it will be interesting to see just how they adjust while trying to fix their lack of goal scoring at the same time. Not from lack of trying though (I'm pretty sure Suarez has by in large the most amount of shots of any player this season). I don't think I've seen Coates play (and I didn't really read up on the mid week games.. whatever), but I'll take your word for it. Of course I am well aware of his Copa exploits, so it'd be good to see him getting more regular play time.

Spearing will probably take up Lucas' role, for now at least. I think we may loan someone in January to fill that position as Spearing, for all his endeavor, isn't the best player in the world. He does a job but he's no Lucas; probably the most improved footballer in the Premiership. We've also recalled Jon-Jo Shelvey from his loan spell at Blackpool to make up the numbers in midfield. He was pivotal to Blackpool so maybe he may get some minutes for us finally. 10 appearances, 6 goals and 3 assists. I don't fancy any of our defenders as a DM. No thanks! No need to break up a good partnership in defense when Spearing can fill that role. Are we missing Poulsen?

No surprise that Liverpool drew City in the semis. United, had they gone through, would have gotten the easy draw ... AGAIN. Providing we go through, which I think we're capable of doing, then I think we've got a great chance at winning a trophy. Hopefully it'll be Palace who go through as I know someone who'd be able to get me tickets to the game at Wembley.

Big day of football tomorrow; starting with Newcastle vs Chelsea. That should be a cracker. I fancy Newcastle to nick someone, perhaps all three points as Chelsea have been so, so poor. Torres who?

It's fair to say whoever wins out of City and Liverpool will win the league cup, even City would put out their best team for that final.

I do fancy Newcastle to get something off of Chelsea also. I think their manager is very good, but he has inherited what is an ageing side, with atleast half the first team today being 30 or older. Age is clearly catching up with them. The appearance of Torres, who definitely does not fit in to that team, has further unbalanced the team. I wouldn't be surprised to see him let go at the end of the season, and he'd have no shortage of takers either.

There's a few other interesting fixtures this weekend also. Aston Villa are certainly capable of picking up points off of a rather poorly performing Man United side. Fulham may fancy themselves a point off of Liverpool also. I might even catch the QPR West Brom fixture also. QPR are interesting, because you never quite know if the team that got hammered by Bolton, or the team that admirably defeated Chelsea will turn up.

I'm not quite as confident as you. Liverpool make it their personal mission to lose to underdogs, though usually not in semis or finals (bar Wimbledon). I think City will field a strong team in the semis. It's a chance to win a competition and, by the looks of it, England's Barcelona are going out of the Champions League at the first hurdle.

There's a website doing the rounds counting down the days until AVB gets the sack. Chelsea are a plastic club, with plastic fans. Instant glory and gratification is all that counts to them, which means AVB won't get a chance to move players on, bring in his own one's and stamp his authority on this Chelsea side.

The game has been entertaining so far. Newcastle's defense looked shaky, at best, before Coloccini went off. Sturridge, who looks fantastic, should have had a hat-trick but Krul has also been superb. I'm hoping for a draw in this game. If Torres did move on, I'd expect he'd go back to Spain.

I didn't get to see the game, but its certainly uncharacteristic of Newcastle's defence to be shaky. We know they aren't quite of the same quality the other teams occupying the top places around them are, and this is only to be expected.

The thing with Chelsea is that ever since Mourinho came in, and delivered "instant" glory, despite most of that team being inherited from Ranieri. Now everyone is supposed to deliver just like he did. Even a World Cup winning coach was sacked because he couldn't deliver, and they fired Grant for losing on penalties in a Champions League final.

The Newcastle vs Chelsea game wasn't as bad as the score line might indicate. Chelsea had to work for it. The defense didn't look that bad before Collocini came off. It was just because of the absence of Jonas who provides constant support for Ryan Taylor not being there (ie: Sturridge's two free runs on that right side). But when Perch came on at Center back, it certainly only got worse, specifically with Drogba's goal. However David Luiz had a good reason to get sent off, but wasn't. Cabaye completely neutralized Lampard, but Guthrie didn't really do much. Neither picking up Ramires or Mata. Both were given tons of room, especially Mata in behind them, an area where injured Tiote would normally patrol. On a side note Romeu played pretty well and I'd like to see him develop more (very Lucas Leiva styled).

Anyone see the post match interview with Steven Kean? He was so happy about the 4-1 (Yakuba just pissing off Evertonians ever more hahah) thrashing. I hope he proves the fans wrong and pulls together an alright season.

Had I not had a deluded friend who supports Newcastle, I might have wanted them to do better. He's insistent Newcastle can finish in the top 4 (not a chance in hell). It's very annoying because, if you try to reason with him, he'll just reply with, "Where are Liverpool in the table?", as if that proves his point. They picked up 1 solitary point from 3 tough fixtures (City, United and Chelsea). They've also lost Steven Taylor for the season (the man is made of glass these days). I'm expecting them to fall away now. I'd say 7th is their best bet this season, although I can foresee Everton improving, as they always do, to take 7th.

Anyone catch the FA Cup draw? City and United to meet again! I'm surprised United didn't get the easy draw. Southend or Oldham at home awaits Liverpool. Good draw for us. City have a tough two months coming up, so hopefully we can catch them at the right time and beat them in the semis of the League Cup. Big game later tonight against Fulham. I'm predicting a 2-0 win to Liverpool.

The only reason I am rooting for Green Bay to go completely undefeated this season is to put an end to the annual champaign cracking ceremony held by that select group of old douchebags from the '72 Dolphins. Still a long way to go but in Aaron I trust.

I dig the Packers. One of the least "corporate" teams in the NFL due to the ownership structure being public shares vs. one greedy bastard. With that said I dig the 49ers more and it is nice to see them turn it around this season. Dont think they'll have enough to knock off Green Bay honestly.

Pretty disgusted with college football right now. I dont usually give a crap about some team from Oklahoma, but I honestly believe Oklahoma State got shafted royally by being barred from the national championship game. They gave it to Alabama, wtf, they already lost to LSU once and now they get to play them again for the championship?? Fucking ridiculous.