Starvinho

The thing with Spurs is they are always gonna score goals, so if United (we) put in one of our typical away performances from this season, they very well could beat us, and beat us well. I fully expect a 4-5-1 formation on Sunday, giving Spurs the respect they deserve. Rooney up front on his own, Nani and Giggs on the flanks supporting him, and Carrick, Fletcher and Anderson in the middle of the park. Rafael, Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra at the back, and hopefully Van der Sar in the net, aslong as he's recovered from the virus he was suffering from last week.

I'd take a draw from the game, and thats what I think it will be. I'm going for 2-2. As for the other games this weekend here are my predictions;

Saturday

Chelsea 3-1 Blackburn

Man City 4-0 Wolves

Stoke 1-1 Bolton

West Brom 0-2 Blackpool

West Ham 1-2 Arsenal

Wigan 1-0 Fulham

Sunday

Birmingham 1-0 Aston Villa

Sunderland 1-0 Newcastle

Liverpool 2-3 Everton

Tottenham 2-2 Man Utd

Did you's put a bid in? I thought it was just rumoured interest. I can see either Gudjohnson or Tuncay possibly moving or wanting to with Ba coming in.

I think Tuncay already has set his sights away from Stoke, this was in the news yesterday;

Stoke City attacker Tuncay is using Facebook to get himself a move away.

He has helped put himself in the shop window by posting a video of his top 10 goals – on Facebook.

The 29-year-old is desperate to quit the Britannia Stadium after starting only three Premier League games this season.

And I think Gudjohnsen is in a similar boat as he has only made 5 appearences for Stoke since signing at the end of August, I can't imagine he's happy especially with him coming to the end of his career, he's obviously gonna want to be playing as much as possible.

Does anyone do the goals galore accumaltor aswell, I usually do four games every Saturday, and £20 will usually bring you back £200. I think I've won about 75% of times I've bet this season. I usually avoid Premier League games and stick to the Football League games, and some of my favourtie teams to pick are Doncaster, Pompey, Dag & Red, Charlton, Crewe and Accrington.

QPR away at Burnley at 23/10. Why not touch Leeds/Hartlepool, I know the odds ain't brilliants, but both home fixtures at Scunthorpe/Dag & Red respectively, seem like bankers to me.

I haven't played iSnooker in years. But i think we can do a couple of frames just for fun.

Well I'm in Guest Lobby1 now if you fancy a game, guest2038. If not just message me sometime and sure we can sort something out.

Was wondering if anyone plays? Maybe we could play a few games sometime, I only play the guest game at the moment because of money issues and generally becoming frustrated with the members game mid-way through last year.

For those who don't know, iSnooker is probably the best online snooker game out there. You can download from The Snooker Club and play the guest game for free. Also a free 10-day trial is available for first downloaders. The membership game comes at a price, $44/£29 a year, but paying that you get more versions of snooker to play, tournaments to enter (sometimes for money) and you retain your own personal stats (highest break, average break, games won/lost, etc).

The game can be quite addictive but can be equally frustrating depending how you are playing a certain day or who you are playing. It is all good fun though! So if anyone plays the game, let me know and we'll arrange a game some time. If you're interested in snooker I recommend to download and have a play around with it, I'm sure you'll be impressed.

Todays deals according to BBC;

Andy Cook [Carlisle - Barrow] Free

Ritchie De Laet [Man Utd - Portsmouth] Loan

Jermaine Easter [MK Dons - Crystal Palace] Undisclosed

Corry Evans [Man Utd - Hull City] Loan

Abdisalam Ibrahim [Manchester City - Scunthorpe United] Undisclosed

Oli Johnson [Norwich - Yeovil] Loan

Alan Judge [blackburn - Notts County] Undisclosed

Francis Laurent [AFC Compiegne - Northampton] Free

George McCartney [sunderland - Leeds] Loan

Lubo Michalik [Leeds Utd - Carlisle Utd] Free

Paul Reid [Colchester - Scunthorpe] Undisclosed

Theo Robinson [Huddersfield - Millwall] Undisclosed

Roque Santa Cruz [Manchester City - Blackburn Rovers] Loan

Christian Smith [Wrexham - Barrow] Loan

Marc Tierney [Colchester - Norwich] Undisclosed

Peter Vincenti [stevenage - Aldershot] Undisclosed

Callum Wilson [Coventry - Kettering] Loan

Also BBC are claiming Birmingham have had a £6million bid for Robbie Keane accepted. Be an excellent signing for them. Also Everton have accepted an offer from an unnamed team for Steven Pienaar.

Australia beat England by 4 runs in the second Twenty-20 at Melbourne. Australia batted first for 147-7 and England replied with 143-6, needing 6 off the last ball to win. Well played Australia, good bowling and fielding today, deserved to win.

The first ODI is on the 16th in Melbourne.

Man United are 13/8 to beat Tottenham, astoundingly good odds for a United win. 12/5 for a draw though which I think is the better bet, put in an accumaltor with wins for Blackpool (18/5), Arsenal (8/11), Leeds (8/13) and Hartlepool (11/13). £10 would bring you in £81, so decent bet

The player was offside, the goalie didn't get the ball, ended up tackling the player, who was the last man back.. offside or not.

Red card any day.

Never a red in a million years. Only way it could have been a red is if they keeper committed violet conducted (eg. kicking or punching another player), but that was only a professional foul on a player who was miles offside, so the offside takes precedent as that was the first offence being made.

I'm rooting for Jordan in this, basically just for namesake reasons Jordan drew their opening game 1-1 against Japan, however it took a last minute equaliser from Japan to deny Jordan the three points and also the Unofficial Football World Champions title too. A 1-0 win yesterday against Saudi Arabia puts them in a good position to qualify from their group. Come On Jordan!!

Liverpool keen on Shaun Wright-Phillips, according to the morning papers. Decent signing if you ask me, obviously he's not the player he was, but he's a good wide player, something I reckon Liverpool need.

EDIT: Yeah, Sunday looks awesome. Three games I'm genuinely really interested in.

Newcastle vs Sunderland are on aswell at 12, but not on Sky, gutted they couldn't fit that one in too, that's always one of the better fixtures on the season. Can't complain with the three that are on though

So anyways I'm sick of this Liverpool debate now. Who's looking forward to Sunday? Three games in a row

Birmingham v Aston Villa, 12:00

Liverpool v Everton, 14:05

Tottenham v Man Utd, 16:10

Sunday's sorted then

I seem to remember saying it was Benetiz's fault because of the signings he had made in recent years and players he let go, I also made by point that the players weren't playing for Hodgson and were disheartened with his tactics and style of play. Hodgson never had a fair chance at getting his own players because of the lack of money before the takeover, but Benitez had similar problems too.

Obviously, being an outsider I can't know and understand the full details.

On the outside looking in though, it looks much like the college football coaching situation we see here all the time. Coach A at "Tradition Stacked U" had won in the past but was clearly falling behind the curve despite having plenty of talent to perform on the field. The players essentially quit on things and just go through the motions. Coach B comes in because he had had done a good job of building squads at lower levels and shown what he can do in building a little bit lesser squad at the top level. However, because he's now at "Tradition Stacked U" and after a season of underperforming he's shown the door because he wasn't the right man for the job. He's sold down the river despite the fact that he never had the chance to get his own squad together, and had to try and get already non-motivated players to now try and play for him.

That's pretty much what I was saying.

It's just my opinion thats all, I believed that it Hodgson was given the time and money, he'd build his own squad of his players and Liverpool would have been back up there again. Takes time though.

Right, because Hodgson deserves no blame even though he's done much worse than Rafa ever did. It's all down to Benitez's European-calibre squad.

Hodgson does deserve alot of the blame yes, because his management skills were not good enough to get the players playing for him. But some of the blame has to go on Benetiz too for the squad he had assembled. Also blame goes on Hicks and Gilette who got the club so much in to debt that neither Benetiz or Hodgson could buy better players. It's taken alot of different people to put Liverpool where they are, and it's gonna take alot of people to get them out, I just don't agree that sacking the manager was one of those things.

Goalkeepers

o 1 Paul Robinson

o 29 Danny Milosevic

Defenders

o Didier Domi

o Jose Vitor Roque Junior

o 2 Gary Kelly

o 3 Ian Harte

o 5 Lucas Radebe

o 6 Zoumana Camara

o 22 Michael Duberry

o 34 Frazer Richardson

o 36 Matthew Kilgallon

Midfielders

o Jermaine Pennant

o Salomon Olembe

o 4 Jody Morris

o 7 Nick Barmby

o 14 Stephen McPhail

o 16 Jason Wilcox

o 19 Eirik Bakke

o 20 Seth Johnson

o 21 Dominic Matteo

o 23 David Batty

o 28 Jamie McMaster

o 38 James Milner

Forwards

o Lamine Sakho

o Aaron Lennon

o Cyril Chapuis

o 8 Michael Bridges

o 9 Mark Viduka

o 17 Alan Smith

o 39 Simon Johnson

Pretty decent squad if you ask me. Granted Liverpool have a World Class quartet (Joe Cole was a bad signing), but the players in that Leeds squad I could pick 4 or 5 who would get into the Liverpool team right now.

Preston North End have completed the double loan signing of Blackburn Rovers midfielder Amine Linganzi and Watford striker Nathan Ellington until the end of the season.

Huddersfield midfielder Graham Carey has returned to Celtic after the two sides failed to agree a possible loan extension.

Swansea have confirmed that Spanish midfielder Jordi Lopez has left the club by mutual consent.

If Blackpool get Ramsey on loan that would be ace for them, really do think Blackpool will get a top 10 finish this season.

Hehehehe. I'm glad Liverpool lost. Not just because I don't like Liverpool, but because it shows that bringing in a past "talisman" doesn't paper over the gaping cracks in the squad. It's like Newcastle all over again.

I think everyone, apart from Liverpool fans, are thinking the same. After the way Liverpool fans turned against Hodgson, I really hope Liverpool do worse under Daglish, even maybe getting relegated. Then the fans will have no-one to blame but themselves.

If either of you had watched the last four Liverpool games, you might get that while Liverpool lost last night and on Sunday. The Liverpool that showed up in those games was VASTLY different from the one that showed up to play in Roy Hodgson's last two games.

It doesn't matter if you lose playing defensive tactics or attacking tactics, the fact of the matter is the players are playing with no heart. Bad signings, letting Alonso and Mascherano go and a certain Señor Benitez have put Liverpool where they are at the moment. It certainly has nothing to do with Roy Hodgson, I feel sorry for the guy, he comes in with his own ideas and tactics and the players won't play for him, because they think they should be playing a different way. But I'm sorry, he's the gaffer so you play how he wants, I'd like see anyone have a similar sort of attitude at Manchester United, Fergie would bloody eat 'em for breakfast!

Apart from the obvious; Reina, Carragher, Gerrard and Torres, Liverpool need a whole new squad. 12-15 new signings and some blooded youngsters, and then maybe we'll see them back at the top of the league. 'King' Kenny may have them playing football that is a little easier on the eye, but when the players hearts ain't in, it doesn't mean a damn thing. I honestly believe that a big club is gonna get relegated this season, and if Liverpool don't make some decent signings in this window, I'm afraid it will be them. Put it one way, when Leeds got relegated a few years back, they had a hell of a lot better team than Liverpool have now.

I suppose we have more cover in that position now than a few years back when he was on the verge of leaving, before Fergie offered him want he wanted in his new contract. I really like the look of Smalling, I think he could be a direct replacement for Rio for club and eventually for country.

Early rumours for today;

A quick glance through the tabloids for some transfer stories has The Sun claiming West Ham United are lining up a swoop for Newcastle United defender Sol Campbell.

Reports in Spain on Wednesday stated Real Madrid remain keen to sign Emmanuel Adebayor, but the Daily Star claims there could be competition from Fulham and former club Monaco for the Manchester City striker.

After failing to persuade Everton to sell Phil Neville, Tottenham Hotspur are now turning their attention to Manchester United defender Wes Brown, according to the Daily Mirror. Brown is out of the picture at Old Trafford and has also been linked with Everton, Sunderland, Newcastle, Birmingham and Blackburn.

Aston Villa have dismissed Peterborough United's claims that the club have seen a bid for goalkeeper Joe Lewis turned down. Peterborough had stated on Wednesday that an 'insulting' offer had been rejected.

Skysports.com understands Wolves are in talks with captain Karl Henry over a new deal at Molineux. Henry is set to be offered a three-year extension as Wolves look to secure the midfielder's long-term future.

Portsmouth boss Steve Cotterill has confirmed Wolves utility man Greg Halford has extended his loan at Fratton Park until the end of the season. Cotterill is also hoping to sign another player on loan before Saturday's game against Nottingham Forest.

Blackburn Rovers striker Jason Roberts could be involved in a transfer tug of war this month amid reports he is wanted by former club Wigan Athletic and Queens Park Rangers, who are looking at the forward as a replacement for the injured Jamie Mackie.

Derby County manager Nigel Clough is hoping to sign Notts County midfielder Ben Davies during the January transfer window. Talks are ongoing regarding a potential £250,000 deal for Davies.

By the looks of it Wes Brown is on his way, gutted really because he's been a good servant for United over the years.

Hehehehe. I'm glad Liverpool lost. Not just because I don't like Liverpool, but because it shows that bringing in a past "talisman" doesn't paper over the gaping cracks in the squad. It's like Newcastle all over again.

I think everyone, apart from Liverpool fans, are thinking the same. After the way Liverpool fans turned against Hodgson, I really hope Liverpool do worse under Daglish, even maybe getting relegated. Then the fans will have no-one to blame but themselves.

Pienaar now likely to move to Spurs...apparently. For £2mil. Seems cheap. Can't see him being more than cover for Lennon though.

It's only £2million because Pienaar only has 6 months left on his contract, so Everton would rather get a couple million for him now rather than nothing in the Summer. If Pienaar would have sealed a transfer last January he probably would have been in the £10million range, but after a poor World Cup and poor showing this season, his valuation around Europe has dramatically dropped.