TheGreatJ

Gylfi Sigurdsson's free kick vs. Wigan. Make Al-Habsi look a mug.

Hey...

Tchoyi says hello. Is the game worth getting? I barely played FM 2011 as it broke so will it be difficult to adjust to from FM 2010?

Sick of bias officials. Needs to be stopped out of the game - either that or they'll plain fucking stupid. Gave non-existant fouls, and De Gea handled across the by-line, to which the prick of a linesman (who was terrible, ref was a bit shady but didn't do a whole lot wrong apart from booking Cox for a dive which was a blatant foul) looked at the ref, then at Vidic, before giving it as a goal kick. Twat. Never the less, I wouldn't say it was an unfair result. A draw was probably fairer, but at the end of the day, some of United's play was Barcelona-esque, so I can't say a 2-1 where we showed some metal was un-just, despite those cunts of officials once a -fuckin-gain - we'd have beaten them in January had it not been for awful reffing so it was hard to see it again. Rooney's touch for the first goal was sensational, everybody sat with my just kind of gasped. Then the stupid inbred fuck of a United fan celebrated, only to get clipped round the back of his head and shoved into the aisle by a few of us where he was kicked out by a steward. Hate people sitting in home fans stands when they're opposition fans. I will say though, everybody is blaming De Gea, but he kept us out once or twice today. Tchoyi's cross shot which he palmed away from the goal when most keepers would've put it over was good keeping, seeing as United win in the hot seat and that was a quick break from us with just a few in support, so there wasn't lots of danger, and his save from Scharner took some fast hands, though a striker and better finisher would've probably put it away. Today though, we missed Odemwingie. He is multi-dimensional, the perfect poor-man's Thiery Henry. His movement, flair, pace and eye for goal would've come in handy today. Somen Tchoyi is highly rated by a few people, just because he grabbed some goals last year, but he isn't as strong as he should be, falls over his own feet and seems scared to release the ball or shoot. James Morrison was the weak link today, like so many times last season - Dorrans is fully fit so should've started. Dorrans is a game-changer, and it probably would've been a different result had he come on. His vision, aggression, passing and set-pieces are handy against teams like United, and I remember he split there defence right open on New Year's Day with a half-volley, outside of the boot pass which set up a great chance for somebody, think it was Odemwingie. Tamas looked un-steady again and we should really try and get Ridgewell in to play next to Olsson, as Tamas kind of un-nerved the defence and apparently went out on the piss with Adrian Mutu after Romania's game in the week, leading to him being banned for life, which is not good to hear. Maybe Pablo could hack it though :/ And Brunt was sub-standard again, needs to be removed as captain and make an effort to get more involved in the game. Overall, I've seen enough from us today to know we'll be good this season. No fear of relegation for me. Hodgson won't let us slip too much out of form if we do, he's too good a manager. Just a decent centre back is needed and we can build on 11th place from last year, especially with Long looking the perfect partner for Peter Odemwingie.

Shane Long! Shane Long! Shane Long! Bah gawd, Shane Long! Record transfer of 6 million? He better be worth it if he does actually sign.

I don't think United even need Sneijder aswell - well, in fact, most of the non-United fans know they don't need him. He'll just complicate things in the midfield with Rooney dropping deep aswell. They need to replace Hargreaves more in my opinion. Yeah, he hasn't played for them in any sort of significant role for how long, but now he's gone, they could do with a proper holding midfielder, just a real stopper to relieve Carrick and maybe Fletcher of defensive duties. I know Phil Jones can play that role, but I can't see him being a CDM at United permanently - after all, he and Smalling are ready-made replacements for Terry and Ferdinand at International level. Heck, in my opinion, they could even do with replacing John O'Shea more than bloody Paul Scholes with Sneijder, because frankly, in the last few seasons, Scholes didn't do anything of real significance and importance for the United side. If the United defensive crisis inevitably strikes again, and 2/3/4 of Vidic, Ferdinand, Rafael, Fabio, Evra, Smalling, Evans and and Jones get injured or suspended or fail to show up for a drugs test or whatever, then who is going to be there? Evans is too 'meh' for United, and Rafael or Fabio playing centre back is a LOL idea, so they won't really have suffiscient back-up in my opinion. Just my opinion on the whole Sneijder saga. Would be an expensive headache.

Marcus Bents available! SOMEBODY TELL WOY, DAMMIT!

As the days draw closer to our opening-day game vs. Man United, taking into account Odemwingie picked up an ankle injury at some point in pre-season and won't be fit for Sunday's pre-season game vs. Parma (which automatically makes me worry he won't be 100% for United), I'm starting to be weary of the fact we haven't spent any money this summer, bar £1m for Ben Foster on loan, and we really need a striker and another bloody centre back. I'd just go for Upson right now to be honest, there aren't many better options, in all honesty. Not any that we could afford, anyway. And as for a striker, fuck AVB for wanting to give Sturridge a chance. And fuck Fergie for doing the same for Welbeck. And fuck Jon Dahl Tomasson for being a crock and retiring, because I thought he would be a cheap option, slowing down a little but a superb finisher, lethal anticipation with a classy touch, making him a fantastic option for a poacher. I thought he was still playing for god sake! >_< In other news, it looks like Martin Fulop will sign on as back-up goalie for less than half a million, so its not all bad

Goodwillie was an FM god for me with Albion, hopefully he does not recreate that form with Blackburn...

Samba would be good for Spurs, but I don't see why you need him that badly. I suppose you are now one defender light after Woodgate left, but I don't see why you need to fork out on Samba and exchange another player (if its a centre back, its kind of pointless because you're losing and then gaining one). You've got Dawson, Gallas, King, Bassong and Kaboul, and perhaps you could do with a cheap but effective centre back who can provide cover for a few games if there is injuries. I think surely forking out upwards of 5 million for Samba and a player in exchange is a bit much - but hey, you're the Spurs fan, you know more than me and maybe I'm missing something, here. However, I do think you're in desperate need of a striker. A good one.

Jovanovic, what a player.

I like.

Shit man, we should have tried to get Goodwillie in

He's just incosistent, to be honest. When he is playing well, he often has some really good games, but it takes one slip-up or for a winger to get past him a couple of times and he's off-form and stinking out the joint.

He's not THAT bad to be honest guys, but perhaps it feels that way next to Marek Cech who has fallen out of favour and almost permanently out of form after we came back up last year. Thinking about it though, Shorey has cost us goals against United and Blackburn, so maybe I'm just being nice. Yeah, I am.

Nicky Shorey. Every seems to think he's brilliant for us - whilst I think attacking-wise, which is important for the modern day wide defender, he's diabolical. Obviously, his main priority is defending, but once he takes the ball from the winger, I can almost guarantee he will lose the ball off of the resulting pass. He barely gets a touch when he overlaps either, because he either does it too late, too early, or runs off somewhere. A good defender, but he should stick to defending, and lay it off to somebody who can actually pass, or I'll soon be calling for Ridgewell to be playing there.

I partly agree with Ridgewell - he's grabbed a couple of goals in recent memory, which is always good - especially as I remember him getting a few at Villa, and it gives us depth at the back with Olsson, Tamas, McAuley, Dawson and Scharner who can play there. All we need now is another striker so Odemwingie doesn't run himself into the ground like he did last winter. Preferably a non-african because when Odemwingie leaves for the African Cup of Nations, he, Simon Cox and Fortune will be all we have. Unless said-African striker leaves for the Cup, too. And Fortune is god awful.

Yeah. By the looks of things, too, Birmingham will have another couple of years of Championship footballl to look forward to, so all being well, we'll be in a good position to get him - perhaps at a cut price too, if their money troubles worsen.

It's offical: Ben Foster has signed for Albion on loan with Boaz Myhill going the other way to Birmingham Nobody is reporting that we can buy him permanently at the end of the season, which is a bit of a let down, but thats not for sure yet, and I've been hearing a lot about a proposed fee in the region of £4-6 Million, so maybe we will. And Ridgwell is on the verge of signing for £2 Million.

Shit, hope he's okay. If it stops him from scoring against us on the opening day though....

Albion have edged closer to signing Ben Foster! This is fucking awesome

U10 football was the best. Thankfully, I've never broken anything, apart from a chipped tooth. Touchwood. However, I did go through about 8 months of very, very limited physical activity because my achilles tendon decided to fuck off on me. I couldn't play football without spending more time stretching my achilles than actual playing. I just strained it or something, and against doctors advise, I carried on doing physical activity until I could barely walk after a game of footie. Gym helps any kind of muscular injury IMO. Rest it for a week if its just aching/pulled, then slowly started building up the weights! Start at the smallest one you can do whilst being able to feel it, and build up to your normal weights (:

Chelsea will win this shiznit this year.