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[Mama Smurf]

Yes!

Just two European sides to go. Both losses in the group stage.

 

[Cornballer]

Porto?

 

[psycho_snake]

**** yes my brother just reminded me. Its Real betis.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Both right, longest quesion ever ended, someone else's turn.

 

[hadareud]

ok, I'll go:

who was the first austrian ....

hold on, I have nothing

 

[psycho_snake]

What have been the most common FA cup fixtures? There are three fixtures which have happened 3 times over the FA cups history

 

[hadareud]

going by the teams that were in the final the most I would guess:

Arsenal - Man utd
Man Utd - Liverpool
or
Arsenal - Liverpool

 

[Cornballer]

Arsenal-Liverpool?

 

[psycho_snake]

Arsenal-Liverpool?

Thats one of them. One of the others involves the gooners again whilst the other is a derby.

 

[hadareud]

Liverpool - Everton
Arsenal - Tottenham

 

[Ryck]

Arsenal-Liverpool
Man U- Arsenal
Liverpool- Everton

 

[Wes]

Overnight presses have linked Chelsea with this footballing sensation from Southern Asia. Apparently he has a great work rate and is even taller than Crouch!

Found a vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ5ukq5S6oo

 

[jamesinclair]

The next round of Copa Libertadores has been set. Ive bolded who I think will win

Brazil Santos FC
Venezuela Caracas

Chile Colo Colo
Mexico América


Mexico Necaxa
Uruguay Nacional

Mexico Toluca
Colombia Cúcuta Deportivo


Argentina Vélez
Argentina Boca Juniors

Paraguay Libertad
Brazil Paraná Clube


Brazil Grêmio
Brazil São Paulo FC

Brazil Flamengo
Uruguay Defensor

 

[psycho_snake]

The answer to the fa cup question is

arsenal vs liverpool
arsenal vs newcastle
aston villa vs newcastle

That doesnt sound quite right. I think the question was meant to be the most common FA cup final pairing.

 

[hadareud]

rumour boy is back

TRANSFER RUMOURS
Manchester United are poised to launch a bid for Jermain Defoe, who is unhappy at Tottenham. (Sun)

Meanwhile, Tottenham are considering a £5m to £6m offer for Newcastle winger Kieron Dyer, who is keen to link up with old pal Jermaine Jenas. (Various)

But the move could fail because Dyer's current salary of £80,000 per week is almost double what Tottenham's highest earner Robbie Keane makes. (Times)

Blackburn want to buy back Craig Bellamy from Liverpool - but they will not offer Morten Gamst Pedersen as bait. (Daily Star)

Hull will sign Manchester City defender Danny Mills on a permanent basis provided they stay up. (Daily Star)

Juventus have joined Liverpool and Chelsea in the race for Valencia striker David Villa. (Daily Mirror)

Real Zaragoza are the latest Spanish side to express an interest in Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta. (Daily Mirror)

Arsenal have told Julio Baptista he will return to Real Madrid when his loan ends this summer. (Daily Express)

Real Madrid are unlikely to make Arsenal winger Jose Reyes' stay permanent either. (Independent)

Jason Koumas' agent has dismissed suggestions that the West Brom midfielder is heading for Celtic. (Daily Express)

Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston has told Rangers and other suitors they must pay more than £1m if they want Steven Naismith. (Daily Mail)

Heerenveen defender Petter Hansson will choose soon between a move to Atalanta, Rennes or Rangers. (The Sun)

Heerenveen have decided against making a bid for out-of-favour Rangers defender Karl Svensson. (The Sun)

Aberdeen striker Craig Brewster has had talks with Livingston about become player-manager. (The Sun)

Kilmarnock have signed Allan Johnston for a further two season and are poised to offer fellow midfielder Eric Skora a new contract. (The Sun)

St Mirren defnder Kevin McGowne will become assistant manager with Montrose in the summer. (Daily Express)

Falkirk defender Craig Ireland has retired at the age of 31 after six knee operations. (Various)

OTHER GOSSIP

Manchester United's Park Ji-Sung could be sidelined for a year with a serious knee injury. (Daily Mail)

West Ham will appeal to the High Court if they are deducted points over the signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. (Sun)

However, the Hammers are set to escape with a huge fine. (Various)

Crystal Palace boss Peter Taylor is confident he will keep his job next season. (Daily Star)

Leicester have held talks with Chris Coleman over their vacant manager's post. He is considered favourite ahead of Paul Ince. (Daily Mirror)

Palermo have turned down Sven-Goran Eriksson's application for their vacant manager's post. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester City boss Stuart Pearce has told Joey Barton to watch his mouth after the midfielder criticised the club. (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea assistant boss Steve Clarke will be offered a new contract - a moral victory for manager Jose Mourinho. (Various)

Avram Grant will take over as director of football at Chelsea. (Various)

Rangers are planning to increase Ibrox's capacity by 5,000 to 57,000 over the next three years. (Daily Record)

Celtic defender John Kennedy will not sue Romanian Ioan Ganea over the tackle that nearly ended his career. (Daily Record)

AC Milan midfielder Kaka reckons Manchester United, not Arsenal, are the Premiership club who play most like Brazil. (Daily Telegraph)

Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein has held talks with Stan Kroenke over selling his 14.6% share of the club. (Daily Telegraph)

Teenage Newcastle striker Andy Carroll is at the centre of a cap tug-of-war between England and Scotland. (The Scotsman/Daily Record)

AND FINALLY...

David Beckham went to great lengths to cover up his hair in Real Madrid training on Thursday - resisting Robinho's attempts to remove his beenie hat. But Becks revealed his new look later - platinum blonde. He admitted: "I have had the mickey taken out of me." (Various)

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/6598275.stm

Published: 2007/04/27 06:35:00 GMT

and to piss me off in the morning:

Henry links his future to Wenger
Thierry Henry insists he will stay at Arsenal as long as Arsene Wenger remains as manager.

The 29-year-old's future has again been at the centre of speculation after an injury-troubled season, despite signing a new four-year deal last summer.

He told Sport magazine: "At the end of last season I signed a new contract.

"I believe in the boss and what he is trying to do here. As long as he is here then I will be here - it's just as simple as that."

Wenger has another year left on his current deal, but there has also been questions about his future after long-time friend and close confidante David Dein left Arsenal because of "irreconcilable differences" with the rest of the board.

Arsenal will be without a trophy this season, and Henry believes they have paid the price for a lack of experience.

He said: "I think perhaps we lose our concentration. We don't do this on purpose.

"We have ended up losing so many points against teams we should have beaten.

"The talent is there but you need to put the ball in the back of the net, and I wasn't fresh enough, or there enough, to do that for the team this season.

"It was the same with Robin van Persie, who has been injured, and William Gallas, who was out for more than three months.

"I'm not complaining about these things, but it is a fact and it does make a difference.

"We have a lot of amazing youngsters at the club, but you need experience too."

He added: "We'd be in a much better position if we had taken our chances. "We do have something to build on, but we need to kill teams off. That's all that let us down this year."

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/6598579.stm

 

[hadareud]

Arsenal have told Julio Baptista he will return to Real Madrid when his loan ends this summer. (Daily Express)

Real Madrid are unlikely to make Arsenal winger Jose Reyes' stay permanent either. (Independent)

I really hope that we don't end up with Reyes back in the squad, who again made it quite clear that he would rather have his testicles removed than having to put up with the horrible English weather (http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx...&lid=&title=Reyes+set+on+Spain+stay&channel=&)
Meanwhile, Baptista wants to stay at Arsenal after all (http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx...id=3&lid=&title=Baptista+wants+future+sorted).
Too late my friend.

 

[Sqrt_minus_one]

Well its to be expected that Henry would leave if Wenger did. In fact if Wenger were to leave I would imagine at least five players would request transfers. i would probably go from being an Arsenal supporter to a complete neutral and go back to just watching goals / Barca.

Are we no longer in for Naismith, the price seems good for someone who has scored 17 times this season.

Reyes will probably be sold to another Spanish side maybe back to Sevilla. I was watching their match against Osasuna yesterday and none of their strikers inspired confidence in me.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

2) Which two players have been relegated with 4 different Premiership clubs?

Nathan Blake is one, not sure about the other.


Some other nuggets!:-
Q. Which English team has held the FA Cup for the longest period?

Q. Who was the first British player to play in Italy?

Q. Who was the first British £2 million player?

Q. Who are the brothers to have substituted for each other in an International at Wembley?

Q. Which player came on as a substitute in an International match to replace his DAD? :lol

Q. Which player appeared on Top of the Pops twice in one evening?

Q. Who is the only player to be a winning captain of both English & Scottish FA cups?

 

[Osorio]

We are top of the league! We also have the longest streak of minutes without allowing a goal in MLS history. Plus, with a 3-0-1 record it's our best start in franchise history. It feels good to finally have a winning team.

 

[Mama Smurf]

West Ham have avoided a points deduction for the Mascherano/Tevez thing, but have been fined £5.5m.

That's quite the fine. I mean, I know West Ham have money now, but it's not Abramovich money, that's a whole good player they won't be able to buy.

 

[Mama Smurf]

That Defoe rumour comes up every year, but this time I think he might actually go. He really barely gets a look in now with Berbatov and Keane. I suppose it's possible he could go to one of the top teams, but it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up somewhere like Villa or Portsmouth. I'd love to see him at Blackburn if we couldn't get Bellamy, but I doubt we could afford him.

Some other nuggets!:-
Q. Which English team has held the FA Cup for the longest period?

Blackburn?

Q. Who was the first British £2 million player?

Gascoigne.

Q. Who are the brothers to have substituted for each other in an International at Wembley?

Nevilles? Charltons?

Q. Which player appeared on Top of the Pops twice in one evening?

Kevin Keegan?

You can see by the number of question marks that I really know what I'm talking about.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

You can see by the number of question marks that I really know what I'm talking about.

:lol :lol
Indeed! Nil points! But that isn't too much of a shame, I sent these out in emails along with some other questions in this thread at my work, and there are very few right answers!

 

[Mama Smurf]

Gascoigne's wrong? I was certain of that one, I've read that numerous times.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I'm going to give you such a slapping if the answer to the FA Cup one is Portsmouth.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

Mama Smurf! Slap away!

Portsmouth indeed held the FA Cup from 1939 until 1945 over the war years :lol

Your current manager Mark Hughes was sold to Barcelona for some figure over £2.5 million back in 1986.

 

[Mama Smurf]

*slap*

Oooooh, I read the question wrong. I thought you wanted the British transfer record, which obviously Barcelona would have ruled out.

I'm quite annoyed that Chelsea and Man Utd are both playing at 12:45pm tomorrow. I want to watch Chelsea - Bolton and Everton - Man Utd, but now I'm going to have to choose. I'm also used to watching 3 games in a row on a Saturday and now it's only 2.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

A big day for all St Johnstone fans tomorrow!

Promotion is in our grasp! As long as we win, and Gretna don't, then it's SPL for the Saints next year!

 

[Mama Smurf]

I see Gretna are playing the bottom side in your division and you're playing third...well, I suppose it's still a slim chance.

 

[Wes]

it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up somewhere like Villa or Portsmouth.

It'd be great with Defoe would come to Villa. I think he would work well with Carew.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Oh, Everton as well. They have a really great defence, 4th best in the league, and their attack is decent as well at 7th, but they do lack that second top striker to play alongside Johnson.

I hear Bolton are going after Henri Camara, who I'd have liked to see at Blackburn, so that seems to be one rival ruled out. Then there's Portsmouth, Villa, Blackburn, Everton, maybe Middlesbrough...all sort of around the same level, all likely to go after the same players. Bellamy, Nugent and Defoe have all been linked...I suspect Everton will get Nugent if Preston aren't promoted and I don't think Defoe would want to come to Blackburn even if we could afford him, so my hopes rest with Bellamy.

 

[Wes]

Am I understanding right that Steve Sidwell is allowed to leave on a free this summer? Why are Reading getting shot of him?

 

[Mama Smurf]

They aren't, he just hasn't signed the new contract they've offered.

He still might, but it's looking ever more likely he'll go. The most heavily rumoured club is Newcastle, but even the likes of Chelsea have been linked.

 

[Wes]

I guess Newcastle will have the money to lure him there if they manage to offload Dyer to Spurs.

 

[hadareud]

as my amazing betting adventures continue I have just placed my bets for this weekend. I've changed my tactics yet again, here we go:

£1.50 Everton vs Manchester Utd 1.61
£1.50 Manchester City vs Aston Villa 2.2
£1.50 Middlesbrough vs Tottenham 2.5
£1.50 Portsmouth vs Liverpool 3.2
£1.50 Sheffield Utd vs Watford 1.5
£4.00 Arsenal vs Fulham 1.4
£4.00 Blackburn vs Charlton 1.8
£4.00 Chelsea vs Bolton 1.28
£4.00 Reading vs Newcastle 1.83
£4.00 Wigan vs West Ham 2.2

and an accumulator for 4 pounds (13.86)

Chelsea vs Bolton   	Chelsea
Blackburn vs Charlton 	Blackburn
Wigan vs West Ham	Wigan
Arsenal vs Fulham 	Arsenal
Reading vs Newcastle 	Reading

Total amount: 31.50
Potential winnings: 74.50
Winnings is fink tank is right: 57.98 (2.54 without accumulator)

I more or less blindly followed the fink tank, except for Portsmouth - Liverpool (because I have a feeling Liverpool won't win. oh ****, one of my predictions). I put 4 pounds on the high possibility results and 1.50 on the lower percentages. Let's see how it works out.

If I don't start winning some decent money soon I will give up.

Especially since I put a lot of effort in this Mamaesque post.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I thought you were working off 55%.

Where are you betting btw?

 

[Cornballer]

It'll be interesting to see where Sidwell ends up. He probably can't get a game with any of the big four, and beyond that, I don't know where he'd want to go that'd be a huge step up from Reading.

A few Arsenal related stories this morning...

Supposedly David Dein is in talks w/ Kroenke to sell him his shares in Arsenal.

There's also going to be a statement in this weekend's match program from the chairman, so that may let us know a little better where things are headed.

The Sun and Mirror are reporting Baptista is on his way back to Real, whereas Reyes has stated he doesn't want to play in England but I don't think Real want him. Sevilla then?

 

[hadareud]

I thought you were working off 55%.

Where are you betting btw?

ladbrokes for now, because I still have 45 quid in my account and I'm too lazy to transfer it back to my card.

About the percentage - I calculated a bit around and came to the conclusion that it would be ok to bet on a ~3:1 for higher vs lower percentage games. This way I should have a good chance of not losing any money, while keeping the option of winning more.

Let's see how it goes.

 

[Cornballer]

We are top of the league! We also have the longest streak of minutes without allowing a goal in MLS history. Plus, with a 3-0-1 record it's our best start in franchise history. It feels good to finally have a winning team.

Hunter Freeman is making the Marvell Wynne trade look better and better, eh? How did Altidore play last night?

 

[hadareud]

It'll be interesting to see where Sidwell ends up. He probably can't get a game with any of the big four, and beyond that, I don't know where he'd want to go that'd be a huge step up from Reading.

A few Arsenal related stories this morning...

Supposedly David Dein is in talks w/ Kroenke to sell him his shares in Arsenal.

There's also going to be a statement in this weekend's match program from the chairman, so that may let us know a little better where things are headed.

The Sun and Mirror are reporting Baptista is on his way back to Real, whereas Reyes has stated he doesn't want to play in England but I don't think Real want him. Sevilla then?

I most certainly hope that Reyes doesn't end up back with us, as mentioned in my post a bit earlier today.

The Dein thing doesn't come as a surprise. Kroenke wants a hostile take over at any cost it seems.

 

[Cornballer]

I most certainly hope that Reyes doesn't end up back with us, as mentioned in my post a bit earlier today.

I don't think Reyes will come back - though it's going to be tough getting back the money we spent on him. I wonder with teams in La Liga are willing to drop some coin on him. Hopefully someone will take him off our hands.

 

[hadareud]

that's the problem, I don't see anyone wanting to buy him for a decent amount of money.

And I don't see us prepared to lose a massive amount on him either. So he could well end up back again or be loaned out to somewhere else in Spain.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder and 9 times billionaire (roughly the same as Abramovich) is apparently behind an approach to take over...Southampton.

It wouldn't be a bad buy to be honest, they could get back into the Premiership within a season with the right funds and they have a nice stadium and a decent fanbase. It's about 32,000 large, but was built so that, if ever needed, the capacity could be increased to 50,000.

Even being just a decent Championship club they've had attendances averaging 23,172 this season, higher than Fulham, Blackburn, Portsmouth, Watford and Wigan. In fact, their lowest attendance is higher than Watford and Wigan's average.

So they'd be quite a good buy. I've always had a soft spot for Southampton for some reason, I'd like to see them back in the Premiership.

 

[Cornballer]

Celta Vigo maybe? We already have a setup with them. Let him hang out in scenic Northern Spain for a while - last time I visited the weather wasn't great. :lol

I'm also not sure how much we still owe Sevilla on the transfer and if that comes into play with how this all shakes out.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I think Atletico Madrid bid about £8m for him in the summer which was turned down flat, I dunno if they'd still be interested.

 

[Cornballer]

I'd take £8m for Reyes if there was an offer for that much.

Rosicky and Ljunberg are out for Sunday's match. I guess I'd line up with...

--------Baptista-----Adebayor--------
-Diaby----Cesc----Gilberto-----Hleb-
-Clichy----Gallas----Toure----Eboue-
-----------------Mad Jens--------------

Not sure if they should give Denilson a run out sometime - 4th place is more or less assured and he could use some first team action. Then again, we don't have another game until next Sunday. No fixture congestion for Arsenal these days!

Quick youtube clip: this dive is all sorts of awesome

 

[hadareud]

as difficult as it is, but I think that we have to let Freddy go. He is constantly injured and this way he's not of great help for the team.

As soon as he gets back into any type of rhythm he's out injured again. You don't want to kick somebody when he's down, especially not a player that's done so much for your club, but I think it's time.

I feel quite bad for writing this.

 

[hadareud]

Lehmann agrees a new one-year contract

Jens Lehmann will be an Arsenal player next season.

It was announced on Friday that the German keeper has signed a new contract with the Club. The 37-year-old's current deal runs out in the summer so, as of last January, he was free to speak to other teams. However in the end he opted to stay with the side he joined from Borussia Dortmund in July 2003.

“Lehmann has extended for one year,” said Arsène Wenger at his pre-match press conference.

“He is a 100 per cent professional. He gives something to the team as well in the dressing-room if it is needed and I think he had a decent season this season.”

However the manager admitted there could be a fight for the No 1 jersey next term.

“I see Jens as a top-class goalkeeper and Almunia as a top-class goalkeeper," said Wenger. "So it will be a battle at some stage because Almunia has improved tremendously.

“Jens is trying every day to make life difficult for those who compete with him. That is very good because it makes those who are competing with him improve as well."

great news, I am very happy that's he's staying.

“Jens is trying every day to make life difficult for those who compete with him. That is very good because it makes those who are competing with him improve as well."

in an earlier draft it read a bit different:

"Jens is an absolute pain in everyone's ass. But he's a great keeper and it's great fun to watch him because he's a complete nutter"

 

[Cornballer]

Regarding Freddie, he's only 30, but you might be right. His appearances are down about 10 from last season (check the stats here), and his goalscoring has been steadily decreasing. It's too bad because when he's on form, he's a great player and a goalscorer for Arsenal. He's just very unreliable at this point due to injuries. Any idea what's going on with his contract?

Did you catch the article about a week ago where Wenger was quoted as saying only three players are allowed to leave this offseason? I thought Lehmann, Aliadiere, and Flamini were the only ones on that list. Meaning that they were the only ones out of contract at the end of the season.

 

[hadareud]

He still has a contract until 2009, and we could still get good money for him too. I would think that there's a few Italian clubs that would pay 5 - 8 millions for him

I didn't read that article, but that's very interesting.

Flamini is a definite yes, if Aliadiere doesn't go I don't know what's going on. He could have hinted at Ljungberg, there's some speculating about that going on for a little while already.

He probably didn't include Reyes because he doesn't see him as part of the team anymore.

With a supposed transfer Budget of 20 million + 13 to 17 million for those 3 we should have enough money for some big signings this summer.

~35 million is respectable for any club, especially if you only need to buy 1 - 3 players

 

[Cornballer]

Oh wait - it was Baptista instead of Aliadiere. Here's the quote:

"We have no basic situation where players would be free to transfer," he told arsenal.com. "That is apart from Jens Lehmann, who of course has his own destiny in his hands, and Julio Baptista. But apart from that, all the other players are under contract. The only other one who can move out is Mathieu Flamini, but that is it. We have only three players where they have a situation to decide about."

I think we're only going to sign 2-3 players this offseason. It'll probably be a quiet one like last year.