[Jack Sparrow]

Italian-Canadians too... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

*looks around for Bren (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) *

[Habitant]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/evilsmile.gif)

[Habitant]

a comment regarding ronaldo's crash (who btw wasnt hurt): "I heard when Ronaldo got out of the car he was in shock from the accident. Then, 2 minutes later he dove." (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Tennie]

I felt bad for the Ferrari. It's never nice to see a beautiful car like that totalled.

[kurtsimonw]

MON picked up Manager of the Month Award for December, while Ashley Young picked up Player of the month. We played 5 league games in December, winning 4 (3-2 @ Everton, 4-2 vs Bolton, 1-0 @ West Ham & 1-0 @ Hull) while drawing the other (2-2 vs Arsenal). Young got 3 goals and 2 assists.

Tomorrows early kick-off is the West Midlands derby between Villa and West Brom (12:45 GMT).
-Villa leads the head-to-head record with 72 wins to Albions 50.
-In Premier League play, Villa have 3 wins, 4 have been draws with Albion yet to win.
-This seasons reverse fixture at the Hawthornes was a 2-1 win for Villa.
-Villa-West Brom was the first ever competitve local derby played in World football.
-Though the biggest derby in the city is Villa-Birmingham, West Brom are in fact the 2nd most succesful club in the city, NOT Birmingham City.
-Albion last beat Villa in April 1985.

I hope we don't suffer from the Manager of the Month curse! 3-1 Villa I'll go with. *finger crossed*

This post has been edited by kurtsimonw: Jan 9 2009, 06:50 PM

[whoarethepatriot...]

"Re: Cristiano Ronaldo's prang. Yesterday was not the first time that He has been zipping along only to go into a spin despite the fact that no one touched him, then crash dramatically and yet miraculously emerged unscathed"

Guardian reader letter

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Rossoneri7]

@kurt and fully deserved (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

[Locke Lamora]

Guardian reader letter

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

The Guardian is quickly developing into my favourite newspaper.

[Tennie]

Goodness. Rafael Benitez has launched quite an extraordinary attack on Alex Ferguson. Just saw it on Sky Sports News - not sure if there's a transcript anywhere. Should keep things entertaining in the EPL for some time.

[acid911]

Goodness. Rafael Benitez has launched quite an extraordinary attack on Alex Ferguson. Just saw it on Sky Sports News - not sure if there's a transcript anywhere. Should keep things entertaining in the EPL for some time.

Should be fun reading all the English comments and newspaper in the morning! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) I've got a feeling they'll absolutely butcher Rafael, with him not being English and all. I'm all for a little drama, as long as it doesn't get personal.

[Tennie]

Here is a transcript of Rafa's Rant, courtesy of bbc:

Rafael Benitez statement
Read Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez's response to Manchester United boss to Sir Alex Ferguson's observations about the Premier League fixture programme.

The Spaniard was speaking at a press conference ahead of Liverpool's trip to Stoke.

"I was surprised by what has been said, but maybe they (Manchester United) are nervous because we are at the top of the table.

"But I want to talk about facts. I want to be clear, I do not want to play mind games too early, although they seem to want to start.

"But I have seen some facts. On November 1, they played Hull and Mr Ferguson had a two-match touchline ban and a £10,000 fine after confronting Mike Dean, the referee, for improper conduct.

"We started the Respect campaign, and that was when (Javier) Mascherano was sent off (last season) at Old Trafford.

"The referee (Steve Bennett) was the referee when they played against Wigan - he could not see the handball against Wigan by Rio Ferdinand, he did not give a penalty. They won the game and they won the title in this game.

"I think it will be the same referee who will be in charge of their game in hand this season (against Wigan).

"During the Respect campaign - and this is a fact - Mr Ferguson was charged by the FA for improper conduct after comments made about Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett.

"He was not punished. He is the only manager in the league that cannot be punished for these things.

"Then he was talking about the fixtures. Two years ago we were playing a lot of early kick-offs away on Saturdays when United were playing on Sundays. And we didn't say anything.

"Now he is complaining about everything, that everybody is against United. But the second half of the season will see them playing at home against all the teams at the top of the table, it is a fantastic advantage.

"But at Christmas, United played on the 29th and the rest of the teams played on the 28th. We were away against Newcastle two days after playing Bolton. They were playing about 40 hours later, they were not complaining then.

"And about his behaviour with referees. The Southampton manager he knows how Mr Ferguson works and how he works, he was very clear. I am not playing mind games, just facts.

"If he wants to talk about fixtures, and have a level playing field as you say in England. There are two options if we don't want more problems with fixtures.

"One is the same as in Spain, the draw for the first part of the league is known, everyone knows which weekend. In the second-half everyone plays the opposite, so you all know.

"Sky and Setanta have the right to choose their games and it will be the same for everyone. So Mr Ferguson will not be complaining about fixtures and a campaign against United.

"Or there is another option. That Mr Ferguson organises the fixtures in his office and sends it to us and everyone will know and cannot complain. That is simple.

"We know what happens every time we go to Old Trafford and the United staff. They are always going man to man with the referees, especially at half-time when they walk close to the referees and they are talking and talking.

"All managers need to know is that only Mr Ferguson can talk about the fixtures, can talk about referees and nothing happens.

"We need to know that I am taking about facts, not my impression. There are things that everyone can see every single week.

"Are they under pressure? Maybe they were not thinking that we would be at the top of the table in January. But we are at the top of the table and they are nervous.

"I am not telling the authorities what to do. But I have been here for five years and know how things are going on. I will be watching United's game with Chelsea.

"The result does not matter to us, if we win at Stoke that result does not matter.

"I was surprised United wanted to start the mind games too early, maybe it is because we are top of the table. But I only wanted to explain our position.

"It is a massive difference to play early on a Saturday, say, after a European match in midweek.

"But they will play the second half of the season with home matches against the other top teams, and that is a massive advantage to them.

"They cannot complain about the fixtures after they were playing on 29 December while the rest played on the 28th.

"I have decided that I had a lot of information and I have been watching every single week what has been going on. Then they started talking about us, but every single week we know they will be talking.

"But we want to stay at the top and maybe they will talk about us right to the end.

"To hear someone talking when he has problems with referees every single week, and now complaining about the fixtures and complaining about everything, I think that is not fair.

"You can see every single week how they put (referees) under pressure, we know this. We have seen it before. We have seen players sent off at Old Trafford and we do not see our opponents sent off.

"It is part of the game. But to complain and to always have an advantage is not fair.

"We had a meeting in Manchester with managers and FA about the Respect campaign. And I was very clear, forget the campaign because Mr Ferguson was killing the referees, killing Mr Atkinson, killing Mr Hackett.

"But he is not punished. How can you talk about the respect campaign and criticise the referee every single week?

"You can analyse the facts and come to your own decision and ideas.

"There is still no news about my contract, my agent has not received any documents so he is a little bit disappointed. But we will see.

"I would rather not talk too much about this, though, when we have an important game ahead."

[kurtsimonw]

Fergie has once again proved that he always wins. He always says these stupid things, hoping to get under rival managers' skins, and it's clearly worked on Rafa, he looked like he was about to blow up during that press conference!

It's like 1996 all over again, when Fergie accused teams of letting Newcastle win, just so United couldn't win the league, then Keegan clearly couldn't handle this mind games when he did this.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

It resulted in united winning the title, something I wouldn't object to this time around.

[Milan Are Brilli...]

Ah the leagues been ravaged by the cold so many games being called off at the moment and yet they still tell us there is no need for a winter break!

Ronaldo, well at least he did succesfully what Al-Fayed couldn't afford to do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/innocent.gif)

[Tennie]

So far, it's Portsmouth - Man City and Fulham - Blackburn to have been postponed, according to BBC (I'm following text commentary of the Villa game there -- Villa are up 2-1).

[Milan Are Brilli...]

So far, it's Portsmouth - Man City and Fulham - Blackburn to have been postponed, according to BBC (I'm following text commentary of the Villa game there -- Villa are up 2-1).

Yeah, it's more our lower leagues that are getting hit because they can't afford all of the under-soil heating etc.

I mean so far:
4 out of 11 games are off in the Championship (1 lower than Prem)
7 out of 10 games off in League One - 2 of those matches going ahead are at Leicester and Leeds though! (2 below prem)
9 out of 12 are off in League Two (3 below)

Just kind of kills the point of it really!