Football, get stuck in...

[Aviador]

The champions ! Well done City!

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I'm finding the battle at the other end of the Premiership very interesting. Looks like it could go down to the wire, with each of the teams facing relegation dependant on the results of the teams around them. Leicester may have a slight advantage, in that they've got 2 games left to play (although, they have 2 points less than Everton and 1 less than Leeds) while Leeds and Everton have just 1. 3 points separate the 3 teams.

 

[JENNYJET]

LEEDS united back where they belong but beware of Luton Town. The next Wimbledon perhaps? Rickety old ground and relatively unknown players always make me nervous but good luck to them.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

LEEDS united back where they belong

Steady on JENNYJET, you could upset a lot of forum members with a comment like that. I remember Leeds Utd from days gone by, with Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer and of course Alan Clarke(like me, he was from Walsall). And, was it Gary Sprake in goal?

 

[rollo]

Yep Gary Sprake was their goalkeeper who famously specialised in throwing the ball in his own net (its on Utube) so naturally Birmingham City signed him fo a record transfer fee for a goalie.

I actually him a few times, nice guy.

 

[JENNYJET]

I also remember Leeds United from days gone, brutal and hard, Bremner the worst. However my United got hold of the hardest players in Jordan and McQueen, hastening their decline, with due apologies to Leeds fans. You shall return in due course.

 

[JENNYJET]

I mention Gordon McQueen and next day, he dies. I didn't know I was so dangerous, prickly yes but a dealer of death? Surely not !!

 

[DarloPlaneBoy]

Massive Game in the FA Cup 4th Round one that should be the Tie of the round and get more attention nationally but alas no one really cares as West Bromwich Albion my team take on our Black Country Rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolves on Sunday 28th January at The Hawthorns the game will be on ITV1 with an 11:45 kick off. We haven't each other with fans in 12 years the Tyne Wear Derby has been played with fans in that time. The Black Country Derby is also one of the oldest Derbies in England taking place before the founding of the Football league which Albion and Wolves founded along with Aston Villa and a few other teams. This is a bigger game for Wolves as they should beat us PL Squad and Money and they haven't won at The Hawthorns since 1996 the last time they beat us in the FA Cup was 1949/50 the season they won the FA Cup. So Wolves will have pressure to win for the first time at The Hawthorns in 28 years. Albion also have the strongest record winning 65 times to Wolves 53. The last time we played each other with fans was in February 2012 in the Premier League at Molienux with Albion smashing Wolves 1-5 with Peter Odemwinige scoring a Hattrick that affectively relegated Wolves, they had revenge to relegate us ten years later or so at Molienux with no fans present but lost 2-3. The Derby is usually tight the Molienux result being the anamoly. So if you want to watch proper Derby's none of this manufactured Derbies Sunday 28th January ITV1

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Despicable scenes at the West Brom v Wolves FA Cup match. We never want to see this at any football match (or any other sport for that matter). It's likely that both clubs could face strong penalties and future games may again be behind closed doors.

 

[jfy1999]

Maybe its due to people being on holiday but I’m a little surprised that there has been no comment on England reaching their second Euros final!

Southgate has focused on being defensive and hard to beat as usual. Rather concerningly, I find i have been able to copy and paste my comment from the previous Euros on our attack - just with the names of the players and teams changed!

I have been very frustrated by how little game time our back up strikers and wingers (Toney, Watkins, Palmer, Gordon) have had over the course of the tournament. By contrast Spain rotated their starting front line during the group stage and subbed their first choice front line during the France game. Does De La Fuente trust his back up attackers more?

Now there has been the added jeopardy of our defence not being as strong as usual, so that we have fallen behind in games and Southgate has been forced to make attacking changes. And they have worked - Toney assisting against Slovakia, three subs scoring penalties against Switzerland, and Watkins. But the subs have been very late and this has affected the team’s performance. There were many occasions when i was thinking “we have run Kane, Saka and Bellingham into the ground, they will be too fatigued for the next game”.

In the semi, Southgate seemed to get over his hesitation to make proactive subs before the game started going against us, and he was rewarded, this is something he needs to repeat against Spain. Our ability to stay in the game may depend on it- Spain have proved they are capable of scoring two or three quick fire goals before the opponent can respond.

I believe we also need to drop Kane. Our wide attackers will have to help our aging full-backs defend against Spain’s young wingers, so we will need a fast forward line to spring counter - attacks. Kane could come on if a penalties are likely. If it gets to penalties i think we will be favourites!

 

[Rob c DSA]

Can not wait for the tournament to end so many of Europe's top nations to scared and to tired to perform.

UEFA and FIFA continue to destroy the game at every turn.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Congratulations to San Marino who won their first ever game of competitive football tonight beating Liechtenstein 1-0

 

[rollo]

That result has caused an itch needed to be scratched.

San Marino football record is:
Played 206
Lost 195
Drawn 9
Won 2

They have managed to sscore 34 times while conceding 824 giving them a goal difference 0f minus790.

There previous and only other victim was in 2004 and was - you've guessed it - Lichtenstein.