keep all football posts in here imo. This thread will probably just involve me and rick aruging

carling cup draw, some good matches

Ive underlined the teams i think will progress

Blackburn Rovers v Peterborough United
Manchester City v Scunthorpe United
Tottenham Hotspur v Everton
Barnsley v Manchester United
Chelsea v Bolton Wanderers
Sunderland v Aston Villa
Arsenal v Liverpool
Portsmouth v Stoke City

lol nice pics

and yeah, interesting carling cup draw, I think you've got them all right apart from the 7th, obv (since arsenals kids are better than liverpool without gerrard and torres) and mbe the 8th as pompey are lacking in confidence all over the shop at the mo.

lots of goals to watch on MOTD tonight

so overated...

are giggs and scholes still past it? Fletcher still crap?

nope

tho they certainly arn't and never will be world class again

giggs and scholes have been world class for 10 years and any football fan who isnt deluded will tell you that. They are both easily among the top 5 prem midfielders. Fletcher has improved a lot over the last 2 years, and tho he still isnt world class he works a lot harder than most who are.

giggs and scholes have been world class

correct

They are both easily among the top 5 prem midfielders.

lol at this

as a liverpool fan you obviously havent watched all the utd matches this season and last season. I have. They've both been at the top of their game for the start of this season, and most of last season. And yes i know scholes cant tackle, but i can live with that. But his passing is easily one of the best in the prem. And although they might not be capable of playing 50 games a season like some 20yr olds, that doesnt make them any less world class when they do play.

So anyway, simple one for you.. give us 5 better premiership midfielders than scholes and giggs. Ill help you along with the best 3... 1-Gerrard, 2-Fabregas, and 3-Lampard. Tho personally id rate giggs 3rd, scholes 4th and lampard 5th.

also-rans include ballack and deco - tho neither play well without lampard in the team, and ireland, but 2 good seasons doesnt count for much really, esp when for most of that he was the best player in a crap team. Same goes for cahill.

good quote from Alan Hansen in his column in the telegraph today, talking about Chelsea's problems after the wigan defeat....

"You cannot say that the age of his squad is a big problem, because the best player in the Premier League [this season] has been Ryan Giggs at United, and he is 35"

If the most anti-united football pundit around (with the possible exception of Phil Thompson) can admit, surely you can too, over m8

I have zero interest in the EPL and never watch it at all.
My son his mates and other guys I know who watch it all say the same thing though. Giggs is the total standout player this season so far.

Personally as a Celtic supporter I still think he is a diving wee manky git!!!!!

Take it your looking forward to the big game next week Kenny. I fancy motherwell to beat Falkirk 3-0.

I wouldn't lump on Motherwell with too much hope m8. They flattered to deceive in the the first few games and Ross Forbes aside they look a distinctively average outfit.

I would be looking at the price for the draw for this one.

The other big game that is on is the first Rangers Celtic clash of the season.

Being a Celtic fan I naturally think we will shade this one but it will be pretty close imho. Rangers are pretty poor all over the park this season (Bougherra being the exception).

They have failed to win half of their games so far this season and needed a last min dubious penalty against Hearts in one of their wins while their other two victories were against the mighty Hamilton and Falkirk. In both of those games they enjoyed home advantage.

They have failed to score in the last 3 SPL games and while they say form doesn't matter in these games they cannot be confident with their recent form.

In saying that about "them" Celtic are not setting the heather on fire either (despite 5 wins out of 6) and have serious problems up front with no real partner for Skippy with Fortune out.

Should be good enough to sneak the 3pts though.

Rankers 1-2 Celtic.

Decent foursome over the next two nights.

Sevilla
Man Utd
AC Milan
Valencia

This will net you around 5/1 at most bookies.

Mon the Spaniards!

for some reason khenny, ive got a feeling wolfsburg will pull a shock out of the bag at old trafford tomorrow. Theyve got a great team, theyre playing well, their strikers are on fire, uniteds defence has been sketchy recently, and we always do something daft in the group stages...