Council Juice

Is that the formere Falkirk player. Did he not go to Burnley or is it a different Kevin McDonald?

Why? I just think that it's best that I do. Keeping it to myself will only encourage hatred to grow within me, and thats when the heavy drinking and bed wetting begin. I think you're right though. It really is best to "lean into those feelings" I mean why have you got the displeasure for the baked bean laddie? What has he done?

Ah the good old english media at it again. Can't accept that the ref and linesman made an error and have to analyize it in every way possible, including computer representations of the incident. They had half a second to see it. One was blocked by Lampard and Nueur and the other was a good bit away. Neither was certain so couldn't give it. It was a mistake. They happen. If anything they did England a favour as now they won't have to get even more carried away only to take a bigger hiding from the Argentina team. As for the inquests into poor form, the OTT scrutinising of Capello and the excuse to read something out of anything - Players smiling. Oh shock horror! Im sure they are down about the game but it doesn't mean they have to go into depression for the next 4 years. Why should the fans be compensated? It was their choice to go. It's there fault if they didn't realise there was a risk the team could play poorly and get knocked out. Did they expect to win it or something. To finish top of their group and play in Rustenburg? No need to answer that.

Why? I think England would suit a 4-2-3-1 formation like ICT and Brazil play. They've got the players for it and it's an adaptable system. It allows wing backs to bomb forward and the luxury of 2 sitting midfielders gives the nessesary cover should they be caught up field (ie Johnson) Obviously it couldn't be done at this world cup due to injury but I think it would be interesting to see Rio play as a deep holding midfield player marking the "hole" essentially. He is strong, fairly quick, can tackle and is composed in possession. He also has the abilty to pass the ball adequately. Then get Barry in there as well. Rio covers right (often watches right flank for Man U from a central defensive position), Barry left (Has played left back so knows the role and could cover from midfield). Then you have 3 centrally starting attacking mids between Gerrard, Lampard, Milner and Cole with the options of wingers instead should it be more beneficial to the game in question. Rooney up front who would benefit from having 3 supporting players and allow him to play in his lone role he favours. I'm not actively applying for the job but I'd happily pick up ?6 million a year so if the FA wish to contact me then I'd be willing to sit down and discuss terms Thankyou.

Tevez is a tremendous player and although it's still a toss up between who's the better, him or Rooney, I think on the back of the world cup that question will be answered. His desire to win every game was shown when after scoring 2 goals last night he was raging with Maradona for substituting him. You have to laugh at the reaction from the Saxons, goal line technology, grass roots football, players not good enough... for me it is Capello's fault and him alone, his formation failed, his selections failed and his man management failed. These players were good enough, Gerrard is IMO is the best running midfielder in the world, Lampard has the best scoring ratio for any midfielder apart from Messi & Ronaldo (who could really be considered as forwards), 2 excellent attacking fullbacks and of course Rooney. If these players were played in a formation to suit they were more than capable of getting a result. Tevez has fantastic energy and enthusiasm but lacks the tactical nous required to be truly world class. Too often he burns himself out with needless pointless running about which puts him out of position and burns him out well short of the 90 minute mark. Rooney is a better player but looked dead on his feet. Rooney normally shows that same enthusiasm and desire and hates being subbed. I saw the best and worst of Tevez last night. His work rate and eye for goal remain exemplary, however so often did he just run in a straight line to have someone dispossess him when a pass may have been available to his flank. He's very good. But not top class.... yet. And Gerrard was the best running midfielder at one point. But has never reached the heights of the Chamions league win for Liverpool and has been on a slow decline since. Lampard scores goals and gets assists but lacks the abilty to control a game like Xavi or even Barry Ferguson(at all be it a much lower level) can/could.

Most of this is utter tosh other than the goalkeeper situation. Rob Green is nowhere near good enough and having Paul Robinson would have been more benificial. However, -Warnock never played as he was cover for Left back. Cole was one of the few English players who was any good and is one of the best left backs out there. -Carragher went out as versatile cover for the whole back line- he was unavailable for the Slovenia game and Capello rightly kept a winning team for the next game, especially as Upson was fairly good against Slovenia. -King has a dodgy knee but it was a groin strain that done him. -Milner started the Slovenia game and was the best player on the pitch and so started against Germany but was nulified by Sweinstigers/Caderas tracking back and Johnsons inability to track back. Wright Phillips was right sided cover for Lennon who was ineffectual. The truth is aside from Gerrard too few players turned up with their best game and they got done for it. It's just utterly laughable that Capello has went from Don Fabio, the Squadfather to an inept mug in 4 games. And he won't resign as he's just got a new ?6m a year deal for the next 4 years.

Was with you in the whole thing right up until you said Burley should have been left in charge of Scotland. Eh naw! Why? He clearly lacked the tactical, organisational and motivation skills required for the job and never had the respect of anyone in his charge. It's fine being just a good motivator when you have the likes of Tevez, Messi, Higuain, Aguero, Di Maria, Mililto and so on but Scotland don't and Burley wasn't even that good a motivator. 3 wins against Iceland and Moldovia are not enough and a 3-0 pumping by a Welsh B team is not good enough either. But as you said It's much to do with the English culture that results in substandard performances. I think the fact it's obvious to everyone else that England are at best a top 8 side is another major factor.

I've always liked Clach, mainly due to them having the best sounding name in British football. I'm just not really sure if Inverness is big enough to support as many clubs playing within the area. The success of ICT and County have taken the lions share of fans and then the rest are left to essentially feed of the scraps. Im sure if everyone could support all their local clubs they might but it always seems to be the idea of "ach something will turn up" to save the day. One of these times there maybe not be anything left. People, in reality, whilst having a soft spot are just no that interested. It's like when something is mooted for closure everyone jumps on the bandwagon to keep it open either to save jobs or save a local landmark or whatever but if hey really cared that much in the grand scheme of things then these clubs, businesses, sites, or landmarks etc wouldn't go down the gutter.

Well, look at it this way. Since 1966 when England fluked it with home advantage and a shocking decision, they've won FA whilst the WC and Euro winners have included: France Spain Germany Italy (who we all acknowledge as good teams, but why should they fare any better than England, who have had the strongest league over the last 20 years and many superb players?) But also: Czech Netherlands Denmark Greece England haven't even reached a final in all that time, despite qualifying for the vast majority of tournaments. I would also add that recent World Cup semi-finalists since England last got that far in 1990 include: Sweden Croatia Turkey S Korea Bulgaria Since Spain broke their duck a couple of years ago, there is surely no major footballing nation to have achieved so little. The Premiership may be the most exciting league in terms of goals and pace to the game but La Liga is stronger in the terms that most players chose to play there over England (partly to do with weather fair enough but the best players are still there) But maybe it goes to show that having a strong league is detrimental to the national team. Spain are profiting now as there top teams are now full of home grown talent. It was not so long ago the top players for Barca and Real Madrid were Dutch or Brazilian and Spain got nowhere. The Premiership is definitely one of the top 2 leagues, of that there is no doubt, but is full of foreigners. The lower end premiership clubs only have a few average English players but the further up the League you go the more foreigners there are. This is one of the many reasons France were so strong for a 4 year period. Most of their players were playing in Italy Spain of England(Arsenal) and they also had a good strong home based nucleus. Germany have always had a league with many Germans in their teams and Italians are also mainly home based. 2 strong leagues but have a better blend in the top teams. So I don't think that because a league is strong (English 1st Div early 80s stong in Europe, though a rubbish England team as league was full of Scots!) it translates to having a good national team. Underachievers perhaps but only the English and their media think that England are much more than a top 8 side and their form in getting to quarters and no further proves this. However if a team is hyped to win, win, win and ultimately doesn't, then it looks like spectacular underachievement where in reality it's probably about right. How many bank clerks do we have playing for Scotland like? Man U, Birmingham, Old Firm, West Brom, Wolves, Blackpool, Tottenham, Sunderland and Wigan players and most are regulars but no bankers or league 2 stars. Yep I see what you mean there. ;) I see your point, but it wasn't that long ago that Scotland got an embarrassing 2-2 result against a bunch of farmers and fishermen. Let's be honest, Scotland are not a good team, and have IMO zero chance of getting to any major competitions any time soon and I doubt would be able to get a draw against Slovakia, a good Paraguay and a not so good Italy, something New Zealand did. They also play excellently as a team, are very well organised and hard to beat, something I don't feel could be said for Scotland. BTW - I had a wee look up the NZ team and I think they only have one banker, with the captain Nelsen playing for Blackburn, four players who were in the Championship last season, one guy in the Danish League, one at Motherwell, one at NY Red Bulls and a few at some of the higher Australian clubs (some of which will be the same standard as the SPL). So, not the most prolific team in the world, but not as amateur as you claim. The A- league is probably low end SPL. With the MLS top teams around about Rangers/Celtic. The Danish league again of similar stature to the SPL. And I don't know the standard of the Bankers league. Those Farmers and fishermen also nearly embarrassed France (I know France are a little dodgy these days) And that result (2-2 against the Faroes) was for the Euro04 qualifiers over 6 years ago. Lambert was still playing. Vogts was in charge! True our results of late have not been great but that is because Burley tried to make Scotland play expansive football - ain't gonna happen. However if we play to our strengths which is normally good organisation and danger at set pieces coupled with direct fast paced football we can give anyone a game. World cup winners and runners up, a strong Ukraine team. Under McLeish we beat the Faroes 6-0 at home. In fact if we play like New Zealand then we can match anyone and they have shown that they can do it. Pretty sure I managed to name a premiership 11 of Scots last season which is alot more than I could do for NZ. My point though is not a dig at them. And I don't want to come across in a patronising or contrasending way but they proved that by being organised and taking chances coupled with some luck, that you can at least match the big teams and I think we have more quality so we should see no reason as to why we can't.

How many bank clerks do we have playing for Scotland like? Man U, Birmingham, Old Firm, West Brom, Wolves, Blackpool, Tottenham, Sunderland and Wigan players and most are regulars but no bankers or league 2 stars. Yep I see what you mean there.

I'd hate to be either of them this morning. They ain't getting out of bed (coffin) in a hurry!

Had to laugh at the hysteria surrounding Englands win over Slovenia. Yeah sure they picked up. Much better. Deserved to win but it was like they had bloody won the tournament the way people were acting on the Tele box. It was just Slovenia. Had Johnson and Barry been rightly booked for behind the man challenges early on it might have been oh so different. Johnson got away with 2 of them before finally being booked for seemingly thowing himself into the man looking for a free kick. Any other ref and he'd have been off. So lady luck smiled on them in the fact they actually got a fairly decent ref who let the game flow for once. Germany, I suspect will be a whole different ball game. Can't wait to see it as a, ahem, neutral. Will be tasty!

Still not seen or heard that wee turd Chick yet but on the Hansen watch I only saw him refer to England as "they" and "England" last night. Could he have done it accidently sometime and everyone just jumped on it?

To be honest I really don't care how england do, but am sick of the media ramming it down our throats every 5 minutes. It's done in such a disrespectful way to the opposition as well like "once we beat this lot and the next we can focus on the next round" And it's like hang on a minute. Get this game out the way 1st. No wonder England only managed to scrape a draw versus English championship elect Algeria! To quote Kevin Keegan "capello should be saying "If you dont pick up a level you might not win this competition" No... if you don't pick up a level you wont get out the group Kevin. It's like England have a divine right to win the trophy before a ball is kicked. This despite having done nothing in the competition at all, bar a semi final 20 years, since winning a different trophy altogether over 40 years ago. And there was only 16 teams back then! England are a final 8 side at best with two world class players tops (Rooney, Ashley Cole) and if the media could accept that then maybe there wouldn't be such blind hysteria which annoys not only Scots but pretty much every other nation going. One minute it;s Don Fabio, In Capello we trust and the next he is not able to do his job. Hell even the Brazilians have written themselves off and they don't have a weakness in the whole team. The Germans too.... and everyone knows you never write off the Germans. So to the Team; do what you will, the manager; I feel for you but you're getting a decent wage for it, and the fans; support your team to the end. But I can't help but hope they flop just to get it up your irritating press pack.

I DID see Hansen use the phrase "we" shock horror... however he wasn't refering to England but him and his fellow presenters/studio analyists. Ah well!

The guys a football player not a politician. Give him a break.

Great news! And if he has a good season then he can get himself in the shop window for a more lucrative move at the end of season. One which he thoroughly deserves and alas we cannot give him. Tho if I happen to win the lottery I will happily stump up a bumper contract for the season or two beyond this one (By win I mean a cracking jackpot) There you go- in writing. You can hold me to it.

I'd like to point out Im not in any way getting at the ability of a kid I've never even heard of never mind seen play. My only point being that whilst having a large frame is often of use to a keeper it can affect mobility and agility. And even in saying that it could just be the picture.

I don't really know if you could call it spectacular underachievement. They've never really had a team capable of winning it, with the exception of Italia '90. The Dutch and Spanish have much more to answer for.

Surely having a Scotsman at the world cup means we have at least 1 unbiased reporter, even if it is Chick Young? As for his allegiances, i don't really care. He can support anyone he likes and can do that in whichever way he pleases whether that be via a closet or not. If he's the best reporter we can send then it's a bit of a shame but at least we get some coverage as outsiders looking in. And on the Alan Hansen point. Everyone refers to how he refers to England as "we" and "us" but having seen him cover countless games I can't ever recall it. Maybe he has in the past but given he's surrounded by Englishmen and played there for the vast majority of his career and lives there it's probably alot easily to do that be it through habit or just to appease the Enlgish public. I've seen him with many a smirk on his face when England haven't been doing so well and likes to lay it on thick when getting into the analysis of their play, particularly if there has been mistakes.

two words ........ Jimmy Calder !!!! Or Andy Goram?? :party01: And old Roughie was never what could be called less than cuddly . . . Thats fair enough. Andy Goram was a great keeper, though Im too young and never really saw a great deal of Roughie but know he was fairly highly decorated and probably good too. Jim Calder is a legend for ICT but a 3rd/2nd division player in the stark reality of things. Had ability to go further but didn't so we can never know how far. My point is these days, in 2010, you rarely see chunky keepers, even in the lower leagues. Brian Jensen being the obvious exception to the rule.

It might just be the photo but that keeper look a little on the chunky side for a professional football player.

To be honest offering a 2 year deal is fine, so long as contract negotiations are started in the summer before they run out for key players to try and stop them agreeing pre contracts elsewhere. But as for the likes of Rooney, a 2 year extension should be seen as our next priority. He was after all signed on a 3 year deal so for him to have another 2 years to go wouldn't really be any different.

Scotland on their way to winning..............Oh, nothing, as usual. Oh and by the way it's a penalty not a penatly. :P When was the last time england won anything ? Its because of people like you that I hope england dont get past the group stages . Oh I see, I'm supposed to take it but not give it. It's called banter, I'm sure Iamthecaptain1 wasn't offended by my comeback just as I wasn't offended by his opening remark. As for your question about England last winning anything. I think it was 1966 but I'm not sure. When was the last time Scotland won anything? Let me guess 1967 when Scotland beat England. That's about the sum of it, isn't it? If people like me make you hope England go out early, you really should get out more. That way you may be able to get a life. If you really can't handle the banter then I suggest you hibernate for the next few weeks because I can see it getting a lot worse. Damn a typo, actually Oz I was deeply offended. It was such a cheap jibe. :D I was merely only stating a fact. And besides, of all the people for you to lose a charity match to, then few could argue there is none better than Woody Harrelson.

Yeah, Jamie Theakston that was, who to his credit made 3 pretty good penalty saves as well as a few good ones during the match, including Henrik Larrson from a one on one. But they didn't bet one Woody stepping up and slotting it away.