Gribz

He has no option to go with the amount of money those sponsors put in. It would crash FIFA. That's why I would think there is a lot going on in the background at the moment with the biggest 20 clubs in Europe looking at some sort of breakaway.

Tad harsh on Ancelotti from Chelsea and Madrid. He wont the double at Chelsea but Roman was firing anyone who didn't win the league, Man Utd came back strong the next season. At Madrid he was up against the best footballing team in our generation. Barca were sublime. No excuses to not get the better of Atletico though.

Into the Europa discussion - Liverpool are absolutely shocking. drawing with Carlisle over 120 minutes, drawing with Norwich and Sion, and beat by West Ham. Rodgers position is serious doubt and with Klopp and Ancelotti available they should make the move. If Everton beat them on sunday I can see him going. I thought Rodgers was OK but I heard someone say off the cameras he is a total pleb and if he was made of chocolate he would eat himself as he loves himself.

Similar thread in the football lounge. IMO it will only happen if the Premier League create a Premier League 2nd tier then the teams there would find it attractive playing Rangers and Celtic more than teams like Rotherham (sorry to pick on them). But it would do good for the big clubs like Leeds, Wolves and Sheff Wed to get 5000-6000 away fans in their ground and the TV men would find Rangers v Leeds or Celtic v Middlesboro pretty appealing.

Its very true though, we all hate long ball football, hitting corners into a box is similar.

I can see possibilities of a European League in the not so distant future. I would imagine there would be a Super League A and B in which the OF would be invited into the second tier. With FIFA and UEFA internal issues now It wouldn't surprise me if there was a shadow party being set up behind the scenes right now with the top clubs in Europe having mass input and putting this in place by 2020-2022. As for joining the English league, that ship has sailed. Both OF would need to apply and start in the Conference. Again the only way around this I see is if the Premier League make the Championship in England a Premier League 2 then they would perhaps find Rangers and Celtic more appealing than Rotherham and Huddersfield etc.

Watched a bit of the Man U game, great start by Wolfsburg. Van Gaal thinks man Utd are capable of winning it, I would say they are miles off Bayern and Real at the moment. Although Smalling is finally starting to look like a defender for them.

I think there is enough there to beat Poland which would pretty much guarantee play off spot unless we somehow didn't beat Gibraltar. But Strachan has to play form players this time, playing Fletcher upfront last time out was a mistake. There isn't much between the goalkeepers, at the peak of their form all 3 are top notch. Id go Marshall Whittaker Martin Mulgrew Hutton Anya Brown Fletcher McArthur Maloney Naismith

Week 2, Chelsea and Arsenal both slip up. Something very wrong at Chelsea. I think Mourinho has lost the dressing room after the doctor issue and his comments over players. As for Wenger, what is he thinking not playing Cech. Ok they have Man Utd at the weekend but you cant wrap players up. 5 changes to a winning team. He seems to be putting his eggs into the premier league basket. They wont get out the group now, a double header against Bayern next, they will be lucky to get 1 point. What does he see in Ozil, they guy is undropable and un-sub-able yet does nothing.

This is a royal pain for me also and prevented a meet up with you and a few others, I am due over the day before the original game and thought id get down for it. As is stands I wont be able to go down on the new date.

Watched the 2nd half of this game, not like a Pulis team to lose a 2 goal lead at home. Everton are a better team this season not having the Europa league. They have Liverpool on Sunday and I think they will win that as Liverpool have Sion on Thursday. I saw Everton in the summer tournament and thought they were very ordinary, yet Arsenal looked electric so pre season tournaments cant be taken too seriously. Lukaku was awful then and I couldn't believe they paid 27m for him.

Massive shoes to fill. Warburton had them punching well above their weight. Their loss was our huge gain.

Warburton joins the common sense club. Everyone sensible knows a 16 or 18 team league would work. And 4 divisions HAS to be reduced to 2 or 3. Falkirk, Hibs, and QofS could hold their own in the top flight right now along with us so that's 16 straight away. Playing teams twice a season is more interesting for the fan, its only the money men its unappealing to.

This is the first time I can recall Messi being injured for a significant period in his career. He was injured prior to the world cup but just wasn't fit then. This will be interesting to see how Barca do without him.

I think the team has a youthful look at the moment, what I would like to see is an experienced head in there. Eustace may well be that guy. IMO that may bring us on another step. Miller should be but he isn't first pick so cant influence during the 90 mins. Its still a new team which will grow over the winter months. Warburton will have a better idea in December of what he needs to add. There is something not right with Celtic (quite a lot actually), perhaps a 4th year with no Rangers is dragging them back even more. They will likely still win the top flight as Aberdeen will fizzle out but id be much more confident playing Celtic this season than last.

I certainly didn't see Spurs hitting Man City 4-1. That's 2 league loses for City now which opens up the race just nice. But Man Utd just don't look right at the top of the table for some reason. They aren't even playing well yet are there so they can probably only improve. Big win for Arsenal. West Ham slip up at home again. Needed win for Rodgers and Liverpool. Chelsea

I think both sides are all bought and paid for. I don't think Platini is an angel either and has come up with some crazy ideas in the last few years. I like the idea of a ex footballer in charge there, and thought Ginola was the most genuine contender.

Different divisions of teams, Southampton horsed MK Dons 6-0 in the English League cup but I wouldn't judge MK Dons on that result. Also a different competition. Aberdeen are over achieving and they were due a defeat.

Yeah but you cant say that's a dip in form

They aren't a banker for 2nd, Falkirk look as good as them. Anyway why worry about Hibs? 12 months ago yes but not now....

Dip in form? Because we aren't winning 5-0 every game!!??? If we draw our next 2-3 games then the words dip in form can be said but right now our form is flying. As for Falkirk and QofS, they are likely to be 2nd and 3rd in this league, they will push Hibs all the way.

Always annoys me whenever a manager is sacked the board always says 'we would sincerely like to thank...." its patronising. I wonder if McCall would be considered for a return there.

Costa gets 3 matches rightly so. Gabriel's reversed which is lucky, perhaps could have been reduced to a 1 game for a second yellow. As mentioned before Chelsea now have to go into 3 games with Remy or Falcao neither who look top notch at the moment.

Not quite. I cant see John Brown or Ian Durrant being ambassadors. Like Craig says the term 'global' shouldn't mean global, it should be filled with respected former greats in all continents.

If the Gentleman that is Brian Laudrup says Gough was the main person in the dressing room then that says it all. In todays market Gough would be a 30 million pound defender.