Gribz

Having 5 being geographically in Asia makes more games. Having the break up of the Soviet and Yugoslavia opened things up which is fair enough and moving from 8 teams in Euro 92 to 16 in Euro 96 was a good call but now the set up is giving teams byes to the tournament with such games in the Nations League. Because teams have a back door way in through the Nations league it makes even more meaningless games in the actual qualifiers. Qualification is getting easier, if Albania has qualified then that says it all. Plus I noticed Slovenia play Kazakhstan in the final group game with winner takes all - if Kazak go through then the Saudis will instantly want to join the Euro set up.

Thank god that was the last international break of the year, what a total disruption it is. I mean, well done to Scotland for a good campaign and reaching Germany and I'll watch the tournament itself, but qualifiers are dire. They really should be pinned altogether in 1 or 2 breaks.

I just read this therefore options open up so I might switch to Tugay or even Barry Ferguson. This is getting more difficult than my Higher Accounts exam. Tugay was great and probably a better player but surely cant make an all-time team ahead of McCall or Ferguson again due to longevity and service plus success. Im sticking with McCall, he did all the dirty work to let Gascoigne and Laudrup do their magic.

Because its a defensive holding midfield Im leaning towards Stuart McCall. Tugay was immense but wasnt just a holding midfielder but I suppose could count in this position. This is tough but I'll stick with Stuart McCall.

I think this was raised but the Premier League cover their tracks on these issues as all members sign and agree to the conditions. Football behind the scenes seems to be in its worst ever state and I see Man City avoiding a major punishment, they could end up with a fine. I can even see this leading to eventual breakaway for the super league with Europes top clubs joining a Saudi organised league - especially if Man City and Chelsea were hit with a point deduction that would relegate them - at TBH if this is what Everton get for a 19m one time break of rule, what would City get for 115 breaches. The good thing for Everton is they will stay up as they will get out of the bottom 3 easily. Leicester are the team who feel hard done by stating this 10 points should have been done last year so they are after a heavy financial compensation package.

The position where we have had class in abundance with keepers who could walk into most teams. Goram wins it. He was one of the best in the world at one point in 90s. No votes for Snelders? 😃

Come to the party late on this one but it would have been Robertson for me for longevity over Numan. How Robertson barely got Scotland caps was just baffling. He was light years better than Tosh Mckinlay.

Alan Hutton for me. Stevens was at the end of his career when I properly started watching.

Gough and Cuellar. Colin Hendry would have replaced Cuellar had he signed 5 years earlier.

Yeah there is a bit of Jaap Stam about him..And "no you wouldnt fuck with me on a proper day"....and I love that.

City are laughing.

Erm they havent played yet....

Hilarious. Im sure only Caniggia would have managed to pull this one off. I mean dont even ask.......

Just saw this post for the first time - Well done the Korean Lasses. And they look fine in those home shirts which was one of my favourites. I think it was the first time we used a kit for one season - possibly due to switching to Nike in 97-98?? (Negri shirt)

The equalizer probably saved the bookies a few big payouts from punters who would have had an outside single on Luton to win. Surely that would have been minimum 8/1. Good win for Forest. A weekend where Liverpool, Arsenal, Villa and Brighton didnt win which tightens things up, so its over to Spurs tonight to stretch the gap.

Nah, I hear what you were saying. 👍 Think we had Aberdeen 3 finals in a row in the late 80s? For nostalgia purposes I'll throw in the 96 final 4-3 v Hearts when Gascoigne came out and bagged a classic double (he had a double at half time aswell) - and it was the Neil McCann trial game where he was awesome. Delighted to be in the final although the date Dec 17 could have been arranged a bit better, it was always great to get this final in October. What length of contract is Butland on BTW anyone? At a time around 6 or 7 years ago when England had 3 or 4 coming through he was easily the best out of Pickford and Pope plus with Forster and Foster around - but he got a bad injury. Its great to see him showing his talent again - he is a top keeper and I wouldnt be swapping him for Pickford, Henderson or Sam Johnstone. Im liking what Clement seems to be doing, there just seems a bigger professionalism around the place and we have to remember he has barely had time on the training ground to implement his style due to midweek games.

Yeah granted because what's happened in that time and it shows how fast time goes, but I was just thinking this was the cup we usually had in the back pocket and probably took for granted over a certain period.

It was surprising to read that we havent won this cup for 12 years when for me growing up it was the cup we seemed to stroll every year and in the 90s it probably had a bit more affiliation to it than the Scottish Cup.

Thats harsh. After going 2-1 up Antonio screwed up for 3-1 which would have wrapped it up. But thats 3 league defeats in a row and Moyes is going backwards again, he really can be up there with the most frustrating of managers.

Im quite happy with 5 out of 7 predictions including 2 correct scores. That Newcastle goal though - you could make an episode of CSI with that - 4 investigations: 1) Was the ball out - looked 100% out. Ever since that Japan goal in the World cup where they claimed the full circumference of the ball wasnt out these are getting very lenient. 2) Push on Gabriel - Looked a clear push and therefore foul. 3) Handball off Joelinton leading to a goal - Not sure if they officially looked at this but there was talk about it. I havent seen enough replays of this one enough times yet but I dont think it looked like it. 4) Gordon offside - clear offside as the ball comes off Joelinton who is ahead of Raya. Havertz (Horrendous sliding assault) and Bruno G (elbow to Jorginho) should both have seen straight reds.

At - October 1994 first OF game. Celtic 1-3 Rangers. Laudrup and Hateley ripped them apart at Hampden (while Parkhead was being rebuilt). Not At - Helicopter Sunday May 2005. Just finished a job on the Azerbaijan Georgia border and just got to Baku in time but couldnt choose what bar I could go to and ended up in a pub full of Celtic expat fans and workers. Incredible bounce on a sofa and table and somehow made it out. Partied for 2 days then flew to Heathrow spending the flight in the toilet all the way.

Some big games for certain teams this weekend. Man Utds players will tell everyone they arent with the manager if they dont respond at Fulham. The game at Goodison is quite tasty, Everton starting to get the odd result and they will stay up no problem this season as they are easily better then the bottom 4. Brighton being in the Europa is testing them a bit and are having the odd off day that they didnt have last season so its a tough one to call. And Sheff Utd have to win at some point. Im going for: Fulham 0-1 Man Utd Brentford 0-2 West Ham Burnley 0-0 Crystal Palace Everton 1-1 Brighton Man City 5-0 Bournemouth Sheff Utd 1-0 Wolves Newcastle 3-2 Arsenal Nottm Forest 0-2 Aston Villa Luton 0-4 Liverpool Tottenham 1-1 Chelsea

Attack v Defence is an interesting debate despite probably being both as important as each other plus of course excluding the midfield debate which is where a game is controlled. But I was having a debate a few weeks back when Tottenham and Arsenal were both level at the top on points and goal difference, yet Spurs were on top because of goals scored. This IMO should be scrapped, if teams are level on points and GD then neither games won or goals scored should then matter and if it was at the end of the season a play off should take place. Of course everyone wants to see exciting games with plenty goals but that shouldn't eradicate the art of defending and say that scoring is more important than not conceding - its an insult to all great goalkeepers and defenders. Plus you can score in a game and still lose the match but if you dont concede then you cant lose that game therefore you could argue defending is the more important. Again using the English top tier, in the 90-91 season Arsenal won the title with a GD of +56 yet Liverpool scored 3 more goals than them that year - therefore the lowly 18 goals conceded over the season was obviously a catalyst for winning the league. So I lean towards tight defence being the more important and there is nothing better than having a commanding centre half at the back - this despite loving watching free flow attack.

This 100%. They can buy their way in but they have a huge trump card first and will use Israel, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Kazakhstan clubs and countries being allowed to participate in European competitions and qualifications. I had a chuckle in the CL qualifiers a few months back, there was a qualifier between Dinamo Tblisi (Geo) v FC Astana (Kaz). The latter is nearer Mongolia than any European country if Istanbul is the Continent border.

If FIFA had any integrity they would have put aside 2034 and said to Australia - you're the only continent not to host one so its all yours and use other nations around you if you wish. An Aussie WC with NZ, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur chipping in would have been superb. (Flight time from Perth to SG is the same as Perth to Sydney). Granted SG and Malaysia are technically Asia with Australia being Oceania but Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are great cities who wont get to host such event. European clubs are quick enough to head out to these nations for pre-season for the cash, I can see far more pre-season trips to the middle east from now on.