England | Premier League, Championship, FA Cup..| 2010/2011

[Diligent]

Here is the Carling Cup 1st Round draw.

Hartlepool United v Sheffield United
Leicester City v Macclesfield Town
Walsall v Tranmere Rovers
Carlisle United v Huddersfield Town
Stockport County v Preston North End
Barnsley v Rochdale
Morecambe v Coventry City
Doncaster Rovers v Accrington Stanley
Chesterfield v Middlesbrough
Peterborough United v Rotherham United
Bradford City v Nottingham Forest
Leeds United v Lincoln City
Sheffield Wednesday v Bury
Scunthorpe United v Oldham Athletic
Crewe Alexandra v Derby County
Exeter City v Ipswich Town
Southend United v Bristol City
Southampton v Bournemouth
Brentford v Cheltenham Town
Queens Park Rangers v Port Vale
Torquay United v Reading
Norwich City v Gillingham
Stevenage v Portsmouth
Shrewsbury Town v Charlton Athletic
Cardiff City v Burton Albion
Northampton Town v Brighton & Hove Albion
Swansea City v Barnet
Plymouth Argyle v Notts County
Wycombe Wanderers v Millwall
Oxford United v Bristol Rovers
Milton Keynes Dons v Dagenham & Redbridge
Hereford United v Colchester United
Yeovil Town v Crystal Palace
Aldershot Town v Watford
Swindon Town v Leyton Orient

Ties to be played week commencing 9 August

Edit; Cheers Rik :)

[deporik]

Opening fixtures are out today too.(14 Aug)

Man Utd and Chelsea get fairly easy games but a toughie for Liverpool and Arsenal to start with.

Aston Villa v West Ham
Blackburn v Everton
Blackpool v Wigan
Bolton v Fulham
Chelsea v West Brom
Liverpool v Arsenal
Man Utd v Newcastle
Sunderland v Birmingham
Tottenham v Man City
Wolverhampton v Stoke

[ggeorg]

Miles, you could use the "enter" button, once in a while

[Diligent]

Originally Posted by ggeorg

Miles, you could use the "enter" button, once in a while

I used copy and paste, from my laptop and that's how it turned out. (embarrased, sad and pissed off smilies) lol

[Feliuk]

The Championship started tonight with Norwich V Watford.
Norwich were promoted and fancied to do well, Watford are a young side and fancied to get relegated.
On tonights performance you wouldn't have thought that

Norwich 2 - Watford 3

[DepHun]

Martin O'Neill quits from Aston Villa. But why?

[Rack]

Originally Posted by DepHun

Martin O'Neill quits from Aston Villa. But why?

Not apparent yet. But unconfirmed reports suggest that it is a combination of his opposition to the Club's transfer (selling) policy and more worryingly, that he had 'lost the dressing room'.

On another matter, Shay Given has issued a thinly-veiled threat against Man City that if he doesn't start the first game in front of Joe Hart this weekend, then he will look for a transfer. Lots of speculation this week linking him to Arsenal. He'd be a superb buy for anyone.....

[hari]

Joe Hart in front of Given!!

[Chris]

Join a club hoovering up the mercenaries, and then cry when you're under threat of becoming surplus to requirements due to a potentially better player coming along. What a tool.

[vink]

Originally Posted by DepHun

Martin O'Neill quits from Aston Villa. But why?

They are about to sell Milner and possibly Ashley Young, and they haven't brought in replacements of note. I think he's fed up with trying to achieve with one hand tied behind his back. They've been one or two players away from challenging for the CL, and they've always kept a small squad, so they end up slipping 2/3rds of the way through the season.

I've said good things about Randy Lerner on this board, but he seems to be getting very tight fisted.

[hari]

Originally Posted by DeporChris

Join a club hoovering up the mercenaries, and then cry when you're under threat of becoming surplus to requirements due to a potentially better player coming along. What a tool.

do you mean that Joe Hart is better than Given? Given wud probably be the best and most consistent GK that PL has seen in the past decade.. IMO, his move was completely justifiable..

[DepHun]

Originally Posted by vink

I think he's fed up with trying to achieve with one hand tied behind his back. .

What would he do at Depor in the place of Lotina then?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by hari

do you mean that Joe Hart is better than Given? Given wud probably be the best and most consistent GK that PL has seen in the past decade.. IMO, his move was completely justifiable..

Which is why I said potentially better. Hart was one of the league's most improved players last season, so much so that a club with the resources to chase any goalkeeper decided to keep him.

Given still has more years in him, but Hart isn't going to sit around and wait for his opportunity. England desperately need an established 'keeper. Sitting on the bench won't prove he's that. It's a delicate balancing act. City fans would be silly to prefer Given over a player they played a part in developing.

As an aside, I have to echo an assessment of Given that I've seen elsewhere; he's always been slightly overrated. I'm no great source of knowledge as to what makes a good 'keeper, only his now painfully apparent failure to control his area at times is something I can't help but pick up on e.g. why was the ball ever allowed to bounce for Henry to then go and handle it. A great shot stopper who isn't without his limitations.

[hari]

i dont know wht makes a grt GK either, but i was talking abt EPL mainly.. i dont know any GK who has never made mistakes.. IMO, City fans wud be silly to put Joe Hart before such an experienced GK like Given.. why United still use an old Van Der Sar in front of such a developing GK like Ben Foster? whom wud u prefer?

[deporik]

Originally Posted by hari

why United still use an old Van Der Sar in front of such a developing GK like Ben Foster?

I think it's because Foster plays for Birmingham now

Sorry, couldn't resist that