If I answer Liverpool's squad, then it will turn into one of those comparing the squad man for man comments, which I can't be bothered with. Arsenal probably have more attacking depth, but I still believe when fit, our midfield and defence is stronger than theirs. The thing is, in the league, the majority of the time since Rafa's been here, Arsenal apparently have a stronger squad than us and so on, yet three out of five seasons, Rafa's finished above him. Does that mean Rafa's a better manager than him? Especially since when Rafa took over, Arsenal had a title winning side, the 'unbeatables' IIRC. I believe when both sides have their first choice XI fit, we're a vastly superior side to Arsenal. But Arsenal probably have better depth, hence the reason they continually outdo us in the domestic cups.

The thing is, the majority of seasons, Arsenal go to OT and give United a cracking game, but most years Arsenal finish second best, sometimes they've won there. Them going there today, outplaying them but not winning just shows it's same old Arsenal. If they were to prove their credentials, they would have won today. Missing countless opportunities, giving away a pen and scoring an own goal isn't a good enough excuse for missing X amount of opportunities.

Straight question Robbie. Do you think Liverpool will win the league?

Here's another for you. Do you think Benitez is the right man for the club?

My Dads bigger than both of yours

and yet your mum says....

I didn't say Aquilani was a better player. Alonso was more complete and probably more suited to our game, but I do believe if Aquilani settles well, then he's potentially a better player than Alonso. And he can potentially bring what we need more than maybe what Alonso did. Aquilani has been touted as one of Europe's best for years, but he's had too many injuries to have a breakout season. He's with us now and I hope we take better care of him, because he can become one of the world's best, but he could also become an injury prone flop who can't settle in England.

Alonso was a good player but he had his limitations, Aquilani is potentially a better player, but it's up to Rafa and Alberto to make sure that happens.

Real spent so much on Alonso for a few reasons: the first - he's Spanish, the second, he's a player who Perez rates a lot and wanted to bring to Madrid before he came to us, and three, it's part of his policy to bring in the best Spanish players, they failed in their bid to sign Villa so they had to make it up somehow.

Last year Alonso nearly signed for Juve for £13m, but for Rafa intervening, even with a world class season under his belt, even I was pretty chuffed we managed to get £35m for him (potentially).

Quiet you

1) Honestly, I don't have the slightest. Things look very open this year and there's still plenty of twists and turns left. I've always remained that my prediction on us winning the league depends on when Rafa gets us to peak physically, last year it was not long after the FA cup ties against Everton, sadly it was too late. This year, he needs to get us picking up form around Christmas, then hopefully strengthens a bit more in January to keep the form consistent.

2) Yes I do, I think he's a great coach.

Colleen throws them at him. Not all of them land in his mouth........

Just watching the Serie A here. Who's that pretender at right back for Inter thinking he's Glen Johnson?

If Almunia had a brain he'd have held his arms back and Rooney would've been getting a yellow for his dive. Because Almunia doesn't have a brain he kept his arms out, made contact with Rooney and gave the ref an easy call. The only thing in Rooney's mind was winning a pen though. He went in to nip the ball away and hopefully get taken down. He was going down as soon as he won the ball.

Ridicuous challenge from Fletcher. I'd like to hear the refs explanation why he didn't give the pen.

Fantastic shot from Arshavin. Should have only resulted in a corner though. Poor 'keeping from Foster.

Eboue's booking was wrong IMO. Evra's lifted his leg as though he's going to trip him. Eboue has gone down to evade the impact, but Evra has pulled back from completing the foul as he's already on a yellow. IMO that's still a foul because Evra has caused Eboue to go over because of his "simulation" of a foul.

From Evra's instant action I think he thought he was off. He was walking as though he knew the red card was coming. The ref then booked Eboue for diving though and Evra just walked round as though he was just on a stroll rather than walking for an early bath.

This shows the problems that refs and the authorities have to deal with with diving. Evra went in to commit the foul, but pulled out at the last second. Eboue looked as though he went over because he was bracing for impact, but he could have been buying the foul in the same way as Rooney did.

Rooney's taken Nani and Berbatov to his granny brothel tonight. They couldn't finish there either.

Stonewall penalty.


Spot on.

Shame about Torres' and especially Lucas' actions.

No reason for him to do anything different in future. He's influenced the ref and it changed the game. I sure he thinks it was a good days work.

It all depends which angle the ref had for me, it definately was not a foul just an accidental trip when their legs tangled but from behind it could have looked different depending on where the ref was.

Watching the highlights last night Im suprised we didnt score 10 goals with all the chances we had Torres alone could have had 5

In the knowledge that the player had already been booked and a sending off would result from another booking, I believe it had to be a certain foul for Mr Wiley to make that decision.

I don't believe anyone could honestly see it as anything more than accidental and I do believe that the players reaction has influenced the ref when he should have been stronger.

Thems the breaks though.

Your right there but just look at what happened at old trafford when Wenger was sent of in the 6th minute of extra time what was the point the officials are clueless at times it delayed the game for about a minute and a half just for the sake of 30 seconds

They are though IMO a bit of common sense wouldnt do them any harm now and again although Im not gonna complain about the decision at Bolton yesterday

Errrrrm do you actually believe any of that tripe you have just written?

That's right, Evra was wrong for not getting a yellow card. Evra was wrong to pull out of a challenge and Eboue was right to play for the imaginary contact and go down. Players from now on cannot pull out of challenges, they must accept their consequences because it's not fair on the player anticipating contact

FFS you mancs and scousers are retarded.

No one should have been booked for that. Evra didn't deserve to be booked because he pulled back from committing the foul. But IMO there's no way Eboue took a dive trying to get Evra booked. Eboue was attempting to run past Evra, thought he was going to be fouled because Evra was sticking out his leg, and went over because he was anticipating contact.

That's what Wenger has said Eduardo was doing against Celtic. I think it was bull5hit in Eduardo's case because IMO he dived to win the pen. Exactly the same as what Rooney did to win his pen, with the difference being that Almunia carried on with his challenge and gave away the pen while the Celtic 'keeper didn't.

Same as in your game when the Bolton defender berated Torres for diving after completing the tackle. Torres didn't dive to win a penalty, he just went to ground because there was nowhere else to go. The Bolton player completed a fantastic tackle, but then acted like a total pr1ck accusing Torres when Torres didn't do anything.

Portsmouth v Manchester City line-ups:

Portsmouth: Begovic, Vanden Borre, Kaboul, Mokoena, Belhadj, Brown, Mullins, Hughes, Smith, Piquionne, Kranjcar.
Subs: Ashdown, Kanu, Basinas, Nugent, Utaka, Ward, Hreidarsson

Manchester City: Given, Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Barry, Bellamy, Adebayor, Tevez.
Subs: Taylor, Onuoha, Zabaleta, Robinho, Petrov, De Jong, Weiss.

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire).

Is the Portsmouth side really as bad as people are making out?, I don't expect them to be near Relegation come May time...

Yeah, but that's where Eboue gets booked for diving. He anticipates contact and he's already decided what he was going to do before there was any contact, much like Boruc, Evra pulled out and Eboue was made to look silly as he played for a challenge that never came. If somebody goes down due to no contact, anticipating a foul, then surely that's a booking for simulation?

I just don't believe a player can play for intent, for a simple trip like Evra's, the contact has to come before going down. If it's a wild lunge at speed, then yeah, fair play, get out of the way and go to ground, but I think Eboue looked a total t*t after anticipating something that never came.

No.

A booking for simulation should only be given when a player dives to try and win a pen/free kick/get a player booked when there was no foul.

IMO that's what Eduardo did against Celtic. He deserved to be booked.

I don't think Eboue did that. He knocked the ball past Evra, Evra made the decision to trip him, but stopped inches before impact because he knew he'd be off if he committed the foul. Eboue didn't deliberately take a dive to get Evra booked, he simply went over because Evra was in the process of tripping him and instinctively you protect yourself when you're going to hit something.



Evra only backed out from tripping Eboue up at the last moment. There was inches between Evra and Eboue.

If that's how referees are going to rule on these incidents then defenders will start throwing their legs in like that and pulling out from the foul at the last moment.

I still think the correct decision in this case would have been a free kick to Arsenal with no bookings.

IMO Eboue genuinely went to ground because he braced himself for impact. I think Rooney went in looking for a penalty and Almunia obliged him by making contact. Eduardo went in looking for a pen and dived perfectly to win the pen.

Eboue = Not guilty, Rooney = looking for a pen, given it by Almunia, Eduardo = Dived to win a pen.