Smile, It's England Time

"Too good not to qualify" were from the mouth of former England captain, David Beckham. As England's credential will be severely tested this Saturday in Israel, England manager, Steve McClaren, will have a lot to ponder about.

That includes the starting line up for the game as it's going to be one hell of a ride there. The Israelian national team have only lost twice in their last 18 home games and with the English side looked all but convincing for the past few games (or actually years), Israel knows they stand a chance to send ripples across European football.

So now, with your football knowledge, guess the starting eleven that Steve McClaren will put out to face Israel. In fact, it's actually quite easy.

Robinson;

Carragher, Terry, Rio, P Neville;

Gerrard, Lampard, Hargreaves, Lennon;

Rooney, Defoe;

I pick this team not because it's the best but it's what McClaren is going to put out. It's fairly obvious the man who used to manage 'Boro doesn't like players from another midlands club, Aston Villa, and therefore, whether Gareth Barry is present or not, it doesn't really matter to him.

Without 'influencial' 'best right back in the world', Gary Neville, he will have to pick from either Luke Young or Jamie Carragher for that role. Back to his usual utility role for England, it's going to be Carra. We all know it. He'll be playing anywhere but centre back.

Defoe will play because there is no Crouch and no England managers know how to use Andy Johnson the proper way. If indeed, he starts, then he'll be shafted to the right flank again while Defoe, 22 caps and no goals speaks a lot. He just don't make the cut.


And they don't even have the Plan A to go for..

Sir Against The Media

We all know the infamous interview which Ronaldo said 'maybe I'm just too good' but that interview caused Sir Alex of Whiskey to go ballistic on the interviewer, Geoff Shreeves. It was after the Ronaldo's interview and the tirade was so loud that Gareth Southgate's interview with BBC had to be abandoned.

Now, count the number of expletives:

Shreeves: "I asked him..."

Ferguson: "F*****g (inaudible) bastard."

Shreeves: "Don't talk to me like that."

Ferguson: "F**k off to you."

Shreeves: "Don't talk to me like that. Don't even think about it."

Ferguson: "Don't you think about it, you ****. F**k off. Right?"

Shreeves: "Listen, are you going to do the interview in a professional manner or not? Do you want to do it or not?"

Ferguson: "You f*****g be professional. You be professional. You're the one."

Shreeves: "I'm entitled to ask...Cristiano gave the right answer."

Ferguson: "F*****g hell with your answers."

Shreeves: "Don't talk to me like that. Go away. If you want to behave civilly, fine. Don't talk to me like that."

Ferguson: "F**k off." (door slams).

Eye opener.

Beauty Of FA Cup....

My arse.

Another round of FA Cup, another round of shame. Not in one, but two games. Different reason, different incident, same consequence.


How Did He Miss Lampard?



A man that weight a stone heavier than his counterparts can effective dodge a punch from him, disgraceful. I mean, his body frame is big yet he only manage a limp punch that completely misses him. He should be thrown into jail not for his assault but for that inaccurate punch of his.

And several Chelsea players should be punished as well. Look how they went gathering round the 'hero' and joined in kicking and stamping on him. Shows a lot of class, eh?


Did Ronaldo Dive AGAIN?

Sigh, this is getting tiresome. I woke up this morning, without seeing the headlines, I knew it 'IT' happened again. Ronaldo's face and all...



3 games against Middlesbrough, 3 penalties. Is this really some kind of conspiracy theory against 'Boro or are those referees just want free services from....oh sorry, can't see the obvious. Footballers nowadays have such talent in acting that I don't even know what's real and what's not. Up to you to decide, but I still think he went down too easily.

Acting or not aside, his attitude is starting to get on my nerves. Perhaps it's not just me but he is getting a little too arrogant and petulant. Asked about why they have such hard time up against him, his answer is simply 'maybe I'm just too good'.

Pride and arrogance are your first step to failure, my friend...continue with this attitude and he'll probably end up with nothing and a spoilt reputation.

Ugly Scene @ White Hart Lane

After Chelsea 2-1 win over Tottenham and their progression towards the FA Cup semi finals, the Chelsea players celebrated and no doubt, the Spurs fan were enraged. Two of the fans went mental (actually not...) and actually slipped past the security and went onto the pitch and attempted to attack Fat Frank Lampard....

Here's the picture...









Oh, hang on...








Sorry :)

Do You Fear The Ball?

I know of some people who're like that! Ha!

Drogballs' Weekly Thoughts

Reds Falter Again

Arsenal closed in on 3rd place with a game in hand and yet, most of our players didn't turn up or even if they did, they didn't looked like they care less anyway. Such an insipid and abject performance, there was totally no signs of any urgency in the side and passing the ball from back to front and back again won't win you games.

I couldn't really understand the reason why we set out 2 defensive midfielders in Sissoko and Mascherano from the start and it was as if we're preparing for a siege. And the fact that Villa have only won 2 in their last 18 games points to us that they're there for the taking.

But we only managed 2 to 3 shots throughout the whole game without severely putting them into any sort of pressure is worrying. Not that I expect us to go for a walk at Villa Park but one would expect a top 4 team to put up a fairly decent performance there.

Rafa again, what's with the substitutions? It's becoming quite a concern especially in the Premiership games. European ones, I can't say much but it seemed that it'll take Rafa some years before he'll learn from his past mistakes.

Taking off Bellamy, a striker, for Pennant, a half decent winger, while we know the game is still wide open for us to take. Making it a 4-5-1 and THEN, take off Gerrard and replace him with Fowler. Back to 4-4-2. I don't get it. Just don't.


Devils Marched On

No Henrik Larsson? No problem. It's yet another 4 goals added into their season tally and it looked as if it's not gonna stop till they get to the crown. Rooney and Park both scored a double and Bolton were left absolutely flabbergasted by the way the home side played their football.

It's hard for me, as a Liverpool fan, to give credit to United but as a football fan, what a team. There's raw talent, experience and hunger. That's the keys to a winning team and with all the squabbles earlier on during the World Cup between Rooney and Ronaldo, it all seemed to make the pair stronger and worked in their favour. Ronaldo is simply irresistible and Rooney might have found the scoring touch that was found wanting at times this season.

It will also be good news to McClaren as his side is short on firepower and with Rooney perhaps, back in a little form, he'll have one less thing to worry but the injury to Gary Neville, how untimely. That'll give him another reason to play a 3-5-2 then.

Who's gonna stop United? Nobody.


Gunners Gunned Down By Johnson

As the weather got worst and hail starts to fall in Merseyside, there's an air of inevitability that Everton will grab all 3 points in the game against Arsenal.

That was what I thought and well, I was right. Andy Johnson once again, prove to be the thorn in many side's ass with a goal at the 90th minute mark. Same old story for Arsenal.

Firstly, not taking the chances. No Henry, Adebayor and van Persie is bad enough. Playing with Baptista and Alialialialialiadiere upfront means you're never going to get quite enough goals while the midfielders continue to run rings round people but not helping with the scoring.

I saw a statistic that showed Mathieu Flamini is actually the best of the bunch in terms of scoring is it's quite shocking(Gilberto scores all the penalties). With the likes of Alex Hleb, Tomas Rosicky and Cesc, isn't there enough class to have an alternate outlet to the goals?


Goal-line Technology?

Offside rules, celebrations and outlawing draws from football. They did everything to try and change the game but the obvious. The game's crying out for technology to be implemented but it's not progressing at the rate in which we hope for.

The game in which West Ham stole all 3 points from Blackburn, the talking point is the goal that never was once again. Linesman was so adamant it went in that a usually competent Howard Webb have no choice but to give it as a goal, although it looked so obvious that it didn't cross the line.

Now we football fans have to contemplate on the future of the game. The goal-that-never-was situation does give us talking points week in, week out like what we're doing now. But at the same time, rules are meant to be followed closely with consistency and when things like this happen, everyone will say they no longer trusts the rules and regulations of the game. Because they're blatantly robbed.

Talking point and entertainment or just and fair outcomes? The two options can't go hand in hand.


Zheng Zhi Revives Addicks Hope

Another Asian in the league, another shining light. He might be the one that spark an unbelievable comeback for Charlton as they looked like they're dead and buried months ago and now, they're edging closer to Sheffield United and safety.

Although it's still too early to tell and Charlton are still currently in the bottom 3, their form have picked up drastically and even goals are coming in. Unlike the other teams who're in trouble, they didn't have much of a problem in front of goals while Darren Bent's return from injury will only aid them in their fight for survival.

Reds Held To Bore Draw

English Premiership

Aston Villa 0 - 0 LIVERPOOL

Thomas Sorensen pulled off a magnificent save to deny Liverpool an undeserved win at Villa Park as both teams huffed and puffed their way to finish line without much action. Jermaine Pennant's delicious ball in was well met with veteran striker Robbie Fowler's head but the Villa goalkeeper reacted brilliantly, getting down fast enough to save Villa from a suck punch right on the 90th minute mark.

In perhaps one of the most dour and boring game, chances were few and far between. Goalkeeper from both sides were largely untroubled while the defence ahead of them were on top of their game. Perhaps critics will bring up the fact that Villa are culpable of being too negative but to be honest, it was all about Liverpool's insipid and lacklustre performance.

The visitors were on a run of two consecutive losses and with the long break before the game, you'll expect them to be fresh and more organised albeit a little lack of match practice. But other than the Fowler's last minute header and Riise's rising shot earlier on, they had nothing to show for.

Villa, meanwhile, tried to hit Liverpool on the counter attack and did cause some problems for Carragher and co. John Carew did well to hold up ball with his physical strength while Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young bombed down the flanks with pace.

They had a controversial penalty turned down after Agbonlahor's cross bobbled around Liverpool's penalty box and with Stilian Petrov approaching the ball, Carragher and Finnan both caught the Bulgarian's leg. He went down but referee, Lee Mason, turned it down despite being a few yards away.

Apart from that, there was little to talk about.

Kuyt once again underlined Liverpool's chief weakness that is, finishing. Fabio Aurelio pinged a fantastic cross in front the left and the Dutchman, despite being unmarked, sent his header over the bar.

With the team giving little for Rafa Benitez to be happy about, he will certainly be pleased with the performance of Javier Mascherano. Although not an all round performance but the Argentinian didn't look all out of place and did pretty well with a few good tackles and interceptions.

Not having too much match practices, the midfield destroyer put up a decent performance while the Liverpool fans will most certainly look forward to seeing him next season, with pre-season training and all.

With Arsenal already managed to take over them in the league at 3rd place, they'll now face an uphill task to once again, consolidate 3rd place for themselves. The outcome of it might just be the important game next week as Liverpool will face off with Arsenal at Anfield.

3rd is probably means nothing to many but to this two teams, it's the least they could get now. And with that, Liverpool will probably have to buck up to mount a challenge before it's too late.

Villans vs Reds Preview

As the dream of finishing second fades, now even finishing third could be an uphill task for the Reds. Liverpool's closest rival in terms of placing, Arsenal, has finally caught up with us as we stumbled at Anfield to United and losing games they shouldn't have.

Advantage will be on Arsenal's side ahead of tonight's clashes as Liverpool travel to the midlands for the game against Aston Villa while Arsenal travels to Merseyside to face off with none other than Liverpool's most bitterest rival, Everton. With the one game in hand, Arsenal will certainly want to take full use of it.

Whether the Blue half of Liverpool (or perhaps Blue quarter outside of Liverpool) are willing to give us a hand on the race to retain third place is really not in the agenda or concern of Rafa Benitez, but to beat the Villains at Villa Park is, coming back from the last two consecutive defeats to Man Utd. and Barcelona.

But the Reds had a specially long break after the exhausting game against Barcelona as there's no FA Cup fixtures to be played. The break is perhaps a well deserved one and also an important time where Rafa will have to keep his players motivated for the fight ahead.

Fighting for third is certainly no glorious thing but that's the least they could do at this time. And the important thing is that they do it well and as a priority for now. Talking about winning the Champions League is perhaps too far fetched at this moment in time. The league placing will still be the priority.

With the long break, you'll expect the Reds to turn up with a good performance as they've certainly have enough rest and time to organise themselves. But never underestimate Villa, as they're capable of wrecking Liverpool's season with Martin O'Neil as their manager and former Rafa's favourite, John Carew, on their side.


Drogballs' Prediction: Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool.

There Goes Foster

Ben Foster, bright young goalkeeper, touted to take over England's number one jersey in years to come as David James reaches his retirement age and Paul Robinson continues to flap and flop. But it's ironic how things happen so quickly that now, people will start questioning his ability.

And the stumbling block was none other than Paul Robinson, the current number one of England and the goal kick that bounced over his head and went right in.



Curse of the English goalkeepers, strikes back.

Pub Quiz Answers

Maybe you know it all and is a scholar of football knowledge. Or perhaps you just know where to find the answers. Whatever it is, here are some stuff you might be interested to know. Have you gotten it all right?

1) What nickname was given to Francis Jeffers following his move from Everton to Arsenal?

A: 'The fox in the box', signed from Everton. Touted to be the next (insert great English striker names here) but eventually never live up to his hype.

2) For which club has Jeffers recently being playing on loan for?

A: Ipswich Town

3) From which club did ManYoo sign Juan Veron from?

A: Lazio of Italy.

4) In what year was his £28.1 move completed?

A: It was back in 2001, during the 'golden era' of Man United. Surprisingly, his inclusion brought an end of it with Arsenal and Chelsea dominating, till now.

5) True or false - Chelski signed Shaun Wright-Phillips for more than £20m?

A: His price tag is mentioned more often than Peter Crouch scoring headers, but of course in a wrong way. He moved to Chelsea for a mind boggling £21m and has so far made little or no impact at the London club. Talking about peripheral figures, nobody epitomises it so well.

6) What's the higher figure - the number of games Jonathan Woodgate played for Real Madrid or the number of millions the Spanish club spent buying his services?

A: The number of millions spent was is greater than the number of games he played. Shame, they paid £18m but he only played 12 times.

7) Name the striker Aston Villa bought in 2001 for £6m who scored a grand total of zero goals during his ten-game stint at the club.

A: It's hard to remember him due to the minimal impact but people who plays Championship Manager will remember, Bosko Balaban. He's class in the game but sadly not in real life.


8) Name the deranged club which bought Jean-Alain Boumsong from Newcastle in August.

A: The relegated giants, Juventus of Italian Serie B.


9) Which £11m flop remains Tottenham's record signing?

A: His name, Surgei Rebrov, will forever be etched on the minds of Spurs fans as a striker who promised so much but delivered so little. It still mystifies people as to how someone of his calibre could flop like him. Well, next time, just do more scouting. Because not all players are suited to be in the most competitive league in Europe, in physical terms of course.

10) How many goals did Chris Sutton score during his one and only season at Chelsea?

A: Even as I type this, I feel a little embarrassed for him. He had only scored one for Chelsea before they flogged him off to Celtic in Scotland. There's still this vague memory of him going one on one with the goalkeeper before falling on his butt and missed the chance.