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Not looking good for Liverpool at half time. The first goal from Rosicky was just a class strike, but what kind of defending was that for the second one? Gerrard won't enjoy looking at either.

Arsenal can just continue to sit back and play on the break now, so I can't see Liverpool clawing this back. Arsenal could easily get another too.

I thought Alonso should have had a penalty. Definitely looked like contact to me.

Presumably retrofitting a movable roof is quite an engineering undertaking? Or was the stadium built with that eventuality in mind?

I cannot rem back then regarding the details
but I was hardly looking to dislike them
so there must have been a reason- or reasons

prob the selling of houhton the best in the game at that position to be replaced by the inneffectual mcmanaman
and the sidelining of staunton for the rubbish burrows

I dont have to prove why I thought that
if you cant trust your own opinion what can you trust

I know what you lads are saying and respect that- including hound
but it cannot be proven either way unless you get souness to admit to that - which is highly unlikely

but you cannot rubbish my opinion with what has been said.

sorry lads, the opinion was formed at the time and I fully believe what I thought then.

to make matters worse I hated beardsley and barnes playing for liverpool.
I was a fan of barnsey at watford but he and many others were not 'liverpool players' imo

I was only dealing in facts not opinion. Nowhere did I state that Burrows was better than Staunton.  but previous, but you clearly have no clue that Kenny Dalglish bought Burrows because he wasnt happy with Stan at left back. There are no facts to back up an anti-Irish agenda on behalf on Souness. Whether they were the right decisions or not there were football reasons for selling Houghton and Staunton. If he was anti-Irish why did he continue to play Whelan when he was available? Your earlier post said you remember there were other Irish players he didnt play, and yet they were no other Irish players in the first team squad at that time!

In fairness, saying you hated Beardsley and Barnes when they were at Liverpool and they were not "Liverpool players" shows what a low level of knowledge you have about Liverpool FC (both players played a huge part in Liverpool winning 2 titles in 3 years and both were wonderful attacking players during those years). So its no surprise you're ignorant re the selection and transfer policies of Souness.

and you have no 'facts' to back up your opinion that souness was not anti Irish

thats it in a nutshell
my opinions are down to the fact I cannot recall transfers at the time in or out.
Also that you rubbish my knowledge of liverpool FC by castigating my opinions on barnes and beardsley
the crux here is that I have a 'low level of knowledge you have about Liverpool FC '  ...
did you actually watch Liverpool from 1975 up until the introduction of barnes and beardsley?
they stuck out like a sore thumb at the time and again I recall discussing with a few liverpool fans at the time who agreed that they did not fit into the then traditional liverpool style (although everyone was happy when they were bought as they were good players elsewhere).
Shows you dont know hee-haw about liverpool or did not understand the club and its football prior to that Barnes and beardsley era.
Yer just a bandwagon jumper!

Barnes and Beardesley "stuck out like a sore thumb"? Did you happen to watch Liverpool in the late eighties? That was probably the most entertaining and one of the best Liverpools team ever, and had they not been out of Europe because of Heysel, they would very probably have added another European Cup to the list.Things went arseways in the aftermath of Hillsborough, but I never heard any Liverpool supporter complaining before that. Dalglish changed the style of play when Rush left, allowing him to buy Aldridge, Beardsley and Barnes, and most people loved it. Their dismantling of a very strong Forest team in a 5-0 win at Anfield is still talked about as one of the most complete peformances in an English league game.

Houllier

Houllier lost the plot in the end, but he did bring in a few trophies and did beat United five times in a row, so it wasn't all bad under him. The climax to that treble season was amazing! The two exciting cup wins, the last minute win over Everton courtesy of McAllister's 40 yeard free, hammering Charlton (a decent side at the time) away on the last day to secure Champions League football for the first time...

Much of the football was brutal though!

[Arsenal have never lost at Anfield in an FA Cup tie. The Gunners drew 0-0 there in 1923 and won 2-0 in 1936.]

No Fear lads

# Arsenal and Liverpool have contested three FA Cup Finals, Arsenal winning two in 1950 and 1971, and Liverpool winning one, in 2001.
# Arsenal have never lost at Anfield in an FA Cup tie. The Gunners drew 0-0 there in 1923 and won 2-0 in 1936.
# The two teams contested a marathon four-game Semi-Final in 1980, Arsenal finally winning 1-0 with a goal from Brian Talbot at Highfield Road.
# Arsenal have won the FA Cup 10 times to Liverpool's seven.
# The teams last met in the competition five years ago when a Dennis Bergkamp goal gave us a 1-0 win at Highbury. Liverpool's Jamie Carragher was sent off later in the game

Why the highlighting? Is what happened in the 1930s relevant given that Arsenal haven't played an FA Cup tie at Anfield since? Liverpool hadn't beaten United in the Cup since the 1920s, before last season's tie.

Carragher's sending off was the time he threw the coin back into the crowd wasn't it?

I remember being in tears as a wee lad, watching that third replay in 1980. That must have been the longest cup tie ever.

Ah here...

Some eegit just said

there are far more Association football clubs than GAA clubs

That's hilarious

Is it not true? There are literally hundreds of soccer clubs in Dublin. Many of them amount to a bunch of lads meeting up on a Saturday for a league match on a council pitch, with a game of midweek indoor thrown in in lieu of training. They're still clubs though.

In Armagh City there are two Gaelic Football Clubs, and off the top of my head in and around ten soccer clubs. The two Gaelic Football Clubs would have in the region of twenty five teams - I would guess the soccer clubs would have less than twenty teams. The gaelic teams mostly would have squads of 20-25 in number, the soccer teams mostly 14-17. There might be a discrepancy of clubs in the region of 10:2, but there's no doubt there are a lot more Gaelic players.

Out of curiosity, does the average soccer head in the South have that much anitpathy to the GAA - I'm used to it in the North from the OWC contingent, but I'm a bit taken aback by the level of animosity shown there!

From my experience, it depends where you are. In Donegal, no. Its mostly the same people playing and watching both sports.

I also lived for many years on the south side of Dublin. Most of the lads I knew either played or watched soccer or both, but had little interest in GAA. I never got involved in any GAA club in Dublin, but I still met a fairly representative cross-section of Dublin life through college and work. Never saw much actual antipathy though.

Fair point about the number of teams per club. There are some massive soccer clubs though too.

Ah here...

Some eegit just said

there are far more Association football clubs than GAA clubs

That's hilarious

Is it not true? There are literally hundreds of soccer clubs in Dublin. Many of them amount to a bunch of lads meeting up on a Saturday for a league match on a council pitch, with a game of midweek indoor thrown in in lieu of training. They're still clubs though.

Lads just a query, what is Benitez's mentality when it comes to Crouch, he couldn't hit a barn door for weeks and weeks when he signed and was consistantly starting games, yet from about April last year he has been England no 1 striker by a mile, the goals he scored at the start of the season were great but Benitez has reverted him to a last 10 mins player.  Maybe i've missed a dip in form (not a big pool fan) i don't know? but it just seems a weird one to me. I know Bellamy has come in but he has hardly set the scoring charts alight

Bellamy's been playing quite well though, and has got a few in the past few weeks. I think Benitez has concluded that the Bellamy-Kuyt partnership is the best one for the team.

The big test is going to come when Sissoko returns. What happens with Gerrard then.

I believe the meeting off donegal and kerry will take place in letterkenny, it was passed at a county board meeting, with two objections coming from two fellows called mick mc grath and Brian Mc Eniff. Letterkenny at the moment has no turn gates so there working on getting them in before the 25th.   

Are McGrath and McEniff not happy with Ballyshannon getting only one game?

I'll take it that
Sean MacCumhaill Park is Ballybofey, Fr.Tierney Park is Ballyshannon and O'Donnell Park is Letterkenny

What sort of ground does Letterkenny ahve. Does it have a stand. With bad weather it would be better to cater fro the real supporter who goes out in all weather rather that bringing the games to the town.

Any plans in Donegal for floodlighting and of so where are they intending to put them.

Heard also that Devenney, Cassidy and McFadden are back in the Donegal panel for this year and that Donegal are already training one night a week before Christmas in Castlefin under lights. If those three are back Donegal will be no push over this year. They looked very promising last year but with a bit of bad luck, fall outs, injuries, suspensions they were not able to show their full potential. I would fancy them against Armagh this year. Good to see another team in Ulster with the real potential to go the distance. I think that Armagh will be there or there abouts this year but not the real deal so they may be replaced in the short term by Armagh

I thought Ballybofey was down for floodlighting at one stage, but I don't know if it was installed. I sure of the resident Donegal men will know.

Regarding Donegal's prospects, who knows? McFadden is terribly inconsistent, Devenney not far behind. Cassidy will be a very welcome return though. Could be worth a shot beside Neil Gallagher.

your idea that the indigenous people of ireland are not of celtic origin will surely be news to all historians and anthropologists who have worked on this issue in the past....

you sure about that, there is conflict in this area as far as im aware, thou im by no means up on the details.
I suspect of you look around youll find all historians do not agree - some believe an indigenous people where "celtified" by trade links etc.

Plus there were Mesolithic and Neolithic people here for several thousand years before the Celts, the oldest traces (if memory serves) being from Mount Sandal along the Bann.

Glen Hysen was quality AZ - I hope you aren't saying something otherwise

He certainly was very highly rated when he Liverpool signed him. Maybe he just fell victim to the overall decline in the club after Hillsborough.

F*cks sake, they were awful. Why would anyone buy them? And every time I see that flecky abomination I think of Glen Hysen!!

Even worse, Torben Piecnik!

The late 80s/early 90s certainly was the nadir of soccer gear design!

Donegal are at home to Mayo, Dublin, Kerry and Fermanagh. All four would probably prefer the shorter trip to Ballyshannon, so its hard to know what way the fixtures will be divided up.

The venues aren't up on the Donegal website yet.

Donegal v Dublin is generally played in Ballyshannon, which should be a nice cold windy spot in late February!