[Snowman]

England vs Egypt

I'm not sure what to expect to be honest. I doubt many of us do with this fixture. I hope Joe Hart gets a chance in the team and hope Rooney and any other Man Utd players aren't in so there well rested. I don't expect an amazing game as it's just a friendly and probably be used to see some more of the fringe players in the squad but as I've never seen Egypt play before I'm not the best judge.

Prediction: a cautious England 2 - 1 Eypgt

[Craig_J]

I've been unsure of them for a while but I've realised just how much I hate international frendlies. I expect us to win but our squad isn'tat its full strengths and Egypt are champions of Africa. But despite all our injuries we really should win this one. I think it will be a bland game and to be honest I couldn't care to much about the result. Just praying that Defoe & Crouch don't play.

EDIT: I'm gonna say 2-0 to England.

[Artur Boruc Ulsters No 1]

Friendly With Albania. Not the most glamarious of ties, but hopefully get another away victory under our belts.

Great Weekend for Northern ireland players scoring, Brunt and Ward getting braces, and goals from Grant McCann, Rory patterson, MArtin patterson, Sammy Clingan, Andy Kirk and few others.

Few drop outs, but should have the ability to beat them.

[Sukha Spence]

Republic Of Ireland vs. Brazil

Expect a rather comfortable Brazillian victory tonight at the Emirates. Without question our side will work diligently & put in a strong shift in an attempt to stifle Dunga's side but I think the class & ability of the opposition will eventually show. Richard Dunne has been ruled out of the game which is potentially a dangerous & fatal loss because it will in all likelihood result in a start for the calamitous Paul McShane at centre back alongside Sean St.Ledger. I'm willing to go on record and say that McShane is probably one of the worst defenders ever to grace the Premiership & is worryingly prone to concentration lapses, committing reckless challenges & being outsmarted by opposition strikers. Fortunately, Luis Fabiano is out injured & he should be able to match Adriano in terms of brawn & strength. From a more pessimistic point of view Káká will be a huge threat to our defence & both Glen Whelan & Keith Andrews will have to be on high alert in order to nullify his threat. Andrews has improved a lot this season & was outstanding in the second leg of our ill-fated Play-Off against France & he will have to reproduce that form tonight. I'd also worry about Kilbane & Kelly going up against Bastos & Ramires especially because neither has been a regular in the Hull or Fulham sides respectively. Thankfully, Lawrence & Duff are workers & will have to offer important defensive support.

It'll be a difficult game for both Keane & Doyle up against the world class Lucio & company & I can see it being a frustrating night due to the fact that we'll rarely have prolonged periods where we control possesion.

Prediction: Rep. Of Ireland 0-2 Brazil

[Sukha Spence]

Republic Of Ireland 0-2 Brazil

I think to say that this was a game of two halves is somewhat of an understatement. I thought we were undeservedly behind at the interval because we severely restricted Brazil & kept their chances to a minimum. A combination of diligence, pressurising & doubling up on both wings unsettled Brazil. Our defence was solid for the most part while Keith Andrews & Glen Whelan offered an invaluable defensive shield & were relatively competent in possession. We threatened from set pieces from Damien Duff & actually committed players forward which is a rare sight if you've followed Giovani Trapattoni's tenure as Ireland manager thus far. Brazil were rather careless themselves, lacked conviction & rarely threatening but had an uplifting slice of luck when Andrews was in the wrong place at the wrong time to put past his own keeper.

Second half was a different story & that's down to a number of things. Firstly, Brazil started to play some expansive, impressive football & we simply invited them to do so. Brazil dominated possession & we rarely saw a kick off the ball. Our frail defence was essentially found out in the second half & the confidence began to drain as clumsy mistakes started to eek their way into our game. There was very little service to Doyle & Keane, most noticeably when Damien Duff was withdrawn & replaced by the ineffective & anonymous Aiden McGeady. Liam Lawrence & later James McCarthy also found little joy going forward. We missed Whelan substantially when he was withdrawn for Darren Gibson. Brazil began to shift gears while & scored a scintillating second goal & in all honestly it could of been 5 or 6 had they taken their chances. Fatigue obviously played a role for the Irish as well because a number of players (Keane, Duff, McGeady, Kelly etc. all played Sunday afternoon). Tactically also, I think Trapanttoni encouraged us to sit back a little & try to absorb the pressure which I think is a mistake playing against quality offense especially when our defence is so fragile. If memory serves me correctly, we had one shot at goal in the second half: a speculative 25-yard effort from Leon Best in the 87th minute. All in all, the cream eventually rose to the top but after an encouraging first half, the second half was very disappointing.

Player Ratings:

Shay Given - 6.0 - Won his 103th cap tonight & wasn't at fault for either goal. Did have two nervous moments when he had to rush a clearance after being closed down by Adriano & was almost left red-faced after being caught off his line by an audacious Grafite chip.

Kevin Kilbane - 5.5 - Have to say that on the night he also wins his 103th cap, Kilbane has been an outstanding servant to Irish football & I have nothing but respect for him as a player. Works extremely hard & constantly gives 100% committment in every game he plays. Acquitted himself reasonably well in the first half & even pressed forward on occasion but was troubled defensively by Maicon particularily & was partly at fault for the opening goal.

Paul McShane - 4.0 - Was going well in the first half aside from a few misplaced passes but once Brazil were in the ascendency, McShane was quite simply found out. A huge lapse in concentration gifted Robinho a goal which was ruled out & was outsmarted by the clever Brazillian interchanges for the second goal. I've only ever seen McShane play well for Ireland once which was against the Czech Republic on his debut ... 4 years ago (!) Out of his depth both in the Premiership & on the international stage.

Sean St. Ledger - 4.5 - Made an important block to prevent a great goalscoring opportunity in the first half but was caught in possession by Dani Alves who should have doubled the Brazillian advantage when through on goal only just after being brought on. Unlike McShane I think he does have a future but needs a seasoned defender by his side like a Richard Dunne.

Stephen Kelly - 5.5 - Acquitted himself the best out of our defenders & was largely untroubled in the first half but that changed come the second half. Robinho caused him problems as did Bastos & was caught out of position on occasion. Still a decent prospect in my opinion & should improve under Hodgson at Fulham.

Damien Duff - 6.5 - Delighted to see Duff regaining some Premiership form & he was a worry for Brazil from set pieces. Doyle should have scored from one of his crosses in the first half & worked hard to track back & aid Kilbane against the dangerous Maicon.

Glen Whelan - 6.5 - Unrecognisable from the player that began the World Cup qualfiying campaign. He still occasionally loses possession too easily but is no longer an anonymous entity on the field of play & commits to tackles, making his presence felt & now is more positive in terms of trying to push Ireland forward.

Keith Andrews - 5.0 - First half, he was outstanding showing glimpses of the ability he showed against France in the Play-Off. An all-round nuisance & he buzzed around the pitch winning important tackles & even managed to get under the skin of the usually mild-mannered Káká. Was unlucky to score the own goal & his influence faded slightly in the second half as Brazil began to dominate & control possession. Caught in possession as well which should have led to a goal.

Liam Lawrence - 5.0 - Wasn't really involved to be honest & rarely had the opportunity to get forward so most of his work was of a defensive nature & like Duff was committed to tracking back. Loose in possession at times as well.

Robbie Keane - 5.5 - Frustrating night especially in the second half & didn't get an opportunity to test Julio César. Tracked back at times of the game to aid his defence & in the first half pressurised the Brazillian defence but seemed to grow weary in the second period which is understandably considering he played in the Old Firm derby on Sunday & picked up a knock.

Kevin Doyle - 6.0 - Worked hard as per usual but perhaps should scored from a header from a Duff cross. In the first half at least he was an irritant for the Brazillian defence but was painfully bereft of any kind of service in the second half.

Subs:

Darren Gibson - 5.5 - Ineffective & wasn't as much of a presence compared to Whelan. Never thought I would actually type that sentence but it was true. A little careless in possession as well.

Aidan McGeady - 5.0 - Utterly anonymous. Probably wouldn't make too much of a difference anyway because his final delivery for Ireland is still not convincing at all.

James McCarthy - N/A - Hard to judge because he came on with 20 minutes to go & by that time Brazil were in complete control.

Leon Best - N/A - Came on with 10 minutes to go to replace the fatigued Kevin Doyle & at least produced a shot on target.

[Rothman]

We host Yeovil at Carrow Road today, could do with getting the 3 pts as our next 3 games read; Huddersfield (a), Swindon (a), Leeds (h). So would like to maintain our gap of 9ts off 3rd going into them. I reckon we'll win but I doubt it will be comfortable, 2-1.

[Paul Van Dyk No 1 DJ]

anyone following championship football it's interesting. Peterborough United could then be selling off there 3 big players. George Boyd has already gone on loan to Nottingham Forest and likely will be there in the summer permenant.

[Rothman]

I guess with Posh all but going down the likes of Boyd won't want to stick around in league 1 next season. I suppose its a chance for Posh to get him off the wage bill and for him to further his career at Forest.



Norwich won 3-0 at the weekend, about as routine as it gets, Yeovil were awful and if we'd been more clinical we could have doubled the scoreline quite easily. Good weekend again with Leeds dropping 2 pts.

[AdamOUFC]

14/11/2006 - The day Oxford choked the title... fast forward 3 and a hlaf years....

9/3/2010 - the day Oxford choked the title.

Oxford 1-2 Hayes and Yeading

[Paul Van Dyk No 1 DJ]

well Posh won tonight i was suprised but fact is i have Forest and Posh as both teams i follow. Nottingham Forest was main team and Posh my local team. So not sure what to make of the move weather i want him at Forest or Posh.

Posh are even putting prices up and they know will be in league 1 next season.

[Jay (Sunday) Bandele]

Well finally I now think the race for 4th place will be without Liverpool.

Everytime this season I see an absolute bullshit of a performance e.g. Reading in both matches, Portsmouth away, Fulham away...the Champions Lge....I always think...surely we aint gonna play that bad again?

Then Torres returning from injury, Johnson back and you would think things are looking up...WRONG!!

We somehow humiliate ourselves once again with a performance like that against Wigan. A defeat...take nothing away from them but not even testing Kirkland once?

[Snowman]

Man UTD vs AC Milan

Rooneys fit to play

I think we'll win this but it will be close. AC Milan are a good team with some great indivdual players but this is the same Man Utd squad that have been to two Champions League finals in two years, they know how to get it done and I have every confidence in them.

Prediction: Man Utd 1 - 0 AC Milan (4-2)

[Relim]

Arsenal were quite stunning last night, especially when you consider we were missing our playmaker. Nasri just continues to get better and better; he ran the show last night and Bentdner went some way to making up for his performance against Burnley. A resounding victory although it must be said that we really did gift Porto the first leg and they looked pretty much out of their depth against us. Nice to keep a clean sheet for once too!

[Rothman]

It was a great peformance from Arsenal, although Porto were pretty dreadful in a defensive sense. It was like they turned up expecting a defeat.

But thats taking nothing away from Arsenal who were excellent from the off, played at a very high tempo and were cutting Porto apart more often than not. There was a shaky spell after the 1st half but it was always obvious they were going through. Nasri's goal was excellent, one of the best i've seen this season.

As for Bentdner I still don't particulary rate him- if you were to put a decent championship striker in a team with the likes of Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin etc he'd score some goals and miss alot, like Nic.

Arsenal are very frustrating at times, there were a number of times in that game when you had to clear your lines but Arsenal seemed intent on passing their way out of trouble in dangerous areas. Its good to watch but sometimes your better off just clearing down the pitch!

For Norwich we have a hard test at Huddersfield on Saturday, I really do feel we'll lose, hoping i;m wrong, will say 1-2.

[Craig_J]

I watched the Arsenal game aswell and it was a great performance by them. I thought it would be a 0-0 draw personally but it was a good game to watch. Porto will be kciking themselves, had it set up beautfiuly for the second leg. Nasri & Arshavin played well and so did Bendtner but like Rothman I still don't think he is top 4 standard. Eboue done well of the bench too and Vermalen was solid.

Might aswell watch the Man U game tonight where all this Beckham build up has been driving me insane. I can see him on the bench tonight coming on for about 20 miniutes putting in a few decent croses but not adding to much, yet still manging to grab the back pages. AC Milan have a good team and I expect this to be entertaning perhaps a 2-2 draw with United going through. Paddy Power are refunding all losing bets if there are 3 goals I think so got to ebt there if anywehere. A bit risky on there part I think.

This was a while ago but on the Fulham game i was actually happy to get a draw. To be honest I think Fulham had more chances and could easily of gone through. Craven Cottage is a tough place to go to and I'm happy we have a great chance at the Lane. Pavulychenko was pretty poor this time around though and I was glad to see the team using Crouchy rightly.

[Deano]

Liverpool The wigan game all but confirmed for me that we will not finish in the top four (even though i have been saying this for ages)... Top 6 will be a bloody struggle. As they say... the table does not lie. Just look at the entire season, and all things taken into consideration (injuries, signings - in/out, tactics, players) you will generally finish where you deserve to finish. Taken in to account all aspects... we certainly dont deserve fourth spot. If and when we finish 6th or 7th, EVERYONE AT THE CLUB, must take the blame. No excuses.

Purslow annouced a few months back... that the club need to find 100m or so to reduce the debts by june/july. Hicks promised a big big spending summer? Rafa promised fourth spot. Rafa has said he will leave if Torres is sold behind his back. My idea on this: We will have to sell our top players (likely: masch and torres, Gerrard - if he wants out) to reduce the debt. The money we receieve will go to clear the debt.... Hicks again is talking bull shit and his so called big big spending summer is like next to nothing, and Rafa leaves when Torres goes. All resulting us on going even more down hill. The club is in a right mess.

Do we need a new manager? - Maybe - but cant afford it, financally nor the "long term plan". Do we need new owners? - YES. Like i have mentioned... taken all factors into consideration... whereever we finish this season... rafa isnt solely to blame, nor is the owners, nor the players. EVERYONE IS!

Players/Staff need to shut there gobs and do the talking on the pitch. Show a bit of pride, and show a bit of heart. Rafa said something today like "we have played good in or last 10 games or so". We havent been convincing aye. My feeling at the moment is that the squad is massively over-rated. We have a gk who id class as the best in the league, a back four that are injuiry prone and dont click, a midfield that constantly changes week in week out, and no one supporting the lone forward... be it: Torres, Ngog, Dirk, or babel.

[Sukha Spence]

Watched the United/AC Milan game tonight. Highly impressive result for United especially considering that they only played to about 75% of their ability mainly because there wasn't any pressure or particular reason for them to chase more goals.

I thought Wayne Rooney, Ji-Sung Park, Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher, Gary Neville & Antonio Valencia were outstanding because as well as contributing going forward, each & every one of them worked diligently & tracked back when necessary. It was surprising to see Neville have such a good game but he hassled Ronaldinho continously & created a chance which Rooney headed home & could have easily gotten on the score sheet himself such was Milan's willingness to provide him with time & space. Fletcher & Scholes were excellent in midfield with the former scoring from an exquisite Rafael pass while Paul Scholes, for once, managed to make a string of excellent challenges while also cleverly creating the Park goal. Speaking of Park, he was exceptional in terms of his work rate & because of the fact that he effectively nullified Pirlo's influence on the game & in my opinion, if you stop Pirlo, Milan don't function half as well. The only negative I saw in United performance was the display of Nani who has reverted to his usual self in the last few games. He probably played the pass of his career to put Rooney in on goal but in general his crossing was utterly atrocious & he had one ridiculous dive in an attempt to win a penalty.

As well as United played, Milan were woeful. No desire, no commitment, a distinct lack of drive & despite creating several chances, they were toothless up front. Ronaldinho put in what only can be described as a disgraceful performance. As naturally talented as he is, I think he'd do well to watch some clips of Ji-Sung Park & Antonio Valencia to see how they contribute in terms of work rate & offering United more numbers in defence because Ronaldinho was completely disinterested in working for his team on the night. Plus, he was booked for a ridiculous lunge on his compatriot Rafael. He wasn't the only player to underpeform either. I haven't seen much of Klaas Hunterlaar but he looks like a Serie A version of Nicklas Bendtner because over the the two games against United, he was incredibly poor in front of goal. Thiago Silva, Daniele Bonera & Massimo Ambrosini looked calamitous at the back especially the later who looked like a fish up a tree playing a centre back. The only Milan player that actually had a decent game was Mathieu Flamini who did cause Patrice Evra a headache or two in the first half.

Delighted to see Real Madrid crash & burn in the Champions League as well. Lyon are a strong team but I didn't expect them to hold out & snatch a goal at the Bernabeu, in fact Lisandro Lopez & Delgado could have handed Madrid's first defeat at home had they not missed clear cut opportunities when Madrid left gaps at the back. Lyon have spent a lot of money on players themselves which is understandable considering that every season they lose their top stars to the more elite clubs but it's admirable how they bring in young, promising, highly talented players and build strong teams year after year. The key word of course there is team & in that respect I think that's why Madrid have failed so badly in the Champions League. Pellegrini's side is a collection of stars & egos & while they can get away with it in La Liga, they're found out in the highest calibre of European football. It seems to be that there's very little discipline in the side because essentially they play two at the back (Albiol & Garay) with Lass Diarra sitting in front of the pair while the rest of the team essentially bombs forward almost incessantly (Xabi Alonso is a little bit of exception because he sits a little deep). I've seen it written on many occasions that Sergio Ramos is supposedly the best right back in the world - complete nonsense in my view because he's rarely in a position defend in the first place. I can't explain what has happened to the once great Káká either(?). He has gone from one of the world's best players to being a petulent player not playing to his capabilities.

Incidently, have to give some praise to Jean-Alain Boumsong. I was one of his harshest critics when he was with us at Newcastle but credit where credit's due. He was absolutely outstanding across the two games against Madrid.

It'll be interesting as well to see how long Lyon can hold onto Miralem Pjanic. As young as he may be, he's a dead ball specialist & it was an extremely well taken goal under the circumstances at the Bernabeu.

[Rothman]

Excellent win for us today, went to Huddersfield who haven't lost at home all season and beat them 3-1. We were losing with 20 minutes to go but ended the game very strongly with 3 goals. It does look very very good now, currently 7 clear of Leeds & more importantly 12 clear of 3rd place.

[Levi]

Chelsea Fc 4-1 West Ham

Good result for us today . Should have been a lot more but im happy with the result , Ross Turnbell had very little to do , Scott Parker's goal was great no keeper could have saved that . Man of the Match had to be Florent Malouda he was truly world class today , crosses was great , great skills and a well deserved goal at the end happy days

[Relim]

Wow, aren't Hull one of the tastiest teams out there? Nasty bastards. Lucky to end with 9, let alone 10!

This is a game we'd've lost a year or so ago - but they managed to keep going, scrap a goal which we should've got much earlier in the game but, still, the three points was the key thing. We can't play like we did against Porto every time, but it ended up working out just about okay in the end.