Paphos People

Don't forget to include Spurs in the discussions on who could go down at the end of the season. After today's defeat we are back in the bottom 3 again. It looks like the Super Arry factor is well and truely over now.

If we are not careful we win the Carling Cup again, the FA Cup and the EUFA Cup and get relegated at the same time.

We had a reasonable fixture list over the Xmas and New Year period but didn't pick up the points that we should have done. Somewhere down the line we need to put together about 5 or 6 good results to climb back up the table but I can't see that happening based on current league results. Not seen the team set up for today's game but I bet Bale was playing again. I believe we have never won a league game with him in the team, jinx or what.

Oh the joys of footy this season.

Cheers

JOhn

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Never let truth get in the way of a good rumour.

It was said at the start of the season that Boro didn't have a big squad and would suffer as the winter dragged on. That is true. They are now having to rely on youngsters.
Spurs bench today, on paper, was pretty awesome...Jenas, Bent, Lennon Bentley Huddlestone, Campbell

That is something Boro can not fall back on.
Mind, watched Spurs today and they looked solid at the back but pwder puff up front and Defoe did nowt !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

No ........... at 7.30 pm yesterday you were back in the bottom three!

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J B

It's so close this season, anyone of the bottom 12 teams could get relegated, you're not safe unless you get into the top 7 or 8 at the moment

As for Arry's honeymoon period, it looks over now, 2 points from 8 matches so much for the multi-million pound strike force you have, Pavlyuchenko - £12m, Bent - £16.5m, Defoe - £15m, plus the on-loan striking option you have from Manc USA

And the rumours are that Bent want to quit the Spurts & move north to either Everton or TOON due to Defoe's arrival

Watched the Spurs game yesterday, very surprised how poor they were. Still think they'll have enough firepower to be safe though.

Wigan look pretty safe now, so it's down to 3 from 13 I think.....

boro were poor but we were in control until you team kicked lumps out of walker and digard leaving us with a centre midfield of the tackling giants of arca, downing, tuncay and johnson, not sure how sunderland didn't get some players sent off.

once our hard men (arca, downing etc) were left in the middle you dominted the game and should have won. the worrying thing was even with all of the ball and masses of time you created very little.

boro are in trouble so are another dozen teams (you are right about injuries taking there toll on us i think josh walker and digard were controlling midfield before they got injured) still on the bright side alves scored a lovely goal all we need is to get rid of arca and mido and i will be fairly happy

Smurf, if your midfield cannot handle that man mountain rabid rottweiller that is Keiron Richardson.....you do have problems.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

compared to arca he is an animal

Acouple of 6 pointers tomorrow ?
WBA1 Boro 1
Blackburn 2 Newcastle 1
Sunderland 3 Villa 2
JGG's prediction is looking good !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Our next 4 games are against teams currently below us in the table - we need a haul of at least 7 points from this lot IMO, because after that we've got Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Man Utd in quick succession.

Relying heavily on the likes of Pompey and the smogs to keep on losing.

I've just got back from the match and I'm on a downer. Don't really know why, but I lost patience with my lot today.
Jones and Cisse were hopeless. Jones looks disinterested.
Diouf should not be on the pitch and I don't know why he is. He's crap.
We missed Richardson and Malbranque big time.
Mc Shane I know, came on as a sub and gave away a penalty. When will they learn ?
Another season of promise is turning in to a disaster.
I said to my son tonight as we fought gale force winds and rain to walk over the Wear bridge " I don't need this anymore, I've done my time " I mean it.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

I know what you mean, it's bad enough having half a team who can't play, half a team who don't play & a ref who's sole intent is to make your team suffer as much as possible, as Rob Styles has done to us the last 2 matches he's officiated over us... sending off Beye when we played Citeh & then giving Blackburn a penalty when he should have booked MaCarthy for diving in the box today, so that screwed us out of 6 points, what a fubar

We were all over Blackburn in the 1st half & started the second pretty well until that diving arm-pit MaCarthy took a swan dive & Styles pointed to the spot, I've never seen anyone dive better than that in my life, Edger was no where near him & got the ball, it was the start of the downward slope from there on, I felt like walking out the G&D at that point

They say when the only luck you have is bad luck, then there's not much point

bad weekend all round for the north east, was a decent game yesterday (until the deserved red card) alves missed 4 good chances wba first goal was miles offside when the ball was crossed to him, (the fact a boro player headed the ball does not alter the fact that he was a mile offside when the cross was put in, tossing linesmen *u%ker) their 2nd was lucky deflection but we should have been clear in front by then. ho hum chelsea next

I do now think all 3 North East clubs could go down.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Well all I can say about our strikers are, young Andy Carroll ran his socks off & should have kept his hair do the same as last week, at least he scored with that & as for Owen, when ever has anyone seens Owen play well when the England manager is in the crowd

I'm sure Fat Sam invited Capello to the match, knowing full well that Owen always plays crap when the England manager is around, thus not having to worry about marking him because he didn't hit one shot on target, he'd have been better off playing for the Newcastel Falcons yesterday

and never been altered since Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:00 pm

True JGG,
Pete, I note Big Sam has become Fat Sam

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So close yet so far away

What, haven't you seen how much weight he's put on

Plus he got a thick lip also and after the way his team played yesterday, you should be surprised I didn't call him other names

I will go for:

Boro'
Hull
West Brom

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Daz

For what it's worth I think your lot will be OK - they at least look like they have some team spirit about them. We look in deeper trouble by the week, all our best players want out, the fans are turning again and there's no sign of reinforcements.

Watched the Spurs v Pompey match yesterday and they both look to have enough about them to get out of it, WBA have hit a bit of form and Stoke were very unlucky not to beat Chelsea away.

My latest prediction:

Bolton
Boro
Newcastle

In that order....

Captain Nutmeg,
Hope you are right my son !

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So close yet so far away

only 4 points separate the bottom 10 clubs.

still could be any of these..........

Manchester City
Portsmouth
Bolton Wanderers
Newcastle United
Sunderland
Tottenham Hotspur
Blackburn Rovers
Middlesbrough
Stoke City
West Bromwich Albion

I'm looking at Spurs next 6 prem league fixtures and we are in dire straits. Very concerned. Crazy game! Oh and if anyone should bump into Darren Bent tell him.........................................................................................

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Coffee Coffee Coffee! The bean of life!

What - Hammers not included any longer?

So much for the, club in crisis, losing all their top players comments.......

It's swings and roundabouts but the results have gone for us this week.
Portsmouth and Hull are in free fall.
WBA 's bubble burst big time.
Stoke right back in there.
Boro still the pants.
I expect Bolton and Blackburn to have too much.
Fulham looked very poor against us.
I stickto my original predictions but thought I would make the above observations.
A big 2 weeks coming up for us.....geordies away, Stoke at home. If we take 4 points from that I'll be chuffed but please Lord, 6 points !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

I said at the start of this thread that whoever was right may win something........ so I'll offer 50 euros to whoever's first prediction is the most accurate.
Obviously if it's me, I'll win nowt.
I'll liase with this section's mod Pete on who is the winner ( as long as it is not him !) if he's in the running I'll get another arbitrator.
Good Luck to anyone who didn't have Sunderland AFC in their bottom three.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Newcastle are as good as down. Long term injuries to Owen and Barton, the likely departures of Given and N'Zogbia and no significant incomings with the window about to shut are going to finish off any chance we might have had.

I can honestly see us not winning another game for the rest of the season.

I don't even remember who I said would go down

Even if I'm the closet to the correct 3, I'll be fair in my judgement, the only things i'm bais about are the TOON & my kids, nothing else

After last nights match, I agree with Martin (doesn't happen often I know) the only hope we have is if Ashley, who was at the match realises we need serious replacements, not just freebies or he'll own a CCC team next season!!!

Suppose I'd better go & look who I said would go down now

I think the title of this thread should be re-named: how long is a piece of string?

This is a crazy, crazy season.

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Coffee Coffee Coffee! The bean of life!

Do you know if there's any truth in the rumour Spurs could be docked points for playing Palacios when he was supposed to be suspended??

According to this article, they should be: http://www.yeoldetreeandcrown.co.uk/modules/news/article.php?storyid=747

Great. If thats true, it's all we need. Sounds like we should be able to wriggle out of it somehow. If not and we go down, so be it. I'm resigned to the fact that we may well be playing Championship football with Newcastle next year.

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Coffee Coffee Coffee! The bean of life!

There's 2 six pointers tomorrow.
WBA 1 NEWCASTLE 2
SAFC 1 STOKE 2
The rest of the teams at the bottom should lose.
I've a feeling in my water.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Thanks for the kiss of death Gary

You've never said we'll win before so thats means we'll probably lose

Hmm - it's a long time since we've scored 2 goals at 'fortress Britannia' let alone away - oh, wait a minute, yes, we did manage 2 at St James'

Fingers crossed

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J B

I've woke up today with a feeling of dread. I've just got the feeling we will lose. Stoke are no mugs, they will not go down and I think getting Beattie and Camara was good business.
They've got a few ex Sunlan players as well who will be up for it.
It is a 6 pointer for me as our next 2 games are Arsenal and Liverpool away.
Mind we've got snow so the match might be off.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

That wasn't because you were any good mate, it was just because we were crap

Delap - suspended
Lawrence - not match fit, but may play
Higginbottom - injured

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J B

Correct JB. Well what do I know about footy ? We won after all.
Stoke were pretty poor to be honest and we made hard work of it.
The referee was a joke and Stoke should have been down to 10 in the first half and we should have had a pen for the handball on the line.
I noticed we had loads of possession but our midfielders are scared to have a pot at goal.
Cisse was disinterested again
It's still tight and I don't expect anything from our next 2 games.
Boro still in deep doodoo.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

The famous Rob Styles!

He does just love to be anonymous, doesn't he!

Well done anyway.

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J B

JB, what the fubar are Stoke trying to do, break the all time record for red cards in 1 season or summit

Or do they prefer playing with 10 men every week

does anybody know who is closest with their predictions
Who'll go down ? so far?

No idea, I've not checked mine lately

I quite like this guys thoughts though http://www.epltalk.com/who-would-you-rather-see-relegated-tottenham-or-newcastle/4285

Well, it worked OK last week against Man (Sheik) City, but not this week!

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J B

How man if the ref had done his job, Stoke would have ended up with nine men !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Well it looks like my original choice is a mile away, although Bolton & the Spurts aren't that far off

In answer to JGG's question about who is nearest, and I have offered 50 euros to the winner, I am only taking everyone's first prediction ( sorry Pete).
If you remember you were allowed 5 candidates and bizarelly JGG only chose 3 !
At the mo, basing everything on the current bottom 8 teams, Captain Fantastic and Smurf have 4 teams in the bottom 8 and JGG has 3 ! So they are the leaders for now.
I didn't base it on the bottom 3, not just yet as this changes every week.
Well done to the leaders, especially JGG, hope your confidence doesn't bite you on the bum !
Gary

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So close yet so far away

This is called Who'll Go Down and I would point out to you something that all Sunderland Supporters have known for a while........ our run in is hard.
Our next 6 games are Arsenal Away, Liverpool Away, Wigan Home, Man Citeh Away, hope to be there, West Ham Away, Man United Home.
By the end of these games we will be right back in the doodoo.
What are the other teams run ins like ?
Gary
PS Have to be honest though, I did the BBC predictor yesterday and even with the mags surprisingly winning I had them in 18th and down, Boro 19th and WBA 20th.
Lordy Lordy Please !!!

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So close yet so far away

Here are the "original " predictions.............

discopants Oct 19, 2008
West Brom
Fulham
West Ham
Newcastle
Boro

Jolly Green Giant Oct 19, 2008
Stoke City
Newcastle United
Tottenham Hotspur

Pete Oct 20, 2008
Spurts
Fulham
Bolton
Mackems
Wigan

Captain Fantastic Oct 20, 2008
Fulham
Bolton
WBA
Stoke
Spurs

smurf Oct 27, 2008
bolton
wba
fulham
portsmouth
stoke

Paphosfan Nov 09, 2008
West Ham
West Brom
Stoke

Daz Jan 18, 2009
Boro'
Hull
West Brom

The table now.

1 Manchester United
2 Liverpool
3 Aston Villa
4 Chelsea
5 Arsenal
6 Everton
7 Wigan Athletic
8 West Ham United
9 Manchester City
10 Fulham
11 Sunderland
12 Hull City
13 Newcastle United
14 Bolton Wanderers
15 Tottenham Hotspur
16 Portsmouth
17 Stoke City
--------------------
18 Blackburn Rovers
19 Middlesbrough
20 West Bromwich Albion

Well I'm inclined to bar Daz as his teams came in 3 months after the rest of us. What do you think ?
Gary
By the way Pete hasn't got one in the current bottom 3 !

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So close yet so far away