Hawkesy wrote:

Rigoni 10 wrote:i thought you were West Ham??

I've certainly never given any impression of even vaguely liking the bottle of shiraz scum from the bottle of shiraz cabernet hole that is east London.

Dont use my name in vain!

Could a fan of the English Premier League realistically expect a relegation threatened club such as Derby to have a hope of taking even a point at the Emirates or Old Trafford? And would you expect a relagation side to take a point in the San Siro Yes it has happened numerous times this season when ...

Franco Baldini - a member of Fabio Capello's team - has criticised the English players for a lack of technical skill, and insists the players will be working double training sessions while on international duty in order to reach the standard expected of England new Italian bosses... Baldini ...

Gattuso Out Of Both Arsenal Legs AC Milan have received a huge blow after Gennaro Gattuso was ruled out for around 50 days with injury, meaning that he will miss both legs of the Champions League tie with Arsenal. zoom - galleria Gattuso has picked up a serious muscle strain and has immediately been ...

The best player of the Serie A would have to be Maradona. The wonders he worked with that Napoli team was incredible. Baggio is also one of the all time greats. I mean 291 goals in 644 games is a remarkable statistic.

AC Milan will be saying goodbye to eight players in June, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. A couple of names we already know will be on their way out, including Paolo Maldini, who’ll be retiring after a long and distinguished career. Brazilians Cafu and Serginho, both 37, will depart as well, alo ...

The one and only wrote:Maybe milan need to get rid of ancellotti and bring in mourinho

No I dont think its the coach who needs to be replaced, I believe it is the majority of the players who do.

BIG problems for Milan. Can't see them securing the 4th spot for CL next season. Problem is they are too loyal to their players. Dida, Maldini, Cafu, Serghino etc... should all be retired or gone by now. We've been carrying them on board for far too long. We haven't competed with the big teams for ...

how much longer till Dida gets the muscat? Who knows? I just read the declarations from the players and Ancelotti and they still have faith in Dida. I believe that we have shown him enough 'faith' and it is time to buy a new goalkeeper. The amount of games he has cost us with his errors is just ...

Raymond Domenech today launched yet another ferocious tirade against the Italian national team. Carlo Garganese asks what the controversial French Coach’s problem is with Italy…

Raymond Domenech’s furious rants against everything Italian is not a recent phenomenon, it dates back a long time before he became Coach of France in July 2004.

His first public outburst against Italian football that can be found came in 2001, when he slammed the then Monaco defender Christian Panucci as “the biggest cheat I’ve ever known.â€￾

"This guy possesses all the flaws you can find in football," Domenech said.

"He is the biggest cheat I've ever known. I've seen some troublemakers among Italian defenders but never like him.

"Time-wasting, shirt-pulling, tackles from behind - he's a real wind-up merchant."

Domenech has often accused Italy of playing for draws, saying this was their intention both during the penalty-shoot out between the teams in the final of the World Cup in Berlin last summer, as well as in the Euro 2008 qualifier in Milan this September.

Domenech was of course banned from standing on the touchline during that game after remarks made to the French newspaper Le Parisien in the weeks prior to the match.

The 55-year-old accused Italy of bribing the referee of an Under-21 tie between France and Italy during the qualifying competition for the 2000 Sydney Olympic games.

If I was to go through every insult that Domenech has thrown at the Italian game over the past seven or eight years I would be here until next Christmas.

What I would like to know is just what Domenech’s obsession with the Italian game is?

It seems you cannot go more than a few days without reading another news story about Domenech and Italy.

Indeed it appears that the tactician suffers from a variant form of OCD – Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Maybe we should call it ICD – the ‘I’ standing for ‘Italian’.

One thing is for certain and that is that Domenech has no right to talk so disparagingly about Italy. If you are going to be arrogant and big-headed, you at least need to have the success to back it up.

Some accuse Jose Mourinho of being condescending and over-confident, but the truth is that he is one of the best coaches in the world and has won multiple league titles in Portugal and England, as well as the Champions League and UEFA Cup. If you like – he has a right to talk.

Domenech on the other hand has won nothing – he is a loser. What is more he has been a failure with some pretty outstanding teams.

While coach of the France Under-21s from 1993 to 2004, he had the golden generation of French football at his disposal, the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Robert Pires, Claude Makelele, Lilian Thuram – the list goes on an on.

And what exactly did Domenech win during these 11 years with the Under-21s – absolutely nothing!

The failure continued when he took over the senior side in 2004, and indeed Les Bleus may have not even made it to the World Cup in Germany had Zidane, Makelele and Thuram not been pressed out of retirement while the team were struggling in fourth place in their qualifying group.

The fact that France made it all the way to the final at the tournament was little to do with Domenech’s tactics, and much down to the legendary Zidane, who rolled back the years in the knockout stages.

I would like to think that France’s loss to Italy in Berlin was the reason behind his hatred, however as mentioned before, his animosity dates back way before this date.

Could Domenech just be misunderstood?

Some of the greatest geniuses the world has ever seen were often like this. The likes of Sir Isaac Newton and Vincent Van Gogh were ridiculed by the masses and seen as mentally unstable during their lifetimes, only to be seen as geniuses long after they had gone.

However I somehow doubt that Domenech fits into the ‘genius’ category.

Domenech is certainly an extravagant personality. A keen actor, he has performed on stage and television in France, so perhaps this explains his outlandishness.

He also has an avid interest in astrology and has admitted in the past to reading tarot cards to learn about players’ personalities. Indeed he refuses to have too many Leos in his side and says he does not like Scorpios.

On the other hand is the Italian press giving Domenech too much of a hard time?

The media can be very clever in asking questions that produce a controversial answer, which is then taken completely out of context.

Domenech accused the Italians of this following the Euro 2008 draw on December 2, and he subsequently promised to not talk about the Azzurri until France met them at Euro 2008 in June.

Unsurprisingly this silence lasted only several hours, and the coach was soon back on the anti-Italian bandwagon.

One thing is for certain and that is that Raymond Domenech is certainly an unorthodox character, and despite his regular and bizarre outbursts against Italy, the footballing world would be a much duller place without him.

pires7 wrote:not a player you would pay to watch, but any team would live his preditorial instincts for big matches!

So if Inzaghi were to come to play Adelaide United-guest or something you wouldnt pay to see him?

Rigoni 10 wrote:Barca vs Arsenal final again

wanna kill the bastards

Would be a quality match. The whinging french pig henry vs his former club. would be a great game

-----------------Buffon----------- Oddo---Barzagli---Dainelli----Maicon ----------------Pirlo ---------Gattuso----Stankovic ---------------Kaka' ------Totti-----Ibrahimovic oh wait... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: -------------------Cech Finnan------Terry----Agger------Evra ----------------Essien Ronaldo ...

The season is all over. I seriously cannot see Inter losing any more matches this season. All I can hope for is for Ibrahimovic to get injured cause then inter would be screwed

If you're talking solely about the teams in it then surely facts speak for themselves. 2007 Champions league semi finalists Chelsea Liverpool Man U Milan 75% of teams were English 4 English teams all in the group stages of the cup. Every one of them won their group. Surely for last season, those ...

if capello wants it i rekon give the guy tha chance, so wat if his club records have been boring, maybe his expertise lye on the international stage Scudetto: 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1995/96 (A.C Milan); 2000/01 (AS Roma); 2004/05, 2005/06(Juventus); * Juventus were subsequently stripped of both ...

he may have core body strength but its nothin in terms with rio ferdinand, john terry, gerrard, puyol, stam. its his skill, speed and precision that beats defenders, in a strength contest hed lose to 9 outa 10 players Of course when you compare him to ferdinand, terry, puyol etc he wouldnt be them ...

Just as well you can pay as you go. Don't think i'll be extending unless it gets better. I've been in India the past 2 weeks and what we pay a month for Foxtel, they pay that for a whole year and they get 10 times better than what we get. yeh its the same in brazil. they pay nothing and end up ...

What is wrong with the A League players we have got? Thompson Milligan Alosi Moore Covic Bolton Bridge vukovic Rudan Brosque Ahmad Elrich Costanzo Dodd Sarkies Agostino Burns Djite That is just some who can play with many more others and you can include the players in europe who is only playing ...

Bodø Glimt wrote:I find most of the highlights shows a tad boring - especially the Portuguese one as the person who commentates it drones on.

I always watch the EPL highlights show on Monday. Good round up. I remember when SBS had a Serie A highlights show. That was decent stuff. Pity they took it off

I just subscribed yesterday and was very disappointed last night when watching the Serie A highlights. First of all it says on the TV guide it goes for 1 hour and it only went for half an hour. Secondly they dont even show all the goals from all the games. Setanta better get that package 2 ...

GO YOU BOLTON!!!!
Hahahahhahaha

Neworder-I think 97 was being sarcastic about the english coaches

Knight7 wrote:Have been told there is a pocket in the shorts to keep the cash in?

I thought it was where they kept the bonuses from winning there fourth world cup

Vaguely:I Dont like Domenech
Stupid French sook. Fuck off

France Coach Raymond Domenech has added to his long-list of insults against Italy by admitting that he doesn't like Christian Panucci. Panucci headed home a stoppage time winner against Scotland yesterday to send both Italy and France through to the finals of Euro 2008. Domenech was asked earlier ...

Berbatov wrote:

Vaguely wrote:41' [1 - 0] Amirguliyev (o.g.)

45' [2 - 0] R. Acquafresca

77' [3 - 0] A. Cerci

84' [4 - 0] A. Russotto

90' [5 - 0] D. Dessena

Dessena has heaps of potential

Will be a great player. Will take over from gattuso and pirlo in the near future

Best central midfielder in Europe at the moment. i happen to agree with u, just love giving rigoni10 a bit... he is pretty good, but i think Pirlo might have something to say about that! I'll have Fabegres over Pirlo anyday. Pirlo is a shiraz gun but it's hard to choose for me. i'd go with Cesc but ...

41' [1 - 0] Amirguliyev (o.g.)

45' [2 - 0] R. Acquafresca

77' [3 - 0] A. Cerci

84' [4 - 0] A. Russotto

90' [5 - 0] D. Dessena

The chase for a new Socceroos coach will begin again, with long-time manager-elect Dick Advocaat deciding to stick with Russian club Zenit.


Advocaat, believed to have signed with the Football Federation in August, was to have taken over this weekend, now that his commitments to Zenit have ended. However, Advocaat has reportedly signed a new deal with the Russian club.

“We are having discussions with Dick’s lawyers and Zenit about it,â€￾ FFA chief executive Ben Buckley told AAP.

“We have already spoken to their legal guy and the club itself and we will have more discussions with them.â€￾

Australia plays its first world cup qualifier in February, its first ever in the Asian group, with the FFA staring at the prospect of having to start its process over.

Graham Arnold vacated his post after the recent friendly against Argentina. Rob Baan is in charge of the Socceroos for tomorrow’s (AEST) clash with Nigeria on London. Neither are being considered for the full time role.