The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Personally I'd also complain about Tottenham players falling over all the time and calling for a foul when they should get up and tackle back.

Stealing yards in throw-ins is something I hate far more than it probably deserves.

[Matt]

I hate the stealing yards from a throw in, though I do laugh when Leeds do it. I remember watching a game last year, I want to say it was Liverpool playing, and someone must've stolen about 20 yards from where the ball went out to where they actually took the throw in, it was retarded.

And the banning of towels, and any moaning of Stoke's long throw tactics, is dumb. I'm pretty sure if Man Utd/Chelsea/Liverpool had been the first ones to have a player with a ridiculously long throw that they could utilise, towels wouldn't have been banned.

[Summers]

Personally I'd also complain about Tottenham players falling over all the time and calling for a foul when they should get up and tackle back.

Stealing yards in throw-ins is something I hate far more than it probably deserves.

Me too. Hutton does it a lot for us. Even that bothers me.

[Colly]

Newcastle showed how to do it when we beat them a few weeks ago, just do the same thing back. Delaps attacking throws from the right mean there's a towel for Ryan Taylor to spend years before taking a defensive throw. As Danny Simpson tweeted, "Its all about drying the ball". QPR did the same and they took them away second half, which I presume is why they're banned.

[R.W.]

I said it in the pub, and it's already been said - Walton did his best to help Sunderland today, but Kean helped even more with the 10 men behind the ball for 45 minutes plan.

Still, hope Givet and Lowe are alright. The poor decisions will even themselves out over time. Though quite what that time period is I don't know. We could be the luckiest team in the Championship next year.....

[cmb211087]

Givet is a big concern for me, going off with a heart problem? That is scary stuff and we have seen what can happen if not taken care of.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I just hope that Blackburn do the right thing and allow him to spend the rest of the season on the sidelines. With these things you can't just leave them to chance and hard training/football would only put more pressure on his heart, he should take at least a few months off whilst he is monitored.

This could be the difference between a Ruben de la Red and a Daniel Jarque. Sure retirement is undesirable, but death is a lot worse.

[IAceI]

DU DU DU DU! Sebastian Larsson! DU DU DU DU! Sebastian Larsson! Not enough appreciation for Gollum's awesome strike either. Or the fact that we absolutely ripped Blackburn apart, and they barely got into our territory in the second half. Was just so great to see us keep calm despite going 1-0 down and keep trying to pass it.

And James McClean came on for his debut, beat his man and stuck a left foot cross in with the first move of the game. Do we finally have a winger!? Unbelievable!

And Larsson has scored 3 out of 6 attempted direct freekicks.

Just so satisfying to actually win, I was forgetting what it felt like.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, the young winger looked impressive when he came on, injected a bit of pace into the side and put in some decent crosses. It's a shame he wasn't on at the same time as Wickham, becuase his height could've come in handy with those crosses. But yeah, it was a rubbish game until like the last ten minutes, but all credit Sunderland. I do sympathise with Kean because he made 3 subs by the 50th minute, I don't think anyone wants to be in that position.

[IAceI]

Wickham was always going to struggle because Blackburn played narrow so we couldn't penetrate through the middle (not that we ever can anyways) so we were forced out wide and trying to cross the ball into the box where, predictably, Chris Samba laughed in the face of such pathetic efforts and cleared everything.

Hope Jason Lowe is okay as well, I know of him to be a really exciting prospect so I hope this isn't anything serious. He got a good reception from everyone when he went off, but I hust hope it was a present-moment thing and he's doing better now.

[stokeriño]

If there's consistency to be had, 'Arry will now be fined for his post-match criticism of Chris Foy and Foy's career will be in no way affected by his latest terrible performance.

Not to say that's justified in any way, but it will be interesting to see if the fallout from this differs at all from the fallout to Foy's QPR/Chelsea debacle.

[IAceI]

I only just found out that Gael Givet came off because of heart palpitaitons. Again, hope he's okay and able to come back sooner rather than later. I always loved Givet in the French Leagues with Monaco and Marseille, the big loveable caveman, so I wish him a speedy recovery.

Really not going very well at the minute for Blackburn, is it?

Edited December 12, 2011 by IAceI

[Colly]

Sir Chris Hoy tells Spurs fans to lay off on Twitter

The four-time Olympic gold-medal winner Sir Chris Hoy has revealed that despite his rise to prominence as one of the world's most recognisable track cyclists it still hasn't prevented football fans from hurling abuse at him.

Hoy has said football fans regularly send him insulting Twitter messages after mistaking him for Chris Foy, the Premier League referee who made a number of contentious decisions during Spurs' 2-1 defeat to Stoke on Sunday, including turning down two penalty appeals for handball and sending off the Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul.

"Just for the record 1) I don't need glasses and 2) I do not lead a double life as an English premier league ref. That's Chris Foy," Hoy tweeted. He continued to protest his innocence, adding: "Still getting some rather amusing grief from Spurs fans! On the plus side I've learned some new 4 letter words today. #FoyNotHoy."

Hoy recently won gold in the sprint in the first of the World Cup series in Kazakhstan as he prepares for the Olympics, where he can expect nothing but good luck messages on his Twitter feed, providing Foy is not overseeing any of the Olympic football matches.

From the Guardian, but Jim Whites loving it on SSN. He hates Twitter more than we do in The Ring.

[Baddar]

Really looking forward to the game tonight - any result apart from a City win is a good one for United. We play QPR next Sunday (in what looks like the first of their triple headers this season, at 12pm) and City play Arsenal. I hope the gap is considerably less than 5pts this time next week!

[IAceI]

Anyone know any semblance of team news yet? I know it's still a little early. I have an inkling on Yaya Toure getting a goal, I definitely think there will be goals, so just interested to see how both teams line up for this. Should be an entertaining match.

Chelsea:

"Lampard and Torres on bench again. Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa Ivanovic Terry Cole; Ramires Romeu Meireles; Sturridge Drogba Mata"

From Oliver Kay off of the Times.

And City:

"City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott Clichy; Toure Yaya, Barry; Milner, Silva, Balotelli; Aguero"

Having a stab at Toure at 7/1.

Edited December 12, 2011 by IAceI

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Richards out for City, which is a massive boost for Chelsea considering the awesome form he's been in.

Hoping so much that Chelsea can get the win tonight or even a draw, but my money is certainly on City. Here's hoping Drogba has a stormer tonight and tears them apart.

[Summers]

I have two free ten pound bets.

I want to win some cash. Ideas?

[MJB]

Missus is at dance rehearsals untill 10pm tonight so I've got this on and as much as I hate it, United need Chelsea to take the three points off City tonight heading into the Christmas period.

Oh and Summ, Sturridge to score first and Chelsea to win 2-1?

Edited December 12, 2011 by MJB

[TCO]

I'd go

Aguero to score first (if he's playing haven't seen the teams yet)

Man City to score in both halves

[Summers]

Kun scoring a brace would get me 100. That'd be nice.