Its all about the clichés, 'you have to take your chances when they present themselves' and we've not done that in a number of games this season (a la Hull, Stoke, West Ham, Fulham and even Tottenham). You're right though. I'd say bar the 4-4 draw between Arsenal and Tottenham, that game was probably the most exciting this season. Since becoming a fan, I'd have to say the 5-4 win over Alaves in the UEFA Cup a few years back was more exciting, with the 3-3 and then penalty victory over AC Milan in the Champions League topping that. Can't forget the classic 4-3's against Newcastle (or the Barcodes).

Arsenal aren't as good this season, so I'm not too surprised. They lost several good players and didn't replace them. I've only ever watched cricket once (many years ago when we won the Ashes), so I can join you with that sentiment, apart from the fact that its winter here and about -5 degrees celcius most of the time.

I was going to follow the old 'soccer' set-up you Aussies had a few years ago when I lived there. Unfortunately, I was going to follow my local team now called Sydney FC since its not as big a sport over there as it is here but I was forced to watch AFL instead. I don't like AFL.

Football had a staggering overhaul. The NSL is now called the A-League, Soccer Australia is now Football Federation Australia, there are now 8 teams (most of them new), the overhaul coming because of a big report that showed the sport being ruined by hooliganism and in particular, ethnic alignment. The creation of Melbourne Victory has stopped the fighting between the old suburban teams since they're all in lower divisions. (We only have occasional problems with the big rivals, Sydney FC and Adelaide United )

You don't want to follow Sydney FC, they're a disgrace anyway - basically like Man U in terms of arrogance, except without the on-field success to match

As for Liverpool, I don't know why we get so comfortable at Anfield, so many successive draws, disappointing the home crowd and all. However, recent form has been promising, allowing us to draw away from Chelsea.

What's happening with Steven Gerrard anyway? He's our superstar, we can't have him jailed or anything, we need him to carry us to a maiden EPL title......

Also, with the Gunners faltering terribly this year, how do you rate Aston Villa or even Everton's chance at a Champions League berth?

Sorry for all the questions, but just one more... I heard Arsenal have sold tickets out three years in advance, an old flatmate of mine lived in London and was offered tickets to an Arsenal game against Aston Villa next year and that's all that's available for three years!! a) is that true? and b) is Anfield sold out like that at all? I wanna go one day, hopefully before the move to Stanley Park

I've read about the development of the game in Australia. Wasn't it also in an attempt to compete with European nations, as well as the South American one's which dominate the world game? We went though a massive overhaul in the 80's and 90's with the Premiership being formed, television rights dictating and an attempt to combat hooliganism and racism. I followed Australia more closely than I did England at the last World Cup and was horrified when you went out to Italy unjustly. Was a tremendous effort. We were shocking, but we usually are (up until Capello's appointment, really). However, this may be redundant ... Aren't you a Kiwi by birth? I don't think the Kiwi side are doing too well, though things may change since the Aussies moved to the Asian qualifying campaign due to wanting more of a challenge.

We only actually lost once at Anfield in the whole of 2008, I believe and that was the embarrassing defeat to Barnsley in the FA Cup. I think that's a pretty impressive record. The problem with playing at home is that teams, particularly 'lesser' sides now fear us (especially in Europe) and know what we're capable of. They put 10 men behind the ball and squeeze all the space out in front of the two banks of four (defensive line then a midfield shield). We struggle to get behind their defense and that's where the problem lies - Creativity and taking our chances.

Gerrard is professional. I've always admired him for that. Despite being in the news for that assault, he controlled the game (with Alonso) against Preston in the cup at the weekend. I think he'll be fine. Even if he does get banged up, he's no Joey Barton.

I'd love to see Villa make it into the Champions League. I think they've performed very well with an English base (which is good for me and our national side). Agbonlahor and Young have been fantastic. I don't think they have the same strength in depth as Arsenal, but if Arsenal don't make the Champions League we could have another Leeds Utd on our hands. Leeds overspent, got into debt and lost out on a Champions League spot to us a few years ago ... Then they went down, and down, and down and are now languishing in the third tier. Everton are strong, but not strong enough. They made the Champions League qualifying stages a few seasons ago and never could make it. Being a Liverpool fan, that makes me laugh.

I doubt its quite three years in advance, but I imagine season tickets, which give priority to fans, do get sold out within days, perhaps even hours. I've looked into getting tickets to go to Anfield, which is a few hundred miles away from here (I live in the South East of England) and you have to go through a very strict regime to get them. I hope, one day, to move somewhere up North (LAKE DISTRICT, PLEASE!) and will aim to buy myself a season ticket. Its very rare that the home sections at Anfield won't be sold out. The fans, from what I've read and heard, don't think its wise that the board are only looking to expand the ground by 12-15,000 or so because even a 80,000 seat stadium would probably be sold out in Liverpool.

Ever been to England before?

Sorry for the length of this post ... I realise its ... Long.

Yeah, the overhaul was also to sort of glamourise and commercialise the game, but I don't really have a problem with this. As I said, it's stopped the infighting between Melbourne clubs and far more people are interested in the game, Melbourne Victory are getting AFL standard crowds, 23-27,000 to a regular game, and in fact holds the record for Telstra Dome attendance (55,000+ to the Grand Final against Adelaide United), which was achieved in two years, double what Melbourne Storm (rugby league) has been trying to achieve for more than ten years

I'm sort of a Kiwi by birth... my mother is NZ-born (though lived here for nearly half her life) but I was born here. Nevertheless I do have a slight interest in the NZ game, it's funny because they've had such a terrible history... The All-Whites are a joke of a squad, and if you ever saw the Football Kingz/NZ Knights, the original Auckland-based A-League squad, they got 6 points from a possible 63 in the first season. The new one however, Wellington Phoenix, are fifth on the current ladder, are fighting to get into the finals, are getting thousands more to the games, and in fact they're actually a better-performing squad than the NZ All-Whites and I'd choose them for 2010 South Africa than the All-Whites.

As for the Socceroos, it took months before the "Italian Diving Team" jokes wore off. Nowadays though, we're doing very well - defeating most of our Asian pool group (though we were quite lucky against the Bahrainis I think).

I remember that Leeds thing as well, and it's almost a shame to see a once great club like that, but I thought they folded altogether, I was young at the time and didn't know how British football relegation/promotion system works (remember I'm from Victoria, AFL system being that its the same 16 clubs all the time, and in fact lower-finishing clubs get draft picks to ensure no club dominates too much. It's like communism - without it, my dear Geelong would have about 67 premierships under our belt!!!) Anyway, I'd love to see somebody else other than the big 4 in the Champions League again (Reds excepted of course ) and Villa of course seem to be the best team to handle that possibility this year.

Same problem with Arsenal moving from Highbury - I don't know why they bother building a 60,000 capacity ground when we'd sell out an Old Trafford-size venue. Same problem's going to happen with Victory - in season 2 we peaked at 36,000 spectators average, and the new venue is only 31,000. The only reason our attendance dropped is because many fans hate the Tel$tra Dome... with good reason.

Never been to England. Was going to, but... long, long, awful, boring story. I'll do it one day though, I'd love to go to Anfield and do the rest of the country, the countryside looks amazing there. My cousin lived in London for 15 years and mostly had good stories to tell about it, I'd to do the whole UK and Ireland one day.... and I will. Whereabouts in the S-E are you exactly? I've actually just met a bloke a few weeks ago from Southampton - I think that's from the same area. He jokes that its where all the convict boats used to sale from

No worries about the long post, I rarely make long posts so it's good to have a decent yarn about something for once

Oh lastly - I had a good chuckle over Lucas Neill demanding a pay rise and Hammers being like "Lolz, don't let the door hit your arse on the way out."

NP: You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & The Pacemakers

You blokes are really fagging this thread up with your soccer bullshit.

If there's a more boring game in the world, I'd like to know it.

Cricket?

Did the overhaul work, in your humble opinion? It certainly seems to have done the Wellington Phoenix the world of good. I've heard a few things about its success over here, but not much. I heard it was also done in an attempt to keep young Australian talent in Australia. Please, keep your Lucas Neill's (Liverpool were interested in him at one stage).

I remember getting into a few 'heated' arguments with Aussies when I was over there. I cannot stand the system your football, rugby and AFL works under. I hate calling it a ladder and I hate how a team who comes lower than first can win the overall competition. To me, they don't deserve it and I would be pissed if I finished first only to lose this supposed Grand Final to a lesser side.

You have shown Leeds more sympathy in one post than the club gets from non-Leeds supporters in this entire country. Leeds are very well liked over here. I'm not entirely sure why. I think it may be a Sydney FC thing - thinking they're good without an illustrious history. I had an American explain the drafting system, and I'm sure the same policy is conducted in Australia. It sounds 'nice' but unrealistic in terms of football. We're too far into the game now to change that ruling.

The flight over is awful, by the way, so be prepared for hours of unrelenting boredom. I couldn't sleep on any of my flights, which made it worse. At one point, a stewardess on Singapore Airlines offered me, a 16 year old at the time, alcohol in order to help me sleep.

I live in Kent, the supposed Garden of England. I'm an hour outside London, to the South East. I lived in London for 18 years, was horrible. Southampton is more South than South East. I recommend travelling across the North. Its friendlier up there (apart from when they detect you're Southern, but you don't have that problem, despite being even further South than me).

Golf. Curling. Lawn Bowls.



Certainly the overhaul worked, now you don't just have silly wogs going to games, you get families and members of different ethnic groups uniting together for the one team. That was absolutely unheard of in the old NSL. You misunderstand though - Wellington Phoenix were created, the whole clubs only two years old, and yet they've had that much more success already. Out of the eight teams in the competition (ten next year with more expansions to come), only some were pre-existing (Queensland who had a massive overhaul, Perth Glory, Newcastle, New Zealand Knights who are now defunct, and Adelaide I think too).

That was another thing that made me switch to Premier League especially - the system of relegation. As much as I enjoy the sports themselves of AFL and rugby league, I don't like that the draft pick system rewards mediocrity. In a few years they're supposedly looking to do a "B-League" kind of thing where low finishing teams get kicked out of the competition. I think that's quite a few years off though. The Australian salary cap is an even greater example of communism - or "a fair go" as we like to call it here - $1.9 million for 20 players in the A-League!! ($6 million per club or so for AFL clubs) so the entire combined salary of an entire club is a tiny fraction of what could be paid to Gerrard, Beckham, Ronaldo, Rooney and those sorts of guys.

It'll be a few years before I get to England yet, however I'm well-prepared for long haul flights It'll be the customs when I get there that'd make it hell AFTER the long flight...

Didn't Perth Glory win the last competition before the overhaul? I remember watching that game, it was quite entertaining, though there was barely anyone there to watch it. Something which you say has changed.

Mmm. I like our pyramid system, as its called. Any team, even a team I create myself and enter a league with could go into the Premiership. Reminds me of Wimbledon, a team that disbanded a few years ago. The supporters created a new club, AFC Wimbledon who started at the bottom and are now only about five promotions off the Premiership. It may seem like a lot, but they've probably been promoted 5 or 6 times already since around 2002. Its exciting and ever-changing. There is talk of salary caps here. The contrast between there and here is phenomenal, which is why your players come here. I think Robinho is earning about £120,000 a week, which is about $258,000 a week. Amazing.

Customs isn't as horrific here as it is there. First time I went there, I had to wait an hour whilst they checked my bags ... God knows what they thought they'd find. It was so stupid. Man - "Have you ever been to a farm?" Me - "Yes." Man - "Ok, we'll have to get someone to check your shoes." Me - "Um, I was about 4 at the time, I doubt I was wearing these size 12's back then." Man - "We have to be sure."

immortalshadow666 can suck it, you gloated to me over Victory going to the top of the ladder so F.O.A.D.

UNITED ARE BACK ON TOP MOTHERFUCKER. :D:D

Yeah, Perth actually did win it, they were one of the most successful clubs in their relatively short history. I don't know what's happened, but they've been consistently the worst Australian club (the NZ clubs have all finished bottom, until this year where Wellington might make the finals, and Newcastle Jets have bottom spot despite winning the premiership last year).

I actually read up on Wimbledon a while ago, and found that was fascinating. The pyramid system to me seems to be a lot more effective than franchising like in American and Australian sports. I should move to England and start a team.... I'm a fine keeper if need be.

As for Customs, I meant with the way they pwn foreigners.... my uncle, a Kiwi married to a Scottish lady, has told me some absolute horror stories of his experiences.



Hmm. Two defeats at the Dome, 1-0.... 3-2 come from behind in Adelaide... sorry, what was that? 6-0 in the Grand Final? Hmmm.... suck it. ^____^

C'mon fellas, be serious; none of those sports are more boring than soccer.

And when it comes to cricket, whoever that fucking heathen was, you can compare me to our great former Prime Minister as far as my enjoyment for the game goes.

Actually, compare me in every way... and call me John...

I agree with Johnny H-Unit here, cricket rules. Sure, I gave up the game because I suck at it and learnt to hate it, but I suck at everything and learn to hate it, so that doesn't count.

Fact is, apart from the goal scoring, soccer kind of blows.

Mate I got fucking goose bumps when Graeme Smith came out to bat at the end of the Sydney Test.

Who said test cricket was dead?? Fuck Twenty/20.

Yeah, Smith deserves a medal for that. I was watching on T.V and I could feel the atmosphere of the SCG, that's a sporting hero if I've ever seen one. I was actually barracking for South Africa when he did that.

Mate I'm old enough to remember when Australia sucked the big one at cricket.

I've watched them over the last 10-15 years come to dominate the game and frankly, I'm not impressed. One, with the way they go about their business and two; the standard of international cricket during that period. Sure, they deserve some praise, but, in my belief, they certainly are not the side the Windies were in the 70's and 80's through to the early to mid 90's.

Hence, I'm happy to see them go down at every opportunity. A contentious stance for a proud Aussie I know, but our cricketers have never really impressed me or lent themselves to my admiration.

The bar fights this gets me into....

What? We may not be the side the great Windies team was at the moment (far from it, in fact), but at the height of our power we were most definitely the equal of them. It's not every day you get players the calibre of Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Ponting and Hayden in the one team, let alone the Waugh's, Damien Martin, Jason Gillespie etc.

And also, what's this about the standard of Test cricket? There's no difference between the overall standard of the Windies' poweful era and more recent times. Are you saying that players like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Pollock, Smith, Fred Flintoff, Vaughn, Lara, Murali, Steyn etc. aren't up to the same standard that players of yesteryear were?

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24898240-5001021,00.html

Now I have no reason to watch tennis.

Warner going absolutly bezerk in the aussie vs south africa twenty20 he is 40 off 17 balls, aussie 51/1 off 4.4

Yeah, I'm watching that now, too. He's going alright, actually. Ponting is not doing as well. Haven't watched it from the start, so I didn't see the first guy get out.

Warner now at 52 off 19 after hitting two 6's in a row.

That would equal the world record for fastest 50

Really? That's a pretty good achievement for him. I feel for South Africa.

Did you guys just hear the commentator refer to the game as thrash metal?

Whens Luke *coughtraitorkiwicoughcough* ronchi going to bat

Haha I didn't, as I've got it on mute. That's pretty cool, though.

aussie falling apart

Yeah, we're losing the wickets now. It's a good thing it's at the end of our innings and not the start, otherwise that could've been disastrous.

Leave it up to a kiwi to get australia out of trouble...but he gets out

For all of Warner's troubles, Australia still only has about 170 runs with 2 overs left. South Africa can easily catch that kind of run-chase.

Not with Jaques kallis in the team..he was part of the famous ipl test team" containing other known blasters such as rahul dravid which ended up bottom of the table

South Africa are about to bat. How do you think they'll do, ebulus? Personally, I reckon if they keep their heads screwed on, they can come away with a win.

I'm looking forward to the Six Nations this year. Judging from the matches with the Tri-Nations teams I think Wales will be on for another Grand Slam. Scotland have looked the best they have been for a while, and France might cause a few problems, but every other team were dire.

Gibbs will definately be the man to get, can be devastating, I reckon it will be quite a close game

Haha, Gibbs out for a duck. No chance he'll make an impact now.

why kallis is playing instead of amla is beyond me

game over unless a miracle happens

Hmm, yeah, 2/7 isn't exactly the score you want to see after 2 overs.

Damnit. I made a huge post about the 0-0 draw with Stoke City, yet the DEBUG mode thing destroyed it. I can't be bothered to write another one so; I was sorely disappointed with the boring 0-0 draw, that presented very few opportunities for score, and if we keep up this charade, Alex Faguson will be right in what he said about our fine establishment.

And Matthew Hayden retires

Really? I haven't heard anything about it. When was that announced?