Sporting Sensations

[Freypower]

Congrats TLR, hope you go all the way now

I think Brendan Rodgers is a legend 'in his own mind' as the saying goes...

Sorry, JCL, but for me motor racing is not a sport - rather watch paint drying (preferably one of my own paintings )

Rodgers got Liverpool to second & so close to winning the title last year that this seems unfair to me. This season hasn't been as good. That doesn't wipe out last season.

[DivineDon]

Yeah, but they blew it...close but not close enough

Like I said before, we're Chelsea fans in our house mainly because my brother has supported them all his life. Personally, I'm a big Barcelona fan - I adore Lionel Messi

[Jonny Come Lately]

:I was more being sarcastic about Liverpool's expectations, I'm a (Glasgow) Rangers fan personally It was odd yesterday because both Liverpool and Villa are my two least favoruite teams so in a way I wanted neither to win

For what it's worth, I felt the same way about Chelsea vs Manchester United on Saturday night (although Man Utd will always be 'the enemy' as far as I'm concerned). Is it just me or has Jose Mourinho been worse than ever this season? Extremely negative men behind the ball tactics (even against struggling teams), leading citing conspiracies when they've been top of the league all season and bizarre rants like his 'minute 30, 33, 43, 69' interview after drawing at home to Burnley. I hope Arsenal beat them next weekend, although I fully expect yet another 1-0 win.

tlr, do you pay much attention to Birmingham City or West Bromwich Albion? Just noticing that your location is in Birmingham and you say you dislike Villa. As for Rangers, I must admit I warmed to Celtic when I was a child - one of the first games I remember was Liverpool vs Celtic in the UEFA Cup (around March 2003) and I liked players such as Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and Stiliyan Petrov, although nowadays I'd rather anyone else won the SPL. Just gets boring seeing the same team walk to the title every year. After your woes in the last few years I think you were unlucky to come up to the Championship at the same time as Hearts who were relegated by their own financial troubles which left them with a points deduction and a skeleton team of youngsters in last year's SPL (Hibs by contrast were rubbish and nothing to be afraid of when they came down, they've done better than I though TBH).

I actually didn't mind Chelsea much during the Carlo Ancelotti era (I like his managerial style) and actively wanted Rafa Benitez to succeed when he took the job as I feel that the UK press tried made him look like a joke while praising significantly inferior managers, but Mourinho has made the team dislikeable to me again as he did in his first spell.

Having said that DivineDon, I may not be much of a fan of Chelsea but I do like Lionel Messi a lot more than his chief rival Cristiano Ronaldo. You don't see Messi ripping off his shirt to show off his muscles after scoring in a Champions League final!

At Liverpool, similar to the Inverness CT headline we once had a player called Igor Biscan who was a liability as a defender under Gerard Houllier but improved substantially when played as a midfielder by Rafa Benitez, and he had a song which went 'Super Croat Igor Biscan Used To Be Atrocious'.

I have my reservations about Brendan Rodgers although he has enough credit from last season to deserve another year, if we fail next year though I think that it will be it for him though. One of my main concerns is about transfer targets, our transfers are decided by a committee (which includes Rodgers but he does not have the final word, so if others want a player he doesn't he may well join anyway) but some of the players I believe were earmarked by Rodgers have not been up to scratch. I believe he wanted to sign Joe Allen and Adam Lallana, who have been okay, but the likes Fabio Borini and Dejan Lovren have been disappointing. Our single biggest need in the summer is a reliable striker as Sturridge is by far our best right now but is too injury prone. One positive is that the goalkeeping situation is not as a bad now it was a few months ago due to Mignolet's upturn in form.

[Freypower]

Yeah, but they blew it...close but not close enough

Like I said before, we're Chelsea fans in our house mainly because my brother has supported them all his life. Personally, I'm a big Barcelona fan - I adore Lionel Messi

Well, let's agree on that, then.

[DivineDon]

Well, let's agree on that, then.

Fair enough - since we seem to be diametrically opposed to one another on everything else, liking Messi is a good compromise

...and JCL I know where you're coming from regarding Chelsea's negative tactics at least. My brother (the Chelsea expert) bemoans their defensive attitude particularly when 1 up against the so-called minnow teams. He reckons a lot of it is to do with the lack of cover for the striker but they do push more forward when playing the bigger names...and please, our house will be miserable if Arsenal beat them Sunday but I don't think they will. Mourinho is too shrewd and savvy - remember last year and Liverpool??? He totally psyched them out and Gerrard's mistake sealed their title ambitions.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I need to interject some very sad American sports news. My Penguins just lost to the NY Rangers in the playoffs, and have now been eliminated. I know we have been decimated by serious injuries, but the last month and a half have been purely awful. I really hope they can regroup and come back better than ever next year. I guess now I can give my full attention to baseball!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Wainwright out for the season? Brooke, that's a major loss the Cards! Ouch.

[Brooke]

Wainwright out for the season? Brooke, that's a major loss the Cards! Ouch.

It's devestating. We should find out after his mri today.

[Glennsallnighter]

I hope it turns out well for him Brooke - regardless of ones sport and the impact on injury the first priority is the guy himself and his health.

We aren't really English football fans here, preferring GAA, but when I was in school I supported Man U. Our school prefects brother was playing for Man United at the time, so the whole class were fans. So I guess even now I would support them nominally, though I don't get to watch them much.

Most of the boys I teach are Liverpool fans though so I have to at least seem impartial when they are discussing Liverpool!

[Brooke]

I hope it turns out well for him Brooke - regardless of ones sport and the impact on injury the first priority is the guy himself and his health.

Thanks, Ga! Not well, he's out for the whole season. His surgery went well though and we have high hopes for a full recovery and hope to see him back and pitching next year. Hopefully, the Cardinals will find a suitable replacement for this year. It's up in the air so far, but the team is doing great and have an 8 game winning streak going! And are 20 and 6 for the year! Best start in recent history!