TorontoChelsea

It isn't only the referee. In the case of the Liverpool game, it was the keeper. Sometimes, more than one player on a team can be involved. Often it is not the whole game that is fixed, it is something else, but sometimes it is the whole game and a referee in a match between fairly even clubs could make a huge difference.

I don't understand what you're saying. Romeu is not playing for the rest of the year because he's injured. There's no other reason. Malouda's status has zero effect on that.

Romeu is out for the year. Nobody is taking his spot.

He's out of contract so it's up to him. I think Dortmund is the best place for him, but he might decide he'd rather be elsewhere. What's so incredible about Dortmund is that not only do they have amazing talent, is that their talent is almost all very young. Goetze is one of the best players in the Bundesliga at 20. Reus, Lewondowski, Hummels, Subotic,Gundogen, and Bender are all 22-24 years old. Still, Bayern just spends so much more money than other clubs, it will be hard for anyone in the Bundesliga to keep up with them.

The sums we're talking about, it has to be mostly smaller sides. If you're making even 5K a week, would you risk throwing away your career for one, two months pay? And for big players? If you're making 50K a week, it would take 10s of millions of pounds to get anyone to throw something.

More info on it....http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9848809/Liverpools-2009-Champions-League-match-against-Debrecen-allegedly-fixed-by-Hungarian-sides-goalkeeper.html

Surprised there isn`t a thread for him. Excellent player for us playing mostly left-back (but sometimes left midfield). One of the only players I can think of that we bought back years after selling. One of the best left-backs in the Premier League for a few years. He was always attacked for being gay even though he was straight because he was well-spoken, educated, and thoughtful. That cunt Fowler (maybe my least favourite player ever) kept taunting him, but Le Saux got revenge by elbowing him the head (unseen by the ref). Anyway, here`s a video of him trying to recreate his fantastic goal for England against Brazil from the Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/video/2013/feb/04/graeme-le-saux-goal-brazil-video

There's no way to know until we know. Preliminary round makes the most sense because if you are rigging games, you don't want to draw attention to it. Also, referees/players would be much less likely to be willing to tamper with high profile games. With all the German league games we know were fixed, it makes some sense that the European matches might involve the same people but we'll just have to wait.

He's not Belgian or Brazilian or Spanish so no interest....but seriously, it was up to Holtby and he wanted to go somewhere where he'd play. Arsenal was also interested but they already have a bunch of midfielders. Spurs really only have Dempsey for that spot and he's not in their long-term plans. We don't honestly need Holtby either as we have too many #10 sort of players anyway. It was the best move for him.

There are lots of matches that could be fixed but if that one was, the referee did an awful job. You can fix games and make it look a lot fairer than that. The easiest way is to give a lot of yellows out early. To the team you want to win, you give a couple out to attacking players, to the team you want to lose, you give it to defending players or for the team you want to win, you give them to minor players and the team you want to lose, you give them to major players. Then, later in the game, you give one key player a second yellow and he's off. You can also call a lot of unfair calls that nobody really questions like that shoving in the box on corners, Ovrebo's game was so obviously terrible, that everyone was talking about it. and we're all still justifiably mad over it. It could have been fixed, but it also could have been another game we don't know about.

I find this clip hilarious. Especially the ending. It's from the amazing BBC Life... http://www.snotr.com/video/4493/Kill_streak_of_a_Darwin_s_Beetle

Not true. I only watched him play one game (against City) and he was probably their best player. He just didn't fit the team and was not part of their future and then got hurt. He's hardly a superstar, but he's definitely a Premier League caliber player and is good enough to be a squad player for us for the rest of this season much the same role he played with Arsenal last year. I'd much rather have him (or Marin) ahead of Bertrand. Play him in the FA Cup and Europa League to give Mata and Hazard the rest they need for our push to stay top-4 in the league.

Spoiler spoiler spoiler...Yeah, Sansa definitely has more to do. I don't think she'll make it all the way, but I think she will kill littlefinger or cause his death. Would be very fitting. I think maybe 2 or 3 Starks will make it all the way. Would be fitting. I do worry about the next book exploding from political theatre into pure fantasy. Wyman Manderlay definitely is going to die soon which is a shame. Anybody who can kill Freys like that is fine by me. (also, almost certainly, we will see a Frey bloodbath coming which will be sweet). @Dionsa-I look at it a fair bit. It's filled with ridiculous theories, but until Martin finishes the next book (in 2019), what choice do we have? I'm actually a little worried because Martin is almost 65 and fat. He needs to hurry this thing up. I really think the last two books should have been one. He keeps introducing new characters which just make the book longer. He is going to start killing a bunch of them off if he ever wants to finish this thing.

Great game. Thoroughly entertaining for a neutral.

What a strike from Gerrard. There have been so many beautiful goals this weekend. (Including two by us)

Maybe, but there are tons of plays that could be fouls that aren't called. It isn't like there was a foul that wasn't called that led directly to a goal. Dzeko had lots of time to get up and run back. What lead to the goal was Dzeko lying on the ground, faking a serious injury.

That's not the point. Once it was rules not a foul, Dzeko should have got up and Liverpool should not have kicked it out.

He was great before the goal. Great strike too. I can't stand what Dzeko just did there. He thought he got fouled and then stayed down. City demanded the ball to be kicked out of play, but Dzeko's head wasn't hit and it was clearly a minor knock and the referee rightly decided to let play continue, Dzeko just kept on the ground for about a minute. Liverpool scored.Then, Dzeko got up. He's fine. Why should Liverpool kick the ball out? You can't go down in order to disrupt the possession of the other team. The play should always continue unless there is a head injury or an obviously serious injury. That's it.

Sturridge having a great start. Liverpool should be up but are down. City really miss Kompany and Toure (who wouldn't?)

I can't stand when fans boo players for being the victim of something. WBA fans booing Walker for what? For getting spat at? The worst is Stoke fans booing Ramsay for getting his leg broken by Shawcross. How dare he get his leg broken!!

More spoilers!!! The thing with Jamie is that I don't know how much more story arc he has either. Maybe he kills Cersei (because of the prophecy as you say) or maybe he sacrifices himself so Brienne can live for undead Cat? Arya's story has become so dull the last 2 books. I don't know if she can ever really be a faceless man because she can't give up her wolf side...Still, I want the bulk of the action to move to Westeros. Nothing happens anywhere else. (Although, there will be a big battle now that the iron fleet is approaching land).

Chelsea were around for almost 100 years before Roman came along and they'll be here after he's gone. Roman brought huge money to the club and therefore a lot of success, but Chelsea didn't start with Roman. I don't think you understand supporting your club. The vast majority of clubs will never win the CL, they will never win the Premier League, they will never win anything. Their supporters still love their teams. They still go to games, sing their songs, and follow their transfer rumours. I love being European Champions, but I started following Chelsea years before Roman and it didn't bother me that we weren't challenging Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Pre-Roman days, I used to wake up early Saturday mornings (sometimes hungover, sometimes still drunk) to watch Chelsea play. I never once thought "we are nothing, so what's the point of watching?". Your joy comes from different places. A big win over a local rival, an upset over a giant. There are supporters on here who have been following Chelsea for much longer than I have. Who lived through some really dark years for the club. There are newer supporters who are cut from the same cloth. We enjoy being a top European side, who wouldn't? However, our fandom isn't dependent on it. If things go bad at Chelsea, we're not going to go off and start supporting some other team that has a chance to win big trophies. Here's a little reading for you...http://www.chelseafc.com/team-history

Welcome!

We played extremely defensively for a total of three games. Two against Barcelona and one against Bayern. I can't stand when people act as if that was RDM's style or something. He just did what any manager should do and adapted his tactics to try to win the game. I think we're playing very similarly under Rafa as we were under RDM (when Rafa has people healthy) . We have mostly the same problems (poor movement, too much reliance on individual skill, etc...) and the same amazing things when they go right (incredible individual skill, beautiful passing, etc...). That said, our best games came under RDM for sure.

Yeah, like death brings stability to your heart rate. None of that fancy up and down stuff. Just a nice flat line.