Walcott is quite good on the FIFA game:shocked:;).

bovril eewwwwwww

You can always have Marmite:shocked:.

Swansea have gone above you guys:(:nono:.

marmite eww
they were above us anyway, now there's a 4 point gap ffs and swansea aren't even a good side they just play for a draw

Football thread
 

:D, they obviously are a alright side if they are up there with you, Forest, WBA and Newcastle. Damn just got to hope they lose soon:p.

no they're actually not i'm not saying it as a biased cardiff fan it's the truth
even their fans are getting pissed off with the way they play, they just hang about for a draw and can only win by 1-0's if they have to...

It's a results business;). Their fans must make the views they have clear then:).

all they do is draw though
they can't score and they hardly concede

even leighton james (swansea arselicker) on the radio is fed up with them

:D, they will soon stop moaning if their team gets a play off place at the end of the season:laugh:.

OH **** FFS!!!! caps
anthony gerrard out injured now! :( i know he's ****e but we only have one central defender left now!

Arsène Wenger steps up attack on 'incompetent' referee Martin Hansson

• Arsène Wenger details five 'wrong' decisions over Porto goal
• Arsenal manager says corruption still a problem in Europe



Arsène Wenger has risked the wrath of Uefa by mounting a renewed attack on the Swedish referee who presided over *Arsenal's defeat in Porto on Wednesday, claiming Martin Hansson is "incompetent or dishonest, I prefer to think *incompetent" and unfit to work at the highest level.

Although Wenger stressed that he believed Hansson was guilty of nothing more sinister than ineptitude, he went on to claim that he has been a victim of corruption in the past and hinted that the governing body has not done enough to eradicate it from European football.

The Frenchman's main gripe with *Hansson relates to the mistakes he claims the referee made before Porto's winning goal on Wednesday. Hansson awarded Porto an indirect free-kick after judging that Lukasz Fabianski had picked up a deliberate backpass from Sol Campbell. As Arsenal players disputed that decision the referee handed the ball to Porto's Rúben Micael, who passed it to Falcao to score. Wenger said he sought the opinion of other referees after the match, who he claims confirmed that Hansson had made "five technical mistakes in that one moment".

"For me the backpass is accidental but he has judged it is voluntary. OK, we have a difference there; I can accept that," said Wenger. "But afterwards he makes so many technical mistakes that are not linked to judgment."

"I wanted to understand what happened on the free-kick, so I got some information from professional referees," he continued. "They explained to me that he made five mistakes. First, he did not give the free-kick at the point where it happened. Then he was not in the right position. Then he did not put the players at the proper distance. Then he should never have given a quick free-kick once he is in the middle of the action. And finally he didn't raise his arm until after the free-kick was taken, which is too late. These are technical points, so I believe he is incompetent. He has shown he is not up to it.

"I never criticise referees. I say just on that point he was incompetent. You see the referee take the ball and say, 'OK, score a goal.' How can you be a referee with *common sense and give goals away like that in a competition like the Champions League? It makes a complete joke of the competition. But we were naive too, I don't deny that."

Wenger called on Uefa to clarify the criteria it uses for selecting officials, saying that this was particularly important in view of past incidents of corruption around the continent. "A lot of things have to be clarified at Uefa," he said. "They have to be much more open about how they rate referees. Nobody knows really how or why they name them or how they rate them. The history of refereeing in Europe over the last 30 years is not very good for *football. Too much has gone on."

European football has been afflicted by many incidents of corruption. One of the best known surfaced in Portugal in 2004. Following investigations into the so-called Golden Whistle scandal officials from two clubs, Porto and Boavista, were found to have bribed or attempted to bribe referees. Porto were subsequently docked six points in 2008 and banned from competing in the 2008-09 Champions League, though the latter sanction was overturned on appeal.

Wenger himself was the victim of corruption in France in 1993, when his Monaco team finished runners-up in the league behind Marseille, who were subsequently stripped of their title and demoted after it emerged that the club's president, Bernard Tapie, had mastermindeda plot to pay players from an opposing team, Valenciennes, to throw the last match of the season. Wenger's first-team coach at Arsenal, Boro Primorac, was the manager of Valenciennes at the time. No one from any other club was implicated in that scandal. Wenger yesterday revealed, however, that he has managed a team in which players have been corrupted by opponents. "I've seen much worse [than Hansson's alleged mistakes] in my life, my own players were bought," he said. "I didn't become paranoid. You have to trust people in my job."

Wenger refused to identify the team or players that he believes were bought, saying, "I do not want to come out about the past." Asked whether he believes corruption is still prevalent in Europe, he grinned and said: "In my job you always have to prove what you say. I don't have anything to say. That's good work for you to do. You can make good inquiries, it's a very interesting subject."

Officials were not the only object of Wenger's ire. He also took aim at Porto's players, accusing them of systematically fouling Cesc Fábregas. "They were rotating fouls [on him]," said Wenger. "I was a little bit concerned that he would lose his temper because he was quite provoked. To be targeted a little bit, and be under pressure, I think he handled it remarkably well."

Good ol Wenger loves a moan... but even Fergie does when the chips are down:joker:.

He's got all the ability in the world but I just don't know if he's a winner, you know? Bit of a bird brain on the pitch and his delivery is terrible.

Ramsey was quality today, and Eboue looked very good.
Oh and Nasri and Fab are forming a great little partnership just behind the front man.

Ramseys always quality.

Eboue's alright..

But yeah nasri i think wenger wants to fill the gap if fabregas leaves..

Not sure if hes up to it yet, both same age tho.

Theo Walcott may not yet have secured his seat on England's World Cup plane to South Africa.

But he could hardly have turned in a better audition than the performance he produced in front of England manager Fabio Capello at the Emirates stadium today.

Nicklas Bendtner scored the first-half goal and Cesc Fabregas the injury-time penalty which defeated a sterile Sunderland side, but it was Walcott who produced the pace and the menace.

At times he showed shades of Zagreb 2008, the night Walcott scored a hat-trick against Croatia which set England on the right course in their World Cup qualifying campaign.

There were no goals this time but if you want a winger to terrorise defenders, then Walcott in this mood does it better than most.

However, if Walcott was Arsenal's most lethal attacker, the other man who made the difference was Manuel Almunia.

Arsene Wenger had been anxious to stress his support for Lukasz Fabianski after the young Polish goalkeeper's two howlers sunk the Gunners in their Champions League defeat to Porto in midweek, but it did not stretch to keeping him in the side.

He went for the experience of 34-year-old Almunia, who was back after passing a fitness test on an injured finger. Sol Campbell, whose backpass also contributed to the Gunners' downfall, was given a place on the bench.

But if the disappointment of Portugal lingered then it did not show. Arsenal were quicker to the ball, Fabregas and Aaron Ramsey seizing control in midfield with their slide-rule passing and pretty patterns.

Walcott announced his desire as early as the fourth minute, sprinting past Sunderland full-back George McCartney like an Olympic finalist - which is not that far-fetched, considering he has been timed at 10.2 seconds for 100m.

McCartney must have wondered if it had been a good idea to get out of bed this particular Saturday.

The answer came time and again over the next hour or so as Walcott tempted him in and then left him in his wake in a straight foot race.

He looked tasty today but it was against a very weak Sunderland side. We'll see. And yeah, Eboue did more on the right than Walcott did in the entire game.

Villa 0 - 1 Burnley

Fletcher

Aston Villa 1 - 1 Burnley


Young

rofl villa fans chanting ''theres only one owen coyle''

I need to start posting in here again...

Villa up to 4th!

ffs 5-2

wanted 6-1 :(

Lol

Aston villa great just ripped Burnley apart.

And roman.. redknapp should have put him in earlier in the season..


Id take Pav in our side now.

Pav would be very very tasty in that Arsenal side. Have no idea why Wenger didn't add to the squad in that respect.