bkkjames

alien?

i used to really enjoy reading james lawton but he's become a bit of a pompous wally in the past year or so. keane's stunk the place out this season both in terms of application and attitude, and the best defence lawton can make for him is that rafa's a big bully?

I would only say that it appears keane misses berba more than berba misses keane

Choice picks for tonight and tomorrow night.... my locks are bolded another late night tonight, oh well.

Portsmouth 1 v Aston Villa 1,

Sunderland 0 v Fulham 1,

Tottenham 2 v Stoke 1,

West Brom 0 v Man Utd 2,

Blackburn 1 v Bolton 0,

Chelsea 3 v Middlesbrough 0,

Everton 1 v Arsenal 1,

Man City 2 v Newcastle 1,

West Ham 2 v Hull 1,

Wigan 1 v Liverpool 1

I won't comment but it is an interesting article in todays Independent...

James Lawton: Benitez's treatment of Keane has become close to a gruesome joke

Did Keane receive any of the ego massaging that produced superior displays at Spurs?

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Whatever private uncertainties crowd the mind of Steven Gerrard they are clearly not so great that they prevent him from confirming – as thunderously as anyone in the history of the game – the truth of one of the more poignant assertions of the old pros.

It is that a football field can sometimes be not an arena but an island – a place where all the troubles and the confusions of the real world can be set aside, for a glorious interlude of 90 minutes. Diego Maradona, George Best and Paul Gascoigne proclaimed this even as they rummaged in the remnants of their talent.

When the brilliant coach Malcolm Allison, whose life as a player was both complicated and tumultuous, was told that his career was over because of tuberculosis he immediately reflected, "I'll never go out there to play again, knowing that I'm safe between the touchlines, that nothing can touch me as I do the thing I love most."

In Gerrard's case the requirement is to do rather more than hold back a worrying distraction that will not be resolved until his court appearance in March. It is to prop up, with amazing diligence and force, a football club at times so dysfunctional its close proximity to the Premier League champions and leaders Manchester United, and continued presence in the Champions League and the FA Cup, is beginning to stand logic on its head. Or, at least, that would be so if it were not for Gerrard's extraordinary ability to rise so far above both his own crisis and his club's disarray.

Gerrard, with the conspicuous help of the re-emerging Fernando Torres, has become Liverpool these last few weeks, far more, certainly, than the tetchy and eternally self-justifying manager Rafa Benitez and American owners whose attempts to turn a profit on the most successful club in the history of English football are beginning to sound as plaintive as the sales technique of Molly Malone.

A harsh verdict on Liverpool's operating technique? This is only, surely, if you can ignore the £20m scandal at the heart of Anfield – one that at the weekend became something close to a gruesome joke.

Robbie Keane's plight is, at the level of professional ambition, nothing less than a personal tragedy. It reached its nadir when he was told he could no longer claim a place on the bench. Here we had a harsh spotlight indeed on Benitez's fight for a contract that would put him in charge of all transfer dealing. Of course the manager's position is correct, in both theory and practice, as long as the best tradition of English football is maintained in the working arrangements of men like Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger and Martin O'Neill.

However, Benitez's campaign needs a lot more illumination if it is to gain any credence in the middle of the Keane affair.

One strong theory on Merseyside is that the summer preoccupation of Benitez was Gareth Barry and the push to sign Keane was stronger elsewhere – and not least in the office of the chief executive, Rick Parry. Could this really be so, and if it is, could it possibly condition the appalling treatment of Keane, a player of accomplishment, even overachievement at Tottenham, who came to Anfield wearing his devotion to the Liverpool cause on his much-travelled sleeve? His short Liverpool history is more than anything a study in humiliation. It's true his early performances, his failure to relate to the game of Torres, sent out an almost instant warning that £20m had been misspent. But who was the author of the mistake, and what serious efforts were made to rectify it?

Did Keane receive any of the ego massaging that produced superior performance at Tottenham for Martin Jol and Juande Ramos, neither exactly kid-glove specialists? The evidence is to the contrary. Keane has indeed played poorly at times, but not with a consistency that would make his relentless fate of substitution seem any less a kind of open-ended grinding down of his spirit.

Typically, the Dubliner threw him himself into training yesterday and if sometimes his body language this season has touched, perhaps understandably, a degree of despair – especially on the loneliest trek in football after your number has been called – he is at pains to stress that his non-appearance at Anfield on Sunday for the Cup tie against Everton was at the suggestion of the club.

The inference has to be that the Keane situation has become so embarrassing that Liverpool were in no mood to provide gratuitous picture opportunities.

A huge part of the problem, no doubt, is that just as Keane and Torres failed to establish a natural rapport, the one struck up between the Spaniard and Gerrard is at times nothing less than sublime. We saw that in Gerrard's equaliser against Everton, a move that carried a beauty and a purpose which were scarcely nullified by the fact that the goalkeeper Tim Howard should have got down to smother the shot.

Keane's agony is Gerrard's glory – and perhaps, it needs to be said, Benitez's point of redemption in a season so littered with confusion. The Spaniard has never accepted the myth that Gerrard is a great, controlling midfielder, but rather a superbly equipped attacker, almost a force of nature when his power wells up so inexorably as he goes forward, with, for example, the irresistible timing which inspired the breathtaking service from Torres on Sunday.

This is part of the football landscape Keane is never likely to tread, a point made scornfully by Sir Alex Ferguson when he questioned his £6m move from Wolves to Coventry. Such a judgement, however, was no deterrent to a career which boasts the distinguished landmarks of Elland Road, San Siro, White Hart Lane and Anfield. It is a journey which deserves a more satisfactory climax than his desperate experience.

Of all the victims of Liverpool's bizarre season of politics and corporate doubt and off-field controversy, Keane is surely No 1. Gerrard? For a little while at least, he has created his own world – one he rules absolutely.

yep, as bad a signing that was, at least Cantana made up for it!

christ almighty james, supposedly your best player ever and you can't even spell his name right.

Christ is spelled with a capital C stevie.

bruce almighty can be lower caps however.

the shift button on my keyboard doesn't work.

and you can't spell cantona.

true, but I can spell treble

The Football League have confirmed that Defoe was eligible to play.

Full article from skysports:- http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,13864_4851720,00.html

Spurs should still be kicked out, just because they are who they are.

Choke Chai is the reason why the first thing I bought when I moved into my house was a proper gas bbq.

Sorry, local nua cannot compare to a 12-14 oz Grade A US or AUS or CDN Rib Eye, seared quickly and served medium rare with a nice baked potato, lots of sour cream, butter, chives and home-made bacon bits.

Anyway, we shouldn't have any banter in here from Fans of other teams. Uncle Jim has already complained in the Liverpond thread.

As the OP of this thread. I declare this thread an "Open House" Toady

Open House is an appropriate description of your team's defending BJ.

yep, as bad a signing that was, at least Cantana made up for it!

christ almighty james, supposedly your best player ever and you can't even spell his name right.

Christ is spelled with a capital C stevie.

bruce almighty can be lower caps however.

I just returned from the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, and among other things, I was given a number of Italian meats to bring back with me. I have a Genoa Salami, two Dry Salamis, a Pancetta, and a Bresaola.

How long will these last? And how should I store them?

These are pretty big, and it will take me awhile to get through them all, and I don't want to have them go bad on me.

well, if you feel like you have too much, i will take some off your hands, wouldn't want them to go to waste!

this is a rather interesting topic for media studies.

coming from a broadcast junkie's standpoint, i actually observe the ads airing on the BTS and find them pretty hilarious (the storyboards i mean). production design is good as well as graphic execution.

while aesthetics seem to be top priority, i am also wondering behind the consumer messages they want to deliver. or is it just the language barrier behind my confusion?

i agree with the fact that some ads seem to be a tad dislodged from the brand message

all you need to know about advertising here is to include a "boing" sound in your ads, nothing else is required...apparently.

well jaded LP fan (aka stevie), what I wrote about Rafa was not meant to be a joke, it's fact. perhaps you are weirded out by drawing Everton 2x in a row at home.

but then again, your replies are like rafa's speaking about his decision to drop keano from the game, yawn..

Robbie Keane was not selected, we have a very good squad," said Benitez. "He was not injured.

"He is working hard and that is the most important thing for me. I have not seen him, but it is normal for every player to want to be in the squad.

"They want to be in the 11 starters so I expect him not to be happy.

"Ngog was in because he scored two goals for the reserves and we had (Dirk) Kuyt and (Ryan) Babel too. That was four strikers in the squad."

I find the advertisements and soap opera so pathetic,and unprofessional.My impression of these is one point stands out all the time,

THAIS WANT TO BE WHITE,WHITE WHITE,WHITE

not a thai only issue - asia wide.

back to the commercials, i can't believe people sit on the bts and stare up at those things, why cant they show news or even music (i know the answer, just wishful thinking).

The all American kid.....

Grown up on TV advertising and fast food.

Yes, advertising should be regulated.

wrong again Go6: consumption should be regulated.

Seriously guys A) I know for a fact stuart turner is doing all he can to sort this. The likes of the british press won't give two hoots about a few of us who can't watch it here....

Sit tight... Fingers crossed it'll be sorted soon. I'm trying to find out which Thai Co. bought the rights from M-league of maybe they are part of M-league.

If we find this out then we can expose them and hound them til something is done

this seems to contradict what is actually happening, check out the last sentence in the quote...

http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2007/ne...p?id=1194872065

i'm tempted to send some of this to the english press, see if it makes the FA jump a bit higher.

Good luck.

james you're starting to sound very strange mate.

was it the kuwaiti stuff or the fact that Rafa talks <deleted>?

Firstly can anyone recommend a good high end spa for strange relaxation/cleansing treatments, maybe something involving hot stones or some such??

Also, do you know if you can by vouchers for them as it is going to be a gift??

Thank you

I saw a hot stones plcae on soi 39, cant remember the name.

as for gift certificates, I am sure its possible at all spas but I can say that Healthland on Sathorn does offer such things for their services.

Here is some valuable advice:

When you launch your product, do so with as much noise a possible to accomplish the following...

1) Create instant brand awareness and talk of the town

2) Make it cool to have your product and be seen with it

3) Bear in mind the shelf life of your product before it gets knocked off (how long will it take to make copies?)

4) Have your distribution / production channels sorted prior to launch

There are very few things here that can't be reproduced cheaper by someone in China.

You need to launch simultaneously in all markets. Hit them hard and fast. Make your money and get out.

Forget about trademarks unless your invention will replace the car.

Good luck.

At least it's not based on fear.

hmmm, you mean beauty products? fear of not being white? fear of getting wrinkly?

Nice place Kuwait is, if you are an expat standing in line at a convenience store and a local comes in, you are obliged to let them go ahead of you.

I spent a long time in Kuwait and that is either a myth or a total fabrication.

call it what you want, my source lives there now and works for a Sheikah, i don't see why she would make it up?

double post

I see Rafa has been all over the news complaining about Everton's tactics (defensive minded). I find this funny coming from a guy known for his 5 across the middle formation.

I see Rafa has been all over the news complaining about Everton's tactics (defensive minded). I find this funny coming from a guy known for his 5 across the middle formation.

Prices remain high. What about sales?

I will wait till prices fall 30% and the baht drops to 45 / dollar.

You will be in for a long wait then - on both counts!!!

52 Baht to a dollar and penthouses selling for 50,00/meter.

That was the scenario 10 years ago.

Might happen again I say.