Macclad

Congrats to Spain in becoming World Champions but it was a very forgettable final......unfortunately.

The Dutch got in and amongst the Spanish midfield and stopped them from playing their normal passing game.

Not pretty to watch and a difficult match to referee......Heitinga possibly a bit unlucky but Van Bommel could have been sent off before half time.

The Spanish brought on Jesus as sub in the second half but even he couldnt produce a miracle to rescue the game from mediocrity !

And Torres.....comes on as sub in the second period of extra time and pulls his hamstring.....whats with this guy and all his injuries ?

Its rumoured that Liverpool have now dropped their 100m price tag on him and are considering a straight swap for Emile Heskey instead......but Aston Villa arent too keen !

The Prajaktra is very nice and is a modern boutique style hotel overlooking Nong Prajak lake and park.

They have a very nice restaurant on the top floor,overlooking the lake and a coffee shop downstairs.

Currently they have a promotion for superior rooms (1600 baht lake facing and 1300 baht inward facing)including breakfast.

A couple of downsides is that the pool is not yet finished and,if you dont have your own transport,a saamlaw into town will cost you 100 baht.

But depends how much the pool and location means to you.....The Prajaktra is certainly far superior to the Centara (ex Charoensri Grand).

Yes,that Ibrahim Affelay.....he's been coming on as substitute late on and,your right,he is very quick and looks very useful !

I didnt realise De Jong had picked up two yellows.....might work to your advantage.

You're correct; I used the direct translation for the words, used in my own country. We don't say Semi-Final but Half-Final.

Will you be able to ever forgive me ?

LaoPo

If the Dutch beat the Germans I'll forgive you anything

The Dutch have been very impressive up to now but I hope you dont mind me mentioning that you have a weak link in your side.

Nigel de Jong.....I think he's meant to be the holding midfield player but is very slow.....anyone running at him with speed has him floundering.

Havent you got someone a bit more mobile than him.......could be the difference between winning and losing the World Cup !

PS:The Germans have a big weakness.....their keeper.....spills the ball and flaps at crosses......surely one of their opponents can exploit this.

On the evidence of last night its got to be the Germans but there have been so many upsets so far,who knows !

I do hope the Dutch win it....certainly should make the final.

PS:Whats this "HALF FINAL" nonsense ?? It should be "SEMI FINAL" which is the correct soccer terminology !

Have you heard anything about Stevie G's sexpliots?

I have, apparently he got his wifes sister pregnant and when Terry found out he wanted it to be known publicly and Gerrard to be stripped of the captaincy thus the deep rifts in the camp.

Whats your source for this Alfie ??

As regards Roy Hodgsons appointment.....he comes across as a decent man with a shrewd footballing brain but I feel he is only a stop gap appointment to try and stabilise the club,which wont be easy.

I think he should have stayed at Fulham where he did a great job and is appreciated.....it was his little niche in football.

But Liverpool will never recover until they get rid of those three scumbags....Hicks,Gillett and Purslow....in my opinion.

Same could well be said about Manchester United within the next year or so if they dont get rid of the Glazers.

Also rumoured on the BBC that City are after Milner and Agbonlahor for a combined fee of 44m GBP !

If I was O'Neill I'd snap Citys hand off !

But Toure and Silva are quality signings.I can see City challeging Chelsea for the title this season....honest.

OK....that was definitely a goal at 2-1 with the ball at least 2 ft over the line....Cricket,Rugby and Tennis have camera technology so there is no excuse for Football not to do the same.

OK.....For Germanys 3rd goal there was another German player two yards offside when the ball was played to Mueller to score.

OK.....there have been some poor refereeing desicions in this tournament and this Uruguayan ref and his linesman have been the worst.

But.....none of this should be allowed to cover up what was a truly abject England performance.

Upson....what was he doing for the first goal.....a big strong lad easily brushed aside by Klose.....even then he had an opportunity to foul him outside the area.....a free kick and booking certainly but not a goal.

He sort of made amends with Englands goal but even then the ball seemed to hit his forehead and go into the net....not really intended.

Capello....some of his tactical decisions were beyond belief......when he brought on Joe Cole for Milner he continued to play Gerrard on the left (where he is completely wasted) and put Cole on the right.

Replacing Defoe with....Heskey !!!(7 goals in 84 internationals,is it ??)....what about Crouch.....I know we would have still lost but bringing on Heskey is like showing the white flag !

Johnson is never an international standard full back.His England career may well be over along with James,Upson,Barry,Wright-Phillips,Carragher and Heskey but I expect the likes of Terry,Lampard and Gerrard still to be around for Euro 2012,quite simply because there are no adequate replacements at present.

Rooney had a shocker of a tournament but he's still only 25 and,on his day,one of the very few world class players we possess.The trick seems to be getting the best out of him....Capello certainly cant.

Should Capello go?.....there is a very strong case for that but it would be very costly and who is their to replace him with......I know Gary Megson is still available !

Finally.....and it is very hard for me to say this.....congratulations to Germany.....you were easily the better team without the dodgy desicions

Hart

Johnson,Dawson,Terry,A.Cole

Lennon,Barry,Lampard,J.Cole

Gerrard

Rooney

Its the only choice,Fabio !

We called in the Prajaktra Hotel a couple of days ago for a bite to eat......food was delicious,by the way

All the staff at reception and restaurant were very courteous and friendly and after the meal we were invited to have a look around the hotel.

The Superior rooms were very nice and currently they have a promotion for 1600 baht (Nong Prajak view) and 1300 baht (inward view) including breakfast.

There is a top floor restaurant which has lovely views overlooking the lake and live music at night (not sure if that is happening,at the moment).

All the rooms,restaurant and reception areas are very modern and trendy.....a boutique style hotel.

However you do have to be aware that the hotel is still "work in progress." The swimming pool will not be completed for another 3 months and there is still building work going on but not near the occupied rooms as far as we could see.

If you are not bothered about the swimming and like to stay in a trendy new hotel with good accomodation and food then I think you will enjoy it.

Just my view....

I'm currently pending NADS

Personally,I'd go for......

Hart

Carragher,King,Terry,A.Cole

Lennon,Barry,Lampard,J.Cole

Gerrard

Rooney

But I think,unfortunately,James is going to get the nod in goal and Johnson

will be right back.

Johnson is good going forward,admittedly,but can be a bit of a liability

defensive wise.

Have Gerrard playing in the hole behind Rooney.....surely his best position ?

and have Crouch on the bench to shake things up with 20 mins to go.

Well done to Chelsea.I think you just about deserved it over the season and have been playing some great stuff since the Inter Milan match.

And a special thanks to Wigan for making such a fist of it and keeping us all on the edge of our seats till the final whistle !

Well,its the last week of the season so why not ? Heres my predictions.....by the time August comes around Chelsea will be the Premiership champions,Benitez will have left Liverpool and England will have won the World Cup.....well,maybe 2 out of 3

Arsenal v Fulham 2-0

Aston Villa v Blackburn 1-1

Bolton v Birmingham 0-0

Burnley v Tottenham 0-3

Chelsea v Wigan 7-1 B

Everton v Portsmouth 0-0

Hull City v Liverpool 3-2

Manchester United v Stoke City 2-1

West Ham v Manchester City 1-0

Wolves v Sunderland 1-0

Congrats to both Notts County and Rochdale,at last,who secured promotion yesterday !

Macc Towns good form continues with a 2-0 victory over Chesterfield which dents their play off hopes.

Its true that our top teams rely too much on their world class players but also there arent too many world class players around.

Outside the top Premiership clubs I cant think of the likes of Villa,Everton and Birmingham having any !

Real Madrid without Ronaldo and Kaka,Barcelona without Messi and Iniesta.....their absences would leave a big void in there teams as well.

Well,at least Macc Town won again this time 2-1 at Barnet.17 points from the last 9 matches has made survival all but certain.

Bloody hel_l,mr bj,losing 5-0 at Torquay....what happened ? Sure Rochdale will get automatic promotion but Notts County could get the title now.

Third automatic spot still up for grabs....Bournemouth,Aldershot,Rotherham possibly ??

Brian Laws.....he got axed at Championship side Sheffield Wednesday when they slipped into the bottom 3 after 12 games without a win then a few weeks later is appointed manager of Premiership side Burnley where his record of 1 win in 14 matches has meant almost certain relegation for them !

Seriously I think its between Hodgson and McLeish.As Singhy says if Fulham win the Europa League then it must be him.

McCarthy and Pulis have also done excellently as well.

I believe it is easy to get a 1 year Business visa in Cambodia(and extend) so you could possibly make your money there.

Not sure about longstays for Thais,though.....could have to exit/re-enter every 90 days ?

Others on the forum might know for sure.

Good Luck.

Bit of a dilemma for Liverpool fans.....For sure they will have to beat Chelsea to stand a chance of the 4th Champions League spot but that could let Manchester United back in the title race.....also they will be relying on United to beat City....is it possible Liverpool fans will be supporting United in this match,then ??

Bradford City 1 Macclesfield Town 2

The Silkmen took a massive stride towards survival with 3 points at Valley Parade in front of a crowd of almost 12,000.

12 points clear of the relegation places with just 6 matches to go.....one more win should do it !

And congratulations to Newcastle and their fans !

I think Leeds will struggle to make the play offs if they continue this terrible run of form.

Definitely between Swindon and Millwall for the second automatic promotion place.

In League 2 Macc Town were held to a draw after conceding a late penalty to Aldershot but 12 points off the relegation places with 7 matches to play.

I think Gary Neville is becoming a liability for United these days.He was shocking against Everton a few weeks back but is still in the team.He cost United a goal against Bayern and it was his job to pick up Malouda for Chelseas first goal.Also he should have had a penalty given against him in the first half when he barged into Anelka in the area.....and United do have a good young right back in Rafael.

Berbatov just doesnt fit into Uniteds style of play,I'm afraid and I think United are rueing just replacing Ronaldo and Tevez with Owen who is crocked anyway......Valencia is a winger not a striker,really.

Although they played poorly United shouldnt have lost.

Nani and Rooney missed great chances in the first half and there was Vidic's header that hit the crossbar near the end.

Only Gary Neville knows why he did that handball and what were Evra and Vidic doing in the last minute of injury time.....two bad goals to concede.

Bayern are a typical hardworking German side,nothing special,but United couldnt get the ball off them in the second half.

I thought Giggs should have come on earlier to steady things down and Nani should have been the first to be substituted....whats this collapsing holding his face everytime he is tackled ??

If Rooney is fit for the second leg United should go through....if not,it will be difficult....Berbatov as a lone striker,surely not !

Dale,not too far from being crowned champions mr bj but its looking grim for Grimsby !

Macc Town won a six pointer against Cheltenham with an 89th minute goal which leaves us 11 points clear of the drop zone.