redscouse

Cheers Bill, merry christmas to you and your family.

I have been Chiang Mai earlier in the year, I stayed at the mandarin oriental up there, I liked the city very much and that's why we will head up there for new year. We didn't take the dogs last time as we flew and the hotel is not dog friendly.

just turn the volume down and look at jamie yeo, it would take a crow bar to get me off her

i just had to google image search her and it was worth it.

though i reckon bkkjames would prefer jamie redknapp.

stevie, like my choice of football teams, the women i associate with are all class...don't mention this my wife though.

But that 200 mile drive from essex and having to leave for home before you have finished must be a drag

well, unlike certain LP fans, I have never been accused of premature withdrawl, so at times what you mentioned can be a problem.

not like your teams premature withdrawal from the FA cup a few years back then

happy xmas mate, have a good one

just turn the volume down and look at jamie yeo, it would take a crow bar to get me off her

i just had to google image search her and it was worth it.

though i reckon bkkjames would prefer jamie redknapp.

stevie, like my choice of football teams, the women i associate with are all class...don't mention this my wife though.

But that 200 mile drive from essex and having to leave for home before you have finished must be a drag

get off your high horse, at no point did i misinterpret your post. you questioned whether I look after my dogs, your accusation is that i am selfish and have dogs as fluffy accessories and I am not a dog lover. you believe that leaving the dogs for a short time makes you a bad dog owner, of course its easy to say this whilst making excuses about not having dogs. Of course my post is defensive or would you rather me admit to something wrong that you had dreamt up in over active imagination?

As for self esteem, well I have plenty of that son, I and my family are as happy as our dogs our (our large dogs haha, do you know what a cocker spaniel is?).

So tell me oh wise one, where in my posts (up until you decided to spout forth your accusations) do I have a problem with my attitude? My attitude is fine until some stranger who has never met me in my life, has no idea who I am, has no idea about where i live, what i do questions my ability to look after my animals.

my response was polite, this one isn't. you sir have no right to question me about anything, take your christmas wishes and stick them right up your arse

I am now questioning your abilities as a parent, what do i base this on? well it seems to be based on the same logic with which you decided to question my dog ownership, no logic at all.

The word pompous springs to mind when I read both of your posts.

now you have your aggressive response you so craved

just turn the volume down and look at jamie yeo, it would take a crow bar to get me off her

i just had to google image search her and it was worth it.

though i reckon bkkjames would prefer jamie redknapp.

sadly jamie is the closest any of us would ever get to louise

Thanks soutpeel, that's what I thought

just turn the volume down and look at jamie yeo, it would take a crow bar to get me off her

She's here now.

tell her she left her crowbar round here

just turn the volume down and look at jamie yeo, it would take a crow bar to get me off her

I need an extension and believe it is open over xmas, can anyone shed any light on this thanks?

ok fair enough,do you think he was tight to leave keane on the bench against hull and do you think the substitutions on sunday were the right ones? are you never left scratching your head at his substitutions such as lucas for mash recently or bringing keane off on sunday and the standard babel for rierra on the left, its no surprise that babales best game for us was at PSV where he played on the right, yet he is constantly put on the left where he is less effective (but then i suppose rafas son would have to come off if he was played on the right )

some of his decisions are mystifying, even to greater footballing brains than mine and I think the defence of him sometimes is blinkered and just shows own club bias.

anyway time will tell whether 'in rafa we trust' is the right way forward, I think we are right to question him and he has got rid of some his stranger selections this season, yet he is still prone to the strange subs and the the even stranger defence of some of his decisions

you should know that liverpool fc never, ever does anything easy.

not any more we don't.

just a question steve, i don't ask so I can snipe, but what age are you? how far back do you go?

The reason I ask is I know many reds my age (41) with my mentality and the younger guys seem to have the attitude that everything is ok, a lot of the younger guys don't remember the title wins and the champions league win was their first big trophy,

like I say its not to snipe and i don't go in for all that 'I am a better fan than you' nonsense, to me it's not how big a fan you are when discussing football but it's your football knowledge which is more important, lets face it if we had no football knowldge we would be following the mancs and the chavs.

well james it wasn't long ago the mancs were calling for old red noses head.

steve I am an arl arse mate and we all know nostalgia isn't what it always was, I am opinionated about the club and I know we all have different views, it would be boring if we all thought the same.

a little analogy though steve, lets just say Kuala lumpur is the league title, I want to fly there and you are happy to go on that horrific train journey, either way we still get there. if however the PAD terrorists take over the airport again I will accept the train journey but complain about it most of the way.

Oh and I am right about kuyt

thanks nienke, i could do with some nice Belgian waffles

is is possible to leave the dogs alone there while we go out to eat as a family or will we need to take the dogs out with us?

Hi

I like your original inquiry, and the advice from Nienke, whom I know and much respect. But I have a 'but', and it's quite a big 'but'.

I love dogs so much that I've never, ever had one. Simply, my lifestyle has always been so erratic and peripatetic that all the movements and travel would have been grossly unfair on my dog. If I'd had one.

Dogs are territorial and like routine. Only now in late middle age do I have both, but now I have a young child, too young to play responsibly and safely with a dog. So, very saly, I suppose I'll never have one.

You are travelling around, looking for a hotel which will take dogs, and now asking if they will 'dogsit' for you while you go out to somewhere in the evening - a smart restaurant maybe - which will not take dogs.

Isn't this just a tad, er, how can I say this, selfish?

Are you a real dog lover, or are they just fluffy accessories to your mainstream life?

let me respond in a polite way.

I love my dogs, they are healthy and well treated, they are showered with attention and like i said earlier they are father and son, they get to regularly see the other puppies from the litter and the mother. Every day they are walked for a few miles by myself and we have a large garden for them at home, (quite why I am having to explain myself to someone without dogs is beyond me but you questioned my treatment of my dogs so here we go).

Now maybe English is not your first language so forgive me if it isn't and that's why you didn't read my posts properly. I never asked anyone to dog sit or even mentioned dog sitting. the hotel mentioned has rooms with private gardens for dogs and my question was whether the dogs could be left, is the garden secure, totally different from asking about dog sitting, while we go out to eat (on the chance that the dogs will not be allowed at restaurants, are you thinking the dogs would be left without food for the whole hour that I might be away from them?).

As for the dogs being fluffy accessories to my mainstream life, well I have the option of leaving them in Bangkok but choose to take them with me, not really the actions of someone who doesnt love his dogs.

Do me a favour in future, read the posts, engage your brain and then think before you choose to question someone about their behaviour and their treatment of their animals... theres a good boy.

So Mr. Holier than thou non dog owner, any more pathetic questions about my dog ownership, maybe you would like to send a vet round to examine them and question my neighbours about the excellent treatment they both get just to settle your mind about the oh so selfish owner

As for masefield, I met him in Kuala Lumpur a few years ago at an event and his ego is as big as his fat @rse, however he can easily be shot down when meeting people who actually know how mediocre his playing career was.

Really!!!!!

I will have to tell him what you said.

I know Mase, although I wouldnt class him as a friend, he is someone who I share a drink or 10 on several occasions.

He really is one of the good guys, has NO ego at all and has a genuine interest in football, especially training young kids.

To give you an idea of how unpretentious he is, when I first met him I always thought he was a Birmingham fan, so my opening gambit was something like 'How are you Bluenose?"

to which he replied "Bluenose? I cant stand Birmingham, they sacked me" referring to his failed temporary playing career with them. No ego there just an all round good guy who enjoys the banter

thats good, i met him at genting and he came across that day with an ego, maybe i got it wrong and I apologise if I got it wrong, maybe he was having a bad day or maybe we wound him up

so now my support is being questioned

so to sum up, rfa has many flaws, we will not win the league with him in charge while he continues with his negative football and insistence on playing players out of position, his stupid substitutions that do not benefit the team (the comment about knowing when players tire is just laughable really, sorry).

You obviously presumed I was talking about you directly but there have been a few other posts similar to yours before today and was a knee jerk reaction... Posters asking for Raffa head, Keane to be sold in January etc etc. As a fan you should know how sensitive one can get when some one calls our beloved team maybe its just me. I can take it better from the other teams as its just jealousy from them.

Maybe the issue is this, You don't feel we are doing well right now or going anywhere with Raffa? but for me its the best I have seen us do in a long long time and think he has taken us in the right direction and yet keeps improving us in more areas each season as a club. I am worried sick with the off the pitch bullshit by the Americans and our financial situation but that's a whole other story.

I just happen to be a fan of Raffa's (as you may see in some previous posts) and love the passion and commitment brought in to the side by the likes of players like Kuyt. When I see players with 3x his ability but they don't even put in half of his effort and commitment. I guess in a all of us we see something in a player that all of us Fans can relate to (the underdog) if you will, with all due respect to Kuyt.

Have a good Christmas mate... We should be celebrating being top that's all

Forgive the spelling exhausted from Chrimbo shopping today!

cool mate, you have a great xmas as well.

I am happy we are top devil, of course I am, but tinged with some annoyance that we haven't built a bigger gap because the chance was there.

As for kuyt, it takes more than hard work to be a footballer some level of ability is needed at the top level but he just doesn't have the ability to go with his effort, too many moves break down when the ball gets to him, not good enough and never will be, sure i admire his effort (although i cont see it as being much more than other players and most of his effort is on trying to get the ball back he has just lost)

anyway have a good one guys (don't worry about the typo's mate, my posts are full of them, fas fingers but not always on the right keys)

so now my support is being questioned

since when has being a fan meaning that you have to blindly support and accept everything bad within a club, I suppose you have always supported everyone and everything to do with the club, I suppose you never slated diouff or Diao.

listen mate I don't want to get into a cock waving contest about who is the best supporter, i have earned my stripes over the years and I have my own opinions. like I said to steve anytime you want to check my credentials feel free however be prepared to be embarrassed.

why is it when anyone has a different opinion their support is questioned, its a lazy argument to be fair, you don't know me, you have never met me, you have no idea how many games I have been in my life, you have no idea at what level I played the game.

since you want to be childish I will question your support (like it really makes any difference who is the best supporter, it doesn't affect what is happening on the pitch), if you are the type of fan who likes boring unattractive football go and watch the bitters, personally I like to see good football and we have the team capable of playing it, however we have a manager who has no interest in playing it, he is killing our game in my opinion

steve mentioned the champions league, yes it was a fantastic night (I should know, I was there, were you?) however rafa got his selection wrong and the change was made purely because of an injury to finnan which meant hamman coming on, he should have been on at the start. Look at athens, he got that completely wrong and never had the blessing of an injury to force his hand, we were playing against the oldest defence in europe yet he played with one up front who just happen to be the slowest player in europe (steve thinks he is the second best player this season, I disagree as I am not wearing the rose tinted specs, I can see kuyt for what he is, a work horse with limited skills).

yes we have outplayed the other top three teams, however we struggled against stoke, wigan, west ham, hull etc, the same as last season, too many draws because we do not have the ability to kill off games. its all very well playing counter attack but the other team has to attack for that, stoke didn't and we couldn't break them down.

I am wondering if you guys started supporting after istanbul and everything is rosy in your eyes, I will question your support since you question mine, steve put up a reasonable defence of his opinion which is admirable, i could counter all his points and I probably will tomorrow but my bed is calling now.

as for bitching etc, its called having an opinion devil, (great name for a liverpool fan), my opinion in also backed by many fans who still go the game, yes I know an field is full of wools now more interested in taking pictures and just cheering blindly, but there are still many scousers who go the game who are annoyed.

also be aware I did not call for rafas sacking, he has many flaws and i simply point them out, just as many of our players are just not good enough, these are the hard facts. would kuyt get into the manc, chavs or arsenal teams? of course he wouldnt, yet he is failed forward for us who is dire on the wing. blind support is all well and good but at the end of the day however much you want some of our players to be class, sadly not all of them are and its pointless lying and pretending they are.

so to sum up, rfa has many flaws, we will not win the league with him in charge while he continues with his negative football and insistence on playing players out of position, his stupid substitutions that do not benefit the team (the comment about knowing when players tire is just laughable really, sorry).

Anyway guys it would be good to meet up for a beer and watch a game, I have no grudges, but questioning my support is way of the mark, I have never and will never stop supporting the club, <deleted> i grew up a stones throw from the ground and eat, sleep and drink this club, but one important thing guys is support does not mean you have to agree with everything, I love the club and want them to do well and that's why the mediocrity that we have seen this season and the past 4 annoys me, yes we are top, we are top because our competition has been performing as badly as we have, this is a fact, more balls from the boss and we would be more than one point clear

so question my support guys and I will ask you why you are happy to accept poor football, why you make excuses for poor results, why you make excuses for poor selection. That to me sounds like fans who don't know what it's like to win the league, sounds like fans who are willing to accept second best (or fourth or fifth best). I am not, we have players capable of winning the league, we had players capable of doing it last season, what we don't have is a manager who believes in the talent he has available.

goodnight guys, don't let this get out of hand questioning support, it's a difference of opinion nothing riles me more than people questioning the support of a lifelong fan who has been there, done it, wore the t shirt etc when they have never even met me. lets keep it civil, i will always explain my comments if asked, I wont just make rash comments like kuyt is shit without backing it up, if you think I am wrong explain why like steve did.

cheers

as for money spent steve, babel 11 mllion, keane 22 million, torres 21 million, mash 17 million, kuyt 8 million, dossena 8 million,

I could go on but i think you get the point mate, its just another excuse, just like last season when people were saying how much the problems with the owners affected the team, sorry mate but that is tosh, rafas selections and tactics affected us last season, also i have to ask if the owners were the cause of the problems on the pitch last season, that also means they must be responsible for us being top of the league this season, we still have the same owners

I dont want rafa out of the club, however I want him to stop being so stubborn, this was houlliers downfall. his reason for leaving keane on the bench against hull is a disgrace mate, his interest should be the club winning, not him flexing his muscles (houllier made this mistake when fowler had and argument with thompson)

If he cant change then he will need to go.

I have to say hand heart mate (and this hurts) that I hate watching us most of the time, I am still passionate abut the club and thats why it hurts to watch the way we play, I enjoyed watching Thailand and Indonesia the other night though, that was entertaining attacking football

we won the european cup with pretty much houlliers team, and rafa himself has admitted he won la liga whilst Real and Barca where struggling.

Not a WUM mate, feel free to question my credentials either in the open or in PM. I just don't buy into all this 'in rafa we trust' garbage whilst he is making so many mistakes..

also on the subject of money, we have outspent every club in the Pl apart from the mancs and the chavs, money spent is not a guarantee of winning mate or we would beat every team who spent less, I feel you are simplifying this too much and just trotting out soundbites. the fact is i think we have wasted money on some very average players and spent wisely on others.

I am far from being a WUM, when i was a kid and a teen I would argue with anyone who slated us, but when I grew up I say it as I see it. I have not read the whole thread but i can see we have different opinions, that does not make me a WUM, it makes me someone with different opinions. I am sure I could shout WUM at anybody who thinks his subs were justified on sunday who who thinks kuyt is a footballer, but I know people have different opinions and thats what makes conversations about my club so good (until someone questions my support because I took off my rose tinted specs and point out faults)

masefield is from the midlands and never made the big time, just like jamie reeves and the clown that is shebby. macmahon is the only one who has played football at the highest level and the only one who seems to talk any sense.

I agree with the OP about Dykes, he is like a little kid, I imagine he has idiot mittens when he is in the UK

As for masefield, I met him in Kuala Lumpur a few years ago at an event and his ego is as big as his fat @rse, however he can easily be shot down when meeting people who actually know how mediocre his playing career was.

as a 41 year old red who went to his first game in 1973 and still holds a season ticket despite a friend using it whilst i have lived in asia for the past 6 years, I have to say the Arsenal result would have been decent if it wasn't for the dropped points against lesser teams such as stoke and hull et al.

While rafa was in hospital recently for his kidney stones the doctors should have also looked for his testicles as he seems to have never had any. People call him a tactical genius, however anyone with any level of intelligence would have gone 442 after the sending off.

rafas subs are always the same and always made at the same times, its a cert that keane will go off and reirra will be replaced by babel. rafa does not know how to make changes to suit the game, sunday was crying out for babel to come on up front and take the dire lucas off (is this guy really from Brazil?).

As for kuyt and rafas desire for him to play every minute of every game, well all i can say is rafa must have got laid in holland about 26 years ago as there can be no other explanation for this donkeys inclusion week in week out, the guy can trap it further than i can kick it. he has no pace, no control, no vision, he cant beat people, in fact all he does is run round for 90 minutes (as does gerrard, mash, alonso et al so it doesn't even make kuyt special in this department, the others do it whilst also being footballers as opposed to the annoying kid in school with no talent but would run around a lot).

i wont go into the money he has wasted on dross since he came but he has had 17 forwards under his control and the best we can do is play 2 of them out of position, babel on the left and kuyt on the right (however I call kuyt a forward in the loosest sense).

Anyway back to rafas balls, putting aside his lack of ability at spotting a footballer, his desire to not lose games rather than try to win them will ensure we will not win the league with him in charge. the points dropped this season against the lesser lights could have had us away and clear, however his desire to stifle our team beggars belief sometimes, his negative substitutions just show his desire to not lose rather than get the win.

We have some talent in our team, let them play football, stop worrying about setting up to counter <deleted> like hull, stoke and wigan and let them worry about getting steam rollered by us in full flow. Get rid of players like kuyt ( he shouldnt even be a squad player let alone a regular starter), dossena is another bad signing from the tactical genius, stop buying young guys to the detriment of the home grown talent because the club set up under rafa means these guys will never see the first team anyway.

i hate to say it but would manure or chavski drew that match on sunday, would they have played with 10 men behind the ball?

we have been lucky that the chavs have not taken advantage, however i fear when the mancs come back they will be heading for number 18 while we are struggling to finish off teams in the bottom half of the table.

i thought rafa had learnt this season, it took 4 years for him to see his over rotation does not work when he has bought players who are not good enough to step in (and why weaken ourselves against lesser teams, i never saw tyson fight with one hand because the other fighter was not as good), lets hope it doesnt take him another 4 years to realise we have some talent and to take the shackles off, especially when we are playing 10 men who are leaving one up front.

but what do I know, he gets paid for it

can he win us the title? yes

will he win it while he continues with poor selections, poor tactics and pointless substitutions? never in a month of sundays unless the other top teams suddenly pack in

I stayed in a cheap but expensive chinese run guest house

thanks nienke, i could do with some nice Belgian waffles

is is possible to leave the dogs alone there while we go out to eat as a family or will we need to take the dogs out with us?

Thanks for the info Matt, my dogs are father and son, the father is 5 years old and the son is still a giddy 5 months old and gets very excited around other animals, I fear he would attack the monkey

great thanks, i will look at it

I will be heading up to Chaing Mai for new year and also a night in Pai maybe, I have two cocker spaniels and we are considering taking them with us. Are there any dog friendly hotels in Chaing Mai or Pai.

Thanks in advance for ny help