El Diego and some predictions

Maradona eh… okay those with any kind of sense about them, and certainly anyone who has looked at the guy’s management record will think his appointment as the new Argentina manager is as insane as he is. Once a god, then a coked-up crazy man, only to be resurrected then fecked out on his ear at USA ’94. Since then he’s been bloated, befriended Castro and hosted his own TV show.

Take all this into account and at least we know he won’t be boring. Every Argentine player who had problems with the previous two regimes (I’m looking at you Riquelme) will be understandably excited by his presence. Messi, Mascherano, Tevez and Aguero have all said he’s a father figure to them, and in the latter’s case he’s about to father Maradona’s grandchild, the dirty divil.

All of this leads to one inevitable conclusion. Those of us in Ireland who’ve watched Fabio Capello – one of the most distinguished coaches in the game – take England from a shambolic outfit to a slightly luckier and, okay I’ll admit it, sometimes excellent side can rejoice. It is written in the stars people…

World Cup, Australia (because South Africa haven’t fucked it up yet, but they soon will) 2010…

Quarter finals…

England v Argies…

Did someone say penalties?

The rest takes care of itself really. Roll on 2010!

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Some quick predictions for the weekend…

Chelsea v Sunderland: Maybe nil all ‘til half time but Chelski to continue where they left off at Hull and hack their way through a weaker side. “There’s a work ethic there Bill,” says Johnny. 3-0 again.
Everton v Fulham: Buoyed by a midweek win and that dude Felliani’s magnificent afro, this may be an unhappy return for Andy Johnson. 2-o.
Man Utd v Hull: Another routine 2-0. Jesus I hate United and their routine 2-0 wins.
Middlesbrough v West Ham: Wee Gianfranco is under the cosh. Considering at his size most Hammers fans could eat him whole I don’t think he’ll be long for this league. I hope I’m wrong but I’d say it’ll be another defeat, five on the spin and Zola out banners galore next week. 1-0
Portsmouth v Wigan: Meh… I hate Steve Bruce too, always have. 3-0.
Stoke v Arsenal: Ah the Arse, gotta love their unpredictable leaps from genius to a bunch of crackpots in a split second. They’ll nick this one though 1-2.
Tottenham v Liverpool: This would have been a nailed on draw had Arsenal clung on against Spurs earlier in the week. But now they may got cocky (there was a DVD of the Arse game on their website ten hours after the match) and still can’t defend for shite. With Gomes in goal and Torres expected back I’ll go for 1-3.
West Brom v Blackburn: The big one… or not. Blackburn were unlucky against Villa, they’ll get a draw here. 1-1.

Sunday
Bolton v Man City: Hmmm… all of a sudden a movie on Sunday afternoon looks like the right option. 1-2.

Monday
Newcastle v Aston Villa: The revolution continues, shit on the Villa indeed. 2-1. Go JFK!

Later, JJ

Back on the horse...

Been a long time since we rock n’ rolled… dear god after that hackneyed intro I can only hope it gets better. The last few weeks have seen some earth shattering events take place in the football world; men such as Giovanni Trappatoni, Andy Reid, Xabi Alonso and ‘Arry Redknapp have all tried, and I suppose in some ways succeeded, in knocking the demise of the ODF podcast off the back pages.

Onwards we march anyway, and we’ll start that with predictions for this evening’s games.

Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs are bound to take the lead here; such is the wave of optimism flowing through the club after Redknapp’s arrival. However, they are also bound to lose 3-1 such is the dearth of defending talent at White Hart Lane, particularly from goalkeeper Gomes. Expect Arsenal to shoot from all angles at the bumbling Brazilian with plenty of joy.

Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers: James Richardson has already ploughed the ‘Norwegian Wood’ analogy on the John Carew lap dancing expose so I’ll just talk about the game. Villa, despite all the voodoo curses I could muster, are doing rather well this year what with an all conquering attack and disgustingly mean defence. Rovers on the other hand look like a bit of a shambles most of the time. An organised but still hateful Villa to win 2-1.

Bolton Wanderers v Everton: Phew… bet all Everton fans are delighted David Moyes signed that contract at last eh? Oh. Out of Europe, looking like they’re out of ideas most the time, they haven’t been much cop at home or away this season and after Bolton got a bit of a raw deal on Sunday I can’t see the home side them losing this anyway. Most likely a poor 0-0.

Fulham v Wigan Athletic: This could be a barnstormer; Jimmy Bullard has got a bit of a kick up the arse from Roy Hodgson this week and this should lead to a decent performance from the outrageously popular Cockney. In turn, Fulham generally play well when Bullard does, and combining that with Wigan’s decent brand of football this season, it should be a good game. Narrow home win – 3-2.

Hull City v Chelsea: Chelsea won 4-0 at Hull last year in the League Cup. I’ll go for three nil this time around.

Liverpool v Portsmouth: The mood from most Liverpool players has seemed almost depressed in recent days such is their desire to calm expectations after the excellent win at Stamford Bridge. Feckin right too considering Liverpool’s tendency over the last 15 years to follow every decent result with a dire loss or awful home draw. With Portsmouth in a bit of a crisis (and they conceded plenty of goals under ‘Arry this year as well), Pool should, I repeat should, win this. 2-0.

Manchester United v West Ham United: The Zola Effect (a sunnier, slightly more likeable version of the patented ‘Redknapp Effect’ talked about by all ‘Arry’s friends in the media in the last few days) seems to be waning quite badly at West Ham and the little Italian is now one of the favourites to be the next Premier League manager to get the boot. The last thing Zola needed was Everton to rally for a draw last Saturday lunchtime and much like Chelsea at Hull I think United will unleash all manner of hell on the back of a disappointing result. A thumping home victory – 3-0.

Middlesbrough v Manchester City: Hmmm… Boro were very unlucky to draw with Blackburn but they have some pretty noticeable flaws that a decent attacking side like City should expose. Much like when Mark Hughes men went to Sunderland and blew them away, I can see Robinho et al taking advantage of a dodgy keeper and average defence. 0-2.

Stoke City v Sunderland: Let us never speak of this game again. 1-1

Come back tomorrow for all manner of heckling when a Crouchigol overhead consigns the ‘Pool to defeat.

Later folks, JJ

ODF 04 Oct Podcast Online

Hi All,
out latest podcast is online now.

We discuss:
Champions League Results and the upcoming Premier League fixtures
Pub Talk - the news of the week
And we finish with a surprise

Download it or Subscribe to the feed

Mark & JJ