Sunday, November 1, 2009

Live text - Sunday football

GOALFLASHES AND MAJOR INCIDENTS (all times GMT)

606: DEBATE
Your thoughts on the action

To get involved use 606 or text us your views & comments on 81111. (Not all contributions can be used)

By Chris Bevan

1543: Birmingham boss Alex McLeish on recalling goalkeeper Maik Taylor today because Joe Hart, who is on loan from Manchester City, is ineligible to play: "He's in good form and I have no qualms at all about bringing Maik in. I have to make hard decisions on team selection. They are never easy and they are never personal and it is just about how I see things. I am just glad we have two cracking keepers at the club."

From paulmreynolds on Twitter: "I think Vincent Kompany is just the type of player Joleon Lescott needs to play alongside; a leader of men. Lescott to play well today."

1537: One last thing from yesterday... you might have missed Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger hurling his jacket to the ground during his side's win in the north London derby with Tottenham at the Emirates? Here's Mr Wenger's explanation why: "I threw my jacket down because I was frustrated, I couldn't communicate with the players because of the noise of the stadium - I am not used to that!"


Your thoughts?

From tom_gilhooleys_spurs on 606: "It's an absolute disgrace that Manchester City boss Mark Hughes continues to leave Stephen Ireland out of the team. Far and away City's best player last season and now warming the bench.

1533: I'm told Manchester City duo Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure have both missed today's game because of ankle injuries. Vincent Kompany will partner Joleon Lescott at the heart of the City defence.

1531: Not many games today, so I need more chat from you - that's only fair, right? So, what are you waiting for... Twit me baby one more time on Twitter, text me via 81111, or drop me a line on 606. Go on, it's not as though you've got anything better to do.

1528: TEAM NEWS Birmingham v Man City
Birmingham goalkeeper Joe Hart is forced to sit the match out as part of the terms of his loan deal from Manchester City. Maik Taylor starts in his place. Other than that, it is the same side that earned a 2-1 victory over Sunderland in Carson Yeung's first home match as Blues chairman last Saturday. Emmanuel Adebayor missed Manchester City's Carling Cup win over Scunthorpe with a back spasm and again misses out at St Andrews. Roque Santa Cruz keeps his place after scoring on Wednesday, Pablo Zabaleta starts ahead of Micah Richards at right-back and Shaun Wright-Phillips is preferred ahead of Martin Petrov in midfield.

From kopite76on 606: "Cardiff v Forest is a great tie, Forest defending well and City one of the best going forward. Cardiff to win today and go top!"

1523: That leaves us with Oldham v Huddersfield in League One (a 1400 GMT kick-off) - where Robbie Williams (he gets everywhere doesn't he?) has just put the Terriers ahead. Then Birmingham v Man City is at 1600 GMT, followed by Cardiff City v Nottingham Forest in the Championship at 1700 GMT. The good news is that if you're in the UK, you will be able to watch that game on this very page - and it's live on BBC 2 as well, for good measure.

1521: As for today? well there were four games in total but that's already been reduced to three-and-a-half after Dundee United v Rangers was abandoned at half-time at Tannadice because of a waterlogged pitch.

1519: Then there's Liverpool, of course. The good news for Reds fans is that Fulham boss Roy Hodgson thinks they can still win the league despite their 3-1 defeat to his side on Saturday. And Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has defended his decision to take off star striker Fernando Torres while the score was 1-1. He needed to nurse the injured Spaniard ahead of Wednesday's crucial Champions League game with Lyon.

1517: TEAMS Birmingham v Manchester City
Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Carr, Roger Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden, Jerome, Benitez. Subs: Doyle, Phillips, Fahey, McSheffrey, Parnaby, Carsley, Vignal.
Man City: Given, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Tevez. Subs: Taylor, Richards, Johnson, Ireland, Sylvinho, Petrov, Weiss.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)

1516: As you'd expect, there's been lot's of fall-out from yesterday's events. Firstly, under-fire Hull boss Phil Brown will remain in charge of the Tigers for next weekend's home game for Stoke, according to BBC Radio 5 live. There had been a lot of talk in today's papers that Brown would be sacked on Monday.

1514: For the record, the men seeing red yesterday were: JLloyd Samuel (Bolton), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Everton), Carlos Cuellar (Aston Villa), Geovanni (Hull), Kenwyne Jones (Sunderland), Radoslav Kovac (West Ham), Philipp Degan (Liverpool) and Jamie Carragher (Liverpool). They are all sitting in a big sin-bin, somewhere. Or at least they should be.

1512: Saturday actually set a record for the most sendings off in the Premier League in a single day, beating the six that got their marching orders on 7 May 2005. The record for a weekend is nine, from the 1999/00 season. Will we beat that? Well, the referee at St Andrew's today - Mike Dean - has yet to dismiss a player in any of his four PL games this season... so he's certainly due a red card or two. We'll see.

1510 GMT: How was yesterday for you then? Yes, I know. Crazy wasn't it? Nine Premier League games containing 29 goals and eight red cards. We'll be hard-pressed to match that tally today, mainly because there is only one top-flight game - Birmingham v Manchester City. Still, you never know...


о 4:08 AM

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