• Kop That: Liverpool got Mario Balotelli sent off, says Roberto Mancini http://t.co/ymeXYy0S 23:48:50, 2011-11-27
• Kop That: Anfield Match Zone: Happy birthday for Roberto Mancini http://t.co/TmpXp6Sl 23:33:54, 2011-11-27
• Kop That: Football in mourning after Gary Speed found hanged at home http://t.

Liverpool show a packed midfield is how to beat Manchester City | David Pleat

Kenny Dalglish's five men in the middle of the park worked hard to snuff out the threat of City's main threat, David Silva Manchester City started brightly, with the Champions League defeat to Napoli last week a distant memory but Liverpool were powerful opponents, who slowly wrestled control with a thoroughly organised, hard‑running and skilful performance.

Jose goes riding Real Madrid has a topsy-turvy encounter with Valencia on Saturday evening. Despite taking the lead three times in the 3-2 victory, it took a late goal from Cristiano Ronaldo to secure the three points. When CR7 did find the net his manager, Jose Mourinho, could not contain his relief.

You might not have been reading CCN in 2007, but if you were, you may recall this:

Cruel, cruel, cruel.

A beautiful, freezing December evening. A sleepy first half, an engaging second, and then disaster. Injury time: some bother as Newcastle attack, by the penalty spot, Omozusi – otherwise excellent – late on a tackle, over tumbles the forward.

-
Adel Taarabt playing for Morocco versus Uganda, yesterday.
-
- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal

We've waited a long, long time for that. To my mind, we've not had a result as fine, and as cathartic, since sinking Barcelona in February. (We did beat Utd 1-0 at home, but that was sandwiched between a thoroughly miserable run of form so I'm not going to include that).

Liverpool and Manchester United's caution makes for stalemate | David Pleat

Tight marking and cagey tactics prompted an erratic, if still intriguing, stalemate between Liverpool and Manchester United Watching this game and analysing it retrospectively, it would have been easy to assume that Sir Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish had locked heads pre‑match and settled for a cautious first period.

Wait if you like mate. But it could be quite a while.. Greg's back with tears of joy filling his eyes and running down his cheeks onto his keyboard. As he says this makes it very difficult to type but not one to shirk his responsibilities here are his reflections on recent events including the possible return of David Pleat for the fifth time, now as a scout.

As something of a footnote to Daily Mail sports news this morning, the newspaper reports that David Pleat is lined up to return to the club for a fifth stint in a new role as scout for ‘young and overseas players'.

Tottenham have been linked with a whole host of young talent in recent weeks and during the summer, the club picked up some exciting prospects in the shape of Cristian Ceballos and Soulemayne Coulibaly.

The word doughty means brave and courageous, an ironic fact given our soon-to-be-erstwhile chairman's alleged timidity in the transfer market. Of course it's easy to be so flippant when it's not your own millions being frittered away on fees and wages, but Nigel Doughty's chairmanship will be remembered for those times when a little more bravery might have seen him achieve his ambitions of Premier League status for the club [.

First blood was drawn and the board took the hit... Pleat went down without a fight. Then the retaliation: Beswick was sacked, ending 15 years with McClaren. Would it help? The first test was at home against Birmingham [...]

There is an old song that goes along the lines of "Nottingham, is full of fun. Oh Nottingham is full of fun! It's full of tits, fanny and Forest, Nottingham is full of fun." But it's not that fun being a Nottingham Forest fan at the moment [...]

-
-
Thirty-five Years ago today: Brann Bergen 0 QPR 7
-
- Throughout the day, the QPR Report Messageboard has news updates, comments and perspectives - even links to other board comments of interest re QPR matters (on and off the field) along with football (and ONLY football) topics in general.

Mark Arthur says that David Pleat has been relieved of his part-time consultancy role at Forest. A couple of weeks ago John Pelling said that he was no longer in such a role at Forest on BBC Radio Nottingham's Matchtalk programme [...] Read the original post on Through the seasons before us

• Kop That: Tottenham 4-0 Liverpool: Daily Mirror match report http://t.co/khZxZYN8 22:53:48, 2011-09-18
• Kop That: Dalglish furious as nine man Reds routed at White Hart Lane http://t.co/tYKYZuf6 22:53:44, 2011-09-18
• Kop That: Five unforgettable games from a thrilling Premier League season http://t.

Spurs' speed and movement expose makeshift full-back Martin Skrtel | David Pleat

Tottenham imposed a vice-like grip on the game by setting a fast tempo from the start which left Liverpool bewildered Starting sluggishly, Liverpool were penned back by an excellent performance from Tottenham Hotspur.

Talent for renovation gives Manchester United decisive edge | David Pleat

Chelsea have also been strengthened by an injection of youth while Sergio Agüero's creativity will be vital if Manchester City are to offer a title challenge Manchester United Sir Alex Ferguson has the gift of moving on ageing players at the right time, and replacing seamlessly.

• Kop That: Liverpool: Premier League guide http://bit.ly/qPx3Mz 23:51:28, 2011-08-07
• Kop That: Barton: I can prove to Capello I am good enough http://bit.ly/mRSKKy 23:35:20, 2011-08-07
• Kop That: Bent forced to miss England friendly with shoulder injury http://bit.ly/qkY5MQ 21:06:56, 2011-08-07
• Kop That: Alexis Sanchez is Mr Modesty 2011 plus Alan Brazil, Gareth Barry and David Pleat in daft quotes of the su.

Alexis Sanchez is Mr Modesty 2011 plus Alan Brazil, Gareth Barry and David Pleat in daft quotes of the summer

MR MODESTY OF THE SUMMER New Barcelona signing Alexis Sanchez: "I have the ambition to become the best player in the world... My biggest secret is perhaps my humility.

In looking at the Manchester United 2-0 defeat of Arsenal in the FA Cup quarterfinals, there were a number of heroes for United on the day - Edwin van der Sar stood on his head in goal; Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling were a presence in United's backline; Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez were constant pests to Arsenal's backline.

Foot in mouth is not a new concept With Andy Gray, Richard Keys and Andy Burton all currently lolling around in a pub near the Sky Sports studios (no doubt letching at the barmaids, poring over page three of the Sun), we thought it was about time to give them something to lift their spirits: [...]