But.. Could he have done this without the help of his ridiculously overpaid United teammates? Probably not.  If we’re going to congratulate footballers for still being able to kick a football in their late 30′s, let’s give it to Edwin van der Sar.  Wasn’t it this year that he kept a record number of clean sheets in a row at just over 1,000 minutes of football? That’s impressive enough.

In my book, it should’ve definitely gone to Jenson Button.  I’m not a massive fan of Formula 1, but from what I’ve heard, he’s gone from being in some crappy car not doing very well to a slightly better car, but now wins the Championship! Again, it’s not an individual sport and without the help of his teammates, mechanics and improved car, he probably wouldn’t have won the Championship, but he has certainly come a long way over the past year.  And also, unlike Ryan Giggs, he seems to have a personality as well as a fit girlfriend.  I saw him Jonathon Woss and he was funny and relaxed.  I’ve seen Ryan Giggs on.. well.. no programmes, but seen him do interviews and he’s possibly one of the most boring people ever.  Did you see his speech? He didn’t even prepare one, what a joker.  Fair play, like millions of us, he didn’t think he had a bloody chance, but if you’re nominated you have to think there’s a chance, no?! Never mind.  I’d have personally waited til he finished his footballing career in 2 years time and knighted him for his services for football.

So, I’m still in Málaga and it’s been thundering for most of the day.  Apparently in England, it’s snowing up and down the country and is going to continute to do so! I’m not a massive fan of snow, especially after a disastrous journey back from Sheffield early this year, but there’s nothing better than looking out of your bedroom window to see a layer of thick, crispy snow.  Especially when you know you have to walk to work that morning without falling on your butt. Oh the memories.

Oh, the Champs League last 16 draw has been made!  Highlights are of course David Beckham returning to Old Trafford for the first time since he left in 2003 and José Mourinho‘s Inter Milan returning to Chelsea where he had so much success a few years ago. (As well as Ancelotti facing his former sides’ biggest rivals!) Both of them should undoubtedly get heroes’ welcomes and be marvellous matches to watch.

Right, I’m off to listen to Ellie Goulding. I think I’m in love with this girl. “Under the sheets” is a faab song and I think she’s going to win the prestigous BBC Sound of 2010, which gives the artistes a massive boost in persuing a music career, with previous winners such as Klaxons, Florence and The Machine and Little Boots.

I write this while I wait for iplayer to update so that I can watch Eastenders, but I also have a class at 8.30 tomorrow moning, so I might not stay up too long.  Then again, these blogs take ages to write so it’ll be midnight by the time I’m in bed anyway!

Anyway, where was I? Oh, Christmas, yes.  Now, I often frequent, as many of you may know, a little forum called Gloryhorns, which is a football forum for Watford fans. I know, I’m not a Watford fan, it’s a long story.  Comically, when my Dad sees the site he often says, “Stop looking at that porn!” Excellent.  On this website, there have been many a discussion about Christmas, its meaning and whether it’s comercial rubbish etc.  I have to admit that this year I have felt less Christmassy than ever before.  I think it’s because I’m in a different country so I’m not being bombarded with Argos adverts and The Pogues, but also the Christmas decorations around here are simply terrible.  If you take a quick look at my Facebook page, you’ll see a couple of pictures down my road of some lights.  That’s basically all there is unless you hit the centre of town. (I’ll take some more photos in town when I’m out on Wednesday) But needless to say, I’m looking forward to it.  There are many scrouges out there who suggest it’s a waste of money and time but I strongly disagree.  For me, and for many others around the world, it’s a rare opportunity to spend a day or 2 with your loved ones.  With me and my older brother living in Spain and my parents being divorced, the whole family is rarely together.  In fact, it’s probably the first time we’ve been all together since early summer when my bro was back from Spain for a week.  So to spend the whole day together, with the cat included, is something I’m really looking forward to.  Not only that, but I’ll be working at the “beloved” bowling alley to earn some well-deserved cash.  I’m looking forward to working with the likes of Kev, Bish and James as well as, of course, all of the snackbar girls!  Plus, I’ll be able to see the group of So’ton lads should I head there for New Years AND the Aylesbury boys! How am I not going to enjoy this festive fun!?

Also, I have a feeling I know what my presents will be.  Now, of course, christmas is not about the presents, but they’re a damn good bonus, no?!  Buying them seems to actually get easier as you get older.. it is for me anyway.  I had a little look around the Málaga shops earlier and could’ve picked up a few bargains, but I think I’ll wait until I’m back in England for some student discount bargainness.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas with their loved ones!

Oh, Eastenders is back on.. I’m offski.  There will be another update soon with the recent happenings in the world, including Ryan Giggs winning the Sports Personality of the Year and my Christmas ideas for you all if you’re struggling!

Take care, peeps

Nevertheless, the housemates have used this long weekend to, it seems, wind me up.  Elena has this amazing skill of leaving a ridiculous mess in the kitchen when she just makes breakfast for herself.  It’s usually coffee and toast, so she makes a mess of the coffee-maker and turns the surrounding areas into a coffee river, with coffee flowing under the microwave and then she leaves out her bread, butter and spread with the dirty knife just on the side with enough crumbs to feed Ethiopia for a year.  Now, I don’t wanna sound like a 60 year old woman (too late, some may see) but is it that difficult?  Then on Friday night, they told me they were heading out.. I’ve decided to use this weekend as a money-saver after having a large food shop, haircut, football tournament and rent all being paid for.  So I was obviously still in my room, playing on the PS3 while they pre-drank in our lounge. I didn’t mind that at all and in fact, joined them for a swift brew to practice the old lingo.  Then I came to bed at about 1am to watch TV and whatnot because they said they were heading out.. At around 2am I tried to get some sleep whilst they were all still drinking and talking quite loudly, but I thought I’d get through it.  An hour and a half of struggled sleep and irritation later, I went out of the room and told them politely to keep the noise down.  Then half an hour later they were banging some music and singing some ridiculous Spanish song..but just as I was about to throw a wobbly, they left, so I left it til the morning.  I had a “brief” word with them about it and they apologised about it all, which was nice.  They were both hungover so I decided to use this time to get some revenge on them but playing them my loud(ish) music! (I can’t wait for my speakers to be here after christmas, they will definitely beat their speaker system!!)

Another problem is still Elena and her boyfriend, er… going at it? Though can I actually say something about it, or just continue to pretend that I haven’t heard anything? They did it twice last night and twice this morning. Old Pablito’s a bit of a machine from what I’ve heard!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still enjoying it here, but being back in England and working is enticing me! I think tonight I’m going to head into the centre to get some pics of the christmas lights.  They’re quite impressive apparently!

So, the draw for the World Cup has been made and England have a very easy group; USA, Algeria and Slovenia with the first game being against the USA, which will undoubtedly be the hardest game.  I don’t like how people think we’re going to stroll it through the group and therefore win the whole thing.  But then I also don’t like people suggesting we don’t have a chance of winning it! I’m somewhere in the middle.  We will get through the group stage because, let’s face it, if we don’t get at least 7 points, we don’t deserve to go any further.  But then in the next round, it’s likely we may face our old enemies Germany!  If all of our players, obviously depending on who Capello puts on the plane, are match-fit and on top of their game, there’s no reason why we can’t beat Germany.  Nevertheless, we’ll have to have some kind of miracle to get Spain should we play them.  To be honest, they’re the only team I’m worried about it in the whole competition.  Looking around the groups, the European nations have been handed some very easy groups, with the Africans and South Americans in the tougher groups and there’s always a shock smaller team that challenges the big names.  Brazil in particular are not going to have an easy time with Portugal and Ivory Coast in the group but you would still expect them to get through.  Germany and Holland probably face the toughest challenges of the European teams but should be strong enough to go through.  I’m just glad Croatia and Russia aren’t there as England seem to, against Russia in particular, struggle.

Elsewhere, I’ve kept up my football-playing regime.  After last weeks’ 2-2 draw, the Spartak team looked to bounce back! And bounce back we did.  Played against a distinctively average bunch of students and strolled the game 8-5.  Not sure how we conceded 5 goals, though one of the game was a comedy own goal from the half-way line, but always good to score 8 goals, with yours truly grabbing a brace.  Must mention our goalkeeper Rodriggo, who reads my blogs, who had another splendid game. Being a Brazilian keeper, he does have a bit of flare and a willingness to come forward now and then, which is always a bit of a laugh!

That’s about it for now I think… my next Blog update could be PS3 vs Xbox/ Fifa vs Pro, I haven’t yet decided, but do continue reading. Ah thank yow!

I’ve been a rather busy boy recently.. funnily enough, since my grant finally arrived from Southampton two weeks ago and, as you’d predict, there’s been some extra spending, but not all on drinks! Standard, I’ve had a couple of nights out, but that’s the Erasmus lifestyle and I definitely haven’t been going out as much as I thought I would/as much as others do! Nope, my bulk spending has been on football-related thingies.  No, not the latest purple Málaga shirt, but playing!

Me and Toby have been sorting out loads of football recently.  We’re still playing once or twice a week near where I live, which is great.  In fact, grabbed myself a hat-trick last week, my first goals in the Erasmus group on that pitch!  I won’t go on about them too much…(I think I’ve told quite a few people in long stories already!) My first goal was a one-two with a Brazilian lad (yes, Brazilians do pass!) and I buried it á-la Gerrard from ten yards out, side-footed, into the bottom corner. Lovely.

Second goal was a bit ridiculous though. Fell to me, bouncing, on the byline and I just thought ‘drill it, it might hit someone and go in’ and so I did.  But it clipped the front post and went into the far sidenetting of the goal.  Couldn’t quite believe it could actually go in from that angle! Third goal was the best though… Picked it up in the left-back position, cut inside one chap and noone shut me down so I thought ‘why not!’  Had a pop, it deflected off the top of Toby’s head and went straight into the actual top-corner! Last kick of the game in front of about 20 “fans” was just what I wanted!

We’ve joined an indoor 5-a-side tournament, too and I bloody love indoor football from the Southampton days.  Played our first game yesterday against some local yobs.  Basically, we drew 2-2 and the referee was terrible.  It doesn’t help that we’re a group of Erasmus lot against all all-Spanish teams, obviously with Spanish referees.  As soon as they see we’re foreign, I have a bad feeling there’s some bias going on.  The Spanish teams can easily get across their views/anger, but obviously we can’t so clearly and then he didn’t explain the rules to us before the match! Stupid rules like.. the ball literally can’t move one slight rotation if you’re kicking the ball into play (like from a throw) and you can’t be more than 5 seconds on the ball. Mental.

Apart from all the football, the same old has been going on.  Both my housemates are still ill. Coughing and spluttering everywhere and trying to get me ill, but I’ve stayed OK so far! Lessons are going well but I have an exam tomorrow.  Now, apparently it doesn’t count, but we have a feeling that we might have to re-take if we don’t pass. I say “we”. This is the general English contingency who are not being informed of what’s going on.  So, I’ve revised a little bit, I’ll do a little bit more tonight but I don’t understand it at all, so I’ll do the exam, but don’t particularly care how badly I do.  The more important work at the moment is the Year Abroad Project for Southampton.  Had to write a page about what I’m going to be doing the project on all year, but it took me about 3 weeks to work out what I actually want to/can do! It’s been a nightmare, but I’ve finally written it all now so should be able to hand that in on Monday after the housemates have checked my Spanish. Bless ‘em, I always cause a riff between them when they can’t agree on what Spanish they use!

The last thing I want to talk about, which has been the big news of the last 2 weeks ago is the infamous France vs Republic of Ireland match with the infamous handball.  Now, everyone is saying that Thierry Henry is a cheat and the match should be replayed.  I could start a mass debate here but I don’t agree whatsoever…

It’s the 104th minute of 120 minutes and your team HAVE to score so that they progress to the World Cup in South Africa next year without the need for penalties. It’s a pretty big stage, let’s be honest.  So the point is, you’re going to do basically anything you can to get this dream to come true.  Now in this instance, the ball has come to the backpost and it’s hit Henry’s hand…Nevertheless, if that wasn’t bad enough, he’s then directed the ball with his hand again into his path so he can knock the ball across for Gallas to tap in.  People are saying “he’s a cheat and should be ashamed and there should be a replay.” Er, so yes, he’s handballed it.  But whose decision is it to stop the game and say “no, that’s not a goal?” Henry’s? No, it’s the referees’/assistants.  Now, they haven’t spotted it and people have then suggested that Henry should’ve been honest and said he’s handballed it. As IF you would do that, you’ve just put your team (single handedly, hahahaaaaaa…) into the World Cups so do you really want to let down your whole country and say “stop, I handballed it.” No.

But this begs the question about technology being brought into the game.  Whilst we cannot carry on having these life-changing decisions week after week due to the referees making mistakes or whatever, it is part of football and we love going to work/school/on blogs discussing it! Football’s a natural game and it’s always nice to have a bit of controversy isn’t it?!  I don’t like watching rugby and I think part of that displeasure comes from the thought of “everything has to be perfect, let’s have another look.” I think I prefer the split second decisions.

That’ll do for now, I should probably do some revision… Thanks for reading

England went into the game against Brazil in Qatar with a whole squads’ worth of injuries;

James; Johnson, Terry, Ferdinand, Cole; Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Cole, Lennon, Walcott and I think a couple more, but they were the main ones.

So we basically played a second string team, but this was a fantastic chance to see if any of the players could cement their places on the plane to the World Cup next summer in South Africa.

Playing against Brazil, with the likes of Kaká, Nilmar, Lucio etc is never going to be easy, especially in the early-evening heat of Qatar, but this was probably the last chance for these players to show Capello that they’re worthy of a seat on the plane.  Some of them looked like they were just enjoying being away from the English winter.  Ben Foster is probably one of the players who could’ve really showed his worth as we haven’t had a concrete English goalkeeper for a few years with the likes of Rob Green, David James and Paul Robinson all battling to be number 1, but who all make mistakes.  Foster himself didn’t play too badly.  Yes, he gave away the penalty, but that was definitely Wes Brown’s fault for a shocking backpass/mis-control/whatever he was trying to do!  And yes, he dived completely the wrong way for the penalty, but it didn’t matter so much as the ball flew over the bar and is still flying on it’s way to South Africa now.

I’m not going to say anything about Wes Brown. What a waste of a baked-bean. I wouldn’t even eat him, he’d be so bad.  The rest of the defence was shaky to say the least.  Lescott and Upson hardly looked like the £30million they’re apparently worth but Lescott has not done anything since his move to Manchester City during the summer.  Fortunately, England should have enough centre-backs to see them through any injury worries, with the likes of Woodgate/King/Terry/Ferdinand/Lescott/Upson.  There’s got to be a partnership in there somewhere, hasn’t there?!  Nevertheless, Wayne Bridge is frankly terrible.  He’s had a dreadful season for Manchester City, including last week’s terrible performance against Burnley as pointed out by Hansen on MOTD. (Which must be the height of embarrassment!)  I’d have given Kieran Gibbs a run out last night. I think when he’s played for Arsenal this season, he’s been fantastic and is basically a less-famous-yet-annoying Ashley Cole.

However, I think the one shining light of the match has to be James Milner.  It still surprises me that he’s only 22 years old, it’s like he’s been playing for about 7 years, especially when you consider how well he did with Leeds.  He always made a lot of effort and delivered half-decent crosses when you needed him to.  On the other hand, Wright-Phillips should have really exploited the Brazil debutant at left-back with his pace and trickery, but rarely seemed to do it.  He’s got a lot to show Mr.Capello if he wants his passport stamped, especially with the likes of Lennon and Walcott behind him.

Also, considering Wayne Rooney was captain, I don’t think he put himself about as much as he could have done.  Maybe a few sleepness nights after the birth of his son the past week has effected his fatigue, but he could’ve played better.  Nevertheless, Darren Bent, in my books, should not be heading to South Africa.  He just can’t do it in an England shirt, so I think the 4 strikers of Rooney, Defoe, Heskey and Crouch should all be there.  Heskey needs to be playing for Villa/wherever he goes in January but he gives more space to Rooney who is more deadly when he plays with Emile.  I think Bent likes to rely on his pace too much, but he didn’t make enough runs last night to use this pace!

So then I watched Spain vs Argentina.  A clash of the titans and my housemates’ and mates’ got really involved. It’s a big deal.  Spain played their usual prolific football with Iniesta and Xavi being the main threat (they even had the cheek to bring Fabregas off the bench later on!) to Argentina, who’s defence couldn’t handle them.  Argentina are definitely not going to be a threat in South Africa…Especially if they continue playing Coloccini in defence. What a shocker he had.  But I think Spain should be winning it next year.  If not, it’ll be Germany, who may want to “do it for Enke” after the his shocking death this week.  The final result was 2-1 and Argentina’s goal was only because of some slack Spanish defending from a debutant who won’t be heading to South Africa.

Also, hello John Bostock.  Brentford signed the 17 year old Tottenham starlet on a one month loan deal with the view to extending it. He’s never played a professional 90 minute match before yesterday, but scored 2 goals in 25 minutes on his debut! Looking forward to seeing him in action over Christmas!

Anyway, less of that, you’re probably eating breakfast. Or lunch. Or nothing and if that’s the case, you won’t be eating much for a while after reading that! What else is “gwannin”? Hmm.. Uni. Well it seems to be sorted now, at last! I’ve been going to all the classes I can (I have 2 clashes but I don’t care) so I’ve been given lots of homework, which I’ve kept up with, for a change.  I need to keep improving my Italian because when I’m in England, I can easily switch from Foreign Language to Foreign Language, but when I’m permanently speaking Spanish, I find it difficult to switch to Italian as I’m always thinking in Spanish and the words are so similar. But I’ll get there.  I’ve found out I need to go to every class because otherwise the teacher doesn’t let you take the exam. Harsh, no!?

I’ve been playing a lot of football recently, too. Renting out that pitch I may have talked about in the last blog with the erasmus boys. We’ve got more and more people playing so getting 12-16 people every Wednesday is a piece of cake and it’s always a good laugh!  The other week, me and my English pal Toby, went along randomly in our football kits as we knew there was a football tournament happening, so we were hoping that a team wouldn’t have enough players so that we get a game.  This is exactly what happened! It was a 7-a-side tournament and one team only had 6 players, so we did a half each for that team.  Toby played the first half while I warmed up and he played well. We both played at the back and he went on a nice couple of runs.  I think we were leading 2-0 at half-time.  Then I came on, the boys knocked it about, I made a run into the gap on the right-handside, one touch to control and one touch to knock it home! Not a bad start!

As if this random debut couldn’t get any better with 2 touches and a goal, 3 minutes later I grabbed a second. Same situation, exploited the gap on the right and belted (and kinda nicely sliced!) one into the top corner. Keeper thought I was going to the far post again! Team loved me and Toby so took our numbers for any future games! Hoorah!

One other thing I neeeed to talk about it is David N’Gog’s horrendous dive against Birmingham.  I streamed it live and thought Birmingham played really well and probably deserved 3 points out of the game.  Well, Cameron Jerome’s goal deserved 3 points. My lord, what a strike. Take a bow, son. Take a bow. Anyway the dive. I think it was Lee Carsley with a sliding tackle in the box on the byline.. N’Gog knows he’s slid in so he knows to fall over.  But if you ARE going to dive, at least make it look realistic.  If someone slid in on me, I’d let them hit me. Then the referee has no option but to give the penalty.  N’Gog obviously didn’t want his French ankles getting a whack so he dived (a-la-Superman) over the challenge and still somehow won the penalty?! I’ve stuck up for the refs recently, but that was a terrible decision that’s cost the Brum some much needed points.  On the other hand, good to see Gerrard playing a half, we need him to be playing all season so he’s dangerous in the World Cup!

Speaking of which, England are playing tonight against Brazil in Qatar. Should be a fun game, but I think we’ll lose.  The heat might affect us a bit too much and we’re probably missing Terry.  But I might also watch Spain vs Argentina in the flat. What a game that’s going to be!

Anyway, that’ll do for now…I have some homework to do. On a Saturday?! I know, crazy times.  Catch y’all later

Ps. I’ve received my grant at last. Yes!

Pps. I’ve recently seen that people from work in Aylesbury (one anyway) have been reading some of the blogs, so hello to you guys and all the other Aylesburians reading!

On the plus side, I had a pretty good weekend! Stayed in on Friday and Saturday daytime and nights (God, that’s depressing) due to financial issues and the usual rubbish.  I played football early on Friday night though, that was excellent. Rented the pitches at Carranque (10 minutes walk from me) and set-up an 8vs8 match.  I started off at right-back til I noticed how lame our midfield/strikers were, so opted to go into a Gerrard role.  It paid dividens.  Should’ve scored after a minute of being in the new position when I played the ball outwide, the chap pinged a ball perfectly to the backpost where I was running to, but some how missed all connection with the ball from 2 yards out. Not sure how I did that. Nevertheless, normality resumed when I got myself on the scoresheet later on.  I was on the right handside and thought, “nah, won’t bother making that run..The bloke’s awful at crossing.”  So I kinda walked forward to about 10 yards out..and needless to say, the cross did as I thought.  It missed everyone in the box and came to me to put the ball back from whence it came (hello Pro Evo) and knock it in the far corner. Brill.  Possession-wise we were spanked, but came out with a 6-3 win. Awesome.

Anyway so I stayed in on Saturday night as my friend from Southampton, Hayley, who teaches in León, was here reasonably early on Sunday morning.  Did the usual, walk around, kind of get lost and grab some lunch.. watched a couple of films and then on the Monday met up with our other So’ton friend, Vitor. (Monday here was a Bank Holiday so no classes! Woo!) Then she left on Monday afternoon and I was soo tired. For no real reason. So I had a little nap…of about 4 hours. Woke up at 9.30pm feeling pretty lame.. and it took me ages to get back to sleep, knowing that I had to be up at 6.45am for my class.

I don’t think I actually got to sleep until about 1.30am, so the alarm went off and I was in no state to be awake and get to class.  Especially as in this class, we sit there for 2 hours and write down whatever the teacher puts on the board. It’s so frustrating that we don’t understand more.  So I didn’t go to my 8.30-10.30 class.  I slept between this time with the radio on and didn’t feel any better.  Then my friend text me asking if I wanted to meet him for the 10.30 class.  Another class where we just sit there and try and write down as many notes as we can, but for this class, we haven’t got the booklet that seems obligatory to have, as we go through it in class. So I didn’t go to that class either.  I have tried to download the booklet from the “University”‘s version of Sussed, but you need a special, stupid, password that the “teacher knows” to access it. Alas, he doesn’t know the password, so I ask a spanish student who says “there isn’t one.” Well, that’s a lie, there clearly is. So I haven’t got the materials for that. Arrrgh. So I didn’t go to my 10.30-11.30 class.

So I decided to force myself out of bed and go to my Italian class at 12.30 and this is when the issues started;

1) Walked straight into the classroom because everyone was fiddling with their bags so I thought they were getting folders out. No, it was the end of the class, so they were leaving. So I walked in, stood there, and walked out. Great.

2) They eventually left, so a group of us walked in for the next class.  I was just about to sit down when I heard a rather large cough. It was my translation tutor. (Top chap, speaks hilarious english). He pulled me aside and went “Are you matriculated on this course?” “Yes..” I said. (Obviously I am..) and he sent “Oh.. are you allowed to do English as a Foreign Language as your degree course..?” Brilliant, my Italian class had moved without anybody telling me…

3) So I think, I know, I’ll walk around the other classrooms and see if I recognise people. I walked into the class where we have Italian on Mondays, walked in about 5 steps, didn’t recognise anyone, teacher wasn’t the same, looked at the board that had some Spanish lingo so left..Definitely wasn’t in there.

4) Walked into another classroom, thought it was the right one because I recognised someone from a class, which I thought may have been Italian. Sat down next to her and she said (in spanish), “Oh, I didn’t know you did German, too…” (For Fu…) So I left. Again.

By now it was 12.45 and Italian was going to be well underway.

5) Went to the “Consejería” (Advice place) and, as with all of spain at 12.45, it was closed. Brilliant. So I went home. So I didn’t go to my 12.30-2.30 class. And in fact, didn’t go to ANY classes. Great.

6) Was listening to some music to cheer me up when my earphones broke. Completely. Brilliant.

7) Trudged to the bus stop where it was really hot (Still.. In November!) Caught the bus and travelled home, but there was some fat, ugly spanish person standing next to me who I’m pretty sure was just staring at me all the journey home. And she wasn’t the only one. I kept getting glances from blokes and women, obviously wondering why the hell some English bloke is in Málaga. For some reason, this made me really annoyed. So much so that I nearly asked them what they were looking at! Very paranoid and very non-me :/

8 ) Went to Eroski (the Supermarket) and looked for earphones, chillis and limes. Now, apparently, they don’t sell limes. I couldn’t see any for love nor toffee. (What a daft phrase). I even looked for lime juice, but they didn’t have any of that either.  I bought the cheapest earphones they did, and they’re actually not bad…One thing that has gone alright today. But I had to go to another supermarket to buy some chillis. 19cents for 2 chillis, yes please.

9) The one thing that could save me a time like this? Tea. Do I have any? No. Oh my.

So yes, that’s been my day today. Now I’m off to do some stupid translating before my class tomorrow. I think I’m just going to play FM/watch the football, just so that nothing else goes wrong today.

I hope everyone has had a better day than me so far!

I have played every single Championship Manager throughout my teenage years, often with my older brother doing joint games. My favourite one was the 2001/02 season where Leeds (How the mighty fall?!) were amazing. I had Joe Cole, Riquelme and Alan Smith as my main forwards.  I have to give Gavin Holligan (never actually became good?!) a mention.  He was with me throughout the early Championship Manager games and often won me the league.  Other people to thank include Mark Kerr, Maxim Tsigalko and free-transfer classic, Taribo West.  I hope this has brought back a few memories to you!

Anyway, when the split between Eidos and Sports Interactive happened, I was worried about the outcome. Whereas Football Manager became the new interactive football management game to play, Championship Manager became it’s second-rated, terrible, substitute.  The Andriy Voronin of football games.

The introduction of the match engine (where you could see your players kick the ball around) was the start of something magical.  At the time, the players were just circles, kicking a yellow ball around, often scoring the same types of goal.  But every year since then has brought about an improvement on the match engine and the gameplay itself.  I won’t go through every year but last year’s edition (Football Manager 2009) was the first one to introduce the 3D match engine.  However, this required a high-powered, quick laptop, which proved to be a problem for many customers.  I, however, was one of the lucky ones who got it to work perfectly.  All the detail from stadium looks, to the referees to different colour balls was incredible.  It was SO good, that I brought Pirlo and Agbonlahor to Bolton, eventually winning the Champions League in the fourth season.  Who says these games aren’t realistic?

And so I come onto this season’s FM2010.  The game comes out officially tomorrow and if I was in England, I’d be heading immediately to the shops to buy it.  I’ve been fortunate enough over the last couple of weeks to play the Demo, which was by no means the finished article and there seems to be, generally, an improvement on the previous years. Here are a few of the best improvements;

• The substitutes: Where as last year, they players just sat on the bench and now and then would run up and down the line, this year you can actually see them doing stretching. It’s a bit tetchy but it makes me giggle while I’m 4-1 down at Hartlepool.
• Touchline Instructions: Rather than having to click on tactics and go through the whole shirade of individually changing each players/team instructions, now you can just click “Touchline instructions” where a drop down list appears.  You can do anything you want from “pass to feet”, “pump into box” or “play wider” immediately. Much easier.
• The attention to detail, including Rory Delap’s long throws causing havoc in the box! Genius.

Nevertheless, as always, there’s a few glitches.  The actual layout of the game is slightly different to previous years’ and it takes a bit of finding/fiddling.  Dropdown options aren’t the same, including “Clear entire squad/subs only,” but once you’ve found them all, they’re quite simple.  The main problem I find is that, very rarely, your players actually do what you’ve asked them to do, especially after the hassle of doing their personal instructions, such as “Don’t switch the ball” and “Target Man > To Head.”  I found my players switching the play all the time, and then getting my target man to run onto the ball everytime! I guess this makes it more realistic, but it’s damn frustrating!

Also, how come the computer can score from 35 yards in off the post, but your main striker can’t header the ball in from 3 yards out? I find this unfair…!

Nevertheless, it’s the same Football Manager masterclass as always and any football-loving-procrastinating-professional-beer-drinking man must have it in their collection.

Just don’t manage Brentford.

Before I continue,  it’s important to state that, as some of you know, I am a qualified referee (Level 7, come on) so I feel the following points are justified and fair, but feel free to suggest otherwise!

Nothing angers me more than when Sir Alex has another go at another referee.  This point follows Liverpool’s massive victory over Manchester United at Anfield on Sunday, which stopped Liverpool’s worst run of results in 22 years.  Not only that, it left the Merseyside team a mere 4 points adrift of the Red Devils.

Admittedly, I couldn’t hit the nearest pub to watch the match, because Sky Sports doesn’t appear to exist in Málaga, but I was fortunate enough, (thanks Neal), to stream it online and have a fair few points on the ref’s game.  I guess, when you’ve lost a crucial game, it’s easiest to blame the referee, rather than the players who actually played the match. Well, I’d probably blame some of my players if I lost 2-0. For a start, the defence haven’t kept a clean sheet and the team haven’t scored a goal.  There’s not a lot that the referee can change there. Oh, unless of course it’s Watford vs Reading and you inexplicably give a goal for nothing.

Amazingly, Sir Alex began to suggest that it was actually his team’s fault for the loss, but he must have been reminded by his bald-headed sidekick of his usual post-match behaviour, and immediately suggested the referee missed some key decisions.  To be fair, at least he didn’t say the referee was unfit again.

Actually, I will start with this point, because it angers me.  Alan Wiley, in my books, is one of the best referees in the English game.  To start with, Mr. Wiley is 49 years old!  Now, how many 49 year old men do you know that can run around 10,000 metres in 90 minutes? None? I thought as much.  Not only this, he has to keep (as the FA teaches you when you’re qualifying to be a referee) within 10 yards of the play at ALL TIMES.  Now, admittedly, the route he has to take is in a straight line, diagonally, across the pitch, with the assistant referees watching what happens in the other qurters of the pitch, as shown below;

Nevertheless, I’m 22 years old, fairly fit and have refereed a few youth matches and an adult match.  But I found this quite tricky, myself.  Not only this, but 11 year old children and hungover 40 year olds cannot run very fast.  However, professional footballers can run blooming quickly and the ball can move at a fair pace, too.  Imagine for a second that you’re the referee…. Wow, the kit doesn’t suit you! Anyway, the centre back has the ball and he’s spotted a run from the striker behind the back 4.  He has pinged it 60 yards, the chase is on, but suddenly the striker goes down.  You have a massive, split-second decision to make, but where are you? 50 yards behind where the ball is now. What do you do?  That is one of the challenges you face as a referee.

Anyway, back to the point, and Sunday’s match.  Mike Phelan, Sir Alex’s annoying right hand man, who appears to have his lips so tightly squeezed around Sir Alex’s bum that he’s turning purple, has suggested that the referee missed a blatant red card for Jamie Carragher when he tackled Michael Owen, which would’ve had a massive impact on the rest of the game.  Here’s my thoughts;

1) It didn’t even look like a foul.  Michael Owen, and all other strikers all over the world, are intelligent enough to know that if you tug the shirt of the defender on the blindside of the referee, the defender will tug back and you can fall over and claim the foul.  This is what the replay seemed to show. It was a 50/50, they both fell over and Owen acted all innocent and wanting the red card.

2) I don’t think Carragher was even the last man?  I can’t see any replays or stills of the innocent, but from what I can remember, there were 2 defenders in line with Carragher, though they were slightly wider.  The law states that it’s a “professional foul,” NOT “If he’s last man.” These are two slightly different things and I think the referee got it right.  The referee was definitely not affected by the atmosphere.  I think after years of doing the same job, in front of massive crowds, he wouldn’t be affected by some moronic fans, shouting “ooohhh ooh, red red. Off off.” Etc.

3) The referee was consistent.  Having only booked Carragher, he was right in only booking Vidic.  It just happened to be that it was Vidic’s second yellow card, which means red. (His third in three games against Liverpool, what a tool.)  Despite Vidic being on a yellow, he could’ve still shown him a straight red, which would’ve resulted in a longer suspension, but he chose a second yellow.  Actually this foul looked more like a red card!

I’ll finish with the old cliché:  It’s not easy being a ref.  Let them do their job, the managers do theirs.  I’d love the refs to start criticising Sir Alex’s tactics.  Managers are more than free to hurl abuse at the ref during the match, and no doubt all of them do it, but only Sir Alex chooses to do it time and time again in front of the media after the match. Why? He wants sympathy and can’t admit that his team didn’t play well enough.

Funnily enough, referees are human. Humans make mistakes.

"I'd rather have a turnip than a Swede."

Sven Goran Eriksson (pictured above) has turned down the opportunity to manage his own nation at football, after their previous coach, Lars “wants his” Lagerback resigned last week, following an unsuccessful World Cup Qualifying campaign.  A defeat to rivals Denmark meant that Sweden would have to hope Portugal would fail to beat Hungary in the last game, but they won convincingly 4-0.

I have been wondering all day why the former Lazio, Mexico and England boss would turn down the opportunity to coach his own nation at football, with a chance of getting them into Euro 2012.  Of course, Eriksson is the director of football at League 2 Notts County who have had a whirwind last few months since the take over was completed and later approved.  The whole Sol Campbell (former England, Arsenal, Tottenham and Portsmouth) incident, where he signed an apparent 5 year deal at £60,000 per week, only to play one game away at Morecambe, was one of the most ridiculous stories in football in the past decade.  The sacking of Ian MacParland in October was an injustice, as Notts County, who were nearly relegated last year, sat quite happily in 5th position in League 2.  This sacking led to such names as former Inter Milan boss, Roberto Mancini and Eriksson himself, being favourites to lead the oldest team in English football up the football ladder.

So why would he not leave the cold winters of Nottingham for the even colder winters of Stockholm? I feel he has a duty to complete the job at Notts County, so he has made the right move in turning down the Sweden job in my view.  Nevertheless, surely coaching your own nation at a European Championship and probable World Cup in 2014 is a dream opportunity? He’s managed Mexico and England before, so why not finish off in your home nation? He is 61 afterall, how long does he have left?!

Through my gritted teeth and jealousy that he didn’t choose Brentford, I sincerely hope he has the guts to take Notts County up the leagues, as has happened at Wigan and Fulham, who are now two concrete solid teams with a bunch of Englishmen in each squad to boost.  Maybe the Swedish FA will give me a call…?