Ongoing Soccer Thread

[shiver]

Thought the Man U v Leeds was a good game. It was marred by Wes Brown, Whom should have been sent or taken off?
Try as the did, they just wasn't up to the task against the Mighty Whites.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

wes brown should have got about six yellow cards, yeah.

he was probably just trying to get a headstart on fergie.

 

[blott]

so glad we have Roy Hodgson , Fergie would make you squirm with embarrassment.

 

[Marlsoft]

FC Porto will win the Champions League. SAID!

 

[blacksun]

- Liverpool bring the lolz again! (sorry Joe)

- Pompey earn a money-spinning replay at Coventry! (sorry Ian)

- Blues in mediocre 0-0 shocker! (sorry me)

Pretty boring day in the FA Cup on the whole and I do like how ITV have basically said a giant **** you to the romance of the FA Cup by televising three games featuring four premiership sides, a championship side and the runaway leaders of league one.

Whilst I agree with the sentiment Dorkus, the problem is that ITV have to pay such stupid amounts to just get a few FA Cup games that they have to counter that with advertising money and the best way to sell that is during games with the big teams so we end up with the games we got. Not really ITV's fault blame the greed in the modern game.

 

[blott]

Whilst I agree with the sentiment Dorkus, the problem is that ITV have to pay such stupid amounts to just get a few FA Cup games that they have to counter that with advertising money and the best way to sell that is during games with the big teams so we end up with the games we got. Not really ITV's fault blame the greed in the modern game.

isn't it generally accepted that the cause of the greed IS television.. but if no SKY and the rest then we would revert back to Championship level with mainly native UK players.

 

[Anteman]

As a Leeds fan i was realy happy to see the win against our old antagoinst United.I thought it was evil tough then we now get to face tottenham also away.how is the draw set up for away and home advantages.I think some years ago the low division team like always played at home but now i think its always the big team that has the home field advantage...anyone know the rules for the fa cup draw?

 

[blott]

As a Leeds fan i was realy happy to see the win against our old antagoinst United.I thought it was evil tough then we now get to face tottenham also away.how is the draw set up for away and home advantages.I think some years ago the low division team like always played at home but now i think its always the big team that has the home field advantage...anyone know the rules for the fa cup draw?

it's as all draws should be. all the balls go into the hat and first out is home, next away and so on. there is no seeding after the third round which means the lowliest team left in can play the best team.

I hate seeing the best teams /players in most sports getting an easy ride through to the late stages.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

it's as all draws should be. all the balls go into the hat and first out is home, next away and so on. there is no seeding after the third round which means the lowliest team left in can play the best team.

I hate seeing the best teams /players in most sports getting an easy ride through to the late stages.

yeah it's annoying.

the world cup draw was a prime example of the crap that most modern competitions have. any draw that takes 15 minutes for some guy to explain is automatically nonsense. "oh yeah so everyone is seeded into 4 pots and if a south american team gets drawn into group a here then they will have to get moved into group b and group a will be redrawn because HEAVEN FORBID that we have 2 south american teams in the same group and blah blah blah"

i mean really, just put some bloody balls into a hat and draw the things entirely at random. if england get drawn with north korea, algeria and slovenia then great, if they get drawn with spain, italy and brazil then tough titties.

it would also make the draw interesting again. as it was the world cup draw was bloody boring for the most part - who cares whether england get drawn against japan, mexico or USA? who cares whether spain get drawn against uruguay, cameroon or nigeria? if there's a chance that any team could get a ridiculously easy group or a genuine 'group of death' (seriously, pick a WC group that is the group of death, go on, try!) then the draw might be worth paying attention to again.

 

[rotty]

Please don't do it Rafa.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5851064,00.html

 

[beardyian]

Please don't do it Rafa.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5851064,00.html

I think if he did he would be the next one out the door - quickly.

Its probably a subtle way of letting the owners know that he needs to buy players and with a decent amount of money too.

Gerrard & Torres replaced by Lucas & Ngog :rofl:

 

[Gesshoo]

Yeah, I just read this on Sporting Life too. I have had this horrible feeling for a while that maybe this is the year LFC falls out of the "big 4" and back into the next group.

ManU have a great manager, the best crowds in the country and good finances as a result.

Arsenal has the next biggest crowd average, a very good manager and a great group of relatively young players.

Chelsea have Abramovic. As a result they have a good manager and a great team. Probably 2 great teams.

Man City have their big cash owners, now have a decent manager and are in the process of buying one or two geat teams.

Liverpool are no better now than a host of teams who can all fight for the next spot - including Villa, Spurs, Everton - and now Birmingham. All teams that can attract crowds in the 40k range but without the stadia to crowd in any more. I think they have missed the boat on the new stadium and don't know when or if it will ever happen. Without 60-70k crowds, you need that big sugar daddy to be sure of keeping up with the clubs that have almost limitless finance available.

I think most agree that Rafa's "team" revolves 98% around 2 players - Gerrard (whom he inherited) and Torres, whom he did well to buy. Rafa is also smart. For him to make this statement is huge . He knows that. The thought of doing this would cause a riot with the fans. Is he after the owners again - trying to cause a furore that will point back at Hicks and Gillette? Whatever the reason, rest assured there is one.

Final point on the above group of teams behind the rich-4. If the league ended today, manager of the year IMO without any shadow of doubt would be Alex McLeish. Birmingham is one of those big clubs, like Newcastle, that will always be well supported but what he has done with a fairly mediocre squad is fantastic. It also shows that even without mega-rich owners, there is always hope that a team can play with enough heart, skill and tactical awareness to match the big boys.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Things I learned yesterday

- HOLY JESUS IT WAS BLOODY COLD AT ST. ANDREW'S

- Man U are a decent 'highlights' team but are in fact quite bad. Watching MOTD last night one would have thought they played really well, especially in the first half, but they were in fact really quite dire on the whole and only forced one good save from Joe Hart the entire game. I was a little fearful during the Chelsea game because they always looked like they could possibly open us up with some intricate passing move, but that threat wasn't there with Man U.

- If we'd have played well we would have won at a canter. Even playing mediocrely as we did we had the two best chances aside from the goals.

- If people stop treating this Man U side with a reverence and respect (like we did in the first half) that they don't deserve then they won't come anywhere near winning a trophy this season.

- Obviously they despereately miss Rio and Vidic.

- This bears repeating for lulz. Johnson + Dann for £9m. Lescott for £24m. Chortle.

- The offside rule as it is is complete bollocks. Yeah, Rooney wasn't offside for their goal because he wasn't ahead of the line, but my understanding was that even if he was ahead it wouldn't have been offside because it was an own goal and he therefore "wouldn't have been interfering with play". This is clearly nonsense - if someone in an offside position is pressuring you they are interfering with play, duh.

- Disappointed MOTD didn't show our 'Fergie Time' chants after 6 mins of stoppage time were announced.

- Fletcher probably shouldn't have been sent off but I don't think it was the travesty of justice that some people seem to think it was.

 

[Az__Avfc]

Yeah, I just read this on Sporting Life too. I have had this horrible feeling for a while that maybe this is the year LFC falls out of the "big 4" and back into the next group.

ManU have a great manager, the best crowds in the country and good finances as a result.

Arsenal has the next biggest crowd average, a very good manager and a great group of relatively young players.

Chelsea have Abramovic. As a result they have a good manager and a great team. Probably 2 great teams.

Man City have their big cash owners, now have a decent manager and are in the process of buying one or two geat teams.

Liverpool are no better now than a host of teams who can all fight for the next spot - including Villa, Spurs, Everton - and now Birmingham. All teams that can attract crowds in the 40k range but without the stadia to crowd in any more. I think they have missed the boat on the new stadium and don't know when or if it will ever happen. Without 60-70k crowds, you need that big sugar daddy to be sure of keeping up with the clubs that have almost limitless finance available.

I think most agree that Rafa's "team" revolves 98% around 2 players - Gerrard (whom he inherited) and Torres, whom he did well to buy. Rafa is also smart. For him to make this statement is huge . He knows that. The thought of doing this would cause a riot with the fans. Is he after the owners again - trying to cause a furore that will point back at Hicks and Gillette? Whatever the reason, rest assured there is one.

Final point on the above group of teams behind the rich-4. If the league ended today, manager of the year IMO without any shadow of doubt would be Alex McLeish. Birmingham is one of those big clubs, like Newcastle, that will always be well supported but what he has done with a fairly mediocre squad is fantastic. It also shows that even without mega-rich owners, there is always hope that a team can play with enough heart, skill and tactical awareness to match the big boys.

Blasphamy

Please never mention Birmingham in the same bracket as us again.


They are on a great run though and should be very happy with themselves, if they keep it up to the end of the season I'd be shocked.

 

[S93]

Blasphamy

Please never mention Birmingham in the same bracket as us again.


They are on a great run though and should be very happy with themselves, if they keep it up to the end of the season I'd be shocked.

This.

Yes Birmingham have been great so far but so where Hull the first part of last season and look at them now.
Remember Ipswich a few years back? Great first season with a euro place finish and then they where back into championship football before you could blink.

*looks around for Dorkus and his ban hammer*
I would suspect its just first season syndrom and they will go back to relegation battles before to long.

 

[blott]

Dorkus said

The offside rule as it is is complete bollocks. Yeah, Rooney wasn't offside for their goal because he wasn't ahead of the line, but my understanding was that even if he was ahead it wouldn't have been offside because it was an own goal and he therefore "wouldn't have been interfering with play". This is clearly nonsense - if someone in an offside position is pressuring you they are interfering with play, duh.



when will they ever see sense and revert to the old rule when offside was offside full stop.

 

[Dorkus Malorkus]

Yeah, remember a few years ago when Man U had Van Nistelrooy and he stood like 10 yards offside for all of their attacking free-kicks, but it was okay because he "wasn't interfering with play".

Complete nonsense.

As for Blues, much as I love to be pessimistic I think the future is pretty bright for us. The problem that Hull had was that they only had a Plan A and once that got found out they were pretty much screwed (well, that and Phil Brown's ego and man-management 'skills' didn't help either). Ipswich and Norwich didn't have any money to back up their good runs - we (apparently) do.

Plus McLeish is looking pretty good. He was far too negative at the start of the season, and it's no coincidence that our good run has coincided with us reverting to 4-4-2 and playing two pacey strikers instead of the absurdity of playing 5 in midfield and using Benitez (all 5 feet of him) or Jerome (bit taller but crap in the air) or even O'Connor (I'd never wish injury on anyone but I'm glad he can't play at the moment because he's bloody crap) as a lone target man.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying we're going to challenge for Europe this season (or next) or anything - as I said earlier we'll probably finish somewhere boring like 12th because we can't keep this form up forever and we've been lucky with avoiding injuries - but I don't think we'll be going back down anytime soon. Having said that, the Prem next year could be very interesting seeing as it looks likely that two strong clubs with recent Premiership history (Newcastle, West Brom) will be going up, and I reckon the Prem will be losing some deadweight (Hull, Burnley).

Blues apparently bidding £9m for Babel and £10m for Kenwyne Jones worries me though. Babel is crap and a tosser. Jones is decent and the sort of striker we need but is way overpriced at £10m. I guess now that word's out we have money to spend we're bound to suffer from some Man City-esque price inflation though. :/

 

[beardyian]

Yeah, remember a few years ago when Man U had Van Nistelrooy and he stood like 10 yards offside for all of their attacking free-kicks, but it was okay because he "wasn't interfering with play".

Complete nonsense.

As the saying goes - 'if you're not interfering with play, then what are you doing on the pitch?'

 

[SPCotter]

What a game last night in the FA Cup! I know Liverpool are in a bit of financial trouble but how long can they keep Benitez?? I can see them not qualifying for the Europa league even, things could get worse, I wonder how long Torres and Gerrard are out for this time

 

[Gesshoo]

Babel is crap and a tosser. Jones is decent and the sort of striker we need but is way overpriced at £10m.

Agree 100% on both counts.

As the saying goes - 'if you're not interfering with play, then what are you doing on the pitch?'

I'm in an agreeable mood tonight, so agree with this also!

What a game last night in the FA Cup! I know Liverpool are in a bit of financial trouble but how long can they keep Benitez?? I can see them not qualifying for the Europa league even, things could get worse, I wonder how long Torres and Gerrard are out for this time

And just to reinforce the point I will agree with this also.

This is even more evidence (as if anyone needed it) that we are a 2-player team. the 2 players have been injured a lot and there is no plan B. 20 mill on Aquilani, plus other big money players all over the place - and we can't even defend. It is time to circle the wagons, go to a defence-first tactic (no offence Chris, but a-la-BCFC) and start to get a few 0-0 and 1-0 results tucked away. Whatever money is spent should be to replace the back 4.

 

[blott]

So - despite the misgivings I have expressed in other threads - I am relieved in many ways that Rafa Benitez has today signed his new contract, that will keep him at Anfield for at least 5 more years.

It does give us continuity and, despite the failure to beat so many of the lower-placed teams this year, we have managed to do the double over both ManU and Chelsea for the first time in a gazillion years, and are again in the last 8 of the CL.

I believe that new owners will arrive in the summer - probably with a bit more cash - so we can (at long last) start on the new stadium and move forward. Parry is leaving, and that leaves Rafa in a position of more control, which he obviously wanted.

Even if we fail in the Premier League this year, we will have bigger expectations next year. One of these days........

gesshoo...are you still relieved?

 

[Gesshoo]

Wow - you had to trawl for that one - almost a year ago. Long time in football. It is what it is. We'll see out the season and see what happens - who was it that said "football is a funny old game"? You just never know what's going to happen....

 

[beardyian]

"football is a funny old game"?

Jimmy Greaves every week on Saint & Greavsie

 

[Anteman]

it's as all draws should be. all the balls go into the hat and first out is home, next away and so on. there is no seeding after the third round which means the lowliest team left in can play the best team.

I hate seeing the best teams /players in most sports getting an easy ride through to the late stages.

Sounds good.Then i guess Leeds been pretty unlucky after all with the draws.with getting first man united away and then tottenham away.Its 2 pretty hard teams to play and then they got away games also.But i mean if you can beat man united away you should be able to beat everyone.Im just kind of worried that its kind of hard to repeat a match like that again.Feel like a sensation win like that only happen once every 10 years or something.....

 

[S93]

ARGH!

That is all.