Soccer Thread 2011-2012

[Big Fo]

It's always great to see John Terry slip and fall in a big moment.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

I don't like to get caught up in transfer rumors (as City is linked to every fricking player to the world at this point), but the biggest City "In The Know" that called all of City's summer signings correctly has said that RVP to City is nailed on for January recently.

Well, I would be willing to bet a very large sum of money that Van Persie goes nowhere in January. If he refuses to sign a contract, Arsenal will send him off in the summer. There is no way they can justify sending the guy out in January when he's the only chance at a high finish they have.

Van Persie may want to leave and Man City may want to add him. . . but unless the wheels fall off like at the start of the season, there isn't anyway Arsenal could afford to do that no matter the sum of money City offered.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Mac Howard

Why? The most vulnerable time for teams reduced to ten men are the last few minutes of the game. Often a team will hold out til 75-80 minutes but fatigue kicks in and they lose a couple of goals. In this case three of the goals came in the last 4 minutes - 89th, 91st and 93rd minutes.

Sir Alex, you and others saw something different than what I did.

I watched Man U defenders not pushing up, but simply watching Man City attackers run through them. They simply gave up. They faced serious adversity and the way to deal with that was to throw in the towel. It looked to me like Rooney was the only interested party when it came to playing hard.

It's only one loss (as Arsenal's blasting at ManU was only one loss), but I don't like it at all when I see teams I cheer for give up. Maybe others saw it differently, but that's what I saw and were I a ManU fan, I wouldn't like it.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

It's always great to see John Terry slip and fall in a big moment.

What a shocking result. I recorded the game and was just hoping for a decent effort. To come out with 3 points no matter how it happened is thrilling. Seeing Terry fall on his face was terrific, but even without that, Arsenal gave a great effort today. Probably the best game I've seen Walcott have in an Arsenal shirt as well.

[Blade6119]

Oh Berbatov, your skills on the ball have never been in question

[Big Fo]

Underdogs generally have a tough time of it in the UEFA Champions League. It's cool to see Cypriot club APOEL topping their group after four games.

[sovereignstar v2]

Just for posterity.


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

[MrBug708]

Afro-Germerican movement

The Offside Rules: Afro-Germerican™ of the Moment: Royal-Dominique Fennell

[Grover]

Originally Posted by HiFiRevival

So...how long do we go before Alan Pardew starts getting serious mention as manager of the year?

Absolutely unbelievable job Pards is doing. I still think he's merely a mid-table at best manager, but as things stand he's definitely got to be the front runner.

I was a bit disappointed when West Ham got rid of him a few years back as he seems to be a fairly good bloke, though he doesn't play "West Ham" football. Not that Fat Sam does either, mind.

As far as Newcastle goes though, I knew they would be better than last year, they signings they made through the summer were excellent, Ba and Cabaye in particular. Also, just wait for Davide Santon to finally get a run in the first team, an excellent prospect who can play either side of the pitch at fullback and is the youngest Italian ever capped by the national squad.

Not to mention that Tiote is an absolute destroyer in midfield, I quite enjoy watching him play, shame he wasn't out there today.

Certainly looking forward to see how The Toon fare against Manchester City in a fortnight.

[Grover]

Fun Story: Toffees eye Donovan reunion | News

This would be good for both US Soccer and Landon Donovan.

[sovereignstar v2]

I'd say that Mancini would be the frontrunner considering the 9-1-0 record and the bashing of ManU...

[Grover]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

I'd say that Mancini would be the frontrunner considering the 9-1-0 record and the bashing of ManU...

I see your point there, but how many people expected Pardew to get out to such a hot start? Newcastle lost arguably their best midfielder in Barton, didn't really address their forward concerns outside of signing Ba and has exceeded all expectations. Most of the pundits didn't think they'd be able to manage another top half finish, let alone go undefeated through the league's first eleven matches. Granted they still have to face City, United and Chelsea.

City is a team filled with mercenaries, outside of the United bashing, if this team didn't have 7-10 wins at this point they'd have to be considered a disappointment.

[sovereignstar v2]

Hi, would you like money and the chance at glory? Excellent - good answer. PS - You are a mercenary!

[TroyF]

Sometimes I watch players on tv and question why FM rated a guy so highly when my untrained eyes don't understand why a guy is so good.

Today I flicked on the Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg game and watched Gotze.

Holy crap that guy is good. 19? Seriously? Wow.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Hi, would you like money and the chance at glory? Excellent - good answer. PS - You are a mercenary!

Don't get me wrong, if I were in the same situation I wouldn't say no. I can't think of anybody who would, really.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Hi, would you like money and the chance at glory? Excellent - good answer. PS - You are a mercenary!

Doesn't mean we can't cheer for their failure though, right? I mean, Lebron, Wade and Bosh technically didn't do anything wrong but I despise the ground they walk on and wish them nothing but professional failure throughout their careers.

I like City and actually like most of the City players. (outside of that jack ass Nasri, not because he left Arsenal, but because he's an overated douche who sucked for about 75% of the time he played at Arsenal yet thought he was something special. I think Arsenal robbed City at gunpoint for the clown)

Still, part of wanting that money is dealing with people wishing you to fail. So far City have lived up to expectations and believe me, if Arsenal can't win the title, I want anyone outside of ManU and Chelsea to win the title. But City are pretty combustible. Wouldn't shock me at all to see ManU regroup from the beating they took and win the EPL yet again.

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by Grover

Fun Story: Toffees eye Donovan reunion | News

This would be good for both US Soccer and Landon Donovan.

Probably not good for Everton's budget though

[sovereignstar v2]

Absolute cracker between City and QPR. Previous years we would've gotten a draw. Not this year though.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Grover

Absolutely unbelievable job Pards is doing. I still think he's merely a mid-table at best manager, but as things stand he's definitely got to be the front runner.

Not to be picky as I think he's a good manager and Newcastle are playing very well ... but if you actually look at the fixture list so far Newcastle haven't played many 'top' teams yet.

So far out of the top 4-5 they've played Arsenal and Tottenham both home matches and achieved draws against both.

If you consider this was Arsenal on their worst form early in the season then it shows while they're performing well he's not proven anything yet about his management style having stepped up a level or the team having improved immeasurably.

PS - I expect come the end of the season they'll be upper-mid table, perhaps vying for a European spot ...

[Grover]

I thought I had mentioned that they hadn't played City/United/Chelsea yet. I'm with you though, I suspect somewhere between 6-8th is where they'll land. I still think they could do with another forward though.

I also thought that Pardew was a curious hiring last year as Hughton wasn't doing that badly, and I believe he and Hughton finished with the exact same record through 19 games with Newcastle last year.

[MIJB#19]

Goal, set and match, FC Utrecht.

[SirFozzie]

so, who will be the first to refer to the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand at Old Trafford (they dedicated the North Stand to him), as the Fergie Stand?

Oh, me. Never mind

[Marc Vaughan]

Brighton just beat Barnsley 2-0, our first win in a loooong time ... just in time for a tough run of fixtures coming up - so hopefully it'll help the squads self-belief.

[MrBug708]

The move to Holland is proving to be a great thing for Jozy. His latest goal

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Fun night of soccer ahead. Sporting KC/Houston followed by LA/Salt Lake. Looking forward to both games.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Houston's team leader Brad Davis just went out of the game with a leg injury.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Great stuff here. As I mentioned in the FM thread, the KC fans love their owner. The below pic is from one of my friends at the game sitting in the endline bleachers in 'The Cauldron'. The guy in the dark jacket and jeans just down the row from him getting ready to watch the game? The owner of the team. Too cool.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Houston going to win the first game. Great finish by Costly.

[MrBug708]

Galaxy should have scored about 6 goals tonight

[whomario]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Sometimes I watch players on tv and question why FM rated a guy so highly when my untrained eyes don't understand why a guy is so good.

Today I flicked on the Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg game and watched Gotze.

Holy crap that guy is good. 19? Seriously? Wow.

glad you enjoyed his play, the kid is truly on the verge of greatness Has a good head on his shoulders with a great family behind him as well, so i´m confident he won´t be sidetracked by stupidity. This only leaves injury (*knocks on wood*), other than that i see him becoming a Top5 player worldwide within the next 2 years.
He´s had a so-so stretch to start the year, but in the last month or so looked better than ever and has been carrying the dortmund team.

If anyone is interested, chances are that tonight Germany will play Gotze and Ozil together for the first time, again going with the 4-1-4-1 system (1 defensive midfielder, then 4 distinctly offensive minded ones in front behind a lone striker) that has been tried before.

Happy that guys like them finally can flourish after years and years of ugly, defensive minded football where technically sound players were almost frowned upon by the coaches.


Playoffs (first leg) also happening tonight :

Bosnia-Portugal
Czech Republic - Montenegro
Estonia - Ireland
Turkey - Croatia

Rooting for Bosnia, Czech Republic and Croatia. Torn in the Estonia-Ireland matchup, Estonia would be awesome as a dark horse though ...

[Icy]

Looking forward to see what Germany can do in the next Euro cup, for sure will be a fun team to watch with all those young and skilled midfielders.

[MrBug708]

USA lineup: Howard; Cherundolo, Goodson, Bocanegra, Chandler; Beckerman; Williams, Edu, Shea; Dempsey, Altidore.

[whomario]

Germany is playing a system i can´t even give a name. Basically 3 at the back, but then the left midfielder goes back if the ucraine has the ball (allways the left, not either him or the one on the right). If germany has it, the Left midfielder becomes the left winger. Plus there´s 3 central midfielders all over the pitch and Ozil doing whatever the hell he wants.

[SirFozzie]

Let's see.. Turkey already down two away goals early in the second half of their first leg playoff against Croatia.. I sense T-30 minutes to the Turkish riot

[SirFozzie]

And a third for Croatia. Turkey's cooked, two weeks before thanksgiving... (sorry, bad joke but had to)

[SirFozzie]

Looks like three of the four playoffs are going to be pretty much decided after the first leg:

Croatia leads Turkey 3-0 after the game in Turkey. So to win out right, Turkey will need FOUR goals (or a 3-0 win)

Ireland currently lead 10 man Estonia 3-0 in Estonia, so they've taken a giant step towards qualifying (and LA Galaxy's Robbie Keane just scored the third goal)

Czech Republic score late to take a comfortable 2-0 lead in to the second leg against Montenegro

In the only game finely balanced after the first leg, it's 0-0 between Portugal and Bosnia-Herzegovina.. the second leg will be in Portugal, so they're probably favorites.

[MrBug708]

In FM, I was down 4-0 after the first leg in the Championship Second Round Knockout Stage and came back to win 6-1 on the second leg

[cthomer5000]

Estonia was incredibly naive. They were pushing for a goal when down 1-0 and down a man, rather than just play for the 1-0 loss, regroup, and try to beat them 11-v-11 in the next game.

Then they allow a goal, get another guy sent off, get a few more guys suspended for the 2nd leg for yellow card accumulation, let in a few more goals, and they are now 100% boned. Coach should be fired.

[Grover]

Fun stat from the first half of England v. Spain at Wem-ber-ley.

Spain had 348 touches in England's half of the pitch.

England had 74 in Spain's half of the pitch.

That said, Lampard's 49th minute header has the English ahead.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Grover

Fun stat from the first half of England v. Spain at Wem-ber-ley.

Spain had 348 touches in England's half of the pitch.

England had 74 in Spain's half of the pitch.

That said, Lampard's 49th minute header has the English ahead.

The reaction to this result reminds me of the response of Dolphin fans to last week's win. Listening to some of the English media, you would think they were in on a "Suck To Get Fabio Out" campaign.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Estonia was incredibly naive. They were pushing for a goal when down 1-0 and down a man, rather than just play for the 1-0 loss, regroup, and try to beat them 11-v-11 in the next game.

Then they allow a goal, get another guy sent off, get a few more guys suspended for the 2nd leg for yellow card accumulation, let in a few more goals, and they are now 100% boned. Coach should be fired.

In their defense, the Estonians had no idea what was coming to them. They've never before even sniffed at something like a playoff. The Irish, in return, are seasoned veterans in playing (and losing) playoffs. But apart from their inexperience, there's no excuse to not do what they are basically used to doing: being down 0-1 and 10 to 11 and just trying to keep that score on the board.

Turkey losing 3-0 at home is quite the score too, although they should have seen it coming, facing the overly motivated Croatians to settle a score for the last head-to-had clash.

Montenegro might be done, but a home victory over the current Czech team isn't impossible.

Lastly, Bosnia-Herzegovina, please, please, please, please score early in Portugal and hold on to the 1-0 win or 1-1 draw!

[Grover]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Turkey losing 3-0 at home is quite the score too, although they should have seen it coming, facing the overly motivated Croatians to settle a score for the last head-to-had clash.

Turkey 0-3 Croatia: Bilic shows how to play a 4-4-2 against a 4-3-3 | Zonal Marking

Great read on Croatia's tactics against the Turks.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

The reaction to this result reminds me of the response of Dolphin fans to last week's win. Listening to some of the English media, you would think they were in on a "Suck To Get Fabio Out" campaign.

The rags on Fleet Street have been trying to oust Fabio forever because he's not English. It's incredible.

My poser to the English is this: Do you really want 'Arry Redknapp running the club? Telling the boys how t'riffic they are and that they've got a 'top, top squad' going to the World Cup in 2014?

[Easy Mac]

Edson Buddle?!

[Easy Mac]

Then Altidore misses a complete sitter.

[Easy Mac]

Altidore got his entire foot on the ball, should have pushed that one in.

Should be 2-1 US. Have no idea how Slovenia didn't bother to put one on goal in the 1 v 1 in the 3rd minute.