Soccer Thread 2011-2012

[bhlloy]

The English national soccer team. Self destructing since 1966.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by oykib

I've been having a lot of fun hammering my co-worker about the fact that he's about to lose his manager. He's a Spurs supporter.

LOL, I just got an email from a friend asking me if I would be sending in my resume when Redknap leaves.

I'm really not that worried if he leaves, since he would most likely still finish out this season. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there only one friendly for England between now and the end of May?

[sovereignstar v2]

The English FA is a complete joke.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

"The Football Association can confirm that Fabio Capello has today resigned as England manager. This follows a meeting involving FA chairman David Bernstein, FA general secretary Alex Horne and Fabio Capello at Wembley Stadium. The discussions focused on the FA board's decision to remove the England team captaincy from John Terry, and Fabio Capello's response through an Italian broadcast interview. In a meeting for over an hour, Fabio's resignation was accepted and he will leave the post of England manager with immediate effect."

Really? Who would have thought an Italian would leave a sinking ship?

[miami_fan]

So.....ah....what happens if Stuart Pierce leads England to the Euro championships? Is 'arry out of a job?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by cartman

Really? Who would have thought an Italian would leave a sinking ship?

WINNER!

[PilotMan]

It's more of a random thought but could you imagine being Bob Bradley's famliy right now? Guy is supposed to coach the Egypt national team. Not really high on my list of soccer hotbeds right now.

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

It's more of a random thought but could you imagine being Bob Bradley's famliy right now? Guy is supposed to coach the Egypt national team. Not really high on my list of soccer hotbeds right now.

id be much more concerned with getting outta that rat hole alive

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

So.....ah....what happens if Stuart Pierce leads England to the Euro championships?

I don't think anyone needs to worry about that.

[Big Fo]

That was fun. I enjoyed Rafael winning all those aerial duels with Carroll. United aren't creating that many chances but they're scoring plenty and winning most of the time at least.

Suarez might be close to passing Rafael Marquez as my least favorite player in the sport. He's a damn good player but such an awful little prick.

I loved Evra's reaction at the end. It must feel good for him after all that happened with the racial abuse, the booing, and then being at fault for Kuyt's goal in the FA Cup a few weeks ago.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Suarez might be close to passing Rafael Marquez as my least favorite player in the sport. He's a damn good player but such an awful little prick.

I loved Evra's reaction at the end. It must feel good for him after all that happened with the racial abuse, the booing, and then being at fault for Kuyt's goal in the FA Cup a few weeks ago.

FWIW, I understand where Suarez is coming from. Evra has always been a little shit and I would not shake hands with him if I thought that I had been hard done by.

Having said that, it means that this story is going to rumble on and on and on.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

Evra has always been a little shit

Yep, and the fact that so many people are 100% behind him is pretty telling. Liverpool are easily my least favorite team right now.

[tyketime]

While I'm a big fan of ManU, I much rather had seen Evra a little less demonstrative after the game. Especially right in front of Suarez. Instead... maybe he should start focusing on his poor form in the past few games. A good win for the team though!

[SirFozzie]

Not saying it's all due to Donovan, but if I'm an Everton fan, I'm currently making plans to take Donovan hostage and not let him back to the USA when his loan is up.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by tyketime

While I'm a big fan of ManU, I much rather had seen Evra a little less demonstrative after the game. Especially right in front of Suarez. Instead... maybe he should start focusing on his poor form in the past few games. A good win for the team though!

im looking forward to hearing about what happened in the tunnel at halftime.

[TroyF]

Evra is probably one of my top 5 least players in all of sport. He's pure garbage and I would hate to have to cheer for the scumbag. And he's clearly the better guy in all of this.

I was actually hoping ManU would win today and even cheered Rooney. That happens, oh, how about never?

Suarez needs to get a grip.

[SirFozzie]

And we are currently are seeing the fallacy of "Newcastle, serious contenders for the Champions League"

[SirFozzie]

Newcastle must think this match was called off due to a frozen pitch, because they are certainly frozen on the pitch. 4-0 35 minutes in.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Not saying it's all due to Donovan, but if I'm an Everton fan, I'm currently making plans to take Donovan hostage and not let him back to the USA when his loan is up.

2-3-2 since he joined. Does not compute.

[MIJB#19]

One would think Suarez would get smarter when aging, but by the sound of things, he's not learning enough from his mistakes of the past. Bummer...

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

One would think Suarez would get smarter when aging, but by the sound of things, he's not learning enough from his mistakes of the past. Bummer...

Maybe he'll get the chance to continue his education soon in another country.

[TroyF]

I really love idiot journalists. Look at this quote from today's Arsenal game in an article from Soccernet:

Sunderland forged ahead when Per Mertesacker got himself in a tangle and tripped over his own feet, which let James McClean through on goal to fire past Wojciech Szczesny

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I guess you could say he tripped over his two feet. Or you might say he blew out his Achilles, ankle or knee, fell to the ground and was then stretchered off the field with a horrific injury.

Yeah, those two things mean the same thing. ugh. . .

[sovereignstar v2]

This summer could be really interesting. I really hope Chelsea finish out of the Top 4.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

2-3-2 since he joined. Does not compute.

These are the results since he joined Everton
Premier - H - Chelsea 2:0 (W)
Premier - A - Wigan 1:1 (D)
Premier - H - Man City 1-0 (W)
FA Cup - H - Fulham 2-1 (W)
Premier - H - Blackburn 1-1 (D)
Premier - A - Aston Villa 1-1 (D)
Premier - A - Tottenham 0-2 (L)
FA Cup - H - Tamworth 2-0 (W)
Premier - H - Bolton 2-1 (L)

Now in the Premiership you're right its 2-3-2 (however also 4-3-2 overall), however thats not at all the full story imho, the month before in the Premiership they'd gone 2-2-2 which could be used to imply that there was no change in form at all.

HOWEVER if you look at the teams played in the results posted above they've beaten Chelsea (Title contenders), Man City (Title contenders) and only lost to Spurs (Title Contenders) and Bolton ... they have arguably dropped points in the draws, especially against Blackburn however Everton are not a team who are reknowned for being high scoring and as such will always at times find it hard to get the win, they instead aim to be 'hard to beat' and grind out results - something they generally do very well.

As such I'd contend that he's been a useful signing and has definitely helped add something to the team ... especially if you consider prior to him joining them this season they had yet to pick up even a point against a one of the normal top 5 sides (ie. Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City) ... yet recently they've beaten two of them.

[sovereignstar v2]

I'm not saying he's not a useful signing, but saying that Everton should kidnap him is a bit dramatic. In other news, Louis Saha is the greatest player in the world and Harry Redknapp is a fucking wizard for signing him up.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

I'm not saying he's not a useful signing, but saying that Everton should kidnap him is a bit dramatic. In other news, Louis Saha is the greatest player in the world and Harry Redknapp is a fucking wizard for signing him up.

Fair enough - I was just taking the kidnap him to be a colorful way of saying he's been useful and it'd have been nice if the stay could be made permanent ...

PS - If 'arry was a wizard he'd be in Gryffindor for sure

[SirFozzie]

In the time frame since Donovan joined Everton, he leads the EPL in assists. So eah, I think you need to give the old computational thing a few good hard whacks.

[Easy Mac]

It's a shame Dempsey didn't get credit for a goal today. That was a fucking lightning bolt

[SirFozzie]

In serie a, Inter get beat AT HOME by Novara.. wow..

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

In serie a, Inter get beat AT HOME by Novara.. wow..

And Udinese are currently leading Milan too.

Juventus game postponed (again) due to snow. Ugh.

[Young Drachma]

Zambia beats Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties completing their crazy run to the African Nations Cup.

VIDEO: Zambia Proves Why Sports Are Better Than Anything Else, Always - From Our Editors - SBNation.com

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Zambia beats Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties completing their crazy run to the African Nations Cup.

Zambia's Joseph Musonda was taken off injured after 10 minutes, had to be led from the field in tears. At the final whistle the Zambia coach picked him up and carried him from the bench to the rest of the players so he could join in the celebrations.

[cartman]

Looks like I jinxed Inter. They have dropped 3 of their last 4. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Moratti channels his inner Steinbrenner again, to drop Ranieri and bring on Capello.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Critch

Zambia's Joseph Musonda was taken off injured after 10 minutes, had to be led from the field in tears. At the final whistle the Zambia coach picked him up and carried him from the bench to the rest of the players so he could join in the celebrations.

Very cool!

[AlexB]

Is this the bravest/best/most insane bit of defending ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtudM...e_gdata_player

[SirFozzie]

If you listen verrrry carefully, you may hear Inter's owners arm the ejection seat under Claudio Ranieri, as Inter lose again, 3-0 against Bologna, giving Inter 10 losses on the season, something that hasn't happened in 66 seasons (1945-46 last time)

[Critch]

...or it might be Chelsea getting theirs ready for Andre Villas-Boas. 60 minutes gone and 1-0 down at home to Birmingham City in the cup.

Edit - and they equalize about 30 seconds after I post.

[SirFozzie]

1-1 for Chelsea, but AVB better be careful and brace himself if he hears any click-click sounds.


Or that just might be Wenger after the Arse are down 1-0 to Sunderland with 20 to play.

[SirFozzie]

Make that 2-0 Sunderland, as the wunderkid accidentally bundles a shot off the post into his own net.

[sovereignstar v2]

No, this is not The Onion.

Porto to complain to UEFA over Man City fan taunts against Hulk - ESPN Soccernet

Porto have vowed to lodge a complaint with UEFA after Manchester City supporters chanted "You're not incredible" at Hulk at Eastlands on Wednesday night.

City fans also labelled Hulk a "cheat" during City's 4-0 Europa League victory over Porto, which saw them through 6-1 on aggregate, and Porto communications director Rui Cerqueira feels the club should be punished.

He said: "We will take this to UEFA. It is improper behaviour. This behaviour may be normal in England but Porto want to contribute to eradicating it from sport."

UEFA said on Thursday morning that a complaint had yet to be lodged over the chants.

The move comes following the announcement that UEFA will charge Porto over alleged racial chanting against Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure during the first leg of the tie at the Estadio do Dragao.

Cerqueira had said Porto were "surprised" when City made the complaint and claimed the supposed monkey chants were actually fans of both teams chanting "Hulk, Hulk, Hulk" and "Kun, Kun, Kun" in support of their players.

[sovereignstar v2]

Dola

Hulk might be the biggest baby in soccer. I've never seen a guy yap so much. For someone that is built so strong he rarely stays on his feet. I would welcome his addition to Chelsea anyday.

[Big Fo]

A very fortunate point for Juventus today.

[SirFozzie]

Wow. Ryan Giggs, on his 900th appearance for Man Yoo (!!!!) scores the stoppage time winner. I have a feeling that we'll eventually find out that Giggs is a Terminator robot, sent back in time to assist Fergie :P

Arsenal are not quite dead yet, coming back from 2-0 down to crush Tottenham 5-2.

And Cardiff have taken a shock 1-0 lead in the League Cup Final... can they hold on for 65+ minutes?

[bhlloy]

I can't even watch this....

[SirFozzie]

Liverpool equalize. Half an hour to play. Game on!!!!!!!

[SirFozzie]

Well..... ninety minutes.. no winner. Let's See what the next thirty bring

[bhlloy]

Miller should have won it for us

[SirFozzie]

Cardiff no strangers to extra tine. This is the FIFTH time they have played extra tine in the league cup this season

[SirFozzie]

Kuyt the final sub for Liverpool

[bhlloy]

I have no idea why Mackay hasn't used our subs. Gestede and Miller are done