Soccer Thread 2012-13

[Katon]

Wow.

[cartman]

WOW! Robben shook off his ghosts with that one.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

If it wasn't for Thomas Rongen, an American would have just made a Champions League saving play.

Wow, let it go.

[kingfc22]

I've seen wider pitches at junior high soccer matches than what City and Chelsea are playing on in NY. Might as well make this exhibition an 8v8 match to open up space.

[whomario]

what a gut wrenching way to get beaten ... Robben of all people ...
Been an amzing year and the guys went down guns ablazing. Punching Bayern right in the face to start the game. No pulling back, foot on the gas pedal for as long as they could do it. Even at the end, tired as shit and getting outplayed, they still played for the win rather than not too loose. Yeah, Bayern took controll, but even then the Dortmund defense played high up the pitch and trying to force mistakes rather than sitting back hoping for them.
Maybe that wasn´t the smart move, but it´s just how this team is wired. And i´m glad they are.

[MrBug708]

0-0 in ET so far with Watford and CP!

[MrBug708]

1-0 heading up!

[Critch]

I was hoping for Watford to go up just to see what the EPL would do with a team that has 13 players on-loan and is under a transfer embargo. Would have been a good challenge in FM2014 too.

But well done to Palace on achieving their one season stint in the EPL.

Also:

Bald eagles that look like Arsene Wenger

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Critch

But well done to Palace on achieving their one season stint in the EPL.

I actually think they might surprise a few people - they've been tactically very astute at times this season, look at them against Brighton and then Watford in the play-offs ... both times they took competitive sides and restricted them tactically.

Now the Premiership will be harder and unless they manage to convince Man Utd to let Zaha mature with them then they'll be a bit more toothless .... but they won't go out with a whimper imho.

(and this is coming from a Brighton supporter)

[MikeVic]

lol, I recently started playing FM on iOS. Bought the newest version and am at 70 hours or something like that.

Anyway, after being sacked from Tottenham because I had no idea what I was doing, Crystal Palace was willing to hire me. I've taken them to the Premier League and am with them for 7 seasons or so. Only person remaining from the roster that I just saw on ESPN is Jon Williams.

I'll be following Crystal Palace and rooting for them for this simple reason, haha. Also, FM question here: Chelsea, Man U, and Man City and pissing me off with their frickin buys. I've never finished higher than around 10th, but this season I'm second to Chelsea half-way through the season. Chelsea onyl has one loss and one draw, and it'll be near impossible to catch up. Is there any reward to finishing in the top 3? How does one get entered into the other various cups that I see teams like Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid, etc constantly participate in?

[cartman]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Is there any reward to finishing in the top 3? How does one get entered into the other various cups that I see teams like Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid, etc constantly participate in?

There is a formula to determine the top X teams in each country's top level league that get into the Champions League. For England, it should be at least the top 3 get in. Then the next 3 or 4 teams can get into the Europa League, which is also a Europe-wide tourney one step down from the Champions League.

Here's the Wikipedia articles on formats:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Ch..._League#Format
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Europa_League#Format

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

I actually think they might surprise a few people - they've been tactically very astute at times this season, look at them against Brighton and then Watford in the play-offs ... both times they took competitive sides and restricted them tactically.

Surprise people in the same way he did with Blackpool a couple of years ago. Look good to start off with before being found out, having no plan B, then sliding down the table to relegation.

I'm going for Cardiff stay up (they'll have the finances), Hull stay up (Steve Bruce knows what he's doing), Palace adrift by Xmas.

Maybe my opinion is being clouded by the fact Holloway is a rat-featured self-publicist with a face you'd never tire of punching.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

I'll be following Crystal Palace and rooting for them for this simple reason, haha. Also, FM question here: Chelsea, Man U, and Man City and pissing me off with their frickin buys. I've never finished higher than around 10th, but this season I'm second to Chelsea half-way through the season. Chelsea onyl has one loss and one draw, and it'll be near impossible to catch up. Is there any reward to finishing in the top 3? How does one get entered into the other various cups that I see teams like Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid, etc constantly participate in?

Breaking into 'Europe' is a big deal in football, the European competitions (esp. Champions League) are where the big money is .... this also leads to being able to sign the very top players as they generally are only interested in clubs competing in these competitions.

(the first time you do it you might be able to snare a few of the better older players who are struggling to hold down places at the biggest teams, but if you can consistently achieve a European Cup place then eventually you might be able to compete against the likes of Man Utd, Chelsea etc. directly ...)

[RainMaker]

When does the move to Klinsmann pay off? Couple years in and I can't remember Bradley teams ever looking this bad.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

When does the move to Klinsmann pay off? Couple years in and I can't remember Bradley teams ever looking this bad.

Sunday is going to be UGLY.

[DaddyTorgo]

Belgium isn't Brazil, this is embarrassing to be sure.

[DaddyTorgo]

And that was a pretty lucky handball call they got on the PK.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Belgium isn't horrible, but this is embarrassing to be sure.

Odd way of describing an opponent that is clearly better in every facet.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yeah....that was a miswording. Going back to correct it - obviously need more tea.

Belgium isn't Brazil is more what I meant to say...got mixed up in my head about how I was trying to say what I wanted to say.

[sovereignstar v2]

Hah. I'm only repeating what others have already said, but Belgium is a team that is only going to get better. They are loaded with individual talent.

Kompany
Vertonghen
Dembele
Fellaini
Witsel
Hazard
Chadli
Mirallas
Lukaku
Mertens
Benteke
De Bruyne

[bhlloy]

They might not be Brazil, but they are damn good and getting better. Obviously never good when you give up 4 goals at home, and I think Klinsmann is a poor coach, but a 2 goal defeat with those lineups is pretty much exactly what I'd expect.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

And that was a pretty lucky handball call they got on the PK.

US also got away with an obvious handball in the 1st half. Should be 5-1.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Hah. I'm only repeating what others have already said, but Belgium is a team that is only going to get better. They are loaded with individual talent.

Kompany
Vertonghen
Dembele
Fellaini
Witsel
Hazard
Chadli
Mirallas
Lukaku
Mertens
Benteke
De Bruyne

Yeah, this. Howard is better than Mignolet, you might be able to convince me that Dempsey is better than Lukaku or Benteke (although vastly different kinds of players)

Other than that... Belgium is pretty clearly better than the US at every position on the field. Very weak US side, never would have expected a result here.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Hah. I'm only repeating what others have already said, but Belgium is a team that is only going to get better. They are loaded with individual talent.

Kompany
Vertonghen
Dembele
Fellaini
Witsel
Hazard
Chadli
Mirallas
Lukaku
Mertens
Benteke
De Bruyne

Oh yeah, I'm not trying to run down Belgium. Hell, in my FM games they're #1 in the world in 2019 and smoking everyone. I know they've got a ton of talent.

But giving up 4 goals at home is not good. I'd rather a 0-0 draw than that. Especially given some of the play that caused it.

[RainMaker]

The squad would at least make it respectable under Bradley. Not expecting them to beat Belgium or anything, just not get trounced.

They just seem much worse than I can remember in a long time.

[rowech]

No Bradley and no Donovan isn't helping. The defenders though are wretched. If Beasley is a defender, then this team is in real trouble. They will qualify but they will get crushed. Why do we not have anybody who can actually defend? Sme of the most basic ideas of defending are nowhere to be found.

[sovereignstar v2]

So Mark Hughes gets QPR relegated and well, of course, he gets rewarded with another job in the top division half a year later. Are managers becoming extinct or something? I get that he's British, but surely there has to be an up-and-comer that deserves a shout before this retread. Sometimes I just don't understand the things that go on in futbol.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

So Mark Hughes gets QPR relegated and well, of course, he gets rewarded with another job in the top division half a year later. Are managers becoming extinct or something? I get that he's British, but surely there has to be an up-and-comer that deserves a shout before this retread. Sometimes I just don't understand the things that go on in futbol.

I think this is probably his last chance - don't forget though he actually did a very good job at Blackburn originally, followed up by a competent performance Man City (he was controversially sacked having only lost one match that season because they'd drawn 7 in a row), then despite having a bad relationship with the chairman he took Fulham to 8th position in 2011 .... so his QPR performance is currently an aberration in an otherwise successful management career.

(the odd thing about his time at QPR is that generally Hughes teams are defensively pretty sound but unable to strike 'killer blows' and so secure far more draws then they should - both in terms of avoiding defeat, but also failing to win ... with QPR that wasn't true, they didn't have the defensive organisation or tenacity which I expected)

[sovereignstar v2]

I don't think there was anything controversial about his sacking at City. Well maybe to the tabloid English media there was. He actually lost two games that season and the 7 successive draws were to:

Aston Villa
Wigan
Fulham
Birmingham
Burnley
Liverpool
Hull

Yuck. Anyways, I expect Stoke to be fighting for survival next season.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

I don't think there was anything controversial about his sacking at City. Well maybe to the tabloid English media there was. He actually lost two games that season and the 7 successive draws were to:

I think it was - remember Man City were rebuilding at that time and were in no way as established as they are now ....

(it was also somewhat telling that his replacement fared little better with the same squad of players)

I do agree that he draws too much though - which I think I indicated, its strange really because as a player he was very much no mercy and take no prisoners - but his teams fail to have that killer instinct far too often.

[Tekneek]

Sparky should not have been sacked by City when they did it. Maybe later, perhaps, but it was not deserving at the time. The way he walked out on Fulham is strange, considering he didn't walk into another post for a while. I wouldn't think QPR gets to outweigh his job performance elsewhere. Best to not have too short of a memory when looking at managers.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

So where is David Beckham going to put his expansion team? I love that he got that written into his contract for a measly $25m.

David Beckham -- Bringing MLS to Miami exciting possibility - ESPN FC

[sovereignstar v2]

Wow, what a mistake by the German keeper!

[AlexB]

England in red kit, playing with orange ball... I wasn't even born in 66 and yet it stirs up a few butterflies!

[AlexB]

Dola, on closer inspection the ball appears to be half yellow, half pink in the close ups. A little less retro than I thought!

[Easy Mac]

Clint

[kingfc22]

So I was out and missed the game. Did Germany just take 70 minutes to figure out how to expose our weak defense and then force the US to hang on praying for the final whistle?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

So I was out and missed the game. Did Germany just take 70 minutes to figure out how to expose our weak defense and then force the US to hang on praying for the final whistle?

Yes.

[whomario]

The kind-of established guys ("kind of" as Germany missed propably 15 of their Top 18 players due to the Bayern and Dortmund players missing the trip as well as Özil/Khedira) starting the game were sleepwalking through it and didn´t have much of a plan after going down early on 2 massive blunders, then in the 2nd half a couple subs came in and played with more drive and the US eased up after going up 4:1.

Was a pretty good game offensively for the US and the defense wasn´t that bad really and while i hope the result gives Klinsmann some breathing room (i like the guy ...) it really was a meaningless game.

[DaddyTorgo]

Neymar anyone?

[Marc Vaughan]

Great result imho - yes the German side was well under strength and not as well drilled as the usual suspects, but they're still good players and whether it was caused by over-confidence, poor tactics etc. .... it doesn't diminish the result being a good one.

Such results give players faith in the system they're using and a lot of winning is down to confidence so that's a very good thing imho.

Same thing holds for England's draw with Brazil today, there was a heck of a LOT of luck involved imho* ... but at the end of the day its the result the players will remember and it'll give them confidence going forward.

*Although a lot of that luck also involved Hart playing out of his socks.