Soccer Thread 2012-13
 

AVB to Tottenham and RVP leaving Arsenal.

Another tough challenge for AVB. The expectations won't be quite as high and he'll get more time, but the resources will obviously be more limited. I think he has to sell Modric this summer.

AVB is a wonderful hire for Spurs. I hope Levy and crew give him time, unlike Chelsea. He can be a stud and he's got defenders with pace there. The high line won't be a problem for BAE, Kaboul and Walker.

And the Arsenal debacle continues. Not sure how the club is going to go from here to be honest.

Sell RVP for the biggest fee possible. Move some of the other rubbish out (Bendtner, Diaby, Chamakh, Park Chu Young), maybe get one more forward in and a defender, maybe spunk £15M on Lloris.

I don't think it's that big of a deal if van Persie goes. I think the writing has been on the wall for a long time.

Of course, the onus is now on Podolski and Giroud to adapt quickly.

I think the issue is that the fee is going to be substantially smaller now because of what RvP has done and the club now has very little negotiating power.

I'm also not confident that Podolski and/or Giroud will adapt that quickly which could again mean a slow start to the season. It's a big enough deal I suspect that 4th place might again be a real challenge, especially since we didn't earn 3rd place last year (more like Spurs and Newcastle gave it away at the end).

Ah well, same ol' Arsenal!

It is shocking because of how depressed I have been about Arsenal for the last couple if years, but this just does not bother me the way it does others.

First, I have expected thus for over a year. Secondly, everyone forgets the guy usually gets hurt for long periods. He has started 20 or more EPL games twice in the last six years. Arsenal, even if they open the books further, do not have the resources to have their highest paid player always out. Essentially, Robin finally stayed healthy in is contract year, what a shock. Third, this is going to force the club into action for once. The could make excuses for Fabergas. They could say Henry and Viera were not top flight players when they left.

Now that Van Persie has decided to go and Tottenham have opened the hcl book, I believe Arsenal will spend more. No, it will no be City type spending, but I would expect all of Robins transfer fee to be invested back.

The Lloris thing I do not get. Arsenal do not have a keeper problem. They need another for the back line, another forward and a DMC. The last thing they need to do is spend money on Lloris.

I know people are going to act like the sky is falling, but I think this has the potential to be a very good thing for this club hoing forward. Maybe I am just an idiot, but I think if Van Persie reups, the Gunners do ot sign more tgan one other player and the sky would be falling next year when he would be back on the shelf for half he seosn.

Barcelona signs 23 years old new Euro Champion left wingback Jordi Alba from Valencia for 14Million Euros. Huge signing for really cheap as the deal was done before the Eurocup.

Wow with him at the left and Alves at the right, Barcelona wings are going to be really dangerous.

Funny how he was cut from Barcelona youth team a few years ago because he was not good enough as offensive wing. He joined then Valencia's youth team and past season due to team mate injuries he was forced to learn to play wingback and now he has developed into a top one.

Yeah, Alba looks a great signing. Think he only had another year left on his contract with Valencia, so that would've affected the price as well.

yeah, Alba impressed the heck out of me as well.

Funny is that Dortmund had similar storylines in recent years, one is Pisczek who basically was garbage as a winger, then changed to the back and was still not good but then came to Dortmund on a free and then developed into the best wing back in the Bundesliga.

And Marco Reus was "let go" at youth level because he wasn´t supposed to be physichal enough and now comes back to his hometown team.


Spain nominated their olympic team or rather 21 for 18 spots (No22 was Thiago from Barca who now suffered an injury)
De Gea is in it as well as Mata, Jordi Alba, Javi Martinez and iker Muniain.

Piers Morgan committing suicide would not bother me at all.

West Ham have brought in Guti on trial.

Oh boy, this could be fun. Not really sure he fits in with Big Sam's anti-football tactics, though.

David Beckham Fight: Galaxy Star Kicks Ball At Sam Cronin, Argues With Earthquakes Mascot (VIDEO)

So my favorite part of this is that the "injured" guy is on the ground, acting all "my head, my head!", but as soon as the ball comes in he sits up, raises his arms, stands up, and charges off. Maybe Beckham had a point?

My favorite part is the accuracy of the kick. It's fantastic. An American would have tried it and missed by 10 yards.

The International FA Board has approved goalline technology, we will first see it in action at this December's FIFA Club World Cup. If it works according to plan, we will also see it at the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup.

This is a good move. I wonder if somewhere down the road teams will be able to appeal offside calls, penalties, players being sent off, etc.

I hope not. Leave it for goals only.

I don't want to see situations where they're playing 10+ minutes of stoppage time every day because coaches are challenging decisions.

I think that replays should be used for incidents within the box, though I don't want to see teams being able to appeal. The review should be automatic and more or less instant, with the referee being instantly notified by the video refs. I don't think it will add any extra time to the game, as at the moment the players have a long argument with the referee anyway.

The ONLY way it should work in futbol/soccer is with replay-officials up in a booth who can instantly signal the refs on the field if there's a call. Seems obvious, but otherwise it'd be a fucking nightmare. Replay-official in the booth has the final call, none of this NFL-style "go under the hood" bullshit.

And even then - only for incidents like Ryan said, that are within the box. Maybe for offsides if they can figure that out somehow?

We also need to figure out what to do about players pulling on each other in the box, otherwise we will never see a goal from a corner or indirect free kick again :)

Offside would be easy to implement, as all the video ref would need to do would be to look at one replay after the goal and give a yes/no response. It would add no time at all to the game as the play has already stopped for the "goal".

he missed by ten yards on his first try

What if it doesn't lead directly to a goal though? I mean what if it's a long ball over the top down a channel that a guy runs onto (from an offside position) and then crosses into the box after 20 seconds of dribbling in the corner, and then the goal happens?

Brazil is going for gold at the Olympics...

Here's the squad:
Rafael Cabral (Santos), Neto (Fiorentina); Alex Sandro (Porto), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Rafael (Manchester United), Danilo (Porto), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), Bruno Uvini (Sao Paulo), Juan (Inter Milan); Sandro (Tottenham), Romulo (Spartak Moscow), Paulo Henrique Ganso (Santos), Oscar (Internacional), Lucas Moura (Sao Paulo); Neymar (Santos), Leandro Damiao (International), Alexandre Pato, Hulk (Porto)

It's the only tournament Brazil is eligible for that they've never won.

Surely that's a win-win for RVP?

FWIW if I was Arsenal, I'd keep him for the year. They're not going to get enough money to adequately replace him, so why not, assuming he's as professional as he appears to be, let him play out the year, and if they manage to win something they have half a chance of keeping him.

Even if not, chances are they'll still be in the top 4, and will have taken the pressure off Podolski and Giroud for a year

yeah, i don´t see crazy offers coming in for Van Persie. Maybe if the Euro went differently there would have been a more agressive push at some clubs to get him (transfers of the truly big time players are as much about image as scouting, imo), now i don´t think there will be really big offers.

as for the Brazil team : The good news is that there U23 team is that good/promising, the bad is that there aren´t all that many better options that´d be available for the senior team in 2014.

The tournament is actually really valuable for them. I think it´s regarded relatively high in brazil (as are the regular youth tournaments) and that way it might get them some good experience how to get through a tournament. They´ll also be the one team that´ll take the confed cup super serious next year.

The new Dortmund kit. The slogan says something like "As always for Schalke, they can look but they cant touch"

According to some Brazilian friends, as a country the fans want to win the Olympics much more than the Copa America and if they don't win it this summer Mano Menezes will probably be fired.

I can see City paying more than they should for him. Mancini has had the hots for him for quite awhile and assuming they outbid any other teams by a fair margin Arsenal will be forced to sell. There is no way their board will let him run down his contract.

City fans are split on him joining. Personally, I'd love to take the risk as I think he'd be perfect for our system. I just hope it'd be at Tevez' expense and not Dzeko's. Probably not the case though.

Looks like QPR are set to sign Park Ji-Sung for £5M.

Sure he's aging, but this is a pretty excellent signing for a club that barely beat out relegation. Be interesting to see how he does playing a full season as a starter.

That is just it, this was Van Persie forcing his way out early. e could have been like Cesc and been non commital and let things play out behind the scenes. Instead, he timed his shot and took shots at people who really didn't deserve it. His comment about the chairman being on vacation was a cheap shot. (and also untrue) He wants out and that is fine. The only thing that drives me crazy about Arsenal is getting money from these guys and not reinvesting said money. I like that we are actually turning a profit and aren't runing up large, unsustainable debts that will eventually come to roost. Just take the money you get from these sales and put it back into the club.

I don't care what happens to him at this point. Let him go to City. He'll break a hang nail and miss half the season. Note; I love Robin. He's a great player and what he did this year is something I will never forget. That said, he's only stayed healthy one year and the injuries will likely catch up to him.

FWIW, I don't want him as the captain this year if he does stay. I don't want my captain saying we can't win. (I don't even care if it's true, I wouldn't want the captain of any of the teams I cheer for to publically say they cannot win.

According to Sky Sports, Michael Bradley has just about tied up a deal with Roma.

As I've become increasingly into International Soccer (watched nearly every Euro 2012 game) I've decided it's long past due for me to pick a soccer team to root for. As I'd long to be able to watch the team I choose I think that means I'm limited to the EPL. While Man City has been fun to play in FM, I think that choosing either of the Manchester teams is a bit too heavy of jumping on the bandwagon. Of course, I'm not so into choosing a bottom dweller either. Suggestions? This has gone on longer than it ought to have simply because the last time I choose a sports team (as opposed to inheriting it) I was 7 or 8 and choose the 49ers who'd just wont he Super Bowl and so I don't really have a good sense for how to do it.

Pick a team that you enjoy watching. I picked West Ham when I started to get really into it in 2005-06. Have stuck with them through last year's relegation. Have been to Upton Park in London, fantastic atmosphere.

I had the same thought as you when I got into it, I wanted to steer clear of the big teams and pick a mid-table side i could root for. I quickly eliminated United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea at the time.

Keep in mind that if you do the "honorable" thing and pick a team like Wigan you will be lucky to watch a 1/4 of their games on TV and you will be reading team news off of a cookie-cutter website.

I'd consider myself a hardcore EPL fan and City is the team I most follow out of all sports. I'm lucky in that City seemingly has the most televised games over here (thank you FSC) and they have the best website.

My suggestion would be Spurs, Aston Villa or Everton.

Spurs
Pros - New manager who'll rebuild them into a team that plays attractive pressing football, or get fired trying. Nice shirts.
Cons - Their campaigns seem to regularly end in disappointment. Borderline bandwagon. They're the team Bill Symons picked when he made the same choice.

Aston Villa
Pros - New manager again. Things can only get better? American owned. Cool name?
Cons - If you ever got to the point of wanting to go to a game, Birmingham sucks.

Everton
Pros - Underdogs and gallant underachievers on comparatively low budgets. Best team in Liverpool. Steady manager. Chance Landon Donovan will be there for xmas.
Cons - Their football isnt glamorous. Best players will probably move on.

It's an old article but still good...

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Choosing my EPL team

Just keep watching games until you find yourself becoming more interested in a particular team and let it grow naturally.

Can the refs PLEASE start flashing yellow cards for foolishness like this? The Euros just proved this does not HAVE to happen. The captain and only the captain should be having any conversations with the refs.

City's captain and their number one supporter.

Spoiler'd due to size.

Liam has to be standing on a box lol. And I don't know how that neon blue pic started getting passed around.

That's Noel and he posted it on twitter.

And yes, he's probably standing on a box.

Wow. Can't believe I said Liam. :redface:

Michael Cox - Wayne Rooney's struggles for England might be of his own making - ESPN

Great article from Zonal Marking's Michael Cox.

Time for me to chime in on this thread. I've been an Arsenal fan since I was a little kid, starting in the early 90s.

This RVP situation is very disappointing. It really seemed like he would commit to the team, and the kitty is starting to open up. That being said, it was as little as a year and a half ago that I questioned whether RVP would ever play a full season. He has been terrific of late, one of the top strikers in Europe. But if he wants to go, let him go. Get it done sooner rather than later.

I strongly agree with what Grover said above. Get as much as you can for RVP, hopefully move the other deadweight, and re-invest in a couple of players. I think M'Vila would be a great fit.

If Wilshere comes back healthy this team will be much better in attack. Steadily losing faith in Ramsey, though he is still plenty young.

My suggestion is a combination of reading about the history of teams and watching the EPL season. Let it come naturally.

Or you can pretend you are still 7 or 8 and pick Arsenal because Gunners is a cool name and they have a cannon as a logo. Oh wait, that was me. (FYI I also stuck with Arsenal because Bergkamp was my favorite international player and when he went to Arse it sealed it)

This goal isn't that impressive, until you see it in slow motion and know the kid he jumps is 6'1"



Link in case embed doesn't work

Fulham have agreed to terms with Hugo Rodallega. Excellent signing.

Yeah, it was crazy that Mattocks got to that cross.

Milan are selling Ibra and Thiago Silva to PSG. It will be interesting to see how they'll do in the Champions League next season. I was looking at odds the other day, it seemed that bookies had seven teams with a somewhat realistic chance of winning it (Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Barca, Real, Bayern, Juve), perhaps PSG would make it eight with those guys and maybe more joining.

By the way, PSG are paying £51m for Ibra and Thiago Silva.

Last year Liverpool spent £55m on Andy Carroll and Stuart Downing.

Milan in money-saving mode...good times.

PSG are in Pot 4. They are fucked. But this move should kick-start the window. Rest assured that Milan will re-invest that money.

Edit: I guess there is a chance they can get into Pot 3.

Haha, this is actually a possible UCL Group. Champions of the Big 4 leagues:

Real Madrid, City, Juventus, Dortmund

yeah, Dortmund screwed up by not making it out of the group stage of the Europa League 2 years ago to collect some points (they literally don´t have any, they weren´t qualified for europe for a long time before rising up in germany). Heck, even last year in the CL they had a kind draw for a Pot4 team, no way they get another one as easy this year ...

I dislike that seeding system, it should just be based on the league coefficients imo.

Like Pot A would be England 1-2, Spain 1-2, Italy 1, Germany 1, Portugal 1, France 1 or something.

Maybe only the first two groups could be like this due to all the various playoffs needed to finalize the groups, but it's dumb having a team like Dortmund in Pot 4.

Sporting KC gets their shot at their first US Open Cup in 8 years. Should be a great environment at Livestrong Park for that game. May have to grab some tickets.

Rangers are dropped down to the Third (4th) Division of Scotland. Can't imagine many players are going to be sticking around for this if they can help it.

BBC Sport - Rangers latest

Sounds like the SPL are going to use to this as their advantage and try to create an SPL2 around Rangers which would essentially kill off the other divisions and make the rest of the SFL semi-pro or amateur.

So much greed in soccer, its getting really hard to follow. Rangers have the support and the backers to get promoted back to SPL in 3 years no matter where they start, but they'd rather blow the whole system up and the SPL will roll over and let them do it. What a great advert for financial responsibility and living within your means. Think FIFA will step into this one, like fuck they will...

I think the best approach would be a hybrid - teams get some points for their individual results, some (probably based on league position) from their country's coefficient.

European experience does seem to help, after all; neither of the CL finalists was particularly close to being the best team in their respective leagues, especially Chelsea, but their domestic betters couldn't even make it out of the group stages.

Odds on Pot 3 are pretty high for PSG. There are 7 teams in qualifying with a higher UEFA ranking and only one of them has to be KO'ed for PSG to move up. Of course, given the seeding, all 7 might make it into the group stage, but I wouldn't be surprised if Fenerbahce, Udinese or Lille would pull the upset vs Braga, Spartak Moscow, Dinamo Kiev, Panathinaikos or Kobenhavn. Heck, on of those last three might even choke on Club Brugge or Feyenoord one round earlier.

Honestly, it would not surprise me in Rangers end up back in the SPL this coming season. I think it is much more likely that they end up playing in the SPL than Division 3.

The current Rangers ownership is saying the right things ("We will play where they tell us to play") but the SFA and the SPL are desperate not to miss out on the money Rangers can bring into the game.

Most of the SFL chairmen interviewed on TV this evening are sceptical that Rangers will ever play a game in Division 3. Something needs to happen quickly, as the lower league season starts in just a few weeks.

I'd rather that than a concept of an SPL2 that would finally kill off the SFL, although barely. I've always preferred Rangers to Celtic but if they got themselves in this mess, they should start where anyone else would start and get themselves out of it

It just really isn't fair that Rangers FC falls over, yet (for example) clubs in the primera division with lesser history, whom are years behind on paying the bills and transfer fees and are held alive by local authorities continue to play in the UEFA competitions year after year. Platini, where is your fair play plan that you promised on your election?

Valencia, Villarreal?

Sky Sports understands Watford are eyeing a move for Udinese midfielder Almen Abdi. Watford owner Giampaolo Pozzo has helped set up the deal as he is also the owner of Udinese.

Anyone else think that this should be illegal?

Luxembourgian Club F91 Dudelange just beat Red Bull Salzburg in the CL 2nd qualifying round, first leg 1:0 at home then a 3:4 on the road.

One of the biggest shockers i can recall. Sure, it´s just the 2nd qualifying round and no one cares but still :) Only 2 rounds to go until we´ll cheer for a luxembourgian team in the Champions League !

Yes

Pozzo also owns Granada.

Some friends and I are looking to play fantasy EPL this season. Is there anywhere that does it like fantasy NFL where you draft players exclusively to one team? All the major sites do it salary cap-style where you get 100 million euros to build a team.

Never heard of any, despite that I'd like that concept for a change. I'm afraid you'd have to set it up yourself(selves), the soccer (fans) world doesn't have that same traditions as the more sophisticated USA sports fans, the soccer world's fantasy sports is rather new and jumped right into the internet and it's world-wide (nationwide) aspect, forcing things into the budget/one-player-per-team concepts.

http://www.fantasyleague.com/pro/

This is a pretty expensive site, minimum of about $40 per team and more if you go for one of the more expensive packages.

While I remember (and I will probably create a thread in a few days), the Fantasy Premier League site is active again and I have created a new FOFC league.

Fantasy Premier League - The official fantasy football game of the Barclays Premier League
Invite code - 173850-50573

Paging Mr. Platini, paging Mr. Platini. PSG are ruining football.

Sporting KC picked up the Cup last night! Amazing finish with how the PK's went down. KC coach was on the radio today talking about how the PK scouting work they did in advance with the KC goalie paid off. The KC goalkeeper actually told one of the PK takers before his kick 'I know where you're going' with a smile. Totally psyched out the player and he kicked it right over the bar.

£15m is way too much for Joe Allen, Liverpool.

Just joined. How'd I do for my first time playing Fantasy EPL?

GKs - Howard
DFs - A. Williams/Coloccini/Vertonghen/K. Walker
MFs - Cabaye/Bale/Dempsey/Hazard
STs - Naismith/Jelavic
BENCH - Al-Habsi/Shawcross/Park/Pogrebnyak

Since I watch the games a lot with my daughters on weekend mornings as we eat breakfast, I figured I may as well give it a shot and have something extra to root for.

Pretty sure Rodgers agreed not to sign anyone from Swansea for 12 months. Classy guy.

Technically he agreed not to make the first approach. Also pretty sure the Jacks are happy with 15m for Allen. Laudrup has a whole host of bargains he wants to bring in

So, Juventus coach is out till next season for involvement in match fixing..

Just one season? Nice.

Am I the only one who is shocked that the Community Shield is today? Man, just kinda snuck up on me.

yeah, definitely. German Supercup between Dortmund and Bayern is also today.

Anytime you can pay Everton 20 mil for a midfielder who missed most of last season with an injury, you gotta do it.

Was hoping to make it through the transfer period without any big sales, but Rodwell isn't worth 20 mil.

No - I didn't realise at all until i just read this!

hes english, that automatically doubles his value

I was disappointed to have woken up and saw that it was already over.

It's been reported that Malaga is selling players left and right, because they can't pay salaries. That's great advertisement to have that club in the Champions League playoffs.

And Cazorla is now gone ;)

Good to have proper games pretty much back, the long bleak summer of no-soccer since the Euros finished is over.

Thought Man City looked good, they'll either win the league or whoever finishes above them will. Chelsea didnt look great, I'm going for di Matteo out before the end of the season and Chelsea lucky to scrape 4th.

And ESPN3 football is worth watching, Jozy Altidore has just scored 2 great goals in 2 minutes for AZ against Ajax.

Oh Hazard.

Good deal. Trying to help out Everton when we can (see Joleon Lescott) so they can push for that Europa spot.

Most sources are reporting that Rodwell was sold for 12m (up to 15 million) by the way. So 8 million less than what Liverpool payed Villa for Stewart Downing.

Yeah the transfer fee kept going down throughout the day, from 20 to 15 to 12 w/ addons. Will be curious to see if Moyes gets to spend any of that money on transfers

I want him to be a good player since he was at Man City when I joined it in my FM dynasty and he was THE MAN for years, still starting 5-10 games a year plus subbing in another 5-10 at 36 when he hung it up. But yeah stuff like that...

Also joined this. My instincts are to build a "complete" team and I have to realize that holding midfielders probably don't have much value here.

I'm kind of dreading tonight's Mexico - USA friendly at the Azteca.

Oh my RVP