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.