Soccer Thread 2012-13

[sovereignstar v2]

Sinclair could be a tidy little signing, though it's annoying how much they got from Sunderland for Adam Johnson when you see what other clubs are paying for English players. His higher salary could've played a part I suppose.

He obviously won't start a ton, but there a certain games where City are screaming for width and pace and he could become a really good super sub. I was kind of hoping Walcott would come on board haha.

[sovereignstar v2]

Spurs are making some awesome signings. I would love to see Moutinho in the EPL.

[Grover]

And Fulham announce the signing of Berbatov.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Spurs are making some awesome signings. I would love to see Moutinho in the EPL.

I really, really like this team AVB and Levy are putting together. It may take until Christmas before all these new players start working together, but it’s going to be fun to watch. If Spurs are even sitting at 8 or 9 in the table by then I can see them making a real run at a Champions league spot.

Edit: And if the Lloris deal is completed, which it’s looking pretty good, I really hope we can get a deal done so Freidel can spend his last year playing instead of sitting on the bench. The guy is

[Alan T]

I am pretty sure that Manchester City is playing real club management the same way I usually play Football Manager.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I am pretty sure that Manchester City is playing real club management the same way I usually play Football Manager.

I tweeted something earlier along the lines of the top clubs thinking they're Pokemon masters and are simply trying to collect all the players .....

[Easy Mac]

Since we're talking British football, rumours say Dempsey is off to Liverpool for $7 million (pounds, I just don't know how to type it).

[Easy Mac]

Of course, 4 minutes later a report comes out saying Spurs have jumped in at the last minute for Dempsey.

[Grover]

Apparently the Bastos loan fell through.

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Spurs are making some awesome signings. I would love to see Moutinho in the EPL.

It appears the Moutinho deal has hit a snag.

[Grover]

Spain international Pablo Hernandez has completed his move from Valencia to Swansea for £5.55million on a three-year deal.

[miami_fan]

Amidst all the transfer madness, Chelsea plays Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup tonight.

[Easy Mac]

Sky is reporting Fulham have rejected Liverpool's bid for Dempsey.

[miami_fan]

Falcao is putting on a fucking show!

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Sky is reporting Fulham have rejected Liverpool's bid for Dempsey.

Spurs now rumored to be in on the Dempsey action.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I am pretty sure that Manchester City is playing real club management the same way I usually play Football Manager.

You sell players, you have to buy players. You play to win the EPL and UCL and you have to have squad depth. They've hardly went crazy this window, so I'm not sure your comments make much sense.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

You sell players, you have to buy players. You play to win the EPL and UCL and you have to have squad depth. They've hardly went crazy this window, so I'm not sure your comments make much sense.

I'm not sure why you are so defensive. I didn't say it was good or bad, just commenting that they act like how I play Football manager is all. Its alot of fun playing football manager trying to get an elite player at every position and seeing if I can dominate at all levels of play (EPL, Europe, etc). They seem to be trying the same thing without cost being an issue to them. If I was a fan of Man City, it would probably make me happy to have so much financial support put in behind the team.

[kingfc22]

Sky Sports sources say Clint Dempsey has signed for Tottenham for £6million on a three-year deal.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

You sell players, you have to buy players. You play to win the EPL and UCL and you have to have squad depth. They've hardly went crazy this window, so I'm not sure your comments make much sense.

Not crazy in terms of money, but ManCity does top the list of most transfers today.

IN
Javi Garcia
Matija Nastasic
Maicon
Richard Wright (free agent)
Scott Sinclair

OUT
Boyata (loan)
Roque Santa Cruz (loan)
Nigel de Jong

[DaddyTorgo]

Bendtner - bleh

[Big Fo]

I'm glad that Dempsey didn't wind up stuck at Fulham, that would have been awkward. And although they aren't a CL team this year Spurs are still a step up at least. Next year they might well be in it too.

Berbatov signed for Fulham. I feel bad for him, it's not like he was ineffective at Man Utd or anything, he had a great scoring record and led the league in goals one season. It's just that SAF decided he'd rather play a quicker striker (whether it was Welbeck or Chicharito) who will press the defenders more to partner with Rooney. And both Berbatov and Rooney like dropping deeper to get touches and as good as Berbatov is, he wasn't going to start ahead of Rooney. I enjoyed watching him play for us, hopefully he does great for Fulham.

And no Manchester United fan will ever forget this hattrick against Liverpool, the second goal (starting at around 57 seconds into the video) was just amazing:


Dimitar Berbatov hattrick vs Liverpool by look25a

[Grover]

Hammers thrashed Fulham in the first half, up 3-0. Carroll making a huge difference on set pieces already, Fulham keying in on him big time, leaving opportunities for other players. It's paying off.

Vaz Te, Noble and Diame have been especially excellent.

[Grover]

Hoping Carroll's hamstring knock isn't too serious.

[TroyF]

OK, so the soccer gurus on the board need to help me a little.

Arsenal just finished with their 3rd clean sheet in a row in the EPL. The last time I can see they had three clean sheets in a row in any stretch was early in the 2010 season and one of those involved a cup game.

I understand luck plays a role here. A wonder strike, the level of competition, a penalty call not going your way. . . all of that can cause a clean sheet to go away.

That said, Arsenal are clearly better than in past years. They seem to be playing set pieces about 200x better this year. They are doing a sensational job of closing games out without lots of scares like previous years.

It's early and things can change and I get that, but my question to you is what is different? One thing I can see is Podolski goes back far better than Van Persie, Arshavin or Walcott have ever dreamed of going back. Beyond that I keep hearing Bould is the cause and that's where my question comes in. What is he doing different? Is he doing something Rice was incapable of?

I realize that I could be sitting here next week after a 7-0 thrashing and be moaning about our transfer policy, but seeing Arsenal go into Anfield, play Mannone in goal and Jenkinson on the right and the plodding Mertesacker at CB and get out of the game with relatively few threats is shocking.

[whomario]

yeah, Podolski really worked on his defense over the years.

Bayern Munich just scored 3 goals in 5 minutes and is now up 6-1 over Stuttgart (who have been a "hot" team for the 2nd half of last season)

Also 4 goals in 8 minutes and 6 in 20 first in the 32nd, the 6th in the 51st ...

[Big Fo]

He scores when he wants.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by TroyF

It's early and things can change and I get that, but my question to you is what is different? One thing I can see is Podolski goes back far better than Van Persie, Arshavin or Walcott have ever dreamed of going back. Beyond that I keep hearing Bould is the cause and that's where my question comes in. What is he doing different? Is he doing something Rice was incapable of?

Main thing I see is they're not defending as high up the pitch and definitely not playing the off-side trap as much, this is important as it used to allow teams with fast players to get a drop on them and worse still allowed inferior sides to effectively counter attack against them when they got things wrong.

By defending deeper they're restricting these sort of sucker punches which often left them dominating matches but conceeding goals.

(just my take on it - your milage may vary)

[DaddyTorgo]

@ the Stadio Friuli

Juventus 4 - Udinese 1

Woo!

Although I still want to rape Verizon forcibly with a rusty pitchfork because I can't watch it.

[Grover]

On the Arsenal/Defending bit, my two cents is this: There's no Pat Rice.

[law90026]

Great result for Arsenal last night!

Although seeing RvP score a hattrick for Man Utd hurts

Re the defending: I think one of the most common calls in the past years is for a specialist defensive coach and Steve Bould clearly checks that box. It looks like a much more disciplined defensive effort and that provides a very stable foundation for counter-attacks, similar to the golden years in the early 2000s.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by law90026

Great result for Arsenal last night!

Indeed. Great to finally break the goose egg.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by law90026

Great result for Arsenal last night!

Although seeing RvP score a hattrick for Man Utd hurts

Re the defending: I think one of the most common calls in the past years is for a specialist defensive coach and Steve Bould clearly checks that box. It looks like a much more disciplined defensive effort and that provides a very stable foundation for counter-attacks, similar to the golden years in the early 2000s.

RvP - I'm STILL in the minority. I really don't care that he left. I really do care that Arsenal didn't add another player or two before the window closed with that extra cash.

If RvP puts together another injury free campaign, I'll take it all back. But all of the evidence indicates he'll be lucky to be there for half the EPL season. With all of his injuries, I also see him falling apart far faster than normal players. I think the last two years of his deal he will be injured AND not a superstar.

With that feeling, I can live with him having a few days like he did today. Last year, Arsenal had 7 points in their first 7 games. In the fist 7 games this year, it included Liverpool and ManCity away and Chelsea at home. I was worried about the same thing happening. Instead, it's five points in three games and four points after away games at Stoke and Liverpool. (to put that into perspective, ManU and ManCity took 2 points each in those games last year, Chelsea and Tottenham took 1)

Next really big title in the EPL will be late September with City host Arsenal and Pool host ManU on the same day late in the month.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by law90026

Although seeing RvP score a hattrick for Man Utd hurts

The missed attempt to 'Panenka' hat penalty kick to me overshadows the three goals scored. It worried me a lot that he thinks he should do stuff like that...

[bhlloy]

He pretty much had to win the game by himself after that or he would have had his balls ripped off by Fergie when he got back in the dressing room. Fear is a great motivator

[molson]

I love how John Henry's answer to everything is an "open letter" to the fanbase. He must have picked that up in a self-help book or something.

John Henry writes letter to Liverpool fans - The Buzz - Boston.com sports news

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

The missed attempt to 'Panenka' hat penalty kick to me overshadows the three goals scored. It worried me a lot that he thinks he should do stuff like that...

Seriously...who does he think he is - Pirlo?

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

The missed attempt to 'Panenka' hat penalty kick to me overshadows the three goals scored. It worried me a lot that he thinks he should do stuff like that...

As a United fan the 87th and 92nd minute goals that won the game easily overshadow a poorly taken penalty kick. I went from feelings of despair to those of ecstasy in a matter of minutes. And I bet he doesn't take the next one like that, even RVP said he didn't know what he was thinking:

Originally Posted by RVP

“It’s three points and a little headache for me,” Robin told Sky Sports and MUTV. “I don’t know what I was thinking with the penalty, I wanted to hit it hard like I always do but at the last second I changed my mind, somehow. That wasn’t good enough so that was a bit of a down. I’m quite disappointed to be fair. I ask a certain standard from my game and when something like that happens, when you’re 2-1 down, you can’t take a penalty like that. It is me who is to blame. I don’t know what went wrong but something went wrong big time, so I have to work on that. After that I was very relieved that we got the three points, trust me.”

[sovereignstar v2]

The overrated Hulk goes to Zenit with Alex Witsel for a combined 80 million Euros.

[Big Fo]

Porto are the kings of scouting and negotiation. I know Witsel was Benfica but so many times in recent years Porto have bought a player for a few million or less, had them contribute to title winning/contending teams for a few years, and then sold them for a huge profit. Hulk, Falcao, Bruno Alves, Raul Miereles, Lisandro Lopez, Aly Cissokho, Lucho Gonzalez, Ricardo Quaresma, Jose Bosigwa, Anderson, and Pepe were all sold for over £11m in the last six years and I think Hulk was the only one who they paid a big fee (still far less than they just received though) for.

[Grover]

Witsel is an awesome, awesome player. Belgium has so many talented central midfield players with Fellaini, Witsel, Defour, Nainggolan, and Hazard.

[bhlloy]

Flying home for a wedding tomorrow so I'm going to get to be at Wales vs Belgium on Friday night. We're going to get stuffed, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the game for that reason

[MIJB#19]

It's plain silly that the Russian FA is allowed to allow transfers after August 31st. Platini, where is your financial fair play plan now (yes, I think this should be part of that too)...

[AlexB]

Not only Russia, but Turkey too for at least another. Like you say, makes zero sense

[miami_fan]

Can he do anything with that? Isn't the transfer window determined by each country's FA? I would like to see all transfer windows be complete before the start of that country's season.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Can he do anything with that? Isn't the transfer window determined by each country's FA? I would like to see all transfer windows be complete before the start of that country's season.

Of course FIFA and/or UEFA can do something about it. If you're a 'union' of football associations, then there's something you can do about these irregularities, especially considering these unfair transfers have an influence on UEFA organized competitions.

[I. J. Reilly]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Of course FIFA and/or UEFA can do something about it. If you're a 'union' of football associations, then there's something you can do about these irregularities, especially considering these unfair transfers have an influence on UEFA organized competitions.

Lol; I’m sure when Russian oligarchs and FIFA plutocrats meet ensuring the integrity of the game is their first order of business.

[miami_fan]

I don't doubt he could do something. But to be frank, it probably was not on anyone's radar at UEFA until the "outsiders" from Russia began splashing the cash.

[Grover]

Carroll likely out til mid-October and rumors that Liverpool have a recall clause that starts in January are a punch to the gut/balls.

[PilotMan]

I actually get to watch the qualifier from Jamaica tonight. I haven't been able to see a game that mattered for a while.

[Big Fo]

Hopefully Time Warner gets beIN Sport USA soon. For tonight I must make do with alternative methods.

Howard; Parkhurst, Goodson, Cameron, Johnson; Jones, Beckerman, Edu, Dempsey; Altidore, Gomez.

Miller; Mariappa, Nosworthy, Taylor; Palmer, Morrison, Austin, Bryan; Watson; Shelton, Johnson.