2006-07 Soccer Thread

[Critch]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

He isn't as gifted with technical tricks like a Bergkamp, Robben or Van Persie....

I've been looking for an excuse to post this link for weeks (Safe for work)

hxxp://www.ffcuk.me.uk/vanPersiemissBolton.gif

I wasn't impressed by Kuyt at the World Cup either, but Liverpool have been trailing him so long I'm sure they know what they're getting. Looking forward to seeing who Liverpool settle on as a forward line, is Kuyt bad news for Crouch?

[law90026]

20+ goals in the Dutch league isn't always the most impressive achievement ...

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Critch

I wasn't impressed by Kuyt at the World Cup either

I've seen this quote a lot with regards to his WC play. I would have to agree whole-heartedly. He did not play well. But neither did Ronaldinho and we all know what he can do at club level. Now I'm not comparing Dirk to Ronaldinho, I'm just using that as an example. I'll wait and see how he fits in to pass judgement.

Also, Ruud didn't have a particularly stellar WC either. While some of that may be down to his other problems, is there a possibility that there might have been something wrong with the overall tactics of the team and not just the player (Kuyt, Ruud, etc.)?

[Desnudo]

I think WC performances are not reliable indicators of a player's ability. Performance over a long season in club football is a much better way to tell.

[SirFozzie]

Let's see.. what's news:

Rumors have it that English Championship side West Bromwich Albion (WBA was relegated from the Premier League last year) has tabled a $2 Million dollar bid for KC's Eddie Johnson. (Considering EJ's slide over the last year, how MLS hasn't accepted this yet is surprising)

The Scottish Premier League want to absorb 10 more teams from the Scottish League system to form a 2nd division of the SPL, where the SPL would have 12 teams, the SPL2 would have 10, and one team would be promoted/relegated. (So all that would change really is the name of the 2nd division from Scottish First Division to the SPL2, and who would run it, from the FA to the SPL teams.. (confused))

Owen Hargreaves has asked to speak with Bayern Munich management in an effort to push his bid to leave the team to join Manchester United.

The EPL kicks off this weekend, and for EPL fans, if you have DirecTV, you won't miss many games as between Setanta Sports and Fox Soccer Channel, 8 of the 10 games being played in week one will be shown live on one of the two channels. How much overload is there? Setanta is in final stages of negotiations with DirecTV to provide a second channel on the lineup to be used when there is two games Setanta has rights to at the same time.

Speaking of Setanta and 2nd channels, rumor has it with all the leagues that they now have rights to, that they will be adding another channel, called Setanta Sports Extra, and will be populating that with Rugby and Gaelic Football and Hurling, along with Aussie Rules Football. Kinda like the evolution of Fox Sports World into Fox Soccer Channel, except they'll just move the other stuff over to Setanta Extra instead of dropping them.

[SirFozzie]

Dola: a Fifth and sixth team was punished today in the italian Serie A sporting fraud scandal.

Serie A side Reggina was hit with a 15 point penalty in the 06/07 season for attempted Sporting Fraud, a penalty which likely will condemn them to the drop to Serie B next year, as they are a lower level team

Serie B side Arezzo avoided relegation to Serie C1 but will start next season with a nine-point deduction.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by law90026

20+ goals in the Dutch league isn't always the most impressive achievement ...

Do some facts checking before you make these kind of claims. If you had taken the time to look at who've done it before, you wouldn't be calling it that. He scored 29 goals in the 2004/2005 season, 22 the following season. That's pretty good for a guy who isn't known for his goalscoring.

Don't get me wrong, we're only a second tier league. And I've said it before, I'll say it again, I've never been impressed by Kuijt, I wouldn't put him in the usual Dutch top strikers class. He even played many years for my favorite team and I'm not all "He's the greatest thing on earth!".

But the numbers don't lie either. You don't score so many goals in that many consecutive seasons. The last player to manage a 20+ in three consecutive seasons was Dennis Bergkamp in 1990-1993. Of the ten times someone scored 29 or more goals, the players were named Mateja Kezman (2x), Ruud van Nistelrooij (2x), Nikos Machlas, Ronaldo, Wim Kieft and Marco van Basten (2x). Romario never managed more than 25, Patrick Kluivert's best is 18, Roy Makaay's best 19, Zlatan Ibrahimovic' 13.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Do some facts checking before you make these kind of claims. If you had taken the time to look at who've done it before, you wouldn't be calling it that. He scored 29 goals in the 2004/2005 season, 22 the following season. That's pretty good for a guy who isn't known for his goalscoring.

Don't get me wrong, we're only a second tier league. And I've said it before, I'll say it again, I've never been impressed by Kuijt, I wouldn't put him in the usual Dutch top strikers class. He even played many years for my favorite team and I'm not all "He's the greatest thing on earth!".

But the numbers don't lie either. You don't score so many goals in that many consecutive seasons. The last player to manage a 20+ in three consecutive seasons was Dennis Bergkamp in 1990-1993. Of the ten times someone scored 29 or more goals, the players were named Mateja Kezman (2x), Ruud van Nistelrooij (2x), Nikos Machlas, Ronaldo, Wim Kieft and Marco van Basten (2x). Romario never managed more than 25, Patrick Kluivert's best is 18, Roy Makaay's best 19, Zlatan Ibrahimovic' 13.

To be fair, that's not a reasonable comp - a striker (especially the likes of Ibrahimovic) is often responsible for creating the goals as much as scoring them. Also, Kezman, Machlas and co are the more recent examples, which may be why there's some degree of skepticism towards the goalscoring exploits.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

for EPL fans, if you have DirecTV, you won't miss many games as between Setanta Sports and Fox Soccer Channel, 8 of the 10 games being played in week one will be shown live on one of the two channels.

8 live games?

In the UK we have two live games this week, with two more on pay per view.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

8 live games?

In the UK we have two live games this week, with two more on pay per view.

Sorry, not all Live Coverage a couple of Same Dayers. but for example, here's the week 1 schedule here in the States


Setanta Sports' EPL Schedule (all are US Eastern time)
Saturday, August 19th, 7:30am ET: Sheffield United v Liverpool. (Kickoff 7:45)-Live!

Saturday, August 19th, 9:30am ET: Arsenal v Aston Villa. (KO 10 AM) - Live!

Saturday August 19th, 2:30 PM West Ham vs Charlton (Same Day Coverage)

Sunday, August 20th, 8:30am ET: Manchester United v Fulham - Live!

Fox Soccer Channel's EPL Schedule
Sat. Aug 19 EPL Newcastle Wigan 10:00 a.m. - Live!
Sat. Aug 19 EPL Bolton Tottenham 12:00 p.m.- Live!
Sat. Aug 19 EPL Reading Middlesbrough 2:30 p.m.-Same Day
Sun. Aug 20 EPL Chelsea Man. City 11:00 a.m.- Live!

In other words, holy shit do we get a lot of EPL games

[SirFozzie]

so that's 6 Live, 2 Same Day Coverage.

Here's how it breaks down:

* Saturdays at 7:30am ET: Setanta Sports USA
* Saturdays at 10am ET: Setanta Sports USA has the 1st and 3rd picks, FOX Soccer Channel has the 2nd and 4th picks
* Saturdays at 12noon ET: FOX Soccer Channel
* Sundays at 8:30am ET or 9am ET: Setanta Sports USA
* Sundays at 11am ET: FOX Soccer Channel
* Mondays at 3pm ET: FOX Soccer Channel
* Tuesdays-Fridays: Setanta Sports USA has the 1st pick, FOX Soccer Channel has the 2nd pick

[law90026]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Do some facts checking before you make these kind of claims. If you had taken the time to look at who've done it before, you wouldn't be calling it that. He scored 29 goals in the 2004/2005 season, 22 the following season. That's pretty good for a guy who isn't known for his goalscoring.

Don't get me wrong, we're only a second tier league. And I've said it before, I'll say it again, I've never been impressed by Kuijt, I wouldn't put him in the usual Dutch top strikers class. He even played many years for my favorite team and I'm not all "He's the greatest thing on earth!".

But the numbers don't lie either. You don't score so many goals in that many consecutive seasons. The last player to manage a 20+ in three consecutive seasons was Dennis Bergkamp in 1990-1993. Of the ten times someone scored 29 or more goals, the players were named Mateja Kezman (2x), Ruud van Nistelrooij (2x), Nikos Machlas, Ronaldo, Wim Kieft and Marco van Basten (2x). Romario never managed more than 25, Patrick Kluivert's best is 18, Roy Makaay's best 19, Zlatan Ibrahimovic' 13.

I'm not saying he didn't score that many goals. But I tend to view goalscoring records from some of the smaller leagues with some scepticism. Nikos Machlas? Kezman? Sure some work out but not all do and it's not an indication by any means that the player is a "star". That's also why I view goalscoring records in the French League with similar scepticism (Cisse .. Wiltord ... Cygan - Defender of the Year??!?!).

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

To be fair, that's not a reasonable comp - a striker (especially the likes of Ibrahimovic) is often responsible for creating the goals as much as scoring them. Also, Kezman, Machlas and co are the more recent examples, which may be why there's some degree of skepticism towards the goalscoring exploits.

Originally Posted by law90026

I'm not saying he didn't score that many goals. But I tend to view goalscoring records from some of the smaller leagues with some scepticism. Nikos Machlas? Kezman? Sure some work out but not all do and it's not an indication by any means that the player is a "star". That's also why I view goalscoring records in the French League with similar scepticism (Cisse .. Wiltord ... Cygan - Defender of the Year??!?!).

I'm not saying that goals are a guarantee for being a star (hence Machlas and Kezman), but the majority still turned out to be world class strikers. Really, I'm skeptic myself, deep inside, I don't expect Kuijt to break into the starting lineup with Liverpool at all, and don't understand why he got the preference over Makaay and Van Nistelrooij in Oranje. But right now I think he deserves to be seen as a pretty good striker who could fit well with Liverpool's tradition. It's too early to write Kuijt down.

[Katon]

He's certainly not likely to do a Kezman, but Liverpool are swimming in pretty good strikers who aren't out-and-out goalscorers. Why they're spending nine million on another one, I have no idea.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Katon

He's certainly not likely to do a Kezman, but Liverpool are swimming in pretty good strikers who aren't out-and-out goalscorers. Why they're spending nine million on another one, I have no idea.

I have no idea either. But they most know something, they scouted Kuijt for like 18 months before they made the deal.

[Katon]

Originally Posted by Chelsea's Official Website

Chelsea Football Club have agreed an undisclosed fee with Hamburg SV for the transfer of Khalid Boulahrouz.

The Dutch international defender will be travelling to London over the weekend to discuss personal terms and to have a medical.

MIJB, anything you can tell me about Boulahrouz? The only things I can remember about him are a) he's a fairly regular starter for the Dutch national team and b)he was involved in some kind of incident in the Portugal game (though this is really just equivalent to point a).

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Katon

MIJB, anything you can tell me about Boulahrouz? The only things I can remember about him are a) he's a fairly regular starter for the Dutch national team and b)he was involved in some kind of incident in the Portugal game (though this is really just equivalent to point a).

I work with an HSV fan, so I mentioned this to him. His reply was "Good, I've never liked him, he's a butcher" and "How much did we get? We might be able to get somebody good to replace him".

So that's not a hearty endorsement. Looks like he'll be a squad player at Chelsea rather than a week-in/week-out starter, I guess.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Katon

MIJB, anything you can tell me about Boulahrouz? The only things I can remember about him are a) he's a fairly regular starter for the Dutch national team and b)he was involved in some kind of incident in the Portugal game (though this is really just equivalent to point a).

Boulahrouz to Chelsea? That's really awesome. Although, I have to admit, had he not been born and raised in my hometown, I would have cared a lot less.

I think Boulahrouz compares best to a Jaap Stam kind of defender. Physical strong, great header, probably even a lot faster. Get a copy of the Argentina-Netherlands game of the World Championships. Seriously, Boulahrouz was amazing that game. Additionally, he's a big role model for Dutch born Moroccans here.

Don't believe the spreaded 'used to be a striker' myth though. That's just a funny trivia thing. Back when he played at RKC Waalwijk, there was a huge injury problem with 5 or 6 strikers injured. The coach then (Martin Jol) put Boulahrouz in front to fill the void. He did okay there, but defending the house is definately his cuppa tea.

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Katon

MIJB, anything you can tell me about Boulahrouz? The only things I can remember about him are a) he's a fairly regular starter for the Dutch national team and b)he was involved in some kind of incident in the Portugal game (though this is really just equivalent to point a).

Well he made Soccernet's "World Cup Worst XI".

hxxp://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=373649&root=worldcup&cc=5739&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2

I seem to remember him starting a couple games and coming on as a substitute a couple times. I think he played both center and right back. Other than the WC, I've never seen him play.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by scooter

Well he made Soccernet's "World Cup Worst XI".

hxxp://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=373649&root=worldcup&cc=5739&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2

I seem to remember him starting a couple games and coming on as a substitute a couple times. I think he played both center and right back. Other than the WC, I've never seen him play.

Awesome, "Holland" had the majority of the players. Well deserved to the team. I guess Van Basten saw the same thing, because he ended Van Bommel's and Van Nistelrooij's international careers. Although I really think Boulahrouz has no business being in that list. There were about 50 worse starting central defenders in the tournament.

[Crapshoot]

Awesome - is he going to be Chelsea's starting CB for the reserve team ?

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Awesome - is he going to be Chelsea's starting CB for the reserve team ?

No, the reserve's starting right back, it appears. Apparently they wanted he because he can play two positions.

[Katon]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Awesome, "Holland" had the majority of the players. Well deserved to the team. I guess Van Basten saw the same thing, because he ended Van Bommel's and Van Nistelrooij's international careers. Although I really think Boulahrouz has no business being in that list. There were about 50 worse starting central defenders in the tournament.

And they really don't present an argument. Or, rather, their argument is entirely about his tackle on Ronaldo - which was pretty nasty, but not the sort of thing that's really relevant to a Worst XI - and the only thing said about his actual play is that he was good against Argentina.

My guess is that Boulahrouz is meant to do two things for us. One, he gives us enough versatile defenders that we can live with only one out-and-out left-back if need be. Two, he gives us CB depth in case (or when) Gallas winds up leaving; with Huth all but out the door, we were down to two centre-backs who actually wanted to be here, which is a precarious state of affairs.

[SirFozzie]

btw, Setanta will be putting on a free preview this weekend, if you have DirecTV

[wbatl1]

OK, will you guys check my thinking...

I only have FSC

So, I get two Saturday 3:00 BST Games,
and then one sunday game.

Is that correct?

[Joe]

On FSC you get:


Saturdays
10am ET -- Live Premiership match
12:15pm ET -- Live Premiership match
3pm ET -- Tape delayed Premiership match

Sundays
11am ET -- Live Premiership match

Mondays
3pm ET -- Live Premiership match

[Critch]

The 10am game on Setanta gives goal updates from the other games as it goes along, so that messes up the plan to watch tivoed games without knowing the score.

Edit - And halftime reports from the other games too.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by wbatl1

OK, will you guys check my thinking...

I only have FSC

So, I get two Saturday 3:00 BST Games,
and then one sunday game.

Is that correct?

No, 2 live and 1 taped on saturday, not 1 and 1.

Sat 3:00 BST (live)
Sat 5:00 BST (live)
Sat 7:00 BST (tape delayed game from 3:00)

Sun 4:00 BST (live)


I think the weekday games depend upon how many games are being played that day.

[cthomer5000]

Absolutely awful first half from Spurs. The goals they let up were kind of flukey, but for all that posession we're basically looking at one actual scoring opportunity. They can't seem to get the ball to Defoe, they aren't getting it to Lennon enough, and Assou-Ekotto looks like he couldn't care less about what's going on out there, or at least he's playing that way.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Absolutely awful first half from Spurs.

Yeah, they were awful. So bad that I gave up on the game and flicked to Aachen v Schalke on GolTV.

The Arsenal game this morning was amazing, never seen anything quite like it (I'm trying to avoid spoilers if people have it tivoed). Well worth watching.

[ISiddiqui]

Crap... first weekend of EPL, and I'm in the Seattle/Tacoma area, away from my glorious FSC at home .

[Joe]

exciting showing from reading

[wbatl1]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

No, 2 live and 1 taped on saturday, not 1 and 1.

Sat 3:00 BST (live)
Sat 5:00 BST (live)
Sat 7:00 BST (tape delayed game from 3:00)

Sun 4:00 BST (live)


I think the weekday games depend upon how many games are being played that day.

Thanks.

Some good stuff today, and the newly promoted really held their own.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by law90026

20+ goals in the Dutch league isn't always the most impressive achievement ...

Uhm, yeah, maybe you're right afterall.

I'm not sure people watch highlights of the Dutch league here, but the number of goals today sure lives up to the "it's easy to score goals in Holland".

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by Critch

I work with an HSV fan, so I mentioned this to him. His reply was "Good, I've never liked him, he's a butcher" and "How much did we get? We might be able to get somebody good to replace him".

So that's not a hearty endorsement. Looks like he'll be a squad player at Chelsea rather than a week-in/week-out starter, I guess.

I was at the Hamburg SV v VFB Stuttgart game in February, and I remember that Stuttgart's first goal came from a botched clearance by Boulahrouz.

The second goal was more interesting. Rafael van der Vaart tried to pass back to the keeper, but forgot that the keeper had come up for the free kick....

Video here

That is when I found out that van der Vaart was not the quickest player in the world.

Other game notes:

I have no idea why the teams chose to wear such similar jerseys, early in the game it could be difficult to tell opposing players apart.

Thimothee Atouba played a truly dreadful game, every pass he made seemed to go to a Stuttgart player.

AOL Arena is by far the most impressive stadium I have visited. I don't think there is a bad seat in the house. The whole matchday experience was far beyond anything I have experienced in the UK and the tickets were very affordable.

[MIJB#19]

Ah yes, Rafael van der Vaart. Here they say he's a combo of Ronaldo and David Beckham. Not only is he overweight, he also married the wrong woman. Guy used to be the next greatest thing here, however, his best season was 2002/2003.

[bhlloy]

I can't believe I have never seen that clip before... that is an absolute classic. I love the fall at the end hoping desperately for a foul.

[cthomer5000]

Goal of the week for me is the game winner for Reading... just a crazy-ass play to wrap up the comeback from 2-0 and win their debut.. it blows my mind each time i see the replay.

[law90026]

Some thoughts on the first week of EPL action:

Liverpool 1 - Sheffield United 1
Liverpool did not look convincing at all, especially since they needed a very very controversial penalty to equalise. It may be early but Liverpool's attack doesn't look to be quite there yet. Bellamy is bloody brave though, something I've admired about his play for a long time.

Arsenal 1 - Aston Villa 1
Same old Arsenal. Over-elaborate at times and lacking a true "predator" imo. Again, set-pieces look to be a problem, especially with a very young defence. I'm interested to see how the Reyes and Cole situations play out now ... do they get picked or are they sold before the transfer window closes?

Man U 4 - Fulham 1
Man U looks good, that's for sure. Rooney and Ronaldo appear to have worked out any issues they might have ... Fulham look to struggle again this season.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by law90026

Man U 4 - Fulham 1
Man U looks good, that's for sure. Rooney and Ronaldo appear to have worked out any issues they might have ... Fulham look to struggle again this season.

Was 5-1, but it'll be interesting what will happen now that Rooney has to sit out the next three games..

[Critch]

Obafemi Martins says he's going to sign for Newcastle. That'll be an interesting one, maybe enough to get Newcastle challenging for 5th place.

And a special round of applause for FSC who managed to give away the final score of the Reading v Middlesbrough game on the ticker while they were showing the Reading v Middlebrough game

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by law90026

Arsenal 1 - Aston Villa 1
Same old Arsenal. Over-elaborate at times and lacking a true "predator" imo. Again, set-pieces look to be a problem, especially with a very young defence. I'm interested to see how the Reyes and Cole situations play out now ... do they get picked or are they sold before the transfer window closes?

"An Ashley Cole-William Gallas swap deal will finally end the summer's longest transfer saga with Chelsea likely to pay Arsenal a £10m cash adjustment. (Daily Express)

Arsenal have made a formal £5m offer for William Gallas. (Guardian)"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...rs/5269744.stm

[Critch]

Gabriele Marcotti on Man Utd's latest offer for Owen Hargreaves:

"If it goes through, it would mean that United had spent £35m on two holding midfielders in mid-career, neither of whom has been a regular starter at international level until this summer. For that kind of money, you could have signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gianluca Zambrotta, Damien Duff, Craig Bellamy and Tomas Rosicky and still had change left over."

Looks like it may not happen anyway, Bayern are talking about reporting Man Utd to FIFA if they don't stop chasing Hargreaves.

[Katon]

And now the true horror of Juve's punishment strikes home - they've just had to replace Cannavaro with Jean-Alain Boumsong.

[cthomer5000]

Liverpool fans are probably going to find today's Champions League (qualifier) game a little more dramatic then they had initially hoped.

[Jonathan Ezarik]

Originally Posted by Katon

And now the true horror of Juve's punishment strikes home - they've just had to replace Cannavaro with Jean-Alain Boumsong.

I think I'm going to be sick.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Liverpool fans are probably going to find today's Champions League (qualifier) game a little more dramatic then they had initially hoped.

0-0 at the half. The text commentary and shot numbers indicate Liverpool is dominating, but the fact that posession is even, and Liverpool is one fluke goal away from being knocked out of the Champions League would have me feeling kind of uncomfortable as a fan.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by law90026

Liverpool 1 - Sheffield United 1
Liverpool did not look convincing at all, especially since they needed a very very controversial penalty to equalise. It may be early but Liverpool's attack doesn't look to be quite there yet. Bellamy is bloody brave though, something I've admired about his play for a long time.

Didn't see the game but the whole concept of Bellamy, Fowler and Pennant on the same squad still makes me giggle.

Kuijt was a great pick up by them, though, in my opinion.

Originally Posted by law90026

Arsenal 1 - Aston Villa 1
Same old Arsenal. Over-elaborate at times and lacking a true "predator" imo. Again, set-pieces look to be a problem, especially with a very young defence. I'm interested to see how the Reyes and Cole situations play out now ... do they get picked or are they sold before the transfer window closes?

With his (lack of) fitness, Le Boss should have sat Henry in my opinion. I would have been quite okay with the combination of Adebayor and Van Persie up front rather than an unfit Henry. Especially given that he's are risking further injuries to Henry.

I like Adebayor more than some Arsenal fans, I think. Especially if he's willing to continue to working on his finishing because he's far from a finish product. But he finds himself in great position to scores quite a lot. Plus he brings something different to the table than other Arsenal strikers - someone who's willing to stand in the middle of the box and provide a target in there.

A "predator" just isn't a typical trait of the current generation of players. Van Persie is the closest thing right now -- I think he'll be great when he gets a good run in the first team opposite Henry. On the other hand, two of them are coming down the pipeline and are currently on loan to get experience. Bendtner has already scored (twice?) for Birmingham City. I think the situation will improve a bit once Rosicky settles in. As he showed team USA, he's not shy about taking shots and should fill Pires' shoes as Henry gunning partner quite well.

I would guess that Cole is gone while Reyes will stay. Real Madrid is trying their standard asshole tactic of unsettling the player and hope for a cheap sale. AW/DD are just the type to flip them off and not accept it. On the other hand, I get the feeling that Chelsea are just posturing because it's Arsenal rather than not being willing to pay to get this done. That should get done. Eventually.

One report has a deal including 500.000 to Arsenal for each piece of silverware that Chelsea wins and another has Chelsea offering Gallas for Cole in a straight swap. In spite of how highly I rate Gallas, I don't know that I'd do that deal straight up. On the other hand, put Gallas together with Bridge and perhaps that bonus per each piece of silverwares that Chelsea lifts and I'd be set.

Originally Posted by law90026

Man U 4 - Fulham 1
Man U looks good, that's for sure. Rooney and Ronaldo appear to have worked out any issues they might have ... Fulham look to struggle again this season.

I think Manchester United's future look a lot brighter than some seems to. They have tons of young talent that should be coming together soon.

And I can't wait for Chelsea-Manchester United. As if the showcase of talent isn't already exciting enough, I can't wait to watch Boulahrouz mark C. Ronaldo.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

And I can't wait for Chelsea-Manchester United. As if the showcase of talent isn't already exciting enough, I can't wait to watch Boulahrouz mark C. Ronaldo.

That reminds me, Boulahrouz was today quoted saying: "My philosophy of playing soccer is simple. I get on the pitch to win. I'm a defender, it's my duty to stop the striker. I try to do it in a honest way. I don't kick players into the hospital and do not put my elbow in someone's face. I don't like it and don't need it." (I tried to translate it from Dutch to English as best as I can.)

As much as I believe him, the first thing coming to mind was the Netherlands-Portugal fight. We all know Figo made a brilliant dive in the elbow incident , but Cristiano Ronaldo still has the scar from the 'tackle' that put him out of the game.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Katon

And now the true horror of Juve's punishment strikes home - they've just had to replace Cannavaro with Jean-Alain Boumsong.

I'm betting Boumsong turns out ok at Juventus. Newcastle United wasn't right for him. The defence was a mess with or without him plus it was Newcastle, they're always on the verge of a drama. There were also some stories that his wife was seriously ill in France, so he wasnt training with the team, he spent the week in France to be near to his family.

You don't go from being a good player to a bad player overnight, so he'll bounce back. Plus the pace of the Italian League will probably suit him better, he'll be less rushed into doing something bad while trying to play out of danger.

Or maybe he's just crap.