Soccer Thread 2011-2012

[SirFozzie]

ALLDIRK KUYT DOES IS SCORE WINNING GOALS!!!

[kingfc22]

Well looks like penalties after all.

[SirFozzie]

Dayumn

[SirFozzie]

What a strange set of pks but pool are in Europe next year

[AlexB]

Not only is Suarez a complete cock, but it appears he's a bottler too. Star centre forward doesn't step up to take a penalty?

[oykib]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

Not only is Suarez a complete cock, but it appears he's a bottler too. Star centre forward doesn't step up to take a penalty?

As an LFC supporter, I could've done with him taking the one Charlie Adam put into the orbit of Venus.

But all's well that ends well.

[sovereignstar v2]

That should keep King Kenny around for a bit longer, which is good for the rest of the Premier League.

[bhlloy]

That was appropriately soulcrushing

[Crapshoot]

What a game. I was having kittens. Major props to Cardiff.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

Not only is Suarez a complete cock, but it appears he's a bottler too. Star centre forward doesn't step up to take a penalty?

Manager picks the 5, not players. You know this.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by oykib

As an LFC supporter, I could've done with him taking the one Charlie Adam put into the orbit of Venus.

But all's well that ends well.

Great tweet from Danny Baker:
'Charlie Adam held down the wrong button'

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Manager picks the 5, not players. You know this.

So the manager wouldn't want his CF, who has taken penalties this season in league games, to take one in the shoot out? And the shot of Suarez sitting down shaking his head to Dalglish was also completely unrelated?

When it gets to penalty shoot outs, it's often the players that put themselves forward to the manager. Yes, he picks the five, but it often largely down on who has the attitude of wanting to take them.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

Not only is Suarez a complete cock, but it appears he's a bottler too. Star centre forward doesn't step up to take a penalty?

That sounds weird. I'm not a big fan of Suarez' attitude towards opponents, but I do think he's a teamplayer. It sounds uncharacteristic for him to not raise his hand when asked to take a penalty kick.

Or... At the 2010 World Cup he raised his hand to force penalty kicks, yet simultaneously eliminated himself from taking one.

[AlexB]

[TroyF]

In a year full of disasters, the win for Arsenal today feels so very, very nice. Bale dives his way to a penalty (and of course the refs give it, what a flippin shock) Spurs go up 2-0 and appear set to put the finishing blow on the Gunners season.

The Gunners who have quit so many times this year decided to actually fight back. Shock of all shocks, they throttle them the rest of the way and stick them with a 5-2 thrashing. To top off matters, Parker makes one of the sillier, stupider decisions of the year and gets a second yellow on a challenge with minutes left which will cause him to miss the ManU game.

The year still might end like crap, but at least this one felt good.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

So the manager wouldn't want his CF, who has taken penalties this season in league games, to take one in the shoot out? And the shot of Suarez sitting down shaking his head to Dalglish was also completely unrelated?

When it gets to penalty shoot outs, it's often the players that put themselves forward to the manager. Yes, he picks the five, but it often largely down on who has the attitude of wanting to take them.

I think Suarez was just plain wasted/cramping. The entire extra period he was stretching after every dead ball. He's normally always stepping up to take the free kick/penalties, and he's played in much bigger matches than the Carling cup final before and didn't wilt.

That said, I definitely thought he was poor today compared to his usual performance.

[whomario]

German Bundesliga had it´s 23rd matchday on the weekend and the Top4 seem to have steered clear a bit.

Dortmund up 4 points over Bayern after winning their 7th in a row (undefeated for 17 !)
They will have to play Bayer, Schalke and Mönchengladbach within 11 days in april (matchdays 30-32), that´s where the decicion will be made.

Platz			Verein	Spiele	S	U	N	Tore	Diff	Pkt
1.	(1.)		Borussia Dortmund	23	16	4	3	50:15	+35	52
2.	(3.)		FC Bayern München	23	15	3	5	51:14	+37	48
3.	(2.)		Borussia Mönchengladbach	23	14	5	4	37:14	+23	47
4.	(4.)		FC Schalke 04	23	14	2	7	50:30	+20	44
5.	(6.)		Bayer Leverkusen	23	10	7	6	34:29	+5	37
6.	(5.)		SV Werder Bremen	23	10	6	7	37:37	0	36
7.	(7.)		Hannover 96	23	8	10	5	28:30	-2	34
8.	(9.)		VfB Stuttgart	23	8	5	10	37:33	+4	29
9.	(10.)		1899 Hoffenheim	23	7	8	8	26:27	-1	29
10.	(12.)		1. FC Nürnberg	23	8	4	11	22:32	-10	28
11.	(13.)		1. FSV Mainz 05	23	6	9	8	34:36	-2	27
12.	(11.)		Hamburger SV	23	6	9	8	28:38	-10	27
13.	(8.)		VfL Wolfsburg	23	8	3	12	28:44	-16	27
14.	(14.)		1. FC Köln	23	7	3	13	30:45	-15	24
15.	(17.)		FC Augsburg	23	4	9	10	23:37	-14	21
16.	(15.)		Hertha BSC	23	4	8	11	25:40	-15	20
17.	(16.)		1. FC Kaiserslautern	23	3	9	11	16:32	-16	18
18.	(18.)		SC Freiburg	23	4	6	13	28:51	-23	18

[miami_fan]

I had a secondary reaction to Cristiano Ronaldo's goal yesterday that surprised me. At first, I began to laugh at his audacity to even attempt a goal like that and scoring. The weird part is I began to wonder when a Rayo Vallecano player was going to go for a leg breaker as revenge for the embarrassment.

[miami_fan]

Good Job K-Town. Keep this shit out of the game.

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- The German soccer team Kaiserslautern has reported a group of fans to police for allegedly giving Nazi salutes to an Israeli player.

The struggling Bundesliga club says the salutes toward striker Itay Shechter were made during practice Sunday, one day after a 4-0 loss at Mainz dropped Kaiserslautern to next to last.

Kaiserslautern says fewer than 10 people took part, and they belong to a group of hooligans that has been banned from games for years.

The club has asked police to investigate and possibly file charges and has urged fans to identify the perpetrators. The team says in a statement it "distances itself expressly from any form of racism, discrimination or anti-Semiticism."


Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

[SirFozzie]

So Balotelli was dropped from the Italy squad for the upcoming friendlies, and it looks like his reputation has caught up with him. When asked about Balotelli's omission, Italy's manager stated:


""I don't want players who commit reaction fouls and get sent off. He seems a little agitated to me." "

[sovereignstar v2]

I just hope Gerrard gets to skipper England again. He deserves it.

[sovereignstar v2]

Eh, maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt.

[sovereignstar v2]

Okay, maybe we shouldn't.

[Grover]

Steven Gerrard is Lex Luger circa 1994.

[TroyF]

Hey, why not? Him Looney and many of the other stars of the EPL get free passes whenever they do anything. Always the excuse the ref saw it and decided not to book for a flagrant elbow or something like it.

Suarez gets 8 games (deserved), while Terry gets to stay on and play for Chelsea as they battle for 4th and gets to play for England rather than get sent home. By the time they actually do take action, his Chelsea days will be over.

[whomario]

Some interesting International Friendly games tomorrow, England-Netherlands and Germany-France propably the most high-profile ones. USA playing in Italy.

Germany again will miss some key players (Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Podolski). As projected there will be only 2 players age 25 or older in the first 11, one of those is backup GK Wiese who is 30 but hast just 5 caps so far (the other is Klose who is making his 114th apearance and stands at 63 goals, 5 shy of Gerd Mueller´s record)
Still gonna be a great game, german team has so many options nowadays

[MrBug708]

USA - Italy about to kick off on ESPN 2

[Coffee Warlord]

For those of us who can't watch...how they looking?

[MrBug708]

Bradley has looked good, Edu has looked better than he usually does. Johnson has also played well. Altidore has looked average. Shea has looked bad

[cartman]

WOOT! Goal by Dempsey!

[MrBug708]

Deuce!

[Coffee Warlord]

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal.

Goal.

[MIJB#19]

Ugh. At home following a wisdom tooth removal earlier today, I'm already regretting turning the tv on for England-Oranje. Half-decent football and, because there's nothing on the line, there's no excitement to go with it. At least we're nearly at full strength again, opposed to the hammering in Germany last game...

[MIJB#19]

So much for that non-excitement. In 2 minutes time from a dull 0-0 to a 2-0 score with a horrible collision between Smalling and Huntelaar on that second goal. Huntelaar walked off groggy, whilst Smalling was carried off...

[PilotMan]

Boys are looking tired as Italy is really pushing hard here. It's hard to watch.

[SirFozzie]

USA 1-Italy 0. Not quite USA 4-3 USSR but do you believe in miracles?

YES!

[cartman]

Forza America!

[bulletsponge]

my only regret about that game, was guissepe rossi wasnt on the pitch for that game

[Big Fo]

He might have been able to stay onside though. Matri and Giovinco had problems with that.

[AlexB]

Arjen Robben. Quite good.

[DaddyTorgo]

Just finished watching the USA-Italy game.

Well there's a signature win for Jurgen. Jeez!!!


Nicely done USA!!

[SirFozzie]

Oh FOR FUCK'S SAKE, Liverpool.. can we go a month without a "race row?"



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17215880


Campaign group Operation Black Vote has complained to Spanish insurance firm Groupama Seguros about an advert in Spain featuring the goalkeeper (Pepe Reina)

They claim it "depicts black people in a jungle scenario as stupid, backward, animalistic homosexuals."

[SirFozzie]

In non-Liverpool news:

Glasgow Rangers are fucked royally.

The club's administrators have realized they need to save 4.5 million pounds in costs by the end of the season.

First, they asked the players "Would you mind terribly if you played the rest of the year for free?"

The players of course, minded. A lot.

They instead offered to defer 50-75% of their salaries to help get the club back on financial footing. The administrators disliked this because it could deter people from buying the club

The administrators counted with "How about we cut 11 of you (making them unsecured creditors, meaning they wouldn't see a dime until all the tax bills are paid, meaning they'd be lucky to get 2 pennies on the metaphorical dollar), and force the rest of you to take 50% pay cuts?"

Things are bad and going to get worse. Not to mention the effect of cutting 11 first team players.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

In non-Liverpool news:

Glasgow Rangers are fucked royally.

The club's administrators have realized they need to save 4.5 million pounds in costs by the end of the season.

First, they asked the players "Would you mind terribly if you played the rest of the year for free?"

The players of course, minded. A lot.

They instead offered to defer 50-75% of their salaries to help get the club back on financial footing. The administrators disliked this because it could deter people from buying the club

The administrators counted with "How about we cut 11 of you (making them unsecured creditors, meaning they wouldn't see a dime until all the tax bills are paid, meaning they'd be lucky to get 2 pennies on the metaphorical dollar), and force the rest of you to take 50% pay cuts?"

Things are bad and going to get worse. Not to mention the effect of cutting 11 first team players.

As much as this sucks for Rangers supporters, the time has come for a big club to go under. I am not confident that Financial Fair Play is enough to get spending under control. I think I would rather see the harsh realities of business take its turn.

[bulletsponge]

agreed. this might scare some teams into being smarter with their money. also if Rangers get in real trouble and have to get rid of most their men, they can go into the english lower leagues and work their way up. they never could do this while having a big pay structure and in the CL every year. but if they get in the shits and need to start from scratch, its the perfect time

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

As much as this sucks for Rangers supporters, the time has come for a big club to go under. I am not confident that Financial Fair Play is enough to get spending under control. I think I would rather see the harsh realities of business take its turn.

I'm afraid the rest of Europe will *shrug* it away. Nobody cared when Leeds United went bankrupt or when Fiorentina did.
This would be not just a disaster for Rangers, it has the potential to kill Scottish football altogether. Celtic and Rangers are the life support for that entire league. Our correspondant Ryan S to confirm or send this into mythland?

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

This would be not just a disaster for Rangers, it has the potential to kill Scottish football altogether. Celtic and Rangers are the life support for that entire league. Our correspondant Ryan S to confirm or send this into mythland?

Celtic and Rangers have been killing the Scottish league with their dominance for years, but without them there would be no TV money at all.

[SirFozzie]

Some one tell me how Arsenal managed to get all three points at Anfield today? It was an epic battle between a defense that could not defend and an attack that couldn't score in a brothel.

In other news, Andre Villas Boas better not start any long books as Chelsea lose again, to West Brom.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Some one tell me how Arsenal managed to get all three points at Anfield today? It was an epic battle between a defense that could not defend and an attack that couldn't score in a brothel.

In other news, Andre Villas Boas better not start any long books as Chelsea lose again, to West Brom.

It's funny. When Arsenal lose the exact type of game they won today, it's used to point out how horrific they are. When they win, it's used to point out how horrific they are.

Ugly, ugly, ugly game. I thought Liverpool should have closed out Arsenal in the first half, but they didn't. I thought Arsenal were the better team in the second half. At the end of the day, I think it comes down to this:

There is a reason Liverpool are ten points behind Arsenal. They struggle to score and pay the price because of it.

There is a reason Arsenal are 14 points behind Man City. They are sloppy on defense (though the injuries, like always have killed the back line). They play stupid at times and nobody beyond Van Persie steps up regularly to score.

Arsenal have 2 games left against the big sides. Both at home, Man City and the monster game against Chelsea. I have no idea how they have been able to hold onto fourth, but considering everything that has happened this year (Cecs, Nasri, Wilshire, RB and LB positions being crushed by injury, etc.) I'm thrilled that there is at least something to play for this late in the year.

Now comes the fun part. Can they sign RVP or not?

[Grover]

It's amazing how bad Arsenal's defense can be at times over the past 4-5 years. Even more shocking is how bad they can be at defending set pieces. You think Pat Rice would have remedied this, being the defensive guru that he supposedly is. I've often thought that Rice is the real problem with Arsenal and not Wenger.