The Beautiful Game Thread

[KG]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

I would say it is more of extreme trust on his team and coaching staff. I doubt there are very many people who can play his role. However we shouldn't be surprised when he has abnormally high stats.

I would say it's the other way around, especially his team who has and will continue to rely on him to bail them out. That goes for both Ronaldo & Messi but that's what great players do. They get you those 3 points during a mid-week trip to Valladolid when the rest of the squad is flat.

I mean just look at the individual accomplishments:

http://messivsronaldo.net/records.php

Then look at the team accomplishments. IMO the 2 greatest club players ever by far.

It's a shame that they're always compared to each other but the reality is that it probably drives them to be greater.

[rsnomar05]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

LOL at these reviews:

In case you missed my last post, this is the link to the Liverpool 13-14 season book that the reviews are from. http://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Dared-T...pr_product_top

I tried to buy this in Waterstones but it was raining outside and I slipped. Whilst I was recovering Demba Ba nipped in and got the last copy.

I hear it's a good read though and the ending is great.

Unasked by night; I am true Love, I fill
The hearts of boy and girl with mutual flame.'
Then sighing, said the other, 'Have thy will,
I am the Love that dare not speak its name.'

So spaketh Lord Alfred Douglas, the lover of Oscar Wilde, whose words above were used against Wilde in his trial for gross indecency. And just as theirs was a love whose name was dared not to be spoken, so too, more than a century later, was the hidden love of a tribe of football fans whose passion stretched all the way from Milton Keynes to Chelmsford.

It often said that there is a fine line between love and hate. Never more so could it be shown than in the reviews for this book. Like the besotted schoolgirl pulling the hair of the boy in class she claims to hate, this is a love so powerful that the only way the love-lorn can suffer is to lash out in an uncontrollable fit of desire.

So too might you if, after 25 years of unprecedented financial dominance of the English game, the pantheon of European achievement still left you sitting somewhere between Anderlecht and Porto in the list of European success. What must it have felt like to have finally grappled some semblance of your own identity, with your greatest ever manager, fumbling in Europe for a quarter of a century, only to be cuckolded in 2005 by a Spaniard, in probably the greatest club football match of all time? What soul crushing heartbreak must that have been?

In 2014 it became clear that the little boy whose hair was pulled in the anguish of unrequited worship had moved on. He had long since taken to ignoring that little girl who had been so hopelessly overcome with rabid, fetishistic obsession. Yet the obsession only worsened. Whilst Brendan Rodgers was taking a side from 7th place to within a whisker of the league title, with a squad costing barely half that of the countries most expensive teams, and with a brand of football so daring it made the jaw drop, Manchester United fans were taking infatuation to a new level.

Not content with spending every single home game relentlessly singing about Liverpool (an unrequited advance), or failing to sell out their ticket allocation at a European Cup final because it involved a bit of travelling, United's fans cemented their reputation as the creepy stalkers of the premier league by posting reviews of a book about Liverpool. Much like the deranged obsessive daubs the name of their idol in excrement across their bedroom wall, United fans were contenting themselves with self molestation from the safe distance of a 7th place Premier League finish.

Looking on from afar, the scorned, inadequate's betrayal only feels greater. It is difficult to imagine the despair felt as Liverpool walked off the Old Trafford pitch disappointed to have only won 3-0. Whether watching from a shed in Eccles, or loudly shouting "Gow On Giggsie", whilst wearing a replica shirt in a pub in Weybridge, the heartache is the same.

Theirs is the love that dare not speak it's name. An infatuation so profoundly all-encompassing, that it leads grown men to spend all their spare time, in their mum's basement, writing bitchy reviews of a book they've never read, that is in fact - brilliant.

One of the best endings ever. "With forward by Demba Ba."

This is the story of the season when United, Chelsea and City didn't seem interested in winning the title, leaving the field clear for Brendan Rodgers' remarkable Liverpool side to mount a title challenge, their first since before David De Gea was born (he's since grown up and won the title himself).

Brendan's remarkable young team, with an average age of just 25 years old, fought long and hard. Brendan proved he had an eye for a bargain during his first two years. Unlike bigger clubs, Liverpool just cannot compete financially, and the Irishman was faced with the unenviable task of spending just £100,000,000 on players. Managerial genius that he is (as seen on Being Colon Liverpool, also available on Amazon), he spent it shrewdly. Joe "the Welsh Xavi" Allen, the 7 foot 6 inches collosus, was brought in for just £15,000,000, though Rodgers admitted that he would have paid "many millions more". Fabio Borini, the former Chelsea legend, cost a mere £10,000,000, although he was loaned to relegation candidates Sunderland at the beginning of the season. And who could forget defensive lynchpin Mamadou Sakho, just 15,000,000 of your English pounds. Brodge, as he is affectionately known at Anfield, also managed to pull off a huge coup, signing two time Premier League winner Kolo Toure on a free transfer, and convincing him to give of his best for just £100,000 every 7 (SEVEN) days.

Having convinced some of Europe's brightest young talents to join his Anfield revolution, Brodge was off to a flier, despite talisman and moral compass Luis Suarez missing the first part of the season through suspension. This would be the fourth consecutive season where Suarez had served such a ban, but Brodge's spirit would not be dampened. With Studge in the form of his young life, Liverpool shot to the top of the table following a difficult start with Stoke Citry, Aston Villa, Swansea City, Southampton, Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion as 8 of their first 9 games.

The difficult times were to come. Shocking decisions went against Liverpool over Christmas, particularly in games against Manchester City and Chelsea, and whilst Liverpool also benefited from bad decisions, everybody knows that you ignore these when bemoaning your bad luck. Brodge is made of stern stuff though. Liverpool bounced back, thrashing Arsenal 5-1 in February. It was Arsenal's worst defeat since Manchester City put 6 past them in, erm, December the previous year. But whatever.

Liverpool topped the table, going into the big one. Chelsea came to town, and it all went to pot.

The night before the game, Sir Alex Ferguson and Jim Smith concocted a wicked spell, hypnotising Liverpool fans into causing a ruckus outside the Chelsea team hotel to disturb the Chelsea players. The following morning, Alan Davies forced Liverpool supporters to serenade their team coach with chants of "We're gonna win the league" as it approached Anfield. These two heinous acts would tempt the fates, and it wasn't in Liverpool Football Club's favour.

In front of a quiet Anfield crowd, Steven "We go again" Gerrard slipped on his ****, and gave it to Demba Ba, and Liverpool's title challenge was going up in smoke. Some blamed Jose Mourinho for his spoiling tactics. In a match where Liverpool only needed a draw, against one of the most tactically astute managers of modern times, Brodge decided to play 3 up front. Not sure why. Only joking. Because he's a managerial genius, THAT'S WHY. Chelsea picked them off at will, winning 2-0 at Anfield. Shameful behaviour from Jose Mourinho, to be sure.

The following Monday, Liverpool needed to win to give themselves half a chance. 3-0 up at Palace with 15 minutes to go, victory looked assured. But....wait.....what comes next is a spoiler.

If you want to know, you'll have to read the book.

A wonderful rip roaring yarn of how Liverpool FC were denied their first title since 1989 by a combination of refereeing incompetence, corruption, and most painfully of all, a slip by our captain Steven at the home of football.

I'm not ashamed that this book brought back the tears, again. It's one for all our fans but neutrals will also be desperate to relive how the whole country united in the quest of reclaiming the title for everyone's second favourite team. Sometimes it's about winning hearts not points, and I think we did that in 2014.

I bought this and invited round the auld fella, his auld fella and a few of my bezzie mates. We've all got seasies and we never miss a match, home or away. I read this book aloud for them and within 10 minutes they were all wellin' up, I had to compose myself on numerous occasions as I was also on the verge of wellin' up. We ran the full gamut of emotions, from tears of joy after beating City, seething at Mourinho's antics at Anfield to tears of rage at Palace. When I had finished the book there was total silence for ten mins, grown men with tears running down their cheeks, the only sound was tears dripping into pint pots of Carling. Finally the silence was broken by my auld fella addressing his auld fella, 'Brendan made us dream didn't he dad?' his auld fella, face reddened by tears, replied 'he did son, he did... but then they broke our hearts'. That was it, within seconds every one of us had welled up again, tears poured down our faces and we couldn't stop. There we were wiping away each others tears with no embarrassment, we knew what this meant. These were not tears of rage nor tears of joy, no, these were tears for our club, our family. No football club does emotion like Liverpool Football Club, no writer gets into the emotion of our club quite like Paul Tomkins.

[VTPack919]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

THESE ARE SO FUNNY ZOMG.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

Juventus manager Antonio Conte has resigned.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/9383255/serie-a-antonio-conte-leaves-juventus-by-mutual-consent

[KG]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

Juventus manager Antonio Conte has resigned.



http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...mutual-consent

Probably gearing up to take the Italy job. Come to London Pogba. Your future there is uncertain, lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[XXstormmXX]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

A question to any Italian Roma fans on here...

I'm going to the Inter vs Roma friendly in Philadelphia, but I was wondering if any of the Roma ultras were making travel plans to there? I was going to try and sit with the ultras but I don't know what section they would be in.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

With the opening today of Ottawa Fury FC's new home stadium, TD Place, the North America Soccer League (NASL) has seen two modern-era attendance records broken: single match and overall weekly attendance. Ottawa Fury FC welcomed 14,593 fans, surpassing the previous record of 13,151 of San Antonio Scorpions from 2012. Additionally, League-wide this week's attendance of 42,404 surpasses the weekly high from Week 1 of the Spring Season, 36,443.

http://www.nasl.com/article/uuid/mtagc1fvzvi31uxf0rkkbc6em/ottawa-and-nasl-set-new-modern-era---attendance-records#.U808RvldVDC

And this doesn't include Saturday's Minnesota-Swansea friendly (MN won 2-0) that drew over 9,000. If there's a team in your area, check them out. It's a really good value if you enjoy the sport.

[Mo]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lUOqcDeHC-4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Brahvocado]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

http://instagram.com/p/q_rH6khEJK

Just another lazy training session for The Zlatan

[cdawg44]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

http://blog.foxsoccer.com/post/93131445107/manchester-city-conduct-twitter-q-a-with-jesus-navas

Enjoy this beauty....

#AskJesus.....

[gerg1234]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

http://blog.foxsoccer.com/post/93131...th-jesus-navas

Enjoy this beauty....

#AskJesus.....

Was just about to post this in here.
Did you become a winger because of your experience with crosses?

[TracerBullet]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

There was a nice crowd at the Seattle Reign/Portland Thorns NWSL game yesterday:

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

Attendance at Yankee Stadium last night for Liverpool/Manchester City friendly: 49,653

Highest attendance at Yankee Stadium for any Yankee game this season: 48,572

[VTPack919]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

Attendance at Yankee Stadium last night for Liverpool/Manchester City friendly: 49,653

Highest attendance at Yankee Stadium for any Yankee game this season: 48,572

No one likes soccer. ®

[jvalverde88]

Re: The Beautiful Game Thread

Attendance at Yankee Stadium last night for Liverpool/Manchester City friendly: 49,653

Highest attendance at Yankee Stadium for any Yankee game this season: 48,572

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8pYB8ZQs7jc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is not something that happens often in the Bronx. I can't wait til NYCFC start playing next season.