f13.net

Figured we might try a thread for soccer/football/fitba' this season with the Premier league starting up yesterday.

My TV has spent basically the whole tuned to NBC sports with their coverage of the EPL, binge city.  Also note that Fox Soccer appears to be a basic cable channel now. 

Anyone else playing premier league fantasy?

Liverpool managed a first opening day win since the reign of George II or something. Naturally time to ratchet up expectations to a top 2 finish!

How 'bout those Gooners?  :why_so_serious:

Liverpool's win wasn't impressive but it was 3 points, so I'll take it. Spurs weren't overly convincing either but lots of new faces there. Man U should not have won that game simply based on the performance, but Swansea let RVP free 2 times too many and that's all it took. The Swans will still tear the shit out of the lower echelons of the Prem though.

I thought Altidore looked good for Sunderland while Giaccherini frustrated me because he kept getting the ball into dangerous areas but it never amounted to anything but poor crosses or turn overs. I come to ESPN afterwards and everyone is bagging on Altidore and praising Giaccherini. Felt bad man. Really bad loss you need to have those if you want to stay up let alone be top half. I will not be enjoying watching Sunderland if they insist on letting such average talents fire shots from distance all day, not a great way to score goals.

Betis put up quite a fight against Madrid but they had like 18 goals taken out of the net for offsides. Isco looks to be quality but might be better as a sub. Modric still has a tendency to shrink from the game though I think he's quality and that they will regret if they sell him just to sell someone. RM's defense looked slow and silly, wonder what that was. Too bad Di Maria is so expensive he's a hell of a sub.

Fuck Arsenal. I give up, they must know they need to buy players and I can only assume its been so long since they conducted real business that they forgot how. Most bungled off season ever, what a joke. I know its en vogue to blame Wenger but I don't think he conducts contract negotiations, whoever does needs to be fired 100% every target ended up signing with someone else because they weren't doing their job correctly.

Also watched Athletico beat Seville. Though not closely and not in english. David Villa is a pretty good player, that's been easy to forget lately.

Villa going to Atleti for 8 million was a fucking STEAL. Even at his age, he's still just a quality striker/center forward.

Is it just me or are the top level of signings just hesitant as hell to sign with the big English sides? Wenger can't get anybody into Arsenal, Fabregas and Ronaldo have snubbed Man U. Maybe they are being asked to pay way over market value for players.

Missed this last year.

Spurs... Ah Spurs. Selling Bale for essentially Spain's current GDP then buying up to six new players from that leaves me feeling, I dunno, hopeful? We will see if they can Spurs this up.

Its Spurs. Of course they will.

Mind you , Real Madrid, wtf? Makes the Yankees look responsible.

On a side note: Agudelo goes to Stoke City. This half-assed NE Revs fan is sad to see him go, team looked half decent at times this year. Least we'll always have this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUJHKix070)

I think Spurs have got themselves in the situation where they HAVE to sell Bale. Too much talk, as well as too much money spent on players, many of them in the midfield for Bale to stay. I don't know WTF Madrid is thinking buying him at the prices they are talking about though. Where's he going to fit? He's not displacing Ronaldo, and they are way too similar types of players. Fuck, there's only 11 positions out there. Osil, Modric, Alonso, Khedira, Ronaldo and DiMaria all play in midfield positions and even if you play 5 in midfield and 1 up top, someone is sitting on the bench - never mind that Osil, Modric and Ronaldo are all similar players to Bale.

I just keep laughing at Arsenal's total inability to buy anybody this offseason, especially after Wenger comes out and says "We have money to spend." This team barely managed top 4 last year, and they only did it because Spurs fell off at the same time Arsenal got hot. Man U had the talent to do nothing in the offseason and still be considered a title contender. Chelsea got Mourinho back AND added talent, Man City changed coaches and added talent (though they need somebody at the back now to take the place of the walking wounded), Spurs got significantly better just by adding Soldado (who is likely to score at least 20 goals this season) and even Liverpool improved (though they also need another body or two at the back). Arsenal got rid of 21 players and haven't added anyone significant. I'd tip them to miss out on the top 4 except that everytime I've counted them out in the past, they've been better.

Fuck Arsenal I hope they get relegated.

That won't happen as much as I might dream. Not with the likes of Hull, Stoke, Cardiff and Palace in the Prem. That should be a guaranteed 24 points right there.

I can't get over how bad this Bale thing is going to be for Madrid. I wouldn't trade for him at anywhere near this valuation unless someone was taking Kaka off my hands in the deal.

If they were doing DiMaria ($2Xmil) + Kaka (prob worth -$5mil if Spurs is going to pay his full wages) + Coentrau ($2Xmil) + 60-70mil that still sounds like such a silly valuation to me but you just know at this point that RM is going to get a way worse deal than that.

There is just no way that they should be paying both Bale and Kaka on this team and there doesn't seem to be any way to offload Kaka unless he can get some PT and show something this year which will never happen if Bale is on the team.

I always forget about Kaka - apparently so does the coach and everyone else. Yeah, Bale on the team would pretty much kill any chance Kaka has of seeing first-team action ever. Hell, he barely features now.

Top 6 prediction:

1 Chelsea - by a fair margin - let's say 7 points.
2 Man Utd - hard to pick between this shower and...
3 Man City - ...but putting city 3rd because higher clownshoes propensity.
4 Tottenham - they are still buying and AVB seems to genuinely own the team.
5 Arsenal - a shit season, but only relatively speaking.
6 Liverpool - improving but not enough. Rodgers not at risk yet.

I'll tell you right now this has the chance to be the by far the most interesting season in England in awhile. I find myself wondering if who manages to steal Ozil, Coentrao, Benzema or Di Maria from what's clearly a Real Madrid that has gone full retard this year might become the team that finishes a step or two higher than we expected. Man City is the most complete team of the top while Spurs have to stop bringing new players at some point but the other four big clubs could really improve their fortunes if they can nab someone who wouldn't be on the market if RM was in saner hands.

Its a real fucking shame that Arsenal's braintrust is so DOA the team I watched today is much better than rumors would have you believe especially in midfield but as usual they lack depth and the backline seems frail at times. They should have buried Spurs if not for Hugo finally showing that he is that good of a GK. For some time I was sore he bumped out Friedel and ended his streak but good as he is Friedel wouldn't have made those plays.

I watched Sunderland against Crystal Palace and that was a fucking shitshow of a game by Sunderland. Anyone who is still saying they are finishing mid table for sure needs to remember lineups on paper don't mean jack. They have serious serious problems in all areas. Altidore didn't dress due to injury concern but I think he's going to play for USMNT because its supposedly not major.

I also caught some of Sporting Lisbon v Benfica and it made me wonder as I have before, what the fuck is wrong with the Portugese national team? The Portugese league reminds me of Holland or Mexico in that defense is played similar to the nba all star game at times but god damn do they make some creative moves and these are their much weaker players but when I watch Portugal they are a very boring and slow team.

Meanwhile if Spain goes deep at the world cup next year its probably going to be in part because David Villa has such a great year with Athletico because I keep catching the big plays from their games and the man is everywhere.

LIVERPOOL!

Ok, so it's only 3 games in, but they are already showing a lot more this season than last. Reds' fans are absolutely praying to whatever God they worship that Sturride's ankles hold up until Hannibal gets back. They seem to show a lot more resolve these days.

You're absolutely right about this being the most interesting EPL season in a while. Moyes is I think a great manager, but he's going to take some time to get up to speed. Chelsea has Mourinho but I think it's going to take him a month or so to figure out how this team should work together and who gets to ride the pine. Man City I'm not entirely sure about - I haven't watched them yet. Arsenal and Spurs and Liverpool are probably all going to be fighting for 4th honestly. I can't understand what the hell is wrong with the transfer policy at Arsenal because they can't seem to land ANYBODY and that team has less quality in depth than Liverpool. Spurs meanwhile are busy buying everybody before they've even sold Bale officially but I've seen all 3 of their games in the league and they haven't found the playmaker to replace Bale. Their midfield just isn't gelling yet. Soldado will easily bang in 20 goals but only when they figure out who to run the play through - if I had to guess, I'd say it's going to be Paulinho. But they haven't yet got it together. Lamela looks good as well as Townsend.

As for David Villa, I always thought Barcelona was not the right place to really show off his talents. He needs a team where he is the focal point of the attack and Barca is not it. As for Real, I still need to watch them but yeah, their braintrust is on fucking crack.

So the dust settles and what the fuck?

I clearly have not been insulting enough towards Real Madrid's boardroom, what a complete fuck up.


-Chelsea did some good business and managed to snap up a striker that Jose might actually like having on his team. Good business.
-What the fuck was Utd doing? Its possible they had as bad an off season as anybody as stories come out about basic contractual blunders not to mention them really fucking with Everton this whole time. They could have bought both Baines and side show Bob at the start for the kind of money they ended up deciding they were worth.
-Somehow Citeh was the class act of England, picked up good players that they liked early and are well on their way to integrating them. Its almost as if they were the only realistic team of the top six in England they bought players who wouldn't say no from teams that wouldn't say no at the prices they offered.
-Spurs bought two squads worth of new players it feels like.
-Arsenal bought one guy, who is maybe an All-World starting 11 depending on who you ask, but no matter what he's in the conversation but still it was at their strongest area on the pitch. This is being overhyped because its really been that long since they have spent any kind of money on anyone. I hope it works well but they still didn't make any of the types of signings all the other teams did. The 5-15 million bench/depth/sub/development players of quality that you will need at some point to win a title. They strike you as a team aiming for 4th not 1st.
-Liverpool kept Suarez, I wonder if they regret not selling him to Madrid at the start of the season and using that money elsewhere in the long run. But overall they did good business and it pains me to say it but they are shaping up to be a side that plays a quite attractive brand of football. I may have to rethink my hatred of them.

That out of the way. Back to Madrid. What the fuck. No I don't think they can fit Bale in the side well. This whole we didn't pay that much thing is insultingly stupid and does more harm than good. It gives a horrible impression of Ronaldo being somehow unable to handle it if they paid more for Bale. Btw does anyone ever adjust these amounts for inflation? They did manage to get rid of Kaka, which is good for their books but they lost Ozil. That's a bit crazy. They may be fine if Modric is going to continue playing so well but Ozil solved so many of the random problems an all super star team can have with his selfless team first play and his ability to see and react to the whole game. At this point I can't imagine a world where RM came out of this stronger than a Barca with Neymar and Messi on their team.

They did manage to stick it to Spurs by selling Ozil to Arsenal and I'd bet there are people at RM that had extra reasons to want to do that after this whole Bale saga.

Well.   :uhrr:

I guess Wenger spent the money huh?

Everton looks like coming out alright from this. They keep Baines, signed Mccarthy and Barry, picked up Lukaku on loan from Chelsea (wonder if the kid is sitting there going, 'I score 20 goals and they still loan me out??'.

Real Madrid constructs teams like they are a cashed up teenager on his Xbox building a FIFA 13 Ultimate team.

I will say, Osil is an absolute world class midfielder. When Madrid bought him for 16 million euros from Bremen, I was pissed as hell, because that was a BARGAIN price. And now they've sold him for 50 million euros - well fuck, nice profit if you can get it. However, I don't think he should have been sold - but then I don't think Bale should have been bought. He wasn't needed with that team, that team needed to shore up their striking options and stop being such prissy primadonnas. Now they still have too many midfielders but only one good holder in Khedira with Alonso injured and a whole bunch of highly-paid egos. They'd have been better spending half what they spent on Bale for Suarez. Barcelona isn't invulnerable at the top because their back line is fragile and ill-fitting but they are still a better TEAM than this collection of twats. Also, they should have sold Modric instead of Osil, he seems to be less useful.

As for Osil at Arsenal, why? I mean, he'll be a great player and he should score/create some goals, but he is SO not the type of player they needed to buy. Their depth is non-existent everywhere but central midfield. Playing either Cazorla or Osil as a deep lying playmaker is going to hinder those guys not help the team. Giroud is really their only good striking option. For what they spent on Osil, they could have brought in like 3-4 quality players. Wenger is great at developing young talent, but he's shit at the transfer market.

Liverpool can't regret selling Suarez - Madrid never tabled an offer and they sure as fuck weren't going to ship him to Arsenal or to any other top 4 contender in England. That would have been super stupid. The football they are playing without him is pretty nice - and now they've actually shored up the defensive depth and added depth with Moses, I really think they can challenge for 4th. Everton got a little better even though they lost Fellaini but Martinez is having one of his slow starts again. They should be fine come March or April.

Chelsea or Man City probably are the best teams in the league but only if Chelsea doesn't go through its typical mid-season get a manager fired slumps. And City has to keep their backline upright. Fellaini will help United a shitload but I'm not totally sure Moyes is ready to win the league yet.

(http://i4.minus.com/irH1PTWgctUBv.jpg)

That's a fine piece of Spurs trolling right there.

A good but probably optimistic article on what Spurs are trying to do. (http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/73437/understanding-tottenham-hotspurs-daring-rebuilding-project)

Wow.  The US just blanked Mexico to get into the World Cup and boot Mexico out.  How many times have we seen that sort of result in US international soccer? 

 :heart:

We'll probably draw Brazil in our group, heh.

Eat all the dicks, Mexico. Enjoy watching the World Cup from home next summer.

I have an assistant that was born in Monterrey and lived there until he was ~13.  He is pretty torn up about this.  He said that the last time Mexico missed the World Cup was 1974.   :awesome_for_real:

Mexico probably will still make the Brasil. Although if they play that poorly anything is possible.

I was pretty sure that was Mexico's game and that they were about to deliver a dagger to the USA in the first 20 minutes where they looked as if they would shred our defense at any moment but then that cutting edge just vanished. I can't really understand what happened to be honest.

The UEFA qualifiers were all boring match ups it felt like. Austria beat Ireland by having the only truly quality player on the pitch on their team. Russia romped and I couldn't be bothered to watch anything else. It looks like there will be some interesting match ups in October and yet again Portugal will be in the playoff tie which means Bosnia better make sure they get first place.

The best game of the day was probably Uruguay v Colombia, that was an interesting affair and makes me wish I watched a lot more South American qualifiers. Both quality sides who will do damage in the world cup I'd imagine. Now I just need to see Chile and Ecuador play as I haven't caught any of their games this year.

Back to the USA, I still don't rate Eddie Johnson as a starter, I don't think he can play more than 45 minutes at this level before he just wears completely out. Donovan will be a starter which is no surprise but as it stands now Dempsey needs to stop taking pk's (that's back to back horrible takes) and he also needs to step his play up because there's no way he deserves a spot in this side the way he's playing now. His attempts to draw contact and fouls were pathetic and ineffective, his link up play was the best part of his game but he didn't track back much at all and his hold up play was not as good as we needed for most of the game. Hopefully its just a lack of match fitness but it makes me worry.

Beckerman still has no business making the world cup roster and if he does it shows how few midfielders we have who can be counted on to maintain basic defensive assignments. I'm also concerned with Goodson who looked a bit lost when Mexico was actually playing football and then didn't have to do anything too difficult once Mexico fell apart. All of Jurgen's other picks seemed money and I'm especially excited about the future of Fabian Johnson, Mix and Bedoya.

Best part of the game was probably that it only took 20 minutes for Jermaine Jones to stop playing like a lost retard instead of a full 60 like it has some games. He was so freaking awful against Costa Rica.

El Tri  :cry:

(Also to fall into the sarchasm isn't this like 4 times in a row we've 2-0'd Mexico to get in?)

Since 2000 the record is:

US-  12
Mex-  5
Tie-  4

I saw that and it was bizarre, 2013, 2009, 2005, 2001. I believe each one was at columbus too?

Arsenal really did almost give up 2 points today. If it hadn't been for the ref being itchy with his whistle, Altidore would have scored to level it at 2-2 and maybe Arsenal doesn't go on to score a 3rd goal. Still, for all but 20 minutes of the game, they looked good though wasted a lot of open shots on goal, Walcott especially. Osil was absolutely fantastic as I knew he'd be but if Giroud's injury is more serious than not, they are going to regret not having made more buys.

Watched the Real Madrid/Villareal game too. Madrid has some serious depth issues in the back 4 and they looked very fragile on defense. As it was, they were very lucky to get a point in that game. They played Modric deep which I think does not suit him at all, and weakens their defense. Illarmendi started instead of Khedira and looked outmatched much of the game. It was Bale's first game in like 5 months so he looked a bit rusty but he still managed to score. Benzema looked lost most of the day.

Four times now.

I was there. Third row  of the supporters section, northwest corner. I could actually see myself on the broadcast when I looked later. I am still recovering, but holy fucking shit that was awesome.

Welp, Peru is already out of the world cup chase so done with soccer for another four years.

Quitter.  :awesome_for_real:

Ireland Manager Trapatoni is on his way out for the sin of not having a decent player on his team. Some of the papers are near hopefully suggesting Roy Keane as a replacement  :why_so_serious: That tells you all you need to know about Irish Soccer. See you in 12 years...

I saw the away game he finally lost. I would like to know how its his fault that none of his players showed one ounce of quality or class for ninety minutes? A couple of "good shifts" and some hard running and pressure but mostly it was just running out of ideas in midfield and thumping it anywhere from defense.

Saw RM versus Yellow Subs, I don't know what to think. We will see if Bale turns out to even be higher quality than Isco. I don't mind Modric playing from a deep role I think he's useful there but obviously their tactics and shape need work as the defense was hardly a speed bump at times.

Watched another Sunderland loss, they are now bottom of the table on one point and I'm super super wishing that Altidore stayed in Holland for another year, I've seen a striker who has nothing to do with not winning games where he never sees the ball benched before and if that happens I'll be upset. Also he scored a goal that was taken away because the ref was a stupid twat.

Also caught PSG dismantling Bordeaux. Too early to say if PSG is that good or if Bordeaux's defense is not what its historically been in recent years. If you enjoy watching the style CAF teams employ at the world cup do catch some of the top Ligue 1 sides this year. Quite physical and fast game they are playing, fun to watch.

Fuck Barca is a bunch of lucky cunts. So sick of that team.

Totally agree. Altidore looked lost most of the time and when the ball came up to him, he was almost never able to hold it. Fletcher is probably not the best guy to pair him with as Altidore seems to have become less of the speedster and more of the bulldozer up front. Fletcher is too slow to provide any complement and neither are very good crossers or passers. The Sunderland midfield seemed bereft of ideas almost the entire game except for that little spell after halftime. And yes, the ref was a quick whistleblower on that goal.

Jonjo Shelvy's game vs. Liverpool summed up in 4 emotes:

 :drill: :uhrr: :ye_gods: :awesome_for_real:

The  long version. (http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/74780/everything-that-could-happen-in-a-soccer-match-happened-to-swanseas-jonjo-shelvey-yesterday) (which actually had been posted just 15 minutes before I posted my version..:P)

That was one hell of a game. I am concerned by Liverpool's tendency to go a goal up then retreat into a goddamn shell. They need to stand on team's throats and instead they are inviting teams to come onto them. Sturridge claims he's still not fit and he's probably right - he seems world class for about 30 minutes, then doesn't do much more right now. He needs to get fit. Maybe when Hannibal is back, he can get some rest. Iago Aspas has so far shown me nothing. He looks totally unable to hold the ball up when it comes to him. Hopefully he'll do better against some of the lesser teams coming up on the fixture list. The new central defender, Sakho, though? That motherfucker looks a star in the making. He's fucking huge and strong but he seems to have some really great feet. His ball control and ability to pass out of the back is the thing that Agger has and that Skrtel lacks.

Also, I really hate that Liverpool sold Shelvey. He's young and he makes a lot of young boy mistakes like that horrible back pass for the first goal or the hotheaded tendency he has to show his bollocks. But when he's on his game, he has got plenty of goals in him.

Fuck's sake, Liverpool. Bad enough most people think you have no creative player if Suarez is out, you have to go and prove it. Of course, had Coutinho been there, that might not be true but with both out? Absolutely no playmaker - at least not with Gerrard playing so deep. Aspas has shown me fuckall in the 6 games I've seen him in, just a total nonentity. Henderson lacks the passing vision to be the guy behind the striker or to play on the wing in that formation. Sturridge got shit for service all game, but then he was stuck out on the wing the whole time and couldn't do what he should be doing. Why play him on the wing? Does not compute. And why play Sakho AND Toure on the wings to start the game? Neither one is a good wingback which is what the formation requires. Wisdom isn't a great right back but he's about equal to Toure in that respect. Enrique IS a left back though, so play him and put Sakho centrally. Team sheet just didn't make sense, even against a "lesser" team like Southampton.

Also, LOL UNITED.

Arsenal is top the table. That won't last but enjoy it while it does, just like Liverpool did.

I wonder if Moyes can feel Ferguson staring at him..

Oh and JEEZUS Spurs, what were you trying to prove? Lloris was out of the box on that save at the start so they got away with one there....then you decide to wait till the 92nd frickin minute to score just because what? All the previous shots weren't pretty enough?   Damn nice backheel though Paulinho.

Hard as fuck stepping into the shoes of an actual still living legend. Especially when you do almost nothing in the transfer window until the last day and what you do isn't necessarily what you need to do.

United will be fine just based on the talent on that team, but they won't win the title. I think it'll come down to City and Chelsea at this point.

Bayern  :ye_gods:

Joe Hart playing goalie   :uhrr:

Not sure about City contending. Their D and 'keeping are a real worry. Need to show they can win on the road.
I get the feeling Chelsea is only going to get stronger as the season progresses, while Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool fall off in consistency. Maybe Arsenal could be Chelsea's main competition?
I'm hoping for a nice wide open race through the end of the season, with dreams of a 5-6 team race come the spring.

I recall reading an article a year or so ago which shared ideas for how to appear knowledgable about English soccer. Top tip was simply drop into conversation how Arsenal is always trying to pass the goal into the back of the net....

Well sometimes it looks real pretty. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_IX0x7jJdI)

So a lot of things have happened. There are three teams which I have caught almost every game they have played in the past two weeks so I'll start with them.


Arsenal:
The shitty espn writers seem to be making a big fuss out of the Liverpool win, at home. That game was not convincing to me at all and I think the game against Dortmund was much more indicative of how I expect them to fair against top sides the rest of the year. I'm happy for Arsenal, they are playing the most attractive football in the Prem again, its been much more effective than many past seasons, they have tons of talent and I can't see them finishing outside the top 4 with this head start. That said they still have a frail and brittle feel to them they clearly lack depth as the B team battle with Chelsea showed. I just can't remember a year where Arsenal didn't have starters they couldn't stay on the field so I still don't see them as a team that will win the league.

I do think that their BPL outlook is better than their CL outlook though.


Sunderland:
This has been torture. I mean absolute torture. Then they beat Newcastle and there was a chance things were being righted than jesus what a complete and utter trainwreck of a game. I can't think of the last time I saw such a mess. Completely cocking up the US's chances in Brasil because this mess is going to derail Altidore entirely. What a fucking dumpster fire.


Real Madrid:
There's just no way they are topping Barca this year. Barca looks like a well oiled system where everyone knows what's going on and RM is getting by purely on having such a rediculous all star cast. There is no real system. Its an absolute mess. They are giving up goals to anybody who shows up as a result. Every single game they play is stressful and their home fans are the absolute worst. They need Benzema so badly and these fucking idiots are booing him and doing their best to destroy his confidence because they hate winning or something. Who knows how good they will do in Champion's League but considering how bad their defense is I can't see them winning anything this year. Shame too because they are insanely talented all over the pitch and during the 10 minutes or so a game where 11 guys happen to be on the same page its a crazy level to see the game played at.


Globally I can't fucking believe the UEFA playoff draw. How did Portugal and France get the two best pot 2 teams in Sweden and Ukraine? What a waste, I mean I'll be happy if Romania and/or Iceland get to play in the world cup but being denied either Ibra or Ronaldo is a travesty.

More general thoughts, fuck Moyes and fuck Hodgeson I hope United and England get pasted from here on out. What's going on in Italy with Roma is pretty nuts. I haven't caught much of Serie A but I did see Bradley's crazy winner live sort of (was half asleep).

Liverpool was overmatched for most of that game against Arsenal. That 3-5-2 that Rodgers has been running works great against lesser teams but against a team that has some speed and quality? It doesn't work, and all that talk of a possession passing game goes out the window. Liverpool's 3 in midfield this year aren't doing a good enough job of keeping the ball consistently. I think it's partly because Rodgers is forcing Gerrard to play the withdrawn role alongside Lucas and leaving Henderson to go forward. It should be the reverse, IMO. Gerrard can run the midfield, Henderson for all his work rate and versatility just isn't in the same league. Of course, with Coutinho back, Gerrard will be withdrawn again but unfortunately that probably means they'll still some place for Henderson despite their being better options. I think losing Glenn Johnson before the start of that Arsenal game didn't help. Flanagan isn't bad, but he ain't Glenn Johnson.

I wouldn't say they were overmatched at all. Outclassed and bossed in mid field for stretches but they were making good chances for themselves quite often for a team that was overmatched. Gerrard and Lucas got dominated but tactically they seemed to be shutting out Oezil. Put it this way, if forced to bet on the return match at Anfield right now I'd bet on a LFC win not a draw.

Sure, but that was my point. A game with Rodgers system is won in the midfield - and LFC was not winning that fight at all. They were so concerned about Oezil (as they should be) that they couldn't stop Cazorla or Ramsey (who is just on fucking FIRE lately). They were better when they went to 4 at the back, but not much. LFC has the advantage up front - Suarez/Sturridge beats Giroud hands down, if they can get the service. In the midfield though? Right now that edge is with Arsenal because of how good Ramsey has been as well as because Arteta in the holding role is a better passer than Lucas will ever be. Joe Allen might have been a better choice if he was in better form.

The Anfield match though? I'd agree with you. That may be the exact opposite type of game. I also agree with you that Arsenal doesn't have the depth to win the title. They are one or two injuries away from being in a lot of draws. Giroud goes down? Bad news, because an extended run of Bendtner should be your worst nightmare.

Sounders shopping EJ? (http://soccer.si.com/2013/11/13/source-sounders-shopping-eddie-johnson/)

PLEASE let this happen ASAP. If they can get a CB who isn't slow as fuck and/or mentally challenged it would be a coup, but just getting that asshole out of town is worth whatever they can get.

tl;dr fuck Eddie Johnson

Mexico is laying a beatdown on New Zealand.  Guess they'll get into the WC after all.

The US did NOT have a good world cup draw. Ghana, Germany and Portugal. ouchies.

Brazil's group is such a joke. Everything about these World Cups is rigged.

I have no idea what the seeds were, but geezus, there are some easy groups. (Like all of them my two  countries aren't in.)

Group E.
Honduras, Ecuador, Switzerland and France.

What does the E stand for? Easy.

on the plus side this gives the USMNT tons of time to prep for 2018  :grin:

Luis Suarez.   :uhrr: :drill: :drill: :drill:

He is the tits.  :drill:

Also, the whole thing with Malkay Macay and the Cardiff owner is fucking idiotic as hell. Tan seems like he just wants to shitcan the guy and sabotage the whole deal, but after the way, he's treated Mackay, what manager would want to go there? Only the ones who will take a job anywhere.

Fun week in the PL.

Arsenal ..LOL
Chelsea, Man City  :oh_i_see:
Man U  :why_so_serious:

Go Spurs!..:P~

That was fun wasn't it? Especially at the expense of Arsenal. When they are on they are I think the most exciting team to watch in the league.

Watching Man U absolutely BOMBARD Fulham for seventy minutes was fun, then having them give up the tying goal in extra time...LOLers.

Anyways a nice tight 3 way race heading into spring is great, lets hope Liverpool makes it a real 4 way. I WANT CHAOS! (Even without a vested interest watching the last day of the pl two years ago was one of the best sporting events I've ever seen)

I really don't think Liverpool has the strength in midfield to challenge for the title, but stranger things... The real race I'm looking for is fourth place and that Champion's League spot. I think both Chelsea and Man City are going to keep Liverpool from winning as they both have better squad depth and better central midfield strength. Yaya Toure is just the bee's knees, IMO. The fact that Chelsea sold Mata to Man. U. just kills me because he is a world class footballer. He won't help Man U win... well, anything. Moyes needs to clean house over there.

His brother, not so much...  :ye_gods:

Kolo Toure is going to give me a fucking ulcer. As a matter of fact, Liverpool's entire defense is going to do the same. I swear, every time the ball came into the Liverpool box tonight, my sphincter clinched hard enough to shatter diamonds. Good on Fulham for actually giving us a game. And a gift penalty.

In Liverpool's case, it's not 4th place they can be totally satisfied with, they have to shoot for 3rd.

3rd goes straight into the CL proper, whereas 4th have to qualify in the tough 'non-champions' qualifying, and they have to do so with a terrible seeding having missed the CL for a few years, it is quite likely they'd have to get past a Spanish, Italian, German or French side.

Also there is the risk, however remote, that Man Utd will win the damn thing this year and I don't see the FA going into bat for Liverpool the way they did for Everton in 2005.

That chance is so slim that it really isn't worth mentioning.

Man U will be lucky to get into Europe League the way their season is going.

As for Liverpool, they need to go for broke on the title challenge. It's not out of the realm of possibility. Their remaining games against Chelsea, Tottenham and Man City are at Anfield, where they have been insanely good. Their only tough remaining road games are at Southampton (who always seem to give them trouble) and Man U who are still not playing well even with Mata. Meanwhile Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City still have Champions League commitments and both Arsenal and Man City are still in the FA Cup and Man City has the Capital One Cup Final. Those extra games could very well wear on the teams above Liverpool.

Still, I'd be ecstatic with 4th, considering how long they've been out of the Champions League.

Palace!

Crowd chanting 'Sit down Mourinho' at the end was my favourite part.

Shocking year to date. Rodgers has done a very good job with Liverpool.

Still don't know why Moyes was ever hired. Will hopefully get sacked after Bayern thrash us.

I thought Moyes would do a LOT better than he has. His Everton teams were at times a lot more dynamic than this Man U team. I've seen them play 5 times now (Chelsea, both Liverpool BPL games and the FA Cup game, and Man City) and they just look to have no creativity whatsoever anywhere on the pitch. Which makes no sense, because they have creative players. Their defense is a bit of a shambles at the moment and they all look completely bereft of confidence.

Liverpool, despite some of the most awkward defense I've ever seen, are playing crazy good even when they aren't crazy good. You can say it's all about Suarez and Sturridge but you'd only be half right. In a lineup like they showed against Spurs this weekend, they are 5 guys you could expect to make legit scoring runs into the box or shots at any time - Coutinho, Sterling, Henderson and the front 2. And those could come from anywhere on the pitch, plus you still have Gerrard backing them up. If you take away half of Suarez and Sturridge's goals, you still have a team that would be challenging for top 4 despite their shitty defense. AND you have a side that can play 3-4 different formations and play them pretty well most days - that's a mark of Rodgers quality as a tactician and a coach. The side is doing MUCH better than I expected given their depth, defense and the issues with suspension and injury they had at the start of the season. That said, I wouldn't put money down on any team in the top 3 at the moment - I think each has a damn good chance to win it. Arsenal is out, IMO (and every time I say that they go on a tear) but the other 3 are just too close to tell. I think Chelsea has the best quality players (except for forwards) of the 3.

2 things going for Liverpool - Both Man City and Chelsea have to play at Anfield.

Lotta fun watching the Reds play...every time they get possession you except something to happen.

Holy shit Sounders @ Timbers was AMAZING. Shame it was on cable instead of NBC proper.

I would like to see Bayern vs Pool or Pool vs Athletico. Very interesting duels and Bayern lacks form these days. But after yesterdays brawl vs Dortmund they have to get stable to match Ancelotti. Liverpool plays a great season, best mix of young and old players and a really good tactic. I like it that Sturridge shows his skills in such an amazing manner.

The second half by Liverpool today gave me the shakes, and probably a small heart-attack or two. Good times.  :popcorn:

I'm wondering if Haemish did.

Liverpools D at times...oh my god.

Lots of up and down emotions today.

Raheem Sterling - holy fuck. If he isn't in England's World Cup squad, Roy Hodgson should be fired. The poise that kid showed on that goal was simply peerless. The first half performance was just spectacular.

That second half, though. Fuck me. Liverpool gets in the most trouble when they defend deep because their center backs stand back on their heels and they end up having to make challenges in the box which they have to do with timidity because they don't want to give away a penalty. They perform best when they are pressing higher up the pitch. When they started giving Man City free reign in their own half, I got worried. Both City goals were a result of letting them get too far up the pitch before making challenges. Skrtel just makes me nervous always. I have to give it to both Sakho and Flanagan though - both of them have performed quite well under less than ideal circumstances. Flanagan is a natural right back, FFS but he's done better in his time there than Aly Cissokho has done all season. Send his ass back to Valencia but they don't want or need him.

Toure going down is a HUGE swing in the Prem title race. He is hands down the most valuable member of any side in English football right now - I'd put him up there with Suarez and Hazard in the category of "players their team cannot win the title without." Fuck Ronaldo - Toure is more important to Man City (even with the depth they have) than Ronaldo is to Real Madrid. I'm nervous about Sturridge's injury and it's not good that Henderson is going to miss 3 games for a really stupid challenge (and it was a definite red worthy tackle). But I think they can do it. If they can beat Chelsea at Anfield, I can't see them losing the title.

So, Moyes is out at United. Probably for the best though I would have liked to see what he could do with the ability to completely remake that team (which is apparently what's needed). His ultimate legacy might be that he overpaid for 2 players (Fellaini and Mata) that he continually chose to use in the wrong positions and was unable to get even close to the best out of a litany of world-class players (Kagawa, Van Persie) but I think given time he might have turned the side into something approaching respectability. Now we get all the speculation about whose next, including a whole host of people like Jurgen Klopp who should stay far the fuck away from that cesspool of debt and expectation.

Enjoy your next few years in the relative wilderness, United fans. The Liverpool fans will be crowing in the corner with "Yeah, sucks don't it?" looks of familiarity on their face. Also, suck it.  :grin:

Watched the Chelsea/Athletico game last night. FUCK'S SAKE. Mourinho sure as shit knows how to completely and utterly drain a game of any fucking excitement whatso-fucking-ever. Let's defend with 10 men and have Torres sit at the halfway line looking lost the entire game. SO... FUCKING... BORING.

But he's special!

To distract us, let's celebrate the ultimate Berbatov being lazy goal  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Xr2TFkEik)

He's really a pretty decent striker, but yes, I don't think he has ever looked like he's even broken a sweat.

Boy was Moyes out of his depth, I wanted to curl up and die anytime I heard him in an interview, 'we need to aspire to be like City', 'Liverpool come here (Old trafford) as favourites'. On Champions league exit 'It's a great competition, we've really enjoyed it and we need to get back in it.' So gloomy, like listening to soundbytes from someone in a relegation battle not a manager at a top club. Anyway glad he's fucked off, no way would I have trusted him to rebuild the team. Van Gaal sitting favourite right now although some talk of Ancellotti departing Real. Can't see that myself.

Genuinely hope Liverpool win the league from here, playing such exciting football it's hard to deny them. Squeaky bum time.

I expect United will go to an experienced head like Van Gaal or Ancellotti before they would some of the other less well-known guys out there. Unless the atmosphere of ego that is Real Madrid pisses Ancellotti off, I don't see him leaving either. Klopp, Simeone and Conte would all be great for the club, but I don't expect they'll want to go there without Champions League football. Maybe Roberto Martinez could be pried out of Everton but only if they miss out on 4th, otherwise why would he make that move? I still think they'd be better off with some young blood like Pochettino but after grabbing Moyes from a mid-table-ish team, United fans would probably lose their shit at that. Maybe they could convince Rafa Benitez to make the trip.  :why_so_serious:

Now I know what United fans felt like when Roy Hodgson got hired at Liverpool.

Now I understand how Liverpool fans felt when Hodgson was there, I thought he was respectable myself from an outside view, but you just know as a fan when a guy isn't the right fit.

Van Gaal is probably the right choice, he has been the catalyst for a rebuild in both Bayern and Barcelona has all the right credentials though it probably won't end well. Interestingly enough Giggs already sounds more like a United manager than DM ever could. "We're Manchester United, we're at home and we expect to win."

Look forward to the game tomorrow, massive crunch match, gonna be watching with a bunch of Pool fans as usual :)

I saw 2 Man Utd season tickets nailed to a tree

I thought, "I'm having them"

Never can have too many nails, can you?  :awesome_for_real:

Fuck Jose Mourinho. Fuck him in his pompous, bloated, arrogant, shit-grinning earhole. That's just what I want to see in a title race, a team with more money invested in the B team they put on the pitch than the A team of the team in first place, park a goddamn bus in front of their goal like they are a relegation side. Fuck him, fuck Chelsea, fuck Roman Abramovich, fuck them fuckity fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. The only way that game could have been more galling is if Torres had scored that 2nd goal. The ref should have been handing out yellow cards like goddamn candy for all the bullshit time-wasting Chelsea did from the first goddamn minute.

That said, his bullshit tactic fucking worked. But holy shit is that some dour, unwatchable football. I hope Athletico drub the shit out of them at Stamford Bridge.

Well if it wasn't for one horrible slip it would've been a draw which would have been fine for Liverpool. That's some fucking evil shit football gods to do that to Gerrard of all ppl.

And yes, fuck Mourinho.

Some notable things.

• Chelsea's game plan was appalling but I didn't expect any different.
• Probably the most physical Chelsea lineup (minus Terry).
• Sterling was targeted for a bit of kicking.
• Liverpool's subs were truly awful.
• Chelseas goalie had more touches than half of his teammates.
• Coutinho was the man to unravel Chelseas 10 man wall but not his day today.
• Chelsea are gaping assholes and Mourinho is the king of assholery.

Yeah, that's kind of the problem and one of the reasons I doubted they would even get this close to the title. They have no depth. Not having Henderson didn't help as he's much better than Joe Allen. And not having Sturridge from the start, or being able to use Victor Moses (who hasn't been great but he's made more of an impact than fucking Aspas). They just don't have anything on the bench at all.

Still, if they win both games AND Man City slips up... they can still win the title.

Clint Dempsey is on fucking FIRE right now. I hope this translates to the WC, but it is probably more due to the level of competition he is seeing in MLS. He and Obafemi Martins are just clowning defenses. It is so much fun to watch!

MLS talk!

In a slightly related note, I just found out last night that I've been playing indoor soccer with Diego Fagundez's (NE Rev's) mother for the last month.

Suck it Chelsea! Suck it Bayern!

I normally take my MLS talk elsewhere, but Diego is the shit.

 :ye_gods:

Sigh.  :facepalm:

Fuck you, Martin Skrtel. :mob:

Your "how to throw away the league" should be the Gerrard slip or really any of about 6 Martin Skrtel highlights. Fucker.

Nah Gerrard was a hero most of the season, would be unfair to single him out. More the lack of quality coming off the bench summed it up for me. Skrtel scored a lot of important goals which balanced out his complete inability to play with ball at feet.

I'd have taken "Skrtel scored fewer own goals" to be honest.

Sadly the Crystal Palace tie ended up not mattering shit.

Dislike Arsenal but I love that goal. In my books GOTY.