2008/2009 Football (Soccer) Thread

[Amarr HM]

Yeh especially considering Neville was partially at fault for both goals, but he was always a cunt.

[sigil]

Well  so much for that side of the bracket... 

[Endie]

At the same time, I really respect Neville as a person. That's not a troll.  vOv

[Amarr HM]

At the same time, I really respect Neville as a person. That's not a troll.  vOv

It's football you can be a cunt on the pitch and the nicest person ever off it I have no idea why you respect Neville so feel free to fill in the gaps.

Fuck me did pools zonal marking go to shreads tonight, not a man on the post for either corners. Guess you can concentrate on the league now which is kind of a worry for United.

[WayAbvPar]

My biggest problems with Neville are his rat-like visage and his failings on the pitch. I don't know much about him otherwise.

[Amarr HM]

My biggest problems with Neville are his rat-like visage and his failings on the pitch. I don't know much about him otherwise.

He hates cops and scousers according to Ferdinand's "you've been merked".

[WayAbvPar]

I can't say I blame him there, especially scousers.

[lamaros]

I'm normally a big fan of scholes, but I thought he was pretty poor against porto. As bad as Park. To be fair to both of them they have played much much better in other games, so I don't think it was a bad option by SAF to play them, just something missing on the night.

It's the defence and midfield that is killing us though. No Ferdinand and Brown are really big losses as Neville has gone to seed and O'Shae is O'Shae. One player who was really important for us at this stage last year hasn't got on the park at all, Hargraves.

Still, if Ferdinand and Berbatov are back next week then there are no excuses. We have players good enough to beat Porto with some comfort and a failure to do so means they don't deserve it. With Rooney and Ronaldo you always have a change to win if you defence can get it together.

If it wasn't for Chelsea having such a good game I'd say Barca almost had its name on the cup. But as Liverpool and Utd have shown us recently, a lot can change in a few weeks.

[Amarr HM]

Hargreaves is perma-injured.

[Amarr HM]

I was delighted Scolari was Chelsea manager from the start of this season cause I always assumed he was mediocre and I seriously think Chelsea are probably the only first-team that are on a par with United and probably harder to beat, just shows what a good manager can do for your team. Unlikely as it is, they could seriously nick a double here though Barca were amazing last night also so we'll see, I just can't look past Barcas dodgy defence.

[lamaros]

I'm probably going Barca->Chelsea->Utd in the order of likely winners now.

[HaemishM]

I passed out when the Liverpool game was 1-1. What the fuck happened? That zonal marking on free kicks is such an obvious weakness. A couple of men on the posts wouldn't have stopped that first goal last night, but it can't fucking hurt, now can it? For as much success as Rafa has had, he can make some dumb fucking decisions.

[Endie]

Can we just not talk about what happened next?

[Tale]

I passed out when the Liverpool game was 1-1. What the fuck happened?

Guus Hiddink. Everything he touches turns to pwn.

[WayAbvPar]

Jesus- anyone watching Liverpool v Chelsea Scousers v Blue Brazil? This game is fucking crazy so far.

[Paelos]

Chelsea's keeper looks like shit today. Also, why in the hell do they have to chant THE CHAAAAAAMPIOOOOOOONS 15 times during halftime? It's really really annoying.

EDIT: Check that, BOTH keepers look like shit. What a god awful Chelsea goal. 

[Paelos]

4-3 Liverpool. This game has gone completely batshit insane.

[Endie]

Entertaining, but I've rarely seen a top side score so many goals against such good opposition as Chelsea and yet be as awful at the basics as we were for much of the second half.

[Paelos]

I'd played keeper for 15 years, and I have absolutely no idea what the hell either one of them was thinking on about 4 of the goals. That doesn't even bring into consideration some of the gaffs where the ball didn't go in. It was like they forgot how to position themselves for 90 minutes.

[HaemishM]

I'd played keeper for 15 years, and I have absolutely no idea what the hell either one of them was thinking on about 4 of the goals. That doesn't even bring into consideration some of the gaffs where the ball didn't go in. It was like they forgot how to position themselves for 90 minutes.

Yeah, this. That game was fucked up frantic. People running every which way, everyone out of position, both keepers making some real howlers. The fucking ref kept calling the most niggling little fouls (he must never have reffed a game with English teams before). That first Chelsea goal should NEVER have gone in. That was awful.

Poor Liverpool. Poor Chelsea. I look forward to Chelsea drawing Barca next (cross fingers) and watching Barca dickstomp them.

[sigil]

The most entertaining trainwreck of a game I've seen in quite some time. But yeah, Barca should just crush them.


MLS notes:  Montero's been cleared of all charges. And contrary to rumors,  Red Bull is not trying to unload their crappy team.

[Amarr HM]

Yeah, this. That game was fucked up frantic. People running every which way, everyone out of position, both keepers making some real howlers. The fucking ref kept calling the most niggling little fouls (he must never have reffed a game with English teams before). That first Chelsea goal should NEVER have gone in. That was awful.

Poor Liverpool. Poor Chelsea. I look forward to Chelsea drawing Barca next (cross fingers) and watching Barca dickstomp them.

European refs can be truly awful the one for the United porto 1st leg was bananas everytime Tevez got on the ball he was getting fouled and in trying to remove said player attached to him he would have a foul given against him. Some international refs are even worse, their gullibilty in the face of gamesmanship is astonishing.

[WayAbvPar]

I was 90% sure the Montero thing was going to amount to dick. Flaky story and no evidence. One night stand who was mad that she was discarded imo.

Very worried about Porto today. They are nigh unbeatable at home, and United hasn't been on form for a month now. Gulp.

[HaemishM]

2 away goals is a decent hurdle to overcome, even for Man. U. They will need to be clicking on all cylinders. Arsenal doesn't have it quite as bad, but it could still end up with only 1 English team in the next round.

[WayAbvPar]

I'll take a 3-3 draw 

[WayAbvPar]

So- how pissed are all the London ManU fans that they got to see them play in Wembley, but SAF decided to field his C team? Even then Everton had to go to penalties. So much for the quintuple.

[Endie]

I heard Fergie's comments about changing his lineup because of teh lack of life on the pitch in disbelief.  Does he actually believe that anyone will buy that line?  Why didn't he just say "we are in the running for the premiership and the champions' league, frankly the FA cup, prestigious as it is, comes in third to those two"?

[WayAbvPar]

It is the kind of thing I regularly do in FIFA 09, but not something I expect from a real team. Although I would tend to agree that the FA Cup is a distant third to CL and EPL titles. Which is too bad, because it is my favorite competition due to its egalitarian nature.

[sigil]

Also, Dimitar Berbatov always takes lazy ass penalties. WTF was he doing on the front of the line?

Maybe spurs can take him back for say 8 million? :D

Also, Seattle starting to come back to earth a bit. Chivas manhandled them. Dynamo might do worse, it will be interesting to see what their new guys can do.

[WayAbvPar]

Berbatov has the niftiest feet ever, as long as he doesn't have to use them to actually go get the ball or defend or anything. He is highly skilled, but slow and more than a little lazy. Infuriating to watch.

Seattle was ok until the final third of the field for most of the game. Their attack was just breaking down. I don't think they used Jacqua enough- he towered over the CBs for Chivas and could have been winning balls all night. Seattle also needs to find a better left back- Zack Scott works his ass off, but he is getting regularly abused.

[Amarr HM]

I was quite pleased with the performance of the Man Yoo young lads good experience for them. Berbatov is totally off form at the moment & I understand people's frustration with him but asking an out an out forward to defend in recompense is just plain silly, also I liked what he had to offer against Porto when the gameplan was to try and keep possession he holds the ball up better than any of our other forwards. I'd give him another season to see if he can pick things up, we gave Andy Cole two seasons and look how that turned out.

[sigil]

Berbatov is totally off form at the moment

Ok Spurs supporter here calling BULLSHIT

He's on form. This is how he plays. It's how he's  always played.

Just because you slip on the shirt with the  goofy looking devil on it does not boost your skills by ten percent. Especially if you're a crafty but  permanent slacker like old Dimi :)

[lamaros]

Eh that's not really true. He covers as much ground as nearly anyone else when he's playing well, he just doesn't do a lot of it on camera.

[Abagadro]

Woot. Just got my FC Barcellona-Villarreal CF tickets.  They are actually playing Chelsea in the Champions when I'm there but I just couldn't bring myself to drop that kind of coin.

[sidereal]

Wolves to Premiership is now official.  Looking forward to seeing what Ebanks-Blake can do at the top.  I suspect they'll be able to stay off the drop fairly comfortably, barring injury problems.

It can't be coincidence that the two Seattle games that I didn't either attend or watch live were the two losses, as I was lounging on beaches on (consecutively) Port Julia and Kangaroo Island, well away from Internet access.  The losses are pretty easy to rationalize, though.  One involved the red carding of our starting keeper and the other was away against likely the best team in the West (also without our starting keeper).  When they start losing to shitty teams at home with the starting 11, I'll worry.