2009/2010 Football (Soccer) Thread

[Amarr HM]

They aren't fucked, they just aren't anywhere near as good.

We'll see at the end of the season.

[sigil]

Welp, champions league looks like it's gotten a hell of a lot more interesting after today 

[Hoax]

Lyon!  Fuck yeah!  That's great, good for them they were really playing a fearless game for the 75 minutes I saw.  Didn't see either goal though because I had to get out of the house.

Really looking forward to watching some of the Real Madrid v Milan game tomorrow if I can swing it.  Nothing else really interests me though Utd in Russia could be good and Bordeaux must win at home v Bayern if they want to have any hope of winning the group so that could be a good one.

[sidereal]

 If Liverpool keep struggling in the Prem and Lyon (who have been crushing it so far this season) beats them up in the group, Rafa will be in a world of hurt.

 

[HaemishM]

Lyon totally outworked Liverpool. The Reds had about what, 10 minutes of good play? The rest was Lyon deserved to win, plain and simple. Liverpool's defense is SHIT this year, absolutely unacceptable, and I can't figure out if it's just Carragher getting slower than normal or lack of execution or all of the above. But it's just terrible. No playmaker, no scorer, Benayoun is good but not Gerrard quality and Kuyt is hard-working but will never make up for the loss of Gerrard or a real winger. And Voronin? Fuck me, we can't even give him away? We got worse in the offseason, not better. Johnson's addition has not made up for the loss of Alonso or the lack of a second choice striker. Lucas - useless.

[sigil]

Fulham almost bulled out the stunner today. The draw to roma was unfortunate.

Millions of people are confused about Rubin Kazan, as they are not in FIFA 10 

[lamaros]

Liverpool - Utd was a strange game. I enjoyed it, but not a lot happened, really.

I'm getting increasingly bored with how Fergie picks his team for the big games, too. This is not the Utd I fell in love with.

Liverpool is still a one man team though. Excellent finish.

NFI how Lucas got through the game w/o a booking either.

[Amarr HM]

It was almost a repeat of last years game.

Liverpool know all they have to do is cancel out Uniteds midfield and then they can spend all day defending those long balls. Carragher was immense but he should have been redcarded late on for taking Owen down, ref totally bottled it in front of the Kop crowd.

[HaemishM]

I don't think Carragher should have got a card at all. If anything, it looked to me like he got fouled as much as Owen did. And Liverpool only got the clean sheet because Carragher played his best game of the season (which meant he played an average game since the rest of the season he's sucked monkey cock). Lucas - he is such a fucking waste of space. The announcers kept singing his praises for making runs into the box, but he did fuckall with them, so why even mention it? He never finishes chances. And he is a clumsy fouler, so he's not as good a holding midfielder as Mascherano. If Mascherano would have kept his mouth shut like Lucas does, he might not have been sent off. Lucas didn't get carded because he keeps his gob from flapping.

Of course, Liverpool is a one trick pony - two tricks if Gerrard is in. That's what I've been bitching about for most of a year now. Benayoun is certainly a better player than I thought at first, but the team is carried by Torres and Gerrard.

[Amarr HM]

Mascheranos foul on Van Der Sar was a straight red he didn't play the ball at all, his first foul was a definite card his removal was nothing to do with his general dissent. Owen was through on goal Carragher fell while trying to encroach him and then grabbed him while falling backwards, you obviously didn't see the incident properly it was a definite foul and a definite red card.

[HaemishM]

I saw the Carragher "foul" just fine. I saw the replay multiple times. It was just as much grabassery on Owen's part as on Carragher's.

[Amarr HM]

It was a 50-50 tussle until Carragher fell over, taking the other player down with him was when the foul occurred.

[lamaros]

I thought it was a red myself, but c'est la vie.

Lucas should have been carded in the first half though. That would have stopped him carrying on with all those obvious and poor tackles in the second.

And Scholes is a great player still, but I only want to see him in the big games when Anderson is in there too. For all his excellent passes he just didn't occupy enough space physically in the midfield.

[WayAbvPar]

A Carragher red was probably warranted, but Lucas should have been off the pitch long before- he was persistently and obviously fouling the shit out of anyone near him.

United looked like they were sleepwalking through most of the game. I have no idea why SAF didn't take Valencia off at halftime- he was completely invisible. The midfield as a whole was terrible at supplying the ball to Rooney, and Berbatov was his normal quiet self. Scholes did nothing, which is obvious since he didn't pick up a yellow or two for his atrocious tackling.

Liverpool played very well. Torres is woman-faced beast. Fighting off Ferdinand and then beating VDS with a roofed shot was fucking incredible.

Are there are any world class midfielders for sale in January? I hate to say it, but United are really missing the Portuguese cunt.

[HaemishM]

The Man U midfield did get the shit fouled out of them. You're right about Lucas. He should have been off, but really, he had no other option. The Donkey-Legged Fucker is too slow to catch up to a decent midfielder, his tackling skills aren't good enough to be a holding mid like Masch, and his shooting skills are terribad. Oh yeah, and his passing is bush league. I eagerly await Aquilani getting fit just so we won't see that shitbag on the pitch for 90 minutes.

[Amarr HM]

Are there are any world class midfielders for sale in January? I hate to say it, but United are really missing the Portuguese cunt.

I disagree he played in same fixture last year and didn't do squat, Liverpool were never gonna be a cakewalk in that fixture after four straight losses. The persistent fouling was to be expected but unfotunately United had noone to rise above it. Liverpool set out their stalls to defend and then break with Torres, this has always been Uniteds weak spot and Torres is the most equipped player in the league to dismantle Vidic & Ferdinand. Fabulous goal I even applauded it the way he shrugged off Ferdinand was immense.

Like last year the subs were a little too late to grab anything more than an equalizer. 1-1 would have been a fairer result but Liverpool have lost two games recently they definitely deserved to win, so swings and roundabouts.

[Hoax]

Don't forget, Amarr thinks that they are a better team without Ronaldo.  So you can basically ignore everything he says on the subject because he's full of shit.

[Amarr HM]

He did fuck all for team spirit, you just say fuck all.

[WayAbvPar]

They are having trouble scoring this year. Ronaldo at least gave them a scoring threat outside the strikers, which is sorely lacking this year. Do any of the midfielders have more than 1 goal? Someone needs to step up and draw some attention so Rooney and Berbatov have room to operate. If Giggs and Scholes were 10 years younger I would feel a lot better, but Carrick and Fletcher aren't going to score many and I have zero confidence in Nani, Anderson, or Park. I don't know much about Valencia but he sure hasn't impressed me so far. Maybe Hargreaves coming back will help relieve some of their defensive responsibilities, at least until his leg flies off.

[Amarr HM]

I dunno if I agree WAP they've averaged two goals a game they even managed to score a goal in CSKA moscow and win that's a pretty mean feat in itself, also the 7 goal thriller against City?

Can they win the Premier league this season? I dunno, but if they don't it will be more to do with the strength of our opposition than the loss of Ronaldo. I was delighted that other guy was manager of Chelsea last year cause I knew he was shit, Ancellotti though he's got a track record. One thing that can fuck Chelsea up is the African nations and their transfer ban, incidentally I've heard Valencia might need to have a firesale in January (David Villa).

On losing Ronaldo > basically I'm saying, it's not good to be reliant on one player to score the bulk of your goals that's Liverpools main weakness, the best United teams could score goals from any position I think that's what SAF's striving for. Also why I believe the United team can flourish without Ronaldo in there, though apparently this makes me full of shit vOv

[HaemishM]

Don't take the Valencia fire sale rumors with too much seriousness. They've been needed cash for most of a year and a half now, and somehow they haven't sold either Villa or Silva. I would expect for anyone to make any kind of run at him, they better start putting up Ronaldo numbers (or at least Kaka numbers) or Valencia will tell them to go screw. The club is in serious deep shit financially - they were trying to build a new stadium with loans, which was already stretching them thin when the financial crisis hit. They tanked to the point of not being able to pay their players for a bit. They aren't out of the woods, but they are certainly better off than they were during the summer. If Villa didn't bolt then, with Real Madrid making overt offers for him, then I don't expect him to go unless the money is crazy good AND/OR his contract will be up soon and they don't think they can resign him.

But at least we know Chelsea won't get him.  Man. U. likely won't buy him either because they won't want to spend that much (nor do they need ANOTHER striker) and I'm sure Liverpool would love to have him but they obviously refuse to spend that kind of money. You know Arsenal won't spend that kind of cash, so you're really only talking about Man. City, Barcelona or Real Madrid willing to splash that cash in January, and I put Madrid out of it simply because they don't need him for that price. Not that either Man. City or Barca need him either but that's never stopped them before.

[Amarr HM]

But at least we know Chelsea won't get him. 

This a hundred times this makes me happier than anything about this season.

[HaemishM]

At this point, I'm tapping Chelsea to win the Premier League and fall short in the Champions League. But next year should be a lot worse for them if they can't bring in new players.

[WayAbvPar]

They are just kicking the shit out of everyone in the league right now. Maybe Drogba will step on a land mine or something during the AFC.

[HaemishM]

I just cannot even express how fucking bad Liverpool looked today. The first half was ok, but the second half was a trainwreck. No possession, shit shit defense, and no attacking juice whatsoever. And the first two subs Rafa makes are to take off Torres and Benayoun, you know, the only fuckers who have been scoring for shit, to replace them with Babel and some 19-year old making his Premier League debut. What the fuck? I realize there's an important Champions League match this week, but fuck me, at least try to tie the goddamn game. Then two straight reds in two minutes? WHAT THE FUCK? The Degen red card was most definitely not deserved, but the Carragher one most certainly was. Fuck, but Carragher has been balls this season, absolute balls. Maybe the defense will actually defend without him. Kyriagkos was pretty bad too. He's slow, doesn't position well, and gives up on the play way too often. His best attribute is his strength, which does fuckall when guys just walk past him to score goals on the open side of the net. This team is a fucking shambles.

[sigil]

I just cannot even express how fucking bad Liverpool looked today. The first half was ok, but the second half was a trainwreck. No possession, shit shit defense, and no attacking juice whatsoever. And the first two subs Rafa makes are to take off Torres and Benayoun, you know, the only fuckers who have been scoring for shit, to replace them with Babel and some 19-year old making his Premier League debut. What the fuck? I realize there's an important Champions League match this week, but fuck me, at least try to tie the goddamn game. Then two straight reds in two minutes? WHAT THE FUCK? The Degen red card was most definitely not deserved, but the Carragher one most certainly was. Fuck, but Carragher has been balls this season, absolute balls. Maybe the defense will actually defend without him. Kyriagkos was pretty bad too. He's slow, doesn't position well, and gives up on the play way too often. His best attribute is his strength, which does fuckall when guys just walk past him to score goals on the open side of the net. This team is a fucking shambles.

I was going to say something but Cesc Fabregas picked the thought as it was leaving my mouth and ran it  the other way for a spectacular, soul crushing goal. As such, I can't really comment about Liverpool other than Tottenham have lost  buckets full and are still fourth for a few more precious seconds before their slide  begins again.

[Bokonon]

Hey, howabout that Fulham team, eh?

[HaemishM]

Yeah, Kudos to Fulham. They didn't play badly even when Liverpool was bossing possession. They made good saves and they created chances. Liverpool didn't. Even without the sending offs, Liverpool was struggling mightily in the second half.

Fuckers.

[Bokonon]

Yeah, Kudos to Fulham. They didn't play badly even when Liverpool was bossing possession. They made good saves and they created chances. Liverpool didn't. Even without the sending offs, Liverpool was struggling mightily in the second half.

Fuckers.

Well, to be fair, they were lucky to go into the locker room at halftime with the score at 1-1. The way the wheels came off in the second half for Liverpool was astounding though.

[ShenMolo]

Hey, howabout that Fulham team, eh?

COYW!

[WayAbvPar]

The Degen red card was most definitely not deserved

Really? Studs up, lunging in recklessly from behind? That is a red card every single time.

Video


Dempsey is lucky he didn't catch him. That could have easily broken his ankle.

[HaemishM]

Oh it was definitely reckless. I'm not surprised the ref handed a straight red in real-time. But after looking at it slower, I thought it was only worth a yellow. Maybe the suspension will be dropped on review, or maybe I'm talking out of my ass.

[Hoax]

I could see it going either way, but its not a bad red at all because like WAP says if he had caught him with that kind of tackle he would have seriously fucked him up.  It was close enough though to being just a bad play not a dirty play that a yellow would have  been ok but soft on the ref's part.

[Amarr HM]

It was similar enough a tackle to the one that nearly ended Eduardos career, I won't link it as I can't imagine anyone would enjoy watching that again.

I'm still tipping Arsenal to topple the table.

[sidereal]

I'd like it to be Arsenal, but it's going to be Chelsea.  They're a machine.  That Anelka to whoever to Deco to Drogba goal without the ball touching the ground was bonkers.