The 2012-2013 Football Thread

[oscillatewildly]

Going out on away goals just sucks. A better performance from Liverpool this time but it's fairly meaningless. Frankly that 1-1 draw would have been less annoying because I wouldn't have had any hope.

...

Finishing fourth in the league is out of the question, but fifth is still possible though it will be a real dogfight. I'd like to see that, not because it's a Europa League place but because it demonstrates real improvement over the course of the season. A challenge for a CL spot next season is a real possibility if the squad continues this improvement..

+1 on hope and away goals.

Re league position, good test with the Spurs game.

Happybunny - at least the action is tough.

Cheers,
OW

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Seems I spoke to soon earlier when I said that there had been an improvement in the amateur game here. Last Sunday in the Fourth Class Amateurs a referee was mishandled first by supporters then by the players. Last night the KNVB reacted the whole team is banned the club (ZTS Zaandam) just ceases to exist. Today the bailiffs have moved it to remove the offices and training facilities which are on council property. The police have already started criminal proceedings.

At first glance it might seem heavy-handed to some, but given recent events I think it's the right thing to do. People need to get the message that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable, no exceptions.

The sad thing is, if this happened at a higher level the team would be able to avoid harsh punishments, and it would weaken the impact of the message we are trying to send. Could you imagine, say, Red Star Belgrade ceasing to exist due to hooliganism from fans and players against a referee?

Re league position, good test with the Spurs game.

It's winnable, especially if we play like we did yesterday. Spurs are in decent form as well though, so it should be a good contest.

 

[Confuzzzed]

Have to say, top level football fast losing its appeal, with more racist/anti-Semitic/sectarian violence raising its ugly head in Lyon. On the other hand, FC United visited my neighbourhood team Marine this week. The heavy police presence (Manchester v. Liverpool always has the potential for violence) was unnecessary as the event passed peacefully, although I nearly kicked off when the team bus parked in front of my local bakery blocking my access. And we lost.

 

[takao]

Those Barca shirts are eye-searingly horrible by the way. I can't stand them.

last year it were the peppermint shirts .. this year it's reverse tequila sunrise

 

[twietee]

just took a (quick) glance at the Championship table - good for Hull - but 24 teams!??!? What is wrong with you?!

 

[Jaffa Cake]

just took a (quick) glance at the Championship table - good for Hull - but 24 teams!??!? What is wrong with you?!

24 teams in each of the three Football League divisions, plus the 20 in the Premier League adds up to the mystical 92 League clubs.

Extra games aren't a problem for us as we never progress in the cups, and the closest we get to playing in Europe is the away trip to Cardiff.

 

[swiftaw]

Shocking start for Hull today.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Shocking start for Hull today.

I wish I'd gone now.

 

[2020mike]

And Everton blow it once again.

 

[Confuzzzed]

And Everton blow it once again.

And you're still 3 points ahead of us. Someone please make this season go away

 

[twietee]

The Ugly, lovely town went international already and made it to my Berlin newspaper. Nice story I didn't knew about. Crossing fingers they make it against United..



..may I present David Morgan and John van Zweden, spending over 20K for Swansea (crazy lads. imagining me, spending that much for Hertha? Not happening!):

edit: so much wrong with my posts lately, no idea what wrong here, but just realized they play against Birmingham. All that Wembley talk sure must have confused me...

edit II: Bradford, Birmingham, all the same to me

 

[Happybunny]

Round up of the Eredivisie.

Friday

Willem II 2 vs NEC 3
That Willem II are going down is no suprise, the fact that they play good football is.

Saturday

FC Groningen 1 vs PEC Zwolle 0
PEC lost this match in the last few minutes, and slip further down the table.

Heracles Almelo 3 vs Vitesse 5
High scoring game again the main difference between the teams Wilfried Bony.

sc Heerenveen 2 vs FC Twente 1
Twente haven't won since the winter stop, and are now really losing ground to the top teams.

Sunday

Feyenoord 2 vs PSV 1
Feyenoord picked up a good win, it wasn't a pretty game but they got the job done.

Ajax 1 vs ADO Den Haag 1
Ajax only managed a draw very late in the game


PSV still top but lead cut to two points.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Swansea really look to be in control of this cup final. Bradford have some big boys on their squad, but Swansea are finding too much space and being allowed too much time on the ball. Nice goal from Michu. Swansea will probably slow the game down now and make it even harder for Bradford to score. They need to manufacture some corners or freekicks.

 

[oscillatewildly]

24 Doyle is a waste of space and 18 Jones is about the same. I'd like to see Wells get a chance.

And Duke is sent off - cue comeback.

Edit - Wells replaced, Doyle stays on!

 

[daneoni]

Turned out to be a boring final in the end. Swansea rolled over Bradford and cruise to trophy. No fairy tale ending. How much longer will Laudrup and Michu be at Swansea...not long me thinks.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Swansea earned it, congrats to them. Bradford had to endure a little humiliation in the final, which is a shame because their story is even more exciting than Swansea's. They deserved to be there.

 

[daneoni]

Yup. And Bradford fans should serve as a reference to all other fans in football. Never stopped singing.

 

[Happybunny]

Tonight on Studio Sport there were the first rumbles over Steve McClaren, the talking heads had it over that Twente haven't won since the winter stop.

 

[pachyderm]

the massive wednesday win one nil!

 

[andalusia]

Think it's great that Laudrup took responsibility for the De Guzman / Dyer argument, although think his excuse is completely laughable..

'"There was no designated penalty taker. I forgot," he said.'

You forgot!?!?!!!

 

[daneoni]

Ugh! can't wait till Bale leaves Spurs for Madrid.

 

[twietee]

Bale shooting lots of goals is a great thing. BUT Hertha winning ugly 1:0 and leading the table now sure is some mental mescaline!

May I add that we have 13 points to third rank? Up, up and away!

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Think it's great that Laudrup took responsibility for the De Guzman / Dyer argument, although think his excuse is completely laughable..

'"There was no designated penalty taker. I forgot," he said.'

You forgot!?!?!!!

Against Matt Duke, you don't worry about penalty takers — he saves'em all.

Unfortunately though after his foul gave away the penalty and earned him a red card, he didn't get the opportunity.

 

[Happybunny]

Again I'm not here to post about real football but about the bad side of the professional game.

Another incident which shows just really how much of a them and us, mentality there really is.

The KNVB here said that there would be action against any player who brought the game into disrepute.
This from last December(after the death of the linesman)

During Sunday's game there was an incident on the pitch, Jerremain Lens (PSV) waited for Joris Mathijsen (Feyenoord) in the tunnel and in front of the cameras grabbed him by the shirt. There was no actual punch but a lot of pushing and shoving. The whole incident was seen live on TV, PSV fined the player the maximum amount.
Of course the fact that both Lens and Mathijsen are International players and play for one of the Big Four of the Eredivisie, should have had not influence on the matter. But as various people began to say if this incident had happened by Amateurs or a Lower Division there would have been suspensions at the very least. The late last night after two of the major sports progammes had featured the incident, and various Lawyers had had their say, a wonder happened the KNVB decided to have a full investigation.

http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/02/25/psv-legt-voetballer-lens-na-incident-maximale-boete-op/

It is incidents like this that show that the KNVB is just not that committed to really routing out problems.

 

[Happybunny]

Trainer Steve McClaren to leave FC Twente.

This was on the make for a few weeks now, Twente is just not winning any matches, and are out of every cup.


http://nos.nl/artikel/478322-trainer-mcclaren-weg-bij-twente.html