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The 2013-2014 Football Thread
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There is some pretty firm evidence that Moyes wasn't up to the Man Utd job...
However, it's also pretty clear that the players were on a go-slow. Ferdinand could barely conceal his disdain for Moyes. Evra has form when it comes to downing tools (WC 2010), but this makes the players look pretty bad IMO.
It also makes Fergie - the players' beloved Fergie - look bad as well, since they obviously rejected the successor he chose to manage them, and sandbagged their way through the season.
With all that being said, this was Norwich and a Man Utd loss, even given the state they're in, would have been unforgivable. It was a perfect moment for Giggs (remotely controlled by Fergie) to step in.
However, it's also pretty clear that the players were on a go-slow. Ferdinand could barely conceal his disdain for Moyes. Evra has form when it comes to downing tools (WC 2010), but this makes the players look pretty bad IMO.
It also makes Fergie - the players' beloved Fergie - look bad as well, since they obviously rejected the successor he chose to manage them, and sandbagged their way through the season.
With all that being said, this was Norwich and a Man Utd loss, even given the state they're in, would have been unforgivable. It was a perfect moment for Giggs (remotely controlled by Fergie) to step in.
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Its similar to the AVB saga at Chelsea.
But in any case, they got the pts, even if Norwich arguably needed it more and were unlucky with the pen.
But Giggs did what he needed to do and of course United fans/players have started making noise again.
Job done.
But in any case, they got the pts, even if Norwich arguably needed it more and were unlucky with the pen.
But Giggs did what he needed to do and of course United fans/players have started making noise again.
Job done.
He didn't need to do anything apart from show up and smile (and not be David Moyes). He may be good managerial material but this stint won't provide much evidence one way or another.
If van Gaal is the man as is rumored, it will be interesting to see how the squad react to him. He won't tolerate the kind of behavior Moyes lived with. But if Rooney's quotes after the game are anything to go by, at least some of the players see no reason to change manager now...
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Columbus 1-1 New York Energy Drinks
A tight match. Ny were more dangerous in the attack, Columbus defended better but spurned a couple chances that would have won us the match. Turnovers and bad finishing are our issues at the moment. Still, it's early in the season and I expect to see improvement.
Late in the game we brought on Adam Bedell, our newly drafted 6'7" Peter Crouch copy. He didn't see much playing time but given our lack of an aerial threat up front we might need to use him more. He's raw though.
A tight match. Ny were more dangerous in the attack, Columbus defended better but spurned a couple chances that would have won us the match. Turnovers and bad finishing are our issues at the moment. Still, it's early in the season and I expect to see improvement.
Late in the game we brought on Adam Bedell, our newly drafted 6'7" Peter Crouch copy. He didn't see much playing time but given our lack of an aerial threat up front we might need to use him more. He's raw though.
When I say needed to do, I meant re-field the old guard (who would of course play for him) + Kagawa as a short-term fix. And show up in a suit with a smile/wave like you said.
He is far from ready to be the Manager of a big club but he'll suffice for 3 games. Enough to pepper over the cracks of United and provide a temporary reprieve from their ongoing nightmare.
What a horrible way to potentially (probably? Liverpool have a significantly inferior goal difference to Man City now) lose the title.
A perfect example of how Jose feels that the ball is actually your enemy. If you surrender possession, you reduce the possibly of your own team making a mistake. Cold logic, and brutally effective in this case.
Man Utd fans will be laughing but it's cruel on Gerrard.
A perfect example of how Jose feels that the ball is actually your enemy. If you surrender possession, you reduce the possibly of your own team making a mistake. Cold logic, and brutally effective in this case.
Man Utd fans will be laughing but it's cruel on Gerrard.
I don't really care for Mou but the guy knows how to navigate the big games. 16pts out of 18. Brutally effective.
He'll boast about it of course. I can already hear it; "My team were fantastic...we're not going to win the title etc"
Liverpool lost composure after Ba scored and were so desperate to score that they didn't plan properly, instead resorting to lobbing it in and crossing and shooting from outside. Then ran out of ideas.
He'll boast about it of course. I can already hear it; "My team were fantastic...we're not going to win the title etc"
Liverpool lost composure after Ba scored and were so desperate to score that they didn't plan properly, instead resorting to lobbing it in and crossing and shooting from outside. Then ran out of ideas.
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The season ended on a whimper, after the heights of last weekend.
Ajax are champions for the 33rd time after a 1-1 draw away at Heracles Almelo.
Ajax are champions for the 33rd time after a 1-1 draw away at Heracles Almelo.
Holy moly, just woke up to see the score, poor Liverpool fans, how are tiebreakers handled in the premier, is it Man City's to lose?
Meanwhile Atletico is winning 1-0, in what seems could be the biggest challenge remaining in their schedule (Barça remains, but they would have to tie or lose another one for either Real or Barça to have a chance)
Not quite. Liverpool can overtake them on goal difference but they would have to win their last two games by big margins. And Crystal Palace don't eat goals like that. I think the tie breaker is goal difference and then goals scored.
But yeah, this title has to be City's now. They would have to choke so badly, against inferior opposition, to lose it.
To be fair Liverpool where unlucky, but i still think Rodgers got it wrong. They were at Anfield and only needed a point. He should have kept it compact and use their pace to counter. Push Gerrard further forward (still a liability in the holding role IMHO (i know its not his fault today)) and leave Lucas and Allen to sit behind the back 4.
It might have been dull/lacked flair but it'd have kept Liverpool in the driving seat. But he went gung-ho. Unlike the rest of the top 4 Chelsea are very proficient at defending. If you're gonna attack you'll need a complete midfield to grind them down, and a solid back 3 or 4 to handle counters/long balls.
But oh well, there'll probably still be twist and turns. Liverpool have to pray that Everton get a result against City.
But the pendulum has swung back in City's favour.
It might have been dull/lacked flair but it'd have kept Liverpool in the driving seat. But he went gung-ho. Unlike the rest of the top 4 Chelsea are very proficient at defending. If you're gonna attack you'll need a complete midfield to grind them down, and a solid back 3 or 4 to handle counters/long balls.
But oh well, there'll probably still be twist and turns. Liverpool have to pray that Everton get a result against City.
But the pendulum has swung back in City's favour.
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Women CL half final results:
Birmingham City LFC lost 0:0 and 0:3 against Tyresö FF.
From the matches that were free, I missed the first Potsdam vs Wolfsburg match, which went 0:0
Today was the second match in Wolfsburg, with a 10.800 audience (a lot for women football, though they expect 15.000 for the DFB-Pokal Finale, while I expect a very boring match) and again Dieter Hecking/Klaus Alofs (Coach/Manager, Wolfsburg men's team) attended it.
It was really a great match, both teams playing attacking/offense football.
There were a lot of emotions on the pitch. It was like a derby of two near town clubs and the players heated up more over the game. A lot of hard tackling was involved along vocal addresses in a very intense match.
In the 7th. minute Potsdam made the first goal. It was Julia Simic, who was just bought from FC Bayern, when she was injured for a year. They gotta thank the gods, striker Anonma assisted and not followed her known habbit of always wanting to make the goals alone.
Then Wolfsburg went 1:1 and again Potsdam went 2:1. The first half ended with a 3:2 for Wolfsburg and 12minutes before the end of the 2nd half they went 4:2.
Which was deserved, but 3:2 would have been fair, too.
Interestingly every goal that Potsdam got resulted out of a mistake by left defense player Välti.
So the Finale is
Tyresö FF - VfL Wolfsburg.
Unfortunately I don't have any idea how Tyresö plays.
This was one of the better examples of women's club football. Ah, found a link 1st half http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciH4EhsTuhA 2nd half http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGQPQP-Y-Bs
Background information: Potsdam is 4 points ahead of Wolfsburg in the league with the same amount of matches played. They are on place 2 and 3, which is, because 1.FFC Frankfurt (1st) has played two matches more at the moment. League matches often get delayed weeks, if one of the teams is in the DFB-Cup or CL.
Wolfsburg is last year's triple winner. Potsdam finished the league as master consecutively from 2009 to 2012 and won the CL in 2010 and had a beef with Frankfurt and vice versa (toughest contender during that time).
This year no one of them has proceeded to the DFB-Pokal Finale, but Frankfurt has and SGS Essen (the latter being last team of the first league, they won against Freiburg by an anoying and boring parking the bus match and had trained penalties especially).
Birmingham City LFC lost 0:0 and 0:3 against Tyresö FF.
From the matches that were free, I missed the first Potsdam vs Wolfsburg match, which went 0:0
Today was the second match in Wolfsburg, with a 10.800 audience (a lot for women football, though they expect 15.000 for the DFB-Pokal Finale, while I expect a very boring match) and again Dieter Hecking/Klaus Alofs (Coach/Manager, Wolfsburg men's team) attended it.
It was really a great match, both teams playing attacking/offense football.
There were a lot of emotions on the pitch. It was like a derby of two near town clubs and the players heated up more over the game. A lot of hard tackling was involved along vocal addresses in a very intense match.
In the 7th. minute Potsdam made the first goal. It was Julia Simic, who was just bought from FC Bayern, when she was injured for a year. They gotta thank the gods, striker Anonma assisted and not followed her known habbit of always wanting to make the goals alone.
Then Wolfsburg went 1:1 and again Potsdam went 2:1. The first half ended with a 3:2 for Wolfsburg and 12minutes before the end of the 2nd half they went 4:2.
Which was deserved, but 3:2 would have been fair, too.
Interestingly every goal that Potsdam got resulted out of a mistake by left defense player Välti.
So the Finale is
Tyresö FF - VfL Wolfsburg.
Unfortunately I don't have any idea how Tyresö plays.
This was one of the better examples of women's club football. Ah, found a link 1st half http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciH4EhsTuhA 2nd half http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGQPQP-Y-Bs
Background information: Potsdam is 4 points ahead of Wolfsburg in the league with the same amount of matches played. They are on place 2 and 3, which is, because 1.FFC Frankfurt (1st) has played two matches more at the moment. League matches often get delayed weeks, if one of the teams is in the DFB-Cup or CL.
Wolfsburg is last year's triple winner. Potsdam finished the league as master consecutively from 2009 to 2012 and won the CL in 2010 and had a beef with Frankfurt and vice versa (toughest contender during that time).
This year no one of them has proceeded to the DFB-Pokal Finale, but Frankfurt has and SGS Essen (the latter being last team of the first league, they won against Freiburg by an anoying and boring parking the bus match and had trained penalties especially).
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Hi,
No, a young Sergio moving to Real Madrid for a lot of money.
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Manchester United:
Second half; shorter, faster passing, and numbers getting forward - some players overcoming the fear of shock treatment for crossing the half way line. Commitment to the attack was a problem under Moyes.
Liverpool v Chelsea:
Gerrard in the second half; looked an individual performance rather than a team effort.
Ref; late to book re time wasting, and how many cards did Liverpool receive?
Everton and Manchester City are mixed, and Crystal Palace are capable of upsetting Liverpool; the latter have points on the table - not to be sneezed at. One thing is certain, Chelsea are out of it.
Cheers,
OW
best football story of the weekend:
Racist Villareal fans threw a banana at Dani Alves during a corner. Who then picks up said banana, peels it, takes a hearty bite. And then crosses then ball from the corner into the box.
Dani Alves after the game:
Racist Villareal fans threw a banana at Dani Alves during a corner. Who then picks up said banana, peels it, takes a hearty bite. And then crosses then ball from the corner into the box.
Dani Alves after the game:
Everton and Manchester City are mixed, and Crystal Palace are capable of upsetting Liverpool; the latter have points on the table - not to be sneezed at. One thing is certain, Chelsea are out of it.
The 8-goal goal difference means that Man City have to drop points to let Liverpool back in. Chelsea have played their spoiler role to perfection but aren't going to be winning anything.
Some have blamed Rogers for going for the win rather than the point. I think that opinion betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of Liverpool's squad and tactics. Liverpool is a defensively weak team that cannot sit on a lead. By going for the draw they would surely have lost.
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