Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2008-09 Football Thread - The Second Half

Status
Not open for further replies.
Our football magazine had a feature on the upcoming MLS season your Lordship, and tipped your boys to do well but not quite well enough to retain the title. I can't remember off the top of my head who they reckoned would win it, I might have to see if I can dig the issue out.
 
With Semis:

Manchester United/FC Porto v Villarreal/Arsenal
Barcelona/Bayern Munich v Liverpool/Chelsea


Liverpool away for the second leg hmmm. We generally like to have the second leg at Anfield but hopefully this won't be a repeat of last seasons fixtures.

I was hoping for Porto or Villarreal to be honest. Man Utd and Arsenal get the easy route. Could be an all English final but not as clear as last season.

In other news: Gerrard assault charge is dropped

The 28-year-old still faces a charge of affray in connection with an incident at a nightclub in Southport. Six other men face the same charge.

...

The footballer, and six other defendants, will have a plea and case management hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on 3 April.

...

Nick Evans, prosecuting, told the court that after a "review of the evidence in full" it was decided that all seven defendants should only face affray charges.
Click to expand...
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Our football magazine had a feature on the upcoming MLS season your Lordship, and tipped your boys to do well but not quite well enough to retain the title. I can't remember off the top of my head who they reckoned would win it, I might have to see if I can dig the issue out.
Click to expand...

Was that FourFourTwo? I'm thinking about getting that.

I think Columbus will play just as well this season as last season - possibly better. The real question is how much some of our rivals (Houston, Chicago) will have improved. We should make the playoffs easily unless we get hit with injuries.

xUKHCx said:
Liverpool away for the second leg hmmm. We generally like to have the second leg at Anfield but hopefully this won't be a repeat of last seasons fixtures.
Click to expand...

I was hoping for a weaker team myself, but I don't think Liverpool should fear anyone in the CL right now - and playing Chelsea will hopefully keep the squad's motivation and focus up. It will be interesting to see how much Chelsea has improved Hiddink compared to our two previous meetings.
 
Meanwhile, Fulham are the latest club to jump aboard the Tevez gravy train.

Apparently, they're aggrieved because West Ham finished a place above them, costing the Cottagers about half-a-million in prize money – they argue that an Argentine-free Hammers team would likely have finished below them.

Honestly. :rolleyes:
 
This all stems for the frankly ludiciruos decision that was made saying that Tevez gained West Ham 3 points.

I believe there is still a hearing between the Premier League and the FA about this whole matter and hopefully they will reverse this decision as the possible legal implications it can have (and already has had) are huge and not mentioning the fact the decision is farcical anyway.

Hopefully MOTD will show this later, but earlier today I saw the Portsmouth mascot practising being lowered from the roof of the stand and getting the goal stanchion up his bottom :D


Markleshark said:
Cliché maybe, but there are no easy games at this stage in the Champions League.
Click to expand...

No easy but some easier.
 
The whole Tevez affair is a mess, and frankly it's getting more and more embarrassing with each new claim for compensation. We've now got Colin Wanker, Leeds United and Fulham putting claims in, and there's continued talk of individual players doing likewise due to missed bonuses and wages.

I might have to put a claim in myself. See, if Sheffield United had stayed up we'd have had a derby with them this season – which on police advice would likely have been a lunchtime kick off. For such games, we traditionally go out for breakfast beforehand and I've missed out on that.

As such, I demand compensation from West Ham in the form of a big cooked breakfast – and I want toast and unlimited coffee top ups. Sort it out, 'ammers.

I reckon I've got a better case than Fulham, to be honest.

xUKHCx said:
Hopefully MOTD will show this later, but earlier today I saw the Portsmouth mascot practising being lowered from the roof of the stand and getting the goal stanchion up his bottom :D
Click to expand...
I saw that clip earlier myself. Proof that mascots and abseiling don't mix, as if any more were needed. :D

If MotD2 don't show it tomorrow I'll be surprised.
 
I just watched the Fulham V ManUtd match and dare I say that the title has definitely not been decided yet. United looked so poor in the first half, even before Scholes was sent off. The second yellow for Rooney was a little undeserved, but I would have sent off Ronaldo, just for all of the complaining he was doing the entire match. I thought he was going to break into tears in the first half, he was that unprofessional.

Now, Scholes, Vidic, and Rooney out against Villa.
 
pivo6 said:
I thought he was going to break into tears in the first half, he was that unprofessional.
Click to expand...

He often looks like that. Especially when he hits one of his magical freekicks into the wall.

3 red cards in two games. They still have a massive squad of huge talent so it shouldn't impact too much in terms of talent ont he pitch but it could be a moral sucker.

Manchester Utd and Chelsea lose today. Hopefully unlike earlier in the season Liverpool will captialise. That 4 point margin is still a big one and just makes those silly draws earlier in the season even more annoying.

Certainly improves the finialie to the premiership.

Middlesborough look to be in trouble after losing a 6 pointer against Stoke today. Earlier in the season I thought Middlesborough were going to be fine this season.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
A fantastic opportunity for Liverpool tomorrow then, and Chelsea must be kicking themselves that they weren't able to take advantage...
Click to expand...


Thank you. Did I say how much I think Wigan seem in fine fettle at the moment? ;)

Random thought that's been on my mind this afternoon: Are there any teams you irrationally hate? We can all think of teams we hate for good reasons... but clubs that you just don't know why you wish anything but misery upon?

Mine is Blackburn. :eek:
 
Blue Velvet said:
Random thought that's been on my mind this afternoon: Are there any teams you irrationally hate? We can all think of teams we hate for good reasons... but clubs that you just don't know why you wish anything but misery upon?
Click to expand...
I can't see this ending well. ;) But an interesting question none the less...

I suppose the teams I don't like all have reasons behind them. Leeds United are an obvious one, nor is my loathing for QPR irrational – I think I may have mentioned previously that they're dirty, time-wasting, match spoiling, injury feigning, new right-back injuring, mascot plagiarising, glove wearing cheats. We've had some tussles with them in recent years that have led to these feelings, so I can't say it's irrational.

There are a few other clubs I don't like due to on-the-field shenanigans or their supporters being twunts. However, I really don't like Leicester City and I can't think of any legitimate reason why. I went to university in Nottingham so I don't know if I subconsciously absorbed this feeling by osmosis or something...
 
Lovely win at St. James' Park.
Gr8 fun seeing Man Utd loose.
And as said before, Chelsea must be kicking themselves....

BTW, why doesn't Mr. A. Ferguson ever speak in front of the camera after a match? I know it must be annoying after losing a match, but most managers show themselves. Fergie let's his henchman do the talking... :rolleyes:
 
MacsRgr8 said:
BTW, why doesn't Mr. A. Ferguson ever speak in front of the camera after a match? I know it must be annoying after losing a match, but most managers show themselves. Fergie let's his henchman do the talking... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
It depends on the channel – he never talks to the BBC, who I'd guess a lot of your coverage in the Netherlands originates from.

Basically, the BBC ran a documentary several years ago which raised questions about the business dealings of his son, who works as a football agent. Sir Alex took umbrage with the BBC over this and hasn't participated in interviews with them since.

He can certainly hold a grudge, that man...
 
Jaffa Cake said:
It depends on the channel – he never talks to the BBC, who I'd guess a lot of your coverage in the Netherlands originates from.

Basically, the BBC ran a documentary several years ago which raised questions about the business dealings of his son, who works as a football agent. Sir Alex took umbrage with the BBC over this and hasn't participated in interviews with them since.

He can certainly hold a grudge, that man...
Click to expand...

Ah, I see.
Indeed, I watch MOTD on BBC here, and that's the only channel on which I can see the interviews.
The games themselves I watch live on Sport 1 (Dutch commercial sports-channels), with English commentary :))) but I never see any interviews there.

Cheers for clearing that up.
 
MacsRgr8 said:
Cheers for clearing that up.
Click to expand...
No problem.

Of the top of my head I can think of only one instance where he's broken his BBC embargo – he made a special appearance on the channel's Sports Personality of the Year show a year or two back to present a lifetime achievement award to Sir Bobby Robson – in this instance Fergie was happy to put his grudge with the broadcaster aside due to his respect for Robson.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Of the top of my head I can think of only one instance where he's broken his BBC embargo – he made a special appearance on the channel's Sports Personality of the Year show a year or two back to present a lifetime achievement award to Sir Bobby Robson – in this instance Fergie was happy to put his grudge with the broadcaster aside due to his respect for Robson.
Click to expand...

That's good. OTOTH, it would have been outrageous if he didn't.
Has Sir Alex ever said how long he will continue to boycott the BBC? IMHO it's a bit childish... demand an apology or something.
 
As far as I know he doesn't do them for Sky either thesedays.

MacsRgr8 said:
LOL.. he won't be getting a pension from the Beeb then... :D
Click to expand...

To be honest I think he should have to do them for the games that the BBC has paid the rights for, that or they club gets a reduced fee for those games where he doesn't talk.


It's not like when David James refused to talk to Sky until they fixed his sky box for him that was funny and brilliant :D
 
xUKHCx said:
To be honest I think he should have to do them for the games that the BBC has paid the rights for, that or they club gets a reduced fee for those games where he doesn't talk.
Click to expand...
Thing is though, Manchester United always do offer someone to talk – generally it's the Assistant Manager but they're fulfilling their obligation. Fergie does appear for the Champions League but I think I'm right in saying he's contractually obligated to do so.

Anyway... a short while ago someone (it may have been Lord Blackadder but apologies if I'm wrong) posted a link to the BBC's Premier League Predictor – a table that updates as you predict the scores for the remainder of the season.

Well, I had a go a little earlier and – using my knowledge, skill and sprig of seaweed (hey, it works for predicting the weather) – I suspect the final table might look a bit like this...

Picture 2.png

So, Manchester United to retain the title and equal Liverpool's League Championship record – and I have Villa down to pip Arsenal to fourth place and the last Champions League spot. At the other end of the table I've got West Brom and Boro down as pretty much doomed, with Newcastle also plotting Turf Moor and Bloomfield Road into the SatNav for next season. We survive to devalue the Premier League for another season, but it's a bit tight – mind, I tend to veer towards the pessimistic with these things when it comes to predicting City results.

Compared to my pre-season predictions, these latest predictions tally with regards to the Champions and two of the other Champions League places. None of the teams I predicted for relegation at the start of the season will go down in this latest projection, although I claim a bonus point for correctly predicting a season of struggle for Blackburn Rovers. :D
 
Jaffa Cake said:
...
Click to expand...

I did a prediction about 2 months ago and spent absolutely ages on it only to find the BBC had missed one game off (The postponed Manchester Utd vs Portsmouth game). That game was a decider. It right bloody annoyed me and I haven't done one since.

I'll give it a pop tomorrow though when I have the brain power run simulations of all the possibile scanerios in all the games remaining.

I think you might just be right about the bottom of the table though. ALthough a few too many points for Stoke.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back