2008-09 Football Thread

[B&Wtoon]

However, the News of The World excelled itself this weekend by not only showing the wrong crest, but also the wrong team and sport. Rather than a magnificent Tiger-based badge, readers were instead treated to an image of the crest of Hull FC, our egg-chasing groundmates!

Honestly.

what you doing reading that rag – you are asking for it!

As a northern club do expect to get kak reporting next year, as the southern based media at best only stick the knife in to clubs outside of London with the exception of ManUre and less so Liverpool.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

what you doing reading that rag – you are asking for it!

I normally have a quick leaf through the various sports pages when we do or shop on a Sunday. I don't buy the News of The World, don't worry.

As a northern club do expect to get kak reporting next year, as the southern based media at best only stick the knife in to clubs outside of London with the exception of ManUre and less so Liverpool.

I'm expecting us to be seen as a bit of a curiosity at first, to be honest. Our media coverage (at a national level certainly) has never been good, so breath isn't exactly been held.

I have been a bit taken aback by the reaction we've got so far though, so far as columnists and pundits have been concerned. I was honestly expecting us to be Barnslyed – ie, suffer a level of condescension and belittlement unseen since our South Yorkshire cousins had their brief flirtation with the top flight a few years ago. Talk of 'plucky little Hull' and repeated mention of trawlers and haddock and all that.

Instead, I've been surprised by the open hostility our promotion has received from some sections of the media. There's been talk of us 'devaluing' the Premier League with our mere presence, that us turning out in the top flight is a 'joke' and the phrase 'less points than Derby' is repeated constantly and with great relish.

Bollocks to the lot of them. We're Premier League – all the moaners can just get used to it.

 

[BoyBach]

Not very well, it would seem...

...so I've fixed that for you.

Ah, bollocks! The first rule of taking the piss is to ensure no mistakes on your own part...

 

[swiftaw]

Instead, I've been surprised by the open hostility our promotion has received from some sections of the media. There's been talk of us 'devaluing' the Premier League with our mere presence, that us turning out in the top flight is a 'joke' and the phrase 'less points than Derby' is repeated constantly and with great relish.

Bollocks to the lot of them. We're Premier League – all the moaners can just get used to it.

That's what they said about my Wigan. 3 years later, they are still there.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Chelsea have signed Deco – the fee is reckoned to be somewhere in the region of £8 million.

No doubt the prospect of a visit to the KC this season is what made up the Brazilian playmaker's mind.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Adebayor must be gone after the demands to triple the salary...they weren't even paying Henry that much.

I'm curious to see where Crouch ends up - Portsmouth seems most interested but nobody is going to pay Benitez's asking price. The fact that he is an England international doesn't mean too much these days...

As for the C. Ronaldo affair, I say let him go. Man U can afford to lose him, and he's won everything there is to win in the Premier League...if he wants to to to Spain you won't be able to keep him happy in England.

Since the "big four" have the league title more or less locked away, the relegation battles are often the most interesting Premier League stories...and since so much of the media are writing Hull off I will certainly be cheering them on, as I did for Sunderland a couple seasons ago.

Has anyone heard anything certain on the Lampard to Inter Milan rumors?

 

[Jaffa Cake]

...and since so much of the media are writing Hull off I will certainly be cheering them on

I'm delighted to hear it – with your aristocratic backing we surely can't fail.

Has anyone heard anything certain on the Lampard to Inter Milan rumors?

Nothing official, just rumour and speculation. The fact that Chelsea now have Deco in their ranks could mean that they'd be more inclined to let Lampard go if the right offer came along. But we'll see.

 

[Brianstorm91]

Sigh. Deco. Team for the future, hey? He's hardly a young whippet, albeit it he's still good.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Nothing official, just rumour and speculation. The fact that Chelsea now have Deco in their ranks could mean that they'd be more inclined to let Lampard go if the right offer came along. But we'll see.

Perhaps Deco is intended as a direct replacement...

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Team for the future, hey? He's hardly a young whippet, albeit it he's still good.

They've probably been inspired by Deano. Look out for the other 'big four clubs' signing players well into their thirties as well.

This 'single signing' Manchester United are looking at? It's Teddy Sheringham – you heard it here first.

 

[pachyderm]

Anyone got a bead on what # Luka Modric will wear whilst playing for Spurs?

I have done some searching but have had no luck...

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Looks like Benitez is now trying to swap Crouch for Robbie Keane, but rumor has it that Spurs want 20 million...just where is the lanky hitman going to end up?

UK strikers are so overpriced...20 million? Keane is good and we could use him but he's no Torres.

 

[aloofman]

Looks like Benitez is now trying to swap Crouch for Robbie Keane, but rumor has it that Spurs want 20 million...just where is the lanky hitman going to end up?

UK strikers are so overpriced...20 million? Keane is good and we could use him but he's no Torres.

The way Ramos is remaking the team, it's hard to tell whether they would sell Keane or want Crouch. Obviously they'd need to get a striker if the rumors about cashing in Berbatov are true.

Personally, I'd like to see them concentrate on their defense. Getting Gomes in goal was a nice start though, what with Robinson having played his way out.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

They need a better defense more than anything - though I simply can't see them keeping Berbatov, when other top clubs are likely to offer him more money than Spurs can afford...but if they lose both Keane and Berbatov Crouchy might be a decent option, with the right partner.

 

[aloofman]

They need a better defense more than anything - though I simply can't see them keeping Berbatov, when other top clubs are likely to offer him more money than Spurs can afford...but if they lose both Keane and Berbatov Crouchy might be a decent option, with the right partner.

If they lose both Keane and Berbatov, then Ramos will have to perform a miracle on defense for them to contend. They would effectively be losing 40 goals between them. Not that they have no one in the pipeline. Everyone seems impressed with the Modric signing, Lennon could still make the jump to star, and Bent could grow into something special if he stays healthy. (I want to be optimistic about Giovani dos Santos, but really haven't seen him play much.) But that's a lot of ifs and it wouldn't address their horrible goals-against.

Everyone seems to agree that Berbatov is gone, so if it happens, I hope they get as much cash as possible. If they can get someone to overpay like Man United did for Carrick and Spurs buy some useful players with it, then I'm fine with that. But again, a lot of ifs.

 

[pachyderm]

they'll miss berbs... me too...

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

Just dropping in to ask for opinions on this issue.

I've been watching soccer (football) lately due to Euro 2008. Whenever I've watched the sport, I am always struck by the terrible flopping (NBA term), or overexaggeration of fouls and resulting "injuries."

You see this very often in basketball in America, and it causes very terrible calls to be made concerning fouls. It has gone so far in the NBA that, next year, the NBA will be fining players for deliberately faking contact and injury in order to draw fouls.

IMO, flopping in soccer is not only more prevelent, it's more exaggerated.

What is your opinion on flopping in soccer? If you see it as a problem, what are some potential solutions?

And if this debate has been going on for years, please excuse me as I'm new to the sport and am just commenting how I see it without knowing any previous arguments.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

"Diving" is the colloquial term in football (soccer); the refs officially call it "simulation" and it is a perennial problem. In a game a ref can card a player for simulation but it happens all the time and sometimes decides games.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Anyone got a bead on what # Luka Modric will wear whilst playing for Spurs?

Teams won't be announcing their squad numbers for a few weeks yet – they generally get the bulk of their transfer business done and then decide who'll wear what.

Just dropping in to ask for opinions on this issue...

Yep, it's a debate that's gone on for a long time.

We always hear before a tournament or the start of a new season that referees have been instructed to clamp down on it by booking offenders, it never seems to happen though unless it's something incredibly blatant. Personally, if a player tries to trick the referee I think he should first receive a warning, and if he persists with this behaviour then a yellow card should be produced.

It's the same with players trying to get opponents booked, or surrounding the referee trying to intimidate him – action needs to be taken to stamp it out.

 

[aloofman]

We always hear before a tournament or the start of a new season that referees have been instructed to clamp down on it by booking offenders, it never seems to happen though unless it's something incredibly blatant. Personally, if a player tries to trick the referee I think he should first receive a warning, and if he persists with this behaviour then a yellow card should be produced.

It's the same with players trying to get opponents booked, or surrounding the referee trying to intimidate him – action needs to be taken to stamp it out.

The NBA's flopping is nowhere near as bad as international soccer's diving. Flopping is certainly worse in basketball than it used to be, but until we see an NBA player act as if his leg has been severed, get taken off the field on a stretcher, then walk back onto the court as if nothing happened, then it's not as bad as in soccer. OK, except for Paul Pierce. Kidding!

The main issue with basketball is that the line between a (defensive) blocking foul and a (offensive) charging foul is very small, so small that sometimes replay is needed to see it. Basketball is much more a full-body contact sport than soccer is, so some of these collisions aren't fouls on anyone. I think in soccer the committing of a foul or a dive is usually more obvious.

If I remember right -- and it's been a while since I cared about hockey -- the NHL did a reasonable job of cutting down on diving in the 1990s. But I think in that case it was more because of the severity of fouls. If you interfere with a player with the puck in hockey it results in a two-minute man-advantage for the other team. In soccer it often just results in a free kick. Ditto if it's called a dive. So in hockey there is a much greater incentive to not foul or dive in that situation. In soccer you're giving your team a set play (or even a penalty kick) from a play that the ballhandler probably wasn't going to score on anyway. From a striker's point of view, there really aren't many downsides to diving and I'm not sure how to change that.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

It's the same with players trying to get opponents booked, or surrounding the referee trying to intimidate him – action needs to be taken to stamp it out.

The surrounding of refs irritates me even more than the diving (are you listening, John Terry?) - it's totally disrespectful to the ref and I still think they should enact a rule permitting only the captains to speak to the refs.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

...I still think they should enact a rule permitting only the captains to speak to the refs.

It's something that was suggested a few times in the old thread and it's an idea I'd like to see tried out. If you're not the captain or a player directly involved in an incident, you've no business charging across the pitch to snarl your contempt at the official.

 

[R.Youden]

The surrounding of refs irritates me even more than the diving (are you listening, John Terry?) - it's totally disrespectful to the ref and I still think they should enact a rule permitting only the captains to speak to the refs.

Who is the captain of Chelsea?

 

[BoyBach]

Anyone got a bead on what # Luka Modric will wear whilst playing for Spurs?

According to the Tottenham website the signing hasn't been completed yet. They are waiting for the work permit to be granted.

Just dropping in to ask for opinions on this issue...

I propose that I be allowed to walk onto any football pitch and kick the shins of any football player purporting to be injured. It's the only way to be sure that they're not faking an injury.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Who is the captain of Chelsea?

I know, but all the more reason to keep the rest of the Chelski thugs from bullying the ref.

Terry is no captain in my book.