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2009-10 Football Thread – The Second Half

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MacsRgr8 said:
BTW, I'm watching the 2nd FA cup semi final match.
As Chelsea is definitely playing in the CL next year, maybe the already relegated Portsmouth gets a place in Europe next season!

That would be nice for the tortured Pompey, eh? Just get a win over Tottenham. ;)
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Nope, Portsmouth can't qualify for Europe as they couldn't afford to pay for their UEFA registration :rolleyes:
 
Nice to see Pompy reach a cup final, at least for the fans (well, all but 1 of them) anyway, but they were lucky! Crouch's goal seemed fine, even James looked rather surprised/relieved when it was disallowed, and that was never a penalty!
 
Fizzoid said:
Nice to see Pompy reach a cup final, at least for the fans (well, all but 1 of them) anyway, but they were lucky! Crouch's goal seemed fine, even James looked rather surprised/relieved when it was disallowed, and that was never a penalty!
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Yep. Tottenham will feel bad about this one...

But congrats to Portsmouth!! :)
 
MacsRgr8 said:
Yep. Tottenham will feel bad about this one...

But congrats to Portsmouth!! :)
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Indeed. Glad to see Pompey have something to smile about after their season, it would be even more epic if they pipped Chelsea to the Cup.

Tottenham have played this weekend...up to extra time whilst we haven't, and more importantly, lost.

I hope these equate to a decisive win for us on Wed
 
Well, that's all she wrote for United this year. Rooney's spectacular form really papered over the glaring deficiencies of the squad for a while. They showed good character, hanging in there during the great defensive injury crisis of 2009, but, without Rooney available to conjure up the necessary attacking magic... they just look toothless.

The silver lining of falling short in the race for the Premiereship and bombing out of Europe early is that SAF and David Gill and company can no longer pretend that the squad is good enough to compete at the top level. The only question, and it's a big one, is whether the Glazers will give them enough money to bring in some players that can make an impact in the first team right away. A major rebuild is not needed, just two or three upgrades in key areas. No need to go nuts and buy players at the peak of their value such as Ribery or David Villa, just sign a good attacking central midfielder and another forward who are still young, but have proven themselves such as a Gourcuff, David Silva, Hulk, Hamsik, &c.

That, and bring up some more of the kids. Tom Cleverley looks just about ready to step in to the midfield picture. Maybe Oliver Norwood or Corry Evans.
 
I'm definitely going to cheer on Pompey in the final. I gave them no chance to beat Spurs, and bad pitch or not they went out there and won the game.

It would be a great irony if Grant managed to beat Chelski with the scratch team Pompey have available to them...

Silencio said:
The silver lining of falling short in the race for the Premiereship and bombing out of Europe early is that SAF and David Gill and company can no longer pretend that the squad is good enough to compete at the top level.
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I could say just about the same for Liverpool - except that if we win the Europa League it will paper over the cracks to a certain extent.

I think Liverpool's squad is not in need of a total rebuilding, but it does need a lot of work. We need a second striker, a midfield playmaker and probably a left back and center back for starters. Hicks and Gillette can make a substantial profit on the club if they sell now, but they seem to be greedily holding out for more. And every month they do that makes the problems at the club worse.
 
Silencio said:
A major rebuild is not needed, just two or three upgrades in key areas. No need to go nuts and buy players at the peak of their value such as Ribery or David Villa, just sign a good attacking central midfielder and another forward who are still young, but have proven themselves such as a Gourcuff, David Silva, Hulk, Hamsik, &c
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Offload Carrick for Modric and get out of favour Stephen Ireland plus another defender because Vidic and Rio are starting to show their age..
 
Nieval said:
Offload Carrick for Modric and get out of favour Stephen Ireland plus another defender because Vidic and Rio are starting to show their age..
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After signing Carrick and Berba from Spurs, don't you think SAF has learned his lesson by now? :p

Ireland is at least an intriguing possibility, but I think United can do better.

I still think Jonny Evans has a bright, bright future ahead of him. This season he's been plagued with injuries. I think he and Chris Smalling should be ready by the time Rio and Vida need to step aside, unless the rumors of Vida's imminent departure really do come true, despite strong denials from everyone involved. Then again, if Real Madrid offer £30 million for him, I'd say yes to that.
 
Brilliant example of BBC journalism here. Despite apparently losing 39 games on the trot in 1996 as they say we somehow managed to reach the League Cup semi-final, the 5th round of the FA Cup and get promoted as Division 2 Runners-Up. Obviously a very poor year for football all round :rolleyes:

Link

UPDATE : Oh look, they've changed it 1977 now!! STILL WRONG!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

County's 1976-77 results
County's 1977-78 results

If fact, it's never ever happened in the history of Stockport County! Ever! Why can't they just admit they've got the wrong team, rather than try and embarrass themselves further?
 
Nieval said:
Offload Carrick for Modric and get out of favour Stephen Ireland plus another defender because Vidic and Rio are starting to show their age..
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You think United need defenders, what the hell do Arsenal need?!

Pompey are going to appeal their not being allowed to play in Europe... :p
 
Queso said:
If fact, it's never ever happened in the history of Stockport County! Ever! Why can't they just admit they've got the wrong team, rather than try and embarrass themselves further?
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It's funny how we sometimes take this stuff as gospel - until people start writing about our own club and we realize they are making stuff up! :eek:

XIII said:
You think United need defenders, what the hell do Arsenal need?!
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Liverpool could use a couple as well. ;)

XIII said:
Pompey are going to appeal their not being allowed to play in Europe... :p
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I am very much in two minds over this. On the one hand, if Pompey win the cup, they've done the necessary work on the pitch to make it to Europe. Plus, I'm sick of the top four clubs winning the FA and League Cups because it makes them much less relevant.

On the other hand, should a club that was so badly mismanaged get special dispensation to play in Europe? One might argue that all the over-spending in previous years gave Porstmouth a short-term advantage and that letting them into Europe is just rewarding them for massively over-extending themselves and being irresponsibly run.

Hicks and Gillette bought Liverpool for £218.9 million. Under their ownership, the club has incresed its debt, failed to build a new stadium, failed to improve or even maintain the quality of the squad, and, most importantly, have won nothing. And yet, the money-grubbing bastards are asking £500 million for the club. It leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.

EDIT: Torres needs to stay healthy, or else our Europa League dreams are sunk.
 
Queso said:
Brilliant example of BBC journalism here...

Why can't they just admit they've got the wrong team, rather than try and embarrass themselves further?
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Come on now – you don't expect them to have a reporter do a bit of research on teams in the Pepsi Third Conference Division like Stockport Town do you? People want to be reading about the big four and nothing else! ;)

In all seriousness, if it's not upper Premier League they don't give a flying one. You just need to look at The Football League Show and the gaffes they make – you wouldn't think it was that hard to get a player's name right when it's emblazoned on the back of their shirt, but apparently not...

XIII said:
You think United need defenders, what the hell do Arsenal need?!
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Lord Blackadder said:
Liverpool could use a couple as well. ;)
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There are rumblings that both Arsenal and Liverpool – amongst others – are tracking our young French centre back Steven Mouyokolo and are preparing bids should we be relegated. Keep your grubby hands off!

Lord Blackadder said:
I am very much in two minds over this. On the one hand, if Pompey win the cup, they've done the necessary work on the pitch to make it to Europe. Plus, I'm sick of the top four clubs winning the FA and League Cups because it makes them much less relevant.

On the other hand, should a club that was so badly mismanaged get special dispensation to play in Europe? One might argue that all the over-spending in previous years gave Porstmouth a short-term advantage and that letting them into Europe is just rewarding them for massively over-extending themselves and being irresponsibly run.
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They shouldn't be allowed to enter, and given the noises UEFA's been coming out with about tightening rules on club finances I'd be very surprised to see any appeal be successful.

Portsmouth are in the mess that they're in because they spectacularly failed to live within their means – they splashed out on players and wages that they can't afford, and this has given them an unfair advantage over a number of other teams. If the rules are relaxed to allow them into next season's Europa League then it's sending out entirely the wrong message in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm still annoyed about Saturday. Gah.
 
Condolences about Saturday Jaffa. I keep hoping to get up on Saturdays (I'm on GMT -9!) and see that Hull City has gotten a result....maybe Jozy will pull a Clint Dempsey and save the club with a late strike on the final day. :D

Jaffa Cake said:
If the rules are relaxed to allow them into next season's Europa League then it's sending out entirely the wrong message in my opinion.
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That's pretty much where I'm at with this right now. It's true they've progressed to the point where they will, on paper, be awarded a European spot, but the way the club is run is at best extremely short-sighted, at worst criminally negligent. This must outweigh all other considerations in the long run, because the leagues and the FA cannot afford to let clubs behave like this or the entire league system will eventually go into a financial meltdown.

Portsmouth should not be looking to get into Europe; they should be mostly concerned with getting back to the basics of running a football club and not "doing a Leeds".
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Anyway, I'm still annoyed about Saturday. Gah.
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Naturally - that result could well be season defining for you. :(

And yeah, I read those stories too.. probably not much to be made of them to be honest.. as per usual! Who Wenger "swoops" for with his "warchest" is barely ever correctly predicted.. perhaps Chamakh will be the exception...
 
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