Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2009-10 Football Thread The Second Half
- Thread starter Jaffa Cake
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
And you can shut up n'all.It wasn't that bad.
EDIT: Just to follow on from last night's discussion on Champions League cities (well, I say discussion - it was really just me being a smart arse
), the statastic OptaJoe has tweeted that Athens is actually the only city to have had three teams in one tournament, back in 2003-04.So there we go!
The fourth place team still has to qualify for the champions league proper, so no guarantee that London will have 3 teams in the group stage.
I take it you lot are counting Manchester United as a Surrey club rather than a London club.
Wigan - any news re Kirkland and N'Zogbia.
Motherwell; 6-2 down, missed penalty and great equaliser for 6-6.
Ledley King - how many games at the World Cup to justify a place, or is it a matter of that one game?
Portsmouth - debt now GBP 138 million.
Apologies to pachyderm and Queso for belated commiseration.
Cheers,
OW
Wigan - any news re Kirkland and N'Zogbia.
Motherwell; 6-2 down, missed penalty and great equaliser for 6-6.
Ledley King - how many games at the World Cup to justify a place, or is it a matter of that one game?
Portsmouth - debt now GBP 138 million.
Apologies to pachyderm and Queso for belated commiseration.
Cheers,
OW
Is he really that good though? Many have said he's not even the best defender at Spurs, let alone an England starter.
I've liked what I've seen of him, but he's been injured so much. Don't know if he's good enough to push aside Terry or a fit Rio for a starting berth, but he should be strongly considered for a spot on the plane.
But now it's looking like Carragher is going to end his international retirement and Capello is going to put him on the preliminary WC squad.
I heard somewhere that King has played more games than Rio this year. Dawson is the in form center back. I'd take him before Carragher.
It's true that King has played more games than Rio this season and yet King in labelled injury-prone while Rio is suppose to be the rock captaining England's defence.
King is a phenomenal defender, keeping in mind that he's injured for half the season and when he's not, he's not allowed to train or play more than one game per week. Basically this guy stays at home all week, shows up for the game and still plays on par with the best of them. It really makes you think what if. He's not as skillful as Rio tho, and not a ball playing defender, must be said.
King is a phenomenal defender, keeping in mind that he's injured for half the season and when he's not, he's not allowed to train or play more than one game per week. Basically this guy stays at home all week, shows up for the game and still plays on par with the best of them. It really makes you think what if. He's not as skillful as Rio tho, and not a ball playing defender, must be said.
King's problem will be that the World Cup requires players to (hopefully) feature in quite a few games over a relatively short period. He's not going to have a lot of recovery time between matches.
Did you guys read about the Pique / Ibra thing? I never get into scandals, but Ibra is already under a lot of fire for under performing for the 2nd half of this season. The last thing he needs is the homophobic media looming over every word and action he make.
See picture here
Unrelated... the EPL site is doing a poll, "Who gets your vote as the Barclays Player of the Season?". With the choices:
Who would you vote for, if any?
See picture here
Unrelated... the EPL site is doing a poll, "Who gets your vote as the Barclays Player of the Season?". With the choices:
- Didier Drogba (Chelsea)
- Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
- Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
- Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)
- Carlos Tevez (Manchester City)
Who would you vote for, if any?
The picture could be entirely innocent, but even if there is something going on between them does it really matter?
No Dean Marney?
Of the players listed, I'd probably go for Rooney.
Rooney is probably the standout player, but I'd vote for Lampard. He's had a very consistent season and has played a key role in what looks to be a successful title bid for Chelski, and he is of course an automatic inclusion in the World Cup squad.
I'll bet the Carragher call-up would only happen (if the rumors have any merit) if Rio or Terry are injured. Carragher won't want to come out of international retirement just to ride the bench...
I'll bet the Carragher call-up would only happen (if the rumors have any merit) if Rio or Terry are injured. Carragher won't want to come out of international retirement just to ride the bench...
Given your point, I can see why some people may call his coming out of retirement hypocritical, but I wouldn't blame him if he decides he'd fancy playing in football's most prestigous competition one last time. Personally, I'd welcome the WC as a distraction from this last season and would love to be part of an England setup that has a realistic chance of reaching gold since a long time.
Yeah, I've been impressed by Dawson's defensive work as well. King seems to mostly like to head the ball out of the area, but he's certainly good at that. Anyway, I don't see Rio not being fit for the WC at this point.
Some good news for Arsenal fans: you've got a trophy this season after all! The Arsenal academy defeated Man Utd's academy in the title match 1-1 (5-3 penalties). Both sides have a lot of exciting looking young talent.
Some good news for Arsenal fans: you've got a trophy this season after all! The Arsenal academy defeated Man Utd's academy in the title match 1-1 (5-3 penalties). Both sides have a lot of exciting looking young talent.
England could potentially have a very good World Cup showing, but it's going to be Brazil or Spain. I think the best England can realistically hope for is a Semifinal appearance. It will be interesting to see how Italy and Germany fare as well, they are both playing OK but not convincing me.
King is international quality, but as you say I expect to see Rio and Terry starting for England, and I doubt Carragher will join the squad in that case. King may go, and if they only need him for a game or two he should be fine. If Rio or Terry get hurt early in the tournament though, King's fragility will become a huge talking point again.
Would anybody like to speculate on the current location of the Premier League trophy? Located at a service station just outside Birmingham perhaps?
All very reminiscent of the last day of the SPL in 2005, Celtic lead Rangers by 2 points. The trophy was loaded onto a helicopter at Hampden Park and flown to Fir Park in Motherwell. The helicopter was hovering overhead with 5 minutes to go then Motherwell scored twice.
The famous quote in the paper the next day was 'the helicopter is turning!" however most people would know that Easter Road and Fir Park are on roughly the same bearing from Hampden Park so it didn't have to turn at all but just keep flying....
Sorry but I don't agree. England squad too old, no real new talent coming through. They've consistently underperformed at major championships since 1996 and where before they've had the squad but not the manager, this time they've got the manager but not the squad. I'll put them down for quarter finals at best.
All very reminiscent of the last day of the SPL in 2005, Celtic lead Rangers by 2 points. The trophy was loaded onto a helicopter at Hampden Park and flown to Fir Park in Motherwell. The helicopter was hovering overhead with 5 minutes to go then Motherwell scored twice.
The famous quote in the paper the next day was 'the helicopter is turning!" however most people would know that Easter Road and Fir Park are on roughly the same bearing from Hampden Park so it didn't have to turn at all but just keep flying....
Sorry but I don't agree. England squad too old, no real new talent coming through. They've consistently underperformed at major championships since 1996 and where before they've had the squad but not the manager, this time they've got the manager but not the squad. I'll put them down for quarter finals at best.
I guess I fall in the middle ground of your two views of the England squad. They're not young and don't have much in the way of new faces in the squad, but Rooney is a much more mature and complete player than he was four years ago, and that accounts for a lot. I think England can beat, say, Brazil if everything goes right.
But it is true their squad has a number of glaring holes. Who's the second striker to support Rooney? Who's playing right back? Who's the defensive midfielder? Will they get enough out of their goalkeepers? Will the myriad injury worries be cleared up in time?
Still seems very hard to imagine Spain not winning the whole thing.
But it is true their squad has a number of glaring holes. Who's the second striker to support Rooney? Who's playing right back? Who's the defensive midfielder? Will they get enough out of their goalkeepers? Will the myriad injury worries be cleared up in time?
Still seems very hard to imagine Spain not winning the whole thing.
I could easily see that. England are at best IMO the fifth or sixth-best team in the tournament, which makes a quarterfinals exit logical. Capello is a good manager, I expect him get the most out of the material he has to work with. But England don't seem to have the talent pool that Brazil, Spain, and even Germany and Italy have.
Argentina are an exciting proposition. They might implode spectacularly, OR shock everyone and do well.
Nah, that was the semi final - final vs. Leicester City or Nottingham Forest still to play last time I read, although which one of those might have been decided now.
It's actually in our cupboard under the stairs. No one seems to notice it's gone yet though, so don't let on.
As for the England squad... we'll have a decent set of players but i don't think we'll win the tournament. Quarter-finals seems most likely, the semis if circumstances are knd to us.
Hull City's Youth Team were recently crowned the Youth Alliance North East Conference Champions for the third time in four seasons. How'd you like those kids, Wenger?
North Ferriby United and Bridlington Town are certainly going to have some good players joining them in a couple of years time...
So, Newcastle and West Brom bounce straight back from relegation last season to rejoin the premier league next season, but who will be joining them? The results of the first legs of the playoff semi finals are:
Blackpool 2 - 1 Nottingham Forest
Leicester 0 - 1 Cardiff
Who do you want to go up? My vote is anyone but Leicester. I'd like Forest to go up because they have a lot of history in the top flight, plus my cousin supports them. I'd like Cardiff to go up because I think it would be cool to have a Welsh team in the premier league, and I'd like Blackpool to go up because it would be another north west team.
Blackpool 2 - 1 Nottingham Forest
Leicester 0 - 1 Cardiff
Who do you want to go up? My vote is anyone but Leicester. I'd like Forest to go up because they have a lot of history in the top flight, plus my cousin supports them. I'd like Cardiff to go up because I think it would be cool to have a Welsh team in the premier league, and I'd like Blackpool to go up because it would be another north west team.
Lots of talk about what a great season Rooney was having - but it is Didier Drogba who is top scorer. Fair play to Chelsea.
Sixteen goals from the top three sides today - and yet Liverpool failed to score, and top four pretenders Man City and Spurs had less than impressive finales as well.
All I can say is, glad that season is over. And now for a summer of uncertainty.
Sixteen goals from the top three sides today - and yet Liverpool failed to score, and top four pretenders Man City and Spurs had less than impressive finales as well.
All I can say is, glad that season is over. And now for a summer of uncertainty.
Yeah, Chelsea were clearly the best team all season, but United finished only one point behind them. Tevez and Ronaldo still aren't missed, but I think Michael Owen would have done better than Berbatov in some of the more recent matches.
- Status