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2009-10 Football Thread
- Thread starter Jaffa Cake
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Would we get 48 points for our 24-pointer, then?
I guess in Lawro-world you would.
Exactly! I'd like to play my joker please.
They'd all pick their games against Hull.
*runs away and hides*
Would you really expect Chelsea to pick Man U near the end of the season?
*runs away and hides*
Would you really expect Chelsea to pick Man U near the end of the season?
They're welcome to, as long as the rule includes a clause that they have to play wearing giant novelty outfits.
Here we see Joe Cole and John Terry receiving final instructions before their match at the KC...
...and as we can see Didier Drogba (far right) appears to be having some difficulty staying on his feet. Which is surprising.
I didn't see the match, because after seeing the line-up (especially the defence) I feared they would get beaten...I must admit I didn't expect they to play like smurfs and get totally slaughtered - for the second time this season, even...**** mumble, mumble ****
Two draws at home in the league in a row, against fully beat-able teams, and now this... hope they turn things around at Bolton this weekend or this season might be long and dull...unless they suddenly manages to get involved in the struggle against relegation...
So the "Spirit of Shankly" is marching again to protest Hicks and Gillette. 4,000 fans? That's not going to bother them one bit. My only hope is that the Saudis move in and give them enough money to convince them to bugger off.
Those photos are great.
Everyone would have to wear them except Peter Crouch, his real body is a giant novelty outfit anyway.
EDIT: Torres and Gerrard may be fit for the weekend, Rooney may not (but we all know he will). This is killing my fantasy season BTW, since I have all three in my squad.
Glen Johnson might make an appearance as well, but no Riera or Aquilani. The substitute bench looks like one you'd see at a reserves match. We are thin, thin, thin.
It'll all be put right when Torres & Gerrard come back <repeats to self endlessly>.
Those photos are great.
Everyone would have to wear them except Peter Crouch, his real body is a giant novelty outfit anyway.
EDIT: Torres and Gerrard may be fit for the weekend, Rooney may not (but we all know he will). This is killing my fantasy season BTW, since I have all three in my squad.
Glen Johnson might make an appearance as well, but no Riera or Aquilani. The substitute bench looks like one you'd see at a reserves match. We are thin, thin, thin.
It'll all be put right when Torres & Gerrard come back <repeats to self endlessly>.
I'm glad that I check my "I Know The Score" predictions this morning, as I'd accidentally predicted Chelsea 2 Blackburn 9 rather than Chelsea 2 Blackburn 0. Furthermore, I'd made it my banker pick of the week.
So anyway, not a very good game today. We looked poor, Portsmouth looked poor and the fact that we kept a clean sheet is one of the few positives we can draw from it.
However, some news on the Jozy front. He wasn't listed in the starting line-up which wasn't a massive surprise but it turned out he wasn't among the substitutes either. Hmm. How strange.
Anyway, I thought nothing more of it until half-time, when I looked at my phone to check up on the scores elsewhere. It turned out the boy Altidore had been doing a spot of Twittering...
So, it looked like he was left out of the team after rolling up late. Nothing unusual about that in itself, it's a common punishment for tardy players. However, the plot thickened a bit when we listened to Brown's post match comments in the car on our way home.
Brown isn't happy at all about the Twitter message which incidentally has now been deleted and said it would 'cost Jozy a lot of money' as these matters 'should be kept in-house'. It therefore would appear that as well as being left out of the match squad he's going to be fined by the club possibly that could be the priciest Tweet he'll ever make.
I've certainly no complaints with Brown punishing Altidore discipline within a squad is of the utmost importance, and players can't be rolling up late or discussing internal matters in public but we'll wait and see if there are any long term ramifications over this.
Meanwhile, as one might expect the rumour mill is revolving at quite a rate of knots at the moment, some scurrilous tittle-tattle being sillier than others. The following are tidbits I've heard in the last 24 hours.
First of all, Jimmy Bullard was absent today, not even on the bench it turns out this was due to him busting his knee again and being in the States for last ditch career-saving surgery / having being arrested for drink driving at the end of last week / having being caught snorting coke in the bogs of a local bar / having being beaten up in a local bar.*
Still, Brown has bigger things to worry about as he's going to be sacked early next week and replaced with Gareth Southgate / be sacked early next week and replaced with Gordon Strachan / be sacked early next week and replaced with Alan Curbishley / has got the Chairman's daughter pregnant.*
* Delete as applicable
Nice to see we're all being sensible...
However, some news on the Jozy front. He wasn't listed in the starting line-up which wasn't a massive surprise but it turned out he wasn't among the substitutes either. Hmm. How strange.
Anyway, I thought nothing more of it until half-time, when I looked at my phone to check up on the scores elsewhere. It turned out the boy Altidore had been doing a spot of Twittering...
Jozy said:
So, it looked like he was left out of the team after rolling up late. Nothing unusual about that in itself, it's a common punishment for tardy players. However, the plot thickened a bit when we listened to Brown's post match comments in the car on our way home.
Brown isn't happy at all about the Twitter message which incidentally has now been deleted and said it would 'cost Jozy a lot of money' as these matters 'should be kept in-house'. It therefore would appear that as well as being left out of the match squad he's going to be fined by the club possibly that could be the priciest Tweet he'll ever make.
I've certainly no complaints with Brown punishing Altidore discipline within a squad is of the utmost importance, and players can't be rolling up late or discussing internal matters in public but we'll wait and see if there are any long term ramifications over this.
Meanwhile, as one might expect the rumour mill is revolving at quite a rate of knots at the moment, some scurrilous tittle-tattle being sillier than others. The following are tidbits I've heard in the last 24 hours.
First of all, Jimmy Bullard was absent today, not even on the bench it turns out this was due to him busting his knee again and being in the States for last ditch career-saving surgery / having being arrested for drink driving at the end of last week / having being caught snorting coke in the bogs of a local bar / having being beaten up in a local bar.*
Still, Brown has bigger things to worry about as he's going to be sacked early next week and replaced with Gareth Southgate / be sacked early next week and replaced with Gordon Strachan / be sacked early next week and replaced with Alan Curbishley / has got the Chairman's daughter pregnant.*
* Delete as applicable
Nice to see we're all being sensible...
Wow, Let's hope Jozy takes it in stride and comes out better for it.
As to Bullard...any firm news?
I think that IF Brown gets the sack this season (and given where he's taken the club I think it's still too early), whoever his successor is should have a half-time talk on the pitch at his first match in charge, just to give the press the finger. Or two fingers of course.
I'm going to be on the road during the Liverpool match tomorrow, on the way to see Columbus finish off their regular season with what should be a home win. Which is a good thing. I'm not sure I could watch it without shouting at the TV.
Let's not forget he's still a teenager (albeit a bloody big one) he's been a bit silly, he's been admonished for it and hopefully that's the matter closed.
The official Bullard line is that he's got a gash on his shin, sustained in a reserve game earlier in the week and it was decided not to risk him today.
Good luck to the Crew for tomorrow, by the way.
Very, very happy right now - but I think the real shock of today was how magnanimous Ferguson was in defeat; didn't know he had it in him
EDIT: Thinking about it though, he's hardly likely to be criticising the referee at the moment is he? Wouldn't want to give him the benefit of the doubt
YES!
Just heard about the result. I have to admit I was sure they would lose...and who would have guessed N'Gog and Lucas would combine for a goal against Man Utd?
Torres is world class as usual.
Unfortunately, this result doesn't change the broader problems at Anfield, but it shows that anyone writing Benitez off is mad.
A very big teenager indeed!
He's still a developing player (and person), so hopefully he'll find some role models in the team.
Technically we have nothing to play for since we are already firmly in the playoffs, but the weather is sunny and warm so I want to see a victory!
Just heard about the result. I have to admit I was sure they would lose...and who would have guessed N'Gog and Lucas would combine for a goal against Man Utd?
Torres is world class as usual.
Unfortunately, this result doesn't change the broader problems at Anfield, but it shows that anyone writing Benitez off is mad.
Jaffa Cake said:
A very big teenager indeed!
He's still a developing player (and person), so hopefully he'll find some role models in the team.
Jaffa Cake said:
Technically we have nothing to play for since we are already firmly in the playoffs, but the weather is sunny and warm so I want to see a victory!
Congrats to Liverpool for their inspired 2-0 victory against Portsmouth today.
Oh, wait: that was Man Utd visiting today? Oops.
Honestly, I think Portsmouth would have put up a better fight. What a dreadful performance by the Red Devils today, but this game was lost in the middle of the pitch with Carrick and Scholes getting completely bossed by Masch and Lucas (!!!). The attackers were too indirect and the backline was shaky. I'm not going to run Ferdinand down too much for getting beat by Torres: he beats lots of people. The only acceptable performances came from Van Der Sar, Valencia, and Vidic aside from the first stupid yellow card. Everyone else should really be embarrassed, including SAF.
In a way, I'm glad Valencia's potential high-difficulty equalizer struck off the crossbar. A draw would have allowed the papering over of the team's flaws to continue on. SAF has really got to think long and hard about the problems in midfield. We were missing Fletcher, which was a big loss, but c'mon: Pool was missing Gerrard! I hope the apparent faith in Owen Hargreaves' recovery pays off, or Obertan is ready to come up to the first side (looking great in the reserves at the moment).
On the bright side, I think Rafa's job should be safe for a while longer. We lost a big battle but the war goes on...
Oh, wait: that was Man Utd visiting today? Oops.
Honestly, I think Portsmouth would have put up a better fight. What a dreadful performance by the Red Devils today, but this game was lost in the middle of the pitch with Carrick and Scholes getting completely bossed by Masch and Lucas (!!!). The attackers were too indirect and the backline was shaky. I'm not going to run Ferdinand down too much for getting beat by Torres: he beats lots of people. The only acceptable performances came from Van Der Sar, Valencia, and Vidic aside from the first stupid yellow card. Everyone else should really be embarrassed, including SAF.
In a way, I'm glad Valencia's potential high-difficulty equalizer struck off the crossbar. A draw would have allowed the papering over of the team's flaws to continue on. SAF has really got to think long and hard about the problems in midfield. We were missing Fletcher, which was a big loss, but c'mon: Pool was missing Gerrard! I hope the apparent faith in Owen Hargreaves' recovery pays off, or Obertan is ready to come up to the first side (looking great in the reserves at the moment).
On the bright side, I think Rafa's job should be safe for a while longer.
We lost a big battle but the war goes on...Liverpool v Manchester United
The teams and the referee were poor. Passing and retention of the ball were mostly of a low standard. Decisions and goals aside, the main difference was Liverpool pressed better as a team.
As for performances in general - the results this season have shown that the supposed Top Six all currently have weaknesses big enough to prevent a breakaway.
Television - is the editing of matches and summarising on Match Of The Day/2 getting worse?
Cheers,
OW
The teams and the referee were poor. Passing and retention of the ball were mostly of a low standard. Decisions and goals aside, the main difference was Liverpool pressed better as a team.
As for performances in general - the results this season have shown that the supposed Top Six all currently have weaknesses big enough to prevent a breakaway.
Television - is the editing of matches and summarising on Match Of The Day/2 getting worse?
Cheers,
OW
Well... enough about those small UK teams...
In real soccer news - New England Revolution made the MLS playoffs Sunday...
The Revs face arch-rival Fire on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m. at Gillette Stadium on FSC...
Accrington Stan... er, no... hang on...
Anyway, Gordon Strachan has been confirmed as the new Middlesbrough manager this morning – meaning that's one name we can no longer be linked with.
Anyway, Gordon Strachan has been confirmed as the new Middlesbrough manager this morning – meaning that's one name we can no longer be linked with.
I didn't think it could, to be honest.
I was at the game last night.....pretty even in the first half but the ref was horribly inconsistent...I was right in front of the incident that resulted in the freekick where the Revs scored and I still have no idea what the call was for.
Revs winger Sainey Nyassi committed the worst dive I have ever personally witnessed and got Crew defender Jed Zayner booked for it - right in front to front of me too!. Zayner didn't even touch him but Nyassi flew through the air as if he'd been kicked like a bad guy in a Bruce Lee film. The linesman must have been blind. I screamed myself hoarse.
I'm not happy we lost but we had absolutely nothing to play for and the Revs were fighting for survival so they were going at it hammer and tongs. The game was the exact opposite of the Crew's visit to the Revs a few weeks back - the visiting team won 1-0 on a flukey freekick.
Columbus are up against Real Salt Lake in the playoffs. Our defense looks pretty solid but I feel like our offense has come off the boil a bit. RSL are scoring goals right now so we need to go out their and play our best. I still think we should make it to the final without too much drama though. Go Crew! I want an MLS Cup title repeat so we can go on and win the Champions League!
Agreed; but I still support NE Revs... Diving on the pitch has become an art form of sorts, in the MLS and in the Premier Leagues internationally as well. In the MLS Cuauhtemoc Blanco is a good example of a player than should be banned for intentionally diving (repeat offender). Regrettably the Refs in soccer are getting worse, not better, in this area and games are decided due to points in artistic penalty acquisition...
Inasmuch as it would be hard to enforce, a rule that soccer games cannot be decided by penalties inside the box would be useful here...
If penalties couldn't be used to decide a fixture, what would be the point in awarding one, other than it affecting goal difference?
It also seems a tad unfair on players who are genuinely fouled...
Quite bizarre!
Every forward who managed to get into the opposition box in the last 5-10 minutes would be just be hacked down if the ref couldn't award a penalty in case it decided the outcome of the match.
He's my solution to the diving problem:
Only address the worst cases, namely where there is absolutely no contact whatsoever. This is because it would be too hard to analyze the grey area where the is some kind of contact.
All matches are reviewed after the fact, looking for instances where fouls where given. If in the replay it turns out that a foul was given because a player went to ground when there was absolutely no contact then the diving player is suspended for 5 games.
However, a player can avoid suspension if, in a situation where he went to ground without contact and a foul was called, he gets up and immediately tells the ref he wasn't touched, in which case he receives only a yellow card.
In other words, in a foul is given but the player wasn't touched this is a dive and the diving player should be punished. The punishment is either a yellow card if the player admits he dived immediately, or a 5 match suspension if he doesn't admit it and is found guilty by video evidence.
Only address the worst cases, namely where there is absolutely no contact whatsoever. This is because it would be too hard to analyze the grey area where the is some kind of contact.
All matches are reviewed after the fact, looking for instances where fouls where given. If in the replay it turns out that a foul was given because a player went to ground when there was absolutely no contact then the diving player is suspended for 5 games.
However, a player can avoid suspension if, in a situation where he went to ground without contact and a foul was called, he gets up and immediately tells the ref he wasn't touched, in which case he receives only a yellow card.
In other words, in a foul is given but the player wasn't touched this is a dive and the diving player should be punished. The punishment is either a yellow card if the player admits he dived immediately, or a 5 match suspension if he doesn't admit it and is found guilty by video evidence.
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