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2009-10 Football Thread

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Teddy Sheringham and Robbie Keane?

Feels like they've been around for years and consistently banging them in (apart from a brief period last season for Keane :rolleyes:)
 
FA Cup 3rd Round Draw

FULL FA CUP THIRD-ROUND DRAW (Ties to be played weekend of 2&3 January)

Tottenham v Peterborough United
Brentford v Doncaster Rovers
Middlesbrough v Manchester City
Stoke City v York City
Notts County v Forest Green Rovers
Huddersfield Town v West Bromwich Albion
Sheffield United v QPR
MK Dons v Burnley
Chelsea v Watford
Nottingham Forest v Birmingham City
Preston North End v Colchester United
West Ham United v Arsenal
Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers
Portsmouth v Coventry City
Sunderland v Oxford United or Barrow
Wigan Athletic v Hull City
Everton v Carlisle United
Sheffield Wednesday v Crystal Palace
Tranmere Rovers or Aldershot Town v Wolves
Blackpool v Ipswich Town
Fulham v Swindon Town
Stockport County or Torquay v Brighton
Scunthorpe United v Barnsley
Southampton v Rotherham United or Luton Town
Bristol City v Cardiff City
Reading v Liverpool
Staines Town or Millwall v Derby County
Plymouth Argyle v Newcastle United
Leicester City v Swansea City
Bolton Wanderers v Lincoln City
Accrington Stanley or Barnet v Gillingham
Manchester United v Kettering Town or Leeds United
 
Arsenal v Chelsea was not a classic, but Chelsea were more dangerous in the final third. I cordially detest Drogba and Anelka but they are the most dangerous strike package in the league by a mile. Arsenal were missing RVP here. The first two goals were perhaps a little lucky but the third was a solid strike. Against a team as big and fast as Chelsea, Arsenal need to make all those little tricky passes and Chelsea just outran and out-muscled them. It was a closer game than the score line indicates though.

Three points for the 'Pool. And Mascherano actually scored! How many times has he made those long speculative shots, to the collective groans of Liverpool Fans? The problem now is he'll think he can score them....I can't hate Everton like a proper Reds fan because Tim Howard is between the sticks and us Yanks have to stick together...
 
swiftaw – nice to see you've highlighted the undoubted tie of the round there. I might look into that one, depending on ticket prices/whether Miss Jaffa Cake will let me. :eek:

A good result too for Chelsea, and nice to see that they're following our lead by scoring three at the Emirates (granted, one of the ones we scored was an own goal, but still ;)).
 
Jaffa Cake said:
A good result too for Chelsea
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I would say it's an outstanding result, loaded with ominous portent, although I realise and acknowledge that Fortress Tiger represents a hurdle of a different kind altogether.

One of the drawbacks of not having a TV or Sky is piecing together the match from radio or web/press reports, which is why I rarely comment in this thread. After all, I wouldn't want to base my perceptions on Alan Green's pronouncements... or Spoony's, for that matter.
 
Blue Velvet said:
After all, I wouldn't want to base my perceptions on Alan Green's pronouncements...
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Alan Green is only worth listening too immediately after Liverpool have let a goal in. ;)

Incidentally – and this will be of interest to smwatson I'm sure – a friend reported to me that last weekend that Green stated that he'd like to see Leeds United return to the top flight because 'Yorkshire needs a Premier League club'. Er... right you are, Alan.
 
Blue Velvet said:
One of the drawbacks of not having a TV or Sky is piecing together the match from radio or web/press reports, which is why I rarely comment in this thread. After all, I wouldn't want to base my perceptions on Alan Green's pronouncements... or Spoony's, for that matter.
Click to expand...

What? You mean you don't sit in front of Caroline Cheese's play-by-play text feed on the BBC website? :D
 
Lord Blackadder said:
What? You mean you don't sit in front of Caroline Cheese's play-by-play text feed on the BBC website? :D
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I have been known to sometimes leave it open while pottering about. :eek:

Looking forward to the World Cup when I can enjoy some free high quality streams. And watching the All Whites, the Hull City of international football, judging by some of the commentary I've read and heard here and there.
 
I'm a bit excited over the draw myself...I think this could be a big tournament for USA as long as we don't end up in a group of death.

I used to have a Kiwi roommate, so I too will be cheering on the All-Whites.

EDIT: It appears that the FAI has asked FIFA to grant Ireland an extra spot in the World Cup...and if FIFA agrees it appears they would also have to let Costa Rica in as well.

Not going to happen, of course.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
So, Jaffa, it appears that a player can indeed be traded against his will. I would not be surprised if this becomes a major issue at the collective bargaining negotiations.
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How is that different from every other US sport? Unless a player becomes a free agent, he has to play for the team they're contracted to. Occasionally a top player will have some leverage where his contract ends in the next year or so and he won't sign a contract extension unless it's with a team he likes. And once in a while a superstar holds out for more money. But only the top players can get away with this because the team can't replace them with just anybody. Also, players are rarely bought and sold directly in US sports. They usually a traded for other players and draft picks.

Considering how low MLS is on the US sport totem pole, it seems unlikely to me that it will be the league that lets its players routinely refuse trades. Major league baseball has the most powerful union that professional athletes have ever formed, and they don't have that.
 
I agree that it's not out of line with US sports conventions, but as swiftaw pointed out there will be pressure from outside to run things more in line with the rest of the world.

Soccer in the US differs from almost every other domestic team sport in that it is by far the most outward-looking - the biggest soccer event in the US is the World Cup, MLS teams play in the CONCACAF Champions League and the league is trying to attract higher profile foreign players. All this means that the league can't go it's own way like the NFL, NBA and MLB. None of those sports have a FIFA to worry about, and they are not trying to attract players from other, larger leagues.

For these reasons I think that the MLS Players Union will try to do things a little differently from the way things are usually done in US sport. But you may be right aloofman - perhaps the traditions of US sport are too powerful for even the world's biggest sport to change...MLS is already a very different league from any other football league. But in my opinion change will always be in the direction of football as the rest of the world plays it.
 
aloofman said:
How is that different from every other US sport? Unless a player becomes a free agent, he has to play for the team they're contracted to.
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That's no different from elsewhere really, although you do get the odd player sticking his bottom lip out and threatening to strike for one reason or another – Pierre van Hooijdonk is one name that springs to mind, he refused to play for Nottingham Forest in the late nineties.

However, players are not obligated to move from one club to another, even if the two clubs are happy for this to happen. In some instances it can be that talks break down over personal terms with the new club, that the player wants to stay with his current team and fight for his place in the side, or simply they don't want to move to a club for any one of many reasons.

An example is Bobby Zamora – we agreed a fee with Fulham for his services last summer (£5million if memory serves), but the spectator-endangering striker turned down the opportunity to move to the East Riding and instead (bizarrely, I know :p) opted to stay with the London club.

swiftaw said:
It's not, however, it is different to how soccer does it in the rest of the world, so if you are not familiar with US sports and are only familiar with soccer you can see how the system may seem strange.
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Indeed, as I mentioned there are a few aspects of the MLS that seem bizarre to my European sensibilities, as I'm simply not used to sports being organised in such ways. Likewise, I'm sure there are systems we employ in our sporting set ups over here that seem strange to many Americans.

Stuff like drafts and franchises (the MK Dons notwithstanding) are unheard of in football here, and I can't think of any major sport that offers any examples of them in this country – except possibly the franchising system that's evolving in Rugby League, which has created teams in London, Wales and France with the objective of widening the appeal of the sport.
 
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