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2010-2011 Football Thread

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awmazz said:
That's astonishing. I imagine there'd be home games played at the same time and they can hear each other? And are those allotments just to the right of Dundee United?
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I'd guess matches are scheduled so that both teams don't play at home at the same time, in fact I'd be very surprised if it happens. The fixtures are carefully complied to ensure that certain clubs don't have home games at the same time, some are obvious like clubs in the same town, others are for more obtuse reasons – for example, I read once that whether West Ham are at home or away influences whether Norwich have a home fixture, and the clubs are over 100 miles apart.
 
Yes, I should have been more clear. Sorry about that! I'm very excited to see some MLS. Season tickets already payed for and I hope to be travelling to Seattle for an away game too.

I like Toronto, I think the organization has come a very long way but Toronto and "Sport" don't fit well together. :p

Jaffa, I had no idea Peter Beardsley played for the Whitecaps. I knew he played for Newcastle at one point, and I just checked the wikipedia and he played for Liverpool too! What a great man! :)

Very good CL action tonight... I feel bad for Sampdoria going into a new season after this loss.
 
NathanCH said:
Jaffa, I had no idea Peter Beardsley played for the Whitecaps. I knew he played for Newcastle at one point, and I just checked the wikipedia and he played for Liverpool too! What a great man! :)
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The only player ever to have played for all four Liverpool, Everton, Man Utd and Man City.
 
awmazz said:
The only player ever to have played for all four Liverpool, Everton, Man Utd and Man City.
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And one of only two players ever to score for both sides in the Merseyside Derby (excluding Carragher's own goals....alright, alright, I made that part up).
 
Nieval said:
Personally I'd love to see Carrick at Liverpool seeing as he's not going to get much play at Man Utd and he would fit the bill perfectly but in truth any proper central midfielder would do.
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After I stopped laughing uncontrollably, I have to say you may have a point. That's a pretty damning indictment of Liverpool's midfield there.

However, I watched Carrick play in the Utd / City reserve match yesterday and he again was pretty nondescript, mostly just passing the ball sideways or backwards. His main competition for time in central midfield, Tom Cleverley, had a brilliant match.

I hope Clevs gets some minutes in central midfield against West Ham this weekend.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
I'd guess matches are scheduled so that both teams don't play at home at the same time, in fact I'd be very surprised if it happens. The fixtures are carefully complied to ensure that certain clubs don't have home games at the same time
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Correct, although it's probably a bit more difficult because they currently operate in difference leagues. However there is no respite for the local residents, if one isn't playing the other one is! Here in Glasgow the Old Firm usual alternate home games so only one plays in Glasgow each weekend, although sometimes it does happen due to fixture congestion at the end of a season but then one will be Saturday and the other Sunday.

I'm one of the few in Glasgow that believes in ground sharing.
 
Fuzzy14 said:
Correct, although it's probably a bit more difficult because they currently operate in difference leagues. However there is no respite for the local residents, if one isn't playing the other one is! Here in Glasgow the Old Firm usual alternate home games so only one plays in Glasgow each weekend, although sometimes it does happen due to fixture congestion at the end of a season but then one will be Saturday and the other Sunday.

I'm one of the few in Glasgow that believes in ground sharing.
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Looks like they believe in car park sharing in Dundee. :D
 
No Gerrard, Torres, or soon-to-be-gone Masch for our game in Turkey. On paper I think we should just about squeak through, but I would not at all be shocked if we crashed out. There is no bottom to the chasm Liverpool are perched at the edge of...

Silencio said:
After I stopped laughing uncontrollably, I have to say you may have a point. That's a pretty damning indictment of Liverpool's midfield there.
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Ah, by the way, how's Bebe these days? :D

Mitthrawnuruodo said:
Don't really have any love for LFC, but why Everton and that other club doesn't pool :)p) their resourses and build a joint 75000 seat stadium in or near Stanley park and sell of their out dated stadiums is just beyond me.
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They do it at the San Siro...and those two teams hate each other at least as much as the red and blue halves of Liverpool.
 
Mitthrawnuruodo said:
Don't really have any love for LFC, but why Everton and that other club doesn't pool :)p) their resourses and build a joint 75000 seat stadium in or near Stanley park and sell of their out dated stadiums is just beyond me.
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Because the fans would hate it. It is practically inconceivable, for example, that Arsenal and Tottenham could ground share.
 
XIII said:
Because the fans would hate it. It is practically inconceivable, for example, that Arsenal and Tottenham could ground share.
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I would like to think that the fans would be big enough to see the bigger picture of getting a new stadium for 1/2 price and use they money they save on the team. But it didn't happen in Glasgow so now we've got 3 UEFA cat 4 stadiums.:confused:

Champions league draw at 5pm UK time today. I think we just want to get 3 big teams to try and make some money rather than have a reasonable cup run. Man U, Real, Auxerre would probably be the perfect draw!

Pot one: Inter Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon.

Pot two: Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille, Panathinaikos.

Pot three: Tottenham, Rangers, Ajax, Schalke, Basle, Braga, FC Copenhagen, Spartak Moscow.

Pot four: Hapoel Tel Aviv, FC Twente, Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, CFR Cluj, Partizan Belgrade, MSK Zilina, Bursaspor.

Edit:
Here is an unusual story about the Dundee Utd match with AEK Athens.
The Athens pitch was deemed unplayable so the game was switched to Panionios's stadium.
Panionios fans weren't happy that their rivals were playing there, so broke into their own stadium and dug up the pitch!
Match now switched to other rivals Olympiakos but AEK fans are barred because they might trash the place!
 
Fuzzy14 said:
I would like to think that the fans would be big enough to see the bigger picture of getting a new stadium for 1/2 price and use they money they save on the team. But it didn't happen in Glasgow so now we've got 3 UEFA cat 4 stadiums.:confused:

Champions league draw at 5pm UK time today. I think we just want to get 3 big teams to try and make some money rather than have a reasonable cup run. Man U, Real, Auxerre would probably be the perfect draw!

Pot one: Inter Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon.

Pot two: Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille, Panathinaikos.

Pot three: Tottenham, Rangers, Ajax, Schalke, Basle, Braga, FC Copenhagen, Spartak Moscow.

Pot four: Hapoel Tel Aviv, FC Twente, Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, CFR Cluj, Partizan Belgrade, MSK Zilina, Bursaspor.

Edit:
Here is an unusual story about the Dundee Utd match with AEK Athens.
The Athens pitch was deemed unplayable so the game was switched to Panionios's stadium.
Panionios fans weren't happy that their rivals were playing there, so broke into their own stadium and dug up the pitch!
Match now switched to other rivals Olympiakos but AEK fans are barred because they might trash the place!
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So I guess that makes Pot One the Pot of Death? Or at least deadly for those who get grouped to play against them.
 
Ah so this is the new thread...hadn't even noticed it probably because i haven't really been up to date with the whole footy thing nor seen any new matches since the World Cup finale.

Wenger looks to have secured Squillaci, strange given that he's 30 and Monsieur Wenger likes them young. Anyhoo thats 4 (5 if you count Song) defenders on tap. Now we just need Shay Given or Schwarzer :p

I wonder who we'll draw today.
 
Why don't Arsenal just move to France?

Arsenal lose Gallas & Silvestre so they've bought Laurent Koscielny & Sebastien Squillaci. If they didn't get Squillaci they were to move for Michael Ciani and if not Ciani then Phillipe Mexes. The word is that AW is also after Emmanuel Riviere.

Seeing as everyone is French why not move the club to France? ;)
 
Henri Gaudier said:
Arsenal lose Gallas & Silvestre so they've bought Laurent Koscielny & Sebastien Squillaci. If they didn't get Squillaci they were to move for Michael Ciani and if not Ciani then Phillipe Mexes. The word is that AW is also after Emmanuel Riviere.

Seeing as everyone is French why not move the club to France? ;)
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He will have to when the law comes in about the number of foreign players.
 
Fuzzy14 said:
Champions league draw at 5pm UK time today. I think we just want to get 3 big teams to try and make some money rather than have a reasonable cup run. Man U, Real, Auxerre would probably be the perfect draw!

Pot one: Inter Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon.

Pot two: Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille, Panathinaikos.

Pot three: Tottenham, Rangers, Ajax, Schalke, Basle, Braga, FC Copenhagen, Spartak Moscow.

Pot four: Hapoel Tel Aviv, FC Twente, Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, CFR Cluj, Partizan Belgrade, MSK Zilina, Bursaspor.
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in terms of groups of death i would rather put my money on a group with
Arsenal, Roma, Schalke 04, Rubin Kazan
or
Ac Milan, Werder Bremen, Ajax, Auxerre

Bayern munich with their usual lucky draw will very likely have to play against: Panathinaikos, Copenhagen and Zilina ;)
 
MacBoobsPro said:
He will have to when the law comes in about the number of foreign players.
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Do you mean the home grown rule or something else? The home grown rule is active as of now and there are no English players in Arsenals home grown. They're; Nicklas Bendtner, Gael Clichy, Denilson, Johan Djourou, Cesc Fabregas, Vito Mannone, Alex Song!

It's interesting when you consider French U19 international Chris Mavinga's, impatience with Hodgeson at Liverpool who has apparently stated he wants to "Remake Liverpool as an English club." Mavinga wants to leave within weeks of Hodgsons arrival at such an offensive prospect.

I think CL & EL matches should be considered as international matches of a sort and so each team should be 6 natives and 5 foreigners. Otherwise it's just clubs that are franchises for billionaire foreigners to buy whomever they please and destroy opportunities for young talent. Who's going to risk an untried 19 year old when you can go and raid Real Madrid's locker with 30 million in you pocket?

At least John Smith Frimpong's name change worked for him. ;) But poor old Henri Lansbury.

Equally international teams should have native managers too. I'm not a nationalist in anything else other than sport. In fact I deplore it in anything other than sport. But it strikes me as crazy to watch say Arsenal v Someone in the CL and there's no one English in Arsenal and no one say Italian in the opposition. It's just Usmanov's toy v Berlusconi's toy really.

Having said all that; Is Walcott finally coming good? And Gibbs is better than Clichy.
 
Henri Gaudier said:
Equally international teams should have native managers too. I'm not a nationalist in anything else other than sport. In fact I deplore it in anything other than sport. But it strikes me as crazy to watch say Arsenal v Someone in the CL and there's no one English in Arsenal and no one say Italian in the opposition. It's just Usmanov's toy v Berlusconi's toy really.
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I understand where you're coming from, but as long as there is big money in the game, things won't change. If you paid 500m Euros for a club, you're not going to go with the most native team - you'll go with the best team. There is too much money at stake in the Champions League in particular for teams to risk losing a big payoff just to make a team more "native".

The only way it will change is if FIFA forces FAs to do it - which probably constitutes discrimination under EU law.
 
Arsenal seems to have the easiest group...on paper. Group G:Yikes and Tottenham have a very interesting group to say the least!
 
....And Liverpool gave up a goal within 4 minutes. This is going to be a looooong season.

In truth, I could hardly care less about the Europa League as a competition - not because I'm bitter and we are losing, but I'd prefer to not have the fixtures to worry about. We need to focus on the league. I don't think the Europa League matches are lucrative enough to help us much.

Someone needs to buy the club and get it out of the clutches of Scrooge and Marley. Then we can move on.
 
On a side note and since I am a retired referee and now assess refs, UEFA's Mr. Plantini has ruled out any goal line technology in favor of placing two additional assistant refs on the goal lines to assist in determining if legitimate goals are scored. I am not sure if they will be located on the touchlines and move to the goal line as the play approaches, or what the exact mechanics will be, but Plantini will use them in all Champion's League matches. He is taking a wait and see attitude to see if this works before looking into video replay, etc. He also got PierLuigi Collina to leave being head of the Serie A referee administration to re-train and be in charge of UEFA referees. Collina has stress improved conditioning, although refs at this level are very, very fit, but will also be stress getting rid of all of the pushing and pulling that goes on the PA-seen to extremes at the WC. He vows to be ruthless (from an Assoc Press report): "The referees will have no more excuses," he said. "If they're not good enough to be on the pitch, they will not be on the pitch anymore."
Having seen Collina work on the pitch many times, I would not want to be on the receiving end of any displeasure on his part.

Time will tell if Plantini's solution works out, but we will still have human error until some system of rapid replay evaluation with instant feedback to the referee in order not interrupt the flow of the match is developed.IMO.
 
fcortese said:
Time will tell if Plantini's solution works out, but we will still have human error until some system of rapid replay evaluation with instant feedback to the referee in order not interrupt the flow of the match is developed.IMO.
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I agree. I don't think the extra officials will make a significant impact either way.

Personally, I favor goal-line technology being used to determine whether a ball crosses the line. But I oppose using "instant replay" to call fouls. Goal-line technology won't appreciably delay the game, but instant replays in other cases would.
 
daneoni said:
Group G:Yikes and Tottenham have a very interesting group to say the least!
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Gotta agree. A and G are looking very daunting for those involved. Well, Crouch said they wanted big teams like Inter and they got it.
 
EDIT: Liverpool scrape through. We didn't play all that well, but Trabzonspor's defense collapsed at the death. A lucky win. Johnson continues to look suspect in defense, but useful in attack.

I hope that Kuyt doesn't really want to leave, that would be a pretty big blow for us.

The draw:


Group A
Internazionale
Werder Bremen
Tottenham Hotspur
FC Twente

Group B
Lyon
Benfica
Schalke 04
Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Group C
Manchester United
Valencia
Rangers
Bursaspor

Group D
Barcelona
Panathinaikos
FC Copenhagen
Rubin Kazan

Group E
Bayern Munich
Roma
Basle
CFR Cluj

Group F
Chelsea
Marseille
Spartak Moscow
MSK Zilina

Group G
Milan
Real Mardid
Ajax
Auxerre

Group H
Arsenal
Shakhtar Donestsk
Braga
FK Partizan
 
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