2010-2011 Football Thread

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But which would shatter first — Celtic's European dream or Jimmy's glass kneecaps?

I'm in the pub having a bite to eat prior to tonight's match (and a pint, it would be rude not to), and rumour is that Mrs Bullard's boy will be on the bench tonight. There is speculation, and I can confirm it is rife.
 
Man U make wholesale changes for the Rangers game. Insult to the Scots or compliment to Liverpool?

Either way, let's hope he gets his fingers burnt.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
But which would shatter first — Celtic's European dream or Jimmy's glass kneecaps?

I'm in the pub having a bite to eat prior to tonight's match (and a pint, it would be rude not to), and rumour is that Mrs Bullard's boy will be on the bench tonight. There is speculation, and I can confirm it is rife.
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Good luck! Hopefully you can get some good football out of a player recently described by the Guardian as "Football's favorite wag". And I think they meant wag in the jolly, lockerroom joker sense, not the leeching, female companion sense....;)

smwatson said:
Man U make wholesale changes for the Rangers game. Insult to the Scots or compliment to Liverpool?
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We're talking about Sir Alex "Mephistopheles" Ferguson here. It's an insult to EVERYBODY. :D

smwatson said:
Either way, let's hope he gets his fingers burnt.
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Cheers to that! ;) I just want to see Vidic get another red.
 
thank god at least swiss television shows a free to watch game with Werder Bremen vs Tottenham.. gonna be interesting if Tottenham can keep the dribbeling werder attackers in check.. looking forward to see arnautovic and marin edit: and wesley
 
Enough of this 'Europe' talk. Bah!

Leeds make one change for Barnsley, Lloyd Sam in for Sanchez Watt. McCormack still on the bench. Exciting.
 
takao said:
thank god at least swiss television shows a free to watch game with Werder Bremen vs Tottenham.. gonna be interesting if Tottenham can keep the dribbeling werder attackers in check.. looking forward to see arnautovic and marin edit: and wesley
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2 away goals already for Spurs, it's not looking good for Bremen. A team that held Bayern to a draw recently is now looking surprisingly weak at the back.

smwatson said:
Enough of this 'Europe' talk. Bah!
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You'll change your tune if Leeds ever make it back into Europe. :D
 
Lord Blackadder said:
2 away goals already for Spurs, it's not looking good for Bremen. A team that held Bayern to a draw recently is now looking surprisingly weak at the back.
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well within a 5 minutes timeframe bremen equalised ;) .. honestly bremen is one of the most unpredictable teams in germany .. in some games they seem to play without defense and in others they play themselves into a rage and make 4-5 goals

sometiems even in the same game like last year where they turned a 3:0 around into a 3:4
 
takao said:
well within a 5 minutes timeframe bremen equalised ;) .. honestly bremen is one of the most unpredictable teams in germany .. in some games they seem to play without defense and in others they play themselves into a rage and make 4-5 goals
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A strange match, Bremen did nothing offensive until they scored and now they look very dangerous. Definitely more exciting than the United/Rangers snore-fest.

Jaffa Cake said:
Well, Bullard started and we go in at half-time with a 1-0 lead. Amazing scenes.
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Coincidence? I think not. :D Let's just hope Derby doesn't start going after Bullard's knees.

EDIT: Looks like Roy Keane's Ipswitch are having their unbeaten run brutally cut short by QPR.

EDIT2: United's Valencia has suffered an Eduardo-style leg-break. It looks pretty bad. :( Lots of discussion about the increased frequency of leg breaks. My first thought is that athletes are continually becoming bigger, faster, stronger - but bones remain the same size and strength.
 
I hope TSN has finally learned that that choosing the matches with the biggest clubs usually results in boring games. They always choose the games that end in 0 - 0.
 
Barnsley 5 - 2 Leeds.
Riots outside Oakwell no doubt. Absolute shambles. This is a big wake up call. The defence has been **** all season and finally someone has taken proper advantage. Swansea could have had five on Saturday in the first half alone.


But on the plus side, Man U could only manage a draw.
 
Don't forget about the surprise result of the day, as Inter only manage a 2-2 draw with Twente.

Spurs started fantastically and then settled for a draw. Bremen really transformed for the equalizing goals but then both teams seemed to get cautious.

smwatson said:
Barnsley 5 - 2 Leeds.
Riots outside Oakwell no doubt. Absolute shambles. This is a big wake up call. The defence has been **** all season and finally someone has taken proper advantage. Swansea could have had five on Saturday in the first half alone.
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Ipswich also well beaten, But Hull City manage a victory with Koren finding the back fo the net. Actually, apart from Reading and Millwall's 0-0 the entire Championship was a comparative goalfest, lots of 3+ goal games.

Waiting for more news on Valencia. Obviously it's a career-threatening injury, I hope the prognosis is positive.

As for the game, it seemed to me that Fergie was prioritizing the league match over this Champions League meeting, which is likely the right call. Still, it seems he is relying very heavily on Giggs and Scholes now, and despite all their craft and experience they are slow, which means the players around them need to do extra work. Without an in-form Rooney this team looks pretty average. Rangers parked the bus and it essentially paid off for them.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
A strange match, Bremen did nothing offensive until they scored and now they look very dangerous. Definitely more exciting than the United/Rangers snore-fest.
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true but i think the last 3 games in the group are more interesting .. Werder Bremen is a notorious late starter into seasons (just like many other german tems: Bayern, Stuttgart, Schalke)
Schalke even worse with their 4. loss in a row against lyon
funny about the werder group: Arnautovic played last year at Inter and the year before at twente (a very underrated team) so he gets the chance to play against both ;)

gonna be interesting how bayern will play tomorrow though .. half their squad is very tired from being overplayed in the national sides ... though ribery seems to be getting in good shape and look way more dangerous than a few months ago
 
takao said:
gonna be interesting how bayern will play tomorrow though .. half their squad is very tired from being overplayed in the national sides ... though ribery seems to be getting in good shape and look way more dangerous than a few months ago
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I am intersted to see how the German clubs perform in the Champions League, coming off a good effort by the national team in the World Cup.

Jaffa Cake said:
Your boy Ayala opened the scoring, he looks a decent little player. Very composed.
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I just realized that after I posted when reading match reports. I remember reading about the loan but never heard much about him at Liverpool so it's good to see him making an impact at Hull City.
 
It was good to see Koren opening his account for us, too – he's had a bad week, what with that preacher in the States wanting to publicly burn him.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I am intersted to see how thre German clubs perform in the Champions League, coming off a good effort by the national team in the World Cup.
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my bets:
schalke won't make it (4th place) .. they invested the most money in their new offense but also sold both their first team central defenders (bordon and westermann) _and_ replaced both fullbacks .. which means a completly brand new defense .. and their offense stil lrudns around like headless chickens
werder bremen: depends if their central defenders get fit again soon .. with Prödl they have a good replacment for Mertesacker/Naldo but Pasanen with his two errors today showed that he isn't up to the job..
on the other side they have a strong offense (especially if pizarro is fit again) and strong morals and fight until the last second... so my guess: they are going to make it 2nd/3rd place
Bayern: not a single new player, and the current ones rather tired but once they get back into match rythm: could again be a contender .. many of their youngsters ( müller, badstuber,contento,kroos) gained a lot of expierence last year and are now pretty much first squad regulars .. Kroos will be the player to watch: the best german young playmaker IMHO .. this season will be _his_ season (after being overshadowed by müller last year)
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Spurs started fantastically and then settled for a draw. Bremen really transformed for the equalizing goals but then both teams seemed to get cautious.
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I won't be able to watch the game until tomorrow. Looks like it was an odd game. I guess the good news is they picked up two away goals.
 
Something of the bizarre to cap the day: Bahrain appears to have played a friendly with an allegedly fake Togolese national squad. Bahrain defeated the impostors 3-0 and were surprised at the poor quality of their opponents. Curious as to the full story behind this.

aloofman said:
I won't be able to watch the game until tomorrow. Looks like it was an odd game. I guess the good news is they picked up two away goals.
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The away goals won't help them much unless they are tied for second at the end of the group stage...Spurs are in a tough group. One assumes that Inter will top it, but Bremen and Twente are good clubs and I suspect Spurs will struggle to finish second.
 
And I thought the dour match at Old Trafford was depressing enough; then Antonio Valencia, my favorite United player, has to go and suffer a horrific ankle injury. It's a broken and dislocated ankle, he's going for surgery tomorrow, and will most likely miss the entire rest of the season.

I am gutted. :(

Oh well, I guess Nani is now the unquestioned starter on the right wing now. Who will play on the left? Giggs can't do it every match. Park is rubbish out there (see also, today's match against Rangers). Obertan, where the heck did he go? He should be over the injury he picked up on the US tour by now. Cleverley would have been useful right about now, but he's on loan at Wigan.
 
Silencio said:
Oh well, I guess Nani is now the unquestioned starter on the right wing now. Who will play on the left? Giggs can't do it every match. Park is rubbish out there (see also, today's match against Rangers). Obertan, where the heck did he go? He should be over the injury he picked up on the US tour by now. Cleverley would have been useful right about now, but he's on loan at Wigan.
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The Valencia injury is a terrible one, especially for a young player with his career ahead of him. Hopefully he makes a full recovery.

As for the United midfield, as I said before, Giggs and Scholes are constantly lauded as magicians but whatever their skill they can't play a full season's worth of games; they are simply too old. Nani will fill a starting role well enough, but United seem to have nothing like the depth they had two seasons ago.

Maybe we'll see Bebe now that the midfield is thinner.
 
Well that was an interesting night, me and my mate (also in exile) made a bit of a scene in a pub in 'Boro. I don't think the locals have ever seen a 0-0 draw being celebrated so much! (Boro also had a good win last night).

1st half Rangers were about average (but looked really poor in comparison to Man U) but Man U weren't that much better. If anything Rangers were the better side in the 2nd half even though they never really got a shot on goal. Rooney was starting to get a bit frustrated, thought he was about to talk himself into a card. Valencia out for the season, Sky refused to show the replay so it must have been bad to see, Kirk Broadfoot's reaction showed that. It wasn't a particularly dirty match, if anything I wanted Rangers to be a bit more physical but looks like Walter Smith got his tactics spot on.

We're now rather hopeful of gaining 3rd spot for the Europa League place!
 
Think the head groundsman had sown some grass seed and told the players to stay off the wings, that and Rooney's poor decision to delay the pass to Hernandez:mad: Probably would have seen a stronger team had they not blown the Fulham and Everton games - need points at the weekend.

Re the left; Evra in front of Fabio/O'Shea - the first two aren't in great form, but it could work.

Cheers,
OW
 
Fuzzy14 said:
Well that was an interesting night, me and my mate (also in exile) made a bit of a scene in a pub in 'Boro. I don't think the locals have ever seen a 0-0 draw being celebrated so much! (Boro also had a good win last night).
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I'll bet you were as chipper as your avatar. :D

I expect United to beat us rather easily, even in their weakened condition. It will be the Battle of the Out-of-Form Strikers. :rolleyes:
 
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