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2010-2011 Football Thread

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Did anyone watch West Brom vs. Blackpool last night? Great game! West Brom was given a red card and conceded a penalty very early on and then another red card not ten minutes later. The first one was really unfair though.

Yeah it's no excuse that we got got two reds but even with nine men we played like champs and managed to pull a 2 - 1 loss out of it all.
 
Who is your Premier Soccer League team? I had a lot of dealings in RSA a couple of years back so I adopted Orlando Pirates (just because I like pirates, and the Kaisers have a link to Leeds Utd.) However it was pointed out to me, in quite blunt terms, that white people should be talking about egg ball or cricket!
 
Fuzzy14 said:
Who is your Premier Soccer League team? I had a lot of dealings in RSA a couple of years back so I adopted Orlando Pirates (just because I like pirates, and the Kaisers have a link to Leeds Utd.) However it was pointed out to me, in quite blunt terms, that white people should be talking about egg ball or cricket!
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My PSL team (although I don't watch much) is Mamelodi Sundowns. It's because they're the local team, Mamelodi being a township down the road from where I stay.

I must say though that there's nothing wrong talking about soccer, well from my generation at least. It makes me sad to see how older people are still very pro racism etc.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Have you ever gone to a match? The PSL sounds like an entertaining league.
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Entertaining in what way? I haven't actually watched a game and my excuse is a good one, safety. I know my previous post was about how I'm sad about the racial divide but when you go to a PSL game as a white person you become singled out and you'll be targeted for theft. However, I did go to one of South Africa's world cup qualifying games (against Denmark) which happened at Super Stadium. It was the closest you could get to the PSL feel, open first-come-first-serve seating, lots of locals, drug trades happening behind your back and a majority black crowd.

It's funny how how over here EPL i seen as such a great league with so much support yet 'foreigners' are equally as interested in the South African local league too.
 
I have heard about the racial divide in SA sports, I was curious to understand just how divided it is.

Is this phenomenon different for different teams, or is spectatorship for all teams still almost exclusively black?
 
Now where was that Spurs team last week at Old Trafford? Punked by a Michael Jackson lookalike after their clown-disguised-as-a-keeper was foolish enough to mistake a handball for a foul...:D

I wonder if Fergie's ability to squelch Bale really made that much of a difference. Have to factor van der Vaart in too of course.

This doesn't make Benitez look very good, he's now leaked six goals to Spurs. It must have something to do with that 'mountain of sugar' he was going on about. :rolleyes:
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I have heard about the racial divide in SA sports, I was curious to understand just how divided it is.

Is this phenomenon different for different teams, or is spectatorship for all teams still almost exclusively black?
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I'd say our two main national sports are rugby and soccer (football). Mainly white people go to rugby games and mainly black people go to soccer games.

But.... During the World Cup there were all sorts of people at the South Africa games, it seemed like the whole country backed Bafana. What's also great is that there was an international friendly vs. Ghana a couple months after the world cup which was well attended by all sorts of people. So it seems everyone is backing the national teams whilst the league teams still struggle along.
 
Can't believe we're on course to come away short again in Ukraine. Yet again things will go the harder way.

Thanks a lot Eboue/Clichy/Bendtner/Eastmond
 
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Disappointing result for the Gunners - and Real almost slip up against Milan, ending up with a 2-2 draw, although Inzaghi scored an offside goal (duh).

Chelsea continue to cruise - I'd have to say Chelsea is the only team I can see with a shot at the Champions League title apart from Barca and Real.
 
Peterkro said:
Brilliant fans at Bursaspor,the baldy young Frenchman for United has quality written all over him.
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That was an amazing atmosphere for a football match. Down 3-0 in the second half and they were singing like they were leading 3-0 and about to win the European Cup! Hats off to Bursaspor fans.

Nice hit by Obertan, eh? He was kind of in and out of the match, quiet for long periods but also played a part in setting up Fletcher's goal.

And Bébé scored on his CL debut, unless they reversed the ruling and called it an OG instead, it was hard to tell from the replays. Still, he's already learned to anticipate Scholes' disguised passes, pretty impressive stuff.
 
Jasonbot said:
I'd say our two main national sports are rugby and soccer (football). Mainly white people go to rugby games and mainly black people go to soccer games.

But.... During the World Cup there were all sorts of people at the South Africa games, it seemed like the whole country backed Bafana. What's also great is that there was an international friendly vs. Ghana a couple months after the world cup which was well attended by all sorts of people. So it seems everyone is backing the national teams whilst the league teams still struggle along.
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That was Mandela's plan... to unite the nation using sport as it lets people chose to unite rather than forcing the issue with things like B-BBEE. If somebody scores a goal for your team, you don't give a hoots where they come from. Hell, we even let some English guys play for Scotland.:p

They'll need to tackle it at grass roots too, introduce football (rather than hand-egg) at schools.

Meanwhile, Refgate continues to rage in Scotland. Celtic striker Gary Hooper has just added fuel to the fire by trying to perpetuate the myth 'all refs are against Celtic'. Ah bless him, the young naive English lad has grown up unaware of the Old Firm. He is going to be eaten alive by the press.
 
Liverpool are going to be taken apart by Chelsea on the weekend. There's just no point in even hoping for any kind of result, unless Chelsea go a man down early on.

However, I think we can beat Napoli today. It's not that I'm too excited about the Europa League, but another win will increase the squad's confidence, and we need all the confidence we can get before being destroyed by Abramovich's efficient little toy.

Kyrgiakos will miss the match, which is a bigger blow than one would think, he's been a surprisingly good player for us. We definitely need him against Chelsea. (EDIT: He seems healthy, nevermind. Shame I can't say the same about Cole.)

Jasonbot said:
But.... During the World Cup there were all sorts of people at the South Africa games, it seemed like the whole country backed Bafana. What's also great is that there was an international friendly vs. Ghana a couple months after the world cup which was well attended by all sorts of people. So it seems everyone is backing the national teams whilst the league teams still struggle along.
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Integration will take a long time, so I think it's great to see the whole country get behind Bafana at the WC. Sport can be a powerful social influence.

Fuzzy14 said:
Meanwhile, Refgate continues to rage in Scotland. Celtic striker Gary Hooper has just added fuel to the fire by trying to perpetuate the myth 'all refs are against Celtic'. Ah bless him, the young naive English lad has grown up unaware of the Old Firm. He is going to be eaten alive by the press.
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Are there any further implications to this whole thing? It sounds like the ref wants to keep his job but Celtic fans will make his life a living hell...

EDIT: Once again Steven Gerrard shows world-class skill in pulling Liverpool's fat out of the fire with three second half goals. A fairly dull game in which Napoli were getting the better of us before Gerrard came on and took the match by the scruff of the neck. I didn't think we defended badly, but our midfield was ineffective, and N'Gog was unable to muster that extra bit of skill we needed from him. Apart from the fact we won, and Gerrard was quality, there's little to talk about. On to Chelsea, it will be ugly...
 
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A horrible result for Man City, there is really no excuse for it. They are a classic example of a team that is something less than the sum of its parts...too many personalities at the club, and Mancini simply cannot create a coherent squad out of the sheik's expensive mob.

oscillatewildly said:
All Liverpool need to do is take their chances - Chelsea will get thumped when the opposition stop fluffing opportunities.

Cheers,
OW
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Without the opportunistic Kuyt or the yet-to-prove-himself-anyway Cole, we will have to rely on Gerrard and Torres as usual for our attack...and Torres is operating at 40% of his potential right now. The best we can hope for is that we have a good defensive game, Torres plays well and players like Lucas, Meireles, Poulson and Maxi Rodriguez all step it up a notch.
 
I don't like the idea of having a "Director of Football Strategy" at Liverpool. And I'm not at all sure about Damien Comolli. Now, it is true that he was responsible for signing many of Harry's best players currently at Spurs, so I don't deny that he may scout out some great players for Liverpool.

But the question is, we he and Woy be able to work together? If not, we'll just be in another muddle. Hodgson has come under criticism for his transfers as Liverpool boss, so John Dubya Henry clearly feels Woy needs an expert to help him in that department. Managers get very prickly when they are saddled with players (even excellent ones) who they feel doesn't fit their system.

What's your take on Comolli, aloofman?

P.S. I don't think our new owners care much for Hodgson - not that they want him out, but he's only as good as his results as far as they are concerned. I would be surprised to see poor Woy keep his job next season.
 
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The 'Director of Football' approach is more common on the continent, and less so on these shores where managers tend to have more control over stuff like transfers.

It can work (and work well, in some instances) but this is generally where the two men have a good relationship and a respect for the boundaries of each other's jobs – it works best as a clear partnership rather than the Director being some sort of lofty authority figure. Otherwise, it doesn't take much for a manger to feel restricted and it more often than not ends in tears with the gaffer complaining about a lack of control.

Anyway, a big day for us tomorrow – it's the Humber derby. Sc*nthorpe will no doubt be smelling blood... :eek:
 
Lord Blackadder said:
What's your take on Comolli, aloofman?
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Overall, I think he was good for Spurs. He signed many of the starting players on the squad now, along with some others like Berbatov that have moved on. In hindsight his biggest mistake would seem to be staking the team's success on Juande Ramos. It made sense that they were booted at the same time because after Ramos had clearly failed, they couldn't possibly keep Comolli too. Obviously it will depend on how he works with Hodgson (or whomever the next manager is). If the two of them are at odds the way Comolli and Jol were, then it won't last long. That's assuming, of course, that Hodgson stays a while.

It's interesting to me that there's so much debate about the idea of a team executive doing most of the scouting and signing instead of the manager doing it all, since that's the way almost every North American sports team operates. I think that the reason it hasn't caught on in European soccer is that few of the managers are used to such an arrangement. By the time they've reached the top level leagues, they're used to being judge, jury and executioner. There's not a whole lot of inertia for the idea, kind of like the lack of interest in the US for a promotion-relegation system.
 
aloofman said:
It's interesting to me that there's so much debate about the idea of a team executive doing most of the scouting and signing instead of the manager doing it all, since that's the way almost every North American sports team operates. I think that the reason it hasn't caught on in European soccer is that few of the managers are used to such an arrangement. By the time they've reached the top level leagues, they're used to being judge, jury and executioner. There's not a whole lot of inertia for the idea, kind of like the lack of interest in the US for a promotion-relegation system.
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As I say though, the Director of Football approach is a lot more common on mainland Europe than it is in the UK, and quite a lot of the big European clubs have someone fulfilling such a role – we just tend not to get on with the idea and view it with some suspicion. ;)
 
Jaffa Cake said:
As I say though, the Director of Football approach is a lot more common on mainland Europe than it is in the UK, and quite a lot of the big European clubs have someone fulfilling such a role – we just tend not to get on with the idea and view it with some suspicion. ;)
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Like most ideas from the Continent, whether they're good or bad!
 
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