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2010-2011 Football Thread

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XIII said:
I don't see why anyone was shocked by a France win!
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At least, nobody who bothered to look at the squad lists should have been surprised with the result.

See what a difference a manager can make, though - Domenech vs Blanc for France (or, if I'm feeling mischevious, Mourinho vs Benitez at Inter). You can get very different results with the same group of players.

But again, I would think an England supporter would be more interested in seeing new faces and formations. Even though I imagine it always stings to be beaten by zee Fench. :D

EDIT: Still upset about Gerrard's injury. Losing him really, really hurts Liverpool. This is going to cost us a handful of points in the league, guaranteed.
 
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on the germany - sweden game 0-0: germany startedwith 2 young debut players ( another 2 substituted in) and 2 players in their second game for the national squad and sweden resorted to 90 minutes of defending

it sure looks like germany has another bunch of excellent young players waiting in the second line with Holtby, Schürrle, Götze, Großkreutz, Hummels, Schmelzer (who will be filling the left fullback role from now on i suppose)
 
And for the second time, The Arse let a good lead slip again in this derby. You know you have problems when Jermaine Defoe wins a header over your 6ft+ 'defender'.

EDIT:...and go on to lose. Unbelievable and laughable. Thats it, i'm done.
 
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daneoni said:
And for the second time, The Arse let a good lead slip again in this derby. You know you have problems when Jermaine Defoe wins a header over your 6ft+ 'defender'.

EDIT:...and go on to lose. Unbelievable and laughable. Thats it, i'm done.
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Chelsea just lost too, not sure if that's a good thing or it just makes your defeat sting even more...
 
Fizzoid said:
Chelsea just lost too, not sure if that's a good thing or it just makes your defeat sting even more...
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Sting more. We could've been top but nope plus the manner of defeat. 3 home defeats in 5 games...not championship form at all. They are clearly still not ready.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Can millionaires still afford clubs like Rangers? I would think you'd need a billionaire for the job.
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I believe Rangers may be up for sale for as little as £30 million (US$50m) which isn't as much of a bargain as Blackburn with access to the riches of the Premiership being sold for £42m.

However, to modify a Richard Branson quote about airlines, the best way to become a millionaire is first start as a billionaire and buy a football team.

Is that not Spur's first win against a 'big four' side for like many many years?
 
Jaffa Cake said:
There's been a bit of talk here about the boy Holtby as he also qualifies to play for England, however now that he's played for the German national team that won't be happening!
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well that ship has sailed which is rather unfortunate for england with him being a natural in a free role pulling defenders over the place .. which the 3 lions seem to be sorely lacking opposed to the germans who have now 2-3 squads of promising players aged 18-22

and the break out palyer of this season seem to be 18 year old Götze which DFB sports director Mathias Sammer already calls "one of the biggest talents we ever had"

too late for austria to steal any young players though ;)
 
takao said:
well that ship has sailed which is rather unfortunate for england with him being a natural in a free role pulling defenders over the place .. which the 3 lions seem to be sorely lacking opposed to the germans who have now 2-3 squads of promising players aged 18-22
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Don't forget that he doesn't play in the Premier League though - as he doesn't feature in the Greatest League in the World™ he's probably nowhere near good enough for the England team. ;)

Blue Velvet said:
Your little nephew needs sending to bed early. Without supper.
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My dad's a Chelsea fan, and is currently on holiday in India. I relieved a text from him yesterday asking what the result was, I've not had a reply from him yet. :D
 
Jaffa Cake said:
I relieved a text from him yesterday
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Good thing you didn't have to wring it out of him. ;)

Reading the 'papers', not impressed by the reported antics at Stamford Bridge at the mo. If key players rally to dump Ray Wilkins, then deliver — injuries notwithstanding — a series of terrible performances, then something makes me think that Ray Wilkins wasn't necessarily the problem.
 
The question is, is this a blip for Chelsea or the start of a bigger slide? They have injury problems right now, but a team like Chelsea is supposed to have the depth to deal with that.

Newcastle have gotten a lot of plaudits in recent weeks, so this result is interesting. The league is really fluid this season, just about any team can beat any other team on a given day. But Bolton really tore Newcastle apart. Newcastle sort of remind me of Spurs - pretty solid up front and good in the midfield - but very suspect in defense. Bolton, on the other hand, seem a solid all-round team.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
The question is, is this a blip for Chelsea or the start of a bigger slide? They have injury problems right now, but a team like Chelsea is supposed to have the depth to deal with that.
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Guess if you're a Chelsea supporter, it's better to have some losses at this stage of the season than in the closing three months. As far as depth is concerned, off the top of my head, getting rid of Ballack and Joe Cole amongst others perhaps not might have been wise.

Problem for some Premiership clubs is slowly rearranging things in time to meet UEFA's debt and financing regulations which start coming in sometime in the next few years. Chelsea are also looking at moving from Stamford Bridge, building a new stadium somewhere, so money may be a bit tight.
 
Good points. Everyone except Man City seems fairly tight on cash, so I don't expect the January transfer window to be a buying frenzy.

I'm no Chelsea fan - but I'm still quietly cheering your boys on in the hopes that they pip Man U to the title. ;)
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Last season I even found myself rooting for Leeds against United. :eek:
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Oh dear. Best not mention that in polite company. My general allegiance (apart from Chelsea and Jaffa's Hull City FC) goes: any London club against anyone else if the points don't matter to Chelsea. London derbys, like yesterday, depend on who I know might support one club or the other... or, when push comes to shove, which manager I prefer. Arsene Wenger doesn't take losing or any other complaints very well at all.
 
In terms of injuries I don't think Chelsea are that more disadvantaged than other clubs – at least where numbers are concerned. If injuries are playing a role then I think it's the individuals rather than the quantity – in Terry and Lampard Chelsea are missing two key players (their captain and vice-captain) and perhaps it's a bit of leadership and direction that they're missing on the pitch, I don't know.

Look at Spurs, for example – they've more players missing than Chelsea and they seem to be doing alright for themselves at the moment.

I think also that when some of the bigger clubs are going through a poor spell there's a tendency amongst some sections of the media to blame it on injuries, or poor refereeing, or unscrupulous opponents, or that the underdogs were 'playing them at the right time' – it never seems to be the case that the team in question is playing badly, or that the big name players simply aren't fulfilling their potential.

With Chelsea, there seems to be something going on behind the scenes at the moment that's affecting performances – what the root cause is I don't know, but the Wilkins sacking seemed very odd.

Lord Blackadder said:
I even found myself rooting for Leeds...
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Post reported. :mad:

;)
 
I'm becoming more of a neutral and less partisan these days. I follow teams like Bolton, Fulham, Aston Villa and Rangers casually because they feature a few good American players. And of course Hull City! The only team I really can't stand (with all due respect to silencio :eek: ) is Man United. Well, them and the LA Galaxy.

Jaffa Cake said:
...it never seems to be the case that the team in question is playing badly, or that the big name players simply aren't fulfilling their potential.

With Chelsea, there seems to be something going on behind the scenes at the moment that's affecting performances – what the root cause is I don't know, but the Wilkins sacking seemed very odd.
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Very true. The speed with which Wilkins was shuffled out was suspect.

Jaffa Cake said:
Post reported. :mad:

;)
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Well, it was only in the context of hoping United lost. So that's a mitigating factor...if they could both lose I would have been rooting for that. :D

I still felt dirty for cheering them on.
 
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Long rant. Sorry. :eek:

Ooof, the MLS Cup final was not a classic. First off, let me just get this out of the way - referee Baldomero Toledo is a disgrace. Total disgrace. I've never seen such poor refereeing consistently tolerated as it is from this disaster of a man. In a way, I can sympathize, since the quality of refs across all leagues is always an issue, and MLS gets the scraps. But my goodness, Toledo is a **** ref.

About half an hour in, Colorado forward Conor Casey was fouled multiple times in the box by Dallas defender Jair Benitez, who hacked at him after going down, after which Conor Casey went down with a touch of theatrics. Should have been a penalty, a Yellow to Casey and a straight red to Benitez. No call from the ref. That is just the worst of several dreadful no-calls from Toledo. After the first half he really lost control of the match, after players realized that they could beat each other to a pulp without having to worry about being punished.

Not pretty football at any point (Though Dallas's goal by Ferreira was a good move), Conor Casey is a throwback to a 1980s English striker - hulking, slow and somewhat violent. His equalizer was appropriately scored with him on his backside, poking the ball home in an ugly, scrappy goal-line melee.

The "Eastern" Conference was won by Colorado, Casey scored while lying on his back, the ref was a bad joke and the winning score was a freak own goal. 'nuff said!

...or maybe not. MLS commish Don Garber just announced that the number of teams to compete in the playoffs will now be increased to 10 (out of a total of 18), meaning that once again a majority of teams will make the playoffs. He also (finally) announced that teams will not be able to win the opposing conference. Took 'em long enough. :rolleyes:

Also, he made a half-arsed promise to align our schedule with the international FIFA calendar.

I'm a big supporter of MLS, but tonight was not a good advertisement for the league.
 
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