Flicked between that and the England game, sure looked like the ref was trying his best for Ghana.
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The 2012-2013 Football Thread
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Flicked between that and the England game, sure looked like the ref was trying his best for Ghana.
I went to the match as a neutral. I'm Scotland first then the blue half of the Old Firm but can't be bothered with the bigotry etc so tend to shy away from all that nonsense. My boys are St Mirren fans, St Mirren run the school teams and do a lot in my local area.
Scotland game was ok last night, Strachan got off to a winning start and didn't act like a d*** in the press conferences.
It is, sadly, time. But he goes out while still a great player and a one-club man. Maybe he'll be an improvement in the studio over Shearer or Jamie Redknanpp.
Maybe it's me, but I can't understand him when he talks. His Liverpool accent is too thick for my ears.
So, what's new?
Well, Fergie has been fined £12,000 for his comments about an assistant referee (considering his previous, I'd say he got off lightly)
Peter Odemwhingie has issued an apology to fans for trying to force a move to QPR
And we've signed Connor Whickham on a months loan from Sunderland. I hope he's as good as he is in Fifa 12!
Well, Fergie has been fined £12,000 for his comments about an assistant referee (considering his previous, I'd say he got off lightly)
Peter Odemwhingie has issued an apology to fans for trying to force a move to QPR
And we've signed Connor Whickham on a months loan from Sunderland. I hope he's as good as he is in Fifa 12!
One the last of a dying breed, I remember when that was the norm.
£12,000 is lunch money for Ferg. I think Man Utd should be docked a couple points and Fergie should be sentenced to a camping holiday with Rafa Benitez.
Football is much more international and much more "professional" (or you might say mercenary) than it once was. Most leagues have many more foreign players, contracts are not routinely seen out to their ends, and economics plays a bigger role than ever.
There is something special about a great player choosing to stay with the same club his entire career. Still, it's not something we should expect.
One the last of a dying breed, I remember when that was the norm.
Football is much more international and much more "professional" (or you might say mercenary) than it once was. Most leagues have many more foreign players, contracts are not routinely seen out to their ends, and economics plays a bigger role than ever.
There is something special about a great player choosing to stay with the same club his entire career. Still, it's not something we should expect.
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Please let Wilshere be ok, a key player if we have a prayer at a top 4 finish.
EDIT: Looks like City have truly bottled it, all but conceded the title by losing to Southampton 3-1. But on the flip side...good on Southampton. Played really well.
EDIT: Looks like City have truly bottled it, all but conceded the title by losing to Southampton 3-1. But on the flip side...good on Southampton. Played really well.
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City's squad have been a shadow of themselves throughout this season. Hart fumbling, Yaya just not there anymore, Aguero/Tevez can be contained nowadays. Also Mancini playing a back three instead of the back four that won him the title.
Meanwhile, United got RVP and remain Utd-like. Therein lie the differences.
Meanwhile, United got RVP and remain Utd-like. Therein lie the differences.
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Southampton 3 - Machester City 1
Saw result on iPhone, had to look twice, and then had to put on glasses to make sure I had read it right.
Roberto Mancini can be lucky that he manager of Manchester City and still maybe has a job?
If he was manager of Chelsea, and turned in these results, he would have been gone before the final whistle.
Saw result on iPhone, had to look twice, and then had to put on glasses to make sure I had read it right.
Roberto Mancini can be lucky that he manager of Manchester City and still maybe has a job?
If he was manager of Chelsea, and turned in these results, he would have been gone before the final whistle.
Happy Saints fan here.. when the team sheets came out and I saw Fox at left back and S Davis in the midfield I feared the worst, but it seems like Pochettino has really instilled a no-fear mantra, we went into that believing we could win and we completely outplayed City.
If United win tomorrow, surely 12 points is too much to recover considering City's shaky form?
If United win tomorrow, surely 12 points is too much to recover considering City's shaky form?
QPR crushed by Swansea - surely that's that? All those signings were for nothing, QPR are going down. Things are going to get very ugly come May. I imagine 'Arry will do one as soon as QPR are relegated and perhaps Fernandes will bounce as well?
The only person I feel bad for there (apart from the fans of course) is Julio Cesar. He was having a good season up to this point.
Sounds like Pochettino has managed to keep things going there, despite the controversy surrounding his arrival.
The are going to win their 13th title in 21 years. Thirteen titles.
45 clubs have ever had a chance to win the Premier League since football was invented in 1992, five have done it, three of those more than once, and Man Utd have done it thirteen times.
They have a better than 1 in 2 chance of winning the league title any given year. I wonder how many years (or decades) it will before we see a truly new face at the top of the league by the end of the season....clubs like Everton, Newcastle and Fulham spend millions of pounds every year with pretty much zero chance of actually winning.
The only person I feel bad for there (apart from the fans of course) is Julio Cesar. He was having a good season up to this point.
Sounds like Pochettino has managed to keep things going there, despite the controversy surrounding his arrival.
The are going to win their 13th title in 21 years. Thirteen titles.
45 clubs have ever had a chance to win the Premier League since football was invented in 1992, five have done it, three of those more than once, and Man Utd have done it thirteen times.
They have a better than 1 in 2 chance of winning the league title any given year. I wonder how many years (or decades) it will before we see a truly new face at the top of the league by the end of the season....clubs like Everton, Newcastle and Fulham spend millions of pounds every year with pretty much zero chance of actually winning.
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I hope i'm wrong but the cards point to QPR having some really dark days ahead. The talented/capable players will of course get picked up in the summer, but once the squad is gutted then it is likely free fall time
Utd's domination is down to one person; SAF. Once he leaves then you have to wonder if Utd even have a prayer at maintaining their level. They'll still be competitive but i really doubt to the current extent regardless of replacement coach.
SAF has been giving Old Trafford something money simply can't buy as City and Chelsea have found/are currently finding out. And that is Belief and a Winning Mentality. Of course there's also the infamous hair-drier treatment...oh and boots to the face.
Utd's domination is down to one person; SAF. Once he leaves then you have to wonder if Utd even have a prayer at maintaining their level. They'll still be competitive but i really doubt to the current extent regardless of replacement coach.
SAF has been giving Old Trafford something money simply can't buy as City and Chelsea have found/are currently finding out. And that is Belief and a Winning Mentality. Of course there's also the infamous hair-drier treatment...oh and boots to the face.
They'll offload some, but can you really see someone coming in to pick up Zamora on £70k a week? He's as much as admitted he doesn't like playing football, and likes the money, he's the kind of character that will stick around and sink that club.
Ben Haim is another, look at what he did at Portsmouth - QPR will be going that way very soon if they cannot stay up this year.
It mostly comes down to Fernandes. He has gambled big money (in terms of all these signings) to keep the club up, and that looks to have failed. If he flees the club they are in big trouble.
I would say that relegation + a huge exodus of expensive players is not necessarily a bad thing for the club. Painful, it's true, but if Fernandes sticks it out and cleans out the dressing room after relegation QPR will have the opportunity to 1) keep the books balanced and 2) build a cheaper but solid Championship squad that has a chance of going up again in the nearish future. That of course assumes that the contracts for the players have relegation clauses in them....
Of course the possibility of QPR becoming another Portsmouth is also a very legitimate concern for fans.
It is indeed mostly down to Fergie. He has had support from the ownership for most of his career at Man Utd, to the point where he is now truly untouchable. Nobody else in the Premier League (and few, I imagine, in the entire football pyramid) has that status.
He will be impossible to replace when he goes, but Man Utd is such a valuable property that most of the best managers in the world will want the job. So it's entirely possible that their dominance could extend another 20+ years after Fergie goes, if they get the right man in. That would, of course, be a nightmare scenario for me.
On the other hand, nobody in the public really has any idea of how long Fergie will keep at it. There's no retirement age for football managers, so as long as his body holds out he could be at the helm for another 10 years.
I agree that SAF, has been the difference between Man U and the rest of the English Premiere league. That moment set him apart David Beckham was taking on pop star status, and if left unchecked it have could have ended like George Best.
They say no one is irreplaceable, but SAF comes close.
Dutch Football Results.
This is carnival weekend here in the south of the country.
Saturday
sc Heerenveen 2 vs VVV Venlo 2
Heerenveen did everything right except pull a winner.
Vitesse 2 vs PSV 2
This match revolved around Theo Jansen sending off, and Wilfred Bony back from the African Cup duty. PSV had only them selves to blame, the defense twice caught sleep walking.
Sunday
FC Utrecht 0 vs NEC 3
Utrecht really didn't get started and paid the price.
Ajax 1 vs Roda 1
Ajax couldn't profit from PSV's failure, a very poor match from Ajax.
Feyenoord 3 vs AZ 1
AZ are slipping maybe they are saving them selves for the beker
PEC Zwolle 1 vs Twente 1
PEC salvaged a point in a rather dull game, but hey a point is a point.
The top four couldn't win so the table remains the same.
So Utd do a professional job on Everton (Fellaini/Baines shut out) and with that it seems the title race has been decided in February. Meanwhile QPR, Wigan and Villa look set to be axed. Has to be one of the most boring EPL seasons in history.
On another note. Why is the Old Trafford pitch so horrible? you'd think its a pitch that belongs to a League 1 club.
On another note. Why is the Old Trafford pitch so horrible? you'd think its a pitch that belongs to a League 1 club.
Fortunately, one of the least predictable football leagues - MLS - is preparing to kick off in just a few weeks. I'm hoping that I get get out to Columbus' home opener in just over a month.
They're certainly going about it the right way, even to the point of appointing Redknapp to oversee the financial meltdown.
A combination of the weather and a lot of matches plus the fact that it's tricky to get natural light to the turf in a ground of Old Trafford's size.
Fergie has expressed his concerns, apparently it's going to be relaid over the summer.
This has been mentioned several times before but it bears repeating: when is Redknapp's image finally going to suffer as a result of his short-sighted, wheeler-dealing, sign-a-bunch-of-overpaid-journeymen-and-then-defer-all-subsequent-responsibility-to-the-chairman habits? He should not bear all or even most of the blame for Pompey's fall, but somehow he's come out smelling like roses. Surely this time some of the taint will stick?
It also makes me truly wonder how he would have dealt with being the England manager (apart from always starting Crouchy and Defoe). Of course, that's a moot point now that Roy has won the World Cup.
As long as he's 'Good Old 'Arry' and is bosom buddies with the media in this country, his image (with those who don't follow football too closely, at least) will be just fine unfortunately.
Of course, he disputes the 'wheeler dealer' reputation (as famously seen in that post match interview video) and to be fair he's got a point. After all, he's less into shrewd bargain deals these days and more into spunking all his chairman's cash against a wall with wild abandon. Not very wheeler dealerish, I'll give you that Harry.
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