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The 2012-2013 Football Thread

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Nigeria wins the African Cup of Nations after beating Burkina Faso 1-0. Great goal too.

Jaffa Cake said:
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.
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Ah seen

On another note. It seems we've managed to RMA Santos back to Brazil.
 
Liverpool sloppy in possession and profligate in front of goal, forced to chase the game late and end up with a rather embarrassing loss.

Lucas looked good in the middle but the finishing today was poor and that made the difference; Liverpool should have put away at least two goals.

West Brom defended stoutly and Shane Long worked tirelessly up top. Foster had a big day. Drat.
 
Agger responsible for both goals. Shelvey and Borini still flopping. If Downing is the biggest threat going forward in your team then you're in for it. Sturridge missed badly.

David Moyes must've been delighted with the result.
 
daneoni said:
Agger responsible for both goals. Shelvey and Borini still flopping. If Downing is the biggest threat going forward in your team then you're in for it. Sturridge missed badly.[/QUPOTE]

Suarez definitely benefits from playing with a partner, and Sturridge is obviously our best option there since Borini still looks ineffective (though to be fair he did have one strong shot on target that drew an excellent save from Foster). Shelvey is kind of a cut-rate Dirk Kuyt - high work rate - but he is still showing some inexperience and he isn't really a goal threat.

Agger almost scored one himself too though...bad defending for both goals and no excuses, but at the same time Liverpool should have found the back of the net two or three times. Our toothless attack remains our biggest weakness because it allows teams like West Brom to build confidence going forward as the game wears on without a Liverpool goal.

Sturridge was definitely missed, but they should have won that game without him.

daneoni said:
David Moyes must've been delighted with the result.
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Everton don't have the squad depth for a Europa League adventure next season, so while Moyes will publicly be satisfied with topping Liverpool in the table (and the blue half of Liverpool will rejoice) I imagine he privately hopes that he either qualifies for the Champions League or avoids Europe entirely...
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Agreed. Liverpool are actually playing well but the weaknesses are still there from some 'key' players. Will be interesting to see who comes in or leaves in the summer outside of Carragher.
 
daneoni said:
Agreed. Liverpool are actually playing well but the weaknesses are still there from some 'key' players. Will be interesting to see who comes in or leaves in the summer outside of Carragher.
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i thought they looked like absolute ****. their build was almost o.k. but the last ball that they really needed to be there wasn't. just about every good run or build ended on a weak, or ill advised/placed, ball being intercepted.



but their biggest sin is that they insist on playing the ball to SUAREZ no matter HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE COVERING HIM!

they did that all day today.

not only that but i remembered watching last weeks match thinking what a stupid keeper they have.

and i was for liverpool.
 
pachyderm said:
i thought they looked like absolute ****. their build was almost o.k. but the last ball that they really needed to be there wasn't. just about every good run or build ended on a weak, or ill advised/placed, ball being intercepted.



but their biggest sin is that they insist on playing the ball to SUAREZ no matter HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE COVERING HIM!

they did that all day today.

not only that but i remembered watching last weeks match thinking what a stupid keeper they have.

and i was for liverpool.
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Can't be helped since Suarez is their best player who keeps bailing them out. Head and shoulders above the rest of the team. At least Sturridge has somewhat alleviated that burden recently but today it fell right back on Suarez's shoulders.

They played well against Norwich and City. I agree Reina seems to be fumbling a lot more recently. Could've maybe saved the second goal. But oh well.
 
That's the problem with being a one trick pony. Mark Suarez out of the game, and you have almost eliminated Liverpool as a goal threat

daneoni said:
If Downing is the biggest threat going forward in your team then you're in for it.
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Oh how I laughed at this! :D
 
pachyderm said:
i thought they looked like absolute ****. their build was almost o.k. but the last ball that they really needed to be there wasn't. just about every good run or build ended on a weak, or ill advised/placed, ball being intercepted.



but their biggest sin is that they insist on playing the ball to SUAREZ no matter HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE COVERING HIM!

they did that all day today.

not only that but i remembered watching last weeks match thinking what a stupid keeper they have.

and i was for liverpool.
Click to expand...

They were effective at dispossessing West Brom much of the time, but gave the ball away cheaply themselves all game - everyone except Lucas was guilty, but Johnson and especially Enrique were particularly sloppy.

Suarez felt the burden of his position and tried to do too much, he was always facing down three players at time and while he almost got through several times he never actually did it.

Given that Liverpool's form has been better of late I'm just hoping it was a bad day more than an indicator of things to come. But it does suggest that Borini and Shelvey are clearly not working as partners for Suarez.

Reina has made some big mistakes in his career but he has also been a consistently excellent keeper for much of it too - and definitely better than most of the English No 1s he's played against over that time.

Fuzzy14 said:
Little eye on the provinces...
Here in Scotland just 8 points separate second place Inverness from eleventh place St Mirren. 8 points.

Amazing how competitive the leauge has become without part of the Old Firm.
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Don't worry, in a couple season Rangers will be back and things will return to normal. ;)
 
Fuzzy14 said:
Little eye on the provinces...
Here in Scotland just 8 points separate second place Inverness from eleventh place St Mirren. 8 points.

Amazing how competitive the leauge has become without part of the Old Firm.
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For comparison the german Bundesliga:
15 between first and second and also 15 between second and 15th (11 between second and 11th.)

sadly it looks like Bayern is through... so far they only conceded 7 goals, of which 2 were penalties, 1 own goal and 1 header after a corner ...
 
...and that is that for Celtic. Typical italian job from Juve and i'm now convinced they won't go far once they come across teams with more quality.

Also Ref and 4th official were absolutely abysmal. Rugby tackles in the box on several occasions. Nothing given.
 
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takao said:
For comparison the german Bundesliga:
15 between first and second and also 15 between second and 15th (11 between second and 11th.)

sadly it looks like Bayern is through... so far they only conceded 7 goals, of which 2 were penalties, 1 own goal and 1 header after a corner ...
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the exciting part is, who will win sixth place, only 7 points between 6th and 15th of the league
 
daneoni said:
...and that is that for Celtic. Typical italian job from Juve and i'm now convinced they won't go far once they come across teams with more quality.

Also Ref and 4th official were absolutely abysmal. Rugby tackles in the box on several occasions. Nothing given.
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Amazing clinical finishing by the Italians, bit harsh on Celtic that score.
 
I agree that Celtic were out played, but the score line is very flattering to Juventus.

It the Dutch Eredivise

8pts covers the top 6, but then there's a vast gap to the next team. But this is closer than a decade ago.:eek:
 
Lord Blackadder said:
I actually sat down to watch this match, but the only stram I could find petered out after just a few minuted. :(
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You didn't miss much. It was a very poor first half, but getting a goal right at the start of the second kick started things a tad – it gave us a bit of confidence, and forced Derby into trying to get something out of the game.
 
daneoni said:
...and that is that for Celtic. Typical italian job from Juve and i'm now convinced they won't go far once they come across teams with more quality.

Also Ref and 4th official were absolutely abysmal. Rugby tackles in the box on several occasions. Nothing given.
Click to expand...

The ref had a really poor game. About the only thing he did correctly was blow the whistle for the first Juve goal, which was missed by the 5th (or 6th?) official on the goal line. He had one job to do. We need to get rid of this additional expense (a wee jolly abroad for the boys).

I thought Celtic played well and stayed positive even after the early goal, but SPL teams just aren't good enough for average Italian teams.

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Happybunny said:
It the Dutch Eredivise

8pts covers the top 6, but then there's a vast gap to the next team. But this is closer than a decade ago.:eek:
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Sounds like an exciting finish!
 
I tumbled late in today's match women Germany-France (friendly) in the 23rd Minute and it allready was France 2 vs Germany 1. Well deserved.

The last friendly between them in (I think it was Nov.) was like the boring men's Germany-Netherlands match. Today is very fast. France playing accurate, nicer passes. Germany making a lot of mistakes, running arround like chicken, sometimes treating the ball like "away with it, no matter if there is someone" and shooting hard against the passing player. Not nice. I wonder what they are doing.
The coach has again changed the team, including a completely new player "Keßler" in the defense (I think she is from the U17 team). Even good players like Bartusiak making a lot of mistakes. Not their day perhaps.
The second goal of France was due to the german goal keeper shooting the ball on the chest of a french player, the ball than jumped to nearby striker Necib, who is not to be said to have problems mastering waaaay harder situations.

Looking forward to Dortmund this Evening, after their loss of 4:1 against Hamburg in the Bundesliga this could be interesting with all the brasilian players bought by Doneszk.

PS: as I am writing this 3:1 for France. Again goal keeper (being far out of the box) and defender (not hiting the ball right) mistake.
PPS: Minute 80' 3:3 two goals by youngster Keßler, who plays completely different in the second half (and I mistook her for a defender, she is midfielder, but it was hard to see from the way she oriented herself in the first half). The french are more and more playing "robust" fouling, resulting in torn knee for Krahn. Happy 50-years-elisee-treaty-party afterwards :)
PPPS: puh, ending with 3:3 and a lot better German team in the last minutes, missing the 4th goal for Germany from a free kick just hitting the alluminium (France and Germany being on par now in the end quality wise). They are keeping their series of wins and draws with no loss.
Germany will have another four friendlies in April and June against USA, Canada, Japan and Scotland.
 
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Columbus are currently beating Philadelphia 2-0 at halftime in the meaningless Disney Soccer Pro Classic (I know, cue jokes about a Disney league). Watch the game live here.

Hoping to sit down and watch the big CL clash soon.
 
None of the stars showed up today besides Ronaldo of course. Its the underrated players that bossed the game (Khedira, Welbeck, Jones, Carrick, Lopez, and De Gea)

Rooney once again invisible and petulant.

SAF will be delighted with that...more so than Mourinho.
 
Well done Manchester Utd.

As a neutral it was great game to watch, I thought that David de Gea had an outstanding game.
 
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