The 2013-2014 Football Thread

[Happybunny]

Nice shirt, shame about the logo - and the boots:

Like the kit, shame that the Logo is to big.

EDIT: Reports are coming in that Alfredo Di Stefano has died. One of the sport's great legends may have just left us.
.

One of the all time greats goes to the stadium in the sky.
Di Stefano a footballing legend from another era, the Cup final of 1960 Real Madrid of Spain and Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3.
Di Stefano got a Hat Trick, and that other great Puskas got 4.

 

[Kariya]

Looks like the United kit wasn't far off from the earlier rumours

Meanwhile it Ashley Cole is off to Italy and Debuchy looks to be a done deal having completed his medical.

 

[cambookpro]

Our new kit was announced today - pretty happy! Hoops all the way around at last. Apparently, there's a whole social media campaign centred around the manager who brought the hoops back from our sky-blue shirts in the '60s.

Well then, #ThanksJack!

---

In other news, Jaffa's Hull have (surprisingly? Not sure if this was known about before) signed Tom Ince. Good player there.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Nice shirt, cambookpro.

In USA news, Roma are rumored to be interested in DeAndre Yedlin. Matt Besler is also reportedly being courted by European teams, though he may choose to remain in MLS as a designated player on bigger wages.

One of the all time greats goes to the stadium in the sky.
Di Stefano a footballing legend from another era, the Cup final of 1960 Real Madrid of Spain and Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3.
Di Stefano got a Hat Trick, and that other great Puskas got 4.

Man, I would love to have seen Di Stefano and Puskas on the pitch.

 

[takao]

As for the World Cup -

I've been supporting underdogs mostly and have been let down just about every time o), but really there are no underdogs left to root for now. Germany have been solid and consistent - they would be worthy champions. I'm swept up in the emotional possibilities of an Argentina win on Brazilian soil and additional vindication for Messi, who is carrying his team on his back to a greater degree than even Robben and Neymar have done.

On the other hand, the Brazilians are too hysterical, favored by refs and foul-happy. Sorry boys, I'm not in your camp. And with sincere apologies to Happybunny, I've fallen out of love with the Dutch. Robben's diving, LvG's bombast and Krul's intimidation has pushed me over the edge against what remains an excellent team with a decent chance to win it. Not even my respect for Dirk Kuyt can bring them back to me.

I'm too inherently partisan to be neutral so go Germany/Argentina in the semis! But if either of their opponents do win, I hope they at least do it fairly and in style. Let's hope we have some great matches ahead. And I reserve the right to change my mind at any moment.

from an emotional stand point the combinations
Brazil vs. Argentina
or
Germany vs. Holland

sure will cause the biggest flames

 

[Cox Orange]

I(...)As for the World Cup -

(...) And with sincere apologies to Happybunny, I've fallen out of love with the Dutch. Robben's diving, LvG's bombast and Krul's intimidation has pushed me over the edge against what remains an excellent team with a decent chance to win it. Not even my respect for Dirk Kuyt can bring them back to me.

On underdogs: now that we have the usual suspects I wonder how I could believe that one of the underdogs would get further, maybe I was carried away by the surprise about their performance before that stage.
Actually I am trying to remember when we had the last underdog getting in an half final at a WC... *scratches head*
(...)

Put an experienced RVP on your list for running in almost every offside trap that was there in the match.

from an emotional stand point the combinations
Brazil vs. Argentina
or
Germany vs. Holland

sure will cause the biggest flames

+1

 

[Lord Blackadder]

from an emotional stand point the combinations
Brazil vs. Argentina
or
Germany vs. Holland

sure will cause the biggest flames

Those would be grudge matches for sure.

Put an experienced RVP on your list for running in almost every offside trap that was there in the match.

To be fair, Costa Rica caught more teams offside than anyone else. But RVP has been a bit disappointing in this tournament apart from his header in the group stages. There is still time to shine though.

 

[oscillatewildly]

Lord Blackadder, Silencio, Happybunny,

Crazy money and a ridiculous logo; sign of the times - how would the Family Football behave now if a large part of a top league team was wiped out in an accident?

Van Gaal:

It's having a manager who isn't afraid to make changes; they won't always work but they will be reasoned changes to improve the odds, rather than delayed to last gasp, throw them on and hope.

Liverpool; Origi and Markovic are in the potential box, and Lallana is another body - some competition and cover re injury/number of fixtures. The transfer window is still open, though fans tend to fear the worst.

Kariya - Ashley Cole - taken a pay cut to wear a decent shirt?

cambookpro - shirt - not sure about the top stripe, probably looks better on a player. Nice logo.

Germany; Ghana and Algeria - can you see the speed of attack in the Brazil team?

Cheers,
OW

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Liverpool will have a deeper squad this season. But our first XI may not be any better, possibly worse if you allow that Suarez is irreplaceable.

Crazy money and a ridiculous logo; sign of the times - how would the Family Football behave now if a large part of a top league team was wiped out in an accident?

Not much would change versus Munich - except for the fact that the club would probably bounce back much quicker from a competitive standpoint; there is so much more money in the game these days and everybody's insured. Sounds heartless but that's the post-TV-money era for you.

At the moment I'm reading Duncan Hamilton's Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 18 Years with Brian Clough. Things were so different before the Premier League...better in some ways, much worse in others. It's much cleaner (except in financial terms) but also far more plastic these days.

Van Gaal:

It's having a manager who isn't afraid to make changes; they won't always work but they will be reasoned changes to improve the odds, rather than delayed to last gasp, throw them on and hope.

I can't see him not succeeding. But if he fails it will be due to personality conflicts first and foremost. He is a prickly character. If Mourinho was rejected for being to much of a primadonna, is LvG going to be any better?

 

[takao]

Germany; Ghana and Algeria - can you see the speed of attack in the Brazil team?

the brazilian squad has some fast attackers apart of neymar with Bernard and Willian but the question will be if they can fix their system to compensate the absences.
Oscar is a great passing attacking player with a,for his body build, strong defensive work rate.
Hulk is a fast and powerful striker but he really needs space (a Podolski with a better technique )


Slimani (algeria) and Benzema(France) both are dangerous for sprinting into space behind the defnesive Line because of their top speed. Fred isn't.
Because of that i would put up Hulk in the number 9 position and leave Fred out. and rather put on both Willian and either Ramires or Bernard. Sadly i think Scolari will favour Fred's heading ability.


With the loss of Thiago Silva they have also lost their fastest central defender. It's one of the reasons why is so great: he can put out a blasting sprint for a crucial last second tackle, if he is caught out of position. Which he rarely is. On the Fifa statistic he actually clocked in the 3rd fastest speed of all brazilian players.
Dante has a very brilliant positioning game but _if_ caught in the wrong position isn't blazing fast.

It's similiar with the german central defense:
Boateng hasn't the best positioning but he is very fast.
Mertesacker has usually great positioning but has problems with long balls passed into space because of his lack of speed.
Hummels shines with cool headed passing and his positioning but actually is very fast on short distances. He actually clocked in a faster top speed than Neymar in the Fifa statistics

 

[twietee]

(a Podolski with a better technique )

I lol'd!

Hummels being fast (even when only on short distances) does surprise me quite a bit though.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Germany are less likely to be rattled if it comes down to the wire though. Remember the terrible Brazilian penalties against Chile (apart from Luiz's and Neymar's)? Germany will be far more composed than that.

It would be ironic if Brazil showed up and started lumping long balls to Hulk. The Stoke of the South...

 

[twietee]

Germany are less likely to be rattled if it comes down to the wire though. Remember the terrible Brazilian penalties against Chile (apart from Luiz's and Neymar's)? Germany will be far more composed than that.

I would like to be that confident, I lost my faith within the last years though.

The Stoke of the South...

I lol'd again.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I would like to be that confident, I lost my faith within the last years though.

Four straight semifinals ain't that bad. I'd take that any day.

 

[twietee]

Four straight semifinals ain't that bad. I'd take that any day.

I was talking penalties. And penalties only.


Some pretty crazy stuff going on in Germany ('s media, social networks and what we call 'Stammtisch' > idiots drinking beer while philosophizing over football) regarding Özil. And in a pretty embarrassing manner. Always wonder a bit if why he's that much of a scapegoat...no need to discuss this here but I always wonder if his Turkish roots have something to do with it. I mean, I'm all for a fair criticism but that's far from rational anymore. He's got the stats on his side but nobody even takes them at least into consideration. He gets the blame even for his decisive goal against Algeria (where Schürrle f'd up his pass being completely free in front of the goal).

 

[oscillatewildly]

Lord Blackadder,

Family Football - like to think the human side would shine through the money.

The manager; yeah, the honeymoon is unlikely to be 3 years.

...


Slimani (algeria) and Benzema(France) both are dangerous for sprinting into space behind the defnesive Line because of their top speed. Fred isn't.
Because of that i would put up Hulk in the number 9 position and leave Fred out. and rather put on both Willian and either Ramires or Bernard. Sadly i think Scolari will favour Fred's heading ability.

...

The talk re Fred was of him being there to help Neymar. Maybe no Neymar, no Fred?

twietee - Ozil - once someone is targeted, they are the only one seen.

Cheers,
OW

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Lord Blackadder,

Family Football - like to think the human side would shine through the money.

<puts on cynical hat> I think the fans would certainly see it as a human story and the suits would not be untouched, but at the end of the day the game is owned by money men. Man Utd is run by a family, but it is a family of investors. There is a level of detachment there that didn't exist (or at least was nowhere near as widespread) before Sky invented football in the early 90s.

The talk re Fred was of him being there to help Neymar. Maybe no Neymar, no Fred?

Fred is Brazil's Chris Wondolowski - scores bucketloads of goals in the domestic league, puts in a useful shift for the qualifying campaign...but ultimately not of the quality required when the team comes up against truly world-class opposition.

Maybe I'm selling Fred short, but that's what I see from where I sit.

 

[twietee]

Maybe I'm selling Fred short, but that's what I see from where I sit.

That's what he sees from where he sits too most probably.

I agree, though he does seem to have quite a word (?) within the team so maybe that's where his value is? Jo wasn't that hot either too.

He scored bucketloads during the Confed Cup against the heavyweights so maybe he's got the infomaous drought every top striker has from time to time? Lol. Thinking about a Brazilian team with such a no9...can't remember.

 

[takao]

The talk re Fred was of him being there to help Neymar. Maybe no Neymar, no Fred?

formations are in:
Scolari went for straight swaps: Bernard for Neymar and Dante for Thiago Silva
Löw for the same formation as against France including Klose (to keep dante & luiz occupied)

 

[Lord Blackadder]

David Luiz was nowhere on that Muller goal.

Brazil are way pumped up but too wild - Germany should win this as long as they keep their cool.

And well what do you know, Klose breaks the record! 2-0 Germany.

 

[Kariya]

Comical to watch.

Germany being ruthlessly efficient. And Brazil are helping them by effectively bending over.

EDIT: 5-0 in 29m

 

[Tilpots]

 

[Bug-Creator]

Rule 29:

Don't speak portugese while playing Germany .....

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Brazilian fans stood with mouths agape.

 

[BeamWalker]

29 min in 5:0. Hello ?!