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The 2013-2014 Football Thread

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Lord Blackadder said:
Yuck. Liverpool played like a 6th placed team.

Terrible call from the ref in the first half on Liverpool's disallowed goal, but it didn't change the result. Our defense was laughable. The mistakes we got away with against West Brom cost us here. The worst part was having to listen to Lee Dixon's color commentary for 93 minutes.

Despite Liverpool's bad performance, I am surprised Arsenal kept us from scoring. Sturridge was pretty quiet. Coutinho was rusty. Suarez came within a hair of scoring but we managed few good chances. I thought Arsenal looked a little shaky in defense at times. But Liverpool never pressured them hard enough.

Kolo Toure looked horrible.
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Quite an open game. Credit to both teams who came to play football. But massive credit to the rearguard of Arteta, Mertesacker and Koscielny for nullifying the SAS threat for most of the game.

Still, there were moments where on another day, it could've been a draw. And i still think we need to kick the habit of overpassing in the final third and some ball watching.

That said, 3 pts in the bag, and on we go marching. Hopefully we can get something at Dortmund. Won't be a bad time for Lewy to catch a bad case of the flu :)
Hopefully Gibbs isn't out for long either.
 
Jaffa: I watched the first half up to just before the red cards (I had to run out on some errands and of course missed the critical moments :roll eyes:). I'm disappointed for Jozy Altidore, I really want to see him scoring though most Hull City fans probably don't miss him a bit. It shouldn't hurt to see Borini start to shine either. Sunderland just had a nightmare of a match though they started well.

Good result for the men in Amber and Black though. Hull City are quietly putting in a respectable campaign. McShane looks like a unit. Not a "clean shorts" defender, but not a man to be trifled with either.

daneoni said:
That said, 3 pts in the bag, and on we go marching. Hopefully we can get something at Dortmund. Won't be a bad time for Lewy to catch a bad case of the flu :)
Hopefully Gibbs isn't out for long either.
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I can't see Arsenal overcoming Dortmund, but I hope you bean Man Utd in the next league match. Liverpool are a dangerous but flawed team; the media are painting this match as Arsenal "Laying Down a Marker™", but that will come more with a victory over Chelsea and Man City, who will leapfrog us soon enough. This match was all about defensive strength, or lack thereof.

As an aside, I was doubly upset to see Giroud, normally my fantasy captain, do little besides miss some good chances. Fortunately I had a hunch and made Yaya Toure captain this week.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
(...) For example, if a ref mistakenly cards a players for a foul that was committed by another player, the card is usually rescinded afterwards. Why not do it with a goal that was clearly not a goal? Isn't the awarding (or non-awarding) of a goal a more important event than a booking?

If I recall, wasn't the final score 2-1? Would it be a bad idea to simply change the result to 1-1? There is no law of nature preventing the final score of a match to be changed in the face of indisputable evidence. I know there are many complications, but I am not at all convinced that the spirit of the game is being done justice here.
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Good point about the cards. On the match, I would have preferred to let it be counted 1-1, too, rather than a second match for some reasons.
On the other hand, people might argue about every decision where a TV camera shows the opposite (just like takao said). But then again a goal is more important. Is it? If someone goes off, because of a red card and that changed the game... hm. Then again there are situations like the WC match, where Germany won 4:2 against England and one was false (though I am inclined that would not have changed something ;)) or the match were I think a goal by croatia in the EC was cleared by a defender behind the box line...
takao said:
(...) to prevent any big further "green table" discussions, lawsuits and what-not
(...)
i think every football fan would rather see a rematch but on the other side i would rather prefer a discussion about if the rules should be improved to prevent such cases in the future:
-referees are required to check the nets before the game and after the break... why didn't they find the hole ?
-also the home team is required to provide goals fitting regulation, so hoffenheim as the home team also shares part of the blame
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I agree.

--------------------------------------
on Qatar:
Meanwhile the president of the heading German labour union has send a protest letter to labour unions of those countries that are in the FIFA executive committee and wants them to enforce the FIFA to make sure conditions in Qatar meet the ILO standards. He said that the head of the DFB has allready said, he will directly talk to the FIFA and he expects the other national football organisations to join until November, 25th.

Wonder, if the other countries will join and if, I can't imagine the FIFA to give a sh** about it or they will say, they will take care about the issue and nothing will happen.
-------------------------------------

Stoke City goal keeper's goal. Does anybody know how that ended?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tv-n4XtYHQ
 
Well it’s all change again at the top of the Eredivisie.

Ajax 0 Vitesse 1

The once mighty Ajax are now mere mortals, their home record is to be honest dismal. The started well but quickly faded, Vitesse looked for long periods the better team.

FC Twente 2 NEC 2

Twente gave away 2 goal advantage, to bottom team NEC.

PSV 1 PEC Zwolle 1

All the goals came in the first 15 minutes, then both teams trying not to lose. Fred Benson was the scorer for PEC.

AZ 2 ADO Den Haag 0

AZ are now the team that have a bit of run, 3 wins form their last 4 matches.

1:AZ’67 22pts
2:Vitesse 21pts
3:Twente 20pts
4:pSV 19pts
5:Ajax 19pts
6:pEC 19pts
 
A cloud burst caused the match between Go Ahead Eagles and Heracles Almelo. The match started in a thunderstorm and the referee stopped the match after 1 minute, the game restarted after a 15 minutes pause, but after 19 minutes of play the sky just opened.

This is the first time weather has stopped play in the Eredivisie in 3 years.

http://nos.nl/artikel/570411-go-ahead--heracles-gestaakt.html
 
cambookpro said:
What's happening?!
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I'm more shocked than you!

Jaffa Cake said:
We loaned them Fryatt, that's what's happening.
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I believe it's certainly helped. I know managers use bad luck as excuses, but even the pundits have been agreeing we've been unlucky several times this season. I think someone who has a keen eye for goal has helped us out no end, even Wickham looked half decent this time around

Edit: Here's a footballing funny (if true). It would seem that Joe Kinnear was so impressed with Birmingham's Shane Ferguson he wanted to sign him...
 
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And in bizarre news, Scotland will unveil their new strip when we play USA next Friday (that's 15/11/13 to our date-confused chums). Unveiling the strip isn't the bizarre part, it's that it features a spiders web. Maybe appropriate for Halloween?

Rumours go that it's either because of Robert the Bruce who after a battle watched a spider repeatedly try to spin a web in a cave, hence if at first you don't succeeded, try try try again (or repeatedly fail in Scotland's case.) Alternatively I'm wondering if it's to do with the first football international which featured 11 Scottish players who all played for Queens Park, and they also wore Queens Park strips. Effectively it was Queens Park vs England. Queen's Park's nickname? The Spiders.
 
Ashley Young is currently beating the tar out of Luis Suarez in this season's diving competition. Mind you, Suarez had his suspension to work through so he'll have to double his efforts to catch up. Let the flopping continue… :rolleyes:
 
Yep, please go in January; relatively few, if any, want him to stay - no tee shirts of support here.

Hart, Ivanovic, Terry, Luiz, Cole, Young, Mikel, Ramires, Lucas, Snodgrass, and Suarez; Vile United.

Fuzzy14,

New formation? Mighty Ducks have the Flying V.

Cheers,
OW
 
Job done.

So called 2nd Test = Passed.

Bring on Utd.
 
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Arsenal brutally effective... 1st shot in the 62. Minute and *BLAM* goal

as seen last year: Dortmund simply needs too many goal chances to score sometimes. since Asrsenal prevented a lot of them, they were in trouble...
 
Pundits keep citing Giroud's health as key to Arsenal's continued success… yet Giroud has not scored in the last couple "important test" matches. Though he has contributed. I expect a win against Utd. Fatigue should be an equal problem for both clubs and so cancel out.

Speaking of contributions, Jozy Altidore seems to be playing very well at Sunderland, but he's not finding the back of the net himself. He is an effective holdup player for USA but he does score goals for us as well. I'm impatient for him to start scoring for Sunderland.
 
A sub par Ajax beat an even more sub par Celtic, is how I would describe this match.:eek:

Ajax playing in front of their own fans at least tried to make a game of it, Celtic were clearly looking for a draw. The first half was boring, Ajax had most of the possession but couldn't do anything with it.

Ajax scored from one moment of pure passing magic, Celtic then were fired to play a more open game.

In the end the right result IMO, but it was no advertisement for how football should be played.
 
So, Arsenal have passed their "tests". I don't feel so bad about that goal scored by Ramsey against Liverpool now, since he did the same thing to Dortmund. still want to see what happens to them against Man City and Chelsea in December. If they can win those games they'll go from contenders to favorites.

oscillatewildly said:
I expect Arsenal to win the midfield and both sides to have good opportunities to score, down to finishing; highlighted by the midweek games.
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You will likely run into the same problems as Liverpool - overwhelmed in midfield, forwards isolated, with Arsenal passing it around just outside your 18 yard box. Rooney will have to drop back to get the ball.

I also wonder if Arsenal will keep their high line on free kicks and corners. The offside trap worked against Liverpool.

Meanwhile, in MLS…Kansas City and Houston have advanced to the Eastern Conference final. The latter team did so at the expense of the perennially-hyped but perennially under-delivering NY Red Bulls. Henry, Cahill & Co have to sit out another championship.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
So, Arsenal have passed their "tests". I don't feel so bad about that goal scored by Ramsey against Liverpool now, since he did the same thing to Dortmund. still want to see what happens to them against Man City and Chelsea in December. If they can win those games they'll go from contenders to favorites.



You will likely run into the same problems as Liverpool - overwhelmed in midfield, forwards isolated, with Arsenal passing it around just outside your 18 yard box. Rooney will have to drop back to get the ball.

I also wonder if Arsenal will keep their high line on free kicks and corners. The offside trap worked against Liverpool.
...
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Borussia Dortmund win on away goals. :)

Hopefully Moyes has learnt from v Manchester City, and City v Bayern Munich. Rooney may start in midfield. Last season to this; Carrick is suffering from carrying the midfield again, Ramsey has improved, and Ozil has joined - plus for Arsenal, minus for Manchester United.

A dodgy linesman will sort the offside trap, and they can always throw Young into the box late on.:)

Cheers,
OW
 
oscillatewildly said:
A dodgy linesman will sort the offside trap, and they can always throw Young into the box late on.:)
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Or, more accurately, Young will throw himself into the box late on. :D

Pesky away goals…a rule I'm not really comfortable with. lucky for Arsenal that this was only the group stage.

Looking forward to Fulham this weekend. Could a big win for Liverpool see Jol given his marching orders? For the record, I don't think he should be fired till the end of the season and not unless they are relegated.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Pesky away goals…a rule I'm not really comfortable with. lucky for Arsenal that this was only the group stage.
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Why is that actually? I can see the logic behind that rule. That said, I hate that it is still used when facing overtime. This is a huge advantage for the host and should be changed as soon as possible imho.

Yesterday was a bummer, a draw would have been fair. But still a highly enjoyable group. The fact that Dortmund scored one goal in Napoli as well could become rather important later on.
 
Lord Blackadder,

:D

Away goals does give a bit more to think about; likely Arsenal would've sent more players forward in the last 10 minutes.

Suarez being cleared to play makes him captain in my other fantasy football team - wanted to see what I could do including Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester City players. :eek:

Jol; the 3 or 4 game bump may be too tempting for the chairman. Hangeland regaining form would help, that and kicking Berbatov and Ruiz up the arse; an homage to Father Ted as halftime entertainment.

Edit - twietee - overtime; do you mean advantage for the away team?

Cheers,
OW
 
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Since it is still group stage there wasn't any reason for Arsenal trying enforce to score a second. But still the away goal (especially the one in Napoli) could become important for Dortmund.

No, huge advantage for the home team during overtime! This is bothering me for a looong time..:D
 
oscillatewildly said:
I'm confused; there is the home crowd, but what happens if both teams score the same number of goals in extra time - excluding 0?
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D'oh! I meant away team. :eek: :rolleyes:

But that's exactly my point, both score 1-1, away team wins. So the Away team had 120-90min advantage re away goal rule. Home crowd is far less important on that level imho.
 
Away goals rule: I think (correct me if I'm wrong) the rule was introduced to prevent away teams from parking the bus. But now it has the opposite effect: home teams are terrified to concede and often play defensively, accepting a (preferably scoreless) draw so they can go nick a goal in the away leg and win the tie. It hasn't solved any problem, merely shifted it elsewhere.

I won't pretend to have solutions, but it is an example of tinkering with the rules that, in my opinion, had no beneficial effect on the game.

Kicking Berbatov Up the Arse...For that, Fulham will have to wait till their next meeting with Sunderland and Lee Cattermole - if he isn't suspended.
 
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