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The 2013-2014 Football Thread

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CL results:

Manchester City v Barcelona
Olympiakos v Manchester United
AC Milan v Atletico Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen v Paris Saint-Germain
Galatasaray v Chelsea
Schalke v Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund
Arsenal v Bayern Munich


Also read that Germany is constructing their own resort in Brazil for the WorldCup. No existing facility could meet their standards... wtf..:rolleyes:
 
I just read about AVB...harsh. The whole team was shaken up over the summer, he needed time to create a system. Another kneejerk firing. I'm pleased with Liverpool's performance against them, mind you. Very pleased.

Man Utd get yet another VERY favorable draw in The CL. They'll stay in as long as they avoid playing any of the real contenders. The same goes for Chelsea.
 
AVB's system looked rather broken though tbh. Soldado looks lost, no goals from open play and no chances either, lacks creativity and then conceding goals like fun in some games..seemed like he didn't know about his own squad well enough by now / anymore.

Hope he finds a good club again though, he seems smart and sympathetic.
 
twietee said:
he didn't know about his own squad well enough by now / anymore.
Click to expand...

Having seen some of yesterday's post match press conference, it would seem it isn't his squad, rather it's one he's had bought for him. Still, they've got some accomplished players, and you'd expect them to do better than they have been.

It's Steve Clarke I feel sorry for. Ok, so results aren't as good as last season, but without Lukaku's boat load of goals, they were never going to be...

Never mind Steve, get yourself up the M1 to S6!
 
twietee said:
CL results:

Manchester City v Barcelona
Olympiakos v Manchester United
AC Milan v Atletico Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen v Paris Saint-Germain
Galatasaray v Chelsea
Schalke v Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Click to expand...

after seeing how Zenit played against Austria Vienna i would rate them the easiest draw and worse than Olympiakos or Galatasaray

Schalke is also badly matched against Real Madrid... not their type of opponent also they are still missing Huntelaar up front

those are the lop-sided draws while the other 4 can go either way
 
Fizzoid said:
Having seen some of yesterday's post match press conference, it would seem it isn't his squad, rather it's one he's had bought for him.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. Spending a lot of money is no way a guarantee for success. But it does guarantee exploding expectations.

I thought they did rahter well at the beginning but somehow didn't evolve and went three steps backwards instead. Somebody wrote it here already before: he clearly lost the locker room.
 
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Fizzoid said:
That may have been when he was manager of Chelsea, because that was the strong rumour at the time.
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They also said that back then? ;)

No, really it's not that long ago. My best bet would be around Nov 24ish..;)
Wonder who is gonna replace him though?


But anyway, some interesting results for the CL some boring ones. Business as usual I guess.
 
twietee said:
AVB's system looked rather broken though tbh. Soldado looks lost, no goals from open play and no chances either, lacks creativity and then conceding goals like fun in some games..seemed like he didn't know about his own squad well enough by now / anymore.

Hope he finds a good club again though, he seems smart and sympathetic.
Click to expand...

He, or they, looked totally lost yesterday.

Fizzoid said:
Having seen some of yesterday's post match press conference, it would seem it isn't his squad, rather it's one he's had bought for him. Still, they've got some accomplished players, and you'd expect them to do better than they have been.

It's Steve Clarke I feel sorry for. Ok, so results aren't as good as last season, but without Lukaku's boat load of goals, they were never going to be...

Never mind Steve, get yourself up the M1 to S6!
Click to expand...

Is that who you want Fizzy? I still want Gray to have a go.
 
I'm not really sure who I want. Gray's doing ok, but Clarke is a decent manager. Perhaps Gray could stay on as assistant, as it would seem e has a good rapport with the players. I always thought the team was better than the results, and despite some actual bad luck, it's clear (to me at least) DJ wasn't doing a good job of managing the players.
 
AVB had them only a few pts out of contention. They had some embarrassing missed, but at the end of the day, they were only single games. I think Soldado's lack of finishing was more the issue. Now they're back to square one. The team still didn't have time to gel. It doesn't matter who they bring in if their striker can't rattle the net.
 
Spurs' defence is injured, having to play a midfielder at centre back :eek: - it looked broken because it is. That said, AVB didn't help himself by picking Naughton, Lennon offers little going forward and no cover for the defender, few crosses for Soldado because there is too much cutting in, and he saw Terry playing high but didn't adjust for Dawson. It is a mix of AVB, Levy and Baldini, but the manager carrys the can.

Frank de Boer mentioned :confused:. Would he leave Ajax?

Champions League; Manchester City and Arsenal had the chance to win their groups, no sympathy.

Cheers,
OW
 
Actually glad we drew Bayern, had a feeling that would be the case. Could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

We'll either win (happy days) or lose (*shrug*). The latter outcome will let us focus on the EPL/FA which has worked out better for us in recent seasons considering the lack of depth needed to strongly challenge for multiple competitions.

Looking forward it either way.

City have a chance since Barca 2013/2014 isn't quite the Barca of old.

But it could also easily go the other way because of their weak defence. Neymar/Messi/Sanchez/Pedro vs Aguero/Negredo. Xavi/Iniesta/Fabregas vs Silva/Toure/Nasri.

Should be fun to watch.

Poor AVB but could see that one coming a mile away. Only manager who can get away with heavy/frequent defeats in the EPL is Wenger. The rest will be buggered.
 
Arsenal and Manchester City are capable of beating Bayern and Barcelona. As you say, fun to watch because they could go either way - those attacks against those defences re City v Barcelona :D.

Cheers,
OW
 
I agree re: Arsenal/Man City being in not such a bad situation - the pressure will be on their opponents. As long as neither team gets put to the sword, few will criticize them too much if they lose.
 
daneoni said:
Actually glad we drew Bayern, had a feeling that would be the case. Could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

We'll either win (happy days) or lose (*shrug*). The latter outcome will let us focus on the EPL/FA which has worked out better for us in recent seasons considering the lack of depth needed to strongly challenge for multiple competitions.
Click to expand...

well if the squads go into the games thinking "we still have the league if we lose" then i think they are missing that 5-10% they really might need against those opponents

meanwhile Red Bull Salzburg got drew against Ajax ... the worst possible draw for Salzburg aside of Juventus ... they are playing great currently but Ajax .... very likely out of their league
 
takao said:
well if the squads go into the games thinking "we still have the league if we lose" then i think they are missing that 5-10% they really might need against those opponents
Click to expand...

Only the fans (a few of them) are allowed to think that. They (players) must go into the matches with all guns blazing until the 95th minute.
 
takao said:
(...)

edit: on Julian Schieber: i consider him getting substituted into a game the equivalence of "throwing in the towel" ... he simply isn't good enough for Dortmund's ambition to be a CL club or contender for the Bundesliga title... he's a third rate striker at best
Lucas Barrios was the much more capable player in the air and especially on the ground as backup player

Lewandowski is a world class Nr9 striker but Schieber is a Top 2. league player normally (he would feel right at home at Nürnberg or Augsburg perhaps)
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It might be immature, if I say it, but I find he even looks like a 2nd league player (and Holger Stanislawski for me always looked like a 2nd/3rd league coach, if one just looks how he looks. He did fit very well to St. Pauli.)
On throwing the towel: in that match I did not think Klopp did think it's over, but usually it really seems like "ok, we have lost anyway, now let those play that do not have the chance to play elsewhen.
takao said:
after seeing how Zenit played against Austria Vienna i would rate them the easiest draw (...)
Click to expand...
Very much luck for Dortmund, they will perhaps save some energy and in the next round no one will ask/remember how they got there in favour of Dortmund's reputation.

But on the other hand it could be worse. In the women's CL, where there are less top teams, it happened, that 4 of the 6 top teams met already in the 8th final, which results in some less attractive "walk through"-like matches for the next round.
twietee said:
(...) Spending a lot of money is no way a guarantee for success. But it does guarantee exploding expectations.
Click to expand...
Following the way of e.g. Schalke in the Bundesliga, I sometimes ask myself, why they do not spent some serious amount of cash, when Gasprom is their sponsor, though it would be a typical act of not knowing what to do. Won't change anything perhaps, just like firing coaches didn't pay off in the past.
Also, what comes to my mind thinking of Schalke is, if their problems didn't already immediately start, when Neuer left. I remember some games where commentators joked like team X versus Neuer.
 
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