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The 2013-2014 Football Thread

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Look out Venky's, Fulham are after you. Tunnicliffe and Cole will be happy. Has the new striker played? All 3 will be out in the summer, along with at least another 6 or 7 - transfer windows are going to be nuts. Fulham start putting in better performances and he is sacked. :rolleyes:
 
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CoxOrange, good to see Mainz right up there again!

Magath, just can't see it. At all.
 
twietee

hehe, yes but I also see that it is very tight at the moment. Guess Hertha could move on place 6 this Afternoon, before Mainz and (!)Wolfsburg. I do not see Mainz move to the Europe League places right now. I consider Hertha stronger at the moment. Though I still think it will be the ordinary teams winning the EL/CL places. I don't have in mind what teams each of them will meet. If Schalke, Gladbach or Wolfsburg still have 2-3 games against strong teams ahead and they loose, well, then maybe Hertha or Mainz will make it. But I am nor so sure at the moment. (Well at the beginning of the season I didn't even see Schalke under the first 7 places, though, so I might be totally wrong).


re Magath: I have no sympathy for him either and I do not know what makes him different from other rich people that just have luck (or eventually not and move on to the next spot). I heard that he is considered as "Schleifer" (=grinder), liking to do let the players exercise the same thing over and over again and working hard on fitness.

takao said:
... Bayern Leverkusen blew it themselves ...
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Although I know, you know this and it was probably due to quick thinking/writing, mind you, it is Bayer, the manufacturer of pills. ;)

On the HSV, yes I heard about the turmoil and discussions about changing the coach, but I meant, that I do not have the insight (like you and most of the others have) to actually estimate the impacts. I asked myself whether this affects the players themselves. Because I would think as a player at HSV you know that YOU will not loose your job and one can adapt to waiting for the discussion to end and meanwhile play normally.
OK, I think Westermann (or was it Jansen) said after the game, that the players do not communicate enough during the game, so maybe the problem lies deeper than just the discussions arround and I see it a bit easy.
 
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I honestly prefer th 7th place over the 6th, Cox. Not participating within the EL is a blessing in disguise for smaller clubs. So Mainz can take that spot if you ask me, but finishing above VW Wolfsburg would be ace. Doubt it though.

Jojic with his debut for Dortmund. Took him 12s to score his first goal. :D
 
...and HSV lost 2:4 against Braunschweig, unbelievable. (ok, with some corners, to be fair, but still).

on EL place: well from that perspective, you are right.
 
Cox Orange said:
re Magath: I have no sympathy for him either and I do not know what makes him different from other rich people that just have luck (or eventually not and move on to the next spot). I heard that he is considered as "Schleifer" (=grinder), liking to do let the players exercise the same thing over and over again and working hard on fitness.
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i think calling him a grinder is quite an understatement... after all he has been called "the last dictator in europe" ,"saddam" etc. by former players

one anecdote states that after a loss he sent the player on the training pitch and let them run in circles until after 1am or that in training he uses medicine balls instead of footballs in training

he also has the reputation to expand squads massively if he gets the chance

on the flip side he is a excellent "Feuerwehrmann" ("fire fighter") coach, stepping in on a club in danger for relegation and to save it


the really funny stuff is how lewis holtby now has to face him again ;)

edit: the quotes from former players though are sometimes comedy gold: Fjoertoft: "i don't know if Magath could have saved the Titanic, but the survivors would have been top-fit"
also he likes to punish players by money fees for mistakes in games: lost a ball without sprinting after it afterwards ? 10.000 euro
getting a unnecessary yellow card for shooting a ball away ? 10.000 euro
letting his players sprint up a mountain until some of them collapse ? check
one famous quote from him "Qualität kommt von Qual" (="quality comes from torment/agony"
 
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Chelsea were a different team today - slower, weaker. The absence of dangerous strikers was glaringly obvious.

takao said:
on the flip side he is a excellent "Feuerwehrmann" ("fire fighter") coach, stepping in on a club in danger for relegation and to save it
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I think you put your finger on Fulham's reasoning right there...he'll have to work some miracles to save them.
 
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Rooney and United

28 years old. Five and a half years. £300,000 a week. Nine league goals this season.

Who does that add up for more? United or Rooney?
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Rooney could never make anything close to that money at any other club. I doubt even PSG or Monaco, who are desperate to buy any big names, would pay that. If he wants to keep riding the gravy train he'll have to stay with Man Utd.
 
Kariya said:
Rooney and United
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Lord Blackadder said:
Rooney could never make anything close to that money at any other club. I doubt even PSG or Monaco, who are desperate to buy any big names, would pay that. If he wants to keep riding the gravy train he'll have to stay with Man Utd.
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Ronney is only seen as a world class footballer in the UK, here in the rest of Europe not so much. :eek:

This week in the Eredivisie.

PSV continued to win, Vitesse lost form, Twente recovered some form. Feyenoord lose their way a little, and PEC lose big.

This the standings with Ajax still to play later tonight.

1 Ajax 48pts
2 Twente 47pts
3 Feyenoord 44pts
4 Vitesse 43pts
5 PSV 38pts

8 PEC 32pts
 
Liverpool blew at least two golden opportunities to tear Arsenal apart in the first 5 minutes. If they lose today it will be their own fault for missing those chances.

Arsenal have really done their homework, they can't afford to lose this match and they are pressing Liverpool much harder. Flamini is having a big impact. The goal was a bit lucky but rewarded Arsenal's pressure.

Sterling and Sturridge are begin a little greedy, some more clever approach play between the three front S's will yield goals.

Howard Webb is a an attention seeker, though he's got most of the calls right so far.

Happybunny said:
Ronney is only seen as a world class footballer in the UK, here in the rest of Europe not so much. :eek:
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8-10 years ago European teams rated him. Not so much now.
 
Playing like an away team at home. But at least we got the result so can't complain too much.

A bit of smash and grab that one. Liverpool's performance deserved at least a replay but i'm happy that won't happen. Last thing we need is extra games.

Some decisions...

- Suarez tackle was a penalty.
- Gerrard should be off
- Arguably another penalty with Skrtel's kick on Cazorla.
- Sanogo with the hands too...arguably a penalty
- Sterling touching Webb, another day its a sending off.

Anyhoo, job done, and the "Specialist in Failure" marches on.
 
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An unlucky loss, but for some reason this one really hurts. Both teams played well on the whole. Agger is better than Toure, even though he made a few errors here and there. He needs playing time and he'll be back to his best.

For me, the key moments all came within the first five minutes Liverpool absolutey tore Arsenal apart twice, and both times Sturridge couldn't quite finish. If Liverpool went up 2-0 in five minutes...different game altogether. After the second shot failed to go in I got a very bad feeling. Arsenal regrouped and played much better. Their first goal was lucky but came after good pressure.

Bayern will not be so forgiving, of course.

Some debatable fouls on both sides but I don't think any of them seriously influenced the game...though Liverpool probably should have had a second penalty. Sending off Sterling for touching the ref would have been very harsh I think, especially given his youth. If it was a more experienced player, yes, definitely a yellow card at least if not red. For once, Webb elected not to become the center of attention. he brought Gerrard over and made it a teachable moment for Sterling.

Rogers needs to keep morale up now and not let the team brood on the loss for the next week. If they continue to play like that they will steamroll weaker teams and keep real pressure on the top three.
 
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Twas a much better game than the i-have-more-money-than-you snoozefest from yesterday.

Proper cup match. Liverpool will rue their finishing. Could've run away with it early on in the match. But Arsenal were ruthlessly efficient later on.

Ref calls evened out for me in the end. One of those shoulda, woulda coulda for both sides really.

But of course Webb/Suarez will dominate the headlines tomorrow. Its already happening tonight anyway.
 
A close game for most of it but Barcelona demonstrate that reports of their death as a European force remain exaggerated. Bad foul from Demichelis but City were somewhat unlucky to lose. Can't see them wining this tie in a million years now, though. On the upside for City, Demichelis won't be playing the return leg. :D
 
Someone did post up on the BBC website that Barcelona were already appealing his red card ;)

I did feel a bit sorry for City though. It went from a possible foul on Navas to a red card, penalty and goal. I'm not disputing the red card, but the foul was outside the box when contact was made.
 
Wasn't really a pen (although really close) but Demichelis should've let Messi just score (or not - he wasn't exacty great this match) and be done with it. Wasn't offside though either when Sanchiz (or was it Cesc?) scored.

City dearly missed Kun and although they looked very solid let's not forget that Barca often don't play to win when away on the first leg - they are rather happy with a draw.

But Leverkusen... :eek:

...disgrace to CL that is!
 
After seeing the match between Manchester City and Barcelona, I think one major difference between both teams was a sense of self belief.

I do not fancy City's chances in the Nou Camp.:cool:
 
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