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The 2013-2014 Football Thread

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daneoni said:
Meh. Oh well...twas fun whilst it lasted.
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Chelsea will win the league because they have the easiest fixture list by far. Arsenal and Liverpool are too far behind because Chelsea just won't drop that many points. I can easily see them finishing out the rest of the season without any further defeats. Man City have a harder schedule but they are the only other team with a serious chance now.

I'd love to see Chelsea slump for a few weeks though, just to keep it interesting.

My prediction: Liverpool will certainly fail to beat, and probably lose to both Chelsea and Man City. That's where the supposed title challenge will die.

EDIT: By the way, I think Stoke fans are doing themselves a disservice by keeping up a supposed feud with Ramsey/Arsenal. It just makes them look small.
 
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Kariya said:
Great. Let's have the spoilt chatterbox with the already massively oversized ego gain more bragging rights.

That would just ruin what has been an interesting season so far.
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Chelsea are the quintessential early 21st-century football team. Ruthless, reductive and results oriented, vastly wealthy, largely separated from their geographic and cultural origins. Not my kind of heroes, but this is the current reality. They are the toughest team to beat in the league, and stingy defense wins trophies.
 
Great goal by Borini for Sunderland - City sliced wide open by an elementary attack. You have to imagine that City will come back to win this but they have a lot of work to do. Borini almost got that second goal and that would have made it very interesting indeed.
 
...and sure enough City respond. That Toure goal was just stupendous. Nasri one not bad either.

EDIT: Sunderland can hold their heads high. They were the better team overall. But unfortunately/fortunately, money decides things sooner or later in football.

PS. Not a single English player in the starting 11 that won the trophy either. Great advert of 'English' football.
 
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The thing that irks me is that City clearly didn't really care much about this match. Sunderland did and from that perspective they would have been more worthy champions. This Cup win means nothing to City's ownership, players and most of its fans. It's a waste. And that is why it will be satisfying to see this ragtag moneybags rabble knocked out of the Champions League in a few weeks.

When Liverpool won the League cup recently I felt it was a nice accomplishment but given the money the club spent not really remarkable. And that doesn't sit well with me, because it means that the cups are only meaningful when we see one of those rare upsets.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Good, keep telling me negative things about Germany. It almost gives me hope the USA can get a result against them in the group stage. ;)
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I guess we are spoiled a little bit + the usual nervousness before cups, derived from test matches. :D
takao said:
that said you can expect a rather close game with Germany being unconvincing and nervous. Just like always in the test-game before the world cup. And in the first group game at the cup they will be at 100%
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You are right there, of course. Always good to see Löw stops experimenting when the cup starts. :)

I would like to see Harnik play for Germany in a test match (but I guess, if your in that kind of position, I would choose Austria, too rather theen getting no playing time in the German team).

@ Happybunny and takao
ZDF showed a report about Salzburg with an analysis. The coach explained what precautions he had taken for the Bayern match that they won. The Ajax match is mentioned just randomly.
http://www.zdfsport.de/die-sportrep...ball-imperium-red-bull-salzburg-32166072.html

twietee said:
High (0)Five, coxorange! :D
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Haha, I was thinking of what you said, about leaving the 6th place for Mainz, when I watched the Sportschau yesterday. I guess your wishes come true. :) Though I think we are by far not through by now.

Just saw that Hoffenheim beat Wolfsburg 6:2 :eek:
 
Some interesting fodder from Liverpool's owner:

John W Henry said:
"Luis Suarez is the top scorer in the English Premier League, which is arguably the top soccer league in the world," Henry is reported to have said. "He had a buyout clause of £40m. Arsenal, one of our prime rivals, offered £40m plus £1. What we've found … is that contracts don't seem to mean a lot in England – actually, in world football.

"It doesn't matter how long a player's contract is, he can decide he's leaving. We sold a player, Fernando Torres, for £50m, that we did not want to sell, we were forced to.

"Since apparently these contracts don't seem to hold, we took the position that we're just not selling.
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So apparently there was a £40m buyout clause, and Liverpool simply ignored it.
 
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Good on them. Paid off.

Probably helped that Suarez never handed in a transfer request and that Madrid was busy chasing Bale.
 
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Cox Orange said:
I would like to see Harnik play for Germany in a test match (but I guess, if your in that kind of position, I would choose Austria, too rather theen getting no playing time in the German team).
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if he only scored more in the national team ;)

Cox Orange said:
@ Happybunny and takao
ZDF showed a report about Salzburg with an analysis. The coach explained what precautions he had taken for the Bayern match that they won. The Ajax match is mentioned just randomly.
http://www.zdfsport.de/die-sportrep...ball-imperium-red-bull-salzburg-32166072.html
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the article though leaves out Roger Schmidt a little bit: his high intensity pressing tactics is an absolute perfect fit for Rangnick's direct offensive philosophy

the last weeks they have been nothing short of amazing, 2 difficult games against ajax won clearly, and 4:1 and 6:0 wins in the league only to win against Rapid today in the afternoon.
They pulled away 2:0 within 20 minutes only to have Rapid equalize 2:2. Salzburg takes the lead again, Rapid equalizes again. And in the last 10 Minutes ? Salzburgs goes from 3:3 to 6:3(!).

and now they have a 22 point lead with 85 goals scored and +65 goal difference
 
if he only scored more in the national team ;)
---> I liked how he played against Bayern in the DFB-Pokal 2013. :)



the article though leaves out Roger Schmidt a little bit: his high intensity pressing tactics is an absolute perfect fit for Rangnick's direct offensive philosophy
---> did you see this video http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/kana...101842/Roger-Schmidt---Salzburgs-Erfolgscoach he explains a bit of his tactics.


and now they have a 22 point lead with 85 goals scored and +65 goal difference
---> :eek:
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Some interesting fodder from Liverpool's owner:



So apparently there was a £40m buyout clause, and Liverpool simply ignored it.
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I believe those "quotes" are from someone who attended the conference and tweeted them. Can't be sure they are 100% accurate.

Also, the 40m clause was:

"It quite clearly states £40 million is a minimum offer for discussions, but it becomes really difficult with such clauses. There is a 'good faith' clause in relation to serious discussions but I can’t say it is a cast-iron buy-out clause.
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http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1516468/pfa-deny-liverpool-forced-sell-luis-suarez?cc=3436
 
Henry may have just been trying to explain that to people who might not have been familiar with the whole affair. We use the term "buyout clause" as shorthand but I'm sure every contract is different. In fact, I doubt any players have a literal "buyout clause" whereby offers above a certain threshold automatically trigger a sale. There will always be negotiations.
 
media_xll_2135930_zpse2181b2d.jpg


New shirt for the Netherlands. Combined with white shorts and orange socks.
 
Luckily having Dutch family gives me the perfect excuse to purchase one of those gorgeous shirts. Yay the Dutch arm of the Cake family. :)

Meanwhile, the local BBC sports chap is reporting that we may be seeing an important announcement out of Hull City this week. Unconfirmed, but his sources suggest that season pass holders may be balloted on the name change. :eek:
 
What a pity. Though outside of Ukraine would be a safer place for the players. ;) (sorry, if that is too sarcastic).

Maybe you can be compensated a bit by the Women's US vs Japan Algarve Cup match on Wednesday.

Wednesday will be my massive football day. :D

(Eurosport)
12:30 - U21 GER-SPAIN test (from Tuesday)
13:30 - USA-JAP, Algarve Cup
15:45 - Ger - Iceland, Algarve Cup (Iceland either destroying the game or being a shooting gallery)
18:00 - U20 GER-Swizerland
(ARD, may be broadcasted via their internet page, too)
20:00 - GER-CHILE, test


Löw gave an interview today. He said, if someone doesn't hear the clock ticking, or will not focus their lifestyle on preparing for June and is thinking that there are guaranteed places and its still time till June, those will not even come with them to Brazil. He won't rely on theoretically able players.
(asked by a journalist, what he was discussing with the team during the training)

That sounds rather harsh, but he said it with a cool voice. Wonder if there were some players on the training being to sure of their role.


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I like the Netherlands Shirt, too. (Still can't stand our shirt)
 
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takao said:
very classy indeed, surprised by the lack of black details

still kicking myself for not getting the world cup 1998 shirt
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The reason given here is, if any shirt has any black trim, there are immediate comparisons made to the 1974 team. This then eclipses the hype for the new team, as the media go all nostalgic.:eek:
 
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