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The 2015-2016 Football Thread

We aren't just talking suspensions here, we are talking jail time. I know he and Ribery got away with the underage prostitute affair, but this looks more serious.

EDIT: Real Madrid lost their appeal against expulsion from the Copa Del Rey. I've heard some people blame Benitez for this but that is absurd.
 
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yeah but the football governing body can only "suspend" him from the national team. Jail time will be determined by the law officials. I don't quite understand what's wrong here (guess I'm more looking forward to the weekend :p)

Re: Benitez: I wonder if they have administrative people who are to keep the manager appraised of this decisions and in this case they didn't. Definitely not Benitez's fault but I can't imagine if as a player you don't keep track of your own suspensions - I mean the manager tells you you're starting and wouldn't you tell him that you think you might be suspended and he needs to check something somewhere...
 
wait what ... a manager/coach should not get the blame ?
it's the manager who decides on the starting line up and the players sitting on the bench and those which will be substituted.
in fact it's part of the job description... Just like in the past with the "3 foreign player" limits,if a coach made the mistake it was his fault as well.

even worse: in spain clubs get faxed a list of the players banned for the upcoming fixture.
Why was he even sitting on the bench ? Usually at that point the player himself should have realized the management mistake as well.


On Benzema: i think the decision to not call him up until further notice is the right call... it's one thing playing for a club but the national squad is a whole different matter.. especially with the tournament being at home.
 
I think the understanding is that there are clerks or similar employees at clubs like RM who deal with such paperwork.

I don't have any inside info, but I can draw from years of my FIFA experience (hey, that counts too :p) where in manager mode you get notified of a player being suspended etc. Similarly I would want to give Benitez the benefit of doubt for some clerk not informing him of these things before a match.
 
throwthedice said:
Re: Benitez: I wonder if they have administrative people who are to keep the manager appraised of this decisions and in this case they didn't. Definitely not Benitez's fault but I can't imagine if as a player you don't keep track of your own suspensions - I mean the manager tells you you're starting and wouldn't you tell him that you think you might be suspended and he needs to check something somewhere...
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From what I understand, the player had earned a suspension due to yellow card accumulation at his previous club (Villareal) last season which carried over into this season. Apparently nobody at Real knew this. But yes, there are people who's job it is to know these things and inform the manager.

takao said:
in spain clubs get faxed a list of the players banned for the upcoming fixture.
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Real claim they didn't get the fax. (Sounds like the David De Gea saga!)

throwthedice said:
On Benzema: i think the decision to not call him up until further notice is the right call... it's one thing playing for a club but the national squad is a whole different matter.. especially with the tournament being at home.
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He's innocent until proven guilty, but keeping him in the squad would be a major distraction - and the French squad seems to generate enough internal turmoil as it is.
 
benitez needs to get fired. He doesnt know what he is doing...and this coming from a Real madrid fan


A9CvUO9CUAEROGE (1).jpg
 
Congrats to Bournemouth, they just beat Chelsea and Man Utd in successive matches! No matter what the circumstances, you have to tip your hat to them for that. Probably even more important, they are now a few points out of the relegation zone.

Centaurr said:
benitez needs to get fired. He doesnt know what he is doing...and this coming from a Real madrid fan
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I admit Benitez is not exactly setting the world alight. On the other hand, and with all due respect, Real Madrid fans are completely bonkers. From what I can tell, their expectations are...well, everything!! Unless they win the league by 100 points, crush every team 10-0 and have every goal be a backheel volley, they are whistling their own team from the stands and calling for the manager's head.

Florentino Perez (the Spanish P.T. Barnum) & the rest of the suits are just as mad. Carlo Ancelotti won everything there was to win at Real, including their obsessively coveted La Decima... and got canned immediately afterward as a reward! I don't think I need to remind anyone who replaced him, and how that went...

The only constant at Real Madrid is throwing money around like it's free, and a constant turnover of managers and players. Don't get me wrong, they are often spectacular to watch, but everything about the club is just completely detached from reality.

maxwelltech said:
I think Van Gaal has to go after this result.
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Most Man Utd supporters seem to agree with you - though the majority consensus still seems that he should be kept till the end of the season. Seems logical. If they fire him now, who runs the club? Ryan Giggs? I remember what most Man Utd supporters thought about ex-players running clubs when Dalglish stepped up for his second spell at Liverpool...

The "Man Utd Way" is well and truly dead. Happens to the best of big clubs - look at Aston Villa. They won the Football League five times in eight years between 1892-1900. Won it again ten years later....then a 70ish year gap to the next title. These things happen in cycles.
 
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No sympathy for Madrid, even some Madrid fans have no sympathy for Madrid. Never really understood the 'draw' players feel towards the club. Except for spending money they don't actually have and the need for ridiculous headlines. Its a group of individual egos led primarily by the biggest ego of them all...Perez.

As for LvG/United...business as usual really. Bournemouth were the better side. Evidenced by the fact that the only thing United was doing was route one football which they managed to wrestle one goal out of.

I still don't see how Moyes was worse. Yes they finished 7th but that was largely due to player mutiny and lack of resources.

They won't sack LvG because he's still only 3pts off the summit. 4/5 if Arsenal/Leicester win tomorrow.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
Most Man Utd supporters seem to agree with you - though the majority consensus still seems that he should be kept till the end of the season. Seems logical. If they fire him now, who runs the club? Ryan Giggs? I remember what most Man Utd supporters thought about ex-players running clubs when Dalglish stepped up for his second spell at Liverpool...
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I have always maintained that Van Gaal should stay on as manager at least until the end of the season. However, I genuinely fear for United's top 4 place now. With the poor form the team is in and Liverpool and Spurs catching up, anything can happen.

I want the board to at least try and get Ancelotti. I know that he said he won't return to management till next season but I feel that the Man Utd job might be too big for him to turn down.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Congrats to Bournemouth, they just beat Chelsea and Man Utd in successive matches! No matter what the circumstances, you have to tip your hat to them for that. Probably even more important, they are now a few points out of the relegation zone.



I admit Benitez is not exactly setting the world alight. On the either hand, and with all due respect, Real Madrid fans are completely bonkers. From what I can tell, their expectations are...well, everything!! Unless they win the league by 100 points, crush every team 10-0 and have every goal be a backheel volley, they are whistling their own team from the stands and calling for the manager's head.

Florentino Perez (the Spanish P.T. Barnum) & the rest of the suits are just as mad. Carlo Ancelotti won everything there was to win at Real, including their obsessively coveted La Decima... and got canned immediately afterward as a reward! I don't think I need to remind anyone who replaced him, and how that went...

The only constant at Real Madrid is throwing money around like it's free, and a constant turnover of managers and players. Don't get me wrong, they are often spectacular to watch, but everything about the club is just completely detached from reality.



Most Man Utd supporters seem to agree with you - though the majority consensus still seems that he should be kept till the end of the season. Seems logical. If they fire him now, who runs the club? Ryan Giggs? I remember what most Man Utd supporters thought about ex-players running clubs when Dalglish stepped up for his second spell at Liverpool...

The "Man Utd Way" is well and truly dead. Happens to the best of big clubs - look at Aston Villa. They won the Football League five time in eight years between 1892-1900. Won it again ten years later....then a 70ish year gap to the next title. These things happen in cycles.
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Congratulations to Bournemouth for their win over my Man U team, they played well, and the corner goal was great.
 
JamesMike said:
Congratulations to Bournemouth for their win over my Man U team, they played well, and the corner goal was great.
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A rare 'Olympic' goal for Stanislas. You don't see those too often. LVG made the same subs he said against Wolfsburg, and again they failed to rescue the result. Ashley Young seems persona non grata at the moment.

LVG always falls out with the fans/club suits eventually. At the moment, it seems the majority of people are reaching the tipping point.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
A rare 'Olympic' goal for Stanislas. You don't see those too often. LVG made the same subs he said against Wolfsburg, and again they failed to rescue the result. Ashley Young seems persona non grata at the moment.

LVG always falls out with the fans/club suits eventually. At the moment, it seems the majority of people are reaching the tipping point.
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If he does not correct the downward slide, he is toast!
 
LvG just hasn't adapted to the EPL, and his Drill Sergeant methods aren't helping his cause. He's probably been surprised by how competitive it is. Its not like Bundesliga where there's only one team in it or La Liga where there's two. Also United are no longer the only club with financial muscle.

Theres a lot of money in the EPL, and that money filters down to majority of teams...which means a lot of clubs can field some quality in their first XIs. Also there's no more fear factor. SAF is gone, Mou is no longer unbeatable, Wenger is largely same ol same ol. Smaller teams know they can get a result if they play their cards right.

Then there's LvG himself and his philosophy philosophy philosophy. Spends money on quality players then expects them to play in a way that destroys the essence of their game. Ships them out when it doesn't work, then goes and buys babies or geriatrics. Still can't fathom why he bought Schweini. Xabi Alonso i'd understand, Schweini...no.

£250m blowout in 18months and De Gea is still their best player.

That said, it wouldn't surprise me if he stumbles onto a trophy this year. Since the quality of his opposition
 
daneoni said:
Still can't fathom why he bought Schweini. Xabi Alonso i'd understand, Schweini...no.
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I actually think Schweini is a decent signing. Big name, good passer, very experienced, has leadership skills... and he is playing alright this season apart from the Arsenal and Wolfsburg disasters. That said, I don't think LVG is getting the best out of him. At Bayern, I remember he went forward so much more than he does now and even scored some nice goals here and there.

Otherwise I agree with your points. My Twitter feed reminded me that Hernandez got a hat trick for Leverkusen right after Bournemouth scored... It just added insult to injury.
 
Schweinsteiger is still a world class player, but he is clearly not (physically) the player he was a couple years ago - he needs to be paired with a midfielder who will do the dirty work and has the pace to mop up when necessary. So far his partners have not been able to do that. I wonder if LVG was being a bit nostalgic when he brought him in.

Hernandez himself has scored 5 more goals in the last twelve games (15) than all of Man Utd has in the same number of games (10). More of a factoid than a fact, but it does highlight Man Utd's lack of offensive production.
 
Obviously I would have liked to see Liverpool win, but there is a new reality in the Premier League. Nobody is dominant, and so-called "lesser" teams are now capable of beating anyone on the day. And Leicester are still up there...

In that context I can't be too upset with a draw against West Brom. It's still a point gained on my of the teams above Liverpool this weekend. Spurs' loss to Newcastle also makes Liverpool's loss the previous week seem less of a fluke.

The simplistic explanation is that TV money is actually allowing smaller clubs to compete better in the Premier league; that, coupled with some high-profile failures at the "big" clubs means a more competitive league overall. I'm not sure if that covers it, but it does beg the question: is this just a temporary interregnum between the domination of the league by a couple clubs, or will it become more typical of the Premier League?
 
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I still think Man U will get 4th as a minimum, but it's more down to the other teams not performing, than LvG guiding them to a CL place

Spurs seem to always slip up, Liverpool aren't quite there yet, 2 of the hopefuls, Everton & Southampton, don't look like the sides they have done the past couple of seasons and Chelsea, well, it needs no explanation there...

As for Schweinsteiger, if Man U wanted a slow midfielder who can pass a ball, they already have Carrick, and could have put Schweinsteiger's money to better use
 
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Fizzoid said:
I still think Man U will get 4th as a minimum, but it's more down to the other teams not performing, than LvG guiding them to a CL place

Spurs seem to always slip up, Liverpool aren't quite there yet, 2 of the hopefuls, Everton & Southampton, don't look like the sides they have done the past couple of seasons and Chelsea, well, it needs no explanation there...

As for Schweinsteiger, if Man U wanted a slow midfielder who can pass a ball, they already have Carrick, and could have put Schweinsteiger's money to better use
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Spurs... God. yeah, they won't make a run. Or not, at least, not a compelling run.
 
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