Author Topic: Official FOOTBALL Thread (Read 246688 times)

redux · « **Reply #740 on:** October 17, 2007, 06:20:58 PM »

Never bothered watching, but I have to say I'm happy with the result; this way they'll show matches oher than England when it comes to the real thing. Might be enjoyable ones for a change too.

Tuffty · « **Reply #741 on:** October 25, 2007, 11:04:25 PM »

Well it's over and done with. Martin Jol resigned before Spur's game against Getafe. Ramos is expected to take control. Shame really, I liked Jol. I think getting 5th place for two years running isn't bad at all. I say it's slightly unrealistic to expect anything else.

Wooo for Man U! We seem to be finding our form once again, with Tevez impressing me. Still not sure if he and Rooney will form an attacking duo on par with the likes of Cole and Yorke that Fergie thinks, but they're young yet, they got plenty of time

The thing I like about Tevez is what I also like in Park, he'll run all day for you if necessary. And Arsenal thrashing their opponents 7-0.

I'm curious as to what the Liverpool fans think of their situation so far. Obviously qualifying for the CL is a major part of the season, but would you mind if you got an early exit? Do you think it would allow Rafa to concentrate on the League title which I know the fans sorely crave more than any other tophy? What about the upcoming match on Sunday against Arsenal? Do you agree with Rafa's level of rotation? Can anyone tell me Liverpool's best XI?

Rafa must have something about him that holds him so dearly to the American owners. Had it been any other club, I would imagine the widely mixed results would see Benitez out already.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #742 on:** October 26, 2007, 05:19:05 AM »

^ I'll say realistically, it's much far easier to aim for 1 huge cup (CL, UEFA, domestic league cup) with the amount of injuries footballers are exposed to in this era. Unless your team is so blessed with no major injuries like 1999 Man U for example.

So it is a good thing if Liverpool could concentrate on 1 cup and get that elusive premiership title that would ensure RB another 4-5 years as manager. As for this week's clash of the titans, I'd go for Liverpool because they do quite well against Arsenal (not looking at last year's result).

As for Man U, YAY that goals are coming back and the players are peaking perfectly before Christmas season comes. I'm still not convinced that Tevez-Rooney combi will work against better European opponents, but it's definetely good enough for the premiership. Let's grab that top spot this week !! (If arsenal loses

)

ew0923 · « **Reply #743 on:** October 26, 2007, 05:43:54 AM »

I know it's only a few games, but how good has Mr. Anderson been in the central of midfield? Energetic, demands the ball, good and quick decisions, moves the ball quickly and showed a great range of passing - A complete different player to the struggling supporting striker role he played in the Carling Cup match.

I'm going to jump on the Anderson bandwagon.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #744 on:** October 26, 2007, 10:42:56 AM »

he needs scholes guidance. if he can absorb scholes shooting skills and vision (not those rash tackles please !!) to add on to his own potential, then it would be great.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #745 on:** October 27, 2007, 04:15:01 PM »

I eat my words back, ROONEY - TEVEZ partnership works

Tuffty · « **Reply #746 on:** October 28, 2007, 12:49:15 PM »

So that's the first time in 100 years than Utd have won 4 consecutive matches with 4 goals scored in each!

What goals they were too. Nani doesn't look like the gentle tap-in guy to me, that's 2 thunderstrike goals in his premiership career so far, and there were goals like that in the friendlies as well

And what a run of form Rooney and Tevez are in at the minute. They're pleasantly surprising everyone with the fact that they can work together and Tevez's first goal was evidence of that.

redux · « **Reply #747 on:** October 28, 2007, 01:03:40 PM »

Quote from: Tuffty on October 25, 2007, 11:04:25 PM

I'm curious as to what the Liverpool fans think of their situation so far. Obviously qualifying for the CL is a major part of the season, but would you mind if you got an early exit? Do you think it would allow Rafa to concentrate on the League title which I know the fans sorely crave more than any other tophy? What about the upcoming match on Sunday against Arsenal? Do you agree with Rafa's level of rotation? Can anyone tell me Liverpool's best XI? Rafa must have something about him that holds him so dearly to the American owners. Had it been any other club, I would imagine the widely mixed results would see Benitez out already.

Like you say I'd rather it be all about the Premiership but even before the start of this campaign I didn't think we were quite ready for that yet so meh. Performances in the Champions league this year have been the worst I've seen since Benitez took over and they really have been godawful. It isn't really that what annoys me though, what annoys me is that as soon as we went one down to Marseille we had about ten shots on target in the last minute and when we went two down to Besiktas we suddenly decidede to try...shit it is.

As for the Arsenal match, yeah I'm usually pretty confident when it comes to Arsenal as we do fair well against them but with the form they're in I will be surprised if we win...I expect a draw at th very least though as it's home turf.

Best XI? Well if it were up to me they'd line-up like this:

GK: Reina
LB:Aurelio
RB: Arbeloa (Finnan has been great for us and he goes unappreciated but his form this year has been awful)
CB: Carragher
CB: Agger
DM: Mascherano
DM: Alonso
CMF: Leiva
AMF: Gerrard
FC: Kuyt
FC: Torres

Of course, I'm no manager though...

Personally I think that no manager would have gone with the reults Liverpool have been getting other than maybe someone at Chelsea and that's because Abramovich is a cock. Liverpool still need to work on their consistency and their performances against the others in the top four definately need work. I think progress has been made this year though and although we've hit a shit piece of form at the moment if we can drag ourselves out of it forr this Arsenal game hopefully that will get us back on track.

Lastly, Tevez's goal from Rooney's back heel was fucking good.

Tuffty · « **Reply #748 on:** November 03, 2007, 02:24:53 PM »

Arsenal 2 -2 Manchester Utd

Why were the Arsenal fans celebrating like they won the league? They drew. At home.

Still, I think they deserved at least a draw in the end. Not to say that we played poorly, not at all, but I can say that Arsenal did play a tad better than us today. Still, was always going to be a tough match, always is, and a draw isn't the worst result in the world. At least that match is done and dusted nice and early in the season.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #749 on:** November 03, 2007, 03:54:12 PM »

Electrifying game when you watch this with thousands of people at the pub

Although the game was scrappy at times, it was still entertaining to watch. I am silently happy with the result as at least we did not lose this game though the defending was really untidy in the 2nd half.

Yeah Arsenal, watch out when we have all our midfielders fit

Maxis · « **Reply #750 on:** November 04, 2007, 09:07:04 AM »

a very good game for the neutral indeed right to the final whistle .. althou it truns to be a draw and a point each for both clubs, football is the winner yesterday

ew0923 · « **Reply #751 on:** November 04, 2007, 09:45:39 AM »

The most tense match I've seen for a while. Especially in the second half when you really feel as though a goal (for either side) might came every other minute - good football all around. A few negatives though - O'Shea is now a liability every time he's on the pitch and Giggs seems to have more ineffective than effective games nowadays.

ferrar1 · « **Reply #752 on:** November 04, 2007, 02:35:33 PM »

O'shea was brought on because brown had a knock. luckily Vidic was fine if not we'll be caught dead with all subs used up.

Ferguson is not naive. He used Giggs instead of Nani because Giggs is the only 1 with big match experience and he is very good at reading play. Yesterday his job imo was to patrol the midfield and break up Arsenal's play and he did a fine job in the 1st half.

But in the 2nd half, i guess he got too tired. Even Clichy looked lightning fast zooming past him and he gave away a lot of balls needlessly. I thought at this time Ferguson should have brought on Nani to replace him, instead he brought on Carrick for Anderson which i thought was pointless. Anderson does a better job roughing Arsenal's players imo.

ew0923 · « **Reply #753 on:** November 05, 2007, 06:57:57 AM »

Giggs had been a great player for the club, but his ineffective games now out-number his effective ones. In fact, this had been the case since the second half of last season. I noticed that Giggs played a more withdrawn role in midfield in the first half and I don't think he was effective at all at breaking up play - his role mainly was to be the first distributor taking the ball off the defenders - scholes' main role this season to take pressure off Anderson (who is young) and Hargraves (who had been injured and is rusty). But Giggs offered little in both attack and defence in either half in my opinion.

I agree that he should have been subbed off earlier, but Anderson was probably taken off because of his yellow card (Fergie always liked to protect his younger players, like Rooney in the past few years). In my opinion, there are much more effective defenders than O'Shea that should have been in place of him on the bench (eg. Simpson or Pique).

AzN_DreaMerS · « **Reply #754 on:** November 21, 2007, 09:05:45 PM »

England is out

Tuffty · « **Reply #755 on:** November 21, 2007, 10:11:44 PM »

Spain 1 - 0 Northern Ireland - N.Ireland fail to qualify for Euro 2008

What a shame. But realistically, the chances of qualifying tonight were slim. Not only did we have to beat Spain, but Latvia had to beat Sweden. If only we beat Iceland those 2 times. Oh well, I feel for the guys in the team, played our hearts out through and through and I do feel proud to be a N.Ireland fan now. No matter what happens, the fans and even the media get right behind the team and cheer them on. And David Healey's just incredible during the campaign. Top goalscorer of all time in a European qualifying campaign with 13 goals.

Again, just feel disappointed.

On the flipside...

ENGLAND ARE OUT!!

Too funny. McClaren made his first mistake putting Scott Carson in goals over Robinson. For all his faults, Robinson was an experienced player and shouldn't have been dropped so suddenly. McClaren's a decent guy, and a good No.2 manager. But he's just not cut out for it. He'll be gone, regardless of whether he says he wants to stay. But I am in full 100% support for Croatia. They could have sat back and played a reserve team as they already qualified, hell they could have sat back at 2-2, but no, playing at all costs for the win. And the Croatian coach, what a legend he is. No soundbites to speak of, just told it like it is:

Quote

"I say to the England team, wake up. Even with two guys up front, you still would not have scored, we were simply the better team. I love England - but we were better."

He also talked about how he told the players to not mark Lescott and Campbell, insinuating that they're fucking donkeys

It was honestly the first England match I watched and actually enjoyed!

ew0923 · « **Reply #756 on:** November 21, 2007, 10:33:06 PM »

Good, that means our English players will be rested and fresh for the 2008-2009 season!

redux · « **Reply #757 on:** November 21, 2007, 11:06:11 PM »

Thank god for that, so far I've only met one person who isn't glad England are out...and he's a tit; if any of the British teams would have qualified I think I might have died.

redux · « **Reply #758 on:** November 23, 2007, 02:32:26 PM »

Much lulz:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7109058.stm

Tuffty · « **Reply #759 on:** November 29, 2007, 07:08:45 PM »

Woah what a week it's been. First there's Benitez's bizarre attack on the new owners (not a wise move whoever the manager, the owners or the club), Harry Redknapp is arrested on charges of corruption, 3 managers gone, new managers coming in and most surprising, Aston Villa have equal points with Liverpool, and are only 3 points behind us!

Shaping up to be a great season if it stays like this, probably won't though. And go on Utd! Only team in the Champions League with a 100% win record in the qualifying stages. Makes our next match with Roma pointless as they have automatically qualified as well. Supposedly if we were in this situation we were going to ask UEFA if the next match could be called off as it doesn't matter who wins or loses and what with the shape the Italian football is in at the minute...