Thursday Football Thread
i only started this thread cos i want the answer to the burning question:
when and why did people start calling Lyon 'Lyons'? it's not right, dammnit
ok, i'm throwing the floor open now
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Who did? I've never heard it used.
Anyway, if you wanted to be a pain in the arse about it (and I'm usually inclined to be), Lyon isn't right either. It's Olympique Lyonnais.
On the subject of Lyon, I love them. Not just 'cos of last night, though I'll admit to celebrating the equaliser, I just think they've got some quality footballers (and Kim Kallstrom). I don't watch much foreign football but when I do I usually plump for Ligue 1 over the German, Spanish or Italian league, just 'cos I love Makoun, Bastos and Cris (who was outstanding last night).
Odds on Barca not making it through?
i love lyon too.
was devastated when they went out to milan in the semis a few seasons back.
i dunno man, i read an article in the paper yesterday where they kept calling them lyons. and then i glanced at the title of yesterday's football thread and i thought something was afoot.
Yesterday's thread title was a pun, wasn't it?
Can you people see the damage that bad puns do now? SAY NO TO PUNS.
oh yeah, i know, but here's the article:
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/liverpool-injuries-add-to-pressure-on-benitez-1930906.html
maybe the person who wrote it was an inadvertent victim of football thread punning
From Wikipedia:
Lyon (Arpitan: Liyon), often Anglicized as Lyons...
hmmmm
My bad.
I just really really wanted to do it.
Ligue 1 is good
I was going to roll off a load of spiel about it being more competitive than the other major European leagues, then I remembered OL won it for 24324 years in a row.
Bordeaux have a good team though. Gourcuff is slowly becoming my favourite player.
Didn't Bordeaux win it last season
to break Lyon's dominance?
I saw more of Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga last season that the Premier League.
Yeah
Broke a seven year Lyon championship run I think. Bordeaux look good to make it to the Last 16 at least of the European Cup this year anyway
I think they qualified on Tuesday
by virtue of their head to head record against Bayern. Laurent Blanc is doing very well there.
I hate stuff being decided on head to head record
It should always be goal difference first.
I agree 100%
Having watched Grenoble's last 2 home games
I'm really not sure how good Ligue 1 is anymore.
I <3 Marina Hyde
An excellent article on the Sports Blog at the Guardian today. Here is a snippet:
After all, isn't frothing yourself into demented indignation at the Blackburn squad's lack of a poppy the very definition of having way too much time to indulge in fatuous rows? It's redolent of that long-running, now mercifully expired argument about footballers not singing the national anthem in a manner acceptable to whichever Middle Englander wasn't really watching the game anyway.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/nov/05/poppy-appeal-premier-league
I did a thread on poppy facism either last year or the year before.
She's behind the times.
OMG!
How can we let her know without hurting her feelings?
Hmm
Maybe telling her while also saying about how nice her hair is and you really like her byline picture.
Lovely stuff from L'Arse
4 nice goals, helped initially by some pretty poor goalkeeping. Arshavin was excellent, Gibbs lively, even Diaby looked decent.
Lovely to see Nasri scoring again, with him and Cesc breaking forward our midfield carries a real goal threat.
Michel Bastos is a bit special, Liverpool were quite unlucky on the balance of play. Walk on Rafa...
cracking goals
still couldnt go without conceding though which annoyed me.
Last night whilst watching Rangers blow a victory with 2 mins to go....
we also had on the arsenal game on another screen and very quickly it became apparent that Rangers and Arsenal play 2 totally different sports, we play some sort of hoof up the park and run type game whereas Arsenal play some kind of alien free flowing, fluid, passing and moving game. I could fucking watch Arsenal play all day long :)
in fairness it doesn't always come off as well as it did last night.
I know but when it does i prefer watching arsenal to Barca any day of the week.
Yeah, when things click like last night it's a thing of beauty
Still think we'll come up short in the league this year, compared to sides like Chelsea we're a bit naiive and we still can't defend for toffee, but while we're playing like this it's tough not to sit back and just enjoy it.
I thought Bastos was poor last night.
By his standards.
As i said, worst i've ever seen him play.
Despite being a Sunderland fan
I couldn't help agreeing with this: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6893843.ece
And in particular.
Sir Bobby Robson: “What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.”
I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment
Perhaps with the caveat that all the less romantic parts of a club are just that; still actual parts of the club. But I can't get my head round why what is happening at Newcastle really impacts on that romance. Will their fans sing less passionately in a stadium with a slightly tweaked name? If the answer is yes maybe they should look at themselves.
It's pretty clear that Ashley hasn't been good for the club but it also seems clear that that's more because of incompetence and naivety on his part and not some more nefarious plot to saddle the club with debt and swell his own bank balance. If Newcastle had found themselves in trouble under a different regime (and I know this could get tautological 'cos it's Ashely's regime that caused a great deal of their more severe problems), would this attempt to make the club money, and therefore more stable, be greeted with such opposition?
Personally I doubt it.
I think it would.
It's a comedy name for a football stadium, whoever's decision it was. It's going to be greeted with more opprobium because of who's behind the decision, obviously.
But if you don't think the Geordies would have been crying if Freddy Shepherd had also made this decision then I have to disagree.
Some people just don't like sponsored football stadia. And I agree with them. And this is beyond just a sponsored stadium. It's an email address. Even my girlfriend, whose knowledge of football extends to knowing what colour shirts Brazil play in, burst out into incredulous laughter when I told her last night.
Didn't they hate Freddy Shepherd too though?
I think it is a ridiculous sounding name. But it's so ridiculous because they're trying to drum up money (which the club itself needs) without changing the original name too much. So what is the issue? The principle of 'changing' the stadium's name? Or how stupid the name is?
Yes, but you said 'under a different regime' or whatever. And that's a different regime.
I think both of those are the issues. I'm opposed to sponsored stadiums, just because I'm a fuddy-duddy traditionalist, and the name is so monumentally stupid that it takes something that I was trying to learn to accept and makes it into a wholly different animal.
Still...
at least you can't get the two St James Parks mixed up now.
It's simple
St James Park is in Exeter
St James' Park is (was!) in Newcastle.
Yeah
Don't get me wrong, I'm not pro-sponsored stadiums at all. I just think Ashley is in a no-win situation with Newcastle fans, although admittedly he's done a lot to put himself in that situation.
Surely it's still just going to be called St James' Park in every non-corporate context anyway? Oh well, whateves.
OK
Imagine that Abramovich had somehow managed to alienate most of the Chelsea fans and relegate the club. He then goes and decides to rename Stamford Bridge, something crap@Stamford Bridge. How would you feel?
Similarly, if Newcastle were 4th or 5th in the Premier League and Ashley decided on this ridiculous name, how would the Geordies react?
It's a culmination of the gradual decline of the club under Ashley, which I agree, is probably more down to mismanagement than maliciousness.
I've no problem with teams selling naming rights to new grounds, but its different for a ground that has been at the centre of civic life for 100 years.
I'd feel annoyed and embarrassed, no doubt
I wouldn't feel as if the club was being stripped of it's history. I'd still be going to the same ground each week, singing the same songs, backing the same players. My relationship with my club wouldn't change. Like I've said, you've got to place the name change in context: it'll only really be used in corporate terms. And yes, it's a stupid name but it's a stupid born of a desire to placate Newcastle fans who feared a more drastic deviation.
How pragmatic is your typical Newcastle fan? Or your typical football fan for that matter?
OK
Imagine that Abramovich had somehow managed to alienate most of the Chelsea fans and relegate the club. He then goes and decides to rename Stamford Bridge, something crap@Stamford Bridge. How would you feel?
Similarly, if Newcastle were 4th or 5th in the Premier League and Ashley decided on this ridiculous name, how would the Geordies react?
It's a culmination of the gradual decline of the club under Ashley, which I agree, is probably more down to mismanagement than maliciousness.
I've no problem with teams selling naming rights to new grounds, but its different for a ground that has been at the centre of civic life for 100 years.
i think people would still be pissed if he did it and we were successful
of course, if we were successful he probably wouldn't need to
Newcastle United have been playing at St.James Park for over 100 years
and it was used as a football ground for a couple of decades before that as well.
I'm not against the corporate ground naming trend in general, but there is a real sense of history, and yes, romance, that goes with the older grounds that you just can't replace with .coms and @ signs.
No-one's trying to replace them
it still takes some of the shine off it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/8342406.stm
Kroenke moves to within 0.09% of making a bid for Arsenal
He now owns 29.9% of the club after buying another 200 shares, 100 of which were from Peter Hill-Wood. Don't do it Stan and if you do don't take out a massive loan against the club.
in the long run though
it's going to be him or Usmanov
unless you put a bid in before they do
SSHHHHH
Still not convinced he's after owning the whole club
For a start I don't think he's got the money unless his missus is backing him up.
Also from what little is known about him he's always been in favour of the current board's business model and has a good relationship with the Supporter's Trust, all of which is against single party ownership and certainly against sticking the club further into debt to achieve it.
Of course he might just turn out to be a massive bastard looking to make a quick buck.
SUB THREAD: ITV's scheduling, coverage and bias towards man u and liverpool
first question: how come the arsenal game was not on itv4 last night? have itv not got 2 games on the wednesdays?
fair enough if sky had the rights, but then, not even an hour after the liverpool game had started, the highlights show began with...the fucking liverpool game. so we sit through the liverpool game until finally they show the arsenal game. infuriatingly, they stick an ad break in at half time (there had been no ad break up to this point). do they do it on purpose? are they aware their football coverage is miles behind the bbc (just look at how many people watch the world cup final on each channel when its on both).
is this very obvious bias? it was bad enough sitting through the liverpool game with comments like "IMAGINE the champions league knock out stages WITHOUT liverpool..." and "ryan babel is obviously such a good player" (note: his amazing free kick that went out for a throw).
yours,
peter drury.
The answer to the first question
is that yes, ITV only have rights to 1 game this season.
I agree 100% with everything else you've posted. The Liverpool / Man United bias infuriates me immensely.
ITV lost the rights to a second game to Sky
I hate Liverpool and so probably have my own bias about them but I thought the commentators excelled yesterday. Liverpool didn't play well, not in the slightest. They might have pushed forward a bit more but Lyon clearly didn't have an attacking game plan. They didn't need to set a pace, they needed to wait and see what Liverpool threw at them. Lyon achieved their seeming aim, Liverpool didn't. Yet Beglin blathered on as if they had really turned the style on and a goal was inexplicably alluding them. Nonsense.
Also, why does Carragher keep repeating that one same bear-hugging the man from behind foul? He's been booked about 12 times in the last fortnight for it. Learn your fucking lesson!
alluding?
eluding
Re: Carragher
because he keeps finding himself the wrong side of the attacker and in the absence of anything resembling a yard of pace so pulls the man down.
carragher is having a mare of a season
and it's because he keeps loosing the man. being on the wrong side is a cardinal sin.
here's a question:
the group stages of the champion league bore me to death. can't we just go back to a cup competition? the only one of them has been turned into the fucking champions league but with shit teams :(
what the fuck are you doing here?
ITV's insistence that Liverpool were playing some kind of magic football confused me too
on the plus side, they are now big favourites for the europa league!, although looking at the other CL teams that are likely to finish 3rd (bayern and barcelona??) I'm not taking that bet.
Yeah they only have 1 game a week this season
In last night's case I guess ours was a bit of a nothing game compared to Liverpool's and Lyon are a pretty big club too so the choice makes sense.
In general though it is pretty frustrating knowing that unless we're playing Real or Barca then the TV companies will always prioritise Liverpool/United/Chelsea
Tbh
I don't think Chelsea are even slightly prioritised. Liverpool and Utd are bigger draws in terms of viewing figures so it doesn't really bother me that they ae shown more often.
They're not
you're right. I can't remember the last time a Chelsea game was on ITV1.
itv dont like chelsea either.
this is what happens when everything is seeded.
Wasn't Chelsea- Atletico on ITV?
If it's a home game I'l be at it so I don't check the TV listings. Even then the only reason I think it was on ITV was that the Man Utd game kicked off three hours to early for ITV's schedule...
Yeah, you're right,
it was. Probably only for the reason you've stated though.
i can see why the liverpool game was first choice last night,
i just dont see how then it is the first game on the highlights show 45 minutes later.
they always do that (show the highlights of the live game 1st)
no idea why.
i want to break something.
FURTHER CONSPIRACY THEORIES
They don't. The aforementioned ITV televised Chelsea-Atletico game was third on the highlights show that night, behind CSKA-Utd and Real-AC.
The Atletico Madrid match
a couple of weeks ago.
the commentary on the Liverpool game was pathetic.
Admittedly I'm biased myself because I hate them, but it was genuinely embarrassing at times- 2 passes from full-back to centre half and back again was getting hailed as complete control of the game. Also amazing how excited they got by Debrecen's equaliser, only to start saying "it doesn't really matter what happens in the other game" when Fiorentina subsequently fucked them in the 2nd half.
Arsenal's two best players
are the two that didn't come through the Arsene Wenger special school system...
and they are?
Cliff Bastin and Perry Groves.
Cliff Bastin and George Male actually
silvestre & gallas?
I forgot about them
I prefer trolling the music board. Anyway, it was Arsehavin and Vermaelen, they're both awesome.
RVP as well...
Nah, he arrived 'unmoulded'
Presumably Cesc and Arshavin?
Well obviously Arshavin is a fair call, though it is still enjoyable that he cost less than Carrick.
Cesc came to Arsenal as a 15/16 year old, yes a very promising one who'd had 6 years at one of Europe's best academies, but still just a kid with potential. He hasn't developed into a world class midfielder over the last 6 years by accident.
I count Cesc as someone who's been honed by Arsene
I was just stirring really, but I think it's interesting that Vermaelen and Arshavin are arguably the two best players for Arsenal at the mo (Vermaelen more so than Arshavin).
Yeah, I realised 10 seconds too late that I'd just charged in there
and bitten in a massive way
Vermaelen's impact has been amazing, the change in Gallas from last season makes him a great signing before you even consider his own performances.
Plus he always looks like he's about to punch somebody, something we've lacked since Crazy Jens left
Crazy Jens was a fucking wankstain
Of course, the guy was a gigantic cunt
but he was our gigantic cunt. Plus the only really top notch keeper out of the 6 or so Wenger's signed.
Lehmann was crazy but he was great
Shit football thread
At last West Ham win another game. The match typified the club, soap opera stuff with plenty of ups and downs. With Ilunga and more importantly Cole getting injured in the first half hour I though they were done for and the absence of Cole could be a real problem seeing as he's been leading the line on his own and scoring most of the goals. However Zavon Hines made a difference yet again, he won the pen which whilst the player got the ball it was still a tackle from behind. I thought the ref might want to even it up but I didn't expect it to happen so quick. Good save by Green and a pretty good flukey cross shot by Young. The players kept on and got their just rewards with Parker being influential yet again and passing to Hines who produced a nice finish. Could be a very good player, a more skillfull quicker version of Jermain Defoe.
All is good once again.
Hines
Does he have the same sort of eye for goal as Defoe?
I've only seen little bits of him, but thought he was more of a Lennon (Aaron not Neil) type of player.
far too early to tell
but he scored a couple for the U-21's, terrorised Carragher and Skrtel and caused Arsenal a few problems too. He's a striker who seems to have a 'natural' eye for goal (whatever that means) and plays without fear. Looks a bit like Chris Rock too.
I'd terrorise Carragher this season.
Well done on the win though. Not that you did anything yourself, per se. But you know what I mean. I'm glad you've cleared out of the relegation zone to let some proper shite clubs in. Laters, Blackburn.
I watched it on a moody stream (no water jokes please) so like to think I contributed
a bit. Phil Brown and Allardyce both being relegated, we can but dream.
Any word on how long Cole will be out?
You'll struggle badly without him IMO - especially without anyone even half as good a goalscorer as Jermain Defoe in your ranks...
don't know
looks like a muscle strain so hopefully not too long. Cole has been better than Defoe this season and West Ham will definitely miss him but hopefully Hines, Diamanti and Franco can do the business.
Cole's looked really good, granted.
Not sure he's been better than defoe - pretty close though i guess. Wouldn't be surprised if we looked at relieving you of his services at some point...
Yeah they've both been really good, very different strikers
and would compliment each other very well I reckon. Hopefully Bungpuss will be banged up by January
Nah, he'll be fine - he's not done anything wrong...
Come January, he and Levy will be finalising Cole's Spurs move (in exchange for Alan Hutton + £1.5m). Good times.
of course he hasn't
nothing remotely dodgy about him. They're just picking on him because he's an east end wideboy.
Until proven otherwise...
there's no reason to believe he's guilty of anything other than being the best english manager around. Obviously folk (e.g. hammers fans) have an agenda, but there's really been very little to suggest he's dodgy (in any serious sense). He's even been vindicated via an upheld complaint over his arrest during the Faye saga.
Note to national team managers.
Please stop calling up our players when they can barely walk.
Much appreciated.
Rangers fans at it again...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/8343684.stm
They're the worst people in the world.
http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/social/4189009
I'm declaring this the team of the season so far...
.............Cech............
...Gallas..Bassong..Bridge...
Cohen..Dunn..Fabregas..Bellamy
.....Torres..Bent..Saha.....
Manager: Gareth Barry
Player of the Year: Giggs
Young Player of the Year: Giggs
Gonna have to disagree with you on various fronts
Cech hasn't been terrible but he's flapped enough to not be the league's best keeper so far, surely?
And no Drogba? Bassong in place of someone like Vermaelen (sp?)? Cohen and Bellamy? They've both been good but Cohen has hardly blown the league away, and while Bellamy has looked very, very good in some games, he's been completely anonymous in others.
If not even you is putting Given in goal, then I know something funny is going on.
Have you been smoking banana skins again?
I was struggling for a goalkeeper.
None have stood out on a consistant basis.
Vermaelen's not a very good defender. We can't let his hammer of a left foot mask that. Very wobbly. Been more impressed with Gallas than him overall.
Cohen looks like a great footballer. Bellamy's been the best player in the league, unquestionably, as we've all agreed.
I thought that was Gareth Barry?
that was best midfielder in the league, or maybe world...
since then he's looked a bit off. I'm gonna say he's had the flu.
also, i was trying to not go too heavy on the twat-factor...
already got Fabregas and Sir Craig in there, Drogba and/or RVP would've been too many, and Darren Bent's been better than either.
Well, we're all entitled to an opinion
I think you're slightly insane on this ocassion though, particularly with regard to the idea that Darren Bent (although in good form) has been better than Didier Drogba, and so will respectfully abandon this particular discussion.
Only on this occasion?
you could argue that to score goals for Sunderland
is a lot harder than to score goals for Chelsea
You could
but then I wouldn't say an assessment based on goals alone would be particularly revealing. I like Bent, I think he's got a lot going for him and I like Sunderland too. But Bent's a bit of a poacher; alot of his goals haven't been at the end of fluent moves but the result of being at the right place at the right time. Which is fine, it's his job and he does it well. He doesn't really contribute that much to Sunderland's all-round play though. Not a criticism, he's just not that sort of player.
Drogba does much, much more than that. I can't remember the stats (for what they are worth) exactly but Didier has made as many, if not more, goals for Chelsea this season as he's scored and has been a hard-worker in midfield and in defence (although his two lapses were both punished).
I can almost accept that argument that it's easier to score for Chelsea than it is for Sunderland. But, with all due respect, it's a bit tautological because the better the player, the better the side they'll end up in.
Bent would score thirty a season in that Chelsea side.
Drogba would look like a poor man's Kenny Jones at Sunderland.
Again
Goals aren't everything. Bent can't hold the ball up for shit and there's no way he'd run a game all on his own.
you made good points above and like you say you can
argue either way really. Drogba has always been immense but Bent has come back from being a bit part player at Spurs to scoring a lot of goals at Sunderland (against the top teams as well) so in that respect I am more impressed by him this season than I am Drogba.
Fair enough
I obviously haven't seen as much of Bent as I have of Drogba. Comparisons aside though, I think Drogba has been absurdly good this season, the best he's ever been for Chelsea.
Always makes me laugh how people forget the...
yearly 'i want to leave' threats, the patches of hooky form and all the theatrics that come with him.
Never forgotten, pal
In fact, I finished reading his autobiography, where he details his sporadic desire to leave in some detail, just two days ago.
I don't forget
don't really care either.
He's phenomenal
just a shame he seems such a tool but then if he played for West Ham I'd love him.
Probably my favourite thing about our current side
is that we've got so many players no-one likes. Ashley Cole, John Terry, Nicolas Anelka (although less so these days), Didier Drogba, need I go on? I'm sure there's charm to being adored but I've got a thing for the whole backs against the wall/world hates us attitude.
It makes me smile when I'm sitting in a pub with watching a Chelsea game
and a fan of a rival club gets constantly wound up by Drogba's antics, it used to irritate me but I've begin to like him more just because everyone else hates him :)
with?
I've got much more time
for Chelsea this season. Mostly because of Ancelotti I think.
I love him already
if only for his attitude and how he addresses the press. I worry that the Alex Ferguson's of the world will eventually grind him down though. Remember when Rafa was a nice lad?
the humility he showed after losing to Wigan
was very good. Like you say though I'm sure that won't last
I hate the arguement that
just because a player has scored lots of goals at a 'smaller' club then he'd definitely flourish at a bigger club. Never mind about adapting to a new system, the increased pressure, working with better players etc.
Not a pop at your point KiK, I don't think you were saying that based on him scoring 8 or 9 goals for Sunderland and I happen to agree that he is capable of the step up.
I just get really annoyed by this ridiculously simplified logic that idiot pundits and know-nothing fans resort to
You're right...
There's been plenty of players who have excelled at 'lesser' clubs and struggled at 'bigger' clubs.
it's the same argument that a player who has scored
loads for a big club will do equally well or better at any other club. It's all cliches and generalisations.
Could've done with a full stop on the end of that.
Sloppy.
Shit, missed my period
.
FAO: Steve Claridge
You're a cunt.
Carry on
Why do you say that?
He about the only pundit on TV that I have any time for at all.
He's got a column on BBC ragging on QPR
Going oh you expect QPR to be up there because they've got so much money. Er no we don't. Our owners do, but the club isn't rich.
Then
"There seems to be a misconception that they haven't spent anything but that is absolute tosh - Alejandro Faurlin cost £3.5m."
Yeah, but we only bought one player all summer, and sold 3 at a combined £2.5m. And look at the money Keane's been spending at Ipswich, and we got Faurlin who is already looking like a bargain for the price.
He was also like "oh you can't play well every week, look at their last two results" but honestly we could've put 4 past both Leicester and Palace, just didn't take the chances. As Magilton said some times it just doesn't drop for you, but it'd be far more worrying if we weren';t creating any chances.
Plus on the BBC game, like all of the Beeb's 2 hour love leter to Derby County other than Sir Les, he sounded devastated that we came back and blew Derby away
As funny as Liverpool's demise is, they're still blatantly going to qualify
Lyons will probably do them a favour and beat Fiorentina, even if it's a draw Liverpool can qualify by beating the Viola by a couple of goals (depending on goal difference) or 3-0, which is unlikely given their current run of form but I wouldn't put it past them.
Although having said this it might be good if they did qualify, I'd certainly take another Chelsea Liverpool match up, Drogba against Carragher take 2 looks very appealing at the moment.
Another Chelsea v Liverpool
European tie would finally convince me that Rugby Union is brilliant.
You seem to be forgetting the matches last season
1-3 and 4-4, yeah that was really dull. I knew people who didn't even like football and they still enjoyed the second leg. Yeah the first game was a complete mis-match but the second will go down as one of the greatest games in European club football history.
Chelsea vs Liverpool games are very common occurances which may be what you're getting at but there's no way of telling what'll happen. I've watched some very dull games in the CL in the last couple of years, some of which involve teams that apparently play attractive football. What match-ups would you prefer?
That's not really the point I'm going for...
More that familiarity breeds contempt. It's fine meeting twice a season in the league and possibly meeting in a cup. As soon as sides start meeting 4 or 5 times more a season more than once in 4 or 5 years I lose interest. I really couldn't care less.
will go down as one of the greatest games in European club football history.
will it really?
Exactly..
I'd forgotten all about it. It's just all melted into a bluey red haze.
Yea, it was pretty entertaining
But it wasn't a great game, like Spain France in Euro 2000 for example
yeah
I'd say no
if only 'cos the stakes weren't high enough.
Who decides what does go down in history though? No-one. History does. If anyone remembers it in 10 years, then we'll know. I'll never forget being there and I doubt anyone else in attendance will, I can say that much.
good points
obviously fans of either team won't forget it but I think it's probably the interest of the neutral that makes it go down in history and due to the sheer number of times these two teams play against each other it probably isn't regarded that special.
Yes..
If it had been the first time the two had met in the Champions League I think it probably would go down in history.. That it wasn't is probably a great shame.
Yeah, the Heineken Cup is great!
The random seeding means you get 3 of the biggest clubs in Europe all in one group fighting to the death, plenty of upsets
Any team qualified will do their best to ensure Liverpool are knocked out.
They're the type of shit bastards that could bore their way all the way to the final and win it. Sort of sums up how uninteresting the competition is.
Hopefully Man City share your disinterest in the competition
And Lyon might have qualifies but apparently they're eager to top the group so they probably won't roll over for Fiorentina anyway
Course they do.
You've seen us over the last few weeks, right?
Fiorentina will roll Lyon over
this isn't just because you said it fwank
but I find people who call teams, especially foreign teams, by their nicknames quite annoying eg : fiorentian and viola, rossoneri and ac milan.
sub thread: best and worst club nicknames:
best
the shrimpers
the imps
worst
the tractor boys
red devils
Other good ones:
The Cobblers
The Saddlers
The Merry Millers (they still that even though they've moved ground?)
the toffees.
Thanks. Although, Cologne ( or 1. FC Koln, if you prefer that) are called The Billy Goats, which is pretty good.
It made the post 1% more interesting, no?
more interesting than using Fiorentina twice. I used to watch the Italian league regularly, they were one of my favourite teams as well. Why would you have a problem with it?
Can't answer for Jack
but I'd say it it affects a false sense of familiarity
it's not a problem really just a slight annoyance that I will easily
get over. I've got the 7-Up Fiorentina shirt and wore it to a DiS game which seemed to annoy a few people as the colours for the teams were red and blue. Anyway the days of Batistuta et al were glory years.
ahh Batistuta, Rui Costa and a young Toldo in goal
i can't remember any of the other players they had at the time but they were all awesome back then.
kiev's group is incredible
absolutely heartbreaking to lose yesterday.
they'll still qualify. incredible club.
incredible.
My friend has adopted a penguin in South America and it's called Nestor.
Indeed...
that group's added real excitement to the CL this season - Barca are really struggling given their head to head against that club whose name escapes me...
RUBIN XXXXX!
Rubin Kazan
Barca will beat Inter at home which will leave the Nerazzurri in trouble.
You've done that on purpose
haven't you :-)
of course not
:)
oh you
Rubick's Shazam!
any Villa fans?
who is Isaiah Osbourne and why should we all be so excited that he's joining the Boro Revolution
you shouldn't.
he's got no flair and his only advantage is that he's so huge and ugly that he might scare the opposition.
he's great in the reserves and fucking terrible in the main squad apart from onee match where he played well against chelsea.
he was on strachan's transfer targets list last week wasn't he?
anyway he's not good enough.
marc albrighton who was also on the list is a real talent though.
great guy...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/05/shinawatra-cambodia-economic-adviser
Rio Ferdinand & Kano karaoke is amazing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgdKhNRxvwg
OUTRAGED
http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1867424,00.html
PukkaPies.com @ Stamford Bridge
It's a bit of an alarmist headline
Which is funny, it's like the Chelsea webmonkey is trying to wind up Chelsea fans. Gourlay doesn't say anything surprising in the interview. He doesn't even say that Chelsea ARE considering naming rights, but that they would if that was increasingly the way football went.
Personally, I'd like to see as sponsored by one of those CASH 4 GOLD! companies.
aren't pompey sponsored by jobshop
or something like that
i for one welcome our new overlords
eurgh
Everton are such an disgusting team to watch. I hate the Premiership
I'm bored shitless by this game
I'm only still watching 'cos I love Pat Nevin
anyone watch roma v fulham?
the referee was shocking.
fulham 1-0 up. nevland sent off for a late tackle on de rossi. a booking at most. completely turned the game.
roma went 2-1 up. and then he sent of konchevsky for good measure. straight red, for a yellow card tackle.
scandalous.
Fulham were getting dicked on for the entirety of the game
although they defended pretty well they barely got into the Roma half. It was probably a fair result
They were getting dicked on after they had a player unfairly sent off
They looked comfortable in the first half.
Everton raped again.
Benfica, WOW, what a side. Best side i've seen all season, any country, level, competition. Slick, passing, brilliantness against the typically-English clogging of Everton. Beautiful. Could've been about 0-6.
Best side you've seen all season?
I'm sure they're pretty good but they are in the Europa League when all is said and done.
what's that got to do with anything?
If they're so great
they'd have finished a bit higher domestically last year? Plus even we can look amazing against Everton, just look at the opening day of this season
Not necessarily.
There are lots of excellent sides in the Europa League, and some poor ones in the Champions League. I'm not saying they're an exceptional side in terms of getting results week in, week out, but they play extremely nice, flowing, pass and move football. Arsenal finish 3rd or 4th, by rights they're not that great a side, else they'd win things, but they often play superb stuff.
As for Arsenal, well, this is probably the best they've looked in about three years, no? They'll bottle it around March again, not after getting tipped for various pots by some, but y'know, that's just what happens.