Real Football (Soccer to you Yanks) Thread

[Springsteen]

Beat Leeds United 3-0 at Elland Road in the Carling Cup, the class showed really given the gap between the sides division wise. Owen put us in front inside 15 minutes with a mishit before he added a second, Ryan Giggs then added a third before half time and the game was over as a contest. The second half was played in a friendly match manner with one eye for Leeds on a league match with Brighton in 3 nights time and us for blooding some youngsters. It was a crazy looking line up with Carrick and Valencia both in defence and Macheda and Diouf on the wings but a man never to be doubted is Fergie and it proved right with the ease of passing in areas. On the whole a very pleasing win with outsiders getting games and youngsters getting games. And Michael Owen looked very sharp.

 

[Mystic]

i almost cried the other day when tott scored one after the other on liverpool. i think my neighbours could here me screaming at the tellly. never in me life have i seen liverpool play so bad as they did that day. they may have well have been asleep on the field.

 

[skyblue]

i almost cried the other day when tott scored one after the other on liverpool. i think my neighbours could here me screaming at the tellly. never in me life have i seen liverpool play so bad as they did that day. they may have well have been asleep on the field.

2 players sent off against a pretty good side is hard to overcome,though i think liverpool are a few years away from becoming a force again because the likes of carragher are too old and slow and even slovakians hate skirtel

 

[Zorak]

Having only one good player is probably the main reason Liverpool suck. Although andy Carroll is a close second.

 

[Joey]

Glad Liverpool got a win last night, was good to see Stevie G get abit of a run around.

 

[Springsteen]

Interesting night of football, first we draw 3-3 at home to Basel, and we were lucky to get that because we were extremely poor in the second half after going into a 2-0 lead in the first half from two Welbeck goals. But Basel fully deserved to go in front after a very good attacking display at all times. We got a late equaliser through Ashley Young and could have snatched it late on when Welbeck's header went just wide and Berbatov smashed it into the side netting when Nani was waiting for a tap in. But considering the performance, a point is not that bad, and it's not panic stations just yet given we play two games against Galati next, anything less than maximum from those though and it could be a concern. The main concerns are the fact that Carrick didn't cover the hole between midfield and defence tonight as he usually does and that defence looked shaky throughout. Fergie on Sky looks like he blew a gasket at the players, fully deserved too I mgiht add, a couple of players aside, we were awful.

Man City lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in Germany, but that's not the biggest headline. That comes from Carlos Tevez who firstly refused to warm up during the second half and then refused to come on as a substitute. I ought to be astonished at his unprofessionalism, but I'm really not. He's a mercenary and should be heavily fined and suspended. At least if City want to send the right message out that's what has to happen. Mancini says he'll never play for the club again. If it were financially viable to do, I'd sack him. I'm glad the kettleneck moneygrabbing cretin isn't our problem now

 

[skyblue]

Man City lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in Germany, but that's not the biggest headline. That comes from Carlos Tevez who firstly refused to warm up during the second half and then refused to come on as a substitute. I ought to be astonished at his unprofessionalism, but I'm really not. He's a mercenary and should be heavily fined and suspended. At least if City want to send the right message out that's what has to happen. Mancini says he'll never play for the club again. If it were financially viable to do, I'd sack him. I'm glad the kettleneck moneygrabbing cretin isn't our problem now

the problem city have isn't that its not financially viable to sack him,its the fact that if sacked he gets his own way.....then he'd be a free agent going where he pleases.....i can actually see him being frozen out while seeing his contract out,that way city send a message out to the rest of the players

 

[Springsteen]

Oh I know, they can't afford to sack him. It's not too dramatic to say it because let's face it, it isn't the first time Tevez has acted up during his City career. I've said this before but the whole reason we didn't buy him properly in 2009 was because of the whole fact that he was associated with Kia Joorabchin and the higher up's didn't like the deal, didn't like Kia in fact, he's a crook. City took the plunge and are now paying the price. I think it's absolutely the right thing to freeze him out from now on because what does it say to the other players when he's playing despite his antics. He's now trying to blame him on miscommunication with Mancini. Yeah...

The closest we ever came to such a situation was the Rooney saga last year, but that had nothing on that. That was just a player refusing to sign a new contract to get a better deal through his agent, but not at any time refusing to play, he just didn't play all the time. But this is far worse because it is a player steadfastly refusing to play for his club. that could be considered breach of contract. Though in a way City should have seen this coming, it's not a complete shock, to me anyway.

 

[skyblue]

we had similar with dion dublin some years back,he refused to play in a league cup game when villa started sniffing around him

on a brighter note,in the summer we refused a million pound bid from middlesboro for jutkeiwitz,so when the loan window opened they started offering to take him on loan...the club says he's going nowhere,the manager says hes going nowhere and the player has stated that he has a job to do at coventry and hes staying put......and boro have been reported to the league for trying to illegally unsettle the player

 

[Zorak]

If you refuse to play, you are in breach of contract and can be sacked with out receiving severance pay. Simple as.

That is why of course that Tevez denies he refused to play.

 

[Springsteen]

Some more regarding Tevez

Manchester City can confirm that striker Carlos Tevez has been suspended until further notice for a maximum period of two weeks.
The player’s suspension is pending a full review into his alleged conduct during Tuesday evening’s 2-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.
The player will not be considered for selection or take part in training whilst the review is under way.

City's website.

Watched Barcelona have a training session in Belarus, they won 5-0 with ease against BATE Borisov. Own goal before Pedro killed the contest in the 23rd minute. Messi put it beyond any doubt before half time before he scored again in the second half to become Barcelona's second highest goalscorer. Villa added a fifth in stoppage time. BATE, for a team who were beaten 5-0, actually put a lot of effort in, but Barcelona passed them to death and were ruthless.

Arsenal win narrowly against Olympiakos 2-1 and Chelsea draw 1-1 away in Valencia. Conceded a late penalty.

 

[Springsteen]

Germany beat Belgium 3-1 to make it a perfect 10/10 in the group.

Spain vs Scotland now, beautiful tiki taka vs desperate football. 1-0 to Spain at the moment, Silva with the goal, this passing from Spain is

 

[retro]

US vs. Ecuador friendly right now... 0-0 with about 30 minutes left. I love friendlies here in the States that aren't against Mexico, we actually have the crowd cheering for us instead of booing.

 

[retro]

and one defensive lapse cost us the game... we're really rather incapable of scoring goals, and that's the biggest problem right now. Our defense is starting to tighten up, and the guy that was beaten for the goal isn't a normal player and honestly shouldn't have been playing. But two goals in the last five games is just bad, no matter how you look at it.

 

[skyblue]

spain wont win the euros

 

[darkcgi]

pigskin

 

[darkcgi]

ah thuh leet
I didnt know it was spelled with three words
thats ah maze za zing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sMsV9Qlwvw&feature=player_detailpage

 

[Springsteen]

spain wont win the euros

It'll be either them or Germany. At the moment Spain are just playing some worldly stuff while Germany are the efficient machine while playing some pretty great stuff themselves.

 

[skyblue]

It'll be either them or Germany. At the moment Spain are just playing some worldly stuff while Germany are the efficient machine while playing some pretty great stuff themselves.

i'm thinking that scotland carved spain open on 4 occassions but didn't punish them,the dutch,italians and germans etc will......dont be surprised if someone like russia wins it

 

[Springsteen]

Maybe but Spain's gameplay dictates that at times they will be left open like that, but they've played like that for a while and are World and European Champions, if anything they'll pass you to death. They have averaged 75% possession in this qualifying campaign, that's the first thing you need to do to beat Spain, break up tiki taka. I'd put Holland just below them and Germany. Russia? lol, I'd be astounded.