2014/15 Association Football (Soccer) thread

[The Grand Babido]

lol every time i click this thread u are bagging on willian HBK. sometimes i get the impression u only watch the highlight reels or don't understand the ~intricacies~ of football. completely understand if u can't catch games live tho - your timezone is worse than mine!

willian gives fabregas and ivanovic so much more freedom. if u had someone else like walcott or griezmann you would be shipping a lot of goals down that right side. even though i've only watched half a dozen chelsea games, ivanovic has been caught out a lot and saved by willian a number of times. the way your left side is set up gives a lot of room for hazard to work his magic, with matic and azpilicueta both being quite defensive minded. i am sure if willian had the same sort of protection from fabregas and ivanovic he would be scoring 10 a season. he facilitates these two guys and lets ivanovic bomb forward and allows fabregas to actually succeed in a midfield two. even considering this, he still creates a lot of opportunities. i will admit he probably needs to be more clinical though

however, i expect u will go after another winger if mourinho doesn't think cuadrado can cut it. this winger won't be replacing willian though. if anything, oscar will be getting sold, and willian will move into a more central role. truly is a shame that u can't appreciate a player like willian and what he adds to your team as a whole

 

[IronBullet]

Totally agree with Heist here, you're really underselling Willian HBK. He hasn't scored much but he's been absolutely integral to Chelsea this season. Along with his defensive play he really drives the team forward and stretches defenses allowing Hazard and Fabregas space to do their stuff. But yeah he does probably need to be incisive - Ivanovic has been more productive in an attacking sense than him this year. Although that's also due to what Heist said in that his defensive ability allows the right-back to bomb forward a lot more. So yeah if anyone is going to leave it will probably be Oscar.

Also Cuadrado's only played 6 games, give him more time to prove himself and assess him at the end of next season. There will be pressure on him to perform though, Mourinho deemed Schurrle surplus to requirements in order to bring him in and he's been hyped up as being able to combine both the goal threat of Schurrle and defensive discipline of Willian.

 

[HBK]

lol every time i click this thread u are bagging on willian HBK. sometimes i get the impression u only watch the highlight reels or don't understand the ~intricacies~ of football. completely understand if u can't catch games live tho - your timezone is worse than mine!

willian gives fabregas and ivanovic so much more freedom. if u had someone else like walcott or griezmann you would be shipping a lot of goals down that right side. even though i've only watched half a dozen chelsea games, ivanovic has been caught out a lot and saved by willian a number of times. the way your left side is set up gives a lot of room for hazard to work his magic, with matic and azpilicueta both being quite defensive minded. i am sure if willian had the same sort of protection from fabregas and ivanovic he would be scoring 10 a season. he facilitates these two guys and lets ivanovic bomb forward and allows fabregas to actually succeed in a midfield two. even considering this, he still creates a lot of opportunities. i will admit he probably needs to be more clinical though

however, i expect u will go after another winger if mourinho doesn't think cuadrado can cut it. this winger won't be replacing willian though. if anything, oscar will be getting sold, and willian will move into a more central role. truly is a shame that u can't appreciate a player like willian and what he adds to your team as a whole

No, he doesn't, it's not as subtle as you're making it out to be. Hazard works just as hard defensively and still manages to be a threat in the opposing half. But Willian is incapable of that. His finishing is sub par and his crossing is terrible. I've always preferred a defensive line up with Azpilicueta on the right and Luis on the left; Azpilicueta's easily our best full back and Luis is younger, faster than Ivanovic and a better defender than most give him credit for, not to mention a better crosser. So we wouldn't need a winger who plays like a right back if we played Azpilicueta on the right. Willian is average at best and we need World Class players if we want to retain the League title and go beyond the first knock out stage of the Champions League next season. Almost any one can be coached to track back and work hard off the ball, but clinical finishing and creativity are things that can't be coached and those are precisely what he lacks. So no, we wouldn't be "shipping lots of goals down that right side" if we had Griezmann or Walcott. If anything Willian's general bluntness puts more pressure on Hazard, Costa and Fabregas to create/score goals because you know that if they have bad games, Willian's not going to score/create those crucial goals. Why do you think Ivanovic, who used to be known for his defensive solidity, has been playing like a right forward? Hell, the only reason he's still at the club is because no one would be willing to pay £30 million for him, Schürrle was only sold because we could get more for him than we could for Willian, if at all. If Cuadrado had delivered like he was expected to, he'd be starting every game instead of Willian. Not to say that Willian would've rotted on the bench, he probably would've played in the hole, given how Oscar dropped off but Oscar on top form > Willian at his best and we saw that earlier in the season. And my time zone permits me to watch any and all Premier League and Champions League games, thank you very much, it's just the La Liga games that are impossible for me to watch.

 

[teal6]

cuadrado was legitimately amazing at fiorentina, what happened to him lol.

next year is going to be yet another disappointing and brutal year for liverpool so frankly ive given up on football. every hope and dream i have in this sport is always dashed, and last year i think genuinely broke me considering the shakespearian tragedy that was The Slip. everything w/r/t this game is going awry from my point of view and i have the pleasure of looking forward to another season where rodgers brings in several average ass players for disproportionate sums to saunter to MAYBE a europa league spot and a quarter final cup exit again. what i wouldn't give for suarez back lol best player i've ever seen in a liverpool shirt bar none. idk for the rest of the year go Juventus in the CL, i guess, but who really cares if the Blood Dopers or the Match Fixers win it at this point.

 

[No Luck Involved]

Yeah I feel your pain; selling your best player every year like Suarez and Sterling is not nice. But Liverpool have suffered that for a long time - all the way back to Owen, Alonso, Mascherano, Torres etc. It happens to every team that doesn't win the title for a while. Even Man Utd had to sell Ronaldo to RM, and lol lose Tevez to City, there's always a bigger club. The only hope is somehow all your young players click suddenly and the club bring in just the right talent at the right time. It almost happened for you last year but the key really was to stay in the top 4. It would have made such a huge difference and I doubt Sterling would have been asking to leave. Roger's signings also haven't been the best so he'll have to improve massively on that front this summer!

As for my club Arsenal... WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST OFFER £50M THAT TIME WENGER YOU STUPID W@NK! It's good to get that out of the system on a yearly basis. I hope we sign a better centre forward than Giroud, that's all I ask for, it's not much it really isn't. Giroud isn't bad, I like the guy, but he can be a good option B and bench cover.

 

[manodelrey]

Guys who was the signing of the year? Balotelli as he made 19 premier league defenses better? Hatem Ben Arfa was amazing this year in France. But I would have to give it to Thomas Vermaelen at Barca. Seriously he made no mistakes this season, no turnovers, no defensive mistakes, at fault for zero goals given up this year. Exactly what you want in a defender

 

[Dabney]

Vermaelen has won a League without having to play.It has been dedicated to pace all season Sanitas. And yet it can boast of winning more without playing 1 minute. I do not understand that both cost the club to sign a defense in conditions that did not come as injured. Who knows if he had completed good games and forget the other cases not very successful defenses their signings.

Oh, and congratulations to Chelsea for their Premier League. Despite losing the final game and nothing influenced. Good Season, easy to City, Arsenal, United, etc. The City I will say that what little I've seen play Mangala seems a very bad defense. I see different than when I was in Porto. There was abusing its quality, while sometimes he rolled to his keeper, but City seems to get scared, you will not look so comfortable.

 

[teal6]

Yeah I feel your pain; selling your best player every year like Suarez and Sterling is not nice. But Liverpool have suffered that for a long time - all the way back to Owen, Alonso, Mascherano, Torres etc. It happens to every team that doesn't win the title for a while. Even Man Utd had to sell Ronaldo to RM, and lol lose Tevez to City, there's always a bigger club. The only hope is somehow all your young players click suddenly and the club bring in just the right talent at the right time. It almost happened for you last year but the key really was to stay in the top 4. It would have made such a huge difference and I doubt Sterling would have been asking to leave. Roger's signings also haven't been the best so he'll have to improve massively on that front this summer!

As for my club Arsenal... WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST OFFER £50M THAT TIME WENGER YOU STUPID W@NK! It's good to get that out of the system on a yearly basis. I hope we sign a better centre forward than Giroud, that's all I ask for, it's not much it really isn't. Giroud isn't bad, I like the guy, but he can be a good option B and bench cover.

Yeah I'm used to Liverpool like this. Torres was my favorite player of all time when he was at the club probably, he was so exciting and I really thought it'd be him and gerrard to finally get us the title, unfortunately that wasn't meant to be the case either as the 2008/2009 season ended nearly as dramatically as last year if you remember... Federico Macheda (I won't blame anyone for having to google to remember him) scoring two goals essential to man united winning the title before returning to being absolutely heinously bad, Liverpool probably losing the title in one of the premier league all time classic matches (the 4-4 against arsenal) etc. I still had a degree of hope after that year though, and honestly would've kept rafa even after the 2009/2010 season. There's something about the mood at the club now though that's so much worse than it was before I think, even during the Hodgson doldrums

 

[manodelrey]

Yeah I'm used to Liverpool like this. Torres was my favorite player of all time when he was at the club probably, he was so exciting and I really thought it'd be him and gerrard to finally get us the title, unfortunately that wasn't meant to be the case either as the 2008/2009 season ended nearly as dramatically as last year if you remember... Federico Macheda (I won't blame anyone for having to google to remember him) scoring two goals essential to man united winning the title before returning to being absolutely heinously bad, Liverpool probably losing the title in one of the premier league all time classic matches (the 4-4 against arsenal) etc. I still had a degree of hope after that year though, and honestly would've kept rafa even after the 2009/2010 season. There's something about the mood at the club now though that's so much worse than it was before I think, even during the Hodgson doldrums

that 4-4 draw game against arsenal was insane. Arshavin decided to not be lazy and was actually playing amazing for once

 

[shade]

cuadrado was legitimately amazing at fiorentina, what happened to him lol.

next year is going to be yet another disappointing and brutal year for liverpool so frankly ive given up on football. every hope and dream i have in this sport is always dashed, and last year i think genuinely broke me considering the shakespearian tragedy that was The Slip. everything w/r/t this game is going awry from my point of view and i have the pleasure of looking forward to another season where rodgers brings in several average ass players for disproportionate sums to saunter to MAYBE a europa league spot and a quarter final cup exit again. what i wouldn't give for suarez back lol best player i've ever seen in a liverpool shirt bar none. idk for the rest of the year go Juventus in the CL, i guess, but who really cares if the Blood Dopers or the Match Fixers win it at this point.

this is the most melodramatic post i have ever seen. your team is gonna finish 5th in the premier league with a distinctly average squad, life could be worse mate

 

[teal6]

this is the most melodramatic post i have ever seen. your team is gonna finish 5th in the premier league with a distinctly average squad, life could be worse mate

im a liverpool supporter melodramatic comes with the territory lol but you are right im playing it up a bit

 

[The Quasar]

im a liverpool supporter melodramatic comes with the territory lol but you are right im playing it up a bit

Next week I lose my bet due to your team (losing vs Crystal Palace). Damn, it was winning 1-0, then....

And now, can you refund me?






:D

 

[teal6]

Next week I lose my bet due to your team (losing vs Crystal Palace). Damn, it was winning 1-0, then....

And now, can you refund me?






:D

i quit betting on football when i lost $200 gambling on a german 2nd division match. up to that point i had never seen a 2 bundesliga match and tbh i've not seen a single one since, so i sort of realized i had a problem around that point haha

 

[The Quasar]

i quit betting on football when i lost $200 gambling on a german 2nd division match. up to that point i had never seen a 2 bundesliga match and tbh i've not seen a single one since, so i sort of realized i had a problem around that point haha

I'm betting only for enjoy myself, always just few euros. But I like it, helping me to follow matches. Also, you haven't lost $200, you don't win it. It's different haha.

 

[HBK]

this is the most melodramatic post i have ever seen. your team is gonna finish 5th in the premier league with a distinctly average squad, life could be worse mate

And we should all be immensely grateful that we have food, clothing and shelter unlike those less fortunate than us, like the children starving in Africa, but that doesn't stop us from wishing we had more money.

 

[tml]

lol teal6 no liverpool fan will ever forget that name, Martin Tyler's voice crack still haunts me. i am getting pissed off actually typing this as the memories flood back to me. Aston Villa and Sunderland.

That's the difference between Man U and Liverpool every single time, when Man U play poorly and deserve to lose, they still win most of those games. When we deserve to lose we actually lose most.

Next season is so important if Man U get it right we will probably find ourselves stuck in 5th for the next decade.

 

[No Luck Involved]

I think Man Utd are too commercially successful and dominant, although Van Gaal could go full retard with some starfish formation, Rooney in defence or some shit so you can hope for that next season. You can always hope for Chelsea or Man City's owners to ditch them one day too but they seem to be in for the long haul coz City just built their new academy and Chelsea are now financially amazing after years of success, they have a huge amount of fans overseas so they'll probably be self sufficient at the top. Honestly when Arsenal lose Wenger we will bomb straight down to midtable, a bit like Man Utd with Moyes. Except we won't have £150m to bring us back up. So that's probably the best chance for the top 4 to break up. Man City's owners ditching them or Arsenal losing Wenger. In the meantime the top 4 is looking really strong compared to the rest. But at least we *should* have a 4 horse title race next season to keep things interesting right?

 

[phalanx]

he did that in one match, put Fellaini up front and Rooney RVP in midfield :/
and United Linked with Raheem Sterling... no no no no

 

[Heliosan]

Man, football is just so full of rumors and made-up stories. Bild, DailyMail, Goal.com, you name it. So many sensationalist titles and transfer rumors. It's kinda odd that we see it so often in football but not so much in other sports.

Anyways, that aside, Sami Khedira posted today on Facebook that he is leaving Real Madrid (surprise surprise). I believe James Milner is also at the end of his contract and nothing recently has been reported in terms of whether he is re-signing or not. I think there's a lot of interesting things that can happen during this transfer window.

 

[No Luck Involved]

Khedira -> Schalke and Milner -> Liverpool is basically done if you believe the rumours.

 

[manodelrey]

deportivo with the comeback to draw against barca and stay up. Well done

 

[No Luck Involved]

Have to feel for Eibar. Head to head record is bullshit, it should be about goal difference. They are this season's fairytale!

 

[HBK]

I'd love it if we could get Milner, you know how much Mourinho loves hard workers, especially on a free. And Khedira would make a great back up for Matic, but I doubt he'd leave Real to play second fiddle to anyone elsewhere.

 

[latinoheat]

Have to feel for Eibar. Head to head record is bullshit, it should be about goal difference. They are this season's fairytale!

I always thought the Premier league should adopt this, goal difference is bullshit.

Oh wow you deserve to stay up because you scored 3 extra goals in a meaningless game over a team who have nothing to play for and field their B team, over having to have a better result over two legs directly against the other relegation team.

Eibar started the season well more then enough to see them out of trouble, they then took 5 points out of over 50 they deserve to go down.

Looks like Yaya Toure is a gonna today.

 

[HBK]

Another sublime performance from Liverpool to bid farewell to Gerrard rofl, while we send off Drogba and Cech with a solid win and a massive celebration with the trophy, THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE BITCHES!