2012/2013 Soccer/Football thread

I prefer to have an underperforming team with a genuine world class player with top class players than an overachieving team with some barely above average players.
 

Lee

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I prefer to have an underperforming team with a genuine world class player with top class players than an overachieving team with some barely above average players.
pretty sure Tim Krul, Coloccini, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Demba Ba and Cisse (the latter two depending on how many strikers you're using) would all walk into your first team whereas the only player you have that could be guaranteed a spot in our team is Suarez. Gerrard is not what he was and the rest of your team is average. The table does not lie, nor did it lie last season.
 
pretty sure Tim Krul, Coloccini, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Demba Ba and Cisse (the latter two depending on how many strikers you're using)would all walk into your first team whereas the only player you have that could be guaranteed a spot in our team is Suarez. Gerrard is not what he was and the rest of your team is average. The table does not lie, nor did it lie last season.
Are you for real? I thought we were supposed to be the deluded ones.

Starting to lose your credibility old man.
 

Django

Started from the bottom...
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I'd say Agger and Skrtel would have a chance, but apart from them and Suarez there isn't many others to pick. Anyway football is a team game and comparisons like this are stupid anyway !!!
 
Amazing defensive performance, so proud of the effort of everyone. Great cross and header for the goal too. Did you enjoy the game phalanx?
 
Might as well stoke the fire a bit, here's my Liverpool/Newcastle XI:

Krul; Santon, Skrtel, Collocini, Johnson; Ben Arfa, Lucas, Cabaye, Sterling; Ba, Suarez.

And here's my Arsenal/Liverpool/Newcastle XI:

Szczezny; Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Diaby, Wilshere, Cazorla; Walcott, Podolski, Giroud.
hehehehe oh i do crack myself up sometimes...
 

Lee

@ Thick Club
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnus
Our CMs are Cabaye and Tiote, I would drop neither for an ageing Gerrard.

Oh shit I missed Tiote off my list earlier ugh
 
yes but even a mid-table side should not be losing to west ham and swansea consectutively at their own so-called fortress (man i almost wrote forretress...)

i watched every game of ours last season, barring swansea at home oddly enough, and i would be one of the first to agree that for a lot of the results were probably undeserved and we were mostly grinding games out. we didnt play very expansively and never scored more than three. the newcastle i miss is not last seasons, but rather the newcastle that wouldnt have any problems getting quite a few goals at home against teams like west ham (swansea are actually a pretty strong side). who cares if we score 4 and concede 3, its more enjoyable than this negative football pardew is playing

to outline my point we have played more long balls than stoke and west ham, although to be fair we have had more possession. i blame mike williamson. i believe we have also not won after conceeding first in 3 years (ignore in the fa cup). cant remember the last time we scored from a corner either, and we should be good at those given the direct style pardew has the team playing.

ps i wouldnt want gerrard. only thing he did of note vs nufc was have around six 35 yard shots that didnt beat the first man and didnt even enter the box. id take sterling, suarez, either cb and johnson any day though.

maybe i am a bit jealous of how liverpool plays...

also thatsmylatios, stop making so many misinformed posts. there are more than two nufc players that would make the liverpool xi and the fact that you would prefer cisse over ba shows that you seem quite ignorant in regards to nufc
 
WBA beating chelsea is not an upset. the former are the home team + are in great form, whereas the latter was resting some key players for most of the game, as well as having squad issues like an unreliable defense and the inability to finish teams off.

but damn, im in love with norwich for having shat on gaychester united *-*

and about serie a, juve confirms they have the same problem as chelsea: the lack of a quality finisher. could cost them the serie a, since milito, alone, is almost outscoring the entire juventus attack lol. AND STEPHAN EL SHARAAWY IS A FREAKING GOD, HOW IS THIS FELLA RATED AT 76 @ FIFA 13????????
 
im sorry i just remember you arguing against chelsea being complacent vs athletico and claiming that suarez was slipping before his two stamps on everton players

theres no way krul, officially the dutch #1, and cabaye, one of the first names on the french team sheet as said by deschamps, would not make it into a liverpool line-up. you also happened to ignore arguably our best performer this season davide santon, although he slips under the rader so im not surprised. you cant even attempt to validate borini in front of ba or hatem ben arfa, and ben arfa / ba / suarez would be the best front three if we were to form some newcastle/liverpool-hybrid.

this is a stupid argument anyway. youre a biased liverpool fan and im a biased newcastle fan
 
and suarez did another one of those stamps today

I would have newcastles wingers and strikers, over liverpools any day.
except Obertan he is shite :P
 
Good win today, although the two goals we gave up still show the problems with our defense. Everyone talks about how Wenger should invest money on a striker in January, but I still hold to the belief that he should pursue a more defensive CM, since we all know Wilshere and Cazorla can't defend and I don't like Diaby as a starter.

Regarding Newcastle and Liverpool, let's just say one team has vastly improved over the past few years, and the other hasn't.
 
I don't know what Wilshere you're talking about but the Wilshere I've been watching is a complete midfielder who is very strong and very clever in his tackling. I don't have any problems with the defensive side of Wilshere's game at all, in fact that was what won him plaudits in the first place as he played alongside Song and fans of other clubs were saying how great he could be as a defensive midfielder for England. Of course he was never meant to be a defensive mid, because he is even better going forward - his first touch, close control, vision and weight of passing is outstanding, and he is strong with pace to burn. It's just we had someone even better at that time, Fabregas, so Wilshere sat back and he did very well defensively.


I do agree that Arsenal look short on defensive mids at the moment, but I'm not overly concerned because I think the game has moved on. There aren't many teams that genuinely have one hard man shoring up the defence anymore. Teams with an emphasis on keeping possession aren't looking for someone to play the Makele-role, they're looking for someone to fill the Pirlo-role. A deep lying distributor who is reliable, creative and is an outlet for the defence and a fail safe pass for the forwards. He doesn't even have to be defensively minded at all!

Wenger has moved Arteta to this role this season to great effect (he has been one of our best and most consistent performers), Fergie has been at it with Scholes for years now and we all know how highly Brendan Rogers rates Allen (who I don't think you could call a defensive mid despite being the furthest back). These players jobs are not to stick the foot in and snuff out counter attacks, their primary purpose is to keep the ball moving and dictate the tempo of play and the more creative they are the more deadly they can be.

For top teams these days, they keep so much of the ball that the focus on defending has shifted from protecting a tight back four to pressing higher up the pitch and negating counter attacks. From an Arsenal perspective, I'm happy enough to see Arteta fill this role as long as there are defensively disciplined players around him to help with the tackling. Instead of offensive and defensive mids, the game values complete midfielders much more now and Wilshere is exactly that. And I think between Rosicky, Wilshere, Arteta, and Diaby we have a decent contingent. I'd want Cazorla to have a free role out wide once Rosicky or Diaby comes back and I think that would be enough to shore up the midfield. I don't think we particularly need a 'defensive mid', and I don't think Wenger wants one either - he never plays Coquelin as it is!
 

shade

be sharp, say nowt
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there are some days where it is very difficult to be a leeds united fan, today is no different

sitting pretty at 18th in the championship. please god not again
 

HBK

Subtlety is my middle name
WBA beating chelsea is not an upset. the former are the home team + are in great form, whereas the latter was resting some key players for most of the game, as well as having squad issues like an unreliable defense and the inability to finish teams off.

but damn, im in love with norwich for having shat on gaychester united *-*
West brom's victory is definitely an upset.It was always gonna be a tough game but having been #1 early in the season and now part of a three horse race for the title it should've been a chelsea win albeit a hard fought one.That being chelsea has no realistic chance of winning the title until Di Matteo brings in a new striker;Torres is shite,Sturridge is too rusty and the mere fact that we have two strikers while the Manchester clubs have four each is a big disadvantage.I just hope we don't fall too behind before January.We have a few defensive problems but those can be ignored if we get a free scoring forward,something that we have lacked for a while.Just thinking of the Juve game makes me feel sleepy now lol.But even Bendtner is better than Torres........it's definitely gonna be close,that's for sure.

And boy was I happy to find out that Chaser's boys fucked United over.

theres no way krul, officially the dutch #1,
I though Stekelenburg was first choice.When did that happen?
 
i honestly have a hard time seeing rodgers picking borini in front of demba ba or hatem ben arfa especially, who would fit into liverpool's system like a glove.

uh hbk, there was an interview with krul where he said the dutch goalkeeping coach took him to the side and said he's numero uno, although if im honest, his distribution needs a lot of work
 

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