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The Soccer thread
- Thread starter goldemblem
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Sorry, I think the Spanish Primera Division is above the English Premier League. Sorry, but FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are above Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
The coming week will be awesome. Champions League and Europa League.
Best games CL-best bold.
AC Milan - Manchester United
Bayern München - Fiorentina
Inter - Chelsea
Best games EL-best bold.
Panathinaikos - AS Roma
Atlético Madrid - Galatasaray
Club Brugge - Valencia
Everton - Sporting Lissabon
HSV - PSV
FC Twente - Werder Bremen
AFC Ajax - Juventus
Will Ajax stand a chance against Juventus? Juventus has injury problems. Italian football is more about scoring 1-0 and quitting. Hopefully they play like Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup like last season (Fiorentina-Ajax 0-1 because Fiorentina was bad, no effort).
Ajax>Juventus.
The coming week will be awesome. Champions League and Europa League.
Best games CL-best bold.
AC Milan - Manchester United
Bayern München - Fiorentina
Inter - Chelsea
Best games EL-best bold.
Panathinaikos - AS Roma
Atlético Madrid - Galatasaray
Club Brugge - Valencia
Everton - Sporting Lissabon
HSV - PSV
FC Twente - Werder Bremen
AFC Ajax - Juventus
Will Ajax stand a chance against Juventus? Juventus has injury problems. Italian football is more about scoring 1-0 and quitting. Hopefully they play like Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup like last season (Fiorentina-Ajax 0-1 because Fiorentina was bad, no effort).
Ajax>Juventus.
I'm sorry, but that is just bullshit. You're probably one of those Barca fans that think Barcelona are the only one that can play football and that beautiful Barca play is the only way to play football properly. Well I have news for you: NO!!! Barcelona have no chance(unless the referee helps them) against physical strong teams like Chelsea. To play the way Barca plays, you need space own the side of the opponent. I don't know if you saw the semi finals of last years Champions League, but Barcelona had no chance of breaking through the Chelsea defence.
Real Madrid, what do we have to say about that. It's a relatively new team and they still need to play some more together, but the fact is that they're not play constant says enough. One match they'll dominate the opponents, the next match they will play rubbish. These are the facts.
Besides that English football isn't comparable with Spanish football. In the Premier League, the differences between the little clubs and the big clubs is not as big as the differences betweeen little and big clubs in the Spanish Primera Division. This is why every season there is a big suprise in the English Premier League and why the differences in points is so big between the top in Spain and the nr 10 in Spain.
As a final statment I wanted to say to it's quite funny that you name Liverpool in this. It says enough about your knowlegde about the English Premier League at this moment. Liverpool plays rubbish this season, mainly because either Gerard or Torres is injured or something like that. They are just #4 in the League and are knocked out the Champions League and the English Cups(everyone of them). So your statments are 1) not true and 2) not even stated right
Are you serious? It shows how much you watch Rooney if you feel that he has no talent and just a very strong physique. I mean seriously it's his skill and vision that separate his from so many players. I'll admit to be a Man United fan, but come on you don't have to be a fan to see that there's more to his game than just being strong :/
Furthermore, he's cooled down his temper lately, so the "playing dirty"/red card thing isn't such an issue anymore. And yeah it annoys me that seriously two posts down you tell someone not to let their hatred control their logic <_<
Anyways, as for the La Liga vs. EPL debate, I'm also going to have to side with the EPL. Though I won't go around listing my reasons, seeing as all of them have been said(including the slight bias one lol).
I disagree their is so much talent in La Liga outside the top two including:
Villa
Silva
Filipe
Senna
Nilmar
Navas
Fabiano
Soldado
Negredo
Banega
Forlan
Aguero
Jurado
Kameni
De la Pena
Mata
Suazo
I would still rate Barca as the best team in the world, you can point to the supposed Chelsea display in last year's CL final. But Chelsea were gonna get nothing with that display, it does not prove you are the better team because you put 10 men behind the ball and not bother to try and attack for the first leg. Then get a very lucky goal early on in the 2nd tie which is the only reason that Chelsea attacked a little more, they would have happily sat back and gone to pens.
Real Madrid are overated, great attacking force when they get it together and some excellent individual talents but they are shit defensively. United and Chelsea are better teams and would rip them apart, i would feel comfortable betting on Arsenal to beat them and Liverpool even on their shit run would beat them. Madrid would also struggle against both Milan's.
I wouldn't be shocked if Lyon could also pull something out in their CL tie.
Villa
Silva
Filipe
Senna
Nilmar
Navas
Fabiano
Soldado
Negredo
Banega
Forlan
Aguero
Jurado
Kameni
De la Pena
Mata
Suazo
I would still rate Barca as the best team in the world, you can point to the supposed Chelsea display in last year's CL final. But Chelsea were gonna get nothing with that display, it does not prove you are the better team because you put 10 men behind the ball and not bother to try and attack for the first leg. Then get a very lucky goal early on in the 2nd tie which is the only reason that Chelsea attacked a little more, they would have happily sat back and gone to pens.
Real Madrid are overated, great attacking force when they get it together and some excellent individual talents but they are shit defensively. United and Chelsea are better teams and would rip them apart, i would feel comfortable betting on Arsenal to beat them and Liverpool even on their shit run would beat them. Madrid would also struggle against both Milan's.
I wouldn't be shocked if Lyon could also pull something out in their CL tie.
I am not a Barçafan. I just think the Spanish league top is from a higher niveau than the English league top. However, the English league has more good clubs while the Spanish league has a good top and a terrible bottom/middle class. The English league has a better middle class. But I mean the top of the leagues.
I know Liverpool has a bad season, but I meant they are a topclub in most seasons, but they aren't in this season.
I am fan of only two clubs: AFC Ajax and FC Utrecht.
Well, latinoheat, I don't think I fully agree with your argument. A defensive display can be just as good and rewarding as an offensive display. The fact is, maybe Barcelona just weren't good enough to beat Chelsea, they weren't good enough to break Chelsea down. Just because Barca had more of the ball and Chelsea were fine to let them have it in areas where they could do little damage doesn't mean Chelsea are a poorer side. They stuck to a game plan and it almost paid off. I like how you criticise Chelsea's goal of being lucky when Barcelona's goal was just as lucky but came in stoppage time. It was also Barcelona's only shot on target n the whole game.
You can have the ball as much as you want, but having one shot on target all game means you just weren't good enough really. Barcelona were lucky to make it to the final...
You can have the ball as much as you want, but having one shot on target all game means you just weren't good enough really. Barcelona were lucky to make it to the final...
I think it looks worse on Chelsea when they cannot put one attack together because they know they would get ripped apart. Chelsea would have been happy going to penalties if it wasn't for the freak rebound for Essien's goal. They wouldn't have even tried to get one goal on target if not for that.
another point though, united made 2 finals in a row? with 3 english sides in the semis in that time?
here is something from ronaldo
“Of course I miss playing for Manchester United,” Ronaldo said. “I played there for six years and that’s a long time. I am still interested in watching Manchester United and, you never know, maybe in the future I could return to play there. It’s always possible. I want to fulfil my contract here but, in the future, only God knows. I will not say I am not happy here at Real Madrid. I am really happy and everyone knows this is my club but, of course, I miss Manchester United, the boss, the players, because I left family there.”
interesting
here is something from ronaldo
“Of course I miss playing for Manchester United,” Ronaldo said. “I played there for six years and that’s a long time. I am still interested in watching Manchester United and, you never know, maybe in the future I could return to play there. It’s always possible. I want to fulfil my contract here but, in the future, only God knows. I will not say I am not happy here at Real Madrid. I am really happy and everyone knows this is my club but, of course, I miss Manchester United, the boss, the players, because I left family there.”
interesting
Ah, a perfect example of someone who thinks that the Barca way is the only proper way of playing football. You probably 'enjoyed' the football lesson that Barcelone gave to Chelsea. But the fact is that Chelsea wasn't even close to being ripped apart by the Barcelona strikers. Chelsea knew what kind of a game Barcelona would play: pressure own the side of Chelsea. Chelsea was well aware of this and knew that they could handle it, because they are physical a lot stronger the frail players of Barcelona. They let Barcelona come to their side, letting them play their game. But every time Barcelona would try to break through the Chelsea defence, Chelsea had already by then taken the ball. It was not Barcelona that gave Chelsea a football lesson, it was Chelsea giving Barcelona a lesson in tactics. This was the match in Camp Nou.
For the home match in London, Chelsea had a different approach. They knew that they had to score a goal in order to go to the finals. Unlike the first match, Chelsea played the old counter football. Keeping Barcelona from scoring was priorty #1, but they knew that after they saw a chance, that they should take it by hoping that individual skills of the forwards. And you could see the results of this tactic in 5 minutes after that goal of Essien. Barcelona had to score a goal, but weren't good enough to break the Chelsea defence. Chelsea began to see the hast and the open spaces in the Barcelona formation, resulting in more dangerous chances for Chelsea. The only reason why Barcelona eventually won that match, was because the referee ignored 4 possible penalties. 2 of them were certain penalties, but because the UEFA didn't want another Manchester United-Chelsea final, Barcelona was spared.
I wouldn't read too much into that. With it being an English interview, all he is doing is saying the right things to them. He may miss Manchester United, but he'll remain a Galactico for years to come.
Why wouldn't he say that its kinda obvious he went for the money, United have been a better team and won more then Madrid have since the early 00s.
you probably don't watch the german bundesliga. with their new coach christian gross stuttgart won 6 of 8 matches while losing 1 and they play a lot better than having babbel as coach. they also have good players like lehmann, hleb, pogrebnyak, tasci or kuzmanovic. i don't see why they shouldn't be better than lyonais or porto right now (tbh this 2 teams wouldn't have a great chance against barca too).
Predictions for tonight's Champions League?
AC Milan vs Man Utd is difficult. I think both teams might be happy to take this game back to Old Trafford - with United thinking they can out-gun Milan at home, while Milan may feel they can avoid defeat and get through on away goals. It's not the Italian mentality to go forward again and again so I doubt we'll see an open game unless United can score early. But I doubt we'll see the usual attacking Manchester United in an away game in Europe, we'll play it more on the counter attack until the second leg unless Milan score. I'd expect a low score-draw or narrow Man Utd win, 1-1, 0-1, or 1-2. United are without Ryan Giggs, Nemanja Vidic, Anderson, John O'Shea, and of course, Owen Hargreaves.
Alternatives are: Neville or Brown start at Right Back and Rafael is on the bench - which I'd be fine with, or Brown starts at Centre Back with Ferdinand with Rafael or Neville at Right Back - which again, I think I'd be fine with. The central midfield three has to be Fletcher, Scholes, and Carrick, there's no debating that one. While Valencia could well start over Nani on the right - Park will play. Lastly, Obertan could force his way on to the bench, but due to the lack of central midfield alternatives I think we'd have Gibson there just in case of an injury.
Edit:
Beckham starts, Seedorf is out, and that is the Man Utd starting line-up. No word on the bench yet, though.
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In Europa League news, Everton are winning 2-0 against Sporting Lisbon.
AC Milan vs Man Utd is difficult. I think both teams might be happy to take this game back to Old Trafford - with United thinking they can out-gun Milan at home, while Milan may feel they can avoid defeat and get through on away goals. It's not the Italian mentality to go forward again and again so I doubt we'll see an open game unless United can score early. But I doubt we'll see the usual attacking Manchester United in an away game in Europe, we'll play it more on the counter attack until the second leg unless Milan score. I'd expect a low score-draw or narrow Man Utd win, 1-1, 0-1, or 1-2. United are without Ryan Giggs, Nemanja Vidic, Anderson, John O'Shea, and of course, Owen Hargreaves.
van der Sar
Rafael Ferdinand Evans Evra
Fletcher Carrick Scholes
Nani Rooney Park
--
Subs: Kuszczak; Neville, Brown; Gibson, Valencia; Owen, Berbatov
Rafael Ferdinand Evans Evra
Fletcher Carrick Scholes
Nani Rooney Park
--
Subs: Kuszczak; Neville, Brown; Gibson, Valencia; Owen, Berbatov
Alternatives are: Neville or Brown start at Right Back and Rafael is on the bench - which I'd be fine with, or Brown starts at Centre Back with Ferdinand with Rafael or Neville at Right Back - which again, I think I'd be fine with. The central midfield three has to be Fletcher, Scholes, and Carrick, there's no debating that one. While Valencia could well start over Nani on the right - Park will play. Lastly, Obertan could force his way on to the bench, but due to the lack of central midfield alternatives I think we'd have Gibson there just in case of an injury.
Edit:
Beckham starts, Seedorf is out, and that is the Man Utd starting line-up. No word on the bench yet, though.
Dida
Bonera Nesta Silva Antonini
Beckham Pirlo Ambrosini
Pato Huntelaar Ronaldinho
-----O-----
Park Rooney Nani
Scholes Carrick Fletcher
Evra Evans Ferdinand Rafael
van der Sar
Bonera Nesta Silva Antonini
Beckham Pirlo Ambrosini
Pato Huntelaar Ronaldinho
-----O-----
Park Rooney Nani
Scholes Carrick Fletcher
Evra Evans Ferdinand Rafael
van der Sar
---
In Europa League news, Everton are winning 2-0 against Sporting Lisbon.
Gah! Milan are only playing one ball-winner in the center, they'll be slaughtered. I do fancy Ronaldinho's chances against Rafael but Bonera and Thiago can't cope with the pace of the United team. Milan 1:3 Manchester is my Prediction.
Edit: 2-1 to Everton now.
Crucial away goal.
Also, for those that don't know the subs are:
Abbiati, Gattuso, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Flamini, Favalli, Abate
Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Owen, Berbatov, Valencia, Gibson
Edit: 2-1 to Everton now.
Crucial away goal.
Also, for those that don't know the subs are:
Abbiati, Gattuso, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Flamini, Favalli, Abate
Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Owen, Berbatov, Valencia, Gibson
It is a rather defensive lineup from Manchester, but anybody can score a few against Milan unless Nesta is on top form. It's also a good idea to shoot from ludicrous positions because Dida is so inconsistent, despite sometimes keeping amazingly.
ONE NIL.
My predo changes to 3-0 Milan.
Man U's defence is shit, good stuff.
Bloody Fletcher... Scholes has yet another justification to postpone his retirement.
ONE NIL.
My predo changes to 3-0 Milan.
Man U's defence is shit, good stuff.
Bloody Fletcher... Scholes has yet another justification to postpone his retirement.
Watching the man u vs ac milan atm and still chocked at the scholes goal... He tries to shoot with his right foot misses, the ball hits his left foot accidently and he scores. I mean wtf how does man u do to be so fucking lucky, the score should be at least 3-0 to milan. Go milan! Fuck man u!
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