2012/13 Soccer Thread

jowner wrote:

Speaking of which I hope Clattenburg isn't in charge. Horrendous game by him today.

You might get your wish - Chelsea have made an official complaint about comments he allegedly made to 2 of their players, including Obi Mikel. Probably something along the lines of "look, with the money United pay me every season, I owe them this win". Allegedly.

2 highly dubious sendings off, a winner that was offside - got your money's worth there, Alex.

davet010 wrote:
jowner wrote:

Speaking of which I hope Clattenburg isn't in charge. Horrendous game by him today.

You might get your wish - Chelsea have made an official complaint about comments he allegedly made to 2 of their players, including Obi Mikel. Probably something along the lines of "look, with the money United pay me every season, I owe them this win". Allegedly.

2 highly dubious sendings off, a winner that was offside - got your money's worth there, Alex.

Luckily it was a bad performance that benefited the rest of us IMO. Chelsea needed to be pegged back and United err uhh Clattenburg sure did.

Watching United up 11vs9 and struggle to keep the ball or even string 5 passes together was a farce. Maybe they will play themselves into title challenge form but they are not a balanced side yet.

and will probably thump Arsenal this weekend when Wenger starts Gervinho up front. I can't wait for the African cup of nations so he cant be selected.

Not great officiating in the derby match against Liverpool. Suarez should have been sent off (for the fouls on Mirallas and Distin), but Liverpool has every right to be upset, given that improper offsides call ruling out a stoppage-time goal that would have given them the win.

Really liked what I saw from Mirallas a lot (until Suarez stomped his ankle) - think I'd prefer him to Pienaar out left, who seems to have played much better when he was back at Everton on loan.

Also, Raheem Sterling is gonna be an amazing player, and I'll be surprised if Liverpool manages to hang onto him for too long. He looked extremely dangerous early on out right, and then again late in the game when he was tucked in behind Suarez up front. Can't believe he's just 17 years old.

yikes...

Hope the Clattenburg stuff isn't true. Funny part though as hes been pulled from this weeks games.

"Mark Clattenburg is one of the elite referees in world football and

.... HAH

Clattenburg's always had a whiff of something slightly off about him - he was banned for months over his dodgy business dealings a few years back.

well that was a 2nd half

and Gervinho is out 4 weeks!

Henry Winter ‏@henrywinter
Amusing....Giroud and Coquelin threw their shirts into crowd thinking game was over. Had to request them back for extra time!

Of course it's Chamakh who scores the go ahead. Only thing that makes sense for this insane game.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

WWWWWWWALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLCOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!! IS THIS REAL LIFE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

What. The. f*ck.

Q : Do Reading have a defence ?

A : "Your honour, if Mark Hughes had been our manager, it would have been 5-9"

In other news, Wigan went out at home to a League 2 team on penalties (shame), while one of the most over-rated managers of recent times (O'Neill, M) got beaten at home by local rivals Middlesbrough. A second-string Southampton team got thumped 3-0 by Leeds (so you could argue there was no drop off from their first XI then), on the same day that 'Fingers' Redknapp stated that he had no interest in the Blackburn job. He's managed Soton once (and took them down..) - coincidence ?

UCRC wrote:

What. The. f*ck.

What's the opposite of Catenaccio?

Football.

Wasn't the ideal way to qualify but I think it was at least exciting ;D

Hopefully it gives Chamakh a chance to get back in the side.

Hes a strange one. He fell out of favor but its not like I can remember him sucking on a consistent basis. He just stopped getting starts or sub appearances and that was that.

from his resume last year

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/84609/marouane-chamakh?cc=5901

His only start in 2012 was vs Leeds in the FA cup early on and his most consistent performance was 'Unused Substitute'. In the games he did get in I don't think it even totals 90 minutes.

Not like I think hes amazing but he has a chance now with Gervinho out 4 weeks to get back in the squad and hopefully keep Gervinho out. ;P

I completely forgot about the match and turned it on in the 89th minute just in time to see the last two goals. I can't comment too much on Chamahk's performance prior but he seemed decent in ET. I was impressed by Walcott in ET. He was everywhere and was taking on multiple players and successfully dribbling through them. That one play early in ET where he dribbled through 3-4 guy and laid it off to Arshavin (who miffed it far too wide) was Henry-esque.

Extra time in the Chelsea United game

advantage everyone as theres a bunch of Chelsea first teamers in the lineup.

I only wish United played that back four in league games.

Guess not.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/YkAGg.jpg)

UCRC wrote:

I only wish United played that back four in league games.

I only wish Chelsea play so many first teamers through the capitol cup...

Long year if Hazard, Mata and Oscar are in every game.

Short review of United - Arsenal after 30 minutes. Santos - MEH, Podolski - MEH. Eveyone but Cazorla and Wilshere - meh.

edit: first 45 update: Cazorla is up to meh, Giroud - MEH.

I have obviously underestimated Arsene's charitable nature, which has been amply demonstrated by his giving Santos a full contract after he was released by the Dog & Duck's Sunday League team.

davet010 wrote:

I have obviously underestimated Arsene's charitable nature, which has been amply demonstrated by his giving Santos a full contract after he was released by the Dog & Duck's Sunday League team.

I honestly feel bad for the guy. Not his fault hes just plainly awful and they keep sticking him out there.

Getting RvP's jersey at half time was the clincher tho. He has no idea.

Ray Parlour ‏@RealRomfordPele
Just Heard he swapped Shirts HT. that's a Joke!

ESPN's commentary team are a disgrace. Here's how bad they were...Craig Burley was the least bitter and biased of the three. Still, to be fair Shaka Hislop does know about 'this isn't how you win trophies', given that his trophy cabinet isn't exactly overstuffed. Yet another gobsh*te who became a vastly better player when he stopped playing. City were apparently 'very disappointing' and negative. Let's see...

Shots 18 (8 on target) compared to 6 for West Ham (0 on target).
Possession 61%

And City were the away team, remember.

That room for improvement for Arsenal team is quickly becoming moderately-sized lobby or foyer.

jowner, tell me in what percent it's players fault, and in which it's the system's

UCRC wrote:

That room for improvement for Arsenal team is quickly becoming moderately-sized lobby or foyer.

jowner, tell me in what percent it's players fault, and in which it's the system's

I honestly don't think Santos is that bad a player but hes clearly out of his depth. Its compounded by the fact hes playing LB and the guy covering infront of him isn't known for his defense either.

Hes pretty much a bench player LW imo. Hes starting at LB..... vs United fielding Rooney and RvP. It took 3 minutes for him to be part of a mistake at the back.

Frustrating part is Wenger has such a reputation god forbid anyone call him out on tactics and team selection.

Last week I bet the Schalke manager could of named our formation and first 11 before the game.

At half today pretty much everyone (twitter/tv pundits) were calling/wondering if Wenger would make a half time sub. Whens the last time you can remember him doing a halftime sub let alone one before the 65th unless it was injury related?

I cant for the life of me remember if theres ever been one. Its like making a sub before then is an admission of 'f*ck, well this selection and formation didn't work, not so smart am I'.

I was praying the Walcott sub for Ramsey would shake their heads out and get back into the game. Not so much. If Ramsey didn't pull up I doubt we see that sub until the 65-70th or once United go 2-0 up and it becomes really obvious things are not working.

f*ck. I'm still wondering about the time he pulled Oxlade off last year and everyone almost started booing they were so confused.

DONT MAKE MARIO MAD!#@!#!#!#$%$!$!$

IMAGE(http://cadfael.tv/image/src/1352237890122.gif)

probably was a PK though.

Mabe 40-50% of the time he'll get that call. Of course the offside goal right before that I didn't think was offside. But it seemed like the crew was calling offside very much in favor of the defense.

Happy birthday Celtic! hah!

and that Mario gif cracks me up still.

Hes so mad that the camera can't even focus on him!

We have talked about statistics here before.

I think they are valuable but the real problem is learning to collect meaningful data...

Which leads me to a question someone asked on Twitter today that reminded me of this.

Lineker (probably Daves favorite) asked how is possession calculated.

My immediate thought was YOU IDIOT!!! Then I realized I wasn't 100% sure even. Which makes sense as there’s been countless times when they flash that stat and I'm completely dumbfounded by how they got to a near 50/50 split in a game I swore was being dominated by one side.

I'm sure teams do their own analysis and the better teams are doing their own very detailed but I wouldn't be surprised if Arsenal have lead the league in Meaningless Possession many times.

You know the kicking it sideways and down the wings and never actually threatening to score type.

Sad part is how dysfunctional the hierarchy of the club seems at times they probably have no clue. Kinda like their excuse of why commercial revenues are so poor.

Good question jowner, I'm not entirely sure how any of these stats are collected, other than that Opta seem to do a lot of business out of it. I know that some clubs have statistical analysts so that they can get the data that they want (City certainly do, although I think that is a relatively recent addition).

I can see what you mean by 'meaningless possession', but think of it this way - if you have the ball, then not only are you dictating the position and the tempo of play, but the opposition doesn't have it. I think it'll also depend on situation as well, and it only takes a second for a 'what the hell is he doing there' to a '...and that's a killer ball to player x....goal !'.

As for your last point - I think a lot depends on how you classify things. Arsenal's commercial income looks low at £33m, but your game day income is over £90m, and apart from MU no one else is over £41m. Although some of that may be connected with the eye-watering ticket prices at the Emirates.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/23/premier-league-accounts-profit-debt