2012/13 Soccer Thread

Cruyff wasn't really part of the Barca setup during Pep's time, he was too busy being a nob at Ajax. And I don't really know how much Rosell was involved...but certainly Laporta was happy to leave him to win things in order to pump up his (Laporta's) political ambitions.

Current favourite is...Rafa ?! Good manager, knows Torres, but was garbage at Inter and their players have subsequently slated him. Pep apparently has said he won't end his sabbatical early, but Benitez surely won't agree to come to Chelsea just as a stand-in.

Ooo, I hope they get 'Arry.

On the subject of the twitchy one, I think QPR might be wary - Les spent sh*tloads over summer there, and their wage bill is mahoosive. Twitchy loves a bun....err, deal, so picking him they would be signing themselves up for more huge outlays. As for Hughes getting jobs, well it's amazing how long the 'up-and-coming British manager' label lasts. I'm hoping he succeeds Fergie

Yikes....

I knew Roman was a nut but I thought he might wait until the weekend to see how Chelsea do vs City.

Never thought someone would beat Hughes to the sack. Good thing the odds werent up on the books I frequent.

I think the money-launderer wants to get in while Steve Keane or Twitcher are still available

Don't really have anything to say about Chelsea situation, I guess. We all know how ridiculous it is, and can only silently hope it doesn't cease to provide hilarity

Maybe if we all wish, it'll come true...

"Sparky...Sparky....Sparky...."

Also, obvious thing just occurred to me for the first time - for someone who made so much money he's really stupid.

Wow, Podolski. And what a team player Giroud is turning out to be, two perfect assists.

IMAGE(http://cadfael.tv/image/src/1353532460935.gif)

UCRC wrote:

Also, obvious thing just occurred to me for the first time - for someone who made so much money he's really stupid.

'Made' ?

His major ability is not being daft enough to piss Putin off.

7 goals and 6 assists for Giroud in all so far... 2/1 in the Capitol/Carling whatever if you want to discount those.

Hes coming along. I by no means think hes some world beater of RvP's level but hes starting to show a very rounded skill set.

Goals? Assists? same difference for me as it means the ball went in the net. RvP had 9 total assists last year.

Aaaand.....Rafa's back. His transfer record at Liverpool was frequent and patchy, so it'll be interesting to see how he goes on at Chelsea. I'm hoping he doesn't manage to re-energise Torres, though.

davet010 wrote:

Aaaand.....Rafa's back. His transfer record at Liverpool was frequent and patchy, so it'll be interesting to see how he goes on at Chelsea. I'm hoping he doesn't manage to re-energise Torres, though.

''We don't need to give away stupid plastic flags to our fans to wave, our supporters are always there with their hearts and that is all we need. Its the passion of the fans that helps us to win matches, not flags. Chelsea fans lack passion."

Yea, this aint going to last long.

Roman cant actually sack 2 coaches before the rest of the league does 1?

edit: And as for Torres I would be shocked if he just returns to form. Sure tactically Rafa could maybe put him in better positions but I think its clearly something else.

Don't ask me to try and explain it but whatever Torres had and how he lost it is pretty inexplicable.

He'd better play Torres - dropping the moneylaunderer's pet was what cost RDM the job, apparently.

davet010 wrote:
UCRC wrote:

Also, obvious thing just occurred to me for the first time - for someone who made so much money he's really stupid.

'Made' ?

His major ability is not being daft enough to piss Putin off.

Well, then I guess I can just revise my judgement to "for someone so skilled at not pissing off people, he really pisses a lot of people off".

Yeah, but pissing off Putin gets you a non-luxury apartment in one of Siberia's prisons - ask Michael Khodorkovsky.

And FIFA denied Drogba a out of window loan move. At least they are useful for 1 thing.

davet010 wrote:

Yeah, but pissing off Putin gets you a non-luxury apartment in one of Siberia's prisons - ask Michael Khodorkovsky.

Point.

Clattenburg cleared, Obi Mikel charged by the FA with misconduct.

Class, on the field and off.

Aaaaannddd....Sparky may have lasted longer than RDM, but only by a couple of days - QPR have binned him.

Meanwhile, Fergie goes off on one about Benitez, for some reason. Maybe's it's because Benitez hates him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/footbal...

Love the way he talks about other people being 'lucky'. Wonder what term he would use for the guy who took 5 years to win his first trophy in England and had their newly-promoted neighbours paste them 5-1 ?

Oh, that's right - he'd call him 'me'.

UCRC wrote:

IMAGE(http://cadfael.tv/image/src/1353532460935.gif)

wth is that? the one that scored?

UCRC wrote:
Pikey26 wrote:

Less about men/women you secretly find attractive and more about football please.

Sure, no probl-

Pikey26 wrote:

ppps. UCRC, that said Davet is absolutely right. In the past, Hollywood has manufactured some really horrendously talent-less and/or not-even-that-nice-to-look-at disasters that were absolutely not deserving of the money/fame they received (I realize the irony that this is a thread for modern football). But Hollywood really pushed to new lows with some of the Twilight lot, Kristen Stewart being the most obvious of them all.

lol i can't help it. I am American.

davet010 wrote:

On the subject of the twitchy one, I think QPR might be wary - Les spent sh*tloads over summer there, and their wage bill is mahoosive. Twitchy loves a bun....err, deal, so picking him they would be signing themselves up for more huge outlays. As for Hughes getting jobs, well it's amazing how long the 'up-and-coming British manager' label lasts. I'm hoping he succeeds Fergie :)

Personally my dream scenario would be if Fergie could stay on for another few years at the helm wrecking his head over why his diamond formations don't work with the likes of Carrick and Scholes slumming it in there. At least until Solskjaer can truly be ready to step into the big times. Sure the norweign league is a joke, but so was the team he was handed. Solskjaer could totally pull off a 'GUardiola' at United imo.

That said all signs in the world apparently point to Guardiola taking over with Fergie being more likely than ever to step off at the end of this season.

davet010 wrote:

Aaaaannddd....Sparky may have lasted longer than RDM, but only by a couple of days - QPR have binned him.

Meanwhile, Fergie goes off on one about Benitez, for some reason. Maybe's it's because Benitez hates him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/footbal...

Love the way he talks about other people being 'lucky'. Wonder what term he would use for the guy who took 5 years to win his first trophy in England and had their newly-promoted neighbours paste them 5-1 ?

Oh, that's right - he'd call him 'me'.

lol, i'd personally say different times different games, but fair point. still, Benitez kinda 'started it' with his pedestrian conspiracy accusations of Ferguson being favored by the FA.

davet010 wrote:

He'd better play Torres - dropping the moneylaunderer's pet was what cost RDM the job, apparently.

I forget what happened in the scouser land, but wasn't Benitez like BFF with Torres?

I thought that was like the only reason he got the job? Well that and no one else except Benitez would have taken that job.

Benitez was the guy who bought him and managed him when he was one of the top strikers in the Premiership, so I'm guessing they get on.

As for managers, Benitez was one of the few available managers who has the experience to manage the collection of moaners and primadonnas at the Bridge. The details of his contract haven't been disclosed, but the RPML only does big names, and doesn't want someone who he'll regret getting stuck with if Pep doesn't take his roubles in the summer.

I by no means think Rafa is a bad manager but at the same time hes been out of the game for 2? years. Seems strange to me. Wheres the drive that Ferguson/Mancini/Mourinho/Wenger have. If any of those guys were out of the game for 2 years I would honestly expect them to keel over and die.

He didn't come out of the Inter job with a particularly good rep, nor did he have a brilliant record at Liverpool to point to (2 cups in 6 years and a heck of a lot of cash spent) - that might have put off a lot of the sort of teams who he might consider managing. I also think it's good sometimes for managers to take a little time out to rethink their approach, rather than just leap into the first job that came up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20470165

Arsenal's new £150m deal with Emirates will give the club extra money to spend on new players next summer, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis. Dubai-based airline Emirates will pay Arsenal £30m per season for shirt and stadium sponsorship.

The new deals and money that we always knew were coming...

Thing is I don't believe they will spend it aggressively. The club has never been in danger of going bankrupt and the new commercial deals were always on the horizon. If they actually wanted to spend they could of dipped into the huge cash reserves.

Thats not irresponsible. You know the Prem deal is going up. You know your commercial deals are going up. They could spend now. They could of kept RvP and ate the letting him walk next year on free.

Its to bad because some fans are really going to go "SEE NEW DEALS!!! WERE GOING TO SPEND!!!" and watch for the flop when Chelsea splash out for Falcao and Arsenal just say no to expensive.

Prederick wrote:
davet010 wrote:

Thereagain, he looked more involved than Twitcher, who seemed somewhat intoxicated...maybe he was thinking about something else (cough *QPR* cough).

Quick
Phone
Redknapp

You know it's coming. How does Hughes keep on getting PL jobs anyway? He's done notably worse at every stop since Blackburn.

Ba-dum bum.

You stay classy, Lazio =/

jowner wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20470165

Arsenal's new £150m deal with Emirates will give the club extra money to spend on new players next summer, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis. Dubai-based airline Emirates will pay Arsenal £30m per season for shirt and stadium sponsorship.

The new deals and money that we always knew were coming...

Thing is I don't believe they will spend it aggressively. The club has never been in danger of going bankrupt and the new commercial deals were always on the horizon. If they actually wanted to spend they could of dipped into the huge cash reserves.

Thats not irresponsible. You know the Prem deal is going up. You know your commercial deals are going up. They could spend now. They could of kept RvP and ate the letting him walk next year on free.

Its to bad because some fans are really going to go "SEE NEW DEALS!!! WERE GOING TO SPEND!!!" and watch for the flop when Chelsea splash out for Falcao and Arsenal just say no to expensive.

I think his departure had less to do with the money and the club's performane I thought?