2012/13 Soccer Thread

In a strange place as a fan.

I almost wouldn't mind losing to Chelsea if it means it forces Wenger to go out shopping.

I rate Spurs to be neck and neck with us for 4th unless they outpace Arsenal for injuries down the stretch. Its a possibility with them still being in the Europa league.

I can understand that A or even B+ quality signing isn't currently available but this squad is thin especially if theres a run of injuries at a certain position.

I think the worst case scenario is that Arsenal are dumped out of all other competitions, finish 5th and its only 'pretend' close, and United win the title with RvP winning player of the year and top scorer.

Scary part is if you could piece that bet together on a gambling site its probably lower odds then us winning anything this year but the imaginary award for '4th'.

Not sure how Wenger could keep this charade going in May if hes staring at -$$$ not qualifying for the CL versus the +$$$ of selling RvP. Would be very hard pressed to wiggle your way out of the fact you sold your best player so United could win a title while dumping yourself out of Europe.

Worry not mate, for Arsenal have a plan to ensure they finish second every year.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...

Yes, I know it's the Volkischer Beobachter, but Samuels has a habit of being on the button.

Guardiola to Man City, Mourinho to Chelsea?

Sky Italia keep saying Guardiola is going to Bayern, but Guillam Balague's blog says not. It's possible, and I guess the Sheikhs admire his persona, unlike that of Mourinho. He's the ultimate quick fix...massive buys without considering the chemistry, no youth development - 3 years and burn out the club.

davet010 wrote:

Worry not mate, for Arsenal have a plan to ensure they finish second every year.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...

Yes, I know it's the Volkischer Beobachter, but Samuels has a habit of being on the button.

Damn you dave! you're making me want City to win the title.

In seriousness though I cant see FFP being anything but a cluster f*ck.

Oh, this isn't FFP in the UEFA sense, it's beyond that - although the aim is the same. To cement the status quo and f**k everyone else.

In other news, Vince has had his red card rescinded.

In other other news, the assistant referee who was caught on camera telling Lescott to go to the City fans at the end of the game 'because they paid £62 to be here' has been stood down for his next match. Now I was of the opinion at the time that he should have perhaps minded his own business, but it seems a bit harsh to get banned for that when there are referees who make mistakes week after week and carry on regardless.

I watched the video of the "incident", and he clearly didn't mean it to admonish the players, but in a good-natured way. It's absolutely ridiculous he got "stood down" for it. But then, the PL's got to protect "the brand", don't they?

Also, I can only hope that next year will somehow begin with Pep and Mou in the PL. What a wonderful disaster that would be.

You know, I love Pep, I think he did amazing things with Barca, but I think it's also completely fair to wonder how he'll be if he gets a job at a club where he isn't part of the woodwork, so to speak.

I think my dream scenario is Mou back to Chelsea, Pep to City, and Sir Alex stays on, giving us the single most epic media quotes season in history.

And of course, Arsene will be sitting in the back of the classroom, looking sad and mumbling to himself.

I have same feeling as Pred does - ref got dropped for purely political reasons and it goes to show whose side FA is going to take every time issue of money arises.

My prediction is Mou to Chelsea, Pep to City, Ferguson stays, Wenger finishes 5th this season, starts drinking heavily and develops Benzedrine addiction, has a serious mental breakdown on 31st of August, buys Falcao, Neymar and Cavani and goes all mid-90s Keegan on the league, with 4-2-4 total football, Walcott as right back, Cazorla as libero, Wenger running along the touchline and getting into Fight Club-esque fights with other managers. (Complete with reenacment of that fat bar manager vs Brad Pitt scene, starring Big Sam.)

Anyway, that's my dream scenario.

I think it depends how we get on this season, if by some miracle we win the champions league again (and it would be a miracle the way it's been the last few seasons) I think Fergie would retire. I'd like to see Mourinho at United if Fergie retired, if not then I would like to see him back in the Prem, it made good viewing when he was here last.

Who knows - they might keep Raffa on at Chelsea, he seems to be doing alright at the moment, maybe even the fans will warm to him

UCRC wrote:

I have same feeling as Pred does - ref got dropped for purely political reasons and it goes to show whose side FA is going to take every time issue of money arises.

My prediction is Mou to Chelsea, Pep to City, Ferguson stays, Wenger finishes 5th this season, starts drinking heavily and develops Benzedrine addiction, has a serious mental breakdown on 31st of August, buys Falcao, Neymar and Cavani and goes all mid-90s Keegan on the league, with 4-2-4 total football, Walcott as right back, Cazorla as libero, Wenger running along the touchline and getting into Fight Club-esque fights with other managers. (Complete with reenacment of that fat bar manager vs Brad Pitt scene, starring Big Sam.)

My predictions ?

Mourinho - Chelsea (so Fat Frank and Cashley then get new deals)

Arsenal thank Arsene for his service and offer him some sort of 'Director of Football' post, which he refuses. They then approach Guardiola and attempt to convince him that they, like him, 'do things the right way' and that they are going to build through a youth system (or, more correctly, other teams youth systems which they then poach) rather than giving him a humongous transfer budget. This will work well, as Guardiola also loves to appear whiter than white, and tends to blow large sums on average players when not firmly controlled.

Ferguson will be at United until carried out, because he's a greedy bastard. What United will need to appoint is someone to do what Clough did at Leeds following Revie, so the ideal for them would be Mourinho - 3 year purge and then gone. What they will get is anyone's guess.

City - Bert continues.

and... predictions shattered....

Pedro Pinto ‏@pedrocnn
Bayern confirming on official twitter account that Guardiola has signed from July until 2016. @CNNFC
FC Bayern München ‏@FCBayern
Jupp #Heynckes will finish his successful career by the end of this season. Pep #Guardiola will take over as FC Bayern head coach in July.

and why is it when I think Bayern and the Bundesliga the Imperial March plays in my head...

Talk about taking the easy way out.

- Squad already Champions-elect of the Bundesliga (9pts clear at the halfway point)
- Only really world-class squad in the entire league, no local rivals
- Only team in the Bundesliga with money to throw about without selling first
- Senior management proven to have patience

Still, he never really struck me as someone who can deal with adversity when he doesn't have a fawning fan base and support structure behind him, so this is probably ideal.

You non-United fans just don't know, this is ALL for Solskjaer.

Ferguson looked to go this year or the next, making way for Guardiola (there are some big senior figures who dislike Mourinho enough to rule him out, not to mention the fact that he's the ultimate 'short-term' candidate that also happens to come about as expensive as they get).

And then Solskjaer won the Norwegian league AGAIN with Molde, right after he'd won the 100 year old club's first ever Title for the Norwegian top-flight. Fergie had just forgotten to consider, after so many of his previous players went on to be some of the worst managers in history. He hadn't stopped to consider that in one of his myriad of player-managers, the little one that won a bunch of honors for the Club while learning things and obtaining badges (reserves/youth titles), then scurried away to a little country called Norway, the club actually has had its very own Guardiola in the making.

United's own 'Guardiola', molded and built from the ground up. Everything about Solskjaer so closely resembles how Ferguson got his start (Scottish football maybe SLIGHTLY better than Norwegian top-flight.. hmm Davet?), some of the differences being Solskjaer is far more savvy/well-tempered for today's media and perhaps that he's a stronger candidate for United now than when Ferguson took the reigns at United. I can't help but feel Molde was probably a little worse off than where Aberdeen was when Ferguson joined.

Age some have cited as being an issue, but managers across the board are younger in modern football. Solskjaer, at 39, can't be too far from the age Mourinho and Guardiola joined their respective 'first' clubs, Porto and Barcelona.

He's a club legend that knows the club inside out and has been with us for a very long time. He's a huge part of club folklore, he knows the culture, he's seen first-hand what can happen at the club and how it can happen when you have managers like Busby/Ferguson come in, he's focused/detail oriented, he's humble, he's got wonderful temperment and a pleasant yet sufficient/smart way of dealing with the media (which is certainly an area of improvement over Ferguson), and he knows the fans. Fans would love him. For most of the true fans or any fan in their 20s or above, if there was ever a manager right now that they'd most willing to be patient with for transitioning out of Ferguson's reign, Solskjaer just might be the only one in the world.

So yeah, Ferguson needs to hold on a little while longer. He needs to give Solskjaer another year or two if he can, let him get those 3-4 years of experience before he takes on the job that will become him for the rest of his life. ;p

My prediction/analysis.

Not sure he's a stronger candidate for United than Fergie - Fergie had won the SPL multiple times when it was much more competitive than it is now, as well as the Cup Winners Cup, beating Bayern and AM. Solskjaer has done nothing yet.

Also remember that Fergie had 5 seasons, and spent a lot of money for the time, before they were fortunate to win the FA Cup - grace given to him because his predecessors for the previous 15 years had won jack apart from FA Cups and had been run out of the club. OGS would presumably be following on from SAF, and would therefore be compared to him, not to clowns like Fat Ron and Tommy 'the Drunk' Docherty, and to his record, not theirs.

Interesting idea though.

Pikey26 wrote:

So yeah, Ferguson needs to hold on a little while longer. He needs to give Solskjaer another year or two if he can, let him get those 3-4 years of experience before he takes on the job

Well, then the obvious solution would be to have Ferguson manage for 70-75 minutes every game and then put Solskjaer on.

So your dreaming that some former player who can win in the Norwegian league is going to replace Ferguson whenever hes done and go for another +25 years run of success.

Thank you for sharing your wet dreams.

As for Guardiola. He took the most concrete job from a club that was actually in a position to offer him one.

Every other club has a current manager with no clear timeline for retirement. Any of those clubs who contacted him did so with allot of wishy washy details.

edit: If were living in make believe land... Henry as Manager and Berkamp as his assistant. They also both play.

Oh, I think Pikey is on the right track. The United job will be a toxic one for SAF's immediate successor, so if I were Solskjaer, I would let someone else have a bash at it and get fired, then go for it. If he sticks at Molde, he might not be adding to his CV, but he's not adding failures to it either, which he would do if he went to another club in Europe and made a pig's ear of it.

And Guardiola had no particular need to take a job now. He's just gone for the easiest option of the major clubs available.

That's more like it! Really nice goal from Wilshere, and another great assist from Giroud.

Eee, that Scholesy's a little scamp isn't he ? "Oh, everyone knows Scholesy can't tackle"

A : No, he's a nasty, snide little tw*t who has made a career out of these 'amusing' challenges. And of course, he got a yellow card, so it can't be revisited.

IMAGE(http://cadfael.tv/image/src/1358373198164.gif)

davet010 wrote:

Not sure he's a stronger candidate for United than Fergie - Fergie had won the SPL multiple times when it was much more competitive than it is now, as well as the Cup Winners Cup, beating Bayern and AM. Solskjaer has done nothing yet.

Also remember that Fergie had 5 seasons, and spent a lot of money for the time, before they were fortunate to win the FA Cup - grace given to him because his predecessors for the previous 15 years had won jack apart from FA Cups and had been run out of the club. OGS would presumably be following on from SAF, and would therefore be compared to him, not to clowns like Fat Ron and Tommy 'the Drunk' Docherty, and to his record, not theirs.

Interesting idea though.

Yeah I absolutely do recognize and remember Ferguson's adjustment period before he got things rolling. And it's my hope that the board and the support would remember this.

What you say about people expecting OSG to be like Ferguson wouldn't be the worst thing, IF OSG was compared to Ferguson to the FULLEST extent. It'd actually be a great thing, if the board and the fans ignored ridiculous modern expectations of what managers 'should do/achieve', and considered ALL of Ferguson's career when trying to use it as a measuring stick for OSG.

That's why it's a total pipe dream of mine, to expect the fans and the board to be truly thinking for the long term when expecting long term success out of Ferguson's successor. If they could, I can think of few candidates, very few candidates if any, better than OSG.

ps. That said with so many people muttering and claiming 'Ferguson's era' will never be seen again, it does worry me that our supporters and board won't be up to the challenge. Because if the state of management in all the other top clubs in today's football is anything to go by (barring Arsenal)... they're right.

I'm wouldn't consider myself a fan, but I genuinely believe that for every big club the list has to start wih him and if he's available, it would be foolish not to take him. Guardiola is a very nice man etc. but (and it's been said million times in this thread already) its hard to tell how versatile he is.
I think I already said it, but if Arsenal finds itself without a manager tomorrow morning, then the first manager they call has to be him. Maybe he's not the answer long term, but no one has his CV.

UCRC wrote:

I'm wouldn't consider myself a fan, but I genuinely believe that for every big club the list has to start wih him and if he's available, it would be foolish not to take him. Guardiola is a very nice man etc. but (and it's been said million times in this thread already) its hard to tell how versatile he is.
I think I already said it, but if Arsenal finds itself without a manager tomorrow morning, then the first manager they call has to be him. Maybe he's not the answer long term, but no one has his CV.

Eek. You really think Wenger has been pushed that far in the eyes of the board)?

davet010 wrote:

Ferguson will be at United until carried out, because he's a greedy bastard. What United will need to appoint is someone to do what Clough did at Leeds following Revie, so the ideal for them would be Mourinho - 3 year purge and then gone. What they will get is anyone's guess.

City - Bert continues.

Wouldn't that be a 44 day reign of terror followed by getting sacked, replaced by a wise old man who gets you to within one bent ref of winning the European Cup? Not a 3 yeart purge

UCRC wrote:
Pikey26 wrote:

So yeah, Ferguson needs to hold on a little while longer. He needs to give Solskjaer another year or two if he can, let him get those 3-4 years of experience before he takes on the job

Well, then the obvious solution would be to have Ferguson manage for 70-75 minutes every game and then put Solskjaer on.

hahahaha.

jowner wrote:

So your dreaming that some former player who can win in the Norwegian league is going to replace Ferguson whenever hes done and go for another +25 years run of success.

Thank you for sharing your wet dreams.

Oh no there will probably be a pretty rough transitional period if Solskjaer does come in immediately after (my true wet dream would be if some other idiot came for the inevitable period of hardship/failure, and if Solskjaer continue to build his experience elsewhere for at least 3-4 additional years).

But it's not as far-fetched either. After all, aside from the reserve experience (just like Solskjaer's), Guardiola's was even less when he took the Barca job. I do realize there's a huge difference between the team/Messi Guardiola inherited and what Solskjaer would inherit, but the team and youth program Solskjaer would inherit isn't too terribly far behind either. That and Solskjaer has proven to be far more than Guardiola at working with limited resources and absolutely maximizing the potential (Molde was in rough ass shape and didn't exactly provide Solskjaer with United/Barca money).

If we were talking long-term, I think I'd still much prefer Solskjaer over Guardiola.

And on that note, I am not sure anybody really wants Mourinho. I've yet to run into many fans that do.

Pikey26 wrote:
UCRC wrote:

I'm wouldn't consider myself a fan, but I genuinely believe that for every big club the list has to start wih him and if he's available, it would be foolish not to take him. Guardiola is a very nice man etc. but (and it's been said million times in this thread already) its hard to tell how versatile he is.
I think I already said it, but if Arsenal finds itself without a manager tomorrow morning, then the first manager they call has to be him. Maybe he's not the answer long term, but no one has his CV.

Eek. You really think Wenger has been pushed that far in the eyes of the board)?

Finish 5th and the fans might not give the board an option....

year after year you cant lower the clubs expectations to the point where we are calling 4th 'as if winning a title' and talk about our amazing record of qualifying for the round of 16.

Finish 5th and miss out on the CL money and Wenger + the board pretty much demolish any reasoning they had to sell RvP.

davet010 wrote:

Eee, that Scholesy's a little scamp isn't he ? "Oh, everyone knows Scholesy can't tackle"

A : No, he's a nasty, snide little tw*t who has made a career out of these 'amusing' challenges. And of course, he got a yellow card, so it can't be revisited.

IMAGE(http://cadfael.tv/image/src/1358373198164.gif)

a f*cking joke compared to what Kompany did. Makes it more hilarious that he was sent off and got his properly rescinded yet Scholes gets off free.

Football needs to get out of the stoneage regarding doing things retro actively post match with video evidence.

Have a panel of refs and start throwing out warning + fines etc. This includes for diving.

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

Heh, takes the safest and the easiest of the jobs that were offered to him. At least, imo anyway.

Clever fella this one. Leaves Barca just at the very peak of one of the greatest teams in history of club football, and then does this. Goes on a hiatus, teases the Premiership top clubs, then backs off and keeps them at bay when he realizes all of these projects would provide incredibly tough challenges that are perhaps out of his league, enjoys the competition and attention of all the best clubs in the world vying for his attention, and ultimately takes a job with one of the most stable top clubs.

At least now the fatty at Chelsea can take a deep sigh of relief. ;p

jowner wrote:

Football needs to get out of the stoneage regarding doing things retro actively post match with video evidence.

This more than anything.

I don't think fees and penalties will matter as much as the real bans/send-offs from the game and the notion that you no longer can bullsh*t your way out of a game.

UCRC wrote:
Pikey26 wrote:

So yeah, Ferguson needs to hold on a little while longer. He needs to give Solskjaer another year or two if he can, let him get those 3-4 years of experience before he takes on the job

Well, then the obvious solution would be to have Ferguson manage for 70-75 minutes every game and then put Solskjaer on.

IMAGE(http://assets0.ordienetworks.com/images/GifGuide/clapping/golf-clap.gif)