2008/09 Soccer Thread in Shock £50m Chelsea Switch! (And Other Ludicrousness)

dumb_kid wrote:

Oh well. We made a good go at it at least.

The USA. Sigh. That game should have been a win, but I think they let the weight of their expectations at half overwhelm them. Brasil looked like they were playing (and they were -- ) to not be crucified or lined up against a wall and were beyond hyper, driving in constantly at the US defense until it started cracking as Kaka continued to make run after run at near posts.

Again, looking for anyone up front is still a priority for the US. I'm not sure Altidore was even on the field and Davies was just abysmal out there. How many times is he going to give the ball up to Brasil in the attacking third without even taking a look at goal or making the fruitful pass? His vision is just terrible to behold. The counterattack goal was well done and Spector's cross (My West Ham buddy) to the Deuce was beautiful. Allowing three goals in one half? I don't care who you're playing against, it should never, ever happen. Brasil would let the Americans attack deeper into their third, take the ball away and find easier passes than Spain did because the US midfield was spread out much farther than the previous game. Nice work on Brasil's part to come from two down to win the match.

By the way, wtf Bocanegra? You play today either? Christ, your guy was crossing into the box all day. All day. Hell, the ball would rebound back out to him and you weren't even there to pressure his touches. Gah!

davet010 wrote:

I'd much rather have Ribery than Benzema, though. .

21 vs 26.

Played to much FM that I rate Benzema the same as Aguero as cant miss top 5 strikers in the world once their careers really start to take off.

Cesc + Nasri feeding Benzema with Walcott playing off Benzema. Please god please.

jowner wrote:
davet010 wrote:

I'd much rather have Ribery than Benzema, though. .

21 vs 26.

Played to much FM that I rate Benzema the same as Aguero as cant miss top 5 strikers in the world once their careers really start to take off.

Cesc + Nasri feeding Benzema with Walcott playing off Benzema. Please god please.

Well, we can dream anyway...So long as Cesc doesn't leave.

jowner wrote:
davet010 wrote:

I'd much rather have Ribery than Benzema, though. .

21 vs 26.

Played to much FM that I rate Benzema the same as Aguero as cant miss top 5 strikers in the world once their careers really start to take off.

Cesc + Nasri feeding Benzema with Walcott playing off Benzema. Please god please.

Well, that might be in the world of FM, but I certainly wouldn't put Aguero anywhere near the top 5. We'll see what Walcott is made of tonight in the U-21 Euro Championship final vs Germany, but he's been completely anonymous in the other games, so much so that he was booed off in the first one.

BlackSheep wrote:

[Brasil] were beyond hyper, driving in constantly at the US defense until it started cracking

In other words: they were just standing there. Occasionally, they were standing between the ball and the net and it bounced off them.
That would be about it. It was like watching... Poland.

davet010 wrote:

Well, that might be in the world of FM, but I certainly wouldn't put Aguero anywhere near the top 5.

Same for Benzema. He's very good, but until he's proven himself in one of best clubs in England, Spain or Italy, he's no more than that.

To some degree, Aguero has been fortunate in that he has always had an excellent striker with him (Torres, then Forlan), and most of their goals are not necessarily as a result of his work. I would have to say, though, that the Atletico Madrid fans are far more passionate than either Barcelona or Real, so if you can survive in the Calderon, you can survive anywhere.

I've not seen as much of Benzema, other than for France, and to be fair the current French squad seem to be struggling as a whole whenever I've seen them.

UCRC wrote:
BlackSheep wrote:

[Brasil] were beyond hyper, driving in constantly at the US defense until it started cracking

In other words: they were just standing there. Occasionally, they were standing between the ball and the net and it bounced off them.
That would be about it. It was like watching... Poland.

I think it was more that they were trying to recover, but were often caught in-between. Jonathon Spector had a good game, even if he did get beat by Kaka that set up the second goal. The difference between this game and Spain were that Brasil simply let the Americans drive deeper into their territory before stiffening up. This loosened that 4-4 defensive line the Americans were playing with back there, spreading them out and allowing for quick play through it and tons more space to work with, including through the middle. Spain couldn't find that space because their defense often shut the attack down before it even started and all 11 Americans were still standing near their zone responsibilities.

It sucks to follow a team that is so technically inferior to their opponents that its almost comical to watch. Even though the US beat Spain, I certainly wasn't impressed because it was absolutely ugly -- as if the US took a page out of Guatamala's book and shoved 10 guys in around the box and had one guy (Carlos Ruiz) up front to win a ball in the air, hopefully draw a foul, and restart with some offense from a set play. Ugh.

See below. Crap.

...and further. Somehow, I ended up triple posting instead of double posting.

I'm pretty impressed with how the US turned it around after the losses to Italy and Brazil. I would hope we sweep through the Gold Cup. Hopefully we can get a point or three at Azteca in August.

4-0 Germany Ingerland U21! RUBBISH!

jowner wrote:

4-0 Germany Ingerland U21! RUBBISH!

Might have helped if they'd had any strikers left, or anyone other than Watford's keeper

Am I the only one who thinks that Mesut Özil looks like Peter Lorre's younger brother?...Yes, probably I'm the only one that old. He was definitely Turkish Delight for the Germans today.

Karim Benzema off to Real Madrid for an initial £30m, it is now being reported.

{Paging Mr Platini, Mr Blatter.....sarcastic Englishman on line one...}

C'mon City, put in a cheeky bid for Higuian.

Lord knows how RM are going to keep this lot happy, after all, Raul has always got to play. Maybe the old 2-3-5 formation will be making a return, after all if the 2 were semi-decent it would still be an improvement on last year.

Well at least they are buying them younger this time around.

2-3-5. Pretty funny. I think they still need to buy the 2 part of that formation though.

Truly. Florentino must be hoping they'll win every game 5-4 because, if the Confederations Cup was any indication, Sergio Ramos isn't going to keep you in clean sheets.

You're not wrong there, Pred, nor will that other defender they bought.

Being reported that Villa is having talks with Barca, which may mean the departure of Eto'o/

Oh, and max....2-3-5 was the standard formation pretty much up until the changing of the offside rule from keeper + last 2 defenders to just keeper plus last defender...sometime in the 1920's, from memory. It then mutated into the 3-2-2-3 formation, often known as 'WM', from the shape of it

davet010 wrote:

Oh, and max....2-3-5 was the standard formation pretty much up until the changing of the offside rule from keeper + last 2 defenders to just keeper plus last defender...sometime in the 1920's, from memory. It then mutated into the 3-2-2-3 formation, often known as 'WM', from the shape of it
:)

I know what 2-3-5 refers to. Guess I should have made my "really La Marca says they are going WM" joke.

What I was trying to say is that RM still need to buy two defenders to fill out the 2 part of the 2-3-5. "Pretty funny" was a compliment for making me laugh at the idea of RM going 2-3-5 to accommodate Raul. Outmoded tactics to fit an outmoded player = pretty funny.

Fair enuff - now if only we could find 2 defenders for RM to buy

As an aside, if you've got a few hours to burn at work or at home and feel like learning a bit more of the modern history of the game in England, some kind souls at YouTube have put up the full runs of "Match of the 70s" and "Match of the 80s", which cover the seasons for each year in both decades.

Personally, I enjoy watching for the goal celebrations, which all seem to follow the same pattern.

1.) Raise Arms
2.) Run in an indeterminate direction until teammates catch up with you.

EDIT: Oh, and some of the pitches, which make any recent complaints about Wigan's ground look like crying over the color of the floor-mats in your free Ferrari.

Keep an eye out for the 'Mick Channon', which consists of running while windmilling your right arm.

Sadly enough, I nicked that for my goal celebrations at school.

Double sadly enough, when I'm playing 5-a-side, I occasionally still do it, though only anyone over 40 recognises it.

In slightly unexpected news, Man Utd have been reduced to shopping in the remainders aisle (maybe they are using the Ronaldo money to pay some of their staggering debts) and signed Micheal Owen on a 2 year deal, which given that he has chronic hip and back problems, is most likely a lower basic salary and some sort of appearance and goal incentives.

Man U fans are quite split on it...they won't be happy if he's their only summer signing (as he'll be injured by October), having seen all their other targets go elsewhere. The other person who won't be over pleased is Rooney, as he wants to play centrally and it looks like the pairing is more likely to be Owen and Berbatov.

Now in a fit of unparalleled generosity, I was going to give even Fat Sam Allardyce credit for passing on the past-his-sell-by-date Owen, until the name of his latest transfer target was released.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you someone who I think still holds the record for aggregate transfer fees, whose stats look reasonable but who usually ends up being hated even by his own fans (Inter fans once displayed a banner containing a large number of insults about him while he was still playing for them...yes, it's the fat Italian with the strongest Australian accent outside of a London bar....it's Christian Vieri !!

I hope he signs...I'd love to see what he makes of the thriving cosmopolitan metropolis that is Blackburn

Maybe they both have some kind of aging crisis and want to pretend that it's still year 2000.
I tried to write about Owen transfer earlier but I couldn't even find words to descrbe it properly.

UCRC wrote:

Maybe they both have some kind of aging crisis and want to pretend that it's still year 2000.
I tried to write about Owen transfer earlier but I couldn't even find words to descrbe it properly.

Seconded. I thought they were only going to purchase U-25s? At least not people internationally known for being injury-magnets.

davet010 wrote:

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you someone who I think still holds the record for aggregate transfer fees, whose stats look reasonable but who usually ends up being hated even by his own fans (Inter fans once displayed a banner containing a large number of insults about him while he was still playing for them...yes, it's the fat Italian with the strongest Australian accent outside of a London bar....it's Christian Vieri !!

I hope he signs...I'd love to see what he makes of the thriving cosmopolitan metropolis that is Blackburn :)

Can I find this funnier? No, I cannot. Although i'll bet dollars that somehow, Big Sam and his "lump it up to the big boy" strategy will see him net 10 this year.

I can't see Vieri going to Blackburn....they won't offer him the sort of wages that he'll still think that he can attract. He doubly doubly won't go if they are stupid enough to actually let him see the town of Blackburn, which resembles one of the settlements in Fallout 3 only with less glitz.

Would be amusing though, just to see defenders trying to work out with the deal is with this bloke who moves in geological time.

Oh, I do love listening to Talksport radio, if only for the illustration that footballers, and particularly ex-footballers, are among the most stupid people in the world. A couple of examples from today alone will suffice.

Paul Merson - 'Owen will definitely score 20 league goals this season'. Number of times in his career of 13 seasons that he has scored 20 league goals....never.

Mickey Thomas - 'Owen's injuries have been blown out of all proportion'. Number of times in his career that he has managed even 30 league games....four, and three of them were before 2003.

Still, even little Michael thinks that his injury problems are all over. Since he is apparently now clairvoyant, maybe he can give me tonight's lottery numbers instead ?

At least we now have a new Derby song all prepared - "You're just a team full of scousers.."

I don't think they would sign him if they would now of any persistant problems with injuries. Maybe all he needs is just good physio and medical staff?
(See, I'm desperate to find some reason behind this transfer.)

Just as their medical staff did with Saha and Hargreaves, both of whom had persistent problems before they joined ? Plus the fact that no one can surely deny that he's lost all of his breakaway speed. I think that the fact that he has only played 30 league games once since 2003 would seem to indicate some sort of recurrent issues.

I couldn't actually believe that he'd spent 4 seasons at Newcastle.

davet010 wrote:

I couldn't actually believe that he'd spent 4 seasons at Newcastle.

Wow, really?

davet010 wrote:

Just as their medical staff did with Saha and Hargreaves, both of whom had persistent problems before they joined ?

In my defence: I didn't say they have good staff. I just said that he is going to need it

EDIT:
It's UC, bringing you the most stupid transfer story you're going to hear this summer. Name's Aly Cissokho and he's Porto player targeted by Milan. Even though club's official site claimed that transfer was already done and dusted, Milan decided that they don't want to pay agreed fee and they expect Porto to lower the price. However, they had to have a reason for doing so. So they've claimed that medical results were unsatysfying.
When Aly Cissokho returned from holiday in Senegal 10 days later two surprises awaited him. One: He wasn't Milan's player. Two: It turned out that he couldn't move to Milan because club's medical staff believes that condition of his *teeth* might cause various fitness problems having effect on player's performance.
I'm not making it up.

Now this also might surprise you (or might not, because it's from me...), but Man City once had a very similar issue regarding a player and his teeth..

Paul Ritchie joined City in 2000 as a promising Scots defender (bear with me on this). He was only about 25, but seemed to get a lot of injuries that were related to his back and hips. Eventually, an osteopath identified after discussions with the player and his dentist that Ritchie was one of these people who grinds his teeth in his sleep. He had been doing this from a very early age, and apparently so frequently and so ferociously that while his body was developing, his back or hips (I can't remember which) got slightly unbalanced, leading him to favour one side and to have the unfortunate knack of picking up minor injuries as he landed after heading the ball, for example.

There were a number of people on the City forum site I go on who brought this up when the Cissoko chap was mentioned.

Interesting.

Arsenal-related news: Fiorentina want to do part-exchange deal: Eboue for Felipe Melo. I hope that Wenger will go for it.