2009/10 Soccer Thread - A Fresh Start

Love Dunnes face.

"Uhh is this how I lift a trophy?"

Well it's not like he's got any prior experience, is it ?

Just been announced on Sky Sports News that City have graciously acceded to Moyes' request and ended their interest in Joleon Lescott. Oddly enough, Everton have been linked with 5 different players today....so either Bill Kenwright has struck oil, or they've tipped the sofa up and gone through all of their pockets.

davet010 wrote:

Just been announced on Sky Sports News that City have graciously acceded to Moyes' request and ended their interest in Joleon Lescott.

City 1, Moyes 0, got to give that to you.

In fun news: Bendtner got new contract at Arsenal, worth about 50k/week. And you know what, maybe in some time he'll be worth it. After all since end of last season he's showing some potential to be a good team player. He can't play as a lone striker, but when he gets to play in deeper role he shows some intelligence by holding up the ball and making (well, at least trying to) some good passes. Also, he's pretty good defensive player: he's constantly pressing, tracking back, haunting full-backs.

I must admit, he made Leighton Baines look a bit silly in the build up to the first Arsenal goal last week, particularly as I can't imagine Baines thought he was going to skin him on the outside.

Now turns out that SSN are a bit too fond of plundering their own interviews for new angles, the quote about 'ending interest in players where we can't do a deal' was missing the final piece '...as we have done in the past'

Still, I suppose from the 'annoying the Moyes' point of view this is even more amusing...and once again, nothing to do with City.

davet010 wrote:

I must admit, he made Leighton Baines look a bit silly in the build up to the first Arsenal goal last week, particularly as I can't imagine Baines thought he was going to skin him on the outside.

Yeah, exactly that move made me realise that maybe, just maybe, he has some awarness and skill to play in Premiership.

Forgot to ask you yesterday: scared of Tottenham stealing your CL place? I know you're not big fan of Redknapp and Spurs either, but to be fair to them: they would finish fifth if it wasn't for eight games under Ramos.
Also, with Redknapp in charge they seem to do well in transfer market: Defoe, Keane, Crouch, Palacios, Bassong, Cudicini all quality players, all bought for fair prices.
What say you?

[quote=UCRC]

davet010 wrote:

Forgot to ask you yesterday: scared of Tottenham stealing your CL place? I know you're not big fan of Redknapp and Spurs either, but to be fair to them: they would finish fifth if it wasn't for eight games under Ramos.
Also, with Redknapp in charge they seem to do well in transfer market: Defoe, Keane, Crouch, Palacios, Bassong, Cudicini all quality players, all bought for fair prices.
What say you?

If I'm being honest, then I'd say that City and Spurs will fight it out for 5th and 6th as it stands at the moment - Everton have no resources, and Martin O'Neill seems unable to build a good squad owing to the number of relatively poor buys that he makes, which leads to a now-familiar collapse at the end of the season.

It's interesting to note that Spurs are not very fair behind City in the money-spending stakes, but I do find something slightly distasteful in their consistent asset-stripping of the highly distressed Portsmouth, as well as Redknapp being a liar and a crook, of course.

The knock on them will be the poor defence I think - Liverpool could well have got a point out of Sunday.

Good coach, 30-35M spent on Gomez, huge effort spent to keep Ribery and what they have got after three games? Two draws, one of them undeserved, and defeat to Mainz, who last year were playing in Second Division.

Yeah, if Platini wants to start talking about stupid transfer prices, Gomez would be an excellent place to start. Looks Championship standard whenever I saw him, and I seem to remember him at Euro 2008 doing a very fine impression of a pub player.

What a first touch in the EPL by Jozy Altidore!

Extremely excited for EPL matches in HD on ESPN2. They also said something about airing La Liga on Sundays.

maxox wrote:

What a first touch in the EPL by Jozy Altidore!

Extremely excited for EPL matches in HD on ESPN2. They also said something about airing La Liga on Sundays.

Huzzah for Jozy! It's silly to have high hopes this soon, but I do hope it'll turn into him being a solid striker somewhere. And yes, the fact that I can catch Villa v. Pool on a channel that isn't FSC for a change is very, very nice (ESPN's dodgy commentary aside).

If you are on an ESPN360 friendly ISP they had live Serie A, Eredivisie, Portuguese Liga, and Bundesliga.

Prederick wrote:
maxox wrote:

What a first touch in the EPL by Jozy Altidore!

Extremely excited for EPL matches in HD on ESPN2. They also said something about airing La Liga on Sundays.

Huzzah for Jozy!

Ghilas also looked impressive. However, with their problems at the back (they should have been three down at the time they've scored) I doubt there's much hope.

I saw Saturday's BBC Match of the Day and what really shocked me was the way that Wigan lost their five goals:
http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodi...
1) Chris Kirkland looks at ball. He sort off waves his arm.
2) Chris Kirkland goes for the ball. Misses.
3) Looks at ball. Waves arm.
4) Looks at ball. Waves arm.
5) Looks at ball.
Third one was deflection and he had right to be wrong-footed. First one was good header, he had right to be caught off guard.

Highlight of the weekend: Kenwyne Jones is karate seal

Well, Liverpool have equaled their defeats tally from last year in three games. That can't be a good sign.

I take back what I said, this may be a more exciting title tilt than in Spain, if only because all three major challengers are so flawed.

"Taxi for Mr Benitez !". O;Neill will pitch up there, mark my words.

Torres will be off this summer as well....he looks like he finds the Prem a bit too rough, though that might be hasty if he's seen that Youtube vid of Pepe's assault from last season.

Well, here's an opening that Tottenham and City were hoping for. Especially considering that Arsenal or Man Utd (or both) will drop points next weekend too.

Both United and Liverpool look really fragile and smaller clubs are more likely to damage them. I feel that in big games they will still perform well (honestly, I wouldn't be unhappy with draw and good performance at OT) but subsequently they will find it harder to break some well-organised teams.
(Some people seem to forget that United had the same problem in last few months of last season when all of a sudden teams that were supposed to lose against them started to put up fight, seeing how easily Liverpool won at Old Trafford)

and then there were three

Obviously to early to rule Liverpool out but there flaw for me was their depth and not their will to fight. It looks like the stuff in the board room is creeping onto the field and dressing room. Arsenal are already proving this year what you can do with addition by subtraction to increase the harmony of a club and it looks like Liverpool have lost some of the harmony they had from last year which really compensated for their shallow team.

Not willing to join the hysterical and put them as the team thats going to fall out of the top 4 as I'm sure the clown show of H&G will find some money for Rafa come Jan if its that serious. Only way I could ever see a big four team falling out this year is if whoever is sitting in 4th come Jan this year is actually still realistically in the title race that they fool themselves that they don't need to strengthen much and the wheels come of in Feb while the team that is chasing really wasn't that far behind and they strengthen. If that makes any sense

As you say, jowner, I think of the 'Big 4+2' or whatever the current grouping is, Liverpool have got the biggest exposure to squad depth issues if they lost one of their major players. I could, given a few minutes, note down who the others would be picking if they lost their goalie, or centre-forward...with Liverpool I haven't a clue about the keeper (did they get rid of that Itandje guy who was caught on camera smirking at their Grieve-a-thon?), and I can't believe they'd regard N'gog as a replacement for Torres. Probably have to do some rejigging and put Kuyt up there.

Rafa's blown his £1.5m windfall as well, so he'd probably have to be selling [crosses fingers for Stevie G bid, replacing SWP on the right].

Barcelona look set to sign Ukraine central defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy from Shakhtar Donetsk.

Good deal. Now they should have enough defenders, with Puyol, Marquez, Pique, Chygrynskij and Milito coming back.
In last few weeks they've also tried to sign Robben. They can't find a winger since January, and when finally they do, he plays for Real.

Marca reports that new Leo Messi contract contains 'una cláusula anti-Florentino'. This release clause means that anyone willing to pay mere 300M Euros can have him. Apparently, they felt that Real was ready to pay 150M, the fee quoted in previous Leo's contract.
Oh, and he's expected to earn over 10M/annum.

Perez has basically used up the funding he got from the bank this year, and is busy raising money selling off the Dutch contingent where he can. There's as much chance of him coming up with another €150m Euros as there is of pigs flying at the moment..much will depend on how much of an operating profit if any they make this year.

Everton finally strengthen the team. Sort of, I guess. I can't even say his name so I won't pretend I know whether or not he's good.

He isn't even Russian, he's a Tatar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars) born in Moscow. Name is relatively easy to spell, it's English transcriptions that always mess everything up ;] It's Din-yar Bilal-et-dinov.
He isn't a player of the same class as Arshavin or Żhirkov, but he's couple of years younger and I've heard that he's constantly improving. Nominally he's a left midfielder, but I think he can play as typical central playmaker. (That means they've just strenghtened the only two positions that didn't need strenghtening, because they already have Pienaar, Cahill and Fellaini.)

Or as a Scouser will pronounce it "Din-yaaaaaar'. As in "eh mate, this is Dinyaaaaar's 'ows we're robbin'.."

And your CL draw is...

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux , Maccabi Haifa

Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg

Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich

Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Apoel FC

Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debreceni

Group F: Barcelona, Internazionale, Dynamo Kiev, FC Rubin Kazan

Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, VfB Stuttgart, Unirea Uriziceni

Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Liege

Easy-peasy for Arsenal and Chelsea, I think, but groups A-C should turn up some interesting matches.

Dunno about Chelsea, they are quite capable of being beaten in the Calderon and at Porto, should make the top 2 though. United were lucky to get CSKA in the second tier, considering they got Wolfsburg in the fourth, but on reflection Wolfsburg have started poorly and Magath is elsewhere.

davet010 wrote:

Wolfsburg have started poorly

Not at all. They've had no problems with Stuttgart (one of main title contenders) and Koln. 2-4 with HSV was probably just a slip. They got 6 points in 3 games, whereas Hoffenheim and Bayern are still stuck with 2.
From what I've seen and heard Wolves might be even better this year.

btw: They play Bayern on Saturday, I'm sure it will be hell of a game because Bayern HAS to win, don't miss it.
Also, on the same weekend we have Inter - Milan, Roma - Juventus, Bordeaux - Marseille, start of La Liga and United - Arsenal.

UCRC wrote:

btw: They play Bayern on Saturday, I'm sure it will be hell of a game because Bayern HAS to win, don't miss it.
Also, on the same weekend we have Inter - Milan, Roma - Juventus, Bordeaux - Marseille, start of La Liga and United - Arsenal.

Got to clear space on the PVR!

Villa get dumped out of the Europa League, beating Rapid Vienna 2-1 at home but going out on away goals. Ashley Young managed to outtrump Eduardo by flinging himself to the ground twice for penalties (one missed), with a third shout for handball turned down near the end.

Some Villa fans are calling this a blessing in disguise given the thinness of AV's squad (though it'll be a bit fatter tomorrow with Richard Dunne in it) and the number of games in the new format, but it equates to revenue that they won't get and the fans do love european adventures.

Palace 0 City 2, no alarms.

Well I guess there is one blessing about all the danish teams getting dumped out of the Europa League/Champions league, I'll actually get to watch the "best" of the games that are left. I was just hoping to be able to actually see some of the games live. I was looking forward to being able to watch Adu locally, and catch some european matches as well, but all of that has fallen through, oh well.

Yeah I think its a good thing for Villa to get knocked out, although it will be interesting to see how it affects Everton and Fulham, and I'm sad to see that Brad Guzan won't get as much experience this year but he's still young so he has time.