2009/10 Soccer Thread - A Fresh Start

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...

So... what do you think, Dave?

UCRC wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...

So... what do you think, Dave? ;)

I just read that as well. Of course he's got the backing of the big name owners now that they have been able to build their teams up using the "old" rules. It would be something else entirely if he could get Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan in on the plan before they crack the top 4, if they do.

If Platini wants to do something like this, why doean't he really go all out and just put up a salary cap and a transfer cap in place and see how well that flies, cause all this really does is make it impossible for a smaller team to compete with the larger ones. And the disparity will just increase if this goes in, not to mention what the different TV deals in the various country will do.

Very happy with the start of the season for Spurs. Goals are coming from all over the pitch and Defoe's started out like a man on a mission. Glad Bent's on his way but not convinced by the addition of Crouch.

Really, I'm just tagging the thread.

Zaque wrote:
UCRC wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...

So... what do you think, Dave? ;)

I just read that as well. Of course he's got the backing of the big name owners now that they have been able to build their teams up using the "old" rules. It would be something else entirely if he could get Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan in on the plan before they crack the top 4, if they do.

If Platini wants to do something like this, why doean't he really go all out and just put up a salary cap and a transfer cap in place and see how well that flies, cause all this really does is make it impossible for a smaller team to compete with the larger ones. And the disparity will just increase if this goes in, not to mention what the different TV deals in the various country will do.

The hypocritical arse won't do anything like this, because he'd be spending the rest of his life in court. As for him objecting to the 'suger-daddy' method of funding, what exactly does he think has kept most Spanish, Italian and British teams going for the last 40 years ? And in his financial world, having a balance sheet with no debt = bad, but having £700m of debt incurred not in strengthening the club but in paying for the owners to buy it, thereby incurring an £80m interest charge per annum = good ?

So, Platini cosies up to the spectacularly corrupt (Abramovich...a 'real football person' apparently, Berlusconi, Perez et al) for one simple reason...that both UEFA and FIFA are rotten to the core. Platini has his snout in the trough like all the rest of the scum.

What do the following have in common

Platini
Blatter
Samaranch
Berlusconi

A - They're all going to hell, and you can take your pick of any of Dante's descriptions of the parts (bolgia) of the 8th circle. Pick any of these and match them to your selected criminal. In fact I'd almost volunteer to go just to watch them all burn in their own fat for eternity.

Bolgia 5- Corrupt politicians
Bolgia 6 - Hypocrites
Bolgia 7 - Thieves
Bolgia 8 - Fraudulent Advisors
Bolgia 9 - Sewers of discord
Bolgia 10 - Falsifiers who are a disease on society.

Blimey, there's no way I can narrow this down to one each....

PS - this is a mere part of what I would type, except that my GP has warned me about letting my pulse go over 300. I would also record it for a podcast, except that any censorship would make it sound like early 90's techno with 3 spoken words in.

davet010 wrote:

What do the following have in common

Platini
Blatter
Samaranch
Berlusconi

A - They're all going to hell, and you can take your pick of any of Dante's descriptions of the parts (bolgia) of the 8th circle. Pick any of these and match them to your selected criminal. In fact I'd almost volunteer to go just to watch them all burn in their own fat for eternity.

Bolgia 5- Corrupt politicians
Bolgia 6 - Hypocrites
Bolgia 7 - Thieves
Bolgia 8 - Fraudulent Advisors
Bolgia 9 - Sewers of discord
Bolgia 10 - Falsifiers who are a disease on society.

Blimey, there's no way I can narrow this down to one each....

PS - this is a mere part of what I would type, except that my GP has warned me about letting my pulse go over 300. I would also record it for a podcast, except that any censorship would make it sound like early 90's techno with 3 spoken words in.

Wow. Someone said(Kipling?) that the English make the best haters. I never expected to see football and Dante in the same sentence. I can't comment on the substance of Dave's comments, but I sure can feel the heat all the way across the Atlantic.

Actually, wouldn't Platini et. al. belong in the ninth circle of Hell where the betrayers(of football) go?

Theological debate in the GWJ Forums. Gotta love it.

FYI Arlen Robben has signed with Bayern and Schneider has signed with Inter. The Dutch brigade are bugging out.

pop58 wrote:

FYI Arlen Robben has signed with Bayern and Schneider has signed with Inter. The Dutch brigade are bugging out.

Sneijder. (Schneider is German.) I think that Inter made a very good deal on him. They looked really desperate for orchestrating midfielder.

UCRC wrote:
pop58 wrote:

FYI Arlen Robben has signed with Bayern and Schneider has signed with Inter. The Dutch brigade are bugging out.

Sneijder. (Schneider is German.) I think that Inter made a very good deal on him. They looked really desperate for orchestrating midfielder.

No matter how you slice it he's a fine midfielder. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that he's tailormade for Inter.

Apologies for the wordplay.

Looks like I am leading the way for others - let's put an end to the Gallic Gonk !

From ESPN Soccernet

How fitting UEFA's president chose to deliver another sermon on the excesses of football as he and his colleagues soaked up the sun in that enclave of wealth and luxury, Monaco.

If Michel Platini's outburst on the outlandish spending in the game gave off a faint whiff of double standards, given that it was delivered in the principality, the fact Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has lined up behind the Frenchman to stop Manchester City in their tracks, purely wreaked of hypocrisy.

The Russian has spent £700m since taking control at Stamford Bridge in 2003 but now, along with AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi and Inter Milan chief Massimo Moratti, he's decided to try and lock the door behind him.

As Platini put it, Abramovich and his pals don't want to "fork out any more." Well, forgive us if we fail to weep at their plight, Michel.

The UEFA chief made specific mention of City, who have spent £120m this summer in a bid to gatecrash the monopoly at the top of English football's pyramid, but not of Real Madrid, who splashed £16m more than that on just two players.

Platini's comments will do little to quell the accusation that, once again, his sights are firmly trained on ending the Premier League's dominance in the world's biggest club competition. He clearly feels City's outlay means they will be there soon.

Manchester United and Liverpool will have noted Platini's comments with interest, given that both clubs are heavily in debt. Will Platini really tell Sir Alex Ferguson he can't compete in the Champions League because the club's owners owe the bank millions of pounds?

Arsenal are in arrears too, but the fact that their deficit stems from the building of the Emirates Stadium will apparently grant them exemption under the current proposals.

Whichever way you look at the plan it seems designed to ensure the rich clubs get richer and the poor clubs get poorer. If clubs can only spend what they earn how are Portsmouth ever going to get into Europe?

Platini claims the new system will encourage more investors because "they will be able to make money. At the moment you don't get these businessmen because clubs are losing money".

When did anybody ever get involved in football to make money? Are Manchester City's new owners expecting a return on their mammoth outlay in a few years time or are they there purely for the prestige of owning a big-hitting football club? And do they care about an outlay of £120m when they are worth 20 times that?

Surely the move will put off cash-rich investors if their transformation of a club via significant funding means they forfeit the right to compete in Europe.

The global financial crisis has injected urgency into Platini's 'financial fair play' model and he insists UEFA must act when the credit crunch is affecting all 53 member states.

And while no one could argue the sums of money exchanging hands this summer demonstrates football is now operating on a different level of reality to the rest of the financial world, how you police it is another matter.

A salary cap has long been mooted but always accompanied by suggestions that such a plan would be unworkable, with clubs offering incentives to players in bonuses and signing on fees instead,

With ten months still to go before UEFA unleash the full details of their scheme on the football world there are still many issues to be ironed out.

Their attempt to put more flesh on the bones has only served to provoke more questions than ever about how it will work.

Even without Cesc and Nasri we were working so hard, dominating most of the game and created at least two-three clean cut chances. Going down to a lesser team after stupid own goal is one of most gutting feelings a football fan can experience. (And of all people, Abou Diaby, who had such a great game going forward today.)
But hey, if we can pick ourselves up from this, then no damage is done.

Real Madrid start off with a 3-2 win against a Deportivo team who defended well but showed little ambition. It's a rerun of last year tho, defence for RM was laughable, although there was no Pepe and Ramos (who usually only add to the comedy quotient). Kaka played reasonably well, Ronaldo completely ignored what he was told and went on walkabout (god help Arbaloa when they play a good side), Benzema looked a little slow.

Apparently Perez made a 'suggestion' that Raul played tonight. So much for keeping his sticky fingers out this time.

UCRC wrote:

Even without Cesc and Nasri we were working so hard, dominating most of the game and created at least two-three clean cut chances. Going down to a lesser team after stupid own goal is one of most gutting feelings a football fan can experience. (And of all people, Abou Diaby, who had such a great game going forward today.)
But hey, if we can pick ourselves up from this, then no damage is done.

I agree. United looked god awful today and will need to improve allot.

Watching the Inter, AC game on my PVR and what a massacre and its only half time. Making me feel better if anything

How much does Leonardo not look like a manager ? Gattuso was signalling for ages that he needed to come off, then no one's ready, so he goes back on and gets sent off...clearly the chunky one was letting him and Davids know all about it as he was walking off.

Jankulovski got murdered on AC's left side by Maicon, he'll be having nightmares about that fella for weeks, not that Flamini was giving him any cover, like. Sneijder was superb on his debut, but I thought Milito looked a little slow and ponderous for that attack.

davet010 wrote:

How much does Leonardo not look like a manager ? Gattuso was signalling for ages that he needed to come off, then no one's ready, so he goes back on and gets sent off...clearly the chunky one was letting him and Davids know all about it as he was walking off.

Jankulovski got murdered on AC's left side by Maicon, he'll be having nightmares about that fella for weeks, not that Flamini was giving him any cover, like. Sneijder was superb on his debut, but I thought Milito looked a little slow and ponderous for that attack.

One of the not so reported story lines I'll be following this year is Germany vs Italy. I need to do some more research to see exactly how close the German league is from stealing the 4th CL spot from Italy. This could be seriously devastating to the Italian league if they do lose it. The knock on effect of money in the game is real. 4th team gets easy CL money, spends it within league and it trickles around to allot of smaller clubs. (was seen in England also when Everton way over payed Portsmouth for Distin with the money they just got from City)

Also interesting in that story is the 2 biggest clubs involved from each league just strengthened with dutch players from Real. Robben had a great start for Bayern also and a attack of Robben on one side and Ribbery on the other is something to take seriously in Europe.

Bayern won't do anything....Ribery doesn't want to be there and Robben might manage 20 games if you're lucky. The defence still looks a tad suspect, and of course there is the problem of having to play with Gomez as your 'spearhead', and i use that word advisedly.

Inter on the other hand did look very good, and Eto'o plus 45m for Ibrahimovich must be the steal of the century. Their weakness, if any, is at CB...Lucio's good but not getting any younger, and Walter Samuel is usually good for a couple of errors a game at least...

UCRC wrote:

Even without Cesc and Nasri we were working so hard, dominating most of the game and created at least two-three clean cut chances. Going down to a lesser team after stupid own goal is one of most gutting feelings a football fan can experience. (And of all people, Abou Diaby, who had such a great game going forward today.)
But hey, if we can pick ourselves up from this, then no damage is done.

I don't think any Celtic fans will be shedding tears over Arsenal's bad luck. That's the way it goes. Sometimes the ball bounces for you and sometimes it bounces against you.

Mine and Dejanzie's favourite, Marcin Wasilewski just got an injury of Eduardo's proportions:

Shocking move by Axel Witsel, who went straight at his ankle, even though ball has already went out of play. No intention to play the ball, just going with all impetous with his studs for his leg.

He is one of the most commited and professional players I've seen play. In recent days there were a lot of rumours about transfer to Hull or other EPL club being on cards. Now we can only hope that we'll see him play again.

UCRC wrote:

Mine and Dejanzie's favourite, Marcin Wasilewski just got an injury of Eduardo's proportions:Shocking move by Axel Witsel, who went straight at his ankle, even though ball has already went out of play. No intention to play the ball, just going with all impetous with his studs for his leg.

He is one of the most commited and professional players I've seen play. In recent days there were a lot of rumours about transfer to Hull or other EPL club being on cards. Now we can only hope that we'll see him play again.

Thats brutal. Any further info on the injured player?

Yeah, that one was posted on one of the City forums with an '18' indicator next to it...that's right up with the Dave Busst injury at Old Trafford where Peter Schmeichel had to go to the side of the pitch and throw up.

Hope he recovers speedily.

Yeeeeeeeee-owch.

I guess Fergie v. Rafa's over and we're back to the old song and dance.

And here's some ludicrous transfer tattle.

And Fulham lose 2-0 to Villa. Wasn't expecting much at Villa Park, and considering our opening matches, four points would've been best, but three will be fine if we go to strength from here.

Elsewhere...

Roma 1 - 3 Juventus

Hertha Berlin 2 -3 Werder Bremen

Mr. Boruc Makes A Very Nice Save

Wasyl is out for at least 1 year. He's getting surgery in 5 days, right now they just disinfected the wounds and put him on antibiotics. Ironically, Wasyl said before the match that "football is not for wussies".

And thus ends the only neutral info, as I'm a longtime Anderlecht fan and friggin' furious. This is big news in Belgium, even a headliner in the regular news. Standard and Anderlecht have been battling for Belgian supremacy the last two years, culminating in the test matches for the championship in June. Standard won by a very small margin, mainly (imo) because Anderlecht let Standard drag them down to their streetfighter mentality. That game Bolat (Standard keeper) crushed Boussoufa's (Anderlecht midfielder) cheekbone, resulting in a 3 month revalidation. Wasyl handed out a few (unpunished) elbow punches too.

Before the season started the antics of corrupt mafiosi and Standard big chiefs Dreyfus and D'Onofrio already infuriated the Anderlecht board. They approached RSCA defender Van Damme without talking to the RSCA board, then denied doing so.

In yesterday's game not only Witsel assaulted an Anderlecht player, De Camargo (STD) also kicked Polak (RSCA) off the field. Yellow card for DeCam, 6 month injury for Polak (medial cords snapped). Defour (STD) tackled Boussoufa (RSCA) from behind with two feet forward, should have been red but only yellow was shown. Mbokani scored 5 minutes after the Wasyl incident, when RSCA players where still in shock. He had the gall (sp?) to heckle the Anderlecht supporters. The game ended at 1-1, despite RSCA being the far better team. I applaud them for not stuping to Standard's level this time.

What pissed me off the most though was the repugnant rationalising Standard pulled off after the game. Some reactions:
- Team captain Defour: "If the ref had blown for the two faults on me right before, this wouldn't have (sic!) had to happen." "If Anderlecht is allowed to play this harsh, we are too" "Anderlecht had it coming"
- Player Mohammed Sarr: "Let us not forget 4 years ago Wasyl stepped on Witsel's back. You can still see the marks." (emphasis mine)
- Coach Bölöni, when invited to look at the incident on a screen and asked whether he's as furious as last year, when a Club Bruges player made a dangerous tackle against a Standard player (without consequence): "I'll watch these images when I want to! You can't make me! It's an outrage!"

Scrap that. What pisses me off the most is that Standard actually has an excellent team with excellent players. They don't need this. But they choose to be utterly despicable nonetheless.

Sorry for the rant.

Yeah, I was going to ask how much of this tied into last year's 1st place play-off and whole Anderlecht - Standard rivalrly, so thanks for an answer.
I'm still shocked by all of this.

Wow. Mowbray really talked him up in recent weeks and it looks like he's back to his best, but he's probably missed his chance to move to Premier League or other big clubs. When he was at the top Celtic wanted 10-15M quid, which is gorrendous money even for a top-class goalie. I think they've warned off other clubs for good.

Deadline day today - 'Onest 'Arry will continue to rob Portsmouth of any 'triffic players who we'd love to be able to afford', City will be linked with anyone who hasn't yet moved, and Everton will contimue to splash all the money that they didn't want for Lescott, with Moyes obviously contacting the selling clubs well in advance and doing transfers in a 'respectful' way.

Hopefully this will include Johnny Heitinga from Atletico Madrid, who seemingly degenerated in one season from 'hard as nails Ajax defender' to the point where he has been described as a 'drunken cow on roller skates'...which is not an unfair description, having seen some of his performances last season.

It looks like Van der Vaart stays in Madrid, should be interesting to see if he gets some playing time. I guess maybe Madrid started worrying about injuries after cutting the club down to only 25 players.

And Adu gets out of Befica for the season.

Having watched Real on Saturday, they're hoping that Sergio Ramos and Pepe return soon...that's how desperate they are. Apparently both Sneijder and Robben were sold against Pellegrini's wishes, as was the playing of Raul on Saturday.

Freddy Adu at Belenenses - now there's a young man with a promising career...behind him.

Did you manage to get on the eve GWJ channel btw ? Might be worth clearing your cache.

X-ray photo of Wasyl's leg:
IMAGE(http://m.onet.pl/_m/971c89cca8196f86b0d7a274462662cf,5,1.gif)

Oh, I did not need to see that, no indeed

If that was deliberate, then that's the sort of thing the Gallic Gonk needs to be dealing with, not hob-nobbing with money launderers and spending hours nitpicking whether Eduardo dived. Has he or that Scottish berk sidekick of his looked at every penalty this week for evidence of simulation ? Or were they too busy shovelling food down their maws at that mind numbingly tedious CL draw, that for some reason is held in Monaco as opposed to Dusseldorf or Darlington ?

davet010 wrote:

If that was deliberate, then that's the sort of thing the Gallic Gonk needs to be dealing with, not hob-nobbing with money launderers and spending hours nitpicking whether Eduardo dived. Has he or that Scottish berk sidekick of his looked at every penalty this week for evidence of simulation ? Or were they too busy shovelling food down their maws at that mind numbingly tedious CL draw, that for some reason is held in Monaco as opposed to Dusseldorf or Darlington ?

Two games for Eduardo anyway. And yes, yee-owch.

Prederick wrote:

Two games for Eduardo anyway.

Unlike most of Arsenal fans I'm not going to cry that it was undeserved etc. etc., but it certainly was blown out of proportion. Players dive. They get booked. If ref gets it wrong, well, we have to live with it. After all, that's UEFA's stance: decision made by referee is a final one.

davet010 wrote:

If that was deliberate, then that's the sort of thing the Gallic Gonk needs to be dealing with

I think that Witsel went with his leg deliberately, but had he known what was going to happen, he certainly wouldn't do it.* I've heard that upon hearing what he really did he broke into tears in Standard's dressing room.
Reports today indicate that we will see Marcin back in game somewhere between next Fall and never.

*Actually, that reminds me of Keane's "tackle": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_st2... He's probably the only player who went into one of *these* tackles knowing exactly what was going to happen. Normally I admire hard-working, devoted players but Roy was one sick bastard.

UCRC wrote:

*Actually, that reminds me of Keane's "tackle": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_st2... He's probably the only player who went into one of *these* tackles knowing exactly what was going to happen. Normally I admire hard-working, devoted players but Roy was one sick bastard.

And a great player. In his case, its hard to separate the two. Håland shouldn't have accused him of faking the injury four years previous. Apparently Irishmen and Elephants never forget.

Whatever Håland did, I think everyone would've looked more favorably on a right-hook over that.