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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

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psycho_snake said:
Arsenal have always had the problem of trying to score the perfect goal. They seem to want to walk into the goal with the ball. They really have to cut this habit. I didnt wwatch the game today but i saw them against Villa and they had more than enough chances to take a chance, but instead they just kept passing the ball trying to find a way into the box.
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Actually, I completely disagree. It's actually starting to piss me off when I hear Arsenal don't have a "plan B".

Arsenal have played the same way ever since Wenger arrived and it was the most successful period in the clubs history. What would it say about Wenger if he changed it now, that Arsenal are in a transitional period. I don't think Arsenal need a plan B - wait until the team gets into their groove, and you will see people saying "oh, they're playing the best football in England" - and more than that, Arsenal will win games and be successful again.

And it's not like other teams and managers just magically found out the last two seasons how you can make life difficult for Arsenal, the only difference is the inexperience of the team. This year will be quite a bit different from last year already, I doubt it's gonna win Arsenal the league yet but they will be a lot closer.

Wenger knows what he is doing and Football for him is not only about winning. It's about winning in the right fasion. Arsenal could grind the games as Chelsea does and maybe finnish with 5 points more at the end of the season. But that is not what Arsenal is about. Thankfully.

And for anyone doubting Wenger:
# 1997/98 FA Premier League
# 1997/98 FA Cup
# 1997/98 Carling Manager of the Year
# 1998/99 FA Charity Shield
# 1999/00 FA Charity Shield
# 2001/02 FA Premier League
# 2001/02 FA Cup
# 2001/02 Barclaycard Manager of the Year
# 2002/03 FA Community Shield
# 2002/03 FA Cup
# 2003/04 FA Premier League
# 2003/04 Barclaycard Manager of the Year
# 2004/05 Community Shield
# 2004/05 FA Cup

Arsenal scored a few goals in that time as well, let's just give it some time.

Oh, and Alan Hansen is a wanker

edit: of course I don't disagree with sometimes shooting instead of giving the ball away.
edit2: where is brooklygooner gone btw?
 
Ryck said:
This Roma Inter match is amazing Inter have come from 3 nil down to equalize.
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:lol Great match. Here are the scorers:

13' [0 - 1] A.F.A. Mancini
25' [0 - 2] A. Aquilani
34' [0 - 3] A. Aquilani
45' [1 - 3] P. Vieira
65' [2 - 3] H. Crespo
75' [3 - 3] P. Vieira
95' [4 - 3] L. Figo
 
Well Arsenal don't have a plan B. Even when the ball ends up out wide it's only because it's happened to do that, not because that's their plan. They stick with one thing no matter what.

Of course, they didn't lose today because they don't have a plan B. Their plan A worked fine, they just couldn't finish.

I just don't see why they wouldn't work on something else. When their plan A works they win the majority of their games, it's true, but it will never always work. No one way of playing always works. Even in their unbeaten season they drew 12 games, almost a third of their season. How many of those games would they have won if they'd been able to change things for the last 15 minutes? Didn't matter back then, but it's a different league now.

My team is gradually climbing in the league. I hope Blackburn beat Chelsea 7-4 tomorrow with my players all grabbing goals.
 
Yeah, but that's exactly what I meant Mama. This is not what Wenger is going to do, you need to listen to an interview with him talking about his vision of football - it won't happen. It's either the way they're playing now or nothing.

I agree that it costs Arsenal some vital points, it always did and it always will. Then again, in the end he proved that he can combine this style of play and success with each other. And like I said, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Even though it can be frustrating at times, I must admit.
 
I was looking online and I found these results interesting

DC United 2 - 5 Los Angeles Galaxy

And complete ownage...all in the 2nd half :lol

New York Red Bulls 6 - 0 Real Salt Lake


54' [1 - 0] E. Buddle
61' [2 - 0] E. Buddle
72' [3 - 0] E. Buddle
77' [4 - 0] J. Cila
79' [5 - 0] T. Dunivant
86' [6 - 0] J. Wolyniec
 
jamesinclair said:
I was looking online and I found these results interesting

DC United 2 - 5 Los Angeles Galaxy

And complete ownage...all in the 2nd half :lol

New York Red Bulls 6 - 0 Real Salt Lake


54' [1 - 0] E. Buddle
61' [2 - 0] E. Buddle
72' [3 - 0] E. Buddle
77' [4 - 0] J. Cila
79' [5 - 0] T. Dunivant
86' [6 - 0] J. Wolyniec
Click to expand...
Yeah it was such a frustrating first half. They outshot Salt Lake like 12-2 with nothing that dangerous, but Buddle came in and it kept going in from there. Before the hat trick today, Buddle's last goal was on July 1st. I hope this means some consistency, but he's let me down before.
 
hadareud said:
Actually, I completely disagree. It's actually starting to piss me off when I hear Arsenal don't have a "plan B".
Click to expand...
I never said arsenal dont have a plan B, although I do agree they need one. Arsenal can keep playing the way they do now and still be a vefry successful team, but they need to learn to take chances from distance and try not to walk the ball into the goal. Wenger has admitted it himself that his team try to do that. shooting from distance and taking chances wont affect the way arsenal play.
 
Blablurn said:
Yesterday, Hoeneß said that Hargreaves will stay in Munich. He won't leave the club. Good thing!
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I still think that there is some hope. Now that van bommel has moved to bayern, Man Utd will try to persuade bayern to let hargreaves go. Bayern are nhow in a position where if they lose hargreaves it wont hurt them so badly because they have someone just as capable to replace him.

Today there has beena rumour in the papers that several premiership clubs were talking about having an end of season play-off. They never mentioned the details, but they said that it could let a team who finished 6th in the league win the premiership.
 
Theres a story in the independant today saying that Arsenal and United (if Hargreaves falls through) will go after Reo-Coker this week.

Gotta say he's pissed me off this season with his terrible passing, even short simple balls he ****s up.

But last season we didnt win a game without him in the team so he must be doing something right.
 
psycho_snake said:
I never said arsenal dont have a plan B, although I do agree they need one. Arsenal can keep playing the way they do now and still be a vefry successful team, but they need to learn to take chances from distance and try not to walk the ball into the goal. Wenger has admitted it himself that his team try to do that. shooting from distance and taking chances wont affect the way arsenal play.
Click to expand...
I know you didn't, I was just slightly frustrated and needed a reason to make that post.
 
psycho_snake said:
Today there has beena rumour in the papers that several premiership clubs were talking about having an end of season play-off. They never mentioned the details, but they said that it could let a team who finished 6th in the league win the premiership.
Click to expand...

This will never happen. And thank god, what a horrible idea.
 
Yeah thats a terrible idea, its a league, the whole point is that the best team over the course of the whole competition wins.

Having said that i bet the chairmen all love the idea of an extra 3 sell-out games at the end of the season.
 
Today there has beena rumour in the papers that several premiership clubs were talking about having an end of season play-off. They never mentioned the details, but they said that it could let a team who finished 6th in the league win the premiership.
Click to expand...

they do this in rugby league and it's utter bollox.

My home town won the div 1 championship, were crowned champions, but then there is a "championship" between the top 6 teams to decide who really is the best team in the league because HEY! a league where you play everyone twice doesn't decide that where as a knockout tournament proves who is the best! Needless to say we won our "qualifier game" for the final, then lost the final, so despite finishing top, being "champions" and everything, the team that won this game went up instead. Utter balls if you ask me.

It's retarded at best, a total arse felch disgrace of a farce at worst. Defies the point of a league, you are better off not killing your team and just aiming for a top 6 (which is basically all the league minus 4 teams!) and just save yourself for that.

Crap - utter crap.
 
I'm against the idea of having play-offs too, it defies the point of a league. Its a silly idea and I hope its just a rumour.

There is speculation that Trezeguet could be moving to Old Trafford, which is something Ive been thinking about for a very long time. Trezeguet is probably the most similar striker to ruud, so it would have made perfect sense to buy him since he can replace ruud and it gets him out of Juve. If we do get a striker, I would rather get Trezeguet over any other striker because he wouldnt have a problem fitting in. Hopefully if he does come he wont take saha's place because we play better football as a team when we have someone like saha in the team. Fitting trezeguet into our team means we will have to change the way we played, just like we did with ruud.
 
Wow villa were very impressive today. They played some wonderful football. This is the great thing about O'Neill, he can get the best out of his players and he seems to be doing that at villa. 7 points out of 9 is impressive.

newcastle had a very bad day. martins made his debut but he had to be taken off injured. They are so unlucky, it happens so often to them and it really does hurt them. Martins didnt make any impact on the game. he had a couple of good moments, but when you compare his performance to kuyts yesterday martins does pale in comparison, but thats not really his fault. He didnt get much support and no way near enough delivery.
 
I hate to say this but I'm quite impressed by Drogba's goal. I mean, I've always knew he is strong on the ball but this is just ridiculous. Ooijer even had his right arm wrapped around Drogba's waist, for crying out loud, and Drogba just shrugged him off and finished it.
 
Man, Chelsea suck this year. Alright, that's pretty weird to say when they've just beaten us 2-0, but really, they're not playing well at all (for Chelsea).

We outplayed them first half, sadly without creating many chances, and it was pretty even second half. It was a penalty, it seems mild but it's always annoyed me that things which which would 99% of the time be given as fouls outside the box (like that incident) suddenly only become fouls 1% of the time inside the box. Of course, it does annoy me that we then have Roberts tugged back by Carvalho in the box and get nothing, yet another incident that's a foul anywhere else on the pitch. If refs could just be consistent...

What's going on with Chelsea though? This formation isn't working at all. It might in time, but thinking back on the game...Drogba's goal was well taken, no problem with that, Shevchenko had an ok (nothing special) shot from distance....that was pretty much it for their chances the entire game, aside from the penalty. They've got Charlton next to get things right, but after that it's Werder Bremen and Liverpool and right now I couldn't back Chelsea for either game.

Oh and Ooijer...might be the best defender in Holland, but he was the 4th best defender at Blackburn today. It's only one game though, I shouldn't judge him so soon.
 
Oh yeah, forgot about the earlier game. Villa impress me, they work so hard for each other and stay extremely solid until they can hit teams on the break with their pace. I really didn't think O'Neill would have this much of an effect alone, I thought it'd be him plus some good signings to bring them on. If he can get a couple of good signings (even loan signings) before Thursday, they should have no problem staying in touch with Europe up until January when they can really spend some cash.

Newcastle's injuries have gotten to the point where it's just funny. I don't even feel sorry for them anymore, it's just too ridiculous. Roeder already said he wanted yet another striker before Martins was injured (fair enough I suppose, they were only working with Martins, Ameobi and the dreadful Luque), now he'll definitely have to get one. I'm guessing someone cheap, probably an older player just to fill in until Owen is back....and maybe Martins, depends how bad his injury is.
 
Mama Smurf said:
Oh and Ooijer...might be the best defender in Holland, but he was the 4th best defender at Blackburn today. It's only one game though, I shouldn't judge him so soon.
Click to expand...

hehe. I was checking the score and saw that one minute after he received a yellow card Chelsea got a penalty. I figure he made the fault causing that penalty?

Anyway, he'll have to adjust to the Blackburn players. Give him a couple of weeks.

Anyway, PSV lost today. Horrible match, PSV was really not capable at dictating the game. We need a few new players. I hope Kromkamp is still coming, cause Lamey at rightback is really really sad, he's PSV unworthy. That, plus we need a new striker now that Vennegoor has left us.

Rumours are growing stronger that PSV is about to sign Kluivert.
 
Falch said:
hehe. I was checking the score and saw that one minute after he received a yellow card Chelsea got a penalty. I figure he made the fault causing that penalty?
Click to expand...

Indeed, though in his favour I've seen plenty of those not given. Made a few other mistakes though, and decided to attempt to rugby tackle Drogba down and when that didn't work went for the ball and missed when he could have put pressure on Drogba's shot instead. He might still have scored, but he wouldn't have been left alone to at least.

I hope Kromkamp is still coming, cause Lamey at rightback is really really sad, he's PSV unworthy.
Click to expand...

I heard this rumour, but that only leaves Liverpool with one right back, so I can't see it happening.

Rumours are growing stronger that PSV is about to sign Kluivert.
Click to expand...

Your poor bastards.
 
WAHOO!!!!! Aston Villa beat Newcastle and we're now second!

I'm so happy! We havent been this high up the league in ages, even if it is just the start of the season!

And I hear Gareth Barry has just signed a contract extention too. YIPPEE!!!! :D
 
Domenech (France coach) has just grabbed the position of biggest twat in football, calling up Makelele after he announced his retirement. And Fifa, in yet another genius move, have a rule that if you refuse a call up to your country, you get a two game domestic ban. Even if you're retired! Doesn't that make perfect sense?

That's right, you're no longer allowed to choose when you retire from international football. You have to retire from all football or you face a ban. Now of course, most managers would just ignore this rule, letting players who've retired make their own decisions, but not Domenech. He knows what's right for people better than they do.

So now Makelele can turn up, avoid a ban, put zero effort in, stroll round the pitch unconcerned with the game if put in the team and make Domenech look like the idiot he is as his decision actually hurts his side. Great going Raymond!
 
Mama Smurf said:
Domenech (France coach) has just grabbed the position of biggest twat in football, calling up Makelele after he announced his retirement. And Fifa, in yet another genius move, have a rule that if you refuse a call up to your country, you get a two game domestic ban. Even if you're retired! Doesn't that make perfect sense?
Click to expand...

I didn't know players cannot refuse a call-up.

And here I was, hoping that Rooney would refuse to play for England after that whole 3-match ban bullshit.
 
hadareud said:
Almost as bad is that I watched the game on my pc, so I didn't even get pissed. **** that.
Click to expand...

:lol I never drink alcohol myself, but yesterday's game damn near got me to buy a bottle of gin.





psycho_snake said:
Arsenal have always had the problem of trying to score the perfect goal. They seem to want to walk into the goal with the ball. They really have to cut this habit. I didnt wwatch the game today but i saw them against Villa and they had more than enough chances to take a chance, but instead they just kept passing the ball trying to find a way into the box.
Click to expand...

That's how they've lost a lot of games the last couple years...too much overpassing. I appreciate their lack of selfishness, but at times it gets to the point of being vomit-inducing.

The whole plan B thing though is a little overstated. How many teams honestly have a legitimate plan B? Furthermore, what the hell do you call a plan B? Because I seem to recall the Gunners using a 4-5-1 in Europe last season that worked just fine. Or does that not count?

Arsenal's problem isn't the lack of a plan B. Their problem is a ridiculously annoying habit of making three or four extra passes instead of just firing the ball onto the ****ing net, and sometimes refusing to enter the penalty area for wide crosses. Rosicky being by himself with the goalie six feet in front and making an awkward pass to the penalty spot isn't a lack of a plan B...it's just a lack of decisive finishing and a kiler instinct that this team has yet to generate (even in their Champions League games, they missed the chance to really put the hammer down on their opponents). With any sort of finishing Arsenal wins 4-1 and nobody's even batting an eye.




Mama Smurf said:
Domenech (France coach) has just grabbed the position of biggest twat in football, calling up Makelele after he announced his retirement. And Fifa, in yet another genius move, have a rule that if you refuse a call up to your country, you get a two game domestic ban. Even if you're retired! Doesn't that make perfect sense?

That's right, you're no longer allowed to choose when you retire from international football. You have to retire from all football or you face a ban. Now of course, most managers would just ignore this rule, letting players who've retired make their own decisions, but not Domenech. He knows what's right for people better than they do.

So now Makelele can turn up, avoid a ban, put zero effort in, stroll round the pitch unconcerned with the game if put in the team and make Domenech look like the idiot he is as his decision actually hurts his side. Great going Raymond!
Click to expand...

That's a bullshit rule that could get smacked down in any reasonable court.

That said, I hope Domenech takes advantage of this rule and calls up Zidane for the Italy match. :lol

Oh yeah, Reyes says he's played his last game in England...I for one hope it's a reality, but if I were him I wouldn't hold my breath. Meanwile Cashley Cole has apparantely told Wenger that he wants to stay with the Gunners for one more year, in a move that I find absolutely shocking. His little book is also on hold for the time being, something that I guess will get a bit of a re-edit if he's wearing "Fly Emirates" on his chest next month. I can't say that bothers me, cause Hoyte really looked exposed yesterday as Man City constantly went after the youngster. If Cashley was there they wouldn't even sneak a peek at the right side of the field.
 
vanbommel_dpa_280806.jpg


There he is!
 
Great King Bowser said:
Wenger's found his Plan B!
Click to expand...

:lol

Same ole' Borough...blow a lead against new boys Reading, come back with two late goals against champions Chelsea, then get run off the pitch by Portsmouth. Luckily for them they play the Gunners next, so that's sure to be three easy points as we pass ourselves to death once again.
 
Im convinced now that i am a curse on footballers, I put dean Ashton in not 1 but 2 fantasy football teams and looked what happened there! So im dropping all my West Ham players and im going to make my team consist mainly of player from the team we are playing next instead...and Robinson for laughs.
 
I was only half watching the game, but it seemed to me Middlesbrough played at least as well as Portsmouth (well, not in defence), they just didn't score.

And man yahoo are being slow at updating after that game. If anyone wants David James I'd get him soon, his price is going to go up anytime now.
 
Spurs are signing Mido, which leaves me unsure what to do about my ff team. I was pretty confident Berbatov would play most of the games even with Keane and Defoe there, Jol likes to play a big striker with a skilled. Now though, there are two big strikers to fight it out for that place. Even if Berbatov is generally first choice, he'll probably still be left out occasionally now just to rest him before big games or against poor opposition.

Not good for Defoe (and therefore England) either. Keane appears to have maintained the form which kept Defoe out at the end of last year and now he won't even get in when Berbatov can't play. It's a worst situation than last year was for him, and I can't see him wanting to stay if it comes to this time next year (or even January) and he hasn't become a first choice.
 
There has been quite a lot of news today due to the transfer window closing very soon

Liverpool have made a bid for Lucas Neill.

Gravesen has agreed a deal with celtic

Reyes is close to moving to athletico madrid

Mido has moved to Tottenham

Woodgate is set for a move to borough

Tootenham have re-signed Mido
 
Spurs are getting Malbranque from Fulham as well apparently, god knows they need another right midfielder [/sarcasm]
 
The Cashley to Chelsea deal looks to be all but dead...and after seeing Hoyte get torn to shreds on Saturday, that would make me happy. :lol

Atletico Madrid's apparantely either matched Arsenal's 13.5 million pound payout for Reyes a couple years ago, or come pretty close to it with their latest bid. Either way, I reckon that'll be good enough to get that deal done.

Arsenal's also linked to a 17 million pound bid for Carlos Tevez. Why they'd feel the need to pay that much for another striker is beyond me...unless he's someone who actually goes into the area looking to head in a cross from the wing, or is in the "shoot first, pass fifty times later" mold, I can't see what he'd add to a team that's already got a decent number of strikers. Arsenal needs a bull in the midfield more then anything. I think they're fine on defense, particularly if Cole stays...just gotta wait for Lauren, Clichey and Senderos to get back from injury. Still, even another defender is a far more pressing need then another forward.
 
There is even more rumours.

Petrov could be moving to Villa

According to reports manyoo are desperate and we are looking at aldo duscher, reo-coker and maschernano as possible transfer targets. Im sure none of these players will come to united.

Pompey have made a bid for ghana captain steven appiah. They are also about to sign benfica midfielder fernandes

Defoe could be on his way to villa as he is frustrated with the lack of first team opportunities he is getting.

Dwight Yorke could be going to sunderland.
 
Dafoe to Villa would be a pretty solid move for them. I think he's just snake bit at White Hart Lane...a change in scenary would probably do him some good.
 
Lucas Neill is on his way.
Click to expand...

Maybe, we did turn down your £2m bid. We're in a pretty good position, we're quite happy to keep Neill for the final year of his contract and let him go for a free, so we either keep the player or Liverpool offer more.

It's a strange one for Neill, I have to say. I'd have thought he'd want to go somewhere he'd definitely be first team, or at least expected to play a lot of games. And maybe he would, but there are no guarantess of getting past Finnan. Can play all across the back though, useful defender. Of course, I don't actually know he does want to go to Liverpool, I'm just assuming if a bid is accepted he would.

As we're reported to be going after Danny Mills if Neill does go, this would have been horrible news for me. I hate Danny Mills. Luckily, we've got Emerton! Yeah, I know I said I didn't mind if he went before he signed a new contract, but that was when I thought he'd be playing right wing for us. He was at right back against Chelsea and he was superb, got man of the match. I didn't even know he could play right back until the World Cup. So even if we got Mills, I'm hopeful he'd just be back up to Emerton. Or we could get another central defender and have Ooijer and Emerton covering right back, I don't mind.

Just sticking with Blackburn, I'm surprised we haven't taken up our option to bring someone in on loan from another Premiership club yet. We have in the past, with Bentley and then Sinama-Pongolle. I'm not sure who we could go for, but it never hurts to have another man in your squad.

Spurs are getting Malbranque from Fulham as well apparently, god knows they need another right midfielder [/sarcasm]
Click to expand...

Well he can play on the left too, which I assume would be his position at Spurs.

The Cashley to Chelsea deal looks to be all but dead...and after seeing Hoyte get torn to shreds on Saturday, that would make me happy.
Click to expand...

No kidding. Hoyte hasn't impressed me at all at left back, I've no idea why Wenger has stuck with him there. What was wrong with Flamini? He was far better in that position.

Petrov could be moving to Villa
Click to expand...

This is a done deal now.

According to reports manyoo are desperate and we are looking at aldo duscher, reo-coker and maschernano as possible transfer targets. Im sure none of these players will come to united.
Click to expand...

There's a rumour that Reo-Coker's contract allows him to go to a top 3 club. True or not, I don't know, but somehow these things do tend to get out there.
 
Some more rumours (concerning PSV hehe):

- Kluivert and PSV have come to an agreement. Valencia isn't cooperating. Kluivert has a 4 million euro a year contract, for two more years, and Valencia wants to get rid of Kluivert. However, they refuse to pay part of Kluivert's salary at PSV. So they have a choice now: agree with paying 1-2 million a year, and saving some 4 million, or have Kluivert stay at Valencia (and doing nothing) for 2x4 = 8 million. :lol

- PSV is pushing for Kromkamp again. I'm hopefull this deal will pull through now that Liverpool are trying to sign Neill.

- PSV has been linked to Amr Zaki, Diego Tardelli and Agustin Delgado.

Anyway, exciting times for PSV fans. :)
 
Boro have completed the signings of robert huth and jonathan woodgate. Its a good bit of business especially if woodgate can keep himself fit.
 
Looks like West Ham are getting screwed in the transfer market again, exact same thing happened this time last year, Pardew dithering over who to sign, moaning for weeks that we need another wide player, continuing to chase Malbranque even though he rejected us back in June, and ending up without the player he said he needs.

Still Matty Etherington will be back for us after the internationals so it might become a non-issue again if he stays fit. Not that i really rate etherington but he does the job we need doing.

Our squad is razor thin though, even with the new signings, i was looking through the reserve teamsheet last night and other than Robert Green and a couple of the youth players my reaction was "who's that?"




It is a bit worrying to see Bolton, Boro, Villa & Pompey all potentially pushing to the next level with their signings.
 
The rossi loan deal is very good for Man Utd and Newcastle. Rossi will get some valuable first team experience in the premiership and Newcastle have got themselves a very capable striker.
 
A lot of talk out there that the Gunners are close to working out a swap deal with Real Madrid, where they'd get a one year loan deal for Julio Baptista in exchange for a year loan deal for Reyes. I assume that both loan deals would eventually become permanent. Meanwhile the Mirror says the Gunners turned down a 21 million pound deal for Cole, pissing him off even more. :lol

Here's a couple of transfer links...I'm sure there are more out there that people are following.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer_centre/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/5235160.stm

http://home.skysports.com/transfernews.aspx
 
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