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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

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Just missed a perfect chance.

If we go out of this tournament, it's our own fault. Over the two legs we've missed soooo many chances.
 
Leverkusen are desperately defending, they're not doing bad, but it's as much down to us missing as them defending that we haven't scored.
 
Well, the better team has gone out, I think anyone who tried to argue against that would be a liar.

I can't say we deserved to go through, unless goals are allowed/disallowed when they shouldn't be or a player is wrongly sent off or some other crucial refereeing mistake, then the team who put the ball in the next more deserves to go through.

Oh well, we'll just have to take advantage of the rest times instead of UEFA Cup ties and improve in the league.
 
It is freaking annoying when Wenger complains against sides defending against them. If you build a great attacking team, particularly strong on the counter, and one that's shown itself to be weak sometimes defending set pieces...guess how weaker sides are going to play?

I sometimes find it worst when he compliments the teams they've destroyed for at least having a go. He did it when they beat Blackburn 6-2 and Reading 4-0. It's not something to compliment, "Thanks for letting us tear you apart, that's the way to play".

Apparently after the Blackburn 0-0 game, Fabregas went up to Mark Hughes and asked him if he was the same guy who once played for Barcelona. I think Hughes said "Shut your yapping, disrespectful mouth", but what he should have said is "Didn't you used to play for Barcelona, and you can't break a mid-Premiership team down?"

He apologised afterwards though, so no problem.
 
Fabregas can get a bit frustrated at times - this was a ridiculous thing to say though. I saw it on match of the day as well, but he's 19 years old, so I'm sure he'll learn.

Wenger complimented pretty much every team we played lately btw, I distinctly remember him saying that Blackburn did a good job on Saturday. Better a bad loser than a bad winner though, and I can't think of any top manager that is a good loser. Park the bus anyone?
 
only if you frame it.

I will stop the Wenger argument here, no one can change my way of thinking about him anyway - and I don't really feel the urge to convince anyone else, not that it's going to happen anyway. Let me just close with saying that every manager regardless of how many trophies he's won has his weaknesses - be it Wenger, Ferguson, Hiddink, Cruyff, Mourinho, Sacchi or whoever. I hope this we can agree on.

And as aforementioned I too wouldn't want any other manager to take his place.
 
Osasuna scored a goal in the final minute of extra time against Bordeaux to advance to the UEFA Cup round of 16. 209 scoreless minutes between the two, and it comes down to the final minute. Crazy!
 
Victor Valdes claiming Liverpool were lucky is a bit rich -- the game might have been different had he actually saved Bellamy's header without FALLING BACKWARDS INTO HIS GOAL.

Sorry MamaSmurf -- Blackburn were really hard done by there!
 
Yeah, but at least Nelsen got a shirt as a souvenir. So it's not all bad.

_42604023_cup5.jpg


Look how happy he is!
 
BatiGOOOOOOL said:
1172200310.jpg

Left: Ronaldinho in 2003. Right: Ronaldinho against Liverpool on wednesday.

Holy shit! And people talk about Ronaldo.
Shit. I never realised that he had put that much weight on. I read that he's put on about 7 kilo's, but those pictures make it look like he's put on more.
 
Outdoor Miner said:
Well he's kinda right. Liverpool were extremely lucky to get those 2 goals. Commentators for the match even stated them as "gift goals".
They were gift goals, but you cant say that Liverpool were lucky just because Barca's defending was tragic. If Liverpool scored 2 defelceted goals then Id agree that they were lucky to win, but Liverpool just took advantaghe of Barcelona's poor defending.
 
It should be impossible for footballers to get fat whilst still playing, the self-indulgent bastards.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6384665.stm

UEFA have rejected Lille's appeal over UEFA's goal and charged them with improper conduct for their behaviour.

Uefa said in a statement: "Having examined the referee's report, the television evidence at hand as well as the laws of the game, the Uefa decided to reject the protest, as there was no proof of a technical error.

"As a result, the body declared that the goal was perfectly valid.

"Furthermore, the control and disciplinary body decided to instigate proceedings against Lille for the improper behaviour of their players immediately after the goal. "

I just...I don't understand. Didn't UEFA realise the referee made a mistake and the goal was against the laws of the game so the tie would have to be replayed? I mean, don't they read gaf?
 
Mama Smurf said:
It should be impossible for footballers to get fat whilst still playing, the self-indulgent bastards.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6384665.stm

UEFA have rejected Lille's appeal over UEFA's goal and charged them with improper conduct for their behaviour.



I just...I don't understand. Didn't UEFA realise the referee made a mistake and the goal was against the laws of the game so the tie would have to be replayed? I mean, don't they read gaf?

:lol :lol that reminds me, my mum was there while I was watchig it with my bro and she was like "why has the ref allowed that goal? its clearly not fair, the other team wasnt ready!"

Spent like 10 minutes just telling her that we're not supposed to wait for them to get ready! After she finally agreed about the rules of the game, she chimes in with "yeah but its not very nice of them is it" :lol The scousers on here have as much football knowledge as my mum who knows nothing about the game.

Lille's conduct only gets worse, not only have they tried to get the game replayed, they're trying to get Man Utd kicked out of the competition, basically blaming the ref, manutd and everyone else for the problems.

Its standard practice to send tickets out to fans in advance, Lille were complaining that we didnt give tickets out as fans entered the stadium or arrived off the bus! unbelieveable.
 
Interview with Charlie Nicholas and Nigel Spackman about the Carling Cup Final on Sunday. Interesting stuff. I'm very curious how the Arsenal kids react to such a big game and a quality side like Chelsea. As Nicholas says, they could get stuffed 3-0 or 4-0, but then again, maybe they'll step up to the challenge.

SKYSPORTS.COM: Finally, give us a prediction. Who wins, Chelsea's Bentleys or Arsenal's babies?

NICHOLAS: Sometimes you get big games and they are flat because of the tension. No-one loves one of those tight, slow-burning 0-0's more than me, but I genuinely think we're in for an attractive, open game here. For Wenger, even if they walk away being beaten 3-0 or 4-0, it has been a wonderful learning education for his babies. For Mourinho if he gets beat he can say he had massive injury problems at the back. That for me creates a game full of attacking play, brilliance, skill, defensive mistakes... and goals! Before the Terry injury I couldn't see Chelsea losing this and even now I'd have to flip a coin - although it would land in Arsenal's favour! I can see this being 3-2, maybe after extra-time and I think we're all in for a game we'll never want to end.

SPACKMAN: I also think it will be an open game because that's the way this Arsenal side play. Chelsea will sit back and defend deep and not allow them to get in behind, but they do line up narrow which opens them up down the flanks. It will be up to Lampard and Robben to try and break from midfield and capitalise on my one area of concern for those youngsters. I just feel over the 90 minutes Chelsea will have too much and win 2-1.
 
Fulham 1 - 1 Man Utd. The goal that we let in was poor. Van der sar and vidic got in each others way and made a mess. To be honest Fulham deserved a goal more than we did. We werent playing well. Fulhams goal probably did us some good, its helped us step up our game. Larrson is playing, but its a mistake to put him on. We need a bit of pace to beat the fulbham defence and at 35 pace isnt one of larrsons strengths. Shah would have been a better option; he got the pace and he's better in the air. United keep kicking the ball up the pitch but there isnt anyone there to head it. If saha was there then the long balls would be more effective. If we dont get another goal in the first 10-15 minutes of the first half then Fergie should put saha on.
 
Lakitu said:
H.T. - Fulham 1 - 1 Manchester Utd

Besides a few mistakes, Fulham are playing well and Rio Ferdinand's a bastard :)
He's not a bastard, he's a muppet. Luckily for us the ref has got some sense. There are several refs such as styles who would have sent him off for that.
 
Great goal by Ronaldo, he proved himself there, but I thought all round that Fulham were the better team, it doesn't matter because players like Ronaldo can change it just like that.
 
Wow, Ronaldo saves our ass. If he really has to leave at the end of the season, we better not get anything less than 40 million pounds for him.
 
Matches about to start at 3pm (Premier League):

Charlton Athletic - West Ham United (big one)
Liverpool - Sheffield United
Middlesbrough - Reading
Watford - Everton

Team for Liverpool:

Dudek
Finnan
Hyypia
Carragher
Riise
Pennant
Gerrard
Mascherano
Gonzalez
Crouch
Fowler

Subs:
Padelli
Agger
Alonso
Sissoko
Kuyt

Mascherano starts, and Dudek is in goal (uh oh), because Jose Reina's wife is in labour.
 
Fulham were unlucky. They did deserve something out of that game. They worked hard and caused us loads of problems, but Ronaldo showed his worth by scoring that goal. Its amazing just how much he's improved. During the summer it looked certain that he was going, but he's become the most important United player. The goal took a small deflection and I never a fan of a defleced goal, but ronaldo has got to be given credit for making that run. When it looked like we were going to mess up a big chance to widen the gap between us and chelsea, he produces a bit of magic. You can tell just how important it was for us to win that game by the way the players celebrated. We needed to win this game to put pressure on chelsea.

Im just glad that the game is over. It was one of our poorest displays this season. Larrson didnt do much and Im really surprised that he played the whole game. I was expecting saha to come on a lot earlier and I thought he would be brought on for larsson, but carrick that was taken off. I coulkd see what fergie was doing. We were not getting anything in midfield, so fergie probably thought that our best chance of getting anything was to attack on the break and hope that one of the strikers can latch onto a cross.
 
ElyrionX said:
Wow, Ronaldo saves our ass. If he really has to leave at the end of the season, we better not get anything less than 40 million pounds for him.
He wont leave. fergie is building a team around him and Rooney. Fergie wont let him go now. Ronaldo will probably end up leaving united some time in his career, but now is too early. Eveen if a team put in a big bid for him, fergie wont let him go. My only concern is that the galzers might want to selll him so that they can get the money. fergie has said that the glazers wont do that, but I find it hard to believe that selling ronaldo for a lot of money isnt in their mind.
 
what a player, theres only one Ronaldo! contender for goal of the season.

Love the celebrations of the team too.
 
That's one hell of an important win. You're next game's at Anfield, so if you'd drawn this and lost the next (which there's a decent chance of), Chelsea would just have to pick up 6 points against Portsmouth and Man City and they'd be a point behind.
 
Mama Smurf said:
That's one hell of an important win. You're next game's at Anfield, so if you'd drawn this and lost the next (which there's a decent chance of), Chelsea would just have to pick up 6 points against Portsmouth and Man City and they'd be a point behind.
I was really worried durning that game. It didnt look like we were going to get more than a point and out of thwe games against Fulham and Liverpool, this was the game that we could get 3 points from. Had we not beaten them, then we would have put ourselves ina very uncomfortable position. Depending on our result against liverpool and chelsea's results in their next two premiership games, ronaldo's goal could be very decisive. You could tell from the way fergie was celebrating that wbeating fulham was bloody important.
 
psycho_snake said:
He wont leave. fergie is building a team around him and Rooney. Fergie wont let him go now. Ronaldo will probably end up leaving united some time in his career, but now is too early. Eveen if a team put in a big bid for him, fergie wont let him go. My only concern is that the galzers might want to selll him so that they can get the money. fergie has said that the glazers wont do that, but I find it hard to believe that selling ronaldo for a lot of money isnt in their mind.

I dont think the glazers came here to try and make a quick buck by selling off everything possible. They have some kind of masterplan whether its tv rights or some future buyout from someone else - but selling the best player will not make an impact on the debt or help in any way other than destabilise the team and club.

Ronaldo has a choice, stay and become a legend or try his hand at barca/madrid who will treat him like meat and flog him when his time is up. Those clubs dont make true legends anymore.

Rooney's poor form is worrying though.
 
Dunpeal said:
Jesus christ somebody stop that kid. The guy run over 50 meters, on the way getting past by 2 Fulham players and then scoring.

:D

he only did it cos he was furious at getting fouled but the ref not giving it too :D good to see he plays well when he's angry.

Rooney needs to get angry again, why's he so docile atm?
 
kaizoku said:
Ronaldo has a choice, stay and become a legend or try his hand at barca/madrid who will treat him like meat and flog him when his time is up. Those clubs dont make true legends anymore.

That's not true...they just make different types of legends.

1172200310.jpg


Charlton just went 4-0 up on West Ham, after going into the half with a 3-0. Needless to say the Hammers are just about toast.
 
Bayern 2:1 Wolfsburg

It was a quite good game. Goals by Podolski and Van Bommel. Wolfsburgs goal fell in the 79. Minute. it was unnecssary..

nevertheless we won again! good feeling ^^. i missed it!
 
I think its fair to say that Ghost will be watching West ham fight for promotion in the championship next season :p
 
Oh West Ham...poor Ghost.

I have to say, I'm not sure the result of the match mattered too much, I think they'll both go down in the end anyway, but West Ham are practically certain now.

Their run in is so hard. Their past two games have been Watford and Charlton, and to have any hope I think they needed to win both. Instead, they lost both. And now they're left with these games:


H Tottenham
A Blackburn
H Middlesbrough
A Arsenal
H Chelsea
A Sheff Utd
H Everton
A Wigan
H Bolton
A Man Utd

Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Bolton? That's ridiculous. And the rest aren't exactly easy.

If you compare it to Wigan's run in, the team they have to catch:

H Newcastle
A Man City
H Fulham
A Charlton
H Bolton
A Aston Villa
H Tottenham
A Liverpool
H West Ham
H Middlesbrough
A Sheff Utd

Much easier. Not to mention they're 6 points ahead (effectively 7 thanks to goal difference) and have a game in hand .

Watford and Charlton have easier run ins too, so I wouldn't be surprised if, when all is said and done, West Ham finish bottom of the table.

I suppose the only consolation for them is that, with their investment, they should have a great chance of coming right back up.
 
kaizoku said:
Ronaldo has a choice, stay and become a legend or try his hand at barca/madrid who will treat him like meat and flog him when his time is up. Those clubs dont make true legends anymore.

What a ****ing joke!

Despite Man U's tradition, it will never even come close to Real Madrid's history and greatness. A rough patch happens to any club.
 
BatiGOOOOOOL said:
What a ****ing joke!

Despite Man U's tradition, it will never even come close to Real Madrid's history and greatness. A rough patch happens to any club.
The rough patch has been going on since del bosque left the club. Since he's left real madrid have not won any silverware. Real Madrid wont improve until they figure out that the best way to get results is to give a manager time. Capello is one of the best managers in the world. If real madrid sack him because he doesnt win anything this year then it would be a very foolish move. If you give him time so that he can build a squad, then real madrid will start to live up to their reputation.
 
Final scores for the Premiership today:

Charlton Athletic 4 - 0 West Ham
Fulham 1 - 2 Manchester United
Liverpool 4 - 0 Sheffield United
Middlesbrough 2 - 1 Reading
Watford 0 - 3 Everton
 
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