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[Prince]

Ajax won the Dutch play-off today for the CL qualifying round!

Check out this hilarious but cruel gif of the celebration after AZ's own goal.

BTW the AZ player Ryan Donk made a nasty foul on Huntelaar in the first half so i guess payback is a bitch haha

 

[celestial body]

It seems Chelsea won't recall Crespo: "I'm 99% certain I'll stay, they promised me and I'm very happy". BTW Adriano stays too. Meanwhile Ibrahimovic claims he was misquoted when he talked to a journalist about Moggi.

 

[Cornballer]

Flamini hurt by final snubs
By Lewis Rutledge - Created on 27 May 2007

Mathieu Flamini has explained that being overlooked by Arsene Wenger for key games made him desperate to leave Arsenal.

Flamini revealed last month that he wanted to quit The Gunners and Wenger subsequently announced that he would probably allow him to go.

The French midfielder, who is now considering his options, admits he was frustrated by Wenger's refusal to select him for finals.

"In my first season at Arsenal, I played in all the matches in the FA Cup only to be left out of the team for the final," he told the News of the World.

"Last year, I played in every match in the Champions league but was left on the bench for the final.

"Then lasts season I played in a lot of the Craling Cup campaign but once more I didn't play in the final.

"I was left in the stands and it was not easy to understand."

Flamini is entitled to buy out the rest of his contract to escape Arsenal and he is determined to secure a deal elsewhere.

He said: "I have not started a game since February and I have to think of my career."

Hard to argue with him. Flamini is a good player and will be valuable to someone else. He did well for Arsenal when he was here and always gave 100%.

 

[Fowler]

Finally back from Athens. Have some pics I wanted to share with you guys.

This is the closest I got to the Acropolis, partially because it closes sinfully early, and partially because...

...it rained like CRAZY in Athens. Seriously. This picture was taken five minutes after it started pouring and the sidewalk is already flooded. Crazy.

Liverpool fans gathered in Syntagma Square, on the steps of the Greek Parliament building. UEFA set up a (lame) FanZone there so it's supposed to be neutral ground, but Milan fans were thin on the ground in Athens before the game. Still, there were a few Milan fans, and they were good fun. Very friendly relations between fans.

The view from the top of the stairs.

Shortly afterwards, I heard this guy talking to his friends about climbing on top of the Parliament building to swap the Greek flag for that flag.

Some of the more creative signs I saw. One I didn't snap:

STEVIE GOES TO GREECE
FRANK GOES OBESE

We went to Syntagma to get tickets. We didn't succeed on Day 1, so we went back on Day 2 armed with a secret weapon: A sign. That thing was the key to everything. We made the sign, got into the hotel elevator, and a guy says "Hey, you need tickets? I have a friend who needs to get rid of one..."

The stadium before the game. Magnificent looks. Shite facilities.

Liverpool end, two hours before kickoff. I came in through the Milan section way ahead of time so I didn't see any of the trouble. But you can see a lot of the fans haven't taken their seats yet.

Same end, half an hour before kickoff. One of the better chants: "Three-nil, and you f***ed it up, three-nil, and you f***ed it up..."

The Milan end. Their fans were excellent: Very vocal, organised chants, and good people off the terraces too. Lots of fathers with young children I noticed. But there were just too many Liverpool fans. After they started a rousing anti-Liverpool chant, they were very quickly drowned out by a massive BOOOOO from the rest of the stadium. It was like the verbal equivalent of a bitchslap.

Of course, Milan scored shortly afterwards, so we were quickly bitchslapped back...

 

[Lakitu]

Nice pics and most Fowler, good stuff.

In other news: Balague on Skysports says that Torres desperately wants to join Liverpool.

 

[Shinobi]

Some of the more creative signs I saw. One I didn't snap:

STEVIE GOES TO GREECE
FRANK GOES OBESE

Same end, half an hour before kickoff. One of the better chants: "Three-nil, and you f***ed it up, three-nil, and you f***ed it up..."

The Milan end. Their fans were excellent: Very vocal, organised chants, and good people off the terraces too. Lots of fathers with young children I noticed. But there were just too many Liverpool fans. After they started a rousing anti-Liverpool chant, they were very quickly drowned out by a massive BOOOOO from the rest of the stadium. It was like the verbal equivalent of a bitchslap.

Of course, Milan scored shortly afterwards, so we were quickly bitchslapped back...

:lol :lol :lol Very cool pics Fowler...

 

[Cornballer]

Those pics are awesome, Fowler - thanks for posting them.

 

[Steroyd]

Nice pics and most Fowler, good stuff.

In other news: Balague on Skysports says that Torres desperately wants to join Liverpool.

You can't mean the "Torres" I'm thinking of can you?

 

[Mama Smurf]

You can't mean the "Torres" I'm thinking of can you?

 

[Lakitu]

You can't mean the "Torres" I'm thinking of can you?

Yes, but Im quite drunk so make of tht what you will.

 

[Mama Smurf]

You're a scouser?

 

[Lakitu]

You're a scouser?

My dad was a scout for ten years, does that make me one? It's in my blood, but no accent

 

[Mama Smurf]

It's in my blood

Yes, it is. Yes it is.

 

[Lakitu]

Yes, it is. Yes it is.

You make me want more beer, but I can resist.

I'm sleepy.

I wonder who Liverpool will be linked too tomorrow, Snoogy Doogy.

 

[jamesinclair]

Aaaaaaand Parana Clube is now the only undefeated team in the Brazilian league. 3 games, 3 wins, 9 goals.

I need to buy a Josiel jersey. He's going to be huge.

 

[Cornballer]

FIFA bans matches at high altitude

FIFA ban international matches at high altitude

ZURICH, May 27 (Reuters) - No international soccer matches will be allowed to take place above an altitude of 2,500 metres in future, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Sunday.

A number of countries, among them Bolivia, frequently stage home international games at high altitude but Blatter said FIFA was following advice from its medical committee.
'I know there will be complaints about this, especially from South America, but we have to think of the health of the players first. It also leads to a distortion of the competition if matches are played at such a level.

'The Executive Committee have listened to a proposal from the medical committee and have decided to act because to play at above that altitude is not healthy or fair.'

Bolivia traditionally play their home matches in La Paz, which, at more than 3,600 metres above sea level, is the highest capital city in the world.

Good decision in my opinion. Places like La Paz are brutal for outsiders that haven't been training that high. Funny that they set the limit at 2500m, as smog-choked Mexico City is at 2240m.

Spoiler

Lower it you bastards!

 

[Fowler]

I was gonna post that -- huge news, changes the dynamic of the South American qualifiers. I can see them fighting it though. And though I agree with the principle of the rule... it does suck to not play matches in your national capital, you know?

 

[Cornballer]

I'm sure some places will appeal and try to get an exemption. I guess the counter argument could be that they haven't banned places with excessive heat/humidity/pollution, so is it a bit of a double standard? Hmmmm.....

 

[Fowler]

True -- 40 degrees celcius is equally inhospitable.

 

[jamesinclair]

This is bullshit. The only reason this happened is because Flamengo complained after doing badly in a Libertadores games while playing against Real Potosi, which plays at 3967 meters.

Potosi is also qualified for the Copa Sudamericana

 

[Shinobi]

I think it's bullshit myself...what's next, they gonna ban international games in places where the tempeture drops lower then -10c?

 

[Lakitu]

I expect transfer stuff to quieten down this week as it's mainly internationals going on and a lot of the transfer deals on hold. Damn internationals...

 

[Blablurn]

impressive pics. can i ask you much you had to spend for the tickets?

 

[Wes]

90 seconds of football pain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljSEzdBL3c

I :lol :lol :lol 'd at the Ronaldo one.

 

[psycho_snake]

Some of the more creative signs I saw. One I didn't snap:

STEVIE GOES TO GREECE
FRANK GOES OBESE

:lol Thats really good.

 

[Yasser]

holy shit @ the rain in athen photo! it pisses here in england but it would take more than 5 minutes to cause a small flood!

 

[psycho_snake]

90 seconds of football pain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljSEzdBL3c

I :lol :lol :lol 'd at the Ronaldo one.

:lol The best one was when that guy slid into the post.

 

[Osorio]

I'm looking at the signs in the Liverpool fan zone picture and the one that stands out is the MOM, I'M GAY one. I dunno if it's true but if it is that's an interesting way to come out. If it's not true then it's just a good attention drawing sign.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I can't see it as I refuse to use TVAnts anymore (I'm almost certain it's the reason I got the last two viruses which made me reformat my hard drive twice in a month), but the West Brom - Derby playoff is about to start.

I have a feeling West Brom will come up, but I hope it's Derby as West Brom have the more interesting players who might refuse to stay in the Championship for another year.

 

[hadareud]

sucks that it's only on tvants, I haven't had any virus problems with it though.

I have the tvants ad server blocked though, so that should help (same with the sopcast ad server, that's a bit dodgy too).

 

[Osorio]

Would it be on Sopcast?

edit: nm question answered

 

[Mama Smurf]

Actually a random Italian sopcast link popped up and was working for a while, but now it's not buffering for me. Might just be something to do with my connection though, I'm not sure.

 

[Wes]

Would it be on Sopcast?

edit: nm question answered

For sopcast, if you're playing it in VLC, do you need to have the sopcast in-browser player page open aswell?

 

[Osorio]

I'm not using VLC so I don't know.

 

[Wes]

:*(

 

[Wes]

Derby win 1-0.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Hard to believe Derby won that game, they were completely outplayed.

But good.

 

[Steroyd]

Derby win 1-0.

As I expected.

 

[psycho_snake]

Keane has signed a five year contract with spurs. Its good for them that they've got him on a long tern contract. He doesnt get the praise that berbatov does, but keane has been a very important player for spurs; I think he's almost been just as good as berbatov.

 

[Cornballer]

Spurs have made some good moves this offseason - Keane is a very important player to them.

Congrats to Derby - see you next season....

 

[Cornballer]

Here are the MLS PPG rankings through week 8. Stolen from BigSoccer MLS boards.

The Fire and the Galaxy are the sucky teams this week. (Revs dropped two spaces as well, but I'm not about to start calling them sucky yet. LA and Chicago are clearly in, ahem, a different league.)

Incremental gains across the board for NY, KC, Colorado, DC, Chivas LA, Columbus, and Toronto.

Goal differential is the tiebreaker between Houston and Toronto.

Single table - ranked by points per game
Includes games played 5/27


   TEAM		GP	PTS	PTS/GM	CHANGE SINCE LAST WK

1.  NY		 8	17	2.13		+1
2.  KC		 8	16	2.00		+1
3.  NE		 9	17	1.89		-2
4.  COL		 9	15	1.67		+1
5.  FCD	 	10	16	1.60		-1
6.  DCU	 	 7	10	1.43		+1
7.  CHV		 8	11	1.38		+1
8.  CHI		 9	11	1.22		-2

9.  CLB		 8	 8	1.00		+1
10. HOU		 8	 7	0.88		NC
11. TOR	 	 8	 7	0.88		+1
12. LA		 6	 5	0.83		-3
13. RSL	 	 8	 5	0.63		NC

 

[Fowler]

I'm looking at the signs in the Liverpool fan zone picture and the one that stands out is the MOM, I'M GAY one. I dunno if it's true but if it is that's an interesting way to come out. If it's not true then it's just a good attention drawing sign.

Another one that drew a lot of attention was PETE PRICE IS A ****.

This seems to be something of a tradition, because when I looked him up on Wikipedia... well, see the image for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Price

 

[Lakitu]

Soo... quiet ain't it?

 

[Wes]

Soo... quiet ain't it?

Read this for some laughs:

http://www.football-rumours.com/soccer-rumours.htm

 

[Mama Smurf]

Did you guys know there's a whole other world out there, a world of laughter and music, flowers and fresh air, kids playing in the street and old men tipping their hats to ladies as they pass by?

It's horrible. So here's some football stuff.

Apparently Benitez wants Malouda, the Lyon left winger. Makes sense, he wants to leave and plays left wing so can compete with Leto if Kewell, Gonzalez and Zenden are being shipped out. Should be able to get him for about £10m, but I expect there'll be competition for him.

I realise a lot of you hate stats, or at least view them as inferior to just using your own judgement based on what you observe, but this should spark some debate whether you like it or not. It's the top 10 players of the year according to stats (from the site which beat the bookies yet again this year):

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/fink_tank/article1851667.ece

1 Ronaldo 19.12

Voted player of the year by his fellow professionals and by football writers, the 22-year-old Portugal winger is our man of the season as well

2 Lampard Chelsea 16.24

An ordinary season for Lampard? The statistics say otherwise

3 Gilberto Silva 16.01

Ten league goals was a remarkable return for the midfield man

4 Cech 14.41

Chelsea missed their ’keeper desperately when he was injured

5 Lehmann 13.94

He may be 37 but the German is still among the league’s elite

6 Scholes 13.50

Enjoyed spectacular return to form after last season’s eye injury

7 Howard 12.96

Failed to make the grade at Old Trafford but a Goodison star

8 Vidic 10.48

The centre back was rock-solid in his first full season in England

9 McCarthy 9.91

Eighteen goals in 36 starts proves McCarthy is a lethal predator

10 Hleb 9.87

Not as flashy as some of his teammates, but highly effective

To explain, the number represents the average number of points that player would give you a season when compared to the average player in that position. So, for example, with an average striker playing for Blackburn they'd get 50 points, with Benni McCarthy instead they'd get 59.91 (well, 60) points.

Now, I just question one thing. I'm fine with everything...except the penalties. I don't think scored penalties should be given as high an importance as other goals. Most penalties are scored, even the worst penalty taker in a team should score more often than not. In particular, I'm looking at Gilberto Silva. Yeah, the penalties he scored were important and he did have to score them, they're not automatic goals, so he should get points for that. But to say "Ten league goals was a remarkable return for the midfield man" is a bit misleading. He scored 5 goals from open play, a good amount, and 5 penalties. Now if say Fabregas had been taking the penalties instead, just how many fewer points a year would Gilberto Silva add?

Other than that...I feel vincdicated in my talking up of Lampard and Vidic over Gerrard and Ferdinand, though surprised at Gilberto Silva and in particular Hleb. Lehman might surprise some of you, but it doesn't particularly surprise me. He was the top player in this table for the previous two seasons (not top goalkeeper, top anyone), so this actually does reflect a poorer season, only being the 5th best player in the league.

And finally, one more vindication...they ranked 403 players. Everybody who played any part of a game in the Premiership this year. Paul Robinson, Spurs and England no. 1, came...wait for it...402nd.

 

[Wes]

Sounds like a lot of cack to be honest Mama. Why would Arsenal be wanting to get rid of Hleb if he played so well for his position this year? Or am I not understanding these figures correctly.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I don't think Arsenal do want to get rid of Hleb, do they? Some Arsenal fans do certainly. As for why he's so high compared to general opinion...sometimes general opinion sucks.

There's a baseball book about a team who completely gave up on personal opinion and JUST picked their players based on stats. They were taking players other teams didn't want, getting rid of players everyone thought were amazing, and they SHOT up their league, like never before.

Basically, they look at every contribution to a game a player can make (including negative ones). Then they look at how important each contribution is to earning points, and give them more strength accordingly. So for example, goals is obviously more important than shots on target, while shots on target is more important than shots off target. I mean, they're applying this back to the table after they're done to see if it works and it does (otherwise they wouldn't be beating the bookies year after year). From this, they can work out the average player and then compare every other player to "him".

You may think if it works so well, why doesn't anyone do it? Well, at least one team has, Bolton. Sam Allardyce worked off stats constantly, that's how he picked his team, and that's why they do so well despite having such little money.

You don't have to believe it of course, that's up to you, but generally people don't like it because they don't want the romance of the game being taken away and just turned into a pile of numbers, rather than finding reasons it could be wrong.

 

[hadareud]

I don't want to get rid of Hleb, most of the Arsenal fans do however. Luckily they don't stand a chance since I don't think that Wenger thinks the same way.

These stats are still a bit peculiar though, I don't know.

Guess who's 401st btw?

David Bentley :lol

 

[Mama Smurf]

Oh man, I hadn't noticed that, that's a kick in the nuts.

He's good at crossing, really good, but he can be frustrating. He gives the ball away a lot trying to do fancy tricks rather than just play the simple pass, like Ronaldo used to, and he even does it deep in his own half which I would imagine (I don't know, they're not going to reveal every little detail of their formula) will give him far more points lost than if he did it far up the pitch. That's the only thing I can think of...well, he does foul quite a bit too, but not excessively.

 

[hadareud]

It's hard to believe that there's only 2 worse players to have on your team in the entire Premiership. Those players are Robinson and Kevin Davies.

I know there's a margin of error with all stats, but that just seems too far removed from reality.

Can't complain too much from an Arsenal standpoint - 1 player in the team of the year, 3 on the bench.