• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Shinobi said:
Agreed...it'll be far easier to find another Henry than another Wenger. I'm already dreading the day when Arsene finally moves on, whether it's a year from now, five years from now or whenever.
Click to expand...
I've got the same thing with fergie. I highly doubt we will ever have a manager who would stay with us for over 20 years and have the same success that he's had. What he's done for us is unbelievable.
 
Crouch gets way too much undeserved stick. Some people dont see that he's a good player because he looks funny. I think he's done well for both liverpool and england. Everytime he's had the chance to play for england, he's either scored or had a very good game. I dont know how accurate wikipedia's info is, but it says that he's scored 12 in 19 games, so thats a goal every 1.58 games.

Please lets not compare baptista of arsenal to crouch. When baptista he forgot how to pass or shoot. His second touch is almost always a 50/50 tackle.
 
That's it you asked for it.

150px-TheCrouch.gif
 
Crouch is a decent striker, but he is not a prolific goalscorer. He is Premiership material, but not good enough for the top 4.

He scored 17 goals goals for Liverpool in 64 games, his ratios before that weren't much better.
If I add everything up he scores a goal every 3.66 games in the Premiership.

Baptista played very well at Sevilla, with an excellent goalscoring record in La Liga. He wasn't good last season, but he is still a better player than Crouch.
 
psycho_snake said:
Crouch gets way too much undeserved stick. Some people dont see that he's a good player because he looks funny. I think he's done well for both liverpool and england. Everytime he's had the chance to play for england, he's either scored or had a very good game. I dont know how accurate wikipedia's info is, but it says that he's scored 12 in 19 games, so thats a goal every 1.58 games.
Click to expand...


Na he's really not very good, he's supposed to be a target man but his percentage for winning the ball in the air when challenged must be awful. His height is almost a disadvantage because it makes it hard for him to jump without obstructing the defender and giving away a free kick.

He has proven himself a good poacher and has saved England on a couple of occasions, but while he does have a good goals/games ratio, if you look at the teams he scored against (Uruguay, Hungary, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Greece, Andora, Macedonia & Estonia) it becomes less impressive.

The work he's supposed to do on the pitch just doesnt get done at the moment.
 
hadareud said:
Crouch is a decent striker, but he is not a prolific goalscorer. He is Premiership material, but not good enough for the top 4.

He scored 17 goals goals for Liverpool in 64 games, his ratios before that weren't much better.
If I add everything up he scores a goal every 3.66 games in the Premiership.

Baptista played very well at Sevilla, with an excellent goalscoring record in La Liga. He wasn't good last season, but he is still a better player than Crouch.
Click to expand...

Hello
 
hadareud said:
Crouch is a decent striker, but he is not a prolific goalscorer. He is Premiership material, but not good enough for the top 4.

He scored 17 goals goals for Liverpool in 64 games, his ratios before that weren't much better.
If I add everything up he scores a goal every 3.66 games in the Premiership.

Baptista played very well at Sevilla, with an excellent goalscoring record in La Liga. He wasn't good last season, but he is still a better player than Crouch.
Click to expand...

And my rebuttal?
Lollers.gif
 
Winning the ball in the air is something he seriously needs to work on. For somone that tall he should be doing it easily, but his technique isnt good. I do agree that he isnt top 4 standard, but I dont think that Torres would be the ideal striker to bring in instead of crouch. I just dont think that he's as good as the papers make it sound. Maybe when he starts playing in the EPL he'll make rapid improvement, but £25 million for a striker is a lot of money to pay for someone who might turn out to be a really good striker. Id pay that sort of money for tevez.
 
the last time we said this the Henry story broke 5 minutes later. I am too scared to complain about nothing happening again this summer.
 
Summer has been pretty slow in general so far, on the EPL front especially, Man U signed some wonder kids, Chelsea picked up some freebies, that's about it. There seems to be a lot of clubs just not prepared to play ball this year. Maybe prices are finally peaking.
 
Milan are linked with zambrotta. It wouldnt surprise me if it happened because zambrotta hasnt been as good as he was before. Its been a rather average season for him at barca. He would be a good addition to their squad. Milan have a decent right back and left back, but they dont have someone who is as good as zambrotta. The good thing about him is that he can play on the left or the right.
 
Damnit i just couldn't stay away from Sky Sports News, and boy does Henry look bemused taking pictures infront of the Barca emblem. :O

Was it more Wenger kicking Henry out than him wanting to leave? Probably would explain on how he left at such a cheap price.
 
I have a feeling he already regrets his decision. He was almost crying at the end of his goodbye interview.

The other thing is that if Wenger would have absolutely wanted to keep him, he could and would have.
 
There is probably some depressed arsenal fan who's praying that henry fails his medical and has to return to arsenal. Yes Im looking at you had!
 
psycho_snake said:
There is probably some depressed arsenal fan who's praying that henry fails his medical and has to return to arsenal. Yes Im looking at you had!
Click to expand...

Damn you, I was going to try and console Hadareud with that line. >_<

I remember something like that happened when we tried to sell a Liverpool player, Salif Diao was so shit he couldn't pass a medical at Stoke.
 
Oh well Henry's just officially completed the medical so much for that faint minuscule highly unlikely next to impossible bit of hope.
 
Steroyd said:
I remember something like that happened when we tried to sell a Liverpool player, Salif Diao was so shit he couldn't pass a medical at Stoke.
Click to expand...
:lol I cant say Im surprised.

Saha probably couldnt pass a madical for any club either. He'd probably tear a ligament
when he has to do the knee jerk reflex test.
 
Haha finally some not-so-bad news for Arsenal fans. A rumor that Wenger is staying?!!@! Wow!

I noticed Henry looking depressed too. There's a part of me that wants him to be like "I'm sorry, I made a mistake, I can never leave Arsenal."

It could happen...right?
 
I'm sure Henry is genuinely sad to go, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's not looking forward to Barca.

He's been an Arsenal player for 8 years, most of his professional career - it's the club that made him the player and the man he is.

Will the Barcelona fans be patient if he has a rough start? He has it all to prove again. We'll see how he feels there in half a years time.

I honestly hope it will work for him though. I am over everything that's been said and I am thankful that he was an Arsenal player and probably our best player ever.
 
Lets look at the fictional truth behind henry's departure. Its not because of wengers commitment. He cant stand the stupide rain, the ketchup and fatman slimboy! The swan shark needed a new environment!

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8751_2447648,00.html

MONDAY
I am not scared by much in my life. I respect my enemies, my fears, my difficulties, but I don't fear them because only an idiot fears fear. I can look anybody in the eye and say, "I am Thierry Henry." I have played against and with some of the best defenders in the world - Lilo Thuram, Desailly, Ayala, Nesta, Senderos. I never had fear or dread in my stomach's pit.

But I fear one thing - an English barbeque. We had to go to a barbeque with my wife's friends and it was a joke, a disaster. The weather was terrible; it was pissing on us all the time. But we had to stay outside, enjoying the classique British summer. Come on guys! Do you want that I catch a cold? I am a sportsman working hard on a miracle comeback. Do you think a cold helps me? I lost a big part of the season with injuries, many injuries, now you want that I sit in the storm for three hours listening to your stupide Fatman Slimboy barbeque cassette and drenching myself?

And then the food - sacre bleu, don't get me started! The meat is uncooked or burnt like a crisp! What the hell is that? Then they drown it in the ketchup. Why guys? The pig is already dead, why you must drown it? Rain and ketchup, is that all you've got guys? I don't know how much longer I can put this up, these barbeques, rain, ketchup. Maybe I need a new environment for my spirit, for my soul - maybe I have to go to new space to let my soul breathe. Away from ketchup. Far away.


TUESDAY
I went to do the photo shoot for a new Arsenal kit, a new white shirt in which I look so, so beautiful. Some people, stupide people, say that Arsenal cannot wear a white shirt. They are stupide. Arsenal cannot have a white top? What the hell is that? Because Spurs are wearing white for all their history? Pathetique. Do Spurs have trademark on white? You know, I like to wear the white shirt, I love it. I feel like a swan, a graceful swan. My style on the pitch is like a swan, floating, dipping, soaring. But I am a swan with the teeth and killer instinct of the shark. I am a swan-shark I think, unique.


WEDNESDAY
Something so sad, so typical happened at the shops today, inside the car park. I had to do the food shopping (after the difficult season I had last year and my injuries? What is that? Lose in Champions League final, World Cup Final, get injury and finish fourth yet still have to do food shopping?). I found a nice space for my car. I measured the angle perfectly, and was about to do a beautiful reverse parking in the space, taking my time, not touching any kerb or crunching any gear or clipping anybody's mirror-wing, glide into the gap in a swift but not unresponsible speed, leave room enough to open my doors without scratch the other car and allow other people around me to open their door and calmly place their shopping bags inside.

Then some idiot, he just parked in my space while I was preparing myself! He just drives straight in, in two seconds, zoom! Straight into my space without taking time. And he was crooked! His stupide car was jutting out at a horrible angle. Sticking out, man it was so ugly. I think if you are parking your automobile you must do it beautifully. Why park in a supermarket carpark without making something attractive? Why? How can you live like this? How can you exist like this? It's too ugly, so sad. Is that how you live, is it all you've got?


THURSDAY
Thursday night is cinema night in my family, the Thierry Henry family. I thought a good way for me to relax myself was to choose the film for my family. But my wife and daughter wanted to decide the film, a stupide cartoon movie about a stupide puppy dog or monkey or something. Come on guys! What the hell is that? I am under stress, my body was nearly destroyed last season. It was very draining to me, it took a lot out of me. Why can't they understand that? Why can't I watch the film I want to watch? After the difficult season I had last year and my injuries?

In the end they understood and agreed that we could go and see SpiderMan 3 again. I love this film, I love it too much! I think it is because Spidey is like me, we are cut with the same cloth. He is one man fighting for justice against ignorants and violent people. I am one man fighting for the name of beautiful football against the monsters, freaks of anti-football. Spidey has problems, stress, doubt, but he never gives in or cries like a woman.

I am the same, I accept all they throw at me, like Spidey, I am not a woman. Me and Spidey are not women. He had the Goblin, and Sandy-Man like enemies, I have teams playing ten men behind the ball, Carles Puyol and Sam Allardyce. I know I am right, Peter Parker knows he is right, he holds and guards the truth, like me, TH14. We don't ask for thanks from the people, we do it because we have to and it is right.

And of course this SpiderMan suit he wears is so cool, trop cool! I love it, red and blue. I want a red and blue football shirt, it would look perfect on my athletic body. Maybe I tell Hill-Wood to give us a red and blue shirt, or I think of a team who has it already and dress myself in it.

Next week I will see SpiderMan 3 for the eighth time, if my family don't get selfish thoughts again. If they want to see this film about the dog puppy or monkey cartoon they will have to do it without me - c'est la vie. They choose - stupide puppy or monkey or their husband and father and Arsenal captain Thierry Henry.


FRIDAY
I was flicking the channels on TV this morning, looking for some clips of my best goals, but Sky Sports didn't have any on (What the hell is that guys? I get many, many injuries, take a little time out and you forget me? Did you lose the clips of all my goals?). Anyway, I accidentally switched on the cricket. I have a question. Cricket? What the hell is that? It is so boring, man it makes me want to sleep! How can you call this a sport? Man, I want to laugh at them! They are wearing jumpers! I mean, it takes five days and they still can draw! What a stupide sport! Come on guys, you got to be joking! These Anglo-Saxons are ridiculous sometimes; they make me laugh so hard. I don't know how they can stay here all their lives without going crazy!


SATURDAY
Sky Sports and the BBC finally started talking about me again, making up rubbish about my future, like every summer. Come on guys! Haven't you got any other things to talk about? Is that all you have got? And one journalist, stupide, stupide man, said I don't go to Italy this summer because I failed at Juventus in 1999.

What the hell is that? Again, this story? I tell you, I tell you the truth, the real truth. Juve failed, not Thierry Henry. They played me in a stupide position, they didn't understand Thierry Henry. They made me wear the football handcuffs. They wanted to strangle me with suffocation. On the pitch I take risks, I take the ball, I go wide, I cross, I fly, I create, I glide, I soar, I swoop, I pounce. But they put me inside a cage, a horrible cage. They failed, not me, they are the people who built a horrible cage around Thierry Henry. I cannot think they are a real club, a big club. I do not think many big team do this. I do not think Barcelona would build up a cage with Thierry Henry inside.


SUNDAY
It was the grande finale of the Spanish Liga, and I wanted to watch it to see who wins. Of course I had to miss the first two minutes because my wife was watching something on a DVD. I asked if I could see the Spanish games and she said she was watching 'Sex In A City' or 'Willy and Grace' or something stupide. I could not believe that I could not watch what I wanted in my house! What the hell is that? Can't I relax at home? I want to release my stress, I have played so many games in the last few years, but my body said stop! And now I need some Thierry-time. In the end she let me see the games. "Come on Nicole, what the hell is that?" I calmly moaned, and she stopped the DVD. But I missed two minutes of the football...come on! You want to ruin my night?

But I was laughing at the end because Barcelona's captain, Carles Puyol, lost the title on the last day! Hey Puyol, you think I forget the Champions League Final in 2006? You played like a cheat, beating, kicking and hitting me. But I didn't go down. I am not a woman. But I lost that night. Now you must taste a defeat, idiot. Magnifique! This is a big, a strong club Barcelona, with a nice mentality and respect for the true spirit of the football. When you have the captain's armband on your bicep you carry the fans, the dreams and you must respect beauty and honour, I think. But maybe someone must put a word in Puyol's ear and make him know some things! Maybe I visit him in Barcelona. I don't know the future. I know many things, but I cannot know the future. It is impossible.

But of course I am sad for Lilo Thuram. Man I am sorry for him, my brother, a warrior like me. He lost too, and he is real man, like me. He has respect and understands the truth, the real spirit of sport, life. Maybe I invite him to come and see SpiderMan 3 with me, if my wife and daughter are stubborn mule again next week. Or I could go to Spain and watch it with him. Yes, this is a good idea, I'll ask my agent to phone and find out about cinema times in Barcelona tomorrow morning after my stupide, soggy English idiote baker-produced croissant with Nicole and my petite daughter. Stupide.
Click to expand...
 
hadareud said:
I'm sure Henry is genuinely sad to go, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's not looking forward to Barca.

He's been an Arsenal player for 8 years, most of his professional career - it's the club that made him the player and the man he is.

Will the Barcelona fans be patient if he has a rough start? He has it all to prove again. We'll see how he feels there in half a years time.

I honestly hope it will work for him though. I am over everything that's been said and I am thankful that he was an Arsenal player and probably our best player ever.
Click to expand...

Yeah I feel the same way now. He is turning 30 in August. The Premiership is a tough league. It's not like the Spanish and Italian leagues, it's much more physical in my opinion. I don't think he would have been able to perform as well in England with his increasing risk of injury and increasing age. Spain might be a nice fit for him.
 
1182725507.jpg


Ay yay yay yay
Somebody stole my sombrero!
Some dirty old rat, has stolen my hat!
And now I have nothing to
wear-o!
wear-o!
wear-o!
 
The latests reports suggest that Cisse will be part of the swap deal that'll bring Torres to Liverpool. That makes more sense. Crouch isnt top 4 quality, but he provides more than Cisse. Actually Cisse might be the better player, but things never worked out well for him in england. He probably wants to move, so if Liverpool do want to swap a palyer, he would be the best to use.
 
there's more and more reports about the incredible sulk returning.

I wonder if we get a statement from Wenger today, once the Henry deal has been completed.
 
That would seem weird to me, if Wenger extends his contract. Henry said he left because of the uncertainty of Wenger's future. Now 3 days after Henry leaves, Wenger will commit to the club? It doesn't make sense to me. Couldn't Wenger have made his mind up 3 or 4 days ago?

It's starting to seem more and more like Henry just wanted out, or someone else wanted him out. Anyone agree?
 
well, it's very possible that the Dein & Wenger line is nothing more than an excuse. I have never heard about a player leaving a club because one of the directors of the board is not there anymore.
 
Osorio said:
http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/tools/med/2007/06/ipt/1182725507.jpg

Ay yay yay yay
Somebody stole my sombrero!
Some dirty old rat, has stolen my hat!
And now I have nothing to
wear-o!
wear-o!
wear-o!
Click to expand...
:lol

153fs817971.jpg
 
BatiGOOOOOOL said:
Also, wtf is the US not taking a full strength team to Copa America? ****ing assholes, I wish Costa Rica was invited once again so we could have quality friendlies like those.
Click to expand...
The rationale that I heard was that Bradley can't demand the release of any players because it's not our confederation's championship, so it's up to the club whether or not they want to release the players. He was able to get whoever he wanted for the Gold Cup because of FIFA rules.

BatiGOOOOOOL said:
Whoops, I didn't mean friendlies, hehehe.

I guess I understand why they can't take their best team, but are they at least taking all the guys that play in Europe?
Click to expand...
Most are headed back for preseason to fight for a spot. Dempsey just made his move to Fulham a few months ago, Bocanegra has to lock down a starting role, Beasley needs a new contract, Bradley is with the U20's, etc... I wish we could send a stronger team, too, but with the Gold Cup just before it and the U20's at the same time, we're missing a lot of players. There wasn't really any way around it.
 
henry2.jpg


what happens if you press the button?
also, it is difficult to say where this button comes from. Is it on the machine? Is it Henry's button?
 
Osorio said:
1182725507.jpg


Ay yay yay yay
Somebody stole my sombrero!
Some dirty old rat, has stolen my hat!
And now I have nothing to
wear-o!
wear-o!
wear-o!
Click to expand...

:lol
Feilhaber's goal was a thing of beauty.
 
:lol

A couple notes from the game yesterday courtesy of Ives Galarcep:
-The comeback victory was the first for the U.S. team in the 73-year history of the rivalry.

-Andres Guardado has been labeled healthy and able to go with Mexico to Copa America. I haven't heard about Jared Borgetti's status but his injury appeared more severe.

-Jonathan Spector was taken to hospital for observation fer a mild concussion suffered in the same collision that left Guardado with a concussion.

-Yes, that was Mexican defender Carlos Salcido who exchanged jerseys with Landon Donovan. A great gesture of sportsmanship, unlike Hugo Sanchez berating match officials and sarcastically applauding them during the trophy ceremony.

-One Mexican player who did give the U.S. team credit after the match was none other than goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez. After a great performance in goal, Sanchez refused to call the penalty call questionable and stated that the Mexican team was to blame for its missed opportunity.

-There were some ugly scenes of fighting in the stands after the match. In most cases, it was Mexicans fighting other Mexicans.
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Unhinged Bios Official Thread
10
224
SJRB replied
  • Poll
Football (Soccer) game is abandoned because a fan used sexist language towards the ref.
24
737
T8SC replied
THE BEAUTY OF FOOTBALL
2
54
1K
Ellis replied
URC 2025-2026 Official Thread
Social 
7
758
StueyDuck replied
Moana | Official Trailer
2
67
999
jason10mm replied
Top Bottom