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[Yazan]

Do you know who the little blond kid is?

Spoiler

Antonio Cassano

 

[hadareud]

Just listening to the Times football podcast, this is their team of the season:

                  James
Brown     Ferdinand   Vidic      Evra
Ronaldo   Fabregas    Gerrard    Cole
          Torres    SantaCruz

Manager: Ferguson

Evra over Clichy is a matter of taste. Brown over Sagna is a matter of the Times podcast having the collective mind of a lobotomised camel.

Gerrard is there for the sake of his name, Cole is there for no good reason, Santa Cruz is there for ... well who the fuck knows.

Shittiest team of the season ever.

Not that I'm surprised, the times podcast is such shit it's not even funny. Gabriel Marchotti is a cunt and an idiot, Balague is nice but full of shit and the rest of the people are even worse.

It's a pain to listen to every single fucking Times.

 

[Lakitu]

Sorry but Santa Cruz deserves to be in there over Adebayor. One of the buys of the season.

 

[hadareud]

Sorry but Santa Cruz deserves to be in there over Adebayor. One of the buys of the season.

for what reason exactly does he deserve to be there over Adebayor?

I'm not contesting that he was an excellent buy, but seriously.

 

[Cornballer]

Sorry but Santa Cruz deserves to be in there over Adebayor. One of the buys of the season.

Is that the criteria they were using? Value for transfer fee?

 

[Scum]

Do you know who the little blond kid is?

Spoiler

Antonio Cassano

:O

 

[Mama Smurf]

I'm not sure I can decide on a team, so I'm gonna cheat. Here's my 23 man squad of the season. One name above another doesn't necessarily mean I think they're better, I'm just adding them as they come to mind. And I'm ignoring anyone brought into the Premiership in January, that's not a season.

GK

Friedel
James
Hart

RB

Sagna
Johnson

LB

Evra
Clichy

CB

Ferdinand
Vidic
Carvalho
Lescott

RW

Ronaldo
Bentley

LW

Young
Hleb

DCM

Flamini
Mascherano

ACM

Gerrard
Fabregas

FW

Torres
Adebayor
Santa Cruz
Rooney

Even that's difficult, I really didn't want to leave out players like Howard, Carragher, Richards, Petrov, Tevez etc, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

 

[Lakitu]

for what reason exactly does he deserve to be there over Adebayor?

I'm not contesting that he was an excellent buy, but seriously.

Because, he's not an Arsenal player for one.

 

[hadareud]

Because, he's not an Arsenal player for one.

excellent reason.

 

[Manager]

Brown cant be the best right back in the country, he just cant.


And no Petrov on the left?

He's been completely invisible in 33% of City's games, and just poor in another 17%, while he doesn't possess any kind of expertise in defensive play. I don't get the hysteria around him, he's been good but even Arsenal fans wanted him earlier in this thread. Crazy times.
On the other hand, I guess he would be even more productive in a team that doesn't play Mpenza in the penalty area.

 

[The Friendly Monster]

Evra over Clichy is a matter of taste. Brown over Sagna is a matter of the Times podcast having the collective mind of a lobotomised camel.

Gerrard is there for the sake of his name, Cole is there for no good reason, Santa Cruz is there for ... well who the fuck knows.

Shittiest team of the season ever.

Not that I'm surprised, the times podcast is such shit it's not even funny. Gabriel Marchotti is a cunt and an idiot, Balague is nice but full of shit and the rest of the people are even worse.

It's a pain to listen to every single fucking Times.

What other podcasts do people listen to? I like the Guardian one, not for it's premiership stuff which is pretty dismissive and negative, but for the other European leagues and new stories, on top of their constant dismissal of MLS.

 

[hadareud]

What other podcasts do people listen to? I like the Guardian one, not for it's premiership stuff which is pretty dismissive and negative, but for the other European leagues and new stories, on top of their constant dismissal of MLS.

I really like the guardian podcast. Not that I agree with most of their Premiership opinions, but it's always a good listen and it's mostly intelligent people talking about stuff they do know something about.

And James Richardson is brilliant.

Too much Italian stuff though.

Other than that I'm listening to the Arsecast, which is mostly excellent.

 

[velvet_nitemare]

How much did Adebayor cost BTW?

8mil?

 

[avaya]

How much did Adebayor cost BTW?

8mil?

A packet of crisps.

 

[Cornballer]

How much did Adebayor cost BTW?

8mil?

The 23-year-old Togo international joined Arsenal from French side Monaco in January 2006 for £3m.

.

 

[The Friendly Monster]

for what reason exactly does he deserve to be there over Adebayor?

I'm not contesting that he was an excellent buy, but seriously.

I think if Santa Cruz had played on his own up front for Arsenal all season he would've scored more than 24 league goals. I think if Adebayor had played for Blackburn all season he would've scored less than 19 league goals.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Adebayor's fee wasn't disclosed, but I don't think it was £3m. I've heard around £7m a lot more.

Bargain either way.

 

[velvet_nitemare]

I said wow.

Wenger...</bow>

 

[hadareud]

I think if Santa Cruz had played on his own up front for Arsenal all season he would've scored more than 24 league goals. I think if Adebayor had played for Blackburn all season he would've scored less than 19 league goals.

Santa Cruz played for a top side in the past and he never managed to score anywhere near 19 goals.

That reasoning just doesn't work, does that mean that Henry would only have scored 15 goals had he not played for Arsenal? Why did Bent score 20 goals at Charlton and is a total failure at Spurs?

If you're a goalscorer that plays every single game and you're on top of your game you will score anywhere.

Adebayor's fee wasn't disclosed, but I don't think it was £3m. I've heard around £7m a lot more.

Bargain either way.

Depends who you believe. I've heard 7 and 8 million (certainly haven't heard more than that because that definitely isn't the case), but 3 is the most widely reported fee.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Bent doesn't start regularly at Spurs and Santa Cruz didn't start regularly at Bayern.

I don't actually think they're that similar, they just happen to be tall strikers who scored a lot this season. Santa Cruz is better in the air, Adebayor is faster. Santa Cruz poaches most of his goals, Adebayor is more likely to make his own. Adebayor plays off the last man which is why he's constantly offside, Santa Cruz comes deeper.

 

[velvet_nitemare]

Bent:lol

I wonder if the spuds can get half of what they paid for him back now.

 

[hadareud]

there was a few seasons where he did play regularly at Bayern (like 29 out of 34 games) and the best he managed was 5 goals.

Playing at a top team doesn't make goalscoring that much easier.

Last year Arsenal only scored 9 goals less than this season, yet our topscorer only scored 11 goals

 

[The Friendly Monster]

Santa Cruz played for a top side in the past and he never managed to score anywhere near 19 goals.

Santa Cruz has also rarely been consistently in a side week in week out before, or playing in the Premiership which he is clearly suited to. Also Arsenal don't play the same as everyone else, they are set up around the guy at the front getting most of the goals, I think even I would get a goal a season if I played every match up front for Arsenal.

That reasoning just doesn't work, does that mean that Henry would only have scored 15 goals had he not played for Arsenal?

Of course, if Henry played for Derby there's no way he'd be able to get more than 15 goals or so a season in the premiership, it's strange you choose Henry because he has been a failure in another big team recently.

Why did Bent score 20 goals at Charlton and is a total failure at Spurs?

Because spurs play a different kind of football to Charlton, also they already had the best strike partnership in the premiership.

If you're a goalscorer that plays every single game and you're on top of your game you will score anywhere.

Well what's the point even having a midfield then? Let's just have 6 defenders and 4 goalscorers, it's funny you should be arguing this as it's always you who brings up the assist statistics when it suits you.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I can see this debate's gonna get nasty, I drop out.

 

[hadareud]

Santa Cruz has also rarely been consistently in a side week in week out before, or playing in the Premiership which he is clearly suited to. Also Arsenal don't play the same as everyone else, they are set up around the guy at the front getting most of the goals, I think even I would get a goal a season if I played every match up front for Arsenal.

already answered that above, neither point is entirely true.

Of course, if Henry played for Derby there's no way he'd be able to get more than 15 goals or so a season in the premiership, it's strange you choose Henry because he has been a failure in another big team recently.

Blackburn are hardly Derby.

Henry is playing on the wing at Barcelona and he still managed 12 league goals.

Because spurs play a different kind of football to Charlton, also they already had the best strike partnership in the premiership.

true to a certain extent.

Well what's the point even having a midfield then? Let's just have 6 defenders and 4 goalscorers, it's funny you should be arguing this as it's always you who brings up the assist statistics when it suits you.

there's plenty of examples of strikers that scored plenty of goals for mid-table and even relegation teams.

Assists also don't necessarily favour one single player.

I can see this debate's gonna get nasty, I drop out.

:lol

 

[The Friendly Monster]

It's cool, I'll let it drop. I love the fact that almost any argument in football comes down to..."but Darren Bent....." these days.

 

[Blablurn]

My Shirt has arrived! Go Chelsea!

 

[Falch]

We'll keep it here and leave the other thread to the trolls.

Excellent.

 

[hadareud]

[/IMG]

My Shirt has arrived! Go Chelsea!

 

[The Friendly Monster]

On last thing probably worth noting is that of Adebayor's 24 league goals 3 were penalties, whereas none of Santa Cruz 19 were.

 

[Lakitu]

That, and the fact Adebayor has a dance that is perhaps on par on absurdity with Crouch's robo-dance.

 

[Blablurn]

GO CHELSEA!

 

[GHG]

Henry a failure at Barca? their whole team has had a failure of a season and he's been used a as a scapegoat.

Goals contributed at Barca in all comps (G = Goals, A = Assists, final number = total contribution):

Messi G 16 + A 13 = 29
Henry G 16 + A 11 = 27
Eto'o G 18 + A 3 = 21
Bojan G 11 + A 4 = 15
Ronaldinho G 9 + A 4 = 13

Stats from - http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team?id=83&cc=5739

Henry is only behind Messi when all is said and done. Thats no mean feat considering he's been playing out of position all season in a new team and league.

 

[avaya]

Henry is only behind Messi when all is said and done. Thats no mean feat considering he's been playing out of position all season in a new team and league.

And he has a back problem that is progressively getting worse.

 

[GHG]

And he has a back problem that is progressively getting worse.

Yep http://www.physioroom.com/sports/injury_case_studies/sciatica_thierry_henry.php

Back problems are a bitch. I've had one on and off for over a year now, had to sit out many games because of it. The pain is so much at times I can't even do more than jog.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Goals contributed at Barca in all comps (G = Goals, A = Assists, final number = total contribution):

Messi G 16 + A 13 = 45
Henry G 16 + A 11 = 43
Eto'o G 18 + A 3 = 39
Bojan G 11 + A 4 = 26
Ronaldinho G 9 + A 4 = 22

The numbers if goals are worth 2 pts.

 

[The Friendly Monster]

Ok I don't have much preference over who wins Euro 2008. I need to adopt a team, there must be other people here in that situation, has anyone got ideas about what we can do? Maybe some kind of random team assignment + prize for the winner (dunno how to do that).

Out of interest here are the approximate decimal odds at the moment:

Germany 5.2
Spain 7.5
Italy 8.5
Portugal 9.1
France 9.9
Netherlands 15
Croatia 16
Czech Republic 20
Greece 31
Russia 31
Switzerland 38
Sweden 39
Romania 50
Turkey 70
Poland 70
Austria 150

 

[Blablurn]

i think france is going to be pretty strong this year.

germany's success depends on the first game. if they are going to win they are able to beat everyone.

greece is a tough team. i saw them playing and they are a difficult opponent for everyone.

 

[Cornballer]

Maybe some kind of random team assignment + prize for the winner (dunno how to do that).

We're going to try and set something like that up - we've been talking about it for a while.

 

[The Friendly Monster]

We're going to try and set something like that up - we've been talking about it for a while.

Excellent, I probably subconciously stole the idea from earlier in this thread. Well I'm definitely in, and I think we should get it going sooner rather than later. I want to really get to know my team, see the buildup news etc.

 

[Scum]

The Spanish side, on paper, is all kinds of awesome! Semi-Finals, surely...?

 

[Scotch]

Question to American soccer fans out there:

I'm going to the US this summer during Euro 2008. Are there any tv channels that are doing live broadcasts of the matches?

 

[Cornballer]

Question to American soccer fans out there:

I'm going to the US this summer during Euro 2008. Are there any tv channels that are doing live broadcasts of the matches?

ESPN will have all of the games on live and the vast majority in HD. Here's the schedule. The only time you might get hosed is when they're on ESPN Classic since some hotels, etc.. might not carry it.

 

[hadareud]

why do Germany have the best odds?

Serious question. Maybe because they have the easiest group on paper I suppose, but other than than they have little going for them compared to other teams, quality wise.

 

[avaya]

Yep http://www.physioroom.com/sports/injury_case_studies/sciatica_thierry_henry.php

Back problems are a bitch. I've had one on and off for over a year now, had to sit out many games because of it. The pain is so much at times I can't even do more than jog.

The last time he was actually 100% fit was towards the end of 2003 and early 2004. Remember the end of 2003 and early 2004.

Remember.

I would take him back over Adebayor any fucking day of the week. We would have thrashed Liverpool in the quarter-final with Thierry playing. Stevie G loves finding Tel with that final ball of his.

 

[Blablurn]

germany is always strong at tournaments.

 

[Eeikod]

Messi G 16 + A 13 = 29
Henry G 16 + A 11 = 27
Eto'o G 18 + A 3 = 21
Bojan G 11 + A 4 = 15
Ronaldinho G 9 + A 4 = 13

Uhm.. that cant be right, Henry had max goals scored and max assists given this season. He had at least 19 goals, and approximately 15 assists

 

[Scotch]

ESPN will have all of the games on live and the vast majority in HD. Here's the schedule. The only time you might get hosed is when they're on ESPN Classic since some hotels, etc.. might not carry it.

Ah great, thanks.

 

[velvet_nitemare]

Stevie G loves finding Tel with that final ball of his.

Truth:lol

 

[avaya]

germany is always strong at tournaments.

This.

In World Cup history, the second most successful team in terms of final finshing position to Brazil is Germany who average 3rd.

Mentally the Germans are the strongest team by a country fucking mile. The penalty record itslef is a testament.

You should just go home if you face the German's in a shoot-out.

If only Ballack wasn't too concerned with saving his pretty face instead of getting in the way of Grosso's shot...the Italian's were just a minute away from being dumped out by Deutschland.