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Official Football Thread 2007/2008 (Soccer)

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Ghost said:
BBC website didn't mention Walcott actually, did he not make the final squad? I did forget Defoe though, I doubt either him or Agbonlahor would work with Rooney, but Capello might try it as an attempt to put someone in a Tevez kinda role.

I wont be too pissed off if he does that, I'll just be pissed of if Crouch steps on the pitch before Ashton.
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nah, he's in the final squad.

He won't start though obviously.
 
Ghost said:
1 in 2 strike rate for one of the lowest scoring clubs in the league isn't exactly average.


Neither is this: http://www.1000goals.com/ashton-goal-manchester-utd-vs-westham-31
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Ghost, his strike rate is 1 in 3. And perhaps if he was a better striker, West Ham wouldn't be one of the lowest scoring clubs.

As mentioned, he's totally average. If you look at the other strikers leading the lines in the Europe in the shape of Toni, Torres, Klose, Henry and Van Nistelrooy; he doesnt exactly evoke the same response.
 
Google said:
Ghost, his strike rate is 1 in 3. And perhaps if he was a better striker, West Ham wouldn't be one of the lowest scoring clubs.

As mentioned, he's totally average. If you look at the other strikers leading the lines in the Europe in the shape of Toni, Torres, Klose, Henry and Van Nistelrooy; he doesnt exactly evoke the same response.
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Ashton is too slow despite good technical ability.
 
Okay so I just came back from my after prom thing and I just have to say Sunday was the worst few hours of my life. So I drove from the southern tip of Jersey to Giants Stadium to watch them get whooped 5-1 in front of a crowd with a shit load of Mexicans. I regret not fighting anybody.
 
Cedeo said:
?

Whats your point, they're different players and Van Nistelrooy is faster.
Click to expand...

My point is, pace is not a prerequisite of being a top-class finisher. It's certainly an element, but Ashton's lack of blistering pace isn't the reason he's not a top class goalscorer.
 
You're right about the strike rate, I missed his substitute appearances.

You have a funky rating system for players, presumably Toni, Torres, Klose, Henry and Van Nistelrooy are 'above average'. Then there are about 3000 'average' strikers, then everyone else is 'below average'?

You might want to make use of a few more categories.


Ashton's certainly not world class (mind you he's only 24 so who knows), he's still England's best target man on his day, and by no means Average.
 
Osorio said:
Okay so I just came back from my after prom thing and I just have to say Sunday was the worst few hours of my life. So I drove from the southern tip of Jersey to Giants Stadium to watch them get whooped 5-1 in front of a crowd with a shit load of Mexicans. I regret not fighting anybody.
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Rough match, eh? You guys just about doubled your goals against for the year in one match.
 
Ghost said:
You're right about the strike rate, I missed his substitute appearances.

You have a funky rating system for players, presumably Toni, Torres, Klose, Henry and Van Nistelrooy are 'above average'. Then there are about 3000 average strikers, then everyone else is 'below average'?

You might want to make use of a few more nouns.


Ashton's certainly not world class (mind you he's only 24 so who knows), he's still England's best target man on his day, and by no means Average.
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I was simply using the most prominent front men who lead their national teams. Fuck, I could name dozens of strikers around Europe who should get more time on the field than Ashton.

I'm not a particular fan of needing a target man. Why force a playing style that doesnt suit the players we have.

Crouch isnt particularly good in the air, despite what Ian Wright keeps saying about the 'big man'. Ashton is extremely viable if all you need is a body to hold the ball up when it's played directly to his feet. But against a strong back line that will push up the pitch, he's not going to be able to find his feet.

Why not play Rooney with Defoe? Defoe has played well in an England shirt before, is quick as lightning and has proved in his 5 months at Portsmouth that he's more than capable of scoring, given the opportunity.

Or fuck playing two out and out strikers? Play Rooney in the centre, Cole on the left and Bentley on the right. Copy United of Chelsea's formation - it obviously works for them, and it means that both Lampard, Hargreaves, and Gerrard can all play in the team...

Anyway...
 
The Good, The Bad, The Coyote Ugly

Wrapping up Week 9 in MLS.....

THE GOOD

*Cuauhtemoc Blanco playing a part in four of Chicago's five goals against New York's comical defending and goalkeeping. "He knows what the stage is about and he's not afraid to step on it and our guys know that," Fire Coach Denis Hamlett said. "You get him the ball and then move and he'll find you."
*A triumphant weekend for another designated player as David Beckham scores from 70-plus yards to clinch victory for first-place Los Angeles.
*Tom McManus's swerving laser from 35 yards for Colorado.
*New England handing Columbus its first home loss on Kheli Dube's follow-up to Sharie Joseph's missed PK.
*2007 Sueño MLS winner Jorge Flores, 18, scoring for the second consecutive week.
*Dominic Oduro steering past a defender and scoring an added-time winner for Dallas.
*D.C. United coming from behind twice to end a four-game losing streak.
*Claudio Lopez's individual effort to give Kansas City the lead at L.A.
*Danny Dichio scoring three goals in four days against DCU for Toronto.
*Matt Reis's spectacular save on Eddie Gaven's header in the second half at Columbus.
*Landon Donovan's 9 goals and 6 assists in 9 games for the Galaxy, the highest-scoring team in MLS (2.44 goals per game).
*Kevin Hartman passing Cobi Jones and later Jason Kreis during K.C.'s game at L.A. to move into third place on MLS's career minutes played list, trailing only Steve Ralston and Chris Henderson.
*Kenny Cooper's footwork -- impressive for a big guy -- which drew two yellows on Ian Joy.
*Brad Guzan's reaction save on Facundo Erpen.
*Chicago, known for its defense this season, scoring five and improving to 4-0-1 on the road.
*Dallas interim coach Marco Ferruzzi, on the comeback victory: "Complete heart, complete dedication and complete commitment."
*Retired Newark Star-Ledger writer Ike Kuhns, who started covering soccer in the 1960s, receiving the National Soccer Hall of Fame's Colin Jose Media Award. He will be honored during induction weekend, Aug. 1-3.

THE BAD

*RSL conceding two goals in the last 10 minutes to fall to 0-5 on the road.
*DCU keeper Zach Wells, who has made few big saves and hasn't taken command of the penalty area this season.
*Jozy Altidore's in-grown toenail, which kept him out of the starting lineup. Undoubtedly, his team's in-grown incompetence intensified the pain.
*After making several quality saves, Greg Sutton failing to hold Santino Quaranta's shot from distance, which allowed Luciano Emilio to score his first goal since early April.
*Only one Western Conference club (L.A.) with an above.-500 record and only two with a positive goal differential.
*United promoting a visit by Pablo Mastroeni, not former star midfielder Christian Gomez, for Colorado's match at RFK in August.

THE COYOTE UGLY

*New York's defense, particularly Hunter Freeman and keeper Jon Conway. "I can't even remember all the goals because there were so many," Freeman said.
*The announced crowd of 8,960 at Dallas.
*San Jose ranked last in six of 10 MLS team categories and next to last in another.
*Bobby Rhine lashing out at Javier Morales and receiving a straight red.
*The U.S. under-23 team, with 10 MLS players, losing all three matches at the Toulon tournament and being outscored 7-2.
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Link to the main articles which includes links to vids of the goals.

Bonus video of Crew fans throwing plastic bottles along with a racial epithet at the Revs. This sort of thing has no place in the league. :(
 
Anyone else see the resemblance? Just me?

randall-sunderland.jpg

Mark Randall

534-1.jpg

The dude from Oddworld
 
Google said:
Why not play Rooney with Defoe? Defoe has played well in an England shirt before, is quick as lightning and has proved in his 5 months at Portsmouth that he's more than capable of scoring, given the opportunity.

Or fuck playing two out and out strikers? Play Rooney in the centre, Cole on the left and Bentley on the right. Copy United of Chelsea's formation - it obviously works for them, and it means that both Lampard, Hargreaves, and Gerrard can all play in the team...

Anyway...
Click to expand...

Capello decided Rooney will play with a second striker, not me ;).

I'd be ok with trying him with Defoe, or Agbonlahor might be a better fit, I like having a proper target man up there because it brings the midfield into the game more to have a striker that's not looking to turn the defence every time he gets the ball. Especially against teams like the US who will most likely sit fairly deep. Crouch as you say isn't very good at that aspect of his play, he's a better Striker than a target man.
 
So, lets compare the stats of two Ukrainian strikers in EPL. Both have not played much, and it seems their performance was sluggish, but if you look at it from goals/game POV, it actually was not that bad. In Liverpool only Torres was clearly more effective, and I do not think anyone beat Sheva in Chelsea this season in goals per minute stat.

Voronator

EPL

Games started (came as substitute) 13 (6).

Goals: 5

Assists: 2

Fouls: 18

Champion's League:


Games started (came as substitute): 4 (3).

Goals: 1.

Sheva

EPL

Games started (came as substitute): 8(9).

Goals: 5.

Assists: 1.

Fouls: 9.


League Cup

Games started (came as substitute): 2 (0).

Goals: 2

Champion's League:


Games started (came as substitute):2 (3).

Goals: 1
 
I dont think a goals / minutes ratio is particularly effective in the modern age.

Obviously, it's a good measure of how many goals a player scores, but there are always a huge amount of variables.

Rooney is a testament to this...His goals to minute ratio is not anywhere near as good as other top class strikers in Europe, but his team have won the Champions League and the Premiership...

It's his movement, the space he creates and his overall play that's more important. The same could be said for Drogba, who simply scares defences into paying him more attention.
 
Well, should they stop to award "best scorer" awards from now on? .) Of course there is a team influence in how good the striker performs, and there is influence of the striker on how good the team performs.
Comparing a forward with another one from his own team is slightly more valid, since the team for the most part is the same.
Still its not objective, but nothing in football is.
 
Kinan said:
Well, should they stop to award "best scorer" awards from now on? .) Of course there is a team influence in how good the striker performs, and there is influence of the striker on how good the team performs.
Comparing a forward with another one from his own team is slightly more valid, since the team for the most part is the same.
Still its not objective, but nothing in football is.
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Yakubu scored more EPL goals than Rooney.

Yakubu's obviously better.
 
Taking a stab at the US lineup for tomorrow.

-----------Johnson------------Donovan----------
Beasley----------------------------------Dempsey
----------------Bradley-----Clark------------------
Pearce-----Bocanegra----Onyewu---Cherundolo
---------------------Howard-----------------------

I'm pretty sure the backline and goalie are set. Dempsey and Donovan are more or less interchangeable in the right-midfield/forward slots. It'd be fun to see Donovan run at Cashley, so I hope we'll see some of that. Jacqua could start instead of Johnson, but I think Bradley still trusts the latter a bit more. Edu could play in place of Clark, too. Beasley will probably get a half or a little bit more, with steady Eddie Lewis coming on during the 2nd half. I'd like to see Adu get some time, too.

Oh, and if I list them by club....

-----------Fulham------------LA Galaxy----------
Rangers----------------------------------Fulham
----------------Heerenveen-----Houston------------------
Hansa Rostock-----Fulham----Standard de Liege--- Hannover 96
---------------------Everton-----------------------

Bradley will be gone this Summer from Heerenveen and Bocanegra has been released by Fulham, but that's more or less it.


Also, I found this story from the USMNT blog.
An Inside Tip on England - Mum's the Word

We've been told by various journalists here that one of the changes installed by Fabio Capello since he took over the England job is the policy of not revealing the starting lineup until two hours before kickoff - TO ANYONE. While you can debate the pros and cons of not telling the players, one group that finds the practice particularly frustrating are the equipment managers. You see, England has a long tradition of putting their starting team in numbers 1-11 in accordance with their position on the field, a practice begun in club football as early as 1908 (at least according to wikipedia - and who doesn't trust that?). Since Capello refuses to tell anyone who is starting, the equipment guys literally have to print jerseys right up until near kickoff. Guess that might be easier at home, but how about in Trinidad? We hope they bring enough jerseys, just in case ...
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Google said:
Yakubu scored more EPL goals than Rooney.

Yakubu's obviously better.
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I'm not talking about who is "better" or "worse". How the fuck you can quantify that? I'm talking who scored more or less, thats all. Per minute so its not completely unfair due to one guy playing 5min and another 2000.
 
They just interviewed Hleb on German TV. He never really liked London and he sounds like he might leave soon ("What happens happens. I don't know where I'm going to end up").

He said that he wants to play for Stuttgart again sometime, he still has a house there and his German is pretty good.
 
Kinan said:
I'm not talking about who is "better" or "worse". How the fuck you can quantify that? I'm talking who scored more or less, thats all. Per minute so its not completely unfair due to one guy playing 5min and another 2000.
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I'm quantifying it as fact, because obviously, I know more than you.
 
The Friendly Monster said:
from BBC sport

_44692259_english_premiership_466.gif
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Time to open up Word and start writing that letter to Sepp Blatter endorsing quotas on foreign players.

and I'll sign it Brian Barwick
 
It's worth noting that although Manchester United's number is higher than the other big four teams this has come at a huge cost. Carrick, Rooney, Hargreaves and Ferdinand cost over £80 million together, although Neville, Brown and Scholes came through the youth system.

Oh and I'll take that fake Real Madrid offer for Ronaldo.
 
=GabrielKnight= said:
Mancini has been sacked

Mourinho going to Inter Milan
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Sacked? what? Doesn't make a lot of sense, wont they owe him more money now than if he'd quit like he said he wanted to?
 
Ghost said:
Sacked? what? Doesn't make a lot of sense, wont they owe him more money now than if he'd quit like he said he wanted to?
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don't know this, the news are saying that he has been sacked... he didn't want to quit, but Moratti told him to leave
 
Today is TFC's matchup with Montreal for the inaugural (?) Canadian Championship. The winner of this 3-team tourney gets a spot in the new CONCACAF Champions League format.

Anyone else think it's lame that Toronto will pretty much be in it yearly? All they have to do is beat Montreal and Vancouver (2 USL-1 sides).

I know the reasoning but still, they are going to be in it every year practically. :lol
 
Outdoor Miner said:
Today is TFC's matchup with Montreal for the inaugural (?) Canadian Championship. The winner of this 3-team tourney gets a spot in the new CONCACAF Champions League format.

Anyone else think it's lame that Toronto will pretty much be in it yearly? All they have to do is beat Montreal and Vancouver (2 USL-1 sides).

I know the reasoning but still, they are going to be in it every year practically. :lol
Click to expand...

Vancouver drew with TFC when they last played them, and Montreal will soon be in the MLS, so it should be competitive.
 
Outdoor Miner said:
Today is TFC's matchup with Montreal for the inaugural (?) Canadian Championship. The winner of this 3-team tourney gets a spot in the new CONCACAF Champions League format.

Anyone else think it's lame that Toronto will pretty much be in it yearly? All they have to do is beat Montreal and Vancouver (2 USL-1 sides).

I know the reasoning but still, they are going to be in it every year practically. :lol
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Is that home-and-away or just single game playoffs?
Google said:
Vancouver drew with TFC when they last played them, and Montreal will soon be in the MLS, so it should be competitive.
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I wouldn't exactly say they'll be in MLS "soon." It'll be at least 3-4 years, and possibly more than that. That being said, USL-1 teams have been reasonably competitive with MLS teams in the past in the Open Cup.
 
Cornballer said:
Is that home-and-away or just single game playoffs?
I wouldn't exactly say they'll be in MLS "soon." It'll be at least 3-4 years, and possibly more than that. That being said, USL-1 teams have been reasonably competitive with MLS teams in the past in the Open Cup.
Click to expand...

We've get the mercurial Martin Nash...

HE'S BETTER THAN ANYONE!
 
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