football: the beautiful game

[panicnation]

babel scored but was frustrating again. he never passes, he will shoot from a tight angle or from far away when he can make a pass. few times keane played a one two with him and didn't get the return ball when he ran into space. i agree that babel has talent but he still needs to play for the team.

totally agree with this comment. sometimes i feel babel plays like a faster stronger pennant.

[polishmike]

as far as i can tell, keano was successful at spurs in tandem with defoe, mido and kanoute before berbatov showed off.... hardly the who's who of clever strikers.

but all of them had more ability than kuyt

[readytoignite]

but all of them had more ability than kuyt

yes, but all four combined probably cover less ground in one match than kuyt (neither here nor there but thought i'd mention it).

i think some football talk show guy pulled the stats for berbs at united and he covers half the ground as the avg premiership player or something like that

anyway i thought kuyt was converted to a winger? and what's so bad about 4-5-1 really, seems to work for us

[polishmike]

kuyt is an attacking wingback

you think dos santos will play against utd? boy sure can't drink

your captain ain't a great example either

[dutch365]

Hey great idea on the football thread...

favorite team: Ajax, Barcelona, AC Milan,

Players: Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Diego Maradona, Leo Messi, Romario, Frank de Boer, Jari Litmanen, Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Dennis Bergkamp

Favorite League: La Liga, Eredivisie, Premiership

Can't wait for the SuperClassico this Saturday - Barcelona v Real Madrid

who will win?

[dutch365]

We don't really have one good thread about soccer,so i figured i'd start one.

Just a general thread to discuss favorite teams/players/ latest matches etc. etc.

i'll start, favorite team: FC Barcelona. Favorite players: Ronaldinho, Messi, Eto'o, Deco from Barca and Henry, Van Persie, Vd. Vaart, Aissati, Aguero, Higuain, Gago, Rodrigo Palacio, Cesc, Davids, Ibrahimovic, and many more

Barca drawed against Osasuna yesterday, terrible match, hardly any goal attempts, and no ronni, leo, but eto'o finally back! In holland we had a great weekend, with psv-az and ajax-feyenoord, first one was a great and exciting match, with az winning with some luck. ajax-feyenoord bit disappointing cause ajax just waaay to good.

and is anyone into streetsoccer? if so check out www.voetbaltruc.nl for some great videos of players. other soccer sites www.voetbalprimeur.nl, vi.nl

anyway discuss your soccer favorites!

My favorite matches to watch are:

Barcelona v Real Madrid

Ajax v Feyenoord

Ajax v PSV Eindhoven

Ajax v AZ Alkmaar

AC Milan v Internazionale

Manchester UNTD v Arsenal

AC Milan v Juventus

Boca Juniors v River Plate

Holland v Germany

Brazil v Argentina

Holland v Brazil

Holland v England

Holland v Argentina

England v Germany

I love Dutch football...Their unique style of play is really cool to watch

I also love street football

[78]

The Dutch League like many of the smaller European leagues gets pretty damn boring once you look past the famous clubs...

And I do love how the national team play even though they're their own worst enemies the majority of the time.

[dutch365]

The Dutch League like many of the smaller European leagues gets pretty damn boring once you look past the famous clubs...

And I do love how the national team play even though they're their own worst enemies the majority of the time.

You're right about that, the Dutch league is pretty weak if you look past the BIG THREE (Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, and to an extent AZ ALKMAAR, current leaders of the Dutch League)

The National team, de Oranje, is a joy to watch when they are on form...At Euro 2000 and during the group stages of Euro 2008 the Dutch played scintillating football...I hope one day they win the World Cup..They are my favorite international team...

Barcelona's recent recent victory over Real Madrid (2-0) has certainly pushed them towards the title in Spain..We'll see how they'll fare during the second half the season when they'll compete for the league, cup, and Champions League...It's still a long season.

[readytoignite]

it's pretty weak even so - just look at their champions league performances of late, the last time a dutch team won it was 1995 and their last appearance in the final was the next year

yet again transfer window rumors regarding liverpool and spurs are proving to be highly entertaining.

[polishmike]

as much as i wouldn't mind lennon, to get pennant you have to be on crack (which you can get from his dad)

[polishmike]

very happy about this draw. some interesting matchups and the special one coming back to england.

[beast]

very happy about this draw. some interesting matchups and the special one coming back to england.

Who do you think will go through to the next round?

1. Chelsea v Juve - Think Chelsea will scrape through. Scolari is becoming predictable and Chelsea seems to have lost their fighting spirit and Chelsea cant score away in Europe. But Ranieri aint that good a manager anyway.

2. Villareal v Panathinaikos - who cares.

3. Sporting v Bayern - Bayern. They seem to be getting better.

4. Athletico v Porto - who cares. Both will be cannon fodder when they advance.

5. Lyon v Barca - Barca seems unstoppable and Lyon certainly cant stop them.

6. Real v Liverpool - Pool for sure. Real will still be shaky with Juande who was exposed during his Spurs stint.

7. Arsenal v Roma - Roma was hammered mercilessly by United and even Spurs within a year. Arsenal to continue with the fine tradition. Pity AC couldnt make it instead of Roma.

8. Inter v Man U - Man U. Jose still finding his feet with Inter. All his mind games wont work since Inter is not the team in his Mourinho mould yet.

[ChadR]

i hope someone else saw the aston villa v. arsenal game. 2-2, aston equalized in the 91st. they outplayed arsenal though. Agbonlahor played solid, but ashley young let me down.

sagna did great d work against young to his credit.

v. persie- i hope they don't start you anymore.

this is one of the best games i have seen in a while.

[78]

yeah it was a solid game and really showed how strong a team villa is, and have been, this season.

I wonder if Adebayor would have made the difference?

As for Champions league... with Man Utd's recent form I wouldn't be suprised if Inter do pull of a 0-0 away and 1-0 at home... I still find Fergie's new midfield weak, unorganized and lacking the flare that he wants - interesting to see Scholes play today...

And Raniera's a fuckin great manager.

[Klangspiel]

lmao

BNV1mbLKXlQ

[quackculture]

GET IN!!!!!!!!!

That 32 million is looking like a bargain

8 assists

9 goals.

VDS equals 10 cleansheets in a row record.

(not a very good game though but who cares we are top of the table)

[fatchino]

oh know we're selling shay.

my club is falling apart.

[polishmike]

you are? where?

[Guest arcenol]

im going to london on monday. i want to watch the fulham v portsmouth game. i want to sit in the fulham section, but i think i should sit in the away/neutral zone. what should i do? there are some tickets left.

[polishmike]

at craven cottage it doesn't matter, sit with the home crowd. it will be a snoozer anyway.

[Guest arcenol]

snoozer? you think so? perhaps. i figured itd be cheaper to watch than the arsenal game. and had to support america's finest, dempsey the chelsea killer.

[polishmike]

it will be much cheaper than arsenal game. no way fulham will sell out that game and probably not too many pompey fans will travel. i would still drop some coin and try to go the the arsenal - west ham game the same day. it would be a much better atmosphere. shit, on that same day i would rather go watch qpr - reading than fulham, but that's juts me.

[readytoignite]

i would still drop some coin and try to go the the arsenal - west ham game the same day. it would be a much better atmosphere.

atmosphere at emirates? you're having a laugh. even tony adams said the atmosphere there sucks and that's compared to the library.

arcenol seems to be a yank (with a dubious handle at that) - you should know there is no neutral ground at a football club's home ground, it's either home or away. if you're not an actual away supporter you probably won't be able to get a ticket in that section and at any rate you shouldn't be sitting there anyway as people may get the wrong idea and you can potentially get banned by the away club.

if you are an away supporter you shouldn't be sitting in the home supporter's section, you can also potentially get banned by them for this as well.

[quackculture]

but a dull game none the less.

[readytoignite]

john terry as transexual "joan terry":

search nighthawk at http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/4076812._NHS_is_exploiting_my_life____claims_transsexual/ and read down... pure comedy gold

[Leumas]

Watched th Blackburn vs Aston Villa match (2nd Half) good game, Villa was 1-0 but Blackburn had that edge.

My new favourite player in the Premier League though is Gabby Agbonlahor though, exciting to watch, hopefully he can break into the England squad, didn't hurt too when I found out he is half Nigerian! Big things coming from this lad, I actually want Villa make Europe. It would be big for the lad.

[78]

I've become a huge Villa fan this season. Perhaps the most united team in the EPL at the moment (?). Yeah 'pool & ManUtd are great but over there it's more the individual abilities that win 'em games... while Villa are clicking in ways that coaches must look on with envy.

M.O. is looking pleased as punch in the post game interviews.

[inter]

Any recommendations on where to watch the Milan derby in NYC next weekend???

[polishmike]

Stupid Chelsea twats sacked Scolari. Unbelievable!!!

[78]

^ yeah. Shocking.

The Robinho signing talk is utter BS. We all know he wanted to bring out the whip on the 'star' players but Roman poo-poo'd that idea and the 'star' players cried like babies so Roman sacked the big 'meanie'.

FUCKIN BULLSHIT.

I'm sure he regrets sacking The Gifted One. Who in turn is laughing his ass of with Inter and his HUGE payout.