football: the beautiful game

[readytoignite]

Torres really shone through tonight. His determination was the difference maker and his net worth just shot up.

with respect to his value, i would argue that he finally did for spain what he's been doing for his clubs (he still managed to waste a hatful of opportunities). it was the only fair result and just desserts for the spanish. i wish they had dropped aragones during their celebration though, racist prick.

i wouldn't mind having senna at spurs btw, comolli/levy sort it out!

[polishmike]

would you mind having Crouch? (I would love for this deal to be true)

[readytoignite]

been there, done that, sold him for what, 15k?

[fatchino]

Germany are nowhere near as bad a team as people are making out after last night. With the usual depth and insight the Beeb slated the Germans for the umpteenth tournament in a row ... every year its an "average" German, every year the BBC tell us how bad they are, dropping in "but you can never underestimate the Germans" line so by the time they reach the semis they are left with some outs ... even as a Newcastle fan I'm so sick of Shearer and, fuck, Hansen. "Fantastic / Magnificent" O'Neill is made look a football god by that pair. And Lineker on 2 million a year to crack jokes about talented "Guizas" playing for Spain(?!!?); Thank fuck Motson is retiring ...

Moment of the match last night ... Spain win a freekick 30 yards out.

Motson: "Mark who do you think will take it?"

Lawerson: "No idea" (Mark it might just be your job to do some research on that)

Camera zooms in on Xavi placing the ball; just as he starts his run up ...

Lawerson: "I think it might be Xavi"

Well the best team certainly won out; Xavi was player of the tournament ... Ballack would have won it if Germany had lifted the cup no doubt ... Iniesta and Xavi are some pair.

Great tournament; good final.

[theetruscan]

I remember reading all the write ups before the tourney and some folks had placed Spain to take it all... I doubted it... they've choked my entire lifetime so why this time right?

Hats of Aragones Cojones. He had each teams' (he faced) number.

To shut out Schweintstigerhoweverthefuckyouspellit like this was damn impressive... and getting Ballack emo is always good for the opposition because he starts overplaying and becoming a nuisance more than a player maker...

Torres really shone through tonight. His determination was the difference maker and his net worth just shot up.

The Barca mid played exceptionally well... best they played all tourney?

The subs were spot on...

Silva made some great hustle play interceptions but really choked when it came time to cross/shoot... which bummed me out... been have fan of his for a while now.

Guiza is gonna keep getting better and is a nice counterpoint to Torres

but man Aragones just out strategized against the Krauts.

Agree, BUT, what the fuck was wrong with Iniesta. At least 4 chances (6 if I remember correctly) in the box where a confident left foot meant a good touch or cross, and every one he dithered, panicked, and wasted the chance.

[Biff15]

...deco to chelsea, lampard to inter?

Just read news involving the above... personally, I think these are both good moves...

[78]

decoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! wow must mean Frank's leaving!

[78]

Agree, BUT, what the fuck was wrong with Iniesta. At least 4 chances (6 if I remember correctly) in the box where a confident left foot meant a good touch or cross, and every one he dithered, panicked, and wasted the chance.

I think Iniesta's used to playing with 4 strikers at Barca... so he would often give a quick pass to one of the more consistent scorers... but with the national team he should have realised that HE became one of the scorers... ugh

[fatchino]

decoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! wow must mean Frank's leaving!

Lucky Chelsea ... Ballack and Lampard are too alike ...

<Joke about Milan's excellent cuisine or simply pies here>

[polishmike]

been there, done that, sold him for what, 15k?

would you take Crouch plus, let's say 6mil? i always liked robbie so i'm cool with even more but as a spurs fan i'm sure you wouldn't like it.

[readytoignite]

sure... for darren bent. it would be daft to get rid of keano (esp for crouch), he bleeds blue and white and is such a great footballer.

that said, i've heard rumors that the squad will play 4-5-1 with bent as the lone striker, meaning either keano will play in the hole (arguably a better position for him) or be left out altogether. this assumes berbs is on his way out, which i doubt will happen until january. strangely i think bent is better suited for this formation than crouch, who from what i can tell seems to play much better with a proper strike partner to play off of, just as kuyt's real talent is to track up and down the wing.

[polishmike]

I rather have Crouch on the bench than Bent. If Berbatov is leaving it will be in the summer. I don't see a big club (cause that's who would buy him) waiting till January. I can see one of them leave but not both. I think Crouch plus 6-7mil might not be a bad business but only if Ramos really wants him, which we don't know. Fuck it, I would even pay around 16-17mil for Keane. If you sell Berbatov to ManScum for 23mil you will look like proper tits and I really hope it doesn't happen.

[readytoignite]

i think the price tag on berbs is 35 to chelsea, 30 to utd and 25 overseas. domestic clubs aren't going to pony up and the handful of clubs overseas don't seem too interested atm. whereas in january there'll be at least one club in the cl that will be really desperate to bolster their attack and many of the options will already be cup-tied.

about keano - luckily your club doesn't want to spend money, and if they do spend it will be on bentley. i just don't see us doing cash + trade for an asset like keano unless it was for someone we really needed anyway. plus crouch wants to go to pompey, no? anyway it is pretty entertaining to see rafa with his hands tied in the transfer window, maybe he'll start crying about the yanks on the other end of the leash, haha. at any rate if keano leaves i'll be the one crying:(

[78]

[Harry Sledge]

it is pretty entertaining to see rafa with his hands tied in the transfer window, maybe he'll start crying about the yanks on the other end of the leash, haha.

It is, & they'll finish 3rd/4th. Why not spend £18m on a striker/attacking midfielder than Barry who isn't as good as Alonso? If Liverpool are gonna finish in the top 2 they need more going forward.

Deco instead of Lampard? He'd have been more suited to the slower tempo, less physical Serie A, plus he turns 31 soon...would of thought Chelsea would want to sign in the 22-26 age bracket.

[polishmike]

It is, & they'll finish 3rd/4th. Why not spend £18m on a striker/attacking midfielder than Barry who isn't as good as Alonso? If Liverpool are gonna finish in the top 2 they need more going forward.

I agree with getting more goal-scorers but Alonso just wasn't in top form last 2 seasons. If we want to do better in the league we need players who are good in the league and I think Barry will be an improvement over Alonso. I think we're still getting another creative player, maybe not a striker like Torres but someone who can operate behind and score at least 10 goals.

[thaiison]

decoooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! wow must mean Frank's leaving!

deco is a fabolous plaer and every team would be happy to have him represent their club, this is good for chelsea

[hesse]

Torres playing for Atletico's youth team at age 12.

VNaClIAD3Qc

[Jpreme87]

Anyone watch that Copa Santander Libertadores final?

[Harry Sledge]

I agree with getting more goal-scorers but Alonso just wasn't in top form last 2 seasons. If we want to do better in the league we need players who are good in the league and I think Barry will be an improvement over Alonso. I think we're still getting another creative player, maybe not a striker like Torres but someone who can operate behind and score at least 10 goals.

Yeah, he has come to think of it, Alonso's become inconsistent. Benitez gotta keep tapping up that Spanish market to close the gap. He proved they can make power moves by getting Torres & Alonso when we at Man Utd were always tracking them.

We're getting closer to that League title record... ...& 5-3 down on European Cup's ain't looking so bad now.

[fatchino]

If we want to do better in the league we need players who are good in the league and I think Barry will be an improvement over Alonso. I think we're still getting another creative player, maybe not a striker like Torres but someone who can operate behind and score at least 10 goals.

Can't see Barry being any better than Alonso ... it just seems a slightly sad continuation of Rafa's transfer policy; buying stop gaps, players who are not good enough and in this case very overpriced. Pennant, Bellamy, Benayoun, Mark Gonalez big fish at smaller clubs failing to hit the heights in a first seson then being sidelined or shipped on pretty quickly.

Isn't Gerrard going to continue in the role behind 1 striker (Torres) this season?

Who's going to come in for Mascherano for the first few weeks when he's at the Olympics?

Who am I to talk though ... my club, one of the many clubs who'd ban paying fans for far less serious offenses, is going to have crisis talks with a thug who assaulted a team mate, was involved in a group attack on an individual at a mcdonalds, was then imprisoned, refused to a take a pay cut, then avoided further jail time for the second offense.

They paid ~£5 million knowing that these incidents had already taken place. That makes sense. (10)

[polishmike]

If we look at Alonso from his early days at Liverpool I don't think that Barry is better but these days look to be long gone and he might be an improvement now. You have to look at it this way, the supporters want the league and I think Rafa is trying to get good players who are proven in the league. You can also see that Gerrard works well with Barry so a midfield of Masch, Barry and Gerrard looks good for me. I don't think Barry is the answer to win the league but he's a proven player with a good left foot and can cover gaps on the left when Babel is going forward.

Pennant, Bellamy, Benayoun, Mark Gonalez were brought because there was no money for anyone else. Bellamy scored some very important goals for us (winner against Barca) and was sold at a profit. I think Benayoun will stay and I think he did ok last season. He was not going to be a star but he did his job and scored few goals while letting other players rest. Pennant was bought after the whole Alves saga went to shit. I know you can't even compare the two but I think Pennant would be better if he had a chance to play more and didn't get injured.

I also don't like the stop gaps players but we just didn't have money to get anything else. Before buying Torres our biggest star transfer was Morientes and we all know how that ended. Now the americans are here and we still don't know if we have the cash.

It looks like Masch and Lucas are both going to the Olympics. I sure hope Barry is there to cover otherwise we're playing on of the youngsters and we usually don't start well.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

benitez can go suck a dick, he LOOOOVES unsettling players. wanker.

[polishmike]

benitez can go suck a dick, he LOOOOVES unsettling players. wanker.

thanks for joining the discussion

[Harry Sledge]

Anyone here read Goal.com?

[Magsåvningsreserven]

Truth hurts eh?

Same old Liverpool.

[polishmike]

Truth hurts eh?

Same old Liverpool.

are you a 12 year old piss boy from london? please tell me the Truth!

[Magsåvningsreserven]

"Manchester United have been contacted by several leading European clubs, including Barcelona, to make a stand against Real Madrid and resist selling Cristiano Ronaldo. (Daily Mail)"

damn, getting serious.

England striker Peter Crouch will move to Portsmouth after the south coast club relented over his valuation and had a £10m bid accepted by Liverpool. (Daily Mail)

Portsmouth expect to complete an £11m deal for Crouch on Monday. (The Sun)

That price tag is pretty funny.

[readytoignite]

crouch will do well for pompey, the valuation is a little high but not crazily so.

i assume mag is talking about the benitez / defoe flirtation a few years back? honestly i try to ignore the english media as much as possible

[Harry Sledge]

Why hasn't anyone gone in for Samuel Eto'o...suspect attitude maybe?

Quaresma must ask the question...''Why am I so hyped, but no bids?'' (been making me lol for a few years now)

...and if it's true, why would Wenger put Arsenal out there like that?