Football Thread

[ruggabee]

It's Transfer Deadline Day!!

I hope Arsenal spend some money and get another striker! hopefully Falcao

Was saying this all night last night. Sanogo looked clueless and looked so clumsy.. I was hoping they'd bring on Joel Campbell. He was good in the WC, but they should really look for someone. Arsenal can't finish for shee. Also don't know what happened to the one touch passing game they can be so good at. The players during the pre season were doing it well and thought they'd carry it on. Good to see Man City lose to Stoke considering all the money they've spent.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Oh bloody hell. I can't believe were actually bringing in Falcao. Mata, Di Maria, Rooney and RVP with Blackett and Smalling at the back. The word balance apparently exist in Manchester.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Was saying this all night last night. Sanogo looked clueless and looked so clumsy.. I was hoping they'd bring on Joel Campbell. He was good in the WC, but they should really look for someone. Arsenal can't finish for shee. Also don't know what happened to the one touch passing game they can be so good at. The players during the pre season were doing it well and thought they'd carry it on. Good to see Man City lose to Stoke considering all the money they've spent.

Sanogo just doesn't look up for it just yet in the Premier League. But I can understand why Wenger wouldn't want to buy another striker/forward. He still has Podolski, Sanchez and Sanogo. With Giroud and Walcott out injured, he probably has the thinking of "if I buy another one, who will I play and who will I leave out or sell".

 

[Feicarsinn]

Sanogo is the only one who is a proper centre forward though. And he's muck. Arsenal are crying out for a good target man, ie. Falcao.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Sanogo is the only one who is a proper centre forward though. And he's muck. Arsenal are crying out for a good target man, ie. Falcao.

But he isn't! Podolski has always been a centre forward. He played his best football as a CF when he was still playing in the Bundesliga.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Falcao to United ... who saw that coming?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

So united have spent something kik £160 this summer that like 10 times my yearly wage!!

Wow, mind you no toulon.

 

[munstermuffin]

Utd still need 2 Defenders. Blind signed to play midfield.

Funny stat.
Van Persie, Rooney, Mata and Falcou wage combined is around â'¬120k more than Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo and Rodriguez. I know which quartet I'd prefer.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I stayed awake for the close of the deadline day. Went to bed around 01:30 this morning.

And Arsenal left it to the very end to make a signing, and a rather good signing in my view. Danny Welbeck!!

It's good to see another Brit going to the Emirates, it was an area I always felt that Arsene hasn't looked at more.

 

[nzlizard]

Mad Mario to Liverpool. Didn't see that coming, but if any team can get the best out of him, I'm thinking it'll be Liverpool, with Gerrard taking him under his wing. He seems a really nice (not very bright) kid who has had no help handling the money/fame (bit like Bieber).

Except Mario has actual talent.

 

[SimonG]

To beat a great attacking team, you need great defense. Rugby is also a sport where moving forward means everything. It was inevitable our flair or any other good attacking team's would meet too tough defense eventually; staffs were going to patiently sit down, analyze and concoct some way to counter those movements and it was only a matter of time until we got to this point we're in now, especially with the event of the pro era kicking in.
At Rugby, you can win with JUST defense and really good forwards as long as you also keep your discipline under control (although yes against a very good team, the AB, it's hard to win with that). A low risk type game. Make the points from the boot. Those are all the characteristics of a team that wants to win through consistency.

Laporte understood that, and Lièvremont too (remember 2010 we won the last game against England by playing English, but we earned a Grand Slam), but it's Saint-André that has completely made us into a caricature of that system. All defense, NO ATTACK to be found. He's also simply bad at strategy and game plan in its entirety and a completely unfit int'l coach, but that's somethin else..

I do think watching Woodward's England - forward pressure, HUGE defense, great discipline, low risk game plan, big scrum, collect points from tee AND if Jason Robinson and Will Greenwood and maybe Ben Cohen can add some, then let's take it, it's bonus all the merrier - has changed things the way the world has looked at Rugby. In 2003, there was still some French flair and some wide open Rugby being played, remember...how things have changed gradually, and how flair has died out since then. Not to blame England, a scapegoat. Just thinking out loud and converging with SimonG's thoughts.

Thats true, and I defy anyone that doesn't find that depressing.

What team has just won the Word Cup? Germany...the best attacking team in the world who put 7 past fcking Brazil in the semi final in their own back yard. Who won the Champions League? Real Madrid...the best attacking team in the world who spank everyone in sight.

The problem I find in today's Rugby is that victory is too heavily weighed toward the defence. Stopping getting rewarded more than attacking is just bizarre. Imagine a tennis player who just plays defensive...just keeps returning the ball safely back into play, low risk. while the opponent looks to win each point by going for shots....and after two hours of this the defensive player wins. Doesnt happen. Or the golfer who just plays Iron shots when the more risky driver is required from the tee...and then plays a safe shot into the middle of the green rather than go for the attacking shot and aim for the pin. Doesn't happen.

Low risk play is easy, it should be rewarded the least. In Rugby the opposite is the case and France, having suffered due to this anomaly, have changed accordingly.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Yeh and it isn't like Germany have the best defence and Goalkeeper in the world as well oh wait.

 

[Jaguares]

Thats true, and I defy anyone that doesn't find that depressing.

What team has just won the Word Cup? Germany...the best attacking team in the world who put 7 past fcking Brazil in the semi final in their own back yard. Who won the Champions League? Real Madrid...the best attacking team in the world who spank everyone in sight.

The problem I find in today's Rugby is that victory is too heavily weighed toward the defence. Stopping getting rewarded more than attacking is just bizarre. Imagine a tennis player who just plays defensive...just keeps returning the ball safely back into play, low risk. while the opponent looks to win each point by going for shots....and after two hours of this the defensive player wins. Doesnt happen. Or the golfer who just plays Iron shots when the more risky driver is required from the tee...and then plays a safe shot into the middle of the green rather than go for the attacking shot and aim for the pin. Doesn't happen.

Low risk play is easy, it should be rewarded the least. In Rugby the opposite is the case and France, having suffered due to this anomaly, have changed accordingly.

OMFG!!!!!!!!!! You know NOTHING about football, dear soccer troll. Greece won the UEFA Euro 2004 only with a tough defense and without top class forwards. They lost against Russia: Greece 1 - Russia 2 (Yes, R-U-S-S-I-A) at the pools stage, and just got a draw against Spain. (Greece 1 - Spain 1). Then they won all their games, making only ONE goal per game, yeah, ONLY ONE FKG GOAL PER GAME:

Greece 1 - France 0
Greece 1 - Czech Republic 0
Greece 1 - Portugal 0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2004

That's what I call it: Low risk play is easy

Another example???? Italy won the WC 2006 only with a tough defense, LOW RISK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They got a f*cking draw against USA, yeahhhhhh United States of America (Americans hate soccer!!!)

Italy 1 - USA 1 - World Cup 2006:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_E#Italy_vs_United_States

Then, they defeated Australia by a f*cking goal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup_knockout_stage#Italy_vs_Australia

Yeah, AUSTRALIA. When Kangaroos or Wallabies play against Italy in Rugby League or Union, they make 50 points easily, but in Soccer Italy just got a f*cking goal by a f*cking penalty shoot.

Then they won the final match by penalties, low risk again!!!!!!!!!!!

For low-risk champions like Italy 2006 and Greece 2004, FIFA was forced to be more permissive with the faults, and gave the order to the referees that aren't so strict with the faults in the WCs 2010 and 2014

Another example???

Costa Rica in WC 2014, low risk and they reached the quarterfinals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another example???? Argentina of Sabella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeahhhhh

We defeated to Bosnia-Herzegovina by 1 goal difference! Yes, B-O-S-N-I-A. Loooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisk!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_F#Argentina_vs_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

We defeated to Iran (Yes, IRAN!) by 1 goal! Terrorists know what is football?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_F#Argentina_vs_Iran

Again, we defeated to Nigery only by one goal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_F#Nigeria_vs_Argentina

We had the easiest pool of the World Cup and only won our pool games by one goal difference per game.

Then we defeated to Switzerland, YEAH, S-W-I-T-Z-E-R-L-A-N-D, by a f*cking goal AGAIN. Low risk again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_knockout_stage#Argentina_vs_Switzerland

Then we defeated to Belgium by a goal AGAIN. Low risk again:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_knockout_stage#Argentina_vs_Belgium

Then we defeated to Netherland by PENALTIES. (Sabella picked 10 defenses for that game) Low risk again!!!!!!

And then we lost against Germany in overtime by A F*CKING GOAL. Yes! We were just one step from being world champions thanks to low risk

Another example???

Deportivo Capiata, YES. Deportivo Capiata, a Paraguayan football team was founded in 2008, if they only have six years of existence and they defeated to Boca Juniors at the Bombonera stadium:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportivo_Capiatá

And 2 weeks ago, they defeat to Boca Juniors at the Bombonera stadium with a f*cking own goal, YESSSSSSS!!! Low risk won again!!!!!!!!!!!!!



You don't even know about football, you don't deserve the nickname "soccer troll" because you aren't even a true football supporter

:bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex::bananasex:

Other examples? I give these examples:

Internazionale Milano of Mourinho
Costa Rica 2014
Brasil World Champion 2002
Internazionale Milano of Helenio Herrera
Argentina of Carlos Bilardo (World Cup 1990)
Boca Juniors of Carlos Bianchi (2000-2001)
Velez Sarfield of Carlos Bianchi (1994)
Deportivo Capiata 2014
Switzerland 1934
Germany 1974
Italy 1982
AC Milan (UEFA Champions League 2007)

I let you a phrase often applied in football:

"To win you have to defend and defend; then the rest".

Didier Deschamps quote, French soccer coach (World Champion 1998, EURO champion 2000)

 

[tituslechmakus]

Shall I add Mournho's Inter Milan in Champions' League 2010 ?

Anyway, we all noticed that money, again, corrupted the game.

 

[Jaguares]

Shall I add Mournho's Inter Milan in Champions' League 2010 ?

Anyway, we all noticed that money, again, corrupted the game.

Other examples? I give these examples:

Internazionale Milano of Mourinho
Costa Rica 2014
Brasil World Champion 2002
Internazionale Milano of Helenio Herrera
Argentina of Carlos Bilardo (World Cup 1990)
Boca Juniors of Carlos Bianchi (2000-2001)
Velez Sarfield of Carlos Bianchi (1994)
Deportivo Capiata 2014
Switzerland 1934
Germany 1974
Italy 1982
AC Milan (UEFA Champions League 2007)

 

[SimonG]

Other examples? I give these examples:

Internazionale Milano of Mourinho
Costa Rica 2014
Brasil World Champion 2002
Internazionale Milano of Helenio Herrera
Argentina of Carlos Bilardo (World Cup 1990)
Boca Juniors of Carlos Bianchi (2000-2001)
Velez Sarfield of Carlos Bianchi (1994)
Deportivo Capiata 2014
Switzerland 1934
Germany 1974
Italy 1982
AC Milan (UEFA Champions League 2007)

:lol: First off any argument is flawed Argie because whereas in football it's invariably attackers that win games, as the saying goes in Rugby, "forwards win games, backs by how many". There is no "10 man Rugby" equivalent in football.

Anyway let's look at the crappy attack of each team;

Inter Milan...one of the worlds best strikers (Samuel Eto'o) and one of the worlds best playmakers (Wesley Sneijder). Probably the best counter attacking team of the last decade.
Brazil 2002...Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo...the greatest attacking trio in World Cup history.
Argentina 1990...Maradona, Caniggia, Burrachaga...and won nothing
Italy 1982...Paolo Rossi, World Cup top scorer, one of the greatest strikers in football history, Bruno Conti..one of the greatest wingers in football history.
AC Milan 2007....Kaka, 2007 FiFA World Player of the Year, Philippo Inzaghi, long time record goalscorer in the Champions League, Andrea Pirlo... the best Italian playmaker since Baggio
Carlos Bianchi's Boca....Juan Roman Riquelme (my All TIME favourite playmaker...a creative genius), Martin Palermo..Bocas greatest ever striker and record goalscorer.

Costa Rica...won nothing, in any case they were one if the best attacking teams in the tournament.

And as for France, to quote Desailly; "we win nothing without Zidane"...the best playmaker on the planet of the last quarter century. Thierry Henry, the best player in Premier League history, three goals. Two of the best attacking full backs in Lizarazu and Lilian Thuram...both constantly overlapping the winger.

And so the one defensive team on the list, Inter of Herrera, played catenaccio, a system that has been dead for over 30 years. <_< But lets look at their crappy attacking trio. Sandro Mazzola, Jair, and Luis Suarez, two of whom (Mazzola and Suarez) were name in Inters greatest ever XI.

And as for Argentina in this years WC. yeah... Messi, Di Maria, Higuain and Aguero all on the field at the same time... :lol: i'll forgive you that one as you weren't watching at this stage and only got your jersey out for the final when you jumped on the bandwagon.

There's a great big 'ol difference between not scoring (because you miss chances or aren't good enough) and just being all out defensive. The last defensive team to win anything of note was....Greece in 2004. In modern Rugby it's a regular occurrence.

This is what French flair was. WAS, mind you ! The direction changing, not just standard passing out wide and run in the goal with the ball. Stepping, creating space, goes left, right, center, runs, ball lives, is offloaded, kicked, grabbed, thrown around...teams are hopeless at defending, they try with everything they've got, but they can't stop it, it's still coming anyways. I'm just happy it was France doing this, but I sincerely just love watching it for the aesthetics, regardless of which nation's doing it. Of course I'm biased because it's France though, no question about it. But I do love the All-Blacks of all eras for that, and have loved the Wallabies generally also. In terms of moving aesthetics and true attacking creativity, it is those three nations that have made me love the sport the way I do.

You've just nicely summed up what I miss most.

Yep that's right BE, it is not standart passing out wide. Un bon vieux retour intérieur bien de chez nous !
We can call French flair, crazyness, because it is that after all. Running and passing without logic or any previously defined game plan. But, as I said before, we had to sacrify this because of the disciplin required by modern rugby ... A shame !

It was this flair that dismantled NZ in the World Cup semi. The unpredictablility that other teams cannot prepare for. Watching the 2011 final was the zenith of how much France have changed from what they were.

Since you (and I or anyone that loves attacking Rugby) lament this loss, can't you show your disgust at the game of whatever? (Barca fans get out the white hankies if they ain't pleased). Your previous style got you to two RWC finals and plenty of five nations ***les, can't this be done in the modern era or has the game become too rigid and brutish for flair to succeed?

 

[Jaguares]

:lol: First off any argument is flawed Argie because whereas in football it's invariably attackers that win games, as the saying goes in Rugby, "forwards win games, backs by how many". There is no "10 man Rugby" equivalent in football.

Anyway let's look at the crappy attack of each team;

Inter Milan...one of the worlds best strikers (Samuel Eto'o) and one of the worlds best playmakers (Wesley Sneijder). Probably the best counter attacking team of the last decade.
Brazil 2002...Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo...the greatest attacking trio in World Cup history.
Argentina 1990...Maradona, Caniggia, Burrachaga...and won nothing
Italy 1982...Paolo Rossi, World Cup top scorer, one of the greatest strikers in football history, Bruno Conti..one of the greatest wingers in football history.
AC Milan 2007....Kaka, 2007 FiFA World Player of the Year, Philippo Inzaghi, long time record goalscorer in the Champions League, Andrea Pirlo... the best Italian playmaker since Baggio
Carlos Bianchi's Boca....Juan Roman Riquelme (my All TIME favourite playmaker...a creative genius), Martin Palermo..Bocas greatest ever striker and record goalscorer.

Costa Rica...won nothing, in any case they were one if the best attacking teams in the tournament.

And as for France, to quote Desailly; "we win nothing without Zidane"...the best playmaker on the planet of the last quarter century. Thierry Henry, the best player in Premier League history, three goals. Two of the best attacking full backs in Lizarazu and Lilian Thuram...both constantly overlapping the winger.

And so the one defensive team on the list, Inter of Herrera, played catenaccio, a system that has been dead for over 30 years. <_< But lets look at their crappy attacking trio. Sandro Mazzola, Jair, and Luis Suarez, two of whom (Mazzola and Suarez) were name in Inters greatest ever XI.

And as for Argentina in this years WC. yeah... Messi, Di Maria, Higuain and Aguero all on the field at the same time... :lol: i'll forgive you that one as you weren't watching at this stage and only got your jersey out for the final when you jumped on the bandwagon.

There's a great big 'ol difference between not scoring (because you miss chances or aren't good enough) and just being all out defensive. The last defensive team to win anything of note was....Greece in 2004. In modern Rugby it's a regular occurrence.

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!! You know nothing about rugby and soccer. At least, do you know about Gaelic football? I forgive you because Ireland has no tradition in football, when was the last time you participated in a World Cup? You are outsider of football.

Your argument is so stupid, it's like saying that the Barbarians are a good team because they have Wilkinson, van der Westhuizen and Christian Cullen at the same time. They may have good names, but the important thing is to play as a team and that's something Barbarians can't because it's a nomadic team with few training sessions.

MESSI:

In Argentina ALL football supporters said that Messi was sh*t in the last WC because he only could score goals against weak teams as: Iran, Nigeria and Bosnia. When he had to face tough teams like Netherlands or Germany, he disappeared of the field:

Messi vs Netherlands: 0 goals & 0 goal assists
Messi vs Germany: 0 goals & 0 goal assists

HIGUAIN:

Higuain was also sh*t, I'm River Plate supporter, I know him better than you. I saw his first game as a pro player while you just met him when he was bought by Real Madrid. Here football supporters are very very angry with Higuain's performance in the last WC, he played every game and only scored a f*cking goal against Belgium. He couldn't score goals against weaker teams such as: Iran, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nigeria.

FIFA World Ranking: 26- Bosnia and Herzegovina, 42- Nigeria & 51- Iran

He failed to score against the number 51 team in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGUERO:

Another player very criticized here, he didn't score a f*king goal in the entire World Cup, despite having the opportunity to play against weaker teams as Iran, Nigeria, Bosnia and Switzerland.

Aguero World Cup 2014: 0 goals

DI MARIA:

He alone can save, the only one who hasn't been so severely criticized but neither had a spectacular performance, just a goal against Switzerland

None of them scored goals or made goal assists against the 2 strongest teams we faced: Netherlands & Germany. Then you don't know about football, you are a stupid who look at the lineups.

Now let's look at the Argentina's statistics at the World Cup 1990:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_FIFA_World_Cup

Argentina was third in the pool of Cameroon, Romania and Soviet Union. We lost against Cameroon, drew against Romania and we beat the Soviet Union. We classify the next stage thanks to the Ranking of third-placed teams, which no longer exists.

Maradona was injured, he played a short time and very bad, Burruchaga scored a goal in ALL world cup. Thee only had a decent performance was Caniggia who made 2 goals.

Bilardo's team did the low risk style their play, won 2 times through the penalties (vs Italy and vs Yugoslavia). The best Argie player of the tournament was Sergio Goycochea, a goalkeeper, demonstrating the team's poor performance.

I could write about this, but you're so stupid. The low risk is the most widely used in football, here in South America, 80% of teams use the low-risk bet and can win tournaments. The last Copa Libertadores champion, San Lorenzo, bet to low risk and won the tournament.

Boca Juniors of Bianchi was a team that always made the low risk, they won their first Copa Libertadores without beating Palmeiras in the final matches. They drew 2-2 in the Bombonera stadium and then drew 0-0 in Brazil, won the tournament through the penalties. That's low risk!

 

[Unol Daleithiau]

Swansea City captain Ashley Williams admits he's relieved to miss out on Europa League

"Yes, definitely I'm relieved that we are not going to be in the Europa League to be honest," said Williams.

"I really enjoyed playing the games last time, but it is very difficult. You see that most teams in the Premier League suffer when they play in it."

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/.../swansea-city-captain-ashley-williams-9283851

 

[Amobokoboko]

Gerrard his last game. But what a beating it was! The last home game a week earlier was a also painful moment. Great player, pity he has to leave with two last losses.

 

[hermanshire]

Anyone watching the womens world cup? Wondering about some of those players from Thailand. Men or women?