I got myself Fifa 2007 and now im hooked on soccer. Now im fairly new to the entire scene, and after some major research on the biggest leagues, i was wondering what were the predictions for the various leagues from tl.net for 2008.
Premiership Even if Chelsea made some big transfers, ManU is just too dominant. Liverpool should take third. Arsenal is interesting, because of the fair amount of new players. They might have a shot at Liverpool's 3rd, but for sure not at the top 2. Relegation wise, Derby and Birmingham will probably go back down. Fullham and Wigan will fight for survival. Sunderland will be interesting to see with Keane fighting with the big guys.
La Liga(spanish league) Barcelona with Henry should take it if Madrid is unable to get any big stars, but i know their manager said he had a bag of cash to spend so who knows... My favorite team(Valencia) will probably get 3rd/4th as usual.
SerieA(Italian) I have a lot less knowledge about the Italian Serie, but with AC Milans victory in the Champions League, it think they are favorites to take the title. But watch up for the return of Juventus...
Bundesliga(German) Again a league i know a lot less about, and if i could get info from tl.neters i would be glad. All i know is that Bayern made some moves and hopefully they will be back in the top spots(and they will probably take the UEFA cup)
Ligue1(French) Well, even if Lyon lost a few players, they should still take it(for the 8th time in a row i think?). My personal favorite(psg) will probably stay mid table, but i doubt they will get any further. I guess its another year of ''lets dodge relegation'' for Paris.
Thats the leagues im following, but im defenitly interested in other leagues(or more info on the leagues i follow) because im still fairly new to the leagues. So help me tl.net
Bundesliga will be decided by wether the new Bayern players will complement each other. If that is the case, they shouldn't have too much of a problem winning the title. Bremen has lost Klose, so they have a huge striker problem. Hugo Almeida is good, but not over the top. Klasnic is still injured and Hunt is just above average. I don't think they will have anything to do with the top3 this season. Stuttgart and Schalke might have a shot, but once again it all depends on how well Bayern will perform this year.
i shouldn't really comment on anything other than the premier league
and in the premier league I picture chelsea winning this year. united is too vulnerable to injuries in several positions and is bound to end up in trouble during the phases of the season where most games are played. chelsea on the other hand was ridiculously unlucky with injuries last season (come on; both 2 first goalkeepers, among those the best goalie in PL (if not the world), end up injured for a long period of time in the same match.. it's just sick. ) terry and joe cole also out for long periods of time, and to top it off some early experimenting with fitting big stars in the team. mourinho is going to go back to the basics and play predominantly with wings this season which will be better. malouda is probably the best signing in the entire premier league as well, and they got several other class players almost for free.
i almost think tottenham can topple arsenal this season, I do think liverpool will get third but they just bought so many players.. might take a while before they're all ingrained in the system and it might make liverpool lose some important points early.
aston villa, newcastle and manchester city take 6 7 8.
I am not sure about which team will win the EPL now, since chelsea have some injury problem now and I can so see Rooney get injuried and Teves not in the team yet. Liverpool will be weird this season, a lot of big names but I don't see them play well together yet. I can't believe Rafa said Gerrard will play in the middle, is he out of his mind? Which decent winger has he got on the right, unless he is playing 433 I can see him fail. "Arsenal has fairly amount of new players" but can I ask where? As far as I know they signed two player that may play, Eduardo and Sagna and both of them may not start depending on what Wenger feels like. I personally will put Hoyte and Walcott in but thats just me. They have got an unchanged team apart from -Henry which it already was like that for half a season last year. Spurs should aim for europe, maybe not top 4 now. As they get more experience on playing both europe and domestic and can cope, maybe then they can aim for champ league. I don't like their manager at all, but as soon as they sack him I am happy to see them take 4th place. 16m for Bent just means he doesn't use his brain. I think Derby/Sunderland/Fulham will drop. Wigan will be there as well, lets see what happen. Birmingham got Brucie which has some experience, I think they can get out.
On August 06 2007 01:25 Liquid`Drone wrote: i shouldn't really comment on anything other than the premier league
and in the premier league I picture chelsea winning this year. united is too vulnerable to injuries in several positions and is bound to end up in trouble during the phases of the season where most games are played. chelsea on the other hand was ridiculously unlucky with injuries last season (come on; both 2 first goalkeepers, among those the best goalie in PL (if not the world), end up injured for a long period of time in the same match.. it's just sick. ) terry and joe cole also out for long periods of time, and to top it off some early experimenting with fitting big stars in the team. mourinho is going to go back to the basics and play predominantly with wings this season which will be better. malouda is probably the best signing in the entire premier league as well, and they got several other class players almost for free.
i almost think tottenham can topple arsenal this season, I do think liverpool will get third but they just bought so many players.. might take a while before they're all ingrained in the system and it might make liverpool lose some important points early.
aston villa, newcastle and manchester city take 6 7 8.
iirc United had a time in march where 5 defenders were injured Richardson was forced to play defender on one side
Hey Welcome to the futbol world I hope you stay for a long time and take part in the many discussions we have, There are many knowledgeable people here, I hope you enjoy it.
I will Comment you in the league I have the most knowledge LA LIGA
Well this years league has many though competitors, We have the usuals, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla and then we have some teams that made some great signings and are in top level to compete, Atletico Madrid, Zaragoza, Villareal, and then we have the like middle tables teams that have 2 or 3 great players that can always bring surprises like espanyol. getafe, osasuna, and depor. That being said its going to be a crazy competition. I dont think it will be that easy for Barcelona to take it ( I am a Barcelona fan ) It is going to take Rijkard some time to accomodeate this new team, as it has so many stars, that you have to find a good way to make them play together and good, and not happen what happened to Los Galaticos in madrid, Madrid made some great signings and Schuster is a great coach, Very Offensive team with world class players and if the Ballack deal goes through I see Madrid as one of thee strongest.. Also I see Valencia real strong this year, they got some awesome players, I think they got a shot to the title and plus They said they werent happy with 3/4 anymore They want big things. Also you never forget about Sevilla, Which had almost a perfect season last year. The team that Atletico de Madrid has, is a champion team, watch out for them. You also got to take into consideration that The top teams are playing at least 3 different competitions, CL, Liga, Copa del Rey, Uefa, etc. So rotation is a key here, Its going to be a LONG season and by December players are going to be exhausted. That said I think i way too early to say whos going to be champion, just take an example last year league, by december Barca was a clear leader, with 10 point lead over Madrid. and by June Madrid was champions.
I Like Seria A so i will comment!
First big thing, La bella senora is back, Juventus is back from serie B which is going to make this years league 10 times funner!. Inter is really strong, La Roma made some good signings and are really strong too! Milan won champions league and have a great time, but they haven't made any big signings yet. Also you cannot forget about Lazio and Palermo. I might see Juve winning with a close call from roma and inter and Milan
EPL,, I dont like it! but Go Liverpool! and since Carlitos plays in Manchester now, Go United!
didnt chelsea lose a bunch of defenders to injury last year as well though? i think essien and geremi played in defence while terry, carvalho were out injured.
as for 1st place its a toss up between man utd and chelsea but liverpool can do well too. arsenal should bring back bergkamp from retirement :D tottenham have do many decent but mediocre players i think. man city will be interesting and im also interested in how reading, fulham and sunderland will do.
La Liga: 1.FCB 2.Sevilla 3.Real Madrid 4.Atletico Madrid 5.Valencia EPL: 1. ManU 2. Chelsea 3. Liverpool 4. Hammers 5. Arsenal SerieA: 1. Inter 2. AC Milan 3. Roma 4. Juve Ligue1: 1. Lyon Bundesliga: 1. Bayern M
im pretty confident sunderland isnt gonna be relegated while I detest keane and I don't think he's the kind of manager who can build a long lasting team capable of the kind of dominance ferguson created in manchester united, I think he's the perfect manager for any fresh team in the epl..
Champs Man U I guess, toss of a coin right now, Tottenham / Liverpool should be able to keep in touch for longer this season, Arsenal are a mixed bag and could be anywhere top 6
in football you just have to see how the season pans out, its all pretty unpredictable.. man u, chelsea and liverpool have made some impressive signings and would be under pressure to win the premiership, arsenal not so much and this might go in their favour as the dark horses.
for someone who's just knew to the scene, you know quite a fair bit hehehe...manu, real mad, inter/milan and that's as far as i go...don't really bother with the other leagues...gogogogo manu!! although they really need (just my opinion of course) to improve their back 4...
Unknown.sam: Yea i did a major study of all the leagues&uefa and listened to the world soccer daily podcast every day(a 2 hour - 5 days a week radio show about soccer). So i learned a lot real quick.
TheOvermind: Don't worry, im also a NFL fan. The NFL thread is coming soon hehehe.
On August 06 2007 01:25 Liquid`Drone wrote: i shouldn't really comment on anything other than the premier league
and in the premier league I picture chelsea winning this year. united is too vulnerable to injuries in several positions and is bound to end up in trouble during the phases of the season where most games are played. chelsea on the other hand was ridiculously unlucky with injuries last season (come on; both 2 first goalkeepers, among those the best goalie in PL (if not the world), end up injured for a long period of time in the same match.. it's just sick. ) terry and joe cole also out for long periods of time, and to top it off some early experimenting with fitting big stars in the team. mourinho is going to go back to the basics and play predominantly with wings this season which will be better. malouda is probably the best signing in the entire premier league as well, and they got several other class players almost for free.
i almost think tottenham can topple arsenal this season, I do think liverpool will get third but they just bought so many players.. might take a while before they're all ingrained in the system and it might make liverpool lose some important points early.
aston villa, newcastle and manchester city take 6 7 8.
iirc United had a time in march where 5 defenders were injured Richardson was forced to play defender on one side
it's true that united lacked a lot of players at some points last season.. but having terry joe cole and cech out for long periods of time is still just.. more extreme. ronaldo pretty much wasn't injured at all. if he had been out for 3 months, united wouldn't have won the pl.
they were incredible last season and definitely worthy winners and all, not trying to take anything away from them. but chelsea really were extremely unfortunate.. it's not so much that I necessarily think united won't be able to follow up their season (although it's unlikely that they're able to win as many clutch points at the end of matches this season as well), it's more that I think chelsea will be quite a bit stronger.
Man U for me take it again this year. Acquiring Hargreaves is big for them, and with Ronaldo and Rooney up front you've got a lot of goals. Chelsea will be strong as always, but I think they lack the attacking flair that Man U has which could cost them.
Newcastle, Everton or West Ham could be a darkhorse this year. Bolton will slide dramatically without big Sam, Sunderland will be relegated and come back in 2 years as per usual, Birmingham will survive.
Derby, Sunderland, Wigan to go down.
I'm looking foward to seeing how Torres goes in the EPL. Morientes came across with a lot of hype and was pretty horrible. Nani and Anderson look exciting.
On August 06 2007 01:25 Liquid`Drone wrote: i shouldn't really comment on anything other than the premier league
and in the premier league I picture chelsea winning this year. united is too vulnerable to injuries in several positions and is bound to end up in trouble during the phases of the season where most games are played. chelsea on the other hand was ridiculously unlucky with injuries last season (come on; both 2 first goalkeepers, among those the best goalie in PL (if not the world), end up injured for a long period of time in the same match.. it's just sick. ) terry and joe cole also out for long periods of time, and to top it off some early experimenting with fitting big stars in the team. mourinho is going to go back to the basics and play predominantly with wings this season which will be better. malouda is probably the best signing in the entire premier league as well, and they got several other class players almost for free.
i almost think tottenham can topple arsenal this season, I do think liverpool will get third but they just bought so many players.. might take a while before they're all ingrained in the system and it might make liverpool lose some important points early.
aston villa, newcastle and manchester city take 6 7 8.
iirc United had a time in march where 5 defenders were injured Richardson was forced to play defender on one side
it's true that united lacked a lot of players at some points last season.. but having terry joe cole and cech out for long periods of time is still just.. more extreme. ronaldo pretty much wasn't injured at all. if he had been out for 3 months, united wouldn't have won the pl.
they were incredible last season and definitely worthy winners and all, not trying to take anything away from them. but chelsea really were extremely unfortunate.. it's not so much that I necessarily think united won't be able to follow up their season (although it's unlikely that they're able to win as many clutch points at the end of matches this season as well), it's more that I think chelsea will be quite a bit stronger.
Chelsea fell behind pretty early but everyone thought their strength in depth would show near the end when it mattered but it never did. I think in the end Kalou, Shevchenko, Wright-Philips, etc, just didn't have the necessary quality to create goals when they needed to. Cech and Terry were largely present for the second half and they were behind but I think they had a stronger squad then and could've made the title race much closer if they seized their opportunities better. United did get lucky on several occasions and extremely extremely lucky vs Liverpool away at Anfield. But being forced to start Kieran Richardson who's bad to begin with, out of position at defense, O'Shea, Wes Brown, all at the same time, was like playing with a reserve defense and it did cost United quite a few points near the end. It was absolutely amazing for Evra to play as well as he did when he was needed the most. I think if he and either Ferdinand or Vidic were available vs Milan for both legs, United could've advanced to the final. But back to the league, both Chelsea and United dropped points near the end when they shouldn't have, and it was a combination of Chelsea's incompetence, a large lead, and United's amazing morale that gave them the title. The comeback vs Everton summed up United's season pretty well, they pulled through when it mattered the most on pure spirit. If they have are half as motivated this year and the injuries don't focus only on defense, they can take the title again.
On August 06 2007 10:57 Musli wrote: La Liga: 1.FCB 2.Sevilla 3.Real Madrid 4.Atletico Madrid 5.Valencia EPL: 1. ManU 2. Chelsea 3. Liverpool 4. Hammers 5. Arsenal SerieA: 1. Inter 2. AC Milan 3. Roma 4. Juve Ligue1: 1. Lyon Bundesliga: 1. Bayern M
Danish League Randers is owning atm, which is good, cause it's the town I'm from. FC Copenhagen and Brøndby, which are usually regarded as the best danish team, are struggling to get their game going, neither of them lying where they should (5 and 7 respectively). Odense and FC Horsens take up the 2nd and 3rd spot on the list, which is actually quite surprising since these are the teams you would expect to see struggling at the bottom. Danish league is actually in reverse atm, with all the good teams at the bottom and all the "bad" teams at the top.
You guys are totally underestimating Arsenal, they were dominant in most of the pre-season tournaments winning both. I personally saw the game vs Inter Milan, Arsenal totally dominated the game. Van Persie is back and Hleb is brilliant, Arsenal will surely be competeing for top 3, just because Henry left doesn't mean the team will do worse, yeah its true, hes an amazing player, able to score a goal from nothing but Arsenal will cope.
arsenal is a bit of a dark horse they play amazing football when they're at their top game, they even play amazing football when losing a lot of the time. but I can't picture them having the kind of consistency and game-winning qualities as united or chelsea in the long run, especially with henry, someone whom was one of the best clutch moment players they had, is out. you never know with those young teams though, if they get off to a good steam early on they can go on a long streak but.. I just can't picture them holding a full season. liverpool also has much more squad depth than arsenal. I would like to see arsenal ending up third but I don't find it particulary likely. hope I end up surprised tho.
chelsea ending up outside top 2 isn't gonna happen. united, highly unlikely, but more likely than chelsea. however I think they're about equally likely to win.
still the best arsenal had haha henry scored many many matchwinning goals in league games. never that awesome in cl or wc finals, agreed. guess lehmann would be on the top but.. henry had matchwinning qualities. I don't see arsenal having that now.
how about the dutch league?^_^ Don't watch it, it blows compared to the other big leagues. But if you are interested PSV, Ajax, Az or Feyenoord will win. (just like the last 70 years) Have fun
with the bundesliga starting this weekend here are my opinions on the top teams this year.
bayern münchen - without a doubt THE favorite to win everything this season. after the disappointment of missing the championsleague they now try to buy back the success. it seems to have worked out well, and resulted in winning the preseason "ligapokal" with ease. And even though they struggled in the first round of the more important "dfp-pokal" against a team from the 3rd league they managed winning in the end (penaltys) which is all that counts. their (most important) signings: ribery seems to be worth the hype, played very good in all his games till now. the question is how long he can keep up his intense style of playing. klose also does not have any problems adjusting and already scored a pretty important goal i have no doubts he will at least play an OK season. toni hasn't done anything yet since he is injured. has barely any international experience and no one knows how he will play in a new leauge.
vfb stuttgart - last season the surprise champion, now is the time to prove this was not a fluke. they only lost 1 key player, their goalkeeper so keeping last times winning team together will be a plus. the big question is the champions league. they may have many overplayed or injured players, which will hurt them in the long run. they tried to compensate that by signing a couple good but not really great players to have a wider player pool. although they are the defending champions they are not really a favorite to win the league due to their young team and playing cl (didn't play international last season). i still think they will at least get 5th place but wouldn't be surprised if they did better. in cl they need luck to survive the groupstage.
schalke 04 - 2nd last season, i don't see them doing too much this time. they profited of weak bremen and bayern and still didn't manage to win the league. now with (inconsistent) lincoln sold and not getting appiah i don't see enough quality in their midfield. their advantages are that most of the team kept together and their defense. It will be enough to place somewhere at the top, but again they will win nothing.
werder bremen - they took a huge blow by having to let klose go to bayern. but they are know to replace keyplayers like it's nothing. the team has a lot of potential to be great or to fail. will diego play a great second season, or was the last one exceptional? is carlos albertos ego really as big as people say and if so will it make him suck? (bremen was also always pretty good at handling "difficult" players) will sanogo continue to score (4 games 4 goals) or like last season in hamburg start to suck? these are the questions to be answered on the field. the rest of the team looks pretty solid so i think they make top3
hamburger sv - (my hometeam so i am more informed about them, also biased ) last year was the absolute horror. after qualifying for cl we lost 5 out of 6 games there and placed last in the league at halftime of the season. we got incredibly unlucky/stupid with injuries, red cards, and the last couple minutes of games it wasn't even funny. after thomas doll the coach was fired, luck and concentration came back with the new coach huub stevens. with van der vaarts return from injuries the second half of the season was the second best of all teams, placing us in the ui-cup and now due to our successful qualification the uefa-cup. so if all stays well we might be headed for cl this season. so the big question is, will van der vaart stay healthy? or better, how will we replace him when he gets injured? (which is likely ) he is our most important offensive player, the teamcaptain and -leader. he scores important goals and many of them, he is impossible for us to replace. but even without him the team could be strong enough for the top 5. we have 3 new key players, who seem very promising. zidan - striker bought from mainz where he scored 13 goals in 15 matches last year. he is hoped to be the solution for our scoring weakness. he has great potential but has had problems in bremen before. so no one knows how he will handle his second "big club". castelen - right winger bought from feyenoord rotterdam, i don't know much about him but he has made a great impression in his first couple games. kompany - already signed last season but then only appeared in 6 games due to injuries. the gifted defender chose us over chelsea, lyon and a lot of money because he wanted to play and become an important part of the team. after a season of watching (drove to every league game in is car :D) football now he wants to play again and show everybody what he is capable of.
in conclusion, if vdv stays healthy most of the season we place 1-4, if not 3-6 :D
SerieA(Italian) I have a lot less knowledge about the Italian Serie, but with AC Milans victory in the Champions League, it think they are favorites to take the title. But watch up for the return of Juventus...
The great favorite here is Inter Milan, buyed the strong defender Chivu from Roma and the attacker Suazo from Cagliari. They got greatest numbered/skill level of the league, so they should just win by dont give points to the small teams (as last year). Definetely favorite number one for title. Back from Serie B is Juventus. The real mistery of this Serie A, got a new coach: the young and experienced Ranieri, and buyed a bunch of supposed talents around europe, while confirming the "storical" group -Buffon, Nedved, Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Del Piero...-. On the other side they got a totally noob management of the society that is at the opposite of the "mafia style - triade" Moggi-Giraudo-Bettega which provided several titles but also the revoke of the last 2 championships and the Serie B. Then there is AC Milan, this is a "mentality factor" in the last 20yrs of the "Berlusconi Era", they always stayed on the "Champions League is the most important target". This kind of mentality never changed and this year they also have to play the "European Supercup" and the Tokyo game. Typical AC Milan situation is to loose manymany points during winter with small teams, this is always payed with the loose of the title, since teams like Juventus almost never leave behind points with small teams and the "Crack of the year" (sometimes roma or lazio or inter or some underdog) do the same. This is the way you win in Italy: winning with small teams. As potential underdogs there are Lazio and Roma: both solid, both with a great axe players-coach-society, both with a very defined and unique style of play... but on the other side, outnumbered on quality players by Inter and Milan for sure, and maybe by Juventus too... and both qualified in the Uefa CL, which will provide more stress and more effort which they are not used to know how to manage (remember 7-1 manu-roma last year...). You can be sure that if they go through the "group stage" then they will pay a lot in serie A. Fiorentina could be the real great surprise of this year: no Champions league, an incredible supporter faction (full stadium of 40000 ppl, when declassed to italian 3rd division 4-5yrs ago, due to financial troubles), a great coach (Prandelli) known in Italy cause he works with young players like no one, a very ambitious management (Della Valle brothers, italian shoes kings...) that said "We wont really play for the title till 2010, when television rights will be equally distribuited but in that moment we will be ready", and of course a young stars fullfilled team: Pazzini could be the next sensation (Quagliarella style) and was the main reason Toni was sold to Bayern, Mutu got talent, Bojinov will have to accord to society plan or will be sold... No great known names other than these but a great team. Underdogs with no chance for title, but maybe for a UCL position: Udinese, got Quagliarella for something like 7mln, and got a superstar attack with DiNatale and Floro Flores. They can do good. Palermo buying and selling here and there with appearentely no sense, but they definetely stronger than last years when they leaded Serie A for a couple of months, and finished with an enormous crisis (something like 5-6 points in last 15games) loosing champions league qualification too. Genoa and Napoli back from Serie B with great ambition will defenitely crash on Serie A approach: they got a lot of hype from the city/press. My personal surprise? Livorno, they sold the franchise man Lucarelli to some ucraina team, but they buyed with a lot of intelligence solid players and a great undervaluated talent, the attacker Tavano. My hope: a young and cheap based team like Empoli, could confirm the Incredible league of last year!
Favorite for the title: Inter Runner up: the CL teams (Milan-Lazio-Roma) Mistery: Juventus (Anonymous year or title year? who knows) Will play a great year for sure: Fiorentina (CL level)
pure bias lol :D I can't see how hsv will end up 2nd this year. Also, as a Bremen fan, I can't see how bremen will place 3rd. They will have a hard time finishing top5 without a single decent striker. Bremen without Klose would've been lost 2004-2006 and since they failed to sign a player who has the capability of replacing Klose even partially, I have no hopes they can fight for CL qualifications. I think you underrate schalke here as well. Lincoln was totally inconsistent as you already said and they replaced him with the technically gifted croation Rakitic which is an awesome deal if you ask me. Out of the top 5 teams they still might have the weakest midfield, but they can compensate this with a great offensive (Kuranyi is on a streak, Lovenkrands is amazing and Asamoah/Altintop(if you count him as a striker) add great to the team. Overall I think the team chemistry just works in Schalke. Except for Kuranyi, they don't have any "star players", but the team just works well together.
my prediction: 1. bayern 2./3. stuttgart/schalke (hard to tell) 4. hsv 5. werder
This is just comparing the teams, hsv might very well end up 8th or something if van der vaart is injured 90% of the season again.
edit: forgot the bayern part you posted Luca Toni scored like what? 34 goals or sth in Serie A. I don't have words to describe how absolutely amazing that is. As far as I remember he scored the most goals in that season compared to all other major european leagues and serie a is by far the most defensive league in europe. Of course you never know if a player works with a certain team. Frings didn't work with Bayern as well, but if he manages to bring 50% of the performance of that season into this one, he will be THE clutch player Bayern has, moreso than Ribery if you ask me.
Btw Uli Hoeness (manager of Bayern) can read my mind. When it was obvious Bayern would fire out millions to get a decent team I was thinking to myself which players I'd buy if I were him. Ribery, except for Zidane, the french key player in the world cup - amazing performance Robben, they didn't get him, but I think Bayern had deep interest Klose, if in shape one of the best european strikers right now, he only had another year contract with Bremen so he was kinda cheap Toni, his record speaks for him
Sunderland is totally under the Roy Keane effect. He will become a great manager. Beating Tottenham(especially stopping their attack like they did) is not easy, considering the striker lineup they have. Also, looks like Mancity's brand new team(7-8 new players?) is taking a good start.
On Ligue1: Lyon lost versus Toulouse. Lyon got an early red card cause of an ''elbow to the face'' by a toulouse player. Lyon player yelled at the referee to give a card, and his BM got him a Red card. ah manners....
Sucky start, rooney injured. A question to people who watch the premiership outside of England, do you have to pay? Last year most of the games were free in China, but before the new season started, a new tv contract was negotiated because the old one had run out. CCTV refused to bid because the premiership was asking for an astronmical sum. In the end some private broadcast company along with Sina bought the contract for 2 billion american dollars. So now if mainland chinese people want to watch the premiership/FA cup/carling cup, they have to pay more than 1800 yuan/year which is about $200 which is probably more than most lower-middle class families can afford and they make up most of the population. What's more, the broadcasting company couldn't even get all equipment ready in time for the new season so basically no one in mainland china was able to watch the first round of games last night or tonight unless they streamed it off the internet. Just curious, what are other countries' policy to broadcasting england football? I heard ManU tv which is the exclusive broadcaster of Man Utd league games has to be paid for, but other wise most other games are available on ESPN, sky sports, etc. Hopefully we won't have to pay to watch champions league football also, i'm not paying to watch rangers vs malmo FC or something like that
Sky is always my man. Haven't install it this year yet because I have just move house, but I can tell you it is fucking expensive. I was running on 34 pounds a month which is like 80$ each month for like 4-5 games a week not including champion's league. I live in England btw, but I am replying because I believe I am actually paying the most the watch football that is being played in my country.
EPL Liverpool Chelsea Arsenal Man U (not cuz rooney is injured) Newcastle ManCity/Spurs
La Liga Barca Real Atletico Sevilla/Valencia
Italian Inter Milan Juventus Roma/Fiorentina
German Bayern Stuttgart Werder Shalke
Edit: I thnik Fifa 08 will be super awesome and better than whatever PES has to offer for 08. But, i'll be getting both. well my plan is to rent both, try em out and buy the best one
On August 14 2007 01:55 white_box921 wrote: Sky is always my man. Haven't install it this year yet because I have just move house, but I can tell you it is fucking expensive. I was running on 34 pounds a month which is like 80$ each month for like 4-5 games a week not including champion's league. I live in England btw, but I am replying because I believe I am actually paying the most the watch football that is being played in my country.
oh, then i guess we don't have it that bad, we pay a little more than $20 or 180 yuan per month for almost every premiership game plus more. I can't believe how expensive it is to watch the premiership, it's the best league and a big part of it is because of the tv contracts and how rich all the clubs are compared to other leagues but at these prices I can only imagine less people watching every year, especially if streaming technology improves. But in reality they're probably making so much money it would never happen
On August 14 2007 01:55 white_box921 wrote: Sky is always my man. Haven't install it this year yet because I have just move house, but I can tell you it is fucking expensive. I was running on 34 pounds a month which is like 80$ each month for like 4-5 games a week not including champion's league. I live in England btw, but I am replying because I believe I am actually paying the most the watch football that is being played in my country.
oh, then i guess we don't have it that bad, we pay a little more than $20 or 180 yuan per month for almost every premiership game plus more. I can't believe how expensive it is to watch the premiership, it's the best league and a big part of it is because of the tv contracts and how rich all the clubs are compared to other leagues but at these prices I can only imagine less people watching every year, especially if streaming technology improves. But in reality they're probably making so much money it would never happen
I heard about that. Even so, i think they've overestimated China's fan base. There is just no way CCTV will pay 2 billion for one program when they could make 100 different dramas and they can just show Chinese super league matches -_-.
In Australia, we pay something like $50 dollars/month for foxtel which shows the soccer matches. Games are weekly on sat and sun and i think they are broadcasting all the games via digital and you can select out of the list which one you want. Pretty good deal i reckon but then again i don't pay a cent for it wink wink.
I called to order the channel today but they told me shanghai isn't gonna show premier league games for an entire year because some retards couldn't work out a deal because they hate money. So now I can either watch games online for free but ultra bad quality, online paying, or go to bars which i'm not even sure if they're showing the games or not. Or get an illegal satellite. FI&WHNhfi8 W#(ROW#R
On August 13 2007 03:32 zulu_nation8 wrote: Sucky start, rooney injured. A question to people who watch the premiership outside of England, do you have to pay? Last year most of the games were free in China, but before the new season started, a new tv contract was negotiated because the old one had run out. CCTV refused to bid because the premiership was asking for an astronmical sum. In the end some private broadcast company along with Sina bought the contract for 2 billion american dollars. So now if mainland chinese people want to watch the premiership/FA cup/carling cup, they have to pay more than 1800 yuan/year which is about $200 which is probably more than most lower-middle class families can afford and they make up most of the population. What's more, the broadcasting company couldn't even get all equipment ready in time for the new season so basically no one in mainland china was able to watch the first round of games last night or tonight unless they streamed it off the internet. Just curious, what are other countries' policy to broadcasting england football? I heard ManU tv which is the exclusive broadcaster of Man Utd league games has to be paid for, but other wise most other games are available on ESPN, sky sports, etc. Hopefully we won't have to pay to watch champions league football also, i'm not paying to watch rangers vs malmo FC or something like that
Clear fav : Bayern Munich 70%Bayern Munich will make it 1. Bayern 2. Schalke 3. Bremen
La Liga :
toss up between Barca and Real i like Henry but i was / still am a tiny bit of a Real Fan.. 50/50 imho.. Valencia and other teams shouldnt be a big threat..
EPL:
Manu,Chelsea , Liverpool.. well the typical candidates.. dont forget Arsenal.. they are stronger than some might think..
imho Arsenal can make it, cause no one is expecting them to
everything will be fine when anderson and hargreaves start playing and o'shea gets hurt for the season. I didn't see the game but it sounds like Ronaldo was extremely frustrated, which is rare. Nani will be forced to start perhaps too soon until ronnie comes back. He looks like he could use some more easing in. If he does bad in the next few games then he will lose a lot of confidence and get slammed by fans and media. I hope hargreaves and anderson get fit soon. There should be plenty of depth to pull out a few wins if the morale is good. ManU always starts off stumbling. Doesn't really matter because there's so much of the season left to play
sopcast takes 10 minutes to buffer and literally a second after the stream comes on I see some dude in a man city shirt score a long range goal from outside the box. Hargreaves is shite. Man Utd bench: Kuzack, Silvestre, O'Shea, Eagles, Campbell (wtf?). Give tevez the ball 2nd half please and sell o'shea.
actually... Hargreaves played really well, at least he was 10x more effective than Carrick. And yea, the bench sucks so bad that I would cry if I am a MU fan.
Yea Hargreaves did track back make a lot of key tackles, get the ball and get it forward, pretty much like a true defensive midfielder, one that united hasn't had since Keane. However I did think marking geovanni should've been his responsibility, not that he should've been airtight on him, but he shouldnt've been allowed that much space at that part of the pitch. It was unfortunate really.
I guess not having Heinze on the bench means he's definitely not going to stay. I don't know if Nani isn't used to starting so soon, because even Ronaldo wasn't put into the spotlight right away when he came over, but Nani has been sort of average at best, and sometimes terrible last game.
Tevez, oh god. It's so obvious how talented he is, just the touches he gets on the ball, how he maintains possession and creates chances when he couldn't any himself. But the misses were oh so frustrating. He's like rooney, not a true goal poaching striker but an all-around forward. And I think that's the biggest problem by far right now, is that no one can score. Right now's perhaps the time where Rossi and Smith would be useful. But they're gone.
It's still so early in the season though and it's bad right now but not a crisis. When Saha/Anderson can play they will provide a much much needed boost, especially Saha who's a truer striker than Tevez. Giggs is getting a little old and so is scholes, time for new players to step up. Next two games are at home.
The Chelsea-Liverpool penalty, LOL? IT was Malouda who flew into Carragher, and even if he somehow didn't and magically got the ball he would've had no chance at goal. Worst penalty decision ever, wasn't even a dive.
lol, I watched the highlight of the RM vs Sev match and I hope every match will be this much fun. Basically RM has decided to not play defend on open play and Sev in return gives them a favour by not defending set play. It was like watching MLS, where goals just flys in at every game.
manu are off to one of the shittier starts in EPL...they've already dropped 7 pts from 3 games...if they don't get their shit together and go on an amazing streak of wins, they might as well relinquish the title...
Yea 13 years. Heinze lost his case to leave United, which makes his situation so much more awkward. He already repeatedly said he wants to leave despite Ferguson maintaining he has a future here. So now Heinze either has to move to another club, Lyon probably, or suck it up and make a complete u-turn and play backup to Evra. I hope he stays, I love his determination and toughness.
La Liga will be like usual, Real and Barcelona fighting, and Valencia/sevilla for 3rd.
You could say the EPL is the same if u replaced Man U by Man City. Right now it really looks like Chelsea will take it. Arsenal's lehmann plays horribly lately and hopefully they fix their GK problem. I doubt Man city will be able to maintain their top ranks, but they will defenitly get a shot at the top4 and the Champions League spots.
SerieA: Will be very interesting with Juvi there, and no team starting with minus points.
Ligue1 is just totally confusing. Lyon is getting destroyed, and their ''so called major opponent'', Marseille, is not better either. Will be a very interesting season.
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich. Thats all you need to know.
Why nobody talks about the portuguese "SuperLiga"? Benfica just have a new coach, Camacho Their best aquisition, Manuel Fernandes just left to Everton..
only a 2-1 vic against Copenhague for the champions league, 1-1 draw in first game of SuperLiga and a bad very bad soccer style from Benfica overall .. No production .. :| Adu only played some minutes.. I still think he is great.. Although as we all know MSL is not a great league and he was good there but in europe.. well w'll see..
Those videos were both from the first game of superliga where porto defeated Braga 2-1 with those two unbelievable freekicks by Quaresma
John Carew was excellent, had his way with argentine defenders.
England - Germany
Lampard played great with Gerrard absent. Micah Richards will be a star, Wright-Philips was really lively on the left wing. Pretty much no one on England played badly except for Robinson. Shorey, Beckahm, Dyer all looked good. Pander's goal was unstoppable, and England couldn't finish. I thought bringing Dyer on instead of Defoe was really a slap to Defoe's face. Overall it was the best football England has played in a long time, but the result still stands. I don't trust James as the #1 either but all the other keepers are too young.
and yeah carew was seriously impressive.. if he plays like this in a majority of his games this season he'll be one of the best 3 strikers in the premier league.. he's matured shitloads and I can see him being extremely important for villa, although he's still not a goalscorer, not at all, yesterday he even scored 2 goals while not being a goalscorer.
On August 23 2007 12:29 zulu_nation8 wrote: England - Germany
Lampard played great with Gerrard absent. Micah Richards will be a star, Wright-Philips was really lively on the left wing. Pretty much no one on England played badly except for Robinson. Shorey, Beckahm, Dyer all looked good. Pander's goal was unstoppable, and England couldn't finish. I thought bringing Dyer on instead of Defoe was really a slap to Defoe's face. Overall it was the best football England has played in a long time, but the result still stands. I don't trust James as the #1 either but all the other keepers are too young.
I gotta disagree, England wasn't that strong. It looked like that, because they had like 80% possession and lots of great chances to score, but they were playing a team that had pretty much all their key players injured. Germany was missing Klose, Frings, Ballack, Schweinsteiger. That is like France missing Ribery, Henry, Viera, Makelele. Any decent team should beat france in that case and England should have beaten Germany yesterday, but they didn't.
Borowski, Podolski and Jansen were also missing, all potential starters. I won't complain ofc, but really disappointing performance for England when you can't beat a team which is missing eleven players at "Fort Wembley".
no comment to the post above me but I have to say that Robinson sucks, and James sucks even more on international scene so I think Carson should start the next two qualifying games. I actually thought Dyer was shit, Carrick went missing and Lampard should break his arm again when before the next england match if Gerrard is fit. Terry also look pretty uninterested in the game which is understandable.
I also have to add that Mclaren has actually learned!! I didn't see Downing coming on which is worth a celebration.
England vs Germany yesterday was just a competition about who would fuck up more passes, allow the opponent more chances and miss more of his own chances. Horrible game.
On August 23 2007 12:29 zulu_nation8 wrote: Overall it was the best football England has played in a long time,
On August 24 2007 00:32 Asta wrote: England vs Germany yesterday was just a competition about who would fuck up more passes, allow the opponent more chances and miss more of his own chances. Horrible game.
On August 23 2007 12:29 zulu_nation8 wrote: Overall it was the best football England has played in a long time,
You gotta be kidding.
QFT! It definately wasn't a good match from either side. Germany just came out lucky, come on I mean look at Owen's 110% chance, missing an empty goal. I'd love to see a rematch where both teams bring their A-lineup though . All those tactical and technical errors on both sides annoyed me, pretty uninspiring match.
On August 24 2007 00:32 Asta wrote: England vs Germany yesterday was just a competition about who would fuck up more passes, allow the opponent more chances and miss more of his own chances. Horrible game.
On August 23 2007 12:29 zulu_nation8 wrote: Overall it was the best football England has played in a long time,
You gotta be kidding.
QFT! It definately wasn't a good match from either side. Germany just came out lucky, come on I mean look at Owen's 110% chance, missing an empty goal. I'd love to see a rematch where both teams bring their A-lineup though . All those tactical and technical errors on both sides annoyed me, pretty uninspiring match.
On August 24 2007 00:32 Asta wrote: England vs Germany yesterday was just a competition about who would fuck up more passes, allow the opponent more chances and miss more of his own chances. Horrible game.
On August 23 2007 12:29 zulu_nation8 wrote: Overall it was the best football England has played in a long time,
You gotta be kidding.
Since McClaren took over the results vs respectable teams, meaning excluding macedonia and estonia have been
0-2 Croatia
0-0 Israel
0-1 Spain
1-1 Brazil
Out of all those games I'd say the performance vs Germany B ranks as the best. England didn't play frustrating defensive football but actually opened up, and they were without Rooney. Germany was missing many top players but Metzelder and Mertsacker are definitely their first choices. I have very very low standards for England, as long as the players complete a few good moves I consider it a commendable performance. The way England got the ball forward with ease was very non-frustrating. For England, their main focus right now is actually qualifying for Euro 2008 and not how far to advance during it. So considering their recent results, England did well for the most part I thought.
Woke up at 8 today but staying up until 4 to watch it. Also watched arsenal vs man city today, When all of arsenal's attackers continuously screw up golden chances including a missed penalty, fabregas gets into the box and scores with a wonderful finish. So glad man city finally lost, eriksson is a terrible manager, man city's good start is a total illusion
eriksson isnt a terrible manager what the fuck he's an incredible manager. every single club team of his has had tremendous success, (I do believe he's the only manager to win the league in 3 different countries. ) in fact he's been a miracle man... and while england often performed badly, steve mcclaren certainly didn't improve things much, in fact if you look at the results erikssons england had and how they got knocked out of tournaments, it's rather good..
I guess the only reason why you feel the way you do is you're a manunited fan and you're blinded by ferguson's hatred for eriksson.. not gonna try to compare those two as managers, but you need to realize that manchester city will have had a great season, and eriksson will have done a great job as manager, if they end up in top 8 this season. nobody's expecting them to challenge the 4 greats right away, and they've been lucky / had an incredible goalkeeper, but 9 points in these 4 matches is well ahead of schedule, pretty much no other team has had a tougher start in regards to opponents..
is Hoffenheim some kind of super rich team expected to gain promotion from the second bundesliga right away or is the norwegian league shittier than i hoped? I mean, it's been well known that the norwegian league sucks compared to any of the top 4 in europe (though rosenborg has actually had some respectable results in the champions league) but it's a little disheartening to see that two of the best players in the norwegian league both end up being sold to the same second bundesliga team.
then again they paid 5 million euros for one of them, inclining that they have more money than any norwegian team, as I don't think any norwegian team has ever paid more than 2 million for a player. but my question is basically, if hoffenheim special or do many of the second bundesliga teams have that kind of economy?
well I don't like him but I don't despise him, I judge him pretty much solely on his results and decision making with England, and the fact that the Lazio team he won Serie A with was basically a team of the best Italians and Argentines in the world. The only reason he chose to manage man city is because he could spend at will. With England, his style of play and personnel management was really questionable at times. England is a difficult job though as McClaren shows. Man City's start reminds me of when England beat Germany 5-1 and everyone thought Eriksson was a god but then he proceeded to be mediocre for 5 years.
I admit I don't like Man City but little Schmeichel isn't that good. Against United he made so many blunders it was an absolute miracle United didn't score. I think truly impressive performances by lower level premiership teams shouldn't involve a huge transfer budget. Everton with Rooney, Wigan, Reading, come to mind.
On August 26 2007 13:03 mAKiTO wrote: that was some bullshit how they couldnt show the madrid derby on TV fucking BS wtf
oh good I thought Chinese TV failed again
On August 26 2007 14:29 mAKiTO wrote: you EPL monkeys la liga finally started, discuss about it so I can join :D!
La Liga and Bundesliga will be the only leagues they show the majority of the games here. Saw the highlights of the Sevilla game, Kanoute got so good after he left England.
erikssons job with ifk göteborg, leading them to winning the uefa cup and building a team that was a scandinavian powerhouse for years, is one of the most impressive managerial jobs ever. he also built a good team with relatively little money and few really good players in sampdoria, had success with lazio (although yes, there he had good players) and also had success with benfica. his performance with england was low compared to expectations, but good compared to what other coaches have managed managing england, and correct me if im wrong but they lost 2 world championships and 1 european championship in the quarter finals, world cups 1-2 vs brazil and penalty shootout vs portugal, european championship penalty vs portugal.. brazil is and was a better team than england and should be expected to beat them, penalty shootouts have always been coinflips where goal keepers are significant (and portugal's ricardo is one of the very best in the game.. )
the fact is england hasn't won anything since what, 66? while erikssons performance with them was not outstanding, had both penalty shootouts been won, which should be just as likely as them being lost, he might be remembered as one of the best managers england has ever had.. he's still one of the few managers who has consistently had success with every club he has taught, and while he has had a lot of spending money, time has shown again and again that spending money only equals success if managed well. the epl has a lot of great managers and I'm definitely not saying eriksson is the best, but is he in the top 5 in regards to earlier accomplishments? easily.
Hes certainly had a fantastic career and is way more than qualified for the man city job. In terms of accomplishments, not many managers in the world can match him. i guess the word I was looking for is overrated. Losing in the quarterfinals to Portugal in Euro and World Cup isn't terrible result wise, but in my opinion it was the way they lost that was unbearable. Portugal on both occasions had a less talented squad, But on both occasions they showed superior mental composure in the end which is what I believe the reason they won the shootouts. The England players lacked a mental edge that the Portuguese had under Scolari, perhaps because of language, or I believe because Scolari is a better manager. Of course there were also other factors such as the absence of Rooney in both games, to injury and to dismissal respectively, but I think the penalty shoot-out was a fair demonstration of Eriksson weakness as a motivator. Luck is an undeniable factor, but losing both shootouts under similar circumstances meant there were other deciding factors.
On August 26 2007 14:30 Liquid`Drone wrote: also i have a question to germans
is Hoffenheim some kind of super rich team expected to gain promotion from the second bundesliga right away or is the norwegian league shittier than i hoped? I mean, it's been well known that the norwegian league sucks compared to any of the top 4 in europe (though rosenborg has actually had some respectable results in the champions league) but it's a little disheartening to see that two of the best players in the norwegian league both end up being sold to the same second bundesliga team.
then again they paid 5 million euros for one of them, inclining that they have more money than any norwegian team, as I don't think any norwegian team has ever paid more than 2 million for a player. but my question is basically, if hoffenheim special or do many of the second bundesliga teams have that kind of economy?
Don't worry, Hoffenheim is special ;-) Hoffenheim was bought by one of the richest germans, they have a well-known Bundesliga-coach and a great team already. He's not Abramowicz (sp?), but he's handed out millions to build up a decent team.
Hey Mandalor I got a question too, How come the move from Klose to bayern from werder didnt cause like big commotion like fans being fucking pissed and people now hating Klose? arent bayern and Werder archi rivals?
I mean in england you see heinze wasent allowed to move from man u to liverpool just because they are rivals, and heinze is a defender.. imagine if it was a striker, very very disturbing schoking, or when Figo went to real madrid after barcelona -.- ( i lost all respect and love for him)
On August 26 2007 17:43 mAKiTO wrote: Hey Mandalor I got a question too, How come the move from Klose to bayern from werder didnt cause like big commotion like fans being fucking pissed and people now hating Klose? arent bayern and Werder archi rivals?
I mean in england you see heinze wasent allowed to move from man u to liverpool just because they are rivals, and heinze is a defender.. imagine if it was a striker, very very disturbing schoking, or when Figo went to real madrid after barcelona -.- ( i lost all respect and love for him)
Well. Klose got a mannered and nice welcome when playing vs Werder this season. He got flowers and such stuff, because well, after all he did a fucking great job for Werder Bremen. For sure 50 % of the fans were mad and screamed and whatever.. but the players and especially the manager and trainer and basicaly every other sane person has no problem with it. Its part of soccer.
For the thing with Figo and Real.. Im glad we dont have such mad fans in Germany ( piggy piggy any1 T_T ? )
There is no rivalry between Bayern and Werder, it's just that there's a general hate towards Bayern, but it's nowhere near the rivalry between Barca and Real. Klose had the fans yelling at him when he played in Bremen, but it wasn't such a big deal. Everybody knew already that Klose would play for Bayern in 2008.
On August 26 2007 14:29 mAKiTO wrote: you EPL monkeys la liga finally started, discuss about it so I can join :D!
rawr, caught last half of madrid derby on sopcast yesterday.
pretty fun game, amusing how madrid has changed gigantic portions of their side in a short amount of time. probably gonna see raul, guti, and casillas there forever though.
anyway not much to say about the game, it was quite entertaining I guess! I think someone on this site likes saviola, so I'll mention he came out as a sub and sucked for 20 minutes :D
haha El pibito saviola rulz! I really wanted to watch the derby, but i guess there is a problem with the tv rights now and everyone is getting fucked over. I cant even watched the Barca game thats going on right now -.-
Anyways did Madrid deserve to win? I really really dont get Calderons type of thinking, last years they were champions, and this year he completely changes the squad plus DT. They had an awful pre season, I guess calderon had to end and demolish everything made by Florentino Pérez. :s
And you germans are crazy, if i was a Werder fan I would've been raising hell. haha but I guess i live futbol with 110% passion
this is a joke, someone tell me why the madrid derby is not broadcasted. I delibrately went out thinking I can get a good match and have some fun but instead got fucked out and didn't know what to do and ate kebab for 2 hours.
On August 27 2007 02:47 mAKiTO wrote: And you germans are crazy, if i was a Werder fan I would've been raising hell. haha but I guess i live futbol with 110% passion
I can assure you I was absolutely mad at Klose, but it was just a different story here. Let me explain: Last season, just a few days before the UEFA Cup semis Bremen was in, Klose and Bayern manager Uli Hoeness "secretly" met and basically discussed Kloses transfer to Bayern. I'm sure that is a common thing to do, just not at such a delicate date and if you do so, you should watch out for cameras. They got caught and their was a huge debate over it, especially because Bremen lost the semi-final. Bremen fans were mad and all, but Klose and Bayern basically agreed that he would play for Bayern in 2008 when his contract was over (which is sad, but okay I guess). Afterall Werder decided to sell Klose early to at least get some money for Klose (I think it was something around 12.5 million euro). When Klose played in Bremen that secret-meeting-incident has been over for like half a year. And there are huge rivalries between certain teams in germany as well. Schalke-Dortmund would be the perfect example. I can only think of 2 players that have ever changed from Schalke to Dortmund or the other way round and fans sure were in rage then.
RIP, really bizzare incident like Marc Viven-Foe's. Having a heart attack out of nowhere without warning. He was a Spanish international too and a very promising player. 22 is so young
also Man Utd vs Tottenham Nani saves the red devils with sheer brilliance, I actually paid for the internet stream but I was disappointed to find out it was the same if not worse quality than TVants/Sopcast except with chinese commentary. Nani's goal was so good I don't remember the last time I was that excited. United back on track now
38 yuan for one month which is a little less than $5. I was fully expecting it to be much better than the free streams out there since pplive/tvants are so popular but what can i expect, cheap price, shitty quality. Think I'm gonna watch the important games in bars now.
It was more important in its context than the goal itself because I, like many united fans probably feared for the worst when the score was still 0-0 and Berbatov came as close as you can get to getting a goal twice and looked unstoppable. Nani had been awful all game and no one expected him to do anything but out of nowhere he saved united with a 30 yard stunner that took a slight deflection but I think would've gone in anyways because of how well it was hit and how bad Robinson is. I definitely think Tottenham deserve more than a loss and United played awful for the most part which makes the goal that much more opportune and special. Berbatov's first touch is out of this world, his agility, quick thinking, and killer sense for the goal is reminiscent of Van Nistelrooy's. He pretty much wrecked havoc in the United defense all by himself. Really hope we get him somehow.
I wish there were sport bars that showed soccer games here in town, -.- I have to go all the to west palm beach, like 1 hour away, and last time i got way to drunk and drove shit face on the interstate lol i dont know how i made it home.
oh and thats really cheap, but i still wouldve never paid, I almost always get good quality in sopcast
On August 29 2007 05:34 mAKiTO wrote: I wish there were sport bars that showed soccer games here in town, -.- I have to go all the to west palm beach, like 1 hour away, and last time i got way to drunk and drove shit face on the interstate lol i dont know how i made it home.
Yea driving shit faced that is hilarious, fucking moron.
Yeah so sad, he was gonna have a son in 2 months, and he was only 22 years... its so sad that someone so good in had to leave like that... this is bullshit, i was watching that game live when it happened he left the game walking, but somehow he died, apparently the continuous Cardio-respiratory attacks injured the Central nervous system.
On August 26 2007 14:30 Liquid`Drone wrote: also i have a question to germans
is Hoffenheim some kind of super rich team expected to gain promotion from the second bundesliga right away or is the norwegian league shittier than i hoped? I mean, it's been well known that the norwegian league sucks compared to any of the top 4 in europe (though rosenborg has actually had some respectable results in the champions league) but it's a little disheartening to see that two of the best players in the norwegian league both end up being sold to the same second bundesliga team.
then again they paid 5 million euros for one of them, inclining that they have more money than any norwegian team, as I don't think any norwegian team has ever paid more than 2 million for a player. but my question is basically, if hoffenheim special or do many of the second bundesliga teams have that kind of economy?
lol they, Hoffenheim, also bought one of the brazilian promises... Carlos Eduardo from Gremio, the boy was a player on the rise, pretty good for his age.
On August 29 2007 05:34 mAKiTO wrote: I wish there were sport bars that showed soccer games here in town, -.- I have to go all the to west palm beach, like 1 hour away, and last time i got way to drunk and drove shit face on the interstate lol i dont know how i made it home.
Yea driving shit faced that is hilarious, fucking moron.
Anyone knows whats the deal with the Spanish League TV problems?
Also, anyone knows why david villa got sent off?
On the EPL, i gotta say for Manchester(both teams), the next game is crucial. If United loses, gone are the hopes of winning the premiership. For city, the next game will determine if their ''a contender team'' or just a mid-top team, considering their playing the mid-table blackburn.
I guess the company who owns the sports right is suing the company who distributes them? I guess some shit like that over 200 million euros. So they are only broadcasted in spain, and they didnt let like goltv in or espn or nothing. Plus since they did aired getafe and sevilla and villareal valencia games without permission, they want more money now. fucking fags, ruining my liga
David villa picked up 2 yellow cards, one for diving and one for protesting the reffs decisions, btw both well deserved, he acted really childish, and he let his team down. shame that a player of this quality does this kinda crap
Anyways I dont watch EPL, how is Carlitos doing in Man U is playing good? are people happy? has he come close to score? or is he totally sucking.
And who watched the Liverpool game today, Mascherano is world class player, won every single ball. I like peter crouch a lot too ahha he almost scored a GOLAZO, was a shame it went up. Dirk K idk.. i dont like him but he scores o_o
Carlitos is struggling because he doesn't have anyone up front to play off of, United puts him up alone with someone like Giggs or Scholes behind him and it just doesn't quite work out. He's also not 100% fit and lack a certain understanding on the pitch with the others but that's expected as he just joined. The commentators say 20 games everytime he misses a chance because that's how long it took for him to score at West Ham, but of course there's no way that'll happen this season he just needs a little more time. He's obviously very talented and works really hard too. United as a whole just sucks right now but things are turning around.
Valencia got destroyed, they looked like they needed some more preseason training. Villareal played really well.
Poor Carlitos, He is such a warrior. I was hoping for him to click with Ronaldo or something, but I knew EPL isn't really for carlitos, la liga would've been better. Hopefully He will adapt to it faster.
Yeah I really liked Mati Fernandez, He came into the game got a penalty kick, then assisted for the other goal, Go Mati!.
Looks like Riquelme might be stayed in Villareal getting paid and not playing.. thats life lol. No that actually sucks, Boca couldn't afford him, we got 3 days tho! Please Macri treanos al Roman!
On August 29 2007 05:34 mAKiTO wrote: I wish there were sport bars that showed soccer games here in town, -.- I have to go all the to west palm beach, like 1 hour away, and last time i got way to drunk and drove shit face on the interstate lol i dont know how i made it home.
Yea driving shit faced that is hilarious, fucking moron.
i know i couldve crashed and died :O
lol if it was just yourself no one would give a shit, it's the person you crash into that might die/ be injured as well.. ah well some ppl >.<
Oh he'll definitely click with Ronaldo, Ronnie is serving a 3 match ban for a red card, he'll be back next weekend. He's the only one that can translate on the pitch for both carlitos and nani, which would be a major help.
I think he knew an appeal wouldn't work so he didn't even bother, in my memory appeals have like a 0.001% success rate in england. It's especially bullshit considering the other player didn't get anything at all
Back to the spirit of this thread, I wanna say English is really the more hyped team ever in the history of soccer. They are really never that good but are always well publicized. The south americans and the rest of europe can own them anytime. Getting trounced at new wembley by the Germans cannot iconize this any better
Regarding the spanish Liga, Riquelme will be joining Atletico Madrid. I put them ahead of Bayern Munchen for the UEFA Cup, and maybe I see them getting 3rd instead of 4th in the Liga. But no other team in Spain goes near Barcelona. And not because of Henry, but because after raising Messi, now they get two more incredible players in Bojan and Giovanni. They seem unstoppable. Btw, Real Madrid squad sucks. They won against Atletico Madrid in a crazy game, fun to watch due to the all-offence mode, but defensively it was chaotic in both sides. When Real plays a quality experienced defense like Valencia´s, they wont get even near the big area.
Liga: 1.Barcelona. 2.Valencia. 3.Atletico Madrid 4.Sevilla. 5.Real Madrid(they better win the UCL or they will be playing for the UEFA Cup)
Regarding Hoffenheim: Their transfers were record-breaking for the second Bundesliga. They get money from Dietmar Hopp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietmar_Hopp), a kind of Abramovich. The 6 million they paid for Edu plus the 9 million the supposedly offered for Eduardo are peanuts compared to the 40 million they paid for their new stadium. All of Hopp's money I guess. To actually answer your question, this is a list of all the transfers in the second Bundesliga: http://transfermarkt.de/de/aktuell/L2/2007/wechsel/index.html The left tables (Zugang) are acquisitions, the right tables (Abgang) are sales. "Ablösefrei" = 0€. As you can see, only two other teams are in that league of transfers, both of which were in the first Bundesliga last year.
The same list for the Bundesliga btw: http://transfermarkt.de/de/aktuell/L1/2007/wechsel/menue_transfers/index.html Not much money around here. Only Bayern has lots of money (but normally they don't spend it at all, this year was an exception). The other top teams plus Wolfsburg (Volkswagen) all spent about as much as Hoffenheim. T_T And Hoffenheim isn't even good yet for 2nd Liga level. Sick world. T_T
On August 30 2007 00:43 RamenStyle wrote: Regarding the spanish Liga, Riquelme will be joining Atletico Madrid. I put them ahead of Bayern Munchen for the UEFA Cup, and maybe I see them getting 3rd instead of 4th in the Liga. But no other team in Spain goes near Barcelona. And not because of Henry, but because after raising Messi, now they get two more incredible players in Bojan and Giovanni. They seem unstoppable. Btw, Real Madrid squad sucks. They won against Atletico Madrid in a crazy game, fun to watch due to the all-offence mode, but defensively it was chaotic in both sides. When Real plays a quality experienced defense like Valencia´s, they wont get even near the big area.
Liga: 1.Barcelona. 2.Valencia. 3.Atletico Madrid 4.Sevilla. 5.Real Madrid(they better win the UCL or they will be playing for the UEFA Cup)
On August 30 2007 00:43 RamenStyle wrote: Regarding the spanish Liga, Riquelme will be joining Atletico Madrid. I put them ahead of Bayern Munchen for the UEFA Cup, and maybe I see them getting 3rd instead of 4th in the Liga. But no other team in Spain goes near Barcelona. And not because of Henry, but because after raising Messi, now they get two more incredible players in Bojan and Giovanni. They seem unstoppable. Btw, Real Madrid squad sucks. They won against Atletico Madrid in a crazy game, fun to watch due to the all-offence mode, but defensively it was chaotic in both sides. When Real plays a quality experienced defense like Valencia´s, they wont get even near the big area.
Liga: 1.Barcelona. 2.Valencia. 3.Atletico Madrid 4.Sevilla. 5.Real Madrid(they better win the UCL or they will be playing for the UEFA Cup)
what makes you think RM place 5th. To be honest, I can't even see AM getting Euro easily. Considering what they have achieved in the pass couple of season. The defense of RM maybe shit right now, but when crisis come I bet you the team will be like Heinze-cannavaro-ramos-torres/salgado which is pretty much like last season apart from carlos and I presonally think it is an improvement. Saying this, I still think Barca will win the title this season.
the dutch commentary doesnt say much, just something like the match which would end in a 2-2 and the one guy lets him know he doesnt approve his collegue's behavior... maybe you meant a lipreader tho, but this commentary isnt too accurate, then they just make some stupid jokes also referring to stuff they told earlier (not in the vid) about misbehavior of coaches
the guy who kicked is the coach of Catania, the team that had so much trouble with hooligans last season, where the cop got killed... he's really setting a good example there. 8[
but when you have a whole bunch of attackers, it's hard to decide which ones to put together, and as a result the chemistry isn't really there and the team suffers as a whole...but i'm probably just talking out of my ass...
Riquelme might not sign with Atletico Madrid. Anyways, 3:30 hours until the deadline and no news about it. However, they just signed Thiago Motta from Barcelona. A totally lotto signing. Could live up to the expectations he once created or remain as a mediocre player. Aguirre, Atletico´s coach likes to do a lot of rotations, so ofensive players overbooking its not a problem. However the defense is, cause it sucks.
That will be so sexy, i get to watch a lot of EPL games and it will be awesome to see one of my all time fav players week in and week out. And offcourse a midfield of Riquelme and Arteta is to die for. Very similar players.
If this move happens...Everton will shurely join Arsenal as my 2 fav teams in the EPL
I kinda thought Sevilla would be really inspired and Milan wouldn't be this good but wow, Milan is tough. Their lineup is almost the exact same from last year's champion's league final but everyone they have works so well together and their midfield with Gattuso, Ambrosini, Pirlo, and then going forward with Kaka, Seedorf, is truly awesome. It was nice how Sevilla prayed for Puerta after their goal and Kaka pointing to Puerta's name on his shirt after his goal. Really touching
I agree that Riquelme shouldn't go to England, premiership football focuses more on physical ability than technical skill which is the exact opposite of Roman's style. I can just imagine his first game, every defender tackling him below the knees two footed because they can't win the ball fairly, Roman gets injured for the season because of a horrible tackle. His style is best suited for La Liga.
Also, anyone who watches the Bundesliga know Shao Jia Yi? The Chinese international on Energy Cottonbus. He is currently the only Chinese player playing in a premier division in Europe right now. I've watched one game of him and he seems pretty promising with decent technical skills although he is usually a subsitute. I wanna get some non biased opinions on him.
Zulu: I guess that would explain why i can catch Energy cottbus games on Chinese sports channel. I saw the game Nurnberg vs Energy, he came on the field(the pitch, if i came from England) at the 70 minute. Didnt see much about him. Perhaps next game.
On the Premiership, we are starting to see the regular pattern we are used to see every year, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal on top. However Man U is trailing behind, and we can clearly see the loss of Ronaldo(suspension over now) and Rooney showing. However with Ronaldo's return and the suprising Louis Saha scoring on his first match as a sub, they still have a shot. Aston Villa as usual is the Chelsea killer, but its still to early to count them out. Arsenal/liverpool tied, the entire pressure is on Liverpool, while Arsenal's young team can improve with less pressure. Man city's is having offensive trouble(both teams from manchester have), but they will still be a contender to the top 5. One team to look out for also, is Newcastle, with micheal Owen finally waking up after a long long sleep...
Bundesliga: Bayern. Thats all i gotta say.
Ligue 1: Lyon is climbing, but Nancy is just so dominant(still haven't dropped a game), it is by far the most interesting league so far..
La Liga& Serie A: Still early to call for prediction, but so far no big upset(minus Valencia losing 0-3 first match).
On September 01 2007 14:45 zulu_nation8 wrote: I kinda thought Sevilla would be really inspired and Milan wouldn't be this good but wow, Milan is tough. Their lineup is almost the exact same from last year's champion's league final but everyone they have works so well together and their midfield with Gattuso, Ambrosini, Pirlo, and then going forward with Kaka, Seedorf, is truly awesome. It was nice how Sevilla prayed for Puerta after their goal and Kaka pointing to Puerta's name on his shirt after his goal. Really touching
Right, same compared to "last year champions league final". On the "global" situation is pretty different: 1) this year they didnt go through all "the Italian soccer scandal" which blocked the management from buying players (ibra + zambrotta were semi-signed) 2) no UCL preliminary/ no FIFA WC: finally long relaxing vacation for players 3) + Ronaldo, + Oddo, + Emerson, + Pato (from 1/1/08 but already training at Milan) 4) - Oliveira! thanks god!
I saw the game with Sevilla and that's the kind of Milan you usually see in most of the Seria A games: they play relaxed, like they dont care that much, looking for winning sure but non 100% concentred on the win... same happen yesterday evening 1-1 with Fiorentina (tough team too) at S.Siro. And the Puerta-situation (RIP) wasnt that much influent on the game imo.
Hey nvm, you are very knowledgeable in Italian futbol, I would like to know your opinion on Pirlo and Perrotta. Just what do you think about them as players, and can they be compared with world class?
On another topic, Spain is in the final of the under 17 world cup. Bojan Is awesome! but he got a red card and will miss the final, very inmature way too. I guess thats what you do when your only 17
Premiership:Well, exciting weekend for me(Arsenal fan), but its still very far from victory. The EPL as now reached the typical Arsenal,Liverpool,Chelsea,ManU. top 4. However watch for Newcastle. Their got 2 games to play and with a ''reloaded'' Micheal Owen, they might have a shot at getting a Champions League spot(but not win the EPL). Relegation wise, its quite suprising to see Bolton so low, but i doubt it will stay that way. I see Birmingham,Derby and Reading. And its good to see Sunderland fighting with Roy Keane.
Bundesliga: Quite suprised that Bayern dosent have such a big lead. But they will still stomp everybody. Armania is just no match to Bayern.
Ligue1: Woa. I watched Marseille play(they have a CL spot) and they were BAD. Just horrible. They are close to relegation, and if they play like that - Besiktas,Porto and Liverpool will stomp them in the Champions league. They played like a low table MLS team. Just bad. Lyon is coming back after a weak start, and they will try to get a 7th title in a row, but it will be a lot harder then the previous years, with the injury's they have. A very interested Ligue 1 this year.
La Liga: Real Madrid Steam train! But its still early to call anything. And i gotta say Diego Milito from Zarazoga is SOOO going to get bought from a good club if zarazoga are money whores(hes playing so well).
SerieA: im clueless when it comes to the Italian league, its so hard to catch games(i dont have access to Fox Soccer Channel, nor Fox World Sports Channel). If someone could enlight me on the Italian league this year(in particular the three following teams: Ac Milan, Atalanta and Torino).
So, here's the question: Is Beckham actually doing good in L.A. or he's just making money because his cute face. I personally liked his game, but is he living up to his name in the U.S football-wise?
mm.. He ended the season in real madrid with an injury, they didnt give him time to recover at all. Plus he had those international friendlies and it went something like, playing in england, game over fly to US the same night, play with LA next day.
So he kept building up in that injury to the point where it got really bad and now he cant really play for a while.
He played a couple games, scored 1 goal I think and did "ok" , but he was giving his 60% probably.
ManU was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo lucky once again vs Everton, right now they're running on pure morale. No offense whatsoever, even with Ronaldo back they still couldn't score a decent goal. But good news is Evra is the best left back in the world right now imo.
From the games that I saw, only highlights, that Beckham is now a FAST winger in MLS. It does look pretty sad when I see it on TV. And his through pass looks better than ever, thanks to the zero positioning sense of opposite defender.
The supposedly strong teams in the premiership isn\'t really performing well it seems but then they will probably all revolve around the top of the table. However I don\'t think Man United or Chelsea will ever have it easy this season.
On September 17 2007 22:03 Telemako wrote: Enjoy the new Spanish jewel, coming from Barça's youth team, Bojan Krkic
I can do that.
Seriously, that flick doesn't deserve a 1 minute video with 17 replays. He loses sight of the ball and lets it go out for a goal kick.
You really can play on la Liga being 17 year old and try a trick like that on the face of a goalkeeper (ex-ManU goalkeeper btw) and almost score?
You must be really good.
It doesn't matter he missed, what matters is that he tried. I can also do that trick, and I've have done it playing on the streets, but he wasn't playing on the streets. Being able to kill 20 zerlings with a storm in battlenet makes you as good as Nal_ra doing it in starleague?
yeah really millions of people can do that trick but there's a reason why you've pretty much never seen even anyone do it successfully in a game..
i guess part of the reason is that it's not really a practical trick to attempt but another part is that it's really difficult to actually get past a good player with..
Players don't attempt it in real games because it's not practical. The fact that he attempted it in La Liga at age 17 and failed can either mean that he's brave or that he's foolish. But hell, I'm mostly criticizing the clip rather than the kid. I'm sure he's got a lot of talent.
I would never think of doing such trick in this position, not many of the players would think of it too. If he cathed the ball earlier, before the line, he would even score goal cuz the angle would be passable. Also the 'chest move' showed the class of this young super-sniper. I have great expectations for Bojan and I hope he will not fail me ;>
well, anyone who watched the under 20 world cup should know
I bet if he would've played the final game, the game would've have some goals. He is still really young tho, so I dont want to have really high expectations yet. He has the talent!, hopefully Faggot Rijkard will know how to develop it
On another note, I really like Snijder a lot. Who needs Beckham ahaha.. this guy is doing an awesome job. Madrid is winning, playing good, and scoring many goals. Awesome start for Schuster, I guess spending all that money was worth it?
I got a question tho, Roy Denthre is a left Midfielder, he was playing as a left defender, but now heinze plays there like he should and the defensive line is ramos, cannavaro, Metzelder, Heinze and the Midfield is Diarra, Guti, Snijder, Robinho. Where would Denthre play? and when Roben starts playing again, he plays in the left too I think? who will get sacrificed? Robinho?
Madrid is competing in Copa del Rey, Champions League, and La Liga, so maybe rotation? but what would be the indisputable starting 11?
Drenthe came as a full left wing, I mean RM plans were using him as Left Back and Left Middlefielder because the Robben sign was far from closed. But lately we have seen that he has a lot of problems playing as a LB. So we have two LeftMid (Robben+Drenthe) and one RigthMid (Robinho), so probably they are gonna play switching them.
The funny fact is that RM is playing with two offensive middlef: Sneijder and Guti, being Sneijder the one at the left side, but who is going out to put Robben/Drenthe in?
Thats what I was wondering too, I mean I didn't give Denthre shit for not doing good as a LB because that is not his position, he was just covering there.
Arsenal FC v Sevilla in UCL, GO ARSENAL! Man who needs Henry, Adebayor is growing and hes strong and has awesome control, van Persie is always a beast not to mention Fabregas, kid owns midfield.
I hope Eduardo will play. Wenger should let him play more.
edit: How are English fans accepting Eduardo? He is a great player and will be of great use to Arsenal. He is scoring like mad for Croatian national team.
R.Madrid finally stopped buying everybody and its paying off. Stability = stronger roster. See whats happening with Barcelona... Thats exactly what happened with Madrid...
Anyhow, Madrid vs Bremen was good, but defense had some issues... But Nistelrooy who was ''apparently'' in a slump played brilliantly. Oh and the new Bremen jersey's... Oh my dear.
Sevilla vs Arsenal = Game of the day. Also Barcelona vs Lyon will be a game to watch because of Lyon's 4 game winning streak in Ligue 1. Its gonna be a great day of football.
how can you say that madrid stopped buying everyone? they bought heinze, denthre, saviola, soldado, sniejder, robben, Metzelder. thats 7 new players? thats quite a few if you ask me
Barcelona bought Henry, Milito, Toure and abidal( i forgot sorry :D) . 4 just what they needed. and Gio and Bojan upgraded from junior teams.
In the Champions league game, Nistelrooy had 3 clear chances before he scored, and he missed them, he was slow at first, wanted to stop and control the ball and then score. The only time he kicked the ball as it came without trying to stop it and control it, he scored.
Diego was just awesome, poor Gago, he got owned by Diego the whole game.
On September 20 2007 02:23 mAKiTO wrote: how can you say that madrid stopped buying everyone? they bought heinze, denthre, saviola, soldado, sniejder, robben, Metzelder. thats 7 new players? thats quite a few if you ask me
Barcelona bought Henry, Milito, Toure. 3 just what they needed. and Gio and Bojan upgraded from junior teams.
In the Champions league game, Nistelrooy had 3 clear chances before he scored, and he missed them, he was slow at first, wanted to stop and control the ball and then score. The only time he kicked the ball as it came without trying to stop it and control it, he scored.
Diego was just awesome, poor Gago, he got owned by Diego the whole game.
You forgot Abidal but nvm -_-; Still its not the matter of 'stars' in Barca. It just happens that after 3 matches Real is 1 and Barca 5, nothing less, nothing more.<part for Adaptation>
Yeah, Real had a great star in this years Liga. and I like they way the play.
Barcelona...? mmm I dont know whats happening.. Eto'o is out, and Henry hasn't have that much luck yet. ( if you remember my blog, I didn't want him in Barca :D) . I also blame Rijkard, I dont like his style and the way he is handling things, Like last game, he took Zambrotta off to put Oleguer in? wtf is that?
Well is still way too early, hopefully Barca will pick up the good game and start winning again.
Huge game tonight, Manchester United vs Chelsea, I think this should be a win for United considering all of Chelsea's recent troubles. Looking forward to seeing Saha and Rooney both up front finally. No more internet streaming for me, going down to a German bar to watch it. Hoping for an exciting game.
For everytime that Drogba dives, Ronaldo dives twice. He doesn't do it anymore and wasn't even playing today.
Just think it's lame for Saha to come on 10 minutes before the game is over after Chelsea have been a man down for over half the game and do that crap.
yea I thought the penalty for Saha was to make up for the foul on Evra earlier. I will admit Saha went down without much contact, but still his prescence upfront is undeniable, he had a pretty good chance near the end after beating the offside trap but shot off-target. The red card was really a yellow imo, but the joe cole foul might've been red but is still debatable. Overall, good solid win. That's 5 straight now I think. Rooney is still in a slump, hope he gets out of it soon
not the best way for manu to win but...i guess a win is a win no matter how ugly or cheap it is...gota feel bad for obi though...and that saha dive...i wasn't impressed at all with that...i'm a manu fan and all but stuff like that should be vanquished from the sport
Any Chelsea fans complaining about the result should realize for every "bad call" that went United's way, there was an equally bad call that didn't punish Chelsea in the same manner.
Example: the foul on Evra in the box first half and the ridiculous tackle on Ronaldo by Cole.
Interesting read. I can't wait to get the full, real story as nothing in the media can be 100% trusted yet. But the Chelsea-Mourinho Saga is interesting to say the least ;D
read the article, but in the end, I really don't care about "politics" of all of this: mourinho was winning titles and games and now that he's gone, chelsea will suck. the end.
Caught the 2nd half of Bayern vs Energy Cottbus, 5 goals from Bayern lol. A 17 year old, Kroos I think his name was, born 1990, came on with 20 minutes left and provided two beautiful crosses for assists to Klose. He was also the player of the tournament in the FIFA U-17 World Cup that just ended.
Bayern is just stomping the bundesliga, and their my no.1 pick for the Uefa Cup.
Arsenal is defenitly favorite for the Premiership, but Champion's league wise they will have to face a monster real madrid(later on).
New manager for Marseille, that should be interesting because they are playing in the CL league.
Obviously most of the attention is on Chelsea and how they will do in the champions league and premiership with mr.grant. Im pretty sure they will finish top 4, but they are not a no.1 contender for sure. Go Man city& Arsenal!
arsenal's pretty scary, you don't know when another of their players is going to explode and have their breakout season. Cesc is on course, Adebayor is doing well so far, who's next >_<
I definitely think Arsenal won't be as strong after Christmas break. Their players have never had the experience of being in a title race and playing a second half of a premiership season that matters. Despite that, Cesc Fabregas is rivaling Kaka as the best midfielder in the world, the kid is absolutely amazing.
yes I saw it. good for la bestia. here is the viid
I dont know if anyone here follows copa sudamericana, but I watched probably the best that i seen in the past months. Botafogo vs River. it was so emotional, a tear dropped down my face and I went nuts crazy. river lost in brazil 1-0, so they had to win in argentina, they started losing 0-1 then 1-1 came then 1-2 for botafogo, everyone though everything was lost, they needed to score 3 goals. Radamel Falcao ( colombian start :D) played probably the best game in his life, scored a hat-trick for river. they won 4-2 with alst goal on minute 92... EL monumental collapsed.
last goal there
Barcelona 4-1 vs zaragosa and then Barcelona 4-1 vs levante
Henry finally scored, and he did a hat-trick! finally T_T i was getting so frustrated with him missing so many chances ahaha. Looks like hes finally adjusting to la ligas style. Messi is a monster 5 goals in 5 games, could he take the golden ball away from Kaka?
for you epl monkeys, Are united fans happy with tevez? I mean he only scored 1 goal so far, but I just seen last game like the one that united won 1-0 and he ran like every ball and tryed really hard. what do people say about him there?
in other news, Riquelme got called for the WCQ games.
if messi take the golden ball away for doing what he is doing at spanish league against zaragoza's and levante's, comparing to what kaka did against bayern munich's, manchester's and the only good thing he did against liverpool: pass, then i'll really stop watching football.
[edit] haha only now I saw the last game of river
its cool how far he was from the ball and came in running, noone saw him hahaha
not gonna happen though , and if anyone leads his team to league + CL victory or just CL victory and plays amazing, that player will probably win the golden ball. Last year if manchester united won the champions league Ronaldo would've gotten the golden ball 100%
i'm a manu fan at heart, but if i were to choose a team to win the epl aside from manu, it would definitely have to be arsenal...they're playing really well and i'm really happy for them despite their troubles...all they gotta do is keep their nucleus intact and they have a very, very bright future ahead of them
Premiership: van Persie was the bomb this weekend vs Sunderland. Man.U gave an insane beating to Wigan(offense problem solved?). Liverpool is on a little slump and blame it on the rotation policy or Crouch, they will have to step it up. They almost lost the game! Chelsea is obviously in a battle for Champions league spot and not the premiership title. Man City keeps on rolling also and im excited to see them doing so well.
La Liga: This year looks like the typical La Liga standing; Valencia -Barcelona-Real Madrid. Messi is on fire, while R.Madrid is playing like a team(finally). Hopefully Valencia and Villareal will keep things interesting by winning their games.
SerieA: Inter as the lead, but i believe all these injuries will slow them down and this might be Roma`s year. Juventus will probably keep on doing well but i just dont see them winning it all just after being promoted. And whats up with AC Milan?? Kaka is playing very well, but the rest of the team seems to be slowing down big time(age perhaps?). Hopefully they can salvage their season by finishing 3rd/4th for Champions League.
Bundesliga: Nothing to exciting concerning ``the winner``, because theres no way bayern will lose the lead. However Champions League spot(2nd&3rd) will be interesting. HSV and Werder Bremen will probably take them but Karlsruhe(a promoted team!!??!!?) is 2nd!! What is up!. I hope i can catch one of their game because this is quite interested.
Ligue1: As Nancy still on top(their name is Nancy and they wear pink jersey, no pun intended). Lyon is coming back despite getting trashed in the champions league. I only see those 2 teams battling it this year for the top. On the other hand, Marseille is in the relegation zone(despite beating Liverpool 1-0!). Hopefully they wake up and at least save their season by not getting relegated. Their midfielders are SO BAD they make NCAA soccer players look pro.
The goal scorer was Brazilian and the I dunno about the record thingy but I heard the most goals in a Dutch league game by same player was 9 in the 1970's
cryuff and van basten both scored 6 once but well i read this was the record could be that im wrong could be different definitions of professional game i dont really know:p
On October 09 2007 01:52 Liquid`Drone wrote: cryuff and van basten both scored 6 once but well i read this was the record could be that im wrong could be different definitions of professional game i dont really know:p
You are correct. Up until yesterday, Cruyff and Van Basten hold the record (together with two other players from the 50's) of most goals scored in one match in the Dutch Eredivisie. While the defense was lacking, Alves is a truly exceptional player.
when he played for brazil he didnt even look very good, he just looks like a Ok forward, at least in my opinion. I saw all his games last season, some of them were nice, but nothing impressive imo. And if a team loses by 9-0 in a 1st division match, then something is wrong in my opinion.
I watched the Dida dive really carefully and it was disgraceful to football. Not saying this because of what he did vs Celtic but, in the game vs Inter when Dida got hit by a flare I thought back then he might've tried to get hit on purpose maybe? I know a flare is really hard and it would hurt a lot to get hurt on the shoulder from someone throwing it from really high up but he was looking up for a really long time and just stood still until the flare hit him then he went down. Anyway it's just a slight suspicion I'm most likely completely wrong. Dida is officially a pussy and should lose his spot as Brazil #1, not that he deserved it anyway.
Dida is fucking gay to dive, and he is not even good enough for milan. He is rubbish, too many mistakes and I have seen him a couple of times guarding the ball in as if he doesn't know where his post was. Not sure about brazil because I don't know any other keeper from there. But I will defend him when he got hit by a flare, that is way out of the scale. Even if he is expecting it, it would definately hurt and got some minor burn.
Dida can be great or insanely bad. I don't understand why Milan keeps on playing with this guy. Imho a regular good goalkeeper without genius is far more interesting in modern football than a partial time very good goalkeeper. Well anyway I don't like the AC Milan despite some of their players are in the best I have ever seen. (Ho Maldini you are so great!)
Millonarios from Colombia won 1-0 vs Sao Paulo , in Brazil for the South American cup, Coff RAIDERN coff open your heart, millos is going to semi final xD
Sos Grande Roman!.. only if you weren't so "orgulloso" and would just say "sorry, I fucked up to Pelegrini" he would be playing every match with villareal
Great game by Tevez and Messi too!.. and Zanetti awesome as always too
ManU is injury ridden again, Hargreaves, Carrick, Saha, and now Scholes are out. Saha injured himself in the warmup before the Wigan game, hilarious indeed.
I know this is mainly for 07/08 but i came across this goal and wanted to share it with those who didnt already see it , because i find it pretty exceptional. The speed, the accuracy. Just breathaking if u ask me.
Well i think this is another ''next year'' for liverpool. Too bad cause they looked good with Torres
Arsenal is just on fire right now. The young gunners are sooo good, even with some major injury's(persie, gallas)
Interesting weekend in liga btw, the race is truly becoming interesting with so many teams fighting for the top spot. Im not gonna say that Barcelona is out of the race, but its not looking good for them in Liga.
SerieA is looking like the good ol SerieA we know, with Roma/Inter/Juventus fighting. The only exception is A.C Milan, who is mid table. Kind of strange, anyone can enlight me on the problem? I know Kaka is performing well, but who is to blame then? I guess they can always look at their champions league result to feel better.
About AC Milan I didn't see recent matches but If I was asked to gues I would say Pirlo isn't in a good run. He is the key of the team for some years now, I feel like Kaka was about creativity while Pirlo ensured regularity all the way through the match.
Arsenal is just amazing, I always tell myself this can't last long they will lose but hell they keep on and it's just great. Mourinho away from CHelsea the team can only be weakened but let'see. Man United should do better soon come on guys check the young gunners guts ffs. Liverpool is bad but I don't like Benitez play style much anyway I think they deserve a better coach.
In liga Barcenola can do best or worse, but if they ever fix it they should win it. Madrid do have great players but I can't see the logic in the players bought lastly (I mean over past few years ^^) It'll take time for them to have something logical set up. I mean recruiting Higuain, sneijder, Reyes and so on sure isn't bad but hell they need consistent defensive players. They are going the good way however with Metzelder for example and capello had some good ideas but for some reasons Diarra and Canavaro never revealed their full potential.
Bundesliga seems already planned with a Bayern Munchen victory and the 2nd place for Werder Bremen. The championship has been awesome for some seasons now with MUCH goals scored. Diego is an awesome player (however for some reason good bundesliga players doesn't have the part of glory they deserve, Klose for example) The Bayern reinforcements are at full rate by now and the four offensive players schweinsteiger/ribery/Toni/Klose are doing really good. They have some injuries for Axial defense but it should solve on the long run and it is probably not enough to worry them.
French ligue1 is quite boring, Marseille plays poorly and Lyon has taken the lead again. However some "small" teams are trying to be offensive and that's good (i am thinking of Lorient and Le Mans) and Nancy is a big surprise but they rely heavily on freekicks and I think they are gonnay pay for it on the long run. Let's hope for the good of the championship that the big teams end up with their periodical crisis (short period here :/) Anyway Nantes is in 2nd division now and I don't care much about the first one. Seems like they'll be back next year though.
On October 26 2007 14:12 Adaptation wrote: I tried the demo of FM2008, its pretty awesome.
Awesome post Boudiou. Looks like we are in the same bag because my favorite team in Ligue 1 is Dijon (but they are not gonna get promoted).
Wow thanks that was just random thoughts. ^^
Yes it's gonna be tough for Dijon, they have been considered as potential outsiders on the begining of the championship but they are in the middle of the list for now. It sounds like Le Havre and Nantes are gonna be back in the elite next year and it shall be a hard fight for all other trying to get the 3rd promoting place.
Football manager is just awesome but after a short period with best european teams you sould go for small ones and then you will really be a worried coach on the bench and it's much more fun and shorter seasons. You will have to look for players not so well known and try to get them in your team and with a little luck and if the guys who did the statistics did good you'll have discover a soccer star before others because of the game which is a great feeling. I love Metzelder since I bought him from Dortmund in LFP manager 2006 for example and now Schuster have him coming in Real Madrid. So did I houuuuu yeah!
EDIT: I went for a bad example since I bought him playing Real Madrid. But I got to get well known example so that everyone can understand.
how can people overrate one of the worst Milan teams of the last years?
i was saying during last season that milan SUCKS very much, what gave him the UCL title was kaka + seedorf + (huge +) the will strenght of the rest of the team, especially Gattuso.
Is Milan playing Maldini? I didn't see him in the CL game this week but I gather that he has not retired. RM doesn't really have a defensive problem is you look at who is available at each position, but overall they suck so bad. Lets see how good Arsenal really is this week against Liverpool, unfortunately I am away for a football match of my own and can't watch -_-"
"Is Milan playing Maldini?" He was injured, I think I heard somewhere than he was back though. RM do have defensive players but what I mean is that they recruit attackers all the time (they are speaking of benzema from Lyon now) it doesn't seem to really fit in a strategy with players choosen for precise qualities and choosen to fit a defined way of playing. This is the same thing since they recruited Beckham. Makelele said he was doing a great part of the job on the field and asked for a higher salary Florentino Perez refused cause he was no "star" and beckham was put as defensive midfielder and most of the time sucked at it. Makelele went to Chelsea and did a great job. From that moment things went worse and worse and I am not sure it has really ended despite the win of the liga last year which is more like Barcelona lost it.
Sevilla is having a weird begining of season, lots of weird losses. I think Juande felt that this way the next season offer from Tottenham will be way lower and decided to force it now
I didn't watch the game, but would like to have some opinion on why AC lost again! And I saw the report where there were more cards than shot on target (LoL) Liv-Ars game was great fun to watch, Tot can go down to championship even with the new coach because I am not even sure if some of the players want to play. RM wins, can't believe Raul and Sneijder didn't start and Sevilla wins without Ramos! I hope Ramos comes to england and fail because I don't like a manager switching club just for the money. Sevilla is in CL, pushed for the title last two years and it is not like Tot will do anything like that soon and actually is lower in the league than Sevilla (who is not great).
It's because Milan are overrated and are a Cup competition only team. Seriously, even if you give them back the points they were deducted last season in the league, they wouldn't have been close to Inter.
The liverpool arsenal game was good, arsenal is full of diving africans but man their style is nice, so fun to watch even when they're not scoring. They would've gotten a lot more shots on goals if Adebayor didn't screw everything up at the end. Fabregas didn't play so well either but he scored the equaliser. Liverpool were lucky to get a draw out of it. Arsenal vs Man Utd this weekend!
Eboue pulled a semi-Dida when he got nudged in the chest by carragher and he proceeds to collapse holding his face and rolling on the ground despite him being one of two Arsenal players inside the box then with Fabregas holding the ball just outside looking to create a chance. Fabregas had to hurry a shot instead cuz Eboue wouldn't get up and then when the ref didn't do anything about it Eboue instajumps and gets all pissed complaining he got hit in the face despite the replays clearly showing his face wasn't touched in the slightest lol
What is happening in the RM-Val match, I just got back home and saw some crazy scores. And AC killing teams playing away again, what a joke. Someone post links to goals?
Spain: Why isen't David Villa playing? Could my favorite player be injured! Omg!!! Hopefully the PSV manager saves the season. Still pretty tight, but the three R(raul,robinho,rud van nistelrooy) are playing really well in Madrid. I hope the competition stays tight like last year.
Italy: AC Milan, they are simply the italian version of Liverpool - great international, cant seem to win national(exception made for Liverpool this year; they are struggling in the champions league). Juventus is still related to referees(they are complaining about unfair refs, oh the irony). Anyway, Inter will probably take it again and get knocked out in the champions league in the knockout stages.
Premiership: Big weekend - Colts vs Patriots and Arsenal vs Man.U! Thats all i gotta say.
Bundesliga&French Ligue1: Years repeat themselves - Bayern Munich and Lyon pwning.
There was a curious moment when Julio Cesar was booked for time-wasting, but the referee changed his mind when Ranieri and the Juve players defended him, pointing out the ball took a long time to reach him. Nedved was booked for a tackle on Figo and will be suspended for the next round.
'Cheating' team Juve ^.^
Shaun Wright-Phillips having problems with the Police ---> + Show Spoiler +
We are the champions, my friends ! And we'll keep on fighting - till the end ! We are the champions - We are the champions ! No time for losers* 'Cause we are the champions ... of today !
I can't believe England can still qualify, Russia choked big time. Also can't believe the freekick that lead to the winning Italy goal, very strange decision.
god fucking damn hjafdjasfjdsfdsjagafdjøsfbgfdsajklfhndsjkøgsdfakjøfgbdaskhgdhfsjhgb hjfbdskhøagbdskaøfnsdljghsdjælfhdslæjagbdfkjsgbfdkhgbskøhafbdskøhgbdhgbdøskhgfdg a
fbs if you whatched that match you would have noticed that scotland scored in offside, and an italian goal in the 1st half was considered in offside while it was regular, I agree though that the freekick was a strange decision, but even if the score would have lasted on 1-1 italy would have qualified
On November 18 2007 08:07 UbRi wrote: fbs if you whatched that match you would have noticed that scotland scored in offside, and an italian goal in the 1st half was considered in offside while it was regular, I agree though that the freekick was a strange decision, but even if the score would have lasted on 1-1 italy would have qualified
If you are going to go off on a rant then don't forget to mention how Italy handballed in the penalty area at 1-0
On November 18 2007 09:02 bObaZ wrote: Finland can still qualify... if they win vs portugal on wednsday...
But dont the goals count too ? Even if they have same number of points Portugal is 24-10 while Finland 13-7. Doesnt that mean that Finland has to win by 5 goals ? xD
i think it's direct confrontation before goals... but not sure... But i hear in portuguese press that we need to tie or to win , so i think if finland wins they get into the euro cup It would be outrageous if portugal can't qualifie FFS! Quaresma Simao CristianoRonaldo on the back of a middle class Striker like hugo almeida should be enough to win against, more or less, every freakin TEAM!
i watched the spain vs sweden game, the entire time the commentator kept praising the spanish side saying stuff like, this is the best spanish performance since i can't remember, with this kind of performance they're becoming a favorite to win euro 2008, all the critics of aragones should bow down and kiss his butt, oh! what class and skill by Tamudo, his first two touches of the game were with his backheel and they all found their target (even though they didn't do anything), what a tackle by the magnificent, mercurial puyol, etc, etc. It was kind of annoying.
England got so incredibly lucky, someone must've pulled some strings. Either way they have to win vs Croatia now or McClaren will get more shit. I think dropping Robinson and starting Carson is a good step towards change.
On November 18 2007 08:07 UbRi wrote: fbs if you whatched that match you would have noticed that scotland scored in offside, and an italian goal in the 1st half was considered in offside while it was regular, I agree though that the freekick was a strange decision, but even if the score would have lasted on 1-1 italy would have qualified
If you are going to go off on a rant then don't forget to mention how Italy handballed in the penalty area at 1-0
that hand was attached to the body, there was no penalty
this was pretty much the first time i ever cheered for israel but im real happy about england getting another shot, that's for sure. EC / WC isn't the same without them.
England is worried for the future and they are rights. How come this country hasn't a decent goalkeeper?! This is just mad. They really gotta do something. When I look at the 5 main leagues in Europe in the future I really feel bad for England France may not have his best players in his own league which is sad but man the future of the national team sounds brilliant Italy always kept their players in their own league and is consistent over the years so no worries Germany has young ready too and proved it during the world cup Spain has the economical power to bring back their young players from foreign leagues. o_O
I am really happy right now for France future sounds so great especially for the attacking/midfield part of it. This is gonna be awesome.
I can't believe England will/can qualify. This is a great chance to get fucked up, not qualify, and sack half the people of FA and reform properly. Now England is going down the same old road and nothing will improve. I say the interview of Simon Jordan the other day and I must admit I agree with some of his points even though he is a total dick. The FA is just blaming everything, especially on foreign players and not doing shit to raise their own game.
Yeah. And 'pool lost, too. Such a good weekend for Chelsea and United... Haha.
And although as much as I want Liverpool to go down in the league, I still find myself rooting for them in Europe. I hope they pull off a win tomorrow.
Exciting weekend coming up in the premiership, Arsenal vs Chelsea and Man Utd vs Liverpool. Right now the tables are
Arsenal 37 pts Man Utd 36 pts Chelsea 34 pts Liverpool 30 pts but with one less game played
Also tonight Liverpool plays Marseille for a spot in the Champion's league knockout round. But only if they win will they advance, if they don't it'd be the worst Europe season for Liverpool since Benitez has taken charge I believe.
LOL I always posted in the TL.net football threads But i was kidding when i said benfica loss was an upset... Kind of Let's see if there are any big transfers in the winter Market. I Hope benfica can get Chelito Delgado and Gilberto
So Dong Fang Zhuo made an ultra rare appearance for Man Utd today and played 30 minutes. He barely got any touches and sucked a lot overall. Good luck chinese football
On December 13 2007 07:02 zulu_nation8 wrote: So Dong Fang Zhuo made an ultra rare appearance for Man Utd today and played 30 minutes. He barely got any touches and sucked a lot overall. Good luck chinese football
I'd rather he started than either Rooney or Saha... thank God neither of them got injured.
rosenborg just played the best duo of games in the history of norwegian football against valencia :p
too bad they sucked in 3 other games. but looking at it "sensibly", before the group started nobody even thought we'd get third place and that was what we were hoping and aiming for. this was the toughest group out of all the groups, getting third is honestly pretty amazing (for rosenborg. ) so im not really all that disappointed even though it seemed like we'd qualify after 4 games were played. really seems that rosenborg suffers from the norwegian season ending before the cl groupstage tho, they hadn't played any games vs competent opposition before the last two games vs chelsea and schalke and they really didn't seem matchfit either.
It's unbelivable how good Rosenborg performs year after year.. I mean occasionally a Nordic team makes it to CL, maybe even wining a few matches and then get kicked out to not coming back for many years, but Rosenborg just keeps on coming back and doing well in the group stages.
Impressive considering the class of the rest of the norwegian league..
If every year you make it to the champions league group stage, eventually the TV deal cash will add up and your team will be able to buy good players(see Lyon, england's top 4...).
Im not saying its all that, but it defenitly helps.
idk I dont think its koemans fault, Valencia was already fucking up before he got there, you cant expect koeman to change things from one day to another. Its a new phase, new begging, it will take some time for the team to adjust to a new coach and to his teachings.
nah, Koeman is not the greatest, but hes not bad either. Also if you follow La Liga, you see that the players in Valencia make so many dumb errors, it makes them look like amateurs, and the coach cant really play for them.
and again, Valencia was doing real bad before Koeman got there, hell that why he was call for the job. Give it sometime, I bet if he gets enough trust and time he will build a nice team
Valencia players are on a huge mental slump. It's sad how that huge amount of talent is going down because of the pressure. One of the worst seasons in their history is coming...
Also seems like Heinze and PEPE will be in starting eleven... god damn. Pepe:
In some regions of Latin America it is used derogatively to address people who are — or are considered — illiterate, uneducated or of a lower social class. In Cuba, it is at times used to refer to a bastard child.
barca without messi(injury), deco(bench), ronaldinho(bench). apparantly ronaldinho and rijkard had some arguments at fridays practise and that is why ronaldinho gets the bench T_T hopefully he make a successful exchange later in the game
interesting to see dos santos as a starter tonight. i made a bet on barca but now when i saw starting lineups i'm not so sure anymore.
fc barcelona 1 V. Valdés 5 C. Puyol 4 R. Márquez 3 G. Milito 22 É. Abidal 6 Xavi 24 Y. Touré 7 E. Gudjohnsen 17 G. Dos Santos 9 S. Eto´o 8 A. Iniesta
real madrid 1 I. Casillas 16 G. Heinze 5 F. Cannavaro 3 Pepe 4 S. Ramos 6 M. Diarra 23 W. Sneijder 10 Robinho 19 Baptista 7 Raúl (c) 17 R. van Nistelrooy
Nice match. Madrid had the control all the time. Awesome Pepe and Baptista. Barça needs to kick out Ronaldinho (he is a blackhole for the ball) and start giving Iniesta what he deserves. If he were brazilian they will make him untouchable... Iniesta:
bah I like lazydinho so much, I just can't stand lazy players like him, it makes me mad.
Julio Baptista is not an awesome players, but he is known for being a hard worker in every team he played. Even for Sao Paulo (where he was so hated, because he was pretty bad as a forward).
btw I think Iniesta is one of the best players of the world since 2006, I don't know how they make him sub. He was pretty good since he was young, he was more offensive before. I think he is playing a little bit back in Barça because of the amount of awesome offensive players they have.
Man, barça line up is sooo good you end up trying to figure out why its not working.
In the match there was a memorable situation where Iniesta was running with the ball and he stopped in the corner of '16' and waited few seconds for someone to show up on position. Nobody fuckin' moved. Then I thought "OK, thats enough, you can lose this match, I dont fuckin' mind."
Angolan striker Manucho who had previously played in the Angolan league went on a three week trial with United and impressed so much that he was offered a deal. This is really unheard of, if he doesn't have problems dealing with pressure and the physical nature of English football then I think he will do well considering how talented he must be to impress everyone.
On January 06 2008 03:03 MyTHicaL wrote: physical nature of english football? joke? compared to the italian leagues maybe, but seriously look to the SPL for some physicality...
lol
madrid is looking to offload saviola and dudek, and loan out drenthe??
Berbatov playing for the spurs doesn't make sense anyway. I highly doubt chelsea is gonna pay 47 million euro (that's the amount german newspapers say tottenham wants) for him tho.
berbatov is good but definitely not worth the price tag they put on him, but i think nonetheless he should try to leave because he's too talented to stay in tottenham, they will never get a champion's league spot with that squad and he's too talented to not play champions league football
He was really good I thought, one of the best strikers in the bundelisga with leverkusen and scored some pretty good goals in the champions league, my favorite was this
On January 06 2008 03:03 MyTHicaL wrote: physical nature of english football? joke? compared to the italian leagues maybe, but seriously look to the SPL for some physicality...
lol
madrid is looking to offload saviola and dudek, and loan out drenthe??
keep saviola plz :[
why the fuck is everybody trying to offload saviola? he plays so damn good can't understand that... )=
though I have to admit, I didn't see him playing for a while now
Well, he is having lots of problems with injuries. When he plays he proves what he was but nothing outstanding. Has a good understanding with Barça's new talents (Bojan Krkic and DosSantos). Recently Barças Medical Team stated that Henry shouldn't play more than one match per week due to an injurie in his back =/
Market @ Spain
No big moves. Valencia on his rebirth just signed Banega (argentinian young talent). Koeman is trying to make a deffensive team play offensive football with bad outcomes. Hope they comeback soon, Liga is bored with Valencia and Sevilla on a slump. Also Maniche is on loan from Atletico de Madrid to Inter de Milan.
And please watch latest Romario goal, by Kun Agüero (2nd goal)
for a freekick the kicker can not touch the ball twice so you either have to pass or shoot, the guy dribbled which means he passed to himself which is not allowed
On January 12 2008 00:57 zulu_nation8 wrote: Anelka to Chelsea 15 Million Pounds
What do u will happend when African Nation cup will end....? I think Anelka will chance club again in summer, he is such trouplemaker. Also soon Bolton will be in coca-cola league, Jääskeläinen will leave in summer(dont think he will leave now). So that means Bolton lost 2 of their most important players by far...
I don't understand what Italy has to do with it, I don't even think we have a story of cheating draw clips so I really can't figure out, elaborate please
I don't understand what Italy has to do with it, I don't even think we have a story of cheating draw clips so I really can't figure out, elaborate please
Hes obviuosly talking about the top Italian clubs (jueve and milan for some example) and thier scandals with match fixing, but I think you already knew that.
I of course did, and trust me, if you didn't tell me I would've never understood what he was referring to, maybe i'm just too slow or maybe that was a completely different kind of scandal, who knows...
Spurs boss Juande Ramos has signed England winger Stewart Downing, according to reports. Tottenham have tabled a £12m bid for the Middlesbrough star, fighting off interest for the 23-year-old from the likes of Everton, West Ham and Newcastle.
The Sun says Spurs tabled the offer late on Friday night, with midfielder Teemu Tainio the makeweight in the deal.
Downing had been a target for former Spurs boss Martin Jol before he was sacked but was still wanted by new manager Ramos.
Downing said he could leave the Riverside earlier in the season after being booed by a section of the home crowd.
This is good for Tainio if this going to happend. I hate to see my national team player been ranked after players likes Jamie O'Hara, Didier Zokoro or Kevin-Prince Boateng.. T_T Few players @Tottenham have seasonticket to starting lineup. Not objectic opinion, but does any1 here agree with me ? :O
Alexandre Pato starts playing for Milan today, against Napoli. He is very well rounded and is very good at pretty much every basics of football. I'd say he is like Rooney was by 17.
From the video posted, Rooney seems to be a poor comparison. Their playing styles are very different. But I know you meant his progress and talent though.
I don't understand why Ramos has to get rid of Chimbonda and Lee. I think they are both capable defender. They just look shit with Kaboul/Rocha/Gardener because they can't defend as a unit. It is like looking at Gallas the game before and he looks pretty average as well, just because he has senderos as his partner.
On January 12 2008 10:54 Sadir wrote: and didn't anelka calmed down a lot in the recent years, so that he can be eally precious?
Indeed Anelka is way more mature now. He even changed and improved dramatically his playstyle as well. Before he used to be "only" a deep forward looking for space (he is still that kind of player tho) but now he doesn't mind coming deeper in midfield to get more balls and participate to the play and he plays a lot more wider as well (goes to the wings ect...)
I really think that he now wants to settle down in a team. He was just looking for a big club to give him another chance to do it. Unless the coach dosn't give him a chance to start/play a minimum of matches, I think he will stay for a couple a years.
El Gordo made an awesome pass to Pato in Seedorf's goal. The goalie made a miracle too defending the first kick. Pato played very well in my opinion, only the first part of 2nd half wasnt good, he 'disappeared'.
wtf is up with valencia? this team was so fucking strong in the past and is so weak atm, can't believe it. didn't folllowed la liga quite a while what is wrong with koemann? anyone knows? does he suck really so hard? or are there other factors?
They bring a new coach with a different football style (more ball, less defensive) They put away of the team Cañizares, Albelda and Angulo. They sign 2 kids, Bonera and a dmf from Netherlands. Basically, they are doing a pre-season in the middle of the competition, that's whats going on.
Players still don't know how they are suposed to play, the team isn't built to play like that, and all the players sent out and the coach change is putting too much shit everywhere.
like never ronaldo is definitely on fire 9 goals in the last 5 games he might break van nistelrooys record.. as a winger.. it's mindboggling. fair enough he takes the penalties but he's just a complete offensive player. good enough passing and vision, great shots, amazing freekicks (best in the world this season i kid you not), good heading, extremely fast with the ball, extreme technique.. he was the best in the world the first half of the last season but then he dropped down some towards the end, he's had an even better first half this season... he's impressive as hell.
funny thing is ive never seen him spin the ball for a freekick, at least not how other people spin it, his freekicks are always hard dipping shots and sometimes with a little outside spoin
he improved on setpieces so much too, last season and the season before he used to mess up every freekick he takes, most of the time shooting them into walls
yeah him and ferguson have both said that his improved freekicks are due to immense amounts of training. and yeah he always does those hard dipping shots.. thats like the hardest shooting technique to master too. I really can't get over how sick his stats are tho 27 goals in 27 matches as a wing i mean you've had exceptional strikers with similar stats but then they would rarely do anything other than score goals. fine ronaldo isnt the classic kind of wing but he scores this many goals while creating a lot for his teammates and spending a lot of time around the midfield.. it's really nothing short of sick.
I can explain it in spanish but not in english =P but I'll try. That kind of hit is called "seco" in spanish, "dry" translated literally. If you hit the ball strong but with lowest contact, the ball moves with high speed and straight but after a while it loses speed and gets effect.
When you shoot with effect your foot hits the ball to give strength and direction, and also touches the ball to make it start turning over himself to get the desired effect. In this way your foot gives it a harder hit with a lower contact "exposure" to force the "later" effect, that usually moves the ball down in shoots known as "folha seca", brazilian words for "dried leaf" because this shoots resemble a leaf falling from a tree when they lose their initial speed.
An easy way to understand this is a balloon, punch hard a ballon in the center and it will move fast and far away from you and after loosing a bit of speed it will start turning getting the effect.
Look, the ball always goes up and strong and after more than the half of the distance it loses speed and falls down.
Watch Juninho Pernambucano's free kicks, there's plenty of them available online so there should be ones where you can clearly see how he kicks the ball. You should understand what is it all about after some time I think ;-)
and ronaldo really does something different from others, although juninho has shot similar freekicks in the sense that they drop a lot suddenly and are usually shot over the wall rather than bending around or whatnot, he's never been shooting with the same force and power. something interesting is that most freekick takers usually try to find an elevated spot for the ball. ronaldo actually presses it down into the ground. then he shoots with like a combination of his toes and wrist, incredibly hard, and he kinda shoots downwards, from the top of the ball.. I also honestly don't think these freekicks would have been even possible to shoot 5 years ago but the new balls give room for new techniques.
Yeah, in the last world cup lots of players complained about this ball cause it favors a lot of kicking from outside the area and no real play...
You can see the numbers of goals per world cup. The first cups had loads because some teams were very shitty and some ruled. Then it felt down, then they amde the goal bigger, then changed the ball and you see more and more goals...
I'm watching the copa del rey quarterfinals betwee barca and villareal. Messi taking pascal cygan to school getting him two yellow cards in 3 minutes all by dribbling the shit out of him. Henry scored on set-piece 1-0
The weird thing is that he is not doing a full 'instep kick' but takes it a little with the inside of the foot. And still he gets it to bend to the right as if he had taken it with the outside. So he must hit it a little from the outside. And he has his left foot very close to the ball, slightly in front of it. I always do that because it makes it easier to aim (cause you can make sure that you don't accidentally lean back) but I feel it makes my shots weaker. He must have a lot of explosive power in his legs. :D
C.Ronaldo is SO good. And he even lost his pussy behaviour. Hes just such an outstanding player. This freekick was absolutely amazing !? Wtf ? Its like .. hes using a new technique or so .. im just impressed..
On February 01 2008 15:00 FragKrag wrote: Holy shit, C. Ronaldo is fucking badass, but nobody can compare with Kaká in my mind
No, seriously. Kaka is very very very good, but really you can't compare them. And, as of right now, C. Ronaldo has been much more important to Man. Uted than Kaka to Milan. Kaka isn't playing that great lately.
i'm always first to bash players like cristiano and zlatan, but i gotta admit, ronaldo is nuts right now. What kind of soccer asset doesn't the guy have?? he has it all, speed, skills, shooting...hes becoming such a complete player. I was speechless when i saw highlights of his freekick. Fuckin insane stuff. Hes on another planet right now. Football just seems to be getting better and better these days, so many great goals and players day in and day out. Adebayor is becoming the new drogba, Riquelme is as insane as ever with set plays. I love it!
good day for arsenal. possible 5 point lead tomorrow, thatd be immense.
as much as the spotlight is on Ronaldo atm, he really needs Rooney to play alongside him for maximum effect and fluency. At the beginning of the season when Rooney was injured for a month they were barely scrapping out 1-0 wins against Birmingham. Suspended for 1 match today and disaster strikes..
Chelski missed their big chance to prove themselves as the real dark horse of the season. Liverpool... unfortunately has Inter to deal with in Champions League.
C'moooon gooners~ if Arsenal go all the way and Adebayor ends up top scorer (18 to Ronaldo's 19 right now) despite all Ronaldo's bravado i wouldnt be surprised to see him win player of the season.
El Gordo, El Fenomeno, Ronaldo just got injuried again. His left knee said STOP. He will need 9 to 12 months to recover, probably the end of his career.
Here you are, the best striker ever seen, Ronaldo@Barça, THE UNSTOPPABLE:
Amelia: I Heard Ronaldo's Knee Make A Sound As He Injured It
Livorno goalkeeper Marco Amelia admits he heard Ronaldo’s knee make a nasty sound as it buckled and sent Il Fenomeno into a nightmare agony.
The Brasilian suffered a serious injury which could, as many have feared, end his career. Milan drew 1-1 with Livorno on Wednesday night but the news which will make all the headlines is Ronaldo’s latest disaster.
Amelia who was only metres away from Ronaldo spoke of what he witnessed as the Brazilian striker went down in a heap of pain.
“You can’t understand the noise Ronaldo’s knee made, I heard it though,” Amelia told Sky Sport Italia.
It seems as if the 2002 World Cup winner has suffered the same injury as he did on April 12, 2000 when he went down in agony during Inter’s game with Lazio at the Stadio Oilimpico in Rome.
Although there is no confirmation as to the extent of his injury, Milan’s Daniele Bonera has all but confirmed the club’s worst fears.
“Straight away Ronaldo told us: It’s like last time,” Bonera told Telelombardia.
The injury in 2000 kept the striker in the treatment room for almost two years and Inter continued to pay his wages until he swapped the San Siro for the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
It seems likely that Ronaldo will be out for the rest of the season and it may be the last time we see him on a football pitch.
I guess this time it's actually over, since when ronaldo is in milan team he could never play regulary because of injuries, this time it's a serious one, just to make you understand, he broke the tendon trough which that big muscule in the thigh (the biggest of our body) attaches to the bone of the leg, it's very very serious, and it comes after at least an year in which he couldn't play 2 matches straight because of bad athletic conditions or little muscular injuries
fiorentina showed themselves as a better team in the first half, and rosenborg played pretty crappy then, but in the second half fiorentina just wanted to keep the 1-0 score and it led to rosenborg getting enough chances to make 1-1 a more fair result :p
they can still advance tho but i wouldnt give them more than a 10% chance
fuck I just got home and its already halftime manu vs arsenal, but 3-0 baby, praying for at least 6-0, make this one historic. Also liverpool lost to barnsley loooooooool, knocked out of the FA cup
Taylor is retarded butcher who has to be banned for at least a year. Can`t really express how shocked I was by watching that frightening scene. Taylor`s start was on purpose imo. Is that repay because we kicked England out of Euro? I don`t think so, but people are guessing. England we will give you one hell of atmosphere next time you will come to Croatia. Thank you Taylor for giving Eduardo great birthday present
If Taylor gets away with this without any major punishment, it is basically green light for all other butchers.
Dudu has been moved to London today after yesterdays surgery. Surgery went well, and Dudu is recovering now. The injury is severe, but it is not as bad as people were judging based on the pictures. Fortunately Dudu "only" broke fibula, tibia has not been broken. The most severe damage is on ankle ligaments. The doctors who performed surgery said Dudu will return to football. The recovery could take from six months to one year.
Horrible, horrible tackle. Hopefully he will recover and continue his progress. He's progressed well the last few months and it's a shame he can't take part in Arsenals title challenge. Sad for Croatia too for the European Championship. Best wishes to DuDu, and let's hope he will get his Premier League winners medal come May!
I am watching Real Madrid - Getafe atm And I just saw easily greatest goal I have seen in years. Situation is this --> Van Nistelroy shoots just outside the box, keeper saves and Raul is first to get to the loose ball --> he passes to Robben who shoots it in goal. Almost every Real Madrid player goes to the corner flag to celebrate the goal..... Meanwhile they didnt notice that the situation was actually offside!!! Getafe gives the freekick fast and the celebrating Real Madrid guys notice the situation when ball is already on their side of the pitch and Getafe has 3 v 2 attack going, which they play nicely and make it 0-1 I will post youtube link here as soon as it gets there !
On February 25 2008 12:54 Raidern wrote: whats going on with madrid telemako? 2 losses in a row I think?
Yeah, they went from 8 to 2 points gap with Barça. I don't think it's something special, both teams had a lot of injuries during a while(Barça more on attacking players and Madrid in defenders) and Madrid came out with good results while Barça didn't. Now that Barça gets back Etoo and Messi they have their full potential again, is RM who can't stand their rythm. RM is suffering what Barça suffered weeks ago, without Robinho, Pepe and Sneijder (Barça had out Messi, Etoo and Toure Yaya).
IMO RM had luck with their results in the past, bad matches ended up with 3 points. Now this isn't happening and Barça is back with full power. The Liga gets good again. What makes me sad is that both teams aren't at full power most of the time (both are averaging 5 injuried players each week, sick).
Real Madrid set the gap with Barça in 5 points again after a win with a first goal in offside and a loss for Barça against Atletico de Madrid by 4-2. Great Kun Agüero and Messi / Etoo, poor performance again by Ronaldinho and Henry.
Nice goals by Robinho, I'm really glad he FINALLY set himself up in Europe as the important player he was meant to be.
Adriano has lost his mind, after Sao Paulo made everything to help him put his head in place, he doesnt stop fucking up everything. Last week he arrived late for training, didn't like his exercises schedule and argued with the trainers, then decided to leave, threatened a photographer and argued with Sao Paulo football manager (not coach).
One day later, on a conference, he said something like: "When I arrived (at Sao Paulo) I asked you to not call me Emperor, but now I feel that you should call me Emperor. I fought so much to get to where I am, and it's not you (press) that are going to destroy everything I built."
On March 02 2008 10:21 Telemako wrote: Real Madrid set the gap with Barça in 5 points again after a win with a first goal in offside and a loss for Barça against Atletico de Madrid by 4-2. Great Kun Agüero and Messi / Etoo, poor performance again by Ronaldinho and Henry.
I disagreed with you. I thought Ronaldinho played quite good..considered the poor supply from the mid-field.
Barcelona's line-up was meant to get owned in the first place. With Ronaldinho as the main striker, Eto/Henry as wingers?! And Messi,Deco, Yaya on the sub? give me a break, Mr. Rijkaard.
Barca devserved to lose, especially with the three up top are in some weird position and doesn't interchange well. Barca defenders got owned by Aguero, especially with his fakes. Raul risked his life to score a goal, i think you have to give him that even though he is offside.
Yea, definitely the feel good story of the season. The right winger for Barnsley puts in beckham like crosses. He got the assist for the winner vs Chelsea and equaliser vs Liverpool. They have a great chance of going to the final now having drawn Cardiff in the semis.
can't believe inter wasted those oppurtunities they had.. first cruz then ibrahimovic.. inter made so many rookie mistakes .. the slipped/tripped several times in crucial moments and made wrong passes all the time.
Wow Inters deffensive line really wasnt any good today, they all behaved like class C player. They couldnt deliver the ball properly to the midfield. Zlatan was good today, making lethal passes. But both he and cruz should have scored. Inter again playing with 10 players. Viera + Stankovic slow, and just not playing well enough. But Liverpool did good and what they were supposed to do. Just was a pity that inter didnt go up 1-0 , would of bin a better match.
Just watched PSV - Spurs UEFA Cup triller, Spurs won Regular time 0-1 and same score was after ET, and the went penalties and decisin came in 7th shootters.. Spurs had chance to win after 5th shooters but Gomez managed to save JJ shot.
On March 30 2008 14:59 Ash wrote: ronaldo is friggin good.... player of the year 2008 no doubt
Nah there's always a doubt, people have short memories... If someone else performs really well a few months before the award and Ronaldo has a little slump then he might not even get it. A lot of it will also depend on how Manu will fare in the CL..
yeah that was a pretty sick game ronaldo played...the cute opening goal and 3 assists...he may as well get player of the year for the 2nd straight year if he continues playing the way he has been all season (and especially if manu win the premiership)...too bad rooney didn't get his hat trick, booo hooo
What was ronaldo's position in that game? He switched from winger to amc right, he always seems to be everywhere. He was terrific but I didn't like how he was doing tricks then giving the ball away on several occasions.
the funny thing is that brazilian press still doesn't think Ronaldo is the best, BY FAR, player of the world right now. Not 'of the season', he is the best player of the world. And I don't even like the bastard, but you have to be very idiot to not give him the credit.
The man is just THE outstanding player of the strongest league for the 2nd year, doing a lot of incredible things.
I think while his speed/power, ability in the air, overall physical ability, skills, positioning sense are world-class, he gives away the ball too much trying to do fancy stuff and still doesn't always make the best decisions and sometimes goes down too easily. But the results speak for themselves, 25 goals in the premiership for a winger
I guess the only one who compares to Ronaldo's impressiveness-wise this season might be Messi. But he's not such a good all round player, so I wouldn't really consider him for the title of the best player. He looks more dangerous to me though when he gets the ball. He only lacks the efficiency and positioning. But two years ago, Ronaldo didn't really pose that much threat either, so maybe Messi will get there. I think it's really astonishing what a complete player Cristiano has become. Guess he's really working hard. Maybe he will also learn how to pass defenders without twinkle toes.
as amazing as I think ronaldo has been this season, zidane is still definitely the best player I've been able to follow.. pretty much the only bad thing you can say about ronaldo is that he tends to play sub-par against the very best teams in the most important games, zidane was the other way around.. the way he was able to completely dominate in both world cup, EC and CL finals is just, to me, more impressive than anything.
and it was just totally impossible to take the ball from him..
I'm with Drone. Maybe Maradona and Pelé were better (more scoring speaks) but I've seen Zidane live, I had the best of lucks when Real Madrid signed him and for me he is the best player ever.
Messi just breaks defenders, he is unstoppable but lacks finishing and vision (his words, not mine). C.Ronaldo is not that good dribbling but isn't far, and adding his scoring and heading makes him more complete IMO.
I used to hate C.Ronaldo. He did put his pussy attitude aside. He plays so good in almost every aspect of the game nowadays. For me he is the hottest player around right now. This fellow breathes soccer.
He improved so much. And he kept on getting better and faster and more flexible and just becoming a more and more complete and overall good player when i thought it would have to end there. He even started scoring sick free kick goals lately. Scoring free kicks is enough.. u might think.. but he scores teh sick ones..
seriously.. Zidane was something special.. i wouldnt want to compare him with anyone else.. almost the same as it goes with Pele and Maradonna..
Great players scores no matter what type of game it is. The others mention above, Zidane/Pele/Maradona, they all make themselves count at important matches and this is what we need to see from C.Ronaldo.
C. Ronaldo is indeed a great player, especially considering his age. There is still so much he can improve on.
However, comparing him to the all-time greats (Zidane/Pele/Maradona/Cruijff/etc.) is still way too early. Those players led their teams to trophies, country's to world/european cups or copa america's and that is something Ronaldo hasn't done (yet).
On March 31 2008 08:28 Lenwe wrote: However, comparing him to the all-time greats (Zidane/Pele/Maradona/Cruijff/etc.) is still way too early. Those players led their teams to trophies, country's to world/european cups or copa america's and that is something Ronaldo hasn't done (yet).
The problem for Ronaldo is that even if Portugal has a really good team i guess that they wont win a World or Euro cup :<. Brazil/ France /Argentina were way more stronger when they won the World Cup.
argentina wasnt stronger than portugal when they won the world cup, cept for maradona.. the reason why many consider maradona _the_ greatest is that he was able to lead not-that-great teams to trophies.. (both argentina and napoli)
I agree that for ronaldo to be remembered on the same level as pele/maradona/zidane, he'll have to lead portugal to winning wc or ec, or simply leading united to like, several CL trophies. but his league performance, this season and the previous season, is greater than that of any equally young player, ever, if you take into consideration that the EPL is clearly the strongest league at the moment. so far this season he has scored 35 goals in 38 matches, or 26 in 28 if you only consider EPL games.. thats the kind of statistics you normally see from top strikers in their peak seasons. not wingers 3-4-5 years before their expected peak.
The interesting thing is that last year he wasn't playing much worse than he is now, and although he was scoring fewer goals, he was giving many more assists. This year he has more of a carte blanche in attack and gets a lot of goals in positions where normally you'd have a striker getting them, I believe. Also interesting is how the insistence on having him take United's free kicks, way back when they'd all end up high in the sky, has paid off.
Portugal's Achilles Heel has always been the striker, so I wonder if Scolari could pull having him upfront in a free role, as a SS or whatever, or maybe even as a proper striker. Coz we have other very good wingers to do the job - Simao Sabrosa, Quaresma, Nani.
ya thats true, last season he ended with 20 assists, this season he has only racked up 7 so far *(this number might be wrong as im not sure it includes the most recent 3)
last season his early season was about as great as his early season this year, but he had a "semi-slump" later on. that has not yet happened, and I don't think its going to.
wow how can you put pele/maradona in the same level as zidane. Zidane is an pretty awesome player, and complete but it seems your underrating Pele and Maradona . I seen them play specially pele in videos and he was unstopabble and scored goal almost every time he had the ball. The most complete player i seen in my life
On March 31 2008 11:53 ilj.psa wrote: wow how can you put pele/maradona in the same level as zidane. Zidane is an pretty awesome player, and complete but it seems your underrating Pele and Maradona . I seen them play specially pele in videos and he was unstopabble and scored goal almost every time he had the ball. The most complete player i seen in my life
I've sadly never seen Pele play, same pretty much for the good Maradonna (only memory I have of him is WC '94 in the USA), nor Cruijff, nor Beckenbauer, nor Di Stefano etc.
However, Zidane (while having a great team behind him) was the main reason France won the world cup in '98, the european championship in 2000 and was still one of the best players of the squad that reached the latest world cup final in 2006.
He reached 2 EC1 finals with Juventus (although he lost them both) and won the Italian league twice, which is (arguabely) one of the strongest leagues in the world.
With Madrid he finally won the Champions League, he gained his 3th FIFA player of the year award and he won 2 more league titles (once again in arguabely one of the strongest if not the strongest league in the world, especially at that team).
Besides that, you cannot compare the football that was played when Pele was around to how it is played nowadays. So yes, I do think Zidane belongs amongst the all-time greats of football and if the FIFA had to award the trophies for footballers of all time again, I think he would rank in the top 4 (with Pele, Maradonna and Cruijff).
I saw the youtube videos of zidane and c.ronaldo, the impression I had is that zidane was a genious, and it was impossible to steal him the ball because you did never know what he would hve done, c.ronaldo is a machine, he moves legs at a crazy pace, it's impressive, I'm just curious to see how many years he'll be able to play at this level.
zidane wasnt as dominant as pele/maradona because other players / tactics were so much better when zidane played. but he was a better player than both.. the fact is, it's impossible to compare because of how football has evolved.. (never have brood war analogies been more correct ; trying to compare pele with zidane is like trying to compare GRRR with bisu)
but if your definition of "great" is "how dominant was this player compared to his opposition" then it will never, ever be possible to be as "great" as pele was. a player in the 50-s/60s who completely dominated might be able to score goals completely on his own in a way that players are, no matter how godly, not able to regularly do today. so well, the only thing you really can do, is define who the greatest player of each era was.
pele was the by far greatest from like, 1958 to 1970~ or whatever, maradona dominated the 80s, zidane dominated from ~1998-2006. all these periods had other magnificent players as well, but these are the ones who are remembered as the greatest ones. that, alone, is to me reason enough to group them together. (Cruijff is to me harder to give the same status. frankly, him, and ajax' manager rinus michels probably deserve more credit for the evolution of football than both pele and maradona, but because of the fact that Cruijff's career somewhat overlaps that of pele, and that pele was clearly a more dominant player, Cruijff was not the unquestionably best player of his era, unlike both pele, zidane and maradona. )
I don't think Zidane was unquestionably the best player of his era. I actually think Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima (Brazilian Ronaldo) was better in that era. They both won "World Player of the Year" 3 times. But Ronaldo on the top of his form was arguably the most naturally talented footballer the world has ever seen. The guy was the complete footballer; two-footed, phenomenal pace, good in the air, fantastic skills, brilliant dribbler, extremely strong on the ball and the natural composure that any great finisher needs. Shame about his drinking and psychological problems, but regardless I think he was better.
That's one of the reasons why I agree you can't put Zidane in the same league as Maradonna or Pele.
Hm I agree and disagree on a lot of things here. It's amazing how each of us have a different view of things, football rocks. Ah, none of my answers are for the people I'm commenting, I'm just giving my opinion on subjects I thought were cool to comment on.
Klive5ive: I actually think Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima (Brazilian Ronaldo) was better in that era. They both won "World Player of the Year" 3 times. But Ronaldo on the top of his form was arguably the most naturally talented footballer the world has ever seen.
Ronaldo, together with Romario, is my favourite player. And he is VERY talented, but I don't think anyone has ever been more talented than Zidane. Zidane played well pretty effortlessly. And Ronaldo only displayed his potential for +-4 years (95-99 lets say). After that he was a very good striker.
Ronaldo's technique is also outstanding, and his vision of the game matches Zidane, but I think Ronaldo had to play at that level for more time than Zidane in order to be 'better' than him in my opinion.
eriador:
zidane wasnt as dominant as pele/maradona because other players / tactics were so much better when zidane played. but he was a better player than both.. the fact is, it's impossible to compare because of how football has evolved.. (never have brood war analogies been more correct ; trying to compare pele with zidane is like trying to compare GRRR with bisu)
I think Zidane is more talented than both, and his game is more 'beautiful' than both, for sure. But I don't really think that he is better than Pele and Maradona. Pele for example did regularly things people do once nowadays and celebrate, like those 'baloon' goals (the goal agaisnt Sweden in 58 final).
Forget about this 1000 goals (only brazilians count friendlies), his execution is flawless and unmatched.
The shit about comparing them, tho, is that noone will probably ever be able to do the things Zidane did in that video, but I don't think that makes one the best player, or Okocha would be among the very best.
On September 27 2007 09:44 zulu_nation8 wrote: I definitely think Arsenal won't be as strong after Christmas break. Their players have never had the experience of being in a title race and playing a second half of a premiership season that matters. Despite that, Cesc Fabregas is rivaling Kaka as the best midfielder in the world, the kid is absolutely amazing.
what makes Zidane so impressive is that he gets the ball dribbles past one or two guys and then passes on to the better positioned teammate you didn't see these 50 meter runs a la c.ronaldo/messi/ronaldhinio
for me it somehow looks like that his (amazing) tricks are "necessary", like if they needen't to be done he wouldn't do them he avoided dribblings if he can pass to another player
(it's difficult to express myself, I hope it's clear what I mean ...)
he moreover was quite a fighter, he played very well in defending
On April 02 2008 19:36 Sadir wrote: he moreover was quite a fighter
Materazzi agrees with you there.
I haven't seen the match yet (since the dutch tv showed Schalke-Barcelona), but C. Ronaldo scored again last night, making his record for this season even more impressive. He is just amazing this season.
Manchester - Barcelona for the semi-final is gonna be immense, although I believe that Barcelona have to improve quite a bit if they don't want to be eliminated. Manchester are the favourite for winning the CL right now.
good equalizer, great job by park, this result makes the race a lot more uncertain now, the game vs chelsea will be sooooo unbelievably important, and unfortunately it will be away for united and chelsea hasn't lost at home since I don't even know how long, 2 years maybe.
On April 07 2008 04:39 forbanus wrote: Actually, Chelsea hasn't lost at home ( in the league ) since february 2004, when they lost 2-1 to Arsenal in their unbeaten season.
wow, Juventus just lost 2-3 to Palermo after having played maybe the best half time (the 2nd half) I've ever seen by juve so far, they were losing 2-0 after 1st half, then 45 minutes of full aggression and 2-2 , then Palermo scored in the very end
great game between blackburn and man utd today, it really looked bad for united until tevez scored. Friedel seems to really turn it on during important games, I remember him having these kinds of performances all the time vs United and Arsenal. Anyway, game at stamford bridge will decide all.
i dunno if manu were lucky or unlucky with their last 2 matches (blackburn and barcelona)...lucky in a sense that they were drew on both occassions, and unlucky in a sense that they should have defeated blackburn as well as barcelona (ronaldo missed pen)....so yeah, i'm not so convinced with manu's play of late, although they did well against blackburn
Manchester has played like absolute shit these last 3 games. I can totally see them not even getting a trophy this year if they continue like this. Also, Ferguson is starting to make really, really retarded calls these days, both vs Barcelona and Chelsea at least.
Seriously. Fletcher, Giggs, Silvestre. What. The. Fuck. Nani too, who played like utter shit. No Ronaldo. Rooney in front on his own. And globally, trying to draw instead of trying to win like they were supposed to.
Nani tried his best, but ended up losing the ball most of the times, I think the whole team was a bit sleepy today, and this is the right punishment for the .....horrible show they offered us in CL this week
damnit!! disappointing performance...2 draws and a loss in their last 3 games...i just hope their bout with barcelona in the 2nd leg is gonna be different, since they'll be playing at old trafford...but bloody hell, 2 games to go in the league, it's a must win all league games just to beat chelsea on goal diff... dammit dammit dammit!!! they wer top of the table for basically the whole season only to let chelsea sneak by?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO T_T
On April 28 2008 04:30 mAKiTO wrote: Saviola in the starting 11 today! and like ALWAYS when he plays he scores. Really happy for el Pibito, he is playing really good.
yeah just read it at http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/ it's amazing how such a skillfull and effective player can get so little respect and playing time
also I got to say Real Madrid deserve to be champions this year.
and Also http://videos.sapo.pt/0reb9buztbsjhoWThLau long video :s, but Mati Fernandez did something really awesome here around min 3:40, sad it didnt become a goal , but look at marcos senas goal. awesome
Saviola Looks To Prove His Worth Javier Saviola is hoping to use the final four games of the season to be able to stay at Real Madrid next summer after making a scoring return to the side at the weekend.
* »Comments (9) * Print This Story * Send To A Friend * Contact Us
Saviola Looks To Prove His Worth galleria zoom
* * *
The Argentinian is rumoured to be one of the players that Los Merengues will off-load in the summer, but he is determined to show the club that he can be an asset and should stay.
After returning form injury, Saviola was given a chance to impress against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday and he did just that by scoring the first goal and testing the visitors defence with his speed and guile.
"I have a real reason to smile again. I am delighted to have played again and to help the team at a time when we are so close to the title;" he said.
"It was a night that I will never forget and was my reward for all the hard work I have done in the past few weeks. I was absolutely desperate to help the team and to show I could be useful.
"I have always said that I want to be successful here and to show that I can play for Madrid. Now I am completely focussed on playing and in closing the season as well as I can in order to help the team win the title."
Saviola joined Real Madrid from Barcelona on a free transfer last summer, but has hardly been given a chance to impress at the Bernabéu and he is keen to find out what the club want to do, but only after the final game.
"Until the season is finished I will not speak to the club. At the moment I just want to think about playing, nothing else," he explained. "I have said that my desire is to stay with Real Madrid, but only when the campaign is over will I sit down and discuss this."
I've always liked Saviola, I don't know why it's so hard for him to get first team football, he used to be automatic first choice when Barca was great.
I'll watch the final, but I'll be cheering on Zenith. Rangers played probably the worst game I've seen so far this season and Fiorentina deffinately deserved to win.
nani was such an inbred in that game...how could you do such a thing in such a crucial match?? that's inexperience right there...it's pretty hard to believe how manu scored on all their shots on target but i don't care, as long as they win! GOGO MANU!!!
edit: props to ronaldo for winning the player of the year award for the 2nd straight season as well as the footballer of the year award.
Real Madrid wins La Liga 3 matches before it finishes, thanks to an awesome comeback with 10 players and after a penalty against 5 minutes before the final whistle. 2nd minute of the 2nd half and Cannavaro gets the second yellow card. 5 minutes to the end and a hand inside the box from Heinze makes it 1-0 to Osasuna. 2 minutes to finish and Higuain puts a free kick on Robben's head to make the equalizer and on the next chance, Sergio Ramos opens to Higuain and letting the ball bounce once he crushes it into the net giving the championship to RM.
This win is more beautiful for RM fans because Barça will do the honor corridor (pasillo de honor) to RM next wednesday at Santiago Bernabeu. This is a custom in La Liga to receive clapping the winner of the competition if it manages to win it before it finishes and the calendar gave RM the oportunity to force their main rival to do so =).
ronaldo is the one who always takes the penalties and free kicks tho, so its easier for him to reach more goals than any regular striker
btw Real Madrid vs Barcelona tomorrow. Barceloan 6-0 Valencia seems like they got in shape again and Madrid won La liga recently. it would be an interesting match 8]
props to real for winning the title :D and thank you michael fucking ballack for making things more interesting (yes i'm being sarcastic) i really wanted manu to win the title so they could focus on the CL final...oh well...
On May 04 2008 07:29 unknown.sam wrote: the amazing thing about it is, he's a winger...
He's often played as a striker though.
oh really?? i think recently he's been playing up front with rooney missing (not sure) but...doesn't he have more of a "go wherever the hell you wanna go" kinda role?? i mean he's like all over the place...he's up front, he's on the left wing, he's on the right and i've evenseen him play center on occassion...
On May 07 2008 07:52 mAKiTO wrote: na f manchester, Go Chelsea! Go Blues
it would be totally awesome if Chelsea wins CL and home league
yeah that would be pretty sick...they were pretty much out of the picture throughout the season because of the way manu was playing and now the pressure's on manu...but fuck them, manu ftw! lol
A portion of goal.com preview of Barcelona-Real Madrid
"Real Madrid
Osasuna - Real Madrid 1 - 2 04/05/2008 LA LIGA Real Madrid - Athletic Bilbao 3 - 0 27/04/2008 LA LIGA Racing - Real Madrid 0 - 2 20/04/2008 LA LIGA Real Madrid - Murcia 1 - 0 13/04/2008 LA LIGA Mallorca - Real Madrid 1 - 1 05/04/2008 LA LIGA Real Madrid - Sevilla 3 - 1 30/03/2008 LA LIGA
Barcelona
Barcelona - Valencia 6 - 0 04/05/2008 LA LIGA Man Utd. - Barcelona 1 - 0 29/04/2008 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Deportivo - Barcelona 2 - 0 26/04/2008 LA LIGA Barcelona - Man Utd. 0 - 0 23/04/2008 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Barcelona - Espanyol 0 - 0 19/04/2008 LA LIGA Recreativo - Barcelona 2 - 2 12/04/2008 LA LIGA
TEAM NEWS
Real Madrid
Besides the big decision of who will be fit after celebrating their league title, Schuster will have to patch together a backline without the services of Cannavaro and Heinze. Metzelder remains unavailable as he recovers his fitness after foot surgery.
Possible Starting XI (4-3-3): Casillas – Marcelo, Pepe, Ramos, Torres – Guti, Gago, Sneijder - Robben, van Nistlerooy, Raúl.
Barcelona
Besides the suspension of Eto’o and Deco, Rijkaard will be without the services of Gabriel Milito, Ronaldinho, Touré, Iniesta, and Oleguer Presas, all due to injury.
Possible Starting XI (4-3-3): Valdés- Abidal, Thuram, Puyol, Zambrotta – Gudjohnsen, Márquez, Xavi, - Bojan, Henry, Messi.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Real Madrid
Ruud van Nistlerooy – While the striker did not make his return on Sunday, he is expected to play on Wednesday. The Dutchman will be eager to regain his form in time for the Euros.
Barcelona
Thierry Henry – His brace on Sunday was very impressive. Whether he wants to stay in Barcelona or not, the Frenchman needs to finish the season strong in order to regain his reputation as one of the best strikers in the world. If Tottenham do decide to finally pull the trigger and sell Dimitar Berbatov for an inflated number, it would not be a shock to see Henry return to North London to play for Spurs.
PREDICTION
With so many key players missing from both sides and not knowing the effect that the celebrations had on Los Merengues, this is a hard one to call. However, one thing is certain, this will not be a scoreless draw as there have only been two in this series over the last twenty seasons.
Look for both sides to pour forward and attack in what is always an entertaining fixture. Unfortunately, I expect a draw which will likely not please either set of supporters.
Dman, I wished RM didn´t make that awesome comeback against Osasuna. I was watching the game and Osasuna leading 1-0 in min 85, and RM with 10 players. I thought RM would loose, and then Barsa would be totally capable of winning vs RM to screw them, giving Villarreal the edge to go for the title in the last game. That would have been much more fun competition wise.
yea and campbell was pretty fucking hated but he hadnt played almost his entire career for spurs. henry is still remembered for what he accomplished with arsenal and being an arsenal legend would be his legacy. if he went to spurs, he'd have none.
I think Eto'o has more of a chance of leaving than Henry. He'll probably get starting time with a new coach, especially if they bring in someone who isn't a big name. Eto'o wants trophies.
Henry stated that he wants to stay at Barça. According to spanish press, Spurs are after Etoo and Barça is demanding 35m euro. There is also an offer of switch with Bervatov but I don't believe Spurs let him go if they want to build a strong team around Juande Ramos.
Tonight 22:00 (GMT +2) R.Madrid vs Barça. I hope it catches the awesomeness of the 3-3 from the last season. Pay attention to the honor corridor at the begining, a century of rivalry will be boiling there. Just kiddin, the media is trying to make it look like an humiliation and players and managers already stated that it's just sportsmanship. I hate the press of my country. Btw, Barça's players will wear a white t-shirt supporting Milito (injuried for 6 months), which will hide their Barça shirts xD.
Heinze will play tonight, his yellow card was withdrawn, for a reason I dont know. My friend posted this @ msn to me and said "Los jugadores del Barcelona harán esta noche el pasillo al Real Madrid portando unas camisetas blancas con un mensaje de apoyo al lesionado Gabi Milito y no con el uniforme azulgrana, según adelantó Radio MARCA." It means " Barcelona players will play with white shirts to cheerp up Gabi Militos to recover faster from injury..." I dont know spannish, so is that true ...? :D
Real Madrid 4 - Barça 1 Raúl, Robben, Higuaín, Van Nistelrooy - Henry
Not getting the "manita" (5-0 spanish nickname) was an upset. Messi was amazing, playing alone and still putting a whole team in troubble. RM has a nice young scuad Sneijder, Gago, Higuaín, Robben, Drenthe, Pepe, etc all under 25.
Ramos for 70mil?? Is that even enough, I mean he is like the best young defender in spain imo. He can play across the back four, can also play dm. I have seen him 1v1 with the keeper and score and also does bags quite a few with his head. He is easily the player to go for right now considering his age.
RM just shows again what it matters is taking chances. Raul +RVN is like the ultimate goal scoring combo you can get in europe.
I really dont get whats all the hype for Alvez all about. He doesnt seem to me anything special. His crosses are awful from what i seen, he has very strong shots but he doesnt know to put the ball in the right place for a goal. His not even fast. I really don't know. I rather have the peruvian Juan Manuel Vargas, who is considered the best left back in italy this season and the only reason i watch Catania's games.
70 million? Wow, that's absolutely ridic. I would almost go as far as to say pretty much nobody is really worth that much except whoever is currently on form and the best player in the world, but even that player will lose form eventually.
I think right now C.Ronaldo and Messi are the only ones that could be valued at 70 million. That amount for any defense no matter how good they are its a waste of money.
S.Ramos is not leaving for sure. He's already a symbol for RM. RM Signings: IN candidates: Villa / Huntelaar / Benzema, Diego and C.Ronaldo (this one is bullshit probably but who knows). And some players who are on loan: Granero, De la Red and Negredo. OUT candidates: Dudek, Saviola, Baptista, Diarra (maybe his match vs Barça cancels this one)
I've read on a dutch footie website (www.voetbalzone.nl) that van Nistelrooy could be transferred to AC Milan. However, it's been over two weeks since I read that and the site isn't always the most reliable, since they post every small rumour.
Doesn anyone in this thread know if there will be a 'liquibet' for the European Championship? If not, I could try to set up one and just manually keep it up to date. I unfortunately don't have the ability to hand out prices though.
Rafa has just said that Crouch is worth 15m, well then I can that O'Neil will say Barry is 30mil easy.
Seriously, all these english players getting their price 3 or 4 times over what it should be is damaging the game and not least the english standard. I think Wenger should come out now to tell the world that he can't invest in english player because it is turning into a joke.
Yea I don't like how English players are so overpriced, Carrick was worth 8-10 million pounds tops. Crouch, having spent the entire season on the bench should not go for higher than 8m. Barry is very important to Villa and a genuine left sided midfielder but even so he's not supremely talented or anything, just very consistent and has leadership qualities, considering his age, in a normal world he'd go for 12-15m in the best case scenario.
I got the 70 million price tag from Tommy Smyth, but I got the story from a Spanish website, and then confirmed on WSD. I'd be surprised if Ramos isn't in a Chelsea shirt. Other rumors are Huntelaar staying in deutschland instead of heading to M. United because he wants to play under Bergkamp and Van Basten tandem at Ajax. The Crouch/Barry swap is interesting in the fact that both managers overvalue their players.. I've got a feeling Eto'o could end up at Arsenal.. but no confirmation or anything on that.
On May 08 2008 12:43 mAKiTO wrote: Daniel Alvez is way better than your peruvian boy there, just because you are from Peru you mention him. zZzZ
Sergio Ramos is a fucking monster, and I would deff want him in my team. I dont think he will be leaving madrid tho.
and The derby, ... it was messi vs real madrid. Sad thing I kinda enjoyed Madrid winning just because they play great futbol, and we play shit.
lol whos comparing them? alvez is right, Vargas left. I just said i dont see anything special with Alvez and dnt understand how he is the "best in the world" im not being biased in any way, but seems to me you dont know anything about vargas
wtf you scream? btw Boca still there, i know they are going to win. Datolo /Bataglia are playing very good this days Riquelme is doing good when he has the ball and Palacios is getting better. Palermo is good at headers too
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11662_3494184,00.html My team --------------------James------------------ -Sagna--Ferdinand-Hyypiä-Clichy- -Ronaldo-Barry-Ballack-Young-- ---------Torrers-Adebayor---------- Every1 add Hyypiä to your team. I was suprised that Jääskeläinen wasent option here, cause I honestly think hes best keeper in EPL.
On May 09 2008 16:15 kroko wrote: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11662_3494184,00.html My team --------------------James------------------ -Sagna--Ferdinand-Hyypiä-Clichy- -Ronaldo-Barry-Ballack-Young-- ---------Torrers-Adebayor---------- Every1 add Hyypiä to your team. I was suprised that Jääskeläinen wasent option here, cause I honestly think hes best keeper in EPL.
----------------Van der Sar------------ -Sagna--Ferdinand--Vidic--Evra- -Ronaldo-Gerard-Fabregas-Young- ---------Torrers-Drogba----------
The United back 4 (not counting Brown) have just been immense this season.
On May 09 2008 16:36 Telemako wrote: According to Catania, RealMadrid wants Vargas lol, Roma and Juve too S.Ramos won't leave to Chelsea, i'm 100% sure.
I see both Eto'o and Ronaldinho out of Barça next season.
I dont understand why Madrid wants Vargas tho. Vargas is the best left back in italy but Madrid still has Marcelo and they should give him a chance. He is still too young and could be promising
Best way to end season I must say, fight for relegation, fight for euro spots and most importantly fight for championship. I have been watching Chelsea beating their heads agains wall vs Bolton defence. Too bad I have finish watching and leave to my own practice soon.. :/
manu 2-0 wigan...looks like it's in the bag folks!!! epl champs for the 2nd straight season...props to chelsea for picking it up late in the season but... time to focus on the champions league now :D GOGOGO MANUTD!!!
Sven is gg. Saying that, it was probably in the players mind and they just went to Mid and chill. If Reading is going down, as it is now then it will be a very poor season for the EPL simply because it is the only team outside the top 4-6 who actually plays football and not set out to defend from the start.
After a hugely disappointing campaign this year I can at least take comfort in Tottenham doing their part to deny Chelsea the title! Good to see the equalizer by Keane having a little significance after all.
Fulhams manager is ex-Team Finland manager, also this season 4 Finnish player was on team, Niemi, Kallio, Litmanen and Kuqi who was on loan there till end of january.
-------Premier League ---------------------------La Liga
2007-2008 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid 2006-2007 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid 2005-2006 Chelsea ----------------------------- Barcelona 2004-2005 Chelsea ----------------------------- Barcelona 2003-2004 Arsenal------------------------------- Valencia 2002-2003 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid 2001-2002 Arsenal------------------------------- Valencia 2000-2001 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid
On May 12 2008 14:20 Klogon wrote: League Winners... look at the pattern!
-------Premier League ---------------------------La Liga
2007-2008 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid 2006-2007 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid 2005-2006 Chelsea ----------------------------- Barcelona 2004-2005 Chelsea ----------------------------- Barcelona 2003-2004 Arsenal------------------------------- Valencia 2002-2003 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid 2001-2002 Arsenal------------------------------- Valencia 2000-2001 Manchester United --------------- Real Madrid
well i seen them against fiorentina and barcelona on the cl, thats all i seen from them.I might be wrong but they played good overall, no one expected that a team from scotland would made it. In this match tho they got outplayed.
If anyone is interested Boca Juniorsn vs Atlas coming up, With Juan roman Riquelme starting you can watch it on www.rojadirecta.org if you dont have fox sports
A little statistics I did for another website: Ronaldo v Messi
I think one point you are all missing is shots attempted. Here are some stats:
Ronaldo ----------------------------GS----SB-----G-----A------SH-----SG 06-07 Premier League 31 3 17 14 200 90 UEFA Champions League 11 0 3 5 54 17 07-08 Premier League 31 3 31 7 181 109 UEFA Champions League 10 0 7 1 51 15
v
Messi -------------------------------------GS----SB-----G-----A------SH-----SG 06-07 Spanish Primera División 23 3 14 2 46 15 UEFA Champions League 4 1 1 0 7 3 07-08 Spanish Primera División 22 5 10 10 66 32 UEFA Champions League 9 0 6 1 28 15
I love both players, but: Ronaldo has 89 games with 486 shots, 231 on goal with 58 goals. -- 50% 231/486 -- 25% 58/231 Messi has 67 games with 147 shots, 65 on goal with 31 goals. -- 44% 65/147 -- 47% 31/65
Summary: Ronaldo's shots attempted have 50% on goal, with 25% of the ones on goal going in. Messi's shots have 44% on goal, with 47% of those going in. Ronaldo has attempted 339 more shots than Messi. If Messi attempted the same number of shots as Ronaldo, 213 would be on target, with 100 goals scored in 2 years. LOL? (wouldn't happen, but funny to think about)
.. and of course to make the statistics completely meaningless I can add that Ronaldo gets more shots on goals cause he has a more powerful shot, and thus shoots from further out with less chance of scoring.
But Messi might have been player of the year if he wasn't injured this season. He's just plain awesome.
... theyre entirely different players and ronaldo shoots far more from a distance than messi. thus it is logical that messi has a lower amount of shots but higher accuracy.
the only thing you learn by those statistics is well, exactly that; ronaldo shoots more from a distance than messi.
also, arshavin (player for zenith) is really, really good. he's also fairly young, I'd expect him to end up in a PL team next season or in 2 seasons, and then for a team as good or better than tottenham. i actually remember he impressed me when zenit played vs rosenborg several seasons ago, from what ive seen he has evolved significantly and I think he could content for a first team spot on pretty much every team in the world.
edit:dangit luhh you beat me cuz I answered another post in addition haha
I'm not trying to provide that Ronaldo isn't an excellent goal scorer or player, hell I'm a huge fan. Just another forum was having a debate over their goal scoring prowess, and I dug up a little bit. It's interesting to look at the huge number of shots Ronaldo takes. Are you trying to argue that Ronaldo takes 150 "long distance" shots per season? That's almost 5 per game. Ridiculous if that is the case. I don't watch every Man U game, so I can't comment on the accuracy of that.
I don't know what the stats mean exactly but Ronaldo is very clinical and rarely misses a great opportunity, and 5 long shots per game sounds about right.
Well Messi rarely shoots long distance , he is good at long distance shots, but he prefers to dribble pass defenders, while passing the ball and receiving it, then he shoots. That way his chances of scoring are higher, but his shots at goal decreases. He surprisingly has a very powerful shot also considering his shorter than Ronaldo but he only shoots far away when he sees that it will definately will be a goal. Also Messi is more of a team player, he sets his teammates up more times than actually shooting
cant really compare them. But this season Ronaldo has been better, maybe because he didnt have mayor injuries like messi, but that doesnt really matter. Plus ronaldo is a more fancy player than messi, he does tricks while messi just moves his hips and breaks defenders. Im argetinian bias, so I like messi more, also because he acts way more mature than Ronaldo, and he doesnt dive, or fake injuries. (while i got to admit, last season messi did the hand of god like a cheater)
Yea I don't like how Ronaldo acts like it's a crime for someone to pull his shirt and everytime he doesn't get a call he raises his arms and complains. Otherwise he's pretty much perfect except for his decision making at times.
Actually if you notice when he cant move anywhere and start doing his bullshit stepovers in a single place to piss off the other team, he always dives or looks for a foul, things like that makes me lose respect for him
his tricks or very skillfull and good looking.. everyone who ever played soccer on his own knows how much confidence and skill u need to do these kind of stuff in games
not in particular this vid but his moves in general.. even though he is a little pussy sometimes ( got better.. ) i still am amazed by his play
Personally I liked him and thought what he had done with Chelsea was amazing after he took over amidst all the turmoil. He's just really really ugly and has zero charisma which I actually think is the primary reason he got axed. Otherwise not a lot of managers could've done what he did with the club under all the pressure and come within one kick of the champions league title. Under mourinho Chelsea had never gone to a final, and if they hadn't dropped as many points in the first half of the season they probably would've won the league.
Yea, I agree that Grant did a great job. But I'd rather see someone more flamboyant/enthusiastic. He always felt like he was a "supply teacher" until the real manager comes.
I don't think Grant did anything, the Chelsea team was good enough in the first place. It is not like he brought some players and they all perform well or use a different system and went to CL final.
So if i had to recap the year for the top 5 leagues
England: Man.U rocked as expected, C.Ronaldo will be able to buy tons of gel for his hair wearing Player of the year medals. All eyes on who Arsenal brings in with Hleb/Flamini leaving. Chelsea sacked managers like Cristiano puts gel on his hair. Liverpool's big $$$ torres payed off with tons of goals. Special Props: Fulham for pulling the great escape when everyone thought they were done. I guess thats what you get when half your team is american.
Spain: Craptacular year for la liga. R.Madrid won it fairly early, but kept losing to low table teams. Barca was even worse, and dont even get me started on Valencia. At least they won the Spanish cup(Valencia). Special Props:Villareal finishing second.
Italy: Fairly entertaining year and it went down to the wire, but Inter kept the title. AC Milan didn't make the CL(Bayern munich style rebuild please?). Probably the first ''legit'' Serie A season in a while and it was a great one. Special Props:Roma for getting the Italian cup and finishing second so close to Inter. They gave us a good season of football.
Germany: I think its safe to say that no team dominated their league as much as Bayern. Big buys - big wins(not necessarily true however; see Premiership for proof). The whole team went well, except their destruction at Zenit St-petersburgh (Germans get destroyed at Leningrad again...). Hamburg and Bayern loses their managers, we will have to wait this summer for Bayerns replacement(maybe someone can enlight me on that?). Special Props:Werder Bremen finished second in the bundesliga and were BY FAR the most entertaining team of Europe - screw defense, they scored 75 goals in 34 games, third in europe behind Man.U(80) and R.Madrid(84)(however those two teams played 38 games).
France:The tightest French league since Lyon won their first title 7 years ago(already...). Even though i would have loved for Bordeaux to stop Lyon from winning a 7th time in a row, they made the title be decided at the last game. All eyes on Lyon's players this summer as checks may be flying in for Benzema, Toulalan, Squillaci... At the bottom of the table, Paris almost got relegated, saving their asses from major embarassement on the last day. Special Props: Bordeaux for making it go to the wire. Manager Laurent Blanc gave us a great Ligue 1 season.
Kind of funny that all the leagues where we had to wait far in the season to see the champion, the champions were the same(lyon,man.u,rmadrid,inter). The only domination was by bayern(who didn't win last year).
Jürgen Klinsmann (former coach of the german national team who was rumored to have turned down an offer from chelsea) will be the new coach for bayern next season. And yeah Werder was great this season. For us as fans it didn't even matter that much if they won or lost, if they lost you could be sure it was one amazing game to watch anyway.
not that scoring is that amazing or whatever but he does land it square in the middle of the goal, and well, beckham would probably score in that exact situation more than almost any other player. he has equally long passes that hit with the same accuracy every game soo..
in my humble opinion i think this is the best year of American league MLS. solely because i'm actually watching it, whereas before i could give two shits.
that was a hell of a kick!
btw just in case you guys aren't keeping track: LA Galaxy is now #1 in the League's equivalent of USWest because of that goal.
ya i dont consider myself a particulary greedy person but I could deal with having a real bitchy boss for 2 years if it gave me like, $30 million. (mourinho is gonna get almost equal to that in inter, I assume grant wants a top notch manager and he'll probably have to dish out something similar)
not to mention that, despite wanting some control and demanding a lot, abramovich lets managers play CM with cheatcodes.. that's also bound to have some appeal. AND, if you end up failing, it doesnt have to be a big loss of prestigue, as a lot of the blame will fall on abramovich' shoulders.
I do believe virtually any manager would prefer the position of ferguson or wenger, but those positions dont come out of nowhere and normally only happen when a great manager brings a slumping / not that great team to greatness. fact is, pretty much any board of a top 10 team in europe except arsenal and manchester united would sack their coach/manager if said coach/manager failed to deliver a trophy for 2 seasons. for chelsea, it's 1 season instead.
I'd go with the Beckham goal solely because the commentator made it more dramatic "well its the end of the game, the Kansas City keeper has come forward to help with the final play of the game... ball goes to Beckham... open goal... HES TRYING IT! HOLY SHIT HE GOT IT!"
the German goal there was just as badass though. That one hit the crossbar and almost missed, but the Beckham goal was just 100% on target.
also because the crowd went apeshit compared to the German crowd.
well beckhams shot is better cause its much further away from missing..when theres no goalie the very middle of the goal is the by far best place to shoot
diego had less time tho, and that struck me as the difference in MSL and well, any good european league.. no way would beckham be allowed to aim for that long with guys on the other team jogging home normally.
On May 27 2008 04:29 kroko wrote: Its not like u will make 15k a year in other job... And I dont think the most managers r doing this for the money.
?
Lot of managers r ex-footballers and they have money to retire and live very healthy life. Also when u have shitloads of money, u can decide were u coach not just from how its paid... I mean 20mills vs 30mills, U might aswell consider the other aspects of the job...
fact is although it doesnt make much sense to me, many people choose a job that pays $15 million a year over $10 million even if the $10 million is slightly favourable in other aspects ;(
On May 27 2008 20:18 Liquid`Drone wrote: fact is although it doesnt make much sense to me, many people choose a job that pays $15 million a year over $10 million even if the $10 million is slightly favourable in other aspects ;(
Those are two rather intelligent representatives of our species though. Matter of fact, the mere existence of the word 'billionaire' proves Drone's point. If people were satisfied once they had a couple of millions we would have a lot less poverty in the world. Sadly people don't want to be rich, they want to be richer than others. And that's why people dream of being the coach of Chelsea. :/
On May 28 2008 02:16 Asta wrote: Those are two rather intelligent representatives of our species though. Matter of fact, the mere existence of the word 'billionaire' proves Drone's point. If people were satisfied once they had a couple of millions we would have a lot less poverty in the world. Sadly people don't want to be rich, they want to be richer than others. And that's why people dream of being the coach of Chelsea. :/
I say, most high-level managers do it for love for the game, not for the money, both of us dont have any proofs, so GG.
well if you want to make a bet regarding whether chelsea manages to hire a world class manager or not im down for it.. of course defining "world class manager" isnt necessarily that easy but well, im sure whomever ends up coaching chelsea next season will be significantly more famous and merited than avram grant..
On May 28 2008 05:25 Liquid`Drone wrote: well if you want to make a bet regarding whether chelsea manages to hire a world class manager or not im down for it.. of course defining "world class manager" isnt necessarily that easy but well, im sure whomever ends up coaching chelsea next season will be significantly more famous and merited than avram grant..
On May 29 2008 03:06 ilj.psa wrote: managers are overrated,they do help but if the players are good they will win simple as that
Good manager can make good results with 'bad team', like Rehagel with Greece. Bad manager can make bad results with good team, like Rjikaard this season(some guys say the man behind Rjikaard success was Ten Cate, he made the tactics etc).
On May 29 2008 03:06 ilj.psa wrote: managers are overrated,they do help but if the players are good they will win simple as that
Good manager can make good results with 'bad team', like Rehagel with Greece. Bad manager can make bad results with good team, like Rjikaard this season(some guys say the man behind Rjikaard success was Ten Cate, he made the tactics etc).
hm i dont see a big difference with this season with the other succesfull seasons. He's tactics were pretty similar as i see it, but he can't force players if they dont want to play good in the field. Other reason why this season sucked for barcelona may be all te injuries (Messi, Henry, Ronaldinho, Deco, etc) the players are much responsible than the manager
hmmm iunno if anyone is watching, but FSC has got u21 semis ita-jpn and its going to pks. one of the italians passed in the box in the last seconds of injury time and his buddy missed the shot. shit was a gimmie goal if he took the lefty shot
I heard that juventus is trying to bid xabi alonso, can you tell me something about this player? How good is he? how many mln is he worth? what does he mostly do in the field?
I just wanna say that last night's 2nd goal with Barry assisting Gerrard vs USA is probably the best goal England has scored since Euro 2000. Replace Lampard with Barry please, put joe cole on the left and bentley or someone else on the right.
On May 30 2008 01:42 UbRi wrote: I heard that juventus is trying to bid xabi alonso, can you tell me something about this player? How good is he? how many mln is he worth? what does he mostly do in the field?
He's worth like 8 million pounds tops. He doesn't start for Liverpool anymore. Imo Juventus can do better, they're a better side than Liverpool. Amauri was a very nice buy. Also the reason Juve is interested in xabi alonso is because Tiago and Almiron don't play well? Nocerino is very good.
Agbondlahor (spelling?) needs to get some appearances imo.. he's very underrated by the England folk imo. Too much experience isn't the best idea for international games. Yeah, David Beckham, Jermaine Defoe, Wes Brown, and Lampard/Gerrard combo can work against low quality teams like USA but..
I really think England future is Rooney/Walcott up front, Agbondlahor nearby with Gerrard and Barry in the middle, JC could wing but Ashley Young and Jenas are both underrated. Terry/Ferd center backs and England needs new Fullbacks imo. Micah Richards is one, but the other side is worrisome.
imo agbondlahor is just really fast, not much else, kinda like a darius vassell. Lampard/Gerrard will never work because people don't realize Lampard sucks. Ashley Young is talented and is a natural left winger. I still like Ashley Cole although his form at Chelsea hasn't been as good as it was at Arsenal.
On May 31 2008 04:44 TonyL2 wrote: Yea Ashley Young is amazing, I want to see him play a lot more for England. I also want to see Jagielka play, he is great at Everton and young.
So who do you guys think'll win Euro 08 then? I think France'll
Russia? They are doing great at sports this year Btw, when does ec-08 start?
On May 31 2008 04:44 TonyL2 wrote: Yea Ashley Young is amazing, I want to see him play a lot more for England. I also want to see Jagielka play, he is great at Everton and young.
So who do you guys think'll win Euro 08 then? I think France'll
Russia? They are doing great at sports this year Btw, when does ec-08 start?
I'd say Italy and Portugal are the top contenders for this one.
On May 30 2008 01:42 UbRi wrote: I heard that juventus is trying to bid xabi alonso, can you tell me something about this player? How good is he? how many mln is he worth? what does he mostly do in the field?
Defensive middlefielder, not awesome on defense but very strong in playmaking and long pass. Has been on the national team for the last 3 or 4 years.
On May 30 2008 18:10 UbRi wrote: juve is looking for a good passing midfielder, not fighting midfielder, we already have sissoko and zanetti, tiago and almiron were for that purpose but both failed, nocerino is also a fighting midfilder, and way worse than zanetti and sissoko, do you think xabi alonso is good for that role? maybe in partnership with sissoko on the middle
Jozy Altidore from Red Bulls New York to Villareal(2nd in La Liga, has a champions league spot) for 10 million. That his insane for an MLS player. Oh well, champions league money ship it!
To all Real Madrid fans, seems like the option is, IF C.Ronaldo comes = Robinho out ! Which 1 u prefer !? I would like to see Robinho in, imho we havent seen his full potential.
On June 21 2008 03:11 zulu_nation8 wrote: robinho needs to gain 100 pounds without losing his speed in order to play in the premiership
I dunno, wright-Phillips is about a foot shorter than everyone in the PL yet he still doesn't get THAT outmuscled. Same with Aaron lennon at tottenham. I think robinho would do quite well in the PL.
With la liga, I really think rjkaard completely screwed up barcas season. If the 4-3-3 dosent work, PlAY SOMETHING ELSE! Now etto ronnie and deco are all leaving. Just shows how badly rjkaard messed up.
Barcelona: They are doing a good job, fast signings and already proof their value in La Liga. They are out of money and are relying too much on the profit they are gonna make with their 3 star sales. Deco has rised his value this Euro but he and Dinho are arriving to the 30s.
Out: Ronaldinho, Deco and Etoo. Stated by their new coach, Pep Guardiola. My bet is Deco and Etoo are going to Milan, Chelsea or Inter, randomly to the best buyer. Ronaldinho will go to a crappy team paying his fee.
In: Martin Caceres (Center back, Uruguay, young talent), Keita (DMF, good performance at Sevilla), Dani Alves (best right back of the world two years ago, Sevilla didn't acept a 35million € offer from Chelsea and he was on a slump this year because of that. If he gets confident at Barça he will be outstanding again for sure).Gerard Piqué(thanks Musli)(spanish 21 yo center back from ManU, played several CL games at a high level, comes back home)
Interest in: Abdebayor. It's made according to spanish press. 27 million €. They want him to complete Henry and Bojan Krkic footbally speaking. Hleb. Also very close to be done.
Real Madrid: Well, you already know the CR drama. IMO this is the worst thing RM could do. They are gonna get back to the Galacticos shit. High fees, jealousy on the group, bitches and parties. They should spend that 80 millions on Villa + Diego to retire Raúl + Guti.
Interest in: Villa, Huntelaar, Diego, Lahm, Van der vaart...
You know, I was thinking.. what if Brasil doesn't make the World Cup? 0_o.. They're currently 5th (Top 4 qualify, 5th goes to a playoff with concacaf) and on horrible form with a shitty as hell midfield if I've ever seen one.
On June 21 2008 11:53 FzeroXx wrote: You know, I was thinking.. what if Brasil doesn't make the World Cup? 0_o.. They're currently 5th (Top 4 qualify, 5th goes to a playoff with concacaf) and on horrible form with a shitty as hell midfield if I've ever seen one.
I would add to Telemekako's summary that also Gerard Pique returned to Barca after his adventure with Real Zaragoza and Manchester United. He is young (21) and played really nice when in Zaragoza. In Man U he was a sub who hardly had chances to play thus when he got in he was in a shaky shape - sometimes he played nice, sometimes not. No wonder cuz you cant have a long-term good shape when you play so little. Still he is Catalan and he will be for sure a good replacement for Thuram and who knows, maybe he will replace Puyol when the time comes.
And we still dont know where Getafe players such as Ruben De La Red and Esteban Granero will end up. They are to play in R.Madrid but Getafe would like them to stay. It should be known in about a week I think.
Yea I don't understand why they let Pique go, probably thought that Johnny Evans was enough. We did a great job buying Rossi and Pique for cheap and raised them into promising players but then sold both for minimum profit.
well every player wants to go to Barca/ RM -_- wether Barca want him is another story.
There are rumors that Adebayor, Pirlo (exchange with Samuel Eto'o), Bervatov
Real Madrid: Javi Garcia (Osasuna, back from loan) Pablo García (Murcía, back from loan) Granero (getafe,back from loan) Garay (Racing Santander, will continue in this team one more year on loan)
On June 23 2008 05:08 FzeroXx wrote: News came out today that Arshavin wants to go to Barca, YAY.
I heard he really can't go anywhere because the Russian government pays his salary for his club. Also I heard he was linked to Arsenal, not Barca
That is kind of stupid... Gazprom pays for his salary, not only his but of all Zenit. The own Zenit... If he wants to leave and gets a good offer, he'll leave.
On June 23 2008 07:57 ilj.psa wrote: well every player wants to go to Barca/ RM -_- wether Barca want him is another story.
There are rumors that Adebayor, Pirlo (exchange with Samuel Eto'o), Bervatov
Real Madrid: Javi Garcia (Osasuna, back from loan) Pablo García (Murcía, back from loan) Granero (getafe,back from loan) Garay (Racing Santander, will continue in this team one more year on loan)
ahhh, so many future talented players lost to RM bench...
Dinho and Et'to probably won't get signed till the end of summer due to their price tags, teams will probably wait until a lot later for their prices to (hopefully) sink. And why is Barca getting... ANOTHER STRIKER? i know that ettos going, but they have henry and bojan. 2 strikers and a backup is enough for a 4-3-3 formation, so i'm thinking that the new manager is probably gonna play something differant (finally).
I think Real is wayyy too rich XD. Says on ESPN Soccernet, that Real are willing to pay 80 million euros, thats about 100 million dollars people, to get Ronaldo. To my knowledge, that would be, by a long shot, the largest transfer fee for any player in history. So where does Real get all that money?? Their stadium's not that large and no sponsor would give hundreds of millions a year for transfers. Quite puzzling.
They are already in huge debts but as long as city (Madrid) supports them financially they will be able to make such mindless transfers. GL to them >_<
Real Madrid sold their old training grounds that where inside Madrid for more than 250 million euros (they are gonna build business buildings, a hotel, etc). Madrid "townhall" was the buyer, probably a dirty business because our former president Florentino Perez is a strong businessman with friends on politics. The money was enough to build another and top line training grounds and pay their historical debt, so Musli is wrong, the debt is gone, that's why they surpased/tied ManU as the richest team of the world. That was 4 years ago. They signed also this year a 200 million euro contract giving their TV rights for 4 years. Add that the % of image rights over world star players and you'll solve your puzzle.
Also you wouldn't think this could be possible, but the government would help a club cover this kind of cost too. RM won't pay for even half of this transfer fee if it happens, everyone in spain wants him to come to the spanish league, they'll find a way to make it happen.
Rumour. Eto'o out Adebayor in 20mil Hleb in free(is it rumour anymore ?) Why is Barcelona keen on Gunner players ? If Ade comes we can be sure who will be biggest flop of the season..
On June 24 2008 05:45 kroko wrote: Rumour. Eto'o out Adebayor in 20mil Hleb in free(is it rumour anymore ?) Why is Barcelona keen on Gunner players ? If Ade comes we can be sure who will be biggest flop of the season..
Its gonna be a flop, I can't see how he would fit into barcas system. Hes got some technical skill and is quite pacy I suppose, but neither is really enough to function well in barca.
I'm gonna laugh when he puts in 20 next season for Barca. He won't be the top goalscorer in the world, ever, but he's a damn good striker. Don't know why everyone hates him. He was the second coming of Jesus in the first half of the premiership.. not his fault he can't keep CR7 numbers all year.
today was the 10 year anniversary of the greatest moment through norwegian football when we beat brazil to advance from our world cup group in 98 they showed the entire game on rerun haha and it was awesome.
On June 24 2008 05:02 FzeroXx wrote: Also you wouldn't think this could be possible, but the government would help a club cover this kind of cost too. RM won't pay for even half of this transfer fee if it happens, everyone in spain wants him to come to the spanish league, they'll find a way to make it happen.
I don't know what are your sources to say such a thing but I repeat, RM has no debt and is at its wealthiest moment ever. As I previously explained he made 200 million euros with their training grounds deal and I was wrong with the tv rights data, they made a 1.100 million euro deal for 2007 to 2013 tv rights.
How could a goverment pay for a football player without having their votants claiming after expending 40million euros on such a crap? "everyone in spain wants him to come to the spanish league"? Nope. RM president Calderón wants, in every poll in every sports newspapers RM fans are saying they don't want him, they want players to repair the team weaknesses, and the wings are already covered.
RM spent 120 million euros last season with signings, was the goverment paying too? I don't know from where do you get that ideas...
This is no hoax. Inter Milan really are signing Del Piero - however not the Juventus legend and club symbol Alessandro - but Treviso youngster Jago Del Piero. Inter has really great players now, Del Piero, Pele, Julio Cesar....
you know... they are saying that Bouma actaully may play again this year (I doubt it) because they know who to go to for surgery and physio and stuff..... so they have more efficient way of healing these kind of thigns apparently.
I'm sick confused at Robbie Keane costing 20 million pounds, I mean he's a terrific goal poacher, but he's 28, and I love him but he's not spectacular, at least not anymore. It seems that there are so few proven premiership strikers so whenever they move they always go for a ridiculous amount of money.
Also, United is close to getting Berbatov apparently, but imo Roque Santa Cruz would be a better fit however he does have a history of injuries. and lol at david bentley going for 15 million pounds. English players are soooooo overpriced
Keane 20mil is just... laughable. It is not like Liverpool are not in debt, so why they spend so much is beyound me. Bentley is apparently the next beckham (WTF is wrong with pundits these days) so 15m is reasonable.
Hmmm, personally I think kuyt is better than Keane cause he's a better partner for Torres. What liverpool needed was a better back 4, specially fullbacks. Instead they splash 20 mil on an aging striker when they already have Torres and then they sell their backup fullbacks. GG Benitez
On August 01 2008 03:32 Ra.Xor.2 wrote: Hmmm, personally I think kuyt is better than Keane cause he's a better partner for Torres. What liverpool needed was a better back 4, specially fullbacks. Instead they splash 20 mil on an aging striker when they already have Torres and then they sell their backup fullbacks. GG Benitez
Benitez just isn't good enough, they should have got rid of him about a year ago. Keane is a great player don't get me wrong... but definitely not worth it considering his age.
When you consider that Rooney for 30million seemed expensive at the time, when you compare it to this it seems like an absolute steal.
On another signing of note... Ronaldinho at Milan, Flop or No Flop? I love Ronnie, but i believe he'll be just like Bergkamp, unable to play defense in Italy and getting owned.
I can't see Dinho still doing too well unless he goes through a complete transformation, so I guess flop, but there will still be moments of brilliance, hopefully.
I don't want Utd to buy either Santa Cruz or Berbatov, there isn't too much need seeing as we have Rooney, Tevez and Manucho and to an extent Ronaldo (if he still stays.) However if there was some striker to buy I'd rather have someone like Aguero/Huntelaar but that's unlikely, especially with the Tevez pemanent transfer being so expensive.
Actually I don't understand how Liverpool and ManU can spend so much year after year considering how much debt they actually have. I mean, if chelsea is spending then you can't really say anything because the owner might just don't like money, but the company owning pool and manu now actually function on their own and when they spend they just go deeper into the hole.
On August 01 2008 10:46 white_box921 wrote: Actually I don't understand how Liverpool and ManU can spend so much year after year considering how much debt they actually have. I mean, if chelsea is spending then you can't really say anything because the owner might just don't like money, but the company owning pool and manu now actually function on their own and when they spend they just go deeper into the hole.
Don't know about liverpool's finance but man u hasn't bought anyone so far, last year they did but I'd imagine all the money they made from competitions last season are going into paying their debt. Ticket prices have risen also . It's like a few years ago when they spent 30 million to get rooney which used up two season's of transfer money, the next season all they bought was park I think. Or maybe I got the year's mixed up.
From what i remember, i think ManU's debt is they pay like 12 mil a year till 2032 or something like that. that leaves quite a bit of revenue to spend on transfers. Plus their making Tevez a permanant signing this year for 32 million euros, which is a british record (i think), so they won't have much money for other pursuits (Berbatov?).
As for UCL, isin't Barca playing too? Or is that no this week?
On July 31 2008 11:49 white_box921 wrote: you know... they are saying that Bouma actaully may play again this year (I doubt it) because they know who to go to for surgery and physio and stuff..... so they have more efficient way of healing these kind of thigns apparently.
Yea I heard same things, appearently things look worse then they actually r. The angle is "just twisted" r something...
On August 02 2008 02:21 Ra.Xor.2 wrote: From what i remember, i think ManU's debt is they pay like 12 mil a year till 2032 or something like that. that leaves quite a bit of revenue to spend on transfers. Plus their making Tevez a permanant signing this year for 32 million euros, which is a british record (i think), so they won't have much money for other pursuits (Berbatov?).
As for UCL, isin't Barca playing too? Or is that no this week?
Barca will play in 12\13 august and in 26\27 august vs Beitar Jerusalem\Wisła Kraków i hope Beitar Jerusalem so i can see Barca in Israel
Meh, i never liked rangers, but its hilarious that they're going out to some random Lithuanian club. I didn't even know where FBK was from till i looked it up on wikipedia lawl.
Berbatov apparently going to Man U soon for 28 million pounds. That is a ridiculous price for someone I don't consider nearly as good as Rooney. 28 million can probably buy a lot of better strikers.
well yea english players are overpriced but only in the Premier League, since they don't occupy any foreginer spot(?) on the team. I bet Robbie Keane, Bentley, Walcott doesn't even surpasses 12M pounds if they were to sell them to Spain or Italy
theres no rule for foreigners in the premiership besides them having to get a work permit, you can have as many as you want. And also berbatov is bulgarian.
You can't compare Berbatov with Rooney, one is technical and the other is raw strength. I think he is a really good sign but buying from a team with money, as the spurs are, gets expensive. Probably the spurs will only accept if they make a counter signing, as far as I know, Juande Ramos is interested in Villa, Silva, Etoo and a couple of more spanish Liga names. Villa and Silva recently stated that they want to stay at Valencia, but according to spanish press Villa is linked with Real Madrid and Silva with Barça. Guardiola just said that Etoo will stay with the team, despite his previous statements.
Berbatov is more of a true striker than Rooney and much bigger. But they are both technically gifted and can create and score. I just don't have the impression that Berbatov works hard enough. He always plays relaxed and uses his awesome first touch. Nonetheless I think he will be a hit like Ruud was and another source of offensive output to take the burden off of C.Ronaldo. United had been trying to get Villa but he wouldn't leave Spain despite only several months ago Valencia management saying Villa and Silva were for sale. Too bad because Villa would probably have been cheaper and a better fit than Berbatov. If Eto'o is staying that would also be weird because I thought the big clubs would all line up to sign him for cheap but nothing has happened.
Villa is around 40 million euros, and Barça was asking the same (or even more) for Eto'o. He had offers from Chelsea, Milan and Inter, but none of them payed that price.
I wish Villa or Silva move to Real Madrid (I prefer Silva) it will be a great improvement.
Eto and Henry both scored. I doubt they are going to move. Arsenal sucks, Wenger is right, he need to get in more reinforcement. Liverpool sucks and was lucky. 40m strikeforce didn't do shit, it actually make the 16m Bent look worthwhile. Anyway, I think a 2008-2009 season thread should start.
On August 14 2008 17:44 Telemako wrote: Villa is around 40 million euros, and Barça was asking the same (or even more) for Eto'o. He had offers from Chelsea, Milan and Inter, but none of them payed that price.
I wish Villa or Silva move to Real Madrid (I prefer Silva) it will be a great improvement.
I wouldn't understand that transfer at all, Real Madrid already has some of the best strikers in the world, Ruud, Raul, Robinho, etc. Adding another striker would be a bad move , it would bench Raul probably, and this would be bad for him and his fitness(?). RM need to take advantage of Raul at this point since his career is slowly dying due to his age.His not the same as he was 10 years ago. Also it would leave Higuain with almost no time to play throught the league, causing him to lose form and would stop his development as a player, who btw is one of the most promising in the world. It wouldn't be a smart move either from Real Madrid or Valencia.
Real M. Strikers -> RvN, Raul <- old guys, 34,33 years. Saviola <- really no use here(dunno why, he never got a chance), Hiquan <- good guy, but I would never expect 20goal season from this guy. If needed Robinho could play striker too. Seems like Huntelaar is joining Real M.
I think Raul and RVN is ok, can't still play for at least 2 more season. They never rely on their speed, it's more natural instinct and composure for both of them. They will get someone next season, but I don't think this one. They can do a bit more testing on Saviola and Hiquian.
EPT
I hope you stay for a long time and take part in the many discussions we have, There are many knowledgeable people here, I hope you enjoy it.
![[image loading]](http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1176/wcham21806102048dl5.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/6092/20060408010303201gj3.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1226/0102062151000rl8.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/3665/taulukkonx1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/595/swp1fv.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img481.imageshack.us/img481/3923/kuqiepape5.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.10thhussar.co.uk/MANCHESTER-LOGO.jpg){kind=logo}
![[image loading]](http://www.robinhoweb.com/fotos/pepe1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img13.exs.cx/img13/3541/deco2vl.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://fotos.subefotos.com/c295f8a7ab332fc7887bc95482392e17o.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/jjlobban/arsena_zoolander_animation1.gif)
![[image loading]](http://img.godlike.cl/images/higuain.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i31.tinypic.com/vwsilw.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.marca.com/ficheros/marca/imagenes/blancas_ES.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.marca.com/elementosPortada/fotosPortada/2008/05/07/pasillo080507.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/7602/suomidp5.gif)
![[image loading]](http://i31.tinypic.com/103sdb7.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i27.tinypic.com/315fi3c.gif)
![[image loading]](http://d.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/sp/empics/20080726/17/1995767834-soccer-uefa-intertoto-cup-third-round-second-leg-aston-villa.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/6320/wtfmo5.jpg)
