2010/2011 Season Soccer Thread (incl. ECL and Europa League)

... except that McGeady is set to move to Spartak Moscow - that one's been going on since before the WC. I've seen it mentioned several times on football365.com. I'm betting the biggest wages are going on Dunne (already mentioned), Carew, Heskey, Ashley Young and the ageing Friedel - total wages for those guys is probably £300000 per week at least.

 

I know this isn't club soccer, but the Brazil-USA friendly tonight in NY was absolutely pitiful past the tenth minute from the US point of view. Brazil's kids absolutely schooled the US in possession and how to control a game and move forward together. Tim Howard is usually exempt from criticism because he bails out the team so much (as he did a couple of times tonight), but how many times does he have to PUNT the ball past the half line to a lone US striker that can't trap for shit to figure out that it's not gonna work... Christ.

The only clubs I truly support for the record is NY Red Bull and Watford FC. Red Bull are gonna be fun to watch the next couple of months and Watford hopefully will climb towards mid-table with a more steady manner this season. An away win is always nice to start the season.

 

I couldn't agree more. Although thanks to the fucking nightmare of a traffic situation around the new Meadowlands stadium, I missed the entire first half, halftime and the first ten minutes of the second. The only real bright spot during the second half was Guzan, who had a couple of very nice saves. Not a whole lot positive to speak of beyond that. Except that there should be some talented young Brazilians making their way over to Europe in the next few years.

Anyone know what the US goal was called back for? I was sitting at the other end and nobody around me could tell what happened.

 

Offsides. Bradley was a solid three to five feet off. No arguments from anyone.

 

HAHAHAHA. Oh Jesus, this one made me hyperventilate. I am SO GLAD Arsenal didn't offer this fool a new contract.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6306367,00.html

The short of it: Senderos out for 6 months due to a ruptured Achilles Tendon.

I can't stop laughing. Thank fuck we got rid of that sicknote jerkoff. He spent about 3x as much time on the treatment table with Arsenal than he did on the field.

 

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/11/manchester-united-sign-striker-bebe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... riker-bebe</a>

WHAT THE FUCK!? 7.4 million for an unproven forward from the Portuguese third division? No value on the market Fergie? So there is value there? And also how many strikers do they need? They have 8 now and they all took the piss out of us (City) for signing too many.






GOAL FROM LINDPERE! Great dribble from Henry. Estonia scored 2 in extra time to win 2:1 against Faroe Islands and now Joel scores.

 

I've never heard of this kid, but based on his background and what little anyone seems to know, God only knows what Fergie's thinking on this one.

Though to be fair, City took all the shit they did because every forward they signed was a number one or two guy at their previous club and had to be expecting significant playing time. The majority of the strikers United have signed and already had are still young. They'll probably either be loaned out to smaller clubs to get experience or obviously don't have illusions of claiming a significant share of playing time.

Awesome to see Lindpere and the Metros pull one out tonight. I hadn't heard about him debating whether to fly back to Estonia, but glad it worked out for both teams. I've got a feeling we'll be seeing way more goals that come from Henry drawing defenders and dumping it off rather than scoring himself. Although that was a blatant penalty he should have had in the first half. No idea how the ref missed that one.

 

I have noticed that the refs in MLS don´t give out fouls very easily. It makes the game a lot more entertaining to watch as there arent as many interruptions and there is almost no diving from what i have seen.

 

But the problem is that MLS refs need to be more strict on blatant/harsh fouls because it's hurting the quality of the game. As an American who watches MLS I wouldn't mind some more whistles if it cut down on some of the physical play and allowed more skill to shine through.

 

Maybe a little but I quite enjoy how fast paced MLS is sometimes. There is also very little ball holding in the midfield. The ball goes from one end to the other very fast compared to continental european football.


I´m getting really nervous about the Spurs game now. Id love to win against that tax dodging cunts team but even with all the additions to the team it still feels very unlikely.

 

Wigan 0 Blackpool 4. Holy.shit. Two of the Blackpool players that scored (one was Harewood) only signed on this week! I've never thought much of Martinez as a manager, especially after Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal thumped them last season, but to get thrashed by a team in its first top flight match for 39 years is simply catastrophic. Wigan are fucked and will finish 20th this season.

 

Arsenal 6 Blackpool 0. Ouch. Welcome to the top flight, Tangerines!

Chelsea hit 6 against Wigan too. So did Newcastle against Aston Villa. Wow. Villa fans must be fucking livid. If Lerner doesn't get a full-time manager soon, they're going to be in serious trouble.

Looks like Gallas has gone to Spurs on a one year deal, and Squillaci is signing for Arsenal from Sevilla. A defender at last! Gallas will not be missed.

 

Good news Liverpool!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHHfXtx734k

Anyone see this goal from Champion's League on the W/E?

Italy may have done far better had they not refused to play Pazzini at the World Cup and instead played that big oaf Iaquinta.

 

... and still no new goalkeeper at Arsenal. FUCK.

5th place here we come! Almunia is useless, as is Flapianski....

 

Sir Alex is keeping Rooney out of this weekend's fixture with Everton so he doesn't have to face Everton fans. Given Ronoey's alleged indiscretions, past at Everton and acrimonious departure, what do people think about this?
Prudent protection of your player?, or overprotective?

 

Overprotective. But I'm all for any slip-up by Man United. They also drew the match thanks to Arteta's goal for Everton in injury time. HAHAHA.

Arsenal 4 Bolton 1. A nice win over our bogey team.

 

1:1 against Blackburn at home. That after a loss to sunderland. Tevez missed an empty net against the Mackems and then they got a dodgy penalty. Blackburn had a lucky goal from a stupid mistake by Hart. Should have been easy 6 points from those 2 games without the fuckups. Hopefully they will learn and improve.

 

Stating the obvious: Barca is fun to watch. Check Messi's set-up steeze.

 

Berbatov showing the no-national team skill: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2010/09/berbatovs-wonder-goal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_i ... -goal.html</a>

... and refs with cocaine: <a class="postlink" href="http://deadspin.com/5644281/controversial-world-cup-referee-busted-with-whole-lotta-heroin-at-airport" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://deadspin.com/5644281/controversi ... at-airport</a>