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

Discussion in 'Sports Board' started by Durbanite, Jul 20, 2010.

  1. dense

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    Well fuck me, I had gone into Monday having correctly picked Newcastle and Liverpool to win only to have my treble destroyed by MU. Jesus, they looked alright during the first half, but I wasn't ruling our a point for Tottenham. Then the second half rolls around and I guess the half time speech in the Tottenham locker room went something like this "Ok guys, we have Friedel in goal, our defense can stand around and do nothing." Which is exactly what happened, this game could have easily turned out much worse, because Friedel did make some great saves. So while I may have been putting MC above MU prematurely, and De Gea did make some nice plays this game, would MU not be better with one of the younger MLS goalies? If MLS has proven anything, America can produce world class talent at that position at least.
     
  2. Durbanite

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    That's a good point about American goalkeepers - they do produce some great talent.

    I just got done watching the Udinese vs. Arsenal Champions League Qualifying Match. I thought Arsenal were done when Di Natale scored that looping header near the end of the first half - Arsenal seemed to be more dangerous but had not converted their chances. I *really* thought Arsenal were fucked when Rosicky replaced Frimpong, but then Van Persie scored from point blank range and things looked alright until that penalty was awarded. Vermaelen supposedly handballed but I think he couldn't get his hand out of the way, since the ball seemed to bobble up off the turf. Di Natale stepped up and I thought that'd be it for Arsenal, but Szcezny made an excellent save. Then Walcott scored - it was particularly good since he wrong-footed Handanovic (he was excellent in goals for Udinese and was unfortunate to be on the losing side) at full speed and left the Udinese defender behind. Di Natale seemed out of sorts for Udinese after he missed that penalty... but Arsenal are through to the group stage draw. Woohoo!
     
  3. dense

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    Arsenal got a shitload of cash by making it to the group stage of UCL, I think it's like 6 million euros just to get there, plus a shitload of cash each match in the group stage, with more for wins. Add the UCL money to what they have from selling Nasri and Cesc and they could buy a few world class players at huge salaries, or they could buy 4-5 really good players at more reasonable prices. All is not lost for them.

    On a less positive note, Fulham. Could they score a motherfucking goal in the EPL? Please sign a striker for the love of god, be it Ruiz, Tevez, whothefuck ever. If you have the cash to build a statue of a child molester to put in front of the stadium, one would hope you could sign someone to put the ball in the net.
     
  4. Durbanite

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    I think Fulham may well lose tomorrow to Newcastle United - The Magpies have plugged the majority of the holes in their team, and Coloccini is a MASSIVELY improved player since their relegation.

    I hope Arsenal steal that Korean (Democratic not Communist) Park Chu-Young from under the noses of Lille - that'd be hilarious. 10 million Pounds seems a bit pricey, though.

    In other news, that was a very good win for Liverpool over Bolton 3-1. Skrtel's header was a screamer and Adam's goal was well-taken also. Bolton were very deflated after Skrtel's header and never looked like getting back in. What was baffling to me was Owen Coyle substituting Kevin Davies for Pratley - you need Davies in matches like that to create problems for defenders, since he's a physical, old-school English forward, much like Andy Carroll is for Liverpool but with better skills... Carroll looked shit as a sub, but Suarez, José Enriqué, Adam, and Kuyt looked very good. Carragher tried his famous last-ditch tackling (because he is terribly slow in pace now) and came off second to Klasnic...
     
  5. Durbanite

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    8-2. That was an astounding match, for all the wrong reasons. Wenger has again proven he is an inept tactician, unable or unwilling to change tactics to suit different opposition and unable to buy more than one sort of player. I think the shareholders will replace the board and Wenger before the end of the month, at the latest halfway through September, because that sort of loss is shameful and embarrassing for the supporters and the club. It's Arsenal's worst league result since 1896. Wow. Time for a new board, new players and a new coach - maybe Wenger should be moved to head up youth development.

    Well done to City for fucking up Spurs, though. That is some small consolation.
     
  6. dense

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    Jesus christ, I'm sorry Durbanite. 8-2 is considering a pounding in fucking baseball, never mind soccer. For them to have won would have been a huge upset, for them to have drawn would have been a mighty success, but I think everyone expected a loss, but just not like that.

    In more depressing news, Newcastle did beat Fulham. They didn't dominate, and without some great saves it could have gone the other way but I just don't want to see the same shit happen this season where the team has to rely on Dempsey to be their goal scorer. Sure, it's nice that your midfielder can get you around 10 goals a season in the EPL, but when his total of 12 leads the team in 2010/11, that's not great. Apparently they are bringing in some teen for around 5million pounds to be a striker, and hopefully that pans out, and they are getting a defender from Juventus to replace Salcido, so that's all positive, but it doesn't help to see them sitting at 16th out of 20 teams when you can count on teams like Arsenal and Tottenham moving ahead of them.

    I don't think they will be relegated, but this season really feels like some of the issues that baseball is confronted with have come into play with soccer. The city of Manchester is basically the AL East and they are going to crush motherfuckers, whereas teams that can't spend, or won't spend are just going to be at such a huge disadvantage that their definition of success is to just stay in the EPL.
     
  7. Durbanite

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    I honestly think Fulham will peak later this season. To be fair, you have got some very injury-prone forwards in Zamora and Johnson, but, looking at their squad, at least two forwards and maybe another centre-back are urgently needed, but I don't know where money for them will come from, since Al-Fayed won't open his chequebook after all the rubbish that has been bought over the years with his money (Sava, Steve Marlet and others)...
     
  8. dense

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    Well he can't simply choose not to spend. The thing I like about the EPL (and the other top end leagues) is that you get millions upon millions of dollars just by being in the EPL, so it's better to spend than risk being put in the Championship and losing out on those dollars. To add onto that, Fulham are now in the group stage of the Europa league, and while the prize money is weak compared to the UCL, they have earned nearly 1.5million euros thus far, with the potential to get another 120K for each win (60K per draw) in this stage, while they do have to have FC Twente and Odenese, I think they have a real shot at advancing.

    They got a center back in the form of Grygera, and to be honest, I don't know shit about him but I would assume that since he played in over 100 games in Serie A he can't be awful. Over their next three games Fulham plays Blackburn at home, Manchester City at home, and then travels to WBA. Ideally I'd want 6 points out of those 3 games, since I'm basically giving MC a win at this point, but if they got four points out of the next three games, it wouldn't be the end of the world, anything less than that and it's going to be a fucking shitshow.
     
  9. Porkins

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    Wouldn't firing him right now be crazy? Ignoring the fact that his past successes probably earned him at least a full season before going another direction with the team, who would be brought in to replace him? And would they really be able to do better with this crop of players than Wenger would?
     
  10. Durbanite

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    It looks like Arsenal now have a number of transfer targets - he now HAS to spend, since his experiment with the kids has failed. Wenger always leaves it too late every season for new player acquisitions - which is why Arsenal get total morons more often than not.

    Grygera's a decent signing, but not a youngster - I saw him a few years back when Arsenal played Ajax in the ECL (2005 I think?). I think Fulham will struggle against FC Twente but should be able to overcome OB Odense. I'd favour Fulham for wins over Rovers and Albion - two real relegation candidates there.

    No, firing him early into the season means there is still time for the team to recover and for a new manager to drill these players. I think Wenger spends too much time trying to be a father figure for these youngsters instead of being a manager. His experiment with continuously playing youth ahead of signing experienced players has, on the whole, not paid off - Arsenal have not won any major trophies since 2005. There have been some great games but how many times have Arsenal beaten the league's best teams like Manchester United or Chelsea or even now Manchester City?

    The team has been in a downward spiral since 2006 when Bergkamp retired and Campbell left, shortly followed by Pires and Henry and then Ljungberg, without adequate replacements being signed - you need the experienced chaps to mentor the younger guys and for the manager to BE a manager to strengthen the squad every season and to tactically adapt to counter different opponents - something Wenger NEVER does. He has also failed to coach players in set plays - how many stupid goals have Arsenal conceded from free kicks and corners? One that springs to memory was that loss last season against Blackburn Rovers when Samba kept getting free of the defenders and got in once and set up one - Arsenal lost that match 2-1 due to two goals from set pieces. You do NOT try to play football against Manchester United when they are in fantastic form - you line up the players in front of the goal and have them "set up camp", as it were. Note that almost none of the big signings of recent times have had any loyalty to Wenger but rather to the massive contract that he's given them - Denilson is on a reported £60000 a week!

    Honestly, I'd replace Wenger with Ancelotti - I can bet he'd join if he was offered a suitable contract.
     
  11. guernica

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    The thing about the Arsenal vs Manchester United game was that 7 out of the 10 goals were pretty top notch, and you would have been more than happy to see each one of them as the individual goal of a single game.

    Particularly Young's double and both of Rooney's free kicks.
     
  12. dense

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    That's true, they did score some really great goals but that doesn't excuse Arsenal from letting in 8. If the overall play from the gunners had been better, then perhaps MU wouldn't have been in position to put in those shots, but who know really, all that was clear was that Arsenal had put all their effort into getting into the UCL group stage and went into the MU game like sacrificial lambs.

    In a hugely positive note, my request from 8/25 has been granted. Fulham are signing Ruiz from Twente for 10.6 million pounds. Ruiz is young (25), and from what I've seen of him before, this is a move that should help Fulham greatly. They won't finish in the top four, they are Fulham after all, but with a decent striker with a nose for goal they should finish in the top ten.

    My only question is that since Ruiz has played for Twente in the UCL this season and Twente is now in the Europa league (in the same group as Fulham), what restrictions, if any, exist for Ruiz? If he were loaned out in the EPL he couldn't play against his original team, but I don't know if similar rules apply to the Europa League.
     
  13. jets22

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    From what I've seen, Ruiz cannot play for Fulham in the group stages. He played for Twente in the Champions league, but since they've dropped into the Europa League for the group stage, he is still cup tied to them as they are now in the same competition as Fulham.

    If Fulham make it through to the knockout rounds and Twente are eliminated, the restrictions may change but that scenario wasn't made very clear in anything that I read. If I had to guess, I would say no though.
     
  14. Durbanite

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    I concur. Ruiz would be cup-tied for any European competition for this season since he played for FC Twente already, even though it was only a qualifying match.
     
  15. guernica

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    Arsenal did extremely well last night in the transfer last few hours of madness. Back in contention for a top 4 spot now.
     
  16. Durbanite

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    No way. They bought a defender who is known for lacking pace, although he will provide presence at set piece and corner situations, and they brought in 2 midfielders - Arteta used to be good at Everton because they had other players who could do the tackling, although he is a great assist man, and Benayoun, who has been injured for half of the last 12 months and mostly out of the Chelsea team - who knows what sort of pace and trickery he will have after that injury.

    I think 5th place is the best that this team can manage, unless they manage to sign at least 2 defenders in January (I'm hoping for a combination of Samba, Cahill and Onuoha) - I just think they are too lightweight and too inexperienced to hope for better.

    EDIT: Forgot about Andre Santos. He's an unproven player in the Premiership and Brazilians haven't always worked out well at Arsenal (see: Edu, Silvinho, Denilson).
     
  17. jets22

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    So now they'll only lose 6-2?
     
  18. guernica

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    Quite possibly. As a United fan, that would still suit me fine.

    I just think they look significantly better than they did this time last week.
     
  19. dense

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    Arsenal did improve, I've always thought that Arteta was pretty good and he should help Arsenal control the ball a bit more, but I think the real prize might be Benayoun. I know that his time at Chelsea was pretty much a wash due to injury, but from what I saw from him at Liverpool he was a high energy player that looked to push the ball forward as much as possible.

    Anyhow, the U.S v. Costa Rica game is getting underway now, hoping to see strong play from some of the younger players.
     
  20. dense

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    Well after watching U.S v. Costa Rica I learned a few things. Tim Howard is still great, there wasn't much he could do about the goal he let in. The U.S looked really good for the first 20 minutes of the game but nobody could finish. The thing that really caught my eye though was that for the last half hour the U.S seemed to be playing at half speed. The passes seemed to take forever to get to the player, and the players weren't moving to the ball, for the past three world cups you could say whatever you liked about the talent of the U.S team but they were usually the most fit team out there, tonight they looked like they demolished a double double at half time.

    Fucking disappointing.