2011-2012 football (soccer) thread

As much as I dislike the decision for Cacau under normal circumstances, I think it's understandable since the german team has basically just a week to prepare with all men together, since Bayern has to play CL finals and that dumb ass friendly vs the Netherlands. It's pretty hard to include someone new into the team with such limited preparation time while Cacau is a safe bet here.

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Pandemona England. May 08 2012 16:43. Posts 9427

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Blackburn game last night is just truth at how much fan power should be listened too, i can't see them selling out Ewood park week in week out next year if they still have the Venkys running the club, let alone Kean as manager. Quite sad really considering all what Blackburn used to be but times change and clubs evolve and you can safetly say Blackburn hasn't, oh well.

Liverpool vs Chelsea part 2 tonight, Chelsea looking to keep faint hope alive of a 4th place finish with Liverpool looking for revenge from Saturday evening. Should be a good game i think, hoping Torres starts this time though

Oh yeah, mr German fans why is Marko Marin not in your Euro squad....Chelsea just sign him and he not even in the squad?

Last edit: 2012-05-08 17:16:44

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Ysellian Netherlands. May 08 2012 17:14. Posts 3841

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On May 08 2012 08:11 Surrealistic wrote:
So happy there's some Gomez criticism. Never thought he was shit hot, and seems to be quite lazily described as brilliant by people who don't follow the Bundesliga

Here's Hollands provisional team..

Show nested quote +

Don't really know alot of the Eredivise based players. One glaring admission is Van Wolfswinkel, seemed quite impressive in the Europa League, injured?

I don't think so, Van Marwijk was more impressed with Luuk de Jong for the last available striker spot. Luuk has had a terrific season for Twente despite their poor position in the league. With Van Persie, Huntelaar and de Jong that's enough strikers for the system we play.

Though it's pretty weird to see players like Bouma and Wijnaldum be chosen. They were horrible in big matches and Europe.

Last edit: 2012-05-08 17:15:14

Steveling Greece. May 08 2012 17:18. Posts 3093

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In other news Barca won the Best team of the Decade award on the IFFHS ceremony among others.
Totally deserved.
Oh and la liga won the best league in the world topping the premiership.

The seven sins of society.. riches without labour, satisfaction without emotion, trade without ethos, knowledge without character, science without humanism, worship without sacrifice, politics without morals.

sharkie Austria. May 08 2012 17:32. Posts 2164

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On May 08 2012 16:43 Pandemona wrote:
Blackburn game last night is just truth at how much fan power should be listened too, i can't see them selling out Ewood park week in week out next year if they still have the Venkys running the club, let alone Kean as manager. Quite sad really considering all what Blackburn used to be but times change and clubs evolve and you can safetly say Blackburn hasn't, oh well.

Liverpool vs Chelsea part 2 tonight, Chelsea looking to keep faint hope alive of a 4th place finish with Liverpool looking for revenge from Saturday evening. Should be a good game i think, hoping Torres starts this time though

Oh yeah, mr German fans why is Marko Marin not in your Euro squad....Chelsea just sign him and he not even in the squad?

Marin has been invisible this season, I am actually surprised Chelsea signed him.

popzags Poland. May 08 2012 18:48. Posts 577

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On May 08 2012 17:18 Steveling wrote:
In other news Barca won the Best team of the Decade award on the IFFHS ceremony among others.
Totally deserved.
Oh and la liga won the best league in the world topping the premiership.

What? A league where two teams ridiculously pwn everyone else season after season won over a league, where everything can happen and every single team plays as it was fighting for it's life? Duh, maybe La Liga is way more spectacular to watch, but in terms of skill and competitiveness, Premier League owns pretty much any league I can think of.

What what the the fuck fuck? That blew my mind so much, I doubled every word in the phrase 'What the fuck' to get: 'What what the the fuck fuck my what the the fuck fucking what did the drop dropship medivac where in the what in the hell?' - Day[9]

Enchanted Portugal. May 08 2012 19:10. Posts 1356

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On May 08 2012 17:18 Steveling wrote:
In other news Barca won the Best team of the Decade award on the IFFHS ceremony among others.
Totally deserved.
Oh and la liga won the best league in the world topping the premiership.

Those awards were for last season.

Not the team of the decade but the other ones.

Keniji Germany. May 08 2012 19:15. Posts 1305

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On May 08 2012 18:48 popzags wrote:

Show nested quote +

So I just googled it because I was interested. In the last 16 years a total amount of 3 different teams have won te premiere league. Pretty diverse right there. Barca and real are dominating la liga, and probably more than it happens in other leagues. But it's not like it doesn't happen in other leagues.

This is ridiculous...

Retric Germany. May 08 2012 19:19. Posts 280

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On May 08 2012 16:17 hns wrote:
As much as I dislike the decision for Cacau under normal circumstances, I think it's understandable since the german team has basically just a week to prepare with all men together, since Bayern has to play CL finals and that dumb ass friendly vs the Netherlands. It's pretty hard to include someone new into the team with such limited preparation time while Cacau is a safe bet here.

the friendly against netherlands is actually not dumb ass. bayern makes about 3 million because of that friendly, which will be the damages for the incompetence of the dutch doctor who was responsible for robbens big injury after the WC 2010.

Sated England. May 08 2012 19:38. Posts 3360

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On May 08 2012 19:15 Keniji wrote:

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I like how you've neatly omitted Blackburn from your statement, who were just relegated yesterday. Well done. Also, you need to look closer at the details to get the full story. The same teams might compete for the title most years, but at least they're being pushed by the other teams in the league moreso than the top teams in La Liga are. Take this year, for example.

Both United and City have lost as many games individually as Real Madrid and Barcelona combined.
United and City have goal differences of +55 and +63 respectively. Real Madrid and Barcelona have goal differences of +86 and +85.
The gap between second and third in the Premier League is 19 points. The same gap in La Liga is 29 points. Fully 10 points more.

Going further back, Real Madrid and Barcelona have won the title 52 times between them and have never been relegated from the top flight. Manchester United and Liverpool have only won the top flight title 37 times between them and have both been relegated from the top flight. Moreover, only 9 teams have ever won Spain's top-flight; 23 teams have won England's.

Last edit: 2012-05-08 19:44:18

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popzags Poland. May 08 2012 19:56. Posts 577

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On May 08 2012 19:38 Sated wrote:

Show nested quote +

Both United and City have lost as many games individually as Real Madrid and Barcelona combined.
United and City have goal differences of +55 and +63 respectively. Real Madrid and Barcelona have goal differences of +86 and +85.
The gap between second and third in the Premier League is 19 points. The same gap in La Liga is 29 points. Fully 10 points more.

You are puling words from my mouth Sated. Actually, to describe that, it's best to look at the story of Valencia, a team that once tried to compete with Real and Barca and pretended to be third bigass club from Spain. In short, they had plenty of success with Hector Cuper (two consecutive CL finals) and later, Rafa Benitez (winning La Liga, winning UEFA Cup). It was, however, all at cost of gigantic debt. Their bosses hoped that the success will fill their banking accounts back, but it didn't. Why? Because the sponsors think that, as a brand, Valencia can't compete with Real and Barca. So they sold their best players, sold old stadium to get out of trouble. Pretty much the same goes for Deportivo La Coruna, who took the league title in 2000 and even got to CL semifinals once. Incidentally, they could assemble a team that can take out the giants. But in a long run, the financial issues around La Liga are so imbalanced towards Great Two that anyone else has to step back.

Last edit: 2012-05-08 20:26:15

Salteador Neo Andorra. May 08 2012 19:58. Posts 3605

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Well fuck, Puyol got hurt in the knee so he won't play in the spanish cup finals against Athletic de Bilbao. Neither the Euro with Spain.

Btw FCBarcelona has won the european champions league with at least one of his sports sections (football, basketball, saloon football and handball) for 14 years in a row.

Ed: Oh damn 17, cool :D

Last edit: 2012-05-08 20:34:39

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Zhiroo Kosovo. May 08 2012 20:23. Posts 1245

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On May 08 2012 19:58 Salteador Neo wrote:
Well fuck, Puyol got hurt in the knee so he won't play in the spanish cup finals against Athletic de Bilbao. Neither the Euro with Spain.

Btw FCBarcelona has won the european champions league with at least one of his sports sections (football, basketball, saloon football and handball) for 14 years in a row.

17 years in a row mate. Also I'm happy that Puyol is going to miss the Euros. Our captain needs rest.

LoL EuW: ScarfS - By starting this squabble you've proven nothing but how vast your stupidity is.

Rebs Pakistan. May 08 2012 20:36. Posts 3243

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On May 08 2012 19:56 popzags wrote:

Show nested quote +

On May 08 2012 19:38 Sated wrote:

On May 08 2012 19:15 Keniji wrote:

On May 08 2012 18:48 popzags wrote:

Both United and City have lost as many games individually as Real Madrid and Barcelona combined.
United and City have goal differences of +55 and +63 respectively. Real Madrid and Barcelona have goal differences of +86 and +85.
The gap between second and third in the Premier League is 19 points. The same gap in La Liga is 29 points. Fully 10 points more.

Dont worry its PL fanboyism, nothing you can do about it... Again this stuff keeps popping back all the time so Im just going to link this.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=249755&currentpage=20

Cash injections creating the illusion of emerging competition clearly makes it the leagues brilliance and not the fact that football exploded in the rest of the world and the English Premier league, happened to be .. well in English. Ofcourse you can say "its not our fault"were English and yea ofcourse. Right place right time. That having been said the only real superiority of the english game at the moment is its money and its popularity. Quality of football and aesthetic is subjective and the measures that they use for cross league rating is european performance. Spain rocked it this whether anyone likes it or not.

Barca and Real might crush league teams at home but so did United and City this year. It is after all just for the year.

I heard somewhere Fergie commenting that "they couldnt compete with City's financial clout". True or false ? Because if its true that just adds to another one of Fergie hypocricy's that frankly annoy me because hes such a boss and doesnt need to say shit like that. It is after all a culture he actively helped foster.

Feel free to browse the pages either side to sate your appetites for this nonsense discussion that doesnt ever convince anyone otherwise

O and while were at it Rovers didnt win 16 years ago. 94-95 do the math.

Last edit: 2012-05-08 20:48:34

sc4k United Kingdom. May 08 2012 20:41. Posts 4382

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On May 08 2012 19:38 Sated wrote:

Show nested quote +

Both United and City have lost as many games individually as Real Madrid and Barcelona combined.
United and City have goal differences of +55 and +63 respectively. Real Madrid and Barcelona have goal differences of +86 and +85.
The gap between second and third in the Premier League is 19 points. The same gap in La Liga is 29 points. Fully 10 points more.

Plus, I don't know the exact facts but I'd wager that the points gap between 1,2 and the rest in la liga has, in the past 20 years, been much larger on average than the premier league points gap.

I think it comes down to the fact that before any given season in the Premier League you can say 'these 4-6 teams can definitely win the EPL this season'. With La liga it will realistically be 2-3...every season. And when you get halfway in the league, you are still saying 'these 4 teams have a chance of winning the EPL', and in the spanish league it's more liek 'yep it's a battle between these 2 and the rest don't matter.' Meh, I just think there is also more class going down the league, good competitive teams like fulham and stoke further down the pecking order which I just don't think exist around 10-14th.

And then you have the performance of clubs that have been promoted to the PL. It's just insane, the best example being Newcastle who bounced back from their relegation with now fighting for a CL spot. Awesome league...really competitive with very few dead weights. Below Atletico, Valencia and I guess with their money Malaga, there really isn't much else going on in la liga. In the prem we have teams like fulham, everton, liverpool (although they should be competing for the title), stoke, sunderland...who are all great teams which have had glory in their past...and there you are missing out chelsea arsenal man u man city tottenham and newcastle. I just can't see how the long list of awesome clubs at EPL can be beaten by the la liga list which really tails off. Can you really compare the quality of everton liverpool and fulham to levante mallorca and osasuna?

Last edit: 2012-05-08 20:59:24

hns Germany. May 08 2012 20:50. Posts 560

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On May 08 2012 19:19 Retric wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yeah maybe it's not dumb from a financial perspective, but the timing is really really bad.

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FreudianTrip Switzerland. May 08 2012 20:56. Posts 1882

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I'm just going to re-post my post from another forum.

[image loading]

Steve Keans obviously bent as fuck but he's just a figurehead for Jerome Anderson at the end of the day. We can ignore it all we like but this is the absolute proof of how agents act on self interest rather than for the client and how this can be the destruction of a well-run club.

The board aren't being consulted on anything. They've been marginalised. They have no input on transfers or the ability to terminate the manager. Everything that Blackburn have done this season can be put solely in the hands of SEM and Jerome Anderson.

The Third Party player they mention btw is Mauro Formica. They also bought a Barcelona youth player for 500k, they payed 1.6 mil in agents fees. Jerome Anderson claims he recieved none of this money.

sc4k United Kingdom. May 08 2012 21:02. Posts 4382

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wow jesus christ 1.6 mil in agents fees for a 500k player, seems pretty crooked o.O

Pandemona England. May 08 2012 21:06. Posts 9427

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Blackburn are fucked. Plain and simple, they sold the club to idiot owners who dont even have the guts and courage to speak out and hold there hands up admitting mistakes. They will not be back in the premier league any time soon, they will lose half there squad and be lucky to make top half of the Championship next season, i feel for there fans, they were a club with big tradition, and among the elite 4 in terms of teams who have won the premier league.

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FreudianTrip Switzerland. May 08 2012 21:06. Posts 1882

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By the way when I say Jerome Anderson claims he recieved no money I'm implying that he definitely recieved a massive chunk of it but it's deposited off-shore so he has to pretend he never got the money for tax reasons.