The Official Football/Soccer Thread: 2017-2018 Season
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I don't like Marca, but somedays AS is sold out. I think what Valdano says in the last paper make sense. To sum it all he says that lately it seems in football (as in everything) "New is good, and old is bad", as for very young players that fill the football teams everywhere, and that start to be considered "the best of the world" after scoring 3 goals. Kaka has 26 years! and it seems to be kind of forgotten. Football may be on a fashion victim syndrome. We have seen a lot of Kaka, or Gerrard, or Puyol or Raul
. So when someone new appears the novelty is like the player that's "in" instead of the "same old player". Raul seems always to be out.
But in a poll between the Spanish leagues coaches was voted the 2nd best player of the league (1 Casillas 2 Raul 3 Ramos). Cannavaro, Zidane and Buffon were choosen the best players of the last world Cup, all of them way above 30 years. Even Xavi is not too young, not to mention Senna or Puyol who were perfect in the Eurocup. It seems we forget Etoo once Messi appears, or Raul when there is Robinho. Or Gerrard when there is Torres and so on. There are some "same old players" that besides not being new keep being good. But if you want a new face they won't give you that. A nice team of people over 30 (unless my mistake) Buffon: Puyol, Ferdinand, Grosso, Senna, Lampard, Ballack, Totti, Raul, Van Nistelrooy, Drogba
the same old guys, not new faces, but they can play
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Great show from Barça today. 1-6 Once they lead in the score they start just passing the ball around as usual. But even with 6 goals I haven't seen Alves creating danger with crossings or anything. So he's out of my Fantasy Football team. Instead of Alves, I've choosen another striker, Benzema. So I've made 3 transfers for matchday 2. 4 points of penalty, but I don't think it matters for they are changes for 5 matchdays. New Standings unclesox team 54 my team 50-4=46 daniel's team 38
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Schuster about Raul. "As now we attack with Higuain, Van Nistelrooy too, Raul is away from the area so he will score less goals, and we need to them for defending in the midfield with so much forwards attacking" So, maybe I change Raul in my team
, if he is going to play stopping attacks instead of being round the area.... Now Guti is injured and that maybe changes something.
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I will definately be making one change to my squad. Probably two. Possibly three but no more.
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unclesox:
I will definately be making one change to my squad. Probably two. Possibly three but no more.
I've made 3 and I hope not do more, now I have to stick with Raul even if I doesn't want him, maybe I will make a non-punished transfer for Matchday 3, if he doesn't return to the area.
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Real Madrid 7-Sporting 1 It looks Sporting is not gonna have a funny season. Great Real Madrid show. I dig the way Raul loses the marks on the defenders on the goal #6 while someone shoots to shoot a possible rebound
And he does the same thing to serve the 5th goal to Van der Vaart. He just needed some confidence after being out of the Euro Cup. Once he had it he tried the final goal. Raul the one and only. He has been discused and especulated to be substitued for Mijatovic, Suker, Ronaldo, Cassano, Baptista, Owen, Van Nistelrooy, Higuain, Robinho and it never happened with any coach
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21st Century Paul:
Real Madrid 7-Sporting 1 It looks Sporting is not gonna have a funny season.
To be fair, they are a promoted team, and their first four matches have been against Getafe (1-2), Sevilla (3-4), Barcelona (1-6) and Real Madrid (1-7).
And they play Villarreal next!
But this is the pattern all clubs will be facing. There's a certain point in the scheduling where clubs will be playing those five teams in consecutive weeks. As a result, by the time they play Real Madrid and especially Villarreal, they will have been beaten up both mentally and physically from the previous 3-4 weeks. For this reason, Villarreal and Real Madrid have no reason to not challenge for the title. On a different message board I've already predicted Villarreal to win the league.
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unclesox:
21st Century Paul:
Real Madrid 7-Sporting 1 It looks Sporting is not gonna have a funny season.
To be fair, they are a promoted team, and their first four matches have been against Getafe (1-2), Sevilla (3-4), Barcelona (1-6) and Real Madrid (1-7).
And they play Villarreal next!
But this is the pattern all clubs will be facing. There's a certain point in the scheduling where clubs will be playing those five teams in consecutive weeks. As a result, by the time they play Real Madrid and especially Villarreal, they will have been beaten up both mentally and physically from the previous 3-4 weeks. For this reason, Villarreal and Real Madrid have no reason to not challenge for the title. On a different message board I've already predicted Villarreal to win the league.
hmm I think Villareal it's the main rival of Real Madrid, you know Barça still not looks as a team and sometimes has the same old problems, though not always. I'm sure that Guardiola knows what must be done, while Rijkaard just tried the same thing over and over. Now the doubt is if the team can do or wants to do what Guardiola knows. Barça players continue to go out to the most popular discos late at night, as I've been informed first hand
. That's not a thing they can change. Now Guardiola wants to establish a diet for the players. Guardiola is trying everything, in spite of being a Real Madrid fan I want the real Barça again, you know. The tough rival and the great game. Barça and Real Madrid don't make sense without each other.
The most worrying thing for Real Madrid is that Villareal keeps being better and better every year, so if past year they were 2nd, watch out for this season. And Real Madrid did past year the absoluted record of points ever in La Liga, in any other year Villareal would have been champion. Van nisterlooy did not play, and that explain quite a lot Raul "change" in the performance too, if he's the striker nearest to the area, everything changes. Very soon Matchday 2 of Champions League
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Battle in the Barcelona Olympic Stadium
Well, Barcelona's derby has been today sort of a Boca-River. Quite disgusting. What a story. Early crossing of Barça that some Espanyol player stops with the arm. Probable penalty not signed. Espanyol scores after Luis Garcia kicks Valdes with his arm just before he's about to catch a ball from the air, the ball slips away from Valdes hands and Espanyol scores 1-0. All the match even then, surrounded of a Barça insulting chorus sung loud in the stadium by some Espanyol supporters and a chorus against Barça's president sung by Barça's hardcore supporters there because Laporta is against them. The match itself has not been violent, not many agressions at all. It was all in the audience. In the 2nd half things went totally mad. In some point the hardcore Barça fans threw several flares over the Espanyol supporters. That caused lots of people moving away from their seats, and some panic-hate reaction. A boy died some years ago in a Espanyol match because a flare hit their chest, not in a match against Barça. Some Espanyol supporters reacted wanting to go where Barça supporters were and fight. Some entered the athletism track, the football field, broke the all the barriers, quite a chaos. The referee stopped the match. Some Barça players started to worry about relatives in the audience. And Espanyol supporters over themselves. After 15 minutes the game starts again... Henry scores a goal and goes running to celebrate it with the hardcore supporters which caused chaos again with new flares against the people. Guardiola and others took Henry away from there.... And if all this wasn't enough, in the minute 95 or so... the referee signs a false penalty that Messi scores and Messi runs like Henry did to the place of the flares. Henry reacted madly in a second. But Messi shooted at penalty so I guess he knew what he was doing when he went deliberately to "vigorate" the hardcore Barça fans. The referee signs the end of the match, well, he didn't even signed it... and chaos. As people couldn't go against the Barça supporters because of all the police was there then they try to go against president Laporta (that openly is against these supporters) and invaded the zone of the presidents. Now the Barça supporters should be still inside the stadium surrounded by the police and the Espanyol ones in the exits of the stadium waiting for a "discussion" with the Barça supporters. And possibly with the players too. The Olympic Stadium is in the top of a mountain in Barcelona, quite a isolate place, I don't know how the things are gonna develop tonight from now on.
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Now I'm listening to the radio. Still some Barça's players after their shower still keep vigorating the hardcore fans, now being not so hot and after the event. And Guardiola sure is mad about it know because he is not like that.
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I could be wrong, but wasn't the section of Barcelona supporters who began everything the notorious Boixos Nois, the radical supporters group that Laporta has banned from Camp Nou once he took over as president? In fact, Laporta was shown on television during the stoppage of play on Saturday showing a lot of anger. I took this to mean that he was angered at the Boixos Nois for causing the problems. Since the Boixos Nois can't enter Camp Nou (that's what I've heard, anyway) they attend away matches. The Derbi at the Olimpic was ideal for them because it's an away match within the city and Laporta had no say on whether or not they could attend. Laporta today suggested that FC Barcelona are not responsible for what happened. Again, he's distancing himself from the Boixos Nois. He wants the club to have nothing to do with them.
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unclesox:
I could be wrong, but wasn't the section of Barcelona supporters who began everything the notorious Boixos Nois, the radical supporters group that Laporta has banned from Camp Nou once he took over as president? In fact, Laporta was shown on television during the stoppage of play on Saturday showing a lot of anger. I took this to mean that he was angered at the Boixos Nois for causing the problems. Since the Boixos Nois can't enter Camp Nou (that's what I've heard, anyway) they attend away matches. The Derbi at the Olimpic was ideal for them because it's an away match within the city and Laporta had no say on whether or not they could attend. Laporta today suggested that FC Barcelona are not responsible for what happened. Again, he's distancing himself from the Boixos Nois. He wants the club to have nothing to do with them.
Exactly, the Boixos Nois, Laporta is not responsible for a thing, actually he did was almost no president has done, not letting the Boixos Nois enter the Camp Nou, they still do somehow but not as a big group. And that was a brave thing of Laporta. So when Espanyol angry people went for Laporta it didn't make sense either, (If It ever makes sense to go to kick someone...). It was all mad. The aftermath is several injuried but no death. Many injuried outside the stadium in the expected battles between Espanyol supporters and Boixos Nois. BUT! The peculiar thing is the behaviour of some Barça players, not the president. You know Henry and Messi going to celebrate the goals like crazy with the Boixos Nois, after them throwing those dangerous flares to the people. Etoo was the player, that, after the shower went with the Boixos Nois, who else?. Of course not all the players are like that. Puyol, who else?, the one Barça can always count and Guardiola himself, other heart of the Barça tried to make the players go away from the Boixos Nois place. Espanyol has reported to the Federation Messi, Henry, Etoo and Piqué due to "violent incitement" a law figure in sports here, sometimes applied to presidents who incited hardcore fans in some ways, sometimes resulting in murders. Let's see what the Federation will do about it. Nothing special I guess, but that night showed who's really the Barça, Puyol, Guardiola... not some others, no wonder the team vibe or feeling between them is not good. You know Puyol gives his all always and others only play when they have the ball and the TV cam is on them, you know.
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Two changes made, including one of my goalkeepers.
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unclesox:
Two changes made, including one of my goalkeepers.
Benzema, Roberto Carlos, Lino into my team. Alves, Fabio Aurelio and Pedrito out. My XI today Casillas; Sagna, Roberto Carlos; Walcott, Gerrard, Alex, Lucho, Diego; Agüero, Benzema and Raúl (C) Real Madrid playing earlier than others at 18.30 Spanish time.
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Well, it's getting hard to guess what coaches are gonna do. Schuster past week: "Raul needs to play many minutes" Today Raul didn't play a minute. Some injury? All I know I've got a double zero cause he's my captain.
Other saved the ass of my team... and I've got Agüero, Gerrard and Diego for tomorrow. Like the Real Madrid forwards, Man Utd ones are hard to guess too. And Barça ones.
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Neville (Man Utd) and Ibagaza (Villarreal) are in my lineup and didn't play.
Luckily I have two decent reserves in Pizarro (W.Bremen) and Joao Moutinho (Sporting) playing today. And Danny scored!
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unclesox:
Neville (Man Utd) and Ibagaza (Villarreal) are in my lineup and didn't play.
Luckily I have two decent reserves in Pizarro (W.Bremen) and Joao Moutinho (Sporting) playing today. And Danny scored!
I didn't know but if your captain does not play you can change your captain before the other matches begin. So I changed my captain from Raul to Gerrard. Also I got some point for a substitute instead of Raul and I did 49. I'm very stubborn about Diego
, I hope someday he will do something in the Champions League not only in the Bundesliga, his value is decreasing though. Standings of the Macca Board League after Matchday 2 My team 95 points unclesox's team 91 points Daniel's team 82 points Hey Lewandoski played! the famous player
but since he was on field Barça started making goals. yes, Danni scored... the Zenit - Real Madrid game was crazy sometimes it looked as a Premier League match, it looked like no team couldn't defend the other team. Real Madrid is very used to that kind of matches in the Spanish League with them attacking with a lot of players and being exposed too. I don't think the games against Juventus is gonna be like that at all.
Hot games for round 3 and 4 Juventus Real Madrid and viceversa Atlético Liverpool and viceversa Chelsea Roma and viceversa
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With Deportivo having survived penalties against Brann, Spain will have 4 clubs competing in the UEFA Cup: Deportivo, Racing, Sevilla and Valencia. England will also have 4 teams playing: Aston Villa, Manchester City, Portsmouth and Tottenham. Germany and Holland have the most with 5 clubs each. Germany: Hamburg, Hertha Berlin, Schalke, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg. Holland: Ajax, Feyenoord, Heerenveen, NEC and Twente. And two leagues will be represented with three clubs each: France: Nancy, Paris SG and Saint Etienne. Italy: Milan, Sampdoria and Udinese. Belgium, Portugal (including Benfica) and Russia will each have two clubs participating, while ten other countries will each have only one representative competing. The draw for the group stage will be on Tuesday 7 October, and play will kickoff the same week as Matchday 3 of the Champions League, specifically on Thursday 23 October. If you think Fantasy Football for the Champions League is tough, wait until you play the UEFA Cup version!
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I don't know many players in the UEFA or teams. Yeah, I know the Spanish ones, Milan and not much more. You know I always watch certain matches, not many football. But tomorrow there's one of those matches. Barcelona vs Atletico de Madrid 8 pm spain time One of those matches that show the measure of the teams.
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Hey, one question about the Fantasy Football. When we start the knockout round every team is gonna have a 110 milion budget. Then it doesn't matter your team's worth or the money in the bank after matchday 6. Am I wrong?