The Official Football/Soccer Thread: 2017-2018 Season
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21st Century Paul:
The weak point, cause everybody has... is that is not so "cruel" to leave someone out of the team if it's needed or so. I don't see doing that. He would prefer anyone to play and join the party. But if there's no problem he doesn't need to do that.
Well, you've just said it. There are no problems so there's currently no need for Pep to bench anyone. A lot of the media were talking about Pep having problems with Yaya because he wasn't playing him, but he was injured at the time. Now that Touré has recovered, Pep has been including him in fairly often. Keita also back from injury, but Iniesta could be a significant loss. Milito should be back soon. I'm not sure why Manchester United supporters were sorry to see Piqué leave because he really hasn't impressed much. He looks too nervous more than anything. I'd like to see Pep give Cáceres a go ahead of Piqué. Barcelona paid 16 million euros for him and he hasn't seen much action.
21st Century Paul:
Well, you know. Real Madrid (shamely) out of the Spanish Cup, or the Cup of the King... by winning 4-3 in the Bernabeu after losing 3-2 against Real Union, a team of the third Spanish division, after the first and second one... They do many goals, this time Raul did a hat-trick, but well, if you receive 3... I don't know if people are gonna start discussing Casillas, not me...
There's no need to discuss Casillas because he didn't play. Dudek was in goal as he usually plays during the Copa del Rey matches. But it was the whole defence that looked terrible... again. Hard to believe this is the same Cannavaro who lifted the World Cup for Italy. 6 goals conceded in two matches against a Segunda B side. Not the stuff champions are made of. It was great to watch.
21st Century Paul:
And the rumours are Real Madrid is going after Arshavin (and that doesn't mean he's gonna get signed really cause you know what has happened all this time when Real has tried to sign great players)... But Arshavin is an offensive midfielder (yet another one), 28 years, great player, but unless he can play in the right wing doing crossings a la Beckham I think he is almost useless for this team. Arshavin as right wing?
With the Russian league playing a calendar year schedule, their league ends this month and Arshavin has let it be known that he wants a move away from Zenit in January. So all the clubs - not just Real Madrid - are lining up hoping to sign him. I'm just wondering if Arshavin would still be willing to go if Zenit can somehow advance ahead of Real Madrid in the Champions League. From what I've seen of him at Zenit and with Russia he can play either wing quite well. He's also an admitted Barcelona supporter. Not sure if they want him though. I'm content with what the team has for now. Hleb is a curious one. He plays well but he seems to have a fear of shooting at goal. Too often passes up an open shot in favor of giving it to a teammate instead. I don't know if it's lack of confidence or what but he needs to grow some balls and take a shot every once in a while.
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unclesox:
21st Century Paul:
Well, you know. Real Madrid (shamely) out of the Spanish Cup, or the Cup of the King... by winning 4-3 in the Bernabeu after losing 3-2 against Real Union, a team of the third Spanish division, after the first and second one... They do many goals, this time Raul did a hat-trick, but well, if you receive 3... I don't know if people are gonna start discussing Casillas, not me...
There's no need to discuss Casillas because he didn't play. Dudek was in goal as he usually plays during the Copa del Rey matches. But it was the whole defence that looked terrible... again. Hard to believe this is the same Cannavaro who lifted the World Cup for Italy. 6 goals conceded in two matches against a Segunda B side. Not the stuff champions are made of. It was great to watch. Dudek, okey, I didn't know. Anyway on the league and champions league it's similar. Well if you have no wings you must attack by the center... and if you really want to score you have to push your defend forward and everyone leaving space behind. If not is like when Barça attacked by the center with the defense back and it was 0-0 again and again... Sometimes the defense is bad cause the attack is bad... and this time you'll need fast defenders (as Real Madrid usually needs). Cannavaro is not that, Heinze either, Metzelder either, they all are very good with the defence near the area, but Real Madrid needs now Sergio Ramos and Pepe especially.
21st Century Paul:
And the rumours are Real Madrid is going after Arshavin (and that doesn't mean he's gonna get signed really cause you know what has happened all this time when Real has tried to sign great players)... But Arshavin is an offensive midfielder (yet another one), 28 years, great player, but unless he can play in the right wing doing crossings a la Beckham I think he is almost useless for this team. Arshavin as right wing?
Hleb is a curious one. He plays well but he seems to have a fear of shooting at goal. Too often passes up an open shot in favor of giving it to a teammate instead. I don't know if it's lack of confidence or what but he needs to grow some balls and take a shot every once in a while.
from what I know is just that he can't shoot, not lack of confidence, but I don't know the player well...
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21st Century Paul:
History repeated, In Casillas and Raul we trust.
Last week: Barcelona 6-0 Valladolid Today: Valladolid 1-0 Real Madrid And the player you trust failed when put through with only the goalkeeper to beat.
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unclesox:
21st Century Paul:
History repeated, In Casillas and Raul we trust.
Last week: Barcelona 6-0 Valladolid Today: Valladolid 1-0 Real Madrid And the player you trust failed when put through with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Yes, even Raul fails now (who scored his goal #300 in the team recently, now only 7 away of the main scorer ever in Real Madrid, Di Stefano...)... just like Casillas fails too... but they're not to blame... it's just the depressing feeling of the team... they haven't run out of wings or fast strikers. Robben, Robinho... they tried with Cristiano Ronaldo (that can do both jobs), Villa, Cazorla, etc. I can't imagine how they can win now.. is like running out of centre backs and try to defence... maybe Drenthe would do a wing job, or even Sergio Ramos... yeah, not a big thing, but someone's gonna do it... at least till January. And Schuster can't do a thing either... there's no way to play with the players they have now. Other teams should take some points of advantage now . And it doesn't look well for the Champions League either, it's a similar moment like when they played against Roma. Hopefully they'll find someone in the young team, there must be someone. Real Madrid is the number one provider of players of all the European leagues, I mean players in the Real Madrid "cantera", similar to "La Masia" in Barcelona, that is the 2nd one... Mata, Negredo, Soldado, etc. left very recently and they would have done that job.
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Julen Guerrero suggests a thing that Real Madrid already used in the Del Bosque era. 5 defenders with 2 very ofensive right/left back.. there's no wings in the team but Sergio Ramos and Marcelo can attack. So something like ...........................Casillas....................... ............Pepe.....Cannavaro....Heinze....... S.Ramos.............Gago.....................Marcelo ..................Sneijder...V.D. Vaart............... ..................Higuain....Raul..................... with lots of space for Ramos and Marcelo... quite in an old fashioned German way.... or whatever, cause as things are now I don't think Real Madrid is gonna qualify for the knockouts of the Champions League . I signed Raul to my team, cause Van Nistelrooy can't play anymore this year, and that favours him... but I didn't expect this... And the news about De La Red (Real Madrid's president tonight on the Real Madrid), by the way Schuster not fired, is that he had "a heart-attack or so", and medicians don't find anything strange after lots of tests. So he's supposed to maybe play again in the future, only if he's not risking his life doing it. But how will they know?
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Another fine performance by Spain, this time over Chile 3-0. In 2008 Spain played 16 internationals during the calender year and won 15 of them. The only blemish was the 0-0 draw against Italy at EURO 2008. Along the way Spain scored 33 goals while only conceding 5. Overall Spain are now unbeaten in their last 28 international fixtures. Their last defeat came in November 2006 against Romania. The days of Spain not making an impact on the international scene are long gone. Next on the hit list... England! February 11th at the Mestalla.
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unclesox:
Another fine performance by Spain, this time over Chile 3-0. In 2008 Spain played 16 internationals during the calender year and won 15 of them. The only blemish was the 0-0 draw against Italy at EURO 2008. Along the way Spain scored 33 goals while only conceding 5. Overall Spain are now unbeaten in their last 28 international fixtures. Their last defeat came in November 2006 against Romania. The days of Spain not making an impact on the international scene are long gone. Next on the hit list... England! February 11th at the Mestalla.
umm.... Mestalla? so it's not Madrid... I was discussing with my Dad the chance to see a match of Spain, now they're playing better than anyone... Valencia is not so far... Other possiblity would be seeing, yes, Barça, now they're playing great again, but there's no way of getting tickets for their matches at home, maybe the one against Espanyol. Edited... the game against Espanyol already happened... maybe there's some possibility for the Champions League matches.
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Here we go again... Statement from the club's medical officer: "Leo Messi acabó el entrenamiento de esta mañana con molestias en el cuadriceps de la pierna derecha. Después de realizarle diferentes pruebas se ha descartado una lesión muscular. A pesar de eso, la participación del jugador en los próximos partidos dependerá de la evolución clínica de estas molestias para no entrar en ninguna situación de riesgo". (loosely translated) "Leo Messi finished training this morning with discomfort in the quadriceps of his right leg. After performing various tests a muscular injury has been ruled out. Despite that, the player's participation in upcoming matches will depend on the clinical evolution of his discomfort not entering a risky situation."
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Well, you know Messi is meant to live that again and again, just like Ronaldo. Messi spent the match doing nothing except when he has the ball, then his activity is like twice the one of a normal player, you know. Their legs actually hurt when he does that so he stops again waiting for the next similar thing. He doesn't move to defence and neither when the team has the ball, and those "explosive" or "egoist" players are meant to have injuries and to retire sooner than the "normal" ones. Raul is not gonna have these problems cause he's the opposite, always moving you know, for instance. But Robben is not so different... and Ronaldo was almost... well... he was just the same. These kind of players retire earlier cause their way of playing is worse for their bodies... or start their decline earlier... Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, even Maradona declined soon, Savio, Robben... but don't worry I don't think Barça needs Messi at all, I don't think he's so important.
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Well, not a big show, but the first half was good. Finally there's a wing who did a good crossing. That's the only thing that Raul needs... but lately there isn't much of it in the team. Yet another decisive Raul-goal by Raul. Real Madrid qualified. Villarreal 0-0 Man. United AaB 2-1 Celtic Villarreal and ManU qualified, first place undecided yet Bayern 3-0 Steaua Fiorentina 1-2 Lyon Bayern and Olympique qualified and the first place depends on the last game Fenerbahçe 1-2 Porto Arsenal 1-0 FC Dynamo Kyiv Arsenal and Porto qualified with Arsenal first but Porto has a chance of finishing first if they win Arsenal in Porto next matchday Zenit 0-0 Juventus BATE 0-1 Real Madrid Juventus and Real Madrid qualified, the first place is for Juventus unless they lose with BATE and Madrid wins Zenit. No surprise and all the big teams go to the knock out rounds, than look they're gonna be harder than ever Villareal ManU Madrid Juve Lyon Bayern Porto Arsenal...
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Bordeaux 1-1 Chelsea CFR Cluj 1-3 Roma Cluj out but none is qualifyed yet Internazionale 0-1 Panathinaikos Anorthosis 2-2 Bremen Inter qualified, Bremen out FC Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 Basel Sporting 2-5 Barcelona Barça will be 1st and Sporting 2nd Atlético 2-1 PSV Liverpool 1-0 Marseille Atletico and Liverpool qualifyed qualified Anorthosis or Panathinaikos Inter 2 out of Bordeaux, Chelsea and Roma Barça Sporting Lisboa Liverpool Atletico Villareal ManU Madrid Juve Lyon Bayern Porto Arsenal Champions League on the Macca Board after Matchday 5 1 Oliver Sanz's Team (55 this matchday) 206 2 Louisville United (52) 199 3 FC Blaugrana (39) 180
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well, this is so bad that it's me who's got to post it Getafe 3- Real Madrid 1 the same Madrid again... 2 good crossings in all the game and no more... that's enough to win Bate Borisov, but not go far in the League. And impossible for the knockouts of the Champions League... if you're supposed to play against... Arsenal, Chelsea, ManU, Liverpool, Inter, Roma, Lyon or Bayern... there's a lucky thing for Real Madrid... the knock out rounds are on February, and maybe then they have signed someone... or there are injuries recoveries...
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Sheff Wed 3 - 2 Norwich 43' 1 Sammy Clingan (pen) 51' Tony McMahon 1 55' Leon Clarke 2 62' 2 Leroy Lita 72' Marcus Tudgay 3 81' John Kennedy Sheff Wed 8-4-8 GOALS 6 Tudgay 4 Clarke 3 Esajas 2 Sodje 2 Watson 1 McAllister 1 Spurr 1 Small 1 Burton 1 McMahon
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Another "unfortunate" Real Madrid signing... : Huntelaar. He can't do anything that Van Nistelrooy or Raul already do... So a player for the future though it costs 27 milions and has 25 years... and Higuain is supposed to be for the future... and Saviola seems an "unfortunate" signing too. Thought the problem now, In the winter market, is not the future... For God's Sake... Sign a WING! Don't sing a player who has 2 player sthat do the jobs as good or better than him, I mean Van Der Vaart and Sneijder and Guti, for instance. It doesn't have to be the best wing in the world or so... but someone that just can do it. Attack through the wing and pass balls to the strikers, that's all. There are tons of possible ones.
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Fantastic match on Friday that lived up to all the hype. This, in the German Bundesliga. Mighty Bayern Munich needed an injury time winner from Luca Toni to gain a come from behind 2:1 victory against the Cinderella story of Europe this season, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. Both clubs are now level on points at the top of the table but Hoffenheim has the better goal difference. Hoffenheim's rise to the German top flight began in 1989, when they had just been relegated to the 8th level of the German league chain. It was then that former Hoffenheim youth player and now billionaire co-founder of the software company SAG Dietmar Hopp arrived to help financially back his hometown club. Since then Hopp has invested a total of ?150 million into Hoffenheim, the vast majority of that amount going towards the infrastructure of the club. As a result, the club have jokingly been referred to by admirers and detractors alike as "_Hopp_enheim". Hopp is always quick to dispell comparisons to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, and he has good reason: -- Hopp does not "own" the club as it's prohibited by German football laws for clubs to be owned by a single person or group. -- Hopp stays very much in the background and does not get involved in the sporting aspect of the club. Coach Ralf Ragnick and sporting director Bernhard Peters enojy a tremendous amount of freedom with on the pitch decision making. -- If an experienced player is needed, Hopp will NOT shell out millions for a big name player and will NOT buy a player over 23 years of age. Regarding sporting director Bernhard Peters: Despite having had no prior footballing experience, Peters was highly valued by then-German national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann. Peters was the coach for the German national hockey team and Klinsmann wished to have him as part of his team that was preparing for the 2006 World Cup. But the German FA scoffed at the idea citing his lack of football experience. Hopp quickly entered the fray and brought Peters to Hoffenheim instead. In addition to Hoffenheim, Hopp also provides financial backing to other clubs in other sports, all of them from the Baden-Württemberg region where he's from: -- FV Lauda, football club that plays in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden, -- Adler Mannheim, Bundesliga ice hockey club, -- team handball side Rhein-Neckar Lions, -- junior golf at the St. Leon-Rot Golf Club. In January 2007 Hopp came to the aid of former Bundesliga side SV Waldhof Mannheim by donating ?300,000 to help keep the club from going into insolvency. He donated another ?3 million for the construction and maintenance of a youth set up for the club. Hoffenheim, a small village within Sinsheim, has a population of 3,500 and is the smallest town to have ever boasted a Bundesliga club.
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Obviously, Bayern Munich's outspoken general manager Uli Hoeness disagrees with the manner Hoffenheim have achieved their success. On Sunday he yet again couldn't keep his mouth shut and lashed out at the small club during an interview of DSL television, starting with coach Ralf Ragnick, who had defeated Bayern in his last three meetings while coaching at Stuttgart... "Up to now, Ralf Rangnick has always experienced a good first year and then been sacked afterwards. He will still discover the air at an altitude is a lot thinner than the air he is currently enjoying. If there is anything that worries me about the positive development of Hoffenheim, then it is Ralf Rangnick's know-it-all attitude. I respect Dietmar Hopp as a person a hell of a lot and I rate what he is doing. But if Hopp took his money and invested in Bielefeld tomorrow, then they would be playing at the top. FC Bayern are playing against a billionaire - it is not small against big financially speaking. They have done some sensational work, but without the financial support, they would still be in the second or third division. You can only employ scouts when you have the money for it." Although true to an extent, a look at Hoffenheim's squad will find anything but high profile names. It should be noted that in 2007 Bayern spent a combined 36 million euros for Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni. A large sum in any league, even more so in the Bundesliga where you'll rarely find a club (except Bayern) spending more than 10 million euros during the summer. Meanwhile, over in Spain... ... it's 5 days and counting until El Clasico. This past weekend: Barcelona 4-0 Valencia Real Madrid 3-4 Sevilla The Madridista faithful are eagerly looking forward to Saturday's matchup.
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yes, "The Classic" or simply "The Match", the most awaited match of all the European leagues every year. You know Real Madrid has half of the team injured so their XI it's gonna be weird and Barça only has problem with Iniesta Rumours are this XI Casillas Ramos Metzelder Cannavaro Salgado Van der Vaart Gago Guti Sneijder Higuain Raul yes, Metzelder and Salgado virtually never play... What Real Madrid is supposed to do is, you know, place the defence near the area, so Barça has not much chances to score and their "fast" forwards (Henry, Etoo, Messi) are quite useless.... BUT! this time Diarra is not there to defense, neither Pepe, and I don't think Metzelder and Salgado are so great... I'm not sure about the present Real Madrid defense able to defend Barça, like past year for instance. Chances are the team does the oppossite, go trying to steal the ball to Barça, like they did in that match where Barca won 2-0 at the start but Real tried to have the ball and they ended 4-3. If they play like that it's gonna be a show . If the Real places the defence back, maybe it's 0-0 1-0 0-1 or so... Barça is rumoured to play Valdes Alves Puyol Marquez Abidal Toure Xavi Gudjohnsen Messi Etoo Henry Barça is supposed to be better in passing the ball around but this time Real Madrid it's going to play with 4 good passers (Gago, Guti, Van der Vaart and Sneijder) and Barça only with Xavi. So I guess they're gonna go and try to the steal the ball cause there's a lot danger if the Real Madrid midfielder have it, and only with Xavi is not very easy for Barça to pass it around. Though you never know, maybe Busquets, Hleb or Iniesta could play... and change it all... But if Real Madrid can't stop Barça to play the ball at the beginning of every possession, the defence is gonna be a disaster cause Etoo, Henry and Messi are twice faster than Salgado, Cannavaro and Metzelder . Raul (as usual) should do a "mad job" defending, in spite of being a forward. As usual in Raul we trust, same old story.
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Stars of "THE MATCH" Raul, "The never does-a-thing one" Long runs speed 6 Short runs speed 8 Ball control 9 Drible 8 Short passes 8 Long passes 7 Short shooting 10 Long shooting 7 Placing himself/sharpness in attack 10 Heading 9 Defending 10 Endurance 9 Leadership/team work 10 Etoo, "The untameable lion" Long runs speed 10 Short runs speed 10 Ball control 8 Drible 8 Short passes 7 Long passes 5 Short shooting 9 Long shooting 9 Placing himself/sharpness in attack 6 Heading 7 Defending 8 Endurance 7 Leadership/Team work 8 Messi, "The flea" Long runs speed 9 Short runs speed 10 Ball control 10 Drible 10 Short passes 7 Long passes 4 Short shooting 8 Long shooting 8 Placing himself/sharpness in attack 5 Heading 5 Defending 4 Endurance 4 Leadership/Team work 2 Casillas, "Saint Iker" You know it Xavi, "Humphrey Bogart" ("play it, play it again...") Long runs speed 6 Short runs speed 8 Ball control 9 Drible 6 Short passes 7 Long passes 10 Short shooting 8 Long shooting 8 Placing himself/sharpness in attack 8 Heading 4 Defending 7 Endurance 8 Leadership/Team work 8 Sergio Ramos, "Should I Stay or should I Go" (not really... but sometimes it seems like that... forward and back, and forward and not knowing what to do...) Long runs speed 9 Short runs speed 10 Ball control 7 Drible 6 Short passes 7 Long passes 6 Short shooting 7 Long shooting 3 Placing himself/sharpness in attack 8 Heading 9 Defending 9 Endurance 10 Leadership/Team work 6 and last but not least Puyol, "The Shark" (the ball is the "victim" and he rarely miss to go away without it :wink Long runs speed 9 Short runs speed 9 Ball control 6 Drible 8 Short passes 7 Long passes 5 Short shooting 4 Long shooting 2 Placing himself/sharpness in attack 7 Heading 9 Defending 10 Endurance 10 Leadership/Team work 9 Also starring... Guti "The Rebel Without a Cause" (the James Dean, the unpredictable for worse or for better), Henry "Titi", Alves "Moto GP" (he sometimes seems to be in a motorcycle, crossing all parts of the field...), Higuain "el Pipita", Cannavaro "Il Bello", etc. Good watch
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and the standings of the Macca Board League in Fantasy Football, after the end of the Group Stage. 1 Oliver Sanz's team (21st Century Paul) 248 points (44 last matchday) #43000 out of 250000 teams 2 Louisville United (Daniel) 216 points (19 last matchday) #107000 out of 250000 teams 3 FC Blaugrana (unclesox) 189 points (25 last matchday) #158000 out of 250000 teams See you in the knock out rounds in February. All the big teams in, no surprises, except maybe for Real Madrid in...
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Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 0 Bristol City Sheff Wed 9-6-8 GOALS 7 Tudgay 5 Clarke 3 Esajas 2 Sodje 2 Watson 1 McAllister 1 Spurr 1 Small 1 Burton 1 McMahon