Football (Soccer)

[britbox]

This thread is devoted to the beautiful game - Football.... or Soccer as it's known by Australians and Americans.

Maybe a starter for 1o - Who's your team(s)?

 

[britbox]

I follow Liverpool (Premier League), Blackpool and to a lesser extent Rangers (Scottish Football), Sporting (Portugal) and Flamengo(Brazil).

 

[Federberg]

For me it's Tottenham Hotspurs in England, Aberdeen in Scotland, Inter Milan in Italy, Atletico Madrid in Spain, Borussia Dortmund in Germany and Ajax in Holland. I always thought that I liked all these teams equally until Spurs played Inter in the Champions League. I was only supporting one team there. Spurs!

 

[britbox]

Spurs are my favourite London club but that's really because they are the lesser of a bunch of evils.

B-)

 

[Federberg]

Haha! Fair enough! I started supporting them in the Ardiles, Villa era and never looked back. If you had told me then that Arsenal would have the success they ended up having I wouldn't have believed it! Incidentally a lot of my friends are Liverpool fans and we go up to Anfield at least once a year to watch a match. I have to say their sense of entitlement can be quite grating at times. Needless to say I'm rather enjoying the Brendan Rodgers crisis right now. Big game this weekend!

 

[britbox]

Rodgers is a dead man walking I think.  I don't think he'll see out the season.

 

[Federberg]

Agreed. If Everton beat them handily in this weekends derby the writing will be on the wall. I find the man insufferable. Particularly after his comments about Spurs a few seasons ago. This was in the wake of the Bale transfer... he said that a team like Spurs, spending £100m on transfers should be challenging for the title. Note that our net spend was actually about  -£5m! And here we are a few years later, with Liverpool having spent over £300m on players and he hasn't covered himself in glory. What p1ssed me off was that neither Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho would ever presume to speak specifically about another club like that. Be careful what you say because it will come back and bite you on the a$$!! It's a real teachable moment!

 

[britbox]

Our net spend was a lot less than 300 mill too, under 100 mill I think... We got 75m for Suarez, 49 for Sterling and 15 for Carroll, and that's just 3. Lot of other players have been sold too.

Anyway, I agree that he has had cash to spend and his signings haven't really been too impressive to date.

Back onto Spurs, do you remember this classic from the 80s...

 

[Federberg]

Good times! How could I ever forget  Back to back FA cups, entertaining football. The league title just seemed around the corner. Sigh...if I knew then the lost decades that would follow

 

[britbox]

The managed decline of the FA Cup is one of the sad points of British Football.  You'll also remember when it was massive.  Cup Final Day was huge... it was on both of the major networks.... everyone watched it.  As a single event it was probably the biggest on the sporting calendar.

Look at it now... a bit of a pygmy. Overlooked by some managers, top teams fielding less than strength teams etc. It's prestige has plummeted.

I don't think any kid growing up dreamed of scoring the winning that goal that secured 4th place and Champions League qualification.  They dreamed of scoring a last minute winner in the FA Cup FInal!

 

[brokenshoelace]

Been a real struggle domestically for Juventus (my favorite team) early this year, but at least they're doing great in the group of death in Europe. I thought they did a terrible job in the transfer market after losing Pirlo and Tevez, and selling Vidal for a relatively cheap amount in today's game without lining up a proper replacement beforehand was boneheaded. That said, I do expect them to get better and injuries haven't been kind.

 

[brokenshoelace]

The Netherlands should be ashamed for not making it to the Euro championships.

 

[britbox]

The Netherlands should be ashamed for not making it to the Euro championships.

Pretty amazing! I'm just pleased to see Wales qualifying for their first major football championships since 1958!

 

[Federberg]

Extraordinary when you consider the players Wales have had.. Giggs, Rush etc. I really hope they do well in the tournament!

 

[Federberg]

I can't see how Mourinho is going to survive until the end of this season given the way things are going. Maybe that's the reason Ancelotti didn't want the Liverpool job. He probably still have a nic mansion down in Oxshott!  B-)  Can't say I feel sorry for Jose, didn't think it was possible for him to get more obnoxious, and as much as Capello's credibility is a bit shot these days, he does have a point. It must be mentally draining working under Mourinho. As good a winner as he is, he falls some way short of the the great managers because he never leaves a legacy. Anyway... I'm sure a £37m payoff will soothe any battered egos!

 

[britbox]

I can’t see how Mourinho is going to survive until the end of this season given the way things are going. Maybe that’s the reason Ancelotti didn’t want the Liverpool job. He probably still have a nic mansion down in Oxshott!

Can’t say I feel sorry for Jose, didn’t think it was possible for him to get more obnoxious, and as much as Capello’s credibility is a bit shot these days, he does have a point. It must be mentally draining working under Mourinho. As good a winner as he is, he falls some way short of the the great managers because he never leaves a legacy. Anyway… I’m sure a £37m payoff will soothe any battered egos!

I don't feel sorry for Jose either... and I think the only reason he hasn't gone already is because of the size of the payoff. It's going to take many millions to shift him!

 

[brokenshoelace]

My issue with Mourinho isn't so much Chelsea's results, it's that he seems like he wants to bring down everyone with him, including his own players, instead of rallying the troops. He tries to find a scapegoat for every defeat to exonerate himself. I like Jose in general but this is embarrassing.

Also, benching Hazard until "he learns the art of defending" is laughable. He's the playmaker. Did he learn the art of defending last year when he was voted player of the year in England? Mourinho was so happy with him then he said he's better than Cristiano Ronaldo. So what changed in 5 months?

No coach does that to his star player over a few poor performances. You stick with him till he recaptures his form, especially when you're certain of his quality. This isn't a Radamel Falcao situation where the guy hasn't had a good game in 2 years and has been hampered by injuries. This is just a guy whose quality is beyond question who's having a poor start to the season by his standards.

 

[britbox]

My issue with Mourinho isn’t so much Chelsea’s results, it’s that he seems like he wants to bring down everyone with him, including his own players, instead of rallying the troops. He tries to find a scapegoat for every defeat to exonerate himself. I like Jose in general but this is embarrassing. Also, benching Hazard until “he learns the art of defending” is laughable. He’s the playmaker. Did he learn the art of defending last year when he was voted player of the year in England? Mourinho was so happy with him then he said he’s better than Cristiano Ronaldo. So what changed in 5 months? No coach does that to his star player over a few poor performances. You stick with him till he recaptures his form, especially when you’re certain of his quality. This isn’t a Radamel Falcao situation where the guy hasn’t had a good game in 2 years and has been hampered by injuries. This is just a guy whose quality is beyond question who’s having a poor start to the season by his standards.

Agreed and he'll start running out of scapegoats soon... his ego already forced the club doctor out... who next? The tea lady?

His ego is off the page. At his first stint with Chelsea it seemed more like healthy arrogance... this time around he seems to treat everybody around him with utter contempt.

 

[Federberg]

I don't like him at all (but I'm a Spurs fan so no surprise there!). He's caused 2 referees to retire from the game. The guy is just toxic. There's winning and winning well. For goodness sakes he makes me take Wenger's side, that's just unforgiveable!

 

[Moxie]

Not to derail this with women's football, but, Abby Wambach has decided to hang 'em up.  While US Soccer on the men's side hasn't got much to say for itself, the US women have been stellar:

Abby Wambach announces retirement