Soccer/Football, The Beautiful Game

[Kieran]

When it comes down to it, City lost the league last season to a far inferior squad. The difference? Maybe the managers. But I agree, they're under-performing and look a bit shaky now.

Arsenal will lose the league by the amount of points their main rivals win from them. They still look lightweight at this level. Fair play to them persevering with Wenger but they have to start wondering are they moving sideways perpetually now...

 

[britbox]

Robbie Savage "savages" Fergie's book.

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sVSWgjpkU0[/video]

 

[britbox]

Roy Keane and Patrick Viera chew the fat...

Good documentary if you never caught it on TV.

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGAQhCAMV1k[/video]

 

[britbox]

Interestingly, Viera didn't regard Keane as his best opponent at United. He reserved that for Paul Scholes. Scholes was regarded very highly by his peers in the game.

 

[britbox]

Jamie Carragher interviews Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers.

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB53GUDdZ4E[/video]

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

So far in the round of 16, 6 matches have been played in the Champions League and 5 of them were won by the away teams. That is quite extraordinary. Of all the teams so far, Bayern has been just out of this world. They seem to be playing a class above everyone else.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

Ukraine are playing the USA tonight in Cyprus I think (match was moved), of all the teams to play each other just now...

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

I'm going to watch those documentaries britbox, I want Brendan rogers to stop me thinking he is a bit like nigel briers in #ever decreasing circles.

and keane n viera..got to worth a viewing.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Ukraine are playing the USA tonight in Cyprus I think (match was moved), of all the teams to play each other just now...

Could have been Ukraine-Russia...:wow:

 

[britbox]

I'm going to watch those documentaries britbox, I want Brendan rogers to stop me thinking he is a bit like nigel briers in #ever decreasing circles.

and keane n viera..got to worth a viewing.

Ha, ha.. laughed at the Nigel Briers one.

Keane & Viera is a good documentary. I don't know if you watched it yet but I thought it provided a good insight.

 

[Kieran]

I saw Dieter Hamman on the Irish TV panel discussing this and he said that he always feared Vieira more than Keane, his theory being that Keane had a stronger effect on his own teammates while Vieira was better against the opposing team - and physically harder to handle...

 

[britbox]

Premier League race heats up with Liverpool's win at Man United.

Could go down to the wire with both Chelsea and Man City having to go to Anfield to face Liverpool in April.

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qljaVPWWhhc[/video]

After watching that performance (could have been 6 or 7-0), I'm beginning to believe.....

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

^^^I watched that match too, man utd were abysmal, they hardly threatened the liverpool goal at all, Liverpool passed them into the void..at the theatre of nightmares..err I mean dreams.

Liverpool were robbed though of a stonewall 4th pen, actually the 3rd one they were given was very soft but a blatant one after that wasn't given, it made me laugh seeing vidic screaming at a Lpool player for going down when he really had fouled inside the area.


shame about the 3rd pen lol..the only other time a can recall 3 pens converted in a match was an argentina vs brazil world cup qualifier in arg when Ronaldo did it.

Liverpool have a real chance to end 24 years of hurt and they have to play man city and Chelsea at anfield don't they ?.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Yeah, United are beyond bad this season.

 

[britbox]

JLLB, You are correct, Chelsea and City both have to go to Liverpool. As it stands, the season is in Liverpool's hands regarding Chelsea. They still need City to slip up though - which isn't impossible as City have the toughest run-in and they have games in hand mounting up.

I would still make City and Chelsea marginal favourites, but Liverpool are definitely in the mix.

 

[brokenshoelace]

The thing about this PL race that's so odd is, for as exciting as it is, it's mainly due to all teams not being particularly great (relatively speaking), as opposed to all of them being so good. In fairness, this assessment might be harsh on Liverpool, since given the squad at their disposal, the relatively low expectations, and the fact that Suarez missed the start of the season, are doing tremendously well. However, both Chelsea and City (who I agree are both the favorites), are just too inconsistent. City have the best and deepest squad by far, but Chelsea have the best coach with the best mentality. It might help City down the stretch that Chelsea are playing in Europe too. Regardless, I'd still go with Chelsea as the eventual winners, simply due to Jose Mourinho being Jose Mourinho. Though I'm rooting for Liverpool. I never actually liked them (big Juventus fan), but this year, they've grown on me. Plus, I'm a big admirer of Suarez and I'd like to see him stick it to the media.

 

[Kieran]

In fairness to Suarez and the media, I mean, the guy is a tool. He's a great footballer but he also deserves every criticism he gets...

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

el clasico from la liga is on tonight (R Madrid v Barcelona)..messi and Ronaldo show continues. live on skysports over here (about 8pm),

if messi scores one goal he goes past de Stefano as the highest ever goalscorer since 1902 in these barca-rmadrid duals 18 each (el clasico wiki page)..

 

[brokenshoelace]

Well, that was an eventful Clasico. The Ronaldo penalty was clearly outside the box while I'm still not sure if Ramos actually made contact with Neymar. I thought the last penalty was the right decision.

And boy did the big summer signings (Neymar and Bale) disappoint tonight. At least Bale's having a good season. Neymar's been pretty dreadful with the exception of, incidentally, the Real Madrid match back in November.

Messi was phenomenal and I haven't seen Iniesta play this well in a while.

And yet, I must wonder: what the hell happened to the art of defending in the world of Football?

 

[britbox]

We're all beginning to believe....

Liverpool's massive travelling support on location in Cardiff.