Soccer/Football, The Beautiful Game

[britbox]

No, TV is ok. Just players that had a career within your lifetime that you can actually recall playing from memory. i.e. You might have seen old man Cruyff playing in his twilight years but you can still base your selection on the version of Cruyff at his best.

 

[britbox]

Moyes sacked by Man United. Wise decision for the Mancs.... he was in way over his head.

 

[Kieran]

I'll go with a team of players I seen in the flesh:

1. Pat Jennings
2. Denis Irwin
3. Roberto Carlos
4. Tony Adams
5. Paul McGrath
6. Johnny Giles (Captain )
7. Michele Platini
8. Luis Figo
9. Ian Wright
10. Diego Maradona
11. Steve Heighway

Subs: Seaman, Dixon, Passerella, Tigana, Brady, Kempes.

Manager: Cesar Luis Menotti

I realise I have only one genuine tough guy in the midfield, although Figo and Maradona were able to look after themselves. If I'd seen Souness, I'd give him the nod ahead of Platini, who I reluctantly placed ahead of Liam Brady. Giles would organise things between defence and attack, he'd be the brains, and Maradona would be the great gem who fits near enough everywhere.

Steve Heighway? I always liked him, a great winger. Not probably the best I've seen but he'd pull his weight. Wrighty would score a ton, basically goal hatching and been fed loads of beautiful lay ons, from Gilesy, Diego, Figo, Platini and Heighway...

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

anyone see athletico Madrid v Chelsea ?..what a yawnfest. Chelsea were set out like a load of dummies..non moving 4-5-1..or as I saw it 9-0-1 formation,

I stopped watching at half time..its anti-football.

 

[britbox]

I'll go with a team of players I seen in the flesh:

1. Pat Jennings
2. Denis Irwin
3. Roberto Carlos
4. Tony Adams
5. Paul McGrath
6. Johnny Giles (Captain )
7. Michele Platini
8. Luis Figo
9. Ian Wright
10. Diego Maradona
11. Steve Heighway

Subs: Seaman, Dixon, Passerella, Tigana, Brady, Kempes.

Manager: Cesar Luis Menotti

I realise I have only one genuine tough guy in the midfield, although Figo and Maradona were able to look after themselves. If I'd seen Souness, I'd give him the nod ahead of Platini, who I reluctantly placed ahead of Liam Brady. Giles would organise things between defence and attack, he'd be the brains, and Maradona would be the great gem who fits near enough everywhere.

Steve Heighway? I always liked him, a great winger. Not probably the best I've seen but he'd pull his weight. Wrighty would score a ton, basically goal hatching and been fed loads of beautiful lay ons, from Gilesy, Diego, Figo, Platini and Heighway...

I was tempted to put Souness in my team - couldn't put him in over Zidane or Gerrard though. Great player though and his managerial tenure with the reds unfortunately casts a shadow over what a great player he was for the club.

I guess you must have seen Argentina play in the flesh then assuming you're only picking on that basis - Maradona, Kempes, Passarella... great players. The 78 world cup was the first one I remember and Kempes won it.

Stevie Heighway was the biggest surprise for me. I liked him as player though... and he's still revered in song at Anfield.... "Stevie Heighway on the wing... we had dreams and songs to sing...." to the tune of your very own Fields of Athenry.

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_BGkFYHG5Y[/video]

 

[Kieran]

They played in Dublin in 1979, but I stand corrected on Kempes and Passarella, both of whom I thought played: they didn't.

I'll change them to Malcolm MacDonald (and hope he isn't needed ) and Dave O'Leary...

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

Robbie rensenbrink of Holland hits post at 1-1 in 90th min of normal time in 1978 world cup final. if it went in rensenbrink scores his 6th goal of wc and he wins golden boot and Holland prob win world cup..

it bounces back off post, still 1-1 at full time..kempes scores twice to win wc for argentina 3-1 and goes from 4 to 6 goals to steal golden boot off rensenbrink who's stuck on 5 goals.

Robbie rensenbrink has no world cup winners medal, and no golden boot as highest goalscorer. just because he hit the post in the last minute of a world cup final.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

tito vilanova died of throat cancer today. age 45.

he led barcelona to the 2012-13 la lig title and now he is dead.

 

[Kieran]

Yeah, sad to hear that. I didn't know much about him, is he the guy Mourinho tried to gouge his eye out? I thought it was tragic when he had to leave the job with cancer...

 

[Iona16]

Yeah, sad to hear that. I didn't know much about him, is he the guy Mourinho tried to gouge his eye out? I thought it was tragic when he had to leave the job with cancer...

Yep, that's him. It's hard to name someone that Mourinho hasn't had a spat with. The sneaking up behind Tito to poke him in the eye was the strangest thing I've ever seen a football coach do - just bizarre.

Tito was pictured at the Nou Camp a few months ago and I have to say that I didn't think he would win his battle with cancer. The poor man looked incredibly weak. So sad for his wife and children and everyone at Barcelona. He never got the plaudits that Guardiola did but Tito played a huge part in creating that unique squad. May he rest in peace.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Terrible news. Tito was partially responsible in creating Barca's dynasty with Pep Guardiola, and won the championship with them as a coach last year. Truly tragic.

 

[atttomole]

Moyes sacked by Man United. Wise decision for the Mancs.... he was in way over his head.

Moyes gets the sack after 9 months, and Ferguson went 4 years without a trophy before Man U started dominating. Ferguson left Moyes with a team of aging players, and Moyes had to contend with a Chelsea with the Special One, a more consistent Man City and a surprising Liverpool. It will not be easy to get a replacement. Most of the top coaches are on contracts. I am not sure if Van Gaal is good for the premiership.

 

[atttomole]

Sad to hear about Tito's passing. I hear that Tito was Guardiola's tactician. He would certainly have done better than Martino.

 

[Kieran]

Just on an unrelated topic, the league race is now wide open. The media will make a huge huzzah about Jose's so-called mind-games, but really, this match fell into Chelsea's lap through Gerrard's error in the first half. Liverpool weren't complacent, falling into a well-laid Mourinho trap: they were the stronger side until then.

Chelsea are very hard to break down, and so it proved.

League is more interesting and I hope Liverpool can regroup, but it's City's to lose. I think, however, Chelsea aren't out of it, and there's no guarantee that City can go the last three games without a nervous mishap...

 

[atttomole]

Just on an unrelated topic, the league race is now wide open. The media will make a huge huzzah about Jose's so-called mind-games, but really, this match fell into Chelsea's lap through Gerrard's error in the first half. Liverpool weren't complacent, falling into a well-laid Mourinho trap: they were the stronger side until then.

Chelsea are very hard to break down, and so it proved.

League is more interesting and I hope Liverpool can regroup, but it's City's to lose. I think, however, Chelsea aren't out of it, and there's no guarantee that City can go the last three games without a nervous mishap...

I agree that up until Gerard's error, the match was even, and Liverpool could have got at least a draw. Now it is in City's hands, but Everton are good enough to beat them or get a draw.

 

[Kieran]

Everton do Liverpool a favour? Now wouldn't that be nice, on the 25th anniversary of Hillsborough?

But yeah, Everton could do this, they're badly in need of a win to get that fourth spot...

 

[Iona16]

This Barca player had a banana thrown at him during the match tonight. He handled it well. Picked it up, took a bite and threw it away.

"I'm in Spain 11 years, we can't change it, so best to treat it as a joke. If we give it no importance, they fail."

" I don't know who threw the banana but I'd want to thank him. It gave me the energy to give 2 more crosses that ended in a goal."

[video=youtube]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vikenEJjByA[/video]

 

[britbox]

Just on an unrelated topic, the league race is now wide open. The media will make a huge huzzah about Jose's so-called mind-games, but really, this match fell into Chelsea's lap through Gerrard's error in the first half. Liverpool weren't complacent, falling into a well-laid Mourinho trap: they were the stronger side until then.

Chelsea are very hard to break down, and so it proved.

League is more interesting and I hope Liverpool can regroup, but it's City's to lose. I think, however, Chelsea aren't out of it, and there's no guarantee that City can go the last three games without a nervous mishap...

The media love talking about mind games between coaches. The whole thing is nonsense IMO. Mind games don't win or lose matches.

Chelsea had a a pretty basic gameplan - get every man behind the ball and disrupt Liverpool's rhythm whenever they got the chance.

I disagree with fellow reds that they didn't come to win. They did - a draw served them no purpose. The weren't "timewasting" in the literal sense of the word - they were slowing everything down to disrupt Liverpool's high tempo rhythm.

Basically the match was won on a mistake by Steven Gerrard slipping over.

I think the race is far from over. At least between Liverpool and City (Chelsea won't win the league IMO - they need too many things to happen that are out of their own hands). Liverpool only need City not to win all of their last three games and of course City still have to go to Everton where they have only won twice in their last sixteen attempts.

Everything still to play for, but City will be favourites again as it's now back in their hands.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

I was watching that villareal v Barcelona match on skygo when it decided to stopworking..although this is a rare event it also played up during lpool v Chelsea.

when it packed up villareal were 2-0 ahead..after a couple of attempts to reconnect it wasn't happening so I went off in a huff to do buy some food from nearby, i got back..checked the score and barca had stormed back to win 2-3....I'd missed the big comeback. and messi's winner. (seen it since then)

 

[brokenshoelace]

I was watching that villareal v Barcelona match on skygo when it decided to stopworking..although this is a rare event it also played up during lpool v Chelsea.

when it packed up villareal were 2-0 ahead..after a couple of attempts to reconnect it wasn't happening so I went off in a huff to do buy some food from nearby, i got back..checked the score and barca had stormed back to win 2-3....I'd missed the big comeback. and messi's winner. (seen it since then)

It was such a strange match, filled with drama in more ways than one:

1- The Tito Vilanova emotional tribute before the match. Heartbreaking.
2- Barcelona defense still being bush=league and their offensive ineptitude against teams who close the penalty area.
3- Two Villareal own goals to get Barca back in the match, the second of which being absolutely comical.
4- A shameful incident in which the crowd threw a banana at Dani Alves. Disgraceful, especially given the circumstances.
5- Alves' awesome reaction (he picked up the banana, ate it casually, and took the corner kick).
6- Barcelona complete the comeback thanks to a Messi goal.

Here's a video of the Alves incident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBiT640e70E