Soccer thread 08/09 (will have spoilers!)

Post by **Jared** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:59 am

New thread for all things soccer/football. Old thread was here.

The thread is dead.

Long live the thread!

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:07 am

Up the Owls!

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:17 am

Wenger is apparently asking Liverpool to lower their asking price for Alonso....er.....Rafa, please could you not sell one of our quality players to OUR FREAKIN' RIVALS!!!!

[cue scream, pulling out hair, etc.]

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:20 am

I just want the X. Alonso & G. Barry soap opera over with before the season starts.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:32 am

Macca00 wrote:Wenger is apparently asking Liverpool to lower their asking price for Alonso....er.....Rafa, please could you not sell one of our quality players to OUR FREAKIN' RIVALS!!!!

[cue scream, pulling out hair, etc.]

He's gotta be in a bind. A week ago it seemed that all parties agreed that after the Keane deal, Rafa would need to sell in order to buy. Now the Barry soap opera has resumed and nobody's talking about that fact. He may have to ship Xabi to get Barry, although selling him to Arsenal seems foolish. I'd just as soon keep Xabi, let Barry stay a Villain and have the Anfield groundskeeper narrow the field by 30%

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:41 am

Seems a bit odd, because the press over here have been on about Arsenal hijacking the Barry transfer if the Scousers can't stea....err, find enough money in time to allow Villa to find a replacement.

I think Benitez is, for some reason, convinced that a couple of games together make Barry and Gerrard the perfect mix - he's too fixated to realise that Alonso is skilled beyond anything that Barry could muster.

Talking of Liverpool players, City are reportedly after Djibril Cisse on loan - well, he would certainly beat anything we got upfront at the moment, although Bojinov and young Ched Evans are definitely ones for the future.

They might have to be, if our beloved Thai Overlord gets sent down for a long stretch. There's even talk of him failing the FA's 'Fit and Proper person' test, although how that could be the case if the ludicrous money launderer Abramovich passes it, then God only knows.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:58 am

I really don't understand why Raffa would be interested bringing in Barry instead of retaining Alonso. Is there some conflict between Alonso and Benitez? Most English players are massively overpriced for what you actually end up getting. And it really does defy logic that the weakest position, wide midfielder, seems continually to go unaddressed.

Best wishes,

Doug

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:40 pm

Alonso has turned out to be far too brittle for Rafa's liking, and drifts out of games quite often. He wants Barry, I presume, after seeing him and Gerrard play well together in the certain of midfield for England a couple of times - and Barry can cover wide left and left back as well.

MACTEPsporta · Post by **MACTEPsporta** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 6:15 pm

Macca00 wrote:Wenger is apparently asking Liverpool to lower their asking price for Alonso....er.....Rafa, please could you not sell one of our quality players to OUR FREAKIN' RIVALS!!!!

I'd take Wenger's brains over Rafa's any day of the week. I think by mentioning that he likes Barry, he has just made it more difficult for Liverpool to buy him (could be a blessing in disguise for LFC, as far as I am concerned) and possibly driven down the price for Alonso, whom he wants. Expect this to drag out until the very end, with Benitez realizing at the last moment that he needs to sell Alonso for chump change in order to overpay for Barry. At that point Wenger, who by then would have publicly said, that the holding midfielder position has been filled, will "reluctantly" agree to buy Alonso. I am guessing he will go for somewhere around 7m pounds. He is a clever duck, that Frenchie...

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 4:00 pm

Hmm, our defender Corluka is linked with Spurs, who are apparently about to do £60m of deals - him for 9.5m, Arshavings for 20m and David Villa for 30m. Gotta love our newspapers in August.

On more amusing news, karma came home to roost for Rangers tonight. A mere 8 weeks after trying to turn Manchester into a dry out tank for the pissed up Sweaties, they get knocked out of the Champs League in the qualifying round by a team from Lithuania, with 4 mins left on the clock. They don't even get a free pass to the UEFA Cup, that's game over for them.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 5:18 pm

Knocked out of two Euro competitions in 2 and half months. Not bad.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:02 pm

davet010 wrote:On more amusing news, karma came home to roost for Rangers tonight. A mere 8 weeks after trying to turn Manchester into a dry out tank for the pissed up Sweaties, they get knocked out of the Champs League in the qualifying round by a team from Lithuania, with 4 mins left on the clock. They don't even get a free pass to the UEFA Cup, that's game over for them.

I knew our 4-0 pasting of them on the weekend (3 goals in the second half scored by our reserve team) flattered. The SPL is a kwalitee league...amongst other similar beer leagues.....

I'm surprised Spurs haven't been linked with Jesus Christ (Rafa would prefer Joseph and pay double the asking price).

EDIT: Young N'Gog scored another goal in preseason for us (against a bunch of one-legged Norwegian fishermen or something) and Xabi Alonso scored too - please don't sell him to Arsenal Rafa...

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:17 am

Hey guys...

Just wondering if you could recommend a good football site for articles, opinions, etc...Been reading bbc and skysports lately but figure there must be more.

Thanks!

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:15 pm

http://www.soccernet.com/home.html

That should do you - as well as my unbiased posts, naturally

Oh, and http://fourfourtwo.com/blogs/laligaloca/default.aspx for all of your La Liga requirements.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:31 pm

Apparently there is one bureaucracy in the world that the IOC and FIFA haven't bought...yet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/au ... csfootball

A bit of a newspaper across the nose of Blatter and the IOC, which is refreshing. Not that siding with the plutocratic club owners is all that grand either...

Post by **Jared** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:32 pm

For American soccer:

http://dunord.blogspot.com
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/
http://www.soccerbyives.net/

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:34 pm

Hey Dave/Jared...thanks for the links. Between the depressing news around TFC lately and the whole world signing with Spurs I should be busy for a while.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 4:55 pm

Don't mention Spurs to me - they appear to be trying to lever Corluka out of City....as well as buying every other player under the sun.

Lot of effort for a 7th place finish, if you ask me.

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 5:01 pm

davet010 wrote:Don't mention Spurs to me - they appear to be trying to lever Corluka out of City....as well as buying every other player under the sun.

Lot of effort for a 7th place finish, if you ask me.

Too much attention to the midfield as well. Not too confident in their backline as well as Bent and whoever up front. However, as a Canadian boy with no home EPL team to follow, I chose Spurs three years ago and am sticking to them! It will make it that much sweeter when they break into the top 4 in 2018.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 5:08 pm

City did Celtic tonight at Parkhead - by heaven, the scottish league is bobbins

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 5:15 pm

Anyone going to get up and watch the US play in the Olympics tomorrow? I am, but I'm a soccer nut.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 5:44 pm

Err, I hope you are referring to the men, as the ladies played today..

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 6:17 pm

RobVarak wrote:Apparently there is one bureaucracy in the world that the IOC and FIFA haven't bought...yet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/au ... csfootball

A bit of a newspaper across the nose of Blatter and the IOC, which is refreshing. Not that siding with the plutocratic club owners is all that grand either...

That suxs. Personally I am dissappointed by this decision but if teams like Schalke & Bremen end up lending their players deapite of this ruling why can't Barca? Hope Messi goes back and demands a trade.

Interesting as the Argentinian has decided to stay and I wonder how many other club teams will end up calling their players as the EPL starts soon.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 7:09 pm

davet010 wrote:Err, I hope you are referring to the men, as the ladies played today..

I don't watch women, well you could call the Wednesday team that, but that would be an insult to women.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 7:44 pm

fsquid wrote:Anyone going to get up and watch the US play in the Olympics tomorrow? I am, but I'm a soccer nut.

Will try. Though I hope this team doesn't make me feel as gypped for waking up early for this game as they did when I drove to qualifying matches in Florida. Seeing McBride back in the USA jersey will tide me over for a while at least.