Soccer thread 09/10 (contains spoilers)

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 1:32 pm

Jimmydeicide wrote:Every teams favorite manager is off to a flyer, because Babel was soo good mid week against England and Kuyt was crap.

Benyoun on the bench, takes off Kuyt for vorinin and leaves Macherano and lucas on , yep Rafa they really pushed on didnt they?
Get up Torres you piece of ...
Unless Benyoun starts or they get some other players in Liverpool are looking at 6 or 7th at best.
Well at least my Fantasy team reflects Liverpools performance i knew i should have gone with my gut and not read any pundits im off to play my wild card.

A brilliant start of the season for me ...blahhh

Well Liverpool were an absolute shower in the 1st half. Booting the ball half way up the field and struggling to string more than two passes in a row. Perspective though - it's the first game of a long season so at this point there's little point getting too upset.

Best wishes,

Doug

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:09 pm

Oh there is every reason to be upset when Spurs have a deeper team at all positions than you.
Im not expecting a title challenge i can tell you that much.

My beef as always is with Benitez and not the one for Birmingham.

tjung0831 · Post by **tjung0831** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:20 pm

Some fantastic soccer action during week 1 of the premiership....I watched a lot of soccer this weekend!

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:21 pm

Good to see fellow Liverpool fans not overreacting.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:41 pm

Macca00 wrote:Good to see fellow Liverpool fans not overreacting.

Imagine after week 5. Why did Rafa sell Alonso, yada yada...

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:48 pm

Its a Nostradamus type prediction i know.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:52 pm

Macca00 wrote:Good to see fellow Liverpool fans not overreacting.

Just getting into practice!

Best wishes,

Doug

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:04 pm

Jimmy - you kill me, lol.

James - Alonso wanted to leave, if he didn't sell him and Alonso sulked around and stunk up the joint he'd get criticism for not selling an unhappy player. And then, at that point the transfer window would be closed and Liverpool would be unable to pay millions for an injured replacement.....wha...wait a second!

Anyway, s*** first half, second half better but not good enough. Whatever, we're the same team that won 10 out of the last 11 games last year and finished 4 points behind United. If we don't win our next 3 then maybe I'll start panicking too.

But then again I am president of the Rafa Benitez Fan Club (TM). (I had badges for sale, if anyone wants any).

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:50 pm

If Phil Dowd wasn't a blind ass unfit to oversee the milking contest at a county fair it would've been 2-2. Maybe if the pecker wasn't so busy tossing around cautions he could spend some time watching the action around the goal?

Liverpool's depth is definitely a problem, but it was always going to be without opening up the budget more than they did in the transfer season. Oh, and I can hardly see how you can blame Benitez for the Alonso situation.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:40 pm

You guys Brought up Alonso not me.
It was his first few decisions of the season that wound me up again, id almost forgot how much he annoys me.
Never mind Dowd thank Keane

Benyoun should be the 2nd pick after Kuyt, every week, and the fact he has 2 defensive midfielders still on when they are a goal down.

Thats all dont send me a badge Macca im alright mate.
Just blowin off some steam after a hideous opening day.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:05 pm

RobVarak wrote:Liverpool's depth is definitely a problem, but it was always going to be without opening up the budget more than they did in the transfer season. Oh, and I can hardly see how you can blame Benitez for the Alonso situation.

Benitez pissed Alonso off by chasing Barry to replace him last year.

MACTEPsporta · Post by **MACTEPsporta** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:18 pm

RobVarak wrote:Oh, and I can hardly see how you can blame Benitez for the Alonso situation.

Well, I love blaming Benitez, as you well know, and I blame him for untreatable stupidity. He seems to understand that a team needs a deep playmaker (otherwise he wouldn't spring all that money for Aquilani) but he refuses to put Gerrard there to start the game. As great as Gerrard is at scoring he is not a forward and never will be. He will score from a deeper position just as well, but that will allow an actual striker (I am not saying it has to be Voronin) to play alongside Torres for once, and they may actually get some continuity in their midfield passing. It's obvious that Mascherano, as great as he is, just doesn' t have that vision, and Lucas is... well... he sucks.

Babel needed to come off at halftime if not sooner, and Voronin needed to come out right after the second goal.

Spurs deserved to win, but I wouldn't get too upset if I were 'Pool fan. Both goal were scored from set-pieces, and that's something that gets fixed as the season goes on. Benitez must have been close to having a heart attack when Skrtel and Carragher ran into each other. Well, that what you get when you don't buy centrebacks.

On the bright side Glen Johnson was great, and that's a a huge plus. They've had no decent fullbacks for so long, it's refreshing to see.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:37 pm

MACTEP,

All those words. Just come out and say you're pissed because Voronin didn't start!

Oddly, Benitez has gone out of his way to say that he doesn't want to use Aquilani as a deep playmaker, but rather in the hole behind Gerrrd and Torres. I find that odd because the Mascherano/Lucas pairing is seriously lacking in offensive usefulness.

Feanor,

I agree that Benitez pissed him off by courting Barry, but I'd wager that Alonso was gone once Real came knocking no matter what. The Barry thng had nothing to do with it. Even if it did it only worked out for the best, as that fee for Alonso is too high by a significant percentage.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:54 pm

I say "didnt push up" you say "offensive usefulness"

Whatever.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:01 pm

Feck, its turned into another Liverpool pissing match

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:05 pm

Because there are no other Bayern or wednesday fans for you

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 9:12 pm

Jimmydeicide wrote:I say "didnt push up" you say "offensive usefulness"

Whatever.

To be fair, even if they had pushed up neither of them is any use with the ball at their feet.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 9:42 pm

Jimmydeicide wrote:Because there are no other Bayern or wednesday fans for you

Nothing to talk about with Bayern right now. 2 draws.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:10 pm

Jimmydeicide wrote: Thats all dont send me a badge Macca im alright mate.

Sh!t, I already sent you a Rafa tea-cozy!

Just to make squid happy....ermm....how about Schalke?!

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:27 am

MACTEPsporta wrote: On the bright side Glen Johnson was great, and that's a a huge plus. They've had no decent fullbacks for so long, it's refreshing to see.

Really ? Well he wasn't facing a winger, as Modric is right footed, and he lost his man at the corner who promptly headed home. I'm not sure it was even in the same postcode as any definition of 'great'.

On other matters, have a look up for Crystal Palace's disallowed 'goal' against Bristol C. The ball hits the metal at the bottom of the goal net and flies back out, leading the ref to assume it had missed the net and hit the advertising hoardings and rebounded. Ordinarily I would have had some sympathy, but the awful thought of feeling sorry for one of the most annoying individuals in football (Neil Warnock) and the lower league chairman with the most to say for himself (Simon Jordan) has just whisked that away.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:09 am

pk500 wrote:
fsquid wrote:Newcastle and Wednesday on Wednesday.
I'll look to the torrents or JustinTV. I'm learning it's a real labor of love to follow a team in the Championship!

Take care,
PK

There will be no TV feed for this match as it is a Champions League gameday. However, if you can find a free audio link, I'll love you forever. The Wednesday website has closed their loophole that I've used the last 3 seasons!

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:19 am

Good grief this board is full of spazzing 'pool fans.

Too early for any takeaways from me on the Tottenham-Liverpool match, other than Torres needs to get into form, and I'm sure Liverpool fans loved watching Keane miss 2 great chances.

The first 25 minutes was pretty dire stuff, but then Spurs started creating some chances which seemed to wake up both teams and the match turned into an entertaining game, which is all I ask for.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:23 pm

Bill Simmons does Azteca.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/090817

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:05 pm

fsquid wrote:Bill Simmons does Azteca.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ons/090817

It's a miracle: After a bunch of years on the ESPN payroll, Simmons actually wrote a story that's worth even half the time to read it.

A balanced Federal budget and a manned mission to Mars must be next.

Take care,
PK

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:02 am

Nice to see the Bindippers at it on their own website after Sunday's defeat, below...

Unbelievable fickleness....

..and just a small selection of comments on Liverpool’s Teamtalk Page.

"Torres is lazy"

"We need to retire carragher"

"After watchin yesterday, my confidence levels have plummeted, despite my best efforts at remaining confident."

"Torres is not lazy, he is just mediocre these days. He was in the pre-season and so it continues. I think he is about one third of the player who joined us from Atletico."

"I think mascherano is an average player footballing wise. he just cant pass well enough to be a top bracket player."

"WHERE ARE THE ATTACKING PLAYERS RAFA!!!!!!"

"Rafa signed a player that got injured in pre-season. Rafa says he saved some money, well bit blooming late to be thinking in those terms Rafa! Why hasn't he improved the back up? Its boardering on nuts."

"It's going to be a long hard season for Liverpool this year. Rafa bought un-wisely and there isn't enough creativity in the side."

"This may sound immature but the next time the yanks are at anfield there needs to be a uncomforatble verbal protest"

"What the hell have happened with this club?"

"sorry i meant headless chicken not donkey but then again Babel could be described as a donkey and a headless chicken!"

"Benitez always makes it hard for himself. The Aquilani transfer was a joke. Having to wait 2 months for a supposedly Key man is ridiculous. In 2 months I hate to think what the gap will be between ourselves and the top 3/4."

"lucas and mass will get done all season, i can see many away defeats this season, we deff wont win league now, sorry but if all lfc cant see the team is not good enough.....the bench at lfc is a joke compared to all other teams..... we cant compete now at all"

"How are we supposed to get a good bench if we can't keep anybody happy and we don't rotate, its Torres and SG or bust again."

"I believe rafa has taken us as far as he can and my fear is, it could only get worse, at this rate we are looking at europa league candidate at best...bye bye rafa"

"ALARM BELLS RINGING ANYONE?"

I can only imagine what it'll be like when they finish outside the top 4...though I suspect the only alarm bells ringing that day will be in the bank manager's office.