Soccer thread

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:38 pm

Instead of wearing a suit, Samus Mallin should just wear a Milan jersey when he's on TV. F ucking d ouchebag.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:40 pm

Looked like a hand ball to me, but it was close.

The shame was that the fall on Kaka was so weak. It was a foul, but if you're going to give up a free kick at that spot the man should be feeling the effects until Christmas

Oh, and a shout out to all the "s*** on a stick" -talking geniuses that thought the Red wouldn't come out to play football.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:42 pm

I thought it was a handball (it DID hit his hand) but then again I'm biased.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Wed May 23, 2007 3:44 pm

It's been a staggeringly dull match to this point. I don't know, maybe I'm just bored by the teams. Even though they would be down to fielding half a side, I'd much rather be watching Chelsea. Liverpool is just brutal on the eyes. (As will Milan be, now that they have a 1-0 lead to nurse.)

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:40 pm

That was a facking farce - MINIMUM THREE MINUTES INJURY TIME + 30 sec each sub, there were TWO AC Milan subs in injury time.

3 + 30sec + 30sec = 4 minutes

Instead, the blind ref blows the whistle at 2:43.

Seanmac,
Did you see Chelsea in the FA Cup final? They were real exciting then.

Macca
[ready to drown his sorrows]

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:45 pm

On another note, I am sporting a wry smile as AC Milan go to lift the trophy.....and yet you can hear the Liverpool fans singing. Nice.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed May 23, 2007 4:59 pm

Very odd timekeeping. But that game was lost when Liverpool failed to capitalize on their first half pressure. I think they were the better team tonight and that Rafa had the right gameplan going in. They just couldn't beat Maldini and Nesta in the middle, and when they did they lacked the necessary touch to finish. Gerrard's miss one-on-one with Dida was ghastly and very important as well.

I would say congrats to AC Milan, but I'll be candid and allow reality to trump sportsmanship. They were the beneficaries of corruption, they were the second best team today and they successfully disproved the old saw that cheaters never prosper.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed May 23, 2007 5:10 pm

Not a sparkling final but a better one than the FA Cup over the weekend. S. Gerrard had a chance to tie things up with the score still 0-1 and things could have changed there. Kaka with a genius pass did the damage and Inzaghi was at his best. Yes, the ref should have kept playing easily for another minute or more, but I think the Italians did enough to take the trophy.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Wed May 23, 2007 5:36 pm

Macca00 wrote:That was a facking farce - MINIMUM THREE MINUTES INJURY TIME + 30 sec each sub, there were TWO AC Milan subs in injury time.

3 + 30sec + 30sec = 4 minutes

Instead, the blind ref blows the whistle at 2:43.

Seanmac,
Did you see Chelsea in the FA Cup final? They were real exciting then.

Macca
[ready to drown his sorrows]

I didn't, but I believe the reports- the Blues are pretty out of gas. A healthy side would have put up a better performance, but that's not what was available. Anyway, I'm not going to get worked up over Liverpool getting robbed or somehow being the best team on the field- they were thoroughly outplayed by Barcelona and shouldn't have gotten out of Stamford Bridge only down 1-0. They took apart PSV (which is what it is), but they were a decidedly average side throughout the tournament. Milan didn't look all that crisp, but they hardly needed to be in top form. They were a much more deserving winner based on the quality of their play throughout the tournament.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed May 23, 2007 7:23 pm

seanmac31 wrote:
I didn't, but I believe the reports- the Blues are pretty out of gas. A healthy side would have put up a better performance, but that's not what was available. Anyway, I'm not going to get worked up over Liverpool getting robbed or somehow being the best team on the field- they were thoroughly outplayed by Barcelona and shouldn't have gotten out of Stamford Bridge only down 1-0. They took apart PSV (which is what it is), but they were a decidedly average side throughout the tournament. Milan didn't look all that crisp, but they hardly needed to be in top form. They were a much more deserving winner based on the quality of their play throughout the tournament.

Agree with some of you assessment, but Milan hardly sparkled until the second leg of the semi-final. And Barcelona did not thoroughly outplay Liverpool by any measure. Liverpool played one of the finest games of the tournament at the Nou Camp, and did what they needed at home. If a side that fielded three Brazilians and 5 Italians did that, it would be "cagey." But for an English side to do so is somehow less approrpriate for many.

As for Chelsea, even during their two title runs they were hardly total football-playing marvels. Successful yes, but not the most dynamic team to watch.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Wed May 23, 2007 11:12 pm

So we decide a winner now with how good their overall play is ? Get real.
Liverpool are far from an average side they may have to retool upfront and keep Crouch on the bench and replace the donkeys down the wings but average side they are not.

Chelsea are and always have been a boring side to watch so to Arsenal until recent years.
The FA cup final was a pure gem i felt like i was watching West Ham and Liverpool from the previous year.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Wed May 23, 2007 11:17 pm

No English team has ever beaten Barcelona at the Nou Camp - Liverpool did it AND came from a goal down. If you remember the game at Anfield Liverpool hit the post twice in the first half and could so easily have wrapped up the tie 4-1 by half time.

In the second leg against Chelsea they created more chances (instead of hoofing the ball up to Drogba every second pass) and scored a winner in Extra Time that was incorrectly ruled offside.

Against AC Milan tonight the shots were;

Liverpool 17
AC Milan 7

I guess I'm just fed up of the lazy, tired media's portrayal of Liverpool as a 'boring' team - Samus Mallin is a prime example, at half time it wasn't that Liverpool had played well, his words were to the effect;

"Well Liverpool haven't squeezed the life out of the game yet"

When Liverpool are in a game that happens to be devoid of goals you hear;

"Liverpool were boring"

But if Chelsea and Man U play to a boring as hell draw you hear;

"The match was boring"

Liverpool vs West Ham 3-3 (win on pens)
Liverpool vs AC Milan 3-3 (win on pens)
Liverpool vs Alaves 5-4 (win in ET)
Liverpool vs Arsenal 2-1

Those are four classic cup finals involving Liverpool but yet whenever there's a big match you just here Liverpool are boring or somehow anti-football. Did you see Liverpool vs. Man U earlier this season at Anfield? Liverpool played better than United but United managed to steal an away win - it was a solid smash and grab raid and fair play to them. But when Liverpool do the same thing away to a big team it's them playing 'boring'.

Finally, as for Chelsea being 'tired' - when you spend the ridiculous amounts of money they do you don't get to complain about squad depth. They paid 27 and 30 million pounds for the front two strikers alone. For the price of Shevchenko alone you could buy;

Xabi Alonso (10 million)
Javier Mascherano (2.5 million)
Bolo Zenden (Free Transfer)
Luis Garcia (6 million)
Peter Crouch (7 million)
Mark Gonzales (4.5 million)

And still have change left after you've bought SIX players that often start for Liverpool.

Or in other terms;

Christiano Ronaldo - 12 (from Sporting)
Luis Saha - 12 million
Alan Smith - 6 million

If you spend stupid money you don't get to complain about lack of depth - Paulo Ferrera cost more than the entire Liverpool back 4 COMBINED.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:23 am

Macca you forgot Sean-wright philips... but so did chelsea.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:27 am

LOL Maybe we should re-title this thread "Pitchfork and Torch Wielding Liverpool Fans React!"

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu May 24, 2007 4:12 am

I'm late to the party. Watching the game off a torrent, not live.

Does Berlesconi pay off refs? That was a fantastic 2:30 of extra time out of 3 minutes off added on time and one sub that took 30 secs.

AC Milan got luckey and certainly were not the better side. At least it was a better game than Sunday's F*ck All Cup. Pennant played great.

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Thu May 24, 2007 7:46 am

RobVarak wrote:LOL Maybe we should re-title this thread "Pitchfork and Torch Wielding Liverpool Fans React!"

BURRRN 'EM BURRRRN

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu May 24, 2007 10:42 am

JRod wrote:
Does Berlesconi pay off refs?

Well yes, as a matter of fact he does.

Well, not so much pay them off directly as take measures to make sure that the "right refs" officiate their Serie A matches. But let's not let a little thing like that detract from the beauty ane elegance of the football that they played...

What irks me more than anything is the failure of fans and pundits alike to recognize the full repercussions of the corruption in Italian football. The malfeasance of the big clubs, with the apparent exception of Internazionale, has resulted in rot so deep that it touched every corner of Calcio. The players of the Italian national team have not needed to play as much or as hard as those playing in leagues that are not rigged. The success of Italian club teams in Europe is obviously buyoed by the fact that events in Serie A are "taken care of" in the great Italian tradition. There is no part of Italian soccer that is not redolent of the stink of this scandal. And there are few people who have ever been connected with Italian football naive enough to suggest that the corruption is limited to the circumstances which have recently been uncovered.

Defenders of the Italian game suggest that despite this corruption, the Italian teams and have had to win on the pitch. But it should be clear that systematically undermining the fairness of the top-flight domestic league has repercussions throughout club and international football. If Milan knows that its domestic league game is covered by a ref who knows what's good for him, why not rest a few of those veterans? No need to let legitimate Serie A matches interfere with World Cup qualifying. Let's have the boys rest, or at least play at a modest level that won't tire them out.

The whole thing stinks. What's worse is that it clouds the performance of both the national team and its world class players. There's no doubt that Italy would be a titan of world football without this b.s. Players like Nesta, Maldini and Pirlo display clear genius that has nothing to do with the corruption of the domestic league. But there's simply no way to truly and accurately judge Italian football and players against the world as long as the foundation of the sport in Italy is so rotten.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:55 pm

Italian football has also perfected the art of complaining to the ref. Which bugs me to no end.

Even though I thought the better team lost last night. It just confirmed that Man U and Chelsea did not belong in the final after their FA performance.

Too bad Liverpool didn't get more pressure on Dida. He looked like he was having one of his nights but Liverpool couldn't quite finish him off.

And now there's no more football (or very little) until the EPL starts up late summer. Damn.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Thu May 24, 2007 3:25 pm

La Liga is still having a great race to the end with three weeks left, plus the Gold Cup and Copa America. Now, the month between the Copa and Sheffield Wednesday's first game will suck.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Fri May 25, 2007 1:44 am

Macca00 wrote:No English team has ever beaten Barcelona at the Nou Camp - Liverpool did it AND came from a goal down. If you remember the game at Anfield Liverpool hit the post twice in the first half and could so easily have wrapped up the tie 4-1 by half time.

In the second leg against Chelsea they created more chances (instead of hoofing the ball up to Drogba every second pass) and scored a winner in Extra Time that was incorrectly ruled offside.

Against AC Milan tonight the shots were;

Liverpool 17
AC Milan 7

I guess I'm just fed up of the lazy, tired media's portrayal of Liverpool as a 'boring' team - Samus Mallin is a prime example, at half time it wasn't that Liverpool had played well, his words were to the effect;

"Well Liverpool haven't squeezed the life out of the game yet"

When Liverpool are in a game that happens to be devoid of goals you hear;

"Liverpool were boring"

But if Chelsea and Man U play to a boring as hell draw you hear;

"The match was boring"

Liverpool vs West Ham 3-3 (win on pens)
Liverpool vs AC Milan 3-3 (win on pens)
Liverpool vs Alaves 5-4 (win in ET)
Liverpool vs Arsenal 2-1

Those are four classic cup finals involving Liverpool but yet whenever there's a big match you just here Liverpool are boring or somehow anti-football. Did you see Liverpool vs. Man U earlier this season at Anfield? Liverpool played better than United but United managed to steal an away win - it was a solid smash and grab raid and fair play to them. But when Liverpool do the same thing away to a big team it's them playing 'boring'.

Finally, as for Chelsea being 'tired' - when you spend the ridiculous amounts of money they do you don't get to complain about squad depth. They paid 27 and 30 million pounds for the front two strikers alone. For the price of Shevchenko alone you could buy;

Xabi Alonso (10 million)
Javier Mascherano (2.5 million)
Bolo Zenden (Free Transfer)
Luis Garcia (6 million)
Peter Crouch (7 million)
Mark Gonzales (4.5 million)

And still have change left after you've bought SIX players that often start for Liverpool.

Or in other terms;

Christiano Ronaldo - 12 (from Sporting)
Luis Saha - 12 million
Alan Smith - 6 million

If you spend stupid money you don't get to complain about lack of depth - Paulo Ferrera cost more than the entire Liverpool back 4 COMBINED.

Liverpool won at Barca. Good for them. That said, the reality is that they did so on the strength of two freakish goals in a game where they barely had a sniff of the ball (as I recall, possession was 70-30, if not worse).

As for Chelsea not getting to complain, they weren't- people who had to watch this Final are complaining. As has been correctly pointed out, both Man U and Chelsea looked thoroughly shot in the FA Cup final, and throwing their shells out on the field wouldn't have improved matters much. But I would much rather have seen a fit Chelsea side in that game. If Liverpool is allocating their resources more efficiently, then that's great for their club- it doesn't mean I want to watch them. Of course, I'd rather watch Yankees-Red Sox than Twins-A's. But that's just me.

Anyway, time to put this snoozefest to bed.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri May 25, 2007 1:54 am

seanmac,

I think you've missed the boat. While I think the most exciting team in the EPL over the past year has been Man U, last night's game was not a bore, nor was Liverpool.

Part of the problem in the EPL is that damn 4-5-1 formation. It's meant to clog up the midfield and use the long ball to spring a striker.

In the match, that will forever be known as the greatest reason why a 4-4-2 isn't that bad, or the FA cup, the striker is left without any support. It leads to boring football when the striker and midfield can't connect.

However, this match was nothing like that. Rafa made a great choice in using Pennant but should have started Kewell or move Riise up. Liverpool exploited the right wing all night long. Second problem was if you are going to play the long ball why not make the target a tree, aka as Peter Crouch. And Milan got lucky last night. Those two goals were not well executed plays with a remarkable effort to put it in the net. One goal was a deflection and the other, I though Reina might have done better.

I think the EPL is infected with foreign manages that use a single striker. It's stupid and doesn't deserve to be in the EPL.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Fri May 25, 2007 9:41 am

At least Liverpool won the "try to run over the ticket people" battle on Wednesday night.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Fri May 25, 2007 11:22 am

The Fa cup final wasnt a bad game cos the teams were out of gas which is bullshit anyway it was a bad game cos noone wanted to make the first mistake so it was boring safe football .

If the game had been played any better or the teams were out of gas then how come we never saw the customary players falling left and right with cramp , like a world cup final or any final at wembley?

Seanmac read all you want, next time watch the game like all us other poor bastards did.

And if you like Chelsea so much will you pay my $15.95 PPV fee ?

Somone should , i put more effort in pushing the buttons on my remote to order the damn thing.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri May 25, 2007 1:30 pm

Sven to Man City. If it does go through, I can't wait to hear Dave moan throughout the season. Sven this Seven that.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon May 28, 2007 3:05 pm

I'd like him - he's won titles in three countries and is an excellent judge of talent.

Let's face it, no one is coming to City until the takeover happens and they see the colour of the money. It is interesting, however, that a lot of the previously unavailable candidates (Sven, Houllier, Adriaanse) have suddenly become free.

To those who know Man City fans however, becoming a Chelsea-like club for overpriced 'talent', or heaven forbid generating a fanbase of the likes of MU or Chelsea is anathema. City are all about being able to shake your head and utter the cry of Blues everywhere "Typical City", rather than throwing a tantrum because you haven't won your 20th game in a row or you can't get the latest limited edition 6th away strip with the Munich celebratory arm badges.