Soccer thread 07/08

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:00 am

I think UEFA should just advance Bayern after today's game. No need for a game next week.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:31 pm

fsquid wrote:I think UEFA should just advance Bayern after today's game. No need for a game next week.

Yes cut out the middle man.
Altintop's goal wasnt bad either for an opener.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:18 am

Dave,

I'm sitting in the middle of snow storm in Ontario but I can see that smile across the Atlantic from over here!

Best wishes,

Doug

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:36 pm

Slightly moderated by us being bobbins again and losing at Reading, but I'll take that - particularly when they had 2 pens turned down, one of which even I might have given.

Bet the Scots Drunk is going to have a coronary tonite

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:43 pm

And Liverpool have company now...

Best wishes,

doug

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:56 pm

dougb wrote:And Liverpool have company now...

Best wishes,

doug

What a leap for the header, awsome.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:16 pm

BARNSLEY!

Take care,
PK

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:29 pm

pk500 wrote:BARNSLEY!

Take care,
PK

Good to hear from you PK - I was wondering if you were buried in one of the snow drifts. Has Buffalo disappeared from view yet? I'm trying to extricate myself from my driveway.

Where the f*cks spring?

Why did they fire Big Sam again?

Best wishes,

Doug

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:06 pm

Doug:

Minimal snow so far today here in Syracuse -- only about 6 inches or so. I don't want spring -- I want to keep skiing!

Big Sam was a joke, but so is Keegan! The entire club is a shambles.

Take care,
PK

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:20 pm

I actually feel sorry for Keegan, it's patently obvious that he's just a convenient stooge for Mike Ashley - or should that be that he is basically an avatar and Ashley thinks he is actually managing the team ?

All this stuff about Wise (Director of Football - and what qualifications has he got for that) and Hughton (sidekick and bib-hander-outer-at-training to a whole host of failed Spurs managers) being brought in without Keegan's knowledge make him look foolish at press conferences.

When you add that to Keegan's admission that he'd watched virtually no football since leaving City, and moaning about not bringing anyone in when they had 2 weeks of the window left to do so, it's just like watching someone trying to drive an articulated lorry from the back seat.

Keegan is usually characterised as someone who quits when it gets tough. This time, I don't think anyone would blame him if he walked now, and let the clueless owner and his glove puppet appointments stay on the deck til the iceberg holes the ship.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:31 pm

Newcastle's problems - on the pitch at least; Dave's tidied up the off-field issues neatly for me, and there are enough of those to last a while - are twofold:

- They aren't capable of conceding just one. Once one goal goes in, the defence becomes notional and several more follow
- They aren't capable of scoring even one. Michael Owen's masterclass in profligacy last weekend highlighted that while they are at least creating now, they have nobody who might one day manage to hit a cow's arse with a banjo

How much of that is down to Keegan, joke or otherwise, and how much is down to their innate lack of talent? He's got them playing better than Allardyce was managing at the end of his reign, but they don't look like getting a result and with Birmingham and Fulham to play soon, they need to change that quickly.

On another note, for the good of the sport, somebody must stop Middlesbrough winning this year's FA Cup. I'm not worried whether it's Cardiff City, or whoever they might draw in the semi-finals, or a mysterious masked assailant; someone has to do the decent thing.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:47 pm

pk500 wrote:Doug:

Minimal snow so far today here in Syracuse -- only about 6 inches or so. I don't want spring -- I want to keep skiing!

Big Sam was a joke, but so is Keegan! The entire club is a shambles.

Take care,
PK

Holy crap,

I take my hat off to you - when 6 inches of snow is minimal!

I've shovelled my damn drive way twice already today - road conditions are pretty horrific in anything less than a big truck. Old man winter is giving us an old fashion sh*t kicking this year. Only thing that differentiates this winter from the old classics is that there's been a lot of freeze /thaw - no sustained cold for any length of time.

Best wishes,

Doug

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:10 pm

GB,

Looks like you got your wish - someone just did the decent thing!

Out of curiosity, why are Middlesborough hated so much?

Best wishes,

Doug

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:20 pm

dougb wrote:GB,

Looks like you got your wish - someone just did the decent thing!

Out of curiosity, why are Middlesborough hated so much?

Best wishes,

Doug

Middlesboro are like a courtesy side to make up the numbers in the PL - Simo just hates them because Middlesbrough is close to Hartlepool geographically

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:21 pm

PK, do I need to make you a list of Championship venues so that you will be able to follow Newcastle next year?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:45 pm

fsquid wrote:PK, do I need to make you a list of Championship venues so that you will be able to follow Newcastle next year?

I'm already starting those preparations, but I'll take any advice you can offer. Pathetic.

Take care,
PK

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:33 pm

dougb wrote:GB,

Looks like you got your wish - someone just did the decent thing!

Out of curiosity, why are Middlesborough hated so much?

Dave's halfway there - Middlesbrough is ten miles up the road from Hartlepool. On top of that, I couldn't really get along with the idea that a team as devoid of creativity, lacking in ideas and as utterly wet as Middlesbrough could be a realistic candidate to win the bloody Cup.

Actually, Dave's rather more than halfway there - the local media is so incredibly Boro-centric that even when lower-league sides are pushing for promotion (as my Pools did last season and our rivals Darlington are this time) they take a poor second place to Boro's perennial mid-table mediocrity. It's so bad that the local BBC radio station is usually referred to as Radio Boro. Add to that the minority of Boro fans who see fit to roundly abuse anyone who dares to walk around their town in Hartlepool United colours in spite of the fact that they wouldn't even have a team had we not let them use our ground in 1986...

I don't hate them, far from it, but watching them (especially on days like today when the playing staff appear to have never met each other) I do find it very difficult to feel anything better than neutrality towards them.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:07 pm

so, by my account, Portsmouth is the only EPL team that is left?

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:31 pm

Correct, squid. There'll be at least one Championship side in the final, and given the way the competition has gone so far and the fact that Liverpool and Chelsea have both fallen to lower-league opposition, you wouldn't want to bet against there being two. Much better than the Man Utd vs Chelsea final everyone was tipping last week, isn't it?

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:16 am

Email from my buddy that is a Portsmouth fan but doesn't keep up with the other divisions of English football:

"Griffin,

Who the hell is west Bromwich Albion. They must suck like your Wednesday. Go Pompey!"

Macca00 · Post by **Macca00** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:16 pm

Got this joke from a Newcastle-supporting friend of mine;

David Blaine is apparently gutted that his World record of 44 days of doing f*ck all in a box has just been smashed by Newcastle striker Michael Owen

C'mon Barnsley!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:30 pm

Macca00 wrote:Got this joke from a Newcastle-supporting friend of mine;

David Blaine is apparently gutted that his World record of 44 days of doing f*ck all in a box has just been smashed by Newcastle striker Michael Owen

Now THAT is funny!

Owen is looking more and more like the Andrea Jaeger of football. Tennis buffs will get the connection.

Take care,
PK

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:34 pm

pk500 wrote:
Macca00 wrote:Got this joke from a Newcastle-supporting friend of mine;

David Blaine is apparently gutted that his World record of 44 days of doing f*ck all in a box has just been smashed by Newcastle striker Michael Owen
Now THAT is funny!

Owen is looking more and more like the Andrea Jaeger of football. Tennis buffs will get the connection.

Take care,
PK

Nah, Owen's better looking than Andrea was!

Best wishes,

Doug

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:03 am

GB_Simo wrote:Correct, squid. There'll be at least one Championship side in the final, and given the way the competition has gone so far and the fact that Liverpool and Chelsea have both fallen to lower-league opposition, you wouldn't want to bet against there being two. Much better than the Man Utd vs Chelsea final everyone was tipping last week, isn't it?

After last years bore fest , f***in' eh right it will be.
I just hope the teams have enough fans to fill wembley.
If Barnsley bring thier whole town at least one end will have people in it.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:45 am

If Barnsley make it, you'll see people from all over Yorkshire come for the match.

Programming note. The US Olympic team will start their qualifying tonight against Cuba in Miami.