Official Football Thread

Kudos to the City fans today. They behaved well and when the game first was started they were quite loud as well.

But very disappointing performance from United today. I thought trouble when I saw a midfield consisting of Nani, Anderson, Giggs and Scholes. When you add Ronaldo and Tevez on top, the only real ball-winner out of these 6 is Tevez. I would have wanted Hargreaves on there instead of Anderson - derby matches are war and must be treated as such.

Top this with the fact that the temperature has been above zero for some days, meaning the skiing conditions are getting poorer every day.

Then add the fact that I've been knocked out by the f*****g flu. Sunday, bloody sunday.
 
Today and tomorrow: UEFA Cup, Third round!

Wednesday:
Zenit - Villarreal
Galatasaray - Leverkusen
AEK - Getafe
Brann - Everton
Bremen - Braga
Marseille - Spartak
PSV - Helsingborg
Anderlecht - Bordeaux
Rangers - Panathinaikos
Sporting - Basel

Thursday:
Aberdeen - Bayern
Zürich - Hamburg
Rosenborg - Fiorentina
Slavia - Tottenham
Bolton - Atlético
Benfica - Nürnberg
 
I'm about to watch the match between Brann and Everton. I think the Norwegian league champions are going to get their asses kicked. They are off season while Everton are not only in the middle of the season but also in quite good form.

I think the same for tomorrow's clash between Rosenborg and Fiorentina. One thing that goes in favour of Rosenborg is that they are the Norwegian team with most respectable results in Europe. But the fact that they haven't played a league match since November is going to show.

Anyway, there are worse things to do when one is knocked out by some feckin' virus than watching footy.
 
Looking forward to the Man U Arsenal game on Saturday. A few pints with the lads first and then settle down to watch the game. i'm just hoping Fergie selects the right team this time. Scholes has been magnificent for United over the past 10 years and more but the best central midfield performance I have seen this season was Hargreaves and Anderson against the Scousers.

When Utd lined up with Nani, Scholes, Anderson and Giggs against the Blue Shite (total respect for the Fans BTW) I was worried.

I would like to see this line up on Saturday, injuries and bans notwithstanding

Van Der Sar​
Brown Vidic Ferdinand Evra​
Ronaldo Hargreaves Anderson Giggs​
Tevez Rooney​


knowing Ferguson we'll probably get darren Fletcher, Nani, Danny Simpson and John O Shea.

But hey the guy has one how many premiership and FA Cup titles, not to mention the Champions League, Cup Winners Cup, Super Cup, League Cup, Charity Shield
 
I'm looking forward to the game also. I think that Man U will beat them as Arsenals record against them over the last few seasons has been poor. Man U to win 2-1.
 
Albie said:
I'm looking forward to the game also. I think that Man U will beat them as Arsenals record against them over the last few seasons has been poor. Man U to win 2-1.
Click to expand...

A little underestimation here  :)
Manchester United 4, Arsenal 0

I must say I was impressed by Fletcher today. I mean, he succeeded in everything he did. Two goals, went past his player plenty of times, some good cross-ins, won the ball often. His best match in a long time. :applause:

But Arsenal should get rid of Eboue. Another ugly situation today and that's not the first this season. He was close to sterilizing Evra there. And when Eboue doesn't contribute as much (with other things than bad fouls) as he have done earlier I can't see what good he can do for Arsenal. If I was Wenger, I would sell him.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
If I was Wenger, I would sell him.
Click to expand...
If you were Wenger, you would have not seen the challenge (you was looking in the other direction) and as such would not be able to comment on the tackle and stand firm behind your player and protest his innocence.

This does also prove what has been said for some time now, Man U know how to play Arsenal - look at the results against them over the last few seasons. It is not beyond other team to do the same to Arsenal that Man U seem capable of - hurry them, don't let them play and chase down every stray pass. If all the other Premiership sides played against Arsenal in the same vein that Man U do, Arsenal will be struggling by now.

It seems to me that Wenger has a formidable Plan A that gets the results, but nothing else when it goes against him.
 
WOW what a performance, i don't think Arsenal fans can say their team played badly, it's just that Man U harried the hell out of them from the word go and didnt let them play their game. And how awesome was Anderson?? He tackled, he passed, he went past people. The guy will be a legend of he continues to improve. Sir Alex, please accept my apologies for getting my assumptions so wrong...When i saw the line up I thought "oh shit here we go again" but the plan went perfectly. And how much turf did Rooney cover?? The boy is fantastic.

I agree with Albie, if every other team can harrass Arsenal like that, then the 5 point gap will quickly disappear. I think they have to play Chelsea as well as us soon, so here's to us closing the gap, and going on to win the treble!!!!

I am getting serious vibes about this season. When we won the treble, Ryan Giggs put it down to the andrenaline as eah week thy had a game that mattered and it kept them pumped up and focused. I kind of see it happening this year as we are pushing on three fronts, have a massive game against Lyon mid-week and still to play some of he top teams in the Premiership.

And could any other team in the land have Neville, Giggs, Scholes, Tevez, Ronaldo, Hargreaves all missing and still play like that?? I think not.

Oh and the day was made complete when the Scousers lost at home to er........Barnsley!!!!!! Two things to say to you lads. Calm down and who's going to be the manager next season??
 
Asleep.  :D

Seriously, Arsenal didn't have any threatening finishes at all. The match was even for ten minutes and even then they were not looking dangerous. Arsenal simply did not look like a team that would challenge for trophies this year. But of course, this was a once-in-a-year match. A side like Arsenal won't play that bad very often. But when it happens against another top side, things get ugly.

And of course, Albie; if I was Wenger, I wouldn't have zeen ze inzident.  ;)
 
Forostar said:
How was Van der Sar?
Click to expand...
Hard to judge when Arsenal had, what, one shot on target. A shot even I could have saved. Saying that, I'll go so far as saying that I could have kept a clean sheet at Old Trafford last Saturday. :D
 
Blatter issues Spain warning


FIFA president Sepp Blatter has confirmed Spain could be banned from international competition if their government tries to intervene in the election process of the Spanish FA.

Blatter has threatened the national side and Spanish clubs with expulsion from major tournaments unless their government revoke a new ministerial order which forces the country's non-Olympic sporting federations to hold elections before the Beijing Games.

"Spain is going to find itself in a situation which in the future could be very poorly received by the entire world," said Blatter, who visited Madrid on Sunday to attend an event in honour of former Real Madrid forward Alfredo Di Stefano.

"It shocks me that the government has passed a ministerial order which states that the federations that will not be involved in the [Olympic] Games must organise their elections before then.

"Either the Spanish government wants football to be played in Spain only, without international games, or it will accept the international rules and the Spanish national team will be able to take part [in international competition].

"It would be tough, but it would only take six hours to call a FIFA emergency committee meeting to hear and decide upon Spain's exclusion.

"Spain would not be able to play at Euro 2008, and their clubs wouldn't continue in the Champions League or UEFA Cup."

FIFA have always maintained a strong stance against government involvement in football's governing bodies, and have intervened in recent years in similar cases in Portugal and Greece.

And Blatter insists they will take the same approach if the government - which could change after the March 9 elections - do not revoke the order.

"If the Spanish government continue to interfere in football matters through the Ministry of Sport, they have to realise that their clubs and national team will be banned from international competitions," he added.
 
How ironic would that be. If Spain get kicked out of Euro 2008, who would take their place? Northern Ireland (being that they finished third in Spain's Group). And Celtic in the second stage of the Champions league knock-out stages! *shudders*

How, also, does Sepp Blatter have any say in what team should and should not play in UEFA competitions? He's President of FIFA - a separate governing body. It's UEFA's competitions, not FIFA's.



And to all those concerned, try to keep football and politics separate.
 
As far as UEFA and FIFA go, it is FIFA that hold ultimate power and will always have the final say.

It is like saying hiw dare UEFA get involved with matters in England as it comes under FA control or Scotland as they are under the SFA.

Unfortunately politics and sport often go hand in hand. Whether it be football or the Olympics there has always been decisions made that were made following political influence. Take the decisions on where to host the Olympics for instance. Was it coincidence that following the USA boycotting the Moscow games in 1980 that the next olympics be held in LA? Is it coincidence that the most powerful country in the world got to host the Olympics twice in a very short span of time. LA and then Atlanta??

Don't countries wanting to host an event have to kiss corporate arses when they are hoping to persuade visiting delegates to vote for them???

Sport is entertainment and as such is a multi billion dollar/pound/euro industry. With so much money riding on an event such as the Olympics it is naieve to think that politics could ever not be involved.

Even something as crazy as pro-wrestling (Ok I know it isnt a sport as such but the WWE tries to suggest it is) gets involved with politics when there is an election coming up.

Back to Sepp Blatter. I think the man has too much influence on the game. Personaly I would prefer to see a committee representing the continental associations such as UEFA and CONCAF make the final decisions.

Wasn't it Sepp who suggested women should play in shorter shorts to make the game more attractive?? Er......actually he might have a point.

No seriously FIFA are the World Governing body of football and as such can pass directives down to UEFA and ultimately national associations.
 
Blatter is very reasonable here, he IS trying to keep politics and football separate, where Spain is obviously not doing this.

Politics should keep their hands of sport, and in this case football.
 
i agree that Blatter is trying to ensure that national Governments can not interfere with the running of the game and that he should continue to do so.

That aside he is not keeping politics out of football. Politics are not confined to politicians. Whether it is politics at work, politics at a football club, politics in a sporting institution, there will always be some kind of politics going on.

He is right to keep politicans out of football, and politicians should keep out of any sport. Are we not seeing the Beijing Olympics being used as a political tool to put pressure on China becuase of the human rights attrocities in Burma?? Is this right? Is there a case when politics could or should go hand in hand with sport??
 
Putting the Olypics in Beijing was political to begin with.  Thank you for pointing out that J.S. Blatter has the right to interfere in UEFA because I was making that point some months ago but nobody believed me.
 
Another round of Champions League.

Man Utd got a deserved draw at Lyon and the away goal wil proove crucial. I think we'll win 2-0 at home but both goals will come late on in the second hald after some Lyon pressure.

i think Arsenal needed to win tonight. Milan are the masters of European football and will be very confident going back to the San Siro with a 0-0

Celtic were all heart against Barca but the Catalan giants were too classy, they'll go through to the next round.

Well done to the scousers. I think theyhave done enough and i also think Chelsea will progress.

So of the 5 British teams I think 3 will definately make the next round (Man U, Liversausage, and Chelski). Celtic are out and Arsenal have an outside chance.

Just got back from the pub watching the game so if my typing and or grammar is shit blame stella artois.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top