Official Football Thread

What I said was just plain and simple that Hiddink had started well (in his first two games) but that it was really nothing to get carried away over. Your post, which I responded to, was the following:

Forostar said:
Chelsea before Hiddink: place 4
Chelsea since Hiddink (only 2 Premier League matches): place 2
One to go.

Better start sweating!  :-P
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It's not amazing to climb two spots in two games and there is no reason to claim that they would carry on with that. This particular post seemed to imply that all in a sudden, Chelsea were the bookie's favourites to win the title. My response was that this hadn''t changed things around very much at all. That's not a disrespect to Chelsea, not to Hiddink and not to friggin' Holland. It is not disrespectful to anyone. And then Albie comes up with this:

Albie said:
A more telling stat. The fact that Chelsea has climbed two places is more to do with the teams above 'em dropping points.
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I think that's not unfair when we're only talking about two fucking games. If Chelsea had been 10 points behind Villa, 12 behind Liverpool and then two months later had 8 wins in a row and was ahead of both - impressive form by Chelsea and bad collapse by Liverpool and Villa.

And who has said United's way to the top wasn't helped by a poor december by Liverpool? Of course it was. But it also included a quite long unbeaten run in the league including 13 games in a row without conceding a goal. Obviously United were going to get some credit for that.

And obviously Hiddink will get loads of credit if he manages to keep Chelsea in the current form for the rest of the season, it would be nothing short of impressive. But Forostar, don't get pissed off just because someone don't want to hand out that credit after two games.
 
I guess it's just how we want to look at it. I thought these two games were important because Chelsea climbed two positions in this short period. From the fourth to the second place, and that's why I was excited about it. I do find it amazing, such a recovery, so soon. The recent weeks before Hiddink came, Chelsea did bad. Since he came, they won every match. But I'm repeating myself, I'm afraid.

Of course I wouldn't mind to give Man U credit for what they did. A great long run indeed.
About the next couple of rounds: I doubt if Manchester United will win so many matches from now on. The next one won't be easy already. Man U had some mental beating last weekend and Fulham has one of the better defenses and goalkeepers of the Premier League.
 
Forostar said:
About the next couple of rounds: I doubt if Manchester United will win so many matches from now on.
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Why not? They have been here before countlessss times and as such has the experience to finish the season well. Seven wins from ten games is really not that unachievable for them.

Forostar said:
The next one won't be easy already. Man U had some mental beating last weekend and Fulham has one of the better defenses and goalkeepers of the Premier League.
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No game is easy, but I would read into Man U's lose this weekend more as a wake up call to them to not be so complacent than anything. And Chelsea's next two? Spurs and Newcastle away!
 
Vidic was shown up for the lumbering oaf I always thought he was.Put a skillfull player right up against him and they'll tie him up in knots, I' ve seen Benayoun and Kewell do it at Anfield.The trouble is that when teams play against United they always drop off Ferdinand and Vidic, so it never becomes apparent, and they are rarely under pressure.

Look at the chances Inter had because they chose to play further up the pitch and put the United defence under pressure.

I still think United will win the league, but I think it will only be by a couple of points, however I would love either Liverpool or Barcelona to draw them in the champions league.
 
It means that you'll probably continue to get far in the Champions League every year and do well against the other top sides in the league. As well as continue drawing against mid-table teams all the time (I hope).
 
As expected, Man U could not win of Fulham. Moreover: they could not score and they even couldn't draw.
Also they were unable to finish the match with 10 or 11 players. 2 red cards! Scholes and (surprise) Rooney.

Fulham - Manchester United: 2-0

BUT, hear, hear: Chelsea lost as well. As Albie expected: a difficult match.

Tottenham H. - Chelsea: 1-0

Liverpool the profiteers of this weekend?
 
My accumulator was well and truly screwed yesterday.  ;)

On the Champions League draw, as I was hoping for a Bayern - Barca final I'm a bit disappointed. Also that Man U and Arsenal have the easiest draws. Still, hope springs eternal.
 
Et voilà:

Liverpool - Aston Villa: 5-0

Well, we don't need to be rocket scientists to realize that Manchester is in a difficult period and Liverpool isn't.
It's going to be an exciting finale with Chelsea lurking in the shadows.

Check out this mighty interesting next round:

Newcastle - Chelsea
Fulham - Liverpool (Fulham defeated Man U yesterday)
Manchester United - Aston Villa (Liverpool obliterated Villa today)
 
I still maintain it is Man U's title to loose. Yes, they have lost twice in a row yet they are still top of the league and with a game in hand. That's what can be described as the best 'difficult period' you can have.
 
I am starting to get seriously worried. The Liverpool game should have worked as a wake-up call, instead it seems it temporarily crippled the confidence of the team. Fergie has some work to do before the Villa game.

Hats off to Liverpool for their performance against Villa (although I think the penalty which gave 3-0 was a bargain and that was the decisive moment of the game). They have certainly hit some good form. May it not last long. I miss January.

But of course, as Albie says, United still has everything in their own hands. A win against Villa and the train could be back on track just in time. But this is certainly going to be a lot more exiting for neutrals than one would think one month ago.
 
While Norway were playing a crappy friendly against South Africa (where we lost 2-1 after a screamer in injury time), Holland helped us a little by beating Scotland 3-0 in Rotterdam. Thank you, Holland - now we have every chance to get 2nd. We are two behind Scotland with a game in hand and are yet to play the Scots at home.

Of course I hope the Dutchmen will be ready for South Africa well before we come to visit them, so we have a better chance to do better than the Scots did.
 
With pleasure!

To be quite frank, it's almost impossible to play worse than the Scots did yesterday.

I am especially amazed because I remember that Scotland was almost qualified for Euro 2008 (in a very strong group) and this team managed to shoot once at the hands of our goalkeeper.
 
Forostar said:
To be quite frank, it's almost impossible to play worse than the Scots did yesterday.
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You did obviously not watch the first 20 minutes of South Africa vs Norway  :P They could as well been 3-0 up after 20. The rest of the game was more even, though.

Thanks to your win yesterday, we (Norway) can take over 2nd in the group if we beat (FYRO)Macedonia - but we'll have to wait until 6th of June. Fortunately, that's a time of the year when our domestic players are in good form. I wish Holland luck on Wednesday and hope for a draw between Scotland and Iceland.
 
Playing on D-Day, eh? :)

Thanks for the best wishes! I hope we (and Norway!) will beat those Macedonians! Macedonia can show nothing during a whole match and strike at the latest (hopefully not unexpected) moment.

It would certainly be cool for us forummers to see all our countries coming through! Let's hope Iceland won't win (I can hardly imagine that Scotland will win).
 
Among the teams followed by people on here, it seems England and Holland are quite comfortable already - the same goes for Germany. Sweden have had a slow start, Norway a really bad one, and I guess Zare et al are not too pleased with Croatia's start either. However, all these teams may still do it.

I think the match against Macedonia will, in addition to be played on D-day, actually be a D-day for our chances to qualify. We have to win, it's as simple as that.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
Among the teams followed by people on here, it seems England and Holland are quite comfortable already.......
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Comfortable yes, but I will feel more happy if we get 3 points on Wednesday as the next two games I would expect us to get maximum points (Kazakhstan away and Andorra at home). That would give us played 7, won 7 - and no bugger will catch us then :D

And I was not that surprised with Scotland as they are poor in general and they had some players injured as well. So the Dutch win was, to me, as expected. If the Netherlands can't beat that Scottish team at home, then they don't deserve to qualify. ;)
 
Heh.

Yes I forgot to mention that. Scotland missed some of their important players, we'll see if they're back vs Iceland.
 
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