The Official Football Thread 2007/08 (3 Viewers)

[LMF^^]

Arsenal is the in-form team in the league atm, I must admit. Chelsea have struggled, we have struggled, and Liverpool are just, well, Liverpool, all talk but no action. The only problems for Arsenal is its defence, and the goalkeeping position. Almunia & Lehmann are both prone to brain explosions. I've heard the Almunia made a terrible one today and it was Toure who ended up saving your asses.

Fabregas' goal was brilliant, but I reckon Adebayor's was even better. It's frustrating to see a player who can score goals like that but can't score the tap-ins eh?

We got a hard earned 3 points today at Everton. Vidic is the man. I'm confident in our defence, but am a little worried about our attacking threat. We seem a bit too one dimensional, and do struggle to break down packed defences. Our set pieces aren't the greatest either, but thanks to Vida we have someone who's a real header of the ball. That guy has no fear. Forget Chuck Norris, Vidic is the real man.

 

[Led-Zep]

good on arsenal for their form at the moment, they are basically doing what united were last season, with the scoring part. if they continue then they definitely will be contenders for the league, espec with fabregas playing how he is bloody breathtaking to watch, and rosicksy (sp?) on form. will see how they do against, chelsea/pool/united tho.

united, horrible just horrible. i dont know why we are playing like this, it just seems that teams have figured us out and we dont kno what to do anymore. i dont understand it surely fergie wouldve realised this by now and adopted another approach. its great that saha is back he really is key, tho we managed to win it without him for half the season, his partnership with rooney is vital. ronnie isnt playing well at the moment for united, it seems he is trying to much and just isnt as direct as he was last season. nani, i dnt know why he doesnt use his pace more instead of stopping and pulling the ball back, he could easily round defenders ala ronnie. still with saha, rooney coming back we should be much more fluid, and my god can we get rid of brown, he is ok at CB but has no idea how to cross a ball, always hits the first man.

 

[Raiks]

Horrible? NEWCASTLE WERE JUST DONE BY DERBY... oh god that was painful.

 

[HeCtic]

Horrible? NEWCASTLE WERE JUST DONE BY DERBY... oh god that was painful.

Haha, I was hoping Derby could somehow get up and put Spurs into the drop zone. Only goal difference separating them from there now. What a great season so far; Arsenal top and Spudz in a relegation dogfight. Almost too good to be true.

Arsenal is the in-form team in the league atm, I must admit. Chelsea have struggled, we have struggled, and Liverpool are just, well, Liverpool, all talk but no action. The only problems for Arsenal is its defence, and the goalkeeping position. Almunia & Lehmann are both prone to brain explosions. I've heard the Almunia made a terrible one today and it was Toure who ended up saving your asses.

Fabregas' goal was brilliant, but I reckon Adebayor's was even better. It's frustrating to see a player who can score goals like that but can't score the tap-ins eh?

Almunia got beaten at his near post again and also had a brain explosion which was saved by a godly tackle from Kolo. Time to give Fabianski a go in my opinion. He's been raved about by everyone on the continent and if he's got that much potential throw him ASAP, he'll make the odd error but he could be the long-term solution.

Adebayor is an oddity. He's still a few years from his peak and he offers us so much in terms of work-rate and physical presence up front, is a good player who could become excellent in a couple of years. About the goal, if Drogba had scored that goal the wankathon would've started long ago.

united, horrible just horrible. i dont know why we are playing like this, it just seems that teams have figured us out and we dont kno what to do anymore. i dont understand it surely fergie wouldve realised this by now and adopted another approach.

We started exactly like that last season and it had a major snowball effect. We started to doubt ourselves and other teams started thinking they had a chance if they dug in and ended up upping their games. Better hope you can somehow get out of this cycle quickly or your season could go tits up early.

 

[Raginsheep]

For the Bale goal, the wall was badly set. If Helb had jumped or we'd had someone a bit taller at the end of the wall, the ball wouldn't have gone in.

 

[LMF^^]

Chelsea really do struggle without Drogba. The whole team is centred around him. Mourinho's tactics are always long ball, or spread to the wing and cross for Drogba to finish. With Sheva, this just isn't his game. Rosenborg did very well to get a point from this game, perhaps they're tougher than we think.

Arsenal Sevilla will be a cracking game. I'm expecting a high scoring game, hopefully ending in a 2-2 draw. Can't wait for Rooney and Saha to line up together again, will be good to take our first away points in Europe.

 

[Raiks]

For the Bale goal, the wall was badly set. If Helb had jumped or we'd had someone a bit taller at the end of the wall, the ball wouldn't have gone in.

That type of thing is meaningless, it's like saying, if we had a faster, more accurate and productive striker who scored more goals, Newcastle would have beaten Derby 7-1.

 

[HeCtic]

^Heh at Hermione. Funniest troll I've seen for a while


On the game tonight. Fucking superb, absolutely superb. 3-0 playing some of the best stuff you'll ever see. An absolute stuffing.

 

[HeCtic]

Mouron gone?

Please Kolo be true.....

 

[LMF^^]

Yes, Mourinho is gone. And I have to say I'm quite shocked by this, who would've expected this to ever happen? Well at least not during September.

He's a genuine character, without him there won't be as much entertainment. Oh well, is he scared that he'll lose against us on Sunday and scared of the axe, so he'll just quit now while it ain't so bad just yet.

 

[Led-Zep]

i too was shocked, i mean he only lost once? very weird decision, definitely abramovich based id say, pretty funny considering kenyon only on monday said the future was with mourinho and the doco of chelski came out with them all smiles!
as much of a cunt he was, i found him so very entertaining, breath of fresh air was getting boring in the epl, i mean wenger is deluded, and benitez is just no fun. every now and then fergie would do sumfin. he is goin to either inter or portugal national team, no doubt bout it.

this can go one of two ways on sunday, either we smash them, or the pull together and get a win for jose.

 

[Hampsters-rul]

Yay Mourinho is gone this is the best day of my life!!!


ARSENAL ALL THE WAY!!!!!

 

[HeCtic]

Well well, looks like John Terry told Peter Kuntyon that Jose had lost the confidence of the dressing room and that set things in motion for him geting the axe.

As a result now Cuntley, Fat Frank, Drogba and Malouda now all hate Captain Nazi and there's also the problem of the whole squad generally ignoring anything Avram tells them to do.

Apparently during the Rosenberg match Abramovich went into the players dressing room and started giving out tactical directions to Essien, and now he's going to have a more "hands-on" approach to first team affairs.

All this hilarity and more here and here.

I'm going to love watching Roman play real life FM this season. Hope they somehow scrape a point tonight and implode afterwards.



EDIT: From that second article:

Tuesday, 10pm, home dressing room, Stamford Bridge. Andriy Shevchenko is taking Michael Essien to task on his performance in the night's embarrassing 1-1 draw with Rosenborg. The former European footballer of the year tells Africa's finest midfielder that he tried to make too many passes through the centre of the Norwegians' formation where '70 percent of their players were'. Essien learns he should have been passing to the wings 'where they only had 30 percent of their men'.

Not the most insightful of tactical advice, but then these are not the thoughts of a Ukraine international, they are those of a Russian billionaire. Standing beside Shevchenko, tactics board in hand, Roman Abramovich is the man telling Essien how to play football. Shevchenko is merely there to translate. In another room, attending to the press, Mourinho is utterly unaware of his employer's actions.

Hahahahaha, and there's more!

 

[LMF^^]

Chelsea really seems lost without Mourinho, and this Avrant Grant is a nobody, he will not win Chelsea any silverware. From the way they played last night, they had nothing. No motivation to win, making silly mistakes all the time, just all disjointed. The only one who played well for them was Cech. If Abramovich wants to start coaching, then Chelsea will go down in no time.

I have to say the ref was completely rubbish, Mikel's red was way too harsh, even though he's a big cunt. And if that one was a red, Joe Cole deserved a red also for the one he made on Ronaldo. And that penalty was pretty soft, but one should've been given in the beginning when Joe Cole brought down Evra from behind.

Meh, I wanted to see a good game. But in the end, the ref took the excitement out of it. I'm happy with the points, but that's about it.

 

[_dhj_]

It was definitely a dive from Saha, but nevertheless a cleverly executed one. Notice how Ronaldo congratulated him before he took the penalty for his professionalism.

Looks as though Chelsea might struggle from now on. But I'm interested in seeing how Abramovich personally manages the club (since Grant is merely his puppet).

 

[LMF^^]

It was definitely a dive from Saha, but nevertheless a cleverly executed one. Notice how Ronaldo congratulated him before he took the penalty for his professionalism.

Looks as though Chelsea might struggle from now on. But I'm interested in seeing how Abramovich personally manages the club (since Grant is merely his puppet).

Saha got hit in the face, and he got nicked on the shin. Maybe it was a bit soft, but we've all seen worse. Rooney's one on Sol Campbell was worse, and that was a more important game than this one ever will be.

I can't see any way up for Chelsea after Mourinho has left. On the field, everything involves him. From the way some of the Chelsea players played on Sunday you can just see how it has affected the team. Malouda was all over the place, so was Essien, and Terry is just playing like he's got his head blown away, and these are suppose to be the players who can lift the team out of a sticky situation.

Interesting to see Van Basten sitting near Abramovich, maybe he's the one to take over the coaching position in the near future?

 

[Raiks]

Saha got hit in the face, and he got nicked on the shin. Maybe it was a bit soft, but we've all seen worse. Rooney's one on Sol Campbell was worse, and that was a more important game than this one ever will be.

I can't see any way up for Chelsea after Mourinho has left. On the field, everything involves him. From the way some of the Chelsea players played on Sunday you can just see how it has affected the team. Malouda was all over the place, so was Essien, and Terry is just playing like he's got his head blown away, and these are suppose to be the players who can lift the team out of a sticky situation.

Interesting to see Van Basten sitting near Abramovich, maybe he's the one to take over the coaching position in the near future?

I'm sorry but you can't defend Saha on that.

If EA Sports was realistic, they'd a Prima Dona characteristic to players.

 

[HeCtic]

So Raiksy, how about that Carling Cup campaign of yours? Heard Lassana was running rings around your midfield.

. I am not telling you the key to rattling them. Arsene's not managed to work it out yet, so I might as well keep it going.

Oh dear. One trick pony thug cunt of a manager. Will be hilarious seeing him get found out this season at a large-ish club.


Also, Chelsea fans singing gas chamber songs about their own manager. Absolute class, they deserve all the pain they're about to suffer this season.

 

[Big80smullet]

I think chelsea are pretty screwed if they can't even beat fulham at home. And as for the chants about gas chambers, chelsea have always been that way. Since the 70's theyve been one of the most vio;ent clubs in england, and its only in the last 5 or so years that its stopped.

 

[Raiks]

So Raiksy, how about that Carling Cup campaign of yours? Heard Lassana was running rings around your midfield.



Oh dear. One trick pony thug cunt of a manager. Will be hilarious seeing him get found out this season at a large-ish club.


Also, Chelsea fans singing gas chamber songs about their own manager. Absolute class, they deserve all the pain they're about to suffer this season.

We had a carling cup campaign? I didn't notice

Lassana wasn't running rings around the midfield, it was just a class display by the arsenal kids, that's all. I'm quite willing to admit that arsenal looked quality and the development path taken by the club will only be mimicced around Europe as you follow what breeds success (they have depth, youth and a fair whack of talent).

Allardyce shouldn't be found out this year because he's just starting his rebuild, no matter your personal opinion of him, he did alright with what he had at Bolton. Give him time (not a popular concept in the North East unfortunately) and the money to produce a squad rather than 13-14 decentish players and Newcastle should be alright with him because he has some idea which is better than some muppets running around the EPL. But I only hope that Allardyce can move from the less then desirable tactics of a cash-strapped club looking to grind out a season to providing something more attactive with the money he's been given and consistently easily making UEFA most years.