Football/Soccer Discussion Thread

[dingopongo]

I'm really up to this... It's not the first season that a referre decision makes the balance move to one side. I encourage FIFA/UEFA to introduce real time technology in the matches (like in tennis, for example)

[Dr.Kotov]

Originally Posted by Carter

Ivanovic's red card was justified. Being the last man, he was itching for a red card. But, ultimately, Young made the most out of it and forced the referee's hand. Now, for the second card, Evans was clearly looking to tackle Torres and there was - albeit minimal - contact. How Torres was adjudged to have dived when Evans was clearly going his leg is beyond me. Not to mention Javier's offside goal. These kind of decisions need to be considered thoroughly, even if they take a few minutes. It was a weak and questionable display from the referees. This happened TWICE this season now for United: against Liverpool (who by the way were robbed of a perfectly legitimate goal in the dying minutes) and today.

I feel for the Chelsea fans. They didn't deserve to lose. They displayed more will even with 9 men. Nobody, except unreasonable United fans maybe, will truly acknowledge this win as a deserved one.

Anyone neutral who can possibly sum up things with objectivity like this gets my respect.
What club do you support?

Chelsea vs United again, tonight at the Bridge.
Us knocking out United from the Capital One Cup might as well be worth the PL loss.
Still a tragedy to any supporter, unfortunately.

[Katalyst]

Reading 5-7 Arsenal
Chelsea 5-4 Man. United

Football shows like these only happen in England.

[Carter]

Originally Posted by Dr.Kotov

Anyone neutral who can possibly sum up things with objectivity like this gets my respect.
What club do you support?

Chelsea vs United again, tonight at the Bridge.
Us knocking out United from the Capital One Cup might as well be worth the PL loss.
Still a tragedy to any supporter, unfortunately.

I'm a Leeds fan. Not so big on them being in the Championship, but I still have hope.

[Dr.Kotov]

21 goals in 2 games? Don't know what to expect from the league cup from now on. But what a game that was.. Each time we went down.. Tense doesn't begin to describe it.

Haha, Chelsea's drawn Leeds for our next match in the League Cup. Good luck.

[Carter]

And I'm hoping we can spring a surprise, but that would be highly unlikely. Chelsea, Arsenal and Swansea have a great chance at this cup.

Yesterday's game was pretty awesome. Despite Chelsea having decisions against them AGAIN (like the blatant penalty, Giggs clear red and Keane's obstruction of Sturridge which warranted a red IMO), Chelsea were able to win. I was impressed with Moses a lot. Sturridge started terrible; losing control of the ball too frequently, trying to dribble multiple defenders and shooting wide. That changed when he scored. He looked more confident in his play and actually was involved in a lot of dangerous attacks. It was pity for Chelsea to concede goals from mistakes, but all in all, deserved win.

[Nuke]

Need to stop drifting away from this place...

Anyway, kind of annoyed with the Carling Cup draw, I feel Swansea Away is the worst draw we could've possibly had a Boro fan. Long distance to travel, not as big a club as Arsenal and Chelsea and yet still not much chance of an upset. We've played away twelve times in a row in the league cup as well which is getting quite ridiculous, I suppose if we do spring a surprise then we have to play at home for one of the semi final legs.

Still after the victory against Sunderland, I suppose anything is possible.

[Dr.Kotov]

Originally Posted by Carter

And I'm hoping we can spring a surprise, but that would be highly unlikely. Chelsea, Arsenal and Swansea have a great chance at this cup.

....(cont)

Added respect for your team during the matchup.
Not to be cocky, but we're still going to win. Hope it's a good match!

Heartbreak, every-time we went down after making it level. Nani's goal is one I must admire through, great movement and what a finish. Though, trumped by Hazard's final card for setting up Ramires & his own slick finish. Mata was clearly tired as the match had only begun...playing the whole 120 minutes & after he was denied the clear penalty, I felt for the guy. His morale..is the key to our team, our attack. His look..through most of the match made me worry. After all, when a person like Mata is treated unfairly, everything feels unjust. His freekick was inches off...inches.

Sturridge, ah Sturridge. Landed a couple of shockers last night, didn't he? Open goal...two players he could've passed to. Yet he still tried to curl it in...the keeper was beat. A pass was the only difference. Sturridge needs more time. However..his appearance has showed me how vital Torres can be for our midfield. Nice to see someone shoot though.

Moses + Ramires.
There is not enough I can possibly say about their performances.
But, given Mata's injury. Moses is probably starting tomorrow. He deserves it.

All about the Premier League tomorrow...
Wish any gunners here a good game against United. Win it.

[bobandbill]

Whelp, went to a match over here today to see Del Piero play for Sydney, given it'd be neat to see a legend of the game and etc. But he did not turn up! =(

Ah well, I'll take my team's entertaining 7-2 win over Sydney instead then. =D Was well worth it, if unexpected!

[shnen2]

gonna smash oxford
come on you bees

[Dr.Kotov]

Originally Posted by bobandbill

Whelp, went to a match over here today to see Del Piero play for Sydney, given it'd be neat to see a legend of the game and etc. But he did not turn up! =(

Ah well, I'll take my team's entertaining 7-2 win over Sydney instead then. =D Was well worth it, if unexpected!

There's always Emile Heskey. Heskey is the only legend.

[bobandbill]

He has been doing well for Newcastle actually thus far. But he plays for the team that's the biggest rival with the one I support so screw that. =p

[Captain Fabio]

So, there was this friendly last night between Sweden and England and this happened.
[link to goal]

Seriously, that is crazy.

[SNOR(es)LAX]

Originally Posted by Captain Fabio

So, there was this friendly last night between Sweden and England and this happened.
[link to goal]

Seriously, that is crazy.

And the English media is going to overate him. Jokes aside, thats a really great goal.

[Dr.Kotov]

You can't possibly overate the Zlatan. Zlatan sets his own standards.
The English media only overate premiership players, Rooney's one example.

[Razor Leaf]

So, Di Matteo has been fired by Abramovich. Discuss how insane this is.

[-Lapras-]

You know what's just as crazy? Rafael Benitez is favourite to take over. Awful Mr Abramovich.

[Went]

Chelsea firing their coach? I'm so surprised I blinked once when reading the news at work. Althoght maybe it was just some dust getting in my eye. Probably.

Also, I'm really happy to see that rookies Málaga moved on as group leaders with one game to go yet!

[Nicole_]

Well, for those that don't remember, I'm a Barcelona and Spain fan. I've been supporting Barca since I was 4 and I will always love them, and I've been supporting Spain since the 2006 World Cup.

Real Betis 1-0 Real Madrid

O....M......G This was music to my ears when I heard this! If we win tomorrow, we'll be 11 frickin' points clear of Madrid! Albeit away to Levante is a really hard game, one which we always seem to struggle with, and look at last season when we won 1-2 away to Levante ( I mean in my opinion the penalty on Cuenca was valid but other people have other opinions ). However, the team's on really good form right now, and so to is record-breaking Leo Messi, so we should win, but I know it's going to be no cakewalk. I probably predict another 1-2 to Barca.

Oh and my Top 5 favorite players are:

1. Lionel Messi
2. Andres Iniesta
3. Cesc Fabregas
4. David Villa
5. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

[Went]

Who cares about the bad Madrid team anyway. The good one is still just 3 points behind (tied right now before Barça start their match) and we'll visit the Camp Nou in two weeks. I'm so excited this season is unbelieveable XD

1- Barça 34 (12 games)
2- Atlético 34 (13 games)
...
3- R Madrid 26 (13)

[Nicole_]

Levante 0-4 Barcelona FT

Barcelona 11 points above Real Madrid but still a mere 3 above Atletico! Messi at the double to take his tally up to 82 this year as well!

Madrid derby next weekend, and as much as I never thought I'd say this, I hope Madrid win, cause yeah, the good Madrid team, Atletico are still within sight, so we need to now gain some ground on them. Odds are, btw Went, that we're winning that game against you guys though, sorry to say.

EDIT: Next up is Barcelona-Alaves at the Camp Nou, I may go to see this one live since my grandpa bought us three tickets to the Camp for this game! We're already defending a 3-0 lead, so I really don't know why I'm even going to bother to go, but hey, it's going to be the first time I visit the Camp Nou since we lost to Real Madrid 2-1 back in April!

ANOTHER EDIT: Wow this is more inactive than Serebii's Football Thread, lol!

[-Lapras-]

Hahah Norwich are now only 2 points off Arsenal.

[Went]

Well, that surreal miracle run is finally over and last season's CL can now be considered but a distant nightmare. Apparently Chelsea used up all their "can't believe it's happening" luck for at least two seasons. Meanwhile, City is as pathetic as ever. Keep on the great job guys.

[-Lapras-]

>Torres actually shooting
>Torres actually growing some balls and taking a pen
>Torres actually scoring

Also


Quarter of the season unbeaten.

[Nuke]

This thread really does die when I go on my regular disappearances doesn't it? :P

Middlesbrough won yesterday, we've had a good season so far, but someone alarmingly showed me we were actually in a ever so slightly better position last season at this stage (when we ended up in 7th).

That's a very interesting statistic about Norwich, I wasn't even aware they were playing particularly well, all media focus is on the adventures of Michu & Swansea.