Sports The Football Discussion Thread!

Well enjoy him while he lasts, I'm sure the guy who does the Boro data for FM will fix him soon.

I can see Michu having a quieter second season in the Prem, but the partnership could indeed be intimidating.

Yeah, I can see Michu turning towards the Rooney role - provide the assists for Bony as long as he's scoring, score a few himself when Bony's not. (Roughly).

I think they both have the ability to play 'in the hole' but neither will be happy doing that full time. I'd imagine they'll play a fluid game and alternate.

It is a similar situation with v.Wolfswinkel and Hooper. Both can play in behind but it isn't their preferred position.

I'm sure Swansea will play 4-2-3-1 (who doesn't these days?) and Michu will revert to his original, and more familiar, role of playing as the no.10.

Bury at Carrow Road in the league cup. Was hoping for Wigan until I found out they weren't in the draw.

Also
England squad:
Goalkeepers: Ben Foster, Joe Hart, John Ruddy
Defenders: Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Kyle Walker
Midfielders: Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Jack Wilshere
Wingers: James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young, Wilfried Zaha,
Strikers: Jermain Defoe, Rickie Lambert, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck

See he picked Lambert, that'll sure shut those that say he only picks from the big teams up.

I'm happy to see Lambert, less happy to see Zaha, but then I won't watch the match so who cares anyway?

Norwich should get a good result from that tie fairly easily.

With Martin, Snodgrass and Whittaker probably in the Scotland side I will take some interest.

Yah, I'm sure that was said before the Luton game as well though.

He had no choice to pick Lambert. He had the joint most goals for an Englishman (15) and created more chances than anyone else (80). It's just nice to see a footballer being picked based on form and their accomplishments rather than if they play in a red or blue shirt.

Yeah, that and his options were limited so he had to find someone else. Rooney's played 45mins of pre-season, and I don't know how much Welbeck and Defoe have played. Defoe's probably going to need to impress in this, I can see Soldado quickly pushing him out of the Spurs team.
Glad to see Zaha in the team, he's been getting nothing but praise for his pre-season performances. Still not a Milner fan though...he's a worker, but doesn't really have any flair - England often seem to lack it as it is without a CM who can cross it well playing out wide.


Also, just watched "20 years of Champions League"...man I miss this:

I would be the happiest person in England if Milner never played for the national team again.

Pointless player.

I actually like James Milner. However, I like him as a central midfielder rather than a winger. There is no room in the modern game for wide players not to be either quick or skillful.

Swansea drew 0-0 away vs Malmo, 4-0 aggregrate, for a place in Europa League play-offs.

In other news Lithuanian team called Zalgiris Vilnius beat Lech Poznan on away goals to qualify for Europa League play-offs for the first time in their history.

Middlesbrough are supposedly tracking a Malmo player by the name of Tokelo Rantie. From what I gather he only played about twenty minutes of that game though so there wasn't much to draw from it.

Congrats to the Lithuanian team. By the looks of it they had a comfortable looking win at 2-0, they must have been scared when Poznan scored the two late goals. Either way that probably spoils a major part of Poznan's season.

Just heard Hull City to be renamed "Hull City Tigers". I find this amusing to be honest, as long as it doesn't happen to United or any other club whose name I actually give a damn about xD

Seems like a pointless rebranding to me. Firstly to make them more sexy to a foreign [American by the sounds of that name] market they're going to have to do a lot more than change the name. Heavy investment in the team would be needed, looking at their recent transfers this isn't happening this summer. Another thing would be their relatively small local fanbase, Hull will forever be a rugby town. I know success will breed followers but looking at that squad I can't help but think they'll drop this season.

Still not as bad as what happened to Everton's crest but I still feel pretty bad for the Hull fans.

Can't wait for the 2020 season where the Man Yoo Red Devils face off against the Arsenal Gunners in the Coors Light premier league play offs. I can already taste the pretzels.

You should remember what happened to Cardiff City at the end of 11/12... It was just awful. However, the takeover did help them get to Premier League so I guess that's bit of a compensation.

About half of Cardiff's fans have just forgiven the rebranding now which is appalling.

I think Hull might even forget that this even happened as the club will just be referred to as 'Hull' still.

The Everton logo really is horrible, but crest changes happen a lot so at least its not so much of an identity loss.

I think the fans realize that the owner isn't going to undo the rebranding, since he's funded the club Cardiff did stroll to Championship last season though it remains to be seen how well Cardiff do in the Premier League

Anyways Bundesliga season opening is tomorrow, I'm looking forward to following Leverkusen.

I'll be keeping an eye on Eintracht Braunschweig. Am lookign forward for seeing Simeon Jackson tearing up Germany.

I think Cardiff should be ok. Taking a bit of a risk with youngsters being their big buys but they have a few very good players in their squad already. Palarse, Hull and Liverpool for the drop.

Haha, I'd love it if Liverpool went down...sadly very unlikely.
Like the glory supporter I am, I'll be following Dortmund monday nights on itv4 :)