Football/Soccer Discussion Thread

[Captain Fabio]

As a Manchester United fan, I must express my horror with Arsenal losing to a team a league below them and for Liverpool to lose to a team that was only just promoted.

OH WAIT! THERE IS NO HORROR ON MY PART! XDDDD

Best results ever!​

​

 

[Ivysaur]

Going to revive this before it's too late, since we'll have the first leg of the CL Round of 16 next week! I'm already looking forward to them.

 

[Eruption]

Going to revive this before it's too late, since we'll have the first leg of the CL Round of 16 next week! I'm already looking forward to them.

And I'm going to revive it a day before it goes dead, since we'll have the second leg of the CL Round of 16 this week. :D

No-one mention recent results or how bad Man United's midfield has become during my absence.

 

[Ivysaur]

Kuyt's hat trick was probably the worst one ever scored XD But anyway, Arsenal are just this far away from the lead.

Hopefully they'll be too tired to defend properly tomorrow :P

 

[Eruption]

Kuyt's hat trick was probably the worst one ever scored XD But anyway, Arsenal are just this far away from the lead.

Hopefully they'll be too tired to defend properly tomorrow :P

Oh don't worry they can't defend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usmnlv389SY

I've started a pretty large debate in my school over who is better between Messi and Ronaldo. To me it can only be Ronaldo as Messi hasn't proven himself against legues with better defence and he also hasn't proven himself without Xavi or Iniesta.

 

[Hiche..]

Barcelona knocks out Arsenal. Surprise, surprise. And it is all Wenger's fault.

He approached the game all wrong. An attacking team, with an attacking formation, defended? That's very wrong. Every person who watches Barcelona games knows well that even with strong defensive lines, the players will find a way to penetrate the wall. Wenger didn't want to risk exposing his defense by attacking, albeit he had the good players to counterattack strong.

Another year, another CL knockout by Barcelona. Tsk tsk Arsenal.

Now, how did the referee perform on one of the most thrilling and hard games? Surely, a referee of a high degree of acumen and objectivity is needed to supervise such a game, but that wasn't really the case in last night's fixture. Some of the mistakes or controversies that happened were plenty. To name a few, Abidal's "conversation" with Van Persie, Dani Alves's "push" on Nasri, Van Persie's rage on Alves, and probably the most controversial, Van Persie's second yellow card. I mean, really? The referee whistles and at the same time, maybe half a second later, Van Persie shoots to the back of the net, and he is accused of time wasting. That was a "joke", so claims most of Arsenal players, whom I advocate there.

But, a referee's mistakes remain part of every game and last night's result wouldn't have changed otherwise. Barcelona proved to be the better side, and deservedly booked themselves a seat in the quarter finals. Arsenal, hard luck. Please, PLEASE, learn from your mistakes, and maybe reinforce your weak defensive line. And next time, do not start Rosicky instead of Arshavin in games that big. And don't insult the referee no matter how unfair or wrong he was. See, you got fined for it. That is all.
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I am eagerly anticipating this evening's clash of Tottenham and AC Milan. This will surely be an exciting 90-minute watch.

Opinions on who will follow Barcelona and Shakhtar to the next round?

 

[Ivysaur]

Now, how did the referee perform on one of the most thrilling and hard games? Surely, a referee of a high degree of acumen and objectivity is needed to supervise such a game, but that wasn't really the case in last night's fixture. Some of the mistakes or controversies that happened were plenty. To name a few, Abidal's "conversation" with Van Persie, Dani Alves's "push" on Nasri, Van Persie's rage on Alves, and probably the most controversial, Van Persie's second yellow card. I

You forgot to mention the penalty on Messi during the first half he didn't see despite being inches away from it or the second yellow card he could have shown after the penalty on Pedro. Van Persie's red car was incredibly harsh but, as someone said on the Arsenal forums, you can't really argue against it with the rulebook on hand :\

Either way, the main problem was that Arsenal tried to be Inter and that... just... doesn't work. I'd rather have seen Arsenal dying as the fast, attacking, challenging Arsenal than struggling as something they aren't. I'm still amazed they managed to score a goal with the whooping amount of 0 shots in any direction.

Still, they improved a lot in the Emirates. Maybe if they hadn't tried to use injured players (Cesc was completely out of it), it would have gone better. Or if they had done earlier substitutions (Arshavin gave them a fresher air, but that was when they were losing once again...). They made some mistakes against one of the best sides in Europe that costed them the spot on the quaters.

For the other matches, I bet on Tottenham, Bayern, Manchester and Chelsea. I do believe Shalke will kick Valencia out but I'll be cheering for the Spaniards anyway. About Madrid... I refuse to bet on them, really XD

 

[Hiche..]

Oh, yeah. I missed that. The referee was confused throughout the game.

Arsenal did try to imitate Inter's tactics from last year, but Inter already had a good defense, Arsenal didn't (don't). Fail. And yeah, Van Persie and Fabregas were way out-of-form. Wenger demolished himself.

I bet on the same teams, but still a little worried about Bayern. They have lost 3 of their last 4 games, and with their coach seemingly heading out in the summer, things will be a little "iffy" on the field. And in contrast, Inter have been in superb form after their home loss to the German side.

If Inter and Milan were to lose their quarter final spot, this will be bad, very bad for Italian football, especially after taking away a champions league spot and offering it to Germany. I am betting both teams will fight hard to come back, so we will expect tough fixtures for the Italian sides.

..oh, and Roma. Umm..no comment.

Chelsea is preparing for the next CL tie. Manchester will narrowly win against Marseille.

I actually like Valencia. They got style. SHALKE WILL SUCCUMB TO THE LIKES OF MATA AND SOLDADO! Probably not. Nuer will shine, again.

As for Madrid, they proved they can cope without Ronaldo, but against Lyon it will be different. With Madrid's current form, they should destroy Lyon, but the French sides always pull off something at the end: they do not give up easily.

 

[Eruption]

For some reason, I'm not wathcing the Spurs-Milan game. It looks like they're holding out so far though.

I'm not so sure about us against Marseille, all of our creative players are injured and at the moment we're forced to pick ageing players (Scholes and Giggs) who can't put in the performances every week and players who simply aren't good enough (Carrick and Gibson). If Marseille come at us, we could be screwed.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Haven't been in here for ages, tbh my eyes haven't been as glued to the football as they have in past season.

Anyway, my team Norwich (Just promoted from the 3rd tier) are in 3rd place with 10 games to go. Honestly more than I'd even dream of at the beginning of the season, I don't want to jinx it but damn, 2 consecutive promotions would be something.

As for the bigger sides.... Liverpool and Arsenal. LOL.

 

[Eruption]

Haven't been in here for ages, tbh my eyes haven't been as glued to the football as they have in past season.

Anyway, my team Norwich (Just promoted from the 3rd tier) are in 3rd place with 10 games to go. Honestly more than I'd even dream of at the beginning of the season, I don't want to jinx it but damn, 2 consecutive promotions would be something.

As for the bigger sides.... Liverpool and Arsenal. LOL.

Thanks to my religious preachings, Wes Hoolahan is now regarded as a god amongst many people I know as well as many other players.

Its the shame I can't say the same about my local team, almost two relegations in three years and forced to play an 18 year old keeper.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

He's always shown glimpses of quality but under Lambert he's been something else, be it the slight positional change, motivation or something else he's been unrecognisable. I mean he passes the ball about 90% more now. :L

It's not been too good up there has it. Tbh i've had a bit of a softspot for Boro since our amazing 4 - 4 draw in our most recent premier league season. Also really enjoyed their Uefa cup run years back (Jimmy Floyd HasselbainkFTW) xD

 

[Eruption]

He's always shown glimpses of quality but under Lambert he's been something else, be it the slight positional change, motivation or something else he's been unrecognisable. I mean he passes the ball about 90% more now. :L

It's not been too good up there has it. Tbh i've had a bit of a softspot for Boro since our amazing 4 - 4 draw in our most recent premier league season. Also really enjoyed their Uefa cup run years back (Jimmy Floyd HasselbainkFTW) xD

Since that Uefa run everything has just went down.

Filled stadium to just 14,000 average attendance in a 35,000 seater.

Strachan's reign of terror put the final nail in the coffin, I don't think Boro will see Premier League action again for a long while.

Spurs have done it, pretty glad I didn't watch considering the score.

 

[Ivysaur]

A nice 0-0 lets Tottenham go through, a sad 3-1 after a promising 0-1 makes my prediction become true and forces Valencia to come back home empty-handed. Shalke will probably be one of the "easiest" teams in the quarters. (I love the headline in Real Madrid's official newspaper- Raúl makes it to the quarters 7 years later).

 

[Eruption]

Cup tie against Arsenal with Gibson and O'Shea at centre mid, we're going to get torn apart.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

No amazing games today by the looks of it.

Good day for Norwich even though we didn't play though. We'll be up to second even if we draw on Monday. :D

I'm really thinking we might get promotion two seasons running. xD

 

[Hiche..]

Tomorrow is yet another week for two CL fixtures, beginning with Bayern Munich locking horns with Italian giants Inter Milan. The German side hold a one goal advantage, seeing as Gomez managed to net at the dying moments in the first leg at San Siro, after a slip-up from Cesar. So, it promises to be another exciting night for us.

Bayern Munich haven't been showing any consistency lately, after losing three games in a row. However, in their last Bundesliga game against their 'bogey' team, Hamburger, they managed to demolish the visitors, in a highly convincing performance, with 6 goals to 0. Bayern are in high spirits, ready to book a seat in the quarter finals and avenge [again] for last year's CL final loss.

My prediction will be a draw: 1-1. Bayern will qualify. The element of surprise is always present.

Your predictions on tomorrow's and after tomorrow's CL fixtures?

 

[Weeaboo Name]

I'm thinking an Inter win, you mentioned Bayern's inconsistency. Should be an entertaining game though.

My side Norwich really do like to leave it late.

Norwich 3-1 Bristol City FT
(HT 1-0)
Holt (pen) 2 __ Adomah 65
Lansbury 89
Surman 90+1

That makes it 20 points in the last 15 minutes of games this season. xD

Also just read that Arsenal are probably going to loan in Lehmann. I guess they need a solid keeper, not many would be a better fit even if he is about 900 now.

 

[Eruption]

^ That is the opposite of Boro, they must have given away 20 point in the last 15 minutes of games this season.

United-Marseille tonight, I'm glad Valencia is back otherwise we would have no chance.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

It's a trait of successful teams. xD

I'm not sure what game, if any i'll watch tonight. Might end up watching Seattle Sounders v LA Galaxy on ESPN. :L

How have Manchester United been this season, good to watch?