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The Real Football Thread

Page 128 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Mar 25, 2013
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Re:

Amsterhammer said:
Beckenbauer warned and fined for not cooperating with an ethics committee investigation into the 2018 and 2022 bids.

Rooney out at least six weeks with a knee injury.

FA backs Infantino.(no surprise).

This looks like a straight head to head with Sheikh Salman and Infantino. I was watching the special report on the Victoria Derbyshire program on the BBC a couple of days ago about this and Greg a lovely person more or less said he wasn't too keen on Salman with the human rights violations hanging over him.

Election day fever for me Friday week, the FIFA one and the Irish general election.
 
gooner said:
BullsFan22 said:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35593324

Idiot. He's entitled to express his opinion if he wishes to but there's a time and place to it. That could have caused a near riot.

Plus the fact that political messages are banned by UEFA and he will be likely banned himself as a result.

As for the game itself, a complete bore.
Would have been interesting if the Russians had won
 
Oct 16, 2010
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Draxler is goood.

I'm not seeing a lot of football these days, so there might be other, similarly bright, talents out there that i don't know of.
but those two goals yesterday impressed the hell out of me.
 
Re:

sniper said:
Draxler is goood.

I'm not seeing a lot of football these days, so there might be other, similarly bright, talents out there that i don't know of.
but those two goals yesterday impressed the hell out of me.

Draxler is incredibly talented, he's just somewhat inconsistent and has always played for rather inconsistent teams (Schalke, which basically means "insoncistent" and now Wolfsburg). I think one problem for him has been that German football in general doesn't lay a lot of focus on individual efforts, but rather team play, the extreme exponents of this being Kroos and Özil who basically are players whom's only focus is to make everyone around them better. Draxler in my opinion should rather try to develop into a direction like Ronaldo did, just not that extreme of course, but be more of a dynamic finishing kind of threat, rather than a play maker, which he can be at times to. He's dynamic, rather strong, can shoot with left and righ alike, has a header on him, and of course just staggering dribbling moves sometimes.

Talking about former Schalke talents (Draxler and Özil), let me tell you that Sané is worth all the hype. The guy is basically a mixture of Robben and Müller, he's going to be huge.
Whatever Schalkes Knappenschmiede (youth academy) are doing, they do it incredibly well. Neuer, for the ones who don't remember is a Schalke "product" as well.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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Good post.
I agree with your sentiment that Draxler should really try to develop in the direction of a Ronaldo or a Robben.
He can become better than Robben, clearly, as he is actually two-footed.
He's already more stylish than Ronaldo. I never was a fan of Ronaldo's 'learned' moves; they look, well, not very aesthetic to me. It's his power and athleticism that is impressive to watch, but his technique/moves are not necessarily a joy to the eye.

Sane, is he strong enough physically? Or is he gonna be another Walcott?
Imo he should start with the haircut. Just shave it all off.
Same as Fellaini, you get the feeling they'd be twice the player if they'd loose the hair.:)

Whatever they do at Schalkes youth academy, it's time they produce a topclass striker. Huntelaar is past his best.
 
Re: Re:

Rechtschreibfehler said:
sniper said:
Talking about former Schalke talents (Draxler and Özil), let me tell you that Sané is worth all the hype. The guy is basically a mixture of Robben and Müller, he's going to be huge.
Whatever Schalkes Knappenschmiede (youth academy) are doing, they do it incredibly well. Neuer, for the ones who don't remember is a Schalke "product" as well.

5 gets you 10, there's a mini HMW there.
 
Mar 25, 2013
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One of the surprise endorsements in the election has come from Jimmy Carter for Prince Ali.

Very disappointed in Pellegrini's attitude to the FA Cup. Looks like replays will shortly be gone too where the competition will be played as a midweek cup competition. In other words, it will be inflated version of the League Cup with more teams.

Sad.
 
Re: Re:

The Hitch said:
Rechtschreibfehler said:
I don't get what you mean Hitch. It starts with that I don't know what HMW means, and the urban dictionary (High Maintenance Woman) didn't help me either.
Hmw is the guy behind Germany's and Bayern's recent success

Ah, now I see. Well but thats just plain untrue Hitch. ;)
Which is not that I am saying that they don't use PEDs in football.
 
Re:

gooner said:
One of the surprise endorsements in the election has come from Jimmy Carter for Prince Ali.

Very disappointed in Pellegrini's attitude to the FA Cup. Looks like replays will shortly be gone too where the competition will be played as a midweek cup competition. In other words, it will be inflated version of the League Cup with more teams.

Sad.
nothing like stuffing up the best cup competition on the planet... probably move the final to an early month too so as to not interfere with the run-in to the league season or CL finals :rolleyes:
 
Oct 16, 2010
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Re:

gooner said:
One of the surprise endorsements in the election has come from Jimmy Carter for Prince Ali.

Very disappointed in Pellegrini's attitude to the FA Cup. Looks like replays will shortly be gone too where the competition will be played as a midweek cup competition. In other words, it will be inflated version of the League Cup with more teams.

Sad.
They moved the game from Saturday to Sunday, and he wasn't happy with that, which I think is fair enough.
There are simply too many games in too short spaces of time.
I'm not sure how he justified his decision, but if he justified it by pointing at the need to keep his eleven starters fit for Wednesday, well I think he has a point.
 
Mar 25, 2013
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Re: Re:

sniper said:
gooner said:
One of the surprise endorsements in the election has come from Jimmy Carter for Prince Ali.

Very disappointed in Pellegrini's attitude to the FA Cup. Looks like replays will shortly be gone too where the competition will be played as a midweek cup competition. In other words, it will be inflated version of the League Cup with more teams.

Sad.
They moved the game from Saturday to Sunday, and he wasn't happy with that, which I think is fair enough.
There are simply too many games in too short spaces of time.
I'm not sure how he justified his decision, but if he justified it by pointing at the need to keep his eleven starters fit for Wednesday, well I think he has a point.

Barca played a near full strength team against Las Palmas.

What if Pellegrini loses against Liverpool next week? That just leaves the League and Champions League where with the latter I think they have little chance with and with the former, they aren't playing consistent enough to win at the moment. I don't think he is in a position to prioritise. Plus the fact he was coming off two big losses and this is a third in a row.

I don't agree with this fixture congestion being as bad as what has been said. They had no game last midweek and were fresh coming into this game. It's supposed to be hard and demanding. That's the challenge of going for the major trophies when you are a big club. And while it's a lengthy trip to Kiev, they're not exactly playing one of the elite sides in the competition.

On the FIFA election, Jamie Fuller and Damien Collins(MP) have sent a letter to all the National FA's about the election and in particular about Sheikh Salman.

http://www.newfifanow.org/uploads/9/8/8/1/9881717/letter_to_fas-190216-all.pdf
 
Jun 22, 2009
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I had another footy weekend for the ages!

First, Barca won on Saturday, while Real and Atletico dropped points yesterday.

Hammers did us all proud in the cup, while I finally got maximum points in my Dutch prediction pool with Ajax's 3-0 win, and broke into the top 20.

"We've got Payet..." He scored another cracking free kick, then finished the game with a solo run and shot. Of course, there is little point in comparing different kinds of players, but I am now of the opinion that Payet has more class, and an even better footy brain, than either of our previous two 'legends', PDC and Carlitos. Watching him on the ball is sheer delight. He is a very rare player.
 
Mar 25, 2013
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Looking forward to tonight's game.

I can't say I'm confident over the two legs but I think we will do better than what a lot of people are saying. The one worry with selection is the midfield of Ramsey and Coquelin without Cazorla. Coquelin isn't long back from injury and we need him back to his form prior to sustaining that. With Ramsey, he leaves too many gaps in the midfield. He's a good player but he gets ahead of the play too much and doesn't build the play enough from deep like Cazorla does. That's why when Cazorla was playing, Wenger rightly pushed Ramsey out to the right. As a result, our play without Cazorla is too loose and if that happens tonight, Barca will take us apart.

It should be a fascinating game.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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gooner said:
Looking forward to tonight's game.

I can't say I'm confident over the two legs but I think we will do better than what a lot of people are saying. The one worry with selection is the midfield of Ramsey and Coquelin without Cazorla. Coquelin isn't long back from injury and we need him back to his form prior to sustaining that. With Ramsey, he leaves too many gaps in the midfield. He's a good player but he gets ahead of the play too much and doesn't build the play enough from deep like Cazorla does. That's why when Cazorla was playing, Wenger rightly pushed Ramsey out to the right. As a result, our play without Cazorla is too loose and if that happens tonight, Barca will take us apart.

It should be a fascinating game.

I'd be in favor of a different draw system for the Champions League knock out rounds, more along the lines of how Grand Slams in tennis are drawn, i.e. following some ranking system.

I was just disgusted by this years 1/8th final draw, to be honest.
To see Barca face Arsenal, AGAIN. Just too much.
Chelsea - PSG, too. I'm bored with that tie.
And to then see two VERY weak ties in there (Zenit-Benfica and Wolsfburg-Gent), I don't know, as a neutral spectator I was very disappointed with this draw. And it's not the first time.

edit: what? There is a taboo on Arsenal?
So that's *rsenal.
 
Mar 25, 2013
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sniper said:
gooner said:
Looking forward to tonight's game.

I can't say I'm confident over the two legs but I think we will do better than what a lot of people are saying. The one worry with selection is the midfield of Ramsey and Coquelin without Cazorla. Coquelin isn't long back from injury and we need him back to his form prior to sustaining that. With Ramsey, he leaves too many gaps in the midfield. He's a good player but he gets ahead of the play too much and doesn't build the play enough from deep like Cazorla does. That's why when Cazorla was playing, Wenger rightly pushed Ramsey out to the right. As a result, our play without Cazorla is too loose and if that happens tonight, Barca will take us apart.

It should be a fascinating game.

I'd be in favor of a different draw system for the Champions League knock out rounds, more along the lines of how Grand Slams in tennis are drawn, i.e. following some ranking system.

I was just disgusted by this years 1/8th final draw, to be honest.
To see Barca face ****, AGAIN. Just too much.
Chelsea - PSG, too. I'm bored with that tie.
And to then see two VERY weak ties in there (Zenit-Benfica and Wolsfburg-Gent), I don't know, as a neutral spectator I was very disappointed with this draw. And it's not the first time.

edit: what? There is a taboo on ****?
So that's *rsenal.

That's true. There is an overkill of these games. Modern football is very elitist these days and these games are always going to be a regular occurrence in future years.

The monopolization of the same big clubs qualifying every year has created this and the financial distortion has arose as a result. It's the same contenders to win each year. There's about 9/10 teams that have any realistic ambitions of doing something in the competition.

I still think it will be a good game to watch tonight. First time they have played each other since 2011. I was more bored with the repetitive Arsenal v Bayern games.

EDIT: stupid word filter.
 
Mar 25, 2013
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To be fair, Prince Ali does seem the standout candidate by a mile. He wants the Garcia report published, has called for transparent voting at the election(which has been denied), and has done good work with helping the refugees in Jordan. He was also one of the ExCo members to hand back the watches worth thousands that were distributed at the last World Cup and report it to the Ethics Committee. He's been highly critical too of Sheikh Salman's AFC and Issa Hayoutou's CAF co-operation agreement which to no surprise resulted in CAF publicly backing Salman.
 
Oct 16, 2010
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Appreciate the updates, gooner, though I must admit, persoanlly, I can't be bothered too much by the FIFA candidacy issues.
The whole structure of FIFA and other sporting bodies invites corruption and so I expect nothing less, regardless of the name of the future president.
Or have you seen any signs/reasons for optimism? (honest question)

On a different note: Anybody know a good live-stream for Juve-Bayern?
 

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