The Real Football Thread

[Brullnux]

Re:

Things can change in a heartbeat. We both know this. There's a lot of turmoil surrounding Fassone, Maldini out etc. It hasn't affected the performances on the pitch, but again, things can change. If you get Fabregas in Januray though, the Serie A is in for a world of hurt.

I was kidding

Milan are terrible. I admit this freely. I am waiting for four or five years when the influence of Berlusca is finally gone, and Galliani has been arrested or something. Then Milan might be good.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Never said I liked Icardi, but he's a top quality goalscorer and he's a key member of the squad. However if he goes and it strengthens the morale of the team plus gets us 60m, we should do it instantly.

Just to be clear, my remark wasn't aimed at you. I remember someone upthread talked about Icardi 'stealing' his team mates wife and that this would somehow be indicative of his winner mentality, but I don't remember who it was. Obviously he is a good player, but to me it always seemed like he had a shitty mentality and getting into a fight with the fans like this is illustrative of the problem, I think.

Also, take it from me as an Ajax fan, De Boer is really bad with players with a poor mentality. He's of the ilk of trainers like Van Gaal who have a very clear philosophy and demand their players to do exactly what he tells them to. See for instance how De Boer handled the Brozovic situation.

Pretty sure that was at least half-joking...

Anyway, I don't care what it was about - any player who openly has beef with dirty hooligan fans has got my respect or, at least, support. Those imbeciles deserve all the beating a cop's bisep can handle.

 

[May0maniac]

Guidolin likely to be sacked as manager of Swansea. Apparently, he skipped most of pre-season training because he was at home watching the Tour.

The guy rides at least 10,000km a year, back in the day when he was still the manager of Udinese he used to climb the Zoncolan.
I've always liked Udinese and I've always liked him.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Never said I liked Icardi, but he's a top quality goalscorer and he's a key member of the squad. However if he goes and it strengthens the morale of the team plus gets us 60m, we should do it instantly.

Just to be clear, my remark wasn't aimed at you. I remember someone upthread talked about Icardi 'stealing' his team mates wife and that this would somehow be indicative of his winner mentality, but I don't remember who it was. Obviously he is a good player, but to me it always seemed like he had a shitty mentality and getting into a fight with the fans like this is illustrative of the problem, I think.

Also, take it from me as an Ajax fan, De Boer is really bad with players with a poor mentality. He's of the ilk of trainers like Van Gaal who have a very clear philosophy and demand their players to do exactly what he tells them to. See for instance how De Boer handled the Brozovic situation.

Pretty sure that was at least half-joking...

Anyway, I don't care what it was about - any player who openly has beef with dirty hooligan fans has got my respect or, at least, support. Those imbeciles deserve all the beating a cop's bisep can handle.

If you kick out the supporters in Curva Nord then Inter will be playing to an empty stadium.

 

[BigMac]

Re: Re:

Never said I liked Icardi, but he's a top quality goalscorer and he's a key member of the squad. However if he goes and it strengthens the morale of the team plus gets us 60m, we should do it instantly.

Just to be clear, my remark wasn't aimed at you. I remember someone upthread talked about Icardi 'stealing' his team mates wife and that this would somehow be indicative of his winner mentality, but I don't remember who it was. Obviously he is a good player, but to me it always seemed like he had a shitty mentality and getting into a fight with the fans like this is illustrative of the problem, I think.

Also, take it from me as an Ajax fan, De Boer is really bad with players with a poor mentality. He's of the ilk of trainers like Van Gaal who have a very clear philosophy and demand their players to do exactly what he tells them to. See for instance how De Boer handled the Brozovic situation.

Pretty sure that was at least half-joking...

Anyway, I don't care what it was about - any player who openly has beef with dirty hooligan fans has got my respect or, at least, support. Those imbeciles deserve all the beating a cop's bisep can handle.

If you kick out the supporters in Curva Nord then Inter will be playing to an empty stadium.

Better to be alone than in bad company. The Curva Nord is rather big, are they all ultras?

A.H.A.B.

 

[Brullnux]

Only if they are playing against a rival.

 

[Eshnar]

What...? Talking about Serie A? What happened to this thread? :O

 

[jsem94]

Lmao Claudio Bravo....

 

[del1962]

20 years ago today

 

[jsem94]

Donnarumma will be the greatest GK of all time. What a boss.

Sampaoli working wonders down in Sevilla. Top of the table for the first time in nearly ten years.

And Mourinho.... haha idk even know what to say. Five teams within one point of each other.

And Inter is destined for mid-table I guess. Should never have fired Mancini. Too much going on behind the scenes causing havoc...

 

[killswitch]

https://twitter.com/Eidur22Official/status/790230636686696448

 

[del1962]

https://twitter.com/Eidur22Official/status/790230636686696448

Poor Jose

 

[BigMac]

Managers are overrated both in success and defeat. United is playing badly and the players are the first to blame.

 

[BigMac]

Benfica fans: ''Can we cry yet?''

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Managers are overrated both in success and defeat. United is playing badly and the players are the first to blame.

I disagree, I think managers are crucial to both the success and failure of a team. I play much more rugby than football, and in it you can really tell if you are playing against a team with a good coach or a poor one. All the players in their best positions, and everyone on the pitch knows exactly what the style of play is and how they fit in into it, as well as hoe everyone else fits into it. That's not the job of the playerstage, but of the coach.

United keep changing their formation and their style of play which is seriously harming them, and I'd attribute part of this loss to that. Against Liverpool, they played a 4-5-1/4-2-3-1 with Pogba playing a free role behind the striker, allowed to go back whenever he wished to. Herrera and Fellaini player as holding midfielders, giving much needed protection to the CBs and allowing the wings to play forward more where they like to play, as there was no space at the back open. Against Chelsea, they played a 4-1-4-1 with Herrera as a holding midfielder. This didn't cover enough space at the back as Herrera isn't a Kante like player who can run tirelessly and protect the back four by himself. He's also more of an attacking player than a solitary CDM. This caused the fullbacks to play more central, to cover the space previously protected by the two holding midfielders and the wingers had to go back and protect the wide channels too. Now, the goals were all individual errors, but mou didn't help his players.

Conte on the other hand began with a useless 4 man at the back formation which wasn't working at all, and has now moved 3 at the back. This works because it suits the players in the team, but also the manager is one of the best in the world at using a 3 man defence, and loves it. Their early season struggle and success noe is not wholly down to Conte, but the manager is the instrumental difference. You saw that with Belgium, a fantastic and talented team with no cohesion or structure because their manager was awful.

 

[jsem94]

Aaaand he's gone. De Boer sacked. I hate our board now. Chinese vultures...

Milan's doing well now too and it makes me want to die a bit. Donnarumma is already world class, most clean sheets in the top 5 leagues so far this season.

Anyway, City vs Barca tonight....

 

[del1962]

Missed City Barca game last night, nice win for City though after nou camp disaster

 

[jsem94]

Some real great matches today. North London derby was a thriller for the neutral fan, as was Sevilla-Barcelona. Was rooting for Sampaoli's side. Real intense high pressing football and a real South American vibe to the game.

Also, Inter actually won a football match. Icardi scored a brace. We'll get Pioli in as coach for the time being now, but I think Simeone is a done deal for either next season or the season afterwards because we're refusing to sign a manager who wants a long term contract.

 

[gooner]

In the day that it is, Trump's greatest contribution to football.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2016/10/27/donald-trump-league-cup-draw-1992-manchester-united-leeds?xid=socialflow_twitter_si

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Four grown ups down in the box after a simple free kick.
I think we could have a great game here:

Eng - Scot
0 - 0 after 7 minutes.

 

[gooner]

Strachan could be gone after that. Hard to see who replace though. The names don't jump out.

 

[ferryman]

Re:

Strachan could be gone after that. Hard to see who replace though. The names don't jump out.

No they don't, but whoever it is will do a better job. If truth be told it was a shocking game of football between two very poor teams. England are streets ahead of Scotland but that defense needs some serious work on. A very very poor Scotland team could have and should have scored 2/3 (England at least 2/3 more also on top of their easy 3). Not a bright future for Scotland, soon to be in the 4th tier, but England really need to do some hard work on that defense or their stay in Russia will be a very short one...

 

[jsem94]

So many great matches this weekend, CAN'T WAIT!

 

[gooner]

Got away with it today. Wenger got his team all wrong.

I don't care if Walcott has started off the season scoring goals, I would never start him in a big game away from home. He does nothing in general play and we were basically carrying him for the most part today. He's decent for a goal at times but when teams nullify that, he can't do much else. His link up play and touch is terrible. Ramsey on the left was a poor decision.

Chamberlain and Iwobi should have been in wide areas.

Jenkinson is rubbish.

Need Cazorla back too.

That result is covering the flaws in this team.

 

[jsem94]

Ramsey is shite. Should be 5th in the pecking order for CM, 4th in pecking order for No. 10. Giroud deserves some game time now too. When his back is against the wall and he's fighting for his place he plays so much better.

RB Leipzig now leading the Bundesliga. I love Emil Forsberg, what a player he is. Dortmund beat Bayern too so it's not going to be a walk in the park for Ancelotti, which I thought from the beginning. A lot of people talking crap about how Pep walked the league because it was weak, well now Ancelotti is there and isn't really finding life that easy. Ancelotti even with his great AC Milan team didn't win many league titles and was better in Europe. Maybe his luck will come now in the CL anyway.

CR7 back to his best too. He was IMMENSE in the Madrid derby, but the game shouldn't have been 0-3. The free kick was pure luck, as the wall didn't do its job properly. Not sure about that penalty decision either. But in the end he got his hattrick and had a slew of other chances that he created. La Liga looks like it's going Real's way at the moment, but the season is long.