Football Thread

Persistent rumours that Ol' Twitch has finally left Spurs. Bit of a shame I guess.

Harry to Swansea, you heard it here first. :D

9 points in the group of death...

Not even a mention that England has won!

I'm puzzled.

Watched the Portugal trash the Netherlands last night. We don't stand a chance.

best bet is to dig a trench and stand behind that. That or unleash Rooney in some of fit.

My guess about the Euro final before the tournament was

Spoiler:

:D

Believe it or not.

I had already been enraged as to why Löw had not used Götze or Reus at the group stage. One could see how great the latter is during the match against Greece. It was a predictable idiocy to use Gomez and Podolski, two immovable objects, against Italy.
I had told my father that the assertions by the Germans before and during the tournament about their willingness to get the title and that said title could be won only via a win against the German side were arrogant and deserved to be punished; I had wished someone to show them their limits. It finally happened, as expected. I've never heard a team say such things prior to a tourney and then proceed to win the whole thing (save for Brazil in 2002 perhaps).
Some of the referees annoy me, because the handball that Boateng was said to have committed in the match against Greece clearly was none - he was clearly trying to turn his body away from the ball to let it pass, he was simply hit by the shot.
The "handball" of the Italian player in the semi was even less of a handball. The ball bounced off his chest and made his way to the side and touched his arm (seemingly at the speed of sound) - which the player held close to his body! - and then dropped to the gound. An undeserved penalty in both cases. Also, many weird decisions by Lannoy, giving the Italians a free-kick several times when an Italian player had fouled a German.
Sure, the Germans had more big chances of scoring, but they failed to get the ball across the line. Italy played tactically brilliantly and with great passion (just look at the pain-face Gigi makes when he tips the ball to the bar after Reus' free-kick!).
I'll root for Italy tomorrow. It would be disgusting if Spain won the third tournament in a row. :x

PS:
The Dutch are due for some fundamental changes.
England did the Wembley goal again (sort of).
Ireland played like bottle empty. ;)

Thanks for the thrilling EURO discussion.

Bye.

It's no surprise that Spain won - but I had expected it to be a level match. They did not need to humiliate the poor Italians, did they? :(
Anyways, it was a well-deserved win, so congratulations to the Spaniards!
Will they win the World Championships in Brazil too? :affraid:
I can't see anyone getting the upper hand against them. If Spain plays against Brazil in the play-offs, I will root for Spain! :D I'd rather have them win the fourth title in a row than see the Brazilians succeed. :twisted:
They have complete control of the game for most of the time. They attack the opponents with two or three people at a time, have almost constant ball possession, their passess and paths work like a clockwork - my prediction derived from observing their first match against Italy seems to hold true (if I dare look it up only eight posts back up the page: The Spanish are obviously the best side, I believe they were even a bit better than in the last two tournaments). 8)

PS: Shearer is quite right. :*p*:
I found it pathetic to see some of the German players weeping like ladies; but I saw some of the Italians doing the same! :o
Even Pirlo was on the verge of tears. Disappointment is understandable, but weeping is a bit too much for men, at least after a lost match in sports.
I do hope MOO7RE isn't shattered too hard (BTW - he ought to return! )
I still love Cesare. :D

Can't wait for the WORLD CUP! :geek:

What struck me about the Spanish team (besides the already mentioned ball control, attack formations, passing etc.) was how low to the ground they keep the ball. Little air resistance as possible, so it never loses much speed. Same applies to their goals.

Italy just wasn't the same team they were in the Germany game. Balotelli could have taken the defeat better too.

In future, do teams set out to copy Spain or stop them?

I don't see it as either or. We can learn a lot from Spain, but that doesn't mean turning into a carbon copy of their team. Take their best traits learn from their mistakes. Same for all world class teams.

Last night in sunny Gibraltar Portsmouth lost 4-0 to the Gibraltaran national team. A team chosen in the pub quite literally. Yes, Pompey fielded trialists but it came on the day the admin bloke says unless we offload the high earners Portsmouth will end in three weeks. Liquidation is more than likely. No FL team have gone bust since Aldershot in 1992. I'm accepting of the facts behind the demise. If the team reforms (Portsmouth 1898, AFC Portsmouth, etc) it might be Conference South sharing a ground with Havant & Waterlooville. Failing that, Combined Counties League -4 divisions from League Two.

Bring it.

*blows dust off*

word reaches that Conference side Woking have had to reschudle a match as it "clashes" with the televised Real Madrid v Man U game. Yes, this week gone but as someone said "I know Man U supporters live in Surrey but really..."

http://www.wokingfc.co.uk/news/article/3881/woking-v-mansfield-town-rescheduled/

Right now, Sunderland are my favourite second team. Anyone else going to be watching Monday's crucial match against Villa?

Last time I saw Sunderland was a couple of years ago in a pisspoor goalless draw against Swansea, but Di Canio has really revitalised them. Questions may remain over his personal politics, but as long as he keeps them out of the game I'm all for him. The big game needs big characters.

My uncle's a Sunderland fan but I can't say my interest...well, actually I'm not against Villa going down. I'd like Wigan to stay up.

Personally, my day was made by Wimbledon winning. Needed to do it today (last game and all) to stay in the league. 10 seasons since the MK travesty and no relegations.

Fergie's finally had enough at the helm of Man U ... has he even thought about all the jobs he's putting in jeopardy at the Wrigleys factory by retiring? Pfft.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Fergie's finally had enough at the helm of Man U ... has he even thought about all the jobs he's putting in jeopardy at the Wrigleys factory by retiring? Pfft.

Heard this news was biggest felt in the Surrey area.

Good luck to Moyes.

^ Dour Scot replaced by dour Scot .

Blunt Instrument wrote:

^ Dour Scot replaced by dour Scot .

ha, very true.

Somebody said this'll be the first time in their kids life that Man Utd isn't managed by Ferguson. Weird but true in my case, at least I've only remembered Fergie as manager there.

Martinez is once again lined up for Everton. If Wigan go down (as I fear they might this time) I think he will.

And ol' Twitch will jump ship before long.

With Wigan down, hopefully this will convince Everton not to appoint Martinez. Why would a team which should have finished in a Champions League place this season want to employ a relegation struggler manager? We need someone who can at the very least keep us up where we are, but hopefully push us those few places higher we could have reached this season. Moyes was a complete one-off, it would be asking way too much for a manager with no top six Prem experience to come in and continue what Moyes has done. The club doesn't have the finances to risk our current good Prem standing by appointing an unproven manager who won't have the personality, respect or reputation to keep hold of our best players and attract quality new players. I hate to say it because I've personally got no time for them as people (one managed the red sh*te and the other writes for The Sun), but Rafa and Redknapp seem to be the only real candidates who have the top-end Prem experience and weight of character to keep us up there as a potential Champions League team. Any other appointments could risk us becoming just another Fulham, Stoke or Swansea, in that each season would just become a case of mere mid-table or survival.

Anyone at Wembley, May 25th?

Continuing the rebuilding of the forum after the Great Fire of Brian. Here's a fascinating article in Forbes (of all places), showing how much money there is in the English Premier League these days:

Quote :

“Cardiff City finished bottom of the Premier League last season and received a pay out of $97M. Spain’s Real Madrid won the Champions League and received $25M less.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbymcmahon/2014/12/14/counting-the-cost-of-liverpool-fc-taking-two-steps-back-after-so-much-progress-last-season/

The Non-League forum I read and plod about on wouldn't be suprised by this. Some kind of filtering down would be decent but it all went tits up with Sky and the PL in 1992 and some would say it's gone further south since.

Pompey could've done with some of that 97M when we got relegated