Football:General

[TrevorOfCrete 0]

we (the english) single handidly inveted football hoolaganism. Its a shame becuase our fans get labelled wherever they go.

[B-2-0 0]

Hopefully we will get another signing in before the deadline. Tevez is looking like a strong possibility.

I would be very suprised if Liverpool won the league though. It takes much more than just having a good squad to win the Premiership. They will be up there but it will be either us or Chelski.

What is the point of having an exact (if somewhat less talented) copy of Wayne Rooney? Injuries are one thing, but wasting money on what could have been Rooney's brother is not going to solve anything. Someone with some height that can hang onto the ball and support the midfielders and wingers seems like a higher priority to me...

Chelsea is probably going to win, they can form 4 squads that are easily capable of winning the league. Injuries don't really matter to them, if someone is out of form, they just take someone from their reservepool of over 50 players...

Tevez is not a carbon copy of Rooney at all. Sure, he is not an out and out striker like Ruud, which is what we really need with Roo playing off him, but they would still work well together as Tevez plays a wider game than Rooney, likes to drift left a lot....kinda like Henry's style. Plus, the type of free flowing, interchangable football we are starting to play at the moment would accomodate two strikers playing off eachother.

And if nothing else, it gives us another world class forward....of which we have only one at the moment. We seem to think Rooney is invincible and as your comment about Chelski explains, strength in depth helps.

Saying that though, you can have all the top class players you want....if they don't play well together then they ain't worth jack....and rotating the squad every week to accomodate all those big egos won't help them to gel.

Quote[/b] ]i hate man utd,i hate alex ferguson and i hate ronaldo. GO PORTSMOUTH!!!!

Quote[/b] ]I hate Man U, I hate Alex Ferguson, I hate Ronaldo, I hate Chelsea, I hate Drogba, I love Leeds United...

Why is that?

SAF is one of the greatest managers of all time.

Manchester United are the most succesfull English club in the last 20 or so years.

Ronaldo is without doubt one of the best natural tallents in the Premiership and still only 20.

Anyone with an unbiased eye for the game can see this.

Do i detect a little jealousy there fellas?

Nobody likes a bitter hater

Quote[/b] ]we (the english) single handidly inveted football hoolaganism. Its a shame becuase our fans get labelled wherever they go.

True, but our fans are nowhere near as bad as some now. In fact, we are now labeled as some of the best in the world.

[Jamoose 0]

Come on Wales, get into a tournament, come on....please.

(EDIT: Bah, need to fix my sig, too big. )

[TrevorOfCrete 0]

Why is that?

SAF is one of the greatest managers of all time.

Manchester United are the most succesfull English club in the last 20 or so years.

Ronaldo is without doubt one of the best natural tallents in the Premiership and still only 20.

Anyone with an unbiased eye for the game can see this.

Do i detect a little jealousy there fellas?

Nobody likes a bitter hater

well during the world cup match against portugal i was watching down the pub, like any self respecting england fan. And its hard to explain, but i woke up the next morning hating ronaldo .

best manager in the premiership was steve mclaren, did wonders with middlesborogh, glad hes the england manager.

[Jamoose 0]

Rafael Benitez has done wonders for Liverpool, he's brought back the glory of winning the Champions League in his first year of management and produced an amazing, exciting and memorable FA cup final win.

Craig Bellamy will hopefully do well this season, come on Wales!

[Major Gripe 0]

Apparently Man U are going to sign Trezeguet from Juve for Å12m, that should give us the necessary target man but he has always struck me as the poor man's Thierry Henry!

[whisper 0]

Apparently Man U are going to sign Trezeguet from Juve for Å12m, that should give us the necessary target man but he has always struck me as the poor man's Thierry Henry!

Completely different players, Henry is more versatile, The Goalidor is simply... scoring, he has the flair for the net, something Henry sometimes misses.

As for me, for more than 10 years now, even if not native from there, I'm behind :

This years looks not as good as the last ones. And we start with Real Madrid Well, we got them once allready, why not again this time?

[JdB 151]

Apparently Man U are going to sign Trezeguet from Juve for Å12m, that should give us the necessary target man but he has always struck me as the poor man's Thierry Henry!

Completely different players, Henry is more versatile, The Goalidor is simply... scoring, he has the flair for the net, something Henry sometimes misses.

Which means he would be perfect for replacing Ruud van Nistelrooij, Ruud's skills pretty much end with scoring a goal too...

[B-2-0 0]

Why is that?

SAF is one of the greatest managers of all time.

Manchester United are the most succesfull English club in the last 20 or so years.

Ronaldo is without doubt one of the best natural tallents in the Premiership and still only 20.

Anyone with an unbiased eye for the game can see this.

Do i detect a little jealousy there fellas?

Nobody likes a bitter hater

well during the world cup match against portugal i was watching down the pub, like any self respecting england fan. And its hard to explain, but i woke up the next morning hating ronaldo .

best manager in the premiership was steve mclaren, did wonders with middlesborogh, glad hes the england manager.

lol....i was supporting England in the World Cup too but without the rose tinted specs that most England fans see their national team through.

So you hated Ronaldo for protesting to the ref....which, i might add, ANY other player would have done and i'm sure Rooney would have done the same for Ronaldo if the boot was on the other foot....but you love Rooney who's foolish antics got himself sent off in the first place?? Typical England fan.

Makes about as much sense as Steve McClaren (who learned his trade under Sir Alex btw) being the best Premiership manager

Trezeguet is staying a Juve. We offered Å17m and Juve refused. I'm glad, he would be a bad buy imo and at Å17m would be a disgrace seeing as we only got Å10.3m off Real for RVN. I don't think Trezeguet has what it takes to play in the Premiership and wouldn't suit our style of play. He doesn't have the pace and he's getting on a bit now ain't he? No thanx.

[B-2-0 0]

West Ham in Tevez & Mascherano transfer shocker!!!

West Ham are tonight putting the finishing touches to the spectacular double signing of Argentinian World Cup stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

The Hammers are trying to complete negotiations to take striker Tevez and midfielder Mascherano on a season-long loan from Brazilian club Corinthians - and from under the noses of Premiership rivals Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Portsmouth.

A West Ham spokesman said: "Things are happening but there are still a few details, such as work-permits, to be tied up and we can say no more until that is resolved."

But Tevez issued a statement on his personal website saying that a move to West Ham for himself and his team-mate Mascherano had already been sealed.

Corinthians sent a delegation of officials to London on Tuesday to meet with investment group MSI, who own the players' rights, in a bid to negotiate the exit of Tevez, 22, after he signalled his desire to leave the Sao Paulo club following a falling-out with home fans.

London-based MSI, who featured in reports of a takeover at Upton Park last season when Å30million was apparently on offer for the recruitment of new players, appear to have decided that Upton Park is the best possible destination for both Tevez and Mascherano - despite the interest of a string of rivals in the Premiership and Europe.

West Ham would have to raise upwards of Å15million apiece - plus their huge wage demands - to secure a permanent move for the pair who both played starring roles for Argentina in the World Cup finals in Germany this summer.

But a substantial loan deal is an attractive option for the ambitious Hammers who have lost Å7.5million striker Dean Ashton for much of the season with a broken ankle sustained while training with the England squad earlier this month and are also missing winger Matthew Etherington and new Å1million Ghanaian signing John Pantsil with knee injuries.

Mascherano's future with Corinthians has been in doubt after he missed training on Tuesday following his sending-off in a match at the weekend.

And both players are in London for Argentina's international friendly against Brazil at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Corinthians president Alberto Dualib has admitted that talks with MSI are likely to clarify the situation of the two stars on Wednesday, with the Argentinian media suggesting that the duo are expected to make their way to England.

Former Boca Juniors marksman Tevez has been linked with a number of clubs across the continent ever since it became clear he was desperate to leave Brazil, with Roma, Manchester United, Chelsea, Milan, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid all believed to hold an interest.

Aston Villa were also linked with him following the arrival of new American owner Randy Lerner's millions. And yesterday reports in Argentina suggested Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was leading the chase for the powerful forward.

The duo's agent Adrian Ruocco is believed to be personally involved in negotiations with West Ham to complete the deal before tonight's transfer deadline.

Whilst Tevez had been expected to leave Corinthians after staying away from the club for the past week, Mascherano - also 22 - has now also gone AWOL with arguments continuing over his availability for the glamour friendly against Brazil.

Corinthians are not keen for the midfielder to travel for the tie, even though he is suspended domestically, and relations between the parties have reached a new low after coach Emerson Leao confirmed Mascherano had skipped training earlier this week.

[JdB 151]

Bye bye Man U., Go Hammers!

[Jamoose 0]

I only ever heard of Tevez when he scored that solo goal in the World Cup, but being an international along with Mascherano, they must be good.

I also heard Dwight Yorke joined Sunderland, would that make him older than his manager?

[archsceptic 21]

Well, I think there'll be a lot of brown envelopes stuffed in pockets around West Ham tonight!

But back to Man Utd... I really dont know where to start, I despair. This is the summer they really needed to make some inspirational signings, number one priority was a ball-winner in midfield, so what does Fergie do? he buys another Darren Fletcher who likes to casually stroke the ball around for Å18m. I think Fergie thinks that the players that have under-achieved for the last three years are going to magically turn it on this season. He complained about the squad being too small last season, but now he's got rid of half the reserves through loan deals, so now the squad is even smaller.

And that's not all...

Rossi's gone to Newcastle to learn bad habits & learn how not to play football.

Scholes can't see.

Saha is incapable of going through the season without at least a semi serious injury.

Solskjaer will never be the same player again after two years out.

O'Shea could'nt trap a bag of cement.

Van der sar, Giggs, Neville, Scholes, are past their best.

Rooney's played too deep (he's an explosive striker, what's the point in being explosive in midfield?).

They've lost a striker that guaranteed them 25-30 goals a season, even if he had been sulking since Beckham left.

Fergie's in denial about Fletcher, he's got the stamina of a 36 year old veteran, looks like he needs oxygen after 20 mins.

The transfers or lack of transfers into Utd this summer show just how amateurish the biggest club in the world can be.

Having said all that we're top of the league but I'll be shocked if we're in the top two at the end of the season. We have'nt played anybody yet.

[TrevorOfCrete 0]

and they cant stop making dodgy signings.  Djemba Djemba, Folan, Barthez are but a few over the years. all jokes of the premiership.

[JdB 151]

Quote[/b] ]Van der sar

Lol, past his best....he's still one of the best keepers in the world, made a number of miraculous saves at the '06 WC (and the qualifying round too). I'd happily see him return to Ajax, the Netherlands doesn't even have a keeper at half his skill. He is the only player in the Dutch national side to always be the #1 for his position, even when he is out of shape (except for when he's injured, which I can't even recall him being...). He could also quite easily beat everyone to become keeper of the English national side, if FIFA rules didn't prevent that.

English people talking about keepers

The one thing Man U desperatly needs to get rid of is Sir Alex Ferguson, who has endured far past his expiration date. He had it, he lost it, neeeeeeext!

[archsceptic 21]

Dutch people talking about English people talking about goalkeepers.

You've got a nerve, we still remember Hans Segers over here - who's place of work should have been a Circus not a football pitch, although thinking back now it's difficult to distinguish between the games where he was just being a clown and games where he was taking bribes to throw the games.

Van der sar is blatantly past his prime, at 35 he's obviously not going to have the youthfull agility that he once had. We saw that in some games last season, I dont know how many man utd games you saw him in last season. Having said that I'm not saying he's a bad goalkeeper, I'm saying he used to be better.

You're right about Fergie however, he's a tactical dinosaur now, he talks about "patient football" when the rest of the footballing world is playing a more and more high tempo game all the time. He won man utd trophies by playing fast flowing attacking football, now he just wants them to "keep the ball".

Can't he remember the wrist slashing pandemics of the 80's from Italian teams playing "patient football"?

[VictorTroska 0]

EURO 2008 Qualifying round:

DATE  GROUP     HOME              AWAY

02/09 Grp F Northern Ireland  0-3  Iceland

02/09 Grp B Scotland 6-0  Faroe Islands

02/09 Grp E England 5-0  Andorra

02/09 Grp B Georgia 0-3 France

02/09 Grp C Malta 2-5  Bosnia-Herzegovina                    

02/09 Grp C Hungary 1-4  Norway

02/09 Grp D Czech Republic 2-1 Wales  

02/09 Grp G Belarus 2-2  Albania                                

02/09 Grp D Slovakia 6-1  Cyprus  

02/09 Grp A Serbia 1-0  Azerbaijan  

02/09 Grp A Poland 1-3  Finland  

02/09 Grp G Luxembourg 0-1  Netherlands  

02/09 Grp D Germany 1-0  Republic of Ireland  

02/09 Grp B Italy 1-1  Lithuania  

02/09 Grp G Romania 2-2  Bulgaria  

02/09 Grp F Latvia 0-1  Sweden  

02/09 Grp C Moldova 0-1  Greece  

02/09 Grp E Estonia 0-1  Israel  

02/09 Grp F Spain 4-0  Liechtenstein  

No surprises so far.....  

[B-2-0 0]

Quote[/b] ]This is the summer they really needed to make some inspirational signings, number one priority was a ball-winner in midfield

Indeed.

Quote[/b] ]Rossi's gone to Newcastle to learn bad habits & learn how not to play football

I dissagree. Rossi is a real prospect and i would much rather see him playing first team football and plying his trade in a Premiership team than warming the bench....if he's lucky....at OT every week as he has Rooney, Saha and Ole ahead of him. I just hope he doesn't get too comfy in that barcode shirt and decides he wants to stay.

Quote[/b] ]Scholes can't see.

If he wasn't fit to play, he wouldn't be playing. His performances in pre-season have shown he is still one of the best midfielders there is and i am sure he will be instrumental in this season's challenge.

Quote[/b] ]Saha is incapable of going through the season without at least a semi serious injury.

Just because this has been the case in the past, doesn't mean he will get injured again....then again he might....that's football.

Quote[/b] ]Solskjaer will never be the same player again after two years out.

He got two goals against Norway last week and he got a few in pre-season. Ok he won't play many full games but he has never really done that anyway. Expect him to come on and drag us out of the s**t a few times this season.

Quote[/b] ]O'Shea could'nt trap a bag of cement.

O'Shea is a good utility player to have. He can play anywhere across the back four as well as just in front of them to break up play which he does pretty well. Have always said he is not United quality though.

Quote[/b] ]Van der sar, Giggs, Neville, Scholes, are past their best.

What a joke!! VDS is only rivaled by Cech in the Premiership and is still the best keeper we have had since The Great Dane. Got a couple of good seasons in him yet.

Gary Nev is the best rightback in England by far and if he can reign Ronaldo in and create some nice link-up play with him he will create goals. Again, still a good season or two left.

Brazil's Dunga said after the Wales game that Giggs would easily get into the Brazil first team and he is right. Although not as quck on the ball as he was, he is now starting to read the game and move off the ball better and you still get the odd flash of wizardry every now and then. Should get 10+ this season.

Scholes, well, as i said, there is still lots to offer from the ginger ninja. People talk about Gerrard and Lampard but Scholes would still put either one of them on the bench in the England squad. With him paired up with Carrick in midfield we have plenty of quality delivery to the front and i predict he will also score at least 10 this season.

Quote[/b] ]Rooney's played too deep (he's an explosive striker, what's the point in being explosive in midfield?).

Did you watch The World Cup?? That was a lesson in how not to play Wayne Rooney. He is NOT an out and out striker!! Rooney likes to come deep to get that little bit of space and run at the defence or launch the thunderbolt. You can't do that with two big centre-backs down your throat. He also causes defenders to track him deep and allow the striker or wingers to move into the space. He has to be given a free role.

Quote[/b] ]They've lost a striker that guaranteed them 25-30 goals a season, even if he had been sulking since Beckham left.

True, but in the time Ruud was at OT we have been relying far too much on that type of play and IMO it is just not how United play. Think back to the days before Ruud. Pacy, flowing, interchangable football and goals from anywhere....opponents never knew if Giggs was gonna scorch down the left, skin two players, cut across the box and crack it in the top corner....or if Yorke & Cole would pull the ol' one-two-three out of the bag in the box....or if Keano would come screaming in at the edge of the box and power it home....or if Eric would leave two players stood still in midfield before storming to the box and playing it off Choccy before graciously chipping the keeper....'swhati'mtalkin'boutWillis!!

Quote[/b] ]Fergie's in denial about Fletcher, he's got the stamina of a 36 year old veteran, looks like he needs oxygen after 20 mins.

Hmm....you have a point there.

Quote[/b] ]The transfers or lack of transfers into Utd this summer show just how amateurish the biggest club in the world can be.

True to an extent....but there are a lot of factors to look at. It's not as easy as just going and picking the player you want and to be fair, there are not really many quality DM's out there and i would rather United buy nobody at all, and still have some cash left for the January window, than buy somebody just for the sake of plugging the gap.

Quote[/b] ]Having said all that we're top of the league but I'll be shocked if we're in the top two at the end of the season. We have'nt played anybody yet.

Really not very confident are you? Sure, it's early days, but have some faith!!

Quote[/b] ]and they cant stop making dodgy signings. Djemba Djemba, Folan, Barthez are but a few over the years. all jokes of the premiership.

Like nobody else has made a bad signing?? I think Rooney, Ronaldo, Ruud, Rio, Heinze, Saha, Solskjaer, and VDS make up for it though.

Quote[/b] ]The one thing Man U desperatly needs to get rid of is Sir Alex Ferguson, who has endured far past his expiration date. He had it, he lost it, neeeeeeext!

How has he lost it?? Because we aren't winning the Premiership season after season anymore?? Get a grip. You can't expect half of what he has done from most of the top managers there has ever been so just because a few other clubs have started to catch up doesn't mean he has lost it. He is past his best, yes....but lost it, no way!! And who do you suggest we replace him with? SAF IS Manchester United and past his best or not, to lose him....especially in this rough patch we are in at present...would be a major blow to the club.

Quote[/b] ]You're right about Fergie however, he's a tactical dinosaur now, he talks about "patient football" when the rest of the footballing world is playing a more and more high tempo game all the time. He won man utd trophies by playing fast flowing attacking football, now he just wants them to "keep the ball".

You got a quote of SAF talking about playing 'patient football'? I can't seem to find one. It's well documented that we have always played attacking football....even before Fergie....this will never change. We play with a style where we soak up pressure....call it being patient if you like....then we hit opponents on the break with pacy, flowing football with a "if you score 2, we'll score 3" attitude. And we do it for 90 minutes. Compare it to the likes of Liverpool or the Italians you speak of who from what i have seen, put 10 men behind the ball and defend a 1 goal lead and then try and tell me that United play a 'keep ball' game that is behind what the rest of the world is doing.

As you can probably tell, i am United through and through. For the record though....I am not, however suprised you may be, one of these United fans that think the team can do no wrong. It's just that some of these statements are not very well thought out, backed up or just completely absurd.

Anyway, the banter is all part of the game and it's nice to see a few fellow football fans around here to share it with....most of the guys over at Zeus aren't into it....cretins!!

Regards,

B

[SpeedyDonkey 0]

Wawaweewaa....

06/09 Grp F Iceland 0-2 Denmark

06/09 Grp E Israel 4-1 Andorra

06/09 Grp B Ukraine 3-2 Georgia

06/09 Grp A Azerbaijan 1-1 Kazakhstan

06/09 Grp C Norway 2-0 Moldova

06/09 Grp E Russia 0-0 Croatia

06/09 Grp B Lithuania 1-2 Scotland  

06/09 Grp F Sweden 3-1 Liechtenstein

06/09 Grp C Turkey 2-0 Malta

06/09 Grp A Finland 1-1 Portugal

06/09 Grp G Albania 0-2 Romania  

06/09 Grp G Bulgaria 3-0 Slovenia

06/09 Grp D Slovakia 0-3 Czech Republic

06/09 Grp C Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-3 Hungary

06/09 Grp F Northern Ireland 3-2 Spain

06/09 Grp G Netherlands 3-0 Belarus

06/09 Grp A Poland 1-1 Serbia

06/09 Grp D San Marino 0-13 Germany

06/09 Grp E F.Y.R. Macedonia 0-1 England

06/09 Grp A Armenia 0-1 Belgium

06/09 Grp B France 3-1 Italy

[TrevorOfCrete 0]

Quote[/b] ]06/09 Grp F Northern Ireland 3-2 Spain

hahaha go northern ireland!

[VictorTroska 0]

Quote[/b] ]06/09 Grp F Northern Ireland 3-2 Spain

 hahaha go northern ireland!  

Heheheh...... this is surprise 4 sure

06/09 Grp B France 3-1 Italy -->revenge for WC Finals

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

This would have been a worthy world cup final. Not this "sisters" game we had to watch and that ruined the memory of our Germany 2006!

[Messiah 2]

06/09 Grp F Iceland 0-2 Denmark

*dances*

[TrevorOfCrete 0]

Quote[/b] ]06/09 Grp D Slovakia 0-3 Czech Republic

is it true that good slovak players change to being czech citizens becuase there team is better? much like polish do to germany? it would explain the massive differece between slovakia and czech republic.

[VictorTroska 0]

06/09 Grp F Iceland 0-2 Denmark

*dances*

Messiah u are form UK ,right?

So why are u always so happy when Denmark win?

U support them more than England,Wales,Scotland and N. Ireland?