The Official Football Thread

[germanturkey]

i am so upset right now. what a horrible game. no one who played today except Sol and RVP deserve to wear the shirt. when someone who's been out 5 fucking months comes back and plays betters than EVERYONE ELSE on the fucking field, there is something incredibly wrong with that.

pardon my language. i'm angry.

[boggart]

Yatta! 3-0 win over Deportivo! Cracker of a goal by Pedro from near the halfway line.

[KiNA]

Gah.. I even stayed up since the game starts at 4 am here.

I'll excused myself until WC tyvm.. And I'll be super pissed if RvP picked for WC... After they robbed him the full season with Arsenal.

[germanturkey]

haha, the odds of him not getting picked are like nil. did you see him play today? only player on our side aside from Sol worth the shirt on his back. if he didn't get injured, we'd be on top by a mile. something about not having a real striker on the team hurts. at least Chamkah should be better than Bendtner, since he can jump AND has a first touch.

[fertygo]

Oh my God... Can yo believe its ?
Inter win againts Barca !!!
woooo... what a magnificent tactics from Mourinho and performance from Inter Backline's... They are BEAST !!!
Who needs Defensive Midfielder if you have Backline like them (though inter midfield succeed to lock Xavi)
Inter just outstanding tonite...

[Saturn Beaver]

Wow, didn't expect that...I predict that due to home advantage, Inter may be able to get a close win, but they really dominated the match here, they fully deserve their 3-1 win. Amazing play by the defense , shuting off Barca's players and in the offense, Milito, Sneijder and Maicon are awesome. Barca really need to step it up in Camp Nou to be able to reach the finals.

[Revenger1589]

Damn Milito, I still don't like you but that was a world class performance. A real team play by inter, putting pressure on Xavi all over the field basically nullifies Messi.

[fertygo]

Zanetti is a Superman, He keep running more than 90-minute , and he's even not looked drop a sweat, and he not take any second to adapt when forced to switch-side. Class.

I think with iniesta injury, Pep need to gamble put Maxwell on midfield to help Xavi on 2nd leg, or Inter will easy to break Barca possesion again.

[Saturn Beaver]

Originally Posted by fertygo

Zanetti is a Superman, He keep running more than 90-minute , and he's even not looked drop a sweat, and he not take any second to adapt when forced to switch-side. Class.

I think with iniesta injury, Pep need to gamble put Maxwell on midfield to help Xavi on 2nd leg, or Inter will easy to break Barca possesion again.

Not to mention that he did that while shutting off Messi and Dani Alves, and he's already 36 now, age where almost all other players are already retired. Truly he's the Maldini of Inter, with that vitality he can still play brilliantly for a couple more years.

Yeah, Pep really needs to think of a good strategy to win next week...Scoring 2 goals against that kind of defense is very difficult, and keeping Inter from scoring even a single goal will be even more difficult without Puyol.

[fertygo]

Lets move aside from Inter wins for awhile

balotelli attacked in car park
tuesday 20 april, 2010
mario balotelli was attacked by fans in the car park at san siro, as security staff rushed to the rescue.

The inter striker ruined the celebrations in the 3-1 champions league win over barcelona by arguing with jose mourinho, his teammates and the crowd.

After a bad mistake on the counter-attack, the san siro supporters jeered and he turned to visibly insult them.

The problems continued and at the final whistle he threw his shirt to the ground.

It has been revealed that marco materazzi confronted balotelli in the players’ tunnel in a violent clash.

However, sky italia showed footage of supporters with access to the car park beneath san siro trying to attack the striker as he walked to his car.

Security staff were forced to intervene in order to lead him to safety.

“he’s a youngster, this thing happened and in all honesty i’d prefer to think about the victory,” said president massimo moratti.

“this is a wound that will heal and could be a life lesson that’ll prove useful for him.”

wow Balo is surely the most epic player i ever seen, he's always have a way to make me surprised and laugh very hard

woi KiNA u must call arsene now to ask make bid for him

[germanturkey]

We don't want him. he has an ego and thinks he's above the team.

[fertygo]

awww its a shame...
I want look "Hip-Hop Combination" between him and Bendtner on Arsenal
That will fun to watch

[KiNA]

Originally Posted by fertygo

Lets move aside from Inter wins for awhile



wow Balo is surely the most epic player i ever seen, he's always have a way to make me surprised and laugh very hard

woi KiNA u must call arsene now to ask make bid for him

No thank you.. we have enough strikers +1

Regarding Inter win against Barc.. I feel that its more of a screw up in Pep's approach to them game that lost them the game IMHO. Playing Ibra forced them to change their playstyle a bit and Inter are well equip at the back to counter long balls over the top. But Motta did well to keep Xavi at bay. Messi up top alone would give him more space to play (like he did against RM) then to have him play off Ibra.

2 of their goals also exposed the weakness in Barc's tactic.. something we Arsenal cant do back then .. Pandev running inside dragged Alves as well and leave Sneider free ..

[justavisitor]

I heard some ppl are saying Barca's players got exhausted from the long traveling because of the Volcano issues...but anyway, wow, what is a great great year for Mourinho, first beating his old club, and now this (tho we still have a second leg)

What a great achievement from Mourinho

[Terrestrial Dream]

Come on Liverpool!!!!! I know they can beat Chelsea this weekend! YNWA!

[KiNA]

Haha.. YNWA indeed this week eh .. The ultimate evil united us for once

Btw.. anyone else wanted to comment on next year enforced rule for EPL? Arsenal are safe.. but not so much for the other team .

Max 25 players per team must be registered (compared to 30 now) and 8 must be under 21 AND home grown! (that leaves only 17 players above 21 per team)

[germanturkey]

dumb rule that'll degrade the quality of the league. not the clubs' fault that england can't produce good players.

[fertygo]

Originally Posted by germanturkey

dumb rule that'll degrade the quality of the league. not the clubs' fault that england can't produce good players.

why not ?
Not to mention Spain recent success, is because similar rules like this. From Academy to professional is ideal form of "signing" player actually.

But I agree, this rules have some "facepalm" point, home-grown rules is okay, but must register 8 U-21 player on the team, what ???

They're try to "degrade" the depth of their club or what ?
I think even team like Fulham or Sunderland can't tolerate to register 8 "maybe-not-worthy" greenies on their team.

The rules will be much better if U-21 player will not counted as registered player, that way the Club will thinking to buy and use Young player as they can.

[KiNA]

Well TBH.. those under 18 are not required to registered .. So we dont have to register Aaron Ramsey or Jack Wilshire for example and still be able to play them.

The new rules, agreed by all Premier League club chairmen, state that clubs must name a squad of up to 25 players, with 8 of those being ‘home-grown’ players. Furthermore, no more than 17 of those players can be over 21 and not home-grown.

Ah OK.. there's a little bit of confusion then... my mistake m(._.)m

What Makes A Player Home-Grown?

The term ‘home-grown’ has left many football fans confused into thinking it means players must be English and from their own clubs academy, but this is not necessarily the case.

The definition of a home-grown player according to the Premier League is a player that has been trained for three years under the age of 21 by somebody within the English and Welsh professional system.

Effectively, this new quota is not a foreign player limitation. There is nothing to stop a side fielding a team consisting of no English players, providing some of the foreign players were purchased from the age of 18.

Currently, every Premier League side’s squad for the 2009/10 season would meet the criteria for next season’s quota. Chelsea currently have the fewest home-grown players registered with 8, but that number is acceptable. Aston Villa possesses the most home-grown players under the new rules with a massive 24 players meeting the new regulations.

[germanturkey]

arsenal are actually not that affected, but other teams will be.

england doesn't produce good technical players. its not the way they're brought up. they're great athletes, but average footballers at best. its the same with the US. Walcott is probably the best example of this. whereas in spain and netherlands, you get the best of both worlds.