The Official Football Thread

[Nerroth]

Originally Posted by germanturkey

really? Villa will be playing in the A-League?

Yep.


Also, the Guardian have been posting a series of animated histories for ten of the teams taking part in the 2014 World Cup. You can also see the clips on their YouTube playlist. Seven of the clips are up so far overall, though for some reason the Brazilian clip is not yet on the YT channel, and there is no page yet for the Argentine clip on the website.

I wonder what other countries will be on the list?

[germanturkey]

interesting. quite a ways from winning La Liga and getting to the CL finals.

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by itisjustme

I wouldn't bet on Fabregas myself he's on the downward slope, he has been pretty bad with Barca and his body's getting old, he keeps getting injured, and I'm not liking his mentality.

WTF? Cesc has been fabulous. He produced excellent stats, started a lot of games, played important roles, but was just hated by the Barca fans because, well, who knows why. They never liked him and they never will.

Meanwhile, the silly negative "Wenger out" brigade have been transformed into the "we don't want Cesc" brigade. No, we do fucking want Cesc and he will be a boost to any team, especially ours. The signing of Ozil inspired a massive momentum for Arsenal early this season. The return of Cesc would be a statement eclipsing even that, by a massive margin, and Arsenal will enter the league on a high with every expectation to kick ass, take names, chew bubblegum, and brutalize Mourinho. And actually have cushion to survive another Arsenalesque injury crisis.

Not that he seems to actually have any inclination to leave Barca...

I can forgive rumors of him to Man City, PSG, Real Madrid (though, lol, a Barca boy don't go to Madrid without causing a few national crises), Bayern, NYCFC, whatever. Even Man Utd if it comes to that. But Chelsea? What is wrong with people? The football media has reached its lowest nadir yet with the unbelievably disgusting notion that Cesc would go to fucking Chelsea. Of all the wealthy teams in the world, they make up rumors about Chelsea?

[germanturkey]

the only player i'd consider benching if we signed cesc is wilshere. there'd be some DM, ramsey, ozil, santi, cesc. so unless we play him out of position, or shift ozil to the left, there's no real place to play him. that, and we need a striker who is mobile (or gifted enough, like RVP) to benefit off the through balls we play. ramsey is actually doing a great job at filling cesc's shoes. not only does he make the forward driving runs cesc used to make, but his passing range is almost as good.

[Azuma Denton]

It's official.
Arsenal choose not to invoke the buyback clause. So Cesc will indeed goes to another PL team.
On the other hand, there is a rumour that Hulk is being approached.

Though i would love to see him play at Arsenal, but his wages will not fit in Arsenal structure.

[LoveYouSaber]

I still don't see the sense in this if the stories are true.

"If you have the chance to sign Mesut Ozil then you can’t let it pass you by." Ironically said by Fabregas last year when people were questioning why Arsenal needed a midfielder. I think the same goes for Fabregas, you sign him when you have the chance, and we even have a buy-back clause. Now that Fabregas actually wants to come back, and of all the clubs, Chelsea might be getting him, we're going to let that pass by?

I love Wenger, but I would really want to hear him on this, especially given that of all people, he knows Fabregas the best and really appreciates him. As I said before, Fabregas playing under Mourinho is nightmare - at this point, I think I would feel happier if he ended up at Manchester United or Spurs compared to Chelsea and that says a lot!

Rationally though, transfer windows always bring silly rumours, and at this point everything should be taken with a grain of salt. Though emotionally, the thought is just too much to bear.

[ACertainStark]

Though isn't there some news that Liverpool are also in there?

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by germanturkey

the only player i'd consider benching if we signed cesc is wilshere. there'd be some DM, ramsey, ozil, santi, cesc. so unless we play him out of position, or shift ozil to the left, there's no real place to play him. that, and we need a striker who is mobile (or gifted enough, like RVP) to benefit off the through balls we play. ramsey is actually doing a great job at filling cesc's shoes. not only does he make the forward driving runs cesc used to make, but his passing range is almost as good.

So? It's called a squad rotation -- one of the major reasons, no doubt, that Arsenal lost the league last season as players lost form and got injured with fatigue building up. We're one injury or one lost form away from being trounced by Chelsea, again, because the likes of Chelsea and Man City has squad depth.

If Arsenal has the sense to bring him back, there will be a place for him to play. Always.

I really don't understand Arsenal fans who'd object to this with your reasons. What position problem? Did we all forget the yearly Arsenal injury circus? Don't Wenger move players to different positions all the time? Cesc is one of the most versatile players out there and he played everything from False 9 for Spain to No. 10 to CM to the wings. What are we afraid of?

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

So? It's called a squad rotation -- one of the major reasons, no doubt, that Arsenal lost the league last season as players lost form and got injured with fatigue building up. We're one injury or one lost form away from being trounced by Chelsea, again, because the likes of Chelsea and Man City has squad depth.

If Arsenal has the sense to bring him back, there will be a place for him to play. Always.

I really don't understand Arsenal fans who'd object to this with your reasons. What position problem? Did we all forget the yearly Arsenal injury circus? Don't Wenger move players to different positions all the time? Cesc is one of the most versatile players out there and he played everything from False 9 for Spain to No. 10 to CM to the wings. What are we afraid of?

I guess it's a bit like getting back to your ex.

You know that she has a knocker body, and her chemistry suit you like a glove, and that she's probably is too old to play around with commitment this time... But the previous break up still give you a bitter taste, and you rather not talking or thinking about it

[germanturkey]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

So? It's called a squad rotation -- one of the major reasons, no doubt, that Arsenal lost the league last season as players lost form and got injured with fatigue building up. We're one injury or one lost form away from being trounced by Chelsea, again, because the likes of Chelsea and Man City has squad depth.

If Arsenal has the sense to bring him back, there will be a place for him to play. Always.

I really don't understand Arsenal fans who'd object to this with your reasons. What position problem? Did we all forget the yearly Arsenal injury circus? Don't Wenger move players to different positions all the time? Cesc is one of the most versatile players out there and he played everything from False 9 for Spain to No. 10 to CM to the wings. What are we afraid of?

rotation is one thing, keeping players of equal high caliber on the bench is another. would i want him back? sure. he's one of my favorite players. but at the current time, there are other issues in the team that need addressing that he won't fix.

[DarkJak2050]

Alright, I may not come to this thread as often but as a reminder that the World Cup is this week.

Seems that there's a lot to talk about since the Group Draw, especially that rematch with Spain and the Netherlands. [Thinks about the 2010 World Cup Final]. That sure was fun to watch...

Now going to this year's World Cup, there is something that I'd like to pass down to everyone here. (I even posted this in the Offical NHL Thread in regards to the late stages of the NHL Playoffs).

Words of advice; do not trust officials and keep watching.

No matter what the fans say, FIFA will only listen to the officials on the field/pitch and whatever the fans say will not have an impact on the officials decision on a call. Even if they get the call wrong or they missed it.

I don't care what Country you're from, what Country you're supporting or what countries are playing, do not trust officials. I want to pass this down from one fan to others. Perhaps these will remind you of why...

And the reason why Goal-Line Tech is in this year's World Cup...

These are just some examples.

You maybe thinking why I'm telling you guys all of this; it's so it'll save you on pulling your hair out. And believe me, you do not want to do that. I've done it a few times by watching this year's NHL playoffs and my scalp had a burning feeling for atleast a day or two. So please, don't...

And it's not that I can foretell things, it's that I've seen things like this happen. If it's happened before, it's likely to happen again. But you won't know untill it actually does. No matter what countries are playing.

Remember; do not trust officials and keep watching.

[risingstar3110]

@ DarkJak2050: There is no way that we trust those horrible guys in black. I means i even heard before about how FIFA was trying to keep the role of the ref in modern football, to keep the match controversial. And when it's controversial, it generate talks and keep the game more popular.

I am a football (soccer) fans, but i horribly hate those ref

[KiraYamatoFan]

FIFA should have ripped a page from the IRB (International Rugby Board) regarding how to provide referees all the necessary support to make the right calls (especially video replays) long ago. Rugby didn't need controversy to enjoy a major increase in worldwide popularity over the years, and I have far more respect for their referees.

Sepp Blatter and his inner circle are a whole bunch of twats whom I can't stand their presence at the head of the game.

[justavisitor]

With so much money getting involved behind the scene, I am afraid there will be some match fixing and corrupt referees. And we also have referees who are not corrupt but incompetent XD

I mean, what do we realistically expect when the FIFA itself is also corrupt?

P.S
I don't have any games, but NHL, NBA, and Soccer game should have a biased referee mode for or against your team XD that would be so fun and realistic

[itisjustme]

One problem with video is that referees tend to abuse it and stop deciding themselves, for example almost every try in rugby now is reviewed for minutes. Another is that in football most decisions are more a matter of interpretation rather than strict white and black application of rules, video still wouldn't matter, and there is evidence of fouls that the referee sees live that you couldn't see on replay.

Mistakes happen everywhere, hey even rugby refs make a lot of mistakes they're just not as contested. It's a lot visible in football since a game can be entirely decided by a refereeing decision but the flip side of the coin is that it'd lead to video replay of anything litigious and the game would last 3x as long and it might change the nature of the game, because hey who's to decide what foul is important enough for review and what's not?

There's also the fact that many referees already wait for the replay on the giant screens now before they decide if they aren't sure, and assistant referees aren't keen to decide and override the main ref even if they see the foul like a yard away.It's not as clear-cut as saying video=good no video=bad, there's a reason a lot of professionals and ex professionals are against it, and no not only the ones in FIFA or the board.

Is FIFA corrupt? Sure, just like the Olympics Committee or politics in general. There's a vendetta from english speaking media against the FIFA after losing the World Cup candidacy but I never heard them complain about bribing officials or political pressure to win the London Olympics or the Atlanta Olympics. You have to be careful about all the allegations too since atm "corruption" is really a tool used in powerplay within FIFA and there's a struggle between Blatter and Platini for the next FIFA election for example.

[risingstar3110]

There always ways to go around the inconvenience of video replay. Like the suggestions on how each team can only refer to video technology and contest the referee decision twice a match (saving for important free-kick, wrong offside call or penalty).

It won't make all decision right, but at least the major decision, game changing one can be avoided.

[itisjustme]

A bit like in tennis? I'm not sure how fair that'd work in football tbh since in tennis calls are black and white, for example, offside is called on the spot or it isn't, it's hard to say we would have scored if you didn't wrongly call the offside because no one knows what would have happened. So what, stop calling offside on the spot and keep playing on every time? What happens if you don't score and on the fastbreak the opposing team scores? That'd be changing the nature of football and it'd have a lot unforseen consequences.

With penalties, they already tried putting penalty box referees. The problem is assistant refs just don't want to override the main ref, or rather they don't want to take responsibility for the call. Again, when are you stopping? When the team challenges the call? Then they could use that to stop a break from the opposite team. Also the whole notion of challenges reduces the authority of refs, you already see players rush to the ref at each litigious decision and they're trying to cut down on that by carding people who does it, allowing challenges might be shooting themselves in the foot.

Like I said it's not clear cut and I don't think there's a perfect way to do it. Obviously the situation we have atm isn't perfect but I have no idea if video would be any better.

[Azuma Denton]

Since we are talking about corruption in FIFA, i'll just share this video here...

YouTube

https://youtu.be/DlJEt2KU33I

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[risingstar3110]

Originally Posted by itisjustme

A bit like in tennis? I'm not sure how fair that'd work in football tbh since in tennis calls are black and white, for example, offside is called on the spot or it isn't, it's hard to say we would have scored if you didn't wrongly call the offside because no one knows what would have happened. So what, stop calling offside on the spot and keep playing on every time? What happens if you don't score and on the fastbreak the opposing team scores? That'd be changing the nature of football and it'd have a lot unforseen consequences.

It's as clear as crystal for me.

You still play by the whistle right? If ref blow the whistle , then you stops the play. Wrong offside or not. Wrong call of penalty, or pushing, or diving, or not. But the decision is after that: a) whether the goal is counted or it's a free kick, b) whether it's a penalty or free kick, and c) whether it's red card or yellow.

If the ref is consulting another players and the defending team plays fast break, of course he will whistle it. It won't prevent every controversial decision (like wrong offside call, or miss ball handling). But it prevents when those wrong calls lead directly (or miss) goals, penalty, or red card. If the defending team challenge it, of course

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Azuma Denton

Since we are talking about corruption in FIFA, i'll just share this video here...

YouTube

https://youtu.be/DlJEt2KU33I

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

He is right! To make women soccer more popular, their shorts have to be shorter!

Should be interesting to see fans jumping into the field and volunteering to be the balls.