Discussion The Football/Soccer Thread

[Seiken]

Besides that, they tend to show Chelsey, and I hate Lampard with a passion.

I like you!

What do you think about Trond Sollied getting fired from Olympiakos? He is norwegian, so its a big deal here in Norway, obviously.

 

[Lohnt]

Well, here's the thing about Greek soccer: It makes the Italian corruption look like a couple of lies.

Greek soccer has been in the pits since the 70's when the "hounda" or military dictatorship took power in Greece. Since then Olympiakos has had a lot of money and they used to use it well. Nowdays they just bribe the referees and buy the biggest name stars they can afford.

The problem with Olympiakos isn't Trond Sollied, what they wanted was another Savas Kofidis (ex coach of Iraklis who took a losing streak of 11 games and got them to 4th place within the second half of the season, one of the most incredible coaches, and players I have ever seen in action) or a Sera Ferer who has taken a decent AEK and make them work so well as a team that they beat Milan and Lille, even winning the first UEFA game ever. (we had all ties up to that point, even with Real Madrid).

Speaking of Real Madrid, that's how I see Olympiakos, buy a bunch of good players, stick them together, except in Olympiakos's case they aren't that good so they can't do miracles like Real does.
So overall, and no offense to Trond Sollied, because I think he is a gutsy and decent coach, the problem was that he wasn't a miracle worker, like 2 other coaches in Greece have been recently, and so Olympiakos has placed the entire blame in him. Because they would never place the blame in old man Rivaldo *rolls eyes* nope, he's our God.

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

EPL Match for Dec 30th 2006

Charlton Athletic 2-1 Aston Villa
CHA: D. Bent 57', Hughes 90'; AST: Barry (pen.) 40'

Blackburn R. 2-1 Middlesbrough
BLA: Nonda 9', McCarthy 74'; MID: Yakubu (pen.) 61'

Bolton W. 3-2 Portsmouth
BOL: Diagne-Faye 30', Campo 40', Anelka 62'; POR: Taylor 2', Cole 89'

Chelsea 2-2 Fulham
CHE: Rosenior (o.g.) 35', Drogba 62'; FUL: Volz 2', Bocanegra 82'

Everton 3-0 Newcastle U.
EVE: Anichebe 9', 57', Neville 62'

Manchester U. 3-2 Reading
MANU: Solksjaer 33', Ronaldo 58', 77'; REA: Sonko 38', Lita 90'

Tottenham H. 0-1 Liverpool
LIV: Garcia 45'

Watford 1-1 Wigan Athletic
WAT: Priskin 44'; WIG: Heskey 23' (Game suspended due to rain)

West Ham U. 0-1 Manchester C.
MANC: Beasley 83'

Sheffield U. 1-0 Arsenal
SHE: Nade 41'

 

[Leen]

I only care about Liverpool so YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Garcia is wonderful, as usual.

But interestingly, Arsenal lose. O.o Sheffield really pull it off this time around, huh? XD

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Yup, their goalkeeper made some great saves and when the final whistle blew, they were celebrating like they just won the league

 

[bax]

o.O

Arsenal lost >.< Like I said, their defence are just too penetrable >.<
Wenger... go find one or two good defenders....

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

EPL Match for January 1st 2007​

Liverpool 3-0 Bolton W.
LIV: Crouch 61', Gerrard 63', Kuyt 83'

Fulham 0-0 Watford

Manchester C. 2-1 Everton
MANC: Samaras 50', (pen.) 72'; EVE: Osman 84'

Middlesbrough 3-1 Sheffield U.
MID: Viduka 36', Yakubu 69', (pen.) 76'; SHE: Jagielka (pen.) 45'

Portsmouth 1-1 Tottenham H.
POR: Benjani 29'; TOT: Malbranque 50'

Reading 6-0 West Ham U.
REA: Gunnarsson 12', Hunt 14', A. Ferdinand (o.g.) 30', K. Doyle 36', 78', Lita 53'

Wigan Athletic 0-3 Blackburn R.
BLA: Heskey (o.g.) 44', M. Derbyshire 58', B. McCarthy (pen.) 76'

Newcastle U. 2-2 Manchester U
NEWC: Milner 33', Edgar 77' ; MANU: Scholes 40', 46'

EPL Match for January 2nd 2007​

Arsenal 4-0 Charlton Athletic
ARS: Henry 30', Hoyte 46', Van Persie 76', 90'

Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea

 

[Seiken]

Yay, Arsenal won!

After a humiliating defeat against Sheff Utd, they made amends.


Sheffield did play with a midfielder as goalkeeper the last 30 minuts after all.... :-(

 

[bax]

Yesh... Arsenal play brilliantly ^^ And Chelsea drew again ^^

I wonder what happened to Chelsea though. Before yesterday's match, they have conceded two goals in 4 straight matches.

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

They don't have John Terry right now. With the England's skipper missing it's not that hard to score against Chelsea. What's hard is keeping them from not scoring back. [br]Posted on: January 03, 2007, 05:26:21 AM_________________________________________________Thanks for updating the scoresheet, bax

 

[Epul]

The pressure is obviously on chelsea at the moment. Maybe that is why thay are not playing well. Maybe they can't handle the pressure.

 

[Seiken]

What a great week of football.
Arsenal has beaten Liverpool twice at Anfield (five of six people who I live with is Liverpool-fans. Have I been mocking them? What do you think? ), and Chelsea managed only to make a draw against Wycombe.

Little Wycombe, who plays in the 4th highest league in England!

 

[Xophien]

and Chelsea managed only to make a draw against Wycombe.

Little Wycombe, who plays in the 4th highest league in England!

We had almost the same thing in France, with Lyon almost making a draw in French Cup, against Bayonne who plays in the 4th french league, but Lyon ended up winning 2-1, with Juninho scoring a 30m free kick, fifteen minutes from the end, as always

 

[Seiken]

That Juninho, eh? Never stops astonding me a second...

Anyways, David Beckham has signed for LA Galaxy. Wonder how thats going to be like....

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

That Juninho, eh? Never stops astonding me a second...

Anyways, David Beckham has signed for LA Galaxy. Wonder how thats going to be like....

As good as he is. His move will just mean more plastic surgery for his wife.

 

[Lohnt]

Personally.. I think it's a bad thing.

Let's face it, like him or hate him, David Beckham is a fangirl/boy dream. I have a feeling he will popularize soccer to a certain degree in the states, depending on whether he decides to play seriously, or just play from the sidelines while enjoying his money.

If football is popularized in the U.S., I would fear for the future of the sport.. I mean, with the budget the teams here can afford, all the good players will leave Europe and come here for ridiculous amounts of money. My favorite club is debating whether to spend 1.5 million on an Italian foward that seems like he has a bright future because that is the most money the club has ever payed for a player! How are teams supposed to compete with 100+ million dollar American contracts?

I dunno, hopefully Americans won't be avid football watchers like me and think, "well even though he's and old man's 36 and garbage in Europe, he's still the best player in the U.S. so i'll watch it anyway" because if they do.. well ratings + popularity will ruin soccer in the world IMO. I would hate it if Europe lost it's elite status as "top rated" football (even though the best team in the Brazilian league once again defeated Barcelona in the world tournament).

 

[Seiken]

Heh, well said.

I dont mind that the American league will become bigger, but not on the cost of the European leagues quality.Internacional and São Paulo DID indeed beat both Liverpool and Barcelona, but I dare say that it was pure luck. Both were utterly outplayed, but were much more effective.

Still, I personally didnt mind, sice I dont like either one. ( Barcelona and Liverpool, that is)
_________________________________________________

EPL Match for January 13 2007​

Watford 0-3 Liverpool
LIV: Bellamy 34', Crouch 40', 48'

West Ham 3–3 Fulham
WES: Zamora 28', Benayoun 46', 64'; FUL: Radzinski 17', McBride 59', Christanval 90'

Sheffield U. 1–1 Portsmouth
SHE: Quinn 22'; POR: O'Neill 81'

Manchester U. 3–1 Aston Villa
MANU: Park 11', Carrick 13', Ronaldo 35'; AST: Agbonlahor 52'

Chelsea 4–0 Wigan
CHE: Lampard 14', Robben 63' Kirkland(o.g.) 70', Drogba 90'

Charlton 1–3 Middlesbrough
CHA: Hasselbaink 27'; MID: Cattermole 45', Arca 64', Yakubu 68'

Bolton 0–0 Manchester C.

Blackburn 0-2 Arsenal
ARS: Toure 37', Henry 71'

EPL Match for January 14 2007​

Everton 1-1 Reading
EVE: Johnson 81'; REA: Lescott (o.g.) 27'

Tottenham 2-3 Newcastle
TOT: Defoe 14', Berbatov 54'; NEWC: Huntington 14', Martins 72', Butt 73'

 

[Epul]

I watched the game between ManU and Villa. The way united play for the first 20-30 minutes was simply amazing! Chelsea plaed well to. I guess the story about Mourinho quitting Chelsea did not affect them.

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Thanks for the EPL results, Alex-san!
ManUtd played great, but Rooney and Saha missed out on a lot of good shot. They should've scored more.
On the other hand, Newcastle looks better and I hope their performance will get better.

 

[*Mel*]

The best team of the world (São Paulo ofcourse) is going to win its first match of the year tomorrow =D