The Football Thread

[Retired1234]

asan na si tangkad sa liverpool? nasa league two na ba?

 

Portsmouth na sya.

[redshirt]

I want one of those el submarino amarillo toys...

[_eRon_]

Arsenal spoils Lehmann debut by beating Stuttgart in a pre-season friendly

 

Van der Vaart close to signing with Real Madrid

 

Spurs set to announce Bentley signing

 

Chelsea's Tal Ben Haim signs with Manchester City

 

 

[redshirt]

van der vart would be a suitable proxy for c. ronaldo.

[cheeselogger]

so Lehmann is playing for Stuttgart now?

 

who's the GK for Arsenal now? Almunia?

[redshirt]

so Lehmann is playing for Stuttgart now?

 

who's the GK for Arsenal now? Almunia?

yes

 

 

I guess so because he deputized majority of last season's cmapaign

[cheeselogger]

thanks for the reply mate! cheers!

[redshirt]

thanks for the reply mate! cheers!

anytime mate.

[duchessXI]

Rangers 0-4 Liverpool: Euro tie warm-up

[duchessXI]

hows everyones fantasy teams going?

[damaso]

great write-up on my all time favorite player:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/ju...p;feed=football

 

 

 

[duchessXI]

great write-up on my all time favorite player:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/ju...p;feed=football

 

 

 

 

one of the best lefties ive seen aside from roberto carlos ian harte, and robben. good professional.

its a shame though that he left the european stage and international scene with brazil so early in his career.

 

know why? its be cause ronaldinho stole the limelight from him.

but do you see the progression? ronnie being out of favour in barca, now just recently transferred to ac milan. the same teams rivaldo played in.

 

i think i see wer ronnies headed at next. olympiakos. lol

Edited August 3, 2008 by duchessXI

[damaso]

it was actually louis van gaal who forced rivaldo out. rivaldo and van gaal were already butting heads when van gaal managed barcelona till 2000. van gaal was then hired to coach the dutch team which eventually failed to reach the 2002 world cup, the same tournament where rivaldo shined in brazil's win. the dutch fa fired van gaal and in one of the worst decisions in blaugarana history, barca management rehired van gaal in 2002. his first move was to release rivaldo, who wanted to stay. rivaldo was even quoted "i'd play goalkeeper if that meant i could stay with barcelona". van gaal lasted half a season before he was fired. but the damage was done: barcelona ended up in 6th place in the league, their lowest in decades.

 

ronaldinho joined barcelona the season after, in 2003.

 

pero i hope ronaldinho does fare better than rivaldo did in milan. he has a better chance, since milan now has a more free flow feel to them as opposed to the structured style they had before, which did not suit creative players.

Edited August 3, 2008 by damaso

[duchessXI]

it was actually louis van gaal who forced rivaldo out. rivaldo and van gaal were already butting heads when van gaal managed barcelona till 2000. van gaal was then hired to coach the dutch team which eventually failed to reach the 2002 world cup, the same tournament where rivaldo shined in brazil's win. the dutch fa fired van gaal and in one of the worst decisions in blaugarana history, barca management rehired van gaal in 2002. his first move was to release rivaldo, who wanted to stay. rivaldo was even quoted "i'd play goalkeeper if that meant i could stay with barcelona". van gaal lasted half a season before he was fired. but the damage was done: barcelona ended up in 6th place in the league, their lowest in decades.

 

ronaldinho joined barcelona the season after, in 2003.

 

pero i hope ronaldinho does fare better than rivaldo did in milan. he has a better chance, since milan now has a more free flow feel to them as opposed to the structured style they had before, which did not suit creative players.

 

i see. tnx for the piece of information there. well lets just see that as milan looks a threat now with a brazilian tripartite strikeforce attacking at all fronts. looks like an exciting champs league and i hope for a return finals draw with liverpool for a decider.

[redshirt]

i think i see wer ronnies headed at next. olympiakos. lol

Or Fenerbache take your pick.

[duchessXI]

11 pa lang andun. we need more players. hehe, this is what makes watching football more exciting,

parang kang hustler sa bilyaran na nilalapag mu ang pera mu sa mga ibat-ibang butas sa le mesa.

 

group id: 5667

pw: mtc

 

see you in the pitch,

[howard_the_duck]

i was surprised when a lot of people signed up

 

the fantasy bums over at the games forum sure are fantasy addicts

[duchessXI]

i was surprised when a lot of people signed up

 

the fantasy bums over at the games forum sure are fantasy addicts

 

addik nga kaso puro american football naman. lol

[_eRon_]

damn, chelsea trashes ac milan, 4-0, 4 goals by anelka, wtf!!?!? hehehehe

 

yey! manutd beat espanyol 1-0 for ole gunnar solkjaer's testimonial ..

 

adebayor is booed by the crowd at emirates stadium as arsenal lose to juventus, 1-0...

 

scolari has said that shevchenko is not part of his immediate plans and that he will struggle breaking into the first team, wawa nman si sheva hehehehe

Edited August 3, 2008 by _eRon_

[howard_the_duck]

addik nga kaso puro american football naman. lol

mga fantasy NBA addicts yun

 

si denimhead lang ang super addict sa fantasy NFL

[damaso]

i see. tnx for the piece of information there. well lets just see that as milan looks a threat now with a brazilian tripartite strikeforce attacking at all fronts. looks like an exciting champs league and i hope for a return finals draw with liverpool for a decider.

 

i know. in italy, i've always been a juventus fan but the ac milan line-up looks exciting. in contrast, i saw juventus win against arsenal in the emirates cup yesterday and they were downright boring.

[damaso]

Liverpool close in on £18m deal for Robbie Keane.

 

OMG. nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! :grr:

 

not another headless chicken; i dont see him fitting in, but lets see.....

 

i mean just look at his resume:

 

Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan and Leeds, then Tottenham.

 

*sigh*

 

i actually think keane is a good signing. allows gerrard to play in the midfield and have more influence rather than supporting torres.

 

let's hope keane does fit in.

 

 

also, just watched barca demolish chivas 5-2 in a friendly (actually surprised fox soccer channel aired it). eto'o scores a brace. please please keep him. also looking good were new boys alves, keita, hleb and the youngster pedro.

 

barcelona is looking imposing. messi wasn't even in the squad due to the olympics. i have this feeling this will be the season messi breaks out to be the world's top player.

 

 

 

can this finally be my year? after 2 seasons of heartbreak both my teams are looking really good: barcelona and liverpool!!!

[duchessXI]

i actually think keane is a good signing. allows gerrard to play in the midfield and have more influence rather than supporting torres.

let's hope keane does fit in.

also, just watched barca demolish chivas 5-2 in a friendly (actually surprised fox soccer channel aired it). eto'o scores a brace. please please keep him. also looking good were new boys alves, keita, hleb and the youngster pedro.

barcelona is looking imposing. messi wasn't even in the squad due to the olympics. i have this feeling this will be the season messi breaks out to be the world's top player.

can this finally be my year? after 2 seasons of heartbreak both my teams are looking really good: barcelona and liverpool!!!

 

keane is indeed a good signing; but for his price, i have to disagree. for me he is worth 10 mill pounds, if not less.

 

he is not as consistent, but if he does get hot, hes a solid player. very clever player, he creates lots of space for his teammates back in tottenham.

just read some tactics by rafa and yes he does intend to use keane as support striker(or utility man as they call it) which gerrard played in during the 2nd half of the season where champs league games settled in.

gerrards original role is really central midifield but if he reverts back to that position, we would have a surplus of them and take away the understanding between gerrard and torres.

 

what has been lacking for the past 2 seasons is a solid left winger, (our last one was zenden but he too old to do his magic that he used to do with holland)

not to mention the possible arrival of barry, we would have a superstar midfield in gerrard, mascherano, alonso, and babel. + barry

 

they might ship out alonso in january, but i think having a single anchorman is enough to protect a defense rather than three.

i think this is the reason why he brought in degen and dossena. have them fill the flanks, use a mascherano barry gerrard midfield Keane and babel floating out and out on their respective positions with both interchanging lanes, and torres up front as usual.

 

im guessing rafas probable formation for this season's campaign would be this:

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------

Reina

 

Degen Skrtel Agger Dossena

 

Gerrard mascherano Alonso

 

Keane Babel

 

Torres

 

-------------------------------------------------------

 

 

you get a christmas tree formation deployed by most teams nowadays.

you have these players on the list, but if you look at the bench, there are quite a number of supersubs depending on position.

lots of competition which is healthy for any football to control standards. thank god liverpool is an injury free team at the moment with the exception of babel in which hell be ok by end of sept; in any case someone does get injured, lots of replacements (knock on wood)

 

some obvious tactics from rafa:

 

skrtel-agger (untested, both are young, 23, so its very promising, they both look similar so its going to be a very intimidating pairing. lol)

degen-dossena (horizontal long balls, both are attack minded)

barry-gerrad England partnership (enough time to form some chemistry en route World Cup) i wont be surprised if capello is at andfield every now and then

keane-torres partnership (very similar to the Mista-Villa combo he deployed back in his valencia days)

 

 

Keane-Kuyt-Pennant- (right side)

Torres-Ngog-Keane-Kuyt (striker position)

babel (now riise, kewell gone, whos there to replace him? pennant? lol)

gerrard, barry, masherano, lucas leiva, alonso, plessis (midfield)

rightback (degen, arbeloa, finnan)

leftback (dossena-aurelio)

GK ( reina, cavalieri)

 

he could definitely use his rotation policy much more effectively now and prove his critics wrong.

 

Viva Rafa Revolucion!

Youll never Walk Alone

[_eRon_]

keane has yet to prove himself in big games

 

adebayor is back in the good graces of arsenal fans by scoring the winning goal against real madrid in the emirates cup; arsenal win 1-0

 

real madrid's sneijder has serious knee damage due to a tackle by abou diaby during their match at the emirates cup

 

drogba will miss the early part of the season due to a knee injury

 

van der vaart completes real madrid move for 13million euros

[redshirt]

I want to see INT's new line up.