The TK_Four_Two_One memorial football thread!

Just thought I'd make this so as not to bore others with football threads here and there in the forum. Plus also not to be accused of making it when United win!

So I'll start of by asking- was Robbens sending off harsh today (yesterday really)? It sounded very harsh- even though its supposed to be the rules but sometimes ya wonder if refs like to make a bit of a name for themselves by doing controversial things. Robben cheered with the Chelski fans- its not like he went over to the Sunderland fans and gloated which is a straight yellow. I would need to see it.

Fire away and hopefully keep whatever chit chat of footie to this thread (unless ya just wanna keep it in the fantasy footie thread though I'm sure nobody wants it bogged down with general footie stuff- just whats happening in the fantasy league).

Its just a thought.

 

Well we all know whats happening in the Fantasy League.

Welshguy Rovers and Loon FC are locked in a fight to the death for the title!

May the best Welsh-man win!


On the topic of regular football, its a shame that Liverpool had such a poor start to the season. They could have really challenged Chelsea this year given their current form.

Oh well, there's always next year.

 

The Refs have been inconsistent all season, did he deserve a second yellow? Well not really but I bet the special one is jumping in joy because he can now rotate his wingers without anyone complaining for once.

Hopefully the league will be much closer next year, if Man.Utd get Joey Barton then they'll be up there and I'm sure Arsenal will be back on form especially with their new buys. It could also be a five horse race next year if Liverpool maintain this years form and Tottenham buy another world class player.


Whats the betting that Sunderland get the lowest points total in the Premiership ever? it seems that for this year that the two other promoted teams are staying safe but who else is going to go down? Everton are having a little bit of a revival and there are plenty of teams in the bottom half that could get caught up, Birmingham especially.. too good to go down? Meh. Thats what happens when you spend decent money on Heskey! Can Portsmouth escape from the gravity well? Possibly, depends on how fast Rednapp can make them gel.


Well it looks like Reading have been promoted but I suspect that Leeds might nip the second automatic promotion slot away from Sheff. Utd (please).. Ipswich can still get in the playoffs but if not then next season Town will be right up there, trust me

 

As the resident Chelsea fan, I suppose I should comment on the Robben situation (although not seen it).

Yes, he should have been sent off. The rules state that leaving the play area to celebrate with fans is a booking. He had already been booked, and should rightly have been sent off.

That said, it's a STUPID RULE!!! Booking for celebrating with your own fans? How pathetic is that. Will Stuart Pearce be in trouble for doing the same thing on Saturday? I doubt it. And what about Kanu picking up the ball boys a few weeks ago? Surely that's celebrating with a fan?

So celebrating with fans is worth a booking, and spitting on the ground is fine? The FA need to sort their priorities out.

 

I'm quite serious when I say this, but Reading is a club with massive potential. I heard an interview with their chairman a couple of days ago, and he sounded very much like he had his head screwed on right. They have money, and they have a set of players absolutely on fire. If they can keep up this momentum and win the Championship, they could easily emulate Wigan's acheivements in the Premiership of this season. They have an excellent stadium, they have money, and they're sitting pretty in London. That will help massively in attracting players... something Wigan (being up North) have really struggled with.

If they get into the Premiership, and then they get a good cash injection, and htey keep their manager (Steve Coppell = a wealth of experience) and current hard working ethos Reading could very quickly establish themselves as a Premiership force. And after that, who knows?

 

3-1 to Man City! HA! That made me smile.

Robben, the rules are clearly stated and it is good reasoning for that rule, it could cause serious injury to fans. I do think however that for a player on a yellow it can be overlooked. If the FA have any justice Pearce should be getting a small fine for his celebrations, Fowler got booked as well.

Liverpool will soon get the real test, we are on a good run and playing great as a unit. Rafa has done wonders with the club and is now really getting his squad built, Agger for centreback cover is a good buy, since we really can't go all season expecting Sami or Carra to go uninjured, or not get tired. Bringing in a right winger will be brillant as well, and then Gerrard can be moved back into the centre where he is best, but all credit to the lad for getting on with it and playing where asked.

Also, I am hoping Liverpool can sort a swap deal out, Crouch for Henry.....

 

Just seen the pundits talk about Robben, and they have the rulebook

Leaving field of play is not a cautionable offence
Going past the advertising boards is not a cautionable offence.
Climbing on the perimeter fence IS cautionable, but Robben didn't do this.
It is also stated to use common sense.

Their verdict - not a booking

 

if the worst that happened to your club is Robben getting a "dodgy" yelow card - then count your blessings !!


try being a Boro fan, with a clueless grinning manager !! get beat 7-0 and all you see is that smug face on the tv saying how the young players will learn from this and bleating on about it being difficult playing with 10 men against Arsenal - we were 6-0 down when Doriva recieved his red.

I really hope we get beat by Nuneaton so we might get rid of this clown ah well at least there is Sunderland to laugh at....

 

McClaren has the potential to be a very good manager and his point about players learning from what happened is a good one (The being down to 10 men when 6 down was daft though)..


Personally I think you need to stick with McClaren and let build your team back up, don't forget you have no defence at the moment and the players you do have are well into their 30's.


It has recently been proven that regular choping and changing of Managers is bad for a club and it's players and as a result the teams fortunes flounder. The general consensus is stick with your Manager if he's new and give him time to turn it around (sacking a Manager after 3 months is foolhardy in my opinion) if the Manager is long serving and the team has only recently started playing poorly give the manager time (you don't become a bad manager overnight) so with McClaren I'd give him time, your team is similar to Newcastle in the fact that a lot of your first teamers are not available, this is something which isn't the managers fault and although they should be expected to do the best with what they have left it can be a struggle when the remainders are hugely inexperienced like a good few of your teams are.

On another note Arsenal have been building up to giveing a team an absolute tonking for a while (Man Utd and Chelsea are as well). I'd just say you had a poor day and go from there.

 

R_B- GET OUT! *scores R_B of xmas card list*

Bet all the boro fans were loving McLaren afte beating United- though they'll say they werent.


Told ya Robben's red card was harsh ack well- the money grabber will learn!

 

What about Ronaldo's red card? Deserved? They're appealing against it but it won't be rescinded.

I'm in 2 minds. Maybe it was harsh, but in this case it's about intention. He made no attempt to play the ball and went in very aggresively with a high foot. Some refs would have given it, others not. But it was right in front of the ref.

 

It was a harsh but fair red card. Most refs would have given a yellow for it but I think he had to go here because of the aggression in the challenge (do to the challenge on him earlier)


It won't be rescinded as it's rare that red cards are.

To be honest though had it been a yellow you'd have had loads of complaints about Man Utd getting special treatment from some areas and on others with it having been a red you get some who say it's too harsh.



Funny

 

If only offside goals could be rescinded. If ANYONE is in the offside position they are offside- go back to like it was and not give the linesman a headache- as the angle he watches from is very hard to tell.

 

I agree next season's Premiership could be much closer.

If Liverpool get odd to a better start then this year they could do well, and once United get Heinze back and buy some decent midlfielders they'll be back on track.
Though I am starting to wonder if Ferguson is losing it. Playing Silvestre against City when he clearly was a liability was just stupid. He should've taken him off when he took off Evra and put Brown on instead.
Ferguson needs to stop taking crap advice from his assistant and do things the way that he did them before, cos that works

Arsenal could also be back on form if they buy players with actual talent
Their defense is seriously dodgy, Senderos causes more goal chances for the opposition then Arsenal would if he didn't play.
Arsenal like United need new central midfielders and some new centre backs since Campbell keeps getting injured. They'll be a tough force once they function as a unit again, which we know they can do since we saw how they played in their 7-0 win.


The interesting fight for this season will be for 2nd place and for the European places. It would be funny if Arsenal failed to get into the Champions League and it would be cool if Wigan managed to get into the UEFA Cup.
United have left themsleves a lot to do by losing to City. If Liverpool win their games in hand they'll be ahead in 2nd place, and I have doubts if United could catch them.
That being said, they both play each other on Subday, so if Untied beat Liverpool they have a chance.

 

Wasn't it Shankley who said "If you not interfering with play then what are you doing on the pitch?" or something like that.


As far as I'm concerned if any player is offside then they should call offside because even if they aren't "interfering" with play they are still another person for the defence to watch as they always start running towards a decent scoring position.


I know as a keeper I still find it hugely distracting when an "offside" player starts joining an attack as they could become onside at any moment if they fall behind the defensive line.

 

I've never been a fan of the offside rule at all.
Just abolish it, then we'd have more goals.

If the defense paid more attention then players wouldn't get beyond them until they had the ball.

 

Exactly, M-F- its distracting for a keeper and defenders.

 

It was Bill Shankly who said that, and it is very true. Offside is simple, and should be kept the old way

 

There are some players who are good at exploiting the new rule

I saw a game once where Van Nistlerooy scored cos he was walking back towards the defense with his back to the goal when the ball was suddenly passed in his direction then he turned around and scored.
Since he was inactive at the time the ball reached him cos he wasn't participating in the play the goal counted.


More players should try that, then the rule would work better

 

Wohoo! A football thread!

So is everyone else getting hyped for Man U Vs Liverpool? The battle for second place is on! (Even though we have the advantage with 2 games in hand ) Anyway, I will be watching it in a bar somewhere far away from here. I will no doubt be drunk waving my liverpool flag in some Man United suppoters face and sparking off a fight.

Football and drunkness arn't my best combination.

 

It will be a tough match
I forsee a draw

 

4-1 Liverpool. Crouch and Gerrard twice and a Hyypia own goal.

 

And you wondered awhile ago why someone called you a chav?????


Richie- I still dont like the rule, even if Ruud exploits it, cuz even if he is walking with his back to goal the defence and keeper still have to watch him and be wary. If yer on the pitch yer interfering with play no matter what- unless the ball is out of play. The messing with the offside rule has caused many a wrong goal to be given and vice versa.

 

I see your point TK
Stick with the rule then, just change it back to the way it was, when it was so much clearer

This coming from the team that Lost 4-0 to Chelsea


With United's new stregthened defense, they'll be harder to crack, provided Ferguson doesn't have an attack of loonacy and use Silvestre instead of Brown or Vidic

Its just the Midfiled that you'll be able to dominate with ease

Plus we wont have Ronaldo

I still forsee a draw

 

4-1 richie.

It is going to be a tough match but I can see Liverpool doing it, we have the confidence and everyone is playing well, no serious injury concerns or suspensions. Of course it is always hard to keep Ruud and Wayne quite, even if we stop much of the service.

2-1 Liverpool