The BIG Football Thread

[ThatDudeWithTheFood]

Watch out Satangel, Geordie invasion coming in November - just booked the train!

Haha nice, you really coming? Hey fine by me, if we meet up I'll buy you a beer It's too bad I still live with my parents else I could just take you in for the night so you wouldn't have to pay a hotel for that one night.

Essien to Real Madrid.
Lloris to Spurs.

NASTASIC AND JAVI GARCIA TO CITY!!!!!!

Read in the press that Mancini isn't happy. He 'didn't get the players he asked for'....

Probably talking about De Rossi.

 

[Satangel]

Watch out Satangel, Geordie invasion coming in November - just booked the train!

Haha nice, you really coming? Hey fine by me, if we meet up I'll buy you a beer It's too bad I still live with my parents else I could just take you in for the night so you wouldn't have to pay a hotel for that one night.

Essien to Real Madrid.
Lloris to Spurs.

NASTASIC AND JAVI GARCIA TO CITY!!!!!!

Read in the press that Mancini isn't happy. He 'didn't get the players he asked for'....

Haha, thanks! Any suggestions for places to go? We're going on Wednesday and coming back on Saturday. I can speak a bit of French, will that get me by? Have difficulty in some countries because I've got a nut allergy, so it's sometimes tricky with a language barrier and unfamiliar cuisine. Places like India and China are pretty much no-go because of the multiple ingredients and lack of awareness of it, but from what I remember from going decades ago it's quite simple tasty stuff over there (me and the girlfriend go to this seafood place all the time that does awesome moules frites).

Looking forward to the beer as well!

Well one of the 'brownest' and most medieval bars in Bruges is right between 'de Markt' and 'de Burg'. It's called 'de Garre'. You can find it via Google maps too, it's quite hard to find actually. But when you walk from 'de Markt' (basically THE biggest tourist place in the city), to 'de Burg', it's in a really small street to the right. It's so cool, the beer is delicious and VERY heavy.
Otherwise, the city isn't too big so I would recommend just walking everywhere, you don't need a car inside the city. It's real medieval sometimes, you'll like it for sure if you're into that.

With English you'll do just fine too mate. We learn French from our 10th year, and English from our 13th year, so both shouldn't be a problem.

The beer is awesome of course, it'll cost around 1.5 GBP (2 euros) for a pint (33 centilitre). Otherwise, fries and chocolate all the way, I must say we really do a good job with them

 

[BlueStar]

Awesome, getting quite excited now!

We're booking transport etc before getting tickets, so obviously we don't know if we'll get enough to go round. What do you think the chances would be of getting a few in the home end if we're short? Presuming people would survive the 90 minutes, as Bruges don't have a reputation for nutters (I wouldn't have wanted to be in the home end for Frankfurt mind, those guys were crazy)

Looking at facebook and twitter there must be about 8,000 Mags planning to go, hope we get a nice big allocation.

 

[emigre]

Arsenal keep their third consecutive clean sheet.

Wow.

 

[keran22]

Liverpool are dreadfully run. There's no football intelligence at the boardroom level and that only harms the manager.

I think I'm starting to feel sorry for Brendan Rodgers. Even though he's a prick.

I agree with this.... I mean, we should have invested more into a top class striker or two after we got Allen. Our midfield is enough already,seeing how much shelvey has improved... but we really lack a finisher,which I thought Suarez would be this season. A lot of people are saying that we missed out on Dempsey, but I don't think we really needed him... he's kinda old. And looking at the transfer window, there really wasn't a lot of quality strikers up for sale.

Brendan Rodgers said he would have to be mad to loan out Carroll without bringing someone else in. Looks like he's mad.

Deffo agree that midfield isn't an issue. Especially with Allen and Sahin (though losing Lucas -again- sucks). Defence is pretty strong too, but with Pepe Reina playing as he is atm, we're shipping goals. Suarez is an excellent winger being played as a centre-forward, and Borini is completely unproven... I guess Rodgers signed him because he had him on loan for Swansea in the Championship. I know he's young, but the last thing that football club needs is another youngster! LFC is desperate for experienced players to make a difference. Players who can be banked on to come up big when it matters, like Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodriguez... oh wait.

 

[emigre]

Brendan Rodgers said he would have to be mad to loan out Carroll without bringing someone else in. Looks like he's mad.

Deffo agree that midfield isn't an issue. Especially with Allen and Sahin (though losing Lucas -again- sucks). Defence is pretty strong too, but with Pepe Reina playing as he is atm, we're shipping goals. Suarez is an excellent winger being played as a centre-forward, and Borini is completely unproven... I guess Rodgers signed him because he had him on loan for Swansea in the Championship. I know he's young, but the last thing that football club needs is another youngster! LFC is desperate for experienced players to make a difference. Players who can be banked on to come up big when it matters, like Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodriguez... oh wait.

Personally I think Borini and Suarez should swap places with the former taking on the main striker position with Suarez on the wing. Borini was great for us in that position when we got promoted from the Championship. Also Rodgers has got his tactical failings, when Plan A works, its great but when you're chasing a game it completely falls apart. Rodgers is cautious manager regarding his tactics, he much rather see a safe pass played than a risky pass even though the former has no to little attacking penetration. Last season it took until December for Swansea to win a point from a losing position. This season its taken Swansea just the third game of the season to win a point from a losing position.

Plus he hasn't got Huw Jenkins there.

/Swansea fan.

 

[keran22]

Brendan Rodgers said he would have to be mad to loan out Carroll without bringing someone else in. Looks like he's mad.

Deffo agree that midfield isn't an issue. Especially with Allen and Sahin (though losing Lucas -again- sucks). Defence is pretty strong too, but with Pepe Reina playing as he is atm, we're shipping goals. Suarez is an excellent winger being played as a centre-forward, and Borini is completely unproven... I guess Rodgers signed him because he had him on loan for Swansea in the Championship. I know he's young, but the last thing that football club needs is another youngster! LFC is desperate for experienced players to make a difference. Players who can be banked on to come up big when it matters, like Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodriguez... oh wait.

Personally I think Borini and Suarez should swap places with the former taking on the main striker position with Suarez on the wing. Borini was great for us in that position when we got promoted from the Championship. Also Rodgers has got his tactical failings, when Plan A works, its great but when you're chasing a game it completely falls apart. Rodgers is cautious manager regarding his tactics, he much rather see a safe pass played than a risky pass even though the former has no to little attacking penetration. Last season it took until December for Swansea to win a point from a losing position. This season its taken Swansea just the third game of the season to win a point from a losing position.

Plus he hasn't got Huw Jenkins there.

/Swansea fan.

I was never pleased to see Dalglish getting the sack after such an excellent season with the resources at hand. He used certain players very well, sure there were problems, but two cup finals says differently. Brendan Rodgers just wasn't the right man for the job; a couple of good signings but change doesn't happen overnight. I'm still feeling the pain of Rafa getting the sack...

/Liverpool fan.

 

[Satangel]

Awesome, getting quite excited now!

We're booking transport etc before getting tickets, so obviously we don't know if we'll get enough to go round. What do you think the chances would be of getting a few in the home end if we're short? Presuming people would survive the 90 minutes, as Bruges don't have a reputation for nutters (I wouldn't have wanted to be in the home end for Frankfurt mind, those guys were crazy)

Looking at facebook and twitter there must be about 8,000 Mags planning to go, hope we get a nice big allocation.

I reckon it'll be max 40 EUR to get an away ticket for the match. Also, I think our Away- compartment only holds about 2500-3000 seats, not more. I doubt you'll get the complete South, there'll be too many home supporters for this match. BUT I must say in a friendly game this pre-season against Dortmund (which we won btw!!) there were a lot of German supporters just scattered everywhere, they were all over the place in the stadium. So getting tickets to sit somewhere else should again be possible, though will be harder. It'll be hard to get a ticket in our stadium I think....

A note about the stadium btw, it's quite old and definitely not up to PL standards I think.

Also, some Club Brugge supporters claim that your manager said in pre-season that the EL isn't priority for you guys? Is that true? If you end up putting a B-team in the EL, we just might qualify.

 

[emigre]

Brendan Rodgers said he would have to be mad to loan out Carroll without bringing someone else in. Looks like he's mad.

Deffo agree that midfield isn't an issue. Especially with Allen and Sahin (though losing Lucas -again- sucks). Defence is pretty strong too, but with Pepe Reina playing as he is atm, we're shipping goals. Suarez is an excellent winger being played as a centre-forward, and Borini is completely unproven... I guess Rodgers signed him because he had him on loan for Swansea in the Championship. I know he's young, but the last thing that football club needs is another youngster! LFC is desperate for experienced players to make a difference. Players who can be banked on to come up big when it matters, like Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodriguez... oh wait.

Personally I think Borini and Suarez should swap places with the former taking on the main striker position with Suarez on the wing. Borini was great for us in that position when we got promoted from the Championship. Also Rodgers has got his tactical failings, when Plan A works, its great but when you're chasing a game it completely falls apart. Rodgers is cautious manager regarding his tactics, he much rather see a safe pass played than a risky pass even though the former has no to little attacking penetration. Last season it took until December for Swansea to win a point from a losing position. This season its taken Swansea just the third game of the season to win a point from a losing position.

Plus he hasn't got Huw Jenkins there.

/Swansea fan.

I was never pleased to see Dalglish getting the sack after such an excellent season with the resources at hand. He used certain players very well, sure there were problems, but two cup finals says differently. Brendan Rodgers just wasn't the right man for the job; a couple of good signings but change doesn't happen overnight. I'm still feeling the pain of Rafa getting the sack...

/Liverpool fan.

Dalgish is a horrendous manager. He's tactically inept and his transfer policy was an absolute joke. Money was available to create a competitive team. Dalgish was exposed to be a footballing dinosaur in the 1990s after he took Newcastle from league runners up to thirteenth in one full season in charge. The two cup finals shouldn't mask a poor season. Cup competitions have the element of luck and randomness which is my people like them. The league is an accurate barometer of a team's quality.

I think Rodgers is a huge prick but he is a huge step up from Dalgish. But he's taking over a club that has been bereft of vision with owners and management who clearly know little about the game.

 

[keran22]

Brendan Rodgers said he would have to be mad to loan out Carroll without bringing someone else in. Looks like he's mad.

Deffo agree that midfield isn't an issue. Especially with Allen and Sahin (though losing Lucas -again- sucks). Defence is pretty strong too, but with Pepe Reina playing as he is atm, we're shipping goals. Suarez is an excellent winger being played as a centre-forward, and Borini is completely unproven... I guess Rodgers signed him because he had him on loan for Swansea in the Championship. I know he's young, but the last thing that football club needs is another youngster! LFC is desperate for experienced players to make a difference. Players who can be banked on to come up big when it matters, like Dirk Kuyt, Maxi Rodriguez... oh wait.

Personally I think Borini and Suarez should swap places with the former taking on the main striker position with Suarez on the wing. Borini was great for us in that position when we got promoted from the Championship. Also Rodgers has got his tactical failings, when Plan A works, its great but when you're chasing a game it completely falls apart. Rodgers is cautious manager regarding his tactics, he much rather see a safe pass played than a risky pass even though the former has no to little attacking penetration. Last season it took until December for Swansea to win a point from a losing position. This season its taken Swansea just the third game of the season to win a point from a losing position.

Plus he hasn't got Huw Jenkins there.

/Swansea fan.

I was never pleased to see Dalglish getting the sack after such an excellent season with the resources at hand. He used certain players very well, sure there were problems, but two cup finals says differently. Brendan Rodgers just wasn't the right man for the job; a couple of good signings but change doesn't happen overnight. I'm still feeling the pain of Rafa getting the sack...

/Liverpool fan.

Dalgish is a horrendous manager. He's tactically inept and his transfer policy was an absolute joke. Money was available to create a competitive team. Dalgish was exposed to be a footballing dinosaur in the 1990s after he took Newcastle from league runners up to thirteenth in one full season in charge. The two cup finals shouldn't mask a poor season. Cup competitions have the element of luck and randomness which is my people like them. The league is an accurate barometer of a team's quality.

I think Rodgers is a huge prick but he is a huge step up from Dalgish. But he's taking over a club that has been bereft of vision with owners and management who clearly know little about the game.

I think it's very easy to dress down cup competitions in that manner, but two cup finals in one season would suggest that there is more than simply luck. Any football match contains an element of luck, it's just about who can string the most wins together. Speaking of luck, LFC hit the post more often than any other team in the EPL last season... a bit more luck and how different could the league standing have been?

Noone can justify £35million for Carroll. That was stupid. But to blame it on Dalglish would be questionable, especially as there was a whole 'director of football' malarky thing going on. Certainly there has been some poor management from higher up the ladder. But as a manager, Dalglish motivated those players to put in some very good performances. Selling Dirk Kuyt was the stupidest thing anyone could have ever done, which turned me on Rodgers immediately. LFC haven't had a truly great manager since Rafa, but there was a chance of Kenny making something with that club. But you can't make a club great in one season. The owners really need to recognise that.

 

[ThatDudeWithTheFood]

Why is everybody falling down in this Southampton game.


LOL VAN PERSIE LOLOLOLOL


Omg Why'd I have to laugh at him.

 

[emigre]

I think it's very easy to dress down cup competitions in that manner, but two cup finals in one season would suggest that there is more than simply luck.

Middleborough reached two cup finals and were still relegated in the nineties. You can't place too much of an emphasis on a managers's ability on cup competitions alone. The league is the bread and butter for any club.

Any football match contains an element of luck, it's just about who can string the most wins together. Speaking of luck, LFC hit the post more often than any other team in the EPL last season... a bit more luck and how different could the league standing have been?

In a league system the impact luck and randomess is underplayed due to its structure i.e.e everyone plays each other home and away. No match is a one off. If you win the league its usually because of tangible footballing reasons. Man City won the title over Man Utd mainly because of scoring more goals. LFC hit the post so many times was not because to luck but because the LFC forward line are universally useless at finishing. There's no luck about that.

Noone can justify £35million for Carroll. That was stupid. But to blame it on Dalglish would be questionable, especially as there was a whole 'director of football' malarky thing going on. Certainly there has been some poor management from higher up the ladder. But as a manager, Dalglish motivated those players to put in some very good performances.

I agree on not blaming Daglish on the transfer fees paid. But the players he brought it on a whole haven't performed and illustrated an lack of imagination. Downing was an okish player throughout his career, Henderson had been half decent at Sunderland, Adam was good at Blackpool. Suarez has looked decent but he along with Coates have been the exception. I'm sure they were Daglish signings because Daglish likes signing British players, you can tell. To say Dalgish got was motivate his players to perform is something I can't accept, Carroll was akin to a dead carcass, Downing went the league season without any goals and assists, Adam has already been sold off, Henderson was half decent. Liverpool finished in their lowest league position for several decades. It was really poor year and blame has to be proportioned to Daglish.

Selling Dirk Kuyt was the stupidest thing anyone could have ever done, which turned me on Rodgers immediately. LFC haven't had a truly great manager since Rafa, but there was a chance of Kenny making something with that club. But you can't make a club great in one season. The owners really need to recognise that.

Liverpool have two problems. One is the boardroom management, FSG clearly have no knowledge about football and Ian Ayre doesn't have much in terms of football management. At Swansea, our Chairman Huw Jenkins during his tenure has led the club from the bottom of the football league to the Premiership in less than a decade, whilst keeping the club financially stable. That's because he has football intelligence which has helped his managers such Rodgers and before him Martinez. The two names talked to for the Liverpool job.

Secondly there's no vision and/or ethos at Liverpool. Saying "we want to qualify for the Champion's League," is just hot air. There needs to be an ultimate goal and most importantly, ideas on how to get there. Than you can make intelligent football decisions to improve the club.

Regarding Kuyt I've got a great quote Michael Laudrup apparently said about him when he was a pundit:

"Dirk tries very hard but the problem is there's no ability."

Personally I think Kuyt is a decent player but that quote made me laugh.

 

[kakashi919]

Yet again Southhampton let a Manchester team come back and win... I feel sorry for them, they played well.

Now about Liverpool....what can I say? Same as last season? Dominate and not score? Though I have to point out, it seems Suarez has lost his first touch brilliance... or is it that he tries too much and gets read like a book now? I really agree with emigre that Borini and Suarez should switch... Borini as a winger just isn't showing what he can actually do. He puts in hard work, but nothing comes of it.. kinda like Dirk Kuyt, but not quite like him lol. Hopefully he can get off the mark sooner than later. Sahin looked very comfortable holding the ball and passing it around, I only hope Suarez or Borini can convert the chances he will create. Allen looked great as usual, no complaints there. This Sterling boy is very good, has speed, works hard, can be very tricky... only he just needs to work on his crosses if he's gonna keep playing on that wing and get some more experience....very promising talent.

Let's not forget Reina... sorry but he is not a top class goal keeper... and I've been saying this for years. Of course he had his moments of brilliance, but what Keeper doesn't? Should bench him next game and give Doni a chance...see how that goes.

 

[ThatDudeWithTheFood]

Yet again Southhampton let a Manchester team come back and win... I feel sorry for them, they played well.

Now about Liverpool....what can I say? Same as last season? Dominate and not score? Though I have to point out, it seems Suarez has lost his first touch brilliance... or is it that he tries too much and gets read like a book now? I really agree with emigre that Borini and Suarez should switch... Borini as a winger just isn't showing what he can actually do. He puts in hard work, but nothing comes of it.. kinda like Dirk Kuyt, but not quite like him lol. Hopefully he can get off the mark sooner than later. Sahin looked very comfortable holding the ball and passing it around, I only hope Suarez or Borini can convert the chances he will create. Allen looked great as usual, no complaints there. This Sterling boy is very good, has speed, works hard, can be very tricky... only he just needs to work on his crosses if he's gonna keep playing on that wing and get some more experience....very promising talent.

Let's not forget Reina... sorry but he is not a top class goal keeper... and I've been saying this for years. Of course he had his moments of brilliance, but what Keeper doesn't? Should bench him next game and give Doni a chance...see how that goes.

Agree with Borini being a striker and Suarez a winger.
Yeah Southampton was pwning.
ManU was saved by RvP's relentlessness.

Reina>Valdes


Also Reina is better than Doni.
Doni at Roma was average.

 

[kakashi919]

Yet again Southhampton let a Manchester team come back and win... I feel sorry for them, they played well.

Now about Liverpool....what can I say? Same as last season? Dominate and not score? Though I have to point out, it seems Suarez has lost his first touch brilliance... or is it that he tries too much and gets read like a book now? I really agree with emigre that Borini and Suarez should switch... Borini as a winger just isn't showing what he can actually do. He puts in hard work, but nothing comes of it.. kinda like Dirk Kuyt, but not quite like him lol. Hopefully he can get off the mark sooner than later. Sahin looked very comfortable holding the ball and passing it around, I only hope Suarez or Borini can convert the chances he will create. Allen looked great as usual, no complaints there. This Sterling boy is very good, has speed, works hard, can be very tricky... only he just needs to work on his crosses if he's gonna keep playing on that wing and get some more experience....very promising talent.

Let's not forget Reina... sorry but he is not a top class goal keeper... and I've been saying this for years. Of course he had his moments of brilliance, but what Keeper doesn't? Should bench him next game and give Doni a chance...see how that goes.

Agree with Borini being a striker and Suarez a winger.
Yeah Southampton was pwning.
ManU was saved by RvP's relentlessness.

Reina>Valdes


Also Reina is better than Doni.
Doni at Roma was average.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Doni is better than Reina, but at least drop him to make him work for his position. Two mistakes like that is no joke.. especially if one almost made you get knock out of Europa League...

 

[BlueStar]

Also, some Club Brugge supporters claim that your manager said in pre-season that the EL isn't priority for you guys? Is that true? If you end up putting a B-team in the EL, we just might qualify.

I don't think he's said it, but there's probably some truth in it. I think it's a big deal for the players and the fans, and probably the manager, but maybe not so much for the owner. Seems strange to spend all season trying to get into Europe and then not taking it seriously, but the fact is that the money is in the Premier League and Champions league, not so much the EL. With the FA Cup, the League Cup, Europe and the PL, the squad get quite quickly become worn out or suffer injuries. So the temptation is to play some second string players in the hope of just doign enough to scrape by and save some squad fitness for the league.

 

[Flame]

Man utd vs galatasaray soon, both of my teams playing each other........ I hope man utd wins 10 - 0

 

[Satangel]

Hulk went to Zenit for 50 million EUR, Witsel for 40 million EUR...... FUCKERSSSSS epic players, so cool, and they choose such a crappy competion, cowards IMHO, really disappointing. Loved seeing Hulk play

 

[ThatDudeWithTheFood]

How did Southampton sign Nathaniel Clyne and Gaston Ramirez in the same window.

 

[Flame]

Hulk went to Zenit for 50 million EUR, Witsel for 40 million EUR...... FUCKERSSSSS epic players, so cool, and they choose such a crappy competion, cowards IMHO, really disappointing. Loved seeing Hulk play

how the hell did Russian teams become so rich?