The Soccer thread

[Wrecker45 3,378]

20 minutes ago, Macca said:

I agree Wrecker but younger Demon fans will want more than 1 flag ... I know a couple of Bulldog fans who are getting on and they are both well satisfied with last's years triumph (but their thinking might change down the track)

 

Give me one flag to watch with my dad and sister who I have gone with every single week since before Jim Stynes ran over the mark. Just one and I will be happy. My daughter now comes with us.

[Macca 17,080]

3 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

Give me one flag to watch with my dad and sister who I have gone with every single week since before Jim Stynes ran over the mark. Just one and I will be happy. My daughter now comes with us.

If we end up with a list of 13-16 good footballers, we'll get our chance.  It sounds a bit formulaic but it's something that I've come to realise over the years ... lesser lights don't really deliver unless surrounded by quality.

Whilst I'm here, and seeing we're on a new page, here's the current EPL Standings ... (Chelsea look like taking out the title and will be hard to shift)

Edited February 28, 2017 by Macca

[Grapeviney 9,881]

The League Cup Final was a cracking game, shame the Saints couldn't get the chocolates. 

 

[Macca 17,080]

And just like that the EPL title race just got interesting again. 

It's still Chelsea's to lose as Tottenham would need to just about win-out but 4 points can be whittled down to 1 point in the space of 1 round of games.  Ironically, Spurs play Chelsea next up in a FA Cup semi-final. 

[danielE288 779]

Real Madrid won the champions league. Again.

[Macca 17,080]

That was a decent opening fixture .... Leicester led twice and ended up losing 3-4 to the Gunners. 

It could be quite a season with 6 teams having a genuine chance at the title. 

Here's my finishing order (for what's it's worth) ...

Man City

Man United

Arsenal

Liverpool

Chelsea

Tottenham

West Ham (14th)

[Macca 17,080]

Highlights of last night's game ....

And here's the line-up of EPL games to be shown on SBS (assuming SBS are going to be covering the Saturday lunchtime fixtures - ongoing)

Sat Aug 12 ... 9.30pm Burnley vs Liverpool

Sat Aug 19 ... 9.30pm Swansea vs Man Utd

Sat Aug 26 ... 9.30pm Bournemouth vs Man City

Sat Sept 9 .... 9.30pm Man City vs Liverpool

Sat Sept 16 .. 9.30pm Crystal Palace vs Southampton

Sat Sept 23 .. 9.30pm West Ham vs Tottenham

Sat Sept 30 .. 9.30pm Huddersfield vs Tottenham

 

[layzie 34,147]

As a big Liverpool fan I'm pretty mixed on that first game. Horrible defending for each goal conceded. Mignolet flapping all over the place and basic organisation lacking at the back. Please bring in Van Dijk now (as unlikely as it probably is).

[Grapeviney 9,881]

On 8/12/2017 at 10:10 AM, Macca said:

 

Here's my finishing order (for what's it's worth) ...

Man City

Man United

Arsenal

Liverpool

Chelsea

Tottenham

West Ham (14th)

Spurs dropping to 6th, what gives @Macca?

Not impressed with our swag of summer signings? 

Edited August 17, 2017 by Grapeviney

[Macca 17,080]

2 minutes ago, Grapeviney said:

Spurs dropping to 6th, what gives @Macca?

Not impressed with our swag of summer signings? 

Ha ha ... that's it in a nutshell. 

However, Tottenham no longer seem to drop points inexplicably so top 4 is attainable if augurs well.  Spurs are well coached & well managed. 

Winning the league will probably come down to how the big 6 teams all fare against one another.  For instance, your blokes could get the 3 points against a slightly dishevelled Chelsea this week.  Win that and you're right amongst it.

I liked the look of Man Utd on the weekend ... Lukaku & Matic have already made a big difference. 

This might be the most competitive season we've seen for an age. 

Hard to fathom why a 28 year old Diego Costa isn't playing anywhere at the moment - I'd have him at the Hammers in a heartbeat.  He's a maverick but knows how to get on the scoresheet.

 

[layzie 34,147]

Jurgen Klopp please sign a centre back!

[Earl Hood 6,123]

Socceroos v Japan we are playing well but just went one down. Wasn't that off side? I always struggle with that rule, I thought you were not allowed to run forward of everyone else like that, to receive a pass? 

[Xavierrodway 14]

17 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

Socceroos v Japan we are playing well but just went one down. Wasn't that off side? I always struggle with that rule, I thought you were not allowed to run forward of everyone else like that, to receive a pass? 

 

As soon as the pass leaves the passers boot you are allowed past the defenders. Looked like the wrong call at first but on the replay think it was the right one. Hopefully the boys can qualify for the WC tonight, couldn't imagine how boring it will be without our Aussies trying their guts out in Russia

[Macca 17,080]

We played well enough tonight to win by 4 or 5 goals but such is the nature of the sport, we only just managed to achieve victory. 

We now need Japan to get at least a point against the Saudi's if we're to qualify automatically.

[Delusional demon 82 1,197]

Echos a bit of the dees a couple of weeks ago... relying on others to get you a result and a top team at that with nothing to play for , comes up short not surprisingly 

socceroos only have themselves to blame 

[Macca 17,080]

Paulo Dybala ... the next big thing? 

From yesterday's game for Juventus ...

 

[Grapeviney 9,881]

On 9/24/2016 at 1:57 PM, Macca said:

 

You can listen to the games here ... EON Sports Radio (EON have acquired the licence to broadcast EPL games)  Scroll to the top of the page for the standings.

EON have gone bust and the British rights holder, TalkSport, have still got Australia on geo block, so there's no way to listen to the broadcast at the moment. Pretty pathetic situation, to be honest, as EON went belly up a few months ago so it really should have been sorted by now.

The general standard of coverage here leaves a lot to be desired, especially for the EPL as one of the world's premier sporting leagues. The SBS match-of-the-round is neither the earliest game nor the best fixture, and Foxtel have either lost the rights to the English Championship or are no longer showing it, and we're getting Turkish football instead.

Even the La Liga coverage is ordinary, with most games called from the studio rather than live at the ground, and very little atmosphere / crowd noise in the audio feed making for a very dull viewing experience. 

/end rant 

PS: Because of the aforementioned EON issue, I ended up following the match in a Spurs forum game-day thread  - funny how similar it was to the Demonland game-day, with hysterical posters calling for good players to be banished to the moon on the back of a single mistake, and realists trying to talk them down off the ledge. Think it's time to (reluctantly) fork out for the Optus subscription. 

[Macca 17,080]

1 minute ago, Grapeviney said:

EON have gone bust and the British rights holder, TalkSport, have still got Australia on geo block, so there's no way to listen to the broadcast at the moment. Pretty pathetic situation, to be honest, as EON went belly up a few months ago so it really should have been sorted by now.

The general standard of coverage here leaves a lot to be desired, especially for the EPL as one of the world's premier sporting leagues. The SBS match-of-the-round is neither the earliest game nor the best fixture, and Foxtel have either lost the rights to the English Championship or are no longer showing it, and we're getting Turkish football instead.

Even the La Liga coverage is ordinary, with most games called from the studio rather than live at the ground, and very little atmosphere / crowd noise in the audio feed making for a very dull viewing experience. 

/end rant 

PS: Because of the aforementioned EON issue, I ended up following the match in a Spurs forum game-day thread  - funny how similar it was to the Demonland game-day, with hysterical posters calling for good players to be banished to the moon on the back of a single mistake, and realists trying to talk them down off the ledge. Think it's time to (reluctantly) fork out for the Optus subscription. 

I've got your problem solved with regards to audio coverage of the EPL games GV ... you're right, forget EON Sports and go here ... www.talksport.com

When you click on the link, run the cursor over 'Football' then in the drop-down display click on 'Live on TalkSport' and then follow the live links.  The audio coverage will obviously only work when the games are on but in most cases, a preview of any game starts about a half an hour before kick-off.

It definitely works because I've been listening to certain games periodically ... all the games have live radio coverage as well.  I've also got Fetch TV so I can watch any of the games but failing that, you can still tune into the audio coverage.

By the way, the coverage through Optus sports is absolutely first rate (especially 'Goal Rush', 'Fanzone', the review shows etc) ... but push them hard for a decent deal if you go down that track because they're in need of customers.

And good luck this Saturday night (Go Hammers) ... the game is on SBS from 9.00pm.

 

[Diamond_Jim 12,642]

I'm driving down to Malacca (or Melaka as it is called here) to watch the game on 5 October.

Not sure how to buy a ticket but it should not be too much of a problem ... the Syria v Uzbekistan game had 350 people. The stadium holds 40,000.

Weather will be hot (around 29) and high humidity. It is the inter monsoon phase at present so a decent thunderstorm is quite on the cards.

If you guys are interested I can give you a match report concentrating mainly on the colour and the food. Doubt that there will be a beer at the stadium.

[Grapeviney 9,881]

54 minutes ago, Macca said:

I've got your problem solved with regards to audio coverage of the EPL games GV ... you're right, forget EON Sports and go here ... www.talksport.com

When you click on the link, run the cursor over 'Football' then in the drop-down display click on 'Live on TalkSport' and then follow the live links.  The audio coverage will obviously only work when the games are on but in most cases, a preview of any game starts about a half an hour before kick-off.

It definitely works because I've been listening to certain games periodically ... all the games have live radio coverage as well.  I've also got Fetch TV so I can watch any of the games but failing that, you can still tune into the audio coverage.

 

 

I'm almost certain I listened through Talk Sport a couple of weeks ago Macca, but no such luck last weekend - was definitely blocked with an ad telling Australian listeners to go through EON. Did a little bit of hunting around and noticed others had the same problem (the Talk Sport app review page is full of Australians telling them to unblock it).  I (think I) tried the website on the weekend, too, same problem as the app. 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Grapeviney

[Macca 17,080]

24 minutes ago, Grapeviney said:

I'm almost certain I listened through Talk Sport a couple of weeks ago Macca, but no such luck last weekend - was definitely blocked with an ad telling Australian listeners to go through EON. Did a little bit of hunting around and noticed others had the same problem (the Talk Sport app review page is full of Australians telling them to unblock it).  I tried the website on the weekend, too, same problem as the app. 

Well through that link and through my laptop I listened in total or in part to about 4 or 5 different games (last weekend) Not through a phone or an app though. 

It's talksport.com not talksport.com.au or talksport.co.uk

Come to think of it, the audio did cut out a few times last weekend but that happens from time to time anyway.  When that happens I just go through the same process and get hold of the games.

Anyways, I'll be watching our game on Sat evening and will try that audio link and probably post here on whether it works or not.

One can always go searching for proxy's but I've never had any luck in that area getting hold of the BBC's Test match special 

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Macca

[Grapeviney 9,881]

2 minutes ago, Macca said:

Well through that link and through my laptop I listened in total or in part to about 4 or 5 different games (last weekend) Not through a phone or an app though. 

It's talksport.com not talksport.com.au or talksport.co.uk

I really like the audio coverage of soccer and even though I've got the visual feed, I still do the audio as a matter of course.  Come to think of it, the audio did cut out a few times last weekend but that happens from time to time anyway. 

Anyways, I'll be watching our game on Sat evening and will try that audio link and probably post here on whether it works or not.

Again, it might be a 'phone' issue. 

 

Hmmm I'll try again this weekend too. Perhaps I listened successfully through the computer / website last time and only tried the phone / app on the weekend. 

I like the radio call too, listened to most Spurs matches last year. As with the TV commentary, the standard puts our own (AFL) callers to shame.  

[Macca 17,080]

Just now, Grapeviney said:

Hmmm I'll try again this weekend too. Perhaps I listened successfully through the computer / website last time and only tried the phone / app on the weekend. 

I like the radio call too, listened to most Spurs matches last year. As with the TV commentary, the standard puts our own (AFL) callers to shame.  

I just edited the my previous post but one way or the other,  we'll find out about the audio feed on Sat night.

With all these types of things,  someone often provides some sort of a solution. 

I'm fairly resourceful these days but I still can't find a way to tune into the BBC's audio feed of the cricket.  Test match sofa (Guerilla cricket) has to suffice.

[Macca 17,080]

On 9/19/2017 at 7:58 PM, Grapeviney said:

Hmmm I'll try again this weekend too. Perhaps I listened successfully through the computer / website last time and only tried the phone / app on the weekend. 

I like the radio call too, listened to most Spurs matches last year. As with the TV commentary, the standard puts our own (AFL) callers to shame.  

It''s working GV ...

www.talksport.com

[Grapeviney 9,881]

@Macca

Good news - Talk Sport website is working, Macca, but I’ll be listening to the TV commentary tonight as Peter Drury is one of my favourite callers.

Edit: just saw your post, beat me to it  

Edited September 23, 2017 by Grapeviney