The Soccer thread

[Grapeviney 9,808]

Yep, a pretty good start to the season for the Reds, Macca, considering their tough draw, with wins away to Chelsea and Arsenal, the Foxes at home and a point at White Hart Lane. Klopp would be pretty happy with that return. 

[Macca 17,041]

New page so here's the standings - the table updates itself every day or so ...

Edited September 18, 2016 by Macca

[Adam The God 30,431]

17 hours ago, Grapeviney said:

Yep, a pretty good start to the season for the Reds, Macca, considering their tough draw, with wins away to Chelsea and Arsenal, the Foxes at home and a point at White Hart Lane. Klopp would be pretty happy with that return. 

That Burnley loss was hopeless though. We've got no answer when sides park the bus. Just as we did under BR. 

Offensively we look ominous, but we're still very vulnerable at the back. They need to invest in central defenders and a decent holding midfielder, otherwise just let the Chinese buy them out.

A great win against Chelsea though, who looked pretty limp for the majority of the match.

Liverpool will struggle against Man U, bceause JM will park the bus and play counter and we won't be able to play through them.

Edited September 17, 2016 by A F

[Grapeviney 9,808]

8 hours ago, A F said:

That Burnley loss was hopeless though. We've got no answer when sides park the bus. Just as we did under BR. 

Offensively we look ominous, but we're still very vulnerable at the back. They need to invest in central defenders and a decent holding midfielder, otherwise just let the Chinese buy them out.

A great win against Chelsea though, who looked pretty limp for the majority of the match.

Liverpool will struggle against Man U, bceause JM will park the bus and play counter and we won't be able to play through them.

You're a pretty hard taskmaster, Adam, although to be fair I've only seen them in action once this year. 

[Adam The God 30,431]

7 minutes ago, Grapeviney said:

You're a pretty hard taskmaster, Adam, although to be fair I've only seen them in action once this year. 

I've seen every match. We're travelling better than I thought we would and was surprised we didn't buy more. I love Klopp though.

[Macca 17,041]

The SBS game this weekend is tonight's Man Utd vs Leicester match.  Coverage starts from 9pm (9.30pm kickoff)  Arsenal vs Chelsea at 2.30am (Sunday morning) is another big match-up this weekend. 

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.

[Adam The God 30,431]

Massive if Manc's drop this game. Particularly as it's at home.

[Satyriconhome 10,879]

On 18/09/2016 at 5:39 PM, Grapeviney said:

You're a pretty hard taskmaster, Adam, although to be fair I've only seen them in action once this year. 

That would be once to much for me, they wear the wrong colour blue

[Macca 17,041]

8 hours ago, A F said:

Massive if Manc's drop this game. Particularly as it's at home.

And just like that they've put 4 past Leicester - and it's only half time.

Rooney on the bench ... Jose makes the move.

[Adam The God 30,431]

2 hours ago, Macca said:

And just like that they've put 4 past Leicester - and it's only half time.

Rooney on the bench ... Jose makes the move.

Was at a wedding, so missed it. That's massive. Leicester have really come thumping back to earth.

[Adam The God 30,431]

Wow, the Liverpool press was seriously intense. The best it's been since the back end of Suarez's final season. If we could defend, we'd push Man City for the league, but we still managed to concede to ten men.

[Deestroy All 14,266]

9 hours ago, A F said:

Wow, the Liverpool press was seriously intense. The best it's been since the back end of Suarez's final season. If we could defend, we'd push Man City for the league, but we still managed to concede to ten men.

Our defending is getting better I feel. I really like Matip with and without the ball. Nice freebie. 

The way our passing game is going though, who cares about defending. Old school Brazil style, you score, we'll score more. 

Milner doing more than a good job at left back, interested to see how that holds up against the better teams. 

I love Firmino, and Klopp has elevated Lallana. 

Mané a great buy and exactly what we need. 

 

 

That Man U first half was a bit frightening. Pogba finally showed up, when he gets creative he's a serious weapon. Hopefully they stay inconsistent and Mourinho has a meltdown. 

 

Glad Everton lost, just because what's his name goes for them. 

[Adam The God 30,431]

30 minutes ago, Deestroy All said:

Our defending is getting better I feel. I really like Matip with and without the ball. Nice freebie. 

The way our passing game is going though, who cares about defending. Old school Brazil style, you score, we'll score more. 

Milner doing more than a good job at left back, interested to see how that holds up against the better teams. 

I love Firmino, and Klopp has elevated Lallana. 

Mané a great buy and exactly what we need. 

 

 

That Man U first half was a bit frightening. Pogba finally showed up, when he gets creative he's a serious weapon. Hopefully they stay inconsistent and Mourinho has a meltdown. 

 

Glad Everton lost, just because what's his name goes for them. 

Clyne is the weak link there now. Gets caught on the ball too easily. But we have depth in every position on the pitch now. 

 

[Deestroy All 14,266]

19 minutes ago, A F said:

Clyne is the weak link there now. Gets caught on the ball too easily. But we have depth in every position on the pitch now. 

 

I like Clyne. Until he gets to the corner of the penalty box, and stops, every time. Needs to get more fluid with the rest of the team. 

Depth is good now though as you say. Milner reckons the team chemistry is the best he's been a part of. 

[Macca 17,041]

Well that was all over rather quickly ... big Sam gone after 1 game in charge.  Got caught out by undercover reporters from 'The Daily Telegraph.'  Read more here ...

Sam Allardyce: England manager leaves after one match in charge

 

[Deestroy All 14,266]

@A F how sweet was that Manè goal? Do we ever score boring goals?

On the other hand, I'm so sick of giving up scrappy BS goals from set pieces. We've got 4 more than capable defenders now, yet that set up at the corner was just horrible. 

Still, loving the Klopp era. 

 

As I type this City just went a goal down to Southampton, go on with it!

[Adam The God 30,431]

 

@A F how sweet was that Manè goal? Do we ever score boring goals?

On the other hand, I'm so sick of giving up scrappy BS goals from set pieces. We've got 4 more than capable defenders now, yet that set up at the corner was just horrible. 

Still, loving the Klopp era. 

 

As I type this City just went a goal down to Southampton, go on with it!

Brilliant. One of the best team goals of the season. I saw a stat today that was illuminating. Since Klopp's arrival, we are the top scoring team in the EPL. We lead a few other stats as well, but the one we notably can never get right is the defence. I'd buy de Gea from the Mancs. Clyne was a lot better than he usually is this morning too. Get the defence right and we'll win the league this season - can't believe I'm saying that. I backed Man City to win it this season with the old Bet365, but we're a real chance. There's talk around that we might be in for Agüero in Jan too. 

We're great to watch. Lots of goals at either end. It's very much like the second placed finished under Rodgers. Brilliant in attack and frail in defence. Although, I like Karius and we work a lot harder defensively under Klopp and we have far more attacking options than under Rodgers. Lallana is a new player under Klopp. Henderson is still ordinary though.

Will turn on the City game now! Awesome.

[Deestroy All 14,266]

 

Brilliant. One of the best team goals of the season. I saw a stat today that was illuminating. Since Klopp's arrival, we are the top scoring team in the EPL. We lead a few other stats as well, but the one we notably can never get right is the defence. I'd buy de Gea from the Mancs. Clyne was a lot better than he usually is this morning too. Get the defence right and we'll win the league this season - can't believe I'm saying that. I backed Man City to win it this season with the old Bet365, but we're a real chance. There's talk around that we might be in for Agüero in Jan too. 

We're great to watch. Lots of goals at either end. It's very much like the second placed finished under Rodgers. Brilliant in attack and frail in defence. Although, I like Karius and we work a lot harder defensively under Klopp and we have far more attacking options than under Rodgers. Lallana is a new player under Klopp. Henderson is still ordinary though.

Will turn on the City game now! Awesome.

De Gea would be great but would cost a bomb. Could save a pretty penny and buy Foster from West Brom. Guy is on fire. 

Honestly blur the picture and I couldn't tell you if it was Karius or Mignolet playing. Both iffy in the air and not confident by foot. At least Karius releases the throw right away. 

 

How about that garbage Man U game last week? Bring in Pogba and Ibra and play like Stoke and West Brom 5 years ago. Even West Brom scored against us. Mourinho is the anti Klopp, forget entertaining and playing football, just don't lose, yuck. 

[Adam The God 30,431]

 

De Gea would be great but would cost a bomb. Could save a pretty penny and buy Foster from West Brom. Guy is on fire. 

Honestly blur the picture and I couldn't tell you if it was Karius or Mignolet playing. Both iffy in the air and not confident by foot. At least Karius releases the throw right away. 

How about that garbage Man U game last week? Bring in Pogba and Ibra and play like Stoke and West Brom 5 years ago. Even West Brom scored against us. Mourinho is the anti Klopp, forget entertaining and playing football, just don't lose, yuck. 

True, although if we can spend 35 mill on Andy 'flogga' Carroll, we can spend 60 on de Gea. Haha. Foster wouldn't be the worst option though either. Mignolet is a hack though and shouldn't be near even second gloves. Karius is more confident in the air for mine, but if he seems iffy, it's probably more down to the ordinary defenders in front of him. They need to buy another CB or two in the Jan transfer market. Someone that's confident, solid and doesn't invite pressure with stupid passes or poor touches. 

To be honest, I was happy with the point. I said to a few Liverpool mates before the season started that the bus driver would park his bus and historically we've been unable to play around or through the bus. But we should have won. Can should have buried that shot on his wrong foot inside the box and if not for a brilliant de Gea save, we would have had another Coutinho special. 

I'd certainly prefer Klopp's style, but Mourinho has the EPL titles in his trophy cabinet. I hope we can say the same thing about Jürgen come the end of this season. 

Now, back to Man City.

[Deestroy All 14,266]

Watching Chelsea lately I was starting to worry. Then watching them destroy Everton my fears were confirmed. Hazard is on [censored] fire. Fire Hazard? Groan. ...but it was only Everton. 

 

Then I watched Liverpool put 6 past Watford (could've been 10, 11, 12...) and my fear subsided. What a [censored] display! I don't remember a front 3 chemistry like what we have now, ever. Add Lallana to that mix too, blinding form. 

Some of the best football I've ever seen us play this season, so exiting to watch. 

 

Not so exciting was seeing Zlatan and Pogba get their [censored] together, but what a hit by Pogba! I can live with him doing that just once every 3 months. 

Entertaining season so far, surprised this thread hasn't had more activity. 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Deestroy All

[Macca 17,041]

Chelsea have now won 11 games in a row with games vs Bournemouth & vs Stoke coming up ... after that they'll get tested @ Tottenham, @ Leicester then @ Liverpool as part of a run of 4 games.  Regardless, they'll be hard to catch if they can maintain their form.  They've only conceded 2 goals in that stretch of 11 wins as well.

No games until late Monday/early Tuesday morning but the other big leagues are all having 2 weeks off whilst the Bundesliga has a whole month off from Thursday. 

My Hammers are finally getting some points on the board but we've been largely unimpressive in the process.  You'd take any sort of win in this league though. 

[Grapeviney 9,808]

BeIN have started showing a series of football rivalry documentaries taking in some of the game's great grudge matches.

Each hour-long episode focusses on two derbies. So far they've shown Celtic-Rangers + Slavia-Sparta, Ajax-Feyenoord + Flamengo-Fluminense, and Real-Barca + Olympiakos-Panathanaikos.

Some are better than others but, for the most part, there's lots of good footage, great goals, riots, historical info and interviews. Fla-Flu once played in front of 194,000 people at the Maracana! 

Imagine there'll be plenty more in the series and they'll be repeated over the next few weeks with so little football being played. 

[Macca 17,041]

Leicester have sacked Ranieri ... that's hard to believe when considering the success he brought them just 9 months ago. 

I doubt they'll ever win another Premier league title (unless something dramatic happens) so the memory of winning in such an unexpected way is always going to be associated with sacking the coach just 9 months later. 

If there was player unrest it wouldn't have been all of them ... I'll be surprised if they stave off relegation now.  They had a better chance of avoiding relegation with Ranieri in charge.  And if they do get relegated this hair-brained decision will look even worse.

Claudio Ranieri: Leicester manager sacking made Gary Lineker 'shed a tear'

 

[Wrecker45 3,378]

On 24/02/2017 at 11:07 PM, Macca said:

Leicester have sacked Ranieri ... that's hard to believe when considering the success he brought them just 9 months ago. 

I doubt they'll ever win another Premier league title (unless something dramatic happens) so the memory of winning in such an unexpected way is always going to be associated with sacking the coach just 9 months later. 

If there was player unrest it wouldn't have been all of them ... I'll be surprised if they stave off relegation now.  They had a better chance of avoiding relegation with Ranieri in charge.  And if they do get relegated this hair-brained decision will look even worse.

Claudio Ranieri: Leicester manager sacking made Gary Lineker 'shed a tear'

 

I don't normally post about soccer but thought I'd see if this had been mentioned.

It seems to me like sacking Norm Smith except worse.

If Goodwin wins us a premiership  I want a statue of him at the G and a liscence for him to coach as long as he likes.

[Macca 17,041]

3 hours ago, Wrecker45 said:

I don't normally post about soccer but thought I'd see if this had been mentioned.

It seems to me like sacking Norm Smith except worse.

If Goodwin wins us a premiership  I want a statue of him at the G and a liscence for him to coach as long as he likes.

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)

As for Leicester, they turned in one of their best performance of the year in defeating Liverpool overnight.  A bitter sweet outcome and they may well rally and prove my theory wrong.  It's hard to predict (sport)