The Football Thread - Season 2011/2012

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Not sure how they'll do over the course of the season but I was pleased with how the United youngsters performed last night against Spurs.

So much being written regarding potential transfer dealings during the remainder of the window but based on previous experience I'm more than happy to see this young (mainly England) team given the time to develop.
 
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timmygcsc2308 said:
I'm not too sure about that, I think the board have a big hand in what goes down and whilst they say money's available I read a report from someone with inside info earlier saying they are the tight fisted ones especially when it comes to wages..AW has said alot of crazy strange contradictary things as of late and one can only speculate that he is saying what his bosses want to hear.

Agreed on the CB's, but Barton? seriously? the last thing we need is a disruptive influence, we need a leader a la Patrick Viera not someone who is gonna scare the kids (of which there are plenty), TV5 is great but we could really do with a leader, Parker perhaps, plus Hazard - he is a must. Interestingly we have been linked with Kaka on a loan move..weird and very odd and can't see it happening personally but stranger things have happened. Plus Kevin Doyle or Mauro Zarate, a striker with Prem experience to really give RVP a) support b) a run for his money.

Lastly, what really saddened me is AW decided to play Bendtner and Arseshavin over Chambered Ox and Ryodinho (though it was great to see Miquel making a start over Squallaci, lets face it, we can't do any worse than him and he performed adequately bearing in mind it was his first first team outing)
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I dont get the whole anti-Barton backlash. Yes, he has not been the best role model so far, and the dive last week was poor but for past 2 seasons he has been a very good player and exactly the type we need.

I wouldnt mind if Wenger came out and said that we will not pay high wages or fees, or that he had no money, and would just buy kids and cheap players but that we would focus on a top 6 place and the Carling Cup. But he comes out saying that we can still win the league with the squad we have?????
 
Fenerbahce have been kicked out of the Champions League

UEFA will make an official announcement at 19:30 tonight prior to CL Kick Offs.

I wonder who will get in the back door this season ???
 
So it looks like Joey Barton is headed for QPR. He's made no secret that it isn't where he wants to be so I'm not overjoyed but you never know, Warnock might get something out of him. Hopefully he can keep his gob shut for the foreseeable!
 
fabs said:
So it looks like Joey Barton is headed for QPR. He's made no secret that it isn't where he wants to be so I'm not overjoyed but you never know, Warnock might get something out of him. Hopefully he can keep his gob shut for the foreseeable!
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I guess you just never know with Barton. Good player though.

I just heard on the Radio that QPR are refunding the difference to season ticket holders after reducing their prices and also making under 8 tickets free.:clap::clap::clap:
 
Good result (and performance) from Arsenal tonight after what was starting to look more and more like being a big banana skin of a game.
 
fabs said:
So it looks like Joey Barton is headed for QPR. He's made no secret that it isn't where he wants to be so I'm not overjoyed but you never know, Warnock might get something out of him. Hopefully he can keep his gob shut for the foreseeable!
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Barton could do so much better than that. He has been Newcastle's best player by a mile over the last year.
 
I'll be delighted if we sign Barton - he is a quality player. What I'd really love though are some new defenders.
 
That time of year again

UEFA Champions League Draw Tomorrow - 4.45 pm

Pot 1
Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, FC Porto, Inter Milan

Pot 2
AC Milan, Lyon, Shakthar Donetsk, Valencia, Benfica Lisbon, Villareal, CSKA Moscow, Marseille

Pot 3
Zenit St.Petersburg, Ajax Amsterdam, Leverkusen, Olympiakos Piraus, Lille, Basle, BATE Borisov, Manchester City

Pot 4
Dortmund, Napoli, Dinamo Zagreb, APOEL Nicosia, Genk, Plzen, Otelui Galati, Trabzonspor
 
dinners said:
That time of year again

UEFA Champions League Draw Tomorrow - 4.45 pm

Pot 1
Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, FC Porto, Inter Milan

Pot 2
AC Milan, Lyon, Shakthar Donetsk, Valencia, Benfica Lisbon, Villareal, CSKA Moscow, Marseille

Pot 3
Zenit St.Petersburg, Ajax Amsterdam, Leverkusen, Olympiakos Piraus, Lille, Basle, BATE Borisov, Manchester City

Pot 4
Dortmund, Napoli, Dinamo Zagreb, APOEL Nicosia, Genk, Plzen, Otelui Galati, Trabzonspor
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Is it one from each pot in each group or are they seeded? Any chance of city & utd being grouped together?
 
1 from each pot to create 8 groups of 4

The blurb.....

32 sides split into four seeding pots and one from each drawn into the eight groups. Seeds are based on UEFA's coefficient system and no team can meet another from the same association.

Where two sides from the same association have qualified, they will be paired to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, so one club will always play at home on one day and the other will play away on the other day. In the case of associations with three representatives, only two teams have been paired in terms of their fixtures; in the case of associations with four representatives, two pairings have been made based on the TV audience.

To ensure sides from the same country play on separate days, the eight groups will be distinguished by colour: Groups A-D will be red and Groups E-H blue. When a paired club is drawn, for example, into one of the red groups, the other paired club – once it has been drawn – will automatically be assigned to one of the four blue groups.

Teams from Pot 1 will be provisionally placed in the first position within their groups, teams from Pot 2 will provisionally take the second spot in their sections, and so on. Once the draw has been completed, a computer draw will determine the final position of the sides within their group and therefore the order of the home and away matches.
 
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akr said:
I'll be delighted if we sign Barton - he is a quality player. What I'd really love though are some new defenders.
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Indeed, especially given that we just unloaded Gorks onto the fake hoops.

When I was a kid and my dad used to take me to Loftus road, he always used to say that if we got there early enough, we might get a game. If the current squad stays as it is, it might pay to get there early! :D
 
Champions League Draw in full.

Group A:
1 Bayern Munich
2 Villarreal
3 Manchester City
4 Napoli

Group B:
1 Inter
2 CSKA Moscow
3 Lille
4 Trabzonspor

Group C:
1 Manchester United
2 Benfica
3 FC Basel
4 Otelul Galati

Group D:
1 Real Madrid
2 Lyon
3 Ajax
4 Dinamo Zagreb

Group E:
1 Chelsea
2 Valencia
3 Bayer Leverkusen
4 Genk

Group F:
1 Arsenal
2 Marseille
3 Olympiakos
4 Borussia Dortmund

Group G:
1 FC Porto
2 Shakhtar Donetsk
3 Zenit St. Petersburg
4 FC Apoel

Group H:
1 Barcelona
2 Milan
3 FC BATE Borisov
4 Viktoria Plzen
 
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25/08/2011 - The day Scottish Football officially got lower than the basement and foundations of European football.
 
fabs said:
Oh dear, that really is a sad sight. When you consider that a English Championship side qualified with ease, it does paint a rather poor picture. What's gone wrong?
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How long have you got?

Where to begin, about 15/20 years ago when the power and wealth where controlled by the Old Firm. When they became strong, the rest of Scotland couldn't compete so the strength of our league falls as both sides suffer.

Now add into the fact that no sponsor would throw money at us and nor would the TV (Sky get the SPL for a pitiful amount when compared to the EPL and La Liga coverage) so there's less and less money being 'shared out' between the other sides (the old firm get a decent cut since it's the majority of their games that is televised) so again the competition suffers.

Now we are seeing the result of 2 big teams strangle hold on a league, fans don't want to turn out and pay £20/30 to watch the likes of St Mirren play Inverness Caley for the third or fourth time in a season, when they can keep that money in the back pocket our go to the pub and watch whatever English EPL games is on Sky/ESPN after Soccer Saturday finishes. So again, smaller clubs suffer because of small attendances therefore smaller gate receipts.

All these (and other factors I could go into but don't have the time nor do I think anyone would be bothered to read the wall of text that is needed to explain it all) have lead to a very poor standard of a 'top' national league. Rangers and Celtic don't need to be good as there is no challenge coming from the other sides because for that to happen they need money to attract the players needed, and that's not going to happen in the current state our league is in.

Scotland needs our league (the SPL and SFL) to go bankrupt...to fall heavily and fall badly. It will be messy and not all will survive, my team included, but for our clubs to get back to some respectability within the rest of Europe then it needs to be that extreme for change to happen.
 
fabs said:
Looks like the writing's been on the wall for a long time, shame no-one bothered to read it. :(
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The problem is those who hold the power make decisions in the interest of self preservation, not the the good of the game.

For our top league to change we need to have a vote of at least 11-1 in favour of any motion. So if the other 10 sides got together to push forward a change which may give more power/money to them over the big 2, the big 2 can veto it in instant. Smaller sides have been trying to affect change for a while, but it's not going to happen in the current state of affairs.

Don't get me wrong though, Scottish football is not dead. Our national team is showing improvement and historically it's shown when the national team does well, our clubs tend to be rather crap. There are also a number of Scottish player playing in the EPL and Championship and at the top teams as well. Scotland can still make it to the playoffs and we have some bright players coming through....just not being trained or playing for any Scottish clubs.
 
MackieStaggie said:
The problem is those who hold the power make decisions in the interest of self preservation, not the the good of the game.

For our top league to change we need to have a vote of at least 11-1 in favour of any motion. So if the other 10 sides got together to push forward a change which may give more power/money to them over the big 2, the big 2 can veto it in instant. Smaller sides have been trying to affect change for a while, but it's not going to happen in the current state of affairs.

Don't get me wrong though, Scottish football is not dead. Our national team is showing improvement and historically it's shown when the national team does well, our clubs tend to be rather crap. There are also a number of Scottish player playing in the EPL and Championship and at the top teams as well. Scotland can still make it to the playoffs and we have some bright players coming through....just not being trained or playing for any Scottish clubs.
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And therein lies the rub. I can remember when Scotland were competing on the world stage, Archie Gemmill terrorising the Dutch defence, Dalglish and Souness terrorising everyone. Gemmill was playing for Nottm Forest when they were in their pomp, the other two for Liverpool along with Hansen an a few others who played for top English teams.
 
Barton has signed, SWP and Luke Young possibly on the way too - how things change, and for once for the better!
 
akr said:
Barton has signed, SWP and Luke Young possibly on the way too - how things change, and for once for the better!
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Heard Young was down for a medical today but not heard anything further yet. Not as optimistic about SWP, it's been dragging on for too long. I'm fully expecting to see that he's signed for someone else soon or maybe I'm being pessimistic but that's what you get for supporting QPR for 40 years!:nuts:
 
Got Barton in my FF team - have to keep an eye on him now.
 
Just watching the end of the Super Cup

Barca 1:0 Porto

Fabregas comes on for the last few mins - scores and will win himself a club honour at last.

I think I'll have to switch off if he starts celebrating.
 
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As a Gooner I'm delighted to see Fabregas score. It was the right time for him to leave Arsenal and his interview pre-game obviously shows he still feels positively about our club. I hope he continues to be successful with Barca.
 
I'm happy for him too - he's been a bit of a plonker with some of the things he's said and done regarding Barca whilst at Arsenal but his heart was set on the move.

If the Rat Boy dances though - I'm switching off.
 
Huge Stoke City fan here, Season ticket holder.

Really enjoying our Euro adventure right now, just hope we sign a few decent players especially a striker or 2 in the next couple of days

Rumour has it, Palacios will sign on Monday
 
Quite unbelievable, 12 goals scored by the Manchester teams today (so far)!

Waiting for Cambsno to post but he may have imploded! :eek:

We (QPR) play Man C live on Sky (away) next month, might watch that one from behind the sofa!
 
Happy Days !

That could have been 12 goals or more for United.
 
oh my, all the man u goals were for the highlight reel without a doubt, especially the first two of rooney's goals

not taking anything away from united, they did outclass arsenal - but oh my didn't arsenal make it easy for them! they were all over the place, they left the whole pitch wide open
 
fabs said:
Quite unbelievable, 12 goals scored by the Manchester teams today (so far)!

Waiting for Cambsno to post but he may have imploded! :eek:

We (QPR) play Man C live on Sky (away) next month, might watch that one from behind the sofa!
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Luckily I was at an airshow. Only to put radio on at 6-1. Home for the last 5 mins.

Wenger is a joke. He really had lost the plot. Everyone knows that we need 3 defs, 2 mids and a striker. Yet he bids silly amounts for Cahill and the like.
 
Honestly, that was exactly what Arsenal needed and I wouldn't be too upset if we had a few more thrashings like that. Our squad is woefully shallow, indisciplined and weak. Hopefully this will be the wake up call to start shaping a team for the future. That doesn't mean splashing out millions Man City and Chelsea style - we don't have that type of money to spend and frankly I don't want it at Arsenal. I'd happily see us finish 10th this season if I also saw something that resembled a team being formed for coming seasons. Do I still have faith in Wenger? Well I'm not calling for his head on a block just yet, every club in history has had draughts of no trophies and we've qualified 14 years running for UEFA so we've had a hell of a run under his management. The game has moved on radically recently and now is the time to see if Wenger can move with it.

On the plus side Arsenal Women beat Liverpool today to become champions of the Women's Soccer League :D
 
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TriggerHappy said:
Honestly, that was exactly what Arsenal needed and I wouldn't be too upset if we had a few more thrashings like that. Our squad is woefully shallow, indisciplined and weak. Hopefully this will be the wake up call to start shaping a team for the future. That doesn't mean splashing out millions Man City and Chelsea style - we don't have that type of money to spend and frankly I don't want it at Arsenal. I'd happily see us finish 10th this season if I also saw something that resembled a team being formed for coming seasons. Do I still have faith in Wenger? Well I'm not calling for his head on a block just yet, every club in history has had draughts of no trophies and we've qualified 14 years running for UEFA so we've had a hell of a run under his management. The game has moved on radically recently and now is the time to see if Wenger can move with it.

On the plus side Arsenal Women beat Liverpool today to become champions of the Women's Soccer League :D
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Problem is that firstly, the problems with central defence, midfield and att have been there for a while, secondly he persists with Arsharvin and Rosicky despite them being crap (why not just give Lansbury and the like a go instead) and thirdly he is doing naff all about it apart from making derisory bids for good players.

I would not mind so much if he said that he did not want to spend and would aim for top 6 or 8 place and develop more youngsters... but he seems to think we can still win things and that we don't need a huge influx of players?

I think we have the makings of a good keeper, but why not get Freidel or Given in when there were available, or make a bid for Jaaskaleinen? We urgently need Cahill and Samba to go with Vermaelen - Djourou will be ok as 4th choice if we must. We only have Walcott, Ramsey and Wilshire as quality mids and need a tough holding mid plus at least one winger and one other central mid. We also need a poacher and a target man for up front.

How many of our team would get into Chelsea, Man U, Man C or Liverpool??? Vermalen may, Wilshire would, Walcott would be a sub and van Persie - thats all!!!
 
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