Sports The Football Discussion Thread!

[Weeaboo Name]

Signing a player of equal quality to Rooney and paying his wages for 5 years would cost more than just renewing Rooney's contract, so I honestly think it was a pretty good deal.

Don't think Moyes will go any time soon. I hope he's at least given the summer to totally rebuild and then another season to really give that squad time to gel.

 

[Aeroblast]

If you watched couple of Manchester united games, it's clear to see why they're struggling.

Take a successful club like FC Bayern for example. They have a player like Lahm and Schweinsteiger who can pass the ball to several players, and those players can pass back to other players near them:

This allows for plenty of options to easily pass the ball around your opponent. Take another in-form team like Liverpool, for example, they do this too:

In this image Coutinho is at the center to pass the ball around 7 different players. More options = less predictability = more creativity.

Now take Manchester United, these are all taken from Manchester United vs Fulham, another game where they played poorly for majority of the game:

Notice the empty spaces. Only option? Pass the ball to the sides and cross hoping for one to hit the head of a United player. This stifles their creativity. This is also exacerbated (or perhaps caused) by the fact that all the players are in very similar positions (Especially take a closer look at how close Rooney and Van Persie are to each other). They could get the Kroos's and Vidal's of this world, but as long as they play like this, they will continue to get poor results.

Read more about this here, it's where I got the images from: https://livelifeunited.com/illustration-moyes-tactics-stone-age/

 

[Ivysaur]

Wow. I haven't seen anything more damning for a coach in a long time (since Vanderlei Luxemburgo's infamous "magical square", which became something of a meme in Spain after sinking Real Madrid into the double-digit positions before he was fired). That's just terrible. And that sums up perfectly why Moyester United have become quite the criss-cross team this year (and not getting particularly much out of those either).

Quite remarkable what a poor setup can do.

 

[Banz]

Lol.. this is hilarious. I shouldn't be laughing at someone else's misfortune, but I can't help it.

The Man Utd picture reminds me of village football, where half the players stand near the goal hoping to somehow get the ball from their team mates.

 

[Eruption]

Signing a player of equal quality to Rooney and paying his wages for 5 years would cost more than just renewing Rooney's contract, so I honestly think it was a pretty good deal.

Don't think Moyes will go any time soon. I hope he's at least given the summer to totally rebuild and then another season to really give that squad time to gel.

I agree, while obviously the wage does appear high, the move was only logical for United. I think a lot of people have underrated Rooney through this season, he still has 10 goals and 9 assists in 22 PL games from his deeper role and his work rate has probably prevented many more opportunities for the opposition to score. I think it says a lot about him as a professional that despite being unhappy with his situation at the club, he is still willing to work harder for it than any other player. As far as I'm concerned, I think only Luis Suarez eclipses him in terms of ability in the Premiership now.

If you watched couple of Manchester united games, it's clear to see why they're struggling.

That's some pretty damning evidence and it does pretty much tell the story of a lot of recent Man United games. It's surprising as well because they have so many players who can interchange, you'd think they'd all manage to find space near the man in possession.

Wow. I haven't seen anything more damning for a coach in a long time (since Vanderlei Luxemburgo's infamous "magical square", which became something of a meme in Spain after sinking Real Madrid into the double-digit positions before he was fired). That's just terrible. And that sums up perfectly why Moyester United have become quite the criss-cross team this year (and not getting particularly much out of those either).

Quite remarkable what a poor setup can do.

Reading about it, that seems like the typical Brazilian set up. I read an interview from the time and he just immediately disregards wingers as having any importance, how does someone like this get employed by Real Madrid?

 

[Weeaboo Name]

>You'd have to make Real favourites to progress now.
10/10 analysis BBC

 

[Ivysaur]

First, a stat: only 5 teams have ever managed (in 60 years) to overcome a home-leg loss to win the tie. Food for thought. And now, the summary, from "most obvious win for the away team" to least.

-Schalke 1 - 6 Madrid: It's over guys. I'm sorry to be the one to break the news but it's over.

-B. Leverkusen 0 - 4 PSG: I don't think I'll bother watching the second leg tbh. Just a feeling.

-Zenit 2 - 4 B. Dortmund: Zenit have been very poor in the group stage and, although they did manage to score at home (one of the three teams to achieve this! Credit when credit is due), their chances of getting a 0-3 at Dortmund are... just not there.

-Arsenal 0 - 2 Bayern: Admittedly, last year they almost (read: did not) managed to win in a similar situation. Except now Bayern are the doomsday machine of hell and Arsenal won't have their unpronounceable first-choice keeper. Nobody will blink if Bayern go through easily.

-Man. City 0 - 2 Barça: The year when it seemed they could do it, City failed terribly. Winning at the Camp Nou is legendarily hard, specially when you have to score at least three times. Barcelona are admittedly on a slump lately but you'd hardly notice looking at the first leg, so it's not like City have anything to cling to.

-Milan 0 - 1 Atlético: Again, Atleti are in a sort of slump lately as well, but this Milan side may be one of the worst in modern history (if not THE worst), and this Atlético are ridiculously good at safekeeping a score, so... Might be the closest tie of all, but still not looking good for Milan.

-Galatasaray 1 - 1 Chelsea: The Blues have the upper hand there, clearly, but if they play as abismally as they did in the second half today, the match can be fun to watch.

-Olympiakos 2 - 0 Moy. United: I WILL watch this. And laugh. Or be endlessly surprised. Either or.

 

[Eruption]

>You'd have to make Real favourites to progress now.
10/10 analysis BBC

I think they sacked anyone who can actually think during the budget cuts a few years ago. The fact that Robbie Savage gets a column on the website just shows how desperate it has become.

That makes for bleak reading for a lot of teams, Went. Everything except the Chelsea match seems decided already.

 

[Aeroblast]

First Leg Reviews

Schalke vs Madrid: Deserved score for Real Madrid but undeserved for Schalke. They played better than what the scoreline suggests but ultimately Real Madrid was too efficient.

Bayer vs PSG: Bayer have disappointed me this season; they've especially been playing poor football lately and probably do not deserve to be ahead of Dortmund in the league right now. Deserved big win for PSG.

Zenit vs Dortmund: Zenit carried some threat but they were too error-prone and conceding 4 at home in Europe is never good, especially considering the importance of away goals.

Arsenal vs Bayern: Evenly matched in parts, but after a clumsy mistake by Szczesny, you just bank on a team like Bayern to take the advantage of having an extra man and they did.

City vs Barcelona: Did not watch, but friends who watched this said it was a similar story to Arsenal vs Bayern.

Milan vs Atletico: Milan was actually not that bad in this game, but Atletico Madrid as usual took their rare chance and will probably hold on to the result.

Galatasaray vs Chelsea: Did not watch.

Olympiakos vs Manchester United: See my earlier post about the tactical naivete they have shown for majority of the season. Embarrassing performance by Manchester United.


Final 8 predictions, made relatively easy as many ties are practically put to bed:

Madrid, PSG, Dortmund, Bayern, Barcelona, Atletico, Chelsea, Olympiakos.

 

[£]

-Schalke 1 - 6 Madrid: Madrid to progress, 100% sure of that.

-B. Leverkusen 0 - 4 PSG: PSG to progress, 100% sure of that.

-Zenit 2 - 4 B. Dortmund: Dortmund to progress, 99% sure of it. 8D I think if Zenit got to play 100 games at Dortmund, they might have one game where Dortmund have a nightmare game and they manage to turn the tie round. Really doubt that game's gonna happen though.

-Arsenal 0 - 2 Bayern: Same as about. 99% chance of Bayern pulling it off imo. They're absolutely rock solid.

-Man. City 0 - 2 Barça: 98% chance of Barça doing it. I think City can REALLY go wild sometimes, and they can pull off some absurd scorelines when they do. Will they do it against Barcalona? Probably not.

-Milan 0 - 1 Atlético: Atlético to go through, 90% sure of that. It's not the worst deficit to have, and two away goals isn't... impossible. it's just unlikely!

-Galatasaray 1 - 1 Chelsea: I love Mancini I love Mourinho this tie's gonna be fun. I reckon Chelsea have it, maybe a 75% chance going through. But I'd say this one's the toughest one to call.

-Olympiakos 2 - 0 Moy. United: I love the Moyeschester. It's just not the fearsome Fergiechester United we knew and hated. <3 I'm gonna say Olympiakos should go through, 95% sure of it. Greeks have a thing for defending well. If they score even one goal, that's it, game over.

Gonna add some PL predictions to boot:

Everton 1-2 West Ham
Genuinely think the in form West Ham are gonna give an out of form Everton more misery. Or maybe I'm being optimistic...
Fulham 0-2 Chelsea
I wish I could see anything but this result. Sadly, nope. Expecting a typical Chelsea win in not the most emphatic style.
Hull City 2 - 0 Newcastle
Jelly and Long strike one each, Newcastle's miserable end to the season continues. Sucks that they lost Cabeye, I kinda like Newcastle. :(
Stoke City 1-0 Arsenal
A gritty game where Stoke manage to somehow muscle Arsenal out of the box and clinch a very sneaky one nil win.
Southampton 2-2 Liverpool
I expect woeful defending and tears to be had for me here.
Aston Villa 2-1 Norwich
Couldn't really call this one... I don't expect a thrilling game though! Villa win I guess?
Swansea 0-1 Crystal Palace
After having to deal with Napoli x 2 and Liverpool in the past week, I think Swansea are gonna be knackered, and they'll struggle to get one past a side that's really taken to Pulis.
Tottenham 3-0 Cardiff City
Can't say I think much of Cardiff's survival odds right now!

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Stoke beating Arsenal was almost as easy as predicting night to follow day. Hopefully the media will stop talking about them as title contenders now, they never were.

West Ham, Fulham and Hull losing is pretty nice though.

Reading vs Yeovil game looks pretty crazy. 3 Yeovil players getting sent off.

Also Diego Forlan's debut in the J-League wasn't very good, didn't look anywhere near to match fit though I must say. Think I'll get back into following this league, had a lot of fun watching it 7 or 8 years ago.

 

[£]

Everton oh dear how wrong I was. I had a bit too much faith in West Ham there!
Fulham Chelsea I got reasonably close to.
Newcastle's performance really surprised me. Alan Pardew didn't surprise me though.
Yep, saw Stoke's win coming. Even got the scoreline. <3

AND I AM ONE HAPPY LIVERPOOL FAN. I think 3-0 flattered us a bit. We took our chances and they didn't, but it was by no means a one sided game imo.

I'm so blind to the other leagues and am kinda okay with that I guess; keeping up with one league is enough for me!

 

[Eruption]

That was a fairly entertaining set of games, Pardew's headbutt and mourinho's interview about his team talk were really quite funny.

It's the big cup final tomorrow, well at least from Sunderland's perspective, I'm not even sure who I want to win. I dislike Sunderland from a local point of view, but I'm not overly fond of city and how their success has occurred. Maybe if Sunderland win we can just call it a win for the north east so I can have some way of being happy with one of the outcomes. No? Okay then. :(

I kinda like Newcastle.

Ew.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

So stuff like this is why he's so popular with the ladies.

 

[Aeroblast]

Predicting a 2-0 win for City.

Also rumors rising that Van Gaal replace Moyes at the end of this season, this should be interesting.

 

[Banz]

In recent years who ever has won the League Cup has not done very well in the league after that. It's like some curse.

2010 winners Man Utd were leading Chelsea by 2 points after 30 games but finished a point behind. (Although Chelsea had a game in hand)
2011: Birmingham City were 14th after playing 25 games (and they had 2 games in hand). They ended up getting relegated.
2012: Liverpool were 7th with 5 points above Everton and finshed 4 points below them. In the last 10 games they got 10 points.
2013: Swansea had 40 points from 28 games. Ended with just 46.

So expect Man City to not win the title or Sunderland to get relegated.

 

[Eruption]

I think City looked a bit lacklustre for the majority of the game, they were actually pretty lucky to get away with what they did.

Ronaldo saves Real in the Madrid derby, that leaves Barcelona four points behind before they play their game in hand.

Man City are just the sort of team to beat the curse I think, Banz, I've always felt it's their title this year and I maintain that now.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand back to doom and gloom.

>hoolahan not celebrating after scoring his goal

The moment I knew we'd lose the game. Sad to say it but I hope he never plays for the club again.

 

[Eruption]

Was that out of respect for Lambert or was there no reason?

Either way, that's a pretty heavy defeat to take from a team like Villa. The media will begin their task of pushing Hughton out now.

 

[Aeroblast]

Knowing Norwich, they'll probably get some sort of positive result just as they're under fire.