English Football

[Larry B.]

Fun Scunthorpe vs. Newcastle match, for the Carling Cup. I wanted Scunthorpe to win, but whatchagonnado...

[Bandit72]

12.05 kick off for us tomorrow. I'm looking forward to this derby I must say. I have a lot of time for Mick McCarthy, he's done wonders for that team. One or both of us will remain undefeated. Only the third game I know, but it does give the players and fans confidence. 32k @ Villa Park last Saturday which was shocking. I can't blame people though after Alex Mcleish was appointed. It's done now, support your club.

I must remember to go to an expensive Japanese restaurant (in England) before I head to the game.

[Larry B.]

32k @ Villa Park last Saturday which was shocking.

As in "low attendance"? If so... holy fucking shit, dude. That's one of the beauties of English football... the fact that even in League One there are teams that have 20k+ attendance, the identity of the team in relation to its city... ahhh, lovely.

Tomorrow, I think I'll be rooting for the Wolves... only because it would be cool to see them up there. And because their name is pretty badass. However, I will just enjoy watching a Birmingham derby

[cashinnowperry]

This damn hurricane is probably going to knock out my TV and internet, so I'm likely to miss United v Arsenal. Bloody unacceptable. Anywho, Come on, you Reds!

The attendance figures are incredible, an average Major League Baseball team would be quite happy with figures in the 30k range. Most basketball and hockey stadiums here can only hold ~20k. People love their football (though not enough Villans do, apparently.)

[Bandit72]

32k @ Villa Park last Saturday which was shocking.

As in "low attendance"? If so... holy fucking shit, dude. That's one of the beauties of English football...

We used to average 40k, the capacity is 42k so it's a fair drop. Mind you Blackburn only brought abot 500 if that. Wolves will bring 3,000 so I guess being a 'sort of' Derby it'll be nearly a sell out. What time is it on over there? About 7 am?

[Bandit72]

The attendance figures are incredible, an average Major League Baseball team would be quite happy with figures in the 30k range. Most basketball and hockey stadiums here can only hold ~20k. People love their football (though not enough Villans do, apparently.)

Haha. Yeh, I also figured it's holiday time so a lot of people are away. Fan loyalty still amazes me across each city though. Considering this country isn't very big.

[Larry B.]

32k @ Villa Park last Saturday which was shocking.

As in "low attendance"? If so... holy fucking shit, dude. That's one of the beauties of English football...

We used to average 40k, the capacity is 42k so it's a fair drop. Mind you Blackburn only brought abot 500 if that. Wolves will bring 3,000 so I guess being a 'sort of' Derby it'll be nearly a sell out. What time is it on over there? About 7 am?

yes, 8 am. last night I went to bed at around 3 am, but English Football is English Football...

Shay Given was a damn fine transfer for the Villans...

Regarding attendances, and even though I know there's no comparison regarding quality and tradition, Chile's attendance is pretty much in an all-time low. The most popular club in Chile (Colo Colo) is averaging around 7k per home match (their stadium holds 40k people), the highest attendance this season was 40k (in a stadium that holds 60k), and the lowest attendance... guess... we're talking about top division football... the lowest attendance this year was 441, in a stadium that holds 6k.

One time, I went to a Copa Chile game (similar to the FA Cup, in terms of organization) and there were probably 200 people, in a 15k stadium. I stopped going to see local football (which I only did to support the local tournament, even though I don't like any local team and this Chilean football sucks balls) after the teams decided to change the president of the Chilean FA, who had done a TREMENDOUS job, and to change the National coach, Marcelo Bielsa. Bielsa was "chosen" as the 7th best coach of the decade and he, almost single-handedly, changed the national team's identity from a bunch of asshole to a group of players that aim to win every match and play dominating football. They changed them in order to get more money. That was it, I just stopped going to the stadiums, and so did many others.

But anyway, I want some goals in this derby!

[Bandit72]

I would 8-2 be an Arsenal fan. Jesus.

[Larry B.]

I would 8-2 be an Arsenal fan. Jesus.

awesome phrase!

Today's match was beautiful. When ManU was 3-1 and Arsenal was attacking, I thought "oh shit... ohhh, shit"... but 8-2, holy fucking bollocks.

Too bad Chicharito didn't manage to score, but his movement was excellent, as usual.
And, once again, ManU shrinks City. In 1967, City won the League, ManU won the European Cup. Last year, they won the FA Cup, ManU the League. Today, City won 5-1 and ManU wins 8-2.

Anyway, Manchester 13 - London 3.

What a beautiful, beautiful game

United's passing has improved noticeably... they probably learned some lessons from the 2 finals with Barcelona...

[esqfool]

I don't even know what to say being a huge Arsenal fan. Its pretty bad when I go who? when I see some Coquelin out there. I literally had never heard of him. Same with some other dude on the bench. Pure slaughter. Funny thing is Gooners had a bunch of chances, could have been an 8-5 or 8-6 game easily.

Nasri sure slotted into Mang City well. Wenger needs to buy some people soon otherwise Arsenal will be lucky to make Europa League.

[Japhy]

As much as Arsenal were shit, Man Utd were incredibly good. I watched Cleverly and Welbeck quite a bit at lower league level and although Cleverly did well, Welbeck looked generally hopeless. Yet somehow, they're both slotting in perfectly and the MOTD guys made a good point last night... people keep saying that Arsenal are young but both teams had an average age of 23 yesterday. Ferguson is comfortably the greatest manager that the English game has ever seen.

On the City game... how good did Dzeko look? Will be interesting to see how they do in the Champs League.

[Larry B.]

Oh, and how about Drogba's horrible fall?



For a minute there I was really, really worried... but apparently he's doing a little better now. Even though in comparison to Drogba's health it means shit, I can't believe the referee didn't give a penalty. I think the spot-kick that he gave for the foul against Ramires was actually some form of compensation.

[esqfool]

Japhy, I'm in total agreeance on Welbeck. Never impressed me much, and now looks like a flat out world beater. Cleverley I always thought looked good, so thats no surprise. Funny thing is guys like Berbatov and Valencia aren't even seeing the field.

[Stickyfingers]

As a side note, I was impressed with Alexis Sanchez's performance for Barça against Real Madrid. He could definitely bring some good stuff to the team. And Barcelona misses Puyol waaay too much. They NEED another world-class central defender, aside from Puyol and Piqué.

Mascherano is doing great as defender and Busquets can be central defender as well. Guardiola has adaptable players, they can rotate virtually every role and position.
Best football team ever. They'll continue to dominate for long time.
Fuck Mourinho white hair and he'll end upo insane

[Bandit72]

As a side note, I was impressed with Alexis Sanchez's performance for Barça against Real Madrid. He could definitely bring some good stuff to the team. And Barcelona misses Puyol waaay too much. They NEED another world-class central defender, aside from Puyol and Piqué.

Mascherano is doing great as defender and Busquets can be central defender as well. Guardiola has adaptable players, they can rotate virtually every role and position.
Best football team ever. They'll continue to dominate for long time.
Fuck Mourinho white hair and he'll end upo insane

No one is even in the same league as Barça. As the last Champions League Final proved. Britains best league football team were trounced by a display of exceptional football.

[Larry B.]

Viva el Chicharito! And Rooney... shit, ManU displayed some beautiful football! A little shaky at the back (I was surprised by the weak performance by Rio), but Cleverley and Jones were outstanding.

I saw Chelsea's game... and Torres has to be the biggest flop in Chelsea's history. In an interview he actually blamed the midfield for his lack of goals, saying they are too slow... fuck this asshole!

Agüero... man, oh man...

Oh, and I was kinda glad to see Arsenal finally grab a win, even though it was such a fucking idiot Teletubbie goal...

And Liverpool... HA!

[esqfool]

Man U is playing really well now. Scary good. Man City is playing well too, but has to really do something big to instill that "winning" vibe in their team I feel. Like a 4-0 thrashing of Man U would do it. Never rated Rio much myself honestly. Always kind of viewed him as someone people thought was good b/c enough people said it.

Torres is the new Shevchenko. He peaked about 3 years ago and no one knew it at the time. Chelsea's midfield has never been one of my favorites seeing that I don't think much of Lampard or Mikel. Malouda I think is great though. 2 seasons ago he looked unstoppable at the end of the season, circa May 2010.

Aguero is just blowing away the competition right now. Maybe he'll get Tevez to quit complaining about nothing and realize they could dominate soccer together. David Silva is ace but that's been known for a long time. Nasri seems to have put them over the top in the midfield.

My Gunners won albeit luckily. I don't get Arshavin, does he want to play at times? Arteta looked alright. Mertesacker looked ok too. Walcott =

Liverpool should on paper be really good this year. If Andy Carroll can remember he used to be badass, then they could really do something. But he's been out of form for so long now, he might never get it back. I was telling a coworker the other day he might be a classic case of really good at a lesser team, and a nobody in a big team.


And I know this is the English football thread, but hell of a game between Palermo and Inter Milan today. Can't believe they had Schneider on the bench. Their new coach isn't going to last long. Terrible defense from them, and Schneider starts on the bench. I don't know if he was hurt or anything, but he came on around the 35th minute. I'd love to know what's going through your head when you decide to leave your best player on the bench to start the season?

[Larry B.]

Yeah, I saw parts of that Palermo - Inter game... the 4th goal from Palermo was scored by Pinilla, a Chilean striker who spent like 5 years of his career just drinking and fucking tramps in Europe. Last year he had a great season in Italy and it's starting to look like he could achieve something.
I remember Inter's Manager saying (or implying) that Sneijder didn't really have a secured place in his first 11... but the way he played yesterday... damn!

Oh, and in the Juventus game another Chilean scored: Arturo Vidal, outstanding midfielder who arrived from Bayer Leverkusen this season. I see him as one of the best all-around midfielders in the planet, and I really though Sir Alex had targeted him (having in mind the fact that ManU lacks the mix of great tackling and speed in one midfielder), but I guess I was wrong.

Now it's Europe week... woo-hoo!

[esqfool]

That reminds me, I gotta DVR the Barcelona-Milan game. Should be a good one even if Milan is down on firepower at the moment.

[Larry B.]

And I still don't know if they're broadcasting ManU vs. Benfica here. Last time they didn't and I was goddamn pissed off.

[Larry B.]

I just read that Sir Bobby Charlton, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and Bryan Robson will visit Chile as part of the sponsorship deal with Concha y Toro wines. I'm trying to move some strings to see if I can meet them, even if for a brief second.

[Larry B.]

Oh, and as a side note... I'm playing a football league, and this Thursday we'll play against "Chelsea". They use the same logo and all. Even though it's not even remotely related to the real Chelsea, it still feels kinda sweet, having the chance of beating them silly... and the risk of being beaten.

It'll be my own little classic.

[esqfool]

Been 3 years since I played. My team that I ran was called "MUNCHERS". I miss being able to tell people yeah I run a soccer team called MUNCHERS, hahahaha.

[Larry B.]

ManU vs. Chelsea... what a fucking game. Matches like those are what make me love the Premier League. Plenty of excitement, an incredible Rooney slip, the most absurd misses (Torres and Berbatov, couple of motherfucking assholes), and even though ManU were 3-1 for most of the 2nd half, I could see Chelsea clawing their way back... which, fortunately, they didn't.

Lone leaders in the league, after City's excellent draw in London.

Villas-Boas' streak of 17 months without losing a league game just came to an end. Unbelievable statistics.

[Bandit72]

I thought Torres got a rough deal yesterday. Yeh he missed, but it was no worse than missing a penalty. Apart from that he had a good game I thought. I still think there is far too much money in the premiership. Every year it just loses its appeal for me.