(UEFA) Football Thread - Football not Soccer

Discussion in 'Sports and Fitness' started by Jax, Apr 1, 2008.

  1. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah I read that about Barker and Carroll.

    Surely be now we must be officially one of Newcastle's bogey teams? The last four times we've played them we've won both home games and drawn both away!

    All we can do is see where this run takes us. Be nice to get a win against Birmingham, confidence must be high at the moment. So much for non-league Nigel and 'can't hack it at this level' Buxton eh?

    I think having Barker back has made a huge difference to us, Commons as well and Hunt and Tongue seemed to have added some quality. Bywater by all accounts played out of his skin last night! Let's just hope we can get by without too many injuries for a while!
     
  2. Angel4576

    Angel4576 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    From memory, I don't think Newcastle have beaten us for 8 years now, including the nightmare season in the Premier League.

    A win over Brum would be nice. It'll provide a nice distraction to the league campaign, but more importantly would guarantee a TV audience for the following game, and the £ that that would inevitably bring.

    I think the key to this success is just getting players back to fitness. Off the top of my head I can already think of Hulse, Commons, Barker and Green who've been suffering of late but now back at full fitness. Let's face it, they are huge players for us, and not surprisingly, all have been oustanding over the last 3/4 games.

    Buxton is really coming into his own now, and is really benefitting from having the experience of Barker next to him, and Bywater behind him. In fact, both Bywater and Buxton seem to be drawing massive amounts of confidence from Barker holding the defence together. £1m well spent I think.
     
  3. HappyDayRiot

    HappyDayRiot Commodore Commodore

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    Yes your team helped me enjoy last night a lot - 2 of the top 3 dropping points and Cardiff won to make sure we took advantage, even if it's an outside chance at most we make the automatic spots. Leeds losing was the icing on the cake though!

    And today Portsmouth have delayed administration/liquidation by a week, and Cardiff and Southend have been given a month to find their money owed to HMRC. Not the news I'd hoped for, but it'll do for the moment and save us worrying about it during our trip to Chelsea!
     
  4. HappyDayRiot

    HappyDayRiot Commodore Commodore

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    So Notts County have changed hands again, and both Trembling and Sven have left. Have they done enough this season to challenge QPR for the Worst-Run Circus of a Football Club title?
     
  5. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Surely Pompey must be in the hat as well?

    I see Ashely Cole's out for the season now...looks like Bridge might be playing an important role for England. I'm ever more glad Capello took the captaincy off Terry now!
     
  6. Angel4576

    Angel4576 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    We really do need to start wrapping up the England players in cotton wool during world cup year. Every time this happens.

    Worst-run club, yeah, Pompey, Notts Co and QPR must be at the top of the tree.

    I see that the Premier League's latest plan is to advance Portsmouth their parachute payment money early to help them stay in business.

    Nicely played by the Premier League, give them a bit of dosh early, they'll still be relegated, and then end up going bust next year when their annual income nosedives. Still, the Football League's problem then and the Premier League's. Expertly done Mr Scudamore, you slimey tw@t.
     
  7. HappyDayRiot

    HappyDayRiot Commodore Commodore

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    Is that really the plan? If so, I admire the audacity of it. Pure villainy though.
     
  8. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Ooh that's evil...
     
  9. Angel4576

    Angel4576 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    And the Premier League think that people can't see right through what they're trying to do. Idiots.

    Derby Vs Forest DVD turned up yesterday. PQ is a bit naff, SD/VHS quality, but still, for £6, not bad. They've lifted the commentary directly from RD and applied that to the video footage taken. Works pretty well, and Roger Davies is always good. Especially liked it when Hulse had been penalised for a foul and Roger was then urging him to go through the back of Wes Morgan. Forest were shockingly poor in the first half, they weren't even trying to play football, just hoofing it over the top for Blackstock and Earnshaw. Unfortunately for them, Barker intercepted everything. Pearson was outstanding as well, can't remember him ever being so involved in a game!

    Second half, much tighter, Forest finally got into it, but after soaking up what little they had we started carving them up again. A thoroughly well-deserved win.

    Of note, if I were a Forest fan I'd be disgusted by the way that Davies is getting them to play. They're doing well in the league, but at what cost? Their players were diving up and down all over the place trying to get our players booked. Gunter in particular was a disgrace. Every time someone went near him he went down like he'd been strafed with a machine gun. Twat.

    Got the Newcastle one on the way as well, again, can't complain for £6. Full match, pre-match interviews, post-match interviews. What's the betting on a Brum one coming out if we win today.

    Wonder if Nigel will rest any players. With the tightness of the league, especially down the bottom, it would be easy to sacrifice the cup for having players fit for the league matches.
     
  10. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Didn't rest anyone, in fact didn't even make a substitution! That's the first time this season apparently.

    Sounds like we were good value on Saturday, I only listened to the tail end of the first half and the start of the second but got the impression you wouldn't have known who the Prem side were. Sounds like KEvin Phillips coming on made a big difference.

    Well we weren't trounced and played well so hopefully we can now get results against Preston and Swansea. Nigel's apparently said we need six wins before the end of the season to stay up. Still trying to get that lad from Arsenal or Vaughn on loan...I can't believe Steve Davies is injured again!
     
  11. Angel4576

    Angel4576 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Thanks to the wonders of the t'internet I managed to get a feed for the game. Had to listen to French commentary, but that in itself was fairly amusing.

    Decent game, we played some great stuff until we scored. Wasn't really any great surprise when we went ahead to be fair. After we'd gone ahead though I thought that we just went a little too negative. Passed up easy opportunities to create decent chances, instead opting to go backwards. And, for all his good work, Commons made a few silly decisions as well, giving the ball away.

    Should have been a draw and a replay, but ultimately not too bothered as the display was good again and we've got bigger concerns that the cup at the moment. With 2 home games to come this week I'd really love to see another couple of performances like the ones in the past 4 games. What we don't need to do is undo all of that work and pick up 1 or 0 points.

    And on a positive note, Forest lost again. :lol:

    Apparently there were boos when Davies subbed Mejewski. Awwwwww. It starts...... :lol:
     
  12. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, on paper the next two home games are both winnable. Of course the last time I thought that was when we were about to play Doncaster and Blackpool! We do seem a stronger more confident team now at least. I'm going to err on the side of caution and only predict 4 points :lol:

    The trouble with Davies is you can't take anything he says at face value. So while he might be tinkering with the team because of tiredness, you do have to wonder if he's also being an arse to prove a point re not getting additional players in in January.?
     
  13. Angel4576

    Angel4576 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Oh it's definitely the latter. Remember when he complained about not having sufficient cover up front for Steve Howard, and then when we were 1-2 down to Birmingham he moved Howard back into defence and put Darren Moore up front.

    He's an arse, and you really have to wonder just how long he'll tolerate the 'acquisition panel' that they've got at Forest. My bet, not for long.

    If Forest don't go up this year I'd be very, very surprised if Davies doesn't cut and run.
     
  14. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    I'm surprised he isn't playing Earnshaw at left back...
     
  15. HappyDayRiot

    HappyDayRiot Commodore Commodore

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    If you guys could beat Swansea tonight, that'd be fantastic. Thanks! Think we'll have our hands full with WBA somehow - certainly not going to turn them over like we did at the Hawthorns, not with our injury crisis and current lack of ability to defend.

    Non-English commentary can be great fun. I've been learning Welsh the last 6 months (well, re-learning technically) so I've been watching Cardiff's FA Cup matches on S4C. It's brilliant - S4C has clearly never witnessed anything like Drogba before and go wild over him! And the main guy they have talks constantly in a really grandiose, thick North Welsh accent which puts me in stitches. His crowning moment was at the end of the game, mentioning Chelsea's fixture list:

    "Next, Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho, Manchester City and Carlo Ancelotti. But today... DAVE JONES AND CARDIFF CITY!!!" BBC, ITV and Sky have no one who cares to this guy and I'm gutted that's the last game I get with him until probably next year's Carling Cup!
     
  16. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    I thought we were playing Swansea Saturday, thought we had Preston tonight? I might have got them mixed up.

    Probably safer for us to win both, just to be sure... ;)
     
  17. Angel4576

    Angel4576 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Think we have got Preston tonight, but either way, we'll aim to beat both Preston and Swansea.

    Whilst I wish Cardiff well for the majority of their games this season, I'll have to be mercenary and hope for a WBA win tonight. Don't want to give Forest a sniff of second place........ :lol:
     
  18. HappyDayRiot

    HappyDayRiot Commodore Commodore

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    Just beat Swansea I don't care when too much :D I'll happily take a draw tonight.
     
  19. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Oops, a draw tonight?

    Sorry about that...

    Fear the Rams :evil:
     
  20. Angel4576

    Angel4576 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Forest
    Newcastle
    Preston.....the latest team to be pwned by the Rams! :lol:

    I was speaking to some Preston fans last night and their comments were brilliant, going along the lines of not realising that they were turning up to play Brazil. 28 attempts on goal, brilliant. With Hulse, Commons et al, 28 goal attempts is always going to yield a hatful of goals.

    Makes you wonder what we'll be capable of if we get Sanu or Vaughan on loan as well.

    Favourite bit from last night was when we went 5-2 up. Everyone took their positions ready for the kickoff and our team looked like a bunch of starving people who've just had a burger dangled in front of them. Absolutely great to see that desire. A few minutes later Clough was on the sidelines imploring the defenders to get back, it was like a cavalry charge. Poor old Preston didn't know what had hit them.

    Considering that people were worried at the beginning of the month because all of our games were against top teams, we've just beaten three of them and unluckily drew the other one. Swansea on Saturday, c'mon you Rams!