(UEFA) Football Thread - Football not Soccer

[Jax]

Garak wrote:

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God I hope Chelsea hires Frank Rijkaard.

Otherwise they're going to become the Real Madrid of the EPL and have 47 managers in 4 years.

My Arsenal friend will be annoyed because he wants Frank to replace Wenger if Arsenal don't make top 4 this year.

[Hermiod]

Jax wrote:

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My Arsenal friend will be annoyed because he wants Frank to replace Wenger if Arsenal don't make top 4 this year.

Hmmmmm, I like Rijkaard a lot - I will always have respect for the Rijkaard/Gullitt/van Basten combination Milan had in the 90's - but Wenger's not going anywhere.

[Jax]

Luke Young has pulled out of the ENG game tonight and we get to enjoy 90 minutes of current forgotten how to defend with rest of pompey back four "Glen Johnson".

Spain are simply fantastic at moment so am going for a 2-0 defeat for ENG with Torres & Villa scoring.

[Hermiod]

I'm not even going to bother watching this. I dread to think what reaction the England team are going to get plus it's on quite late for me when I have to get up very early in the morning.

[Jax]

if there is rascit chanting and not controlled and stopped by the Spanish stewards, then ENG should walk off the pitch and I hope UEFA or FIFA will grow balls and dock Spain points from Q/F. Lets face it fines do nothing they don't affect the fans to take action.

[Angel4576]

You're forgetting how gutless UEFA and FIFA are around the subject of racism. Great when it comes to soundbites, shit when it comes to taking action.

If there's chanting, and if England players walked off, we'd end up getting fined/points docked rather than the other way around. That would be in keeping with the governing bodies' warped sense of priorities.

[Tomalak]

I seem to remember Florent Sinama-Pongolle being the subject of racist chanting whilst playing for Recreativo against Atlético last season. Then last summer he moved to the Vicente Calderon, so it seems they don't mind their own black players. They proved in the Marseille game that Spanish football is still years behind in terrace attitudes towards race.

I'd just subject them to the same kinds of restrictions England fans faced when combatting the hooliganism. Fining the FA is no good, you have to change the culture of the fans, and eliminate the racist element. More positively, I don't remember any Spanish racism in Euro 2008, perhaps becasue Marcos Senna was in the running for player of the tournament.

[Angel4576]

I remember Paolo Wanchope getting abused so he left the pitch and went into the stands to take it up with the fans in question personally. Typically, it was Wanchope that ended up in hot water.....

[Jax]

I change my mind 3-0 Spain if were lucky becasue the starting XI is...

James

Johnson, Jagelkia, Terry, A.Cole
SWP, Carrick, Barry, Downing
Heskey, Agbonlahor

How does SWP get in on merit ? apart from first few games of his re-joining Man City, hes been average at best. Theres on one in that midfield who can actually score a goal for ENG and I think the only way Young will ever get a look in, will be to pay off Capello with a bribe.

Jagelkia should be in the squad on merit but starting against SPAIN , if so at least put Ferdinand over Terry because, captain or not Terry is far behind Ferdinand.

[HappyDayRiot]

Just how bad does Downing have to play to not st...

I have such deja vu writing that. Jagielka will be fine - he pretty owned Torres in the recent Merseyside games. SWP though... who knows why he's in. Just as well start Beckham, get the record/cap/rubbish out the way and get on with it.

Also I've just been told BBC3 are showing the Milan derby match on Sunday. Now THAT is exciting!

[Jax]

I think last night is the perfect example of how much we miss Ferdinand, who I consider the best CB in the world. Both goals saw his replacements make errors...

* 1st goal Jagelkia giving the ball away after passing from his own 18 yard box and then allowing Villa to turn him, Rio would of never given theb all way there in 1st place.

* Upson was nowhere near his man and jump early so the ball webt over his head, again chances are Rio would of dealt with that.

James was laughable last night and surly Kirkland who seems over his injury problems should get a shot against Slovakia, he is on a technial level our best keeper and injuries stopped him from being NO.1 IMO and being at a big big club.

Beckham proved why SWP can go suck a dummy far far away from the ENG squad with setting up the best chances for ENG with his passing and SWP should of done better and Cole was unlucky with there shots from Beck's setup. Also Beckham shown SWP how to keep a ball and not run into a Spainish player.

Young Young Young not Downing and not SWP, geez.

Heskey and Gabby were decent infact Heskey bullied the Spanish defence who resulted to cheap fouls to stop him though the offside call was wrong so Pique should of been sent off for last man nice one ref/linesman...who I thought were terrible.

Carrick who better than Barry and shown his CL and PL winning experience is invaluable but the problem was Carrick had no one to pass too because we lack the movement that Gerrard, J.Cole & Rooney are so good at doing to find space.

Our limited number of chances has to show when fit we need Owen, who is the only natural goalscorer we have, Capello your biggest weakness is the actual squads you pick and come a summer finals, like SVEN found out with the Walcott pick...You will live or die by the 23 you pick and at the moment simply not good enough to win a WC.

[Angel4576]

A combination of us fielding a weak team and Spain being very good, made last night's performance and result almost inevitable. Spain looked good, we looked shit. Luckily it wasn't a qualifier, which looks to have been the attitude from most of the team, whilst playing the game.

[Tomalak]

Must be a massive concern for Capello that David Beckham at 33 is still England's most consistent and effective player. His through ball to Cole was the only decent move England created in 90 minutes.

Interesting times ahead for Chelsea. They've sacked their manager, they are in a precarious position in the league, their owner's down to his last couple of billion, and Peter Kenyon says they must sell to buy in the future.

With an ageing squad on massive wages - Lampard on £150k, Ballack, Deco, Carvalho, Drogba, Belletti, Ferreira, Anelka etc, I can't see them getting enough to rebuld the squad. Terry and Essien are their only saleable assets, so if Man City come knocking...?

[Daedalus12]

I wasn't sure where to ask this but I'll just ask in here. I've been searching for a CD of the UEFA Champions League anthem as performed originally by the the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin Chorus. AFAIK the anthem was ever released commercially. Anybody got a suggestion on how I might obtain one? It's played before every Champions leage match so the clubs must have a CD or a digital copy of it.

[Starkers]

Well we might have been a bit fortunate, but the result doesn't lie, 4-1- Nigel has these players playing out of their skins.

Meanwhile, whilst it seems Forest might have been unlucky to lose, Billy Davies is busy slating the team for being too young (like that's their fault?) and rubbish! Oh dear, something Derby fans have seen before...