(UEFA) Football Thread - Football not Soccer

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

  1. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    4th ? They'll be lucky to be 4th from bottom by the end of the season.
     
  2. Roger Wilco

    Roger Wilco Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 27, 2004
    Don't read too much into that, imo it's just the usual whining of football managers who couldn't keep up with the times. If the same thing were happening in Italy, they'd complain about that too.
     
  3. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    I think Garak is talking more about FIFA and UEFA. They do tend to target us with rule changes more than anyone else. This 6+5 rule, for instance, is targeted squarely at Arsene Wenger's Arsenal. You'd think FIFA would have better things to do. We're hardly dominating English or European football, after all. We've won f*** all for years.
     
  4. Roger Wilco

    Roger Wilco Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 27, 2004
    And that's another erroneous assumption from you; neither FIFA nor UEFA are anti-English so much as they are pro-their bank accounts. All Blatter, Platini and their cronies are doing all day long is making up weird shit for the media to get excited over so noone looks into their corruption. And they've been doing that successfully for years.
     
  5. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    Yeah, and their bank accounts are filled with money from major international tournaments. A strong, powerful Premier League endangers that.
     
  6. Roger Wilco

    Roger Wilco Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 27, 2004
    Hm, you're right, I guess it does. If there are 3 english clubs in the CL semis every year from now on, it'll seem even more like the Premier League is the place where the real action takes place, and not the Champions League.
     
  7. Tomalak

    Tomalak Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2003
    Location:
    Manchester
    I don't remember Fifa complaining about Italian football when Milan were in three finals in five years. Then again, Italian football had other problems around then. There's no guarantee there will be three for four English semi finalists anyway. They might be spending big (apart from Mr Myopia), but it's a knockout competition, and teams can upset the form book. Liverpool might not even get out of a tough group. I doubt United can repeat last year's run, especially now they are stuck with a Ferguson-Phelan axis with an interesting understanding of tactics. Chelsea might go far under Scolari, but Arsenal in Europe? It doesn't sound right does it?
     
  8. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    Location:
    Behind Enemy Lines
    Yeah he looks useful, turned the game on Saturday- I'm somewhat confused as to how long we have him for (a month, half a season, the season) but he definitely gives us more options.
     
  9. Tomalak

    Tomalak Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2003
    Location:
    Manchester
    Quelle surprise, Terry gets Club England immunity, rather than the deserved additional ban for a pointless appeal. It was clearly serious foul play, and furthermore his protests flew in the face of the 'respect' campaign.
     
  10. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    Location:
    Behind Enemy Lines
    Question is; if you were Nigel Clough would you really want the pressure that would come with managing either Derby of forest? However good a manager he is/becomes he isn't likely to be able to replicate anything near the successes his father achieved with clubs our size. Leicester's only hope of getting on the footballing map would have been to hang onto Martin O'Neil. As for Earnshaw, yeah I feel he should have got more of a try last season. Dunno what his problem is (heard many different rumours) but for Billy D, Paul Jewell and Toshack to all basically ignore him must mean something. He will score goals at championship level though- so I expect he'll score against us come November (luckily Commons' hat trick will more than compensate :lol: )
     
  11. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2001
    Location:
    Behind Enemy Lines
    I'm no huge fan of Terry of Chelsea, but I thought the red was a bit harsh- and there at least ought to be consistency, Dawson's bone crunching shoulder charge in similar circumstances last night only got a yellow.
     
  12. HappyDayRiot

    HappyDayRiot Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2008
    Location:
    Cardiff, Wales
    I don't like Terry or Chelsea either, but for once I think the Mysterious Appeals Board have actually done it right. Unfortunately, as it's Chelsea/a Big Club, EVERYONE will be moaning about it for months. "What about Aliadiere last season!?" will naturally be the rallying cry.

    It was a stupid tackle, but a straight red? I don't think so.

    Isn't there any measure in place to just downgrade a red to a yellow? That'd be much fairer. As it is now, Terry is free to play with no consequences.
     
  13. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    ^That's the ref's fault for showing him a straight red for a foul that only merited a booking.

    The fact that a clumsy bit of defending from John Terry when two defenders would have made it back in time gets the same punishment as a Danny Guthrie or a Martin Taylor seems a bit suspect to me.
     
  14. Tomalak

    Tomalak Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2003
    Location:
    Manchester
    It was a clear foul, with no effort made to play the ball, denying a goal scoring opportunity. It doesn't matter if Carvalho was covering, as two City players would have been through, and would clearly have had an advantage. In any case, it's gamesmanship to break the rules thinking all you will get is a yellow, and hardly in the spirit of the game.

    The usual protests and players surrounding the referee made a mockery of the 'respect' campaign. Any other player would have been given an extended ban for a frivolous appeal. If it wasn't a red card, there should still be consequences, but there is no mechanism in place for that.

    In the Champions League, a pleasing result for us. We looked tired from Saturday, but played some really good stuff here and there. Three points away from home in the bag, which substantially eases our passage. We should just need home wins to qualify.
     
  15. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    It does matter. He has to be denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. Ricardo Carvalho and Jose Bosingwa between you and the goal makes the opportunity anything but clear.
     
  16. Tomalak

    Tomalak Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2003
    Location:
    Manchester
    Apparently he was sent off for violent conduct, not a professional foul as I thought. In that case the referee needs to admit an error for the red card to be rescinded. Mark Halsey stood by his decision, which should have put an end to it, given that Terry rugby tackled Jo to the ground to stop him getting through.

    However, Chelsea appealed to the FA, who decided to change the rules, and have demoted to Halsey to league two this weekend. I wouldn't mind if there was some consistency, but the FA make a habit of picking and chosing rules. How can they demand players and fans respect referees if the FA doesn't?
     
  17. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    ^Violent conduct ? What ? If that's violent conduct I expect Bolton to be down to 7 men before the end of our game against them on Saturday if they play their usual way.
     
  18. trekkiebaggio

    trekkiebaggio Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2004
    Location:
    Dancing to the Jailhouse Rock
    Can't believe Terry got away with that. Completely cynical and no attempt to play the ball whatsoever. And now because they FA have rescinded the red card and they can't downgrade it to a yellow card they're saying that that challenge isn't even worth a booked :wtf:

    So much for respect the referees eh. As soon as it's captain of England oh God can't have him being suspended. What is the point of having these respect the referee campaigns if they're just going to undermine them.
     
  19. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2006
    ^The referee got it wrong. It was not a professional foul as it did not deny a clear goalscoring opportunity. It was barely past the halfway line and there were two covering defenders. It's a booking, tops. Every defender in the Premier League will do the same thing once or twice a season.

    If they're saying it's violent conduct then that is a joke, the FA are comedians and should be performing at the Edinburgh Festival, not running the country's most popular sport.

    As an Arsenal fan who has seen the "let him know you're there" type "defending" the it's grim oop north defenders playing for the likes of Bolton and Blackburn get away with, calling that violent conduct is not even funny, it's an insult.

    Referees have to earn respect first.
     
  20. trekkiebaggio

    trekkiebaggio Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2004
    Location:
    Dancing to the Jailhouse Rock
    The ref didn't send him off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. That has nothing to do with it. Terry tried to slice him down with his foot; which Jo evaded. Then Terry put his arm around Jo's waist and pulled him down. No attempt to play the ball at all. Just another instance of Terry (And Chelsea in general) thinking they can get away with anything.

    But a good example of referee's earning respect - David Moyes is going to get a touchline ban for his reaction. But Howard Webb has suggested it should be as little as possible because he accepted that he made a mistake in not giving Everton a penalty at some stage in the match.