(UEFA) Football Thread - Football not Soccer

[Angel4576]

It's looking likely that Blackpool have pipped Fulham to the final Europa League spot, due to that late sending off.

Thing is though, that'll fcuk up Blackpool even more. Football over the summer instead of rest and recuperation, and then even more matches during the season (although, let's be fair, probably not too many as Blackpool most likely wouldn't progress too far).

And to think, If WHU had beaten Stoke in the FA Cup SF, and then Bolton, they too might have qualified. What odds - all three relegated teams in Europe!

 

[Servo]

I am truly gutted that Blackpool went down. Such a spirited team with a great manager, and they brought a great amount of personality to the league both on and off the pitch. The Premiership is worse off without them.

What made it worse was the fact that my team put them down. I love Man United and today was a fantastic day for the club and us fans, but sending Blackpool out of the top flight definitely made it a bittersweet victory.

I really hope Holloway can keep the team together as much as possible (although it's doubtful he'll be able to keep hold of Adam, and possibly Campbell too), and can come out swinging next season in the Championship. I'll definitely be following them and I hope they can get themselves back up to the top flight.

 

[Angel4576]

I was glad that Wolves stayed up, I've got a lot of time for Mick McCarthy.

Blackpool - couldn't care less. Nothing against the club themselves but Holloway's a tvvat. Came out in the media earlier in the season saying that they'd got an exclusive option on Luke Varney to turn his loan deal permanent for £250k if they wanted. In reality they had no such option and he was just trying to stop anyone else from going in for him in January.

Glad to see Birmingham down as well. I like McLeish, but 38 goals scored last season, 37 this season, they're like the anti-Blackpool.

All in all, WHU, Brum and Blackpool - quite satisfied with that. I suspect that somehow Gold & Sullivan will finance them spending enough to go back up. Brum and Blackpool will probably be around mid-table. I expect Reading or Swansea to be there or thereabouts again next year, Forest probably, Cardiff probably, Leeds probably, maybe Millwall, Burnley etc.

 

[Jax]

Whats more important is I won my Fantasy FA Premier League title After being 6th and 2nd in my 2 previous seasons. Whats more weird though last season I did far better and finished inside the 50,000 of the 2.2 million players but this season finished 386,209 out of 2.4 million players but won my league this time around .

I never held 1st place until the last day of the season turning around a 1 point defecit into a 10 point lead and bare in mind the guy who finished 10th was over 100 points clear of me (1st place) at christmas.

 

[Starkers]

I was glad that Wolves stayed up, I've got a lot of time for Mick McCarthy.

Blackpool - couldn't care less. Nothing against the club themselves but Holloway's a tvvat. Came out in the media earlier in the season saying that they'd got an exclusive option on Luke Varney to turn his loan deal permanent for £250k if they wanted. In reality they had no such option and he was just trying to stop anyone else from going in for him in January.

Glad to see Birmingham down as well. I like McLeish, but 38 goals scored last season, 37 this season, they're like the anti-Blackpool.

All in all, WHU, Brum and Blackpool - quite satisfied with that. I suspect that somehow Gold & Sullivan will finance them spending enough to go back up. Brum and Blackpool will probably be around mid-table. I expect Reading or Swansea to be there or thereabouts again next year, Forest probably, Cardiff probably, Leeds probably, maybe Millwall, Burnley etc.

Well I don't know, I think West Ham have a whole heap of debts, and even if they sell off the family silver they might not be that well off, but I think a lot will depend on the manager.

Blackpool will slip back into anonimity I think, but I fancy Birmingham to go stright back up again, although it'll depend how distracting europe is (they are in Europe now right?)

I actually think Cardiff and Forest might drop out of contention for the top six this year, nerves are going to mean neither fancy finishing 3rd to 6th anyway.

Leeds will be there or thereabouts, and I actually expect Boro to do better next season.

I also expect Derby to do better next season (but then I always do ) I'd be happy if we finished up to tenth, though a run at the p/os would be great.

 

[Angel4576]

^^ We won't make the playoffs next season. The signings we're looking at will improve us and will (fingers crossed) propel us towards midtable, but they're not going to be enough to push us into the higher echelons of the league.

WHU, Brum, Cardiff and Forest will all depend on their financial circumstances. Will Doughty finance another craic at it, will Cardiff have to start drastically cutting their costs? Will WHU or Brum? Or will they all just throw yet more cash at it in the hope of earning a mega payday via promotion to the Premier League. Forest and Cardiff are now almost in the situation where they can't NOT have another go at it. Forest currently owe Doughty about £70. The only way he's going to get a return on that now is to get them up.

Brum - It really depends on the health of Carson Yeung's finances. He's effectively guaranteed Brum's £30m debt, but no one's quite sure whether he's got the money to do it. Even if he has then it's thought that he's spread himself about as thin as he can possibly get away with.

Boro's a good shout, and I'd forgotten them. They had a decent last couple of months to the season, if they continue that into next season then they'll be there or thereabouts as well.

The other obvious one, is Leicester. From what I hear they'll be spending big again in the summer. I was surprised that they didn't finish in the playoffs this season. Next year they might not even need the playoffs.

Well done there Mark. After a dreadful start to my campaign I was 2nd bottom at one point a few months ago. Fortunately I managed to climb up the league to finish 12th out of 25.

 

[Starkers]

I'm assuming Forest owe Doughty £70 million, rather than just £70

Yeah I forgot Leicester too, although lets be honest, just throwing money at a team doesn't neccesarily get you promoted, we Derby fans should know that better than anyone from the Pickering days--besides Sven is an odd sort of manager. The impression I got from Leicester this season is that his entire notion of tactics involves going and buying another player, and this is a guy who finds it very difficult to change the way a game's going. He has his strengths as a manager that's clear, but I'm not convinced he has what it takes to get Leicester promoted.

I actually wouldn't rule us out having a tilt at the playoffs. A lot of it is about getting a run going and maintaining it, and it looks like we'll have more of a settled squad next year which will help. I'm not sayign we're going to romp the league, or even that we'll end up in the play offs, I can just see us there or there abouts between 10th and 6th come the end of the season.

Curse my eternal bloody optimism!

I probably ended up about 85th in the fantasy legue I'm in, but it does have about 300 people in it so I think I did ok...if only I hadn't transfered Hernandez out!

 

[Angel4576]

Technically I was correct, they do owe him £70. Sadly, that goes alongside the other £69.9+ million that they also owe!

Leicester I think have that much money behind them that I think it'll be hard for them not to be there or thereabouts. Be interesting to see who they actually bring in during the summer.

 

[SmoothieX]

It's looking likely that Blackpool have pipped Fulham to the final Europa League spot, due to that late sending off.

Thing is though, that'll fcuk up Blackpool even more. Football over the summer instead of rest and recuperation, and then even more matches during the season (although, let's be fair, probably not too many as Blackpool most likely wouldn't progress too far).

And to think, If WHU had beaten Stoke in the FA Cup SF, and then Bolton, they too might have qualified. What odds - all three relegated teams in Europe!

I would love if they had relegation in the major US leagues. Congratulations Pittsburgh, your Pirates are now in AAA ball. And come see the Cleveland Browns play in the Canadian League.

 

[Servo]

Blackpool - couldn't care less. Nothing against the club themselves but Holloway's a tvvat. Came out in the media earlier in the season saying that they'd got an exclusive option on Luke Varney to turn his loan deal permanent for £250k if they wanted. In reality they had no such option and he was just trying to stop anyone else from going in for him in January.

Shock! Horror! A struggling club manager wants to keep his best players at the club to increase their chances of survival! Quick, someone call the FA!

Please. Like he's the only football manager to ever bend the truth over something.

 

[Angel4576]

Shock! Horror! A struggling club manager wants to keep his best players at the club to increase their chances of survival! Quick, someone call the FA!

Please. Like he's the only football manager to ever bend the truth over something.

Not his player, and he blatantly lied. Couldn't really give a $h1t about other managers and won't be shedding any tears on Blackpool's or Holloway's behalf. Shame he fielded that weakened team at Villa Park - considering that they only lost 2-3 with an under-strength side, a full team may have won, which would ultimately have given them the extra points to stay up.

Playing attacking football is great, providing that you can keep the door locked at the back. Blackpool couldn't, too frequently, and have paid the price for it.

 

[Quo Vadimus]

Hey, I'm fairly new to watching the PL, but what are the chances that United or Arsenal make a run at Tim Howard? I know that both need a top choice goalie (Especially Arsenal), and Howard certainly has the skills. Or do you think that Howard's worth too much to Everton for such a move to happen?

Oh, and it sucks for Blackpool, they were never boring! The good news is that their foray into the PL was quite profitable!

 

[Starkers]

Depends if it was profitable enough, especially given they'll lose at least one of their best players in the summer.

Somehow I don't think Howard is rated quite highly enough for Utd or Arsenal (although you'd think Arsenal would be better with anyone! Hey, Arsene, you can have Bywater cheap?)

 

[Angel4576]

United have had their eye on a number of young keepers recently, but it looks like it's going to be the lad from Atletico - David De Gea.

Arsenal - could be a possibility. As Starkers says, anyone's got to be better than what they have right now. It's such a shame that a side who play such great attacking football as Arsenal pay the price for having a shocking defence such as the one they have!

Hearing that Liverpool have offered Brad Friedal a 2 year contract.

 

[Starkers]

So Reina is definitely off then? I'd say giving Friedal 2 years was daft, but actually I wouldn't put it past him to still be playing at the end of that!

 

[Servo]

Hey, I'm fairly new to watching the PL, but what are the chances that United or Arsenal make a run at Tim Howard? I know that both need a top choice goalie (Especially Arsenal), and Howard certainly has the skills. Or do you think that Howard's worth too much to Everton for such a move to happen?

Howard used to play for United. We got rid of him once, so I doubt we'll be wanting him back.

 

[Jax]

So Reina is definitely off then? I'd say giving Friedal 2 years was daft, but actually I wouldn't put it past him to still be playing at the end of that!

Well they could easily get £15 million for Reina and put that money to good use. I do fancy Liverpool to have a really good season in 2011/2012 due to the young players they are bringing through and they can raise some decent funds by selling players like Reina, Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Paul Konchesky, Joe Cole, Milan Jovanović, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Christian Poulsen who really are surpluss to requirement.

Assuming Friedal comes in I would expect them to try and sign Gary Cahill, Jose Enrique, Charlie Adams and maybe another winger I hear rumors of Matt Jarvis but I think they may try to get someone a little better. Assuming they have a few more gems in their youth system then the future does look good.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

^ Chris Burke is available. On a free transfer too. They'd mad not to snap him up. Certainly better than Joe Cole!

 

[Quo Vadimus]

Hey, I'm fairly new to watching the PL, but what are the chances that United or Arsenal make a run at Tim Howard? I know that both need a top choice goalie (Especially Arsenal), and Howard certainly has the skills. Or do you think that Howard's worth too much to Everton for such a move to happen?

Howard used to play for United. We got rid of him once, so I doubt we'll be wanting him back.

Ah, thanks, I didn't know that.

Considering that, I doubt he'd want to return to United. But Aresenal is got to be hurting. From what I read, they brought back a guy who was retired to be their backup.

Of course, Tim is probably quite happy at Everton. It's a very stable, good team.

Anyway, thanks for humoring this American. I'll slip back into lurking mode now.

 

[Jax]

^ Speaking of Wenger it will be interested to see who he buys because of who might go...Clichy, Nasri and Arshavin are all unsettled with their contracts down to 1 year and of course the whole Fabregas/Barca thing. Nasri for me is better in the middle than Fabby but if Arsenal are forced to sell him too then Arsenal are in danger of going outside the top 4 especially with their standard March-May collaspe.

I think Wenger could hold off signing a keeper because of Szczesny though I would like to see him try to sign Shay Given under the webster's ruling.

He needs to sign a centre back and then pray Vermaelen's 8 month layoff has not done any long term damage. Who to sign is a big ? because I agree Cahill is good but not £15 million good and Phil Jones is a little young for the type of defender Wenger needs. He will have to look oversea's for his CB saviour though I also rate Shawcross but the Gunner fans will never accept him at the Emirates.

Midfield is all about who stays and who goes though a left winger is needed no doubt and I doubt Wenger will want to pay the £15ish million fee for Young (only 1 year left on his contract). Wenger should sell Fabregas and keep Nasri at all costs, he was their best player this season especially when he did play central when Fabregas was injured.

Strikers, well if RVP is fit then he is probably the best PL striker in terms of game/goals ratio. However he needs back up and not in that Danish pink boots wearing idiot.