Re: 2013/14 EPL thread/
I thought Egypt was pretty much eliminated on aggregate after the first leg?
I thought Egypt was pretty much eliminated on aggregate after the first leg?
2013/14 EPL thread
- Thread starter LikeaG5
- Start date
Egypt out.
Portugal Sweden second half was one of the greatest matches I've ever seen with both stars dominating. Felt like a Final. Portugal goes up with Ronaldo and then starts celebrating. Sweden actually tied it on a corner header by Ibra where no one on Portugal moved or jumped as if they didn't expect a corner? Then Ibra direct kick and I was sure Sweden were going to get it done. Then Ronaldo answers. Then again even Ronaldo was at a loss for a celebration. Ronaldo is playing the best football of anyone I've ever seen. Doesn't mean Portugal can win the ugly gold cup but I wouldn't want rondo in my division for this draw for Brazil.
USA has no offense without Donovan what else is new. Refs unjust though on few occasions.
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Portugal Sweden second half was one of the greatest matches I've ever seen with both stars dominating. Felt like a Final. Portugal goes up with Ronaldo and then starts celebrating. Sweden actually tied it on a corner header by Ibra where no one on Portugal moved or jumped as if they didn't expect a corner? Then Ibra direct kick and I was sure Sweden were going to get it done. Then Ronaldo answers. Then again even Ronaldo was at a loss for a celebration. Ronaldo is playing the best football of anyone I've ever seen. Doesn't mean Portugal can win the ugly gold cup but I wouldn't want rondo in my division for this draw for Brazil.
USA has no offense without Donovan what else is new. Refs unjust though on few occasions.
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Re: 2013/14 EPL thread/
Originally posted by Manch.:
F off, I must have read the wrong aggregate somewhere and forgot that Egypt lost by a touchdown in the first leg!
This post was edited on 11/19 8:30 PM by seminoleed
I thought I replied to this, but must of logged out without posting, I was too busy defending my Egypt faux pas.
Speaking of French, Les Bleus made history, and stunned the Ukrainians. Kind of crazy that France sat players like Nasri, Remy, Giroud, Abidal, Sagna, Clitchy and Sissoko and still played some stunning comeback football. Four years ago, France defeated Ireland by an OG (Oh God, hand of God, Part II) and this time around, they win with another OG (own goal) by OG (Oleg Gusev). These OG's (original gangsters) were destroyed by Karma in 2010 in South Africa, but are loaded this time around and they hope that OG (Oliver Giroud) can play at a level that he is currently playing at Arsenal, but of course, he needs to be on the pitch.
Croatia and Greece move on, no surprises there.
Serbia, Bulgaria, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Hungary, Turkey, Denmark, Montenegro, Norway, Israel and Slovenia have all been selected to play in the EUFA N.I.T. Any one of those 12 teams could beat Burkina Faso with 10 men. Burkina Faso sounds like a bad porn name.
Gotta root for The Indomitable Lions from the CAF. I once played with a guy from Cameroon, he was 6' 4" and weighed about 180 lbs., he was all muscle and was a rugby player by nature. He sucked at football, but made things entertaining and led the state in bookings.
Kooter is always pointing out that once Portugal gets a lead, they sit back and play like Cardiff City with a 1 goal lead over Chelsea. They try to stack 10 in the back 30 and they fall apart, instead of playing their attacking game. Once they went up 1-0, I mentioned to the wife and kid that Portugal would sit back and possibly blow their chances at going to Brasil. I called both Ibra goals and looked like I knew what I was talking about (they don't know what a Kooter is, so I didn't give him the proper credit).
It's too bad that Ibra will not be playing in the WC in 2014. He is playing at a level right now that leaves him in the top 5 in the world. Like the Bosnian muslim/Croatian catholic born Swede or not, it is our loss that we will not see him perform next year.
What a 2nd half between Portugal and Sweden, even though I was cheering for Ronnie and Portugal, I leaped out of my chair when Ibra put Sweden up 2-1. The drama was there and CR won the Oscar with his two late goals (after his 2nd goal, the announcer mentioned that he had a hat trick because of his goal in the first leg, but that's like David Ortiz hitting a two run homer in Game 1, then hitting a two run homer in Game 2 and calling it a grand slam). Portugal came out of their shell after Ibra's 2nd goal and played their attacking football, and could have won 5-1 if they just play their game the entire 94 minutes.
Howard Webb did well to issue a booking to Kim Kallstrom for diving, but he missed, perhaps, the dive from Johan Elmander that led to Ibra's 2nd goal on the free kick.
Ronaldo has 25 goals in 17 matches for Real this year, and throw in the 4 goals against Sweden and Kooter is correct, he is playing at a level higher than anyone that I have ever seen. He is putting up Pele' type numbers, and he's doing it against real competition and not 3rd division Brazilian street teams. I don't think that Messi has played at a higher level. Now, Messi will probably walk away with the Baloon D'or, but I would take CR at his current level of play over Messi at his highest level of play. Cristiano Ronaldo Reagan dos Santos Aveiro carried his nation, while I think that Argentina might actually fare better if they leave Messi off of their roster (Argentina is loaded with goal scorers, but I think they try too hard and try to force it to the tax dodger too much).
Was the US/Austria match on TV? I wouldn't have watched anyway, with the US playing it's B team and going up against the Port/Sweden match.
It's no surprise that the Chanting bin Laden's hammered the Kiwi's.
I am still not sure how a team can finish 5th in their group (perhaps 6th if Brazil had to qualify), have to compete in a play-in series and show up in Brasil as a seeded team.
That is all and have a good night, err, have a good morning!
Classic stuff Manch, well done.
USA was on one of those NBC sports channels. Ya know the ones you spend saturday mornings searching for EPL games in totally random areas of the dial, often around Spanish language and pay per view stuff? On directv they're like 220, 490, and i forget what else, ridiculous, i'll never get used to them. NBC has like 30 channels they can't group them together?
I didn't see much of France, amazed by that score, Ukraine defends so well usually. I know Giroud has dead legs right now so he was never going to start. Benzema, on his Real form currently wouldn't start for an under 6 team. Amazed he scored a goal. I expect Real to buy a striker in January, should have kept Higuain instead. Giroud needs rest or Arsenal could be in trouble if he goes down.
Was pulling for Iceland, but they are awful, hard to watch much of that one. Johannson made right decision, even if they have stank fermented shark at happy hour.
Howard Webb definitely was affected by Sweden press/coaches early in that game, Sweden were Barcelona-ing their ways all over the field looking for fouls. Definitely a dive set up Ibras bad free kick(bad as it looked like went right though Porto keeper). Had he stood there it would have hit him. But Webb was solid late and kept his cool. Used to like the way Sweden played with Dhalin and Larsson, not so much anymore. The chanting of Messi Messi and whatever else was weird.
Maybe Bento will finally, mercifully play attacking football every minute in Brazil, we can only hope. Ronaldo is playing the best football i've ever seen since Zidane retired, or maybe the other Ronaldo before his knees went. If Only Portugal had a target striker who could accidentally score once every few games, or a competant center back who jumped on corners and didn't have an 80's perm. Pepe has been brutal the past few years, but his coaches don't seem to have noticed. I rate him a hair above Koscielny in "must have pics of coach with mistress" is why he plays.
Ibra will miss on some classic one liners in Brazil, he's always the best interview, what a weird dude. I'm not sure but after the game last night I thought he said the world cup was nothing without it. Maybe lost in translation but par for his comments. He's like the Yogi Berra of the soccer world, only not as intelligent and way more arrogant. Look up some of his quotes actually i'll link a few.
FIFA must revisit qualifying after Brazil. Africa is a joke, stupid setup that will never have their top 5 make it to World cup. New Zealand, no comment needed. UEFA needs tweaking too, stop putting Malta and Andorra and GEorgia in these groups, make UEFA 2 round with final round of like 3 divisions of 10 teams. home and away like South America and top 4 from each qualify or something like that.
The seeding i agree is also strange, they keep changing it. US will never get a 1 seed losing at Austria or tying at Scotland, that will hurt us in 4 years, US soccer doesn't understand the formula. It can easily be manipulated to get 1 seeds, see Belgium/Uruguay/Colombia.
Draw in a few weeks should be riveting as always. US got draw of a lifetime last world cup and wasted it. Just hoping we avoid a Portugal or Netherlands in those group of death draws, as neither are 1 seeds.
Ibrahimovic quotes
USA was on one of those NBC sports channels. Ya know the ones you spend saturday mornings searching for EPL games in totally random areas of the dial, often around Spanish language and pay per view stuff? On directv they're like 220, 490, and i forget what else, ridiculous, i'll never get used to them. NBC has like 30 channels they can't group them together?
I didn't see much of France, amazed by that score, Ukraine defends so well usually. I know Giroud has dead legs right now so he was never going to start. Benzema, on his Real form currently wouldn't start for an under 6 team. Amazed he scored a goal. I expect Real to buy a striker in January, should have kept Higuain instead. Giroud needs rest or Arsenal could be in trouble if he goes down.
Was pulling for Iceland, but they are awful, hard to watch much of that one. Johannson made right decision, even if they have stank fermented shark at happy hour.
Howard Webb definitely was affected by Sweden press/coaches early in that game, Sweden were Barcelona-ing their ways all over the field looking for fouls. Definitely a dive set up Ibras bad free kick(bad as it looked like went right though Porto keeper). Had he stood there it would have hit him. But Webb was solid late and kept his cool. Used to like the way Sweden played with Dhalin and Larsson, not so much anymore. The chanting of Messi Messi and whatever else was weird.
Maybe Bento will finally, mercifully play attacking football every minute in Brazil, we can only hope. Ronaldo is playing the best football i've ever seen since Zidane retired, or maybe the other Ronaldo before his knees went. If Only Portugal had a target striker who could accidentally score once every few games, or a competant center back who jumped on corners and didn't have an 80's perm. Pepe has been brutal the past few years, but his coaches don't seem to have noticed. I rate him a hair above Koscielny in "must have pics of coach with mistress" is why he plays.
Ibra will miss on some classic one liners in Brazil, he's always the best interview, what a weird dude. I'm not sure but after the game last night I thought he said the world cup was nothing without it. Maybe lost in translation but par for his comments. He's like the Yogi Berra of the soccer world, only not as intelligent and way more arrogant. Look up some of his quotes actually i'll link a few.
FIFA must revisit qualifying after Brazil. Africa is a joke, stupid setup that will never have their top 5 make it to World cup. New Zealand, no comment needed. UEFA needs tweaking too, stop putting Malta and Andorra and GEorgia in these groups, make UEFA 2 round with final round of like 3 divisions of 10 teams. home and away like South America and top 4 from each qualify or something like that.
The seeding i agree is also strange, they keep changing it. US will never get a 1 seed losing at Austria or tying at Scotland, that will hurt us in 4 years, US soccer doesn't understand the formula. It can easily be manipulated to get 1 seeds, see Belgium/Uruguay/Colombia.
Draw in a few weeks should be riveting as always. US got draw of a lifetime last world cup and wasted it. Just hoping we avoid a Portugal or Netherlands in those group of death draws, as neither are 1 seeds.
Ibrahimovic quotes
Switzerland bumped Italy/Netherlands for 1 seed. WOW, worst set of 1 seeds in history, USA likely in group of death now. Play with the predictor, enjoy.
World Cup predictor
World Cup predictor
The Peasants/Everton match this morning is exactly why I love the EPL. Scintillating match, with a little of every type of drama.
And the howler from the Southampton keeper against Arsenal can only be describes as....indescribable!
And the howler from the Southampton keeper against Arsenal can only be describes as....indescribable!
And right there is why I detest ManU so much. Rooney should have seen red and been dispatched. Instead, because he's a precious Red and famous, he gets to stay and score the first goal.
He's always played this way--almost as dirty as Suarez, and Fergie allowed it go on.
He's always played this way--almost as dirty as Suarez, and Fergie allowed it go on.
And what poetic justice at the end. Ref gives no red to Cardiff on a blatant thrown punch, thus evening up the bad calls. Then the guy who shouldn't have been on the pitch in the first place gags away the certain winning goal for United.
I love it.
I love it.
Rooney injustice Was fair in the end I agree, amused me as well. Everton invents ways to tie but it was a good result. Now beat the bad teams Europe is not as difficult to make as usual in EPL this season. Great match.
Tottenham what was that?
Tottenham what was that?
And the Champions League is getting down the real nitty-gritty. The Arsenal win the Group of Death providing they don't lose by more than 3 goals at Napoli (and we all know that Wenger can come up with 3-0 losses at the most inopportune times).
Kudos to Basel for beating Chelsea (twice!) and thoroughly outplaying them. And more kudos to 10-man Ajax for a scintillating upset of Barca. Neymar kicks a guy in the face on a bicycle kick attempt and only sees yellow. Ref must've thought it was Rooney!
Correction: The Arsenal need a draw or a win at Napoli to win the group. A loss of less than 3 goals sees them through to the knockout stages.
This post was edited on 11/27 8:49 AM by seminoleed
Kudos to Basel for beating Chelsea (twice!) and thoroughly outplaying them. And more kudos to 10-man Ajax for a scintillating upset of Barca. Neymar kicks a guy in the face on a bicycle kick attempt and only sees yellow. Ref must've thought it was Rooney!
Correction: The Arsenal need a draw or a win at Napoli to win the group. A loss of less than 3 goals sees them through to the knockout stages.
This post was edited on 11/27 8:49 AM by seminoleed
I'm hoping Arsenal can hold on too. Feel bad for Napoli but they picked a poor time to hit an awful run of losses, 3 or 4 on the trot. Borussia can still miss out with a loss but Marseille is horrible even if they're home.
Awesome by Basel, too bad they didn't show up in other games, gotta tie at Schalke to move on, Chelsea already on which I think is why Mourinho wasn't really into the game.
Ajax amazing stuff, would love to see them upset AC away. Barcelona seems to lose at the most opportune times and costs the team nothing.
All the pressure on Juvenuts today at home to get 3 points.
Man U at Leverkusen should be must see tv. If Leverkusen and Donetsk win that group will go down to final day.
Real starts month off potentially without Ronaldo, who scores now?
Awesome by Basel, too bad they didn't show up in other games, gotta tie at Schalke to move on, Chelsea already on which I think is why Mourinho wasn't really into the game.
Ajax amazing stuff, would love to see them upset AC away. Barcelona seems to lose at the most opportune times and costs the team nothing.
All the pressure on Juvenuts today at home to get 3 points.
Man U at Leverkusen should be must see tv. If Leverkusen and Donetsk win that group will go down to final day.
Real starts month off potentially without Ronaldo, who scores now?
Isco, Di Maria, Bale and Arbeloa.
United moves on with their best performance of the season and their largest road win ever in the CL, not bad with all of the injuries and now maybe Kagawa and Nani will see more playing time. Rooney is having, perhaps his best season.
Crazy hopefully Madrid can do that in la liga next few games.
Shocked by United score I didn't watch it after seeing that line. Not much drama left in CL.
Onto epl hoping Everton can finally win a game
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Shocked by United score I didn't watch it after seeing that line. Not much drama left in CL.
Onto epl hoping Everton can finally win a game
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Manch,
I never want to see Ghana in a World Cup again.
Crazy Stat on united and Rooney.
Rumors Donovan may go back to Everton in January I'd love to see that.
I never want to see Ghana in a World Cup again.
Crazy Stat on united and Rooney.
Rumors Donovan may go back to Everton in January I'd love to see that.
Well, now, the magic continues. The Arsenal wins, the Peasants don't, dropping them to 3rd and 7 points in arrears. Chelsea still hangs in there at 4 back, and United and Hotpants play to a well-deserved draw.
Oh, and in American Rules Football, some team from Tallahassee will be ranked #1 this week as well.
World Cup pots out today hoping Asia somehow not in concacaf.
Everton Vs United tomorrow can't wait!
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Everton Vs United tomorrow can't wait!
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And The Arsenal continues its fantastic run at the top--when Bendtner scores, you KNOW everything is coming up aces at the Emirates.
Scratching my head at United--losing to Everton at home wasn't what I expected.
Peasants had a nice comeback after the debacle of their last match.
Scratching my head at United--losing to Everton at home wasn't what I expected.
Peasants had a nice comeback after the debacle of their last match.
Amazing performance by Everton, 21 years! Everton at Emirates Sunday now, can they win a miraculous 3 straight! Regardless, Everton starts winning home games instead of ties, maybe they can actually challenge for Europe, we shall see. Everton has some nice attacking players for a change in Lukaku, Mirallas, and that spanish kid. Even Oviedo has made Baines forgettable short term. Loved seeing Rooney and Fellaini on the wrong end of that one.
SAF loves Moyes, they're from the same background, and as long as United are with a few points of CL, Moyes is safe. Now if 4 teams get red hot like Arsenal and get 10 points ahead of United, i think they have to make a change. Otherwise CL and Moyes is safe IMHO.
World Cup draw tomorrow!
SAF loves Moyes, they're from the same background, and as long as United are with a few points of CL, Moyes is safe. Now if 4 teams get red hot like Arsenal and get 10 points ahead of United, i think they have to make a change. Otherwise CL and Moyes is safe IMHO.
World Cup draw tomorrow!
Miner, do you really think he'd come back to this train wreck? This is his personally chosen successor, after all. SAF did a great job of making sure no one forgets about him. How would it have looked if Moyes had come in and United never missed a beat? People would be saying anyone can manage them.
Fergie quit at the right time. He saw the hand writing on the wall.
Next couple of weeks will be huge.
Arsenal has a couple of top of the table fixtures with a trip to the Etihad on Sat. followed by hosting Chelsea on Dec. 23rd.
MUFC has a relatively speaking easier set of fixtures until they play Spurs Jan 1st and Chelsea mid Jan, so they really need to rack up the points.
Chelsea has Arsenal on the 23rd followed by Liverpool on Dec 29th.
Liverpool also plays Spurs on Dec. 15th and City on Boxing Day.
In addition FA Cup draw was held and all Premier League teams got matched up with lower division sides except United/Swansea and the big with in North London b/w Arsenal and Spurs.
Fun and hectic time of the year.
Hoping that all 4 top clubs get through the Capitol One Cup so that we have arguably the best Semis there ever with United, City, Chelsea and Spurs all still alive.
Arsenal has a couple of top of the table fixtures with a trip to the Etihad on Sat. followed by hosting Chelsea on Dec. 23rd.
MUFC has a relatively speaking easier set of fixtures until they play Spurs Jan 1st and Chelsea mid Jan, so they really need to rack up the points.
Chelsea has Arsenal on the 23rd followed by Liverpool on Dec 29th.
Liverpool also plays Spurs on Dec. 15th and City on Boxing Day.
In addition FA Cup draw was held and all Premier League teams got matched up with lower division sides except United/Swansea and the big with in North London b/w Arsenal and Spurs.
Fun and hectic time of the year.
Hoping that all 4 top clubs get through the Capitol One Cup so that we have arguably the best Semis there ever with United, City, Chelsea and Spurs all still alive.
England needs the big guys to make Cup semis so 6th and 7th finally matter in the league again. It's a lot more fun in May when 3 Europa spots are around.
Everton survived murderers row last few weeks now let's see if Martinez can do what Moyes never could. Beat lower half teams consistently.
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Everton survived murderers row last few weeks now let's see if Martinez can do what Moyes never could. Beat lower half teams consistently.
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Everton has been incredible this year. They have a legitimate shot at a Top 4 finish if Leighton Baines isn't snatched away in January.
Spurs fan here, and I don't see us beating Liverpool this weekend. Danny Rose, our only capable left back, is still out, and now our best centre back (who has been subbing at LB) is now possibly out for a month. Not good timing with the Christmas schedule packed full of over achieving mid table teams. Sunday against Sunderland we had one of our defensive midfielders, Capoue, playing at centre back, and that worked out fine, but Liverpool isn't Sunderland.
And we still can't put the ball in the back of the net.
This post was edited on 12/10 9:10 AM by nolefan5311
Spurs fan here, and I don't see us beating Liverpool this weekend. Danny Rose, our only capable left back, is still out, and now our best centre back (who has been subbing at LB) is now possibly out for a month. Not good timing with the Christmas schedule packed full of over achieving mid table teams. Sunday against Sunderland we had one of our defensive midfielders, Capoue, playing at centre back, and that worked out fine, but Liverpool isn't Sunderland.
And we still can't put the ball in the back of the net.
This post was edited on 12/10 9:10 AM by nolefan5311
Everton has done well, but 7 ties is ridiculous, just like last year.
Baines is totally expendable, just like Fellaini was. Baines best is 2 years ago. Sell him in January for 15 mill and get another young attacker to play next season as Lukaku and spanish kid will go back to bigger teams.
Tottenham has only scored 15 goals in 15 games. It's remarkable they're in top 6 with such an inept offense. They get another goal scorer in January they'll jump a few teams IMHO.
Baines is totally expendable, just like Fellaini was. Baines best is 2 years ago. Sell him in January for 15 mill and get another young attacker to play next season as Lukaku and spanish kid will go back to bigger teams.
Tottenham has only scored 15 goals in 15 games. It's remarkable they're in top 6 with such an inept offense. They get another goal scorer in January they'll jump a few teams IMHO.
I disagree that Baines is expendable. He's still probably the best left back in the EPL. But, they have proven adept defensively without him starting, and still can't score goals, so trading him out for a good striker makes sense.
And yeah, our finishing is atrocious. We dominate possession, defensively we're one of the best teams in the league, but our play in the final third has left a lot to be desired. This problem would have been diagnosed last year, but Bale seemed to consistently net shots from 30 yards out, masking the deficiencies. Had we known this earlier, we would have targeted a better option than Soldado in the summer (Falcao comes to mind). But, we're stuck with who we have right now, and I don't think any elite striker options will be available in the January window. Our best bet is probably Chicharito, who wants consistent pitch time before the WC, or possibly Benteke, but I don't see that happening.
And yeah, our finishing is atrocious. We dominate possession, defensively we're one of the best teams in the league, but our play in the final third has left a lot to be desired. This problem would have been diagnosed last year, but Bale seemed to consistently net shots from 30 yards out, masking the deficiencies. Had we known this earlier, we would have targeted a better option than Soldado in the summer (Falcao comes to mind). But, we're stuck with who we have right now, and I don't think any elite striker options will be available in the January window. Our best bet is probably Chicharito, who wants consistent pitch time before the WC, or possibly Benteke, but I don't see that happening.
Well, that was embarrassing. If you'd told me this morning Arsenal would score 3 AT City, I'd have chalked it up in the win column and gone shopping. This was horrfying, and even worse, my greatest fear has come true--Arsenal's weaknesses have been truly exposed for all top flight managers to see. We may see more results like this.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted; maybe we can hold on to fourth.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted; maybe we can hold on to fourth.
Nice to see Sunderland upset Chelsea in cup, however chances are another bad finalist team is gonna steal Europa yet again from EPL. Hate it but rooting for United and Tottenham to win today and hoping for a City and Tottenham final.
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Well Spurs flamed out as well, but at least City and United are on opposites sides. Like that they add 2 games to their fixture list (and likely 3 should they both make the final) and Chelsea doesn't (this year after playing 69 last campaign).
This post was edited on 12/19 5:36 AM by Rishi
This post was edited on 12/19 5:36 AM by Rishi
Good point I forgot home and away now. Praying for a Manchester derby final! No excuse for both not to advance at least Moyes can qualify for Europa.
If Lloris starts next game I'll be amazed. He's got no confidence and looks scares to death anytime a cross comes in. Second goal was all on him why he decided to play wing back I'm not sure 20 yards from goal. What happened to him?
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