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ANOTHER New Footie Thread

A bunch of head scratching today in the Arsenal game. If they cannot take any points from 2 games this season against this Chelsea team, I don’t see them beating them anytime soon.

- Mertesacker proves again IMO that he doesn’t belong in the starting lineup at CB anymore. However, based on the events last game between Costa & Gabriel, I can see why Wenger started Per.
- Alexis is back, but he is left on the bench for a woefully out of form Walcott? Even if Alexis could only give 60 minutes, I am sure it would have been better than what Walcott has been giving lately.
- So Per gets sent off with a red in the 18th minute and Gabriel comes on for Giroud? At that point Arsenal didn’t have a good option at striker based on how Walcott has been playing.
- Alexis finally comes on in the 57th minute, but for Campbell? Why not take off Walcott, or even Flamini? At this point Flamini was already moving forward, so why not replace him with an actual attacking player?
- Ox then comes on in the 75th minute. Again, why not for Flamini? Why replace Walcott at this point? There were only about 15-20 minutes remaining and Arsenal could have used as many attacking players on the pitch as possible.
- Lastly, why pay millions of pounds for Elneny if he cannot replace Flamini in the squad? I have read multiple articles of how he is versatile and can both attack and defend, yet he continues to sit.

Unfortunately the worst thing I heard all week was that Arsenal is trying to get Wenger to extend his contract past next year. Personally I wish he would retire after this season, I just don’t see it happening.
 
A bunch of head scratching today in the Arsenal game. If they cannot take any points from 2 games this season against this Chelsea team, I don’t see them beating them anytime soon.

- Mertesacker proves again IMO that he doesn’t belong in the starting lineup at CB anymore. However, based on the events last game between Costa & Gabriel, I can see why Wenger started Per.
- Alexis is back, but he is left on the bench for a woefully out of form Walcott? Even if Alexis could only give 60 minutes, I am sure it would have been better than what Walcott has been giving lately.
- So Per gets sent off with a red in the 18th minute and Gabriel comes on for Giroud? At that point Arsenal didn’t have a good option at striker based on how Walcott has been playing.
- Alexis finally comes on in the 57th minute, but for Campbell? Why not take off Walcott, or even Flamini? At this point Flamini was already moving forward, so why not replace him with an actual attacking player?
- Ox then comes on in the 75th minute. Again, why not for Flamini? Why replace Walcott at this point? There were only about 15-20 minutes remaining and Arsenal could have used as many attacking players on the pitch as possible.
- Lastly, why pay millions of pounds for Elneny if he cannot replace Flamini in the squad? I have read multiple articles of how he is versatile and can both attack and defend, yet he continues to sit.

Unfortunately the worst thing I heard all week was that Arsenal is trying to get Wenger to extend his contract past next year. Personally I wish he would retire after this season, I just don’t see it happening.


Agree with all of the above. Unfortunately, I don't think the Arsenal board really cares whether it wins the league or not as long as it is making money. And Walcott has been very disappointing this season. I am afraid Arsenal will not be able to keep up with Man City without an elite signing in January. And that isn't going to happen.
 
Agree with all of the above. Unfortunately, I don't think the Arsenal board really cares whether it wins the league or not as long as it is making money. And Walcott has been very disappointing this season. I am afraid Arsenal will not be able to keep up with Man City without an elite signing in January. And that isn't going to happen.

Surely there's some obscure French defender that Wenger has had his eyes on for some time, right? Sarcasm intended.
 
I heard the same thing about LvG. However, I also heard he offered his resignation after the game on Saturday and Woodward talked him out of it. I'm not sure he is going anywhere at the moment.
 
I heard the same thing about LvG. However, I also heard he offered his resignation after the game on Saturday and Woodward talked him out of it. I'm not sure he is going anywhere at the moment.

If the part about Woodward talking him out of resigning is true than Ed needs the axe as well. Send them both out of town and let Giggsy take over for the year and place an interim president of operations in place until someone can be brought in to replace Ed (shouldn't be hard since Ed has been somewhat of a disaster since taking over for Gill)
 
Well Chelsea looked like poop today until Hazard got on with ~ 20 mins to go. Then Gomes made a couple very nice saves to prevent Chelsea from claiming 3 points rather than just the 1.
 
Leicester City 3 - 0 Man City...with 30 minutes to go at the Etihad.

This story (Leicester's season) is spectacular!
 
Leicester City 3 - 0 Man City...with 30 minutes to go at the Etihad.

This story (Leicester's season) is spectacular!


Amazing story. And a big test for Arsenal. Hope for a repeat of their last match, but Leicester is much better defensively now.
 
Amazing story. And a big test for Arsenal. Hope for a repeat of their last match, but Leicester is much better defensively now.

Loved when Vardy missed the chance and got heckled by a Man City fan and he just flashed him a 3-0 sign with this hands.

Quite frankly Vardy missed 2 great chances that he's been potting all year after they were up 3-0.

At this point I'm cheering for the Tinkerman. Hope they win the league. That puts them on the 1 line for next year's UCL. If they make the UCL (and at this point with 10-13 point gap depending on the United result on Sunday) anywhere else (i.e. 2-4th and qualify) they'd be on the 4 line.
 
We look absolutely toothless today against relagation zone Sunderland. Depay comes on at around 60 and just looks like he doesn't really care to be out there. Doesn't get back to defend. Ugh, we're a mess.
 
That's a tough L.

I saw a graphic after the match that said right now, Moyes had 42 points through this point in the season to LVG's 41 now. Ouch!

The difference is the Prem is down this year so United are in 5th compared to 7th when Moyes was in charge.
 
My life's priorities have changed over the last 5 months and my watching buddy isn't here to watch these games with me, and it's tough for me to watch the games (and any other EPL match) without him so I don't turn on a whole lot of games, otherwise, I'd probably be a mess and my Saturday would have been ruined early this morning.

I've become a Leicester City fan almost overnight, and if Arsenal can't win the league, I will be rooting for the Foxes. What a story the Foxes have become and they are just not gonna go away anytime soon, besides, their keeper is the son of the keeper who is one of my all time favorite MUFC players, a keeper who had that huge PK save in the 1999 FA Cup semifinal replay (sorry Gunner fans).
 
I'm extremely nervous about tomorrow's match. Leicester believes in themselves, and I'm not sure The Arsenal does. Never thought this would have been such a titanic match at the beginning of the season. Gunners lose and they won't win the title.
 
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Like Manch, I had decided that if The Arsenal lost, I'd hope for the Foxes to win; it seemed like a good story. Then, they come out and play rugby instead, chippy and sometimes even dirty, doing their best to imitate Chelsea. Champions pull out games at the death that are must win, and this may be the catalyst to propel the Gunners forward, while diminishing the swagger Leicester had developed. All in all, a satisfactory result. Color me happy.
 
Unfortunately, I think Arsenal will have a tough time winning the league. They have a much more difficult schedule than Leicester and Spurs. Away at Manchester United, Spurs, and Man City. For them to win, players like Giroud and Ramsey are going to have to start doing something special. Even Sanchez needs to be better than he was today. Ozil and Cech can't do it all.
 
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Plus, they play twice as many games as Hotpants and Leicester due to Champions League and FA Cup fixtures. Regardless, I am heartened. A champion wins must win games, even at the death, and today was a sign of a champion. Leicester may find their confidence a little fuzzy now. We'll see.
 
Let me start a topic on a mature discussion. Something I've been wondering for a while. And I prefer not to post this as a thread of it's own on the LR as it will turn into a free for all (note the mature part).

I started watching soccer gradually over the last 10 years, then with my kid playing, I have really become a big fan-- especially of the USMNT and MLS. I do watch the PL casually on Saturday morning's. It's a great game- I see why the world loves it.

That said, there is a stereotype that only hard care left leaning political people in the US like the sport. I go to this one message board-- Big Soccer and it fits the stereotype pretty solidly. If you have ever been to the political board on that site you can see it-- pretty obvious.

I find this interesting because I've never thought my political leanings would dictate what sports I like...lol.
If a sport wants to grow one would assume it needs to have fans of all types-- white, black, short, tall, liberal, conservative, etc.

FYI- I generally lean right... do consider myself a moderate conservative.

Is this just the Big Soccer message board? Have you noticed this in soccer settings? Whether you are a conservative or liberal I think it ridiculous to like a sport because of political leanings... thoughts?
 
I see no correlation between politics and soccer fandom.

I do see a correlation between those who play FIFA and soccer fandom though. There's an inextricable link there.
 
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I see no correlation between politics and soccer fandom.

I do see a correlation between those who play FIFA and soccer fandom though. There's an inextricable link there.

I would think there should not be a link between politics and soccer fandom. It's interesting my kid plays in a suburban soccer league- it would fit the norm that at least half of the players come from conservative families. The message board Big Soccer is an interesting place for sure...

Thanks for the reply.
 
I'm not familiar with that message board, but I trust you're right.

I think your analysis is probably right though, that youth soccer has equal or close to equal representation, politically.

I use to frequent FoxSoccer.com's message boards like 7-8 years ago. At the time, there was a fair amount of international posters posting there. They had quite a bit of anti-American sentiment as I recall, and probably did lean left if not far left.
 
I would say a large portion of fans are left leaning politically because they do not reside in the USA. They might not be left leaning in their countries, but when compared to US political views, they are on the left. So when you look at a large site, like the one you listed, you will most likely see a lot more left leaning people than right.

As for youth soccer here in the US, I think you are going to see participation based on who lives in the area. In our area Gwinnett (my daughter plays for DSC in Dacula), there are going to be a lot more conservatives than liberals. Why? The general population is more conservative. However, if you go to areas in California (Los Angeles for example) or even New York (NYC for example), you will find more liberals than conservatives.
 
Dawg, both my boys played at DSC as well. With the influx of Hispanic players there, I think they perceived political leaning
may have moved leftward, but I haven't seen a game there in years. My youngest still referees there, I'll have to ask him.
 
Ed, you might be right about DSC but I have not seen it. My daughter is in the Academy program U9 currently, and we don't see a lot of Hispanic girls at all. Maybe they are more concentrated on the boys side or the upper age levels.
 
I find soccer fans are the most miserable and mean spirited fans in the world. Liverpool fans will bring up Munich and United fans will bring up Hillsborough (I am not necessarily talking about fans here in the US, most don't even know what Munich or Hillsborough mean). The violence in Europe suggest that, especially in Russia and England.

There is a strong allegiance to one's team, and I don't think that politics or religion have anything to do with it (except maybe for the Old Firm).

The only thing that is can see that correlates politics in soccer, is the corruptness.
 
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Kind of on this subject, does anyone watch Big Bang Theory? There was an episode where Sheldon said that everyone in east Texas thought soccer was a communist conspiracy. I have heard the same thing said by people here in south Georgia. I think they are only partially joking. LOL. Anyway, I think that as soccer continues to grow in popularity, the stereotypes will die out. I know people of both ends of the political spectrum who love soccer.
 
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Kind of on this subject, does anyone watch Big Bang Theory? There was an episode where Sheldon said that everyone in east Texas thought soccer was a communist conspiracy. I have heard the same thing said by people here in south Georgia. I think they are only partially joking. LOL. Anyway, I think that as soccer continues to grow in popularity, the stereotypes will die out. I know people of both ends of the political spectrum who love soccer.
I watch TBBT, but don't remember the quote (or the context).
 
I watch TBBT, but don't remember the quote (or the context).


It was the episode where Sheldon taught Leonard the rules of American football so he could watch games with Penny and her friends.
 
Ronaldo scored a sweet curler vs Roma just now. Real up 1-0.

Anyone watching it? For some reason, Roma have no sponsors on their kits. Anyone know why?
 
Times are tough in Italy, and my best guess is that they can't find a sponsor willing to pay Roma's demands, and let's say that Budweiser paid the Yankees $20 million a year to be kit sponsors and that contract ended and no one else would pay that kind of money, but Steel Reserve came in with a $3 million a year deal, but the Yankees don't want to cheapen their own brand and said no thank you. I think Lazio doesn't have one, either.

Carpi, who were at the lowest level of Italian footie about 5 years ago (they were in the 5th division in 2009/10), had these guys as their sponsor last year in Serie B: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blufin

BlugirlFLASH_EN.jpg
 
I take no joy in posting this, I really don't.



(It links to FB so it may not be visible)

Man United fans singing "We're f*cking sh*t" over and over again after today's Europa League defeat.

It's sad to see a once mighty side so down now.

I don't feel that way about Liverpool at all, mind you. They can stay in the cellar forever for all I care, but something about seeing Man United SO down is depressing.
 
I take no joy in posting this, I really don't.



(It links to FB so it may not be visible)

Man United fans singing "We're f*cking sh*t" over and over again after today's Europa League defeat.

It's sad to see a once mighty side so down now.

I don't feel that way about Liverpool at all, mind you. They can stay in the cellar forever for all I care, but something about seeing Man United SO down is depressing.


It is sad. But I sure hope they don't get their act together for Arsenal next weekend.
 
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I am at a complete loss for words. I think the traveling fans singing state it best: we are f#*king sh*t. LVG has systematically destroyed this squad. I can't even begin to explain what's happened to our team since last season... but they have no guts and no will.

I really don't know what's taking the board so long with showing LVG the door. There really is no sense in keeping him around any more. Giggs can certainly manage through the end of the season and it will at least give the fans the head which we seek.
 
as a Dutch fan i just cant figure VG out hes not coaching like a Dutch desciple at all. Really disappointed whats hes tried to do. If he hated the lineup so bad hed have changed it. Hes a liar
 
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