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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (2 Viewers)

'GoFishTN said:
'CletiusMaximus said:
'guru_007 said:
Bale is really effing fast, and really good.
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Bale has attained superstar status with the epl refs imo. Looking like a good battle for 4th in England this season.
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Unless they have an epic collapse (totally possible), Spurs are competing for 1st or 2nd.
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Why would they need an epic collapse to not make the top two? They're seven points behind two teams with one game in hand. Those teams have only dropped nine points in a half season. Spurs will likely need at least 88 pts to compete for the title. There is no margin for error at the top this year.
 
'scoobygang said:
'GoFishTN said:
'CletiusMaximus said:
'guru_007 said:
Bale is really effing fast, and really good.
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Bale has attained superstar status with the epl refs imo. Looking like a good battle for 4th in England this season.
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Unless they have an epic collapse (totally possible), Spurs are competing for 1st or 2nd.
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Why would they need an epic collapse to not make the top two? They're seven points behind two teams with one game in hand. Those teams have only dropped nine points in a half season. Spurs will likely need at least 88 pts to compete for the title. There is no margin for error at the top this year.
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I meant, they would need a collapse to fall into a fight for fourth.
 
'NewlyRetired said:
'Good said:
'Good said:
Bale is taking a lot of questionable shots here. Spurs don't look overly impressive.
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That one wasn't questionable. 1-0.
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You had me confused for a second. You know you are watching a replay right?
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I was thinking the same thing GPJ was right before he scored. Bale was taking too many bad shots when there was a better pass option. Right after GPJ posted that, Bale scored and said ####, GPJ!
 
'Sebowski said:
'NewlyRetired said:
'Good said:
'Good said:
Bale is taking a lot of questionable shots here. Spurs don't look overly impressive.
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That one wasn't questionable. 1-0.
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You had me confused for a second. You know you are watching a replay right?
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I was thinking the same thing GPJ was right before he scored. Bale was taking too many bad shots when there was a better pass option. Right after GPJ posted that, Bale scored and said ####, GPJ!
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I meant confused about posting what seemed like an in game update from a game I seem to have already seen the result of. Maybe my time line is all off or I saw his posts much later than I thought. When I responded to him I could have sworn it was already 2-0 and Bale had both. I had even checked my fantasy team and saw Bale did well. I need some more Eggnog I think :)
 
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FTR, I was watching it live. And Bale was making some fairly bad decisions (except for one good shot that required a great save to keep out) in the first half. His second goal was beautiful.

 
'Good said:
FTR, I was watching it live. And Bale was making some fairly bad decisions (except for one good shot that required a great save to keep out) in the first half. His second goal was beautiful.
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I heard an interview with Redknapp where he stated that Bale was given a free role much like VdV which makes sense considering he was in the middle and right as much as he was on the left. He has played on the right this season as an inside forward, but outside of those few occasions he has always played on the left. It seemed to do well when he was allowed to run, but when he got caught in a position where he needed to create he struggled.I think it's good for his development (he's only 22), but there is likely to be some growing pains if he continues to get called on to play what is essentially a brand new position for him.
 
^ exactly. ^

He's been a terrific winger, transitioning to a new role will take some time. He attacks the wings brilliantly. But with the losses of Crouch, ineffectiveness of Pav, Harry's resistance to playing Defoe, Bale's role is changing.

Also, Parker being brought in has helped out tremendously as that guys effort gives other midfielders more free reign to make moves.

One thing I thought was lost on Bale's first goal was how adeptly Adebayor accepted a very difficult pass into the box, settled it and moved it to Bale for the strike. For my money, that was effing brilliant.

I like me some Spurs this year, fun team. Not deep enough in my eyes to challenge top two, and I kinda think they will battle for 3-4-5. I know they're higher now, but Arsenal's been playing better, last game not withstanding, and Chelsea gotta get better, no?

Plus, they have quite a few liabilities on defense that need be addressed.

I'm reading Krancjar as good as gone in January, shame for Spurs, good for Niko. I always thought he was a fantastic player, needs playing time though. Maybe some money will free up and they can get another piece or something

 
'guru_007 said:
^ exactly. ^He's been a terrific winger, transitioning to a new role will take some time. He attacks the wings brilliantly. But with the losses of Crouch, ineffectiveness of Pav, Harry's resistance to playing Defoe, Bale's role is changing.Also, Parker being brought in has helped out tremendously as that guys effort gives other midfielders more free reign to make moves.One thing I thought was lost on Bale's first goal was how adeptly Adebayor accepted a very difficult pass into the box, settled it and moved it to Bale for the strike. For my money, that was effing brilliant.I like me some Spurs this year, fun team. Not deep enough in my eyes to challenge top two, and I kinda think they will battle for 3-4-5. I know they're higher now, but Arsenal's been playing better, last game not withstanding, and Chelsea gotta get better, no?Plus, they have quite a few liabilities on defense that need be addressed. I'm reading Krancjar as good as gone in January, shame for Spurs, good for Niko. I always thought he was a fantastic player, needs playing time though. Maybe some money will free up and they can get another piece or something
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I consider Harry's reluctance to use Kranjcar as one of the big mysteries on the team. And I'm definitely not alone, If you peruse any Tottenham boards it seems a universally accepted enigma. He's a great player and with off and on injuries to Defoe and VdV during the season he has been in a perfect position to be used, but Harry opts for Pav, which boggles the mind. He's half the player and simply ends up in Adebayor's way instead of filling in the spaces behind him.Perhaps the move of Bale to a more free role will allow Kranjcar to fill the void on the left (his most natural position).It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.
 
'guru_007 said:
^ exactly. ^

He's been a terrific winger, transitioning to a new role will take some time. He attacks the wings brilliantly. But with the losses of Crouch, ineffectiveness of Pav, Harry's resistance to playing Defoe, Bale's role is changing.

Also, Parker being brought in has helped out tremendously as that guys effort gives other midfielders more free reign to make moves.

One thing I thought was lost on Bale's first goal was how adeptly Adebayor accepted a very difficult pass into the box, settled it and moved it to Bale for the strike. For my money, that was effing brilliant.

I like me some Spurs this year, fun team. Not deep enough in my eyes to challenge top two, and I kinda think they will battle for 3-4-5. I know they're higher now, but Arsenal's been playing better, last game not withstanding, and Chelsea gotta get better, no?

Plus, they have quite a few liabilities on defense that need be addressed.

I'm reading Krancjar as good as gone in January, shame for Spurs, good for Niko. I always thought he was a fantastic player, needs playing time though. Maybe some money will free up and they can get another piece or something
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It was!
 
'guru_007 said:
Chelsea gotta get better, no?
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I would guess so but man have they got problems. They are just a shell of themselves imo and nobody wants to play defense. They miss Essien something awful. He freed up a lot of other players and they really lack any bite in the midfield.
 
'Eephus said:
Since this is the time of the year for lists, here's the Footy Blog's Top 100 Footballers in the World (or at least the first installment of it).
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Puyol at 91 seems way low. There aren't too many defenders I'd rate higher. He probably gets underrated because Barca is so good and controls the ball so much. But I think I'd prefer him to Pique who I'm sure they are going to have much higher. He's the guy that allows everyone else to do their thing by racing back and providing coverage sideline to sideline. Injuries have slowed him though and I'm not sure how they account for that in the list.
 
'prefontaine said:
'Eephus said:
Since this is the time of the year for lists, here's the Footy Blog's Top 100 Footballers in the World (or at least the first installment of it).
Click to expand...
Puyol at 91 seems way low. There aren't too many defenders I'd rate higher. He probably gets underrated because Barca is so good and controls the ball so much. But I think I'd prefer him to Pique who I'm sure they are going to have much higher. He's the guy that allows everyone else to do their thing by racing back and providing coverage sideline to sideline. Injuries have slowed him though and I'm not sure how they account for that in the list.
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He probably got knocked down for missing so much time this calendar year. He has struggled to stay healthy and played a couple games at less than 100% and it showed. I agree with you though. I think Barca should build him a statue. Love that guy.

 
'prefontaine said:
'Eephus said:
Since this is the time of the year for lists, here's the Footy Blog's Top 100 Footballers in the World (or at least the first installment of it).
Click to expand...
Puyol at 91 seems way low. There aren't too many defenders I'd rate higher. He probably gets underrated because Barca is so good and controls the ball so much. But I think I'd prefer him to Pique who I'm sure they are going to have much higher. He's the guy that allows everyone else to do their thing by racing back and providing coverage sideline to sideline. Injuries have slowed him though and I'm not sure how they account for that in the list.
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I'm sure that's mostly just down to the injuries (we'll see if they similarly downgrade Vidic). A healthy Puyol can reasonably claim to be the best Central Defender in the world (and a pretty good fullback on either side to boot), but he has missed a lot of time. We'll see where they list Mats Hummels, who would top my list on current form.
 
I'm reasonably certain there's more than a couple places of difference between Vagner Love and Karim Benzema. As disappointing as the start of Benzema Madrid career was, he's been great for the last year. His hold-up play is immaculate.

 
I bet he is not the only player who feels like this.

Until this week, Preston Zimmerman was a relatively unknown journeyman, a player who left Pasco, Wash., as a teenager to try his luck in Europe before spending five years bouncing around Germany’s lower tiers.Then on Wednesday, he suddenly was the talk of the American soccer community. The 23-year-old, who now plays as a midfielder for SV Darmstadt 98 in the 3. Fußball-Liga (third division), unleashed an astonishing Twitter tirade against U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann and the foreign-born players he has recently called in.“I thought it would be cool getting Klinsmann as U.S. national team coach, but I think it's actually worse than when (Bob) Bradley was coach,” Zimmerman began.Then the former U.S. Under-20 player went no-holds barred in his rant.“Requirements to get on U.S. national team under Klinsmann: Be a fake American, be born outside the U.S., have one U.S. distant relative," Zimmerman wrote. "I see the team is calling in guys who are really Germans who know they've got no chance of playing for Germany so they'll settle with the U.S. That's embarrassing when a good friend of mine says he met one of the guys at the airport and he couldn't reply back in English as U.S. national (team) player.”One of the notable trends under Klinsmann, who coached his first U.S. game in August, has been the inclusion of German-born players who qualify to represent the U.S. thanks to an American parent. Fabian Johnson and Danny Williams are the notable newcomers on the senior team -- Timmy Chandler debuted under Bradley -- while a handful of younger players are under consideration for the Under-23/Olympic team managed by Caleb Porter.“Don't mistake any of my tweets for jealousy; I never expect to be called in or involved with anything, and it doesn't hurt my feelings,” Zimmerman wrote. “I would just like to see true, real Americans who would live and die for this country representing our country. But when the Olympic team holds mini-camps in Germany with all ‘European players,' then something is wrong. The kids in college are just as good, if not better, than some of the kids from the (German club) reserve teams getting invited to camp. But the college kids don't speak German and they don't have ties outside the U.S., so they don't qualify for the U.S. under Klinsmann.”An Under-23 camp in November was conducted in Germany without Porter, who was coaching the University of Akron, and featured a host of Europe-based players with U.S. eligibility. Several players who likely will contribute to the Olympic effort were unavailable at that time because of MLS commitments. This month’s recent U-23 camp in Florida included five foreign-born players. Porter will gather the team again in January at The Home Depot Center outside Los Angeles.“If Klinsmann were winning and very successful with his approach, then my words would carry no weight," Zimmerman wrote. "But I don't see any success. Squeaking out 1-0 wins against CONCACAF villages isn't success. People can bash me for whatever reason, but I hate seeing my country's national team being misused and disrespected.“Klinsmann just wants to let everyone know he's in charge; a U.S. team needs to comprise of real Americans. I know plenty of guys who are in the MLS and know what it's like to play for their country who deserve a look for the U.S. team. I hope the U.S. team wins and dominates just as much as anybody else because it's my country and I want my country to be No. 1 and dominate. Don't want anybody to take my tweets negatively or as criticism to make somebody look bad; I just have passion and interest in the U.S. team.”Last week, Klinsmann named a 20-man roster for his January training camp and the exhibitions against Venezuela and Panama. All are U.S.-born. The new coach is 2-4-1, with wins over Honduras and Slovenia. In a conversation with Sporting News last month, he addressed the foreign-born national team player issue.“It’s a different part of American culture. It’s the global picture that America represents,” Klinsmann told Sporting News before a match in Paris. “Those are kids who came through military families or for whatever reasons, working reasons of their parents, then they grow up with a different educational system, which gives them in soccer terms an edge ahead of American kids growing up in the U.S.”Klinsmann stressed that players like Johnson and Williams are Americans, too.“But those kids, they have a very special connection to the U.S. no matter where they’re born," the coach said. "The opportunity to represent the U.S. on the soccer field is another big emotional piece of their connection to their country. Now you live in this dual-citizenship world that is normal. It’s globalization. It’s just the way it is. If you’re Mexican-American or you’re coming from the Caribbean, South America or Europe, everyone has a special connection to the United States. That shows you the path of the U.S. Not only that it’s a country of immigrants into the U.S., but it’s also an export country. It goes both ways."I met many, many Americans all over the place when I played, and they changed their perspectives about the world because they lived and adjusted to those countries where they lived. But inside they remained American.”
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I suppose I understand what Zimmerman is saying, but he's making a blanket assumption that all of these German-Americans are purely mercenaries who couldn't give a crap otherwise about the US. Maybe some are - Chandler in particular seems relunctant to get himself cap-tied. But we dont know whats motivating all these kids. After all, aren't a few of these kids sons of US servicemen? And yet that's somehow less "American" than some kid in Connecticut whose mom shuttles him back and forth to practice in the Astro minivan?

And if other players feel this way - that the US team should be made up of "Americans" - then my response is: play better than these guys, it will no longer be an issue.

Oh and the "US college players are better than foreign trained players" argument is laughable. Some are im sure, but the college system as a means of developing world class players is flawed. If it weren't, then MLS wouldn't invest a dime in their own academy system.

 
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'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:
I suppose I understand what Zimmerman is saying, but he's making a blanket assumption that all of these German-Americans are purely mercenaries who couldn't give a crap otherwise about the US. Maybe some are - Chandler in particular seems relunctant to get himself cap-tied. But we dont know whats motivating all these kids. After all, aren't a few of these kids sons of US servicemen? And yet that's somehow less "American" than some kid in Connecticut whose mom shuttles him back and forth to practice in the Astro minivan?And if other players feel this way - that the US team should be made up of "Americans" - then my response is: play better than these guys, it will no longer be an issue.Oh and the "US college players are better than foreign trained players" argument is laughable. Some are im sure, but the college system as a means of developing world class players is flawed. If it weren't, then MLS wouldn't invest a dime in their own academy system.
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20 years ago I felt much stronger against the mercenary approach the US took with Stewart, Wegerle and Dooley. But in the following two decades I came to realize that nearly every country does what ever they can to uncover talent, whether they are home grown or not. Even some of the biggest (soccer wise) countries in the world have had "mercenaries" (for lack of a better word) on their national teams.And as we now know, we have had players move from the US to other countries so the flow is going both ways.So now I lean much closer to what you think. One thing I would say though, I would make it an absolute requirement to play on the National team that any player must learn English, at least to a rough degree.
 
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From Sky Sports (unlike most English news, they are relatively trust worthy).

Sky Sources: Thierry Henry set to agree two-month loan deal with Arsenal in the next 48 hours. More details on SSN Through the Night.
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Sounds like Henry and Arsenal have agreed but NY has not yet from other reports I read.
 
After two plus months of the French press saying Beck's is all but signed by PSG, that he got an apartment, that Posh went to pick out schools etc etc, it looks like may have made up most of it. Now even the director of PSG is not sure he will sign. Shame he just won't make a decision one way or another and allow LA and PSG to move on with or without him.

PARIS -- Paris Saint-Germain's bid to sign David Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy might be thwarted by family matters, the French club's sporting director Leonardo said Friday.Leonardo has made no secret of his admiration for the 36-year-old former England captain. He said at a news conference there are other factors that may influence where Beckham goes when the transfer window opens next week."He is in L.A., he has his family over there. We have talked a lot and we are still talking, but I'm not sure it will be done," Leonardo said while PSG introduced Carlo Ancelotti as its new coach.Beckham's five-year contract with the Galaxy ended last month after winning his first MLS Cup. He could accept an offer to stay with the Galaxy, and several English clubs also have expressed interest in signing him.French media reports in recent weeks have hyped Beckham's possible arrival, with talk of an 18-month contract and an estimated monthly salary of $1.05 million."We have a very good rapport with David Beckham, but we never said it was a done deal. We have studied it and we are studying it," Leonardo said. "It's always been a question of personal matters (with Beckham)," rather than contract issues.
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Carroll wide open on goal and his first touch sends the ball three yards ahead to the goalkeeper. What on earth happened to this guy?

 
This has been making the rounds on Twitter today. To think multiple grown men likely thought this through and decided it was a good idea. Mjolnir, I recommend you look away from this, you may receive irreparable damage.

This is not a joke

 
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'scoobygang said:
'prefontaine said:
'Eephus said:
Since this is the time of the year for lists, here's the Footy Blog's Top 100 Footballers in the World (or at least the first installment of it).
Click to expand...
Puyol at 91 seems way low. There aren't too many defenders I'd rate higher. He probably gets underrated because Barca is so good and controls the ball so much. But I think I'd prefer him to Pique who I'm sure they are going to have much higher. He's the guy that allows everyone else to do their thing by racing back and providing coverage sideline to sideline. Injuries have slowed him though and I'm not sure how they account for that in the list.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that's mostly just down to the injuries (we'll see if they similarly downgrade Vidic). A healthy Puyol can reasonably claim to be the best Central Defender in the world (and a pretty good fullback on either side to boot), but he has missed a lot of time. We'll see where they list Mats Hummels, who would top my list on current form.
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Hummels showed up today at 73. Also today de Jong, Ramos, and Prince Boateng make an appearance. Not the most likable group. My link
 
'jonessed said:
Carroll wide open on goal and his first touch sends the ball three yards ahead to the goalkeeper. What on earth happened to this guy?
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What a purty ball from Gerrard, too. :wub:Left with about 10min left...until then Carroll looks so uncomfortable with the ball at his feet. He'd get it and the first thing he'd do is look to pass...not even a thought about goal.
 
'The Gator said:
'jonessed said:
Carroll wide open on goal and his first touch sends the ball three yards ahead to the goalkeeper. What on earth happened to this guy?
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What a purty ball from Gerrard, too. :wub:Left with about 10min left...until then Carroll looks so uncomfortable with the ball at his feet. He'd get it and the first thing he'd do is look to pass...not even a thought about goal.
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He was actually pretty comfortable with the ball at his feet last year at Newcastle. He is best in the air, but he had his fair share of assists and goals scored with his feet.Maybe he crossed paths with Torres through Liverpool and he caught cantshootfor####itis.
 
I'm full on homo for Steven Gerrard again after watching today's game. Wore my Gerrard jersey that I ordered from Thailand in July and received the week before Christmas to dinner tonight.

 
'NewlyRetired said:
This has been making the rounds on Twitter today. To think multiple grown men likely thought this through and decided it was a good idea. Mjolnir, I recommend you look away from this, you may receive irreparable damage.

This is not a joke
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:eek: Klinsi seemed to be having a little too much fun around 1:00 and a few times later.

'The Z Machine said:
LOL at der die mannschaft (or whoever it's called) circa 1993
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pretty close.
 
ManU dominating possession, but not a whole lot of great chances through 35 min. Blackburn is parking the bus, as you might imagine.

Nani has a stylized "N" shaved into one side of his head.

 
'Good said:
Blackburn's starting LB, Adam Henley, is 17 years old and was born in the US. He looks pretty solid here so far. *arches eyebrow*
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They haven't mentioned why he was born here. Does he have an American parent? His wiki page isn't that helpful
 
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