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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (8 Viewers)

'Sebowski said:
"I'm not scared of Arsenal," Boateng told The Sun. "The problem with Arsenal is one day they play amazing football and then they play really badly. In the end they don't have balance. They either play unbelievable football or they don't know what they're doing."It comes down to inexperience. Arsenal don't know what you have to do to win titles - they're always close but they break down. The players are young, hungry, but don't know how to break this target. Without the experience it's difficult."There's always something missing at Arsenal. That bit is the experience - we have so much of that at Milan and that is what they need."
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:boxing:
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really looking forward to this game today!
 
'Sebowski said:
"I'm not scared of Arsenal," Boateng told The Sun. "The problem with Arsenal is one day they play amazing football and then they play really badly. In the end they don't have balance. They either play unbelievable football or they don't know what they're doing."It comes down to inexperience. Arsenal don't know what you have to do to win titles - they're always close but they break down. The players are young, hungry, but don't know how to break this target. Without the experience it's difficult."There's always something missing at Arsenal. That bit is the experience - we have so much of that at Milan and that is what they need."
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:boxing:
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WowTasker> calm down
 
I had to pick up my daughter at school and missed the start of the game. What is wrong with the pitch? Did they resod the two sides of the field?

 
"I'm not scared of Arsenal," Boateng told The Sun. "The problem with Arsenal is one day they play amazing football and then they play really badly. In the end they don't have balance. They either play unbelievable football or they don't know what they're doing.
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Hard to argue with him so far. :cry:
 
'Spartans Rule said:
"I'm not scared of Arsenal," Boateng told The Sun. "The problem with Arsenal is one day they play amazing football and then they play really badly. In the end they don't have balance. They either play unbelievable football or they don't know what they're doing.
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Hard to argue with him so far. :cry:
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This is an old fashioned butt whoopin so far. EPL teams have really be shown to be wanting this season by other leagues.
 
Very impressive by Milan. Chelsea now may be the loan English side to have a chance to get out of the round of 16.

 
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'NewlyRetired said:
Very impressive by Milan. Chelsea now may be the loan English side to get of the round of 16.
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Brilliant counter-attacking game from Milan. Sitting back deep in defense, letting Arsenal pass the ball around aimlessly until eventually they give it away, then hitting them quickly on the break.And Chelsea has to play Napoli, which isn't a gimme. Seems like just a few years ago it was hard to tell the Champions League apart from the FA Cup.
 
'Spartans Rule said:
'NewlyRetired said:
Very impressive by Milan. Chelsea now may be the loan English side to get of the round of 16.
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Brilliant counter-attacking game from Milan. Sitting back deep in defense, letting Arsenal pass the ball around aimlessly until eventually they give it away, then hitting them quickly on the break.And Chelsea has to play Napoli, which isn't a gimme. Seems like just a few years ago it was hard to tell the Champions League apart from the FA Cup.
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Napoli is a slight favorite at home tomorrow. Based on what I've seen from these two teams the past month, I lobbed in a small bet on the over 2.5 goals.
 
It was a good run. See you fellas in 2017 when Arsenal next qualifies for the Champions League....

 
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'CletiusMaximus said:
'Spartans Rule said:
'NewlyRetired said:
Very impressive by Milan. Chelsea now may be the loan English side to get of the round of 16.
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Brilliant counter-attacking game from Milan. Sitting back deep in defense, letting Arsenal pass the ball around aimlessly until eventually they give it away, then hitting them quickly on the break.And Chelsea has to play Napoli, which isn't a gimme. Seems like just a few years ago it was hard to tell the Champions League apart from the FA Cup.
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Napoli is a slight favorite at home tomorrow. Based on what I've seen from these two teams the past month, I lobbed in a small bet on the over 2.5 goals.
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I don't think they play tomorrow. Europa is tomorrow. I think Chelsea Napoli is next Tuesday.

 
'scoobygang said:
'PIK95 said:
I was happy when Pool signed Suarez even though I thought the play in the world cup was bush. I have watched all the games he has played in so far and he did something to pizz me of EVERY GAME. Now I have been a coach almost half of my life so I look at playets different than regular people but this guy is trouble. I have seen him give KG trouble after removing him from a match at least twice and one was really bad. He makes poor decisions on the pitch and then screams at an official like its their fault pretty much every ten minutes. He will take every shot himself no matter how far out or how covered he is. Even when teammates are wide open next to him or in front of goal he shoots, misses, screams down ref. I hate this player.He make ruined Kuyt also being so selfish.
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To make a basketball analogy, Suarez reminds me of Carmelo Anthony. Suarez is really talented, and he can generate a scoring chance out of seemingly nothing. But I don't think he helps Liverpool generate more chances, because the ball stops with him. The "offense", as it is, consists of him trying to beat 2 and 3 men and then taking a shot or making the killer pass. And when it comes off it's great and he looks like one of the best players in the world. When it doesn't come off, he still looks "involved", but he's essentially rendering his teammates useless. I think that if I were a professional, I'd hate playing with him.
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:goodposting:
 
Well that took much longer than expected but Brian Ching is finally back with Houston. Houston traded a conditional draft pick to Montreal and Ching took a pay cut.

 
Lots of rumors going around that Boca is coming back to MLS this summer and possibly to Vancouver. There is likely some truth to this with the mess at Rangers.

 
'Christo said:
'Steve Tasker said:
It was a good run. See you fellas in 2017 when Arsenal next qualifies for the Champions League....
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Could The Special One be coming to The Emirates?
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I don't know...I wouldn't rule it out though, and I wouldn't really be as upset as I would've been earlier in the year. A decent article here...I like Song and I think that Walcott is a decent enough player, but the rest of the article is fairly spot-on. I understand the desire to not overpay for talent like some other teams do, but the team yesterday wasn't even competitive. They didn't even get off the bus. Milan are a good team and are better than Arsenal talent-wise, I think, but Arsenal shouldn't be losing 4-0 to anyone, save for maybe Barcelona. It was almost as ugly as the 8-2 defeat at the start of the season, only that was before the rash of transfers in.
Arsenal standards reach dangerous low

By Ben Blackmore

For a split-second the ball was there, and then it was gone. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, perceived big-game choker but undoubted possessor of world-class talent, had tricked his way past Johan Djourou, 25-year-old "youngster" and former Birmingham City loanee. AC Milan were all set to complete their 4-0 Champions League drubbing of Arsenal, and every question mark over the increasingly under-fire Arsene Wenger was soon to be raised.

Other than the most obvious: What was Djourou doing on the pitch in the first place?

Djourou, of course, was not solely to blame for Arsenal's worst defeat in European competition. He was not even on the pitch for Milan's first two goals. Yet he embodies the lowering standard that Wenger has come to accept at Arsenal - and like a stone (Djourou most definitely isn't a rock) hitting water, it is a standard that is rippling through the rest of the squad.

In the context of what happened at the San Siro on Wednesday, Djourou was only on the pitch due to a rash of defensive injuries to Per Mertesacker, Carl Jenkinson and - picked up in the match itself - Laurent Koscielny. But honest Arsenal fans will acknowledge he is one of many who should not be wearing the shirt at all.

Neither, arguably, should the three names mentioned ahead of him.

Djourou is a symbol in this article to represent the many names who are lucky to be playing for one of England's greatest clubs - Carl Jenkinson, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos, Theo Walcott, Andrei Arshavin, Marouane Chamakh. An honest head says none of them have consistently shown they are capable of the form expected of past great Arsenal sides.

Wenger, mocked as a nutty-looking professor when he arrived in England, once produced arguably the best footballing side to grace the Premier League - the famous Invincibles. The current crop, by comparison, must be dubbed the Unreliables. His mathematician's mind was once heralded for picking out footballing gems such as Patrick Vieira and Cesc Fabregas at bargain-basement prices, but nowadays most football fans would rather walk to White Hart Lane for Harry Redknapp's street-savvy approach.

The dealings of the past 12 months are evidence enough that Redknapp could currently teach Wenger a thing or two. Scott Parker was so obviously needed at Arsenal that he may as well have been gift-wrapped with a one-way ticket to Holloway Road tube station, yet for a cool £5 million he is currently being hailed as the next England captain whilst in the white of Tottenham. Ryan Nelsen, who did not even cost a penny, is surely another who would walk into the Arsenal line-up.

Wenger, over time, has allowed the standard to drop so low at Arsenal that players who were once derided as liabilities are now championed as their strongest assets. Koscielny is a prime example, a defender capable of solid performances such as the one against Manchester United, but equally prone to a gaffe. The mind only has to rewind to the 3-2 defeat at Swansea in January to recall how he allowed Danny Graham in for the winning goal. When he arrived at Arsenal it was obvious he was not the type of player to stand up and be counted when 1-0 up away at Fulham (another loss for Arsenal), yet Wenger's latest comments on the Frenchman lead one to believe that the Gunners have the next Laurent Blanc.

"[We found him] in France of course, from a smaller team," he said. "You could see that there was something special there. I believe that last year you could already see the potential but he did not have that dominance in the duels that he has found this season. That makes him, I personally believe, one of the top-class central defenders in the Premier League."

Acceptance of mediocrity is the path to exactly that, and it only takes a comparison to the last trophy-winning Arsenal side to prove it. How many of the current XI would have featured in that 2005 FA Cup win against Manchester United?

Is Wojciech Szczesny better than Jens Lehmann? Temperament-wise perhaps. Are Kieran Gibbs or Santos superior to Ashley Cole? Only morally. What about Bacary Sagna - woefully exposed in Italy - compared to Lauren? Or Koscielny in relation to Kolo Toure? All answers, truthfully, are no. Only Vermaelen would step into that back five at the expense of Philippe Senderos.

In midfield, do Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey or Mikel Arteta lace the same boots as Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva or Cesc Fabregas? That question is purely rhetorical.

And are Walcott or Arshavin preferable to Jose Antonio Reyes or Robert Pires? Not on the form of the past six months. Only Robin van Persie qualifies for that 2005 team in the midfield or attacking positions, and even he would only make the bench behind Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry (the final was even won without Henry's services). That totals a grand number of two current players good enough for the side Wenger built seven years ago, with Jack Wilshere a promising up-and-comer.

As a result, the likes of Koscielny, Song and Arteta have become recognised as Arsenal's better players, the bar lowered deep enough for such players to raise their heads slightly above the mediocrity around them.

A mathematical mind Wenger does indeed possess, after all, he boasts a degree in economics, yet when it comes to the simple maths of football his sums do not add up. Summer outgoings: Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy. Replacements: Arteta, Yossi Benayoun and Santos. Three top-drawer players replaced by three players significantly less talent. Replace Heinz Tomato Ketchup with a low-budget alternative and what do you expect?

In Wenger's defence, he had no choice with the players he lost, but according to his board and all noises coming out of Arsenal, he most certainly had the money to replace them. "There have been suggestions that we keep stopping him from buying," chairman Peter Hill-Wood stated earlier in the season. "That is not the case."

Player for player, Arsenal have two or three at most who would challenge for a spot in the Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham XIs (yes, none of them are currently in the Champions League, but it's a hollow point): Van Persie, Wilshere and Vermaelen (the latter is generous). Simple maths says that statistic must change if Arsenal are to stop their slide from the country's best.

The club, the manager and the fans can defend the likes of Koscielny, Song and Djourou as strongly as they want - the loyalty is to be admired. But how often do these players return the favour by fighting for the reputation of the club? And how long, given current circumstances, until Wenger is heard championing the importance of the Europa League - another lowering of the standards?
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Eddie Johnson has re-signed with MLS. He will go through the allocation process tomorrow. With out knowing how much he is making, it is impossible to guess who might take a chance on him.

When he left MLS he was making $800k. My guess is that he signed for some where between 125k-175k. The lower his salary, the more likely someone is going to take a chance on him in the allocation process.

I think it is safe to say that his one promising career is down to its last chance at the ripe old age of only 27.

 
Here is the roster for the next U23 camp. I think this is one of the last camps before qualifying

GOALKEEPERS (2): Bill Hamid (D.C. United), Sean Johnson (Chicago Fire)

DEFENDERS (7): Greg Garza (Club Tijuana), Perry Kitchen (D.C. United), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin), Ike Opara (San Jose Earthquakes), Kofi Sarkodie (Houston Dynamo), Zarek Valentin (Montreal Impact), Jorge Villafaña (Chivas USA)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Gent), Dilly Duka (Columbus Crew), Jared Jeffrey (Mainz), Amobi Okugo (Philadelphia Union), Michael Stephens (LA Galaxy)

FORWARDS (8): Freddy Adu (Philadelphia Union), Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Terrence Boyd (Borussia Dortmund), Teal Bunbury (Sporting Kansas City), Joe Gyau (Hoffenheim), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia Union), Brek Shea (FC Dallas), Tony Taylor (Estoril Praia)

 
'NewlyRetired said:
Eddie Johnson has re-signed with MLS. He will go through the allocation process tomorrow. With out knowing how much he is making, it is impossible to guess who might take a chance on him.When he left MLS he was making $800k. My guess is that he signed for some where between 125k-175k. The lower his salary, the more likely someone is going to take a chance on him in the allocation process.I think it is safe to say that his one promising career is down to its last chance at the ripe old age of only 27.
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Goff says his salary will be $100k this year, with a club option of $150k next year. I think he is certainly worth a gamble at that low price.With Ching being traded this week from Montreal to Houston, I could easily see Montreal choosing him as they have first dibs in the allocation order.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider/post/mls-allocation-drama-eddie-johnson-and-luis-robles/2012/02/16/gIQA2tdkIR_blog.html#pagebreak
 
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At first I thught NYRB would be a good fit for EJ, but they don't need another forwrd who has no idea how to play his position.

 
'El Floppo said:
I completely missed Anelka going to China, I guess they outbid MLS.
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yup, outbid Montreal to be exact, as well as PSG.The market for the 30+ year old, slightly past his prime star is much bigger than it used to be even a few years ago. This is not good for MLS obviously. However, I feel like so much of Euro soccer is teetering on the brink of financial ruin and that is only going to help MLS, so it may be a wash.
 
'El Floppo said:
At first I thught NYRB would be a good fit for EJ, but they don't need another forwrd who has no idea how to play his position.
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Henry loses patience with an 18 year old like Agudelo, imagine his demeanor with EJ? lol :)No worries though, I don't forsee EJ getting that far down the list. NY is 12th.http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/allocation-ranking-feb-16-2012
 
'NewlyRetired said:
'El Floppo said:
I completely missed Anelka going to China, I guess they outbid MLS.
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yup, outbid Montreal to be exact, as well as PSG.The market for the 30+ year old, slightly past his prime star is much bigger than it used to be even a few years ago. This is not good for MLS obviously. However, I feel like so much of Euro soccer is teetering on the brink of financial ruin and that is only going to help MLS, so it may be a wash.
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I think this is good for MLS, actually. It makes it really hard for teams to make stupid moves such as grabbing a Marquez because China, India, and the Emirates leagues will be snapping up those players. So MLS is left looking for guys on the right side of 30 who have played well in places like Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland. I think that's a recipe for a better league (and it will draw the few former superstars who are serious about playing with semi-competitive sides, the right superstars, to MLS).
 
'scoobygang said:
'NewlyRetired said:
'El Floppo said:
I completely missed Anelka going to China, I guess they outbid MLS.
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yup, outbid Montreal to be exact, as well as PSG.The market for the 30+ year old, slightly past his prime star is much bigger than it used to be even a few years ago. This is not good for MLS obviously. However, I feel like so much of Euro soccer is teetering on the brink of financial ruin and that is only going to help MLS, so it may be a wash.
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I think this is good for MLS, actually. It makes it really hard for teams to make stupid moves such as grabbing a Marquez because China, India, and the Emirates leagues will be snapping up those players. So MLS is left looking for guys on the right side of 30 who have played well in places like Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland. I think that's a recipe for a better league (and it will draw the few former superstars who are serious about playing with semi-competitive sides, the right superstars, to MLS).
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I disagree to a point. I think they have made some good choices and some bad choices with the 30+ stars. For me there is no denying what players like Blanco, Henry, Becks etc have done for the league in the last 5 years off the field. It has put the league in a position not many of us ever dreamed of even 10 years ago.
 
Eddie Johnson was chosen with the first pick in the allocation order by Montreal. They announced that they immediately traded him. Details not yet released but there is speculation that he is going to Colorado.

 
'NewlyRetired said:
Eddie Johnson was chosen with the first pick in the allocation order by Montreal. They announced that they immediately traded him. Details not yet released but there is speculation that he is going to Colorado.
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Wow, did not see that coming. He got traded to Seattle for ***ito and Neagle. Well, Johnson is going to a fantastic offensive team. Morales, Montero, and Fernandez make for fantastic foil and there is hope that Zakuani will come back this season as well.
 
'NewlyRetired said:
'NewlyRetired said:
Eddie Johnson was chosen with the first pick in the allocation order by Montreal. They announced that they immediately traded him. Details not yet released but there is speculation that he is going to Colorado.
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Wow, did not see that coming. He got traded to Seattle for ***ito and Neagle. Well, Johnson is going to a fantastic offensive team. Morales, Montero, and Fernandez make for fantastic foil and there is hope that Zakuani will come back this season as well.
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Nice job by Montreal on this trade
 
'Ted Lange as your Bartender said:
'NewlyRetired said:
'NewlyRetired said:
Eddie Johnson was chosen with the first pick in the allocation order by Montreal. They announced that they immediately traded him. Details not yet released but there is speculation that he is going to Colorado.
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Wow, did not see that coming. He got traded to Seattle for ***ito and Neagle. Well, Johnson is going to a fantastic offensive team. Morales, Montero, and Fernandez make for fantastic foil and there is hope that Zakuani will come back this season as well.
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Nice job by Montreal on this trade
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I think so too. Although they did give up the number one slot in the allotment list and could miss out on a big name US player come the summer so they needed a strong trade here. Seattle is obviously hoping that surrounding Johnson with that much talent will give him a chance to succeed. ***ito was likely to start for Seattle up top so they must be projecting EJ to start. Frightenly, he was considered very out of shape when he went to Mexico and Seattle has their huge home tie against Santos in just 3 weeks.
 
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