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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (4 Viewers)

The Gator said:
If I was a newbie to the EPL, i'd pick Southampton
Click to expand...
West Ham were always sort of similar for me. A medium-sized team that had a lot of academy success and tries to play good soccer.

But I'd probably pick Arsenal. Not owned by a sheik or an oligarch, not Man United, play the right way and have been successful on a budget for a long time now.

Tottenham are basically Liverpool light these days and have 1/20th the history.

Everton, Villa -- sure if you like white rice on milquetoast.

ETA: forgot Newcastle -- but who'd pick a team with a clown car for a mascot?

ETA2: tl;dr = the only good choices are Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton or West Ham.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
charvik said:
John Bender said:
Christo said:
John Bender said:
I'm out of likes for the day, but wanted to thank you too Native

Thanks in advance to anyone else who gives me their Top 5 things to know.

I'm sick this weekend, so having fun reading up while in bed here.
Click to expand...
1. Don't pick Chelsea

2. Don't pick Chelsea

3. Don't pick Chelsea

4. Don't pick Chelsea

5. Pick any team but Chelsea
Click to expand...
ALong with Top 5 "things" would be cool to hear everyone's squad and maybe a sentence or two as to why.

Feel free :)
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My team is and will always be Liverpool Football Club. It's the only team in any sport that I am truly a fan of. I watch every game, and have for the last 20+ years, even pre-season, lowly cup games, and if I can sneak in a youth game I will watch that as well.

I wrote this as an intro in the past, and it has been reposted a couple of times since (I added some notes to help explain):

My family has always been huge football supporters, mainly following the local team (I grew up in Sweden, close to Halmstad on the west coast, so the local team was Halmstad BK [Note: League Champions in -76 and -79]), but also watching any football we could find on TV. Every Saturday, the entire family was gathered around to see first division games [Note: English first division, now called English Premier League] broadcast live and during the fall of 1974 I have been told I became obsessed with the team in red [Note: 3-4 yrs old at the time]. I was a goal keeper, so Ray Clemence was a given favourite, but I remember Keegan and Toshack as well. Come Christmas of -74 I wanted some Liverpool gear, and I remember instead getting a baby blue shoulder [Note: Manchester City] bag my grand father fished out of the river. I was inconsolable for days, and it didn't stop until my dad bought me a Liverpool shirt (he was and is a Derby County fan), coincidentally on the boxing day win over the blue mancs (4-1). [Note: The blue Mancs are Manchester City, which plays in a baby blue first kit.]

The love for the club grew from there. The first year we did fall short (yes, to Derby County) but Paisley [Note: Legendary coach for the club] brought me much joy and bragging rights on the playground pitch in those early years, since all the kids had their own favourite team. It was a joyous first decade of support, with plenty of silverware, but I do remember watching Heysel and Hillsborough live on the telly.

[Note: Longer side bar to explain Heysel and Hillsborough]

Heysel Stadium Disaster:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heysel_Stadium_disaster

The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a collapsing wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Juventus of Italy and Liverpool of England. 39 people—mostly Juventus fans—died and 600 were injured.

Approximately 1 hour before the Juventus-Liverpool final was due to kick off, a large group of Liverpool fans breached a fence separating them from a "neutral area" which contained mostly Juventus fans. The latter ran back on the terraces and away from the threat into a concrete retaining wall. Fans already seated near the wall were crushed; eventually the wall collapsed. Many people climbed over to safety, but many others died or were badly injured. The game was played despite the disaster in order to prevent further violence, with Juventus winning 1-0.

The tragedy resulted in all English football clubs being placed under an indefinite ban by UEFA from all European competitions (lifted in 1990–91), with Liverpool being excluded for an additional 3 years, later reduced to 1, and fourteen Liverpool fans found guilty of manslaughter and each sentenced to three years' imprisonment. The disaster was later described as "the darkest hour in the history of the UEFA competitions".
Click to expand...
English football had a (deserved) reputation for having a lot of hooliganism, and a lot of hooligans traveled to the continent, causing trouble, wearing whatever colours the English team was. This gives some context to:

Hillsborough disaster:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster

The Hillsborough disaster occurred on 15 April 1989 at the 1988–89 FA Cupsemi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, England.

A crush resulted in the deaths of 96 people and injuries to 766 others. The incident has since been blamed primarily on the police for letting too many people enter the stadium. It remains the worst stadium-related disaster in British history, and one of the world's worst football disasters.
Click to expand...
[Note: Hillsborough was originally blamed on Liverpool supporters, and the legal proceedings clearing the names of the innocents who died are still going on today.]

[Note: In 1991 the club was in shambles, coincidentally coinciding with the time in my life I could afford to go see them/was old enough to go]

The rough years started with Souness in 1991, Evans, and I don't remember much joy during those years, even though I think the rough years cemented my commitment to the club. The biggest beef I had was that one of my youth favourites Grobelaar didn't play as much as I wanted.

A lot of suffering over the years, coupled with some highlights too of course in the form of silverware, but no league titles in a long time. Lived through the debacle of Gillett and Hicks [Note: American owners who nearly bankrupted the club, which would have seen them thrown out of football altogether], the losing bid from DIC (we could've been the first (?) club with unlimited oil resources).

I could go on and on...

Yeah, tl;dr, I tend to get pretty wordy when talking about my club.
Click to expand...
Don't listen to the scouser's, hop on with the Blue's

 
wdcrob said:
So here's to Steven Gerrard -- who always gave all he had, wore his team's shirt with pride, and was loyal to the end. We should all be so lucky to have people say the same of us when we go.
Click to expand...
:thumbup:

First Scholes, then Lampard and now Gerrard. It'll be weird with all 3 of them gone. Hopefully for you guy LFC does a better job replacing Gerrard than United has replacing Scholes.

 
wdcrob said:
The Gator said:
If I was a newbie to the EPL, i'd pick Southampton
Click to expand...
West Ham were always sort of similar for me. A medium-sized team that had a lot of academy success and tries to play good soccer.

But I'd probably pick Arsenal. Not owned by a sheik or an oligarch, not Man United, play the right way and have been successful on a budget for a long time now.

Tottenham are basically Liverpool light these days and have 1/20th the history.

Everton, Villa -- sure if you like white rice on milquetoast.

ETA: forgot Newcastle -- but who'd pick a team with a clown car for a mascot?

ETA2: tl;dr = the only good choices are Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton or West Ham.
Click to expand...
Random aside, I went to a West Ham home game last year, their stadium is a complete dump. These new MLS stadiums in places like Philly and San Jose blow some of these mid tier EPL team stadiums out of the water. With as much money as the EPL generates one would think a West Ham would have a more suitable stadium. Their revenue sharing model must be terrible.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
TripItUp said:
wdcrob said:
The Gator said:
If I was a newbie to the EPL, i'd pick Southampton
Click to expand...
West Ham were always sort of similar for me. A medium-sized team that had a lot of academy success and tries to play good soccer.

But I'd probably pick Arsenal. Not owned by a sheik or an oligarch, not Man United, play the right way and have been successful on a budget for a long time now.

Tottenham are basically Liverpool light these days and have 1/20th the history.

Everton, Villa -- sure if you like white rice on milquetoast.

ETA: forgot Newcastle -- but who'd pick a team with a clown car for a mascot?

ETA2: tl;dr = the only good choices are Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton or West Ham.
Click to expand...
Random aside, I went to a West Ham home game last year, their stadium is a complete dump. These new MLS stadiums in places like Philly and San Jose blow some of these mid tier EPL team stadiums out of the water. With as much money as the EPL generates one would think a West Ham would have a more suitable stadium. Their revenue sharing model must be terrible.
Click to expand...
IIRC, West Ham is in line to get the Olympic Stadium

 
TripItUp said:
wdcrob said:
The Gator said:
If I was a newbie to the EPL, i'd pick Southampton
Click to expand...
West Ham were always sort of similar for me. A medium-sized team that had a lot of academy success and tries to play good soccer.

But I'd probably pick Arsenal. Not owned by a sheik or an oligarch, not Man United, play the right way and have been successful on a budget for a long time now.

Tottenham are basically Liverpool light these days and have 1/20th the history.

Everton, Villa -- sure if you like white rice on milquetoast.

ETA: forgot Newcastle -- but who'd pick a team with a clown car for a mascot?

ETA2: tl;dr = the only good choices are Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton or West Ham.
Click to expand...
Random aside, I went to a West Ham home game last year, their stadium is a complete dump. These new MLS stadiums in places like Philly and San Jose blow some of these mid tier EPL team stadiums out of the water. With as much money as the EPL generates one would think a West Ham would have a more suitable stadium. Their revenue sharing model must be terrible.
Click to expand...
They will move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016. One of the problems with clubs like West Ham and QPR is there's not a lot of open space to build new stadiums in London.

 
Christo said:
TripItUp said:
wdcrob said:
The Gator said:
If I was a newbie to the EPL, i'd pick Southampton
Click to expand...
West Ham were always sort of similar for me. A medium-sized team that had a lot of academy success and tries to play good soccer.

But I'd probably pick Arsenal. Not owned by a sheik or an oligarch, not Man United, play the right way and have been successful on a budget for a long time now.

Tottenham are basically Liverpool light these days and have 1/20th the history.

Everton, Villa -- sure if you like white rice on milquetoast.

ETA: forgot Newcastle -- but who'd pick a team with a clown car for a mascot?

ETA2: tl;dr = the only good choices are Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton or West Ham.
Click to expand...
Random aside, I went to a West Ham home game last year, their stadium is a complete dump. These new MLS stadiums in places like Philly and San Jose blow some of these mid tier EPL team stadiums out of the water. With as much money as the EPL generates one would think a West Ham would have a more suitable stadium. Their revenue sharing model must be terrible.
Click to expand...
They will move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016. One of the problems with clubs like West Ham and QPR is there's not a lot of open space to build new stadiums in London.
Click to expand...
Ahhhh...that makes a lot of sense.

 
wdcrob said:
The Gator said:
If I was a newbie to the EPL, i'd pick Southampton
Click to expand...
West Ham were always sort of similar for me. A medium-sized team that had a lot of academy success and tries to play good soccer.

But I'd probably pick Arsenal. Not owned by a sheik or an oligarch, not Man United, play the right way and have been successful on a budget for a long time now.

Tottenham are basically Liverpool light these days and have 1/20th the history.

Everton, Villa -- sure if you like white rice on milquetoast.

ETA: forgot Newcastle -- but who'd pick a team with a clown car for a mascot?

ETA2: tl;dr = the only good choices are Arsenal, Liverpool, Southampton or West Ham.
Click to expand...
:censored: :censored: :censored:

:hot: :hot: :hot:

:boxing: :boxing: :boxing:

 
True West Ham story...

When I was in London for the first time we met a work colleague of the friend I was visiting in West Ham for a lunch of a meat pie and mash. About which I'll say no more.

Anyhow, we had lunch around noon and then hit a local pub where we played video games, bumper pool and drank enough Newcastle's Brown ale that 20 years later I've never had another.

Took the tube home and ordered pizza which was also delivered with a six pack.

Then bar-hopped in Picadilly Circus before hitting one of the big, touristy clubs (The Palladium maybe?), where my friends left me at midnight dancing with a woman who'd been poured into a gold dress. Stephanie from Norwich she was. Worked at Nestles.

Luckily my friends stuffed their address and 20 quid for the cab in my pocket before they left.

I made it home around 4:30am and my friend's husband had been to sleep and was up to watch the Australian Grand Prix.

By the time I woke up around 2pm and went to Camden Market for lunch it was already dark again (it was November) and my internal clock was completely destroyed for the rest of my visit.

Ok, I lied. It's not really a "West Ham" story. But I do hold the neighborhood responsible for the events of the day.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
wdcrob said:
True West Ham story...

When I was in London for the first time we met a work colleague of the friend I was visiting in West Ham for a lunch of a meat pie and mash. About which I'll say no more.

Anyhow, we had lunch around noon and then hit a local pub where we played video games, bumper pool and drank enough Newcastle's Brown ale that 20 years later I've never had another.

Took the tube home and ordered pizza which was also delivered with a six pack.

Then bar-hopped in Picadilly Circus before hitting one of the big, touristy clubs (The Palladium maybe?), where my friends left me at midnight dancing with a woman who'd been poured into a gold dress. Stephanie from Norwich she was. Worked at Nestles.

Luckily my friends stuffed their address and 20 quid for the cab in my pocket before they left.

I made it home around 4:30am and my friend's husband had been to sleep and was up to watch the Australian Grand Prix.

By the time I woke up around 2pm and went to Camden Market for lunch it was already dark again (it was November) and my internal clock was completely destroyed for the rest of my visit.

Ok, I lied. It's not really a "West Ham" story. But I do hold the neighborhood responsible for the events of the day.
Click to expand...
The Lord Stanley?

 
roadkill1292 said:
The Gator said:
If I was a newbie to the EPL, i'd pick Southampton
Click to expand...
If the crappy Gooners will do their job in the Cup, he'd be able to cheer on Saints against swarthy and dangerous eastern Europeans in the tournament next year. Well, not the good tournament.
Click to expand...
Don't worry. Saints will finish 6th and be in, while Spurs will finish 7th. #### will then win and Spurs will have to trudge to Transylvania for another year.

 
Jose is not ####ing around. I think he wants to win out and hit 90 points, which would be remarkable given the fact the team has been sleep-walking since Christmas. Given the current injuries, this is very close to the strongest lineup available - only Filipe Luis for Azpilicueta and RLC starting instead of Mikel.

CHELSEA XI: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Filipe Luis; Loftus-Cheek, Matic; Remy, Fabregas, Hazard; Diego Costa.

 
Interesting that he's playing two strikers. My feeling is that Chelsea will alter their scheme next year and move away from the 4-2-3-1 to a more traditional two striker format.

 
Native said:
Interesting that he's playing two strikers. My feeling is that Chelsea will alter their scheme next year and move away from the 4-2-3-1 to a more traditional two striker format.
Click to expand...
I was expecting Remy to play wide in Willian's position. We'll see ...

Jose pregame:

“It's simple, if I own an English club, which I don't and which I'd never do, I'd sign Tony Pulis. It's as simple as that."

 
CletiusMaximus said:
Native said:
Interesting that he's playing two strikers. My feeling is that Chelsea will alter their scheme next year and move away from the 4-2-3-1 to a more traditional two striker format.
Click to expand...
I was expecting Remy to play wide in Willian's position. We'll see ...

Jose pregame:

It's simple, if I own an English club, which I don't and which I'd never do, I'd sign Tony Pulis. It's as simple as that."
Click to expand...
Given how musty their attack has looked since New Years I would think Jose would like to alter the formations they play from time to time. IMO they cannot continue to play the same 9 players in the same formation every game and expect to win consistently over time. Would love to pair Costa with a skilled forward partner like Rooney or Aguero (my dream).

 
FWIW count me in the minority of people who prefer Cech over Courtois. Cech is only 32, its not like hes 40. Much more reliable even today IMO.

1-0 West Brom. Game on!

 
Native said:
FWIW count me in the minority of people who prefer Cech over Courtois. Cech is only 32, its not like hes 40. Much more reliable even today IMO.

1-0 West Brom. Game on!
Click to expand...
BBC commentator

"That goal ends any chance of Thibaut Courtois catching Simon Mignolet in the race for the Golden Glove."

BOOM

 
Bundesliga table with one week to go:

Points and goal diff only

Bayern 76 +60 Champion, CL Group StageWolfsburg 68 +34 CL Group StageM'Gladbach 66 +29 CL Group StageLeverkusen 61 +26 CL Playoff RoundSchalke 48 +4 Europa Playoff RoundAugsburg 46 -2 Europa 3rd Qualifying RoundDortmund 43 +4Bremen 43 -14Hoffenheim 41 -7Mainz 40 0E. Frankfurt 40 -7Koln 39 -6Hertha Berlin 35 -15Freiburg 34 -10Hannover 34 -17Stuttgart 33 -19 Relegation PlayoffHamburg 32 -27 RelegationPaderborn 31 -33 RelegationBayern, Wolfsburg, Gladbach and Leverkusen are secure in their spots for next season.Schalke are in Europa, but could be overtaken in the table for the Playoff round spot.

Bremen could still get into Europe with a victory and an Augsburg loss. So could Bremen, but the point diff kills them.

*Schalke hosts Hamburg, Augsburg goes to Gladbach, Dortmund hosts Bremen

From Hertha down is all a Relegation fight.

*Stuttgart at Paderborn, Hamburg at Schalke, Freiburg at Hannover, Hertha at Hoffenheim

Stuttgart has been in BL1 since 1977 and Hamburg since 1964

In BL2 Ingolstadt has secured promotion.

Darmastadt, Karlsruher and Kaiserslautern are fighting for the other two spots.

Kaiserslautern is the only one that has played at the top level before. (relegated in 2012)

Ingolstadt 63 +21 promotionDarmstadt 56 +17 promotionKarlsruher 55 +18 promotion playoffKaiserslautern 55 +14Darmstadt host St. Pauli (currently in 14th and fighting relegation)Karlsruher hosts 1860 (currently in 15th and fighting relegation)

Kaiserslatern hosts Ingolstadt

 
Bender,

you sound like me last off-season. Let me give you my story of my first season as a big soccer fan.

First off, I knew I had one shot at sticking with a new sport, I had to develop a passion for one team. If I was a casual fan, I'd probably drop it. So I came to these boards, and got everyone to give me their "pitch" on why I should go for their team.

I chose Liverpool because they were a young, exciting, attacking team (they had Suarez and Sturridge). I watched highlights, fell in love, and then saw some of their players (Suarez) light it up in the World Cup. Then Suarez bit that dude, got sold, ten new players came in, and they proceeded to have one of the most inept offenses I've ever seen. (of course, I've not seen a lot) They couldn't score, and had perhaps the worst set of strikers in the EPL, as Sturridge basically missed the whole year.

So my advice is not to pick a team based on current players, because that will change.

That being said, here are a few factors to think about:

1. I'd go with Premier League. The blogs and the websites and the message boards are in English. Very important when trying to instill a "love" for the team.

2. Pick a team that has a chance to compete financially. Unfortunately, that only leaves you with about 5 teams, possibly 6.

In my personal opinion, ManU has the brightest future, though I detest them. Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City are all great teams as well.

Liverpool is a struggle for one reason: They are perhaps the 8th or 9th richest club in the world (recently I saw where they had the 6th highest net worth), but they currently are fifth in the EPL, and there are only 4 CL spots. Every time they don't make the CL, the gap grows a little bit.

So it's tough for Liverpool.

I'm 100% in now, and i wouldn't want to go back. I can't say that the future is bright, but I do think that when Liverpool does turn it around and win the EPL, the fans are going to go crazy. so much history, the YNWA song, the chants, the passion....I think Liverpool is the best team in England by far, in terms of fan experience.

The downside to picking Liverpool is that you very easily could be in for a lot of heart break. Last year at this time, Liverpool fans were pumped about the future, as it was a young and exciting team.

Now we are all antsy, as we are worried about being outspent this summer, and cementing ourselves in the 5th place spot.

I'm of the optimistic sort, and I think that we have a young base of players that can fight and make top four next year, with the right summer additions.

My opinions for a new fan:

ManU: Pick them if you don't mind the Yankees, a team that will spend to win

Chelsea: Boring team, but amazing manager. The team people love to hate. Think the Ravens

Man City: Rich owners, no history. The rich owners part is pretty important, obviously. Since you can be a part of "creating" history, a good choice

Arsenal: I'd say Arsenal has a great chance of being the EPL team of the next decade. I don't know why, i just feel they are on the upswing.

Liverpool: Best history of the group, great fans, unique atmosphere, but the fifth wheel hoping to break into the top four. It could be a bad place to be longterm.

 
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