The Soccer Thread

[mgoblue2290]

Lucas has actually been playing well all season and he was great yesterday. He was always hustling back to help out our defense and harassed their midfield all game long.

[Senser81]

Lucas has actually been playing well all season and he was great yesterday. He was always hustling back to help out our defense and harassed their midfield all game long.

Then he's much improved from the past few years I saw him play.

[BigHouseUSA]

Just put it on. Didn't watch as much of the Championship as I had hoped this season.

[1ke]

The Scottish Premier League will explore the creation of a British League Cup if plans for a major shake-up of the game are ratified.

BBC Scotland has gained access to the SPL's 100-page strategic plan, which includes plans for a 10-team SPL.

It shows a desire to merge with the Scottish Football League in the summer - and a cross-border competition.

Clubs met at Hampden on Monday as they seek a consensus on a number of issues including league reconstruction.

A new league set-up has been driving the change among the SPL's members, but there are a number of other objectives that clubs are being asked to back in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the Scottish game.

The document makes specific reference to unification of the SPL and SFL with an attractive reason being to "enable the SPL to explore the possibility of cross-border matches (potentially British Cup matches) via the Scottish League Cup".

The idea of a British club tournament has been proposed in recent years, with a 2001 proposal backed by Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne, which was ultimately rejected by the Football League in England.

In 1902, a British League Cup competition raised money for the Ibrox Stadium disaster and included the winners and runners-up of the Scottish and English Football Leagues.

Several other official and unofficial cross-border competitions have also taken place over the decades, including the Empire Exhibition Trophy in 1938, the Coronation Cup in 1957, the Texaco Cup and the Anglo-Scottish Cup.

Some other proposals included in the SPL's strategic plan include:

The national team's Fifa ranking to improve from 66th to 15th within five years The SPL's coefficient ranking to improve from 16th to 10th in five years Broadcasting revenues to increase by 50% in five years The Scottish Football Association to make payments to clubs when players are on international duty A draft of the document was discussed at a meeting on 7 January but has since been re-drafted after prolonged deliberations over a number of months.

BBC Scotland has learned that a vote on the proposals should finally take place in mid-May.

[killgod]

PES was in its heyday on PS2/Xbox, easily one of the best ever sports games, and customization was easy, along with a lot of good saves with them. The current gen games have so many things wrong with them I just gave up, hopefully they can improve, though.

Got the PC version over the weekend


Ended up getting just a couple hours sleep last night because of it.

The game lacks polish and is rough in more than a few areas, but it's going to run a train on FIFA if it can get those things sorted out in future versions.

It's reminiscent of the NHL 2K days, 04 and 05, where that game was very rough in a bunch of areas but the core gameplay played more like the real sport than the more authentic EA crap. Enough of this dice rolling RPG nonsense that EA is obsessed with, give me some real physics and less warping bullshit.

Unfortunately there's no MLS patch for the PC version so I may yet acquire the PS3 one, or find a way to create it on the PC myself. Either way, this is going to be my obsession for the next few months. Can't wait to try out some of the more popular gameplay patches to see how it improves things.

[wr50l]

LOL @ Jamie Redknapp and Dwight Yorke in the Sky Sports studio saying that the two penalty shouts cancelled each other out. No guys, Chicarito dived and Lovenkrands was blatantly fouled.

[BigHouseUSA]

They surprisingly ignored the Tiote handball, which was all they seemed to talk about on ESPN here. Great draw, though.

[1ke]

Just watched watched the game. I feel like I wasted 90 minutes of my life. Shit effort, the result aint as bad as it seems tho, and kudos to Newcastle.

[BigHouseUSA]

Great great first half.

[Bigpapa42]

Starting to think the Gunners squad is allergic to success. Jesus.

[citizenerased]

Although he probably could've done without, wouldn't surprise me if Jose see's the 5-0 defeat as a blessing in disguise now.

He can now say he tried it their way and it failed, so he can tell the Madrid fans/local press to fuck up while he strangles the life out of Barcelona his way and wins the Copa Del Rey/Champions League.

[Bigpapa42]

Although he probably could've done without, wouldn't surprise me if Jose see's the 5-0 defeat as a blessing in disguise now.

He can now say he tried it their way and it failed, so he can tell the Madrid fans/local press to fuck up while he strangles the life out of Barcelona his way and wins the Copa Del Rey/Champions League.

Honestly, this approach working against Barcelona shouldn't surprise. When opponents try to go toe-to-toe with Barcelona on the offensive, they tend to get eaten up - whether its Arsenal this season and last or even Shakhtar. Simply put, up have to be utterly clinical and make every chance count. Ultra-defensive seems the better approach - it worked for Inter and its worked for Real these last two matches. It isn't pretty, but if you deny Barcelona the space it makes it much harder for them.

[1ke]

K so.....

Arsenal and Tottenham = Game of the year for me so far. Also showed that Bale winning PFA was a complete joke. RVD and Modric were far better will continue to be.

Hey Arsenal....It is ok to shoot! See what happens when you shoot, you just might score, although shooting is very optional May 1st. ;) But thanks again, drawing away to the Toon seems even less worse now.

Now to Spain...Madrid and Barca is getting difficult to watch. I feel sorry for the ref. After every call no matter what call it is, the WHOLE team is in the Refs face beggin for a card. But Jose has got these boys rollin now. They played great I think. Barca were frustrated and definitely dislike the physicality. Pepe as a def mid has been priceless for Madrid.

And Germany....Nauer announced today he will be leaving Schalke. Bayern it will most likely be. Well, it is them, he just wont say the team yet. He's apparently agreed a four-year deal with Bayern, just the fee (18-20 million Euro) to be agreed.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-XPZsljkXo&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-XPZsljkXo&feature=player_embedded[/ame]

I like many of you cant understand German, so heres some tidbits...
- I know how the fans feel because at the age of 10 I also used to get angry with professional footballers when they moved because I wouldn't understand them
- I never heard of any interest from Manchester United
- now I'm a professional footballer and have a different point of view
- I didn't boo Jens Lehmann either (mad Jens moved to Schalke's arch rivals Dortmund) because I was still a fan of his although he moved to yellow-green (Dortmund's colours)
- but I'm well aware of the fact some fans will get angry
- I spoke with representatives of the fans because I wanted to be honest towards the fans, I wanted to explain myself and it was neither easy for them nor for me
---> after having said that he gets a bit teary

So looks like De Gae to United it is then....

[mgoblue2290]

Sergio Ramos drops the Copa Del Rey and it got ran over by the bus.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSvmAtOnrkA&feature=channel_video_title"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSvmAtOnrkA&feature=channel_video_title[/ame]

[BigBiss]

Sergio Ramos :henrypalm: