The Soccer Thread

[wr50l]

Because English clubs can be in huge debt and bank on the fact that the stupid English people will bail them out. German people aren't as inclined to throw their money at their football clubs. In fact, they would probably sell Bayern Munich to England if the price was right.

Very late but ... wtf?! Are you sure you aren't getting mixed up with Real Madrid who allegedly sold their training ground to the government for a very handsome fee? I can't think of any examples of clubs in England being bailed out.

[Senser81]

Very late but ... wtf?! Are you sure you aren't getting mixed up with Real Madrid who allegedly sold their training ground to the government for a very handsome fee? I can't think of any examples of clubs in England being bailed out.

Riiiight....Real Madrid plays in La Liga, because Madrid is in Spain, not England. Thanks for the heads-up. When I saw Liverpool playing Real Madrid, I must have confused it for an EPL tie.

Thanks.

Let me know when the banks and/or the English government start asking for English clubs to pony up on their 3+ billion pound debt. Let me know when the fans stop paying 100+ pounds/ticket for mid-table matches. Let me know when the FA actually makes new club owners put up a penny of their own money. The English fans, government, and FA allow the clubs to get away with murder when it comes to overspending. If you think the Bundesliga follows the same business model as the EPL, then you probably need an economics refresher.

[Senser81]

I heard Ljunberg was gay. Is that true?

[Senser81]

Possibly on the DL, but he used to date this dimepiece so I'd lean towards no.

http://www.thespoiler.co.uk/index.ph...anes#more-1917

LMAO!

"When she isn’t exploiting footballers via her extraordinarily low moral code, Anara enjoys blogging on her Bebo page. As you can tell from this entry, she likes punctuation about as much as she likes monogamy"

[calgaryballer]

Lots of talk about the Bundesliga on page 1, looks to have died off.

Hertha Berlin look to be in strong position to finish the season as champions, somehow having picked up the Man United/Chelsea trait for ugly 1-0 wins. But when everyone else is dropping points, who needs pretty? Liverpool castoff Andriy Voronin has doing a great job up front with 11 goals in the league.

Bayern is back in second on GD, tied with Wolfsburg (who have been on a great run) and Hamburg

My Newcastle is lookng a better and better bet to go down. I don't like the run in at all, especially when compared with the other squads around us. I hate Michael Owen, but we need him to start bagging goals before he mercs off to somewhere else.

[Bigpapa42]

Despite their current position, I would actually be surprised if Newcastle get relegated. They don't need to pick up a ton of results to get past it.

[Prodigal Son]

Boom, 3-0 route of New York Red Fools.

The game went by so fast. I don't think anyone thought they would have done so well to start the season. But, they looked great. Still have some problems on the sides. But, Montero looks like he's gonna be a beast this season.

[calgaryballer]

United got the easiest draw IMO. Porto should be a cakewalk, and I have to think that the winner of Arsenal/Villareal is easier than any of the other four teams on the other side of the bracket.

Poor Bayern has to get through Barca and then Liverpool/Chelsea.

Bayern/Barca is the tie of the round though. If Bayern is on form, I think they can match up pretty well with Barca. However, if they play like they have recently against Armenia Bielefield, they could get rolled

[Bigpapa42]

The Bayern-Barcelona draw is very interesting. Barcelona have started to show some vulnerabilities in their league form, while Bayern have all season but seem to have rounded into top form in Europe.

As for the Bundesliga, I'm really not sure who I would like to see win most. Hertha would be kinda cool. Hoffenheim would be really cool. Leverkusen or Hamburg would be awesome. Anyone but Bayern... though Bayern winning the Champions League would be amazing.

[calgaryballer]

Some crazy scores this morning. United are down a man and a goal at Fulham after Paul Scholes made the most bone headed play ever, basically throwing his hands at the ball on the goalline.

And Chelsea is losing 1-0 to Spurs.

The title race could be a whole lot more interesting after today...

[calgaryballer]

I'm watching the Spurs game--great goal by Modric. Super run by Lennon to create it.

Stoked about this Arsenal game coming up at 1:30.

I am too, but for different reasons Come on Newcastle!

[Bigpapa42]

I'm getting Setanta Sports for some reason today, so watching the Arsenal-Newcastle match. Nice penalty save by Aluminia, though it was a poor penalty by Martins.

United and Chelsea both lost today, which is awesome. Now Arsenal needs to get a result.

Wow, Taylor drives a forearm into Arshavin's face and doesn't eve get a yellow?

[calgaryballer]

I'm getting Setanta Sports for some reason today, so watching the Arsenal-Newcastle match. Nice penalty save by Aluminia, though it was a poor penalty by Martins.

United and Chelsea both lost today, which is awesome. Now Arsenal needs to get a result.

Wow, Taylor drives a forearm into Arshavin's face and doesn't eve get a yellow?

I think its another free preview month for Setanta/Goal etc

[Bigpapa42]

Thrilled that Arsenal got the win. Which leaves me a bit conflicted for Liverpool's match tomorrow - I would rather see Liverpool win the title than either United or Chelsea. But I also want to see Arsenal climb back into third spot... Hmm...

[calgaryballer]

A crazy weekend of results in a number of leagues.

England obviously saw Liverpool cut United's lead to a mere point (though United still have a game in hand). Their form has been superb of late, and Gerrad has staked his claim as a quality second striker. Can they keep this form up against some of the lesser opposition? It almost seems as if Rafa has learned his lesson that he can play aggresively against lesser teams instead of sinking to their level.

What can United do though? Apparently Berbatov is injured, Ronaldo has been playing like trash, and now Rooney will be suspended. Scholes and Giggs are finally playing their age, Anderson is still mediocre, Carrick has returned to his square ball playing ways and the defence is looking lazy. Can they still win it? Certainly, they are still my favourite. But it is a hell of a lot more interesting.

Ligue 1 also had a big shift this weekend too. Lyon remains one point clear, but PSG fell all the way to sixth on virtue of goal difference. Toulouse(!) is up to fourth after their 4-1 win over PSG, and Lille is into fifth. I'm hoping Marseille can pull it out late, but they have been as wildly inconsistent as Lyon has been. I have a feeling this will end up a two horse race as Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse and PSG are inconsistent

The Bundesliga has tightened up again after Hertha lost to Stuttgart. They still lead on 49, but there are three squads (Bayern, Wolfsburg and Hamburg) all close behind on 48. I'd love to see a repeat of two years ago when Stuttgart won, but if I had to bet I'd put my money on Bayern outlasting everyone. Wolfsburg has really come on and are undefeated in their last 8, but can they keep it up? Hamburg has talent, but they seem to drop a match whenever they have a chance to take charge of their own destiny. Village side Hoffenheim has dropped to 5th, and is only two points above Stuttgart. They are in danger of falling down to sixth and further away from the Champions League spots.