The Soccer Thread

[Sharkweather]

Especially after watching the game today. Arsenal without RVP=complete shit!

They had no chance.

A Drogba brace and an own goal.

I quite enjoyed it.

[Archer]

Ireland have asked to be team 33 in the world cup

[Bigpapa42]

Arsenal report RVP now out for 5 months

http://football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5726741,00.html

Have to say, there goes the title

It was going to be tough even with RVP. They're done without him. Purely outclassed by Chelsea. Tough to watch that.

[1ke]

^^^^

Play Vela some more, he may not be as good as Eduardo yet, but at least he has the pace that Eduardo doesnt seem to have anymore.

[Bigpapa42]

Happy to see Chelsea lose yesterday, but it had to be Man City... Grrr...

[Sharkweather]

Still two points up, cant complain.

[BigHouseUSA]

The Tottenham/Everton game today was madness.

[davie]

Disappointed that Chelsea lost. Need them to take the title away from Man Utd.

[Senser81]

The thing is, I highly doubt Rafa gets the sack before the end of the year. Who will replace him? I've seen Reds fans calling for Guus, but he just signed on as Technical Director at Chelsea and I doubt he will burn Roman so soon after. Is there any other club out there that would let their coach go in the middle of the season?

Free agents I can think of off the top of my head that might have the pedigree- Juande Ramos? The Spurs disaster is likely too fresh. Michael Laudrup? Fired after a miserable start at Saturn. Louis van Gaal after he gets the Bayern sack?

If anyone gives me a good idea of who can step into Liverpool and give them a real shot of a top four finish, I'll gladly listen

True. They aren't going to replace Rafa this year.

Getting knocked out of the Champions League so early is disappointing, but, IMO, its not all that surprising. Go through Liverpool's lineup on a man-by-man basis...they aren't very good.

Having to watch this year's Liverpool team play without Torres has been brutal. Even a few years ago when Liverpool had an over-the-hill Robbie Fowler up front, they had more scoring punch than this team. I've already stated my dislike for the pussies such as Insua, Lucas, Aurellio, etc. With Torres out, you now see how little depth Liverpool has.

In their last game against Blackburn, Ngog and El Zhar got significant minutes. Thats fine for a Youth League exhibition, but those two shouldn't even be seeing the pitch at all this year, much less playing major roles. Does anyone think Ngog and El Zhar would be playing on a ManU, Chelsea, or Arsenal?

[calgaryballer]

True. They aren't going to replace Rafa this year.

Getting knocked out of the Champions League so early is disappointing, but, IMO, its not all that surprising. Go through Liverpool's lineup on a man-by-man basis...they aren't very good.

Having to watch this year's Liverpool team play without Torres has been brutal. Even a few years ago when Liverpool had an over-the-hill Robbie Fowler up front, they had more scoring punch than this team. I've already stated my dislike for the pussies such as Insua, Lucas, Aurellio, etc. With Torres out, you now see how little depth Liverpool has.

In their last game against Blackburn, Ngog and El Zhar got significant minutes. Thats fine for a Youth League exhibition, but those two shouldn't even be seeing the pitch at all this year, much less playing major roles. Does anyone think Ngog and El Zhar would be playing on a ManU, Chelsea, or Arsenal?

N'Gog might play at Arsenal because he is young and French ;)

But you're right, the depth at Liverpool is terrible. Glen Johnson has been an impressive presence at right back, but you have to wonder if the 40 million spent on him and Aquilani couldn't have been used to build the squad.

The purchase of Aquilani has to be one of Rafa's biggest blunders. When healthy, he may be a 20+ million player. But past form doesn't indicate he is healthy all that often. When Arsene buys injury prone players, he gets them at knockdown prices. Rafa somehow missed the message on that one

[Archer]

Newcastle won again at the weekend moved four points clear

Pancrate got his first goal for the club and looked ok

Coventry next

[davie]

Juve beat Inter 2-1 on Saturday in a nice scrappy game, Lolter Samuel probably the dirtiest player in the game. Inter only 4 points clear now.

AC won 3-0 at home to Sampdoria, who have really fallen off the pace after a great start.

Other significant result
Livorno 0-2 Chievo. Cristiano Lucarelli sent off, couldn't understand the Italian commentary but I think it was for protesting too strongly.

[BigHouseUSA]

Newcastle 7 points clear now. What a past few months it's been.

[Tearz49ers]

N'Gog might play at Arsenal because he is young and French ;)

But you're right, the depth at Liverpool is terrible. Glen Johnson has been an impressive presence at right back, but you have to wonder if the 40 million spent on him and Aquilani couldn't have been used to build the squad.

The purchase of Aquilani has to be one of Rafa's biggest blunders. When healthy, he may be a 20+ million player. But past form doesn't indicate he is healthy all that often. When Arsene buys injury prone players, he gets them at knockdown prices. Rafa somehow missed the message on that one

What you also have to take into account is just this March he signed a new four-year contract earning around £20M. His buy out clause if they were to sack him would be huge somwhere around £10M and Liverpool dont have that spare cash to just throw away or atleast they dont at this present time.

The Depth at Liverpool is terrible yes, I really can't name any off their youth players like I could with say United and Arsenal and Also Chelsea.

The signing of Aquilani was not well planned out, it was a rush buy to try and replace Alonso and as of now it really hasn't worked out for Rafa.

[calgaryballer]

What you also have to take into account is just this March he signed a new four-year contract earning around £20M. His buy out clause if they were to sack him would be huge somwhere around £10M and Liverpool dont have that spare cash to just throw away or atleast they dont at this present time.

The Depth at Liverpool is terrible yes, I really can't name any off their youth players like I could with say United and Arsenal and Also Chelsea.

The signing of Aquilani was not well planned out, it was a rush buy to try and replace Alonso and as of now it really hasn't worked out for Rafa.

Liverpool does have some highly regarded (at least in their circles) youngsters, like Jay Spearing, but I don't know if they will ever make a break through. Rafa doesn't exactly trust the kids unless he absolutely has to, and by then, they are so inexperienced they make giant mistakes (like Darby against Fiorentina)