Lets Talk Football

Since we lost the World Cup against Germany, I don't want to talk about football

Are you looking forward to the Copa América?

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Should've mentioned Mane's superb hattrick at the weekend. Just how do you score a hattrick in less than three minutes? It doesn't seem possible, regardless of how poorly the opposition plays.



I see Neiba's nightmare came true yesterday. Sorry, mate.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Chelsea got stumped 3-0. Too bad this couldn't happen earlier in the season!

It was bound to happen, I never though it would have happened the way it did, we needed to win 2 matches and wait for them to lose 4 points in two games! They lost 2 points on the first match, we did too... I honestly can't understand the attittude of some players... 10 years ago, the manager would have made them walk to the hotel, instead of going by bus! I miss those times!

The offseason after a team doesn't achieve what it set out to is the hardest...

It's hard to explain what was the spirit of FC Porto some years ago... Somehow all the despisement the team and the city suffered during a dictatorship when all that mattered was Lisbon and the Lisbon teams was transformed into hate and that into strenght... More than the brilliant management, what made FC Porto win for 30 years was the way Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa used everything that was against us as a way of gaining strength. Pinto da Costa is old now, he doesn't have the same power he had once, the football world is changing and the money is what means the most now! I miss seeing a player celebrating a goal against benfica with anger. 10 years ago, after losing a match against that ****** team, the players who could still walk at the end of the match would go quietly to the locker rooms and cry... now they smile and hug the other players as if it was a friendly match...

Sport in general seems to be losing the fighting spirit. I watch old NFL games and after the game the two teams hated each other with a passion. Now after a game everyone is getting each others autographs, taking pictures, laughing and joking around. Same with the NBA; it has become very soft.

People say to me that that's a good thing, more fair play, that I should feel happy when benfica wins against a foreign team, that I shouldn't hate the institution, that football is just a sport... If I think like that, I stop watching football... I stop going to the stadium... If I felt that being a fan of FC Porto was the same feeling as being the fan of any other team, what would be so special about that?

Well said, neiba. I love watching football. I love the whole soap opera of football and I even like that that world has expanded (from an English pov) across Europe and the rest of the world. I love that I know about some 20 year old S.American kid at Udinese or something like that. I love that I can watch the best players in the world, wherever they play, every week if I choose to. Before that I only saw them if they played in England or at European Championships and World Cups. I love that club football seems to be surpassing International football with a lot of people now. It's pretty much always been that way for me, but it's always been like that since the mid 80's and there's one reason for that. Manchester United.

It's Manchester United which made and keeps me as a fan. People sometimes ask if they went out of business or disappeared or if I had to, who would you support instead? I have no idea. How can I answer that question? My entire relationship with football would change and I have no idea how. The first person I ever wanted to grow up to be like wasn't a pop star or a film star. It was the Six Million Dollar Man or Evel Knievel. It was Gordon McQueen for crying out loud. Not the star of the team or even a flair player! Gordon Mc-****ing-Queen. A huge no nonsense, hard as nails centre back. This bloke.



I'm with you in my attitude to other teams playing foreign teams too. Depends totally on my feelings towards the two teams involved. The thought of cheering on Liverpool simply because they're playing a team from outside England is just outrageous to me now. When I was a kid I did it, but I didn't really understand why we'd do that. I'd ask my dad and he'd say "because they're British (back then it was British rather than English. Everyone I knew supported all the home nations at internationals and in Europe) and the other team isn't". I'd nod agreement and understanding, but it still didn't make sense to me.

I think it's one of the things which seems to separate football fans and rugby fans. One of many and maybe it's a combination of a few of them but, in my experience, it's there.

I don't know that it'd been possible before Chelsea won the title. I mean, sometimes you just have an off day or something doesn't work as it's supposed to, but for the most part I think they've won the title and they've turned off a little. That, combined with a good WBA performance, it being the last home game of the season for them and Fabregas being sent off combined to produce a result which probably wouldn't have happened at another time.

Juventus now have the chance for the treble after defeating Lazio in the Coppa Italia; their tenth title in the competition.

Stevie G takes the worst beating of his career as Liverpool get shredded 6-1. What an awful last couple games, even season, to end his career as a red.

I know. Funny as ****, wasn't it? At 5-0 I was just laughing. It was like Brazil/Germany. Stoke for crying out loud! Not a team renowned for turning on the style and scoring a hatful. There's been rumours for a while that some of the players aren't playing for Rodgers (and if you look at that performance you'd be forgiven for thinking it's more than a few) but you'd have thought they'd have done it for Gerard's last game. Loved this, too.



I liked that Rodgers has said that he'll go if the owners want him to. Yes, you will. It's called being sacked mate and you've got no say in the matter. Unless he turns to them and says "I'm just not good enough, so I'll forego all the payments I'm entitled to in severance." If he does that, then I'd consider what he said as honest. Not that he gives a **** what I think.

Excellent for Stoke, though. Nice to see agent Mame Biram Diouf coming through nicely. Long time sleeper agent there.

Well, that's it for another season. Chelsea were deserving winners. I don't know that I could pick a Rest of the Premier League XI that would beat that Chelsea team more often than not. They've just been that much better and more consistent than the rest.

Normally I'd hear Big Sam's comments that he was going anyway after being told that his contract wasn't being renewed as petty. Face saving, at best. But the rumours coming out of West Ham since Christmas have been that he wouldn't be there after the season, so I'm sure he already knew and, either had already been told or made up his mind. Looking at West Ham's post Christmas season, it does look like a team who knew the bloke in charge wasn't going to have any say in their careers anymore.

In news to surprise no one Falcao hasn't been signed by United on a permanent deal. If the rumours about him being signed if De Gea stayed are true, then he's going to be off, too. Which, I think, is what most of us expect anyway, isn't it?

Not a bad season for United. We did what we had to do and achieved the goal set at the start of the season; finishing top 4. Next year is the year to really put VG under the microscope. A proper summer and pre-season, knowing what he has, needs and wants. Next season we should be aiming at a title challenge. Not necessarily a win (I know that'll be the press expectation) but let's be honest, that's a good Chelsea team and we finished 17 points behind them. If we can get within 8 I'll think we did OK.

Horrible news from Argentina's second division, where defender Cristian Gomez collapsed on the pitch and died on the way to hospital. He'd suffered head injuries when he collided with a concrete wall which surrounds the pitch.

Just 75 days to go till we can do it all over again. I wonder whether it'll be Norwich or Middlesborough who'll be joining us?

How have you enjoyed your first season, PW?

I enjoyed it quite a bit, actually. Did you see my post above about Carrick? You got any insider news on that? I sure hope that isn't true, United needs him. Think I'll get into the Champions league a bit more next season as well.

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Oh hey, I seem to have the Middlesbrough Norwich game on right now. So the winner moves up to the BPL?

Yep, the winner goes up into the Premier League (EPL as it's English, not British.) Bournemouth and Watford are already up (as the winners and runners up respectively) and, with a few minutes to go, it's Norwich who look to be coming back up. They were relegated last season and it looks like they'll be back on the first try.

I think he meant Barclays Premier League not British...

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“By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.”

Norwich back to the EPL

Sorry I missed this somehow. Yes, De Gea was injured and substituted just before Arsenal scored.

Next year should be when you start to see VG doing his thing. I'm guessing it'll be a 4-3-3 .

He signed a contract extension in March. He can be replaced this summer, but I don't see the need atm.

Di Maria isn't definitely gone, but I still think he will go. Either sold or on loan (which there's talk of with Paris Saint-Germain(PSG) as the destination. Not sure if there's anything to that, though. It's where wanted to go last season, but they couldn't get him due to the penalties imposed on them for Financial Fair Play (FFP) violations. If his head and heart's at are United then I'd love to see him stay. He's quality. Otherwise he can go. As good as he is, there's no real point in keeping a player who's heart isn't in it because, even if they really try, it's rare that their performances are up to scratch with any consistency.

With De Gea, it's not about being able to afford him. We can keep him in terms of money, it's the lure of Real Madrid. Even though we bought him from their city rivals, he'd be back in his home town, where everything would be familiar and I'm sure he'd be the first choice keeper. If you'd worked abroad for a few years and were offered a huge amount of money (matching whatever your current employers offered) to go home (where your family and g/f lives and works and the weather is better) wouldn't you be tempted?