Tackles, balls and Seaman - The footie thread

[Danny Top Hat]

Used, have you heard Owen Hargreaves may be going to Spurs next year?  I reakon that'd be a great signing for you.

I'm predicting a Chelski landslide tonght.  Barca have been so cocky building up to the game, I just know Jose is reading the papers laughing his ass off.  I don't understand what Barca are thinking of - you don't piss off Chelski before the big game at Stamford Bridge!

[Izzy]

Used, have you heard Owen Hargreaves may be going to Spurs next year?? I reakon that'd be a great signing for you.

I'm predicting a Chelski landslide tonght.? Barca have been so cocky building up to the game, I just know Jose is reading the papers laughing his ass off.? I don't understand what Barca are thinking of - you don't piss off Chelski before the big game at Stamford Bridge!

Bah Chelsea are slowly being revealed for what they are. They are poor for the money they have spent, in defence superb but midfield and attack is very weak.

[GNR_Green]

I see this thread is still dominated by glory hunting chelsea, man u, arsenal and liverpool fans, some things never change!

Chelsea v barca starts in a few minutes, I'd like to see Barca win as the last thing we need is Chelsea dominating English football like man u did a few years back.  I'd like to see a Milan win tonight as well, hopefully Rooney will get sent off for his use of colourful language.

[Jim]

Izzy stop being so negative you fool.

Yeah, I did read that Danny. He turned us down last summer...But Arnesen left the door open. And he might be about to walk through it.

It would be great, but...

Actually, it would be fantastic. Currently, we have great potential up front and in the middle of the park, and Ledley, lead by Naybet, are up there with the best on their good days. Maybe we could do with more reliable full backs...Although Kelly and Edman are both great. But with Davies, Hargreaves and Ziegler on their respective wings...

Has anyone been watching Ziegler this season? He's great.?

[axl_rose_700]

Do you actually rate Hargreaves, whenever I've seen him for England he's been shite, haven't seen him for Bayern so not really giving an opiion but I've never seen him play well!

See Chelsea went through last night!! Izzy I think you're sort of right about Chelsea, althought I thunk they're midfield is superb, just up front apart from Gudjohnsen where they suffer.   

[Izzy]

Izzy stop being so negative you fool.

This thread is about opinions u fascist

The Barcelona/Chelsea game was good entertainment - but Barcelona were disgraceful, i have never been so appaled at a team in my life. They played terribly. U don't conceed 4 goals like that if ur a good team. If i was the chairmen Rijkaard would be on very thin ice indeed.

Chelsea get luckier by the week - they didn't win that game Barcelona lost it all by themselves, Chelsea just had to push an open door, how can u fail against a team that refuses to defend?

Can't believe how lucky they are again and again - thats not to say there entire season hasn't witnesses some fantastic (defensive) football.

[Jim]

Yeah, well how about opinions on a few postive aspects then? All you seem to do is bitch and moan, fool.

Ugh. I hate Chelsea as much as the next guy, but give credit where credit is due. I would have been with you at the beggining of the season, but now I see why they had to play like 'boring, boring Arsenal' of old. They needed to get the early results under their belt so that they could get the confidence to play like they are now.

Disgraceful? Never been so appaled at a team in your life?

Get over yourself.

[2NaFish]

i'd hardly say that barcelona were disgraceful.

the first goal was an unfortunate slip with chelsea not giving the remaining defenders much of a chance.
the second was joe cole against gio van bronckhorst - gio can't defend for shit.
and for the third belletti (who had a cracking game) was out of position.
the fourth shouldn't of stood, but most premiership teams can't handle terry in the air so why should barca be different.

The defending was poor but nobody expected barca to put up much of a defence - they are an attacking team. Rijkaard wasn't quick enough to respond to mourinho's 4-4-2 formation but once he did it was a thoroughly enthralling match.

I can understand why you complain about barca there initial tactical ineptitude isn't the fault of chelski. They merely exploited the gaps.

I can honestly say i havent enjoyed watching a game of football (that didn't include my team) as much as that in years.

[Danny Top Hat]

I'm with Izzy on Barca.  For the whole week leading up to the game they were laughing at Chelsea - they seemed to find it funny that a team would actually bother defending.  Chelsea scored 3 in the first twenty minutes because Barca were defending at the half way line in an away game!  Chelsea could break and score any time they wanted, just like in the first game when they could have scored 2 in as many minutes if Drogba could hit the target.  If you have no respect for defence, you don't deserve to win shit.

I agree with Henry, Arsenal need to spend a lot more.  We put up a good fight in the second half, but Bayern deserved to go through.

[MadmanDan]

Well this week it was Howard's turn to kill my dreams.

It's clear to me that, no matter how good of a team you are, without a classy goalkeeper you have no chance at the top. Just imagine Chelsea in the Barca game with Carroll or Howard in goal. ManU and Arsenal need good goalkeepers if they want to achieve anything in the coming seasons

[2NaFish]

I'm a hearts fan, and we're the team that niemi first flourished at. Personally i think he's the best goalie in the premiership (ceh's not properly, consistantly tested). What's the general view of annti down in england? do you guys think he'll leave southampton, even if they avoid the drop. And would arsenal/manyoo fans be happy to have him as their number one, or would you guys want someone "better"?

PS. The young lad we've got to replace niemi at tynecastle (Craig Gordon) looks every bit as good as niemi. keep an eye out on him heading down south soon.

[Izzy]

Looks like an Arsenal/ Man Utd FA cup final - which will certainly be a great game from the neutral perspective

[Jim]

Oh fuck off.

Ugh, we should be going to Cardif. How we didn't win yesterday is inconceivable. But, it's our own fault, we didn't score when we should have...

Oh bollocks to it.

Sixth place it is. We can do it.

[Danny Top Hat]

I reakon you can.  Martin Jol is an excellent manager.

I would love an Arsenal/Utd final, it'd be really exciting.  It'd be hugely embarassing if we lost for the third time, but it'd also give us a chance to make up for the other two games.  Newcastle would be boring as fuck.

That is, assuming Arsenal get through, of course.

[MadmanDan]

An Arsenal-ManU Cp final would be quite entertaining, but they both have to get there first.

I just read that van Bommel's Spurs move is "imminent".  Where do Tottenham get the money?? They'll probably buy Figo in the summer, and there's a roumor (highly unlikely, though) that Becks will get there too.

[Jim]

We're suprisingly well funded actually (we've spent more than Arsenal in recent years, I think?), and unlike a lot of clubs we don't have massive debts.

Beckham? I can only dream...But that would be brilliant.

Ha. Good one, though.

If we can just secure sixth place, we could hopefully attract some great talent in the summer.

And Danny's right. Martin Jol is the best thing that has happened to Spurs in years.

[Izzy]

Alright!

We did it - 4 points now, we can do it!

Liverpool played magnificently for the first 45 mins - Everton...well, if they are fourth i think it shows what a shite league we really have.

Milan Baros must be the worst player in the league - even a Norwich player would have converted the chanes he got. His read card means we are free from his antics for a while at least.

[Jim]

Brilliant points there, once again.

What a shite league we have? What, because the smallers teams can sometimes compete with the big boys, and have a fantastic season?

Worst player in the league...Hmm. Maybe not. Maybe he didn't have a great game though.

Great win for us against City, even though we didn't play all that briliantly. Keeps us in the race for Europe, and pretty much all the results went our way over the weekend, with Middlesborough and Charlton losing. Could have done with an Everton win, and kept it tighter, but oh well.

We're still right in there for the race for the last UEFA Cup spot.

[Izzy]

Brilliant points there, once again.

What a shite league we have? What, because the smallers teams can sometimes compete with the big boys, and have a fantastic season?

Yeah..thats what happens

The league is not in a good shape, we have three good teams and then many bad ones - and Liverpool are in the latter pile. The quality of football is very average, so many teams are soley there to make up the numbers

Worst player in the league...Hmm. Maybe not. Maybe he didn't have a great game though.

Yeah your right - he could dance into just about any other team - confirming my point we have so many bad teams and players

[Jim]

So, Isabel.

May I ask you which matches it is you choose to watch? Super Sunday and the Monday games? The Saturday evening games? Well, Match of the Day? The goals the next week on Football Focus? Or just read the reports in the paper?

To say that the quality of football is that bad is just ridiculous.

There have been some fantastic games this season. And yesterday, both West Brom and Southampton turned over top six contenders away, 1-4 and 1-3 respectivly.

Look how tight the race for the UEFA cup spots are...It's great

Of course teams are going to dominate. Aren't you glad that it's going to be three now, rather than two?

Ronnie O Sullivan is beyond dominating snooker at the moment, but does that make it boring? Fuck no. It makes it more interesting.

But, maybe you just watch your very own masterclass in inconsistency each week, and that alone?

Try and check out some of the other games.