Football (soccer) Discussion

[Snow Patrol]

VP being out is definitely a loss, but nothing we can't cope with. Think about it, we have Henry, Adebayor, Baptista, Aliadiere and Walcott. In a 4-5-1 we would only need one of them (Henry). 4-4-2 we would have Henry up top with good options from the remaining forwards.

[the_natural]

Originally Posted by Gooner

YAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!


That was so ****in perfect! My hands are still shaking. Scholes, nowhere to be seen. Cronaldo, nowhere to be seen. Rooney, nowhere to be seen (except for the goal).
Rosicky sucked ass with his passes tonight, Adebayor worked like a horse again, and Eboue delivered again (both defensively and with the cross). Henry with the winner, how ****ing perfect is that!!! Not you, Shrek.


The sweetest part was, there was this loud obnoxious ManU-fan in the pub screaming ALL THE TIME. Retarded stuff too - "Van Persie is a rapist, Go back to Germany Rosicky, Wenger back to France, This is ManU's match" etc. Obviously, after their goal he got even more excited...
Oh, how giving him some payback tasted so sweet, "Yeah, who's match is this!? HUH!!!???!!?"

lol, i totally understand how good that game must have felt for an arsenal fan. damn that nine point lead would've been sweet!

that game couldve gone either way but theres no way you didnt deserve the win. havent been that pissed off for a long time, but hey you win some you lose some. obv more wins than losses it must be said. nimmy's got a point though, i wouldnt get too optimistic just because you beat the best team (this season) in england. arsenal arent taking more than 3rd place in prem this season and i have a good feeling for us. looking at chelsea at the moment and with a 6 point lead an educated guess would point to good times in manchester . chelsea may be getting some players back from injury soon but they got nothin in my opinion.

[Gooner]

Baptista equalises (the 1st leg of the Carling Cup semi) against Spurs with his third of the night!

It's 2-2 now.

[Nimmy]

spurs were favorites to win tonight. i wa sin a bar earlier and spurs were 2 - 0 up

[Snow Patrol]

The only good thing coming out of the Van Persie injury is that Baptista will get a deserved run in the side.

[Gooner]

We're in the (first) cup final (of the season)!!!
Spuds took it to extra time in the second leg by equalizing 5 minutes before the whistle, but then they lost their nerve. 3-1.

Looked bad in the first leg, when they had the 2-0 lead too, but our younger team fought back nicely.


Meanwhile MU and Chelski trashed Watford and Blackburn respectively in the league. Meh.



Shame about the draw in the FA cup earlier... Too many matches at the mo, hope we don't get more injuries.

[Snow Patrol]

Liverpool drew today with Everton and Chelsea won their game. Was hoping Arsenal would take advantage of the Liverpool draw but after going down 1-0, I'm content with the 1-1 result. Definitely would say we are out of the title race now, 2nd place is achievable with a great run but 3rd is what we should make sure we get at this stage.

[Gooner]

That penalty was clearly OUTSIDE the box. ****ing referee.


Damn I hope Spurs would win tomorrow, but on the rare occasions I wish for that, they ALWAYS disappoint. ManU to win 3-0.

[the_natural]

im really ****ting myself about tomoro. everyone i speak to keeps jynxing the result, kinda like your 3-0 comment, lol. i will be exstatic if we can maintain the 3 point lead after this weekend.

[Snow Patrol]

Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal all won this weekend with Liverpool losing to Newcastle. It looks more and more as if Man United and Chelsea will be challenging for the Premiership title whereas Liverpool, Arsenal and Bolton are fighting for the the third and fourth spots. Oh, and I love it when a team (in this case Wigan) takes the lead and then proceeds to timewaste, only for them to go behind later in the game and have it come back to haunt them.

[Gooner]

We've started coming back from a goal down a lot lately.
If only we'd stop conceding the first goal.


Henry was a bit mean to Kirkland.
He's been on bad humour for most of the season imo.



PS. was right about the 3-0...
And they lost yesterday as well. Muhaha.

[Gooner]

Damn, our boys made it the hard way again.

Ade 1-0.
Then Gilberto misses a peno, and Ade goes past the keeper, but puts it in the post.
And of course, Bolton equalise right at the death.

Luckily Freddie came through with a beauty at extra time.
And then Baptista missed another peno.



It was an eventful match for sure.
If only Freddie would stay fit... he'd be great for us.

[Snow Patrol]

Wow, just saw the FA Cup game between Arsenal and Bolton and it was unbelievable at times... both Gilberto and Baptista missed penalties over the bar, Adebayor misses an open net, Bolton score at the end of regular time to force extra time. In the end, 3-1 Arsenal which is a major relief, we have a good chance of winning the cup I think.

[Nimmy]

arsenal are playing well although i strongly disagree with their lack of english players.

[Gooner]

Originally Posted by Nimmy

arsenal are playing well although i strongly disagree with their lack of english players.

English players are heavily overpriced.

I support the Professor 100% in only caring about the player's skills, not his passport.

[Nimmy]

i disagree with that statement. man united have a team top of the league and they have a strong UK squad. they have always had that, hence why they have done so well. its letting a team gel, plus if u play in the english league u shoudld have english players. i think there should be a cap on forgein players, egland has so much potential for a national side and would really benefit if more young players got a chance at big clubs

[Gooner]

Originally Posted by Nimmy

i disagree with that statement. man united have a team top of the league and they have a strong UK squad. they have always had that, hence why they have done so well. its letting a team gel, plus if u play in the english league u shoudld have english players. i think there should be a cap on forgein players, egland has so much potential for a national side and would really benefit if more young players got a chance at big clubs

And I disagree with this statement.

They do have more English players (though the core of old is fading away). But they've also acquired players like Rooney, Rio and Carrick, and paid INSANE fees for them. ManU has been filthy rich for quite some time.

Arsenal still couldn't compete with them and buy super-expensive English players. And why should they? Wenger has acquired awesome talent from abroad for a fraction of those fees. His eye for transfers has been a very important reason why Arsenal have been as succesful as they have been. He gets a lot of youngsters as well and grooms them into world class players. Who cares whether they're English, Spanish or French?
Most of them are cheap as **** too. The important players he's brought in have almost all been cheap discoveries. Vieira, Henry, Ljungberg, Pires, Toure, Cesc, Clichy... Whereas the competition usually spends some serious cash getting their top players.
I'm sure Wenger would have liked keeping Cole for example, but if the greedy cunt wants to leave, what can you do. Walcott looks like the only Englishman, that can make an impact for us right now. We might get a keeper, but it has to be someone worthy of the spot based on ability. Chelsea and ManU seem to be the only ones that can afford buying English talent nowadays (and then often put them on the bench). We were interested in SWP too, but no...if there's a cap enforced, that's gonna suck big time. Chelski will have an even easier time snatching all the trophies.

Also, I don't care about the benefit of the English national side.

[Nimmy]

you can look at it several ways tho. how much did it cost man united to bring through scholes, beckham, giggs (technically half english), butt, nevilles etc.... yet they are or were worth high prices, man united also paid in excess of 25 million for juan veron who did nothing at man united, same as schevchecnko at chelsea, whereas they brought in john terry through the youth system and lampard for around 8 million. they are the most important part of the team. it works both ways. just because a player was expensive isnt always based on their country.

my team celtic have wasted money on fiorgein players over the years the team now has a real scottish core and we have achieved more this year in europe than in the last 30 years excluding Seville. we have Riordan, Caldwell, Miller, McGeady (born scottish), did have Maloney, Wilson, Hartley, Beatie and i could go on further who have secured the league and took us far in europe.

however celtic wouldnt have been the same team without the likes of Larsson, Boruc, Nakamura etc.. without these forgein players. good teams need a mix of national and international players to succeed.

arsenals 2003/2004 undefeated team had 2 english players in the side as a core beng Campbell and Cole who were outstanding, and as reserves there were the likes of Pennant. Go back furtehr when arsenal initially made a big impression when Wenger took over the team still won the league but did it with the likes of Ian Wright,David Platt, Winterburn, Bould, Parlour, Seaman, Dixon, Adams and Keown.

Celtic won the 1967 European Cup (i know its a long time ago but amazing fact), with its full squad born no more than 30 miles from the stadium.

[Gooner]

Originally Posted by Nimmy

you can look at it several ways tho. how much did it cost man united to bring through scholes, beckham, giggs (technically half english), butt, nevilles etc.... yet they are or were worth high prices, man united also paid in excess of 25 million for juan veron who did nothing at man united, same as schevchecnko at chelsea, whereas they brought in john terry through the youth system and lampard for around 8 million. they are the most important part of the team. it works both ways. just because a player was expensive isnt always based on their country.

my team celtic have wasted money on fiorgein players over the years the team now has a real scottish core and we have achieved more this year in europe than in the last 30 years excluding Seville. we have Riordan, Caldwell, Miller, McGeady (born scottish), did have Maloney, Wilson, Hartley, Beatie and i could go on further who have secured the league and took us far in europe.

however celtic wouldnt have been the same team without the likes of Larsson, Boruc, Nakamura etc.. without these forgein players. good teams need a mix of national and international players to succeed.

arsenals 2003/2004 undefeated team had 2 english players in the side as a core beng Campbell and Cole who were outstanding, and as reserves there were the likes of Pennant. Go back furtehr when arsenal initially made a big impression when Wenger took over the team still won the league but did it with the likes of Ian Wright,David Platt, Winterburn, Bould, Parlour, Seaman, Dixon, Adams and Keown.

Celtic won the 1967 European Cup (i know its a long time ago but amazing fact), with its full squad born no more than 30 miles from the stadium.

Yeah, but Wenger brings loads of players through the ranks. They're just not only English. But they are cheap.

Cole and Campbell were great indeed. And Sol has been great this season as well, but he's getting up there in age. Cole also great, but like I said, he chose to leave. Luckily Clichy is also a world class left back.

I love Wright, Platt, Winterburn, Bould, Parlour, Seaman, Dixon, Adams and Keown, but let's be honest. That was 1998 (when Wenger won his first Premiership title) and times were so very different. The Premiership was nowhere near as good talent-wise as it is today. That team would get trashed by today's Arsenal (or ManU or Chelsea etc.).
England doesn't have enough world class players to win the league anymore. Hell, the national side couldn't probably do it now.

[Nimmy]

Originally Posted by Gooner

Yeah, but Wenger brings loads of players through the ranks. They're just not only English. But they are cheap.

Cole and Campbell were great indeed. And Sol has been great this season as well, but he's getting up there in age. Cole also great, but like I said, he chose to leave. Luckily Clichy is also a world class left back.

I love Wright, Platt, Winterburn, Bould, Parlour, Seaman, Dixon, Adams and Keown, but let's be honest. That was 1998 (when Wenger won his first Premiership title) and times were so very different. The Premiership was nowhere near as good talent-wise as it is today. That team would get trashed by today's Arsenal (or ManU or Chelsea etc.).
England doesn't have enough world class players to win the league anymore. Hell, the national side couldn't probably do it now.

it amazes and amuses me as a Scotsman to think that england has so much potential yet doesnt do anything with it, same with Scotland and to me thi is based on the lack of first team football for youngsters, the Scotland under 21 or 18 team (not sure) got to the final of the European championship, yet they cannot get a regular place in the starting lineup of any scottish premiership team, Im proud to be a celtic fan as we have many quality scottish players that will benefit the national squad in years to come. this isnt as big in England.

there are many quality english youngsters, such as Walcott, Young, Micca Richards and Aaron Lennon who are just breaking into the spotlight at the bigger clubs but many other youngsters whp may just be as talented but dont get the chance hence are playing in division 2 or 3 until they are to old to be a real learning force at a good club, if arsenals youth system just bring through french or african youth players then this will not benefit the eglish game, now making a comparison between the 1998 team and the 2007 team is fine but back then most english teams had english players as the baulk of their teams, if this was the same today then the game would improve, every team not just arsenal should have at least 3 starting english players in their teams in my opinion.