CelticsStrong
Other Discussions => Other / General Sports => Revolution / Soccer => Topic started by: boscel33 on August 07, 2011, 10:26:13 AM
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me thinks man-u is in for a long season with th new keeper. he is no where near the class of van der sar. btw, some how,chelsea has got to get sturridge into the lineup.
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Monday Night Football, Man United and Spurs.
Hopefully Tottenham's 21-year run without a win at Old Trafford ends tonight.
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me thinks man-u is in for a long season with th new keeper. he is no where near the class of van der sar. btw, some how,chelsea has got to get sturridge into the lineup.
he is 20y.o.
he CAN`T be near VD Saar
thankfully scot the didn`t end :D
De Gea Evra Jones Evans Smalling Anderson Nani Young Cleverley Rooney Welbeck
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It was good seeing the crowd get behind De Gea last night. They cheered everything positive he did. Every touch, every pass, every clearance. Looked like it gave him a nice boost.
Very nice job by Man Utd's supporters.
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me thinks man-u is in for a long season with th new keeper. he is no where near the class of van der sar. btw, some how,chelsea has got to get sturridge into the lineup.
Goalies like van der Sar only come around every 10 years or so. United have got Lindegaard on the bench and he'll step up if De Gea "crashes" during the season. I'm actually surprised Lindegaard is not the number one choice but I guess I'll have to trust Fergie and the goalie trainers on this one ;)
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Manchester United 8, Arsenal 2. Class dismissed!
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Manchester-London 13-3
too bad i only watched the first half of the m.u.-arsenal.
i feel a little bad for wenger but the last couple of years he seems more interested in making money for arsenal than strenghening the team
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Same old, same old in the Premier League.
With Man City stepping up as the biggest threat to Man United, I can see the league becoming as much of a joke as the Scottish Premier League where Celtic and Rangers take turns winning the title every year.
Could well be Man U/Man City every year for the next decade or two. So much more exciting than Man U/Arsenal every year ::)
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what about Chelsea ???
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Interesting transfer deadline day.
Raul Meireles to Chelsea for £12 million. Mikel Arteta (£10mil), Per Mertesacker (£9mil) and Yossi Benayoun (loan) to Arsenal. Liverpool add Craig Bellamy to the mix with Joe Cole leaving and on his way to Lille. Scott Parker moves to Tottenham for £5.5 million.
Very disappointed to miss out on Luka Modric (£40 million bid rejected) but Meireles is a nice consolation price. He'll add some quality and depth to Chelsea's midfield.
I thought Craig Bellamy was a great signing for Liverpool. He was playing excellent footie for Man City before his bust up with Mancini. I think he'll be a very good addition to that Liverpool front-line. Kenny Dalgish is doing a great job of building a high quality squad there.
I was disappointed with Arsenal's moves. Not sure about Mertesacker in the Premiership. Too slow, not enough foot speed. I think the Premier League will be too fast for him. I don't like paying £10 million for a 29 year old stop gap signing (Arteta) either. Desperation moves. They panicked.
Starting to worry about Tottenham's medium to long term future.
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I was disappointed with Arsenal's moves. Not sure about Mertesacker in the Premiership. Too slow, not enough foot speed. I think the Premier League will be too fast for him. I don't like paying Ģ10 million for a 29 year old stop gap signing (Arteta) either. Desperation moves. They panicked.
Oh, you knew I had to react to this, huh? :P
According to FIFA, during the WC 2010 Mertesacker's top-speed was 28.35 km/h, John Terry's was 22.53 km/h. Mertesacker is in the top 3 in top speed on the german national team among players older than 20.
Just sayin`
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I was disappointed with Arsenal's moves. Not sure about Mertesacker in the Premiership. Too slow, not enough foot speed. I think the Premier League will be too fast for him. I don't like paying £10 million for a 29 year old stop gap signing (Arteta) either. Desperation moves. They panicked.
Oh, you knew I had to react to this, huh? :P
According to FIFA, during the WC 2010 Mertesacker's top-speed was 28.35 km/h, John Terry's was 22.53 km/h. Mertesacker is in the top 3 in top speed on the german national team among players older than 20.
Just sayin`
Am I thinking about the right guy? Big tall center half, slow, doesn't change directions well, yeah?
Or, maybe, does he have good speed over longer distances but poor quickness in short distances? That is a really surprising statistic. Not Terry. But Mertesacker.
Or I am just flat out wrong about Mertesacker? And he is not slow at all.
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Am I thinking about the right guy? Big tall center half, slow, doesn't change directions well, yeah?
Or, maybe, does he have good speed over longer distances but poor quickness in short distances? That is a really surprising statistic. Not Terry. But Mertesacker.
Or I am just flat out wrong about Mertesacker? And he is not slow at all.
No no, youīre thinking of the right guy. I just think itīs a matter of perception. Tall, lanky guys tend to look slower than they really are. To be honest, I couldnīt believe that stat, either, when I saw it the first time, but itīs confirmed that Mertesacker is among the fastest players on the german national team among players 21 and over. And yes, I think his acceleration isnīt all that great.
I mean, in the end, it doesnīt really matter. You donīt amass 75 caps for Germany by the age of 26 if youīre just some average player. I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly, Mertesacker was among the best players in duels won (on the ground, and in the air) for WC 2006, Euro 2008 and WC 2010 as well as in the qualifications for Euro 08 and WC 2010. He had a fantastic game against Argentina at WC 2010, for example, and their attackers are all small and quick. Heīs just an excellent reader of the game.
Getting such a guy for less than 10 million seems like a bargain.
Additionally, both Werder Bremen and Germany tend to play with a very high line, much like Arsenal, so he should have less difficulties to adapt.
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I think Mertesacker's reputation is much larger than his talents. He was horrid this past season, sluggish, slower than ever and terrible distributing the ball. I estimate that more than a dozen goals can be attributed to unforced mistakes by him. At this point, Friedrich is so much better than Mertesacker it's not even funny.
Wenger should be fired, to be quite honest. He turned Arsenal into a club that doesn't really contend for the title any more. Installed a losing mentality. That's great for him - coaching without the pressure of having to win! It's terrible for the club though.
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I'm also unimpressed with Chelsea's off-season. Mata was the type of acquisition they needed but I'm not sure it was enough. I think they still lack creativity, offensive explosiveness. If Modric failed, they should have gone after someone else. Guys with the talent to create opportunities out of nothing. As of now, there are too many strikers and too many mediocre/ageing players as wingers and CMs. In fact, I think AVB had more offensive talent in Porto last season than in Chelsea this season (starting XI) only, which is kind of sad considering the difference in resources. Mata helps, but they needed more. Hopefully the spaniard stays healthy.
Meireles is a nice player, but he has stamina issues when asked to do that box-to-box job (the one he has done for almost his entire career). AVB should have paid for Moutinho - a world-class version of Meireles.
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Liverpool... I like their team, but I question the decision to spend more than 100 millions in the likes of Carroll, Downing, Adam and Henderson. I think that Dalglish is still a great a coach, very astute tactically and as a man manager, but he's too old fashioned when it comes to personnel decisions. Those guys are good players but like any other Brit, their price is grossly inflated. And Coates is a nice young prospect, but he's not used to defend high-up the pitch like European teams do and he'll struggle a bit as his acceleration, while better than one would expect, isn't top notch. But he had a great Copa America...
Just imagine how good Liverpool could be if they had spent the money in, I don't know, Pastore, Falcao and Lucho Gonzalez. Or they could keep one of CMs they sold and acquire a winger like Hazard. Plus a really good central-defender: if they wanted a young south-american, Rafael Tolói or Mário Fernandes, who have higher potential than Coates and are more suited for the European game. Same money spent and they'd have a much more talented team.
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Those 3 teams could have done better. Therefore the Manchester teams ought to be considered favourites. Just slightly though, I don't think the situation is really comparable to Spain or Scotland.
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I think Mertesacker's reputation is much larger than his talents. He was horrid this past season, sluggish, slower than ever and terrible distributing the ball. I estimate that more than a dozen goals can be attributed to unforced mistakes by him. At this point, Friedrich is so much better than Mertesacker it's not even funny.
Wenger should be fired, to be quite honest. He turned Arsenal into a club that doesn't really contend for the title any more. Installed a losing mentality. That's great for him - coaching without the pressure of having to win! It's terrible for the club though.
Sorry, but thatīs bogus. The comparison between Mertesacker and Friedrich alone makes me cringe. Friedrich is 33, and had one good tourney, Merte is 26, and had 3 of them. Friedrich already lost his place on the national team, while Mertesacker will most likely remain first choice. They are simply not comparable.
Btw, Friedrich and Mertesacker both were injured for a good part of the season, so I wonder how you come to the conclusion that Friedrich is so much better, "itīs not even funny". There are several reasons why Bremen (and by extension, Mertesacker) leaked so many goals last season:
1. They play a heavily offensive-minded game.
2. Mertesacker was injured for a good part of the season.
3. Naldo, his partner at CB, was also injured, and they didnīt have any suitable back-ups.
4. Both their FBīs are abysmal.
5. They played, contrary to most teams in the league, with only one DM, Torsten Frings, who simply wasnīt good enough for the BL anymore.
Even if all you claim is true (and it isnīt), that would be his first bad season after seven excellent ones, a bit too soon to write a 26-year-old player with his pedigree off, donīt you think?
Itīs easy to make outrageous "estimations" on the internet, but this one has nothing to do with reality.
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I think Mertesacker's reputation is much larger than his talents. He was horrid this past season, sluggish, slower than ever and terrible distributing the ball. I estimate that more than a dozen goals can be attributed to unforced mistakes by him. At this point, Friedrich is so much better than Mertesacker it's not even funny.
Wenger should be fired, to be quite honest. He turned Arsenal into a club that doesn't really contend for the title any more. Installed a losing mentality. That's great for him - coaching without the pressure of having to win! It's terrible for the club though.
Sorry, but thatīs bogus. The comparison between Mertesacker and Friedrich alone makes me cringe. Friedrich is 33, and had one good tourney, Merte is 26, and had 3 of them. Friedrich already lost his place on the national team, while Mertesacker will most likely remain first choice. They are simply not comparable.
Btw, Friedrich and Mertesacker both were injured for a good part of the season, so I wonder how you come to the conclusion that Friedrich is so much better, "itīs not even funny". There are several reasons why Bremen (and by extension, Mertesacker) leaked so many goals last season:
1. They play a heavily offensive-minded game.
2. Mertesacker was injured for a good part of the season.
3. Naldo, his partner at CB, was also injured, and they didnīt have any suitable back-ups.
4. Both their FBīs are abysmal.
5. They played, contrary to most teams in the league, with only one DM, Torsten Frings, who simply wasnīt good enough for the BL anymore.
Even if all you claim is true (and it isnīt), that would be his first bad season after seven excellent ones, a bit too soon to write a 26-year-old player with his pedigree off, donīt you think?
Itīs easy to make outrageous "estimations" on the internet, but this one has nothing to do with reality.
Friedrich had one good tourney and Mertesacker three? Wth are you talking about? I'm saying Friedrich is better, not younger.
And Mertesacker was injured for a good part of the season? In that case we aren't talking about the same Mertesacker. He was healthy during the season with the exception of a couple of weeks early on, at least I saw him on the pitch most weeks. Wait, let me get the numbers: 2700 Minutes in the Bundesliga (30 matches) and 450 minutes in the Champions League (7 matches). How is that being injured for a big part of the season? Unless you mean he was playing "injured". It didn't give that impression, but maybe that could explain why he played awfully so often. However, if such a thing happened, why believe he has recovered? In any case, he was always overrated and he'll struggle with Arsenal's heavily offensive-minded game just the same. Plus, he plays like a 20th century CB. He'd be a much better fit for a team that defends deep and doesn't ask the defenders to go forward and distribute the ball.
Mertesacker will be Squillaci part II for Arsenal.
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Manchester United 1, Manchester City 6. Yes, you read that right. 6-1! What a complete joke United's "defense" was today...
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Manchester United 1, Manchester City 6. Yes, you read that right. 6-1! What a complete joke United's "defense" was today...
Ah darn it .... I tuned off at 3-0. Figured it was over.
A lot of goals in the final 20 minutes. Oh well, I'll catch the highlights later.
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I thought United were pretty good until Jonny Evans got sent off. From that point on, City were clearly superior. They took full advantage of the extra man. If I were Man Utd, I wouldn't be concerned about the lopsided loss. It doesn't mean much.
I still think United are the favourite to win the league this year. Remain unconvinced of Mancini's ability to navigate the schedule over the course of the full season. He has cost them several points in each of the past two years and I fully expect that trend to continue for at least another year.
On anothe note, great chance for Chelsea to move into second place today. I have been very pleased with Villas-Boas and the passing game he has tried to implement. Eye pleasing.
Juan Mata has been a welcome addition too. Been crying out for some width, penetration and creativity in the final third for years now. Finally have some balance to the team. Although, I still think we need another player or two who shares these qualities to give true balance + depth to their attacking play.
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I thought United were pretty good until Jonny Evans got sent off. From that point on, City were clearly superior. They took full advantage of the extra man. If I were Man Utd, I wouldn't be concerned about the lopsided loss. It doesn't mean much.
I still think United are the favourite to win the league this year.
Agree, which is why I'm not feeling too bad about the loss.
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Mertesacker will be Squillaci part II for Arsenal.
Yeah, right. How did that turn out? And yes, he played injured, according to the Bremen brass. He had almost no vacation after the WC, and missed preparation due to the injury, so he was always lacking behind, physically.
Friedrich is without a club.
The fact that you chose Friedrich as comparison to Mertesacker shows that you only watched the WC.
Manchester United 1, Manchester City 6. Yes, you read that right. 6-1! What a complete joke United's "defense" was today...
Dang, Iīll never choose my girlfriend over football again.
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Great finish to the Blackburn vs Sunderland match today.
Absolutely delighted for Martin O'Neill. Welcome back to the Premiership!
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I'm shocked not to have seen yesterday's events discussed on here.
What happened in the City game was totally devastating for me and I have never witnessed a climax to a sports event quite like that one.
Truly incredible. 22 hours later and I've only just picked my jaw up from the floor.
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i`m glad you managed to pick it up cause mine is still on the floor !!!!!!!!!!!!!
and i pretty much embarassed myself cause i sent a couple of text messages to friends (liverpool and chelsea fans) celebrating another trohpy :D :D :D
a few years ago i remember Bayern winning the league in a similar way
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I'm shocked not to have seen yesterday's events discussed on here.
What happened in the City game was totally devastating for me and I have never witnessed a climax to a sports event quite like that one.
Truly incredible. 22 hours later and I've only just picked my jaw up from the floor.
Yeah, man. That was amazing, but it sucks. QPR was hanging in there epically, and then things just collapsed.
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This thread exemplifies the state of Football in the USA. Arguably the greatest season in EPL just wrapped up, and only 2page discussion. >:(
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I'm shocked not to have seen yesterday's events discussed on here.
What happened in the City game was totally devastating for me and I have never witnessed a climax to a sports event quite like that one.
Truly incredible. 22 hours later and I've only just picked my jaw up from the floor.
Yeah, man. That was amazing, but it sucks. QPR was hanging in there epically, and then things just collapsed.
They defended well. I had a feeling it was "fool's gold" though. If I hadn't been so shocked I swear I would have cried. Isn't it amazing how you can go from being uncontrollably elated to shattered, drained and demoralized in seconds?
This thread exemplifies the state of Football in the USA. Arguably the greatest season in EPL just wrapped up, and only 2page discussion. >:(
I don't think so. This forum has had epic football discussion in the past (as I'm sure you remember). Not sure why it's taken a hit in recent times, but this thread doesn't paint the full picture.
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Delighted to see Chelsea have nabbed Eden Hazard.
Gives the Blues some real attacking swerve in the final third now with Juan Mate and Eden Hazard together pulling the strings. Haven't had this type of creativity since Arjen Robben and Damien Duff were running the wings. Absolutely delighted.
I think this signing puts the team back in contention for the league title next season.
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He was very close to sign with MU.... It would have been a great addition cause lets face the team has lost a lot of talent recently. And imho MU suited better to Hazard too.
Oh well .... At least i hope this time we`ll get Snejder
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He was very close to sign with MU.... It would have been a great addition cause lets face the team has lost a lot of talent recently. And imho MU suited better to Hazard too.
Oh well .... At least i hope this time we`ll get Snejder
I think United have spent that attacking midfielder money on Kagawa from Dortmund. Someone young with upside instead of an older established player like Sneijder.
I don't know a lot about Kagawa. Only saw him play two or three times. Wasn't overly impressive in those games either but small samples and all of that ... so not really sure how much he'll add to United but definitely looking forward to seeing how he does.
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He is a great success for Dortumnd !!! They bought Kagawa ~300.000 euros and now MU got him for 18.000.000 !!! I haven`t seen him play much either ... They say he is good. I don`t know if he is good enough. As i`ve said mu needs serious talent injections ....
You are right about Sneijder`s age but MU seriously needs someone to lead the team. They were forced to "unretire" Scholes ... And the funny thing is that he wasn`t just an extra pair of legs in the midfield .. He was key part of the run that put MU very very close to wining the EPL.
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Wow, Chelsea just agreed to a Ģ38 million deal for Hulk from Porto.
I am absolutely loving how they are rebuilding this side. Hulk and Hazard. Beautiful.
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I`ve jsut read that... also a great signing.
I`m interested to see what they` ll do to replace Drogba Even if Torres takes the spot they still need another quality striker....
BTW PSG offers 150mil for Rooney!! WOW
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all right(http://www.cleaningcassette.com)
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Oh my goodness, Harry Redknapp was just sacked by Tottenham. Shocker.
Tottenham are in a very precarious position here. Lots of big name players who were already considering their futures elsewhere. Now, to lose Harry who turned that club, wow. They are going to need a big name manager to come in there and calm everything down. Make sure they keep their big name stars (Modric, Bale + signing Adebayor permanently).
If they don't do an excellent job here (and I mean excellent, not just good), I could easily see that team falling right back down the table into a 7th-10th place finish.