OMG just heard about Hodgson being forced to make public apology for his ill-advised and untimely 'feed the monkey' allegory/joke at half-time with the Poland match... oh man, does he not recall what happened with Hodddle and some of his bizarre pronouncements?
Sad thing is, where would we be now if we had Hoddle for a few more years and he was able to stay on after in some capacity? He's an idiot, but he's a very good manager and gets alot out of players, some of his ideas are what we've been crying out for.
Didn't he work abroad running a school for players released from teams to improve them and get them back into the game? Some of them who weren't good enough for the lower leagues have gone on to have proper careers. That one gaff was probably as big a shame for English football as it was for him.
Well, they reckon what with him being asked to be involved with the new FA commission or whatever into advancing the England team set up that this is like a rehabilitation and re-entry into the fold. I think it's generally accepted he was a good England manager and generally regretted that he was given the boot in the circumstances he was.
We got a FC Divealona fan here?
Ahh interesting.
England are something like 17th at the moment, if it stays like that we could get a tough group. Maybe we'd do better having to play top teams instead of struggling against the likes of Algeria last time
Except for Neymar who is fairly new and learned these habits from Brazil probably since he was a junior starting at Santos, what you just said there makes me feel pity for you if you really believe that.
Well I never...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e64cIqth0R4&feature=youtu.be
Can you believe that was given???
You made me so sad, bro, you didn't actually post the picture of Busquets faking some pain, from 2010, that I keep seeing it for 3 1/2 years every time someone mentions he's name. Excuse me, but that's already lame for at least 2 1/2 years.
Don't worry about it, Paul, most hate Barca around here but I'm with you.
A lot of this of course is due to their great success. But I think a lot also relates to a more general deep dislike of the kind of theatrics and play acting that does seem to be a very strong feature in certain leagues and football cultures.
It has to be said though, some of the Barca V Real games in recent seasons have just been the most truly appalling, amateur dramatics-laden spectacles (I blame Mourinho :wink: ). However, it's not as if the Premier and other leagues are immune to this kind of thing... Drogba, Bale, Young - I can think of countless examples where, for example, we've seen the most blatant diving etc in recent years.
Can't forget Townsend! His hurdle over Lampard and little roll around on the floor got him a well deserved yellow a few weeks back. Funny now he's the golden boy that doesn't get mentioned
Downright p*ssed about how Chelsea played in the first half today, they were horrid. How can they hope to go deep in Europe this term if they start like that against Cardiff? Imagine what'll happen against the likes of Madrid or Milan if they are that poor?
Arsenal were great in the second half...Ozil, WOW.
We won't even qualify for the Champions' League at this rate.
Succession bungled by the powers that be.
I see no light at the end of this very dark tunnel.
Myself and others here predicted big problems appointing the far too defensive and cautious Moyes at Man U, tbh though, I actually honestly didn't think he'd be this bad.
Right, all the main players (bar Man U) have got the points on the board, so let's see if AVB can step it up after that West Ham disaster. He needs to...
As you said, the only teams that matter have already played this weekend
In regards to Arsenal. I expected this loss. Champions League is not important, the Premier League is.
Good on Torres to get a couple of goals.
In regards to Arsenal. I expected this loss. Champions League is not important, the Premier League is.
What's Mourinho done to Torres?
He called him over against Tottenham and said something, he looked pumped straight away and he's not stopped since. Yet more Mourinho magic
I thought Wenger was right when he said naivety cost us in the last 20 minutes.
The loss of Flamini really is crucial. I was at the Norwich game on Saturday, and it was blindingly obvious pretty much as soon as he became concussed that we seemed to lose our shape and control of the game. Norwich consequently had a spell from about 35 minutes (when Flamini had the collision), until Ozil's goal on 58 minutes, where they seemed to be on top. His return is absolutely imperative for the run of games coming up.
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I forgot to mention on here that I went to Schalke - Augsburg the other week.
Great ground, great atmosphere, the moment you step out of Gelsenkirchen Hauptbahnhof you know that the city lives and breathes Schalke 04.
Agree totally with both. We bossed the game in the 2nd half after a horror show in the first. Jack W is just not there yet at this level. Santi unlocked the door when he came on and it all came together.
BD had one shot on goal in the 2nd half and made it count....
Flamini has always been a fav of mine. He's kind of like the guy in the Orwell quote: he does the dirty work so that the rest can play pretty. I knew we would have a hard time without him last night.
How was your team and Schalke's performance yesterday ?
Schalke played very well, but you could see they are still a young and naive side. Chelsea played a classic away from home in Europe style of game, defended well and then picked up goals on the counter when they were needed.
You could tell which side was the one who's done it all before and who were the new kids on the block looking to impress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmamlhAKJWY
I thought it was a good performance, I guess not up to TTFC standards.
Some interesting games today. Arsenal manage to nick a win at Palace (Palace dominated for long spells), Moyes is saved at OT by his team 'doing a Fergie,' and Suarez and Sturridge are truly looking like the new S&S for Liverpool. Southampton and Everton continue to impress under new gaffers. A ref succeeded in ruining another Clasico.
While it's great for Arsenal to be top of the table, I really can't wait for the hard games to start (Liverpool next week, followed by United) because at the moment the table does not reveal anything. We've played 9, with the results being W7 D1 L1, which sounds great, but it you look at the exact corresponding fixtures last season (replacing Palace with Reading), we won them all (so if you were a pessimist you can argue we are 5 points worse off than last year). We steamrolled opposition placed 7th and below, but won only 1 game out of 10 against the other teams who finished in the top 6; so in terms of reading anything into Arsenal this season, we'll have to see what happens against Liverpool and United. Time to see what we're made of.
PS: Ibra is a boss - a true showman
Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang. No one hires like Dortmund. First goal was a masterpiece from them.
On a side note, Schalke's defence is atrocious. Their lack of organization on Dortmund counter strikes was obvious. Sahin totally free in the second goal, the third also the same pattern. Could make some experiments with Santana
Oh cmon. A Clasico is umpossible to umpire.
Today Chelsea against Man City.
Rooney and Suarez may be in top form right now, but when Aguero is as sharp as he is right now he's second to none.
Plus with Negredo settling in nicely they have a great partnership upfront.
On the other side Torres only scores in European matches.
Also with an in form Silva on the pitch and Mata probably on the bench, Man City will be hard to beat.
Yes, very hard lol. Joe Hart has always been overrated, his shot stopping is great, his decision making has always been dodgy imo.
Torres was a beast though, now to fix the midfield and we'll be sorted.
Fernando Torres! He scores when he wants!
Fernando Torres! He scores when he wants!
But no Mata
Ok good for you. I'm glad Torres made another important goal, with restored confidence he should be able to score many more. The guy must have some character taken into account everthing that is said and written about him.
Can't watch the match live here, but i'm gonna watch the highlights tonight.
Torres was good today, but his capability of losing easy goal is still only matched by Robinho's (at least from players whose name pops uo in my mind). Let's see if he can keep it up.
I really am enjoying this new fire from Torres. He really looks up for it now, love it.