The Football Thread - Season 2012/2013

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joescrivens said:
No because bananas are synonymous with monkeys and bale is considered to look like a chimp. Racism isn't just about skin color.
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Think I understand :thumbs:


So what your saying is, because Bale looks like a chimp its racism, if he didn't look like a monkey its not.
 
dinners said:
Good day for Everton with both Arsenal and Liverpool slipping up.

I guess that equals a good day for Chelsea and Tottenham too.

Was what I had typed approaching full time.

Good day for Everton and Arsenal in the end.
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I saw a fantastic argument on twitter between a spurs fan and an arsenal fan who were obviously friends that went like this:
Spurs fan - "Thank God Arsenal lost!"
Arsenal fan: "Erm, we won mate?"
Spurs fan: "WTF? HOW?!"
Arsenal fan: "Where were you for the last 10?"
Spurs fan: "Took Dog for walk!"

:lol: Definitely a lively final few minutes.

I was amazed to see that McCarthy made a whopping 12 saves for Reading. Liverpool really don't have much luck in front of goal!
 
TriggerHappy said:
I saw a fantastic argument on twitter between a spurs fan and an arsenal fan who were obviously friends that went like this:
Spurs fan - "Thank God Arsenal lost!"
Arsenal fan: "Erm, we won mate?"
Spurs fan: "WTF? HOW?!"
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And does anybody know how ? :lol:
 
dinners said:
Good day for Everton and Arsenal in the end.
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Yep looking interesting still at the top.

At the bottom still lots to play for re the last relegation place (assuming Reading and QPR down), Sunderland look in real trouble though.
 
akr said:
Surprised you think a Chimp is a monkey, you are losing your touch ;)
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Actually I didn't say a chimp is a monkey

Go back and you'll see the subtle difference, the key phrases used are "looks like" :thumbs:
 
bledyn125 said:
one more point needed for promotion......cmon city:clap::clap::clap:

bleddyn
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Been a long time coming. In the nicest possible way I won't miss seeing your time travelling support at Loftus Road next season though.

Guess the change to red was worth it!
 
TriggerHappy said:
I was amazed to see that McCarthy made a whopping 12 saves for Reading. Liverpool really don't have much luck in front of goal!
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The Reading goalie had a really good game. :(

This season Liverpool have had a really good scoring record though, helped largely by the form of Suarez, but the rest have chipped in. :clap:

There are only three teams who have scored more goals, Arsenal, Chel$ki and Utd. Liverpool been of the boil the last couple of weeks though. There inconsistant in games, nevermind from game to game. :bonk: We had more than enough chances to win it today though. :bang:

I think it was a poor day overall. I think there were only fifteen chances on target altogether from all the games at half time, according to Setanta. :eek: :lol:
 
redhed17 said:
The Reading goalie had a really good game. :(

This season Liverpool have had a really good scoring record though, helped largely by the form of Suarez, but the rest have chipped in. :clap:

There are only three teams who have scored more goals, Arsenal, Chel$ki and Utd. Liverpool been of the boil the last couple of weeks though. There inconsistant in games, nevermind from game to game. :bonk: We had more than enough chances to win it today though. :bang:

I think it was a poor day overall. I think there were only fifteen chances on target altogether from all the games at half time, according to Setanta. :eek: :lol:
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I saw a stat the other day that said Suarez has taken approx. 360 touches inside the opposition box. The player with the 2nd most touches I think was Lambert on 150 odd touches. Seriously impressive. It begs the question how so much penetration and goal threat hasn't been converted into a huge goal tally for the season.
 
Just seen the Arsenal game and have to say it was a Blatant penalty, why the debate on MOTD?
 
The Greek said:
Just seen the Arsenal game and have to say it was a Blatant penalty, why the debate on MOTD?
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The basis of their debate was that the linesman was quite a distance when he saw it and was being overzealous. Surely if the linesman can see it from that distance and make the right call, the question has to be how the ref missed it from a much better position. The fact similar fouls have been missed in previous games is also irrelevant. If it's spotted it's a foul and has to be given.

Norwich can feel hard done by for the 3rd because Walcott was offside but their freekick wasn't right, and there was an even more clear cut foul on Walcott in the box that they didn't even show. Not to mention the elbow on Ramsey which they briefly showed and the lunges from Tettey and Snodgrass throughout the game.

I've seen it loads today that we were lucky to win and got the run of the whistle but really as much went against us as it did Norwich and describing it as anything else is just sour grapes.

It's funny relying on MOTD for highlights because often the picture it paints of a game is quite different to how you feel a game was after the full 90 minutes. I always try and remember there's a lot besides the incidents shown that will have happened.
 
Not sure if anyone has seen the footage of the Millwall fan with the policeman's hat - what an utter plum - he's so pleased him himself it's actually quite funny to watch. I'm sure he'll enjoy his next encounter with them in the next few days.

As for the rest involved in the fighting, oh dear, again....
 
TriggerHappy said:
The basis of their debate was that the linesman was quite a distance when he saw it and was being overzealous. Surely if the linesman can see it from that distance and make the right call, the question has to be how the ref missed it from a much better position. The fact similar fouls have been missed in previous games is also irrelevant. If it's spotted it's a foul and has to be given.

Norwich can feel hard done by for the 3rd because Walcott was offside but their freekick wasn't right, and there was an even more clear cut foul on Walcott in the box that they didn't even show. Not to mention the elbow on Ramsey which they briefly showed and the lunges from Tettey and Snodgrass throughout the game.

I've seen it loads today that we were lucky to win and got the run of the whistle but really as much went against us as it did Norwich and describing it as anything else is just sour grapes.

It's funny relying on MOTD for highlights because often the picture it paints of a game is quite different to how you feel a game was after the full 90 minutes. I always try and remember there's a lot besides the incidents shown that will have happened.
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Couldn't agree more with the above. The Ref had a terrible game and maybe the media should be highlighting his mistakes ( which were plentiful) rather than Arsenals.

Is it not a sign of a good team to be able to win ugly and against the run of play, or does that only apply to Man United lol.
 
The Greek said:
Is it not a sign of a good team to be able to win ugly and against the run of play, or does that only apply to Man United lol.
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Just to United :thumbs:

Joking aside - when teams grind out ugly results to win a championship (be it United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool) the pundits give them a slap on the back as it tends to be done often enough for a pattern to emerge (therefore it must be deserving) which in turn results in that title. It's just an easy thing for them to say.

It shouldn't make any difference who, how often or what it counts towards at the end of the season.
 
The linesman can spot that holding (which they were both doing) from 45 yards away, but can't spot a blatant foul and offside from 10 yards away? It wasn't even a corner in the lead up to the goal. I wouldn't want him officiating at the game if I was in a team playing Arsenal.
 
Laudrup said:
The linesman can spot that holding (which they were both doing) from 45 yards away, but can't spot a blatant foul and offside from 10 yards away? It wasn't even a corner in the lead up to the goal. I wouldn't want him officiating at the game if I was in a team playing Arsenal.
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He also missed the persistent fouling by your (I'm assuming you're a Norwich fan) midfield, a blatant penalty on Walcott, an elbow in the face of Ramsey in the box and your player tripping himself up for the free kick that resulted in your only goal.

I'd also take issue with you highlighting that Giroud holds Kamara back, considering that Kamara started the shirt pulling by hauling him backwards from the ball with all his bodyweight once he realised Giroud had got free and goal side of him. If Kamara doesn't grab him Giroud doesn't have to hold his arm to try and stay up right because he's already free of the marker and pulling him back would only draw the defender back onto him.

Nor do I think you can be sure whether it was a corner or not. From all the replays I've seen it's completely inconclusive who the last touch came off.

Seriously, you can't pretend like you were hard done by from the officials. The officials were poor, but I don't think one team suffered more than the other and I certainly don't think you can say that Arsenal didn't deserve to win considering how Norwich lined themselves up to play with 10 men skirting their own penalty area and that we absolutely dominated on every single metric.
 
The only issue I have with the pen is that i am sure there must be at one or 2 similar instances every game so in that case it was harsh but as a pen giroud was clearly pulled and did affect. Missed all but last goal in motd highlights.
 
TriggerHappy said:
He also missed the persistent fouling by your (I'm assuming you're a Norwich fan) midfield, a blatant penalty on Walcott, an elbow in the face of Ramsey in the box and your player tripping himself up for the free kick that resulted in your only goal.

I'd also take issue with you highlighting that Giroud holds Kamara back, considering that Kamara started the shirt pulling by hauling him backwards from the ball with all his bodyweight once he realised Giroud had got free and goal side of him. If Kamara doesn't grab him Giroud doesn't have to hold his arm to try and stay up right because he's already free of the marker and pulling him back would only draw the defender back onto him.

Nor do I think you can be sure whether it was a corner or not. From all the replays I've seen it's completely inconclusive who the last touch came off.

Seriously, you can't pretend like you were hard done by from the officials. The officials were poor, but I don't think one team suffered more than the other and I certainly don't think you can say that Arsenal didn't deserve to win considering how Norwich lined themselves up to play with 10 men skirting their own penalty area and that we absolutely dominated on every single metric.
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I'm not a Norwich fan. The linesman gifted you two goals, if he had gifted Norwich two goals you could say the officials were bad for both. It was highly dubious officiating.
 
Laudrup said:
I'm not a Norwich fan. The linesman gifted you two goals, if he had gifted Norwich two goals you could say the officials were bad for both. It was highly dubious officiating.
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He gifted us one goal and gifted Norwich one goal. The second goal isn't clear whether it's a gift or not, even after multiple replays. He also denied us a penalty on Walcott and a possible penalty on Ramsey for the deliberate elbow.

Not to mention the fact that Holt should have been shown a red and consequently suspended for lunging in and raking his studs down someone's shins in their previous match, which the ref either missed or turned a blind eye to, so that's another mistake that's gone in Norwich's favour.

I don't deny we were fortunate with two decisions and one of those was certainly wrong, but their only goal was also certainly wrong and there was also lots missed that should have gone our way. On balance the result was fair and the officiating was equally poor to both teams.

Did you see the game or just the MOTD highlights?

I'm intrigued who you support now? :)
 
Laudrup said:
I'm not a Norwich fan. The linesman gifted you two goals, if he had gifted Norwich two goals you could say the officials were bad for both. It was highly dubious officiating.
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You must be a spurs fan than lol. Seriously, the linesman needs to be congratulated for helping the Ref make the right call after missing an obvious penalty on Walcott and awarding a free kick to Norwich for no apparent reason which lead to their goal.
 
The Greek said:
You must be a spurs fan than lol. Seriously, the linesman needs to be congratulated for helping the Ref make the right call after missing an obvious penalty on Walcott and awarding a free kick to Norwich for no apparent reason which lead to their goal.
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It's no wonder linesmen are so reluctant to highlight problems that don't happen right in front of them if the response to them doing so is 'he was so far from it how can he be sure'. It's a completely backwards response to criticise someone for making the right call when the real problem is how someone a third of the distance failed to do so.

Some of the defences I've seen for why the penalty shouldn't have been given are laughable. Apparently, because they gave a plucky defensive performance they should have been afforded more leniency in the box. Ok, so if you defend well for 80 minutes suddenly the rules change and you can start hauling people down from behind in the area...how does that make sense?! The rules are the rules. They don't change mid-game based on how a side has played up until that point!
 
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I've a bad feeling about this game against Stoke despite the perfect start
 
Well, if there was nay shred of hope left after yesterday's defeat at Everton, Sunderland's win at Newcastle just flushed it down the toilet. 10 points off safety with only 15 points left to win. Even if we were to win all 5 games (yeah right), there would still be no guarantee!

It's been a **** 2 seasons in he Premier League and a real low for me as a QPR fan. 10 years ago, we were in what is now League one and it was much more enjoyable (even losing the play-off final) than it has been in the Prem.

All fans of teams that are promoted to the top tier understand that it is tough up there and they will struggle but the least they expect is for the club to give it its bet shot. We didn't even get that!

Joe, please note, THIS is what an embarrassing season is truly like!
 
fabs said:
Joe, please note, THIS is what an embarrassing season is truly like!
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That was funny

Joe's team have had an embarrassing season.

Most LFC fans just fall for the excuses their club spout like 'progress' and 'transition'.
 
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Away to watch the second half of the semi final.

I honestly can't decide which regional branch of Toys R Us I want to win but at least one of them won't.
 
dinners said:
Away to watch the second half of the semi final.

I honestly can't decide which regional branch of Toys R Us I want to win but at least one of them won't.
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Man City for me. I typically don't like any teams that spend big with money that isn't their own, but since that applies equally to both these sides the fact Abramovich is such a spoilt brat and the fans are so intolerable I don't think I could ever wish them success. Ha as I type this Ba just scores a cracker!

This game has got me thinking how I'd rank the teams in terms of the quality they have, how that compares to their actual league position and what explains the discrepancy.

I do wonder how much more closely run the title race might have been had Mancini not done so much defensive tinkering. Given the strength of the squad at his disposal, he has massively under-performed. Similarly, Chelsea have such quality in their side but their owner's impetuousness really does shoot them in the foot as well as having made them what they are. It's quite interesting I find.
 
Both of them 'should' be 1 and 2 in the league (choose your order) but as you say they have their faults.

If push came to shove I'd rather Chelsea won this game but I'm not far off the fence.

Good game though.
 
Aguero should be off for a two footed stamp/lunge on Luiz once he's on the ground. Suarez would be proud of that one!
 
TriggerHappy said:
Aguero should be off for a two footed stamp/lunge on Luiz once he's on the ground. Suarez would be proud of that one!
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Too 'honest' an attack for Suarez lol

It was a shocker though
 
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dinners said:
Too 'honest' an attack for Suarez lol

It was a shocker though
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If it was Suarez I'm sure we would hear something about his momentum, no where else to put his foot down, unavoidable and accidental from certain members :lol:
 
Keeping with the theme, Newcastle were robbed of a goal to make it 1-1 because of a bad call by the linesman.
 
fabs said:
Well, if there was nay shred of hope left after yesterday's defeat at Everton, Sunderland's win at Newcastle just flushed it down the toilet. 10 points off safety with only 15 points left to win. Even if we were to win all 5 games (yeah right), there would still be no guarantee!

It's been a **** 2 seasons in he Premier League and a real low for me as a QPR fan. 10 years ago, we were in what is now League one and it was much more enjoyable (even losing the play-off final) than it has been in the Prem.

All fans of teams that are promoted to the top tier understand that it is tough up there and they will struggle but the least they expect is for the club to give it its bet shot. We didn't even get that!

Joe, please note, THIS is what an embarrassing season is truly like!
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I'm with you Marc - this season especially has been torture of the highest order. It's not so much been the lack of win (though of course that has an impact) but the sheer incompetence shown by players, managers, the chairman etc. Clueless players managed by a clueless manager managed by a clueless chairman for too much of the season.

I doubt that in the history of football there has ever been a more abject managerial selection and tactical uselessness than Mark Hughes genius at home to West Ham. I don't think I will ever forget that game - unbelievable.

I would almost enjoy us going into administration, going down a couple of divisions as we did before and becoming a club I could be proud of again, at the moment we are just an embarrassment.

Me and my brother have already pretty much decided we're mostly done for next season. I think I am going to do weekday matches only from now on as spending time away from my wife and son is pretty hard to justify to myself to head down for most of a Saturday for that.

Hopefully by the time my son wants to go we will be in a better state. In all likelihood he'll want to go to our nearest team, Millwall or will become a Chelsea fan at which point I will give up with football completely and take him to watch rugby. On the plus side he's a quarter Spanish with most of that side based near Barcelona so maybe I'll just take him to watch Spain and Barcelona and tell him it's almost the same as QPR but a bit warmer.
 
Interesting piece about time wasting today:

Time wasting players wasting fans' time and money
Arsenal fans took great pleasure in taunting the Norwich goalkeeper Mark Bunn as he ran to collect the ball in the closing minutes of their 3-1 victory. They had spent the previous 85 jeering as they watched him walk ever more slowly to place the ball methodically for every goal-kick. All in good fun, to be sure, but it speaks to a frustration for which one cannot lay the blame at players' feet. It is no surprise to see a side try to waste time away at stronger opposition – it is entirely understandable and certainly not their job to enact any change. That responsibility lies with the referee – is it not time they focused on enforcing the rules more consistently to prevent this? In 2010-11 the average time the ball was in play was 62min 39sec; that is nearly a third of the playing time wasted. Put another way, it is £20 of an overpriced £60 ticket to the Emirates or half an hour listening to the inane filler of any number of radio and TV experts. The rules do not need changing, players should be booked and an appropriate amount of time added at the end. If they found themselves playing an interminable 10 minutes of injury time every half, the practice would soon decline. As it is, they are not just wasting their time; they are wasting ours. Toby Moses
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www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/apr/15/premier-league-fa-cup-10-talking-points

Amazed that the ball was in play for less than 63 minutes on average in 2010/11. Maybe even Fergie time isn't fair!
 
fabs said:
Joe, please note, THIS is what an embarrassing season is truly like!
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Embarassing comes in different levels for all clubs though Marc. I think the strange thing about the QPR season is really on paper how the team looks you would think it could have done a lot better. but a bunch of individuals doesn't make a team
 
I was at the Everton-QPR match on Saturday and QPR started the better of the two teams, with Andros Townsend looking a decent pacy winger and Remy probably the most interested of the outfield players, but once Everton scored you could see heads going down and they were never in it from that point on.

Granero is one of those who is not right for the team's current situation; he clearly has talent but looked disinterested most of the time and was frustrated and petulant before he was subbed, and when Taarabt came off the bench he had one of those games where he looked as though he'd rather be somewhere else.

Everton were no great shakes - probably (hopefully!) mentally reserving something for the Emirates - but once they were ahead they were comfortable. I have sympathy for QPR fans - your travelling fans gave good support throughout - but not for the players who have let them down.
 
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