The Football Thread - Season 2013/2014 & World Cup

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How many goals would Liverpool's attack score against their defence?
 
Well as QPR continue their slide towards losing their identity, I continue to fall out of love with the beautiful game. The last few years should have been a highlight, getting promoted, a chairman willing to spend money on players with quality not seen for along time and high profile managers bringing tactical nous to amaze us.

There have been some positives, our chairman one of them, he is investing for the long-term in our set-up which is good to see. He has been naive though, and we are not learning from our lessons.

Since we decided Neil Warnock was not up to it, we have appointed Mark Hughes and Harry Redknapp as managers and increased our squad to the size of the Asian continent. Under Hughes I witnessed some of the most pathetic displays of football you are ever likely to see, especially from such an expensively assembled side. I will never forget our home game against West Ham which was the most tactically pathetic 1st half of football you could ever have the misfortune of seeing - horrific stuff. When the penny finally dropped with Fernandes about how hopeless Hughes was, we appointed Harry, and he got another huge amount of money to spend (12m on Christopher Samba etc). Still he tried his best and we got relegated which was not his fault of course. And now despite more and more signings we sit 4th in the Championship, slowly dropping down the table, playing some of the most dull football in the league, with the sublimely ridiculous position of having Adel Tarrabt out on loan playing for AC Milan, Lois Remy at Newcastle and the Brazilan World Cup keeper we signed as a panic to Rob Green not doing well, out on loan to Toronto having not played for us in the league all year.

So what can poor Harry do now? Poor Harry has used up all his loan signings and the transfer window is closed. What, that was the tactic? I see, when all else fails, sign a new player. Actually coach some of our existing players I hear you say? Ridiculous. Who knows the cause and effect, but notice the change in our form and Derby's since McLaren left us and took over at Derby. You would not believe some of the players in our squad, and how devoid of ideas we look on matchday.

So 4th in the Championship is not that bad, and you know what it's not. Chance of the play-offs - if you've not been involved one of the best things in terms of tension, atmosphere, excitement etc, at any level. Our League one semi-final against Oldham once of the highlights of 30 years watching QPR. But there is just this apathy overwhelming me. I dislike Harry so much I can't stand to even listen to one of his press conferences 'not my fault blah blah'.People might not like Warnock, but when we went up, there was a sense of togetherness, we had it with Holloway previously.

I'll admit I was swept away with it all at the start, but now I'd love us to just get back to what we did best before. A smallish club punching above our weight, signing players from lower divisions and youth team. Or just not signing big players who really are only here for one reason.

If it would not lead to financial meltdown I'd almost not want us to go up this year. But if we do go up, we'll learn nothing. Hmmm.

I'm slightly lacking in sleep and a bit grumpy...
 
dinners said:
It's the soft yellows that annoy me as (like you say) it can often then mean incidents worthy of a yellow are overlooked by the ref later in the game because he doesn't want to dismiss a player.

A mis-timed tackle can often be innocent and harmless yet result in a yellow card. It's no more about bad behaviour than a mis-timed shot or a mis-timed run. Just an error.

Sending a player off for two yellows used to be fair punishment when yellow cards were only awarded for worthy incidents. It's so easy to pick up a yellow card now yet two of them still amounts to a red.
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Well Graham Poll tried to lead the way with 3 yellow cards for a red but he was roundly ridiculed. :)

Certainly the concept of 2 yellows, for some of the yellows dished out is a bit ridiculous nowdays, though also sometimes deserved.

I think there were less penalties before and the pitches had an anti-slip layers that stopped some of the more unfortunate tumbles we see nowdays.
 
akr said:
Well Graham Poll tried to lead the way with 3 yellow cards for a red but he was roundly ridiculed. :)

Certainly the concept of 2 yellows, for some of the yellows dished out is a bit ridiculous nowdays, though also sometimes deserved.

I think there were less penalties before and the pitches had an anti-slip layers that stopped some of the more unfortunate tumbles we see nowdays.
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I still think a sin bin is the way forward.
 
Well, that was pretty dire ... couldn't stick with it after the second goal.
 
Dreadful display by the red half of Manchester, looked like 75% of them could not be bothered,very, very poor all round.
 
new2me said:
Well, that was pretty dire ... couldn't stick with it after the second goal.
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Dire is an understatement.

I know we won the league at a canter last year with this squad so everybody will point at the difference being Moyes but I'm not quite ready to get my pitchfork out for him yet.

City and Chelsea (and you could argue others) have / had much better squads than us last year but underperformed. Fergie won the title despite having no midfield, knowing we got lucky, because others stumbled, RVP was on fire and bailed us out every week and we had a settled back four.

I've already written this year off so I'm not overly bothered about the results but what I'm not prepared to accept is the lazy careless tripe that so many of the players seem to be dishing up. Whether that's down to Moyes or not I've no idea. Nor does anybody else here.

Mata wasn't what we needed right now but to be fair the players we need (quality central mids) were never going to be available during the January transfer window but I think we were right to get him whilst we could.

I know we've not had them this season but up top , Rooney, RVP, Mata, Januzaj, Kagawa could work really well with Welbeck and Hernandez on tap.

Wingers - Nani (I forgot we even had him lol) can do a job but I'd sell him if a decent offer came in. Valencia and Young can clear off as far as I care. Wilfried Zaha who knows.

Midfield - Cleverly isn't good enough, Giggs - not really an issue as he will be put down at the end of the year, Carrick - perfect with the right player with him, Fellaini - good player to have.

Defence - Ferdinand - wants shooting after tonight. Vidic - he's off so it doesn't matter. Evans - does well to be fair - Evra - OK going forward but loosing it at the back. Smalling always played out of synch, Jones - handy to play anywhere but where, Fabio - OK. The whole defence which has been in turmoil just needs stability.

We need (minimum) a left back, a proper central midfield player (otherwise known as breaking the bank for Toni Kroos) and another quality centre back. You can throw in another Striker too.

Where 'should' United be in terms of comparing squads - possibly 5th if I'm honest and that's testement to Fergie. There are elements that Moyes can really build on if he's worth his salt. I'll judge him once the rebuild starts. What I would say in his defence is he's not had it the easiest in terms of selction options and he's had a shed load of bad luck in many games but I'll not be cutting him any slack.

RVP is in for a shock if he thinks he can mope at United as he did at Arsenal.

And breathe LOL
 
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#moyesin :)

I expected that result to be fair. Us Greeks invented football so it's only right we won.
 
My major concern is that results get even worse and Moyes gets the sack at the end of the season and you get a proper manager.
 
The23rdman said:
My major concern is that results get even worse and Moyes gets the sack at the end of the season and you get a proper manager.
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:)

I don't think results (in the league) really matter now. There's certainly an argument for not playing in the Europa League next season.

Finishing outside the top 4 and pulling off the Champions League this year (however unlikely) would have been funny though if you guys finally made 4th.

Back to Moyes though. I'm not sure how much time he will be given. If he's given major funds to bring in players (as reported) then I guess he has to be given the time to see how that pans out. If he's given the funds and he fails to bring in the players - then that's different.
 
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dinners said:
:)

I don't think results (in the league) really matter now. There's certainly an argument for not playing in the Europa League next season.

Finishing outside the top 4 and pulling off the Champions League this year (however unlikely) would have been funny though if you guys finally made 4th.

Back to Moyes though. I'm not sure how much time he will be given. If he's given major funds to bring in players (as reported) then I guess he has to be given the time to see how that pans out. If he's given the funds and he fails to bring in the players - then that's different.
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You winning the thing has occurred to me, but I honestly think we have a better chance of winning the league than you do of beating any of the German or Spanish teams, and Ibra would destroy your defence so I think that fourth is safe. ;)

I do hope Moyes stays though. He has shown tactical ineptitude and looks exactly like Woy did at our place - in over his depth.
 
The23rdman said:
You winning the thing has occurred to me
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I bet it had ;)

Snowball's chance in hell springs to mind though.

4th (minimum) has been nailed on for you guys for a while. As I said ages ago - there's no reason why you can't finish top with just the league to focus on.
 
dinners said:
I've already written this year off so I'm not overly bothered about the results but what I'm not prepared to accept is the lazy careless tripe that so many of the players seem to be dishing up. Whether that's down to Moyes or not I've no idea. Nor does anybody else here.
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I try not to listen to too much sport radio or aftermatch analysis, because really, no-one outside OT knows what is going on ... and a few players dont look as if they do when they're on the pitch. I didn't think we stood a chance of winning the league this year (despite what my table prediction thing was ;) ) but hoped we'd get in top 4 (can't see that happening either).
 
Well, the Spuds game against Dnipro was entertaining tonight. Although they were playing reasonably well I didn't think Spuds would have a chance when they went 2-0 down on aggregate but three goals in 13 mins proved me wrong. And it's always good value when you see the cheaty foreign teams rolling around like they've been shot and the ref fairly consistently ignoring them :)
 
To all Man City supporters, cheer your team on Sunday, i love watching sad Makems. If you lose i will hate you more than Manure :)
 
Yeah rob jones. Brilliant right back. Was getting into the England team before injury then Neville took over.
 
Spuff said:
And it's always good value when you see the cheaty foreign teams rolling around like they've been shot and the ref fairly consistently ignoring them :)
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And yet the ref was clearly duped by a cheaty foreign player for a red card! Vertonghen should be ashamed of himself for that play acting.
 
mindcrime said:
And yet the ref was clearly duped by a cheaty foreign player for a red card! Vertonghen should be ashamed of himself for that play acting.
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Well there is that :) But maybe it was the slow motion made it look like there was a 5 minute gap between Vertonghen's face connecting with Zozulya's head and Vertie falling down. It was just a shame that Adebayor restrained Zozulya after the red card because I think he might have done a Barton :))

Anyway, talking of poor red card decisions, it'll be interesting to see if Andy Carroll males it back into the West Ham squad Saturday to give Everton a hard time ;)
 
I think Carroll will be back, but I'm more hopeful about Lukaku coming back for us, as we desperately need a striker. With Jags being out, Carroll may give us the run around!
 
Some interesting games today. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool drop points.
 
Pardew was quoted afterwards as saying he tried to push the (hull) player away with his head :LOL:
 
Mbuti said:
No....lets just look at one game at a time.
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Been saying that all season and I still don't think we'll best Chelsea, but it's nice to dream.
 
The23rdman said:
Now you're gonna believe us...
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......It isn't us that needs to believe ;)

Liverpool have invested enough over the last 20 years and have been good enough (for a couple of seasons in that period) to win the league but they just don't see it.

It's Liverpool fans themselves that need to 'believe it' instead of looking for every reason in the world why they can't do it.

Liverpool right now are United 1990 - 1992
 
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Stoke v Arsenal - that penalty.

That was just another example of a stupid nothing incident that results in a penalty that results in a goal.

Was it a penalty ?

Who cares. If it was then It's time we changed the rules.

Every game I watch these days seems to be all about some retarded penalty debate

I give up :banghead:
 
dinners said:
......It isn't us that needs to believe ;)

Liverpool have invested enough over the last 20 years and have been good enough (for a couple of seasons in that period) to win the league but they just don't see it.

It's Liverpool fans themselves that need to 'believe it' instead of looking for every reason in the world why they can't do it.

Liverpool right now are United 1990 - 1992
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I think it's well established that we should have won the league when Rafa went all biblical and had his rant. I don't think the rant had anything to do with it mind you, but we should have won it.

If we beat City and Chelsea at home...
 
The23rdman said:
but we should have won it.

If we beat City and Chelsea at home...
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if you're going to gift yourself results, then you have to gift everyone else favourable results ... I'm sure there are at least a couple of games that United should have won rather than drawn that year ;)
liverpool did not win the league, end of story ... for that year at least
 
new2me said:
if you're going to gift yourself results, then you have to gift everyone else favourable results ... I'm sure there are at least a couple of games that United should have won rather than drawn that year ;)
liverpool did not win the league, end of story ... for that year at least
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Those two lines you quoted are about different seasons. The second line is referring to this season because if we best both those teams at home I'll believe we can win it.
 
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