Footyball thread no. 8

[Black Wizard]

Dundee United [i]nearly[/i] won at Ibrox last night. Stoppage time cracker from Kevin Thompson saved the Huns. :(

[Iskaral Pust]

[quote name='Mathis' post='1578017' date='Nov 4 2008, 23.23']Thats a terrible idea.[/quote]

Care to elaborate? You prefer to continue with the current unspecified tiering of severity, where the same transgression can be treated differently by location on the pitch at the capricious whim of the referee, thereby encouraging defenders to foul within the penalty area and unfairly deny goal scoring opportunities to the detriment of the game, not to mention the arbitrary influence on game results and league/cup titles?

[Lord Baelish]

If refs applied the same rules to fouls inside the area as outside (as I think they should, too), Carragher would concede a penalty every match for his determination to climb into opposing strikers' shirts.

[john]

[quote name='Iskaral Pust' post='1577660' date='Nov 5 2008, 01.43']The lack of consistency on that kills me. I wish the refs would nut up and call the same fouls inside the box as outside. Defenders would change their behavior pretty quickly.[/quote]

Generally, I prefer it at the ref's discretion. It wouldn't hurt for UEFA to make some noise about some of the cavalier stuff that goes on in the box. Persistent leaning and shoving more than handling.

[Iskaral Pust]

[quote name='Rydel' post='1578846' date='Nov 5 2008, 13.44']If refs applied the same rules to fouls inside the area as outside (as I think they should, too), Carragher would concede a penalty every match for his determination to climb into opposing strikers' shirts.[/quote]

And hopefully he would be smart enough to see the emerging pattern and stop doing it.

[Calibandar]

I've now watched Juve vs Madrid (2-0) and Madrid vs Juve ( 0-2) and am struck by a couple of things:

1) How impressively Del Piero has stood the test of time. The Italian national manager should play him whenever he gets the chance if he is still available. 33 and still in his prime, superbly skilled.

2) How importent Madrid has been. I haven't liked what I have seen of them in the Primera Division either. But in these two matches they were just nowhere. They look to face a difficult time in the next two matches. Robben was injured for the 1000th time, Drenthe is nowhere near a good replacement for him, RvN was nowhere, Raul was invisbible as so often. Even Casillas made a mistake with Del Piero's free kick.

The team has sold Robinho and Baptista and those have been critical departures for Madrid. They now find themselves seriously lacking offensive power or even depth on the wings. Sure they've kept Robben, but he rarely plays. That leaves very little depth. Raul is well past his best as well ( has been for quite a time) and was never as good as Del Piero was anyway. Playing him now is just losing a spot.

[Iskaral Pust]

ManU and Arsenal both held to draws in the Champions League. Both should still qualify comfortably though. Not a great week for the English teams though. 3 draws and a loss.

The games are coming thick and fast now. Squad depth will start to tell in the next few weeks.

[Isis]

You know, I think that might actually have been the most ridiculous pen I ever saw given. The funniest thing for me is that it looked like the ball was going out anyway, it clearly wasn't a goal scoring opportunity, regardless of any fouls committed (or not).

Just more shite, inconsistent reffing. :rolleyes:

[The Iceman of the North]

If anything it should have been given the other way.

But what can you expect from Swedish refs?

[Black Wizard]

Man United were so lucky last night. Bloody lucky goal.

[Paddy]

[quote name='Black Wizard' post='1580260' date='Nov 6 2008, 20.54']Man United were so lucky last night. Bloody lucky goal.[/quote]
I only saw the first half.
Celtic's goal was class and their defending was excellent, but according to bbc sport, United deserved their equaliser.
Though they also said it would have been harsh if Berbatov had scored his late sitter, given Celtic's organisation in defense.

[Mathis]

[quote name='Isis' post='1579618' date='Nov 6 2008, 11.32']You know, I think that might actually have been the most ridiculous pen I ever saw given. The funniest thing for me is that it looked like the ball was going out anyway, it [b]clearly wasn't a goal scoring opportunity[/b], regardless of any fouls committed (or not).

Just more shite, inconsistent reffing. :rolleyes:[/quote]

Doesn't matter. If its a foul (I agree that it wasn't this time) in the box then its a pen regardless.


Football365 linked a great video of [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I"]Steven Gerrard's greatest dives[/url] yesterday. The man is shameless.

[Black Wizard]

[quote name='Paddy' post='1580384' date='Nov 6 2008, 23.23']I only saw the first half.
Celtic's goal was class and their defending was excellent, but according to bbc sport, United deserved their equaliser.
Though they also said it would have been harsh if Berbatov had scored his late sitter, given Celtic's organisation in defense.[/quote]
They probably did deserve to score but I'm looking at it froma Scottish perspective. Man United had all of the ball and two of Celtic's subsitutes barely touched the ball.

[Nas!]

I wonder if the West Ham board are regretting the sale of two capable defenders at the end of the transfer window, then hiring an inexperienced manager who admits that he knows little about defending?

What a spectacular meltdown!

[Iskaral Pust]

Thanks Arsenal for beating ManU.

I'm happy for Robbie Keane scoring two in Liverpool's win today. Hopefully that will let him relax and replicate his form for Spurs.

I didn't get to see either game unfortunately.

Sunderland must be in the running for unluckiest team of the season so far. West Ham are in with a shout, but it seems to be largely self-inflicted for them.

[Calibandar]

Deserved win for Arsenal against Man U. They were the better side and were more effective. And they're back in the title race. To consider they were without Adebayor, van Persie and Eduardo still.

Remarkable results in Spain for anyone whose following it;

Madrid vs Malaga 4-3, 4 goals by Argentinian striker Higuain. Raul had been benched at last.

Barcelona vs Valladalid 6-0. Yet enother monster victory for Barca who are really rolling under Guardiola. 4 goals by Eto'o which cranks up his league total to an incredible 13 goals in 10 matches.

[Lord Baelish]

Arsenal-Man Utd was a great game. Both teams had loads of chances to win the match. As Wenger said, the reason Arsenal won is because they took their chances. Their second goal really was something special. 15 passes in succession before Nasri finished really well. Hopefully Chelsea will slip up against Blackburn today, and then the title race will be really wide open.

And to show how close the league still is after 12 matches, Bolton moved from 18th to 9th after their win against Hull. I hope it stays this close, because at the moment the relegation fight is impossible to call.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Nice goals by Robbie Keane yesterday. I didn't see the full match, but I did see those.

[The Iceman of the North]

[url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/8013467"]Real Madrid vs. Real Unión 4-3 - 6-6 on aggregate...[/url]

I wonder how a certain Spanish boarder is feeling today... :P

[Calibandar]

Loras has been noticably absent during Madrid's sling of poor results the last few weeks. Drinking it away perhaps.

I'm sure Schuster has some credit though, given that he helped bring Madrid the title last year ( even if that was because Barca had a total off year). CL performance last year and this year is poor as well.