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FOOTBALL XLIV - Mansours, Khelaifis, and Rybolovlevs,... oh my!


Horus Ex Machina

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And Torres scored four...against Tahiti, but that's a small detail.

Still a solid game. It's a weird way of looking at things but Tahiti showed great spirit by not bunkering, though it made the game boring, and Spain showed great sportsmanship by not pulling back and ole-ing them for a half. Even with the goal differential being important they have to be confident of getting the victory against Nigeria.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22903711

Apparently I missed the fact that Boateng is now back with Ghana. How many other nations would let a player off the hook after walking away like he did and just in time for the World Cup. Still, he's quality and they need him. Not to qualify though, I think they have that in hand.

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Good to see Forlan showing quality when playing for Uruguay, even because he doesn't do it regularly at club level for a while.

OBI MIKEL SCORES FOR NIGERIA. If only Chelsea would play him further up. His potential has never been realized.

Obi Mikel is Chelsea's Anderson- a midfielder with absurd promise as a creative player that the managers turned into a defensive midfielder for no apparent reason. Although should be said Mikel turned out all right, while Anderson was just wasted at United. When he appeared in Brazil, he was seen as the new Ronaldinho, but became poor man's Michael Carrick or something.

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Good to see Forlan showing quality when playing for Uruguay, even because he doesn't do it regularly at club level for a while.

Obi Mikel is Chelsea's Anderson- a midfielder with absurd promise as a creative player that the managers turned into a defensive midfielder for no apparent reason. Although should be said Mikel turned out all right, while Anderson was just wasted at United. When he appeared in Brazil, he was seen as the new Ronaldinho, but became poor man's Michael Carrick or something.

England seems to do that to players. Managers in the EPL are always overthinking players roles. But Mikel did turn out okay, but he could have been more, at least as far as Nigeria is concerned. Nigeria really had no real finishers today without Moses and Emenike so I think they played well all things considered. A few defensive lapses that must be sorted out before next year and the end of qualifying but this isn't a team I'm looking at to win the World Cup. Not at this stage in their development.
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This is the weekend I will actually be able to watch a DC match on TV for like the second time this season. (Weekends have been pretty busy.) I decree that we shall win this season. Defy me at your peril, San Jose, for I will burn your pitiful city to the fucking ground if you cross me. That's how we do things in Baltimore.

.... Actually, we should really burn San Jose to the ground anyway.

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This is the weekend I will actually be able to watch a DC match on TV for like the second time this season. (Weekends have been pretty busy.) I decree that we shall win this season. Defy me at your peril, San Jose, for I will burn your pitiful city to the fucking ground if you cross me. That's how we do things in Baltimore.

.... Actually, we should really burn San Jose to the ground anyway.

Right now, I'm kinda hoping that that happens to Miami... everything but South Beach anyway... :angry2:
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Not convinced there's anything flammable in San Jose.

Anyhow, Michael Carrick is the poor man's Michael Carrick.

(Note, I actually think Carrick is underrated a little, but he's an inconsistent lynchpin player, and it's sort of fun to mock him.)

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Is there going to be a full scale people's revolution at the World Cup next year? That would be brilliant tele. Can't get the image of the Match Of The Day team running away from explosions and rioters out of my head.

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Obi Mikel is Chelsea's Anderson- a midfielder with absurd promise as a creative player that the managers turned into a defensive midfielder for no apparent reason. Although should be said Mikel turned out all right, while Anderson was just wasted at United. When he appeared in Brazil, he was seen as the new Ronaldinho, but became poor man's Michael Carrick or something.

Both of these things get trotted out every so often and they're both just wrong. Mikel was never an attacking midfielder of some sort- when we tried to sign him before he bunked off to Chelsea, it was because Chelsea had just swiped Essien from under our noses. Yeah, they could use him more offensively than they do, give him a bit of license to go box-to-box, but it's hardly out of his wheelhouse, what he actually does.

Whereas Anderson's failure has nothing to do with being played 'out of position'. He went into that role initially (which was as a box-to-boxer, not a purely sitting mid like Carrick) because Hargreaves and Fletcher both got injured, not because of some plan, but he kept it because in his first season he was so good at it that even when Hargreaves came back, he couldn't get a look in. Yeah, he was initially a playmaker when we got him, but he never showed it for us even when he got given the chance to attack more- his final pass was too hesitant and he's spent most of his United career being genuinely the worst finisher we've had since Gary Neville showed up on the scene. He was much better playing deeper.

His problems have come coz of incosistency. Even now he'll still go into a patch of games where he'll absolutely dominate teams and look like the new Vieira, but it always takes him far too long to get to that stage and then he gets injured after about five games of form, after which he again takes like ten games to get back into it. It's a shame coz I like him, but he's surely going to leave soonish. It's a bit like Robben when he was at Chelsea.

Carrick's great if you give him space, but the moment he's harrassed he turns to dogmuck.

Which is fine against teams Utd dominate, but not so much against those who turn up and give them a game.

He definitely needs some support alongside him, that's for sure. He struggled most of anyone when Ronaldo left because we changed our whole playing style, and there was no longer that gap between the rotating front four and the back six that pushed teams back and gave him room to work with. He was absolutely dire for a couple of years. His form definitely picked up this season though, especially in the second half where Fergie finally relented (after playing what often amounted to a 2-1-7 formation for the first few months of the season) and got one of our other players to help him occasionally.

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Looks like Alcantara has agreed terms with United. very jealous of that signing if it's true. He's a wonderful player and will improve United no end.

If that is true then I am very pleased. That is the sort of player we need.

Meanwhile, Football365 has put up an interesting poll, asking who you'd rather have as director of football, Joe Kinnear or a small dog. Currently the small dog has a massive lead in the poll.

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If that is true then I am very pleased. That is the sort of player we need.

Meanwhile, Football365 has put up an interesting poll, asking who you'd rather have as director of football, Joe Kinnear or a small dog. Currently the small dog has a massive lead in the poll.

This dog?

It was a close call between Bashar Al-Assad and Dappy from N-Dubz, but I went with Dappy as i'm more familiar with his body of work.

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If that is true then I am very pleased. That is the sort of player we need.

Meanwhile, Football365 has put up an interesting poll, asking who you'd rather have as director of football, Joe Kinnear or a small dog. Currently the small dog has a massive lead in the poll.

god damn it.

at least a small dog might be able to learn the names of his players.

i am utterly terrified of what is going to happen when the transfer window officially opens. i see bad things happening.

pardew has never truly impressed me. two years ago he just had a great squad handed to him that made things happen. when he is forced to be a tactician and a true coach (this last season) he falls flat. jonas as a left back? perch anywhere in the side? cabaye as a holding midfielder?

fuck it. let me manage the team.

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Carrick's great if you give him space, but the moment he's harrassed he turns to dogmuck.

Arteta is about the same, though he's become a bit better ever since he got Ramsey with him.

Also, these Higuain to Arsenal stories seem to be everywhere now. I'll still be quite shocked if it actually happens. Haven't seen him play in ages though.

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i am utterly terrified of what is going to happen when the transfer window officially opens. i see bad things happening.

Well supposedly Kinnear cancelled the already-set-up transfer of Douglas from FC Twente because he'd never heard of him. Despite him being someone who's played in the Champion's League before. This was reportedly the big reason for Lambezi resigning.

If Graham Carr also leaves that could be the most significant transfer of the whole window in England. Because some team's going to snap him up in seconds and he's clearly very, very good at his job.

Higuain will be a great signing for Arsenal. Nani to them rumours also building in strength.

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I wanted douglas.

motherfucker.

A quick Google search and trip to YouTube would have taught crazy Joe about this kid.

I see him transferring out all the players whose names he cannot be bothered to learn to pronounce and fill the side with bramble, bent and other washed up English players.

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