Football v 35.0

[Nas!]

@chef: Blatter is a pompous buffoon. The NA market, as you've said, is a very tough but to crack. I think MLS is actually doing very well considering.

Re: Chelsea

I think they'll do what they've always done and keep hiring and firing managers and keep spending outrageous money on players and the fans won't care who is playing for them so long as the team wins.

[MercenaryChef]

@chef: Blatter is a pompous buffoon. The NA market, as you've said, is a very tough but to crack. I think MLS is actually doing very well considering.

Re: Chelsea

I think they'll do what they've always done and keep hiring and firing managers and keep spending outrageous money on players and the fans won't care who is playing for them so long as the team wins.

i know i am right. but, still fuck that guy.

and you are certainly right regarding chelsea.

they don't care a shit about who is on the sideline or who is on the pitch so long as they win. they only think they love lampard and terry because they have been there so long. i see chelsea as the archetype mercenary (teehee) team. they are about results. personnel are but a technicality.

[BLU-RAY]

I don't really disagree with that at all... but I am kind of OK with it. The only personnel who I really wish was still with the team and who I'm annoyed they let go was Mourinho, and that's primarily because he is so results-oriented (also nuts).

[Faraday]

Ambramovich has a policy of not offering over 30's more than a 1 year extension, pretty sure. I think lampard and Cole wanted 2 year extensions and were told 'no'. Pretty sure the same thing happened with Drogba early on last season before he decided he wanted to leave. Edit: At the very least all the rumours/stuff I've heard indiciate that. It could be as simple as them believing Lampard is well past it. I still think he can offer something but could understand not wanting 100k+ a week for 2 years I guess but meh, he can definitely offer something.

Still we need some more depth. The Demba Ba rumours are nice, don't see us spending massive amounts on one player (Torres like amounts, I mean) so a few shrewd buys will be needed to help improve squad depth.

[So1ar]

hopefully they find some consistency and start getting some wins in a row.

i wouldn't hold my breath. us liverpool fans have been saying that for several seasons now. for whatever reason it's always one step forward, two steps back.

[Rorshach]

We may have deserved something from the game, but I hadn't expected it, seeing the team sheet.

We have a good first 11 these days, and we can cope with a missing player, or sometimes two. Today, though, we were missing four (right back, which additionaly weakens our central defence; Heitinga's not been playing very well, defensive mid, where Gibson has been excellent, right wing, where Naismith does not carry the threat that Mirallas does, and offensive mid, where Felli plays.). To then play as well as we did, and hit the post twice.. I'd been furious had I not been ill, as it was I was just resigned.

[baxus]

regarding chelsea, i've heard some rumours that abramovich is the one behind getting rid of cole, lampard and terry.

supposedly, he didn't like their part in players' boycotting avb last season and has decided to let them go.

if those rumours are true, drogba was let go for the same reason.

i wouldn't hold my breath. us liverpool fans have been saying that for several seasons now. for whatever reason it's always one step forward, two steps back.

where would the fun be in always going straight ahead?

the journey is what matters, not just reaching the destination ;)

it is quite frustrating seeing liverpool lose to aston villa (who have 0:15 GD in 3 matches after that win) and stoke right after they get some good results.

i guess the team is still adapting to new style of play, and must have such blunders from time to time, but when they get it right they do play brilliantly.

[Alex.]

That's what I was getting at. It seems to be floating around a but recently. Interesting move from Abramovich if true.

[Inigima]

in other news blatter finds the mls is struggling in america.

i encourage him to go to portland, dc, seattle, ny, los angeles, columbus, chicago. let him spend ninety minutes in these parks.

certainly it is not europe. but, this is a country with three other sports (and usually hockey making four) to compete with. suck it, sepp. watch your own children. don't worry about the neighbors. they are just fine.

Saw some discussion of this yesterday. Thoughts as follows:

• Blatter is correct that soccer lags behind other sports in the US. They are doing a fair job at it, though, and it is improving.
  
• Blatter is correct that the different schedule creates big problems in several ways, particularly with respect to international fixtures. However, if MLS had to go up against the NFL, it would be crushed out of existence.
  
• Sepp Blatter is a corrupt prick who ought not to speak about anything ever.
  

I think the league is presently doing well for itself. It does have some significant problems, including ones that Blatter didn't mention.

[polishgenius]

certainly it is not europe. but, this is a country with three other sports (and usually hockey making four) to compete with. suck it, sepp.

I'm certainly not suggesting that Blatter's completely in the right with what he's saying but are you under the impression that football doesn't compete with other sports in, you know, every other country?

Blatter's arrogant, hyperbolic and insensitive, and ignored the fact that the MLS is fairly clearly making significant gains and improvements, but it ain't anywhere near 'there' yet.

[MercenaryChef]

genius, it is there. the mls is plenty there for american audiences. the opinions of those who dont follow the mls do not mean an ounce of shit.

[red roggo]

The fact that most teams in the MLS have their own stadiums should show that it is steadily making inroads and getting stronger. I think they might be adding more teams(iirc Miami wants a team) so Schlep I mean Sepp should worry about Other stuff. Remember slow and steady wins the race.

[polishgenius]

genius, it is there. the mls is plenty there for american audiences. the opinions of those who dont follow the mls do not mean an ounce of shit.

Well if you're going to change the terms of the conversation then of course you're going to find yourself disagreeing. The whole point of what Blatter was saying is that in his view not enough people follow the mls. The whole thing about 'well America is tough to get into because of the other sports it's competing with' is like... the whole thing he was saying. Yeah he said it crudely and massively exaggeratedly, but there's a point under the bullshit.

Why the fuck are so many American football fans so defensive of the MLS? 'Not there yet' doesn't fucking well mean bad, does it?

[mormont]

Well, there's no doubt the MLS has made enormous strides in the last few years, far further than many people thought it would ever get. Equally, there's no doubt that as president of FIFA, it's Blatter's role to point that out and encourage further football development in the US, rather than take potshots at it. But I think we're all past the point of expecting Blatter to do his actual job.

[Inigima]

I'm certainly not suggesting that Blatter's completely in the right with what he's saying but are you under the impression that football doesn't compete with other sports in, you know, every other country?

Blatter's arrogant, hyperbolic and insensitive, and ignored the fact that the MLS is fairly clearly making significant gains and improvements, but it ain't anywhere near 'there' yet.

What does football compete with elsewhere? I suspect nothing like the juggernaut that is the NFL.

I do agree that soccer has not yet truly "arrived" in the US. MLS has begun attracting a sizable and loyal fanbase, and that is good, but it still receives scant respect from fans of other sports here.

Why the fuck are so many American football fans so defensive of the MLS? 'Not there yet' doesn't fucking well mean bad, does it?

I've been in multiple situations where as soon as American soccer came up Europeans immediately started mocking it, and not in substantive ways. I've been in an IRC channel where someone asked me the score and someone else immediately started spamming "LOL MLS" over and over. There is often not any thought behind it, and it feels xenophobic and anti-American in the worst way. I don't know if it's pent-up aggravation at Ugly American type tourists, or resentment that Americans are interested in "their" sport, or something else entirely, but Euro snobbery in this area is deeply insulting. It's also targeted at the American demographic they ought to have the least problem with -- any American soccer fan knows that MLS does not currently compete on the same level as top-flight European leagues, many of us follow European teams and have great respect for players there. I don't go to that channel anymore because people who do that, and tolerate it, are not people with whom I need to spend any time.

[polishgenius]

What does football compete with elsewhere? I suspect nothing like the juggernaut that is the NFL.

That's not... really the point? Or rather, it is the point, in that in other nations where it competes there are no juggernauts like the NFL or the juggernaut is the football league.

Although that's not strictly true. There are plenty of countries where football has to compete with the enormous popularity of rugby or cricket (especially in the warmer parts of the former British empire), table tennis (China), Archery and, erm, Starcraft (South Korea)... there are greater and lesser successes and the MLS does better than many but it's not a special case.

I'd guess the J-League is the biggest success story in terms of that. Started in 1993 and has very rapidly gained respect both internationally and I gather in Japan despite competition with Sumo and baseball.

[Zoë Sumra]

What does football compete with elsewhere? I suspect nothing like the juggernaut that is the NFL.

Echoing polishgenius, I'd point at Australia. Soccer is the fourth Australian sport IIRC, after the two rugby codes and Aussie Rules, plus there's cricket somewhere in there too. I don't get why Blatter criticises the USA and not Australia, unless it's population size.

[Lord O' Bones]

Why the fuck are so many American football fans so defensive of the MLS? 'Not there yet' doesn't fucking well mean bad, does it?

The usual reason. Too many other fans get offensive about the MLS with no provocation.

You should probably define what you mean by "there." The MLS is most certainly "here" and seemingly making greatish strides. If you mean will the Earthquakes be competing in the Champions League next year? then certainly not. Or anything in between; I can't tell.

[Alex.]

My man love for Pablo Zabaleta knows no bounds.

Model professional. Incredible footballer. Big game player.

[Calibandar]

There *is* huge competition for football in the US though, in a way that I just don't see in other countries.

American Football is massive. Had I grown up in the US I could well have played that all my life instead of soccer/football, it is immensely popular in high schools etc and would seem a fairly natural choice for me, even though as a European, I have to say it all looks rather daft and not a patch on soccer. Basketball, hockey, baseball, all huge draws in the US, and basketball and hockey in particular are sports I love to see ( and could see myself having played). And yet all of these competitors are small sports in many Western European countries, where soccer dominates all. When we were growing up, tennis was the biggest sport in terms of taking young guys away from the sport of football. Tennis doesn't nearly have that sort of percentage in the US either.