The Official Soccer/Futbol Thread

I only saw the game from 60:00 onwards. I turned my head from sipping my drink at the bar just in time to see Messi's header hit the back of the net. The entire remainder of the game it seemed like MU's keeper was fighting to keep the ball out of the goal, but I don't recall Barelona's keeper ever getting challenged.

90% if the folks in the bar were British so it was very quiet.

 

Yes, that's exactly what I said. I said the first ten minutes we dominated, had three very good chances, but a lucky goal was all it took and our defence and midfield collapsed.
I wouldn't say it was a fluke though, you are talking about Manchester United and not Bolton Wanderers here.
United had a crap game. I've been saying this all along and I'm not making excuses for them, all I'm saying is that Barcelona did not play anywhere near as well as everyone is making out.
The only reason why Barcelona had so much posession was because United kept giving it away and their pass rate was awful. Our reserves would have put up a better fight than that.
Why United played like that, I don't know. But I can assure you it's NOT because Barcelona are a much better team than United. Last night they were the better team and they deserved to win but since you obviously watched the game, you can't honestly tell me that Barcelona were fantastic. Fair enough you're biased, as is everyone who isn't a United fan but you have to admit that Barcelona won because United were crap and NOT because Barca played as well as they've been playing in La Liga.

From the very beginning, I said that Barcelona played better than us and deserved to win that game. I never said that we were robbed, screwed whatever. All I've been trying to say is that Barcelona's performance wasn't outstanding, not that they weren't the better team.
Of course they were the better team, that's why they're Champions of Europe now, and were not. But that's because United didn't play with enough heart or passion or determination. This whole season, I can count the number of 'outstanding' games we've had on one hand. We're lucky to have won the premier league with so many one nil wins, however the champions league is another issue. Here we were punished for this lazy, cocky attitude that we've developed this season. They just didn't have enough fight in them.

They weren't scared. They came into the match too cocky. They came into the game thinking that we've won two in a row.
Anderson is a poor example, he NEVER scores. Even when they're all on form and he's having a great game, he never scores. That's just Anderson.
Scared? No. The lack of communication isn't down to fear, it's down to their attitudes.

That's my whole point, they weren't acting like nervous wrecks. Obviously we've interpreted the game in different ways, but as a United supporter, I know my players and I know their style and I can tell you that how they played was not out of fear.
This has been their problem this season, they haven't been fighting back. If it was Chelsea or Liverpool in the final and they'd conceded a goal, they'd have been pushing back and fighting back from the very second that they conceded, but United just had this 'can't be arsed' attitude, this 'lets get through to the second half' attitude. They expect it to be too easy, just like what happened with the Liverpool game in the premier league this season.
Watch any game from last season, and compare it to any game from this season (excluding our Chelsea, Tottenham, City and Arsenal wins). Their attitude has changed and that's a VERY big problem because it's not just a single player who's grown too cocky it's every single one of them.

Also, you can't compare the premier league to La Liga. La Liga doesn't have the same quality of football as the premier league and even Real Madrid have been terrible this season.

Giggs was pretty much worthless yesterday. Every single corner he took was piss poor. His pass rate was embarassing (I don't know if you remember his pass rate against Liverpool when we lost, it was something like 8%) and I think his age is really starting to show.
Scholes did nothing but get booked when he came on. Tevez gave the ball away as soon as he got it.
Why he didn't choose a 4 4 2, I'll never know. Everyone knows that United play their best when they're 4 4 2. And everyone knows that Ronaldo isn't very good upfront (even though yesterday he was pretty much the only one that was trying).

I disagree with that.
In regards to yesterdays game, you're 100% right but in general, no. That's the good thing about United (last season, and this season to an extent) because when our strikers and winger(s) are underperfoming, the rest of our team step up the game. That's why we had such a great season last year, because it wasn't the Ronaldos and Rooneys that were winning games for us, it was people like Fletch that were scoring the winning goals.
Today, yeah, they were all crap. All of them. The only ones that put in any effort was Ronaldo in the first half and Van Der Sar. Yesterday was a horrible example of Manchester United as a football team. There was no communication, no drive, no energy, nothing. They deserved to win nothing and that's exactly what happened.

 

Some of these Man united fans are out of their head. Check this out!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8072356.stm

 

Sorry Russia, that early Barca goal took Man. U out of the game and your goalie was, in a word, horrible. I swear that he barely jumped high enough to slide a credit card under his feet on that second goal.

Like Man. U, my team (the Lakers) are a highly successful franchise with multiple championships, so you're going to hear it from haters for the rest of your life. Exult in it.

 

Yep, second goal he was like a spectator. He just watched it loop over his head. What happened? I reckon He was wrong footed; probably anticipating Messi was going to head it in the opposite corner, and had all his weight on the wrong foot.

 

To the Gunners fans here, I think we all agree our major weakness is defense. And I am sure Mr wenger is aware of this. Now the question is, which player should he buy to shore-up the defense. Papers are suggesting Hangeland. Who? I hear you gasp.He plays for Fulham and has had a decent Season. Its a hard one, I am hoping Wenger un-earths a gem from some obscure club no one has heard off. But with a reported 25 Million to spend(not sure how reliable these sources are), we could realistically buy 2 world class defenders. But the question is who?

Sylvian Distin contract at Portsmouth is up soon, not sure is gunners material though. But I am convinced about one thing, we need to get rid of sylvestre, waste of space. Quick, but his positioning is terrible. Anyway, thats my little rant over with.

 

I am glad to see someone else saying this! I lost count of how many times I was screaming at the television because he was freelancing waaaaay out of position. Not sure who we can get, don't see a whole lot out there on the market in terms of top flight defensemen, let's hope Wenger can pull something out.

 

Ronaldo is gone! League will be very interesting next season. Tabloids claiming united are after Ribery as a replacement. Interesting. Worthy replacement in my opinion.Looks like the Gunners are looking to offload Adebayor as well. Hopefully for £25 million. Wont be too disappointed, as he didnt have a great season last year.

 

I usually never say this about Wenger, but letting Ade leave would be a terrible mistake in my humble opinion. He gave Arsenal a twist we haven't had in quite a long time, and there are not very many strikers in Europe who can do all the things he can. Granted, he's a little inconsistent and can be very lacking in confidence, but give him a world class partner, and I say he can get you 20 - 25 goals a season.

 

You know, I'm actually not that bothered about Ronaldo leaving. As long as Fergie actually signs someone soon! That's the problem with Sir Alex, he leaves things to the last minute.
Ronaldo wanted to go. Honestly, most fans don't want a player who doesn't want to be at the club anyway. Thanks for the goals and the memories Ron, good luck at Madrid, goodbye.
Ribery I do NOT want. He's overrated!! I'm sorry, but people comparing him to Ronaldo and Messi and Kaka is just bull. The fact that Bayern Munich want 60+ million for him is just a joke. He was worth 20something until United were interested. But then again every footballer seems to be worth 40 million now.
I want Valencia and possibly Benzema, although I haven't seen him play very often because I don't watch the French league. Apparently, he's shit hot but in the Euros he was kind of disappointing. I would rather take Pavlyuchenko since Harry Redknapp hates Russians and Pav never gets to play. He doesn't cost a lot, he's a GOOD striker, and considering he only played about 20 times and started about 5 games last season, his 11 goals are pretty impressive.
And I really want Akinfeev before someone else snaps him up. He's going to be a class keeper in about 3 - 5 years.

As for Arsenal, I think Adebayor is going down the Ronaldo route. Whinging to the press is just not a good idea and is going to cause a lot of hassle. The way to solve it is to do what Vidic did (twice) and to just come out and say 'thanks but no thanks, I'm not going' because the fans will get frustrated with it.
I think Adebayor is class but last season wasn't his best, but you'd really need to spend to replace him, and I think that's Arsenal's main problem. Ya'll are just too tight.

 

Russia, what is your take on this?







Michael Owen has been confirmed as a Manchester United player. The striker has signed a two-year deal to play at Old Trafford and no transfer was paid as the former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Newcastle forward was a free agent.
Empics
Michael Owen: A free agent who joins on a deal believed to be incentivised


United manager Sir Alex Ferguson happily confirmed the deal saying, "Michael is a world class forward with a proven goalscoring record at the highest level and that has never been in question. Coming to Manchester United with the expectations that we have is something that Michael will relish"Owen himself was similarly happy, and said: "I had just begun to talk to other Clubs when out of the blue Sir Alex phoned me on Wednesday afternoon, invited me to have breakfast with him next morning during which he told me that he wanted to sign me. I agreed without a moment's thought.

 

You know, in theory it doesn't seem so bad. We've got a third striker on a free when some other clubs are spending up to 30mil and apparently he's taken a 50% pay cut which is pretty admirable.
He HAS scored goals at Newcastle but he's just so injury prone. He's only played 70 games in four years! We've already got one injury prone Owen, do we need another one? A lot of people use the argument that we've got a third striker now but I just don't think that Owen is realiable. I don't think that Rooney alone can set up goals for him, we all know that Berbatov won't be setting anyone up because he just doesn't move enough.

There's two ways of looking at it really. We've got a third striker who's only going to be coming off the bench anyway, and we've got him for free. We could have paid 25mil for Tevez who would have been in the same role. At the same time, Michael has an awful record with injuries.
Honestly Loki, I don't know if this is good for United or not. I was very against the Owen move when I first heard it but all the negative press Michael's been getting has kind of made me warm up to him a bit more. If he proves himself, then great. At the moment, I just don't think that Valencia and Owen are the best replacements for Ronaldo and Tevez.

 

So, gooners, thoughts on Adebayor going to the blue shite?
I think you guys have actually done alright getting so much money for him considering he was so inconsistant last season.
As for the bitters - well....they're starting to run before they can walk. They've achieved absolutely NOTHING for thirty three years and suddenly they think that by signing two good players, they've won the premiership. Obviously I'm slightly biased because I hate the scum passionately but still, I think City need to just stfu and PROVE themselves first.
All I'm hearing is 'City will break into the top four!' but will they really? Look at the toup four squads and look at the bitters. They have three players that can be considered 'world class' (Tevez, Adebayor and Robinho) whereas the top four is dominated by great players.

Christ, I hate the bitters. Hate them, hate them. The worst fans in the premiership for sure, even worse than the Scousers. I won't go off on one here because I know that there aren't very many English football fans here and this rivalry is pretty much exclusive to Manchester, so I'll just bore you guys.
Honestly though, take my word for it, they're just scum.

BUT YEAH. Views on Adebayor? Do you think you guys will buy anyone else? I bloody hope you do because in my honest opinion, United won't win anything next season and I would MUCH RATHER have Arsenal win the Prem than the bloody Scousers.

 

LOL, you and your scouser/bitter references! Seriously, this is a case of addition by subtraction for the Arsenal. I am very glad to see him and his piss poor attitude leave town. This leaves us as a pretty young team without a lot of "name" players but we still have a lot of talent.

On your side what is with the bad blood between Tevez and Sir Alex?

 

Adebayor & Kolo Toure are both gone. How are the gunners gonna fare without them? £25 million for an overated, egotistical forward is good business if you ask me. Anyway, I think if he stayed he would have more than likely caused trouble in the gunners camp. He was too vocal in the media for my liking. I think Wenger was right to let him go(he didnt really have much choice).We have plenty of cover in the forwards department. Kolo Toure on the hand hurt a bit more. I hope we get a worthy replacement.

I do think this season will be interesting as I think many of Arsenals young Players will be given a chance to shine. I know a lot of the papers are writing Arsenals chance off for the premier league. But I think a lot of people are gonna be suprised at how good some of the youngsters are.Watch this space..

The above was just an urge to rant about arsenal!It happens to me sometimes.

 

I saw a game for the Emirtates Cup between Arsenal and Glasgow Rangers and their was a 17 year kid name Wilshere who simply amazed me with several stroke of sheer Genius. So I think that with the like of Archavine, Van Persie, Fabregas and the return of Rosicky, Arsenal still has one of the strongest team in Europe. Wilshere has the potential to be the new Steven Gerrard.

Also, don't forget that Arsenal still has Samir Nasri. It's Manchester that we should look at since they lost their biggest assets and possibly the best player in the world in Christiano Ronaldo.

 

Most important players for them this season in my opinion

Arshavin(Especially since the Boardroom will not spend money on a quality striker to replace Adebayor). Arshavin will take the prem by storm this season.
Alex Song- playing the holding role, he will be more important than ever this season.

Hopefully Vela gets his chance this season but I'm not so sure. Wilshire is a wicked young player and so is Fran Merida.

Arsenal have a nice selection of young players but they need to splash a bit more in the transfer market.

 

Arsenal have suprised me! We have started better than I thought we would. Looks like we a much tighter unit now adebayor has gone. We been scoring goals for fun! I think the game at Man u was just a blip. We were unlucky not to get a draw in my opinion.

 

Did you see the game on Saturday against Man U? Man, it made me so mad how they threw away that game. They had Manchester on the ropes and they looked lost.

 

Yes, I watched that game. We were very unlucky. Should have at least got a draw. The whole squad is chipping in with goals; we are not as dependent on our strikers, which is a good thing. From Saturdays showing, Manchester united are really missing Ronaldo. That Valencia guy[his replacement], doesnt look too good. Its still early though.