The Soccer Thread 12/13

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

lol @ 49ers fans for saying not having the coach is an excuse or not the reason for their teams failures. Then, in the same post hailing Bayern as the next big thing bc they have hired Pep. C'mon guys - lets not go all Niner Talk in here. I agree with one thing - Puyol is done. Barca will sign the best CB they can in summer.

I didn't mean to say that this coach has no effect on the team, but I think we all agree( I have been saying this all over this thread) that Barcelona's run of dominance is over. Are they still a great team? Ofcourse but they are not the same as they were a few years ago when nobody could touch them. There still a top team but that's it a top team they use to be possibly the greatest team of all time. I don't think anyone would deny this.

And as far as bayern they are IMO the top team in Europe because of how complete they are. They have it all dangerous playmakers. Solid D. Great GK. and Tony Kroos is an absolute beast at 22 years old.

Originally posted by 49erha:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
lol @ 49ers fans for saying not having the coach is an excuse or not the reason for their teams failures. Then, in the same post hailing Bayern as the next big thing bc they have hired Pep. C'mon guys - lets not go all Niner Talk in here. I agree with one thing - Puyol is done. Barca will sign the best CB they can in summer.

I didn't mean to say that this coach has no effect on the team, but I think we all agree( I have been saying this all over this thread) that Barcelona's run of dominance is over. Are they still a great team? Ofcourse but they are not the same as they were a few years ago when nobody could touch them. There still a top team but that's it a top team they use to be possibly the greatest team of all time. I don't think anyone would deny this.

And as far as bayern they are IMO the top team in Europe because of how complete they are. They have it all dangerous playmakers. Solid D. Great GK. and Tony Kroos is an absolute beast at 22 years old.

Barca was having one of their best seasons this year...so I don't agree that they are done as the most dominant team. Are they still as great as they were 3 years back...maybe...maybe not. One season is not going to determine that.

1. Almost all the players have won everything they can at Barca...and have done it more than once. Pep got bored with that...and I'm sure some players are too. Not to mention, they have been so far ahead in La Liga - they lost their edge a little bit. I have always believed - competition makes you better. New players will come in and trust me when I say this - there are some future stars in their youth system.

2. They lost Pep in summer, and now Tito for almost half a year. Now, they can overcome their missing manager battling cancer when they play inferior teams but it's tough against good teams. I'd love to see ManU play without having Fergie to gameplan and then not be there on the sidelines for several weeks in EPL and then try to break the defense of an Italian team in Champions League. Real Madrid (the most talented team in the World) has trouble winning anything when Jose is out. Coach matters BIG time! Minimizing that is crazy. Calling it an excuse is ridiculous.

A team can be without it's best player for weeks and still win. I've yet to see a team win for a long stretches without their head coach.

3. Team speed and finding the right guys for their system. Pique and Puyol are slow and can't defend against speedsters. Puyol must move to 2nd team, and Barca needs to sign a top CB. Sanchez doesn't fit Barca's style, Fabgregas doesn't get enough chances, and Villa is playing out of position. As great as Pep was - and I love him - he was terrible in the transfer window. I can't remember one transfer who exceeded expectations. Pique might be the only exception, but he played in Barca's youth system for years. Those were all his signings, and so was Ibra. No team is going to over-come that many key failed signings...I'm actually surprised Barca did for so many years.

Barca will be fine. They will win the la liga and make a splash or two in the summer. Neymar will be the key signing for Barca. Him and Messi will be perfect with each other. I'm hoping for that this summer.

Originally posted by KEGster:

If I'm ranking the leagues. At this moment it is
1. EPL
2. Bundesliga
3. Seria A
4. La Liga
5. Ligue 1

EPL no. 1

Did anybody catch the games today? I had class... All I saw was the last 5 min of the Man U- real...

Originally posted by 49erha:
Did anybody catch the games today? I had class... All I saw was the last 5 min of the Man U- real...

I saw the 2nd half...ManU should have won but Diego Lopez saved couple of really good chances. Red card to Nani was terrible. I don't know how that was a red card. Then Ronaldo scored against a 10-man ManU

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by 49erha:

Did anybody catch the games today? I had class... All I saw was the last 5 min of the Man U- real...

I saw the 2nd half...ManU should have won but Diego Lopez saved couple of really good chances. Red card to Nani was terrible. I don't know how that was a red card. Then Ronaldo scored against a 10-man ManU

Its hard to say that man u would have won but it was obvious that the red devils were more than content to sit deeper and break on the counter attack.

Diego Lopez was playing out of his mind. Motm for me. Sergio Ramos with the unlucky og and Modric with a sexy goal.

Red for Nani is a yellow on most days. If i remember right thus was the same ref that called the second leg of the benfica v chelsea match up last year. Because i remember maxi pereira getting 2 yellows that wouldn't have been yellows.

Originally posted by NickV:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by 49erha:
Did anybody catch the games today? I had class... All I saw was the last 5 min of the Man U- real...

I saw the 2nd half...ManU should have won but Diego Lopez saved couple of really good chances. Red card to Nani was terrible. I don't know how that was a red card. Then Ronaldo scored against a 10-man ManU

Its hard to say that man u would have won but it was obvious that the red devils were more than content to sit deeper and break on the counter attack.

Diego Lopez was playing out of his mind. Motm for me. Sergio Ramos with the unlucky og and Modric with a sexy goal.

Red for Nani is a yellow on most days. If i remember right thus was the same ref that called the second leg of the benfica v chelsea match up last year. Because i remember maxi pereira getting 2 yellows that wouldn't have been yellows.

Even Jose Mourinho said that 11-11...Real would not have won that game. ManU was outplaying Real...and I think that was to be expected for any team playing two back-to-back games against their biggest rivals earlier in the week.

I'm actually happy to see Real advance. f**k EPL

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by NickV:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:

Originally posted by 49erha:

Did anybody catch the games today? I had class... All I saw was the last 5 min of the Man U- real...

I saw the 2nd half...ManU should have won but Diego Lopez saved couple of really good chances. Red card to Nani was terrible. I don't know how that was a red card. Then Ronaldo scored against a 10-man ManU

Its hard to say that man u would have won but it was obvious that the red devils were more than content to sit deeper and break on the counter attack.

Diego Lopez was playing out of his mind. Motm for me. Sergio Ramos with the unlucky og and Modric with a sexy goal.

Red for Nani is a yellow on most days. If i remember right thus was the same ref that called the second leg of the benfica v chelsea match up last year. Because i remember maxi pereira getting 2 yellows that wouldn't have been yellows.

Even Jose Mourinho said that 11-11...Real would not have won that game. ManU was outplaying Real...and I think that was to be expected for any team playing two back-to-back games against their biggest rivals earlier in the week.

I'm actually happy to see Real advance. f**k EPL

Mou is posturing himself to take SAF job lol

The call was correct. Guys going up for headers is one of the craziest plays in sports. You can't have guys karate kicking through the air. This wasn't an EPL match, Nani's fault

I'm putting this lose on Ferguson. His tactics made the difference in Leg1 and we're working again up until the red card. But why not substitute Rooney right after that was issued, where was Kagawa? Giggs starting was ultimately a waste.

'The special one' didn't waste time subbing in Modric

Originally posted by KEGster:

I'm putting this lose on Ferguson. His tactics made the difference in Leg1 and we're working again up until the red card. But why not substitute Rooney right after that was issued, where was Kagawa? Giggs starting was ultimately a waste.

'The special one' didn't waste time subbing in Modric

What? RM dominated game 1, or at least outplayed them. I didn't watch the 1st half of this game but I heard ManU outplayed RM this time up until the red card.

Originally posted by silkyjohnson:

Originally posted by KEGster:
I'm putting this lose on Ferguson. His tactics made the difference in Leg1 and we're working again up until the red card. But why not substitute Rooney right after that was issued, where was Kagawa? Giggs starting was ultimately a waste.

'The special one' didn't waste time subbing in Modric

What? RM dominated game 1, or at least outplayed them. I didn't watch the 1st half of this game but I heard ManU outplayed RM this time up until the red card.

They did. Real played a great first leg and was so-so in the 2nd leg until the red card.

Red card was a joke...that's hardly a yellow. But, good to see la liga team advance. EPL is super' over-rated.

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
They did. Real played a great first leg and was so-so in the 2nd leg until the red card.

Red card was a joke...that's hardly a yellow. But, good to see la liga team advance. EPL is super' over-rated.

Barely a yellow? Karate Kicking through the air at defenseless opponents

It was certainty a reckless (and stupid) play by Nani

Originally posted by KEGster:

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
They did. Real played a great first leg and was so-so in the 2nd leg until the red card.

Red card was a joke...that's hardly a yellow. But, good to see la liga team advance. EPL is super' over-rated.

Barely a yellow? Karate Kicking through the air at defenseless opponents

It was certainty a reckless (and stupid) play by Nani

He's going for the ball. You make it sound like he went out of his way to kick the other guy. He didn't even see him. It's Nani, not Pepe or another guy with a track recorded of playing dirty.

Yea, I've seen that called just a free-kick and not carded. Giving a straight yellow for that is a complete joke. Even commentators and analysts have said the same. It was hardly a yellow card.

Most of the complaining I heard was
A) How could the ref ruin such an epic matchup
B) Man U should be given that benefit at home
C) Nani should be given that benefit for not being dirty

Sorry. But you commit wild foul and you take the risk of a wild call. This is nothing new, source 1998 & 2006 World Cup red cards for Englishmen