Roiling football blather
- Thread starter crackerjack
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- alan smith 17 arsene the glum aesthete basic schoolboy errors benitez the sad clown borderline rivaldo shithousing bromley spiritual healer chelsea :facepalm: dracula and his war council henry does an adam smith i am a holding midfielder of your face. jumpers for goalposts lads it's tottenham large samuel ole's at the wheel serie a epic fail shearer yawn shed ted square balls the special one traffordish waving imaginary cards
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Classy. When tinkling the 88s, I wonder if he's inspired by Liberace...or Cecil Taylor, perhaps.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Cracking football match yesterday I thought. Especially for the neutral (and those who, like me, had put some money on Liverpool) but I'm glad I'm not a fan of either side, I don't think that I could have stood the tension. Glad to see that Walcott looks as though he's maturing into the player that Sven thought he was before the World Cup, last few times I've seen him he's looked a lot more like a complete player and yesterday was a very strong run when in the past I reckon he wouldn't have been able to shrug off the first challenge and stay on his feet.
What about that penalty? I thought it was but then maybe I just hate Arsenal too much...
What about that penalty? I thought it was but then maybe I just hate Arsenal too much...
crackerjack
Well-known member
Absolute stick-on stonewall cert, as I've already said 100 times today to moaning Arsemen
It's their own fault, they were brilliant and Liverpool were terrible for the first half hour. They could've had it sewn up before Hyppia scored. And just how rubbish does Senderos have to be before they give up on him?
nomos
Administrator
there wasn't much to the "penalty" i didn't think. careless jostling yes, but no grab and no feet. not as blatant as the hleb one last week at least. but obv. arsenal can't pin it all on that. their major problem has been not keeping their cool with a lead and killing games off. the story of both legs was arsenal taking leads and liverpool immediately striking back.
how do you hate arsenal? is it the current squad or something you were born into? i'm just curious because the only teams i can actually say i hate are man u and chelsea and that's down to fergie and a few spoiled players. maybe it's something to do with distance. i'm pretty immune to football culture over here, but on the other hand there are hockey teams i still revile even though i haven't followed the game for years.
walcott is finally starting to really shine. that run that got the second goal was amazing.
how do you hate arsenal? is it the current squad or something you were born into? i'm just curious because the only teams i can actually say i hate are man u and chelsea and that's down to fergie and a few spoiled players. maybe it's something to do with distance. i'm pretty immune to football culture over here, but on the other hand there are hockey teams i still revile even though i haven't followed the game for years.
walcott is finally starting to really shine. that run that got the second goal was amazing.
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IdleRich
IdleRich
Hmm, it's more their fans who seem to have this sense of entitlement and are always going on about being the best team despite not ever winning anything. It's also Wenger's inability to see any of the fouls committed by his players but having perfect vision on the shocking treatment handed out to his thoroughbred darlings. Most of all it's the way that every time Arsenal are beaten by a side like Bolton they moan about how the minnow didn't play football and roughed them up - what do they expect them to do, try and outpass Arsenal and get beaten five nil? That's the beauty of football, you can be strong in so many different ways and the aim of the game is to make your strengths tell rather than the opponent's. I like the way they play and I enjoy watching them but there is something annoying about this insistence that they deserve to win because they do one part of the game well, they haven't realised that that's only part of the game and they have to do the rest as well if they're going to win the league.
I know every fan and manager and player for that matter is one-eyed but with Arsenal it just seems even more so than with other sides. Maybe my view on this is coloured because the goalie in my football team (a lecturer in South American literature and generally clever fellow) is one of the worst offenders in this respect I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.
mos dan
fact music
ha, not recently. having spent my entire life as a wimbledon (latterly afc) fan, i have recently adopted arsenal as a second team, having moved to n1 and moved in with three avid arsenal fans. there is probably no other team - let alone one in london - i would consider doing this for. in my experience arsenal fans are not more blinkered than others.
last night was heartbreaking in a way i haven't felt since the year wombles were knocked out of two cup semi finals. (obviously the heartbreak of having your club STOLEN FROM YOU is on a scale so enormous that it does not warrant mention in a discussion about mere football matches.)
as someone whose formative football years were the 90s, i revile man utd, their players, their manager, their supporters, their groundsman.. you get the idea
i can happily state that cristiano ronaldo is the best player in the world and a joy to watch, and also that i despise him with every fibre of my being. such is being a football fan eh
last night was heartbreaking in a way i haven't felt since the year wombles were knocked out of two cup semi finals. (obviously the heartbreak of having your club STOLEN FROM YOU is on a scale so enormous that it does not warrant mention in a discussion about mere football matches.)
as someone whose formative football years were the 90s, i revile man utd, their players, their manager, their supporters, their groundsman.. you get the idea
i can happily state that cristiano ronaldo is the best player in the world and a joy to watch, and also that i despise him with every fibre of my being. such is being a football fan eh
crackerjack
Well-known member
i can happily state that cristiano ronaldo is the best player in the world and a joy to watch, and also that i despise him with every fibre of my being. such is being a football fan eh
He is the best player in the world, and I hate him, but I also hate watching him because he's the best player in the world. And then I hate myself for being so small-minded, which makes me hate him even more.
crackerjack
Well-known member
We've got the semi-finals most of us predicted. Anyone put anything on it?
The semis are much harder to call, but i have a sense of doom that this is Man U's year. Maybe vidic will still be out and Barca will rip them to shreds, but if not I think I'd almost rather Chelsea beat Liverpool cos i can't bear the thought of losing to Utd in the final.
The semis are much harder to call, but i have a sense of doom that this is Man U's year. Maybe vidic will still be out and Barca will rip them to shreds, but if not I think I'd almost rather Chelsea beat Liverpool cos i can't bear the thought of losing to Utd in the final.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Nah, but I bet on Liverpool to beat Arsenal (and won on the Grand National thanks to my mysterious dissensus tipster) so I'm happy.
It's weird that Manchester United have eased to the semis without ever being under pressure or playing a really top drawer side - the best team they've played on paper is Roma (twice), a side they utterly humiliated last year. Who would have thought they would have been able to rest Rooney and Ronaldo in the quarter finals of the cup and stroll past one of the top Italian sides without breaking sweat. How the balance of power has shifted with England supplying six of the eight semi-finalists over the last two years.
I don't see Barcelona ripping United to shreds as Messi is out for one game and Ronaldinho for both but they are still dangerous. It's going to be a tough game and it ought to be a good one. Shame Puyol is out though 'cause he's fucking rubbish.
crackerjack
Well-known member
He's starting to look more and more like Campo, and not just the hair.
mos dan
fact music
yeah the adebayor goal was a joke, but so was that free kick being given for nothing. i still don't think you have a case that arsenal fans are more one-eyed than anyone else. (1) wenger is not arsenal fans, he is the manager. (2) watch the post-match interviews on motd back to back - pretty much all the managers will take a ridiculously biased line.
the dubious goals aside, the referee was pretty disgraceful imo, arsenal got some silly yellow cards for nothing, and as ever at old trafford it felt like there was a forcefield protecting the man u players from the same fate.
in my part of north ldn we were taking comfort from the possibility that man u might be sunk by a global recession, as they're both in debt and sponsored by an insurance company. hence the chant "down with the dollar, you're going down with the doooooollaaaar"
the dubious goals aside, the referee was pretty disgraceful imo, arsenal got some silly yellow cards for nothing, and as ever at old trafford it felt like there was a forcefield protecting the man u players from the same fate.
in my part of north ldn we were taking comfort from the possibility that man u might be sunk by a global recession, as they're both in debt and sponsored by an insurance company. hence the chant "down with the dollar, you're going down with the doooooollaaaar"
IdleRich
IdleRich
Well, I said "fans and manager" didn't I?
Yeah, of course you're right but Wenger just seems to go that much further to me. Obviously it's only the impression I get but it was nicely reinforced by him having the nerve to blame the ref when he gave them the only goal they managed. They should get a striker who can keep his composure and then they might give themselves a chance.
Van Persie (I think it was) was booked wrongly when he got the ball but the other bookings all looked pretty clear as far as I can recall.
vimothy
yurp
in my part of north ldn we were taking comfort from the possibility that man u might be sunk by a global recession, as they're both in debt and sponsored by an insurance company. hence the chant "down with the dollar, you're going down with the doooooollaaaar"
Unless they've planned for recession, and the use of debt is part of an innovative hedge against dollar devaluation (borrow large amounts of money; invest in a tangible asset (Old Trafford); watch as asset value inflates; pay back debt in worthless nominal currency; pocket the difference).
mos dan
fact music
he does have a remarkable ability to always view things through a prism of injustice, i concede. i like it when managers pull an aidy boothroyd and say 'my players were useless, that's why we lost. they need to do better'.
in fact let's flip this, who is the most honest manager?
crackerjack
Well-known member
Managers of the major clubs habitually criticise refs disproportionately, not just out of anger but as a tactic. (Wenger, if anything, is slightly less culpable in this respect, since he seems the most emotional of all the top UK managers). Note the difference between Rafa then (rarely criticised refs publicly) and Rafa now (as bad an any of them).
I blame Ferguson*, who began this practice, or at least made it notable, though it took Mourinho to turn it into an artform.
If one of the big 4 gets a crap decision against them, it can be back page news for days. for a lesser club, it's a minute's gripe on MOTD and a paragraph in the match report. Refs know this, and act acordingly. When clattenberg (I think) gave that mental penalty for Chelsea at Liverpool earlier this season, he was dropped from the Prem list for a month. When Styles gave one just as stupid against Man City recently, nothing happened.
*But then I would.
I blame Ferguson*, who began this practice, or at least made it notable, though it took Mourinho to turn it into an artform.
If one of the big 4 gets a crap decision against them, it can be back page news for days. for a lesser club, it's a minute's gripe on MOTD and a paragraph in the match report. Refs know this, and act acordingly. When clattenberg (I think) gave that mental penalty for Chelsea at Liverpool earlier this season, he was dropped from the Prem list for a month. When Styles gave one just as stupid against Man City recently, nothing happened.
*But then I would.
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