The whatever footie that's going on (with actual fans) thread

Flâneur

Football is cruel but christ why Young of all people. Though I will stick by you should just worry about your own results and forget everyone elses

Stevo_666

MOTD 10.45pm for anyone who's interested. Still very tight for next years CL spots.

debeli

What has happened to football? I quite liked it in the 70s and 80s (apart from the racism and violence).

Tickets were cheap, replica shirts were few, nobody discussed transfer targets (beyond hopeful mutterings) and nobody felt the need to know a manager's likely pay-off or scream for his departure after the humiliation of finishing third or fourth in a very tough league.

Even in the 90s, a Cup Winners' Cup was considered cool (GG nearly getting two in a row).

Here we are in a HIGHLY competitive season and Pellegrini is heading for a likely second place amid calls for his head. I have no love for Man City and dislike the way titles are bought these days, but the guy is doing a good job.

When AFC (a proper football team n my biased opinion) finish third or fourth and progress quite well in a cup or two, I consider that a good season. I always have. A part of the love of football is that feeling of 'if only' at losing a final or not quite winning a championship. There has always been a lust for silverware, but these days its absence seems to be turning into a criminal offence.

My 'other' team, the late, lamented Hereford United, who may shortly become a property-development opportunity, gave me a degree of joy by simply staying in the Football League.

How I wish they'd bring back terraces, properly impose FFP and properly impose a high percentage of domestic players per squad. This last wish, of course - with the caveat that if the manager is a Frenchman, then players like Pires, Henry, Vieira, Giroud, Petit and the like qualify as domestic.

All I ask is that the rules are jigged in a way that allows AFC to win the UCL and the domestic double for a few years.... Is that too much to ask?

Manc33

Man City getting all shirty because Pellegrini isn't finishing top of the league doesn't bother me, its hilarious.

Hopefully the more conceited City become, the more they will keep on swapping managers, hardly ever winning anything, if anything.

pesky_jones

effing Man U getting another three points they don't deserve

jimmythecuckoo

The
Game
Is
Morally
Bankrupt.

Manc33

Cisse kicked out at Evans - something Beckham was sent off for when he did it to Simeone.

Not one single thing mentioned on any news programme about Cisse kicking out - it was only about the spitting - which was again Cisse, at Evans. Evans didn't spit at Cisse. Evans spat yes, but he wasn't spitting at Cisse.

So we got three points we "didn't deserve" when Cisse should have been given a red for kicking out at Evans? How do you work that out?

We didn't deserve to be playing against eleven men... but we were.

my_grandadʹs_bike

Manc33 wrote:

Cisse kicked out at Evans - something Beckham was sent off for when he did it to Simeone.

Not one single thing mentioned on any news programme about Cisse kicking out - it was only about the spitting - which was again Cisse, at Evans. Evans didn't spit at Cisse. Evans spat yes, but he wasn't spitting at Cisse.

So we got three points we "didn't deserve" when Cisse should have been given a red for kicking out at Evans? How do you work that out?

We didn't deserve to be playing against eleven men... but we were.

You've spouted some right conspiracy theory boll*x on here in your time but your belief that Evans didn't spit at Cisse just about tops the lot. I suppose the vids on YouTube showing it happening have been manipulated by the FBI or something?

Stevo_666

Manc33 wrote:

So we got three points we "didn't deserve" when Cisse should have been given a red for kicking out at Evans? How do you work that out?

We didn't deserve to be playing against eleven men... but we were.

His point is that Manure seem to be winning games without playing well. Can you honestly say your team has been playing really well? The alleged red card offence isn't relevant here. The acid test will be when you come against the other top teams you still have to play (although good luck against Sh1tty)

Manc33

Evans spat near Cisse but not at him. :P

They are always spitting all the way through the game.

No I don't think we will fare well against Arsenal or City, or any of the top sides, because we just haven't got it in us, too deflated. We have the players but they ain't gonna perform, they seldom have this season.

One of the best games I have seen of anyone all season, was City beating Newcastle 5-0 (21st Feb). I think if Jose was managing Man City, they probably would be winning every game. They have better players in each position than Chelsea IMO. Every player at City is one of the best in the world in that position and they have a ludicrous strike force. Chelsea have one guy Costa lol. Spain's answer to Lee Evans. I reckon the best player in the league is Yaya Toure at City, as much as I hate to say it.

pblakeney

Manc33 wrote:

No I don't think we will fare well against Arsenal or City, or any of the top sides, because we just haven't got it in us, too deflated. We have the players but they ain't gonna perform, they seldom have this season.

Pity about the league run up then.
To come:-
Spurs, Liverpool, Villa, City, Chelsea, Everton, WBA, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Hull.
I see 4 maybe 5 losses there.

Manc33

I predict a loss at all the away games of top teams and the best we can hope for at home, a draw.

At home we're not capable really of winning either going off the last 4 or 5 games.

Man City went 5-0 up against Newcastle with 38 minutes to go. Man United got lucky on 88 minutes and "won" the game 1-0 against the same team. I know it doesn't work that way but it sort of does a little bit. :x

We're crap now, nothing like the Fergie days and I don't think it can be with LVG. They have said for months he hasn't settled on a team - oh he has... his "settling on a team" is switching the team around every game. :roll: It won't change and he won't find a top 11 etc, I think it's just how he manages, he is a great manager but we're boring with this guy now. Playing it back to the goalie all the time, long balls all the time, sad stuff.

chris_bass

5 points from 3rd to 7th, I really have no idea who'll get top 4 this year, I think arsenal and Liverpool might sneak it but I'll change my mind on a game to game basis

Manc33

Liverpool dropped a bollock today. :twisted:

debeli

As one who sees little live footie these days and won't pay to see it on the telly, I was glad to see such a ripper of a game last night.

I was (you may think me mad) frightened in the 1st half by the prospect of Young and Fellaini combining from the left after the first yellow.

Ozil, Ox and Nacho combined sublimely for the first. Di Maria and Rooney were amazing for the second and Welbeck held his nerve very well for the winner.

Van Gaal (who should be given at least a season or three, as Ferguson was) must be furious with himself for selling Welbeck to AFC. His dismissive statements about him after the sale were just waiting to come back and haunt him.

The sending off? Even as a Gooner I thought it was a little soft, but Man Utd players had clearly been taking lessons from Tom Daley.

I have AFC beating LFC in a close final, but I fear it may be the reverse.... Aaaaah.... Football.

Manc33

If LVG still hasn't settled on a best eleven in another 6 months time we should sack him. We should be looking at getting CR7 back or something, but of course, won't be. We paid nearly £60M for Di Maria and if he plays the way he has in the last three games for months on end, he won't even be worth half what he was in a year.

Nope, we shouldn't have sold Welbeck to Arsenal, just about every Man United supporter said as much. He's fast, he always gets goals.

Give it a few years and we will be down there with the likes of Crystal Palace and Hull battling to simply stay in the sodding league.

debeli

The above from Manc33 is a sweet and heartrending post, but it displays all the maudlin self-pity so often seen in MUFC and LFC supporters who have difficulty coping with the end of an era.

MUFC will not end up at the wrong end of the table - not because they have such excellent supporters, but because their owners know a thing or two about making (and hanging onto) money. There is money to be made at the sharp end of the EPL and in the UCL. So that's the sort of region they'll stay in.

MUFC fans are always wise and considered in their judgements. I recall in 1990 that nobody (NOBODY) sang "Fergie Out!" from the terraces. They all knew he was a genius and that it was just a matter of time before he came good.

This recent business of setting 'instant silverware' as a minimum target and getting sack-happy at anything below that is as risible as it is curious. I rather enjoyed the football during Arsenal's lean years (late 70s, early 80s) and the recent 9-year drought. I just couldn't get worked up about whether the manager should be sacked. He seemed like a clever and enterprising man who knew what he was about. He still does.

MUFC fans seem to think in terms of the Busby and Fergie eras being the 'norm'. They are not. They were exceptional. Similarly, Chelski and Liverpool fans prefer not to recall the lean years. It is all a bit silly. Time for me to go to bed. Welbeck.... That was a good piece of business. Tee hee...

Stevo_666

Liverpool supporters don't need to recall the lean years, they're still in them

Manc33

Fergie wouldn't be indecisive about his best 11.

Stevo_666

Manc33 wrote:

Fergie wouldn't be indecisive about his best 11.

Best 12 if you include the ref

debeli

Manc33 wrote:

Fergie wouldn't be indecisive about his best 11.

In 1988 my wife was living in Moscow and in a bus queue she overheard the following remark from an old woman about the Armenian earthquake:

"This would never have happened under Brezhnev".

Somehow, this seems remarkably similar to your assertion about Ferguson's team selection.

Manc33

Debeli wrote:

Manc33 wrote:

Fergie wouldn't be indecisive about his best 11.

In 1988 my wife was living in Moscow and in a bus queue she overheard the following remark from an old woman about the Armenian earthquake:

"This would never have happened under Brezhnev".

Somehow, this seems remarkably similar to your assertion about Ferguson's team selection.

Maybe she knows Brezhnev didn't have security clearance to use HAARP.

(joking this time)

the playing mantis

Debeli wrote:

As one who sees little live footie these days and won't pay to see it on the telly, I was glad to see such a ripper of a game last night.

I was (you may think me mad) frightened in the 1st half by the prospect of Young and Fellaini combining from the left after the first yellow.

Ozil, Ox and Nacho combined sublimely for the first. Di Maria and Rooney were amazing for the second and Welbeck held his nerve very well for the winner.

Van Gaal (who should be given at least a season or three, as Ferguson was) must be furious with himself for selling Welbeck to AFC. His dismissive statements about him after the sale were just waiting to come back and haunt him.

The sending off? Even as a Gooner I thought it was a little soft, but Man Utd players had clearly been taking lessons from Tom Daley.

I have AFC beating LFC in a close final, but I fear it may be the reverse.... Aaaaah.... Football.

wtf
"Ozil, Ox and Nacho combined sublimely for the first. Di Maria and Rooney were amazing for the second and Welbeck held his nerve very well for the winner"

ozil very nearly messed up a promising position and f it wasnt for the ox running at a woefully organised and poor defence, ozils near impetus killing pass would have done just that. ozil is a luxury player that looks good amongst other top class players of madrid but not player to haul a team up on his own when surrounded by mostly averageness. a luxury arsenal cannot afford and who doesnt want to be at the club.

"Van Gaal (who should be given at least a season or three, as Ferguson was) must be furious with himself for selling Welbeck to AFC. His dismissive statements about him after the sale were just waiting to come back and haunt him."

why? wellsh*t hadnt scored this year. hes nowhere near good enough for a club of arsenals supposed aspirations. united would have been laughing all the way to the bank. danny is a tryer, but has no striking sense and will never be centre fwd at a 'big' club. i would rather see akpom play. danny is a sunderland quality player, a mid table striker at the very best. never was and never will be good enough for arsenal and yet another example of the malaise the club is in continuously treading water.

the final will be a stevie mee love in and victim fc will have a biased ref going all out to ensure stevie goes out on a high. not that i care much as the fa cup is the sole reason we must suffer another 2 1/4 seasons of groundhog day at the emirates, so winning what is now a 3rd rate trophy, wont make the day wenger leaves come any closer.

debeli

the playing mantis wrote:

why? wellsh*t hadnt scored this year. hes nowhere near good enough for a club of arsenals supposed aspirations. united would have been laughing all the way to the bank. danny is a tryer, but has no striking sense and will never be centre fwd at a 'big' club. i would rather see akpom play. danny is a sunderland quality player, a mid table striker at the very best. never was and never will be good enough for arsenal and yet another example of the malaise the club is in continuously treading water.

the final will be a stevie mee love in and victim fc will have a biased ref going all out to ensure stevie goes out on a high. not that i care much as the fa cup is the sole reason we must suffer another 2 1/4 seasons of groundhog day at the emirates, so winning what is now a 3rd rate trophy, wont make the day wenger leaves come any closer.

I think the FA Cup may be viewed as a third-rate trophy by people who confuse football with its console-game counterparts... but it is still a major trophy.

It is the last of the really big cups to be knockout from step one. That in itself is something. No group stages to satisfy the TV pay cheque and minimise giant-killing exits.

And unlike you, I see quality in Welbeck and Ozil. Great quality. I have a feeling their teammates do, too. But what do they know?

Manc33

More than 1,000 teams take part in the FA Cup. That has to be important!

the playing mantis

Debeli wrote:

the playing mantis wrote:

why? wellsh*t hadnt scored this year. hes nowhere near good enough for a club of arsenals supposed aspirations. united would have been laughing all the way to the bank. danny is a tryer, but has no striking sense and will never be centre fwd at a 'big' club. i would rather see akpom play. danny is a sunderland quality player, a mid table striker at the very best. never was and never will be good enough for arsenal and yet another example of the malaise the club is in continuously treading water.

the final will be a stevie mee love in and victim fc will have a biased ref going all out to ensure stevie goes out on a high. not that i care much as the fa cup is the sole reason we must suffer another 2 1/4 seasons of groundhog day at the emirates, so winning what is now a 3rd rate trophy, wont make the day wenger leaves come any closer.

I think the FA Cup may be viewed as a third-rate trophy by people who confuse football with its console-game counterparts... but it is still a major trophy.

It is the last of the really big cups to be knockout from step one. That in itself is something. No group stages to satisfy the TV pay cheque and minimise giant-killing exits.

And unlike you, I see quality in Welbeck and Ozil. Great quality. I have a feeling their teammates do, too. But what do they know?

your an idiot then! (ozil is quality but doesn't want to be at the club and doesnt give a toss, as his old man pushed the deal through) what do you base this feeling on with wellsh*t?

wellsh*ts figures show how 'quality' he is...nothing more has to be said...speak to any genuine gooner who actually watches the team, be it armchair or at the bowl.

even the most pro akb's agree that wellsh*t is a complete lemon

Manc33

I reckon 2-2 for Man United Vs Tottenham.

Stevo_666

In line with tradition I'm picking Burnley as my small unfashionable team to support this weekend. Wouldn't it be great if they could take more points off Sh1tty

Manc33

Stevo 666 wrote:

In line with tradition I'm picking Burnley as my small unfashionable team to support this weekend. Wouldn't it be great if they could take more points off Sh1tty

They've got a good chance of doing it I think being at home.

If they win at all it will be 1-0 but we can pray/prey however you spell it.

Stevo_666

Well done Manuel, you've just made yourself look a bigger tw@t than Carragher