Official European Football 2011/2012 Thread

Y@k Bollocks · Post by **Y@k Bollocks** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:30 am

England could start winning things playing like that - nearly worked for Holland. Shame they can't have Rory Delap playing for them.

Great results for Wales and ROI.

Yohan · Post by **Yohan** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 3:50 am

Y@k Bollocks wrote:England could start winning things playing like that - nearly worked for Holland. Shame they can't have Rory Delap playing for them.

Great results for Wales and ROI.

Don't get your hopes up. England always manages to fuck up big tournaments. When was the last time you reached the semi finals? 1996?

Req · Post by **Req** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:12 am

Yohan wrote:
Y@k Bollocks wrote:England could start winning things playing like that - nearly worked for Holland. Shame they can't have Rory Delap playing for them.

Great results for Wales and ROI.
Don't get your hopes up. England always manages to fuck up big tournaments. When was the last time you reached the semi finals? 1996?

was also the last time they defeated a major nation in the KO stages.

Y@k Bollocks · Post by **Y@k Bollocks** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:27 am

Yohan wrote:
Y@k Bollocks wrote:England could start winning things playing like that - nearly worked for Holland. Shame they can't have Rory Delap playing for them.

Great results for Wales and ROI.
Don't get your hopes up. England always manages to fuck up big tournaments. When was the last time you reached the semi finals? 1996?

Yes, I'm aware of their track record. By the way, I'm was actually born and raised in Ireland, so couldn't really give a toss how they get on. Was just observing that if they take Holland's/Stoke's approach they might do better.

Yohan · Post by **Yohan** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 5:39 am

Y@k Bollocks wrote:
Yohan wrote:
Y@k Bollocks wrote:England could start winning things playing like that - nearly worked for Holland. Shame they can't have Rory Delap playing for them.

Great results for Wales and ROI.
Don't get your hopes up. England always manages to fuck up big tournaments. When was the last time you reached the semi finals? 1996?
Yes, I'm aware of their track record. By the way, I'm was actually born and raised in Ireland, so couldn't really give a toss how they get on. Was just observing that if they take Holland's/Stoke's approach they might do better.

Gotcha. IMO the problem with England is not their raw talent, but their tactical approach and home situation (i.e. press).

By the way, I'm acting as if last night the Dutch team did not play.

HomieDontPlayDat · Post by **HomieDontPlayDat** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:09 am

Yohan wrote: Gotcha. IMO the problem with England is not their raw talent, but their tactical approach and home situation (i.e. press).

This is a bizarre point that I always read people on this board make, along with the whole 'English fans are arrogant' thing, primarily based on a few tabloid headlines. You are aware that the breathless rantings of a lowbrow newspaper don't accurately reflect the opinion of an entire country, right?

VideoKilledThe · Post by **VideoKilledThe** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:17 pm

The English team as a whole, and players on an individual basis, are overrated.

HomieDontPlayDat · Post by **HomieDontPlayDat** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:56 pm

By who, though? That's my point: who overrates them? That's one of those old, easy statements to make, without putting any actual thought into it. Unless you mean they're overrated in America in which case I don't know, I really don't see how that's true.

The national team is certainly not overrated here in England, where the general feeling for the last few years has been of overall frustration and depression about its performance. We failed to qualify in 2008 and went out 4-1 last year, and nobody denies that we simply weren't good enough. Last week we played Spain and you'd have been laughed out of the country for suggesting that we might win.

As for the players, where are you getting this from? Perhaps the word you're looking for is 'overvalued', but that obviously has more to do with the fact that they play in a league which is in, uh...England. A good English player will inevitably hold more value in an English market than an equally good foreign player, and the same would apply for a local player in any league. That is very basic business, and if anything is more evident of the widely-acknowledged relative lack of quality of most English players.

Furthermore, English teams have dominated the latter stages of the Champions League for a few years now. Yet, hardly any players from the league itself, much less the English players, get nominated for any international awards. Not that I'm saying that this is unjust, or trying to make the English players out to be hard done by, but...with this being true, how can they possibly be overrated?

stupidregister · Post by **stupidregister** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:04 pm

Englishmen are definitely overpriced but if you look at the national team, no one players outside of England. Are they not considered good enough? That's probably not it, but would anyone else have paid 35m for Andy fucking Carroll?

I don't know, I tend to lean towards England being underachievers more than overrated. I think when healthy, they should have enough talent to compete for the world's best. They're not as good as Spain (few teams are) but surely they should be able to beat Italy and the like, and compete with Germany or the Dutch?

Let's say they play a standard 4-4-2:

Hart
Cole-Terry-Lescott-Richards
Johnson-Milner-Gerrard-Lampard
Rooney-Bent

Just off the top of my head (+/- whomever you like), that's a pretty damn good squad. I haven't actually gotten to watch much of them play but I always lean towards teams playing too passive as their downfall. They play 4-5-1 the last I recall? I'm not sure what their reputation is but I think they can be better than they've shown. Perhaps the next generation (Wilshere, Sturridge, Welbeck, Smalling) will give them some hope.

I still remember them taking Walcott to the Cup when he was 17 and thinking "what the fuck?"

VideoKilledThe · Post by **VideoKilledThe** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:02 am

The press overrates them, who greatly influence their viewing audiences around the world. The perception of the english side is one full of talent, but a squad that never becomes a sum greater than it's parts and a team that collapses under the intense pressure brought on by the history of the game in england, and undeserving media hype. Hype that is built on the success of the EPL, where average to very good english players are heralded as stars of not only the league, but of all of europe. The perception is that they can just put all these club stars on the same pitch together and be one of the better sides in the world, when really their players aren't that good and their team is fortunate to be considered as highly as they are.

This past "golden generation" wasn't overrated? What did they ever do to deserve the love they got?

People here in the States were shocked by what Germany did to England in the WC.

Req · Post by **Req** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:13 am

serious question: are South Americans born this retarded?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011 ... rez-racism

HomieDontPlayDat · Post by **HomieDontPlayDat** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:40 am

Stupidregister, English players just don't like to play abroad. Simple as that. They don't like to learn new languages, they don't like to be in foreign cultures, and as I said, they are hot commodities in England so have little desire to go elsewhere. Joe Cole's doing well out in Lille right now though, which probably suits his physical condition better than having his leg broken at Stoke.

VideoKilledThe, your response to my questions doesn't really make any sense, and is contradicting itself. Did you read my post? I'm getting the impression that you read things on the internet and are just regurgitating them now.

Req, there's been a lot of this culture-blaming thing to excuse poor behaviour over the last couple days. Roberto Martinez was on TV yesterday trying to excuse his South American (I forget his name) player's spitting on a Wolves player, saying that it's a culture thing and he probably didn't realise that spitting was so bad. So there you have it, if you go to South America, expect to be spat on if you argue with anyone.

Though I don't doubt Gus Poyet when he says he was called everything under the sun during his time in Spain. He played for Zaragoza, isn't that where Samuel Eto'o tried to walk off the pitch due to the amount of racial abuse he was getting? I guess he's a 'crying baby' too.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:30 am

Robin Van Persie > Pele/Maradonna combined.

This guys' scoring #'s lately are so sick.

stupidregister · Post by **stupidregister** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:03 am

Really, RVP? I mean seriously. Come on.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:12 am

stupidregister wrote:Really, RVP? I mean seriously. Come on.

Sick Sick Sick.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:14 am

S'up with Gervinho though? Bro is all Swedish and no Finnish.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 10:20 am

Yossi Benayoun may or may not be the 3rd Neville.

Req · Post by **Req** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 8:09 pm

lmao, did we really get paid 12mil for Jon Obi Mikel?

5 years later and he still fucking sux yet Chelsea INSIST on playing him.

Y@k Bollocks · Post by **Y@k Bollocks** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:04 pm

HomieDontPlayDat wrote:VideoKilledThe, your response to my questions doesn't really make any sense, and is contradicting itself. Did you read my post? I'm getting the impression that you read things on the internet and are just regurgitating them now.

Just give it up. You won't get an answer.

Horrible footage of Eboue doing the rounds. You guys seen it?

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VideoKilledThe · Post by **VideoKilledThe** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:18 pm

No reason to get in a pissing match when we clearly disagree. What we are talking about is the perception of a team, not really something I think needs major discourse.

Besides it's not like you responded to any of the questions or points I made so why would I do so for you?

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:51 pm

I think we can ALL agree on one thing:

Tottenham hotspur is the fuckin shit. Peace bitches!

vinylpops · Post by **vinylpops** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 8:01 pm

Positive A wrote:I think we can ALL agree on one thing:

Tottenham hotspur is the fuckin shit. Peace bitches!

b0mbs_of_death · Post by **b0mbs_of_death** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:23 pm

Positive A wrote:I think we can ALL agree on one thing:

Tottenham hotspur is the fuckin shit. Peace bitches!

Hope we are saying that come the end of the January window.

Ade was workin his ass off whole match tho.

stupidregister · Post by **stupidregister** » Mon Nov 21, 2011 11:12 pm

Positive A wrote:I think we can ALL agree on one thing:

Tottenham hotspur is fuckin shit.

HomieDontPlayDat · Post by **HomieDontPlayDat** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:04 am

VideoKilledThe, you're a bit of an idiot.

Y@k, I saw that. Ridiculous, but the music is distracting.

As an Arsenal fan, Tottenham have been pissing me off consistently recently. Buying Van Der Vaart for peanuts, same for Scott Parker (both fantastic buys who we could have done with), and now taking in Adebayor? Whatever.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:16 am

HomieDontPlayDat wrote:VideoKilledThe, you're a bit of an idiot.

Y@k, I saw that. Ridiculous, but the music is distracting.

As an Arsenal fan, Tottenham have been pissing me off consistently recently. Buying Van Der Vaart for peanuts, same for Scott Parker (both fantastic buys who we could have done with), and now taking in Adebayor? Whatever.

I'm getting the impression, and I may be wrong here and as an Arsenal fan, you would have better insight, but I feel like Aaron Ramsey is going to be a better version of Scott Parker at some point. I love this guy.

HomieDontPlayDat · Post by **HomieDontPlayDat** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:18 am

You know, I'm not that convinced about Ramsey personally, not since his return from injury at least. I think it's just in my head, because the Eduardo situation always sticks in my memory and I can't help thinking that he's not as good as he was before.

But I wouldn't really compare the two myself, I'd say Parker's a bit more similar to Wilshere, who I personally rate over him anyway. But still, Wilshere's gonna be out for another couple months, and we could do with a cool, experienced head in that position. And he was available for free, wasn't he? Very un-Arsenal to pass on him and then spend

Y@k Bollocks · Post by **Y@k Bollocks** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 1:18 pm

[quote="HomieDontPlayDat"]And he was available for free, wasn't he? Very un-Arsenal to pass on him and then spend

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 4:06 am

HomieDontPlayDat wrote:You know, I'm not that convinced about Ramsey personally, not since his return from injury at least. I think it's just in my head, because the Eduardo situation always sticks in my memory and I can't help thinking that he's not as good as he was before.

Patience. Ramsey had a cleaner legbreak and has healed completely, Wenger said. He just needs to find matchform and get over whatever mental trauma he is carrying around. He'll be a top player in his position. It's not like Diaby who had his ankle cracked again Sunderland and haven't been able to stay fit for more than a month since due to recurrence of the injury, hes the one who got truly fucked over.

But I wouldn't really compare the two myself, I'd say Parker's a bit more similar to Wilshere, who I personally rate over him anyway. But still, Wilshere's gonna be out for another couple months, and we could do with a cool, experienced head in that position. And he was available for free, wasn't he? Very un-Arsenal to pass on him and then spend

Req · Post by **Req** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:24 pm

Van Ether

Chelsea

United