On the Eve of the new Season...

after yesterday's victory in Lisbon, 2-5, Barcelona looks really good this year. But now is the key moment, three games in a row against Sevilla, Valencia and Real Madrid. This will say how far we can go this year.

Chelsea looks kind of bad and glad to see Mourinho struggling with Inter.

inter is up 6 points in serie a, id hardly call that struggling. they did get shocked in the cl, but id bet on them getting through

smackie, what do you think of ronaldo's sending off?

another nil nil draw for the toon. as much as i appreciate the clean sheets, id like to see more of a killer instinct at a side like boro. december is going to tell a lot for this team

godsshoeshine wrote:smackie, what do you think of ronaldo's sending off?

Bizarre.  It was so blatant that I think he mistakenly heard something (a whistle?) to make him do that.  If anything, he had a clear chance at a header for a goal, so it was wierd.  I don't think it was a lack of concentration on his part, but a simple mistake. 

That being said, I think the official had no choice but to send him off with him already being on a yellow.

The better question might be why not make a sub or two to put fresh legs out there at the 70 minute mark?

i kind of thought the same thing being 1-0 up and with the attitude he showed the ref, it looked like chris was on his way out. in any event, please still destroy scumderland without him

That would require them doing what Arsenal did today and ignore the Carling Cup match tomorrow against somebody, I don't even know who it is.  And I hope thye do just that.

Let the kids have a go and if they win, great, but focus on the Premiership this week.

what? man u does not require any rest to throttle the £90m debacle

or so i hope

How did I miss this thread in the last six years I've been on this board…I may be logging in to the forum a lot more now.  Only if I can troll though…

keano out at sunderland: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=598902&sec=england&cc=5901
i know mankie loves the man, but hahahaha

godsshoeshine wrote:
i know mankie loves the man, but hahahaha

First time in my life I've seen the guy walk away from something. 

Oh.
Wait. 
Nevermind…

I still think he's bitchen, though.

Saturday, Dec 6

7:40am Fulham vs Man City (Set)
10:00am Arsenal vs Wigan (FSC)
10:00am Blackburn vs Liverpool (Set)
12:30pm Manchester United vs Sunderland (FSC)
5:00pm Bolton vs Chelsea (Set)
6:45pm Newcastle vs Stoke (Set)
8:00pm Hull City vs Middlesbrough (FSC)


Sunday, Dec 7

9:55am West Brom vs Portsmouth (Set)
11:00am Everton vs Aston Villa (FSC)

Monday, Dec 8

3:00pm West Ham vs Tottenham (Set)

I should also point out that Hoffenheim is on Gol TV today vs Bayern Munich, and if you haven't seen Hoffenheim play yet, you're in for a real treat (they basically just go forward the whole time).  Use DirecTV online to set your DVR…

And QPR is playing Wolves on saturday on Setanta.  That would have been a huge game 20 years ago, and someday I hope to see them both back up in the Top Flight.

they are top of the league too

have not seen them play, thanks for the heads up, i used the dtv online feature and everything. ive been trying to watch some nonenglish football to pick out teams to play with on fifa 09. i had been playing with schalke but after hearing that hitler supported them, i think i'm in the market for a new german team. shame, they are pretty good on the game, may have passed sevilla as my favorite nontoon team for video games

wolves look like they may be back next year

Shame Hoffenheim lost

"It's no wonder Keane walked out on this team - they're awful.  Absolutely awful!"

That was my favorite bit of announcing this weekend. Add that to the "There's only one Keano" chant followed by The Five Cantona's of Xmas in the first 5 minutes of the match and I managed to not throw up before stoppage time eased my stomach.

ChampionshipVinyl wrote:
Shame Hoffenheim lost

True that. Deserved a draw, without a doubt.

It's also too bad that I taped the match and saw your comment before I watched it.  It would have been a really exciting finish.

apparently ibi?ević lived in the u.s. for some of his teen years and even went to the university of st louis

thanks for the heads up, that was a nice way to start a friday night

coming home sunday and watching the draw against stoke made me…unstoked

godsshoeshine wrote:
coming home sunday and watching the draw against stoke made me…unstoked

I debated warning you, but then knew that I'd be pissed if you ruined a result for me. Sorry about that - shitty foul call for the free kick that led to the tying goal, but there was much more to that match than that free kick.

kinnear's tactics are shit and toon dont have nearly enough central midfielders. both goals came from skilled passing. geremi cant run and he gets a lot of shit from toon supporters but he passes so much better than butt its ridiculous

at least kinnear got some good swears in before getting tossed

also i think i kind of hate bayern now. they seemed almost like bullies in that hoff match

godsshoeshine wrote:
also i think i kind of hate bayern now. they seemed almost like bullies in that hoff match

I don't care for Bayern for many more reasons than that, but if you were the coach of a longstanding Bundesliga power and some little upstart came your way with some momentum, wouldn't you employ the same tactics?  I certainly would.

fair enough. i shouldnt have expected class from a team that employs luca toni, but i thought it was a bit much

hoffenheim actually looks like they have room for improvement too. a higher percentage of those one touch passes might connect after playing together more. lots of young players too

i might have to start dvring some german matches