...::[The Footy Desk]::... (Part 1)

[Vercetti27]

Sunderland (H) Should be easy 3 points

Stoke (A) Tricky but we should win

Southampton (H) Another 3 points with any luck

 

Liverpool (A) Not as daunting as it used to be...

Chelsea (H) Erm...maybe a point?

City (A)

 

lol, looking forward to it.

 

UP THE ARSE

Edited June 18, 2012 by Vercetti27

[JOSEPH X]

sh*t like that just makes me think of the ex.

 

Has Baines left or something?

[SilentSeas]

Crap opening game of Derby away for Wednesday, but we get Leeds in October and Bolton on Boxing Day.

You've got no room to complain, not only have Blackpool not kicked off the campaign at home in four years, but we've been given Millwall away. This will be the 3rd season running that all of our games over the festive period are away. The fixtures are an absolute joke.

[El Zilcho]

Forza Italia! Come onnnnn

[OchyGTA]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11...m-talk-to-Blanc

 

Surely this is bull. Why would Blanc leave a French team capable of winning a trophy to join a Tottenham team about to loose all their good players. It's like trading £50,000 for a potato.

[Seddo]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11...m-talk-to-Blanc

 

Surely this is bull. Why would Blanc leave a French team capable of winning a trophy to join a Tottenham team about to loose all their good players. It's like trading £50,000 for a potato.

The one thing the search for Liverpool manager has told me is that a Sky Sports source is bullsh*t and they don't really have a clue.

 

Man this head to head in the groups is confusing, being racking my brains how Italy are currently winning this group when Spain and Croatia have better GD then found out that the results against Ireland don't even count.

[fgcarva1]

The f*ck happened to our national team. Unmotivated, and after 20 minutes they're tired or whatever? I hope Bert can get our players to do better next time, or maybe we need a coach who can motivate a team full of ego's. Losing every game with these players is a bloody disgrace.

Just don't select Robben anymore. From what I hear in the Dutch media he told Bert 'to shut up'.

Robben has become a weak player since his plays have become repetitive. Get the ball in the left wing, cut through the middle, left foot shot on goal... As long as the defense covers the middle he can't cut through and won't have much space to do anything. But yeah, he's been really stirring sh*t up. First the Bayern Munich fight with Ribery which led those two to hating each other's guts, now he's sh*ttalking his coach? Robben has got to calm down.

 

Well, and as for the Euros I must say that as any other good Brazilian out there, I'll cheer for Italy.

[OchyGTA]

Is it me or did the commentator just say Perisic won the double with Borussia Dortmund in Italy?

[Max]

Is it me or did the commentator just say Perisic won the double with Borussia Dortmund in Italy?

Dortmund were that good this season.

[Canoxa]

Is it me or did the commentator just say Perisic won the double with Borussia Dortmund in Italy?

Dortmund were that good this season.

I think they came a close second in the Austrian Bundesliga and won the the Romanian cup. Great season.

[AndyGanteks]

Damn, Italy's through. Honestly hoped Croats would make it through with Spain. What about SPanish goal, wasn't it offside a litle bit, haven't watched the replays yet?

[El Zilcho]

 

Damn, Italy's through. Honestly hoped Croats would make it through with Spain. What about SPanish goal, wasn't it offside a litle bit, haven't watched the replays yet?

Nope, it was legit. Phew, glad Italy got through, hope they do the classic Italian thing and hit their stride once out of the group - I only saw glimpses and phases of beautiful attacking football in the group stage. And Spain looked vulnerable, can see them succumbing to the likes of Germany or even Italy later on.

 

For tomorrow, I'd like England to come seconds in the group (regrettable, because I like England as my naturalised nation and they'll play our groups winner) so that they don't meet Italy in an uncomfortable match for me - hopefully they can tackle Spain.

[OchyGTA]

Damn, Italy's through. Honestly hoped Croats would make it through with Spain. What about SPanish goal, wasn't it offside a litle bit, haven't watched the replays yet?

It's a tough call. Either way I think the decision was harsh. Quite frankly, Spain have been on the end of a number of lucky calls this tournament. I'd also say they've played very average football and can quite easily be beaten. Casillas has kept them in the Euros so far. If England come up against them, I think we'll win it.

[fgcarva1]

Yeah, overall I haven't liked these Euros too much. Crappy defense all around the tournament in my opinion. Now we'll get to see who can make it to the finals. I can almost say that as expected (at least by me) Germany is gonna be one of them.

[Crokey]

Pleased with City's lot with the league draw, rofflecopter at Liverpool's home run... they do play baseball right?

 

Balotelli's goal Cracker.

[El Zilcho]

Balotelli's goal Cracker.

One of the few times I can cheer Balotelli. It was a class goal, great stuff.

[Seddo]

Spain goal was spot on, correct call, 2nd phase of play and all that. Got very tense towards the end when i was flicking through the two games, Italy's game was over and the Croats only needed a goal. Whatshisname should have put that header away though, great chance for Croatia to go in front.

 

I think this tournament has been pretty decent, some great games and even the 1-0s have been quite entertaining. Shame Ireland go home with the joint worst performance in European Championship history.

 

As for Spain, they need to do one with the false number 9's and bang Llorente on if they're taking Torres off, they haven't got Messi like the Barca team. They have lots of the ball but that's no good enough when you haven't got a proper outlet.

[AndyGanteks]

No 0:0 yet so far in the Euro. I wonder if the 1/4 finals will be with goals, or will everyone go out to defend. We've got Czech and Greece there after all.

[cactus.]

 

I think this tournament has been pretty decent

 

Fo sho. Like Andy said, no nil/nil draws as of yet and, for the most part, the officiating* has been pretty good too. Let's give some credit where due. The Greeks were on the receiving end of some questionable (i.e. wrong) calls, but otherwise I can't think of any instance where the arbiter has heavily influenced a match.

 

The only thing it's lacking, I'd say, are memorable goals. There have been some pretty ones here and there, but nothing much for the highlight reel. Balotelli certainly caught my eye today, though!

 

*edited

Edited June 19, 2012 by TheCacti

[Hodgey.]

I too have to agree that this tournament has been pretty decent alot of intersting and fum games to watch as a neutral. For me this tournament so far is alot bettr than the last World Cup was.

[Mr Rabbit]

1 question. When spain were 0-0 and italy were winning 1-0 they said that italy would top the group, spain 2nd and croatia 3rd. But italy had the same points and in inferior goal difference to both spain and croatia and italy drew with spain and croatia, and spain and croatia were drawing so nothing to choose for head to head, but if croatia had got 1-1 they would qualify over italy. Why is this?

is it a mistake by BBC commentary?

cos if 3 teams are on the same points then it goes to GD and italy should have been 3rd at that point, as it happens spain won so it did not matter so they never explained why italy were top at that point.

[Crokey]

1 question. When spain were 0-0 and italy were winning 1-0 they said that italy would top the group, spain 2nd and croatia 3rd. But italy had the same points and in inferior goal difference to both spain and croatia and italy drew with spain and croatia, and spain and croatia were drawing so nothing to choose for head to head, but if croatia had got 1-1 they would qualify over italy. Why is this?

is it a mistake by BBC commentary?

cos if 3 teams are on the same points then it goes to GD and italy should have been 3rd at that point, as it happens spain won so it did not matter so they never explained why italy were top at that point.

It's buried away on the BBC website but this explains it. Basically the Euro structure is ar*e for tit compared to most domestic competitions and primarily goes on goals scored.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18454917

[Hodgey.]

When Italy was winning 1-0 and Spain / Croatia was 0 - 0, Croatia and Italy had the same goal difference etc. Italy was going to go through because UEFA ranked them higher in there coefficent system

[cactus.]

UEFA ranked them higher in there coefficent system

and that is so f*cking stupid. As a player, I'd be irate if my team goes toe-to-toe with another team only to be beaten by their ranking. Just four years ago a group game would go to penalties if need be.

[Der_Don]

Would like to see something like this:

 

Quarter finals:

Germany - Greece

Czech Republic - Portugal

Spain - England

France - Italy

 

Semis:

Portugal - England

Germany - France

 

Final:

England - Germany

 

That'd be an epic final

[Waddy]

England are by no means through. Ukraine can easily cause an upset tonight, if Shevchenko is playing, he can win any game.

I would take a draw now.

[Hodgey.]

England are by no means through. Ukraine can easily cause an upset tonight, if Shevchenko is playing, he can win any game.

I would take a draw now.

Honestly i would'nt take a draw tonight as i would want England to finish top of the table so we can avoid Spain. I aint saying that Italy would be a walkover though i just think it would give us a better chance if we played Italy to get through to the semis.

[Waddy]

England are by no means through. Ukraine can easily cause an upset tonight, if Shevchenko is playing, he can win any game.

I would take a draw now.

Honestly i would'nt take a draw tonight as i would want England to finish top of the table so we can avoid Spain. I aint saying that Italy would be a walkover though i just think it would give us a better chance if we played Italy to get through to the semis.

We are hardly a goal scoring machine at the moment, Rooney isnt exactly prolific for England either.

 

[AnotherDave]

UEFA ranked them higher in there coefficent system

and that is so f*cking stupid. As a player, I'd be irate if my team goes toe-to-toe with another team only to be beaten by their ranking. Just four years ago a group game would go to penalties if need be.

It'd take a pretty unusual turn of events for qualification to come down to a team's ranking. If the games had finished Italy 1-0 Ireland and Spain 0-0 Croatia, the team's rankings would not have come into it. Italy would have qualified as group winners because they'd scored the most goals in the games between the three teams and Spain would have gone through in second based on their superior goal difference in all group games.

[Sunrise Driver]

Damn now Ukraine will have to play with Spain (Italy) instead of Croatia.