...::[The Footy Desk]::... (Part 2)

[Banks.]

Casillas is past it now but no denying in his prime he was one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. Always preferred Buffon though.

 

 

[MyName'sJeff]

Yeah he definitely was. I'm happy to see Buffon is still class especially at the age of 37. Haven't seen a good keeper at that age since Van Der Sar. Miss that lad.

[Doc Rikowski]

Casillas' problem is all about him not accepting the fact he was entering a period of low level performances, something that Mou was well aware of.

When you, as a player, go through something like this, you have to accept the criticism, find out where you are failing and then start over stronger than ever,

But no, Casillas did the exact opposite and started to act as the criticism was unjustified and so rather than improving he just started to play worse and worse.

And the people and the media around him facilitated this attitude when Mou was still around, when Casillas did sh*t in the WC and since Ancelotti became RM coach.

In my opinion is still lack of humbleness that brings you to such situations. Not only Casillas' one but the whole Spanish sport media circus' too.

The same lack of humbleness that made an AS journalist film himself while celebrating the fact that Juve was going to be RM's opponent.

On the other hand, a guy like Buffon (and Del Piero), lifted the WC in 2006 and then voluntarily accepted to play in the Italian second division with Juve the next year, with the most humble attitude ever.

As usual it's not what you have won in the past that define you as a Champion.

And what he won is what Casillas have been using as an excuse for his poor performances.

[Flesh-n-Bone]

Yeah, Casillas still has some fire left in him but for the most part, he's past it and doesn't seem to take criticism well. I wish we hadn't sold Diego Lopez, he was perfectly solid as a keeper and carried on where Casillas left off following the injury in early 2013 just fine. But if we buy De Gea, I'll be very pleased because he's the future. Sorry Mancs.

 

F*cking Napoli... they beat Wolfsburg (the team I wanted to win UEFA Cup) and then proceed to lose to some obscure Ukranian team (no offense to them, lol). I expect Sevilla to successfully retain.

[Der_Don]

Dnipro Dniproptrsomething are hard to spell, but they are far from an obscure team. They do have some great talent on that team. Konoplyanka for example.

[MyName'sJeff]

Madrid should be using Navas more often, not milking the ageing crap out of Casillas and planning to buy De Gea.

Edited May 15, 2015 by MyName'sJeff

[Doc Rikowski]

Napoli has been doing like this the whole season. Great matches and absolutely awful ones.

They certainly threw away their chance to be in the final. Napoli didn't do enough to deserve it, Dnipro did.

 

As for Fiorentina, well, Sevilla was simply superior.

I say Sevilla will win it again but Dnipro could surprise us all.

[Flesh-n-Bone]

Dnipro Dniproptrsomething are hard to spell, but they are far from an obscure team. They do have some great talent on that team. Konoplyanka for example.

Of course, otherwise they wouldn't have made it this far. But the fact remains that this is their first time making any real noise. The Ukrainian club synonymous with the country is Dynamo Kiev but I'm not counting out Dnipro or selling them short here. They happen to be similar to Senegal back in the 2002 World Cup where nobody really knew them and brushed them off but they've managed to come very far and turn heads.

[Orange Juice]

Another Red Star update - they guaranteed themselves promotion to Ligue 2 for the first time in 16 years last week, and tonight secured the title in pretty extraordinary circumstances...

 

 

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/match/321769

Edited May 16, 2015 by Orange Juice

[flitcroft101]

Palace certainly love to f*ck up Liverpools day recently!

[bread]

What a sucky performance from Liverpool to spoil Gerrard's send-off.

[Damned_Hitman]

Palace certainly love to f*ck up Liverpools day recently!

 

We make Bolasie look like Messi.

 

FFS, what a sh*tty ending.

 

Rodgers isn't good enough, and if he's given one more season, I think it will be clear to see.

[Flesh-n-Bone]

4 goals after the 90 minute mark. How is that even possible?

 

Liverpool need a bit of an overhaul for next season to come back. Losing Suarez without an adequate replacement just destroyed them.

[GerryM]

4 goals after the 90 minute mark. How is that even possible?

 

Liverpool need a bit of an overhaul for next season to come back. Losing Suarez without an adequate replacement just destroyed them.

 

Gerrard is also out which means they need more good replacements.

[flitcroft101]

 

4 goals after the 90 minute mark. How is that even possible?

 

Liverpool need a bit of an overhaul for next season to come back. Losing Suarez without an adequate replacement just destroyed them.

 

Gerrard is also out which means they need more good replacements.

 

they've needed a replacement for him for years

[Orange Juice]

4 goals after the 90 minute mark. How is that even possible?

 

Liverpool need a bit of an overhaul for next season to come back. Losing Suarez without an adequate replacement just destroyed them.

Some decent goals amongst them too, Sliti's equaliser was an absolute peach.

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qcch3_resume-frejus-st-raphael-red-star_sport

 

RE: Liverpool: on the one hand, it would have been nice for Gerrard to have ended his Liverpool career on a higher note, but on the other, a 3-1 loss at Anfield is pretty f*cking funny too.

 

Speaking of pretty f*cking funny, Newcastle lost again today. I'm kind of past caring - I'll still try watch or at least listen to every game, but more out of morbid curiosity, the way one would watch a car that's got stuck on the train tracks with the barriers down. Praying for a Man Utd win next weekend to send Hull down - we're buggered if we need even a point at home to West Ham, let alone all three.

[Girish]

So Liverpool couldn't even muster up a performance to give Gerrard a proper send-off. As much as I despise Liverpool, it's sad to know that Gerrard will never have a PL medal in his trophy cabinet for all that he has done for English football. He's going to regret that forever.

[Damned_Hitman]

Class act these Crystal Palace fans

 

 

[Flesh-n-Bone]

At least Gerrard has a CL trophy to his name. I always have a place for Liverpool in my heart because I've liked them by default since the get go as they are my dad's favorite team but not only that, they are also responsible for two of the greatest football matches I have ever seen. (2001 vs Alaves and 2005 vs Milan) Losing the PL last year because of a damn slip was humorous for rival fans but very soul-crushing and sad.

 

Glad Barcelona beat Atletico so this can be over for good. At least Ronaldo looks to be walking away with the top scorer award. 4 ahead of Messi now.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Flesh-n-Bone

[Miro]

Yep, finally we have made it! Champions! You wouldn't expect this after that 22 unbeaten streak of Real Madrid last Autumn, but this is football! Good thing we managed to do this without Suarez, would have been too risky to injure him even more for the finals we have ahead. Hopefully we'll win 2 more this season. Visca Barcelona!

[Doc Rikowski]

RM ain't gonna win sh*t this year. You read it here first.

 

Time to quote my January post.

 

Congrats to Barça. Well deserved title.

 

RM and CR failed big time this year.

45 goals, golden ball and won nothing.

Time for Ronaldo to learn to be less arrogant.

I always said it in this topic that scoring hat tricks to little sh*tty teams means nothing.

As usual, when he needed to be decisive, he simply evaporated.

Overrated player. I stand by my opinion.

 

---

 

Respect for Gerrard. Great champ.

[Banks.]

This was amazing from Jones.

 

[Flesh-n-Bone]

Doc, I don't understand why you're focusing so much on Cristiano. A team consists of 11 players. Much like everyone else, he's had his good days and bad days. Messi has been ghost many times and flopped in big matches (3-1 loss to Real this season and WC final) but that doesn't make him any less of a player. In Cristiano's case, the blame for Wednesday does not go to him as far as I'm concerned. He did what he could, creating chances from the left wing and scored both goals in the two legs but it's too bad the others aren't as good at finishing as him. I can guarantee that if he was in Bale's place when he placed that header in front of an empty goal against Juve, it would've gone in.

 

A couple of changes to the team and we should be set to return stronger next season. I also want Carlo around for at least another season. Four trophies in 2014 was great and it sucks to follow it up with a trophyless 2015, but regardless, other teams still have a lot of catching up to do to beat our total #. Just hoping that Juventus ends the season on a happy note so I'll have something to be cheery about. Want to bet a sh*tload on Barcelona because it feels obvious that they'll win but then I don't wanna count out Juve since they have the defense to combat Barcelona's front three as well as a solid offense to create dangerous chances.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Flesh-n-Bone

[Miro]

Scoring a 3 meter tap-in and a penalty doesn't make you a decisive contribution. 45 goals in La Liga, that's cool, many hattricks and all that, but it's all pointless if there's no reward. For me, this season is like something identical to the 2010-2011 season of both Barcelona and Real Madrid, with slight differences. Then, Ronaldo scored like 40 goals and Messi 31, but in the end it was Messi who won La Liga and the Champions League, while Real Madrid took the Copa del Rey. The next season it was the other way, Messi with 50 goals and Ronaldo with 46, but it was Ronaldo who won La Liga that time. It's possible that the next season will be yours, but still for Ronaldo to have 1 title in 6 season is a little odd. It's too less. I wonder a lot what will happen to Real Madrid when Ronaldo won't play anymore for them... will we either see the real quality of the rest of the players or will it be a moment of downfall for them? We might say the same for Messi, yet last season we did quite good without him injured so many times. We needed just a win in the last round and snatched the title.

 

Real Madrid, just like Barcelona with Messi, has to try to be successful without Ronaldo.

[Flesh-n-Bone]

You can downplay how he scores but the fact is, if it was so easy, many other players would be matching his numbers. The fact is, Ronaldo and Messi are simply on another level. I saw a meme on social media the other day talking about how when these two retire, we'll go back to seeing records unmatched for a long amount of time and it made me realize just how grateful we should be to have these two amazing talents playing in the same generation. 40-50 goals a season and record breaking achievements have become the norm because of these two. Messi gets his just due but for whatever reason, Ronaldo's greatness is always downplayed by people who nitpick on his bad moments and try to use his competitive spirit to talk about how he's arrogant as if that takes away from his skills. It's weird to think about the lack of league titles with Real, but truthfully, he's done it all club-wise. Won everything with Man Utd, switched to Spain and has won every title with Real.

 

I think Real can survive without him. Obviously we wont be scoring 100+ goals a season so frequently and easily but we can hang at the top with the rest. So can Barcelona too but last season when Messi was missing, they did suffer visibly in form. Reminiscent of 2005-06 (one of those years) when Ronaldinho was injured for a month and they were just not the same. The absence will be felt initially but after a while, they'll move on from it. I think the absence of these two will have its positives as well because the teams don't need to rely on their individual skills as much and work better as a unit.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Flesh-n-Bone

[Doc Rikowski]

Doc, I don't understand why you're focusing so much on Cristiano.

 

I admit that is just my personal opinion so, as all opinions, it is highly subjective. And opinions in football are even more subjective than in any other field.

Fact is I don't like him as a player and as a person. I don't like his arrogance and his attitude. I think that both get in the way of his performances.

He was so self focused after winning the golden ball that he forgot that he had actual football titles to win more important than his personal trophies.

A real football player should know that individual titles count sh*t but he seems to give a lot of importance to those.

I don't like his disappointment when a team player scores instead of him. I don't like the pre-studied and stupidly choreographed way he takes a free kick or celebrate a goal.

I dislike the fact some people put it on the same level of Messi when he's obviously two steps behind.

I see him like an effective striker but nothing more and not in the same lot of historical top strikers.

His numbers are mainly achieved against weak teams and whenever he needs to be a game changer he simply disappears.

He did this in ManU, in RM and especially in the national team.

In my opinion he's highly overrated and won more than he actually deserved to win.

He's kinda the symbol of everything I dislike in modern football.

A lot of show off and big words and little real talent.

And his nationality has nothing to do with my opinion.

I live in Portugal and I was a big fan of guys like Rui Costa, Figo and others.

That's all.

[Flesh-n-Bone]

So in short, it's more subjective bias than objectivity for you. That makes all the difference.

 

I can mention plenty of times he showed up in big games and elevated his team to the next level. In the World Cup qualification, he pretty much single-handedly took Portugal to the WC finals against Sweden (which is a big reason why he won Ballon d'or that year). In the 2009 CL knock-out stage, he was the big factor against Porto and Arsenal (admittedly, he was ghost in the final vs Barcelona). Last year, he broke the CL goals record, including a 3rd goal that helped us beat Dortmund in aggregate when they won the second game against a Ronaldo-less Real. He scored Man Utd's goal against Chelsea in 2008 CL final and etc.

 

He's also a very versatile player who can pretty much do it all. Fantastic finishing ability, great freekicks (not so much this year but that's a different story), excellent long range shots, dribbling abilities, speed and agility as well as great in the air. I don't see how anyone can deny his talents. He fully belongs in the top tier of football greats. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this but history, achievements and the majority are on my side. *insert Kanye shrug*

[Doc Rikowski]

You can put it like that I guess even though a lot of my subjective reasons are also somehow objective.

 

Anyway I don't deny his skill, I just deny his talent and I see no genius of football in him.

As for that WC qualification, if he had been really decisive, he wouldn't have brought Portugal in that win or die situation.

And he did that but then failed as usual in the actual WC.

He's decisive at times but never in the big occasions.

Even against Chelsea he failed a penalty...

[SouthLand]

I won't congratulate FCB or Real Madrid.

 

 

 

 

 

In the other hand, i am so Proud Bristol Rovers made it to League Two. Our English Brothers deserve it. Up The GAS!

Edited May 17, 2015 by SouthLand

[flitcroft101]

Atletico De Madrid won last season you clown.