Football Thread (formally Soccer Thread)

[Spork]

I signed up to the premierleague.co.uk fantasy league, and am failing so badly.

Everyone else in the league that I am in has at the very least 130 points, and I have 70....

[Cake]

gunners go one up !!!!!!!!!

[Spork]

gunners go one up !!!!!!!!!

What?

[Wandarah]

Cake is obviously observing the game tonight ahead of time, due to a temporal distortion unit located beside his colon.

I figure tonights line up for the beautiful, beautiful Gunners will be as follows:

                                     Almunia
       Sagna         Gallas           Verminator        Clichy
                                    Song
                       Ramsay           Denielson
          Eduardo                  Bendy                  Big Arsh

RVP on the bench I would say. Could be wrong.

2-1 to Le'Arse - 4-1 aggregate. I'd love a clean sheet, but I still think we play too far up the pitch, we'll see.

[Spork]

Ah, he sent me a PM saying that we are 1 up on Man U (and the other top teams mind you), as in we are on top of the ladder, except we just need to play another game.

Bad thing is, that game is V Man U. However, Man U are not the dominating team that they normally are, so we have a very very high chance of beating them, or that is what I am telling myself.

Also, for our Home leg of the CL V Celtic, I agree with your Line up completely Wandy, and even if in the odd chance that Fabulous is fit to play, he should definitely not, he should be rested for the big game on the weekend.

The thing is, even if they manage to score two and keep a clean sheet, there is no way they will beat us on penalties. So going by that, they would have to win by 3 goals, away from home, and Celtic have a very poor record away from home, sure you can say they beat Moscow, but Moscow would probably struggle in England's Championship ladder. So taking that into account on top of the fact that we have scored 12 goals in our first three games (albeit against 3 rather poor teams - one of whom we are facing in an easier match tonight), and the fact that this game is at the Emirates - Arsenal's home for anyone wandering through this thread and is clueless to the side of soccer, I believe that we are almost 100% guaranteed to score.

We have all of our top class strikers available, and a whole load more who are more than willing to score, sure only one of our strikers has scored this season, but you can tell from the way that Arshavin is getting angry with himself that it looks like any second now he is going to burst out of his skin and open up his 09/10 scoring card, the same thing applies for RVP, sure he has assisted many, but so have all of our strikers, they seem to be setting up a lot of world class goals. However I believe that within a few more games, RVP is going to have a couple or more goals up his sleeve.

Then there is Eduardo, the only one of our strikers who has scored, he is skill in a box, and that box is about to be opened, possibly not this match, but very soon (hopefully on the weekend against Manure), and when it opens, I don't think it will be closed for a long time. Eduardo is pure skill, he is in my opinion more skilled than any of our other strikers, he is able to do more than all of them and has more commitment to his play, not by too much more than RVP, but he definitely takes the cake in my opinion.

Then you look at the rest of our front men, even the injured ones, this season we have a whole lot of possibilities, Bendtner, Walcott, Vela, Fabregas*, Rosicky*, Wilshire, Ramsey*, I think I have even heard that Eboue can play up front.

* All the players whom I am almost 100% sure can and do play upfront, with the exception of Fab, I have not seen any of the others in an attacking position.

And then even after that you have all of our other players from Midfield and defence who find themselves in the front lines at crucial times, like our current champion in Gallas, and Vermaelan, Diaby, Denilson, Ramsey.

Arsenal in 2009/2010 are the team to beat.

I honestly have no idea how the game V Celtic will go, but I will have a guess at 3-1 to us, Arshavin, Gallas(might as well eh?), and RVP off a penalty, or maybe even a free kick (I've been waiting so long to see him plant in a direct free kick, I love direct free kicks more than anything else in the world of Football, oh, except Arsenal absolutely annihilating other teams.

My predicted scoreline for the weekend V Man U, 1-1, 2-1 (to us) or 2-2.

I will be very happy with a draw against them, but that will mean we drop below Chelsea and Tottenham.

After Man U we have a pretty good run, starting off with man city (2-1 to us, Adebayor scoring for them), but then we have a whole load of lower league teams.

[Spork]

You live in England don't you Wandy? Or am I thinking of someone else?

If so, I really do despise you. :p

[SteddieEddie]

A bit early to be saying Arsenal are the team to beat don't you think.
Come back to me at xmas and we will see. Tis a long season.

Still blind optimism has long been a gunners trait :confused:

[Spork]

A bit early to be saying Arsenal are the team to beat don't you think.
Come back to me at xmas and we will see. Tis a long season.

Still blind optimism has long been a gunners trait :confused:

I'm talking about right now though, we are definitely the team that is in best form. All the other top teams are either losing games, or getting away with a tough win.

[TofuEater]

A bit early to be saying Arsenal are the team to beat don't you think.

No, not at all. They are looking good and will go from strength to strength. I expect that they'll beat ManU this round and will come more into some people's contentions, but if you are able to read the signs you will see that there's something special about this year's Gunners.

[SteddieEddie]

Actually Spork you said they are the team to beat 09/10 not atm.

Tofu they certainly are looking good, for an oscar, what with all the diving in the box this morning.

Still when you lack the firepower up front you have to be creative. P

[Spork]

Actually Spork you said they are the team to beat 09/10 not atm.

Tofu they certainly are looking good, for an oscar, what with all the diving in the box this morning.

Still when you lack the firepower up front you have to be creative. P

Lack the fire power op front?

Ronaldo, Drogba, Messi.

Two of the world's best, and one of the best in the EPL, and all three of them (more so the first two) dive an absolute fuck load. Ronaldo is probably the most known for diving.

Yet all three of them are some of the best attacking players  of today.

Do you seriously think Ronaldo needs to dive?

Same thing applies for Eduardo, he is possibly Arsenal's best striker, and if you just search his name on youtube, or download other videos of him, even though most of them were from before he broke his leg, when he was not as skilled as he is at the moment, he pulls off some absolutely incredible skill and goals.

Next thing you are going to tell me you support Tottenham...

Sure, Eduardo may have made a dive, but everyone dives if they see the right opportunity.  Also, if you look at the incident, as soon as he hit the ground, he did not look straight at the ref, he looked at the goal keeper as if to see if he was O.K, he was not instantly looking for the penalty. I agree it is very unlikely, but he may have just been trying to get out of the way of the keeper, and either accidentally made it look like a dive, fall, or he just fell weird.

However, as I said, even if he did dive, by this stage, when diving has been around for so long, even though you can quite easily get penalised for it, I feel it is a part of the game. Just some people can pull it off better than others.

[Spork]

No, not at all. They are looking good and will go from strength to strength. I expect that they'll beat ManU this round and will come more into some people's contentions, but if you are able to read the signs you will see that there's something special about this year's Gunners.

Exactly my thoughts, although I am not as sure that they can beat Man U this weekend.

But maybe you have to be a supporter to see that this isn't just a short stint of great football, they seem to be set for a while now, doing really well, and we have a far better field than we had last year at least, so the one or two injuries that we will (most likely) always have will not damage the team as much as they did last year.

EDIT: Just read that apparently people were shinning laser pointers into eduardos eyes just before he was about to take the penalty kick.

That is total crap, what the players do on the field is their business, sure some things might be a bit more like cheating than they should be, but when football 'fans' interfere with a game, that is going too far.

Back on the subject of diving.

Do yo really think that Arsene teaches the team to dive? If you do you are a crackpot, although I remember reading a news article where Mourinho admitted to telling his Chelsea team, that if the time is right, that they should dive.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article4988651.ece

Don't think that is the article I am thinking of, but oh well.

I am not just defending Eduardo, as to me it did look like a dive, and sure you can say I'm Australian so cheating is in my nature, but at the moment Arsenal are in a position where they do not need to dive, so far in the EPL, The Gunners have played two, won two (so are on 6 points) and have a +8 goal difference, Tottenham and Chelsea who are first and second (both on 9 points), Tottenham have a +6 goal difference and Chelsea a +3 or 4 I think. So after three games they still have not scored as many goals as Arsenal have. Sure goal difference isn't everything, but considering who ever thought up the 09/10 fixture list is retarded and there is already half of the Premier League teams who are down a game, I believe that by the time that we play our extra game, if we have won the game V United, we will stay on top for quite some time.

[henno]

Your goal difference will be 5 come Monday

[SteddieEddie]

My goodness Spork you are a passionate supporter aren't you.

I was just giving Tofu a bit of stick. I was not saying that the are told to dive, jeez man lighten up.

As for the goal diff, it seems this year that a game against Everton will do wonders for that.

As I have already said it is a long season, and injuries can play a huge part in the end run, so hold off on the brash predictions for a bit yet eh

[Spork]

My goodness Spork you are a passionate supporter aren't you.

I was just giving Tofu a bit of stick. I was not saying that the are told to dive, jeez man lighten up.

As for the goal diff, it seems this year that a game against Everton will do wonders for that.

As I have already said it is a long season, and injuries can play a huge part in the end run, so hold off on the brash predictions for a bit yet eh

I just want my team to do well

I'm also just surprised that one of my favourite sporting stars did something which most consider so morally wrong. SO trying to justify it.

Champs league draw ended up with some fairly boring fixtures. Not one group with more than one good team in it.

Except for maybe group C, has Milan, and Real Madrid.

[Spork]

I just realised that there is an absolute load of money thrown around in the champions league.

Prize money

UEFA awards €3 million to each team that qualifies for the UEFA Champions League, plus €2.4 million for participating in the Group stage. A Group stage win is worth €600,000 and a draw is worth €300,000.

In addition, UEFA pays each quarter finalist €2.5 million, €3 million for each semi-finalist, €4 million for the runners-up and €7 million for the winners. [2]

A large part of the distributed revenue from the UEFA Champions League is linked to the "market pool", the distribution of which is determined by the value of the television market in each country. For the 2008-09 season, both Manchester United and Bayern Munich, who reached the final and quarter-final respectively, earned more than Barcelona, who won the tournament.[3]

That's crazy.

So last year, even Arsenal and Chelsea won 11.5 million euros. Then Barca won something like 18.5 mill?

That's a fair pay for winning a few games of soccer.

[SteddieEddie]

I see your buddy is being brought before the judiciary for his diving antics.

Throw the book at him, they need to rid the game of that bullshit imo

[Spork]

Well while I think it is a dive, there are many saying that he simply saved himself from having to sit out another year or two thanks to another broken leg.

Also, why should he be given a two match ban when if he was penalised in game it would have simply been a yellow card?

How come Ronaldo, Drogba and Gerrard are still allowed to play the game if Eduardo is going to be punished for a one off offence....

[Spork]

Lame...

[SteddieEddie]

I agree anybody caught diving deserves the book thrown at them. Guess you have to start with someone tho. Problem is it is UEFA not the FA doing it, so you will get away with it in the domestic league but not the European.

[Spork]

There are talks that apparently Rooney dived last night again The Gunners, not sure just yet, just downloading the full match now.

I really can't wait for us to get our catch up match already, it sucks being below teams simply because we haven't played as many matches as them.

EDIT: After watching, it does look like he was going down well before his legs made contact with Almunia's arms, but it definitely is a penalty.

[nataS]

However, as I said, even if he did dive, by this stage, when diving has been around for so long, even though you can quite easily get penalised for it, I feel it is a part of the game. Just some people can pull it off better than others.

Do you still feel this way after this mornings game?

[Chilli]

nataS nice to have yet another 28th here mate. _b

[TofuEater]

There are talks that apparently Rooney dived last night again The Gunners,

Apparently? Shit, the Russian judge gave him a 10.

[henno]

How come Ronaldo, Drogba and Gerrard are still allowed to play the game if Eduardo is going to be punished for a one off offence....

That was one of the more blatant dives, Ronaldo normally gets clipped in some way and while he could stay on his feet why should he get kicked all the time.

When people do keep going like Rooney they often get very irate the second or third foul and then get slated for having a temper.