Football Season 2012/2013

[jayseven]

That's gotta hurt for Chelsea fans! Knocked out essentially on a technicality.

[Murr]

I know United took the game 'easy' with Manchester derby looming on the weekend, but my god our defense is comical at the moment,

 

honestly if united defense play like they have been the last few games (Reading being the main culprit) we'll be on for another dicking at the hands of City (If they can get their attack fired up)

 

 

At least we're through as top of the group though, that's the plus side (until we're drawn against Real Madrid or AC Milan)

[Wii]

That's gotta hurt for Chelsea fans! Knocked out essentially on a technicality.

 

Rubbish! Had Moses not got that undeserved winner against Donetsk 4 minutes into injury time a few weeks ago it would have been more clear. Good riddance to the Chelsea wankbags! First team defending the Champions League to go out at the league stage. You know why? It's because they robbed it last year the whole way along, especially the semis and final against Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively. It just papered over the cracks of what are a bunch of f**king c**ts! Enjoy the Europa League muppets. I hope they meet Liverpool and they kick 50 shades of shite out of Chelsea.

 

On a positive note, fair play to Celtic last night, weren't great on the night but definitely deserved it over the 6 matches.

 

Love It!!!

[Charlie]

Not seen anything, read on twitter it was a dive. Anyone clear that up?

 

 

* I've been out for a few drinks and I'm too lazy to read/watch anything.

 

I haven't seen it but from what I heard there was definitely contact but he went down quite easily.

[Ramar]

That's gotta hurt for Chelsea fans! Knocked out essentially on a technicality.

 

If you told me we'd win the tournament then get knocked out in the group stages the following season. I'd bite your hand off.

[Charlie]

@Ramar

 

http://rutube.ru/video/embed/6028132

 

Highlights of the Celtic match. It looks like Samaras was caught but went down quite easily. Soft penalty but you can see why it was given.

[Ramar]

@Ramar

 

http://rutube.ru/video/embed/6028132

 

Highlights of the Celtic match. It looks like Samaras was caught but went down quite easily. Soft penalty but you can see why it was given.

 

There's a bit of Pires against Portsmouth in that if you ask me. Can see why it was given though.

 

I'd be fuming at the penalty taker though, proper risked it for a biscuit smashing it like that. Fair play to Celtic, they've had some cracking games in the tournament so far.

[Charlie]

There's a bit of Pires against Portsmouth in that if you ask me. Can see why it was given though.

 

I'd be fuming at the penalty taker though, proper risked it for a biscuit smashing it like that. Fair play to Celtic, they've had some cracking games in the tournament so far.

 

Again, I haven't seen it, but BBC Sport said that Commons looked really nervous walking up to take it.

 

I'd say in that state of mine smashing it is probably better than trying a placed shot. If a placed shot doesn't go well its likely it will be saved.

 

If you smack it obviously there's the chance you miss (like he almost did) but if its on target it goes in.

[Murr]

Well the draw isn't till the 20th, but what fixtures would you like to see, or are you predicting?

 

PSG vs Real Madrid

 

Barcelona vs Porto

 

Bayern Munich vs AC Milan

 

Schalke vs Galatasaray

 

Malaga vs Arsenal

 

Borussia Dortmund vs Celtic

 

Juventus vs Valencia

 

Manchester United vs Shakhtar Donetsk

 

A mixture of prediction's and draws I'd like to see.

[bob]

I've never really seen the point of predictions for draws. By all means post what you would like to see, but predicting the draw itself? Might as well put all the teams into a velvet bag and pull them ou.....oh.

 

I'd quite like to see Man U vs PSG, and Dortmund vs Barcelona. Celtic and Arsenal i'd just like to get easy opponents to see them get further than they would otherwise.

[Ramar]

We can only face Paris St-Germain, Malaga, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Which probably means we'll get Barcelona. I'd prefer PSG or Malaga.

[Charlie]

We can only face Paris St-Germain, Malaga, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Which probably means we'll get Barcelona. I'd prefer PSG or Malaga.

 

Get your hands off Malaga, they're ours!

[Mokong]

UEFA confirm a Multi-city/country 2020

 

I cannot believe they are actually gonna do this.

 

It is horible idea and just has far too many problems, logistically will be a nightmare especially for fans who want to go to games.

 

What happens with all the countries that a host city is from? Surely all would expect to auto qualify? Idealy the easy solution would be to not allow any auto-qualifiers but I still feel that would be harsh on any fans from a host city who would like to see their country compete (I'd expect any country with a host city would get to have at least one group game in their own city).

 

Or I could see some silly situation where some country gets 2 hosts cities and is allowed to auto-qualify while others are not

 

 

For fans it would be a nightmare finacially. Instead of travelling to one country finding a good town/city to use as a base to get your teams group games you'd have fly to a different country like every other day. The cost would prolly stop many fans from even trying, meaning less match tickets sold.

 

The travelling too would be pretty harsh on players, they'd probably spend more time travelling than training between matches. With no real "base" of familiarity it could wreck heads massively.

 

Unless they somehow work out a way to have the cities grouped by "Groups" to try to have at least the group games close together that might be helpful. But you'd still have games taking place in different countries. Again cost of travell might see it just not worth it to fans.

[Ramar]

All the governing bodies of football (especially Platini and UEFA) care about is money. Having several cities instead of a host nation, will probably get them more cash. There's absolutely no reason to change the current set up.

 

Like you say Mokong, it's a nightmare for fans, but then again they couldn't give a toss about fans. I wonder if we'll get a sea of orange when the Dutch play or a collection of day trippers who've come to the game because it's on their doorstep. Either way those at the top don't care as long as the stadium is full, they'll make a fortune.

[bob]

I know this isn't about Euro 2020, or indeed the Europa League happening right now, but i think it's amazing:

 

 

 

Statistical comparison of Ronaldo and Messi. I don't see how anyone can argue that Ronaldo is better than Messi (i can, but i'm throwing superlatives around right now), Messi is better at pretty much every stat!

 

 

I don't understand the Euro hosting thing. How the hell is it going to work?! Surely there's going to be a maximum of about 3 games played in each city? I suppose it's not that bad for non-diehard fans. But the atmosphere will suffer surely?

[jayseven]

Two stadiums per group could mean one/two cities per group, so one country per group. Knock-out stages can be hosted progressively closer to London for the 'road to Wembley'. Teams and fans would know well ahead of time where and when they were playing -- but of course as a fan wanting to follow their team all the way to the final, it could be more complicated than trying to find transport/places to stay in one country, and you can imagine as the games progress the number of non-neutral fans would surely fall as well.

 

I think it could work and could offer an interesting event to watch, though I'm sure there will be occasions of 'host' nations competing at the other end of the continent.

 

Looking at the wiki article about Euro 2020;

 

Only the 53 football associations affiliated to UEFA are eligible to host the tournament.

Joint bids by 2 member associations are permitted and, under exceptional circumstances, joint bids by 3 member associations may be considered.

The stadium requirements for Euro 2016 were as set out below. However, Euro 2016 will now use 10 stadiums rather than the 9 initially specified, so the 2020 bidding process may adopt a new formula.

2 stadiums with 50,000 seats

3 stadiums with 40,000 seats

4 stadiums with 30,000 seats

 

Countries that withdrew bids, prior to the novelty announcement;

 

Netherlands

Hungary-Romania

Germany

Bulgaria-Romania

Bosnia and Herzegovina–Croatia–Serbia

Belgium

 

Countries with existing bids;

Turkey

ROI-Scotland-Wales

Georgia-Azerbaijan (srsly? Azerbaijan is in Europe now?)

 

I'm sure a solely eastern-european euros wasn't monetarily enticing enough to UEFA, but you can kind of imagine some of the above countries being grouped into 'zones' per group.

 

UEFA already use a similar system for the UEFA Under 17 Championship's 'Elite Round' where each of the seven groups is hosted by a different country. Platini confirmed that the final decision would be taken in January or February 2013.

 

As the European Championship expands from 16 to 24 teams starting with Euro 2016, half of the qualified teams would be seeded and serve as host countries. A team is seeded if it qualifies and is ranked in the top 12 in Europe. The 12 seeded teams - two from each group - would host the group stage and round of 16. The quarterfinals would be played at a neutral venue, and the semifinals and final would be played in a 13th city. If Germany were to qualify, they would host their matches in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.[31]

So this suggests that my post up 'til now is pretty much wrong.

 

I don't know how much of the current set up ensures that groups are split evenly between seeded and non-seeded, so I can't comment on whether this is 'fair' or not.

 

Hum. Ponderous.

[Fierce_LiNk]

What a shiiiiit idea. Not even a little bit shit. This is mega-shit. Ultra-shit.

 

The fans get screwed out of this big time. At the moment, it's expensive enough anyway. If you want to go and support England for the entire tournament, you have to book tickets, flights, hotel tickets, etc. But, at least you can set up a base-camp somewhere. With these news ideas, you'll be moving around constantly. If England play 5 games, you could be potentially visiting 5 different countries. This is too expensive for the fans.

 

Football is already fucking expensive enough as it is and it's crap like this which just alienates more and more of the true fans of the sport. They'll have no problem filling up these stadiums with people who want to see the matches, but these people will be people from around that location, not the fans of the team. That may even harm the atmosphere within the stadiums.

 

Also, the players, having to move around constantly. It's bad enough as it is, it'll be even worse now.

 

I swear FIFA have a book or action plan with different ways to ruin or destroy the game.

[Mokong]

 

I swear FIFA have a book or action plan with different ways to ruin or destroy the game.

 

You mean UEFA yeah?

 

Bloody hell could you imagine if FIFA tried this for the 2024 World Cup? X number of cities AROUND THE WORLD.

 

Play your group games in Europe and Africa then round of 16 in Japan, quaters in Australia, semi in USA and final in Argentina

 

 

The flights for fans who want to travell would be a nightmare though.

K, you'll know in advance where your group games will be so you could plan flights and hotels in those cities in advance.

 

But what if your team gets past the groups. If you waited till you knew which city their knock out game would be in the flights would be booked up or uber last minute expensive. Ferry/car travell would likely not be an option with the time you'd have to get there. Not to mention then trying to find somewhere to stay!

 

Fans "might" do the travelling for teh group stages but after that whose gonna go to the games? Fill the stadium with neutral fans from the local area? There'll be no proper atmosphere in teh stadium if you can't cram it full of the fans of teh actual teams playing!

Edited December 6, 2012 by Mokong

[jayseven]

What a shiiiiit idea. Not even a little bit shit. This is mega-shit. Ultra-shit.

 

The fans get screwed out of this big time. At the moment, it's expensive enough anyway. If you want to go and support England for the entire tournament, you have to book tickets, flights, hotel tickets, etc. But, at least you can set up a base-camp somewhere. With these news ideas, you'll be moving around constantly. If England play 5 games, you could be potentially visiting 5 different countries. This is too expensive for the fans.

.

 

Well, no. Based on the last paragraph on my post it seems that it'd be 2 countries in group stage/last 16, then quarters in a neutral country, then semis/finals in 'a 13th city'. The suggestion for Wembley final means that, surely (and at least theoretically, which is where we're at) London would be city 13, so only 3 countries for England.

 

I say 'only' 3, I mean that'd still be more countries than any Euro campaign so far. And most other nations would be hitting up 3 countries prior to city 13.

 

(I like calling it city 13, though!)

 

If Germany were to qualify, they would host their matches in Berlin's Olympic Stadium, according to Bild.

 

Based on the current FIFA ranks, matches could also take place in Madrid, Lisbon, Rome, London, Amsterdam, Moscow, Zagreb, Athens, Basel, Paris and Brussels.

 

Platini has said hosting the tournament in such a way would be a one-off event.

 

"If the idea is appealing to [the committee] we will enter into details to see how we can organize a Euro in several European Cities, but only in 2020 mind you," said Platini last month.

http://www.dw.de/uefa-seeking-expanded-euro-2020/a-16376153

 

I just wonder if that means England has a 'host city' that is supposed to be separate to the 'city 13' concept.

 

Temerature fluctuations between the cities could be a factor.

 

The more I hear about it the more I want to see it happen, to be honest! It could be a fantastic continent-wide event, and a historical oddity.

[bob]

Maybe they are banking on someone inventing some new form of transport by 2020, like a teleporter.

[Ramar]

Finally won a game and we dived to get there. Not too happy with that, but we needed a win.

[Jon]

Really hoping to get down to Celtic Park for the home leg of whoever they get. Atmosphere will be fucking electric.

[ipaul]

Great derby match there, shame about the ugliness from some idiot fans at the end.

 

I predicted to my friend on Twitter it would finish 2-2, so glad RVP scored the winner at the end there as I hadn't put any money on it. I actually quite like this Manchester United side "Yeah our defence is rubbish but it doesn't matter because we'll just score more goals than you!".

[Fierce_LiNk]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

 

What a game. Didn't expect the first goal to go in, thought the second was class and was tearing my hair out when Young's goal was wrongly ruled out, which led to city subsequently scoring twice. I was expecting them to get another to win it at the end.

 

That free-kick, though. Fuck. Somehow you knew Van Persie was going to score before he hit it. What a guy. Wasn't sure if he was going to fit in at the club before he signed, but he really has come in and done the business. Happy to say that I was wrong on that one.

 

So pumped right now. Ashley Young had one of his better games, too.

 

I love you, football.

[Ellmeister]

And then you see the disgusting side of football with the blood shown by Rio. Sure he's a knob, but he doesn't deserve that!

 

Was a very enjoyable match, Tevez was lucky not to see red at the end. Anyone think Mancini could go?