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Post by Dan on May 23, 2015 23:50:10 GMT -5
This is one of the best days of my life. Not only did we manage to avoid division 2 without any help but also those pissants called SC Freiburg are gone!! I live in Freiburg so I'll probably get a lot of hate today but I don't give a rats fury ass. #mirhendsgschafft Great stuff! Far too big of a club to go down too. I'm also glad Deportivo nicked a draw at Barca and stayed up, too strange seeing them and Betis down in Div 2.
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on May 24, 2015 3:17:53 GMT -5
There was one stage yesterday that both Hamburg and Stuttgart were going down. That would of been strange to see.
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Post by 0,Y on May 24, 2015 4:03:10 GMT -5
The funniest thing about the whole situation was the way Freiburg lost. That own goal was one of the most stupid and funniest things I've ever seen. If it wasn't for Krmas having his blackout they would have drawn and stayed up while Hamburg would have gone down. Just really really unlucky.
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Post by Brunt's Left Foot on May 25, 2015 13:21:12 GMT -5
Ancelotti officially sacked by Madrid.
Oh Real, never change....
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Post by Dan on May 25, 2015 19:25:14 GMT -5
Ancelotti officially sacked by Madrid. Oh Real, never change.... Perez has seriously lost it. Benitez coming in to replace him too. In fairness, they struggled big time in the big games this Season, winning only 1 out of all the games against the top four. He also failed to rotate formation and game plan when it was clear he needed to. However, he could have still tweaked this next Season, and as of now he is still the best man for the job compared to anyone else out there that is available. Apparently they are also giving a job as Main spokesman to the guy from Marca that filed all the Messi drug abuse stories, further cementing their connections and power in the Spanish media. So much wrong with the Madrid board, and it's the team that take the brunt of it from their own fans. You only have to look at the negativity the papers put out about Casillas, Bale, Ramos etc to brainwash the public and deflect from the fact it's the board that's the problem not the team.
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Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on May 26, 2015 11:06:29 GMT -5
Rea have the worst fans and board in the world. Barca are probably 2nd for that, but even they wouldn't sack Ancelotti. Perez couldn't even name what Ancelotti did wrong.
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Post by Dan on May 27, 2015 7:39:51 GMT -5
Rea have the worst fans and board in the world. Barca are probably 2nd for that, but even they wouldn't sack Ancelotti. Perez couldn't even name what Ancelotti did wrong. The situation at Barca for the presidential elections is becoming almost as comical too. It's looking like they're going to have to shell at around €90million for Pogba plus put him on €15million a year. Completely unecessary and purely a tactic to try and win an election by buttering up the fans with a marquee signing. Amazing how deep the politics go out there, and how fickle the fans are in response to it. The power Madrid have in the media especially is crazy, could never imagine that happening in England. Such public internal battles between players and the board always going on too, look at the Dani Alves situation that's going on now.
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Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on May 27, 2015 12:29:27 GMT -5
Rea have the worst fans and board in the world. Barca are probably 2nd for that, but even they wouldn't sack Ancelotti. Perez couldn't even name what Ancelotti did wrong. The situation at Barca for the presidential elections is becoming almost as comical too. It's looking like they're going to have to shell at around €90million for Pogba plus put him on €15million a year. Completely unecessary and purely a tactic to try and win an election by buttering up the fans with a marquee signing. Amazing how deep the politics go out there, and how fickle the fans are in response to it. The power Madrid have in the media especially is crazy, could never imagine that happening in England. Such public internal battles between players and the board always going on too, look at the Dani Alves situation that's going on now. Football and democracy don't mix.
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Post by Brunt's Left Foot on May 27, 2015 14:02:08 GMT -5
Great news about FIFA today.
Didn't know where to post that but there ya go. Hope all the corrupt bastards go down.
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Post by Mike Giggs' Munchies on May 28, 2015 13:02:11 GMT -5
Thought you were talking about the Women being added to FIFA 16 for a second there Hope we get the WC out of all this! Would definitely save up and go to the final. Once in a lifetime experience that.
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Post by Brunt's Left Foot on May 29, 2015 7:17:47 GMT -5
Thought you were talking about the Women being added to FIFA 16 for a second there Hope we get the WC out of all this! Would definitely save up and go to the final. Once in a lifetime experience that. Yeah unlike Brazil we actually want the damn thing.
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Post by Dan on Jun 1, 2015 1:07:36 GMT -5
Just speechless at this from the weekend..
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Post by Dan on Jun 6, 2015 22:12:39 GMT -5
Very different Barcelona to the one which won in 2011, and last night was the purest demonstration of that. Guardiola's side would keep the ball all the way up to the edge of the opposition's 18 Yard box and aim to wear the other team down by keeping the ball and keeping them pinned back, using short intricate passing to break through their back line. Like we all know, this system eventually became flawed as Teams learnt how to contain Barcelona and swallow Messi, and they were also left vulnerable on the counter attack. If you watched last night's performance against Juventus especially, Enrique's side has learnt to keep the ball a lot deeper, between the half way line and 2/3rd's up, which draws the opposition nearer so that they can then pick their moment to split open the back line, which is exactly what happened for the first Goal with Messi's pass stretching them open after they were drawn high up. Since they are passing deeper, they are also less open to get caught on the counter, and they can also break away themselves too by playing deeper, which is what happened on the third goal.
Personally, I don't think I'll ever see anything closer to football perfection as they showed in 2011, but this new way of playing plays to their strengths, and they are much more dynamic. It was a shame they scored so early though, it really took the sting out of the game and it felt like it wasn't too far from over. Juve contained Messi well, and at times I thought he looked leggy, but he still done his part in making Barca's new system work. Iniesta was class. Was a very fitting end though for Xavi, Buffon and Pirlo, absolute respect and admiration for them. I grew up watching Juventus be the top force in Europe, and as much as I wanted it to be the same, they just don't have that aora about them these days, and they don't give me any sign that they could be back there again next Season (especially with Pogba, Buffon, Pirlo on the way out).
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Post by Himmy! on Jun 7, 2015 2:04:09 GMT -5
Barca were something else last night no doubt. Shame for Juve though.
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AV1
Main Eventer
Joined on: Jun 15, 2008 9:04:59 GMT -5
Posts: 2,870
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Post by AV1 on Jun 8, 2015 12:55:53 GMT -5
Juventus gave the final a good go but ultimately Barca were too good for them. It didn't look likely a few months ago but they peaked at the right time. Pique, Busquets and Iniesta the best players on the park for me. Also a very fitting end for Xavi.
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Post by McBlake on Jun 9, 2015 11:56:52 GMT -5
Champions League gets less and less interesting to me each year. That's the first final I've not watched in years. Was at a festival but they even hired a massive screen to show it. Just felt very underwhelming this season.
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Post by GBGav on Jun 9, 2015 12:07:38 GMT -5
Champions League gets less and less interesting to me each year. That's the first final I've not watched in years. Was at a festival but they even hired a massive screen to show it. Just felt very underwhelming this season. It's going to be even worse next year with BT Sports having exclusive rights to it. Viewership is going to drop right off and it somehow feels like the value of the Champions League has been cheapened by this move. Sky are supposed to be the number one place for sports, and ITV is one of the biggest stations and along with the BBC gets the highest football event ratings. BT Sports aren't at that level.
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Post by Dan on Jun 11, 2015 4:34:23 GMT -5
Champions League gets less and less interesting to me each year. That's the first final I've not watched in years. Was at a festival but they even hired a massive screen to show it. Just felt very underwhelming this season. It's going to be even worse next year with BT Sports having exclusive rights to it. Viewership is going to drop right off and it somehow feels like the value of the Champions League has been cheapened by this move. Sky are supposed to be the number one place for sports, and ITV is one of the biggest stations and along with the BBC gets the highest football event ratings. BT Sports aren't at that level. To be fair I was completely against this BT move, but they looked to have done a decent job with the punditry Team. Lineker on board is a huge bonus, and they've even gone and got James Richardson on board, haven't had him on my TV Screen since Football Italia so thought that was a nice touch. I actually thought this year the Champions League felt really legitimate. Barcelona played the Champions of Italy, England, Germany and France, and it was probably the biggest Heavyweight Semi Final line up in a good decade or so. It was a bit strange with the absence of United, and a lot of people probably lost interest once all the English teams were out by the Second Round. As a fan of European football though I thought it was decent.
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on Jun 11, 2015 4:48:57 GMT -5
It's going to be even worse next year with BT Sports having exclusive rights to it. Viewership is going to drop right off and it somehow feels like the value of the Champions League has been cheapened by this move. Sky are supposed to be the number one place for sports, and ITV is one of the biggest stations and along with the BBC gets the highest football event ratings. BT Sports aren't at that level. To be fair I was completely against this BT move, but they looked to have done a decent job with the punditry Team. Lineker on board is a huge bonus, and they've even gone and got James Richardson on board, haven't had him on my TV Screen since Football Italia so thought that was a nice touch. I actually thought this year the Champions League felt really legitimate. Barcelona played the Champions of Italy, England, Germany and France, and it was probably the biggest Heavyweight Semi Final line up in a good decade or so. It was a bit strange with the absence of United, and a lot of people probably lost interest once all the English teams were out by the Second Round. As a fan of European football though I thought it was decent. They've had James Richardson since the start of BT. Presents the live European football every Sunday.
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Post by TheNinthCloud on Jun 11, 2015 15:40:35 GMT -5
Xavi is playing in Qatar under a team named Al Sadd
Taarabt is with Benfica for the next 4 years.
Interesting transfers. I didn't think Taarabt would get another contract with a big name and certainly didn't expect Xavi to go somewhere like Qatar.
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