2010/2011 Season Thread

[Soda Jerk]

When all the players, including the opposition players are rushing a medic on the pitch, it's pretty clear something bad has happened. He'll be out until Christmas at the very least. It's his first bad injury so it'll be interesting to see if he loses any of his acceleration.

Shite game. Rangers patented flat-back-nine in Europe, as to be expected. And literally five across the back. Boring negative shite. They'll get pumped at home by everyone in the group, as they'll probably attack more.

David Weir on United's selection:

"They could make twenty changes and it wouldn't make a difference"

How do you make 20 changes to a starting 11, David Weir? How?

[Soda Jerk]

Footballers need to stop saying "Set their stall up". Fuck off. It's a game of football. They're not selling pirate videos.

[Guest idol_wild]

Footballers need to stop saying "Set their stall up". Fuck off. It's a game of football. They're not selling pirate videos.

You're just angry because United didn't piss all over Rangers.

AND SO AM I.

[delboy]

Man Utd got what they deserved treating Rangers like a championship side and putting out a Carling Cup type team.

[Lee Anderson]

it's a "battling point" according to sky.

fucking shunts!!

[Paranoid Android]

Got to give credit to Rangers for getting a point, really didn't expect that. From the brief highlights I just saw it didn't look like McGregor was really troubled once.

Cracking strike for Valencia's first goal. Judging by their start to the season they don't seem to be missing Villa and Silva too much.

Nice finish from Eto'o tonight too.

[Soda Jerk]

You're just angry because United didn't piss all over Rangers.

AND SO AM I.

I've seriously been excited about it all day. My day at work dragged like hell.

I don't think the team selection makes much of a difference. Any team would struggle to get past 10 men right in the middle of the pitch. There wasn't many players in that line up that wouldn't be in contention for the first team usually. Kuszczak, Gibson and Fabio being the only three that are outsiders, and if anything, Fabio and Gibson were two of the best players for United. Fabio got into great positions, and Gibson does what he always does by smashing the ball goalwards, and came very close. Looked like the only player capable of scoring. Obviously they've got Liverpool on Sunday, so that had to be considered too.

Looks like Nani is first pick now. Might not exactly be a bad thing. Valencia might be fast, but he can't beat a man. He can only stray to the side of his man. Nani has got skills. Just depends on whether or not he chooses to use them on certain days.

[Kaiserfisch101]

Aw man, as a Celtic fan it pains me to give any credit to Rangers. But it seems as though in this case I must. All those shots and Man Utd couldn't put one past McGregor, shocking.

[Paranoid Android]

Odd story BBC News - Fifa probes 'fake' Togo football team at Bahrain match

That Bahrain only won 3-0 is kind of hilarious

[Soda Jerk]

Aw man, as a Celtic fan it pains me to give any credit to Rangers. But it seems as though in this case I must. All those shots and Man Utd couldn't put one past McGregor, shocking.

All the shots? They had 7 on target. 5 came from outside the penalty area. Not really alot of shots. That's less than 1 every ten minutes.

[Lemonade]

I can't see it. Maybe I'm not looking right.

Another hollow victory for anti-football tonight. Fuck you Rangers. Just fuck you.

Aye OK, I saw the replay of it on News at Ten. Pretty grim.

[Skacel]

Just saw a report on the BBC news at 10pm. The buns had to be bussed in from Wigan because they couldn't be trusted.

Video footage of them singing follow follow too, hope it was the clean version.

OFGTF!

[Woodsinho]

We won! How the hell was that allowed to happen? Went 0-1 down after about an hour given that we hadn't shown any fight in the previous 5 games I figured that would be the end of it but no, not this time. 2 goals from Tarmo Kink, who came on after 75 minutes, turned it around - first with a 20 yarder with 10 minutes left then, in the 4th minute of injury time, scored direct from a free kick. I like this guy, he should play more.

[Guest]

Just caught up on about ten pages of reading there...

As for football teams; I support Aberdeen. I had Rangers (dads side) and celtic (mums) forced upon me but I went along to Pittodrie because, well, I guess it was as logical as I could hope to be as an 8 year old. I think you should always support your home team, although another team being forced upon you by a family member is understandable. Still grates at me when OF fans slag my team for being shit whilst "their team" do so well though (the team they've paid to see perhaps three times in their lifetime). And I watch Scotland but I don't really feel passionate about the national team, it's an affinity but thats it.

Cried at a football game; I've been filmed and shown on a highlight reel when I was younger kicking in a chair, crying, and screaming obsceneties after we grabbed two late goals against hearts to make it 2-1, only for them to score another 2 and for us to lose 3-2 in the last 5 minutes. I can't remember if that was the exact scoreline but thats the guts of what happened, and I flipped out. Aye, properly, went fucking ballistic. Stewards coming over, people around me looking at me, that sort of thing.Thing I was about 11. Pretty sure tears were there, I just about shat myself with rage.

Also cried in the Aberdeen 2-0 Celtic, game. Cried with joy. I think euananananakroyd was there with me, but I might be wrong.

[Jeanette]

If Walter Smith had gone for it tonight we would've been completely slaughtered. No win situation.

I'm sure it was dire as a neutral (or someone who has a strong dislike to Rangers).

[HeinzHines]

I feel really sorry for Valencia, he seems like a really nice guy and I love his no nonsense footballing style. It was genuinely upsetting for me to see that happen tonight. On the plus side he proved he is hard as fuck, ankle dangling off and he is merely signaling to the bench he may need to be substituted, no fucking about, if he could have been strapped up to carry on, he would have.

[Gypsum_Fantastic]

first of all....Turkish football boss is stabbed on the touchline - by his brother | Mail Online mental

2. Bet your happy Woods! who is this Estonian fella?

3. Not a fan of Man U but gutted for Valencia, looked like he was proper screaming, even Rangers players helped him, must of been bad

[Soda Jerk]

Valencia is great, though he was completely ineffective last night against 2 defenders and a wide midfielder tracking back. If he or Wes Brown had the ball, they had 3 players bombing at them.

I'm not buying all this stuff about if Rangers attacked, they would have been slaughtered. Look at United's defence last night. Wes Brown is shite. Ferdinand hasn't played in months and months. Smalling still looks like a deer in the headlights and Fabio constantly shows signs of inexperience defensively, whilst the posts were minded by Kuszczak, who hasn't played since February. Definitely an error prone defence, that could have leaked goals if they'd at least applied some sort of pressure.

There's plenty of other teams in the CL, who are probably worse than Rangers, who don't line up 5-4-1 against teams like Man United. Besiktas attacked at Old Trafford last season, and they came away with a win. It's the Champions League. It should be do or die, not do nothing or die.

[Shaki]

Odd story BBC News - Fifa probes 'fake' Togo football team at Bahrain match

That Bahrain only won 3-0 is kind of hilarious

Yoann Folly's 1 international cap doesn't seem so special anymore.

[Guest Gladstone]

Valencia is great, though he was completely ineffective last night against 2 defenders and a wide midfielder tracking back. If he or Wes Brown had the ball, they had 3 players bombing at them.

I'm not buying all this stuff about if Rangers attacked, they would have been slaughtered. Look at United's defence last night. Wes Brown is shite. Ferdinand hasn't played in months and months. Smalling still looks like a deer in the headlights and Fabio constantly shows signs of inexperience defensively, whilst the posts were minded by Kuszczak, who hasn't played since February. Definitely an error prone defence, that could have leaked goals if they'd at least applied some sort of pressure.

There's plenty of other teams in the CL, who are probably worse than Rangers, who don't line up 5-4-1 against teams like Man United. Besiktas attacked at Old Trafford last season, and they came away with a win. It's the Champions League. It should be do or die, not do nothing or die.

Totally disagree. I thought Rangers played really well last night. They could have snuck a goal, and should have had a penalty. They had a gameplan, which was to stop Man Utd getting into the box, and you know what, Man Utd got into the box about twice the whole game, and neither of those times did any shots reach McGregor. I didn't think the game was boring at all, it was quite intriguing. And Rangers weren't just putting a foot through the ball every single time they got it. Yes, they did that sometimes, but they were at least trying to pass out of defence and hold onto the ball most of the time. And when they got the chance they were attacking Man Utd's defence, admittedly not in massive numbers, but I saw Bougherra and Papac bombing forward a few times, and Broadfoot was getting into some great positions, it was a pity he's just shite at football and has no idea what to do with the ball. He was good defensively though.

I'd have loved that performance from Celtic in either of our away European ties this season, which would have meant we reached the Champions League, or if we did it in Utrecht we'd at least have been in the Europa League. A clean sheet at Old Trafford is a rarity, and Rangers deserve credit for that. I can't see them getting out of the group, because they can't put 9 behind the ball at home (well, they can, and they actually might). I always thought they had a chance of sneaking a goal until Lafferty came on. He's pretty shite for the most part, and has none of the attributes that Miller has. I would have preferred Beattie up front himself to Lafferty. Or even Lee fucking McCulloch.

[Woodsinho]

2. Bet your happy Woods! who is this Estonian fella?

Happy like a really happy thing, as were the literally hundreds of people who turned up at the Riverside last night. Official attendance was 15,000ish but that includes season ticket holders who stayed at home, looking at pictures from the ground I'd say it was 10,000 at a push. That said, it always looks worse on tv because the most populated stand is the one behind all the cameras.

This Estonian fella - 24 year old winger, left footed but likes to play on the right, has a tendency to cut inside and smash the ball as hard as he can towards goal. We bought him for 650,000 from Gy?ri ETO of Hungary (3rd in their top division last year) and he's probably kept Strachan in a job with those 2 goals.

3 points off the play offs, maybe the season isn't a write off just yet. Bah. I hate 'hope'.

I didn't watch the Man Utd v Rangers game, ended up sticking with Spuds v Werder Bremen. I feel like I made the right choice, it was an excellent game of football with Spuds dominating for 40 minutes before Bremen got themselves back in it before half time. Both sides had great chances to win it in the last 20 minutes but couldn't break the deadlock at 2-2.

[Shaki]

Funny goalkeeping error:

http://www.reddevilfans.com/khalid-askri-the-most-stupid-goalkeeper-ever-funny-penalty-09-09-10.html

[Bigsby]

Despite the fact he's a Hun I actually respect Walter Smith, but he's made my blood boil with his comments this morning:

I am proud of the way my players played, he said.

They are up against a situation thats not of their making. Uefa are allowing a situation to develop that is totally wrong. Bigger clubs in smaller countries are being drastically affected by the lack of finance and its very difficult to compete. Its down to a manager to find a way. In any walk of life its easier to stop people doing something than it is to create.

Its a circumstance that we dont feel proud of the fact were doing it, but theres nothing else left for us. My boys have done it well.

Im not just talking about Scotland. Clubs in Holland, Portugal and other countries are all suffering badly. They have next to no chance of winning the Champions League, the same as 85% of English teams have no chance of winning their league.

Walter and Gers stand proud with backs to the wall - Press & Journal

Um, just the same as 85% of teams in the SPL have no chance of winning their league, because of the gulf in finance between the OF and the rest.

What a knob.

[Lemonade]

I tend to agree with the miserable old fucker on a lot of that, although as you say it is mighty hypocritical. Football is totally shit now. Take the EPL for example, the gulf between the big teams and the small teams is just getting wider and wider because of the unfair way that the TV money is shared out, and the massive amounts of cash that the teams make for playing in the Champion's League. It leaves nobody else with any chance of ever winning anything, the small teams are too afraid to attack the big teams in case they get a hiding, the best most clubs can hope for for is a drab 0-0 to make sure they get enough points to keep their place at England's top table to keep the money rolling in. Ergo, shit matches every week.

Also I hate the way all the tournaments are set up to give all the big teams an easy route to the final with that stupid seeding system. Take Scotland for example. We never qualify for anything, not just because we're shit, but because we're always in the third or fourth pot of the draw, so we are always going to be drawn against two or three teams that are much better than us. The only way to get out of this situtation is to do well in a tournament and improve our ranking. Only, we can't ever get to a tournament because we're always drawn against Italy and France in the qualifiers, because of our ranking.... repeat ad nasuem. Same applies to the Champions League. It's always the same 8 clubs in th Quarter finals, and it always will be.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sky has ruined football. It can't carry on like this for much longer though, teams running with 100m worth of debt and paying players 200,000 a week. The arse is going to fall out of it eventually, and a lot of clubs are going to be in deep shit. See the ITV Digital debacle that just about bankrupted a few clubs. If Sky go into the red or pull out of the Premiership, the "greatest league in the world" is going to be royally fucked.

Fuck football. Fuck life. Fuck me. Fuck you.

[Shaki]

Despite the fact he's a Hun I actually respect Walter Smith, but he's made my blood boil with his comments this morning:

Walter and Gers stand proud with backs to the wall - Press & Journal

Um, just the same as 85% of teams in the SPL have no chance of winning their league, because of the gulf in finance between the OF and the rest.

What a knob.

Unbeleivable. He really should stick to (anti)football management.

I also don't understand the basis of his complaint. Can anyone clarify? What situation are Uefa allowing to develop?