2010/2011 Season Thread

[Shaki]

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.

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.

Oh, that one.

[Shaki]

Aberdeen FC player charged with vandalising car - Evening Express

Who's your money on?

[Bigsby]

Chris Maguire according to AFC chat.

[Scorge]

massive rant

There is a simple solution, just start following your local junior/amateur side on a Saturday, pay a couple of quid (if anything) and bask in the corruption-free environment.

You are right about Sky ruining everything, sadly football always has and always will have an air of being 'the single most important thing on the planet' about it, which is total bollocks.

[Shaki]

Chris Maguire according to AFC chat.

Could probably be corroborated by a quick look at his Bebo.

[Nev]

Screw that, just come and watch Peterhead. We play good football and lose consistently. Well worth whatever extortionate amount we're charging these days.

[Sam 45]

Aluko is out for 3 months.

[Lemonade]

There is a simple solution, just start following your local junior/amateur side on a Saturday, pay a couple of quid (if anything) and bask in the corruption-free environment.

You are right about Sky ruining everything, sadly football always has and always will have an air of being 'the single most important thing on the planet' about it, which is total bollocks.

I sometimes go and watch Fraserburgh in the Highland League, the most exciting league in Scottish football!

Anyway, in somewhat sucky news, that's Aluko out until Christmas

BBC Sport - Football - Aberdeen suffer Sone Aluko injury blow

There goes our entire left side.

[Shaki]

I sometimes go and watch Fraserburgh in the Highland League, the most exciting league in Scottish football!

Anyway, in somewhat sucky news, that's Aluko out until Christmas

BBC Sport - Football - Aberdeen suffer Sone Aluko injury blow

There goes our entire left side.

......and attacking threat.

[ca_gere]

There goes our entire left side.

We're like a stroke victim now.

[Shaki]

Chris Maguire according to AFC chat.

BBC News - Aberdeen footballer Chris Maguire on vandalism charge

So says BBC. What a wee wank.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

To be fair to him, the whole story is not there. I'm not trying to defend him, 'cause he is a bit of a mink, but if he was provoked by the guy driving the car I'd have a bit more sympathy for him.

If it was just a parked up car and mindless vandalism then that's obviously just a dickish thing to do.

[Soda Jerk]

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.

Celtic tried doing that on their own ground a couple of years back against United after taking the lead, but eventually they caved to the pressure, so I agree Rangers handled the pressure well, but if that is their game plan, then I don't see how their European jaunt will be anything other than failure. They reached the Yoofa final by winning on penalties after parking the team bus on the goal line, but in the group phase, 6 points isn't going to be enough. Valencia will probably be better than United at the triangle passing and breaking through a defence with the ball on the ground, as its a huge part of their game over there, so they'll be lucky to even get a point home and away, and despite a low seeding, the Turkish league is probably of a higher quality than the SPL at the moment. They are going to have to attack at some point, and considering United played a weakened side last night, I think last night was an ideal time to do it.

[Christy]

I thin k that arguing that Rangers should have 'gone for it' last night is nuts. The Champions League is completely results-orientated, far more so than domestic leagues, because the sample size is only six games. Therefore it is imperative that a team gives itself the best possible chance to progress; attacking Man U at Old Trafford would, over a sample of, say ten games, perhaps yield a win or two. However, in a one-off, far better to dig in and hope to draw.

Every team in the world would see a draw at OT as a great point, so I think that Rangers got their tactics spot on, as evidenced by achieving a great result for them (indeed, for anyone).

[Bigsby]

Celtic tried doing that on their own ground a couple of years back against United after taking the lead,

Didn't Celtic beat them at Parkhead thanks to a "trademark" Nakamura free kick?

[Scootray]

BBC News - Aberdeen footballer Chris Maguire on vandalism charge

So says BBC. What a wee wank.

I wonder if that's the same night as Maxi's pal gave him a thump?

[Woodsinho]

Ibra doesn't use his head or his hands for anything...

Braga, remember how they made Celtic look daft? Oof, Arsenaled.

[Guest]

[Alkaline]

Thomas Muller's goal for Bayern against Roma tonight was sublime!!

[Nev]

Thomas Muller's goal for Bayern against Roma tonight was sublime!!

Yes, yes it was.

[Captain America]

Messi was unbelievable tonight.

[waltz]

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

Yep, pretty sure this happened. Think it was snowing that day. That was vital.

I'm from a huge, catholic glaswegian family so I the natural, bigoted choice was Celtic. It was from when I saw them for the first time (my first ever football match, incidentally) that I felt this tribal sort of attachment to them, and I'd soon realise the history, cultural significance, etc. I got caught up in that, and love supporting them. My only regret is that I don't see them enough, I had tried for most of my life to move to Glasgow mostly so I could, but that's not worked out.

I'm trying to see Montrose more often, purely because the 'banter' is great and there's a local vibe, too. I used to go to Arbroath games with my Uncle pretty regularly so I'm probably a traitor.

In terms of crying, when Larsson broke his leg against Lyon, after the Seville game and a couple of times when Scottish Cup Finals were actually exciting.

I'm the worst kind of football fan, then.

[ca_gere]

Messi was unbelievable tonight.

Crazy story this. Helicoptered into hackney! What if he got injured?!

[ca_gere]

Just checked, typical lahndan... He got mobbed by rudeboys and had to get whisked away. People are idiots.

[Guest Gladstone]

BBC Sport - Barry Ferguson may yet end his Scotland exile

The crab wants to play for Scotland again. Fuck off.