Chris Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 For the record Bundesliga teams play 4 fewer matches. Fair point. Both Bayern and Celtic won the title with 7 games to spare though. Bayern also won it with 6 games to spare last season and are on a 52 match unbeaten run. My point is just that for all the slagging the Scottish league gets, some of the supposed top leagues are also fairly noncompetitive. Crazy stats from the Bayern game the other night. 82% possession. 992 out of 1063 passes completed. Lahm completed 134 out of 134 passes. Away from home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 - Jozy Altidore has got to be up there. Utterly useless. He had his chance at Hull, fucked off to Holland and looked immense, came back and has done fuck all. I'm just disappointed he scored one goal. Was hoping for comedy value he'd go the whole season without one. I've got him in my fantasy team... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattJimF Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Biggest disappointments? Main one is that Rangers haven't gone bust yet. Genuinely.It's getting closer - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26763952 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladstone Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Seriously - the Scottish game would be far better off without Rangers. If they somehow survive until they get back into the top flight, it will be a shitstorm all over again for a few years whilst they jizz money everywhere to try and win the old firm battle again, with all the shortsightedness that goes with it, and then go bust, leaving a load of outstanding debts to clubs etc. like they did last time. Or, they go bust now and get to fuck out of all of our lives forever and the game continues to improve and become more realistic and competitive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Seriously - the Scottish game would be far better off without Rangers. If they somehow survive until they get back into the top flight, it will be a shitstorm all over again for a few years whilst they jizz money everywhere to try and win the old firm battle again, with all the shortsightedness that goes with it, and then go bust, leaving a load of outstanding debts to clubs etc. like they did last time. Or, they go bust now and get to fuck out of all of our lives forever and the game continues to improve and become more realistic and competitive.Give it a couple of years and you'll be supporting your boyhood heroes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Fair point. Both Bayern and Celtic won the title with 7 games to spare though. Bayern also won it with 6 games to spare last season and are on a 52 match unbeaten run. My point is just that for all the slagging the Scottish league gets, some of the supposed top leagues are also fairly noncompetitive. Crazy stats from the Bayern game the other night. 82% possession. 992 out of 1063 passes completed. Lahm completed 134 out of 134 passes. Away from home. Aside from the premiership and la liga which are having very exciting title races it seems every league in Europe has been dominated by one team this year, Scotland is far from alone. Simeone and Atletico deserve a lot of credit right now. IN previous seasons they definitely would have bottled it in the past couple of matches and dropped some points and failed to take advantage of Madrid's slip ups. I thought they could still be close at this stage of the season but I never believed they would be leading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skacel Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Seriously - the Scottish game would be far better off without Rangers. If they somehow survive until they get back into the top flight, it will be a shitstorm all over again for a few years whilst they jizz money everywhere to try and win the old firm battle again, with all the shortsightedness that goes with it, and then go bust, leaving a load of outstanding debts to clubs etc. like they did last time. Or, they go bust now and get to fuck out of all of our lives forever and the game continues to improve and become more realistic and competitive.That and Celtic fuck off to the bottom tier of English football. If that happens Scottish football will become far more exciting. Look at the league this season without Celtic. It's exciting and competitive. The Aberdeen Utd game this weekend could have been a potential title decider. Scottish football does not need the old firm. The only team missing Rangers is Celtic. No other team is. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Easy Wishes Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 @Skacel: Celtic and Rangers should just form a breakaway league. They can call it whatever the fuck they want, and just play each other every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladstone Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Can Liverpool feasibly win the league? 1 point off the top spot with 7 games to go. City can obviously go 4 points ahead of Liverpool if they win the games in hand.Liverpool have both City and Chelsea to play at Anfield in the run-in. It is actually a possibility. I keep saying I can't see past Chelsea or City but the longer Liverpool stay right in the mix, the less convinced I am that they won't win the league. I still think City will do it but if Liverpool keep winning and manage to beat City at home in a couple of weeks' time it's going to be very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 The games when City and Chelsea visit Anfield are obviously going to be crucial. I think they will miss out but Rodgers has done a fantastic job to get Liverpool so close. At the start of the season they were expected to fight for fourth spot so to be in the top three competing for the title is a great achievement. They can't defend but neither can most teams these days so maybe it wont cost them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Moose is right that if you look back over a period of 20 or 30 years The Scottish top flight is clearly much worse than any of the other major leagues in terms of competitiveness and variety of winners but in the last few years other leagues have found themselves in similar positions. Soda Jerk is right that in terms of league winners other leagues have been comparable for a long time but what set Scotland apart in in the last 20 years was how far ahead the big two were ahead of the rest and really for the first time we've seen similar gaps open up at the top of other leagues. Only a few years ago 80 points would have been enough to win the league and now it could leave you 20 points off of the top. Bayern have been the team to beat in the Bundesliga for years but winning by the margin the have this season and last is unprecedented. Similarly in Serie a and ligue 1 the eventual winner has been clear for months. I think the Premiership boom combined with the increased importance of the Champions League had had a huge knock on affect around Europe. The dominance of English clubs in Europe between 2005 and 2008 really force the other big clubs around Europe to up their game and find new levels. At the same time France, Spain and other countries have seen an exodus of much of their best talent. Players who couldn't play for one of their country's top one or two clubs move to England. There are obviously other issues such as corruption and financial mismanagement to consider too. It's a worrying trend that if it continues I could see it leading to the European super league I imagine some club owners dream of. If every league has a couple of teams which outgrow the rest a breakaway doesn't seem as unlikely as it did in the past. Sadly if we look at England the solution seems to be rich foreign owners coming in and using their money for new teams to challenge but for every Man City that upsets the status quo you get a few disasters like Blackburn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain America Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 This'll get rid of Moyesy! http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/27/manchester-united-plane-message-david-moyes-sacked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 It should. It has history of working too: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladstone Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 That's got to be a low point in your life. Sitting at your place of work and a plane flies past with a banner saying you should be sacked. Great times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 I don't want Moyes in the job much longer, but I don't think he, or any manager, deserves to be protested against by supporters of the club. Support the team. Whilst Moyes is in the dugout, he's a part of that team too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Owl PhD Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 I don't want Moyes in the job much longer, but I don't think he, or any manager, deserves to be protested against by supporters of the club. Support the team. Whilst Moyes is in the dugout, he's a part of that team too. I agree with this - I doesn't help anyone except the opposition if the manager and team are getting abuse from their own fans during a match. There was a weird thing last night of West Ham fans booing the team and Big Sam even though they won the match. Bizarre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soda Jerk Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Big Sam being the rogue that he is was lapping it up, cupping his ears towards the boos like a WWE heel. He should have started strutting down the touchline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ca_gere Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Big Sam is football's heel. He makes a glorious villain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 I don't want Moyes in the job much longer, but I don't think he, or any manager, deserves to be protested against by supporters of the club. Support the team. Whilst Moyes is in the dugout, he's a part of that team too. I agree, it's pretty obvious when the fans have lost faith in a manager, they don't need to go to the lengths of protesting and hiring planes. Just today I was reading a book on the history of Aberdeen FC (purchased in the midst of a slightly drunk youtube session after the semi-final) and it reminded me of how bad the dons fans could be in this respect in the past. The way the fans hounded the board into sacking Alex Smith was terrible and the fans choice of Willie Miller hardly worked out well. I remember many other occasions later in the 90s when fans would gather in front of the main stand and protest after bad matches. It was embarrassing and certainly not helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorge Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I agree with this - I doesn't help anyone except the opposition if the manager and team are getting abuse from their own fans during a match. There was a weird thing last night of West Ham fans booing the team and Big Sam even though they won the match. Bizarre. The sad thing is that a lot of fitba fans are total arseholes in this regard. One of the older Montrose fans at Stirling on Saturday was shouting 'RESIIIIIIIIGN GARDEN', and on going 0-1 down, got out of his chair and casually yet comically walked towards the dugout to give him the verbals. If he was a Beano character, you'd have drawn fizzy lines coming out the top of his head and made his cheeks extra red. After one of the stewards ordered him back to his seat like a three year old being sent to the naughty step, he piped down. At 1-1, the shout became 'DON'T RESIIIIIIIIIIGN GARDEN'. And at 2-1 down etc etc etc.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain America Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 Diaby is back in training start of April. THE DOUBLE IS BACK ON! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) I'm reading Sid Lowe's latest La Liga column, I didn't know the story about their striker. "Tickets please!" Back in 2007 Carlos Bacca was a bus conductor, going up and down the aisle on the twenty kilometre, half-hour journey between Baranquilla and his home town of Puerto Colombia on the Caribbean coast. When he wasn't on board he sold fish and played football. He was twenty years old and going nowhere, except to Baranquilla and back. Last night, seven years on, he scored twice against Real Madrid Edited March 28, 2014 by Paranoid Android 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoid Android Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 I'd never seen this goal until now, I think this must be the best half way goal I've ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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