2015/16 Soccer Thread.

[Soda Jerk]

5 hours ago, Alkaline said:

Vs West Ham in the FA Cup for having 6 players booked. I'm sure there's another one as well.

Fair dos.

The Sky Sports article on it has explained that the FA are taking in to account instances dating back to 2014, of which Chelsea have been charged 4 times, and Spurs only twice. I guess that makes sense in the bigger picture.

[waltz]

Anyone want to buy this for me? 

Edited May 17, 2016 by waltz

[Adam Easy Wishes]

DUNDEE UNITED FANS: Talk to me about Robbie Muirhead.

What's the deal? Tipped for big things at Kilmarnock, signed for Utd for a reasonable chunk of cash (£150k), barely featured, sent on loan, then released from his contract last month. Eh?

[Lemonade]

I know we've done this before but can anyone recommend any good football books? 

[Adam Easy Wishes]

[Murrr]

Sounds like we're throwing everything at Rafa Benitez. Complete restructuring of the scouting process, a decent budget, and absolute freedom to restructure the club's playing side from top-to-bottom.

It's so very un-Newcastle, especially under Ashley. There's an almost shocking level of optimism around our fans at the moment, particularly on the forums I frequent. Nobody really seems to give a fuck that we've just been relegated: it's just optimism for the season ahead. Weirdest relegation ever.

Gonna be a total kick in the dick if this doesn't come-off now like.

[ca_gere]

2 hours ago, Lemonade said:

I know we've done this before but can anyone recommend any good football books? 

https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Confused-Clueless-American-Sportswriter-ebook/dp/B001DOHZBO?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Loathing-Liga-Barcelona-Greatest-ebook/dp/B00GL9TP46?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

http://www.amazon.com/Foul-Secret-Bribes-Rigging-Scandals/dp/0007208111

 

a few i've read fairly recently and quite enjoyed

[Lemonade]

Added 

37 minutes ago, ca_gere said:

https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Confused-Clueless-American-Sportswriter-ebook/dp/B001DOHZBO?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Loathing-Liga-Barcelona-Greatest-ebook/dp/B00GL9TP46?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

http://www.amazon.com/Foul-Secret-Bribes-Rigging-Scandals/dp/0007208111

 

a few i've read fairly recently and quite enjoyed

Added to my kindle wishlist. Thanks.  

Edited May 18, 2016 by Lemonade

[Spoonie]

Forza Italia is excellent and I know we've talked about Inverting the Pyramid on here before too

[Soda Jerk]

Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barca-Making-Greatest-Team-World/dp/0956497152/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463587087&sr=1-1&keywords=barca
Remember when Guardiola was at Barca, and people would say dumb shite like "My nan could manage that Barca team". Read this, and if you still think that, then you probably didn't read it, because you're an idiot. I'm not a Barca fanboy, or even a Guardiola fanboy, but I do like Graham Hunter. Brilliantly written, very insightful, and shone a light on a great deal that I wasn't aware of surrounding that team and the job Pep did.

Up Pohnpei
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Up-Pohnpei-ultimate-underdogs/dp/1846685028/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463587426&sr=1-1&keywords=up+pohnpei
Former Football Italia journalist Paul Watson and his mate travel to Pohnpei with the dream of registering to play for their national football team and winning an international cap. That idea gets quickly knocked on the head due to inelligbility, but instead they build and coach the national team. A cracking, heartwarming story. 

Pirates, Punks & Politics
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirates-Punks-Politics-Falling-Radical-Football/dp/190752441X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463587720&sr=1-1&keywords=st+pauli
Englishman falls in love with FC St Pauli. Disspells a number of myths surrounding the club and goes into great detail about the ethos of the club and its supporters, as well as a fair bit on German football in general. Good read.

Guvnors
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guvnors-Autobiography-Football-Hooligan-Leader/dp/095308471X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463588156&sr=1-1&keywords=guvnors
Hooligan books are 99% shite. It's all "So went down to Upton Park and we fuckin' rushed 'em, like. Proper buzzin', I was." but this is the better ones I've read. It's from 1997, so it's before every meathead scally from a council estate wrote a book about being a football hardnut, so it's one of the originals.  Less than 200 pages so you can have it done with in an afternoon. Couple of quid on Kindle

[Alkaline]

6 hours ago, Adam Easy Wishes said:

DUNDEE UNITED FANS: Talk to me about Robbie Muirhead.

What's the deal? Tipped for big things at Kilmarnock, signed for Utd for a reasonable chunk of cash (£150k), barely featured, sent on loan, then released from his contract last month. Eh?

 

This sort of shit upset me about our campaign to abject failure this season. Same as when we binned off Aidan Connolly who looked like GMS in his first season, a lot of promise but a bit rough around the edges. And Charlie Telfer, pretty decent young midfielder, left to languish on the bench and turned into a fat wee workshy loaf who ended up getting punted out to Livingston on loan.

I blame Paatelainen and his lets play 6 defenders approach to playing football.

[Captain America]

14 hours ago, Alkaline said:

 

This sort of shit upset me about our campaign to abject failure this season. Same as when we binned off Aidan Connolly who looked like GMS in his first season, a lot of promise but a bit rough around the edges. And Charlie Telfer, pretty decent young midfielder, left to languish on the bench and turned into a fat wee workshy loaf who ended up getting punted out to Livingston on loan.

I blame Paatelainen and his lets play 6 defenders approach to playing football.

 

Not to mention Murray who despite being extremely raw will just run and work until he falls over but barely featured (maybe 5 minutes when we were already 2/3 nil down).  Since we binned Mixu he's done just that and got a bunch of goals.

As you said Connolly shouldn't have been let go although he was extremely weak but the club should have been able to develop him physically and I have no idea what Telfer did to get stuck on the bench.

On Muirhead at the time it felt like a panic buy.  That money was meant to get Scott Allen after the ridiculous sales to Celtic but Thompson wouldn't pay up and Hibs knew what they had so he bought Muirhead instead.

[MattJimF]

Brendan Rodgers new Celtic boss - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36338244

[ca_gere]

Good appointment. Has that smarmy air of slightly deluded grandeur that befits a club like Celtic. I don't even mean that in a bad way.

[Soda Jerk]

Rodgers' brand of "Defending is boring, let's knock it about like we're Ajax '94 whether we're technically capable of it or not" football will probably be a hit at Celtic and in the SPL. They'll dominate and stroll through most games.

 

I quite like him. He's as close as you get to Alan Partridge in modern football as it gets. Michael Owen is a very, very close second.

Edited May 20, 2016 by Soda van Jerk

[Eupraxia]

Sadly, I think the Celtic appointment is quite brilliant, not to mention unexpected. Rodgers has many quirks as a human being (watch Being: Liverpool if you haven't already—Soda van Jerk's Partridge comparison is so on the money), but he's likely to earn his corn domestically. The timing is excellent; with a strong looking Rangers team coming into the division, Celtic needed to make changes. Deila was clearly finding it tougher to be Celtic manager than it ought to be.

I fear for Scottish football next season, with the gruesome twosome always dominating, because, y'know, that's just how things usually work when there is such a disparity in resources. 

I can see Hearts run Rangers quite close for second place, but I think the remainder of the teams will fail to progress or evolve any further. Aberdeen, in particular, are going to experience a joyless season next year. I won't be surprised to see McInnes and John Hughes depart for English Championship or League One roles. Aberdeen's squad needs a lot of work if they are to continue their progress, and I just don't see how Aberdeen can attract the necessary personnel that will take them to the next stage—a seriously unbalanced defence and a midfield containing Willo Flood are two primary problems for Aberdeen to address. Willo Flood is one of the most atrocious and grotesque footballers I have ever seen in full-time employment for Aberdeen. His second or third touches are usually attempted tackles that result in a free-kick for the opponents. Awful.

[Murrr]

2 minutes ago, Eupraxia said:

Sadly, I think the Celtic appointment is quite brilliant, not to mention unexpected. Rodgers has many quirks as a human being (watch Being: Liverpool if you haven't already—Soda van Jerk's Partridge comparison is so on the money), but he's likely to earn his corn domestically. The timing is excellent; with a strong looking Rangers team coming into the division, Celtic needed to make changes. Deila was clearly finding it tougher to be Celtic manager than it ought to be.

I fear for Scottish football next season, with the gruesome twosome always dominating, because, y'know, that's just how things usually work when there is such a disparity in resources. 

I can see Hearts run Rangers quite close for second place, but I think the remainder of the teams will fail to progress or evolve any further. Aberdeen, in particular, are going to experience a joyless season next year. I won't be surprised to see McInnes and John Hughes depart for English Championship or League One roles. Aberdeen's squad needs a lot of work if they are to continue their progress, and I just don't see how Aberdeen can attract the necessary personnel that will take them to the next stage—a seriously unbalanced defence and a midfield containing Willo Flood are two primary problems for Aberdeen to address. Willo Flood is one of the most atrocious and grotesque footballers I have ever seen in full-time employment for Aberdeen. His second or third touches are usually attempted tackles that result in a free-kick for the opponents. Awful.

Flood is a ghastly footballer. He's tireless, and he has the occasional game where his constant haranguing of opposition midfielders panics them into giving the ball a way, but his play is just so wonky. No positional sense whatsoever: he just tears around the pitch like a dopey labrador, leaving gaping holes all over the place. That's a huge problem in the middle of the park, especially when he's partnered with someone like Kenny McLean who, for all his positive qualities, is not a gap-filling defensive midfielder.

You're right. I'm a little concerned about next season and all. Aberdeen have been linked with some decent players, but that's the issue: they're just decent. Greg Tansey, if signed, could be a solid squad member, but he doesn't address any of the squad's needs. I'm not really sure how Aberdeen are supposed to attract the calibre of player to take the team to the next level. In my eyes, we probably need a goalkeeper, an intelligent centre-back who can organise the back line (because when Ash Taylor's off his game, he's a mess), a hammer-throwing defensive midfielder and some extra depth across the board. Tough transfer window ahead.

Still debating my season ticket for next season. Plans to move away from Aberdeen aside, I just hate The Rangers and the whole narrative surrounding the club. It honestly reminds me of a weird cult sometimes. Beating them would be nice, but I don't really want to acknowledge their existence in general. Ugh.

[Woodsinho]

Antonio Valencia used his left foot to kick a ball. By the time I regained consciousness it was half time in extra time. Who got sent off?

[Murrr]

Imagine doing this on a one-nil lead with fifteen minutes still to play. What a tit, man. I can't stop watching it. He's a total freak.

Rangers and Pardew humbled in cup finals on the same afternoon. It was a good day.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Murrr

[Soda Jerk]

He's made a real Sturridge of himself there. Doing a cunt-dance at 1-0 in any game is proper daft.

Palace are incredibly likeable, bar him. So glad he didn't get his hands on a cup.

[Spoonie]

Leith has been wild these last 36 hours. I think the people here were quite pleased to win.

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

On 20/05/2016 at 8:22 PM, MattJimF said:

Brendan Rodgers new Celtic boss - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36338244

This is very good news for Celtic, I wasn't expecting to get a manager of his calibre to come to the club. 

[Soda Jerk]

Vangle's gone. The worst kept secret in football. Jorge Mendes' camp opened their mouths to every journalist that would listen about 10 minutes after the FA Cup was won, and United were forced in to doing it quickly. Bit of a crass way of doing it, and I don't think it would have been as swift if Mendes hadn't have told the world that it's now Mourinho's job.

Mourinho is a fanny. Don't really like him. Interesting to see if he can do well without throwing everyone under the bus, like he did last year. I can see him winning a title or two, but all whilst blaming his own staff for conspiring against him, chopping off the head of Fergie's statue and punching Bobby Charlton in the face.

[Mr Owl PhD]

41 minutes ago, Soda van Jerk said:

Mourinho is a fanny. Don't really like him. Interesting to see if he can do well without throwing everyone under the bus, like he did last year. I can see him winning a title or two, but all whilst blaming his own staff for conspiring against him, chopping off the head of Fergie's statue and punching Bobby Charlton in the face.

[Murrr]

I hate Mourinho. Haaaaaaaaaaate him. Really glad we'll be in the Championship and I'll be able to ignore most of his act because he's just devolved into a charmless, soul-sucking grumplord over the past few years. I don't even know if that's part of his act any more: he just seems like he hates life and wants the world to burn with him.

How are the Man United fans going to take to him? Heard a lot of grumblings about LVG's boring football over the past couple of seasons, and Mourinho's pragmatism isn't exactly edge-of-your-seat stuff most of the time. I reckon a lot of those complaints had more to do with league positions and results, however, and that if LVG had Man United finishing closer to the top, we wouldn't have heard any of it. Mourinho does a great job of building that "them vs. us" mentality within a club and rallying the supporters around him almost like a cult leader, at least for a few seasons. Whaddaya reckon, Soda?