Futbol 2013-2014

[surfer]

to guarantee that they wont have to bother with Europe next year.

I heard a really funny suggestion that Europa League should reorganize itself as a reverse knockout tournament. That is, if you finish 5th or 6th, you dont have to participate the next year. For the other midtable teams #7-15 or whatever that are forced into Europa, you advance and keep playing games only if you lose. If you win, you are relieved of your Europa responsibility. I think that's pure genius myself. I'd love to see the trophy they design for the losing team.

[roger.haddad.]

I was thinking the other day that if things go horribly awry for Liverpool and they get knocked out of the top 4 then they should prob use the rest of the season to let some of the young bloods get a run of games, so they can finish 8th.

[Antoine]

http://youtu.be/W3Qw2600p0Q

[roger.haddad.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za-J53QAa4c

Wow.

[since the link is down, it was just Balotelli's goal against Bologna, which I think was fantastic.]

[roger.haddad.]

So today was simply another reason for me to hate Howard Webb. What a joke. Way too many no calls for this guy to be getting games of this billing.

Either way, not the end of the world in my mind, Top 4, that's what I'm into.

[surfer]

So today was simply another reason for me to hate Howard Webb. What a joke.

The second penalty shout was more egregious than the one that was given. The first one, there was contact, but it was debatable whether it caused him to go down. I did think it was a penalty though. Second one, no doubt penalty.

Fairly entertaining match though, very open.

[roger.haddad.]

I think they were both penalties. And I also think Gerrard should have been sent off for that hack on Chamberlain. I'd rather the ref call everything than randomly choose what should and should not be a foul. Granted, Sturridge should have been more clinical but I still think Liverpool is getting denied arguably blatant calls on some pretty pivotal games.


But yes, as a neutral I imagine the game would have been fun haha. For me watching Liverpool return to playing football that I actually enjoy watching has been just a great as watching the results. Also, Flamini plays, Arsenal wins.

[surfer]

"This is the worst Barca team in many many years." (true btw)

"[Manchester City] is like a Jaguar with learner plates." (also true)

"[Wenger] is a specialist in failure." (true)

I cant understand why people dont like Mourinho. I think he's hilarious.

[surfer]

Wow, 2 missed PKs and a red card and its only in the 37th minute.

[roger.haddad.]

Kind of played out like I had expected but only after the red.

People really are making a meal of Ozil lately though.

And I just read a long bit by someone ranting about the Webb + Liverpool relationship. I know it seems petty but it makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone in thinking he is out to ruin them.

[surfer]

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/it-bo ... ipro-vine/

Soldado has had some really bad misses, but today's was the worst. I feel for the guy, but what are we going to do with him?

[surfer]

"This is the worst Barca team in many many years." (true btw)

"[Manchester City] is like a Jaguar with learner plates." (also true)

"[Wenger] is a specialist in failure." (true)

I cant understand why people dont like Mourinho. I think he's hilarious.

Must read stuff, Brian Phillips on Mourinho: http://grantland.com/features/sticks-and-stones/

I've said it before but it bears repeating, Phillips is the best person writing in English on the narrative threads (not tactical analysis) of the EPL and UCL. Unfortunately, he isnt doing it regularly anymore. One of the best sports writers full stop, and by far the best at Grantland.

The meat:

"like it or not, what managers say to the press does help to establish what I’m going to go ahead and call the conceptual framework within which soccer is understood. . . . . . .The problem is that most managers, faced with Jose’s level of pithy cruelty, lack the requisite verbal dexterity to respond in kind. Mourinho enjoys a disproportionate influence over the basic conceptual agenda of whatever soccer league he’s coaching in.

The managers who are generally regarded as good at mind games tend to win a lot, but then the managers who are generally regarded as good at mind games also tend to be megalomaniacal cult-bully types when they’re not on TV, so maybe that’s the real secret. All I know is that Mourinho colonizes soccer games like nobody since Brian Clough.

I dont agree with everything Phillips writes about Mourinho, especially the first line of the piece, although its a great opening line. My take that Mourinho's power not only comes from his verbal dexerity, but his ability to mix "the truth that goes unspoken" with "untruths that are so subtley shaded as to be almost exagerrations on the truth more than lies", the way a white-collar criminal would launder money by mixing illegal and legal money in a way that makes them almost indistinguishable.

[roger.haddad.]

The thing with Mou that I can't reconcile is that he's just shitty as a human being. He's a liar, a hypocrite, poked a dude in the eye while overseeing grown men play a game, personally insults other professionals for no reason etc. Obviously I don't know what he's really like but the only view we have is what he gives.

Granted, it's not his fault that the media clings to any sensational thing they can get ahold of, and I get the whole "protect the players" bit too. I mean I died when I read the "specialist in failure" bit, because it's totally true. I give credit where it's due, but I just have a hard time rooting for and condoning the behavior of someone like that.

I've always wondered if how much of his media persona and behavior has to do with his failure as a player.

[surfer]

Being a relatively new fan of the EPL, I really don't know Mourinho pre-Inter. You're right, his and his team's behavior during the last few ugly Classicos was very spiteful, and . . . . . . I really should stop talking because I don't follow La Liga very closely. I should clarify that I certainly don't root for him (I wanted nothing more than for AVB to shove their so-called feud right in his grill), or for Chelsea, ( or for RM when they played Barca) but for me as a relative neophyte, I guess I don't get the "negative, anti-football" tag he gets slapped with. I like defensively solid, counter attacking teams. The hypocrisy doesn't bother me I guess, like when he trolled Big Sam by calling West Ham's tactics 19th century football. Of course that's hypocrisy, and also a total ignorance of what 19th century football was actually like, but there's no doubt Jose knows that, and that he's basically just trolling. Does that make him a liar? Maybe. A hypocrite? Definitely. But it's amusing to me I guess.

[roger.haddad.]

Haha I'm the same way, I find him interesting/amusing as well. I suppose the thing with him is if no one paid attention to him he'd just be another troll manager. I feel the same way about Ferguson, just a whole lot of bs/aggression for nothing. The Big Sam thing I actually did find irritating because Mou in his first round at CFC was notorious for the 1-0 park the bus wins. At Inter it was the same thing, albeit with a perfect fusion of strength and finesse and they actually did score plenty of goals, they just actually played the game as well. Granted, the CL final was a masterclass of defensive play, but by his own standards was quite "19th Century". It's one thing to troll people but hypocrisy I won't tolerate.

And that's not to say I'm disagreeing or getting on to you cause obviously I find Mou amusing as well.

I think for me personally I enjoy the idea of Pep a lot better, a nice guy who managed the winningest team in the history of the game. I'm not a Barca fan by any stretch of the imagination but I did find it amusing that Madrid overall just couldn't deal with them while Mou was in charge.

The man is confident though, I'll give him that.

[roger.haddad.]

And yeah I don't really follow La Liga either. People can say what they want but it's a joke of a league in my opinion. This season I've been watching a lot more Serie A mostly cause I'm in love with the current Juve and Roma sides and am hoping that race gets a little more exciting.

I think a lot of people misconstrue the argument about the EPL being a great [or "the best"] league as people saying the teams are the best, cause obviously that's not true and the CL has proven that the last few years, I just like the idea that more than 2 teams can win the league. Which is ironic in itself when you realize since 2000 only 4 diff teams have won it. But even so, maybe it seems like there's a little more drama, or maybe I make myself follow it since my favorite team is there, who knows? haha

I've also followed Marseille for years but they've been dreadful this season and Ligue 1 is going the way of La Liga anyway so it's been tough to watch. I will admit though I'm pulling for PSG in the CL just because I want a French team to win it again and Paris happens to be one of if not my favorite city I've ever visited.

[roger.haddad.]

Another stroke-inducing game for the Reds, but again, they grind it out. Good result, but such a troubling backline. Skrtel, what are we going to do with you?

Bummer about Spurs surfer but you know I'm liking the breathing room.

[surfer]

Only two things you really need to know about Spurs, these really tell the whole story:

Tottenham are the only team in the EPL this year not to have scored in the first 15 minutes of a match.

Tim Sherwood's ring tone is a barking dog.

[surfer]

[roger.haddad.]

Fantastically depressing.