ES Soccer Thread

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Nice boy. Hope they keep it up all year for you guys. But man alive how poor are Toronto? 9 straight defeats. Geez.

And a personal bugbear of modern day soccer ..... just watching the news with the Chelsea bus parade back in West London, and John Terry on a mic singing 'Champione, Champione, Ole, Ole, Ole ..... '; this following on from City doing exactly the same thing the other week when they won the league. All started by Utd in the 90's, presumably to be different from us.

It's CAMPione, not CHAMPione, morons. We brought it back from Italy the 70's when Europe was more or less exclusively our playground. If your gona' nick an Italian word, use it right for Peets sake.

*Walks out quietly singing 'Campione, Campione, Campione Liv-er-pool' in happy, if long lost, memories.

Hail.

[MartinC]

Nice boy. Hope they keep it up all year for you guys. But man alive how poor are Toronto? 9 straight defeats. Geez.

And a personal bugbear of modern day soccer ..... just watching the news with the Chelsea bus parade back in West London, and John Terry on a mic singing 'Champione, Champione, Ole, Ole, Ole ..... '; this following on from City doing exactly the same thing the other week when they won the league. All started by Utd in the 90's, presumably to be different from us.

It's CAMPione, not CHAMPione, morons. We brought it back from Italy the 70's when Europe was more or less exclusively our playground. If your gona' nick an Italian word, use it right for Peets sake.

*Walks out quietly singing 'Campione, Campione, Campione Liv-er-pool' in happy, if long lost, memories.

Hail.

Your taking this quite well ..........

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

I thought so Martin, but one does wonder. Nice of yers to reaffirm it.

Hail.

[MartinC]

I thought so Martin, but one does wonder. Nice of yers to reaffirm it.

Hail.

One of the guys who works for me is huge Spurs fan - lets just say he is not taking it all well.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Lol. I'm not surprised Martin.

Even aside from 'Spurs now missing out on a Champions League place, and all the riches that brings; there's not a more ugly rivalry in the capital. I don't care what anyone say's. Millwall/ West Ham; Arsenal/ Tottenham; Millwall/ Chelsea; the worst and most violent by far in London is Chelsea/ Tottenham. And White Hart Lane is still the worst top flight London ground to visit as an opposing fan. That LONG walk down the High Road from Seven Sisters is NOT one to take for the naive.

I feel the Tottenham guys angst. I don't think I've ever seen a more one sided European Cup Final than Saturday. And certainly nobody as outright lucky since Munich where on the receiving end of their own profligacy again back in '99 against Utd.

Hail.

[Elessar78]

I thought they and other teams that play Chelsea respect Peter Cech TOO MUCH. When Muller finally scored it wasn't some spectacular finish, it was the most basic of attacking headers—off the ground and should've been a simple save for Cech but he botched it. All night Ribery and Robben were trying to place that ball perfectly in the corners and they were flubbing their shots. Cech is really good, but he IS human.

[MartinC]

I feel the Tottenham guys angst. I don't think I've ever seen a more one sided European Cup Final than Saturday. And certainly nobody as outright lucky since Munich where on the receiving end of their own profligacy again back in '99 against Utd.

Hail.

Well as a Leeds fan my mind goes back to 1975 Leeds versus Bayern in Paris. We battered them and had a perfectly good goal and a penalty turned down and ended up losing 1-0. I think its fair to say the Leeds fans in Paris did not take it too well. I recall I was a bit upset as well as a 9 year old watching at home with my Dad .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-zB6xIx3qg

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Lol @ 'I think it's fair to say Leeds fans in Paris did not take it too well'

'Worst destruction Paris has seen since the War' I believe the headlines were, or words to that effect. I wasn't at the Parc des Princes in '81 for our 3rd (my first European Cup final came in Rome in '84. If you think Paris was bad, you should of witnessed the reaction of bloodthirsty Romans in a pre-cursor to what happened in Belgium a year later, but that's another story); but I'm told you couldn't move on the streets of the French capital for armed bizzies with machine guns strapped across their chests ready for more of the same after Leeds visit 6 years before.

Just looking at the highlights again it's hard to think the ref wasn't bought. That Lorimar goal is totally legit from whatever angle and whatever other players in the box I'm watching. You where indeed robbed blind that night la.

Hail.

*Edit* You may be onto something there Elessar man. Cech is still a top 'keeper, but he's lost something and never has been the same since his head injury.

[MartinC]

Just looking at the highlights again it's hard to think the ref wasn't bought. That Lorimar goal is totally legit from whatever angle and whatever other players in the box I'm watching. You where indeed robbed blind that night la.

There is no doubt in my mind that referee was bent - money changed hands that night.

[Skinz4Life12]

I watched the first half of the game at home. Then I headed over to tailgate for the DC United game and they had a TV with the Bayern/Chelsea game going in the parking lot. So I got to watch the OT/shoot out there with a bunch of other people. It seemed about 90% of the people were cheering for Bayern. There were a couple people with Chelsea jerseys that were getting hassled every few minutes which was pretty funny.

It was a great game. I knew once Chelsea blocked their first PK that the momentum had shifted and they were going to win. Epic game for Drogba

[Elessar78]

I'll just go on to add that NOT having John Terry on the field for Chelsea helped them immensely.

[MartinC]

I'll just go on to add that NOT having John Terry on the field for Chelsea helped them immensely.

I tend to agree with this.

Terry can still play and is great at communicating and positional play but he lacks pace and can be exposed if he gets isolated one on one or with someone playing off his shoulder. He also cant trap a bag of cement and has a VERY limited passing range. The two center backs for Chelsea were great - perhaps not as strong in the air (but Drogba made up for that at set pieces - he would have been a great center back if he was not a world class striker) - but they had more pace than Terry which allowed them to cover more ground and take away the threat of runs behind them and they both used the ball much better than Terry is capable of.

[FrFan]

He's too loyal to Chelsea. I seen those same rumors about him going to Barcelona, but I think he'll come back to Chelsea.

Today he told his teammates he's leaving, he didn't tell his future destination. Rumors saying he'll play in China.

[Elessar78]

I heard something ridiculous that Abramovich has spent $2 billion up to this point. Hope it's worth it, comrade.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

I heard something ridiculous that Abramovich has spent $2 billion up to this point. Hope it's worth it, comrade.

Even that looks cheap over the duration when you consider Man City's £340 million net spend on transfers alone in the last 4 years.

The changing face of modern soccer .....

Hail.