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Plus, the results have been really, really, really bad. I believe it's 6 wins in 51 league games. His firing is long overdue.
Yes, if the other team doesn't take the game seriously and then spends the second half fluffing chances, we can beat anyone. Hell, they beat Portugal in 2002.
I don't agree with that assesment of Onyewu at all. Onyewu is good against big, slow strikers (like Heskey), but not against Wayne Rooney. And Onyewu is NOT as physically talented as half the central defenders (if not more) in the world cup. He's big and strong, but he's also very very slow. Teams with a striker with good speed (as in, most teams) will give him trouble.
I also don't rate Demerit a lick. Bocanegra has all the speed of a central defender trying to play fullback. He's going to get toasted.
The US defense is its achilles heel, Onyewu or no Onyewu....which doesn't mean that it's central midfield is any better, but their mistakes will be easier to cover up than Onyewu being beaten for pace.
I agree with this, but I don't see how you can have this opinion and at the same time think of Onyewu as physically talented as any defender out there. He couldn't even cut it at Newcastle.
Fortunately for the US, they are in an easy group. They SHOULD beat Algeria and SHOULD lose to England (unless England's nerves get the better of them.) The match that will determine their fate will likely be Slovenia.
The nature of soccer makes it possible for a minnow to bite the big fish more often than in other sports, IMO. The US has a couple players who are capable of scoring on a counter-attack, but any team that can expose their slow footed defense is going to give them problems.
Where do you guys think Altidore will end up next year? Will Villareal make room for him? Will another EPL team take a chance on his talent? I think he has the highest upside of any US player, but he hasn't looked impressive the few times I've seen him this year.
The problem with this is that there is usually too little of a check on the director. The manager gets little to no control over the roster, yet, when the team does badly, the director shifts all the blame onto the manager and sacks him.
Sounds like European sports are a lot like American sports.
I may have overstated my case for the US defense. When I said "hold Rooney" I didn't mean a perfectly functioning defense would guarantee a clean sheet. I just mean that the US when it's clicking has the capacity to frustrate and stymie even the best. The result is a lot of half-chances and poor looks. Someone like Rooney can of course still find a way to the back of the net, but it will take something special. All I meant is that if the US does everything right, there's every chance they could limit the damage and possibly keep a clean sheet..
Agreed that the biggest weakness of the US is speed. But there ARE ways to compensate for that, one of which is simply defending as a unit. Another is to have wings who are capable of pushing forward and pinning the other sides' fullbacks in their own half. Fulham is a great example of these, and is a good case for the system being able to get the most out of the players.
Obviously, England are the favorites. I'm just saying that if the US players lose their cool and make stupid mistakes 'favorite' is going to turn into 'easy win.' But if they can hold it together and play smart and structured, they have a decent shot of getting a result. Particularly since the English defense isn't exactly rock solid at this point.
I doubt any Premier League team will take him on loan again - he's not good enough right now to help right now and if he improves, it will only benefit Villareal because they own him long-term. Villareal are known as a wheeler-dealer club, so where he is next season is anyone's guess. But it's clear he needs to be playing full-time at this stage of his career.
He definitely needs to play. I think, depending on the coach, sticking with Hull for another season in the Championship would be a good spot for him. I can see how that might be too pricey for Hull, though.
I think we're talking about two different things here. The "Director of Football" isn't a GM or Chairman, he can't sack anybody. It's more of a chief scouting position, but they often have a large amount of control over roster construction. If you're familiar with the loathsome Dennis Wise's stint at Newcastle, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Yes, there's always going to be a GM who can attempt to shift responsibility by sacking the manager, but what's the alternative. A system where no manager can be fired ever by anyone?
Except that many European owners/chairmen are in it not for the money but for egostroking. That is often entertaining, but makes rational decisionmaking not very common in football.
Loan deals where the parent club takes on some, or evan most of the players salary aren't that uncommen. If Villareal wants to hang on to him, and get him some playing time, that could still be on the table. Altidore would go back to a familiar setting, against competition that might suit his current skill level a bit more, so there's some upside there for Villareal in such a deal, especially if they can't find anyone else to pony up...
I agree that the Championship would be a good level for Altidore right now, but there are Championship teams with money (unlike Hull, who are basically bankrupt atm).
According to the accounts they released yesterday, they will need to generate a minimum of 16 million pounds over the close season in order to remain a going concern even if they stay up (and a minimum of 21 million pounds if they go down). They simply won't be able to afford Altidore (to be frank, they can't afford him right now).
Reports from the time he signed were that his contract with Villarreal was for six years, which makes it unlikely that they would sell him now, especially given the possibility that his value will increase after the World Cup.
My money would be on another loan deal, perhaps even to a Spanish club.
Where there's a will, there's a stream, as I always say...
Just seen a Mourinho pre-match interview. Damn, I miss having the special one in my life :(
Anyone but Chelsea at this point. Hell, I'd even take Arsenal.
I believe the word you're looking for is "raw". I watched Hull's game against Arsenal and Altidore looked to me like he had improved a lot since last summer. Of course, he had a ways to go...
Having said that, I'd like to see Altidore go somewhere else. The question is where. Would you rather have Altidore playing in an elite league (La Liga, EPL)? The benefit here is that he'll be playing against the best competition in the world. On the other hand, he'll likely be playing for a lower-table team, so his chances are going to be (relatively) fewer than if he chose to play in a weaker league but for a more competitive squad (like Davies with Sochaux or Edu with Rangers).
22 league appearances, 13 starts.
As a number of posters have said, he needs to play in order to improve. And there is an open question as to whether he will in fact play at a top level team in either England or Spain that isn't fighting relegation.
I guess it depends on what are your expectations for the guy. But we're talking about someone who's already been transferred for $8m, and shooty was talking about him as the American player with the most potential - which I believe is the generally accepted position. In those terms, this is a bad season.
Let me put it this way - I'd rather have David Ngog. And I don't like Ngog.
EDIT: I mention Ngog because he's another 20-year old striker and he's had about the same amount of games as Altidore, and he's also out of his depth. I know the Liverpool/Hull situations are very different.
Put it like this; they definitely didn't pull an Argentina, when Passarella publicly questioned why the USA was even in the Copa America and picked his B-team, only for the USA to win 3-0.
Anyway, England are hardly an impenetrable force. They're definitely weaker than the US at goalkeeper, and other than Rooney, nobody's even in a great run of form. The USA will need help to win, but England are pretty prone to mental errors, especially at the back, and that will help the USA. I had a beer with an Italian guy in a pub a few weeks ago who was emphatic that the USA would win 2-1, so I feel comfortable in knowing it's not just me who thinks they have a chance to pull this out.
And while Berlin has never won a Bundesliga title (or a non-DDR German title of any kind since 1911),
Hertha won the German title in 1930 and 1931.
it doesn't have the same record of teams going bankrupt or returning to amateurism out of lack of support that Paris has (see, e.g. Red Star, Racing Club, Stade Francais, CA Paris, Paris FC, etc.)
It does. Aside from Hertha, 3 Berlin teams have played in the Bundesliga. All 3 of them (Tennis Borussia, Blau-Weiss and Tasmania) went out of business afterwards due to insolvency, before being reformed at lower levels. FC Berlin from the East went the same way, but of course nobady misses them.
Dowie confirmed as new Hull manager. Frankly I don't think this bodes well for Altidore.
It bodes even less well for Hull. Dowie took down Palace and Charlton effortlessly at the first attempt. Was someone charged with making an appointment more dumb than Brian Laws at Burnley, or something?
I'm assuming 9 as in the main striker, but what's the false bit? Does that mean he's vacating the central space for others to run into?
Richard, thanks for the clarifications. I had forgotten about Hertha's two pre-war titles. I also didn't mean to say that there were no Berlin clubs that experienced financial difficulties, but rather that there were more such clubs in Paris (and that the Parisian clubs were more successful in their pomp). By the way, by FC Berlin, do you mean the fomer Dynamo? I thought that they had also re-formed, and were now in the Oberliga.
A centre forward who is not there to score goals but to create space and lay off balls to on-rushing players from midfield. Same thing Capello has Heskey ostensibly doing for Gerrard/Lampard/Rooney.
Ibrahimovic has the skillset to play the same role as Henry; he has good awareness and passing skill
(hope this works)
Incidentally Heskey isn't a false 9 by that definition. He's not there to create a midfield imbalance, and he doesn't drop deep. He pulls wide onto the full-backs. He's a traditional target man, and he plays with back to goal.
Altidore has the tools. And he's definitely better than anyone we've had since McBride was in his prime (well, Davies was great for a few games before his accident). And he has the potential to be the best American pure forward since I started following in 2002. He has the physical ability -- look at his goal vs. Spain, for example. He flashes just enough skill at times (vs. Egypt in the Confed Cup: the turn off a throw in to get around his man and then spring Davies for the first goal) to make you think maybe if he could put it all together you could really have something.
I've watched a couple of his games with Hull, and I do think he is bringing something positive to the side. He's gotten much more composed on the ball, he draws a lot of fouls, doesn't turn it over as much, and is showing better workrate than before. If that makes him Heskey or Heskey-lite, so be it. The USA can hardly turn their noses up at that when the alternatives are a hasn't played in months Charlie Davies, an old Brian Ching and then the likes of Jeff Cunningham, Conor Casey and Robbie ####### Findley.
I do think he would play better for the US paired with Charlie Davies. (He'd also play well paired with Donovan or Dempsey, but I fear that we would need both in the midfield... maybe not if Holden is on form.) His best play for Hull has been when he's had JVoH to play with. Being isolated as much as he is with Hull doesn't suit his game. Though unfortunately, that is exactly the type of situation he will likely face when the US plays England or the like.
The strength of the US team is in the midfield, but that doesn't mean our midfield can match up to a first tier team. It just means that we've got enough quality there to keep the game from running away from us. Going 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 isn't really going to change that fact. We're going to get outplayed in the midfield against England however it goes.
That's why there needs to be a realistic threat from the forwards to stretch things out a little bit. Davies and Altidore together can provide that. Altidore alone, or matched up with Donovan or Dempsey...not so much.
Fulham on course to put Juventus out of Europe with seven minutes left.
As a Liverpool fan, if we can just get past Lille now, the competition is ours for the taking.
Aquilani has his best game in a Liverpool uniform and afterwords comes down with a virus. Figures.
They're going with the Mascherano/Lucas combo in the midfield again -- that concerns me. I know it was against Portsmouth but it was fun to see Liverpool let loose and throw (just about) everyone forward. I think I'd rather see Benayoun on for Kuyt, but there was no chance of Benitez sitting Kuyt two straight games.
That said, I understand what Benitez is doing, I think Lucas has actually had a pretty good season, he's developed a lot. We are a lot better side than Lille, and as long as we don't concede we'll be just fine.
EDIT: Yay Lucas! Woohoo!
1-1 on aggregate. Sweet.
EDIT: This is also the best run I think Babel has had in his LFC career.
God damn, Torres.
What a great game. I'm sure Italian fans would complain about the refereeing a little bit but I think most of the calls were fair. The Cannavaro red card was definitely harsh but it wasn't beyond the realm of reason. The rest of the decisions seemed pretty clear to me. And he was actually pretty lenient about the ridiculous amount of shirt-pulling and various tricks they were pulling.
Zamora is making more and more of a case for being the last striker on the plane to South Africa, too.
Juve fans, certainly. The rest of Italy will consider it the latest installment in Karmic retribution that still has a long way to go.
I assume you know that Fulham is in London? Just checking, sarcasm detector still MIA
I just don't necessarily assume that Americans know Hammersmith from their left elbow, I'm a bigot like that :P
Wow, that is sensational.
I also love anytime a player pats or tugs on the crest on the jersey to celebrate a goal. It's that whole "name on the front of the jersey is more than the name on the back" attitude that gets me every time.
Perth's a nice place to visit, and the surrounding countryside is quite beautiful.
Torres capitalizes on a terrible error by Rami and Liverpool are going through if the score stays the same.
I much prefer the pat to "kissing the badge".
Haven't lived in Scotland since I was 2, been back of course for family reunions, but there's not much point to that anymore these days. Anyways, there was no peer pressure to go with the local team, so I want with Celtec, sorry. I should point out that I did this at a time when they'd pretty much been getting trounced by rangers for several years, so it was like going with the underdog. My mother was from Kircaldy, so I keep an eye on Raith Rovers, plus St. Johnstone and East Fife, and I do enjoy it when they have some success, but I don't follow them closely.
Anyways, this seems like as good a spot as any to share an awful joke my uncle told me about 16 years ago, that I have never been able to purge from my mind. For some reason this made it pop back up again, so I may as well make you suffer for it:
Name three fish starting and ending with the letter K.
Take some guesses if you want, I will post the awnsers in half an hour or so.
Well done to Liverpool. The draw for the next round will be interesting.
Gordon Brown's favorite team, by the way. However, I was under the impression the dearly departed Bill McLaren, the BBC rugby commentator, was more responsible for that call than anyone else.
I first heard the "dancing in the streets" quote attributed to David Coleman, but Wiki thinks it was Sam Leitch (not sure if he was somehow related to Archibald). I haven't heard the Bill McLaren theory (RIP, by the way, a genuninely great commentator).
The last eight for the Europa League for those keeping score at home; quarter-final draw is tomorrow:
Fulham, Liverpool, HSV, Wolfsburg, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Benfica, and Standard Liege.
I first heard the "dancing in the streets" quote attributed to David Coleman, but Wiki thinks it was Sam Leitch (not sure if he was somehow related to Archibald). I haven't heard the Bill McLaren theory (RIP, by the way, a genuninely great commentator).
I never got the impression Tony Blair cared much for sports. OTOH, Gordon Brown is a serious fan. This is a pretty cool interview.
McLaren definitely used the expression many times in the 1970s.
That's a solid last eight. Fulham is probably the "lowliest" club in there, and they've knocked out the holders and one of the giants of the European game in the last two rounds.
There are also three former European champions (Liverpool, HSV, and Benfica, eight titles among them), and five former finalists (add Valencia and Atleti).
They are in the Scottish cup semi finals for the first time since 1963, though (admittedly, they are unlikely to go to the final).
Fulham's ground is, I think, unique in English league football in that in addition to sections for home and away fans it has a "neutrals" section, which is becoming increasingly popular as it's an easy way to see Premier League football.
McLaren may well have been responsible for "dancing in the streets of [ ]" but the Raith bit is definitely from a football commentary. It may come from a game during Raith's glory period in the mid 1990's when they played in the SPL, won the league cup and played in the UEFA Cup. Not bad for a team from a town that size.
Bayern Munich v MAN UTD
ARSENAL v Barcelona
Inter Milan v CSKA Moscow
SEMI-FINAL DRAW:
Inter/CSKA Moscow v Arsenal/Barcelona
Bayern/Man United v Lyon/Bordeaux
I should think Man U will be quite happy with tha draw, avoiding Barca and Inter till the finals (should they get there of course), you can't ask for much more than that. All French match could be fun...
Valencia v Atletico Madrid
Hamburg v Standard Liege
Fulham v Wolfsburg
And here we have an all spain matchup. Like the draw for Fulham, I think the only team I'd rather have than Wolfsburg there is Liege. HSV btw, should they reach the finals, would be playing at home...
I did once have a discussion with a college friend of mine (an American, obviously) who steadfastly refused to believe that I supported a team called West Ham that was named for the neighborhood in which they played.
That's an outstanding draw for United, you can't really do better for a path to the finals.
Benfica made the next 3 finals, winning the first 2.
Ajax made 3 in a row from 1971-3, winning them all.
Bayern made 3 in a row 1974-6, winning them all.
Juventus made 3 in a row from 1996-8, winning the first one.
Real Madrid 1956 to 1960 (won all five)
Benfica 1961 to 1963 (won the first two)
Ajax 1971 to 1973 (won all three)
Bayern Munich 1974 to 1976 (won all three)
Milan 1993 to 1995 (won in 1994)
Juventus 1996 to 1998 (won in 1996)
83% of a Coke to AlouGoodbye
To say the least. I think the only way it could've gone better for them would've been getting CSKA instead of Bayern in the quarters. Gotta figure United vs Inter or Barca are your odds-on favorites for the final.
It is confusing, seeing as how they're in East London and all. And to add to the confusion, there's a neighborhood in West London called Hammersmith. Took me a while to sort all that out when I first started following the league.
Football Manager counts!
So addicted to that game. On the plus side, it makes it easier to get into and follow English football from the US.
Does anyone (in an MLS city, at least) follow the MLS, or do people feel it's just a waste of time. Soccer seems better in person, though I guess I do like to be able to do replays with the DVR.
I watched more games last year than any other season. Some random thoughts:
- Their playoffs last year were pretty enjoyable. I seem to remember Houston and Seattle having a pretty epic pair of games, and the final itself went to PKs.
- Something about their finances seems screwed up. For one I'm not a fan of the salary cap. MLS should, in the near future (if not now), be able to compete salary-wise with most leagues around the world. As of the beginning of last year there were only four players making more than a million dollars. I also seem to recall reading that if an MLS team sells a player, that money is divvied up amongst all the teams. That makes very little sense to me.
- The MLS players are apparently close to going on strike which is especially terrible news (for the league) in a World Cup year.
A couple of the teams have a little bit of independence and so on, this is a simplification. Voros is the resident MLS expert he can no doubt tell you a lot more. The general consensus is that the single-entity model is stupid (after all, we're talking about a world sport).
And yes, MLS players are about to go on strike. They are treated very badly, and I don't blame them in the least. The upside is that if they do, Donovan will be extending his loan at Everton.
Team revenues don't seem very high. I guess there is the spend more to make more idea, but that plan needs to be very carefully execute. I think it's worked for some teams (e.g., the Galaxy actually benefitted from Beckham despite the salary) but not all.
I've had season tix to the Galaxy the last 2 years. The games are fun; usually the crowd is a big part of the experience. The food is terrible, the quality of play is substantially below that of European leagues, and I miss the ability to see replays. All in all, though, I've enjoyed the games; I think of them as minor league baseball.
Ah, every time that happens I get fond memories of '99. I loathe Bayern, and that's just hilarious. Schadenfreude - they invented it, so they can't complain. :P
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