Futebol

^ would like to see the kind of damage an extended run of saurez, sturridge, gerrard and coutinho could do.


I'm sharing a season ticket again this season. The dude I'm sharing with has only been to the Villa game so far. He's really superstitious and insists he's cursed so wants me to go to all the home games. It's pretty tough to work round my work schedule but I've seen some great footie so far.

I'm off to Japan for November so expect to see injuries/a dramatic slump in form.

Bruegel wrote:^ would like to see the kind of damage an extended run of saurez, sturridge, gerrard and coutinho could do.

meh. i'm not even sure that group compares favorably to Paulinho, Soldado, Dembele and Eriksen.

i think this Liverpool team is starting to get a pass because people expect almost nothing from them. they're still the same woodwork clankers and mediocre (albeit functional and improving) players they were last year.

meh. spurs don't match up well on a man-for-man (even if you'd managed cogent analogs)

better squad though, which will be the pertinent factor, despite Liverpool not having the european distraction.

I wonder if anybody has told Ozil that he is one injury away from playing CF because the four players who could be less awkwardly shoehorned into that role are all injured.

Missing the Inter/Roma game this afternoon because of work.  

Bruegel wrote:meh. spurs don't match up well on a man-for-man (even if you'd managed cogent analogs)

i think those four match up fine. in terms of attacking first-team players for Spurs i'm not sure what the better analogs would be.

which one of those players do you think is "better" than a 'pool counterpart?

i think Eriksen is better than Coutinho. also think Soldado is better than Sturridge though on form that's obviously not true at the moment. Spurs don't really have a direct Gerard analog but him and Dembele are about equally usefully in my book, in different ways. comparing Paulinho straight up to Suarez doesn't make much sense but you're not going to have one to one comparisons with two sides that play different styles of football. i do think Suarez is overrated but i would take him over Paulinho in my side obviously.

overall i think Liverpool has overperformed in terms of goal getting this campaign and Tottenham has underperformed. i expect them to be about even by the end of the season.

I still think Suarez could be in Madrid come January and the money Liverpool receive will have to be reinvested in an attacking player that will take time to settle in. Liverpool should be in the top 5 come the transfer window barring injuries but replacing Suarez goals will be challenging.

This is really shaping up to be a terrific season.

jasperness wrote:i think Eriksen is better than Coutinho.

Kind of with you up to there.


Looking forward to today's games. Southampton v Swansea should be a pleasing spectacle.

Going to watch the West Brom v Arsenal game here:



It will understandibly have more Arsenal fans given the location but they'll be a lively atmosphere given the attendance of the Baggie diaspora. They'll also have the Spurs game on Swedish satellite on the other screen, so the one Spurs fan will be told to shut up when he celebrates a goal against the Hammers (the area is about 50/50 Arsenal/West Ham)

Oh dear for him.

Footballing lesson from Big Sam there, 4-6-0.

Despite that, Spurs only three points off top and still don't feel like they've played well yet this season. Same goes for Man Utd and Chelsea.

Agree with all of that. Early doors.

Good trivia question for Mitch:

Only man to have represented his country in four separate decades:

Clue - 1989-2010

Full internationals only?

i just picked up FIFA 14 so now i think i'm a fully competent Director of Football

first player to catch my eye in the game (and then in highlight videos) is CSKA Moscow's Ahmed Musa. think he should be a player on the English radar before he goes to Turkey and you have to pay twice as much for him next summer.

Pete Best wrote:Full internationals only?

Yeah. the 89 was a friendly but he was still going in 2010.

Bruegel wrote:Going to watch the West Brom v Arsenal game here:

that's amazing

just crazy to me how different the experience of following a club can be in the global game

soon England will be covered in snow and i will still be watching games drinking coffee at 8am during the Indian Summer

Thought it might have been Hossam Hassan and if it wasn't for the years I'd have said Matthaus (played a B international in 1979) but it must be Jari Litmanen.

Good question.

Correct.

Another one for your consideration:

The last time a PL team team fielded an all English starting 11 was in 1999. Try and get the team and see how many of the players you can work out.

I managed 8. Surprised it was as recent as '99. Bizarrely enough, the bench was all English too.

jasperness wrote:just crazy to me how different the experience of following a club can be in the global game

and in four weeks ill be watching MOTD torrents over my breakfast in Okinawa

Without looking I have a feeling it was Aston Villa.

Oakes

?
Eghiou
Southgate
Wright

Barry
Merson
Hendrie
Draper

Dublin
Collymore

They may have still been playing 5-3-2 though at that point.

good effort:

the Villa team v Coventry on 27 February 1999

Oakes

Watson
Southgate
Scimeca
Wright

Merson
Taylor
Grayson
Hendrie

Dublin
Joachim

Subs: Barry, Collymore, Draper


they lost 4-1

I didn't get Scimeca or Grayson and had Barry and Collymore starting ahead of Watson and Joachim

they started that season really well and plummeted in the last third

my Dad had a season ticket that year through the school he worked for so I got see quite a few home games during uni holidays. really solidified my hate for whinging Villa fans. most of them were moaning at Christmas when they were top of the league so I was quite happy to see it all unravel.

All this talk of "Bosnia qualifies" and "Bosnia books their ticket to the cup!" is making Herzegovina jealous

I'm glad the focus will shift back to domestic leagues now but I have to admit I cannot wait for the group draw, the build up & the WC to start.

A lot of people argue the CL is the bigger deal now but I do love the WC.