Ultimate Football (Soccer) Thread (2011-2012)

[Kemaliste]

Our opponent is Croatia, lol bye bye the team of the *ucking right stealer turkish football federation

[HC Eredivisie]

(Image)

Oh, yeah.

meh.

Our opponent is Croatia, lol bye bye the team of the *ucking right stealer turkish football federation

So, what are you gonna say when you do qualify?

[Kemaliste]

Impossible considering a defense with 4 retarded players.

[Serrland]

RoI v. Estonia in their playoff. The Irish have got to be liking their chances.

[-St George]

Independent reporting record £1.5 million fine for Carlos Tevez

Record £1.5m fine for Carlos Tevez but he vows to fight on
Argentine demanded that Mancini retract his allegation when he met his employers

Carlos Tevez was last night facing the prospect of the heaviest fine in British football history, though his legal battle may drag on for weeks as he fights a Manchester City inquiry which suspects he may have committed multiple breaches of his contract.

Tevez may receive a fine of six weeks' wages – £1.5m – and/or a six-week ban, after the club's two-week investigation into manager Roberto Mancini's allegation that he refused to enter the field of play when the club were 2-0 down at Bayern Munich last month found that "there is a case for Carlos Tevez to answer, of alleged breaches of contract."

Tevez demanded that Mancini retract his allegation when he met with his employers in central London, hours after arriving back in Britain yesterday, but despite his own claim that 15 statements support his version of events in Munich, it is understood that City's internal inquiry has turned up no evidence from City staff present at the Allianz Arena that contradicts Mancini's case.

Tevez claims that he refused to warm up, rather than to play, and is ready to appeal any sanction the club imposes on him through the club's main board and through the Premier League, if necessary. City are understood to believe that the mere failure to warm up itself constitutes a serious breach of his £250,000-a-week contract, though a television interview – mistranslated according to his advisers – forms part of the evidence that he also refused to play.

City's determination to follow the disciplinary procedures to the letter mean that Tevez has been asked to present himself at training at Carrington today, where Mancini will tell him he is working with the reserves. The City board will support whatever course of work Mancini outlines for the player pending the completion of the disciplinary procedure. He will travel to the training ground willingly, considering himself still to be a first-team player at the club.

Sacking Tevez is not an option but the lesser sanction of a fine or extended ban still threatens to drag the club through the legal battle which Mancini is so desperate to avoid, for fear of the focus of City's season being lost. The dispute may drag on into December. Tevez will appear on Monday or Tuesday of next week at a disciplinary hearing chaired by a senior member of City's executive leadership team – either football operations officer Brian Marwood or acting chief executive John MacBeath. If that hearing supports the internal inquiry's findings, he may then appeal to the main board and then make the fairly unusual move of appealing to a Premier League arbitration panel. The 27-year-old believes this could take him up to Christmas, though City are desperate to have the issue resolved far sooner. The last player to seek recourse through the Premier League was Charlie Adam, who won a disputed £25,000 bonus from Blackpool last season.

Another dramatic day in the life of Tevez began when he landed at Heathrow at 6.40am yesterday. He attended a central London meeting with two members of City's staff – believed to be members of the HR and legal departments – and it was at that meeting that he demanded the Mancini retraction, as a way of resolving the dispute. But for City, the meeting was an opportunity to allow Tevez the chance to offer final evidence to an inquiry which had already found against him and it was last night that he received notification that he would be facing full disciplinary procedures.

City's confidence is based on the fact that the Professional Footballers' Association are understood to agree with their assertion that the club are right to fine or suspend Tevez for more than the usual two-week maximum. A six-week fine will take him way beyond the £150,000 and five-game ban handed to Manchester United's Roy Keane for bringing the game into disrepute over the account of his challenge on City's Alfie Haaland in his autobiography in 2002 . The club had to make the PFA aware of their findings, under the terms of an agreement reached with the players' union 10 years ago when the minimum two-week penalty was extended to six.

The real challenge for City is now to get Tevez off their books. Juventus general director Giuseppe Marotta yesterday denied reports that his club have started negotiations. If a sale cannot be concluded, then City have a problem. Under employment law governing football, a player cannot be repeatedly denied the chance of first-team football if he is capable of it and may effectively sue a club for constructive dismissal.

Sergio Aguero will be fit again for City's vital Champions League tie against Villarreal next Tuesday. Mario Balotelli has recovered from a back injury to play Aston Villa at the weekend.

[Nazis in Space]

RoI v. Estonia in their playoff. The Irish have got to be liking their chances.

I dunno. I'd rank Serbia higher than Ireland (As do FIFA/ UEFA, come to think of it), and Estonia totally outdid Serbia - in their two games against each other, no less. I wouldn't be wholly surprised - I would, however, be quite happy - if Estonia makes it.

Admittedly, Estonia got a shit goal difference, but in a group with Italy and, well, Serbia...

[Osarius]

£5 says Richard Dunne will tell Trap to "put on more Estonians".

[Serrland]

RoI v. Estonia in their playoff. The Irish have got to be liking their chances.

I dunno. I'd rank Serbia higher than Ireland (As do FIFA/ UEFA, come to think of it), and Estonia totally outdid Serbia - in their two games against each other, no less. I wouldn't be wholly surprised - I would, however, be quite happy - if Estonia makes it.

Admittedly, Estonia got a shit goal difference, but in a group with Italy and, well, Serbia...

Estonia won't be a pushover, don't get me wrong, but I can't think of a team I'd rather play from Pot 2. Maybe Bosnia, but they can put up some stiff competition when they need to. Certainly not the Turks, and Montenegro have kind of come out of nowhere as a would-be minnow that can get some good results.

[Nazis in Space]

I dunno. I'd rank Serbia higher than Ireland (As do FIFA/ UEFA, come to think of it), and Estonia totally outdid Serbia - in their two games against each other, no less. I wouldn't be wholly surprised - I would, however, be quite happy - if Estonia makes it.

Admittedly, Estonia got a shit goal difference, but in a group with Italy and, well, Serbia...

Estonia won't be a pushover, don't get me wrong, but I can't think of a team I'd rather play from Pot 2. Maybe Bosnia, but they can put up some stiff competition when they need to. Certainly not the Turks, and Montenegro have kind of come out of nowhere as a would-be minnow that can get some good results.

Well, it's the play offs - no matchup is 'Certain'. They should all be about equal.

[I V Stalin]

Impossible considering a defense with 4 retarded players.

England qualified...

[Keronians]

Impossible considering a defense with 4 retarded players.

England qualified...

France nearly became fail of UEFA.

Damn penalty.

[Miasto Lodz]

polska 2 belarus 0
yes yes yes

Well, it's a little like being glad the orchestra was playing fine on Titanic, I'm afraid.

[Nazis in Space]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

I've a mild suspicion that this isn't a bad thing for England.

[Keronians]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

I've a mild suspicion that this isn't a bad thing for England.

Yup. 3 match ban.

I personally do think it's a bad thing, though...

[Fartsniffage]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

I've a mild suspicion that this isn't a bad thing for England.

As a United fan I'm pleased.

Liverpool are going to get battered this weekend...

[I V Stalin]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

I've a mild suspicion that this isn't a bad thing for England.

Maybe. Whatever else you want to say, he's probably our best player. Hopefully we'll get drawn in a group with either Poland or Ukraine, otherwise I see us struggling to make the quarters. Much as I'd laugh if we screwed up, I do actually enjoy seeing England do well, though. I guess it's win-win for me.

[Osarius]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

I've a mild suspicion that this isn't a bad thing for England.

Maybe. Whatever else you want to say, he's probably our best player. Hopefully we'll get drawn in a group with either Poland or Ukraine, otherwise I see us struggling to make the quarters. Much as I'd laugh if we screwed up, I do actually enjoy seeing England do well, though. I guess it's win-win for me.

Best player or not, an over-reliance on individual stars within the team has been a major part of England's repeated failures over the past 20-ish years or so, imo. The nature of the England side tends toward cohesive play against weaker teams, but disjointed, panicked, reliance on a star player against bigger teams. In the past this didn't appear to be the case. England never really seemed to rely on Gascoigne, for example.

Rooney's absence will force other players to up their game so to speak, perhaps. Which is a good thing overall. Also, in the nine months yet to pass, Capello will have plenty of opportunity to better prepare some of the less experienced players he has apparently been trying to bring through. I'm not holding my breath, but a team with no superstar is harder to beat than one with one or two. Why? Because its harder to identify the main threats, and everyone else will work harder, like a team with ten men, knowing they can't just wait for that special player to do something magical.

[-St George]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

Bit of a harsh one from UEFA tbh.

[Serrland]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

Bit of a harsh one from UEFA tbh.

I can understand why they'd do it, I guess. It was a really nasty display, and I know that Rooney's groin stomp was five years ago now, but this isn't a first-time offense, and UEFA will undoubtedly want to project some sort of toughness on unsporting behavior. This won't help the FA's persecution complex, though...

[I V Stalin]

Maybe. Whatever else you want to say, he's probably our best player. Hopefully we'll get drawn in a group with either Poland or Ukraine, otherwise I see us struggling to make the quarters. Much as I'd laugh if we screwed up, I do actually enjoy seeing England do well, though. I guess it's win-win for me.

Best player or not, an over-reliance on individual stars within the team has been a major part of England's repeated failures over the past 20-ish years or so, imo. The nature of the England side tends toward cohesive play against weaker teams, but disjointed, panicked, reliance on a star player against bigger teams. In the past this didn't appear to be the case. England never really seemed to rely on Gascoigne, for example.

Rooney's absence will force other players to up their game so to speak, perhaps. Which is a good thing overall. Also, in the nine months yet to pass, Capello will have plenty of opportunity to better prepare some of the less experienced players he has apparently been trying to bring through. I'm not holding my breath, but a team with no superstar is harder to beat than one with one or two. Why? Because its harder to identify the main threats, and everyone else will work harder, like a team with ten men, knowing they can't just wait for that special player to do something magical.

Sorry, I'll actually put a coherent argument together now.

He is, probably, our best player, and Capello seems to have tried to set up the team to get the most out of him. The rest of the players have just about got used to that system, and haven't got a snowball's chance in hell of adapting to a new one between now and the Euros, especially as I think Capello will take a few matches to decide which players now make up his first XI.

If Rooney's included in the squad for the Euros, that implies he'll play once his ban expires, so, again probably, that assumes England will go back to the current system for the QFs. So how committed are the players going to be to the system used in the group stage?

If we get a bad draw for the group (it's unlikely but not beyond possibility we'll be in pot 3 - so maybe Spain, Italy, England, Bosnia-Herzegovina?) we're going to be screwed without a system that works and that the players actually want to work, regardless whether they work harder because Rooney's not there (which I'm not convinced will happen).

Finally, some of the "less experienced players" are, actually, crap (relatively speaking). Players like Henderson/Agbonlahor/Huddlestone/Warnock on the fringes of the squad just aren't good enough to get us to the semis or the final of a European championship. Unfair comparison, maybe, but look at Spain - players like Torres, Cazorla, Navas, Fabregas, aren't guaranteed first team picks but would walk into the England team. Arteta would probably get into the England squad at least, if not the team, but I'm not sure he's even been called up to the Spain squad.

[I V Stalin]

So I hear Rooney's going to miss the Euro's group stage.

Bit of a harsh one from UEFA tbh.

Not really. If a player without Rooney's record did that in the Premier League, a three match ban would be fairly standard. You could argue that a player with a history of violent retaliation should be grateful it's only three matches.

[-St George]

Bit of a harsh one from UEFA tbh.

Not really. If a player without Rooney's record did that in the Premier League, a three match ban would be fairly standard. You could argue that a player with a history of violent retaliation should be grateful it's only three matches.

You'd be arguing against what the majority of pundits and fellow footballers thought, seeing as most of them who expressed an opinion were surprised with the length.

[I V Stalin]

Not really. If a player without Rooney's record did that in the Premier League, a three match ban would be fairly standard. You could argue that a player with a history of violent retaliation should be grateful it's only three matches.

You'd be arguing against what the majority of pundits and fellow footballers thought, seeing as most of them who expressed an opinion were surprised with the length.

Ok. They're not necessarily right, though. I saw that Moyes reckons it's "a joke", but I'm not sure he'd be saying the same if, for example, Gerrard kicked Cahill in the same manner in a Merseyside derby. He's probably the only football-person whose opinion I respect that I've seen speak out against it.

I agree with Terry Butcher, who said "He's got no defence and he just has to hope Uefa are lenient. He has had red cards before and Uefa may see it as a chance to make their mark...He's got previous form and Uefa will look at this and I think they will say you just can't do it."

[Valanora]

Klinse apparently isn't one to back down from a challenge. Yanks to play France in Paris on Nov. 11, with rumors of Scotland in Glasgow on the 15th.

[Socialist States Owen]

Good opportunity for the Swans to get off the mark away from home today. Considering they've had to travel to City, Chelsea and Le'Arse so far I'm pleased with their progress. They were very unlucky not to beat Arsenal.