ES Soccer Thread

[Forehead]

Anybody catch the ballboy abuse in the Chelsea-Swansea game, or am I late to the party on that?

[AsburySkinsFan]

Watching the replay of the Arsenal v Westhampton match....second half starts with four Arsenal oals in 10 minutes!!!!

:yikes:

[MartinC]

Anybody catch the ballboy abuse in the Chelsea-Swansea game, or am I late to the party on that?

I saw that - I have now seen everything, even the ball boys are diving!

Hazard should never have got involved but the ball boy refused to give him the ball back, took a dive when Hazard started pulling at the ball and the proceeded to lie on the ball rather than give it back. Hazard tried to lick the ball free - not sure if he even actually caught the ball boy and the ball boy did the full King Lear death bed scene, truly deserved an Oscar. Everyone allegedly shook hands afterwards and there is no further action apart from the ban Hazard will get for the red card (which could be a number of games since it was straight red for violent conduct) - meanwhile that ball boy will never have to buy a drink the rest of his life in Swansea.

[Corcaigh]

I saw that - I have now seen everything, even the ball boys are diving!

Hazard should never have got involved but the ball boy refused to give him the ball back, took a dive when Hazard started pulling at the ball and the proceeded to lie on the ball rather than give it back. Hazard tried to lick the ball free - not sure if he even actually caught the ball boy and the ball boy did the full King Lear death bed scene, truly deserved an Oscar. Everyone allegedly shook hands afterwards and there is no further action apart from the ban Hazard will get for the red card (which could be a number of games since it was straight red for violent conduct) - meanwhile that ball boy will never have to buy a drink the rest of his life in Swansea.

Stupid on both sides. Hopefully the ball boy won't be asked back.

Tolerance of deliberate time wasting is something that needs to be cut out from the game. Hard to do much when a ball boy does it, other than add five minutes for every incident but players are routinely allowed to kick the ball away after the whistle, block a quick restart etc.

[Forehead]

Apparently, if you believe the twitter rumors, the ball boy is 17, had been working matches there for six years, but wasn't doing it this season. He apparently was filling in for someone else who couldn't make it, and posted on his twitter before the game that the "king of the ball boys" was back and that he would try to waste time. So as long as none of that was made up, his actions were premeditated.

[RichmondRedskin88]

Deserved to be kicked honestly. Clearly did it on purpose and was planned. He should be banned from being a ball boy ever again. If that was Manchester United and Rooney had done it I would have supported his actions. Plus we know we can't count refs being competent enough to add time for the whole thing.

[Corcaigh]

If it was preplanned it's a shame he didn't get a real beating. Stupid ****er.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Corcaigh

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Come on guys. The ball boy was an antagonistic jerk no question, but lets not pretend this isn't common practice from clubs that use ball boys. It's gone on for years. Call it gamesmanship, call it what you will. But clubs look for ANY advantage and Swansea, like every other club out there; will of instructed the ball boys to either waste time on returning the ball if they needed to. Or get it back real quick if they were behind.

The dude looks a jackass (the theatriical roll was Oscar worhy); but there's absolutely no excuse for Hazard to do what he did. He gets paid the mega bucks to keep his frustrations in check. No condoning a pro doing that, whatever the circumstance.

Hail.

*EDIT* Not condoning the kid BTW. Just saying this is sadly common practice in pro sports.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Gibbs Hog Heaven

[MartinC]

Come on guys. The ball boy was an antagonistic jerk no question, but lets not pretend this isn't common practice from clubs that use ball boys. It's gone on for years. Call it gamesmanship, call it what you will. But clubs look for ANY advantage and Swansea, like every other club out there; will of instructed the ball boys to either waste time on returning the ball if they needed to. Or get it back real quick if they were behind.

The dude looks a jackass (the theatriical role was Oscar worhy); but there's absolutely no excuse for Hazard to do what he did. He gets paid the mega bucks to keep his frustrations in check. No condoning a pro doing that, whatever the circumstance.

Hail.

This is about right - although I never actually seen a ball boy lie on the ball before!! Whatever when the boy flopped to the ground Hazard should have known nothing good was going to happen and have walked away and let the Ref deal with it.

I hope the FA dont ban Hazard for multiple games though - I think its normally 4 games for violent conduct - a couple of games and a warning feels about right. I suspect the ball boy has done his last game as well.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

3 games. And I agree, nothing more needs adding Martin.

And I suspect that will be his last action as Sansea do a PR clean-up.

BTW, just how brilliantl is that club run now? Martinez laid down the blueprint, Rodgers took it on to the next level: and Laudrup has taken it on again. One of the best sides to watch in England. And a real testament as to how to properly build a football club in today's no paitiance age.

Hail.

[SkinInsite]

It's not like only ball boys waste time, loads of players do the same thing. Do we really want players attacking each other to save 30 sec of time.

[Elessar78]

3 games. And I agree, nothing more needs adding Martin.

And I suspect that will be his last action as Sansea do a PR clean-up.

BTW, just how brilliantl is that club run now? Martinez laid down the blueprint, Rodgers took it on to the next level: and Laudrup has taken it on again. One of the best sides to watch in England. And a real testament as to how to properly build a football club in today's no paitiance age.

Hail.

It will be interesting to see how high they can go. They certainly are making the most of their players—midtable with essential no names.

[AsburySkinsFan]

The kid is a punk, the whole thing was so obvious and that kick wasn't nearly as hard as he made it look. I think that the ref should have let play go on because it was obvious that Hazard was making a play on the ball.

Swansea fans will celebrate this kid for a long time!

Now I want Bradford to win even more!!!

http://youtu.be/3gOX5y5fT38

Edited January 24, 2013 by AsburySkinsFan

[SkinInsite]

3 games. And I agree, nothing more needs adding Martin.

And I suspect that will be his last action as Sansea do a PR clean-up.

BTW, just how brilliantl is that club run now? Martinez laid down the blueprint, Rodgers took it on to the next level: and Laudrup has taken it on again. One of the best sides to watch in England. And a real testament as to how to properly build a football club in today's no paitiance age.

Hail.

Rodgers has shown he should get the same support in Liverpool.

And I hope for more targets like Coutinho in the future.

[Corcaigh]

The level of 'gamesmanship' aka cheating in soccer needs to be cut out.

In some other sports, such as (field) hockey, the pendulum has swung the other way. Any attempt to impede the flow of the game is an immediate 2 minute suspension (the suspension time starts when you have your arse in the seat off the pitch), and escalated from there with longer suspensions.

The captain is held responsible for the actions of the bench and so misconduct off the field would result in the home captain getting penalized.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Corcaigh

[RichmondRedskin88]

Come on guys. The ball boy was an antagonistic jerk no question, but lets not pretend this isn't common practice from clubs that use ball boys. It's gone on for years. Call it gamesmanship, call it what you will. But clubs look for ANY advantage and Swansea, like every other club out there; will of instructed the ball boys to either waste time on returning the ball if they needed to. Or get it back real quick if they were behind.

The dude looks a jackass (the theatriical roll was Oscar worhy); but there's absolutely no excuse for Hazard to do what he did. He gets paid the mega bucks to keep his frustrations in check. No condoning a pro doing that, whatever the circumstance.

Hail.

*EDIT* Not condoning the kid BTW. Just saying this is sadly common practice in pro sports.

I'm sorry I disagree. This is was blantly. It was planned and he couldn't have been more obvious in his time wasting and fake injury. Much different from taking alittle extra time getting the ball back to the player. If this was Manchester I wouldn't have a issue with the Hooligans chasing him down the street. I wouldn't blame Chelsea supporters for wanting a piece of this guy. The guy cost them a chance at a title. Dude deserved the kick though it looks like he didn't even hit him. He should have though.

[renaissance]

US Open Cup should be all the more interesting now.

http://www.dcunited.com/news/2013/01/dc-united-richmond-kickers-announce-landmark-affiliation

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Rodgers has shown he should get the same support in Liverpool.

And I hope for more targets like Coutinho in the future.

Absolutely.

To be 7 points out of 4th, with the Cup and European campaign still rolling in what was to all but the red glasses wearing homer a season where absolutely nothing was expected as Brendan changed the philosophy of the whole club as he put across his, along with the start of rebuilding from the ground up; has been nothing short of miraculous when the majority of supporters would of given him a free pass this season regardless of how bad it may of been. Throw in a lack of serious funds forcing him to go into the season with one forward, and you can't praise the man highly enough.

Still a LONG way to go down this road we've embarked on under BR, and they'll be a lot of frustrating downs still to come as we go. Change never did come easy. But there's been a lot of signs through games with some of the fantastic attacking football played that when he does fully get his players in, allied to the current ones becoming fully conversed in his system; then the redmen will once again be a highly attractive team to watch.

With the mamouth task at hand, this was always going to be a 5 year plan when we decided to go all in on the relatively inexperienced Rodgers. And we need to stick to that and allow him to fully grow the club in the same vein right down through every level.

The future sure is on the upswing again if the early signs are anything to go by.

It's not lost on me that both my mad sporting loves, my home town soccer club and the 'Skins, both last won their holy grails back in '91 after dominating their respective sports. (2005 and that glorious night in Istanbul not withstanding.). And now both are re-emerging and being built the right way for the long haul.

Be interesting to see who returns to the summit first.

Hail.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Gibbs Hog Heaven

[Corcaigh]

Liverpool has also struggled with having its midfield in synch.

Lucas getting back to health and in form is a big start. Now Allen is out of sorts. I wonder if he shouldn't be playing where Gerrard is.

Hopefully they can continue to make progress and qualify for the Champions League, with all the talk of losing Suarez if they don't.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Corcaigh

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Lucas seems to be taking an age to get match fit. Norwich was probably his best game thus far last time out, but he's looked well short of match fitness ever since his welcome return. Though his comeback has allowed Gerrard to push further forward and aid Suarez. Sahin was a complete and utter waste of space who never came to terms with the pace of the English game. And Allen has been anonymous for the past couple of months as you mentioned. Probably the best midfielder this year who along with Gerrard is the only real goal threat from midfield has been Shelvey, but he's mysteriously dropped out of the picture of late. Suso's looked tidy, but far from ready to consistently start. And the less said on Henderson the better.

The best thee at the minute IMHO would be Lucas sat, with Gerrard and Shelvey supporting the front three.

Can't see Suarez going anywhere regardless of where the club finishes unless someone like City offered absolutely ridiculous money. He's in love with the place, which has just strengthened with the unwavering support he's continued to receive from the club and fans whilst everyone else in the Country has piled in on him. And the early signs are there that he and Sturridge could develop a very good partnership. Just the media trying to make a story when there isn't one.

It'll be interesting to see how Rodgers jigs it around though going forward. As brilliant as Suarez has been on his own as the central striker, Sturridge and Borini are far more suited to that role than wide of the middle man as Rodgers plays like old inside forwards. And Suarez's ability suits that position down to the ground. But do you switch around a 20 goal man and run the risk of upsetting things?

---------- Post added January-24th-2013 at 07:17 PM ----------

It will be interesting to see how high they can go. They certainly are making the most of their players—midtable with essential no names.

Still a long way to go, but at this stage, Michu and your guy Cazorla buys of the season?

Hail.

Edited January 25, 2013 by Gibbs Hog Heaven

[Elessar78]

Cazorla is fantastic. He's the type of player that makes me love watching a match. The soccer brain on that guy is phenomenal. He's like Xavi, just less robotic.

I think too many players not on Arsenal are not given enough time to settle in the Premiership. Sahin wasn't playing regularly at Madrid. But I'm glad he's going back to Dortmund—that's a team I'd like to continuously get better. Sometimes, players just fit somewhere. Klopp and his style are vastly different than Mourinho and vastly different to Rodgers—I think he's a good player just didn't fit in.

---------- Post added January-24th-2013 at 09:19 PM ----------

I'm sorry I disagree. This is was blantly. It was planned and he couldn't have been more obvious in his time wasting and fake injury. Much different from taking alittle extra time getting the ball back to the player. If this was Manchester I wouldn't have a issue with the Hooligans chasing him down the street. I wouldn't blame Chelsea supporters for wanting a piece of this guy. The guy cost them a chance at a title. Dude deserved the kick though it looks like he didn't even hit him. He should have though.

Hazard needed to keep his head. He got conned by kid.

[MartinC]

It's not lost on me that both my mad sporting loves, my home town soccer club and the 'Skins, both last won their holy grails back in '91 after dominating their respective sports. (2005 and that glorious night in Istanbul not withstanding.). And now both are re-emerging and being built the right way for the long haul.

Be interesting to see who returns to the summit first.

Hail.

My money there is strongly on the Redskins.

I agree with you that Liverpool are showing signs of improvement under Rodgers and I think the signing of Sturridge as an example is a very good one. However I still think there is a significant gap between Liverpool and the top 3 in terms of quality and depth of squad. There is still quite a bit of deadwood in that Liverpool side with players bought before Rodgers got there and some his signings (Allen?) have not really delivered yet either. Gerrard is not getting any younger either and will need to be phased out over the next couple of years.

My feeling is that with a good offseason they can close the gap and be competing with the likes of Arsenal and Spurs for that 4th spot (which IS real progress) but they are still some way behind the top 3 as legitimate title contenders.

[jobaga]

Lucas seems to be taking an age to get match fit. Norwich was probably his best game thus far last time out, but he's looked well short of match fitness ever since his welcome return. Though his comeback has allowed Gerrard to push further forward and aid Suarez. Sahin was a complete and utter waste of space who never came to terms with the pace of the English game. And Allen has been anonymous for the past couple of months as you mentioned. Probably the best midfielder this year who along with Gerrard is the only real goal threat from midfield has been Shelvey, but he's mysteriously dropped out of the picture of late. Suso's looked tidy, but far from ready to consistently start. And the less said on Henderson the better.

The best thee at the minute IMHO would be Lucas sat, with Gerrard and Shelvey supporting the front three.

Can't see Suarez going anywhere regardless of where the club finishes unless someone like City offered absolutely ridiculous money. He's in love with the place, which has just strengthened with the unwavering support he's continued to receive from the club and fans whilst everyone else in the Country has piled in on him. And the early signs are there that he and Sturridge could develop a very good partnership. Just the media trying to make a story when there isn't one.

It'll be interesting to see how Rodgers jigs it around though going forward. As brilliant as Suarez has been on his own as the central striker, Sturridge and Borini are far more suited to that role than wide of the middle man as Rodgers plays like old inside forwards. And Suarez's ability suits that position down to the ground. But do you switch around a 20 goal man and run the risk of upsetting things?

Hail.

I love Suarez just behind Sturridge. I think that Rodgers should get some credit for the revival of Downing, Henderson and Enrique. All three have had great bounce back seasons. I think that Henderson has made the case to be in the starting eleven. Enrique (when healthy) has been one of the team's best players. Downing has shown that he can take some burden off Sterling's young shoulders. I am happy with the progress the team is making under Rodgers.

---------- Post added January-25th-2013 at 08:19 AM ----------

Rodgers has shown he should get the same support in Liverpool.

And I hope for more targets like Coutinho in the future.

I like they way Rodgers is building this team. Allowing the boys in the system to show what they can do and supplementing the talent with reasonable priced (everything is relative) talented young players. Is the Coutinho signing official? I also heard that Barca wants Pepe back? Any truth to that rumor?

---------- Post added January-25th-2013 at 08:20 AM ----------

Hazard needed to keep his head. He got conned by kid.

I just thankful it wasn't Suarez....

[MartinC]

I also heard that Barca wants Pepe back? Any truth to that rumor?

If I was Liverpool and I could get a decent fee for Reina I would take it in a heart beat and use part of it to get Jack Butland from Birmingham. In fact if I was Liverpool or any of the top third teams for that matter (including the Chelsea and Man Utd but not Man City who have Hart) I would get Butland whatever.

Butland is going to be a top class International goalkeeper - he has everything and I think in time will be better than Joe Hart who I rate very highly.

Meanwhile Reina has been so so this year even given he missed time with the injury. Cech and DeGea have been inconsistent as well - DeGea has time on his hands and I think could make it but Cech while not old for a keeper is not going to get any better and is not quite the player he was IMO since he had that head injury.

[jobaga]

double post

Edited January 25, 2013 by jobaga