The Soccer/Football Thread

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greeneyed
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by greeneyed »

Wow, now just watching horrible soccer riots in Marseille.. Russia V England. Riots inside as well. What a sport.
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1992
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by 1992 »

Sad to see the Serbs wear Croatian jerseys and throw flares on the field.
WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT'S BEEN
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by -PJ- »

Lionel Messi announces retirement from International football.
3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment..Old Faithful
#emptythetank :shock:
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Notaroboticfish »

Lol@England
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Pilz »

I laughed and I laughed and I laughed, and then I laughed some more.....

.....and then I realised just how funny it was.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by reptar »

England, the only country to exit Europe twice in a week


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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Sid »

Portugal Euro champs


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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Brew »




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In Ricky We Trust
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Brew »

Sid wrote:Portugal Euro champs


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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Raidersfan »

Brew wrote:ImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImageImage


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Congrats Brewy
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Manchild »

Aussie VPN expecting surge of customers for upcoming EPL season

A SMALL homegrown VPN service is taking on the might of Optus, and believes the telco’s move to secure the rights of the English Premier League will drive customers to its service.

Phil is the founder of VanishedVPN and as a British expat, he originally set up the service as a way for people to access content services such as BBC iplayer. But after reading an article last year about Optus outbidding Foxtel for the rights to the hugely popular English football competition, he and his team knew there would be a big opportunity.

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Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/onlin ... 0413e8541c
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Notaroboticfish »

AFC Wimbledon play their first ever League One game tonight.

Can't find any streams for it though :(
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Baywatch »

Have Hull got a full squad yet? Need to figure out just how big I want my bet on Leicester to be.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by PrimetimeRaider »

Baywatch wrote:Have Hull got a full squad yet? Need to figure out just how big I want my bet on Leicester to be.
Full enough.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by -TW- »

Leicester still on the beers from last season
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Baywatch »

PrimetimeRaider wrote:
Baywatch wrote:Have Hull got a full squad yet? Need to figure out just how big I want my bet on Leicester to be.
Full enough.
:lol:

Hull were fairly impressive. Centre fullbacks played really well. Leicester need to find someone to fill in that huge Ngolo Kante sized hole in their midfield
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Raidersfan »

World Cup qualifier tonight v Iraq .. should be a beauty ..

GO YOU SOCCEROOS !!
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Notaroboticfish »

Tottenham just broke the English club home record attendance vs Monaco. Shame about the result...
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by bonehead »

Whichever of jets or wanderers wear dark blue and red training kit were having a good session at baddely park today ahead of tomorrow's game
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by -TW- »

Jets, Knights colours
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by bonehead »

-TW- wrote:Jets, Knights colours
That's what i thought
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Schifty »

Canberra Olympic through to FFA cup Semi final, will be playing an A-League club.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Schifty »

Canberra Olympic vs Sydney FC at Bruce Stadium
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by -TW- »

Nice, might check that out
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Raidersfan »

Schifty wrote:Canberra Olympic vs Sydney FC at Bruce Stadium
Nice one.

When ?
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Notaroboticfish »

Can someone remind me how Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool went in the Champions League last night?
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Notaroboticfish »

Thanks to Optus, I've now watched more AFC Wimbledon games live than Tottenham Hotspur games
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Notaroboticfish »

Afc Wimbledon are now above MK Dons in the league!
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Woodgers »

Boys, here are my thoughts on the Socceroos. Sorry for the long post, but as always I have a lot to say on the National team.

The formation isn’t correct. That’s the 4th or 5th time he’s gone with 4-4-2 and the system doesn’t suit the players we have. It should be 4-3-3 with Juric as that target man hassling the central defenders and the pace of Kruse and probably Leckie on the either side of him like high wide players like Jose used to do with Drogba, Joe Cole and Anelka/Kalou. Australia only started to play well in the 2nd half when we managed to get some width and drag Japan side to side and open up the middle a bit, in the first half they just easily dealt with the ball either being mindlessly pinged forward to Juric who was well marked, or simply clogging the middle and strangling the only 2 passing mids that we have that can create (Mooy and Rogic). It was easy pickings for Japan who defended well I thought.

There is no point playing a midfield diamond if you wide players are Mooy and Luongo. Neither are wide players, both play centrally at club level and Mooy is about as much of a passing central midfielder as you’ll see. His instinct is to come drifting in to get the ball and anchor the entire thing which should be Jedinak’s job but Mooy ends up taking over. To his credit he recycles and keeps the ball really well but when doing that job, you’ve lost all width on the right hand side. He’s rarely wide or near the right touchline unless defending a throw.. Luongo is just a headless chook in my opinion and my mates will tell you I was saying this during the Asian Cup, he actually contributes very little and is basically living off a decent strike in the AC final. I actually wouldn’t start Luongo at all, he’d be on the bench at best. Again, he doesn’t hug the left touchline at all, you find him in crowding Rogic’s space and confusing matters (when he had that wild shot in the first half he was smack in the centre of the park again). This point about width is important because that is how the central defenders get caught out playing out from the back like Ange wants them to, they look up and either see Mooy coming towards them to play keep ball, or they see a cricket pitch of yellow and [insert colour here] shirts down the middle to try something they’re not technically capable of. There is nowhere to go so they try play a miracle ball like Sainsbury did, then turn it over cheaply to concede on the break. Part of the 4-3-3 formation would be to have those out balls to Leckie and Kruse high and wide as an option, and also drag those defenders away from Rogic and Juric to hold it up a bit if it’s on.

I love Ange’s attitude and philosophy on the game but what his next test is will be whether he’s flexible enough to change the formation, and also whether he’s gutsy enough to not play ‘mainstay’ player. Personally my 3 mids in that 4-3-3 are Mooy and Milligan anchoring and screening the back 4, with Rogic sitting higher. Jedinak looks old and slow at the moment and I think he’s peaked and is on the way down, he doesn’t bring enough now to demand a spot and Milligan has more energy, has better passing and is more flexible as he can also play at the back if something goes wrong. For me Jedinak and Luongo are on the bench. Luongo may even be a player that you bring off the bench for Leckie or Kruse when they tire and help out up front because for me his passing isn’t good enough for an International midfielder and his strength is having a ping in and around the box.

A real problem is the left and right backs (again). Brad Smith was caught out of position in defence that many times it was ridiculous. I note people like Andy Harper missed all that because ‘he did a really really fast run!’. His crossing wasn’t great, even the one for the penalty his cross was more a hit and hope. McGowan is worse. The saving grace for Brad Smith is that if he can improve defensively, he could get up and down that left line fairly rapidly and combine with Leckie and cause some trouble. I don’t know what to do about the right side. I’m happy with the central pairing of Sainsbury and Spiranovic, that’s the best central combo we’ve had since Germany 2006 with Moore and Popovic. Yes, Sainsbury made the passing error for the goal, but I think that was due to lack of options as I mentioned. He’s a much improved player.

I love Tim Cahill and he’s given a lot to Australia but I reckon Ange needs to tell him that he’s our Super Sub now. He plays that role well and in the 4-3-3 you’re hardly playing him as the target man up front from the start. You bring him on to play it because by that time the game is open and his energy up there is valuable, but for me he is another player that doesn’t fit into the best formation we can play for the majority of players we currently have. We need to avoid the scenario like England have just had with Rooney where everything changes to accommodate one player who isn’t as talented or special as you want when you shift everything to revolve around him. Love Timmy but I think his role is as he played last night.

Juric I’m happy enough with also, he just needs to be told that there is aggressive and putting yourself about, and then there is mindlessly clattering into people where it is a foul every day of the week.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Raidersfan »

^^^
A decent appraisal on the National Team atm. I don't agree with all points but most I do.

Imo our biggest problem remains in getting caught out in defence. The Japanese first goal was the result of a stupid pass to a teammate who had two defenders in close proximity ... if the passee does not control the ball we are in trouble and that is what happened ... add the clinical finish and we found ourselves playing from behind.

The first half was very frustrating to watch ... it became quite evident that the Japs were not going to come out and challenge, they were happy to give up possession and defend their own half. We kept on playing the ball back and forth without attempting to get behind their back four. They rectified that in the 2nd half.

I really wish I could get a job as a special plays coach. Look this is not genius material but one of the prime objectives in attack is to get behind the oppositions defence and then swing the ball in. Free kicks and set plays outside the penalty box cry for a player to run wide, get the ball from the free kick taker, get behind the defence and have someone ready adjacent the near post for a flick in. I know I know, no one does it but just seems to make common sense to me rather than the simple floating free into the box.

Anyway enough from me ... we got a point from a strong opponent in our quest to get to the WC ... with 5 mins to go I was satisfied with the possibility of a point.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Woodgers »

Imo our biggest problem remains in getting caught out in defence. The Japanese first goal was the result of a stupid pass to a teammate who had two defenders in close proximity ... if the passee does not control the ball we are in trouble and that is what happened ... add the clinical finish and we found ourselves playing from behind.
Yeah so I tried to address this above. In that instance everyone looks at Sainsbury and says it is a horrendous error and that's a part of it, the other part of it is he's got the ball at his feet and is trying to pick out another player to keep the ball, but has such limited options that he's tried something that he's maybe not technically capable of. That's why i'm saying we need to open up the field a bit more, he was playing that ball to Mooy who was almost in the centre circle and he was our wide right midfielder. A local Canberra team could defend against that. If Sainsbury lumps it forward, his coach and teammates question why he's losing possession so cheaply so he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.

In football as we all know, a lot of games finish with very low scorelines. That means that people are losing the ball a lot, it's just a part of the game that defence is superior to attacks breaking them down. So I think what most coaches are wary of is where on the park you lose that ball to be able to transition. Sainsbury lost the ball in a horrible spot where his teammates didn't have a chance to recover and get behind the ball. I don't think Ange wants us playing long ball like the old school Brits but surely having those high options gives the defenders a viable option to play out to rather than what we had with Giannou and Juric standing pretty much in the middle of the park surrounded by Japanese players with a 10% chance of controlling possession? By having those high wide players as an option, it drags defenders away from Juric and Rogic so those options are better placed to receive and hold the ball up. In summary, if we don't want to leak goals like that Japan one, something his to change and it isn't Sainsbury's ability to pick a pass out IMO.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Raidersfan »

^^^
Agree 100% .. the chances with the Sainsbury pass is the receiver kicks it straight back and the process repeats itself until we either lose possession or the receiver takes it upon himself to do something a bit more constructive .. the possession stats look great but chances created stats low. And that is exactly what happened in the first half.
Imo we did not spread the defence as wide as possible in the first half .. I found myself on numerous occasions shouting at the TV "switch it" , "pull it wide". That was Ange's tactics at Brisbane and it worked to a T.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Notaroboticfish »

How long until Sunderland win a game?
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by Stagtime »

Try being a Derby County supporter, finished last season playing off for promotion,spend 30 million pound on players and sit 21st in the championship.
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Re: The Soccer/Football Thread

Post by afgtnk »

Notaroboticfish wrote:How long until Sunderland win a game?
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