Soccer 2012-2013 3.0

Very excited!

They will score. The goal threat United possess is a real problem for teams this season, RM will definitely worry on this but certainly know they can score vs the obviously shaky record. But! Vidic is back now, hopefully in the next 2 months he will turn into the worldclass brickwall that he is usually capable of being, destroying all aerial threats that have been plaguing the team this season. Ronaldo will certainly be fired up for the occasion, he certainly doesn't go quiet in big games.. ahh can't wait.

When RM visit Old Trafford it will give the directors a chance to speak to Mourinho and nail down what he will do in the time between him leaving RM at the end of the season and RedFace finally buggering off. Maybe he'll pop up at PSG for a season or two and add a French title to his collection while he's waiting.

What's happened to Passenger? He must be very happy with life with Barca so far ahead in Spain this season even with a hospitalised coach.

Fazana_sl said:

What's happened to Passenger? He must be very happy with life with Barca so far ahead in Spain this season even with a hospitalised coach.

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I am still around. The day they announced Tito's illness returning was bittersweet because it was also the same time when Abidal was given the go ahead to return to playing. He just started full contact training and could be back on the field around February. Would be nice to have another veteran at CB since Alba and Adriano have LB/RB on lock this season. In terms of being a tactician, I honestly think Tito might be a bit ahead of Pep because of how he is able to incorporate players that were iffy under Pep. Cesc is the biggest example, prior to his recent injury at least. The current assistant that took the reigns while Tito starts chemo is the person that scouted opponents under Pep so I think he should be fine for now as long as there is no need to fiddle with lineups. Other good news in the Barca camp is the renewal of Xavi/Puyol till 2016 which is basically retirement age for both and Messi till 2018. The contracts also have no minimum games clauses so it was very nice of Barca to basically let the veterans retire regardless of what happens in the next few years.

If the CB's hold and anchor the defense, the goals against dropped drastically once Pique/Puyol came back, we might see the strongest Barca so far. The offense is quite a bit stronger than recent years due to being more direct fairly often. There are still games when things are off but when they click, it is absolutely devastating since the attacks come from everywhere. Watching A.Madrid get lit up after 40min when Barca was completely and utterly outplayed was fun. The 2nd half was quite brutal. I think after this game Messi is on his 5-6th consecutive brace and basically has the Ballon d'Or on lock. A month or two ago it was still a pretty close race but recently the gap just got massive again. Messi is currently on 113 goals+assists for 2012 vs. C.Ronaldo who is on 76 and in 2nd place ahead of Zlatan.


After checking the schedules again, if both Barca and RM make it to the Copa del Rey semi's, RM's schedule including the tie against Man Utd will be as follows: Barca - Man United (H) - Barca - Man United (A) - Barca, quite the fun few weeks.

Brando_sl said:

So now the Sturridge deal is looking iffy due to agent fees. ESPN had an article on his stats up and he actually shoots just as much as Suarez at the same accuracy. Maybe this would be a blessing in disguise?

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McNulty (quoting @JamesPearceEcho) is saying a medical tomorrow with a ?12m fee agreed.

Fucking Watford, Forest always seem to lose to those chumps

Call 999
11 males hailing from the midlands have just been forcibly anally penetrated in the Chelsea part of London.

WTF? Is this seriously the team that beat Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield?!

Sturridge will be a great signing for someone i think, pity its Liverpool. No idea why Chelsea stick with Torres rather than give him a decent run

Okay, maybe Mourinho has gone nuts or he really does want to be sacked and have a holiday for the rest of the season
Jose-Mourinho-doomed-as-Real-Madrid-boss-after-Casillas-axe.html

tl;dr - Mourinho drops Casillas, they lose away to Malaga for the first time in 31 years anyway, now 16 points behind Barca.

The RM thing is just a power struggle between some of the players and Mourinho. I have a hard time seeing Mourinho losing at that game or walking away. It would have to last a long while and translate into some more defeats for the club to drop Mourinho.

Brando_sl said:

I think he had to do something to try to shake up the squad as they weren't playing well even before the Malaga game. Granted dropping Casillas seems a bit rash but it certainly didn't lead to the loss on it's own.

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Oh obviously I'll grant you that but it harkens back to Gullit dropping Shearer. Dropping the club captain, especially when by almost everyone elses metrics Casillas has been one of the least responsible players for their current rut, just has you scratching your head as to what he hopes to achieve. If it is for footballing reasons, perhaps a "No-ones safe so buck the fuck up!" attempt as nothing else seems to be working?

Couple that with all the political fighting going on and surely it's almost certain now he'll be looking for a new job in May.

I was bored, while waiting for the EPL games to start, so I turn on the Nottinham Forest vs Leeds game at the half-way mark and they suddenly go goal scoring crazy.

Just a bonus that it's against Leeds.

Indeed, go fuck yourself Warnock! \o/

What a crazy game that turned into. Hernandez with the winning goal on 90:00 and Fergie celebrating like a 20 year old.

That should have been called offside, no discussion.

Mike Dean was utter shit today, for both teams. He even missed one of the clearest hand balls of the season.