The OTHER kind of football thread. (Soccer for us Yanks)

[Elessar [Sly]]

Anyone picking up fifa 14 or Pro evo etc. this year?

[Elessar [Sly]]

Rubbish performance we expect from the England national team last night....

Back to the usual

All this praise Lampard gets... he has ALWAYS been useless in a major international competition. Always fantastic leading up to it.

It is nice to not see 4-4-2 for a change, but only have one striker upfront will be useless again a team like Italy. With that said, they did well the last match.

[Elessar [Sly]]

Anyone catch any of the results this weekend?

Some cool matches. Lots of Palace fans where I am, it was quite funny seeing them acting very confident about beating united. Interesting start to the season so far.

What players are your 'ones to watch'?

[Elessar [Sly]]

Looking forward to upcoming games!

[ovid9]

I was gone the last 2 weekends so I did see any matches.

I got to work this Saturday though so I'll be able to watch while there.

[Elessar [Sly]]

^^ Schweet.

Here's the fixtures for anyone else interested for this Sat:

Saturday 21 September 2013
12:45 Norwich v Aston Villa Carrow Road
This fixture was previously scheduled on Saturday 21 September 2013 at 15:00 but was rescheduled due to live broadcasting on BT Sport.
15:00 Liverpool v Southampton Anfield
15:00 Newcastle v Hull St. James' Park
15:00 West Brom v Sunderland The Hawthorns
15:00 West Ham v Everton Boleyn Ground
17:30 Chelsea v Fulham Stamford Bridge


Next weekend - 28th Manchester United Vs Manchester City. It should be good!

[ovid9]

^^ Schweet.

Here's the fixtures for anyone else interested for this Sat:

Saturday 21 September 2013
12:45 Norwich v Aston Villa Carrow Road
This fixture was previously scheduled on Saturday 21 September 2013 at 15:00 but was rescheduled due to live broadcasting on BT Sport.
15:00 Liverpool v Southampton Anfield
15:00 Newcastle v Hull St. James' Park
15:00 West Brom v Sunderland The Hawthorns
15:00 West Ham v Everton Boleyn Ground
17:30 Chelsea v Fulham Stamford Bridge


Next weekend - 28th Manchester United Vs Manchester City. It should be good!

According to my schedule, Man U v Man City is Sunday the 22nd? I might have to DVR it while I watch American Football.

[Elessar [Sly]]

^^ Schweet.

Here's the fixtures for anyone else interested for this Sat:

Saturday 21 September 2013
12:45 Norwich v Aston Villa Carrow Road
This fixture was previously scheduled on Saturday 21 September 2013 at 15:00 but was rescheduled due to live broadcasting on BT Sport.
15:00 Liverpool v Southampton Anfield
15:00 Newcastle v Hull St. James' Park
15:00 West Brom v Sunderland The Hawthorns
15:00 West Ham v Everton Boleyn Ground
17:30 Chelsea v Fulham Stamford Bridge


Next weekend - 28th Manchester United Vs Manchester City. It should be good!

According to my schedule, Man U v Man City is Sunday the 22nd? I might have to DVR it while I watch American Football.

Whoops I meant 22nd! Cheers for catching that dude.

And well if you have to put handsball infront of football, that is your choice.

[ovid9]

Whoops I meant 22nd! Cheers for catching that dude.

And well if you have to put handsball infront of football, that is your choice.

[ovid9]

Wow, Man City bent over Man U and had their way with them. What a blowout!

[ovid9]

Wow, Man City bent over Man U and had their way with them. What a blowout!

[Elessar [Sly]]

Yeah that was quite the surprise! This season is going to age Moyes quite a bit.

Did anyone catch the Spurs game? A lot of near misses.

[Elessar [Sly]]

Yeah quite the surprise! This season is going to age Moyes quite a bit.

Did anyone catch the Spurs game? We had it on in the car, a lot of near misses.

[Elessar [Sly]]

So I have been playing fifa 14 (season pass), and I have been enjoying it. The gameplay is a little more fun than the demo. You have a lot more control in manager career mode.

Major downside (and I don't know if this is because it is season pass early access rather than the actual game), is that when you go on transfer list looking for players their overall skill level doesn't come up. On some you have scouted, it shows their overall skill level, but there isn't even a search function for it This really sucks... hopefully the full game will have this in it. It seems ridiculous to not have this.

Another downside is that although on the demo the windows 8 type layout seemed pretty cool, in career mode it kind of sucks... the menus are rather sluggish as well.

But the gameplay is king here. I do have fun once I am on the pitch.

I haven't bothered with the ultimate team thing...

[skybluegary]

I'm rapidly losing interest in football.

My club Coventry City (the sky blues) are deep in the shit. We've been on the decline for the last 12 years, after having had 35 years in the Premier League (and the previous incarnation of the prem, division 1). We've dropped 2 divisions, suffered 2 10-point deductions, are currently in a second period of administration, and third transfer embargo, and are something like £70m in debt!

Now the shower of shit that owns the club has moved us out of Coventry (franchising is not allowed) and dumped us in a ground-share at/with Northampton in an (alleged) attempt to distress the coventry stadium owners to the point where they can basically grab the stadium for free.

The majority of the supporters are boycotting the club financially, and refusing to attend "home" games, (less than 2000 attendances) and there is a huge divide between different groups of supporters. I don't recognise it as my club anymore, such a shame. 130 years down the toilet. We've come a long way since this in 87: (CCFC in blue & white stripes)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Paks-qbF-x ... aks-qbF-x8

My country, Republic of Ireland aren't going to qualify for the World Cup either

[Elessar [Sly]]

I'm rapidly losing interest in football.

My club Coventry City (the sky blues) are deep in the shit. We've been on the decline for the last 12 years, after having had 35 years in the Premier League (and the previous incarnation of the prem, division 1). We've dropped 2 divisions, suffered 2 10-point deductions, are currently in a second period of administration, and third transfer embargo, and are something like £70m in debt!

Now the shower of shit that owns the club has moved us out of Coventry (franchising is not allowed) and dumped us in a ground-share at/with Northampton in an (alleged) attempt to distress the coventry stadium owners to the point where they can basically grab the stadium for free.

The majority of the supporters are boycotting the club financially, and refusing to attend "home" games, (less than 2000 attendances) and there is a huge divide between different groups of supporters. I don't recognise it as my club anymore, such a shame. 130 years down the toilet. We've come a long way since this in 87: (CCFC in blue & white stripes)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Paks-qbF-x ... aks-qbF-x8

My country, Republic of Ireland aren't going to qualify for the World Cup either

That sucks, I used to like seeing Coventry City play (on tv- never went to a match where they were playing). It is a shame what happened to Wimbledon as well (as well as couple of other clubs).

To be honest England aren't exactly going to do well in the World Cup - you can celebrate us losing haha.

[ovid9]

Awww man skybluegary, that sucks.

I was watching a bit of a show last night on NBCSports (probably the best coverage of football in the US excepting possibly Fox Soccer which I don't get so I don't know how good it is) and it was a show those of you from UK/Ireland would've laughed at the simplicity of some of the explanations going on, but for a noob like me, it was a lot of fun hearing them talk about relegation and stuff like that.

One of the things a bunch of the talking heads were discussing was since the PL doesn't have a playoff system the risk of relegation for the lower tier teams keeps things competitive all year long as you maybe won't be competing for the championship, but you ARE competing to stay in the PL and not get relegated down.

I wish American sports had that. "Ok Jacksonville, you're an embarrassment to American football, you'd better bone up on your CFL rules as you're playing there next year."

It was also funny to find out that "Derby" (you know dEr-be) is pronounced "dAr-be." WTH guys WTH?

Oh, and Elessar, I've never played any of the FIFA games but I read a history of the original one not to long ago and it was pretty damn interesting. Apparently EA was terrified they were going to lose their ass on it because, especially at that time, there was 0 interest in soccer over here. Then it came out, got huge and they realized "Oh yeah, the REST of the world loves that game!"

[Elessar [Sly]]

It was also funny to find out that "Derby" (you know dEr-be) is pronounced "dAr-be." WTH guys WTH?

It depends on context and county. You get both pronounciations over here.

And yes 'that game' (REAL football) is the most popular sport in the world It is cool to know they nearly scrapped that goldmine though (fifa games that is).

I was originally into Pro Evo rather than Fifa, but fifa has been better last few years - sorry fanboys

[skybluegary]

That sucks, I used to like seeing Coventry City play (on tv- never went to a match where they were playing). It is a shame what happened to Wimbledon as well (as well as couple of other clubs).

To be honest England aren't exactly going to do well in the World Cup - you can celebrate us losing haha.

I'm so pleased to see Wimbledon back in the league and doing well, I've had a soft spot for them ever since their troubles began.

A few cov fans, including myself, support the idea of doing a Wimbledon, (breaking away re-starting at the bottom of the league pyramid, it would probably take about 10 years to get back to the league) but unfortunately we're the minority.

I grew up in England, it's my home, I'll be cheering them, (and Brazil, my missus is Brazilian) in the World Cup!

[skybluegary]

Awww man skybluegary, that sucks.

I was watching a bit of a show last night on NBCSports (probably the best coverage of football in the US excepting possibly Fox Soccer which I don't get so I don't know how good it is) and it was a show those of you from UK/Ireland would've laughed at the simplicity of some of the explanations going on, but for a noob like me, it was a lot of fun hearing them talk about relegation and stuff like that.

One of the things a bunch of the talking heads were discussing was since the PL doesn't have a playoff system the risk of relegation for the lower tier teams keeps things competitive all year long as you maybe won't be competing for the championship, but you ARE competing to stay in the PL and not get relegated down.

I wish American sports had that. "Ok Jacksonville, you're an embarrassment to American football, you'd better bone up on your CFL rules as you're playing there next year."

It was also funny to find out that "Derby" (you know dEr-be) is pronounced "dAr-be." WTH guys WTH?

Oh, and Elessar, I've never played any of the FIFA games but I read a history of the original one not to long ago and it was pretty damn interesting. Apparently EA was terrified they were going to lose their ass on it because, especially at that time, there was 0 interest in soccer over here. Then it came out, got huge and they realized "Oh yeah, the REST of the world loves that game!"

Yeah, the prospect of relegation keeps the leagues alive. We do have promotion play-offs though, they seem to work well. Usually the top 2 or 3 teams go up, and the next 4 placed team play-off for promotion. The game to get into the premier league is reckoned to be the most valuable football prize in the world, estimates of around £90m.

The thing with derbies is that England is so small, local games create incredible, (and sometimes quite evil and dangerous) rivalries and atmospheres, thousands of travelling supporters from visiting clubs.

And there is a city about an a hour north from me called Derby, pronounced Dar- be!

[Elessar [Sly]]

I was recently in Colne - not far from Burnley. They are very devoted to their club. Millwallfans down here can be rather aggressive.

Looking forward to this weekends fixtures.

[ovid9]

Not sure how much I'm going to get to watch this week. I got to watch a little bit of the UEFA champions league, that's really a pretty cool thing. Its fun having all the clubs from the big (and little) regional leagues battling it out.

[Elessar [Sly]]

Not sure how much I'm going to get to watch this week. I got to watch a little bit of the UEFA champions league, that's really a pretty cool thing. Its fun having all the clubs from the big (and little) regional leagues battling it out.

Yeah there are some great matches in the Champions League.

Some interesting scores this weekend (if not predictable in some places). Palace getting slaughtered by Liverpool was a cool match.

[ovid9]

Watched most of the Arsenal/West Bromwich Albion (that's a mouthful) match.

The goal that Arsenal scored was gorgeous. I felt bad for the WBA goalie as the was lined up perfect but it deflected off one of his defenders legs just enough that there was no hope of stopping it.

That was a fairly physical match.

I also watched the Colorado Rapids vs. the Seattle Sounders last night because I was up. Colorado scored in first 14 seconds, it was amazing. Just perfectly played. The game ended up a lot closer than the score indicated as Seattle battled back but Colorado just had put up too many points.

Fun weekend.

[Elessar [Sly]]

That was a fairly physical match..

Arsenal matches usually are (and tend to involve diving ).

But yeah it was a great match. Typical west Brom unfortunately, very out classed. Weat ham beating spurs! Now that was a surprise.