European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[soggy biscuit]

Wolfsburg go 3-0 up....then lose 4-3

Steve McLOLaren

[sandman]

Add to that Joaquin, they've certainly got quality going forward.

Joaquin? You do realise that it is not 2005 anymore?

Hasn't done too badly tonight tbf.

[sandman]

The little genius Iniesta with a brilliant goal puts Barca 2-0 up.

[Victor Meldrew]

Barcelona starting off where they left off-Messi,Iniesta and now Villa give lessons in finishing.

[handbags_harris]

Ajax jump to the top of the Eredivisie after dishing out a footballing lesson to De Graafschap at De Vijverberg. A hat-trick from Luis Suarez (14, 41, 85) interspersed with strikes from Urby Emmanuelson on 68 and Christian Eriksen on 89 secured a 5-0 rout. De Graafschap drop to 17th as a result, although they can surely not expect to be beaten by this scoreline every week.

PSV dropped to 2nd after a surprising 2-2 draw at the Kyocera Stadion in The Hague. PSV were twice unable to hold onto a lead given to them by goals from Ibrahim Afellay on 8 minutes and Francisco Rodriguez on 73, Den Haag’s responses coming in the form of Timothy Derijck 10 minutes after half time, and Frantisek Kubik 10 minutes from time. ADO Den Haag climb a place to 12th after this very welcome point.

Champions FC Twente climb six places to 3rd and bring Celtic’s down to earth with a resounding thud at De Grolsch Veste, FC Utrecht suffering the same scoreline they handed out in midweek. Twente seem to have established where the net is after their late flurry last week, and their latest hammering came in similar fashion as the Enschede club took 64 minutes break down FC Utrecht resistence, Marc Janko hitting the net courtesy of a Theo Janssen assist, and the same two players combined to add a second eight minutes later. Marc Janko then added his name to the assist list with Twente’s 3rd, supplying Luuk de Jong on 78. De Jong then added a 4th on 84. FC Utrecht drop six places to 9th.

FC Groningen find themselves in the dizzy heights of 4th after their Friday night 3-0 win at the Koning Willem II Stadion (see my previous thread). Willem II look to be in deep trouble already and are in serious need of stabilising, remaining bottom and pointless after four games.

Feyenoord climb to 5th after stuffing Vitesse Arnhem 4-0 at de Kuip. Fedor Smolov opened the scoring on 20 minutes courtesy of a Leroy Fer (I’ve seen him score) assist, Fer himself (I’ve seen him score) adding a second 10 minutes later. Luc Castaignos got Feyenoord’s third with 15 to play, and Georginio Wijnaldum adding a late penalty to complete Vitesse’s misery. Vitesse drop to 16th.

NEC drop two places to 5th after letting a 2-goal lead slip at home to sc Heerenveen. Leroy George and Lasse Schöne scored in quick succession within five minutes of half time to give NEC control at the Goffert Stadion, however Christian Grindheim inspired a Heerenveen comeback, firstly halving the deficit within a minute of Schöne’s effort. Heerenveen completed their comeback three minutes from time through Roy Beerens, Grindheim with the assist. sc Heerenveen stay 10th.

Mads Junker inspired Roda JC to a fine 4-2 victory over Heracles at the Parkstad Limburg Stadion. Junker provided three assists before helping himself to his own strike to almost singlehandedly secure victory for the men from Kerkrade. Roda found themselves 2-0 up within 7 minutes through Morten Skoubo, and they then added a third on 19 through Laurent Delorge. Heracles fought back in the second half through Marko Vejinovic (65) and Davy De Fauw (75), however Junker secured victory on 80 to cap a fine performance. Heracles drop to 11th, while Roda JC climb to 7th.

Excelsior continued their quite superb start to the season by securing a 1-1 draw at the AFAS Stadion, home of previous champions AZ. Guyon Fernandez continued his own excellent form by giving Excelsior the lead on 36, AZ mustering an equaliser 15 minutes from time through Kolbeinn Sigthórsson. Excelsior drop to 8th, however they will not be worried given the point gained. AZ remain one of only two winless clubs (Willem II the other), however they climb to 14th.

Lastly, but by no means least, NAC Breda secured their first win of the season with a 2-0 scoreline over VVV-Venlo at the Rat Verlegh Stadion courtesy of early goals from Matthew Amoah (11) and Danny Gorter (26). NAC climb to 13th, while VVV drop to 15th.

Results Round 4

Willem II 0-3 FC Groningen
Roda JC 4-2 Heracles
NAC Breda 2-0 VVV-Venlo
NEC 2-2 sc Heerenveen
De Graafschap 0-5 Ajax
Feyenoord 4-0 Vitesse
FC Twente 4-0 FC Utrecht
ADO Den Haag 2-2 PSV
AZ 1-1 Excelsior

Standings (P, W, D, L, Pts, F-A)

1 Ajax 4, 3, 1, 0, 10, 14 - 4
2 PSV 4, 3, 1, 0, 10, 14 - 4
3 FC Twente 4, 2,2 , 0, 8, 7 - 0
4 FC Groningen 4, 2, 2, 0, 8, 8 - 4
5 Feyenoord 4, 2, 1, 1, 7, 10 - 5
6 NEC 4, 2, 1, 1,7,10 - 9
7 Roda JC Kerkrade 4, 2, 1, 1, 7, 7 - 6
8 Excelsior 4, 2, 1, 1, 7, 8 - 8
9 FC Utrecht 4, 2, 0, 2, 6, 7 - 8
10 sc Heerenveen 4, 1, 2, 1, 5, 6 - 6
11 Heracles Almelo 4, 1, 2, 4, 6 - 6
12 ADO Den Haag 4, 1, 1, 2, 4, 7 - 10
13 NAC Breda 4, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5 - 7
14 AZ 4, 0, 3, 1, 3, 4 - 6
15 VVV-Venlo 4, 1, 0, 3, 3, 3 - 6
16 Vitesse 4, 1, 0, 3, 3, 5 - 12
17 De Graafschap 4, 1, 0, 3, 3, 4 - 13
18 Willem II 4, 0, 0, 4, 0, 3 - 14

[soggy biscuit]

Neymar with some shorts droppingly good skillz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7cP8_qcciw&feature=player_embedded

[soggy biscuit]

Ronaldinho's performance for AC Milan yesterday is being reported as something special, claims of him yesterday being back to his very best yesterday.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Ronaldinho's performance for AC Milan yesterday is being reported as something special, claims of him yesterday being back to his very best yesterday.

Right, and when was this again soggs?

[soggy biscuit]

Ronaldinho's performance for AC Milan yesterday is being reported as something special, claims of him yesterday being back to his very best yesterday.

Right, and when was this again soggs?

Can't remember now.......

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Oh dear Barcelona, 2-0 losers at home to newly promoted Hercules in the champions' home curtain-raiser in the league

Of course, they claimed exactly one point from their first two matches in 2008-9 (1-0 defeat away to freshly promoted Numancia, then 1-all home to Santander) before more or less cruising their way to the title and now have 4 points from their first two matches --and in any case, the football fan has to live for occasions such as this (pre-match odds were quoted by commentators here, when the match was still goalless, as 1/16 for a Barcelona win and 20/1 for the away win)

Now watching Hoffenheim v. Schalke on delay but will be moving over to the Milan game before flipping back to get a look @ the Gylphster late on

[bobbybottler]

Milan game

* SPOILER WARNING *






















They're behind, and deservedly so

[RoyalChicagoFC]

[Redacted], and deservedly so

...and how!

[bobbybottler]

[Redacted], and deservedly so

...and how!

I've moved onto the NYRB / Colorado match now, take a look at the first goal, scored by Thierry Henry. It takes you back a few years....

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Pah, MLS --I've got Athetic and Atleti on @ the mo (but will have eyes peel'd per your suggestion --cheerz)

Love Cesena's ground, and the TV camera positions were excellent for the home viewer (seemed like they were just above head-high to the players a la Highbury as I remember it; how/why, I wonder, did this get lost in the transition to the newer enormogrounds?)

Quite some day of club football all round, this --more than enough to enjoy

[bobbybottler]

Pah, MLS --I've got Athetic and Atleti on @ the mo (but will have eyes peel'd per your suggestion --cheerz)

Love Cesena's ground, and the TV camera positions were excellent for the home viewer (seemed like they were just above head-high to the players a la Highbury as I remember it; how/why, I wonder, did this get lost in the transition to the newer enormogrounds?)

Quite some day of club football all round, this --more than enough to enjoy

LOL I know what you mean about Cesena, I always liked matches from Goodison (and loathed those from White Hart Lane) for the same reason.

I'm going to give the PC a rest now and actually watch the TV for MOTD and then the FL prog, as I'm sure that Philadelphia / Chicago can carry on without me.

* edit - popped over for the end of Porto / Braga, and happy that I didn't spend any longer on it, as every other shot was of that prize bell-end Mourinho Lite Villas Boas.

[soggy biscuit]

Roma lose 5-1 to Cagliari who have their 3rd choice goalkeeper playing for them.
AC Milan lose 2-0 to Cesena.

Seria A still set to go on strike in 2 weekends time

[Y21_Royal]

Oh dear Barcelona, 2-0 losers at home to newly promoted Hercules in the champions' home curtain-raiser in the league

Just been looking at Hercules' squad and am wondering where the money's come from! Trezeguet, Valdez, Drenthe, Portillo, Calatayud, Rufete, Pamarot & Velthuizen are all playing there. That's a lot of investment at a level of football that is normally battling administration.

Was there not some controversy last season regarding the bribing of opposition teams/players to ensure that they went up?

Still, a comedy result and coupled with Mourinho getting booed off at half time in his home 'debut', one in the eye for the 'big two'

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Oh dear Barcelona, 2-0 losers at home to newly promoted Hercules in the champions' home curtain-raiser in the league

Was there not some controversy last season regarding the bribing of opposition teams/players to ensure that they went up?'

It is evident!

[Hercules] are not entirely of minnow status, however, to which their 19 accumulated seasons in the first division attest, but neither are they entirely welcome guests this season at the banqueting table of the elite.

Rumours still persist of a telephone call last season which seems to point to a €100,000 pay-off to Cordoba's goalie, Raul Navas, to throw the game against them (Hercules won 4-0) so that the Alicante outfit could be assured of promotion, finishing in second place to champions Real Sociedad.

Hercules' main shareholder, Enrique Ortiz, actually says in the phone call: ''I paid him a hundred grand''. Ah --many things are improbable, but all things are possible. Maybe Enrique had a dream, or was being poetic, metaphorical even. Who knows? Anyway, let's not spoil his weekend. His team has just pulled off a Herculazo, the Madrid press's newly-minted phrase for what they hope will be a confidence-killer for the Catalans.

More in the same piece about Guardiola's team selection (and rather odd substitutions made) for the match, done with the day's opposition in mind and with an eye toward Panathinaikos in midweek of course

And heh...

Hercules' two goals were scored by Nelson Valdez, who put them both past Victor Valdes. That's a good one for trivia merchants, almost as good as "Forfar 5, East Fife 4." Try saying that one after half a bottle of Rioja.

[prostak]

Steve Mclaren continues his awful start to the season at Wolfsburg. After getting rid of lynchpin Misimović, attempting to instigate some completely different tactics and winning one game so far (a scraped 2-1 against Regionalliga side Preußen Münster), he attempted to defend himself by claiming that two of the opening fixtures were against Dortmund and Bayern, 'both title contenders'. Jürgen Klopp replied with an amazing put-down, that Mclaren's claim was 'nice', but that 'he doesn't really know what's going on'. Perhaps Steve ought to stick to second-tier leagues (no offence, Handbags...).

[handbags_harris]

Steve Mclaren continues his awful start to the season at Wolfsburg. After getting rid of lynchpin Misimović, attempting to instigate some completely different tactics and winning one game so far (a scraped 2-1 against Regionalliga side Preußen Münster), he attempted to defend himself by claiming that two of the opening fixtures were against Dortmund and Bayern, 'both title contenders'. Jürgen Klopp replied with an amazing put-down, that Mclaren's claim was 'nice', but that 'he doesn't really know what's going on'. Perhaps Steve ought to stick to second-tier leagues (no offence, Handbags...).

None taken old boy, anyone with half a football brain knows that the Eredivisie simply can't compete with the likes of England, Spain, Italy, Germany or even France any more. The money simply isn't there as not many people want to see Roda JC play Heracles. The production line of talent is still working at Feyenoord and to a greater degree Ajax, but the cream gets skimmed as soon as they show any decent potential. Prime case in point - Royston Drenthe. One full season for Feyenoord, multi-million Euro transfer to Real Madrid.