European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[Sanguine]

Ooof. Assume he caught one of the pegs the net is attached to?

[soggy biscuit]

couldn't really see from the main camera angle but yeah I guess he had to catch something other than the post to do that

Simeone when asked at the end of the game whether he was worried it was a serious injury said 'no, we only need to worry about the post getting better' or something like that

[Sanguine]

Two Levante players take the same free-kick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 7BZZIYSyhs

[Pepe the Horseman]

Not as good as this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cGKuk4w9iE

[Sanguine]

RFC interjection to this thread – did we ever score from our ‘you, no you, ok me, oh, you fcuked it up, you’re a dick, ok I’ll take it’ free-kick routine, from the Parkinson/Caskey days?

[Pepe the Horseman]

I reckon we did once. No idea when though. And am probably wrong. Probs should've just said I don't know. Too late now I guess.

[TBM]

Atletico's assistant manager Mono Burgos wears google glasses in the dugout yesterday so he can have up to the minute match stats in front of him

Laurie Sanchez has put a bit of timber on......

[Royalclapper]

Interesting finish at the bottom of the Bundesliga table. Hamburg are well and truly in the relegation mix, being the only ever present club of the Bundeliga, they are in real danger of going down this time.

[Victor Meldrew]

What an achievement it will be if Athletico Madrid do win La Liga having sold their main striker last summer and not been able to spend the money received unlike Real Madrid spending their normal yearly £100 million plus.
Not only do they lead La Liga but also have the easiest draw in the Champions League-some season for them whatever the outcome.

[TBM]

What an achievement it will be if Athletico Madrid do win La Liga having sold their main striker last summer and not been able to spend the money received unlike Real Madrid spending their normal yearly £100 million plus.
Not only do they lead La Liga but also have the easiest draw in the Champions League-some season for them whatever the outcome.

Just a shame they play boring football

[soggy biscuit]

Don't agree with that. Against Barcelona in the CL it was dull but they are usually pretty decent to watch.

my admiration for Turan also knows no bounds. The bloke is immense

[Victor Meldrew]

Don't agree with that. Against Barcelona in the CL it was dull but they are usually pretty decent to watch.

my admiration for Turan also knows no bounds. The bloke is immense

Terrific player.
Not easy to play expansive football against the likes of Barcelona.
Before Simeone went there the defence was poor but he has done a marvellous job in getting them into this challenging position on 2 fronts.
It's a bit like getting a team such as Villa (having been good years ago) to be championship challengers.

[stealthpapes]

Don't agree with that. Against Barcelona in the CL it was dull but they are usually pretty decent to watch.

my admiration for Turan also knows no bounds. The bloke is immense

I wouldn't say dull - they hit the woodwork three plus times - and also played their game pretty much perfectly. It's not expansive football but it's not unwatchable.

[TBM]

Don't agree with that. Against Barcelona in the CL it was dull but they are usually pretty decent to watch.

my admiration for Turan also knows no bounds. The bloke is immense

They are the Chelsea of Spanish football

Defence first then counter attack. As said on other threads Real play the most exciting football of the three

[soggy biscuit]

Andrea Pirlo releases biography, suggests Deportivo players may have been on something when they beat Milan in the CL in 2004

looking back with the benefit of hindsight, something doesn’t stack up. Our opponents were going at a thousand miles an hour all night, even the older players who’d never exactly been known for their ability to combine speed with stamina.

“What struck me most was how they kept on running at half-time. To a man: no exceptions. When the referee, Urs Meier, blew his whistle they all shot off down the tunnel as if they were Usain Bolt. They couldn’t stand still even in that 15-minute period designed specifically to let you draw breath or at most just walk about.

“We were chasing shadows all night. Their players were crazy buzz bombs flying around all over the place. I don’t have any proof, so what follows isn’t an accusation – I’d never allow myself to go that far. It’s simply a nasty thought I’ve occasionally let percolate in the intervening years.

“For the first and only time in my life, I’ve wondered if people I’d shared a pitch with might have been on something.

as a side issue - lol at writing 'this is not an accusation' then going on to suggest you think they may have been on drugs.

'I am not racist, I have black friends......'

[genome]

Nice use of percol8 though.

[soggy biscuit]

More from Pirlo's book

On Gattuso

You could see the red mist coming down and he just wasn’t able to hide it. We could tell what was coming and so we’d commandeer all the knives. Gattuso would grab a fork and try to stick it in us. ‘Some of us ended up missing games because of one of Rino’s fork attacks, even if the official explanation from the club was one of muscle fatigue.’

On pressure

I don’t give a toss about pressure. I spent the afternoon sleeping and playing Playstation and then went out and won the World Cup.

On training

Pirlo vs Nesta was a classic duel back in our Milanello days. We’d get in early, have breakfast at 9am and then shut ourselves in our room and hit the PlayStation until 11. Training would follow, then we’d be back on the computer games until four in the afternoon. Truly a life of sacrifice.

On Roy Hodgson

Hodgson mispronounced my name. He called me “Pirla” (a term used in Milan dialect which roughly translates as “d*ckhead”), perhaps understanding my true nature more than the other managers.

On losing to Liverpool in the CL final

“I’ll never watch that match again. I’ve already played it once in person and many other times in my head, searching for an explanation that perhaps doesn’t even exist.

“It was suggested we hang a black funeral pall as a permanent reminder on the walls of Milanello, right next to the images of triumph. A message to future generations that feeling invincible is the first step on the path to the point of no return.

“Personally, I’d add that horrendous result to the club’s honours board. I’d write it slap bang in the middle of the list of leagues and cups they’ve won, in a different coloured ink and perhaps a special font, just to underline its jarring presence.’

“To most people’s minds, the reason we lost on penalties was Jerzy Dudek – that jackass of a dancer who took the mickey out of us by swaying about on his line and then rubbed salt into the wound by saving our spot kicks.

“I could hardly sleep and even when I did drop off, I awoke to a grim thought: I’m disgusting. I can’t play any more. I went to bed with Dudek and all his Liverpool team-mates.’

“I’ll never fully shake that sense of absolute impotence when destiny is at work. The feeling will cling to my feet forever, trying to pull me down…

“There are always lessons to be found in the darkest moments. It’s a moral obligation to dig deep and find that little glimmer of hope or pearl of wisdom.

“You might hit upon an elegant phrase that stays with you and makes the journey that little bit less bitter. I’ve tried with Istanbul and haven’t managed to get beyond these words: 'for f*ck’s sake'

Pre match warm ups

It’s nothing but masturbation for conditioning coaches.

[stealthpapes]

l
o
l

[Pepe the Horseman]

I think I love him.

[Ouroboros]

Magnificient.