General Football Discussion

Top 5 teams

91 replies · 22,617 views
over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
el grapadura wrote:
Now that you would not get from an English  player ( though of course you don't get the devastating trickery either)


And Rooney, for example, is not petulant. Of course not. He's a hard-working fella who just gets on with his job, blah, blah, blah.
 
There is no comparison between Rooney and Ronaldo with respect to petulance. Does Rooney let his emotions get the better of him? YES, at times, though as he is maturing this is happening less. Does he fall over constantly at the lightest touch, look immediately to the ref, stamp his feet, wave his arms, pout his lip, when he doesn't get the call, NO.
 
Any real football fan ( one whose objectivity is not clouded by a  dislike of all things English) can see that Rooney is one of the hardest working players in football , just look at his Km/ per game stats. In the recent professional error there are no saints, and players will always draw fouls and seek to gain an advantage that way. I still maintain that English players dive less than others (especially given the physicality of the Prem) but we will have to agree to differ on that. Though I must say that for someone who doesn't watch much English football you sure know a lot about the 'diving habits' of the players.
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
[Walcott had a kind of game he'll probably never have again in his life when he killed us on the counter. And it's not as if we've never handed out footballing lessons to England either...[/QUOTE]
 
Lennon did a pretty good job on you lads too. Care to elaborate on the football lessons a bit? 3-2 at Wembley was hardly taking us to school.
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
el grapadura wrote:
el grapadura wrote:
I dont understand why people hate Engalnd so much, they usually play reasonably  fair,
 
Because they're English...and they don't exactly play pretty football. And as for the diving comments...Gerrard? Rooney? No, they've never dived in their lives. Puh-lease.
Pretty football doesn't always win tournaments.  Italy hardly set the World on fire in 06 (Indeed the only time I  have seen them play attractive football was in 82)   and Greece were successful but mind-numbing in Euro 04.
 

 

You'll note I qualified the diving statement with 'much' England do it far less than other teams( Argentina, even Brazil) . and when Gerrard did it ( can't remember if it was for Liverpool or England) he copped heaps from his own press as it was very un-English. As for Rooney, well I can't really say I associate him with diving, he is one of the hardest working genuine footballers there is, and that is coming from a Liverpool fan. Of course there is a distinction between diving and drawing a foul for a tatical advantage- I don't have a problem with the latter.


Pretty football doesn't win tournaments? Not always, but has won it for Spain in 2008, Brazil in 1970. Probably Argentina in 1986.

Like I said in an earlier post, I think the whole idea of the English 'rarely' diving in comparison to Latin American/Southern European sides, who tend to be seen as particularly bad divers, is somewhat of a footballing myth. And as for Rooney - he had a particularly bad dive against Arsenal a few years back, when Man U was fighting them for the title, and won a penalty for it. Remember a few other dives from him in the Premiership too, and a few for England also.
 
Was that the dive in the game immediatley following our 49th game unbeaten?  Against Sol Campbell and we then had to push forward for an equaliser, exposing us at the back and resulting in us losing 2-0? 
 
I was very pissed off and his reputation will never recover in my books.
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
[Walcott had a kind of game he'll probably never have again in his life when he killed us on the counter. And it's not as if we've never handed out footballing lessons to England either...[/QUOTE]
�

Lennon did a pretty good job on you lads too. Care to elaborate on the football lessons a bit? 3-2 at Wembley was hardly taking us to school.


Erm, 3-2 loss which could have been worse for you given our chances...in a game you played at home, needing a point to qualify, against a team that had nothing at stake as we'd already qualified. If that's not embarassing to you, then fair enough.
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
loyalgunner wrote:
Was that the dive in the game immediatley following our 49th game unbeaten?� Against Sol Campbell and we then had to push forward for an equaliser, exposing us at the back and resulting in us losing 2-0?�

�

I was very pissed off and his reputation will never recover in my books.


Yeah, that was the game.
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
el grapadura wrote:
[Walcott had a kind of game he'll probably never have again in his life when he killed us on the counter. And it's not as if we've never handed out footballing lessons to England either...[/QUOTE]
 

Lennon did a pretty good job on you lads too. Care to elaborate on the football lessons a bit? 3-2 at Wembley was hardly taking us to school.


Erm, 3-2 loss which could have been worse for you given our chances...in a game you played at home, needing a point to qualify, against a team that had nothing at stake as we'd already qualified. If that's not embarassing to you, then fair enough.
 
You said footballing lesson. My turn to be a pedant for a change.
Had Croatia  handed out a footballing lesson they wouldn't have had to wait until the 77th minute to win the game. 
 
Did I find it embrassing? No ( well Mclaren's umbrella aside) . Disappointing? Yes, extremely- much the same way you would have felt a year later against the Turks. Croatia had a good team back then, there was no embarrasment losing to them by a single goal- though Scott Carson would probably beg to differ.
 
 
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
That wasn't a footballing lesson? That we couldn't be bothered, and still beat you with comfort, even when we could have sat back in the last 20 just to see out the game?

How about the 2-0 in Zagreb? Don't recall England having a shot on goal in that game...

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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
el grapadura wrote:
That wasn't a footballing lesson? That we couldn't be bothered, and still beat you with comfort, even when we could have sat back in the last 20 just to see out the game?

How about the 2-0 in Zagreb? Don't recall England having a shot on goal in that game...

 
So comfortable that you let a 2-0 lead slip, and had to wait until the 77th minute to complete the job? 
 
Let's not delude ourselves into thinking that beating England in their back yard isn't something worth playing for- especially if it knocks them out of a majortournament. Despite what the  knockers say,  teams still like to win at the 'home of football' Bilic is no different.
 
Okay, so Croatia scored 1 goal in Zagreb, the other 'own goal' was courtesy of the dodgy pitch. And if you could have scored more why didn't you? Or was executing moves and finishing chances with clinical precision not part of the 'footballing lesson?'
 
At any rate it appears we are at odds as to what constitutes a footballing lesson, you stick with 2-0 and 2-3.   I'm happy with a definition thant includes the scoreslines of 1-4 & 5-1.
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
Whatever dude. Doesn't look like you've seen any of those games so there's no point in arguing this.

Hope England live up to your expectations next year.
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
yea its not just the scoreline that constitues a footballing lesson, they can be missleading at times, its how the game was played etc.. you can play a team off the park and win 2-0, scoreline might not suggest a lesson but in fact it was a  comfortable, easy win
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
I'm picking a team per confederation to cheer for as my top 5

AFC - Australia (obligatory)
CAF - Cote d'Ivoire.
CONCACAF - Mexico
CONMEBOL - Chile
UEFA - Greece

OFC goes without saying of course

robbwatson2009-12-06 00:38:05
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over 16 years ago · edited over 13 years ago
New Zealand and Australia. Only Sport I'll ever support Australia at.
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