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Football thread 2015/16 season.

Naysonymous

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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I'm gutted England couldn't make it through. Which, being an Ireland fan with a passionate distaste for the wonks that kick balls for England in the men's game, is an unusual situation. Maybe it's their relative likeability, the general lack of big time prima donnas, or even just the fact that the Irish women didn't get a sniff of making it (you try being in a group with Germany where only the top team gets through) but whatever it is, I've been hoping they'd go through.

Maybe it's the drama. A real underdog against one of the dominating teams in the sport. A team that have won Olympic Gold in every games bar the one they finished second, a team that have never failed to make the semi-finals of the World Cup against one that never did until now. I'm a sucker for that. But it's not to be and I don't think I can really fault England. They matched Japan, they looked dangerous in the second half while for all their comfortable and composed play, Japan never really threatened until that final killer pass that Bassett was unfortunate enough to come a cropper to.

Still, the dalliance is over. When the Euro qualifiers kick off later in the year, I'll be back to the green. Finland, Spain, Portugal and Montenegro - in an expanded tournament, I think Ireland might have a sniff for once. Well, a better chance than the men do for next year's Euros anyway.

Oh, in other football, The New Saints are 2-1 up after the first leg at B36. That probably got a little bit lost...

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Gabe

Gabe

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I agree with this. Basically football in Japan imported a lot of training systems from Brazil and all of their teams - men's, women's, domestic, international - are almost pathologically reluctant to shoot from distance. But the women's team tend to make it work by outpassing their opponents and passing it into the net, or with a moment of brilliance in the box.

The last bit is my point though - they neither passed well in the final third nor had a moment of brilliance. As ryodi says, they had one shot on target - and I'm not sure how you can say the Japanese penalty was tough to call, even in real-time as it happened I saw it was outside the box, it certainly wasn't on the line by any stretch.

Today, I thought the two teams were very evenly matched, with England using their skill and running to disrupt Japan and to create chances, while Japan remained patient and waited for their chances to come.

But I don't think Japan were 'poor' I just think they play a different sort of game that has different strengths and weaknesses - and it will be a similar sort of contest against the USA I would imagine.

Again, though, they created nothing. The problem with playing the way they do is that you kind of need to pass it around enough to disrupt the oppositions shape (which they didn't) or try and tire them out chasing the ball (they didn't do that either.) They played a lot of sideways passes, lost the ball a lot and at no point really looked threatening. England lost the ball a lot too, but they were at least successful in creating chances.

I guess we'll agree to disagree, because I do think they were poor (as in, I thought they were marginally better against Australia which was hardly a dazzling display either.)

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El Pibe

El Pibe

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Surprised at the surprise around the Pears on sacking. The guy kept them up but he's a prize penis and the club have taken a chance to get someone else in ready for the new season with a decent chance to prepare.

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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There are plenty of managers who've been in struggling teams and then gone down. So he has that going for him.

In a way though, it's like the Nigel Adkins situation but with an added dose of off-pitch craziness. If they do use it as an opportunity to bring in a talented coach to take the team forward, a la Pochettino, then we can give them some benefit of the doubt and see how the season goes. But if it's to bring in Harry or any other currently out-of-work manager who's had plenty of opportunities in the Premier League without properly delivering, then oh jesus fuck no.

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Larsen B

Larsen B

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I guess we'll agree to disagree, because I do think they were poor (as in, I thought they were marginally better against Australia which was hardly a dazzling display either.)

I'd agree to disagree with that because they had 3 or 4 great chances against Australia, which would have resulted in amazing goals (like that front post flick).

Japan aren't fluking their way to a second WC final in a row with a style of play that isn't effective. There's a reason they're going to be there.

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Tourist

Tourist

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Again, though, they created nothing.

Well they created two goals.

I checked out the BBC interview with the manger. Unfortunately it is dubbed so I can't hear what he is saying. But it seems to me from the bit of Japanese I could hear at the end that he is more likely to be saying that he is trying to figure out England's playing style/weaknesses so I wonder if there was a mistranslation and he was trying to say that they break instinctively, rather than breakdown without thinking. Or he might have just been saying they were shit, but that would be completely out of kilter with all of the other interviews he has given.

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Rsdio

Rsdio

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Surely the timing suggests pretty heavily that there's been some sort of new camel's back breaking flashpoint with Pearson that hasn't come out yet? If they were going to sack him for being a mental they would've done it at the end of the season or maybe in the immediate aftermath of the stuff with his son and if he was going to be sacked due to results I doubt it would've happened now. It feels a bit disingenuous for people in the media to be using this as another example of 'football going mad' or whatever. I'd be surprised if matters on the pitch even came into it.

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smithstock

smithstock

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Surprised at the surprise around the Pears on sacking. The guy kept them up but he's a prize penis and the club have taken a chance to get someone else in ready for the new season with a decent chance to prepare.

I'm not a Leicester fan but the surprise for me comes with the timing.

At Boro we had Southgate who got us relegated and then proceeded to have a torrid time with results, everyone called for him to be sacked and he wasn't. A few months later we were flying, we'd just beaten Derby 3-0 at home and the day after it was announced that he would be replaced by Gordon Strachan with immediate effect. Eh?! Strachan then proceeded to steer us towards the Championship relegation places, be careful what you wish for!

It's not the same situation with Pearson (or Adkins), but for me, he should have been sacked around Jan/Feb. It was only after that time that they started to pick up results and finished strong, I wouldn't say his contribution was untouchable but he definitely earned mileage beyond this season.

Baffling decision.

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Shook

Shook

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That was as cruel as it gets for the women last night. They were the better team.

What a way to go out. If they go on to put a good performance in against Germany they'll really feel like they could have done it.

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hmm

hmm

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I'm not a Leicester fan but the surprise for me comes with the timing.

...

Baffling decision.

Really? It came a week or two after his son was sacked for disgracing the club. Not hard to imagine how that led to him being sacked given how opinionated, and frequently idiotic, he has shown himself to be.

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gospvg

gospvg

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Sky Sports televised games for August/September

August

Sat 8: Chelsea v Swansea City (5.30pm)
Sun 9: Arsenal v West Ham United (1.30pm)
Sun 9: Stoke City v Liverpool (4pm)
Mon 10: West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City (8pm)
Fri 14: Aston Villa v Manchester United (7.45pm)
Sun 16: Crystal Palace v Arsenal (1.30pm)
Sun 16: Manchester City v Chelsea (4pm)
Mon 17: Liverpool v Bournemouth (8pm)
Sun 23: West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea (1.30pm)
Sun 23: Everton v Manchester City (4pm)
Mon 24: Arsenal v Liverpool (8pm)
Sat 29: Tottenham Hotspur v Everton (5.30pm)
Sun 30: Southampton v Norwich City (1.30pm)
Sun 30: Swansea City v Manchester United (4pm)

September

Sat 12: Manchester United v Liverpool (5.30pm)
Sun 13: Sunderland v Tottenham Hotspur (1.30pm)
Sun 13: Leicester City v Aston Villa (4pm)
Mon 14: West Ham United v Newcastle United (8pm)
Sat 19: Manchester City v West Ham United (5.30pm)
Sun 20: Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace (1.30pm)
Sun 20: Southampton v Manchester United (4pm)
Sat 26: Newcastle United v Chelsea (5.30pm)
Sun 27: Watford v Crystal Palace (4pm)
Mon 28: West Bromwich Albion v Everton (8pm)

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Liamness

Liamness

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Some concepts for Chelsea's proposed new stadium have come out and, if you ignore the wierd old-timey filter on all the renderings, it looks like it could be fairly spectacular:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2015/jul/03/chelseas-new-stadium-inspired-medieval-village-beyond-ugliness-roman-abramovich

It simultaneously looks like something Isambard Brunel could've built and a brutalist high-rise building from the late 60s that's been flattened. No attempt to be even remotely subtle.

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Liamness

Liamness

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Yes, it would increase the cost considerably. A few years ago one estimate was £100m, as they would have to buy the houses on the other side and build over it. Still, at that cost and by increasing the capacity by 15,000, it'd pay for itself in only ten years. Chelsea are going to spend at least five times that for only a slightly larger increase of 18,000 seats. Transport to the stadium isn't an issue these days (as long as you don't drive in) and there is demand. Of course they would need to add to the debt which might affect the owners' short term goals. Another potential downside is the decreased sunlight from the south; before we replaced the pitch with a semi-artificial one, the height of the other stands and the subsequent lack of light was cited as a reason for its poor condition. There are plenty of stadia with tall stands on all sides that get around this issue with sunlamps though. It seems like a no brainer to me, I expect it will happen eventually.

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Naysonymous

Naysonymous

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At Villa Park the Trinity Road Stand expansion involved building over the street forming a makeshift tunnel for cars travelling along Trinity Road to drive through.

A similar thing could happen at Old Trafford with the railway but it would cost a pretty penny. Speaking as someone who works in the industry I know how expensive things can get. The billion pounds spent on Wembley Stadium included massive upgrades to the two closest stations (Wembley Park and Wembley Stadium) and I'd imagine keeping the station at Old Trafford would be a huge factor if the design to expand the South Stand encroaches on the line because of all the extra hurdles associated with stations sited underground. Closing the station isn't cheap or easy either.

I agree it will probably happen one day, but with interest rates being as low as they are ever going to be at the moment then now would be the time to build so I presume the top brass at Manchester United have baulked at quotes for the job.

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milko

milko

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From what I heard from people at the club who wouldn't actually be in any way directly involved in the project, the railway company had them over a barrel for it and were asking for more than Utd were willing to pay.

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Fry Crayola

Fry Crayola

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Played in an IT company 7-a-side football tournament today. Despite not losing a match or conceding a goal, we've somehow come away with a trophy calling us the "Losers". I'm very proud.

It all came about because they opted to decide drawn matches in the group stage with a penalty shootout, and then award 1-0 wins to the victorious team there, meaning we managed to finish bottom of the three-team group on goal difference. Had the winners not been awarded a goal, or if the standard shared point apiece was used, we'd have been through. In the end. we dropped into the losers tournament of the four bottom placed teams, and won 2-0 and 1-0 to take our glorious trophy.

U1EmYpf.png

Isn't she beautiful? I need to sneak into the boardroom on Monday and set it next to all those IT awards that nobody gives a shit about. See how long it takes before someone notices...

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Liamness

Liamness

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@Nayson

It's never used except on matchdays, so it's already closed most of the time anyway. They couldn't very well close it permanently during the season though, would result in too much strain on the tram services. They could build a new / temporary one next to the car park on the east side, maybe? Either way, I think the main reason it hasn't happened is probably just the owners being a bit cheap / short sighted, it's surely not a coincidence that there have been no new plans for improvements ever since they bought the club. Hopefully once the club is established in Europe again they'll reconsider.

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Gabe

Gabe

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Nobody else watching the England/Germany game? Chances have been at a premium and Germany have just had the best one by far, but England certainly aren't passengers in this match and have played pretty well.

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