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August 2014 Football Thread


Dolfan in NYC

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Guest The Magnificent 7

Celtic won 6 - 1 over Dundee United today.  Looked like the players are starting to get how Deila wants them to play.  Many positives after a miserable few weeks.  Hopefully they keep improving and compete against Maribor. 

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Guest The Magnificent 7

It's an ex-Celt scorefest as Ki scored today for Swansea and McGeady just scored for Everton.  Put your money on big Vic Wanyama to score.  ;)

 

Leicester just equalized.  This is getting good.

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That Everton/Leicester match was fantastic to watch.  You could say that Leicester stole a point there but they played really well all game long and really earned their tie.  Will be watching them again soon.  Everton though really should play better in the second half.  They had almost no build up like they did in the first half and it cost them.

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Jason Puncheon commits a stupid slide tackle and gets sent off on his second yellow and Arsenal scores less than two minutes later.  Crystal Palace worked hard enough to get the point here but they couldn't keep the composure for the full 90 and end up getting nothing today.  Such a shame.

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It's interesting to chart Lucas Leiva's Liverpool career. Bought for the then pricey fee of £5 million 7 years ago (how the years go by!) and used heavily in the squad rotation by Rafa, Lucas was much maligned for the first three years of his career for the Reds. Then he broke out, due in large part to all of the first team football he received under Benitez, during Rafa's last season or so. He was everything a holding midfielder should be: tactically astute, fearless in tackle, aggressive but poised, great at dispossesing the opposition's best players, and able to make safe passes in tight areas due to good technical ability. In my opinion, he was the best holding midfielder in England from late '09 up until that awful knee injury suffered from an awkward tackle on Juan Mata against Chelsea in a league fucking cup match (he was overplayed due to the lack of cover in midfield). Since that shitty day in December '11, Lucas has never recovered. He's often looked slow, a step behind play, his tackling ability erratic often leading to wild swings of the leg leading to a great deal of fouls in key positions, and his passing has been off as well. Despite today's start, he's probably third or fourth on the midfield depth chart and his poor coverage on that beauty Clyne goal shows his lack of form. From scapegoat to revered figure to forgotten man. 

 

Pretty lifeless second half and we were lucky to come away with three points. It'll be interesting going forward to see how we balance attack, control, and defence compared to last season. Think we need a bit more incisive attacking movement. Henderson (who is following Lucas' trajectory as a LFC player) was great and crucial in both goals for. Manquillo impressed the heck out of me, Lovren looked solid outside a mistake or two, and Mignolet made some key saves. Johnson and Skrtel both look like players that should be moved on at this point.

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Literally just noticed that there's a Benfica game on GolTV. Have they added the Portuguese Superliga as a full time thing? Alright I guess, I'd rather have La Liga back but I'm really only getting the channel for Germany at this point so anything added on that is a bonus.

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First round of the German Cup concludes today with a big upset, Dynamo Dresden beating Schalke 04 by 2-1. Schalke joins Mainz, Stuttgart, Augsburg and freshly promoted Paderborn as one of five Bundesliga clubs to get eliminated in the first round. Interesting first round of the cup, with one of the huge upsets coming from a tremendous game with an incredible scoreline.

Didn´t catch as much Premiere League as I´d loved to, but the first matchday was pretty tense. Lots of close games it seemed. It will be interesting to see what Man United will do. I can imagine them getting their stuff together, van Gaal teams tend to need quite a few matchdays from what I´ve seen from him coaching up until now.

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First round of the German Cup concludes today with a big upset, Dynamo Dresden beating Schalke 04 by 2-1. Schalke joins Mainz, Stuttgart, Augsburg and freshly promoted Paderborn as one of five Bundesliga clubs to get eliminated in the first round. Interesting first round of the cup, with one of the huge upsets coming from a tremendous game with an incredible scoreline. Didn´t catch as much Premiere League as I´d loved to, but the first matchday was pretty tense. Lots of close games it seemed. It will be interesting to see what Man United will do. I can imagine them getting their stuff together, van Gaal teams tend to need quite a few matchdays from what I´ve seen from him coaching up until now.

 

Said upset: Chemnitzer 5-5 Mainz 05 (3rd division Chemnitzer win 5-3 on penalties)

 

3-3 after regulation. Chemnitzer about to win in ET when Mainz equalized on a ridiculous strike from behind the halfway line.

 

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Dresden pretty much had their number all game. Draxler was subbed in when Schalke went down 0-2 early in the second half and brought some life to the squad, but it just seemed their first competitive game came a little too soon overall. They seemed to be one step late and out of position quite a lot, and Santana and Matip in their respective Center Back positions had their hand in all three goals. Dresden´s first came from a stupid penalty due to a Santana foul, their second was a failed Matip clearance / bad touch at the one six yard box and Schalke´s goal came from Matip forcing in a Santana rebound. Aside from the goal they seemed nothing but a liabilty to Schalke´s defense, especially Santana.

Dresden are a solid side, despite playing third division (think the equivalent in the UK would be npower league) and have incredibly energetic and inspiring home support, which helped them a big deal. It´s a big upset, but also one of those typical cup upsets where the big team has a bad day, the smaller team has a great day and the crowd works itself into a frenzy. Game was really fun to look at as a neutral. It will be interesting - and probably decisive for their success in the Bundesliga and Champion´s League - to see when (or if) Schalkes World Cup participants will find their groove.

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