texanspaniard Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 I've always had a soft spot for the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) because as a kid I remember Real Madrid winning it twice, back to back, in the mid 80's and that was a big deal for me then (in the days of following things via phone calls between my mother and family in Spain). That was also when it was the 3rd most prestigious European club title (European Cup now Champions League and Cup Winners Cup now defunct being the ones above it). Now that it comes with the winner earning a spot in the next season's Champions League and how it helps the winning club's league coeffecient I can not fathom why any club or their supporters would slag it off because it really is a big trophy with a lot of history to it and wonderful incentives. Anyways, I only caught the Lille-Everton match today but looking forward to catching the highlights of the other matches later when I get a chance to get around to it. Was really happy with Real's performance yesterday vs Liverpool at Anfield and looking forward to El Classico. Hoping for a competitive match, I don't mind a loss as long as it's a fight to the finish rather than a capitulation. Should be a good match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 I think the reason why the Euro-League gets the knock is that it´s quite clearly cut out to play second fiddle to the Champions League. It starts out with the teams that missed out on "the big one", and later on teams who couldn´t make it to the Champions League knockout stages get to join in in the round of the last 32. Loved the old UEFA cup, but after the group stage and the first knockout-games I can´t stand to watch Euro-League. So, the BPL has Chelsea vs Man U, Bundesliga has Gladbach vs. Bayern, Ligue 1 has PSG vs Girodins aswell as Lyon vs Marseille and last but not least we have El Clasico in BBVA. Incredible weekend. Serie A has second and third squaring off aswell, as Roma plays Sampdoria at home, so basically every league of the big five has at least one major match up with traditional top flight teams. Incredible. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 So, the BPL has Chelsea vs Man U, Bundesliga has Gladbach vs. Bayern, Ligue 1 has PSG vs Girodins aswell as Lyon vs Marseille and last but not least we have El Clasico in BBVA. Incredible weekend. Serie A has second and third squaring off aswell, as Roma plays Sampdoria at home, so basically every league of the big five has at least one major match up with traditional top flight teams. Incredible.Great weekend to be a football fan. I know I'll try and catch some early Bundesliga tomorrow (possibly Dortmund vs. Hannover) and then el Clasico and hopefully both Bundesliga games on Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesterCopperpot Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 And West Ham kick off the weekend by beating City Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 I think that if people doubted West Ham and thought it was a fluke that they were in the top 4 will have been convinced today. They are a good team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 "Don't ask for a Neymar for Christmas, kids. He'll put your eye out!" Only Ray Hudson. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Keep your hands to yourself, Pique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirFozzie Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Leeds working to hire manager #3 of the season http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29774801 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Maybe I was overrating the class of Dortmund´s players, although from what I´ve seen this season it´s more likely I overrated their consistency. Against Hannover they had three or four good opportunities to score, then conceeded from a free kick and seemed genuinly stunned afterwards, not being able to get back into it once more. Really didn´t expect their season to go awry like it did. Leverkusen beat Schalke, who once again didn´t really happen offensively, by a single, but really good goal from a Calhanoglu free kick and kept up with the top group. The real crazy game of this matchday so far however was Frankfurt vs Stuttgart, which went from 1-0 for the home team to 1-3 Stuttgart to 4-3 Frankfurt to 4-5 away win. Next level crazy. Today sees Wolfsburg vs Mainz and the afromentioned top match between Moenchengladbach and Bayern. Bayern will probably win and pull away. They have been unstoppable over the last two seasons and gave away nothing. Next week they got Dortmund at home, which is going to be interesting with the BVB coming in as big underdogs. Maybe they will be able to switch to Champions League mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Dortmund's struggles are pretty inexplicable to me. That is a hell of a team on paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Ivanovic from Chelsea was sent off in extra time for his second yellow and Manchester United scores in the 94' from RVP. What a great ball in from the corner. Anything that takes points from Chelsea makes me a happy boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 That was a great finish at Old Trafford because both of those teams are awful and watching them dick punch each other is exactly how it should be. Everyone left unhappy, so that's excellent. Though in seriousness it's a shame there was no Costa and no Falcao today. Would have really put it over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I don't want to talk so much about the Tottenham/Newcastle game, only partially because it was on the channel I can't see. There may be other reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Gladbach are such a neat club. Not only were they a fantastic team at the height of German football in the '70s with the wonderfully haired Günter Netzer, but they did an amazing job the past few years replacing key players such as Reus, Dante, ter Stegen among others. I haven't been paying as much attention to the Bundesliga as I did a few years ago, but my guess is it's a combination of astute scouting/transfer business and a top notch youth academy. Would I be off on this assumption? Which of the two is more key in their continued success? This was a team that barely survived staying up not three years ago, beating Bochum in a relegation playoff. Fantastic stuff from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Dortmund's struggles are pretty inexplicable to me. That is a hell of a team on paper. Wow, shittey noscript screwing over my post... Anyway... Dortmund simply isn´t there yet. They lost key players over and over, some came back, some are gone for good. Lewandowski is the last big loss. Not only is he the best striker the Bundesliga had, he is the one that fit into Klopp´s system best. The replacements they built up during the last seasons like Hofmann and Schieber where the same player-types, albeit far from the same level. Ramos and Immobile are not only different types of players, they haven´t - so far - played a consecutive run of matches together, since basically all the creative midfielders were either injured (Reus, Mhkitariyan) or joined the squad after pre-season (Kagawa). It takes time for them to grow together and thanks to the World Cup and lots of their players participating they didn´t have the time to do so over the summer. Bayern squad replaced a great striker with another great striker and is basically playing the same system like last season with pretty much the same squad outside of Lewandowski. Gladbach drew Bayern goallessly in a thrilling game. Both teams were tactically sound, both goalkeepers with some great saves. Bayern played the posession game, Gladbach was defending it well and hit the Bundesliga-leaders dangerously on the break. Great counter-attacking. Neuer saved Bayern on a few occassions, especially in the second half. There were also some tricky situations inside the penalty boxes, Benatia elbowed Traoré very close to the final whistle while Stranzl brought Götze of balance with a tackle that proved to be perfectly timed in slow motion. Good game. Bayern defends the lead and continues to be four points ahead of Gladbach who are tied with Wolfsburg (ended Mainz´ unbeaten run with a 3-0 win today) and Hoffenheim (who are third team besides Bayern and Gladbach to remain unbeaten after nine games played). Hoffenheim will play Gladbach at home on matchday 10. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dewar Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I don't want to talk so much about the Tottenham/Newcastle game, only partially because it was on the channel I can't see. There may be other reasons. It was on one of the TSN channels this morning. I will discuss this game. Spurs dominated the first half, Then as soon as the second half started, Newcastle took over the game, and scored a couple of nice goals to win the match. Might have been three goals in the second half if Cabella had played the ball across the front of the net instead of trying to score from an impossible angle. Pardiola definitely got the tactics right for the second half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Yeah it was on TSN 2 but come on I already have like 60 channels I don't use on basic satellite I'm not paying for another tier. I already get the rest of TSN, the SN regionals, and SN One, all of which air Premier League too. It's still quite the spread of games every week now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Since I seem to have committed to updates on the continued adventures of Blackpool, they just announced they've sacked their manager. Because you know, when you literally cobble together a team to play in the 2nd division in the last 48 hours before the season begins, it is probably the manager's fault if things go sideways. One win, three draws, ten losses. It's not pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Chivas USA have officially been FE'd by MLS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Well here's one that's certainly good for a laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dewar Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Newcastle is up 1-0 at Man City in the Capital One Cup. Call the game off now!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech27 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 The good thing about Sporting's pending loss tonight is that I'm still numb to feeling sports things after last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 The good thing about Sporting's pending loss tonight is that I'm still numb to feeling sports things after last night. Hey, did you see the weak sauce penalty on the Whitecaps that ended their season last night? I'm not a diehard fan but my season ticket holder bud was fuming afterwards. They played like ass in the first half so the team has a large chunk of the blame in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChesterCopperpot Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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