The Ultimate Soccer Thread 2010-2011 VOL. Premier league, La Liga, Serie A & Bundesliga

[imasoleman18]

chicharito is the cousin of a friend of mine here in the states ^_^

 

[imasoleman18]

chicharito is the cousin of a friend of mine here in the states ^_^

 

[carlos tevez]

A lot of these transfer rumors are pure B.S.

Why the heck would Real trade Benzema for a garbage player like Clichy?

Plus, a lot of the names being thrown around are cup tied which pretty much rules out the possibility of them moving in January.

Anyways, anyone in London in February is in for a treat...Portugal vs. Argentina at the Emirates on February 9.

 

[carlos tevez]

A lot of these transfer rumors are pure B.S.

Why the heck would Real trade Benzema for a garbage player like Clichy?

Plus, a lot of the names being thrown around are cup tied which pretty much rules out the possibility of them moving in January.

Anyways, anyone in London in February is in for a treat...Portugal vs. Argentina at the Emirates on February 9.

 

[black chiney]

Your right bout the rumors.
Speaking of rumors...anybody hear the rumor that Inter sacked Rafa?

if true tho

 

[black chiney]

Your right bout the rumors.
Speaking of rumors...anybody hear the rumor that Inter sacked Rafa?

if true tho

 

[mauriciogarcia]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/856326?cc=3888


[h1]Balotelli: 'I don't know who Wilshere is'[/h1]
December 21, 2010

• http:///sendtofriend.espn.go.com/sendtofriend/soccernet/SendToFriendSoccernet?URL=http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/856326&title=Mario Balotelli: ">http://sendtofriend.espn....le=Mari...le,noscrollbars,width=400,height=500');return false;" href="#">Email
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By ESPNsoccernet staff

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli claimed he has never heard of Arsenal starlet Jack Wilshere when picking up the Tuttosport Golden Boy trophy on Tuesday.

GettyImagesMario Balotelli: Has scored two Premier League goals for his new team this season.

Balotelli, who has barely played for City due to injury after joining the Eastlands club from Inter Milan in the summer, beat off competition from Wilshere to win the award, which recognises the best player under the age of 21.

Wilshere, a full England international, is seen as one of the brightest young prospects in the Premier League.

"I am delighted to receive this award,'' said Balotelli to Tuttosport. "Who should have won this award but me? Two years ago I finished sixth and a year ago fourth. It was finally my turn.

"I don't know who Wilshere is but the next time I play against Arsenal I will keep a close eye on him.

"Perhaps I can show him (Wilshere) the Golden Boy trophy and remind him that I won it!

"My aim is that this prize will, in the near future, transform itself into the Golden Ball Award. To have won this award is a good omen to achieve that.

"All I ask for is two things: to win the Premier League, in order to continue with the tradition I had at Inter of winning three consecutive league titles, and to clinch the Europa League - a trophy that I have not yet won, and a competition where we are considered favourites."

 

[mauriciogarcia]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/856326?cc=3888


[h1]Balotelli: 'I don't know who Wilshere is'[/h1]
December 21, 2010

• http:///sendtofriend.espn.go.com/sendtofriend/soccernet/SendToFriendSoccernet?URL=http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/856326&title=Mario Balotelli: ">http://sendtofriend.espn....le=Mari...le,noscrollbars,width=400,height=500');return false;" href="#">Email
• Print

By ESPNsoccernet staff

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli claimed he has never heard of Arsenal starlet Jack Wilshere when picking up the Tuttosport Golden Boy trophy on Tuesday.

GettyImagesMario Balotelli: Has scored two Premier League goals for his new team this season.

Balotelli, who has barely played for City due to injury after joining the Eastlands club from Inter Milan in the summer, beat off competition from Wilshere to win the award, which recognises the best player under the age of 21.

Wilshere, a full England international, is seen as one of the brightest young prospects in the Premier League.

"I am delighted to receive this award,'' said Balotelli to Tuttosport. "Who should have won this award but me? Two years ago I finished sixth and a year ago fourth. It was finally my turn.

"I don't know who Wilshere is but the next time I play against Arsenal I will keep a close eye on him.

"Perhaps I can show him (Wilshere) the Golden Boy trophy and remind him that I won it!

"My aim is that this prize will, in the near future, transform itself into the Golden Ball Award. To have won this award is a good omen to achieve that.

"All I ask for is two things: to win the Premier League, in order to continue with the tradition I had at Inter of winning three consecutive league titles, and to clinch the Europa League - a trophy that I have not yet won, and a competition where we are considered favourites."

 

[tonton32]

Top EPL Journalist Andy Gray: Lionel Messi Is Not Good Enough For Stoke City & Barcelona Would Struggle In England
Former Aston Villa and Everton striker Andy Gray questions whether Lionel Messi's could perform as well in the English Premier League.



did anyone else see this? to me i cant seem to see the argument, Andy Gray seems to think that both ronaldo and messi wouldnt do as well in the epl (which very well might be true), but to say that "Barcelona would struggle in the EPL as they've never played the likes of Stoke." 

....has this fool seen them play before?! and has he forgotten the fact that ronaldo !!*! on english football for 6 years. To me, its obvious that the epl is better in terms of overall quality compared to la liga, but even i cant escape the fact that real madrid and barca or even ronaldo and messi would all still maintain top ranking in england.


what do you think?


oh and to all the gunners in attendance, you better hope Catalunya world wide dont hear of this, or you'll be nursing an embarrassing heartbreak when barca come to visit.

 

[tonton32]

Top EPL Journalist Andy Gray: Lionel Messi Is Not Good Enough For Stoke City & Barcelona Would Struggle In England
Former Aston Villa and Everton striker Andy Gray questions whether Lionel Messi's could perform as well in the English Premier League.



did anyone else see this? to me i cant seem to see the argument, Andy Gray seems to think that both ronaldo and messi wouldnt do as well in the epl (which very well might be true), but to say that "Barcelona would struggle in the EPL as they've never played the likes of Stoke." 

....has this fool seen them play before?! and has he forgotten the fact that ronaldo !!*! on english football for 6 years. To me, its obvious that the epl is better in terms of overall quality compared to la liga, but even i cant escape the fact that real madrid and barca or even ronaldo and messi would all still maintain top ranking in england.


what do you think?


oh and to all the gunners in attendance, you better hope Catalunya world wide dont hear of this, or you'll be nursing an embarrassing heartbreak when barca come to visit.

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by black chiney

Your right bout the rumors.
Speaking of rumors...anybody hear the rumor that Inter sacked Rafa?

if true tho

http://www.guardian.co.uk...azionale-massimo-moratti

@ this fat clown getting sacked already. Moratti should've never hired him but atleast he is man enough to correct his error before things get worse. This idiot Benitez just took over a team that won the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE and yet he has the audacity to complain about squad depth and lack of funds

. Yeah, injuries have hurt them but the team is getting healthy again and yet he thought it was a good idea to go public and demand more players.

Originally Posted by tonton32

Top EPL Journalist Andy Gray: Lionel Messi Is Not Good Enough For Stoke City & Barcelona Would Struggle In England
Former Aston Villa and Everton striker Andy Gray questions whether Lionel Messi's could perform as well in the English Premier League.

This is a bunch of crap by a guy that occasionally makes very stupid comments. The same Messi that destroyed Chelsea as an 18-year-old back in the 2006 CL, scored against an excellent Man Utd team in the 09 CL finals, scored 4 goals vs. Arsenal and has been the CL's leading scorer over the last 3 seasons would struggle against the likes of Wolves, Stoke, West Ham, etc?

Sorry tonton, but I disagree with you about the Premiership having more quality than La Liga. The WC, 2008 Euro and 2009 and 2006 CL winners came from La Liga. Not only that but if you look at recent WCs you see that La Liga players like Forlan, Villa, Sneijder (formerly La Liga player), Zidane, fat Ronaldo, Rivaldo, etc were the best players in those tournaments. I cant remember the last time a Premiership player had a standout WC. Also, if you look at the WPOY winners since the introduction of that award, only 1 Premiership player has ever won it (Ronaldo), where as a La Liga or Serie A player has won it 98% of the time.

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by black chiney

Your right bout the rumors.
Speaking of rumors...anybody hear the rumor that Inter sacked Rafa?

if true tho

http://www.guardian.co.uk...azionale-massimo-moratti

@ this fat clown getting sacked already. Moratti should've never hired him but atleast he is man enough to correct his error before things get worse. This idiot Benitez just took over a team that won the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLE and yet he has the audacity to complain about squad depth and lack of funds

. Yeah, injuries have hurt them but the team is getting healthy again and yet he thought it was a good idea to go public and demand more players.

Originally Posted by tonton32

Top EPL Journalist Andy Gray: Lionel Messi Is Not Good Enough For Stoke City & Barcelona Would Struggle In England
Former Aston Villa and Everton striker Andy Gray questions whether Lionel Messi's could perform as well in the English Premier League.

This is a bunch of crap by a guy that occasionally makes very stupid comments. The same Messi that destroyed Chelsea as an 18-year-old back in the 2006 CL, scored against an excellent Man Utd team in the 09 CL finals, scored 4 goals vs. Arsenal and has been the CL's leading scorer over the last 3 seasons would struggle against the likes of Wolves, Stoke, West Ham, etc?

Sorry tonton, but I disagree with you about the Premiership having more quality than La Liga. The WC, 2008 Euro and 2009 and 2006 CL winners came from La Liga. Not only that but if you look at recent WCs you see that La Liga players like Forlan, Villa, Sneijder (formerly La Liga player), Zidane, fat Ronaldo, Rivaldo, etc were the best players in those tournaments. I cant remember the last time a Premiership player had a standout WC. Also, if you look at the WPOY winners since the introduction of that award, only 1 Premiership player has ever won it (Ronaldo), where as a La Liga or Serie A player has won it 98% of the time.

 

[carlos tevez]

Cassano to AC Milan in January...
http://www.guardian.co.uk...ntonio-cassano-sampdoria

Great signing but he cant play in the CL. Seems like Ronaldinho will be parked to the bench for the 2nd half of the season.

 

[carlos tevez]

Cassano to AC Milan in January...
http://www.guardian.co.uk...ntonio-cassano-sampdoria

Great signing but he cant play in the CL. Seems like Ronaldinho will be parked to the bench for the 2nd half of the season.

 

[tonton32]

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

i completely agree with you, when you say that la liga and seria a house the most talent. the list of the top ten players of any given year rarely has any epl players, this year for example has zero..but i feel like in terms of the competition la liga just doesnt provide enough quality to challenge the likes of barcalona and madrid, yeah the epl has the top 4 but look at this year, the top 6 teams are fairly close, no. in that respect i feel seria a has improved but la liga just needs more quality to challenge their power houses. the question i always struggle to answer is whether the average la liga team would beat the average epl team, frankly i dont know, what you think?

 

[tonton32]

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

i completely agree with you, when you say that la liga and seria a house the most talent. the list of the top ten players of any given year rarely has any epl players, this year for example has zero..but i feel like in terms of the competition la liga just doesnt provide enough quality to challenge the likes of barcalona and madrid, yeah the epl has the top 4 but look at this year, the top 6 teams are fairly close, no. in that respect i feel seria a has improved but la liga just needs more quality to challenge their power houses. the question i always struggle to answer is whether the average la liga team would beat the average epl team, frankly i dont know, what you think?

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by tonton32

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

i completely agree with you, when you say that la liga and seria a house the most talent. the list of the top ten players of any given year rarely has any epl players, this year for example has zero..but i feel like in terms of the competition la liga just doesnt provide enough quality to challenge the likes of barcalona and madrid, yeah the epl has the top 4 but look at this year, the top 6 teams are fairly close, no. in that respect i feel seria a has improved but la liga just needs more quality to challenge their power houses. the question i always struggle to answer is whether the average la liga team would beat the average epl team, frankly i dont know, what you think?

You are right that the Premiership has been more competitive in recent years but at the same time the Premiership isnt as competitive as most people think (in my opinion). Yeah, La Liga is a 2 horse race but if you look at the Premiership you see that only 2 clubs have won it in the last 6 seasons. Before Abrahimovic took over Chelsea, the Premiership was a 2 horse race between Arsenal and Man Utd for several years. Right now we have 5 clubs in the thick of the race but chances are Arsenal and Tottenham will fall out of the picture soon and no one really expects Man City to win it so soon so we may end up with Chelsea/Man Utd winning it again.

I think what is going on with La Liga right now is a result of Barcelona developing one of the best crop of players ever. You look at their team now and 8 of their starters are home grown players, some of whom have gone on to win multiple CL titles, Euro Cup, WC, etc etc. Barcelona are fortunate enough to have developed an excellent team that is head and shoulders above the rest in Spain and have also gone on to prove that they were the best in Europe. Real Madrid have tried their best to compete with Barca and that has involved spending hundreds of millions on new players which has separated the top 2 from the rest. That being said, the 2nd tier La Liga sides remain very good. We've seen Sevilla and Atletico Madrid win the UEFA Cup in recent years (defeating 2nd tier English clubs along the way), and we've seen clubs like Villareal and Valencia do pretty well in the CL.

To answer your question, the top 4-5 in England have shown in recent years that they are better than the top 4-5 in La Liga (we've seen Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool make the CL finals) but we've also seen Barca win as many CL titles in the last 5 years as has all of the Premiership (2 for Barca, 1 each to Man Ttd and Liverpool). As for the 2nd tier clubs in either league, we've seen La Liga clubs win 3 UEFA Cups in the last 5 years compared to 0 Premiership winners.

 

[carlos tevez]

Originally Posted by tonton32

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

i completely agree with you, when you say that la liga and seria a house the most talent. the list of the top ten players of any given year rarely has any epl players, this year for example has zero..but i feel like in terms of the competition la liga just doesnt provide enough quality to challenge the likes of barcalona and madrid, yeah the epl has the top 4 but look at this year, the top 6 teams are fairly close, no. in that respect i feel seria a has improved but la liga just needs more quality to challenge their power houses. the question i always struggle to answer is whether the average la liga team would beat the average epl team, frankly i dont know, what you think?

You are right that the Premiership has been more competitive in recent years but at the same time the Premiership isnt as competitive as most people think (in my opinion). Yeah, La Liga is a 2 horse race but if you look at the Premiership you see that only 2 clubs have won it in the last 6 seasons. Before Abrahimovic took over Chelsea, the Premiership was a 2 horse race between Arsenal and Man Utd for several years. Right now we have 5 clubs in the thick of the race but chances are Arsenal and Tottenham will fall out of the picture soon and no one really expects Man City to win it so soon so we may end up with Chelsea/Man Utd winning it again.

I think what is going on with La Liga right now is a result of Barcelona developing one of the best crop of players ever. You look at their team now and 8 of their starters are home grown players, some of whom have gone on to win multiple CL titles, Euro Cup, WC, etc etc. Barcelona are fortunate enough to have developed an excellent team that is head and shoulders above the rest in Spain and have also gone on to prove that they were the best in Europe. Real Madrid have tried their best to compete with Barca and that has involved spending hundreds of millions on new players which has separated the top 2 from the rest. That being said, the 2nd tier La Liga sides remain very good. We've seen Sevilla and Atletico Madrid win the UEFA Cup in recent years (defeating 2nd tier English clubs along the way), and we've seen clubs like Villareal and Valencia do pretty well in the CL.

To answer your question, the top 4-5 in England have shown in recent years that they are better than the top 4-5 in La Liga (we've seen Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool make the CL finals) but we've also seen Barca win as many CL titles in the last 5 years as has all of the Premiership (2 for Barca, 1 each to Man Ttd and Liverpool). As for the 2nd tier clubs in either league, we've seen La Liga clubs win 3 UEFA Cups in the last 5 years compared to 0 Premiership winners.

 

[xblaze23]

good riddance Rafa Benitez, you swine piece of garbage.

 

[xblaze23]

good riddance Rafa Benitez, you swine piece of garbage.

 

[demps]

My dude Stuart Holden getting love.

Representing that Texas

 

[demps]

My dude Stuart Holden getting love.

Representing that Texas

 

[Sinner]

Originally Posted by xblaze23

good riddance Rafa Benitez, you swine piece of garbage.

It wasn't official before, but it is now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/9302348.stm

 

[Sinner]

Originally Posted by xblaze23

good riddance Rafa Benitez, you swine piece of garbage.

It wasn't official before, but it is now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/9302348.stm

 

[black chiney]

Originally Posted by SinnerP

Originally Posted by xblaze23

good riddance Rafa Benitez, you swine piece of garbage.

It wasn't official before, but it is now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/9302348.stm