shit, i saw it, WOW!!!!!! i had no idea.

funny thing, that talk of "team spirit" has been going around-- the commentators brought it up while the score was 3-0 and said they saw nothing wrong with it.

then again when you're ahead 4-0 you can relax, and then, paffff, BOOT TO THE HEAD.

wowza. seriously.

loew is a filthy booger-eater and i laughed at the fact that he was wearing a nosferatu coat.



i was eating my breakfast watching the game and they'd show a closeup of him and i'd go "please don't eat a booger right now, or sniff your armpit." so i only had to deal with the spitting.

but yeah, okay, he's good, but not that good, and you gotta blame someone.

neuer fucked the dog too this time aroudn.

That clip of the Holland game is just brilliant. When Taylor tells the linesman to thank the referee for him, for getting him the sack, priceless! And I didn't realise that Sitton clip was part of a bigger documentary.

Anyway, England 1 Poland 1. Bit of a meh game all round. England were very sloppy but wasn't that impressed with Poland, either. A draw was about right with Poland maybe just edging things. Even with his goal, Rooney was pretty awful, although Gerrard was our only player who had anything like a good game.

Germany are in an interesting place now. For years people have been saying the same old "you can never write off the Germans" while quietly thinking they're not that strong a force. That started to change in the Euros where they started to be taken really seriously and many even had them as favourites. Expectation will be even stronger in the WC but I do wonder how well Loew will deal with that shift in expectation, from could-do-wells to should-do-wells. It's all hypothetical but I wonder if he's one of those managers more suited to overachieving as an underdog than fulfilling actual promise. That's why you have to respect coaches like Del Bosque. He may have the players (as Loew does) but he quietly goes about his business never buckling under that pressure of expectation - the same pressure that I think will be too much for Brazil when they host the tournament. But again, it's all hypothetical.

bloody hell

Just read that Warnock reckons Kirkland "went down like a ton of bricks"
Fuck sake

just watched bayern beat dusseldorf 5-0. HOT DAMN

best part of the game was watching david alaba come in & enable 2 goals within minutes of each other. to my recollection, he hadn't played all season.

5-0! i'd put little thomas muller as a striker instead of mandzukic-- he scored 2 goals vs 1 by mandzukic. still mandukic is the leading goalscorer in the bundesliga but to my eyes he's no star.

let's see what they can do vs. lille on tuesday.

he also said that the fella that attacked him should go to prison.

he did
but he insinuated that Kirkland made the most of it which is daft. He got shoved in the face/throat at close range by 2 hands! Of course he's gonna go down!

when Warnock was at Palace i kept cringeing whenever he got interviewed, but i cant remember too many idiotic statements he made.
but thats cause he was our wanker and i may have been a bit biased

How can we expect players to watch what they say when they're managed by speak-first-think-later pricks like Warnock? Plus he's a hypocrite. One day he's calling Diouf a sewer rat (one of the few sensible things he's said) the next he's signing him.

Fair play to Ferdinand and Roberts for making their opinions known. Ferguson was a disgrace for the way he talked about it the other day, im delighted Ferdinand undermined him by refusing to wear the shirt

and what a signing he turned out to be! great player.

i don't understand why sheffield wed even let that guy into the ground, or how he managed to get a ticket he's been banned from most places by all accounts and what where the police/stewards doing? after it happened they where there in force but maybe they should have had some people in place before. i am not even sure he is a leeds fan, just some pissed up chav from cheltenham who's looking to make trouble.

if you guys have a chance to look abroad check out paul pogba's goal vs. napoli today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo0DmUYpR2M

a lot less washed out picture here:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuh...by-pogba_sport

Completely agree. I find myself liking Ferdinand more and more. He's said and done his fair share of stupid things but is starting to seem like one of the few English footballers right now willing to see things beyond the whole football culture bubble.

Yeah it was on tv here. The commentators were going mad about it but I honestly can't see what the fuss is about. I'm not saying it's a bad goal but I really don't see what's so special or even particularly unusual about it, at least in ratio to the fanfare it's getting :confused:

I still dont like Ferdinand, and i dont think he's someone who the public will take seriously given the amount of times he played with John Terry, and that stupid "Choc-Ice" tweet he sent.

Good point. I do still quite like him, though. It may just be a West Ham thing.

i saw it "live", it was pretty awesome-- yeah not "best goal evarrrr" but, you know, for a regular saturday, hitting a bouncing ball in mid-air, and putting it in that very narrow spot that would be hard to hit even in a free kick, pretty cool.

-

ANYWAY

so who the fuck here is stoked (not city) about today and tomorrow's games? ehhh? dortmund-real madrid! HOT DAMN! go reus go.

Real v Dortmund is definitely the one I'm most looking forward to. Schalke against Arsenal also looks like it could be good. I'm probably more interested in seeing German sides now than I've ever been, thanks largely to you. We also now have a weekly show on TV dedicated to the Bundesliga which will make the non CL games easier to follow.

awesome!

oh yeah also looking forward to schalke / arsenal, as i like both teams. but real/dortmund should be the big game... btw dortmund lost this past weekend vs schalke ha ha ha. ouch. but dortmund was missing a bunch of players that should be back tomorrow (gundogan, gotze, and someone else... schmeltzer or something, i forget his name, i call him "little tymoschuck" because he looks like the ukranian). not sure if kuba plays today he had some cards i recall or something and too much info to remember. i could google it but i'm lazy at the moment.

The only problem with the Bundesliga is this strange need where I have to support a side in whatever league I'm watching. I can't just watch as a neutral so I'll have to find 'my' team quick if I'm to maintain interest. Bayern feel too much like a German Man Utd to me, a bit too much like a mega club. I need the German equivalent of West Ham: a bit shit but with a strong and loyal local following. I'll see which one takes my eye over the next few weeks.

BRAGA!

Unlike MY team, yours is full of rapists.

Australian football is superior to all other brands.

Losers.

pretty gutted that Dougie Freedman has gone to bolton.
i know we had a shit start to the season but this run has been epic. i guess bolton could offer him a transfer budget we could never dream of. Bet he makes a fucking bid for Zaha

also, worryingly, Mick McCarthy's daughter works for Palace and has just had a kid. and he has a house nearby.
good god no, not him, please not him...

Who's watching the Celtic game? Having to follow via BBC website. Seems like Celtic are doing pretty well to hold on to a draw. I suspect an injury time goal for Barca.

And Chelsea! What happened?! 2-0?! Shocking.

EDIT:Hernandez's second goal was a cracker.

oh im glad i caught chicharito's 2nd goal (also the goal by evans) because iw as watching the bayern/lille game which was pretty dull.

looking at the highlights of the chelsea/ shaktar whatever game and wow, looks like i didn't see the most fun match of the day (ended 2-1)

And what did I say about barca?! fucking dicks.

Watched the Man U game. Have to give it to them for coming back yet again but their defence and midfield is still pretty rubbish.

I had no idea you were a Palace fan. I've always had a soft spot for them, mainly cos of their kit in the 70s-80s, with that diagonal line. It keeps getting revived but they should just stick with it home and away. I remember everyone wanting the Palace team for Subbuteo just because of the strip - and the fact they could be doubled up as Peru!

oh, have i got the team for you:

eintracht frankfurt, not only did it just make the bundesliga back from relegation, but is older than 100 years and it has rabid rans (i know a couple of them), and is doing GREAT so far on the table, having only lost to dortmund so far this season.

http://www.eintracht.de/english/bund...football/news/

clearly this lucky streak cannot continue and they are bound to get fucked eventually, so that will satisfy your hunger for loyalty amid utter doom, should you become their fan.

also, lastly-- all of these clubs are member-owned and not the property of arab princes, annoying americans, russian oligarchs, or lebron james.

Fantastic. I've even been to Frankfurt which makes it even better. Frankfurt it is, then. I'll have to read up on who their main rival is, so I can practice hating them.

And yeah, I think a lot of leagues could look at the Bundesliga. Rules against running on a deficit, member ownership, strong national side. And with teams like Bayern, showing it's not at the expense of club quality.

well i dont know the details but schalke was in huge debt not long ago. so it's not a perfect world. but yeah except for a couple of no-good fake clubs that get lots of money from companies (hoffenheim, wolfsburg) everything else is member-owned. actually there's a "50+1" ownership rule in place. buy yeah, anyway, with frankfurt you got the real deal.

me, if i could follow any club i'd follow this one:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/fo...nks/index.html

unfortunately they are back in the 2nd bundesliga and i don't get such transmissions. but they would be the loser team to support if i could, just based on ideology and cool paraphernalia



if they ever make it back to the bundesliga i might switch sides. just becuz. damn, how can one not want to follow that club.

So which club do you support, mein freund?

Whoever's winning. ebebeb

And talk about a bad night for English footy. Two teams getting battered in bad fashion.

dortmund 2 real madrid 1 :p :p :p

--

actually, having no geographic or political or familial ties to germany, it's all a matter of pleasure for me-- i do like bayern for its players (w/ ribéry & neuer above the rest) , and i have taken a strong liking to dortmund as well because of its relentless attacking style & rising stars (reus, gotze, gundogan)-- and because i don't have time to watch infinite games, i tend to follow those two (plus all their games get transmitted here). so, one gets "attached".



did schalke beat arsenal???

if so, they are my new favorite lololol

--

ps werder bremen is nice too.

I can't see Man C getting out of their group now and can see serious pressure start to pile on to Mancini, especially in the Prem. I increasingly see him as a liability in that team.

If you continue to follow the Prem I can see you developing a bit of a fondness for Spurs. Oh well.

And yeah, Schalke won. Didn't see the game but I don't think Arsenal have particularly high expectations for the CL this year.




did schalke beat arsenal???

if so, they are my new favorite lololol

--

ps werder bremen is nice too.[/quote]

Ha!

Definitely agree with Mancini. He's gonna start feeling the heat if things don't turn for the better for them.
Whilst City may have won the league last season that doesn't matter in the eyes of fans. It's all about how they perform this season.

i was liking man city and arsenal and liverpool a bit but have lost track lately. haven't yet been "imprinted" by any team. if i could make my own fantasy team with cazorla and that ridiculous dancer suarez, and lescott and joe hart and balotelli, plus chicharito on a good day, now that's a team i could love.