European Football Thread, 2010-2011 Season! Let it begin!!

[RAIDER]

Yesterday was painful. I finally delved in to English Football and carefully selected a team. I went with Cardiff City thinking it would be cool to pick up a team as it made its way into the EPL. Of course yesterday that fell apart....dangit

Your a legend mate
I am now interested on what team you eventually pick now
With your kind of luck ..Please pick Arsenal

[Davyjones]

As a new fan of the sport, I am still learning whats what and Whos who.
I really enjoyed the World cup this time, ok it was the only time I watched it. But I enjoyed it.

I dont have a leauge I watch (mostly because of not having a clue when the matches are or what channel they are on). But I have been a nominal supporter of Man Utd in the past. Mostly its because thats the only team i have really heard of.

Any suggestions as to what channels in the USA regularly show matches? I enjoyed the world cup and would like to pick up watching it on a more regular basis. Just dont know where to start.

Reservoir Dog is correct; Fox Soccer Channel shows nothing but football, of course, and the different ESPN networks will occasionally show some as well. These are the English speaking channels. If you don't mind watching Spanish channels for your football, there are several: ESPN Deportes, Gol TV and Univision (not as often as the previous 2 mentioned). Telemundo will also show matches sometimes as well. Unfortunately, most, if not all,of these channels are special channels and you'll have to pay extra for them. But for me, it's definitely worth it.

As far as football goes, Liverpool still has a slim chance to make it into the Europa League next year, but again, I'm still on the fence about it. I like being in the European competitions, but it does take away from the season. Oh well. I'll just have to see what the football gods have decided to do.

[Greenlawler]

Funny how you went with a Welsh side, with Cardiff & Swansea being the two Welsh teams in the Football League.

Glad to see that you're not a "Glory Boy" that went for one of the top clubs

Yeah that was my thinking....I have some Welsh in my ancestry. Loks like Swansea has a shot at EPL but after researching the two teams I just liked Cardiff better. I actually am already hoping Reading takes them down at Wembley.
As far as the EPL, I tried to pick a team like Tottenham, Stoke City, Fulham or even Man City but my heart just was not in it. I think I may just stay with Cardiff and hope next year is the year the move up. Honestly I do like Arsenal for some reason and I can see myself cheering for them, however I don't want to be a bandwagon jumper.

[RAIDER]

Whose your money on
Man Utd or Barcalona ???

Tough one to call ,
but i am going to go with Barcalona , i reckon Messi will force a penalty out of Man Utd especially Vidic who always seems to do mad things when under pressure .

[Davyjones]

Whose your money on
Man Utd or Barcalona ???

Tough one to call ,
but i am going to go with Barcalona , i reckon Messi will force a penalty out of Man Utd especially Vidic who always seems to do mad things when under pressure .

This will probably be the only time inthe history of EVER that I will hope for a Man U victory. It's sad to say that because it shows I dislike Barca even more than Man U, which I didn't think was possible. As far as the match itself goes, it'll be a good one, but I think that Man U wil pull it off in the end. I'm going to say 2-1 Man U.

[Jim&AngieMarriner]

cant belive Balckpool had an "own Goal" in their match against Man U. I would hate to be that guy.

[RAIDER]

cant belive Balckpool had an "own Goal" in their match against Man U. I would hate to be that guy.

Yep i felt for him, it was going to be a hard task at Old Trafford as it was .But Blackpool did themselves proud .I hope Blackpool under Ian Holloway come straight back up next season .

But overall what a brilliant last day to the season .I was geninely shocked that Birmingham ended getting relagated ...
And a disgrace that Ancelloti was sacked from Chelsea even though we all knew it was comming ....

Oh well now lets look forward to whats going to be an interesting transfer season

[The Reservoir Dog]

This will probably be the only time inthe history of EVER that I will hope for a Man U victory. It's sad to say that because it shows I dislike Barca even more than Man U, which I didn't think was possible. As far as the match itself goes, it'll be a good one, but I think that Man U wil pull it off in the end. I'm going to say 2-1 Man U.

This is such a tough one to call. At the start of the season I believed that Man U's time was up and a new era was upon us. But they have proved me wrong. It is down to Alex Ferguson. Love him or hate him you cannot deny the fact that he is the greatest manager of all time.

However I'm sitting on the fence on this one and will see this going to penalties with Barcelona lifting the trophy.

[RAIDER]

This is such a tough one to call. At the start of the season I believed that Man U's time was up and a new era was upon us. But they have proved me wrong. It is down to Alex Ferguson. Love him or hate him you cannot deny the fact that he is the greatest manager of all time.

However I'm sitting on the fence on this one and will see this going to penalties with Barcelona lifting the trophy.

Well Man Utd got taught a lesson ...Hats off to Barca ,they are in a different league to everyone else ....

[Davyjones]

Well, that's it for the 2010-2011 season! 6th place for Liverpool is better than what I thought would happen when we were at mid-point during the season. But then again, I always want to win the league! Real Madrid finished 2nd, but got the Copa del Rey trophy (which was promptly dropped and ran over)! So, overall, not a horrible campaign for me. I, however, will expect both of my clubs to win everything next year. Just like any reasonable supporter.

So, now we can look forward to Euro qualifiers, friendlies and the Gold Cup and MLS (for those of us here in the US) for the summer. And for me personally, the Women's World Cup!!! Then, the glory/excitement/torture will begin again! I guess it's not too early to start praying to the football gods, right?

That reminds me: I gotta order next season's Liverpool away shirt!!

[RAIDER]

Spurs buy Brad Friedal on a free transfer
( bye bye Gomes .... we will miss you NOT !!! )

Rumours of Spurs bye Joe Cole ( oh please NO !!!!!! and Ryan Shawcross from Stoke ...Thats not a bad signing if we can get him

[Davyjones]

Spurs buy Brad Friedal on a free transfer
( bye bye Gomes .... we will miss you NOT !!! )

Rumours of Spurs bye Joe Cole ( oh please NO !!!!!! and Ryan Shawcross from Stoke ...Thats not a bad signing if we can get him

Cole is a quality player, but just can't stay healthy for some reason. Since he's really not being used by Dalglish, maybe he'll get more playing time at Spurs and stay healthy if he goes. I saw that Liverpool is trying to acquire Doni, the keeper from Roma. I've only seen him play a few times, but I believe he would be a reliable backup to Pepe Reina. But Pepe is the MAN, so Doni might not get a lot of playing time. It will be interesting to see who Liverpool tries to get in the offseason.

[RAIDER]

Well lets just see who are first and last games are for our teams

[Davyjones]

Sunderland at home to open the season, Swansea away to close it all out. And hopefully a Championship and Champions League as well!!

Still not convinced I like the new Liverpool 3rd kit. We look like Man City!

[RAIDER]

Spurs have an evil 3 openers
Everton ,Man Utd & Man City .....It will be a good test
Our final 3 games are Blackburn ,Villa & Fulham
which hopefully if were contention for a fourth place position i will feel confident compared to last years run in but as Fulham have Martin Jol as manager ex Spurs manager who was kicked out of Spurs in the most disgraceful way to which i was ashamed that fateful night to be a Spurs surporter...I think he will have a point to prove

[RAIDER]

Looks like were going to loose Modric now , am worried that Spurs havent bought anyone apart from Friedal yet !!!!

Sunderland are going mad and they have made some good signings

[The Reservoir Dog]

Looks like were going to loose Modric now , am worried that Spurs havent bought anyone apart from Friedal yet !!!!

Sunderland are going mad and they have made some good signings

Fear is this could go the way as Berbatov leaving at the last minute of the transfer window leaving us no time to get a replacement. We need to set a price, sell him on and then get a replacement in. Another option is to play Van Der Vaart in the Modric role and get a decent striker.

In all honesty, as good a player Modric is I find that he is caught and muscled out of possession too often and he only contributed 3 goals & 2 assists in the whole of the league season.

There are other players out there and do not see Modric's departure as the end of the world.

We do need to get busy in the transfer market. If we need to sell before we buy then we really need to get on with it.

[Jim&AngieMarriner]

Watched the match last night between the US MLS All stars and Man U. Can Man U have beat us down any harder? Ok i understand that the all stars only had a cpl practices to get used to each other but still it was embarrassing. And while I passively like Man U (not a big supporter but dont hate them) I would have pefered them not run the score up in a friendly like that. I mean seriously, anyone could see that the MLS guys are not really on the smae level as Man U.
Oh well. At least the Olympic games are comming and there should be some good matches there.

[Greenlawler]

Looks like Craig Bellamy might be coming back to Cardiff....this is good news. Tottanham and Celtic have been other possible suitors.

[Davyjones]

Watched the match last night between the US MLS All stars and Man U. Can Man U have beat us down any harder? Ok i understand that the all stars only had a cpl practices to get used to each other but still it was embarrassing. And while I passively like Man U (not a big supporter but dont hate them) I would have pefered them not run the score up in a friendly like that. I mean seriously, anyone could see that the MLS guys are not really on the smae level as Man U.
Oh well. At least the Olympic games are comming and there should be some good matches there.

I personally don't like the MLS allstar format. I think they should go back to Eastern vs. Western conferences. Just my opinion.

Thierry Henry spoke the truth a few days ago when he said that with the MLS salary cap, the league will never attract foreign players in their prime. I know that the reason the cap exists is to create parity among all the clubs, but it definitely handicaps the league when it comes to attracting big name talent in the footballing world.

What about Klinsmann getting the US National Team gaffer job? Do you think he can push us to the next level?

Also, Gerrard will be out until September!! Grrrrrrrr!!!!!! Although, it helps that we have a billion midfielders at Liverpool I guess.