Football : Season 2009/2010

[Shadow Demon UK]

Originally Posted by gazzae

I thought only the top team got an automatic place and then there was a ballot of the next places. Have they changed it?

I think it changed when it became the Europa League, i do remember it being a ballot but that has definately changed now to the top 3 nations.

I think Benitez senses defeat

I think the fixtures are fantastic, very well organised as always,' said a sarcastic Benitez, who pointed out if a similar situation arose in Spain all the games would be played at the same time - which only happens on the final day of the season in England.
'What time do we play on Sunday, 1.30pm? What time do United play, four o'clock. Ah, so they play later.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...-schedule.html

[Niles Crane]

In other news, Didier Drogba has been named in TIME magazine's 100 most influential people of 2010. Which is quite an accolade.

Drogba, 32, a striker for England's Chelsea Football Club and the captain of the Côte d'Ivoire team, has shown the world what's possible when power and grace fuse on the soccer pitch. Imagine the body of an NBA star with feet as nimble as a prima ballerina's. When the World Cup kicks off in South Africa in June, he will carry the hopes of a continent as Africa's best-known soccer star. (West African fans will toast him with a beer glass called the Drogba. It's nearly twice the size of a normal mug.)

No one knows the rickety and high-spirited but often heartbreaking touring bus that is African soccer better than Drogba. At the 2006 World Cup, his homeland ravaged by civil war, he organized a statement from the Elephants, as the Ivorian national team is referred to, calling for peace. Many credit the ensuing calm for allowing reconciliation to begin. At a match last March, 22 Ivorians were killed in the crush to see their beloved heroes play. After the game, Drogba resolved to donate every dollar he earns from endorsements to a charity he set up to build new hospitals in the country.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...#ixzz0mcidhlpp

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...984685,00.html

[Matty_]

Here`s one kid he`influenced`

Fernando has more style

Or maybe Ryan check out Andersons boat race...

[Niles Crane]

Another African footballer who has his head screwed on straight is Benoit Assou-Ekotto, as this rather brilliant and refreshingly honest interview in The Guardian today shows:

Some select parts:

"If I play football with my friends back in France, I can love football," he says. "But if I come to England, where I knew nobody and I didn't speak English … why did I come here? For a job. A career is only 10, 15 years. It's only a job. Yes, it's a good, good job and I don't say that I hate football but it's not my passion.

"I arrive in the morning at the training ground at 10.30 and I start to be professional. I finish at one o'clock and I don't play football afterwards. When I am at work, I do my job 100%. But after, I am like a tourist in London. I have my Oyster card and I take the tube. I eat.

"I don't understand why everybody lies. The president of my former club Lens, Gervais Martel, said I left because I got more money in England, that I didn't care about the shirt. I said: 'Is there one player in the world who signs for a club and says, Oh, I love your shirt?' Your shirt is red. I love it. He doesn't care. The first thing that you speak about is the money.

"Martel said I go to England for the money but why do players come to his club? Because they look nice? All people, everyone, when they go to a job, it's for the money. So I don't understand why, when I said I play for the money, people were shocked. Oh, he's a mercenary. Every player is like that."

What of his relationship with Tottenham team-mates? "I have a good feeling with [Aaron] Lennon and [Jermain] Defoe, more these two players but I have a feeling with everybody. I have a problem with nobody. But I have nobody on the phone, except [Adel] Taarabt, who is on loan at QPR and I know from Lens. I only call him. I don't call footballers in my team. I don't believe in friendships in football."

"I knew for a fact that I didn't like school and I also knew that I didn't want to work in an office where I would be paid €1,500-a-month and, at the end of my career, be able to buy a little suburban apartment or something," he says. "Where it became definitive for me was at 16, when I was expelled from school because I was no longer paying attention. I had nothing to fall back on and this forms part of my attitude to football. I give it my very best, being as efficient and professional as possible, because it's all that I have."

"With Harry, it's cool. We don't speak a lot and he doesn't care if I smile or if I know who the next team we play is. If I do my job well, it's OK. He is doing simple things that the previous two managers couldn't even think of. He is straightforward and he doesn't play games."

Before South Africa Assou-Ekotto is on the brink of history with Tottenham. They entertain Bolton Wanderers this afternoon, with a place in next season's Champions League within their grasp. "It would be good for the team, the club and the supporters … they'd enjoy it," he says. "But for me, it would be just another set of games. When we play Liverpool and Chelsea, it's like the Champions League anyway so for me …"

Assou-Ekotto shrugs. It is only a job.

I'd heard rumours that he didn't really like football and this confirms it. I'm sure his attitude irks some people, but he's really gone up in my estimation.

[Russ]

There might be another game left but I can see the premiership title being decided today. As much as I hate to say this, I can't see Chelsea not taking it this year. For the first time in my life I really want the scousers to win today but without Torres it's just not going to happen. Chelsea, premiership champions 2009/10. Just keep it nice and shiny for when you hand it back over next year

Donkey can be happy in the knowledge that his inability to hit a cow's rear with a banjo played the biggest part in losing the title this year.

[superbiatch]

Originally Posted by Russ

There might be another game left but I can see the premiership title being decided today. As much as I hate to say this, I can't see Chelsea not taking it this year. For the first time in my life I really want the scousers to win today but without Torres it's just not going to happen.

You know Russ, I'm almost inclined to agree with you. We've been so poor this season I think the best we could hope for today would be a draw!

[Russ]

I think even a draw is pushing it. Chelsea will be full strength, I'm not sure Rene will put out a full strength side though. Chelsea will want to win, Liverpool have no reason to beat them. I reckon the players will feel they've let the fans down and will want to give them something so jobbing to Chelsea and killing off United's chance at the title is just about the only satisfaction they may be left with.

[punky]

Originally Posted by superbiatch

You know Russ, I'm almost inclined to agree with you. We've been so poor this season I think the best we could hope for today would be a draw!

Its part of the Man Yoo mind set. They moan all season about their team isn't going to win and then when they actually do win, they say they knew they'd win all along, they are the greatest team the world has ever seen, yadda, yadda yadda.

Its frightfully tedious now.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by punky

Its part of the Man Yoo mind set. They moan all season about their team isn't going to win and then when they actually do win, they say they knew they'd win all along, they are the greatest team the world has ever seen, yadda, yadda yadda.

Its frightfully tedious now.

I don't know any United fans who've said we're the best team and knew all along we'd win.

This has been the strangest season I can remember and certainly not just for United. Big teams getting beaten (sometimes at home) by much smaller teams, it's just not heard of. OK it's great for these smaller teams but I can't say I know of anyone who has truly enjoyed this season. It's been interesting but let's hope normal service is resumed come August.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Russ

I don't know any United fans who've said we're the best team and knew all along we'd win.

This has been the strangest season I can remember and certainly not just for United. Big teams getting beaten (sometimes at home) by much smaller teams, it's just not heard of. OK it's great for these smaller teams but I can't say I know of anyone who has truly enjoyed this season. It's been interesting but let's hope normal service is resumed come August.

I have enjoyed it. Spurs have set a new record for points scored. We've scored more points than before when a dodgy lasagne stopped us getting to 4th. Going into the last week or so with 3-4 teams vying for 4th place is exciting.

And last season was just as good because of the relegation battle. Until quite late any one of the bottom 8 could go down.

There's more to the Premiership that one team dominating the very top of it.

[Matty_]

You mean by "normal service" that Man Utd win the league with a few games to spare and you have a second eleven that would probably compete in the premier league.
Other teams just come to Old Trafford and roll over because it`s United. Well if the current state of affairs continues it ain`t going to happen. Who can we blame it on? I know lets blame it on that Bulgarian Berbatov he`s a good scape goat. If you think getting rid of him and bringing in a new striker (who may or not score goals[think Diego Forlan]) will make everything hunky-dory then i reckon your in for a shock.
Normally Utd have been able to sort things out out by making some big signings and bringing a few youngsters through, this hasn`t worked for a couple of years know and the old guard has had to do the business. Giggs, Scholes, Neville and Van de Saar are very much at the end of their careers and Rio Ferdinand is a bit like Ledley King. Unless there is a major upheaval of the current squad i really can`t see Utd dominating like they used to.

How many of Utd`s current team would get in a team/squad made up of the best players in the prem?
Rooney would definately, after that maybe Evra/Fletcher but then your struggling. For the past 15 years you would have had at least 7 or 8 in a squad of 22.

I bet Liverpool thought their winning run would last for ever (maybe a few blips along the way) and look at them know

Also i do hope Utd win the league, i would rather it come up north than go to Chelsea

I also think this has been one of the better seasons recently, you have a lot of teams that play good football plus some that play in a differant way. The beauty has been the unpredictability!

[Shadow Demon UK]

Does this suprise anyone? Not me

YAY! Palace stay up!

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Matty_

You mean by "normal service" that Man Utd win the league with a few games to spare and you have a second eleven that would probably compete in the premier league.
Other teams just come to Old Trafford and roll over because it`s United. Well if the current state of affairs continues it ain`t going to happen. Who can we blame it on? I know lets blame it on that Bulgarian Berbatov he`s a good scape goat. If you think getting rid of him and bringing in a new striker (who may or not score goals[think Diego Forlan]) will make everything hunky-dory then i reckon your in for a shock.

I've got no problem with blaming it on Donkey, the man is absolutely useless for a £30m striker - you know, the position where goals are supposed to come from. He's a total liability and when he's playing we may as well have 10 men on the pitch. Oh sure, he'll do nice flicks and lay-offs but where does that get us? He's a striker who cannot score goals. True we need reinforcements in goal, defence, midfield and up front but how many times has he alone let us down? Too many to mention. I hope all United fans turn on him - with a bit of luck he'll be out of Manchester within a few weeks. the man is useless and beats Sebastion veron as SAF's biggest waste of money. If he spent as much effort on scoring as he does with earning the title of scapegoat then Chelsea wouldn't have won the premiership this year.