The Official European Football (Soccer) Thread

[Bure80]

<br />the atmosphere at dortmund is amazing too<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Yeah Dortmund has very good fans,

Dortmund lead viewer ranking in europe again.

Borussia Dortmund 80.365

FC Barcelona (77.467)

Manchester United (75.509)

Real Madrid (70.583)

[LeafsBlowPouch]

thats where his head was last night instead of doing what he should have been doing

Yesterday's game was dissapointing but I should have been way more stunned than I actually was at the result. It shows United's team is extremely weak compared to past year's and it is because SAF has yet to address the glaring problem in the CM position. Scholes HAS TO BE REPLACED.

Guys like Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, etc. although decent players, are NOT the type of World Class center midfielders that make up the best team in the world and carry them to championships. PERIOD.

We need the creativity and someone to control the game in the center of the field. I think Rooney is the only one on the team that can currently do that (you can see it when he comes back and drops into pockets, collects the ball and does something smart with it), but then it means taking him away from his preferred position up front.

We need another Roy Keane or Paul Scholes. SIGN IN JANUARY SAF!! A center midfielder, not a winger or striker!!

[I R Baboon]

Yesterday's game was dissapointing but I should have been way more stunned than I actually was at the result. It shows United's team is extremely weak compared to past year's and it is because SAF has yet to address the glaring problem in the CM position. Scholes HAS TO BE REPLACED.

Guys like Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, etc. although decent players, are NOT the type of World Class center midfielders that make up the best team in the world and carry them to championships. PERIOD.

We need the creativity and someone to control the game in the center of the field. I think Rooney is the only one on the team that can currently do that (you can see it when he comes back and drops into pockets, collects the ball and does something smart with it), but then it means taking him away from his preferred position up front.

We need another Roy Keane or Paul Scholes. SIGN IN JANUARY SAF!! A center midfielder, not a winger or striker!!

Thank you! I thought I was the only one who saw this.

[Shea Weber]

Yesterday's game was dissapointing but I should have been way more stunned than I actually was at the result. It shows United's team is extremely weak compared to past year's and it is because SAF has yet to address the glaring problem in the CM position. Scholes HAS TO BE REPLACED.

Guys like Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Anderson, etc. although decent players, are NOT the type of World Class center midfielders that make up the best team in the world and carry them to championships. PERIOD.

We need the creativity and someone to control the game in the center of the field. I think Rooney is the only one on the team that can currently do that (you can see it when he comes back and drops into pockets, collects the ball and does something smart with it), but then it means taking him away from his preferred position up front.

We need another Roy Keane or Paul Scholes. SIGN IN JANUARY SAF!! A center midfielder, not a winger or striker!!

Thank you! Finnaly someone gets it!

Who would you guys like to see brought in at the january/Summer transfer window???

I personally feel Hamsik is a great option.

[topbananas]

Thank you! I thought I was the only one who saw this.

Really? Wow.........its so glaringly obvious even to my mrs who does even understand offside!!!!

If you look at United's season so far, it all changed with one tackle, Davis on Cleverley @ Bolton. Before then we were free flowing, scoring when we want and looking more dangerous than we had since 1999. The problem is that Tom is too inexperienced and when (as we had expected to) we played Barca/Real or Bayern in the later stages of the Champions League, he would have been over run and SAF would have reverted to either Anderson/Fletcher/Park/Giggs in centre midfield along with Carrick.

Up to the Bolton game, because of the creativity of Cleverley and his ability to pick a pass, Nani and Young were flying becuase we came at defences from all three areas of the pitch........at speed and anyone who has played in midfield or defence will tell you, thats almost impossible to defend. Throw in to that, we had Hernandez coming back from concussion who is the best natural goalscorer in the Premiership, good things were forecast.

Now you take out young Tom and what do we have? Nothing from midfield. Anderson, Fletcher and Park are not good enough, Jones is a defender and I dont care what anyone says. Young and Nani are now having to come inside to pick up the ball and create from there, so easy to defend its schoolboy stuff.

Cleverley is going to be as good as we hope but the problem is he is just simply not ready, physically or mentally.

The need is even greater now because Vidic is done for the season so Jones has to move back to, where he belongs, centre back with Rio and we have to pray neither of them get injured or we are left with Evans I suppose once Rafael is back, he can play right back and Smalling can move in, but that does not install me with much confidence at all.

Finally, anyone who thinks Carrick is not good enough needs to go and give their heads a shake.......or go support Chelsea.

My ideal team to finish the season would be:

De Gea

Smalling

Jones

Ferdinand

Evra

Carrick

Sneijder

Nani

Young

Rooney

Hernandez

Rotation from Cleverley, Berbatov, Owen, Valencia, Giggs, Anderson, Fletcher, Evans, Da Silva twins and Lindegard

[I R Baboon]

Really? Wow.........its so glaringly obvious even to my mrs who does even understand offside!!!!

If you look at United's season so far, it all changed with one tackle, Davis on Cleverley @ Bolton. Before then we were free flowing, scoring when we want and looking more dangerous than we had since 1999. The problem is that Tom is too inexperienced and when (as we had expected to) we played Barca/Real or Bayern in the later stages of the Champions League, he would have been over run and SAF would have reverted to either Anderson/Fletcher/Park/Giggs in centre midfield along with Carrick.

Up to the Bolton game, because of the creativity of Cleverley and his ability to pick a pass, Nani and Young were flying becuase we came at defences from all three areas of the pitch........at speed and anyone who has played in midfield or defence will tell you, thats almost impossible to defend. Throw in to that, we had Hernandez coming back from concussion who is the best natural goalscorer in the Premiership, good things were forecast.

Now you take out young Tom and what do we have? Nothing from midfield. Anderson, Fletcher and Park are not good enough, Jones is a defender and I dont care what anyone says. Young and Nani are now having to come inside to pick up the ball and create from there, so easy to defend its schoolboy stuff.

Cleverley is going to be as good as we hope but the problem is he is just simply not ready, physically or mentally.

The need is even greater now because Vidic is done for the season so Jones has to move back to, where he belongs, centre back with Rio and we have to pray neither of them get injured or we are left with Evans I suppose once Rafael is back, he can play right back and Smalling can move in, but that does not install me with much confidence at all.

Finally, anyone who thinks Carrick is not good enough needs to go and give their heads a shake.......or go support Chelsea.

My ideal team to finish the season would be:

De Gea

Smalling

Jones

Ferdinand

Evra

Carrick

Sneijder

Nani

Young

Rooney

Hernandez

Rotation from Cleverley, Berbatov, Owen, Valencia, Giggs, Anderson, Fletcher, Evans, Da Silva twins and Lindegard

That's a pretty sick XI, but I don't think we will go after Sneijder again IMO.. We have to go younger that's why I dont think SAF will go after Sneijder. I wouldn't mind seeing Hamsik (which is highly unlikely) come over from Napoli or maybe Erik Lamela or Christian Eriksen be signed.

[topbananas]

That's a pretty sick XI, but I don't think we will go after Sneijder again IMO.. We have to go younger that's why I dont think SAF will go after Sneijder. I wouldn't mind seeing Hamsik (which is highly unlikely) come over from Napoli or maybe Erik Lamela or Christian Eriksen be signed.

I hear what you are saying but disagree, we need an experienced, proven player who can mentor Clev + Sneijder will play well into his 30's The only thing stopping us getting Wes is SAF's stubborn Scottishness.

[I R Baboon]

I hear what you are saying but disagree, we need an experienced, proven player who can mentor Clev + Sneijder will play well into his 30's The only thing stopping us getting Wes is SAF's stubborn Scottishness.

Lol that's what kind of pisses me off about SAF is that he believes that our mid right now is world class, when it so glaring that it's far from it. I'm actually kind of glad we didn't go through in the CL cause teams like Bayern, Barca, and Madrid would expose our mid and completely destroy us. I also wasn't please with SAF starting XI against Basel, like don't get me wrong I like Ji-Sung Park but I would have never started him as striker with Rooney, I was unpleasantly surprised when he didnt start Welback.

[topbananas]

Lol that's what kind of pisses me off about SAF is that he believes that our mid right now is world class, when it so glaring that it's far from it. I'm actually kind of glad we didn't go through in the CL cause teams like Bayern, Barca, and Madrid would expose our mid and completely destroy us. I also wasn't please with SAF starting XI against Basel, like don't get me wrong I like Ji-Sung Park but I would have never started him as striker with Rooney, I was unpleasantly surprised when he didnt start Welback.

deep down he must know the whole squad is lacking but particularly midfield. I think that all this guff he comes out with is to keep the wesley price down. I also agree about Wednesdays starting 11, that team was set up for a draw and then when chasing the game Rooney somehow ended up wide left?

Although never happy to get knocked out, I know where you are coming from. I said when the transfer window closed we had no chance in the champions league and would have to get a kind draw to make it to the last 8. One of my concerns was if we drew barca, madrid or bayern, their midfields are so strong, that could have really harmed cleverley's development.

off to ot this aft to see what sort of response we get.

[I R Baboon]

deep down he must know the whole squad is lacking but particularly midfield. I think that all this guff he comes out with is to keep the wesley price down. I also agree about Wednesdays starting 11, that team was set up for a draw and then when chasing the game Rooney somehow ended up wide left?

Although never happy to get knocked out, I know where you are coming from. I said when the transfer window closed we had no chance in the champions league and would have to get a kind draw to make it to the last 8. One of my concerns was if we drew barca, madrid or bayern, their midfields are so strong, that could have really harmed cleverley's development.

off to ot this aft to see what sort of response we get.

I'm despretley praying that we come out an thump Wolves. I don't want to see a 1-0 or 2-0 win, I want a blowout (like the Aresnal game) and build up some confidence in this team. I also want to see how SAF puts together his XI today I'm hoping for something like this:

De Gea

Smalling

Jones

Ferdinand

Evra

Young

Valencia

Giggs

Nani

Rooney

Welback

And speaking of the January transfer market here's an article I found on FOXsports.com . http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/premierleague/story/manchester-united-ferguson-not-expecting-to-buy-in-january?m_n=true

[tylenol]

Lol that's what kind of pisses me off about SAF is that he believes that our mid right now is world class, when it so glaring that it's far from it. I'm actually kind of glad we didn't go through in the CL cause teams like Bayern, Barca, and Madrid would expose our mid and completely destroy us. I also wasn't please with SAF starting XI against Basel, like don't get me wrong I like Ji-Sung Park but I would have never started him as striker with Rooney, I was unpleasantly surprised when he didnt start Welback.

Do you actually believe Fergie thinks that the mid is world class? Every single United fan knows it's not. He's not stupid.

[I R Baboon]

Do you actually believe Fergie thinks that the mid is world class? Every single United fan knows it's not. He's not stupid.

Im not saying he's stupid, I'm just that if we so desperately needed a midfielder we would have gotten one, so obviously he thinks that our mid is good enough to win the league.

Edited December 11, 2011 by I R Baboon

[Shea Weber]

4-1 victory today for united! Great bounce back game from nani and rooney

[I R Baboon]

4-1 victory today for united! Great bounce back game from nani and rooney

Huge win today. Hopefully Chelsea can help us out and beat City.

[topbananas]

4-1 victory today for united! Great bounce back game from nani and rooney

better but still only papering over the cracks against a team that will, along with the inbreds of blackburn and bolton, be relegated. as the maanger said yesterday, rooney tends to score in bunches so hopefully this will get him going again.

i watched el classico last night and we are a country mile away from either of those teams, it hurts me to say it but its true. not just the starting 11, their depth is scary good

[I R Baboon]

YES! This will be the only time I ever cheer for Chelsea, but thank you for beating City.

[topbananas]

well done rent boys. had to laugh at their fans celebrating at the end.......carrying on like they won the league!!!!!

[Scottish⑦Canuck]

Darren Fletcher's taking an extended break from football for health reasons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16165953.stm

Shame. Good player.

[topbananas]

Darren Fletcher's taking an extended break from football for health reasons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16165953.stm

Shame. Good player.

Scotland will miss him badly if he is not back before qualifiers start again. Now SAF has his excuse for buyng a midfielder in Jan

It is a shame, he is a good lad too

[Shea Weber]

City losing made my day! but losing fletcher is really gonna hurt with anderson and cleverly out also. SAF has to buy in the january transfer window, but who?