A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

So, Scandinavia and the World is a documentary then, folks?

Tam, you're getting a first hand look at the petty rivalries between the Nordic Countries.

See if I can fix that...

edited 28th Aug '14 5:23:52 PM by BestOf

Some were actually rooting for a Barcelona-PSG-Ajax-Malmo group. I think it'll be obvious why (call it "Group Z").

edited 28th Aug '14 6:14:11 PM by entropy13

Depends on which side you're on, I'd say.

Oh, just ask the Swedish journalists. But it would be fun having Malmö in the group, I agree on that one. Could do without Barcelona, though.

Group E sounds brutal as hell. If I were a Cityzen, I would fear for the team given the opponents they have to face. Progression to the next round should be fairly straight forward for Liverpool and Chelsea. Arsenal has quite a knack for going to the knock-out rounds of the UCL, but the likes of Galatasaray and Borussia Dortmund should never be counted out.

As for Spurs' Europa campaign, the 3-0 win over AEL Limassol not the prettiest game I've seen, but it was otherwise pretty comfortable. Frankly, I felt that if our players were fully concentrated on this game, it could have easily been 5-0 or 6-0 for us against AEL (no offense to the Cypriots). No matter, a 5-1 aggregate is more than suffice to join the likes of Inter, Napoli, Everton, Celtic, and Astra Giurgiu in the group stages.

The draw for Europa League is later today. Here are some scenarios I've cooked up.

• Dream Europa Draw
  • Spurs
  • Sparta Prague
  • Young Boys
  • Qarabag or HJK (sorry, Finnish tropers)

• Nightmare Europa Draw
  • Spurs
  • Besiktas or Wolfsburg
  • Dnipro
  • Krasnodar

• Amusing Europa Draw
  • Spurs
  • Celtic (Champions League shenanigans with Legia)
  • Legia Warsaw (see Celtic)
  • Apollon Limassol (rivals of AEL)

• WTF Europa Draw
  • Spurs
  • Trazbonspor
  • Partizan
  • Astra Giurgiu, Rijeka, or Qarabag

edited 29th Aug '14 4:28:48 AM by sanfranman91

Pretty much everyone would like to see Celtic and Legia in the same group. Just to see the reactions by both sides on both matches.

EDIT: Apparently the draw is done.

Group A: Villareal, Mönchengladbach, Zurich, Apollon

Group B: Copenhagen, Brugge, Torino, HJK

Group C: Tottenham, Besiktas, Partizan, Asteras

Group D: Salzburg, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, Astra

Group E: PSV, Panathinaikos, Estoril, Dinamo Moscow

Group F: Internazionale, Dnipro, St-Étienne, Qarabag

Group G: Sevilla, Standard Liège, Feyenoord, Rijeka

Group H: Lille, Wolfsburg, Everton, Krasnodar

Group I: Napoli, Sparta Prague, Young Boys, Slovan Bratislava

Group J: Dinamo Kiev, Steaua Bucharest, Rio Ave, Aalborg (aka Aab)

Group K: Fiorentina, PAOK, Guingamp, Dinamo Minsk

Group L: Metalist, Trabzonspor, Legia, Lokeren

edited 29th Aug '14 4:46:19 AM by Quag15

Spuds wants some Young Boys again, I see. Unfortunately they won't be able to "master" BATE because they're in different competitions...

LOL no Young Boys for them.

edited 29th Aug '14 5:31:24 AM by entropy13

So, let's see whom we've drawn...

Sevilla are a few dozen cuts above us; they'll end up winning the group unless a miracle happens.

I'd never heard of Rijeka before. A quick search on The Other Wiki tells me they finished second in the Croatian league, and Croatia is 18th in the UEFA ranking. So we should be able to take them – but as our disastrous performance against Zorya last night shows, nothing is ever certain with Feyenoord.

The real question, then, is whether we can win from Standard. It should be a pretty even match.

My prediction is Sevilla – Standard – Feyenoord – Rijeka, but we might have a shot at 2nd place. That is, if our board finally wakes up and buys a proper central striker...

Domestic winners to benefit as UEFA plans change to Champions League seeding system

Poor Martinez, looks like the Toffees are in Europa's group of death. As for us, Besiktas could be a pain in the ass to beat but we should see off Partizan and Asteras without too much trouble. I've never heard of Asteras Tripolis until today. From looking at their Wikipedia page, apparently they've got tons of Argentine players on their squad. Perhaps Shaktar Donetsk's Argentine... err, Greek counterpart (given that Shaktar has lots of Brazilians)?

In any case, I think our squad is versatile and strong enough to finish top of the group and Besiktas will probably be runners-up.

Spurs' games against Besiktas, both home and away, will be only a day or two after Arsenal's games against Galatasaray. So some of our fans might get into some beef not just with the Turks but with Gooners at home and in Istanbul. Wanna come along to Turkey, Best Of?

edited 29th Aug '14 3:27:25 PM by sanfranman91

If I had loads of money I would definitely buy an Arsenal membership and travel to games in London and elsewhere. Unfortunately I'm not that wealthy (and of course I live in Finland) so I can't travel to games. A trip to Turkey would be amazing.

Agger's leaving. Now I'm really sad.

But, anyway... You never answered my question Best Of (this Sweden-Finland thing got in the way), are you in the UK now?

I must've missed that question. (I've looked it up just now - it had a post all to itself so I really should've spotted it.)

Yes, I'm currently in the UK - I've been here for 2½ months or so, and I'll be here for a few more weeks before I return to Finland.

I'm surprised that Agger is leaving Liverpool. He looked settled, and though Liverpool do have some quality centre-backs I don't really see Agger as a weak link - and a squad needs depth at every position. If he's really being sold for £3 million Liverpool will be selling well below his value.

By the way...

Which event is that?

Suomi-Ruotsi Maaottelu.

...I'm not sure if I've heard of that thing before.

That's probably because you live in the backwoods of Northern Karelia.

I've seen ads for it here in Vantaa.

And I knew about it when I lived in Järvenpää.

FINNKAMPEN!!! What, you didn't know about it? That's... probably not un-normal. It's in Helsinki this year anyway.

I know, it sucks. I'll really miss him. Maybe they could've gotten more money for him but I think he wanted to play in Brøndby and the club respected that.

Cool, have you been seeing any live football then?

Looked it up. Seems that it's an annual athletics event between Sweden and Finland, and this year's event has just begun - with Finland winning the women's high jump, if I'm not mistaken.

The Finnish news sites I checked had stories about that so I must've seen it before - I've just forgotten. But of course it's a vastly important competition, especially if we're winning this year.

It's not football, though.

EDIT: Unfortunately I haven't been able to attend any games. I've watched a few games at a pub (which is something you're supposed to do when you're in the UK, anyway) and I tried to go see Oxford United but frankly getting to the stadium seems hard and time consuming enough that I don't think I'll bother - even if I manage to get a day off at just the right time. I'm in a town that probably doesn't have any sort of team of its own, so the local club would be Oxford United.

edited 29th Aug '14 5:34:00 PM by BestOf

Pole vault, but yes. You're in the lead. For now.

Ah, I see. So - you're working there?

Yeah. I had to stay for a while in a country where English is the main language and instead of going on exchange (because I already have loads of studies done) I thought I'd find a job. I ended up getting a really shitty job but at least the place and the people are nice. That said, I'm quite eager to return home.

Man U 0 Burnley 0
Man C 0 Stoke 1

Bad month to be a Manc! Not that the rest of us aren't gloating at the Glory Hunters. Come on Everton, do it over Chelski this evening!

Out of interest - if you could shape a squad to your tactical preference be. I like the 4-3-3 in computer games. If I was manager I'd have the understanding the Centre Forward would be flexible, dropping back to be a Sweeper, or even help revert to a 4-4-2 without having to reshape the team through subs. (Caveat - my brother will happily tell you I'm a sports illiterate- he is ALWAYS right!)

edited 30th Aug '14 8:58:05 AM by Last_Hussar

In Football Manager I start by taking a look at my team and seeing who I want to have in my starting line-up. Then I build my formation based on that, at least to begin with. As I get new players or discover game-changing features of particular players in my line-up I'll adjust the formation based on that, as well.

That said, whenever I've had time and resources to take the tactics in the direction I like I've usually ended up playing a formation that doesn't really exist in real life. I have 4 defenders, with the full-backs playing a role that is not quite as attacking as that used by the likes of Arsenal and Barcelona. I have one defensive midfielder. In front of him I've got one central midfielder - both playing a supportive role with lots of freedom to change positions. On both wings I've got an attacking midfielder with instructions to attack almost all the time. Between them I've got my central attacking midfielder, who is my playmaker and has an attacking role. (Usually he'll be the best player in my squad.) Finally, I've got a centre-forward playing as a poacher.

There are a couple of unconventional things about this formation.

First of all, if you've got a central midfielder and a defensive midfielder you'll usually have a third central midfielder in a withdrawn position - so either a DM and two CMs (Barcelona) or two DMs and a CM (Arsenal). The roles of the three midfielders can vary, but generally they'll be positioned quite close to each other. In my formation (which I call the Axis because of the line of DM-CM-AM-ST that defines the team's shape) the central midfielders can roam quite far from each other, and both the defending one and the attacking one stick to their roles more than you might see if they were expected to play closer to each other.

Another quirk of my formation is that the flanks get neglected a bit. Even though the players contituting the Axis are expected to drift horizontally it may not seem enough to cover the flanks when the full-backs don't go ahead very often and the wingers don't tend to track back. That puts a lot of pressure on the DM to intercept everything coming from the flanks. Mostly I stay safe by controlling the ball. With my style a scoreline of 3-2 is basically more frequent than a 1-0.

Playing a poacher - rather than a target man or a deep-lying forward - might seem like an odd choice, but in the game it works and I'd like to see it happen in real life even though I think it might not work quite as well as it does in the game. With a poacher you can be controlled by very good centre-backs marking your striker, but because there are so many attacking players in my squad I can trust the wingers and attacking midfielder to either score or cause enough chaos in the opposing team's box that the forward ends up getting enough of the ball to poach a goal or two.

Of course I'll be first to point out that even though I say it's a strange formation it's not that strange, as basically it's a 4-3-3 where the central midfielders are more spread out vertically than they'd normally be. You could write it as a 4-1-1-3-1, spelling out the strange bit.

edited 30th Aug '14 9:24:03 AM by BestOf

0-2 in less than three minutes. *sigh* How do you feel about seeing Fabregas in Chelsea by the way?