A Beautiful Thread for the Beautiful Game

These Go Ahead Eagles: what is their actual name? Are they a mid-table team or a team that got promoted recently?

Men's football at the Asian Games:

India 0 - 2 Jordan

Much, much, much better than our match against the UAE, but still means we crash out of the Asiad. Lots of counter opportunities, but Robin Singh as lone striker meant that there was no real support.

Still, I just hope the ISL starts in earnest (it's actually just two weeks from now, when Atletico de Kolkata face Mumbai City FC on October 12), so that hopefully there is a chance for some major improvement. Perhaps even a World Cup place in Qatar or something.

edited 27th Sep '14 11:04:55 PM by arcanephoenix

Hearts hump Livingston 5-0.

Sow right back up to form after that disappointing showing against Celtic. We remain undefeated, move six points clear (depending on how Rangers do tomorrow) and dat goal difference. Away up in Gorgie by Tynecastle Park...

My reaction.◊

edited 28th Sep '14 11:33:08 AM by Achaemenid

Nice.

Sadly, my team is no longer undefeated. We lost 4-0 against Marítimo in the Madeira island. With all 4 goals being scored in the first half.

Ouch.

How are my favourite Portugese team Academica de Coimbra getting on?

Commiserations to Vitoria.

edited 28th Sep '14 1:04:41 PM by Achaemenid

Thank you. Hopefully this will be just a small bump on our path to achieve qualification to the Europa League.

The fact that you know Académica and that it's your favourite Portuguese team is impressive. They won 1-0 against Arouca. It's their first victory of the season. Rui Pedro chipped the ball over the goalkeeper.

edited 28th Sep '14 1:17:19 PM by Quag15

I like Academica because of their manager: Paulo "Legend" Sergio. A quick read of his Wiki page will show you why! Hope he finds success in the Primeira Liga.

edited 28th Sep '14 1:25:36 PM by Achaemenid

Ah, now I know. Yeah, winning the Scottish Cup must have been a Crowning Moment Of Awesome for you guys. He's a good manager, but Académica doesn't have great players, which is a bit difficult for his management.

Winning it 5-1 over our biggest rivals, when they hadn't won the Scottish Cup for 110 years...let's just say it was extremely...◊

Yeah, we basically love that guy. What a legend. People who've met him in person say he's a really nice guy too.

Aside from the knuckle-dragger who shouts an anti-Irish slur, yes. I didn't catch that on the first viewing. Sigh. But yeah, we're pretty good at atmosphere - because our stadium is so small and barely UEFA compliant

edited 28th Sep '14 2:15:57 PM by Achaemenid

Amazing! Nice chants there.

edited 28th Sep '14 1:46:09 PM by Quag15

Hibs beating Rangers 3-0. Hahahahaha. That increases our lead and also kicks Rangers in the nuts. Bit worrying that Hibs are standing back up though...

Still, can't wait for the meltdown in Sevco Towers.

That's it: 3-1 Hibs. Fair play to them. In true Hibs fashion, their best result in ages was an ever better one for us, since it puts us 6 points clear. That said - the hairs on the back of our necks are standing up now. The last thing I want is for us to be in the play-offs with Hibs. To lose...(*shudders). Let's have a Hearts victory please.

EDIT: http://forum.rangersmedia.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=274203&st=320 This is a marvelous read

edited 29th Sep '14 2:20:24 PM by Achaemenid

Well done the Hibbees. For a change, of course. At this point, they should just lock up Skull Mountain's Ibrox Annexe, throw away the keys and then weld the gates shut. If Sevco can't get promotion to the Premiership this year then they are fucked anyway.

Supposedly they're chained to McCoist - his contract has a giant severance package in it they have to give him if they fire him. He's a cash vampire; he can - maybe - save them by walking away, but he won't do that without a mountain of £££. By the way: Vice did a nice documentary on the Old Firm. O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us/To see oursels as ithers see us!

edited 29th Sep '14 2:42:53 PM by Achaemenid

Is that Welsh?

Right. As some of you probably know, I was absent for several weeks but I'm gradually returning to a more regular Forum presence, and now it's this thread's time.

I've watched most of Arsenal's games this season - I missed Aston Villa, Dortmund and Tottenham but other than that I think I've seen all of them - and I must say I'm a bit disappointed. Rather than maintaining last season's form Arsenal look like they've taken a step or two back, even though the signings they made look very good. (Could've done with a defensive midfielder, though...)

I still don't agree with the claim that Wenger has been an "unmitigated failure" over the last 10 years or so - I don't think any manager in the world other than him could've stayed in the top-4 while asked to make a transfer profit every season at a time when at least 2 clubs were spending more than £500 million (each) over the same period on transfers. (And IIRC that's just the transfer deficit they've made.)

During the last 5 seasons Arsenal have broken their transfer record twice, yet they're still only the #5 biggest spenders in the league over that time (after Chelsea, City, United, and Liverpool); and these last 5 seasons are an era of uncharacteristic cash-splashing for Arsenal. If you look at the last 10 years or so Arsenal are at #10 in total spending, behind clubs like Sunderland, Stoke, Aston Villa, and QPR. Of course Arsenal had a better starting point going into that period but I don't think you can justify expecting a top-4 finish every year in those circumstances.

Well, maybe I'll take that back a bit: Ferguson had huge resources but nowhere near as much as Chelsea and City, yet he stayed in the top-4 and more. United still have a net spending about 4 times that of Arsenal between 2003 and now, though - I don't think Wenger would've failed to win the league in the last 10 years if he had been given 4 times as much money as he was. For one, he could've afforded to pay better wages and thus to retain some star players that had to be sold because Arsenal paid for the Emirates without having the club owner invest in it.

Anyway, back to football: the Tottenham game featured 3 injuries to Arsenal players, which I must say is more than is typical even for Arsenal. It doesn't seem as if the injury crisis has been fixed yet, though even if it had I suppose you can't really prevent injuries that happen during games without having the referee take a harder line towards aggressive challenges. (I didn't see the game so I don't know if that would've been necessary this time.)

Arsenal have lots of depth in midfield and attack, so I think they'll manage. In defence, though, they're in trouble. Debuchy got injured during the Manchester City game and he's set to be out for a while. Chambers is good - surprisingly so - but he can't be relied on to play every game without getting exhausted. Arsenal also don't have enough centre-backs, so hopefully they can avoid further injuries at least until the new year.

Arsenal are undefeated in the league this season, but failures to take points from Tottenham and Leicester will surely come back to haunt them, while the draw against City was a more predictable result and one that didn't leave me disappointed. Taking all 3 points from Chelsea this weekend would make up for many of those failures, though.

In the Champions League Arsenal got a difficult group - though not as difficult as last season - and losing to Dortmund, while somewhat predictable, was a blow that Arsenal must remedy by taking all points from home games and then some. That doesn't sound unfeasible, even with the current injuries; but it'll require that all available players be very close to their best level.

Arsenal were knocked out of the League Cup by Southampton. With the injury situation I think having fewer games might be a good thing, though of course it's disappointing that that particular trophy has now eluded Wenger for yet another year.

So, overall as I said I'm a bit disappointed but I think if Arsenal can manage to get the injured players back - Walcott most important among them - they should get back in the chase for the league. Last season Arsenal proved that they can put together a great run of results and this season, absent injuries, they're stronger on paper. Arsenal should be plausible title candidates this season, but they'll have to make up for the slow start sooner rather than later. Not losing isn't enough.

Hope the Russians get a real hammering tonight. Bayern seem to be dominating play so far.

Bavaria STRONK!

@Quag: Go Ahead Eagles is a club from Deventer, in the north(ish)east of the Netherlands. They were formed in 1902, so they've got quite the history. Their original name was "Be Quick", but in 1905 they had to change it to "Go Ahead" because there was already another team called Be Quick. (At the time, football was a relatively recent import from England, so English names were all the rage.)

In 1971, "Eagles" was added to the name, as suggested by their manager at the time. This is a reference to the eagle in Deventer's coat of arms. Their home ground is called De Adelaarshorst ("The Eagles' Nest"); it's often praised as a traditional stadium with a great atmosphere.

Go Ahead contests the IJsselderby with PEC from nearby Zwolle, named after the river IJssel on which both towns sit.

They were promoted to the Division of Honour at the end of the 2013-14 season, after a 17-year absence. When they're in the Division they usually finish somewhere near the bottom of the table.

@Best Of: If you missed Dortmund – Arsenal and you're already disappointed... it's probably for the best you didn't see it. Arsenal were absolute shit in that game; Dortmund could and should have given them more of a thrashing.

@Achaemenid: REMOVE WEIßWURST remove weißwurst you are worst bayern. you are the bayern idiot you are the bayern smell. Bayern worst Bundesland, NRW master race... ruhr ruhr... BORUSSIA IS GLORIOUS PRUSSIA stronkest. Dortmund best mund.

Herbert Grönemeyer aliv #1 in Ruhrpott, Herbert Grönemeyer fast songwriter making album of Ruhrpott.

Seriously though, Bayern are a bunch of arrogant hillbillies with way too much money to spend. I'm having a tough time deciding who I hate more: them, or everything from Russia.

Anyway, tonight I'm watching APOEL – Ajax. I always feel similarly ambivalent about Ajax's CL matches. On the one hand, it's a Dutch team in the Champions League – a rare treasure these days – and they're usually outclassed so badly by their opponents that you can't help but sympathise. On the other hand, it's Ajax.

BAYERN CORNERS ARE GUIDED BY GOD! Guardiola will lead the bayerns, show them they are not afraid of anything.

Yes, whilst Dortmund are loveable underdogs who have to rub their precious coins together to heat their houses and who go door-to-door with collecting tins to try and sign players in the transfer window. Dortmund players are typically seen with patches on their clothes, dodging the parish beadle, drawing lots to see who will ask Mr Klopp for more gruel, and taking part in charming musical numbers. Besides, its their money; the fans own the place.

Bavaria is best area. Stronk beer! Stronk women! Stronk hillwalking! Stronk future retirement location for Achaemenid!

—

Craig Whyte barred from being a company director for the next 15 years.

Oh, how long ago this seems:

edited 1st Oct '14 4:48:26 AM by Achaemenid

Ouch. Lucky Eagles, I suppose.

Speaking of Pep, Mourinho's Chelsea won 1-0 against Sporting Lisbon.

It's amazing how Sporting's GK (Rui Patrício) was so shit in Portugal's match against Germany in this WC and last night pulled a Tim Howard-meets-Neuer type of performance.

Usually Patricio is excellent. His poor form in the World Cup was a huge exception, at least from what I've seen of him.

He was also a bit shit in the qualifying matches, so maybe he's just not good enough in terms of the national team's matches.

It has to be some sort of mental problem - he's easily good enough for just about any national team if he's playing to his potential.

In other news, 3-0 for Arsenal as we approach half time against Galatasaray. The visitors are playing very defensively, with the highlight of their performance so far a magical feat of getting away with just a yellow card when Melo took Alexis down with both feet, studs first. 19 times out of 20 that's a direct red card. The yellow card was celebrated by Galatasaray fans by throwing torches on the pitch - maybe they want the game to be cancelled, rather than seeing their team concede more goals.

As you can tell I'm disgusted by fans who endanger others by bringing flares to the stadium.

UPDATE: Welbeck finished his hat-trick but Szczesny committed an unnecessary foul by jumping at the ball when Yilmaz was in a position where he was just able to get the ball away before Szczesny reached it - and that, of course, is a red card and a penalty.

Galatasaray capitalised on the penalty, which unfortunately means that Ospina's first Champions League game starts with a conceded penalty. The way this game has been so far it's possible that despite the advantage Galatasaray might finish the game without more shots on goal, which would leave Ospina with 0 saves and 1 conceded. We'll see.

The player that was taken off was Alexis. Arsene was probably going to take him off anyway to rest him for the Chelsea game, but unfortunately his options to rest players are now restricted by the tactical implications of Szczesny's red card.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Well, in the end Ospina did have to make a bunch of saves, but the game ended 4-1 and to be honest that might be a bit more than what Galatasaray deserved out of this game - especially with that Melo tackle that didn't result in a red card. Football Vines has it here.

edited 1st Oct '14 5:31:56 PM by BestOf

Has Jesus stopped playing for Juve? Is he in semiretirement? Because I thought I'd see him in the CL match against Atletico, but no such luck.

Also, what exactly did Anelka do that he was banned by the English FA for five matches?

I'm a Juve sympathizer, so I was kinda let down by their defeat.

On the other hand, Basel (the other club I sympathize with) defeated Liverpool, so it wasn't a bad mid-week.

Anelka did a gesture that's considered anti-semitic, if I'm not mistaken.

Apparently it's regularly used by a French comedian whose material is considered anti-semitic, but who is also anti-authority and so on. Anelka says he's siding with the comedian on the anti-government stuff, but not the anti-Jew things. In my opinion he'd be better off not siding with such comedians at all.