We're FOOTBALL crazy, We're FOOTBALL Mad, the FOOTBALL's...

[intedomine]

Cracking game, pulsating first half especially. All our new signings looked good, esp Rojas, Kewell, Fabiola and CoviC for us was probably man of the match.

 

[MadForIt]

Rooney rage last friday night!

 

[MadForIt]

Erm..

Man Utd 1 Man City 6

Arsenal slowly regaining some form too

 

[bono_man2002]

Nice to see the Victory with all their attackers manage to score a couple of goals!

 

[intedomine]

Good to win, good to score goals, but now we'll probably get schooled by Brisbane, who slammed 7 past Adelaide on Friday.

 

[bono_man2002]

I saw that! Brisbane's team is just insane. They should go back to back this year.

 

[MadForIt]

A League is a joke!!!
I saw Wellington Ph last year and the standard was poor

What about Chelsea 3 Arsenal 5 back in the proper league hey!

Van the man got a hattrick

 

[intedomine]

EPL is a boring pile of shit cause only 3 teams are capable of winning it. A-League is at least competitive. And you were watching Wellington. Watch Brisbane play and you'll enjoy a show.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

EPL is a boring pile of shit cause only 3 teams are capable of winning it.

I'd say 4. Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea, no?

I don't really take much interest in the EPL either, or any football league, but I found the Bundesliga to be entertaining when ONE HD showed it regularly.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'd say 4. Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea, no?

I know who all of these teams are, so I guess I'm not as out of the loop as I assumed.

 

[MadForIt]

and liverpool

Newcastle still unbeaten in 3rd, 1 point behind Man Utd

 

[bono_man2002]

A League is a joke!!!

I'd say 4-5 different teams have won the A-League in its first 6 years. Aside from United and Chelsea, who else has won the premier league in that time?

 

[jimmmm]

EPL is a boring pile of shit cause only 3 teams are capable of winning it. A-League is at least competitive. And you were watching Wellington. Watch Brisbane play and you'll enjoy a show.

Yeah its really boring watching
UNITED 8 - 2 Arse
UNITED 1 - 6 Citeh
Chelski 3 - 5 Arse
Spurs 1 - 5 Citeh
really boring watching matches like that, really boring watching the likes of Rooney, Hernandez, Aguero, Silva, Van Persie, Drogba, Torres, Van Der Vaart, Defoe, Gerrard, Suarez, Taarabt,
its really boring watching teams like Norwich, Swansea, QPR taking on and having a good go at the top teams, its really boring watching matches where the fans of both teams playing make an incredible atmosphere, God, I really hate the premier league,

 

[bono_man2002]

I see both points, but it really is only 3-4 teams that can win the league. Premier league is still my favourite league in the world though.

 

[intedomine]

Dunno about the atmosphere. Matches at Wigan and Blackburn look half-full, so I sincerely doubt that there is anything especially superior about EPL atmosphere than a Dutch, German or Spanish top-flight match. Doesn't look as bad as Italy though, with run-down fenced-up stadiums where the pitch is miles away from the stands courtesy of an athletics track and twenty thousand advertising boards.
8-2 isn't a great sign when Arsenal is supposed to be competitive with the top few, and 6-1 is a blemish on the competitive credibility of the league. The result was bought, not earned. Still not as bad as the grotesque Big 2 in La Liga though.

 

[LJT]

I don't think the PL is boring, the wild scorelines I think are more indicative of defensive quality and probably general overall quality of the league. United, Chelsea and Arsenal are not as strong as they were say 2/3 years ago which you can see in relation to Champions League results (Ferguson makes up for Uniteds lack of quality just by willpower).

 

[cobl04]

The result was bought, not earned.

That's the thing though, could City ever have got there without money? I seriously doubt it.

 

[intedomine]

With respect to ManUre, at least they do have their own academy and source their own developing players. Credit to them for that, as well as their persistence with Ferguson, and loyalty of GiGGs etc. Man Shitty just buy out all the already-developed players from other clubs, Balotelli and Tevez don't even like the club.

 

[LJT]

That's the thing though, could City ever have got there without money? I seriously doubt it.

Can any team without spending a lot of money? People treat this like Man Utd are one of the most frugal teams in the world, the only real difference is that City have bought their players as a job lot while Utd bought over a couple of years.

Ferdinand, Berbatov, Rooney etc were hardly bought on the cheap or developed by Utd.

Evans, Cleverly and Welbeck are the only current Utd developed players that get much game time. The Golden generation of Giggs et al. seems a bit more of a one off as time goes by.

City do have quite a good existing academy anyway, which will only get better when their new build is completed in the north of the city, but their current system if far from poor.

 

[MadForIt]

i went to see Wellington Pheonix vs Central Coast on Friday night
$30 for that is a total ripp off

the standard was a joke - the game was so slow

Only player i recognised was Tony Warner in goal for Welly, the old Fulham and Millwall keeper

Maybe the Aussie based teams are better, but still, not a patch on the Premiership.
The Championship is better that the A League

I want the A League to improve as i want the Aussies and Kiwi's to get a decent national team so that football grows as a sport in that region - just at the moment, they have a long way to go

 

[intedomine]

Best league in the world does not necessarily equate to best national side. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico's leagues are drained of the best players, yet these nations are all super-competitors at international level.

England claim to have the most popular league and supposedly the highest quality, yet their national side isn't much chop.

And football leagues are much more than just about recruiting the best players. It's also about the narrative of the football season, and the clubs involved. Who'd have thought last night's cracking draw between Melbourne and Brisbane would raise so many talking points.

You don't need to support a club/league that has too much money to be capable of having an emotional investment in the clubs, players and narratives of a league. Quality of individual players becomes an afterthought, and genuine competitiveness is a better league trait than having excessive money to buy players.

 

[MadForIt]

but those South American leagues produce quality football as they players are so technically gifted

Its hard to take a league seriously when thugs like Kevin Muscat can make a living near to the age of 40 odd!

I dont have skysports any more so cant watch the A league games - but when i see the goals on tv, some of the defending is a joke...a bit like John Terry

 

[MadForIt]

and anyways, i should be happy you Aussies are at least talking about football instead of Aussie Rules or Rugby!

SO fair play

Keep it Up

I was just shocked to see no talk about the premiership

 

[WalkOn21]

Qualification for the UEFA European Championships 2012 ended last night. These are the qualified teams, with the draw for the final tournament taking place on 2 December.

Notably, the Republic of Ireland have earned themselves a place in the finals. As U2 fans, I'm sure we all remember the last time they qualified for a major international tournament (2001), as an important qualification match was played on the day the Slane DVD was recorded and is referred to numerous times during the concert ("close your eyes... and imagine... it's Jason McAteer!").

 

[MadForIt]

nice to have a 2nd home nation there

 

[intedomine]

Very disappointed to see Montenegro, Estonia and Bosnia-Herzagovina fail at the last hurdle. Need more debutantes, aside from the Ukraine.

Good to see Ireland back at a major tournament, even though they probably should have been at the last World Cup.

Could conceivably have a Spain/Germany/Portugal/France group going by the seed pools, even though the French are very ordinary these days

 

[WalkOn21]

Yes, I was quite astonished by the poor performance of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Considering they were showing some very promising football in the first leg of the play-off, managing to keep Portugal at 0 goals, it was disappointing to see them lose 2-6 in the second leg.

Also, I feel Republic of Ireland underperformed somewhat in the second leg. How does one win the away match with 4-0 and end the home match in a 1-1 tie? The reverse would be understandable, but this?

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Still lamenting the fact that we had such a golden chance to make the Euro for once and we screwed it up, badly.

 

[speedracer]

Apparently playing six matches in four different time zones over three weeks is no problem for Robbie Keane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dKr5vJ2dt8

 

[JJAsi]