The Ultimate Football Thread 2013-2014 Vol. 4 EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A etc

Just checked both Roma and Juve schedule. I'm optimistic but it's Juve's to lose
 
Don't think this was mentioned but Chris Hughton has been sacked....took long enough. I was really expecting Norwich to have a better season
 
Istanbul Derby
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Don't think this was mentioned but Chris Hughton has been sacked....took long enough. I was really expecting Norwich to have a better season

It's a real shame. I thought they were building on the platform they already had, and were going to have a solid season. :{
 
At least one Gooner hasn't given up fighting for a title...

Ex-Arsenal player ‘joins Jihad in Syria’

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A former Arsenal star is said to be fighting in Syria alongside extremists.
The man appeared in a video released on Russian website FiSyria.com where he derides the West as “animals” and “dirty people”, and urges Muslims to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“It’s very important for you to protect your children from these animals, from these dirty people; Allah says they are the worst of creatures,” said the fighter.
"From those who think that they cannot fight they should also come and join us because it maybe that they can help us in something else, for example help with medicine, help us financially [or] help us with with advice," he continues.
A balaclava protects the fighter's identity but text that accompanies the video state that he was brought up in Portugal before signing for the Gunners - a fact verified by other jihadists, report the Mirror.
Furthermore, the fighter – who has changed his name to Abu Issa Al-Andalusi - grew up with Cristiano Ronaldo, according to the accompanying text, but left that lifestyle to “to make the path of Allah”.
There have been no further details released regarding the individual and when contacted by the Sun, Arsenal said: “We do not recognise the individual from the published clips and we don’t have any record of a [person of this name] representing the club at any level.”
 
Your assumptions would be incorrect amigo. Both Real and Barça get lots of penalties. Didn't say anything about Real Madrid.

But Barca have got some penalties this year, especially last week - when balls have hit the defenders hands where they've been awarded the penalty. When in my opinion, they've gotten the benefit of the doubt with the handballs.

I understand Barcelona have a bunch of small delicate players with a great amount of technical ability, so they'll be prone to get the call if they're in the box and get clipped. The handballs however, I'm not convinced. They've gotten some calls. You should embrace it, at the end of the day it makes you happy since you're getting the points.

You didn't say anything about RM, but did say it must be a penalty record, despite the fact that in the recent year I cited Real Madrid were memorably awarded more. And yes, every club gets the rub of the green at some point, and likely it does happen more frequently for 'big' clubs, but Barça actually haven't benefited quite so greatly from pens in La Liga over the years. In the past ten seasons, they've led the league in pens once and were runner-up twice. And no, they're not "prone to get the call," they will simply get the call if they're fouled in the box - like all teams and players do.

Anyway, I've seen them given countless times so those calls were fair enough. That said, La Liga has always been much more liberal in calling for handballs than the other major leagues. I don't recall the exact figure, but the rate at which it gets called is something like two or three times higher than in the Prem.
 
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Although I find his tactics rather rudimentary, I'm not a Jose hater at all. It's a bit salacious, but I think there is "some" truth in the story...

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/j...rous-squad-nothing-more-than-sons-of-*******/


José Mourinho tells Real Madrid players: You are traitors, sons of *******

The Times of London have brand new extracts from a new book on Jose Mourinho’s troubled time in charge of Real Madrid.

Written by Diego Torres, “The Special One – The Dark Side of Jose Mourinho” tries to understand why the current Chelsea boss had such a difficult time at the Santiago Bernabeu before returning to Stamford Bridge.

Injecting some fresh insight into the fractious atmosphere which engulf Mourinho’s time at Madrid, we are now told about a fight Mourinho had with his players after a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in 2011.

According to the new book, Mourinho was convinced his players at Real were leaking information out about the team to the media, and the Special One was so fixation on the spies that apparently he had hotels checked for bugs and listening devices.

The Times then went on to tell the following incredible story about the breakdown between Mourinho and his Real Madrid players:

At 5pm on 16 April 2011, shortly before Madrid’s home league match against Barcelona, the newspaper Marca reported in its online edition that Madrid would play Pepe in midfield, along with Khedira and Alonso. The team selection was unprecedented: Casillas, Ramos, Albiol, Carvalho, Marcelo, Pepe, Khedira, Alonso, Di María, Ronaldo and Benzema.

The 1-1 draw did not help the home team’s title chances but the crowd applauded their team off with a certain relief, Barça’s last couple of visits having ended with scores of 0–2 and 2–6, and filed out of the stadium reasonably content. Not so Mourinho.

He waited for the team in the dressing room before issuing a torrent of accusations and insults that distorted his face until he began to sob loudly: “You’re traitors. I asked you not to speak with anyone about the team selection but you’ve betrayed me. It shows that you’re not on my side. You’re sons of *******.

“The only friend I have in this dressing room is Granero . . . and I’m not even sure that I can trust him any more. You’ve left me all on my own. You’re the most treacherous squad I’ve had in my life. Nothing more than sons of *******.”

Casillas did not wait for the outburst to finish. He pretended that nothing was happening, turned around and went to the shower; he was not the only one who ignored the commotion. But Mourinho was filled with such intense emotion that he grabbed a can of Red Bull and hurled it against the wall. It exploded and drops of the sugary energy drink ran down the faces of those nearest to him.

Squatting on the ground — some say he was kneeling — he rattled off a further series of insults, then, getting up, he wiped the tears from his face and announced that he was going to speak with Pérez [Real’s president] and Sánchez [a director] because they would be able to find the mole. He promised reprisals and also made an analogy between martial law and football: “If I’m in Vietnam and I see you laugh at a mate, I’d grab a gun with my own hands and kill you. Now it’s you yourselves who have to look for the one that leaked the line-up.”


I was also having a converation with one of the fathers (whose a Chelsea fan) on my son's team yesterday during a game about how I thought Jose was throwing his players under the bus a little too much & could be in danger of losing the locker room like he did at Madrid. Lo & behold Cruff agrees.

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1...e-mourinho-lose-chelsea-dressing-room?cc=5901


Cruyff: Jose could lose dressing room

Johan Cruyff believes Jose Mourinho could lose the dressing room at Chelsea if he continues to blame his players for poor results.

Mourinho has repeatedly criticised his strikers this season, most recently after his side’s 3-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last week, and has stated his intention to reinforce in the summer.

Barcelona legend Cruyff -- who has criticised Mourinho in the past -- said that, having seen the comments after the PSG match, he believed Portuguese may face a repeat of his experience at Real Madrid, when he appeared to lose the support of a large section of the squad during his final season.

In his column for Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the former Netherlands international said: “For starters, I think the French [PSG] have a strong team with good players. Chelsea also have good players but, according to their coach, Jose Mourinho, they're not that extraordinary.

“In that respect, it’s the same old story. When things go well, it’s down to him; if they don’t, it’s down to the players. I saw how he lost the dressing room at Real Madrid and it’s possible the same thing is going to happen at Chelsea.

“To ask for a 70 million euro striker as if it were perfectly normal -- that is an attitude I have trouble understanding. More so if you look at the attackers he has in his squad.

“The problem is simply that Mourinho always focuses squarely on the result. Everything else is secondary, even all the top players he has running around for him. It is short-term thinking and that’s something I can’t connect with.”
 
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I'm not sure he was sobbing because quite frankly I don't think Jose's ego would allow such a thing but I do believe he cursed out the team several times during his last year at RM & he may have almost come to blows with a couple of players specifically Iker also. Things got pretty sour especially the last 2 months Jose was there.
 
I was watching some UK media recently, and they were saying while we all love Jose's banter, sometimes he crosses the line. e.g Wenger specialist in failure comments, and his comments about his strikers have been a bit unnecessary.
 
^I don't know, I reckon he may just be maniacal enough to work himself up to the point of tears.
:lol You don't have to tell me things got sour, when you finish runner up by a record number of points with a squad like that you know it's shambles.
 
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The Spanish press will forever hate Jose because he called out Saint Iker. Iker got gassed into thinking he was bigger than the team. Add to that the fact that we just couldn't get past the semis and domestically Uefalona was better than us a majority of the time. Jose can be abrasive at times :lol but he keeps it 300 which rubbed Iker the wrong way because him being a 2x Euro and WC winner etc made him feel untouchable. Once Jose showed that it didn't matter what was on your resume but instead what you're currently doing, he started a mutiny in the locker room. Could Jose have been "nicer" probably but none of his criticism was unwarranted. Politics and the lack of trophies did him in.
We could have won la Liga/copa more if we weren't getting washed by Messi
 
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Thats an interesting piece on Mourinho.

Losing the locker room at Chelsea tho? Na I don't buy it. Maybe he'll lose Torres or one of his strikers, but Torres has been in lala land for the past 3 years, you can't find him anyways. :lol

If that story is true about Mou, then he did something right the next year when Real won the Liga. I'd want to know more about what happened last year.

Real Madrid was just too big for Mou to control, I really think he hated being there since day one. Real Madrid & Barcelona aren't football clubs, they're political movements in Spain. Someone like Mou, managing a group of pre-madonnas in a two-horse political race for three years - I'd want to hear some better stories than that. Mou sobbing and crying, do not believe that for a second. Attacking the players for leaks, I can def see that tho.
 
:smokin

Luis suarez stopped to play football with my cousin (age 7, with Down syndrome) in a park, all because he had a liverpool ball.

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"Bit more background due to interest. Initially he just ran over and took the ball of my cousin . My uncle (pictured) didn't realise it was Suarez initially and thought it was just some annoying man. Luis was interacting with my cousin and letting him nutmeg him. Yes that's right, my seven year old cousin has nut-megged Suarez. Obviously my uncles was mind blown once he realised it was Suarez and asked for the picture. Now my cousin when he grows up has a picture with one of the best Liverpool players to grace anfield. So thanks Suarez. What a guy you are. This was around all the Evra/ivanovic drama, and made my believe he has a true compassion."

 
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I guess Liverpool is making the rounds of social media... Sturridge surprising some kids at a local school...
 
Since we threw away the PL title at Crystal Palace
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 and at Aston Villa 
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, I really hope somehow Liverpool win the title. I dont want to see City win it for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. 

Forgot to mention, really glad to see Mata play well against Newcastle. He and Chicha seem to be pretty compatible, Chicha makes those little runs that RVP is too lazy to make.  

And i laughed when I saw this photo, its like he is looking right into Moye's face  
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