FIFA Football Season 08/09

Never discount the Germans and Spanish in Group A there.

I think Man City (despite their apparent financial soliditiy) will have a seriously hard time getting through.

Racing still have Ezequiel Garay who is one of the outstanding talents in Spanish football, so they'll be tough. It depends for Man City who they play home and who they play away. Schalke have a good team, Twente should be easy enough, Paris St Germain aren't that great anymore. Le Guen knows how to manage in europe but they narrowly avoided relegation last year and are only in europe due to a cup run, but they have made an improvement this year.

Exactly, It'll be a interesting few months.

Wont be the same without the Gers for me.

Still might see Celtic in soon

Ugh. So an utterly frustrating weekend of football has come to an end.

Scotland drew 0-0 with Norway, Chris Iwelumo(most scottish name ever, lawl) missed from 2 yards out facing an open goal in what is the worst miss I've seen in my life. With those vital points dropped, qualifying for World Cup 2010 looks far off and George Burley has undone all the work of the previous two managers with Kris Boyd retiring from international football, and more set to follow, he has no respect or man management skills with the team. Frankly, I support Boyds decision.

Burley, as much as i respect what he has done before, doesnt have the same spark that Smith and McLeish had at Scotland.  Im not saying that because im a Gers fan.  I think its plain to see that Burley just doesnt have the management skills they do.

One thing i do like about Burley is that he wants his team to play football.  No denying that.  Still.  I dont see Scotland qualifying under him and as a result i dont see him continuing as international manager for too long if he doesnt.

Thats exactly it, and he has terrible man management skills.

I mean, sure we all know Kirk Broadfoot isn't the worlds best but to call one of your own players a 'player of limited ability' what does that do for someones mindset?!

haha yeah.

Weird to think.. what if he hadnt been tampering with the Chairmans niece at Hearts... wonder what that club would be like now.

In short i think Burley is a decent club manager but doesnt have what it takes at International level.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Started well at Hearts and got Ipswich into the UEFA Cup in their first season.

Also, fun fact, who else knew that Grand Theft Auto 4 was filled with negative references against Hearts? Like how two of the characters are called Vlad (Vladimir Romanov) and Roman(Roman Romanov) amongst many references throughout the game, the makers of the game, at Rockstar North, are Hibernian fans and Hibernian are massive rivals of Hearts.

A good night for the home nations last night except Wales.

England won 3-1, Northern Ireland won 4-0, Rep Ireland won 1-0 but Wales got beat 1-0 by Germany but deserved more id say.

Worrying times for Liverpool fans as Star Striker Fernando Torres after he was injured during Spains win against Belguim.  Ryan Babbel also suffered an injury so now that leaves a skeleton strike force for the in form liverpool.

A good night for the home nations last night except Wales.

England won 3-1, Northern Ireland won 4-0, Rep Ireland won 1-0 but Wales got beat 1-0 by Germany but deserved more id say.

Worrying times for Liverpool fans as Star Striker Fernando Torres after he was injured during Spains win against Belguim.  Ryan Babbel also suffered an injury so now that leaves a skeleton strike force for the in form liverpool.

Pretty crazy weekend of football.

Started off with Rangers winning 3-1 in probably the worst conditions I've ever seen a match played in, suprisingly, the quality of football was actually still not bad. Kris Boyd proved a point; scoring twice to win the match for Rangers, not for the first time. Celtic beat Hibs 4-2, despite having a 2-0 lead they were pegged back to 2-2 before former Hibs man Scott Brown grabbed the all important 3rd to leave them 3 points clear, though Rangers have a game in hand.

Everton held Manchester United in one of the days early kick offs, the other saw a thrilling Tyne-Wear Derby end 2-1 to Sunderland. Hull City went joint top of the Premiership that night but the biggest shock was when Juande Ramos and Damion Commoli were sacked, along with two first team coaches, by Spurs and replaced by Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp. Have to say, that while I think Ramos is a great manager, if the stories are true that Commoli bought 80% of the players in the squad and had a say in which ones were sold, it's almost impossible for Ramos to manage under those circumstances.

Redknapp got off to a winning start, 2-0 against Bolton. Liverpool proved their title credentials, in a game that was overshadowed by events at Spurs, ending Chelseas 4 year and 86-match unbeaten run winning 1-0.

Another Gers fan here!

Good to see Barry back midweek.. even if it was only for 5 mins.

At the end I have my Pro evo 2009 patched, they called my Valencia... VaL Naranja... OMG!!!

PD: Why is "Sir" Alex Ferguson a prize idiot with the Real Madrid-Cristiano's affaire?????

http://link.brightcove.com/services...ctid=1887841049

Hahahaha. Yesterday was the happiest day of this season. Hahahaha.

Moonlite wrote:

http://link.brightcove.com/services...ctid=1887841049

Hahahaha. Yesterday was the happiest day of this season. Hahahaha.

In fairness, you've not had much to shout about in recent months!

DucKKeRR wrote:

At the end I have my Pro evo 2009 patched, they called my Valencia... VaL Naranja... OMG!!!

PD: Why is "Sir" Alex Ferguson a prize idiot with the Real Madrid-Cristiano's affaire?????

Yeah, that was an annoying part of the new Pro Ev.

The only reason why Sir Alex could be considered a 'prize idiot' would be because he didn't part with a player, whom the media portrayed as wanting to leave, for £70 million. Though, I tend to believe the media made it seem like Ronaldo wanted to go more than the player himself. I also have to admit, however, that I'd prefer to play in Madrid than Manchester, though I do think United are the better club on and off the pitch.

Pretty awesome performance by Spurs at the weekend to somehow snatch a win from Liverpool, looks like things are finally starting to go right for them. Man united were ran close by Hull but eventually they won 4-3, just. Ronaldo has returned to impeccable scoring form for United as Rooney has gone off the boil slightly, so thats good timing as far as United are concerned!

Arsenal continue to drop points to physical teams, they absolutely can't handle it and won't win the premiership until they can. People talk about their beautiful football but I'd have to argue that Man United have consistently merged beautiful football with winning football under Ferguson for years and Chelsea seem to be doing the same under Scolari, Liverpool are showing signs of it too.

Kris Boyd grabbed a hattrick to make it 6 in 3 games for Rangers as they won 5-0 but Celtic continued their winning streak of 7 by defeating the tricky Hearts 2-0 in the capital.

Yasamuu wrote:

Pretty awesome performance by Spurs at the weekend to somehow snatch a win from Liverpool, looks like things are finally starting to go right for them.

You would mention this.  I left work at 1-0, and that's how it stayed, in my head.

(From what I've seen, along with some bad luck we lost it for ourselves.)

It doesn't matter how it was won or lost, only that it was

Thing is, we're still bottom of the table even after that spectacular week ;p

Really, really, really wish i'd watched the match last night. I heard that Strachan mentioned that the press had said it was bhoys v men out there last time but last night he commented and said it was men v men.

Would have liked a win but i suppose a draw between one of the best Scottish teams v one of the best English teams is good for both sides. (honestly i wish the refs would start watchin recorded footage so they can tell if people are off side or not. 2 goals Man U scored last time which shouldn't have bn allowed )

Looking forward to the international friendly tonight with Argentina, along with Englands game vs Germany.

Gotta admit.. ive been rather dissapointed with Burley so far.  At best you could say he likes his team to play football.  Just doesnt seem the same buzz that was around Big Ek and Watty.

Could just ge the Gers fan in me i guess.

Nah, the rankings don't lie. We've dropped 15 places or so since he's been in charge. Oh, and Boyd retired because of him. We've only taken 4 points from a possibly 9 too. Not good enough yet. I'll tell you the same thing even if we beat Argentina tonight, because friendlies mean nothing.

Says it all really.

Burley has a decent CV and what he did when at Hearts was fantastic but i just dont think hes captured the nations imagination like other recent managers.

Id rather have cappello than Burley ha!

I just hope they don't hurt themselves :s

YES!

All hail Reto Ziegler

Reto Zeigler is quality player.

Oh, and called it:

Andrew/Yas: Boyd, Boyd, Krissy Krissy Boyd! said:
I'll be on to talk about a dull 1-0 loss to argentina

Unsuprising.

Didnt watch the game but i heard Scotland were distinctly average aka GASH!

We only got beat 1 - 0 Criingey, that not saying something?

They pressed on at kick off, got the goal in the 8th min, we picked up about the 13th and after that it was actually a good game. We played well. Got some good crosses in and shots off. Even managed to get a ball after a muck up from one of their defenders but failed to score.

And here was me expecting it to be 5 - 0 or something

The_Bruceter wrote:

We only got beat 1 - 0 Criingey, that not saying something?

They pressed on at kick off, got the goal in the 8th min, we picked up about the 13th and after that it was actually a good game. We played well. Got some good crosses in and shots off. Even managed to get a ball after a muck up from one of their defenders but failed to score.

And here was me expecting it to be 5 - 0 or something

Well like i said.. only going on what ive heard other folk say.  If you say they played well.. i believe ya!

Well we did do our usual. Get the ball 3/4s the way up the pitch and end up passing it all the way back to the keeper lol but considering we were playing one of the best teams in the world and we're like... i'd say we done quite good.

March...  just hope we can get a win against Holland but i doubt it.

And dammit Germany, yous were suppose to win

A massive LOL at Celtic not only failing to win away from home in europe again, but losing too. Haha. Against Aalborg of all teams, they should have been able to cruise through the game, particularly after taking the lead. But alas, no more Scottish teams in europe. Thats what happens when you rely on Glasgow 'We can't win away from home' Celtic.

Still a little suprised at Zenits departure from the tournament, they'll be defending their UEFA Cup title this year. Drawing against Borisov really cost them, they could have been the suprise package but never got anywhere near their standards of last year.

Oh i totally forgot about the champions league last night.

Haha no more scots in europe.. there be... wait... crap!

I can't believe this...Inter Milan-Panathinaikos 0-1.

Wooooooooooooooooot!

Portsmouth 2 - 2 AC Milan

For Portsmouth - Kaboul 62 And Kanu 73.

For AC Milan - Ronaldinho 84 And Inzaghi 90. (Great Freekick by Ronaldinho)

DucKKeRR wrote:

At the end I have my Pro evo 2009 patched, they called my Valencia... VaL Naranja... OMG!!!

That's a pretty humorous name :p   How is Barça called?

They have the licenses for Barcelona, so they're fully licenced.

Good job Portsmouth for getting that draw against Milan, even though it could have been so much better.

I took great joy in telling a friend of mine that Man City were beating Schalke, as he picked Schalke to win for his first bet on an accumulator that could have won him over £100.

Bad weekend for Rangers as they lost 2-1 against Hearts and Celtic won 1-0 against Inverness to put themselves 7 points clear. I can't remember the last time I watched such a horrible, horrible match, but Rangers v Hearts was certainly that.

The Manchester derby was pretty entertaining, but as expected, Robinho was pretty much kept quiet and Manchester United ran the match from start to finish. Even when Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off, they continued to boss the game. City's midfield couldn't get close to Carrick and Fletcher.

Chelsea vs Arsenal was equally entertaining, it was a great match and a big suprise to see Arsenal turn around the 1-0 deficit after the hour mark. Normally when Chelsea take a lead, particularly at home, they defend it. Not so this season, despite being joint top (though Liverpool can take 1st place out right tonight when they play West Ham), they've looked fragile and lost their 86 game unbeaten home record(a run of 4 years).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSPiQqD9ApQ

Glasgow Rangers Champions Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!

;D