I'm dying on the inside, frodly; DYING. Mourinho is MASTERCLASS. Rafa is a man who got lucky at Valencia and Liverpool; took advantages of cycles. Sure he's talented, very much so; but not at the top-level. He's a top club's second choice. I think he's too ideological. At Inter, where I saw him fall so flat on his face, he was unbelievable. He had one of the oldest teams in Europe who played 50+ games, won a treble, and played a World Cup... and what does he do? He puts them on strength and speed training. Muscle tears, fatigue, and the morale from injuries killed the team's chances. Leonardo, a speaker not a manager, did better. He tried to play possession football with the best counter-attacking team out there (well Madrid is now...), he played a high-line knowing Maicon and the other 30+ year olds at back would never be able to cover.
You clearly missed the Champions league semi-finals in 2005 and 2007. Rafa got the better of Mourinho, even though Mourinho had significantly more talent at his disposal. PS. Rafa was Liverpool's first choice. And in case you forgot, until these last few years, Liverpool were a top top club. Look at this for all the evidence you need. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...5277/match=302794/postmatch/report/index.html
OH MY GOD. DO NOT MENTION THAT GOAL. IT WAS NOT A GOAL. IT WAS NEVER A GOAL. IT WAS CLEARED OFF THE LINE. It may have been a red card to Cech and a penalty.. but who knows.
I am just saying, that Rafa is brilliant. Just to show you how brilliant, I will post this once more!! http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...5277/match=302794/postmatch/report/index.html Or this http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/6371395.stm Or this http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/7922069.stm PS. Yes I have to live in the past, but forgive me that please!!
It's funny. Mourinho after Porto wanted to go to Liverpool; they chose Rafa so he went to Chelsea. Now no club would choose Rafa over Mourinho.
Yep, I remember. A lot of Liverpool supporters were in the pro-Mourinho camp(I was one of them). However many wanted Rafa because they claimed he encouraged more attractive football(which didn't even turn out to be true, they are both pretty negative). Though I can't complain, I wouldn't trade 2005 and Istanbul for anything(meaning anything to do with football). I love Rafa just for that one night.
The only time I've ever enjoyed seeing Rafa was that one time he slipped and fell on his fat arse! There's going to be a period of great managers entering the club level soon; and I think Rafa's going to have to settle for a lower-level job. I hear Hiddink, Lippi, and the Netherlands guy are considering clubs after Euro 2012. Ancelotti is free (Chelsea is so dumb it's unbelievable), Pep might leave after next season at Barca... Rafa will remain unemployed!
You mean you didn't enjoy the 4-0 destruction of Real Madrid Rafa orchestrated? It is my opinion that one night brought about the new galacticos policy!! PS. You know he is originally a Madrid guy, right?
Up until this season, I disliked Madrid like I dislike City wasteful spenders with a bunch of over-paid prima donnas causing drama. Their discipline is better this season; their transfers amazing (I LOVE ÖZIL TOO), and Mou is just funny to follow. His comments are hilarious and truthful.
I'm not a football (soccer) fan, as I've already said, but big congratulations are due to Swansea City - the first Welsh team in the Premiership ever, and less than 10 years since almost fatal financial problems, bitter ownership battles (with the club now being owned by a consortium of fans), and narrow avoidance of being relegated from the football league altogether. Let's hope this meteoric rise to the top division isn't followed by the same catatrophic fall (and financial problems) that happened last time, in the Toshack era.
It's great to see Swansea back in the top flight. But i fear they, along with QPR and Norwich will struggle to stay up. Well, perhaps QPR might, as they have the money to sign quality players, but Swansea could go the way of Blackpool. I hope they do stay up though.
It's always possible, but Swansea learned a hard lesson last time about making foolish signings and wasting the cash they gained from promotion (which was nowhere near the amount they will get this time). Another issue was some of the (probably necessary) spending on the Vetch field, which even then was outdated and in a pretty poor state - now they already have an excellent stadium that is round about the right size for them as a club (just over 20,000), and also shared with the Ospreys. The experience of going straight back down and bankrupting themselves in the process is one they won't be stupid enough to repeat. Swansea are a quality side that play some good football, with a relatively young but very level-headed manager who is building up his experience and doesn't tend to do anything too rash (and knows where his squad needs to be strengthened). Toshack was also young as a manager, but I think more impetuous at the time, and went mental when they were promoted before and bought a number of expensive (relatively - his spending power was limited, but not quite as much as it should have been!) has-been players that were within a season or two of retirement. With the people around him that remember what happened before, I reckon Brendan Rodgers should be OK - he already has a good squad to build on that has been formed over a few seasons (under a couple of managers who had similar style ideas to Rodgers - Roberto Martinez and Paulo Sousa), so doesn't need to go signing a complete new team anyway. They may not stay up, but if they do go down this time it will be with a good store of cash in the bank and the experience hopefully to get them back up again. I wouldn't be surprised if Blackpool make it straight back up to the premiership too - they are in a similar kind of situation as a club, and didn't seem to go mad spending the money they gained. The ones I fear for are the ones with delusions of grandeur about 'deserving' to be in the premiership, that blow their cash on expensive signings who don't gel as a team, and leave as soon as they are relegated. I don't expect Swansea to make that mistake. Actually, a couple of seasons going up, down, then up again might not be too bad a thing for them, especially if they can get in and hang on to some quality young players to build a squad with that exprience for the future. It's about more than the next season anyway - I just hope that if they do go straight back down they don't panic and sack the manager - he's a great managerial prospect, and needs to be given the time to develop both his squad and his own experience.
I'd much rather see the Jacks in the top flight than the Blue Birds. I never cared for them. Ninian Park was rubbish and the supporters act like caged animals. They are on par with the scum at Millwall. So nice to see you up Swansea and I am glad to see QPR finally back! The real West London club, not that small team in Fulham
Yes, QPR are a great club. I'll never forget the time they thrashed Man United 4-1 at Old Trafford on Fergie's 50th birthday!
Summertime is here, Major League Baseball is in play, and with it come the three great rivalrys. The first is the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers - which dates back to when they were the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The second is the battle between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The third great rivalry is between two cities in the Midwest, and goes back to the 1880's when the Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) played the White Stockings. Tonight, Saturday, and Sunday - New Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri. The Chicago Cubs versus the St. Louis Cardinals! Hang on to your hats, boys - this is baseball at it's best!
I can't think of any other individual sports I'd like, unless NASCAR's considered an individual thing (but when you consider the pit crew, spotter, and crew chief, it seems more like a team sport). Besides, the NFL (I prefer American football more.) and NASCAR, I also like college basketball, a little NBA (I'm taking a liking to Oklahoma City and my Pacers might be beginning to road to redemption/ recovery.), a little MLB, and NCAA football. I also kind of like IRL and possibly Formula one, if only for the Indy 500. (Gotta love races on the big dog track around my parts.) Not to mention, Indy has a lot of history behind it. NFL: Indianapolis Colts, St. Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, and Houston Texans NBA: Oklahoma City, Memphis (slightly), and Indiana Pacers (I once liked the idea of the other new team (Charlotte Bobcats), but they got old fast. Besides, their name just doesn't fit.) College: Butler Bulldogs (basketball), Purdue Boilermakers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ball St. Cardinals, Gonzaga Bulldogs, and the Missouri Tigers (Mizzou) MLB: St. Louis Cardinals NASCAR: Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, and Brian Vickers
I did go to a few Swans games as a kid (with my friend and his father), and remember seeing them play West Ham at the Vetch. I think it would have been in the old Second Division in about 1980-ish, just before the Swans (and West Ham, I think), were promoted to the old first division. I seem to remember it being a fairly dull game - possibly a 1-1 draw.
If it was the 79-80 season(which it must have been), it ended 2-1 to the Swans. Hammers line up was: 1 Phil Parkes 2 Ray Stewart 3 Paul Brush 4 Billy Bonds 5 Alvin Martin 6 Alan Devonshire 7 Paul Allen 8 Stuart Pearson 9 Geoff Pike 10 Trevor Brooking 11 Pat Holland 12 David Cross I wouldn't have been at the game, as i didn't travel to my first away game til i was 12.
