THE FOOTBALL THREAD Vol 2

[shinobi]

Under-fire ref Clattenburg removed from duty


Mark Clattenburg will not be refereeing a Barclays Premier League match this weekend.

The official was criticised for his handling of the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool at Goodison Park on Saturday. And the Professional Game Match Board have decided Clattenburg will not take charge of a top flight game this weekend.

The Tyne and Wear official incurred the wrath of Toffees manager David Moyes after he sent off Tony Hibbert for bringing down Steven Gerrard in the box. Dirk Kuyt scored the penalty and 10 minutes later infuriated home fans and players for an aerial lunge at Everton's Phil Neville which only incurred a yellow card. It meant Kuyt was still on the pitch and available to take the last-minute penalty which gave Liverpool a 2-1 victory. Kuyt acknowledged afterwards the tackle 'looks bad', adding: 'Maybe I was a bit lucky.'

Everton's veteran defender Alan Stubbs said: 'It was a two-footed lunge. If a player leaves the ground with both feet, that's a red card. 'In the laws of the game if a player goes in with two feet and makes a lunge, and that is what it was, it's a red.' On the penalty Stubbs added: 'The referee went to book Tony Hibbert holding a yellow card, Steven Gerrard walked past him (the referee) and it changed to a red. 'We saw the replays. That's disappointing. We were 1-0 at half-time and on top, we had control of the game.'

At the end Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher appeared to haul Joleon Lescott to the ground as Everton's nine men fought for an equaliser. And Stubbs raged: 'If the referee looks at the decision again he will see the penalty appeal was right. Their lad had his arms all around Joleon, what was he supposed to do? 'It's a stonewall penalty. The referee was close, but that means nothing. He was close to a lot of things and didn't give them.

'We are disappointed because we have lost. But there was zero feedback from the referee, I think they should have to come out after a game and explain themselves. 'We have to explain ourselves if we make bad decisions or mistakes, why not referees?' (Ripped off Steven Gerrard interview after Rob Styles shocker, Liverpool vs Chelsea. What a wanker)

LIVE WITH IT LOSERS. EVERTON IS A SMALL CLUB

 

[fgl]

ref-free kayu

 

[jeepers]

Kuyt acknowledged afterwards the tackle 'looks bad', adding: 'Maybe I was a bit lucky.'

Maybe you gave the ref a nice bj.

LIVE WITH IT LOSERS. EVERTON IS A SMALL CLUB

i dont really get what you're trying to point out here.

mark clattenburg is as bad a referee in Football Manager 2008 as he is in real life.

Shamsul Maidin ftw!

 

[shinobi]

if steve mcclaren managed england in fm2008 he would have been sacked by now

 

[jeepers]

england's doing pretty well in my saved game. they just beat like 3-1 lol. but i'm quite sure in the next patch, england would be shiet.

 

[GrimRiffer]

Woohoo!! Man Utd won! Although the defence looks shaky. I''ll gladly take it. I hate to admit it. But Arsenal played superb=(

 

[jeepers]

arsenal's play was SCARY. freaking out of this world. the fabregas goal was insane! walcott kinda resembled henry dont you think.

and man utd's defence better buck up. playing arsenal next. i'm a man utd fan but also a realist, so i reckon arsenal would edge out man utd.

 

[fgl]

Match Report
Champions League Group Stage
Arsenal Stadium
Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 7.45pm


Arsenal7Fabregas 5, 58, Hubacek 25 (og), Walcott 41, 54, Hleb 50, Bendtner 88


Slavia Prague0


By Richard Clarke

Theo Walcott began this game as a boyish Arsenal talent, he finished it as a full-fledged member of this emerging side.

The 18-year-old was playing only his second game up front under Arsène Wenger but he put in a manful display. Although the goals were shared between Walcott, Alex Hleb, Cesc Fabregas and Nicklas Bendtner, it was the former Southampton man who took the eye.

After the Spaniard and the Belarussian had give Arsenal a two-goal cushion, Walcott was hand his first by an errant backpass just before the interval.

Hleb steered home a fourth after the restart and then set-up Walcott for his stylish second and his side’s fifth. Fabregas rounded off the best move of the night with a sixth just before the hour. And, when substitute Bendtner scuffed home a seventh in the dying seconds, it equalled Arsenal’s best ever victory in European competition.

That came at Standard Liege in the early rounds of the 1993-94 Cup-Winners’ Cup — a trophy that Arsenal would lift that season.

However Wenger has another record in his sights just now. This was the club’s 12th straight win. Their best is 14 which was set in season 1987-88.

They will have to beat Liverpool and Manchester United to overtake that. In truth, those tests will be 10 times harder than tonight’s but all signs are good.

The only change in Wenger’s line-up was Walcott’s elevation up front alongside Emmanuel Adebayor with Eduardo dropping to the bench. The manager had said he would use the youngster through the middle this season and so this was perhaps the perfect opportunity. Arsenal had the cushion of two straight wins in Group H.

However if both those games had been stern tests, many predicted this would be more straightforward - and so it proved.

The home side took the lead after only five minutes. Hleb bamboozled a couple of defenders on the wing then thread an eye-of-the-needle pass to Fabregas just inside the area. The Spaniard looked up and curled home his eighth goal of the season into the far corner of the net.

In the 13th minute Milan Ivana crossed low for David Kalivoda to fire inches over the bar.

But Arsenal responded with a couple of Adebayor headers from Gael Clichy crosses. Although on neither occasion was the final execution as good as the build up. At this point the home side were in control if a little lacklustre. How that would change.

In the end the home side were handed a second goal in the 24th minute. Fabregas took a corner on the right. The sliding Michal Svec nearly turned the ball into his own net at the near post but somehow diverted the ball to the back of the area.

It ran loose for a second before Hleb pounced. His shot deflected off Daniel Pudil and then David Hubacek en route to the corner of the net. Arsenal had barely stumbled out of second gear but were in possession of a seemingly unassailable lead.

In the 28th minute Walcott raced clear in the left-hand channel and crossed high for Adebayor to nod down powerfully. Keeper Martin Vaniak kicked the ball off his own line.

Matej Krajcik’s drive from distance then stretched Almunia. But until this point Slavia’s precious few chances had been pot-shots and anything they achieved was immediately undermined by their ponderous defence.

The ultimate example came three minutes before the break. Daniel Pudil was cornered on the touchline just inside his own half and decided to pass back to Vaniak. The keeper’s terrible touch handed the ball to Walcott. He had the simple job of skipping past and slotting his shot home from just outside the area.

Adeabyor’s header almost provided a fourth and, on the whistle, Eboue stylishly slithered past his marker before curling a vicious cross just past the angle of post and bar.

The onslaught continued after the break. Six minutes in a sweeping move by Eboue and Fabergas sent Hleb through. The Belarussian cut inside and drove home right-footed. It was his fourth goal of the season.

Four minutes later wonderful interplay allowed Hleb to send Walcott sprinting clear who turned on the turbo before prodding a shot against the post. The youngster had trebled his Arsenal tally in the course of 55 minutes this evening.

Slavia were a spent force and more goals looked likely. It took only a further three minutes.

Hleb sprinted up the right and passed inside the Adebayor who fooled his marker and spread the ball wide to Walcott. He cushioned a first-touch pass into the path of the sprinting Fabregas who slotted home with ease.

With one eye on the weekend trip to Anfield, Wenger then withdrew Adebayor, Flamini and Hleb for Bendtner, Gilberto and Tomas Rosicky.

The underemployed Almunia then made a sharp save from Krajcik’s cross-shot and then Stanislav Vlcek’s drive

But nine minutes from time Walcott was denied his hat-trick by a one-handed save from Vaniak. The ball bounced out for Rosicky to hammer a shot against the bar.

A minute from time, Bendtner stabbed home a shot from close range for a record-breaking seventh.

An incredible night.

 

[fgl]

Wenger: 'We enjoyed what we were doing'
Arsenal 7-0 Slavia Prague
Champions League Group Stage
Arsenal Stadium
Tue, Oct 23, 2007, 7.45pm



On the performance...
"I feel that they have shown tonight that the team is improving and what I like is that we played at a good tempo, were very creative and we enjoyed what we did. 3-0 at half-time we could have cooled the game down but we kept going and I think the players enjoy the way they play and that is why they continue to play at the high tempo. It is a joy to watch. Overall there is a happiness in the team to play together, to play a mobile, technical game and we certainly did that well tonight. We were clinical, but maybe we did overplay at times in the game. I know it is part of the game as well, when you are six up.

"What is important tonight is to praise the players that have played well tonight. The rest may be interesting to the papers but not to us. What is important that the 60,000 people who come here see good football and that is what is important."

On Theo Walcott...
"I felt it took him a while to get into the game but once he scored the goal, you saw him much more especially when the space opened up behind them. His pace and the fact that he is clinical in front of goal - especially his second goal, even the first one he didn't panic and the second he was clinical - showed.

"There was a touch of Thierry Henry about the second goal. He was calm, he didn't panic in front of goal and he is a real finisher. He has improved a lot because he works in training. The first quality is to be composed and not rush your decisions in front of goal. Some people have that and some people don't have that.

"I believe he has the talent because that is why he is at Arsenal Football Club. The problem is not to hurry him too much. I am convinced he has the talent and he has good ingredients in him. He is intelligent and has fantastic pace. His technique is improving but we must be patient.

"When you go from a young promising player into a world of men you discover suddenly that the world is not like everybody had described it to you. The world of a football player is not as ideal as you dream it when you are 15-years-old because you have to cope with all kinds of difficulties and then you have to digest it because if you're a young kid of 15/16 you think everybody loves you and that football is an ideal world, and then you come into a fierce competition. It is like that all over the world. It is part of the game and you have to digest that.

"If you look across the country you say you don't have many strikers but he is one of them. You always accuse us of not producing enough English players but he is here. We bought him up from Division One."

On Jens Lehmann...
"There is no purpose to humiliate anybody. I respcet, and I have said it many times, that I respect him a lot. That is how he experiences things but that is not my purpose [to humiliate him] at all. I will chat with him about it - I don't know when or why that came out but we will chat.

"There is fierce competition in every position at all the big clubs and once the team comes out the competition has to stop. That is part of our job. We are in a job were competition exists inside and outside."

On continuing to improve...
"I still think there is more to come from this team. Can we keep humility, keep our feet on the ground and continue to enjoy what we do? We can keep giving a lot because are have some very young players. We have seen some great performances tonight but still everyone is improving.

"Just to remind you [the press] and everybody else that two months ago I was crazy not to buy players and we not even rated to be in the top seven. I know how football is. We have no reason to be carried away, because now the same people will say we are going to win the European Cup that said we were going to finish fifteenth a few months ago. We have to stay realistic and prepare for the next game and try to win it to show that we can win it."

On enjoying football...
"I feel football is a pleasure to play and maybe you realise that when you finish your career and every minute you spend not having enjoyed those minutes you played you will regret it. I would like my players to come out of the scene and think 'we played every minute of our season fully trying to enjoy it'. Of course sometimes that is not possible, but to come out and bore yourself and get the fans bored, that is not our purpose."

On emulating the Invincibles...
"It's too early to say. I feel in the next month we will kow more about that because I have seen that in the next 10 games we play 8 times away. The signs are encouraging and of course we start on Sunday with a big game. I am confident but it is too early to think about that."

 

[fgl]

are you watching rafa?

 

[valo]

wahlau.. the gunners could have made more man...
but 7-0 is already more than enough.
Shit,now damn sleepy to do my chemistry o level paper.
but i regret nothing...

 

[fgl]

we're goin to anfield on sunday! Anyone for Elizabeth hotel pub - AFC supporters club to watch the game?

 

[beelink]

off topic .... just want to know if anyone here play street soccer for leisure ....

 

[beelink]

off topic .... just want to know if anyone here play street soccer for leisure .... can email me? spaceyard2000@hotmail.com

 

[jeepers]

not off topic dude. this is the football thread!

i used to play street soccer leisurely, but that was before i tore both my acl and mcl while playing for my friend's church's soccer team.

where do you normally play at?

 

[snuffleupagus]

When I woke up this morning and crossed my fingers and clicked at livescore.com, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw Arsenal beat them 7-0!

I just saw the highlights through arsenaltv online and wow, cesc's goals were truly spectacular, and so was Hleb's.

POWER TO DA GUNNARZ!

 

[fgl]

yes, it was a well oiled machine we were watching... its not that Sparta prague was bad - they didnt play defensively and got hammered.

If pool attacked the way sparta did ... its gonna be another anfield massacre this sun!

THEO, THEO, THEO!!!!

 

[GrimRiffer]

Haha. I hope Pile lose to Arsenal so that Pile will never be in contention for the Premier League trophy.

 

[fgl]

dun wori grimriffer, man u will be next!

 

[valo]

just can't wait for man u to get off arsenal's back...