Football/Soccer 2012/2013 Season Thread

[OVOxo]

Any of you guys watch El Clasico last night? Real won 4-4 on aggregate (away goals); Modric and Song made their debuts off the bench. Ronaldo and Messi had magical moments to prove that they're the undisputed top two footballers right now and Barcelona defended horribly. Such an amazing game for a competition that apparently neither team cared for!

Even though Barcelona are already 5 points ahead I wouldn't be surprised if Real won the title again.

Everton looked good in the League Cup too; Mirallas made his debut and got two goals and assists. Very impressive.

Europa League action today! Newcastle v Atromitos on ITV4

[Spriter]

Man City
Ajax
Real Madrid
Borussia Dortmund

Celtic
Barcelona
Benfica
Spartak Moskva

Arsenal
Schalke
Olympiacos
Montpellier

Porto
Kiev
PSG
Zagreb

Bayern Munich
Valencia
BATE
Lille

Chelsea
Donetsk
Nordsjaelland
Juventus

Manchester United
Cluj
Braga
Galatasaray

AC Milan
Zenit
Anderlecht
Malaga

Man City/Real Madrid will be great, and Celtic/Barcelona...O.o

[Milsap]

QPR beat Walsall 3-0

Yeah, alright. Rub it in why don't ya?

But that said, considering we were playing a Premier League side, we held our own until they finally got through. If only we could play like that every week.

[OVOxo]

So the Champions of Spain, England, Netherlands and Germany all in one group. Outside of Ajax they all have a chance in that group (I don't know why but the more I think about it the more I think it'll be Real Madrid and Dortmund who go through... can never rule out Man City though)

Celtic do kinda have a chance in their group but I expect them to flop badly.

Giroud v Montpellier will be interesting... Arsenal will find it comfortable.

Bayern Munich should breeze through.

Chelsea could struggle; Juventus won Serie A last season and Shakhtar have some real talent in their squad.

Man Utd should find it easy too.

[Milsap]

Man Utd should find it easy too.

To be honest, they should have walked it last season and they didn't.

[OVOxo]

Hence why I said should rather than will =P

Europa League Draw was interesting; I'd say we have it easier than Tottenham and Liverpool but Bordeaux and Club Brugge both have potential to knock us out.

[Liam]

We really missed Dembele today.

[OVOxo]

Big Andy went into Beast Mode today. Shame he got injured :<

[Liam]

I was watching Liverpool vs Arsenal (Podolski!!!) and I realised that Luis Suarez...



...looks like a parrot fish



lol

[OVOxo]

Only caught the second half; Diaby was excellent, Giroud had some class runs (shame he hasn't finished yet), Podolski defended surprisingly well. Liverpool's best players were the subs which says it all lol

We're unchanged from Villa; Villa drop Shay Given in favour of Brad Guzan =O

EDIT: Lucky to draw, but for those who haven't seen our goal, you must watch:



Ben Arfa da gawd <3

[Liam]

Arsenal looked pretty good without RVP against Liverpool, but I can't help but feel they'd have beaten them by a larger margin if they had a born finisher (Giroud needs to up his game).

RVP is gone, but we have seen the return of...

THE BEAST

[OVOxo]

I still expect Giroud to come good. His movement so far has been brilliant... his finishing not so though. I'd be surprised if he didn't start scoring soon.

Carroll's out for 5-6 weeks... D:



Poor Ronaldo, hope he finds his happiness =/

[Liam]

Ronaldo is obviously upset because he wants to move to Celtic in order to play with Samaras.

[OVOxo]

There are quite a few rumours going around by why he is upset (ofc the money one has already been released and he's already shot it down); the main one of merit was Real Madrid not backing him in any way for UEFA Player Of The Year (an award won by Andreas Iniesta) and probably prior awards to this. I think he realises this could be his year for the Ballon D'or (in actuality he should win it, I know Messi was in beast mode in the Champions League before flopping but domestically Ronaldo was comfortably better, also more of a team player) and he still may not win it.

Another reason could be that Real Madrid was his dream move and it isn't quite working out as he thought it would (personally and professionally).

I'm only speculating here though. The fact that despite whatever problems there are he's still focused on performing his absolute best is commendable in a time where those with problems really don't put the effort in. Hope the problems at Madrid get sorted for the fact that him at Madrid has been incredible so far, despite me wanting him back in the Prem.

EDIT: This is pretty nifty =o

[Milsap]

Ronaldo is obviously upset because he wants to move to Celtic in order to play with Samaras.

It's cos Andres Iniseta is another player who's better than him