Part of why I'm here is to enjoy the cross-cultural learning experience going the other way. It's interesting how often Americans' weaknesses are English strengths and vice-versa. The posters and live text reports in England are far, far better, for the most part than in the US. On the other hand, American commentators on live sports they know tend to try to analyze with some success, while most British announcers seem content to recycle cliches. Articles tend to be good, bad and ugly on both sides of the Atlantic. Bleacher Report isn't half bad, I have to say. I like the format. It gives you something to watch and think about before a game.
HI RWB, I think it's great having people from different countries posting on here. As you've noticed I love the way Americans talk about soccer, so many of our pundits used tired cliches and platitudes. When Gary Neville came to Sky last season his insights showed just how empty much of football TV talk was.
I wasn't a fan of Neville, but have to hold my hand up, and say he is very observant and knowledgable, on occasion giving an angle from the dressing room which you rarely got before. I think he explains the finer points of the game very well, you'd have to be pretty dim to not understand him, droll voice, but you can't have it all.
RWB Have to disagree with you about the Bleacher Report, they have some decent ideas for articles, but what is written is either so basic that it's boring or way off the mark.
Liverpool lost but played some good stuff. We've struggled to two draws 0-0,1-1,a bit ropey. Newcastle convincingly beat Bordeaux 3-0. Form team Newcastle.
I agree that Toon are doing the best, but we didn't struggle to a draw against Lazio, we outplayed them and deserved to win. I don't think we struggled against Pana either, but probably a draw was a fair result.
OK Ghoddle,maybe struggled is too strong a word. We've tottered to two draws. Yes we outplayed both of them but didn't find the net as easily as we should. Udinese's second was an own goal so Toon are the boys at the moment. I'm happy with being unbeaten in eight but I'd like the net found a bit more.
hope fully Pana was a wake up call,and warning that you have to make sure you kill the game,with only 4 teams in a group you should be looking to win every game
As much as I rate Defoe, we need some variety upfront for certain games, so I hope Adebayor can get back to full fitness, he seems to have vanished since we signed him!
Fair enough TMT, I can't agreed with tottered either though We played well against a good Italian team in Lazio and were blatantly robbed by bad decisions. If you want to say we tottered v Pana, fair enough, I'm not sure I agree, but wouldn't argue over that one. Why would we find the net easily against a Greek side in Greece? (last year we got zero goals over there, indeed I think last night was the FIRST time we've ever scored in Greece) Why we would find the net easily against a cynical Lazio side, who were given licence to foul by a poor ref? I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations of winning easily against decent European opposition. Last season not only did we fail to score in Greece we lost at home to the Greeks (POAK) to effectively send us out of the competition.
Hi TF, I think it's quite clear from his team selections that AVB is looking to win every game, but doesn't mean the oppo will roll over and let us. It's very hard to win all your group matches in Europe. I think we've only ever done it once, in 06/7. Normally, as with last season, we don't come even close to that. Last years European champions didn't win all their group matches, this year the Champions of England haven't won all their group games. I think it's very unrealistic to expect to win all the games, 4 wins out of 6 is the most I would look for, and qualification would be a cake walk if we managed that. Actually we only need 3 wins in this group to be now assured of qualification, and two wins and another two draws would I think be enough for certain qualification.
I think that's still a European record for an English side, if I remember right. 8 consecutive victories in a major European competition. Sounds beatable, but the reality says otherwise.
Yet again you miss the main points. Firstly, last nights opponents were most certainly not 'decent European opposition'. They were no better than Carlsle. Secondly, we most definitely did 'totter' last night. In the second half we were simply bloody awful. Far too many players eased off and had their eyes on Sunday and then wonder why we didn't take the 3 points. No-one ever suggested it would be easy, but on the night, the reality is that it was easy but yet again, as in the WBA and Norwich games, we failed to capitalise and ended up with egg on our faces. You can do your usual and try to make yourself look clever with the benefit of hindsight, but the reality is we ballsed up once again last night and let the opposition off the hook.
Yes, exactly the point I was making on another thread. How many times have we seen this happen? A game we seemed to be in control of, fail to score the crucial second goal, and then we all have to endure the nail biting siege of our defence in the last minutes. A sometimes successful defence - sometimes not. The point is, it shouldn't be happening. Especially against a poor side like Panathanaikos.
Yep, I hope I'm right too, but even if we don't qualify, it's quite clear from the teams selected so far AVB is out to win every game. I wanted him to pick a strong team and he did, so that makes me very happy. If anything it wasnt strong enough, because I would have liked Sandro out there, but I'm not quibbling over that. We didn't see the likes of Mason, Carroll and Falque and that's what I was worried about seeing. No disrespect to them, but they're not first-team players ATM. It's going to be very tight for qualification, a draw at Maribor won't be terrible as long as win both our home games, and get a draw in Italy. Naturally, I hope we take 6 points off Maribor, which will pretty much ensure qualification I think.
Yep PNP, you're right, in fact I think it's an all-time British record in Europe, which shows what an achievement that was. To expect to win all of your group games is unrealistic, especially for a club like us, who are very much not one of the Euro super clubs. A draw with Pana is very much to be expected on the form book, both in regard of the two clubs UEFA rankings, and our record in Greece. Last night was the time we'd even scored in Greece let alone won there.
There was no siege of our defence, we have had only one 2nd half siege in the last 6 games, that was away to Utd, which is only to be expected. Pana are not a poor team, and it's wrong to expect us to win there easily. People who remember our other games in Greece would or should have realised that. A draw was a perfectly respectable, and indeed almost predictable, result.
