General Football Thread (inc' Foreign, Non-League & Women's Football)

4-0!!!!

 

Are Bilbao in the Europa league?

 

Beginning to wonder if any team will ever retain the CL. Based on this showing Barca sure won't. They have been shocking.

 

Yup, joined the comp alongside us in the 3rd qualifying round.

 

Thought so, good job we got seeded based on this performance by Billbao. Though Barca have been poor.

 

Yeah along with Dortmund and Schalke they're one the top teams in the comp, so its almost guaranteed that we'll get one of them in the group stage (assuming we make it.)


Weren't Bilbao the ones that gave gave MLT that 'one club player' award out of nowhere about a year ago as well?

 

That's them. They were founded by shipyard workers from Southampton, hence the red and white stripes.

 

Now this is where I get confused. Was it a Bilbao representative who came over with a mission, part of which was to get a squad load of shirts, or was it a rep from Atletico Madrid.? Both wear red and white stripes of course.

 

Whilst listening to BBC R5L's Weekend Review this evening they were talking about wingers and how they have become wide midfielders and the FB's are now the real wingers. But at one point in the show Pat Nevin said, go to Google and type in the name Jimmy Johnstone. That's a winger, full stop. And they quickly passed over the remark, but it struck a chord with me because even when I was a 10 year old kid you'd hear about Celtic's Jimmy Johnstone. The only time you might get a chance to watch him play was for Scotland against England, and when Celtic would beat any English team, which they regularly did if they came down the country during European competition. Anyway, I decided to see whether my memories of him being that good were a bit rose coloured. No they weren't. Watch this compilation., Remember this is the proper heavy leather ball that soaks up moisture. Remember also the condition and quality of the pitches. Watch how glued the ball is to his feet at times and how arrowed his passes and shots are. A tiny player with a great change of pace. Quite remarkable:

 

I hope we do get one of those in the group stage!!

 

Can you imagine if we do play them... We could all wear Matt Letiss shirts. Well I'd wear a Fatletiss one, but hey!

 

Jimmy Johnstone was something else. I was too young for him but I remember as a kid watching old clips of him.

I believe Nevin was right: that's a winger, full stop.

 

The ones with a gusset?

 

Great stuff TSS. I suppose Johnstone's greatest claim to fame was being part of the Lisbon Lions, the Celtic team who were the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967. What a team that was! Willie Wallace, Bobby Lennox, Bertie Auld, Billy McNeill, and Johnstone. The whole team, of course, were Scottish, which would be unthinkable nowadays. I remember being glued to our old black and white TV watching the game, and dreaming of Southampton playing in Europe one day!

Anyway, Johnstone was a superb winger, but look how many times he came off his wing looking for the ball. If you're that good you can get away with it!

 

Barca need 3 more goals.

 

In what I saw of the match in a bar, Barcelona were very leggy plus Neymar was missing so perhaps when one of the triumvirate is unable to play they don't quite function. Both teams play against each other this weekend. Vamos Athletic (and Sevilla who are seriously under-rated by all and sundry.)

 

Thought I'd wander down for some local footy this evening. There was a surprise name on the visiting team.

 

Alistair Waddecar.... Waddeplayer!