MANLY United. - by thefonz
crunchy on 23/5/2008 at 00:42
Quote Posted by Ulukai
how many of the players were actually from the UK.
Yeah and the Arsenal side is practically the French national squad. It will be interesting how many keep their spots if/when Wenger leaves.
SD on 23/5/2008 at 07:30
Quote Posted by crunchy
Yeah and the Arsenal side is practically the French national squad.
Arsenal have three French internationals. Some way short of the 11 needed to even field a team, never mind the 23 you require for a whole squad.
D'Arcy on 27/5/2008 at 09:39
Regarding Ronaldo, even though I'm Portuguese, I hate his guts (in fact, I dislike him so much that it makes it difficult for me to watch and enjoy the matches of our national team, because I can't stand listening to pundits and commentators drooling about him). But he would have to be very, very stupid indeed (even more stupid than I consider him to be, and I do think that he's a moron) to leave Man Utd and the EPL for Real Madrid. The EPL is arguably the best league in the world, and football in England suits his style of play. Spanish defenders would break both his legs after the first couple of tricks he tried on the pitch, and Real Madrid supporters would start booing him off the pitch after the first bad match he played.
Oh, and Man Utd 'thoroughly deserved' to win? I definitely don't think so. Man Utd was the better team during the first half, and Chelsea was better during the rest of the game. They hit the woodwork twice, and Terry was very unlucky in the penalty, since he slipped. I'm obviously unaware of all the rivalries in England, but I find it hard to understand what is there to hate about Terry. He's actually one of the few players from the English national team that I respect and admire (the only other player that I admire that much is Gerrard). He seems to be a great captain, and always looks correct on the pitch. Unlike, for example, Ferdinand, whom almost makes me want to throw up every time I look at him.
Vernon on 27/5/2008 at 11:12
22 millionaires :(
SD on 27/5/2008 at 17:55
Quote Posted by D'Arcy
Terry was very unlucky in the penalty, since he slipped. I'm obviously unaware of all the rivalries in England, but I find it hard to understand what is there to hate about Terry.
(
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/chelsea-footballer-john-terry-charged-with-affray-and-assault-672301.html) Drunkenly harrassing grieving American tourists after 9/11?
Being sent off for calling Tottenham defender Ledley King a "lippy black monkey"? (Terry is allegedly the "known racist" in the England team that Rio Ferdinand mentions in his book)
Stamping on Fernando Torres as the Spaniard lay prostrate in the penalty area in the Champions League semi-final? (I was about 50 yards away from this one)
Maybe the way in which he always tries to badger and bully referees into giving decisions Chelsea's way?
The incident from the final itself probably sums up his epic twattishness as well as anything - when he (
http://i30.tinypic.com/aylrn6.gif) blew snot out of his nose on to Tevez's neck. You don't have to be a lip-reading expert to see him mouthing the words "you fucking Argie cunt" as he pretends to wipe his nose on his shirt sleeve but directs it at the United forward.
Notice how "Big JT" has always bottled out of penalty shoot-outs before now. This one was different. He was going to make himself a hero and get all the glory by scoring the winner - "captain fantastic". When he fell on his arse, that wasn't bad luck - it was karma.
Terry is a truly odious piece of work, and the one silver lining from United's European Cup win was that Mongo didn't get to lift the trophy.
D'Arcy on 27/5/2008 at 21:40
Is Terry the only team captain in the world who badgers or bullies refs into giving decisions his team's way?
Hadn't Chelsea dominated english football in recent seasons and most likely you wouldn't even notice Terry's behaviour when compared to the vast majority of footballers.
Ulukai on 27/5/2008 at 22:12
No he isn't, but I'd have to agree that Terry is a classic c-nut. What ever happened to small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts, rush goalie (one's gone home for his tea...)
But, coming back to the dearth of English players in English teams, it seems I'm not the only one to notice this - (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7417746.stm) the Beeb having picked up on it of late.
"Arsenal had the lowest number of English starters, averaging 0.34 per match" D'Arcy on 28/5/2008 at 00:04
Being a foreigner I'm obviously not very aware of all of Terry's off-pitch behaviour, or the stories that come out in the press, so I can only judge him for what I see on the pitch. Judging from SD's descriptions, he's almost picturing him like some kind of modern day Vinnie Jones or Terry Hurlock, which is definitely not the image I have of him.
As for the foreigners, well, for some reason England won't be in the European Championships. And it wasn't just because you've sacked Sven and put McLaren in charge.
nickie on 28/5/2008 at 06:13
Well McClaren was sacked as well and now we have Fabio Capello. And Terry is a particularly nasty piece of work but yes there are others who influence referees, Gerrard for example. But really, footballers as a species are pretty dire - but then there is a massive amount of money involved.
As far as excessive foreign players goes, it would be interesting to see what happened with a (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7421348.stm) quota system.
SD on 28/5/2008 at 07:29
I've never seen Gerrard get in a referee's face like the Chelsea or United players do.
Fortunately it's illegal under EU law, so with luck this ridiculous plan will be dead in the water before it's even launched. My one fear is that the EU might make football some sort of exception to the rules governing free trade, but surely they wouldn't do something as dumb as that - would they?
