BelfastBloke's Rolling Footie Thread 2013-14 Season

[Pan]

The rolling Football thread for Season '13-14 might as well start off in the traditional way with the same intro as did the original rolling Football thread all those seasons ago. But with the new tradition of leaving the musty changing room of Dadsnet...
We've been top heavy with premiership stuff but it's really for any footie played on the planet and beyond.

Footie fans please sign in with

1.Which team you support.
2.Which team(s) you loathe.
3.How you are getting your kids to follow the correct team.

1. A thought on the season (Premiership/Championship/Champions? League/FA Cup/League Cup/all leagues world wide.)

'Calm down, calm down...'

DH is the only Blue in a family of Reds - I normally work weekends so don't see the inlaws much - PIL are OK really (for Reds)!!

But BIL can upset DS1 (DH ignores and wont talk football with him).

Just as well this is the first weekend i have had off since the start of the year, and BIL was not there.

BIL is not a happy Red tonight.

We are not patriotically happy Blues, but 3 point are 3 points!

PARTICULARLY!

A decent week for me on the MN fantasy league.

Want to see some serious activity tomorrow. The lack of creative midfielder was never sorted out by SAF really. And Fellani isn't the answer David) No idea why Shinji wasn't even in the squad.

Oh Lordy, what a mess. Herrera ( we already have Shinji) and Fellani we don't need/want a Championship player) are the 'targets'. We need someone to drop the ball on Robin's toe. Someone to sing the Song.
< Paul Scholes is getting stripped off again..>

Watching FF - it's a bit like the last seconds to bid on eBay!

Hello!

1. Support man united

1. Loathe city and any team mick McCarthy manages

1. Well my hubby is a pool supporter so no doubt my son will follow them

4.some thoughts.. Price paid for Bale is mental. Think will be an interesting season.. Can Moyes retain the title for united?! Can't see city doing it, but. Chelsea, Liverpool and arsenal serious threats

Didn't get Ozil, huh, Pan?

OH WE DID!

The Guardian was debating with itself whether to include the umlaut over the O in Ozil's name. Their style guide says 'not for upper case letters', so they don't.

Getting Ozil is problematic. Midfield is the area we least needed to strengthen, so while I'm delighted to have him, it doesn't change the fact that strikers and defenders are going to be a serious problem when we get injuries.

At the game on Sunday, there was a heartstopping moment when we thought Giroud was injured and we thought, who is there to replace him?

In actual fact we do have some strikers:

1. Giroud
2. Podolski (injured)
3. Walcott
4. Sanogo (untested)
5. Bendtner (unable to find another club, and failed at Juventus and Sunderland)

If there is cover for Walcott in Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Ramsay and Ozil, he could become a central striker. But it's certainly not a strike force to be feared, really.

If we'd forced Robin Van Persie to serve out his contract, he'd still be with us today, in a season where he'd be forced to perform to maintain his World Cup place.

Ozil to the Ars-e-nal

If that's not a chant at the next match, Dan, I'll introduce it by the final whistle.

We missed Coentrao partly due to the paperwork being slightly late.

Oh how we will miss Fergie time.

Mesut Ozil said he joined Arsenal to win trophies,
... good to see a German with a sense of humour.

Wenger commented on signing German international Mesut Ozil
"He is an excellent acquisition for us and should help consolidate our usual 4th place."

@ Wenger.

Currently intrigued by the BBC web site asking "How can the English national team be made great again?" Bonus points on offer to anyone pointing out when exactly the English team were 'great'.

They weren't bad during the summer of 1966. 24 years later they were almost as good. Since that, nah... :o

1966? When it was at home and they had to rely on Rattin the Argentine captain to be sent off (on a really minor infringement) in the quarter-final and of course in the final the Russian linesman to give a none-goal, AND with fans on the pitch for the last goal. The final should have gone to ET, at least.
England have never been great, and the failure to qualify for any World Cup throughout the 1970s (when Scotland couldn't stop qualifying) confirmed that historically. Fwd to relying on a non-free kick in the play-offs against Greece 2001 at Old Trafford, and dismal failures since.

Surely greatness was ensured last night?

I mean, beating Moldova 4-0?

1. Which team you support - Wigan
2. Which team(s) you loathe - I don't particularly loathe any team, maybe Bolton or Stoke at a push though.
3. How you are getting your kids to follow the correct team - 1st baby still on the way so I'm considering my options. Might use footie as a chance to bond maybe.
4. A thought on the season (Premiership/Championship/Champions’ League/FA Cup/League Cup/all leagues world wide.) - Automatic promotion looked to be on the cards for Wigan this year but we've drawn a few too many so far and if that continues we might only make the play-offs. I'm hoping for a decent show in Europa, get past the group stages at least. As for the PL I think City or Chelsea for the title, I'm looking forward to seeing how Arsenal do with Ozil, Giroud should get a bag full with his service. Tottenham could do really well too, even without Bale.

now that the interlull is over, looking forward to seeing how Ozil integrates.

Having indeed established England's greatness with a masterclass against Ukraine (in 'my' stadium..), back to Planet Earth.

Fellaine, the new Keane? Admirable ambition at least. We've a few 'easy' games coming up which should mean a resumption of normal service at the top.

Coventry still eating up the points.

And the second of the easy games coming up....no-one has mentioned the prospect of Fellaini v Toure down the middle, though it is set up for a Wayne of The Rovers day.

Paulo - what were you thinking? Or..,or not.

Lordy, just seen "the most feared striker in Europe" on Arse's bench. With that and Eto'o/Torres at Chelsea. Interesting...

Really uncomfortable feelings pre-match lived out. I wouldn't blame Wayne if he tossed his toys out. And Fellaine v Toure was always going to be a mismatch. And I'd said some 3-4 threads up Aguero was the only Citeh player I coveted. Damn.