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Football Thread 2014/15 |OT4| Did you see that Ludogorets display last night?

D

Draconian

Member
OddMorsel said:
This question comes up a lot, ultimately the best way to go about it is just to watch and enjoy the games before making a decision.

Here are my opinions on the top 5 PL teams:

Manchester City—on path to becoming dominant team in England and maybe in Europe if they can sort themselves out. Team compiled by spending hundreds of millions from outside investment. History at the top is short. Until recently when they were bought by a Sheik, they were a perpetually disappointing team to their fans.

Style: efficient, physical, with reliance moments of individual brilliance. High possession

Chelsea—another mega-rich team with a longer history in the top flight than Man City. Recently won the Champions League for the first time and are considered by many to be favorites for the PL this year. Manager Jose Mourinho is a divisive character.

Style: physical, balanced, score good goals without much in the way of flair, tend to play very defensively against other top teams

Liverpool—Not mega-rich, but still one of the higher-spending teams. Seems to be on the rise after a few years of poor standing. Traditionally one of the most successful teams in England and Europe. Known for having a large, passionate and obnoxious fan base. Team on average is youngest or second youngest in England.

Style: fragile defensively, but offensively very quick and exciting to watch. Quick young players with good dribbling skills

Tottenham Hotspur—Similar philosophy to Liverpool in terms of buying younger, undervalued players around Europe, though not as rich and not a traditionally successful club. New manager Pochettino seems to have them playing well. Arch rivals with giants Arsenal

Style: focus on aggressive pressing and winning the ball back high up the pitch with quick passing around the midfield

Manchester United—like watching a monkey peeing into it's own mouth.
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This is truly a helpful guide for anyone interested in the EPL. It should be in the OP.
 
R

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
league stopages for international games suck :(
 
P

Phlebas

Banned
Ozil / Cazorla / Giroud



SqNeqL8.jpg
 
R

rodvik

Member
genjiZERO said:
So I've always wanted to get into football. I always enjoy the World Cup, and the occasional match when I can catch one, but have never been able to get into the sport. In part because, as an American, I didn't grow up watching it, so I don't have a team which makes it harder to follow. But I've decided to stop watching American football (for ethical reasons), and I need to fill a sports gap when NBA isn't on.

So what's the best way of going about getting into it? Should I find a team first? Just watch matches?

As far as choosing a team, in other sports I tend to like teams with strong fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship. I don't necessarily like underdogs, but I dislike teams that "buy" championships and I find perpetually losing teams to be annoying. Also, I don't like teams that have obnoxious fan-bases or owners.
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Watch games. Enjoy it before picking a team. Take a season, take two, but never, never pick a top 4 glory hunting team. That way lies darkness my friend.
 
J

Jimrpg

Member
genjiZERO said:
So I've always wanted to get into football. I always enjoy the World Cup, and the occasional match when I can catch one, but have never been able to get into the sport. In part because, as an American, I didn't grow up watching it, so I don't have a team which makes it harder to follow. But I've decided to stop watching American football (for ethical reasons), and I need to fill a sports gap when NBA isn't on.

So what's the best way of going about getting into it? Should I find a team first? Just watch matches?

As far as choosing a team, in other sports I tend to like teams with strong fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship. I don't necessarily like underdogs, but I dislike teams that "buy" championships and I find perpetually losing teams to be annoying. Also, I don't like teams that have obnoxious fan-bases or owners.
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Hello my friend the first thing you want to do is pick the league you want to start following. I don't follow MLS so I wouldn't know a thing about whats going on there, but a lot of football gaf follow a European club, so if you follow a foreign club that's probably the best place to start. The highest quality leagues are English Premier League, La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (German) and Serie A (Italian). Then you have the tier 2 leagues like Portguese, Eredivisie (Dutch) etc etc, but your best bet is something from the top 4 leagues because you'll get a lot more news coverage that way. If English is your only language I recommend the English Premier League so you can read match reports and forums afterwards.

So assuming you pick the EPL, your next job is to pick a team, try and identify a player or a manager that you like, maybe you've heard of Jose Mourinho or Angel Di Maria, watch a couple of their matches, go to their fan forums, read up on a bit of their history and see if it suits your personality. For example, the reason I picked Borussia Dortmund was because I liked to watch Shinji Kagawa play, then I started to watch their style and it suited how I would play if I was the manager.

Finally as well as watching all the games, reading up on soccernet, reading zonalmarking.net for tactics and strategies, play some FIFA, play pro evo if you must and play Football Manager (maybe get older copies to save yourself some money).

Also the BBC Five Live podcast is a good daily roundup of English Premier League news.
 
3

3Sixty

Member
So the hodge reckons the reason we're getting lower crowds for euro quals is because the teams we're playing are not exciting.


We are not exciting you senile old cunt.
 
W

Westlo

Member
genjiZERO said:
So I've always wanted to get into football. I always enjoy the World Cup, and the occasional match when I can catch one, but have never been able to get into the sport. In part because, as an American, I didn't grow up watching it, so I don't have a team which makes it harder to follow. But I've decided to stop watching American football (for ethical reasons), and I need to fill a sports gap when NBA isn't on.

So what's the best way of going about getting into it? Should I find a team first? Just watch matches?

As far as choosing a team, in other sports I tend to like teams with strong fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship. I don't necessarily like underdogs, but I dislike teams that "buy" championships and I find perpetually losing teams to be annoying. Also, I don't like teams that have obnoxious fan-bases or owners.
Click to expand...

Everton mate.
 
E

El Topo

Member
genjiZERO said:
So I've always wanted to get into football. I always enjoy the World Cup, and the occasional match when I can catch one, but have never been able to get into the sport. In part because, as an American, I didn't grow up watching it, so I don't have a team which makes it harder to follow. But I've decided to stop watching American football (for ethical reasons), and I need to fill a sports gap when NBA isn't on.

So what's the best way of going about getting into it? Should I find a team first? Just watch matches?

As far as choosing a team, in other sports I tend to like teams with strong fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship. I don't necessarily like underdogs, but I dislike teams that "buy" championships and I find perpetually losing teams to be annoying. Also, I don't like teams that have obnoxious fan-bases or owners.
Click to expand...

That pretty much only leaves Bayern. Welcome.

Nah, there's pretty much no successful team that suits all your criteria I fear. I think arbok26's post is pretty solid, especially since EPL is easiest to follow (as e.g. not all Bundesliga matches can be watched in the US).
 
L

LegoArmo

Member
genjiZERO said:
So I've always wanted to get into football. I always enjoy the World Cup, and the occasional match when I can catch one, but have never been able to get into the sport. In part because, as an American, I didn't grow up watching it, so I don't have a team which makes it harder to follow. But I've decided to stop watching American football (for ethical reasons), and I need to fill a sports gap when NBA isn't on.

So what's the best way of going about getting into it? Should I find a team first? Just watch matches?

As far as choosing a team, in other sports I tend to like teams with strong fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship. I don't necessarily like underdogs, but I dislike teams that "buy" championships and I find perpetually losing teams to be annoying. Also, I don't like teams that have obnoxious fan-bases or owners.
Click to expand...

Hi, my unbiased opinion is that you support Everton, based on your description.
 
FootballFan

FootballFan

Member
genjiZERO said:
So I've always wanted to get into football. I always enjoy the World Cup, and the occasional match when I can catch one, but have never been able to get into the sport. In part because, as an American, I didn't grow up watching it, so I don't have a team which makes it harder to follow. But I've decided to stop watching American football (for ethical reasons), and I need to fill a sports gap when NBA isn't on.

So what's the best way of going about getting into it? Should I find a team first? Just watch matches?

As far as choosing a team, in other sports I tend to like teams with strong fundamentals, teamwork and sportsmanship. I don't necessarily like underdogs, but I dislike teams that "buy" championships and I find perpetually losing teams to be annoying. Also, I don't like teams that have obnoxious fan-bases or owners.
Click to expand...

Mes que un club
 
S

subtles

Member
This is an opportunity to expand upon the thread's rather inclusive nature, our encouragement/acceptance of variety with the goal of having every club properly represented.

Genji should support Stoke.
 
LabouredSubterfuge

LabouredSubterfuge

Member
subtles said:
I can't imagine mid-30s Messi and Ronaldo slogging around.

I know it's happened countless times before, but the thought of it is rather unpleasant.
Click to expand...

Think Messi will do better in his 30s than Ronaldo. He has a future as a great AMC when he loses his burst of pace. No idea what Ronaldo will do. Become a striker?
 
C

Clegg

Member
Is Petrucci really going to be named in United's squad. He's 22, hasn't impressed in any of his loans and hasn't, I think, ever played for United's senior team. He's supposed to be very talented but very injury prone. Missed two season of development because of dodgy knees.
 
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