Official Football Discussion Thread 2011/12

[Troy]

Slighty worried about QPR's chances since our final three games are Chelsea, Man City and Stoke so two really tough games in there. Hopefully QPR can stay up rather than dropping straight back.

It is good that the title race and relegation race are wide open as now there aren't too many throwaway games.

 

[Keith]

Think it will be Blackburn and Bolton the other two, but as you can probalay tell I am starting to get that sinking feeling as far as Villa are concerned.

 

[The Cork]

Real/Bayern is horrible, all the diving is ruining this match for me.

Spanish teams have no shame at all do they.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Pep Guardiola is leaving Barcelona at the end of the season, as he's not renewing his 12 month rolling contract.

Apparently he's burnt out so there's rumors of him taking a year long sabbatical.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Some quotes from Guardiola:

"I want you to understand that this is not a simple decision for me"

"I have always wanted short contracts because the demand from Barcelona is so big. I always thought that four years is an eternity for a coach."

"At the beginning of December I announced to the chairman that I was seeing the end of my era at Barcelona. Obviously we couldn't say that publicly."

"Now we are out of the two main competitions it is a good time to announce this. I did not want to continue with the confusion. The reason is simple: four years is enough. The new coach will give things that I am unable to give any more. To be in front of the media every three days for four years is very demanding."

"The reason is simple. Four years gets tiring. The new coach will give things I am not able to give any more. "

"I want to thank my players who are responsible for everything that has happened here. It has been a great pleasure to train them. I have tried to do my job with a lot of passion."

"You can only recover by resting and getting away from everything. It would have been a bad idea to continue. Perhaps it would not have gone wrong but I have the perception that it would. It is my time to go."

"I want to thank my players. I have had such a great privilege to train them. Day by day for so many years, my players made it all possible. I am going to recover myself."

"When I was appointed, I started jumping like a little kid. To be able to take charge of the 'A' team was unbelievable. Time has taken its toll and I rise each day and don't feel the same. I am going with the understanding that I have done my duty."

"This club has a powerful force. It is unstoppable. Whoever will replace me will be able to take it on and do it marvelously."

 

[AZUCAR!]

Interesting move here:

Assistant coach Tito Vilanova is named as Pep Guardiola's successor as Barcelona manager.

So Barcelona have kept it within the ranks again and not gone out and hired somebody else outside their club. Vilanova i'm sure would've learned quite a bit being Guardiola's assistant for 4 years, so how he does next season will be interesting.

 

[Aniking]

I like the appointment of Vilanova, purely because he has been Guardiola's right hand man for the past 5 years. They always look inside the club first, so this has gone no differently. Be interesting to see if he can keep Barcelona as strong of a side as they are for next season and the future.

When I first heard that Guardiola was resigning, I thought it was ridiculous. He suffers one bad week, first season not winning the La Liga and is knocked out at the SEMI-FINAL stage of the Champions League and then just leaves, but I'm glad to hear that's not the case.

If he's taking a year off, I wonder how long Arsene Wenger has left. Hmmm

 

[AZUCAR!]

People are already linking him with the England job from what i've read on a few different sites, which is ridiculous. He's said he's taking a year off, and i'm sure he'd prefer to manage a club rather than an International team.

 

[Aniking]

There are always stories like that that appear just so football sites can create their usual bullshit and get traffic to their site. I read something just like that and thought it was crazy.

The guy said himself he's taking a year off, so somebody decides to link him to this job and that job. Hopefully everyone forgets about him until the end of next season where he reappears and takes over a big name club.

 

[The Cork]

I'm sure he could bide his time and get any top job he wants.

If Alex Ferguson abruptly retired, he'd be a great choice.

 

[Keith]

Good to see Southampton back in the top League and they did it in style. It is also good for me as I am expecting to be living in Brighton from September which is near Southamption. I expect either West Ham or Blackpool to join them and Reading.

 

[Keith]

Man City lead one nil in the big match at half time. Kompany scored it from a corner right on half time, they deserve it too. Will be interesting to see if they sit back now, or go for the second.

 

[AZUCAR!]

We were absolutely shit throughout the game, apart from the opening 10-15 mins when we looked really threatening.

Nani was irritating me for all of the game, and why Fergie left it so late to bring him off is beyond me. Antonio Valencia definitely should've started ahead of him.

 

[Prodigy]

Still United and proud, even though it was a shocking performance.

 

[Keith]

City still have a very tough game at Newcastle who are going for top four, but if they win that, then I think that will just about be them home and dry, the confidence tonights result would have given then might carry them over the line.