Actual (Association) Football Talk.

[ElWanderer]

Spain are playing really well, have kept Pirlo and Balotelli quiet and have had some real penetration to go with the tippy-tappy passing... it's not looking good for Italy.

I really wish I'd made Jordi Alba captain rather than sticking with Iniesta. I did consider it; should have thought harder!

[charliepanayi]

Bah. The way Spain play isn't boring. What is boring is seeing no bloody team able to score against them and/or give them any sort of a challenge.

[Dream]

Before tonight's match I was calling it as 2-1 to Italy. But Spain played an almost perfect match, and very comprehensively took Italy apart. I honestly believe that anyone who calls Spain boring after tonight just doesn't like football, and at the same time doesn't have a soul. If matches with Spain are boring it is because no-one can challenge them well enough to make a compelling spectacle. That happened tonight, with Italy really pushing them all the way (50% possission with 10 men, against Spain. It was seriously impressive) and Spain having to pull out really sublime play to make goals, the kind of thing they were being criticised for early inthe tournament because they weren't playing with a proper striker, and weren't finishing hteir chances. Tonight, they were ruthless in front of the goal, and also masterfully contained both Pirlo and Balotelli. Deserved winners, and a deserved margin, even though I was hoping for an Italy win.

[Diadem]

Holy shit. That wasn't a match. That was a complete curb stomping. And not for lack of effort on Italy's part. Italy was playing very, very well up until the 65 minute mark when they ended up with 10 players and collapsed. But at that point they were already 2 goals down, with Spain being denied two penalties they should have gotten (or was the 2nd one after? I don't recall).

Spain was simply awesome. The team played like a well oiled machine, which is quite rare for a national team. Very fast combination football like that is very hard to pull off, but they did it superbly. While never wavering in their defence. I don't think any team in the world would have stood a chance against them tonight.

Sometimes their team play was almost too good. A few times their strikers played passes on team mates while they were in an open scoring position themselves. I guess the fast combination style is very ingrained in them. A small price to pay if it leads to being able to destroy Italy like that.

Three cups in a row. And I see no reason they can't add a 4th in two years.

[raike]

That was enjoyable to watch! I'm looking forward to seeing what Italy (and Germany) come up with in the World Cup, especially since they did so well here.

I'm a bit sad that the tournament is over--I've nothing to watch on TV after work now!

[Garm]

The pass from Xavi to Jordi Alba was sublime.

[Rodion Raskolnikov]

Rangers will not play in the Scottish Premier League this season.

The correct decision, I think. They will probably now start the season in Division Three. Although I have some reservations over how this could negatively affect the game in this country, on the whole I'm optimistic this can be the start of a much better period in Scottish football.

[roband]

Ouch. I'm no expert on Scottish football, but can the league survive with just one big team?

[Rodion Raskolnikov]

It can survive without Rangers.

[Diadem]

Rangers will not play in the Scottish Premier League this season.

The correct decision, I think. They will probably now start the season in Division Three. Although I have some reservations over how this could negatively affect the game in this country, on the whole I'm optimistic this can be the start of a much better period in Scottish football.

Why is it the correct division?

Will the new rangers be significantly worse than the old one? I haven't been following this closely, but I really don't understand why they should be put in the 3rd division. Won't they just win every game in the most boring 10-0 victory ever, frustrating fans for both teams? Not to mention costing them a shitton of money.

[Rodion Raskolnikov]

Division Three is the lowest level in the Scottish Football League. The reason they should be put there is Rangers FC was liquidated and no longer exists. The newco Rangers is a new entity and so has to apply for entry into the league system. Like any other new club joining the SFL, they start from the bottom.

They'll likely win the league fairly comfortably, but only one senior player has said he will continue to play for the club. They will have to sign a entirely new squad, with very little money since it looks likely they will still have to pay off some of the debts the old Rangers accrued. There is also supposedly a 12 month transfer ban in place, but I imagine that will be lifted to allow them to put together a squad.

Crowds in Division Three can be as low as a few hundred. With Rangers newco there, crowds at every ground should rise considerably, not to mention possible TV and sponsor money coming in. Even if Rangers win the league by Christmas, the rest of the clubs in that division will benefit massively.

As for costing Rangers a shitton of money, they've been cheating every other club in the land, as well as British tax payers, for the past 20 years, so there's not much sympathy there.

[charliepanayi]

Frankly I think Scottish football is beyond help, and I doubt this will change things for the better in the long-run anyway.

Van Persie won't renew his contract. A shame really, but we should just sell him to the highest bidder now as he doesn't want to stay. The highest bidder that isn't Manchester City anyway.

[Negated]

I think it is in the best interest of both RVP and Arsenal to part ways. RVP miraculously stayed injury-free and had his best season. But given his history, he is more likely than not to get injured again at some point this coming season. The chance of repeating the phenomenal form is also quite low. So for Arsenal, this is the best time to trade him for 25 mil+ and reinforce other positions. Securing the service of Giroud means the shock wouldn't be as big as many fear.

For RVP, this is perhaps his last chance to win trophies. Arsenal is not going to become much stronger. Wenger has taken Arsenal as far as possible given the transfer budget, but few see them good enough to win the league. Moving to a more competitive club is his best bet.

[Diadem]

Division Three is the lowest level in the Scottish Football League. The reason they should be put there is Rangers FC was liquidated and no longer exists. The newco Rangers is a new entity and so has to apply for entry into the league system. Like any other new club joining the SFL, they start from the bottom.

They'll likely win the league fairly comfortably, but only one senior player has said he will continue to play for the club. They will have to sign a entirely new squad, with very little money since it looks likely they will still have to pay off some of the debts the old Rangers accrued. There is also supposedly a 12 month transfer ban in place, but I imagine that will be lifted to allow them to put together a squad.

Crowds in Division Three can be as low as a few hundred. With Rangers newco there, crowds at every ground should rise considerably, not to mention possible TV and sponsor money coming in. Even if Rangers win the league by Christmas, the rest of the clubs in that division will benefit massively.

As for costing Rangers a shitton of money, they've been cheating every other club in the land, as well as British tax payers, for the past 20 years, so there's not much sympathy there.

That make sense. Thanks!

[ahammel]

Van Persie won't renew his contract. A shame really, but we should just sell him to the highest bidder now as he doesn't want to stay. The highest bidder that isn't Manchester City anyway.

But you'd be happy to send him to Spurs?

[charliepanayi]

Van Persie won't renew his contract. A shame really, but we should just sell him to the highest bidder now as he doesn't want to stay. The highest bidder that isn't Manchester City anyway.

But you'd be happy to send him to Spurs?

Why would he go there, he wants to win stuff

[Dobblesworth]

Have Scottish family up on my dad's side from an Irish Catholic background up around Glasgow, so you can guess allegiance. Was visiting the other week and driving round city centre we passed a notably Rangers pub. More Union Jack/red-white-blue decorating than I'd seen since the jubilee faff. Oh, and a flagpole with a Union Jack at half mast. I wondered why.

I'll look forward to seeing Hibs/Hearts/Aberdeen/Dunfermline/Dundee competitively thrashing around the upper-mid-table, but maybe Celtic might decline over next few seasons waiting on Rangers v2.0 to get promoted, if they don't have 4 Old Firm derbies a season, a league championship run-off and the odd cup match to keep them on their toes.

[Cathode Ray Sunshine]

Well, van Gaal's back to the Dutch national team. Don't know how I feel about it, though I had my doubts with Bert when they appointed him and he got them to the World Cup final. Yeah, he didn't get them to the WC in '02, but I have hope.

[Diadem]

I think it's a huge blunder.

It's not that Van Gaal is a bad coach. He is, in fact, an excellent coach. But not for national teams. He's someone who is good in building up a team. Getting them to play together well, nurturing young, promising players, etc. But you don't get to do that with a national team. What you work with is a big group of already established pros with huge egos who you see only a few days in a year. I don't see Van Gaal handling that any better than he did last time.

[Dream]

Have Scottish family up on my dad's side from an Irish Catholic background up around Glasgow, so you can guess allegiance. Was visiting the other week and driving round city centre we passed a notably Rangers pub. More Union Jack/red-white-blue decorating than I'd seen since the jubilee faff. Oh, and a flagpole with a Union Jack at half mast. I wondered why.

I've been around a few "staunch" communities in Glasgow in the past few weeks, and I assure you, all the Jubilee bullshit is still up. Union Jacks everywhere.

Interestingly, I had my first old firm pub altercation a few weeks ago, when a tourist asked me what was going to happen to the scottish leagues with Rangers gone. "Someone else will have to send Neil Lennon the nail bombs now" I answered, to universal jocularity (in my brain, anyway). And a random guy turned around and said "I know you're a Celtic supporter, but..." And he was actually very nice about it. I felt quite lucky.

[roband]

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

If there's interest, I'll create a league for us to all join!

[Garm]

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

If there's interest, I'll create a league for us to all join!

I'm into it. I played in a league with some friends last year and got pounded... But it was fun!

[Negated]

Sure I am in.

[Chuff]

I'll play.

[roband]

Ok, feel free to register teams - I'll set up the league and post the link later

[ElWanderer]

Oooh, two fantasy league invitations in one day; I might decide to play this year.

I used to play each year, but found I kept losing interest halfway through the season.

[roband]

Ok, the code for the league is: 55031-53214

[Sytri]

do you mind if I join in?

[roband]

I wouldn't have posted it if I wasn't open for absolutely anyone to join.. Feel free!

[Sytri]

Cool! Just joined. Not played fantasy football in aaaages! Lets see how this goes

[Garm]

I have joined. We'll see how good my team is. As an American I feel a lot like I'm throwing darts at a dart board while blindfolded.

[Dream]

I'm in! And now, we get to play the greatest game of all: Who's got the best team name? I heard of a pub quiz team recently who called themselves "Halal. Is it meat you're looking for?" That's a high bar to set. I think it might take me all four weeks until the first game to come up with something good enough.

[Diadem]

I'm in! And now, we get to play the greatest game of all: Who's got the best team name? I heard of a pub quiz team recently who called themselves "Halal. Is it meat you're looking for?" That's a high bar to set. I think it might take me all four weeks until the first game to come up with something good enough.

Suggestion: "Maybe if this team's name is witty enough, someone will finally love me"

[Chuff]

Doesn't fit, but clever.
I made a team. My name's a combination of one of my favorite clubs, Sheffield Wednesday, and one of my favorite book series, Thursday Next.

[Adacore]

I have joined. We'll see how good my team is. As an American I feel a lot like I'm throwing darts at a dart board while blindfolded.

The first year I played fantasy NFL I got to the championship game in my 14-person league, despite having never seen a match. Some basic statistics and a fair bit of blind luck is all you need

[yedidyak]

I'm in! I'm terrible with names though

[ElWanderer]

I've joined, though I've not even attempted to come up with a funny name as I've also joined a league at work. To save "who are you?" confusion I've got my real name as my manager name, and my Internet/forum name as my team name.

Anyone been crazy enough to buy Joey "oooh, I could finish my ban sooner if they let me miss 12 league 2 matches" Barton?

[roband]

You'd have to be stupider than him to do that! Or, uninformed anyway

[ElWanderer]

I bet Joey Barton would buy himself if he had a team!

I don't think I've got Tim Cahill or Luka Modric, but I ought to check before they leave the country... at least you can make unlimited changes before the season starts if someone moves. Is it the end of August when the transfer window closes, a couple of weeks after the season has begun?

[Garm]

I thought about Barton cuz he was cheap. He'll just get himself another ban when he comes back so I decided to take a pass. He's too volatile.