Nick Against the World (180 Viewers)

[Geof]

@ Erik, believe me, scoring against Serbia is one hell of a task.

In the whole qualifying tournament, they conceded... 1 goal, in a 1-1 draw against Spain. They're not pussies in the back.
Unlike Germany: these two goals against Costa Rica were an absolute joke

 

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[flieeeekke]

You're forgetting the most obvious and most costly thing; the amount of money we'll lose and miss out. That will be the most disastrous thing, something which will be hard to recover from.

exactly. we might come back a *healthier* club, but due to our finances we'll compete with lazio and not with milan.

 

[flieeeekke]

@ Erik, believe me, scoring against Serbia is one hell of a task.

In the whole qualifying tournament, they conceded... 1 goal, in a 1-1 draw against Spain. They're not pussies in the back.
Unlike Germany: these two goals against Costa Rica were an absolute joke

that was impressive though what attacking superpowers did they face? belgium, lithuania, bosnia and the almighty spain, who managed to score one goal in two games v. lithuania. groups dont get any easier for defensive teams.

 

[flieeeekke]

Of course considering the gravity of the accusations pending on Juventus, demotion to Interregionale would be the only fitting punishment, with Milan back to serie B and Inter and Bologna competing for the scudo. Heck, should Moggi speak I bet there'd be enough turd overflowing to cause the fall of the Second Republic.

But fortunately for you gobbi, Machiavelli is still alive in the Land of the Treacherous aka Italy : he's just hiding behind the false pretext of garantismo. One law for the powerful and another law for the plebs.

which is not a bad thing IMO. if everyone will get what they deserve italian football would be destroyed.

 

[Slagathor]

Chances? Do you realize how many goals they gave up in qualifying?

Oh, I know a hell of a lot. Here's what I posted in the "Group C" thread:

A MESSY ENCOUNTER

The opening match to the World Cup is unlikely to boast brilliant football when Germany take on Costa Rica. The opening match for the Serbians and Dutch is unlikely to be much better. The biggest asset the Serbians possess is their incredible defence, the best thing about the Dutch is their attacking play. We've seen a match with the same outlines before when the two teams met in the quarterfinal of Euro2000 with the important differences that the Serbians were weaker than they are now, and the Dutch are weaker now then they were back then. As such that match won't be of much value when predicting the outcome of the upcoming encounter. If anything, the match that followed between Italy and Holland will be a much better example, and not just because it was also lead by referee Markus Merk.

The Serbians conceded an amazing total of 1 (one!) goal during their entire qualification series. Not in the least because of star defender Dragutinovic, who doesn't even need to lift his game to be confident in keeping the Serbian door firmly shut.

Not that the Dutch conceded many more, but their defense is barely worthy of wearing the famous orange shirt. Their low amount of goals conceded in qualifying is due to a combination of luck and a superbly keeping Edwin van der Sar.

So what else do we know? Well, we know that Marco van Basten will instruct his team to come out storming trying to get an early goal. And they might score, but more likely they won't. With all their attacking flair, the Dutch struggle to find the net and famously need a lot of chances to get a goal. They won't get many chances against the Serbs.

Neither will the Serbs themselves, in all likeliness. They are likely to start Kezman and Milosevic, who are more than capable of finding their way around the Dutch defenders, but in order to score they will need the ball.

The Serbian problem lies in midfield. Barring Dejan Stankovic, the Serbian midfielders are inferior in individual skill to their Dutch counterparts. Assuming Cocu, Van Bommel and Van der Vaart will be fit to play as Van Basten announced earlier today. Bridging the gap and getting the ball to the forwards might be a fundamental problem for the Serbians and the Dutch defense might have it relatively easy. With Van der Sar in the goal, they could indeed succeed in fending off the couple of chances the Serbs will get.

This match might be decided in the first half hour. The Dutch will come out attacking and if they manage to get a goal they are likely to hold on for a win. However, the Dutch struggle against firmly defending sides like Italy on Euro2000 and Australia last Sunday. If the Serbians manage to sufficiently disrupt the Dutch style of play and keep it up, the game is in their hands. The Dutch will need to rise to the occasion and better their recent performances if they are going to win it, but the Serbs are lacking in midfield strength and might find it equally hard to get on the scoresheet.

Serbia & Montenegro versus the Netherlands is unlikely to feature many goals or fluent, attractive play. A messy draw appears to be on the cards, unless one of the teams can get a goal, somewhere, somehow.

 

[3pac]

Im in gelsenkirchen ATM for usa-cz, T&T are awesome.

 

[flieeeekke]

LE BALLE DI FRA' GIULIO.

Sorry I meant "sell it to the tourists".

Italian football will not be destroyed. First off because it's the country's seventh or so industry, so you don't destroy it just like that. Then because not all the apples are rotten (Gazzoni, Agnolin), and finally because in the hopeful event that the game is cleansed from the gangrene, it will get the chance to redeem itself and rise from its ashes. If the basis of the reconstruction is sound and if it leads to a healthy serie A in the longer term, then a couple of years in the wilderness is a small price to pay.

Regardless though, what kind of reasoning is that ? "Ok so you're a bunch of filthy gangsters that should be exhiled from humanity, but if you go down then it's no fun anymore. So here's a yellow card for you : just promise that you won't do it again, ok?". It almost happened with the Totonero. It definitely happened with Sensi's Rolexes. And with the fake passports story. And with the doping trial. Just how far must we go for these felons to be finally made accountable for their actions? I wasn't expecting this from you William.

looking from a moral point of view, if what is told about us is true, we must go down, and that would be lower than b. then again, if what is said about others is true, bunch of teams has to go down with juve, maybe not as low juve, but to b at least. which in modern day football would be disastrous in international scale. calcio may come back cleaner than ever, then again, with the current state of english, spanish and in recent years french clubs, it would take no less than 10-15 years for italian teams to bounce back. couple of years away from european football and serie a will become the league of parmas and leedses.

 

[Bjerknes]

You're forgetting the most obvious and most costly thing; the amount of money we'll lose and miss out. That will be the most disastrous thing, something which will be hard to recover from.

I'm not forgetting about that. No.

 

[flieeeekke]

I'm not forgetting about that. No.

in that case i got the impression that ignoring this fact.

 

[IlDivinCodino]

is Kromkamp gonna start........?

 

[Bjerknes]

in that case i got the impression that ignoring this fact.

I was simply looking on the bright side...I'm not sure why that is causing so much confusion.

 

[flieeeekke]

if we're relegated, there's no bright side, thats what

 

[Geof]

if we're relegated, there's no bright side, thats what

a good friend of mine used to say:


Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin
Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of shit
When you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.
You'll see it's all a show
Keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the right side of life...
(Come on guys, cheer up!)
Always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the bright side of life...
(Worse things happen at sea, you know.)
Always look on the bright side of life...
(I mean - what have you got to lose?)
(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.
What have you lost? Nothing!)
Always look on the right side of life...

well, the guy did end on a cross...

 

[IncuboRossonero]

Erik..Your boy Robben had a hell of a game...int:

comments on Zlatan against Trinidad??

England-Paraguay scoreline didn't really reflect what happened on the field IMO...England mid field owned Paraguay for the most part..Gerrard, Lampard are going to punish this tournament...ref was a joke.

That said, FORZA AZZURRI int:

 

[Dragon]

comments on Zlatan against Trinidad??

He was good at the beginning but as time passed he had more and more Juve flashbacks

Forza Azzurri!!

 

[Slagathor]

Erik..Your boy Robben had a hell of a game...int:

Yeah too bad Van Nistelrooy sucked and couldn't even position himself on the receiving end of crosses

comments on Zlatan against Trinidad??

"Who the hell is this guy and where is Zlatan?"

But then again, we've been saying that for over a year now haven't we.

 

[Bjerknes]

Erik, I was pleasantly surprised by how your boys managed to sure up the midfield and defense...the high pressure and line of four and three really gave Serbia no room to play. Every time Robben received the ball he ran at defenders and caused all sorts of problems, and he already looks like one of the players of the tournament. I thought the midfield looked good with Sneijder making tidy passes to the forwards and Cocu looked solid as usual. Your back four was ridiculously solid compared to what I thought would happen, however then again Serbia looked clueless going forward and Kezman and Milosevic are pretty much useless without good service. I have no frickin clue why Koroman started on the bench.

Congrats on a good win and hopefully you'll beat Argentina as well.

 

[JCK]

Erik, I was pleasantly surprised by how your boys managed to sure up the midfield and defense...the high pressure and line of four and three really gave Serbia no room to play. Every time Robben received the ball he ran at defenders and caused all sorts of problems, and he already looks like one of the players of the tournament. I thought the midfield looked good with Sneijder making tidy passes to the forwards and Cocu looked solid as usual. Your back four was ridiculously solid compared to what I thought would happen, however then again Serbia looked clueless going forward and Kezman and Milosevic are pretty much useless without good service. I have no frickin clue why Koroman started on the bench.

Congrats on a good win and hopefully you'll beat Argentina as well.

Personally I would play with Holland with four midfielders, Cocu, Van Bommel, Sneijder and Van der Vaart and I would drop Van Persie to leave Robben and Van Nistelrooy up front. But I guess it is "taboo" for Oranje to play such a formation.

 

[Slagathor]

Erik, I was pleasantly surprised by how your boys managed to sure up the midfield and defense...the high pressure and line of four and three really gave Serbia no room to play. Every time Robben received the ball he ran at defenders and caused all sorts of problems, and he already looks like one of the players of the tournament. I thought the midfield looked good with Sneijder making tidy passes to the forwards and Cocu looked solid as usual. Your back four was ridiculously solid compared to what I thought would happen, however then again Serbia looked clueless going forward and Kezman and Milosevic are pretty much useless without good service. I have no frickin clue why Koroman started on the bench.

Congrats on a good win and hopefully you'll beat Argentina as well.

I think that moment in the first half when Kezman and Milosevic tripped over each other, allowing Van der Sar to grab the ball was very telling. The defence will have to significantly improve if they are going to hold back the Ivory Coast. At least Ooijer looks solid and experienced enough to keep Mathijsen under his rule and form a reasonable central duo.

The midfield was good, the front three slightly disappointing. Robben was stunning but Van Nistelrooy was a ghost. Van Persie should've done a tad more I think.

Thanks for the congrats and you good luck for tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that game!

Personally I would play with Holland with four midfielders, Cocu, Van Bommel, Sneijder and Van der Vaart and I would drop Van Persie to leave Robben and Van Nistelrooy up front. But I guess it is "taboo" for Oranje to play such a formation.

We discovered our golden total football playing 4-3-3 and 4-3-3 is what we will continue to play. It should be in our national anthem.

 

[Bjerknes]

Personally I would play with Holland with four midfielders, Cocu, Van Bommel, Sneijder and Van der Vaart and I would drop Van Persie to leave Robben and Van Nistelrooy up front. But I guess it is "taboo" for Oranje to play such a formation.

I would also take out van Persie and place van der Vaart in a free role up top with Robben and van Nistelrooy. Rafi would slide in behind Ruud and float towards the wings while Robben would make his usual darting runs through opposition defenses. I would stick with the same midfield as van Basten used today, however; it looked pretty damn good.