I only watch the World Cup and not League matches.

Also very happy that Japan and South Korea are kicking all sorts of a$$ in the current Asian Cup.

BBC Sport - Football - Bolton 0-0 Wigan

^ I was at the Reebok earlier today to watch this. The first match I've gone to see in about 5 years, and it was actually quite a good game. It was great to see Victor Moses and Callum McManaman not only starting but really playing quite well. When all's said and done though, the last thing the latics need is a replay, what with the kind of season this has been.

Congrats to Crawley Town as well. It's always good to see the small teams have their day in the cup like that.

So, a worryingly bleak transfer window for the latics in which we ended up with a Spanish defender who hasn't played any football since last season and a Kilmarnock striker was capped off by a god-awful performance at the Hawthorns last night.

Still, if anything good's come out of it, it's this;

BBC Sport - Football - Blackburn's El Hadji Diouf makes loan move to Rangers

^ Glad to be rid of cunt. Hopefully that stain on English football will stay north of the border for good too.

Just got back from Old Trafford.

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/4723/rooney.gif

:bowdown: Genius.

Not according to $hitty fans.
Apparently it was a stuffy fluke coming off his shin and they were the better team.
Unbelievable aren't they?

Mike 'I don't believe in statistics' Summerbee. :laughing:
You wouldn't see someone like Bobby Charlton behave that way. Have some decorum FFS you bitter small time cunt.
Silva was good and so was Kompany.
When we went 1-0 up, we tried to contain them and naturally let them have more of the ball. 1-1 hit, we made the change (Berbatov) and got the goal. They passed the ball well at times and had good spells without penetrating us too much. Yet, both Sky and BBC's stats say we had more possession and more shots ON target. Yet they were clearly the better team.

I thought Smalling was my MOTM for a long period, until Vidic went superhuman.
But Smalling, last season - he looked like liability.
Now, he doesn't look out of place. He looks matured and makes sensible decisions.
Unlike Johnny Evans.

It quite clearly came off his boot. Anyone who denies that was a great goal is slutching at straws. My favourite goal I've seen at OT and I've been going for 10 years. We have hard games coming up, but I think we can beat Chelsea at OT.

I saw it the same way as you.
Good possession from City, but contained where it didn't matter.
United's back four barely troubled, apart from Silva's first half effort.
Tevez was made to look like a passenger.
It's all about gears and Citeh don't have as many as the Reds.
Smalling came of age today with that performance.
And that goal was good enough to win the league, the FA Cup, Champions League and the World Cup. Still can't believe what my eyes keep telling me. Magical!!!

Aye, I was texting a City fan after the game and I said months ago they didn't have championship pedigree. I echoed those comments today, he was saying "we were the better team", and instead of disputing that - and it's very disputable, I explained that it didn't matter. Arsenal have played lovely football for the past 6 years and haven't won the league. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't have that winning mentality then you're not going to win. Can you think of a better goal than Rooney's? I really don't think I can.

Any of you guys play on a team? I've been playing on an indoor team this year. I wasn't much of a 'football' fan, but after playing countless hours of FIFA I'm loving it. My favorite team is Aston Villa. My indoor team wears their black unis, they are pretty awesome. So far, I'm really digging Bent over Carew.

Commiserations on being a Villa fan. :(

I played from school age to my mid 30's. The highest I played was in the Manchester League for a team called Abbey Hey (they're in the North West Counties these days) and for several pub teams during the span of that time in local *Sunday Morning Leagues.

*Not for the squeamish.

Glad you're enjoying your football. Just a shame you have no real local teams to affiliate yourself with.
Over here it's tribal and literally a matter of life, or death.

Unless you're a QPR fan.

Do QPR actually have any rivals, Most fans of other London clubs I know couldn't give a flying fuck about QPR.

Don't they consider Chelsea as their closest rivals. I'd be surprised if Chelsea fans even knew who they were these days!

Having someone to hate is almost as important as having a team to love.
Can't imagine being a football fan with no rivals. :confused:
Just wouldn't be the same somehow.

I wish it were like that here. I'm competitive as all hell, and treat every game as life or death. I can only imagine the atmosphere across the pond. Hopefully, someday I'll be able to experience it. I found a site where you can get custom premier league jerseys customized for $25 USD. Sorry for the Gigantic blurry photos, but I'm half in the bag and lazy, but I'd really love to show them off. https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&i....1&disp=emb&zw https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&i....1&disp=emb&zw

Old firm clash results in 3 red cards 10+ yellows & managers squaring off not once but twice! 1-0 Celtic and I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough!

Fulham kind of dislike them, based on the time I met Fulham fans on holiday. Although moreso based on contempt than actual rivalry.

BBC Sport - Football - Manchester City 1-0 Wigan Athletic

Call me psychic, but the second I saw that fucking thing slip through Al-Habsi's fingers and into the back of the net, I knew what kind of an evening I was in for.

I guess I'll be seeing any Wolves and Baggies fans in the Championship then...

I still fancy Wolves to rally, but it will definitely be hard for them to escape the shit now. I still haven't decided who I think will go down but yeah, it's not looking good for your lot mate.

Got to admit , when i saw the team sheet today and clocked that midfield i thought "**** me were going to get leathered ". But ****-it we toughed it out and pulled through as all Fergies teams have always done. Heroic at the back and great on the counter attack . Just hope it gives us a boost for the league and number 19.
Can't work Arsenal out , good football but no end product. Again. Odd.

manchester united - the BEST

I'm an American who just recently got into English football. It's nearly impossible to get the games over here so I don't get to catch many of them but I always check in on the scores online.

Anyway, picking a team to support when you know nothing about the league is kind of difficult so I decided I was just going to support whoever my favorite bands supported. And a lot of them are QPR fans. So honestly, is this a good choice?

No.

ahahaha. You should read back up this thread a bit, There's some funny stuff about QPR.

It depends on what you mean by a "good" choice though. What are you looking for?

I guess by "good" I mean not just the choice a stupid American would make who doesn't know what they're talking about. But I guess I don't know what I'm talking about. How would you guys recommend I choose a team to support? Or is that a stupid question because you'll be bias for your team no matter what?

What would you be looking for in a team though? Would they be a Premiership team? Are you looking for a team who plays attractive football? Or do you have any other criteria in mind?

EDIT: Also, would you be looking for a team whos games you may be able to watch frequently? Fox Soccer Channel over there seems a great channel. I've watched more streams of my clubs games online from that channel than I have been able to watch on English television this season.

Yeah, that's a good point actually. To be honest, there's no real "bad" team to support, though you'd probably get more cred from an english person for supporting a team other than the Big 4 (Chelsea Liverpool Man United Man City). It's all about what you're looking for in the team and why you want to support a team in the first place. I'd follow english football a lot, but I wouldn't have a personal "favourite" team; I'm generally rooting for the underdog, and within my gf's family there are supporters of Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and Luton (guess where she's from :P), and my dad's from near enough to Gillingham so I'd always be slightly rooting for any of those teams.

When you say that I would get more cred from an English person for a team other than the big 4, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for I guess. I obviously don't want a team that loses all the time but I also don't want to support a team just because they win a lot. So something in the middle.

With American football, I have my favorite team because that's just the team my family supported so I was sort of born into it. But when watching other games I'm more likely to support a team that doesn't play dirty, hasn't won a ton of Superbowls in recent years, and is just, in general, a more respectable team. So, if I have any criteria for picking an English football team, that's it.

I just think it's more fun to watch the games when I have a team to support so, that's the whole reason I'm trying to decide on a team.

Well, as a neutral I love to watch Arsenal. Arsenal have been plagued with a less than secure defence in recent years, so they do concede goals. However, in my opinion, they are the most entertaining attacking team in the Premiership. They play flowing, passing, patient football and at times are a pretty beautiful team to watch. A few years ago they were near invincible, winning the Premier League after a season undefeated. They haven't won anything since then but they are always there or there abouts, always a threat, and always finish in the top four.

If you feel passionate about football then you should consider carefully before choosing who to commit your allegiances to. Unless you want a lifetime of misery avoid teams who are doomed to winning nothing.
The perfect choice would be a team that has a regular history of success.
One of the "top 4" as previously mentioned would keep you interested due to their successes in most of the competitions, including European trophies.

Football fans are traditionally tribal so you could always look for some connection to your family roots to help you decide who to support.

Ah, I never thought about looking for family roots! I know I've got a bit of English blood in me so that might be worth checking into.

Try and find out the particular region in England your ancestors are from and I'll give you some options.
I'll even put them in order of success and include a little background history to help you choose...

Thanks, that would be great. I started researching a bit and narrowed it down to 14 possible areas of England so I still have quite a lot of searching to do. I've always had a fascination with England and it's culture (and especially it's music) so I've been wanting to figure out where my ancestors were from for a while now. Hopefully I can figure out exactly where they originated.

Not really football performance related, but has anyone heard Asamoah Gyan's music? He's a featured artist on a couple of Ghanaian singer Castro D'Destroyer's songs, they're quite good in all honesty. He performs under the name 'Baby Jet'.

BBC Sport - Football - Wales 0-2 England

Can't complain about the result or performance there - we totally outclassed them and got what we deserved. My confidence in Capello won't be anywhere near restored until he stops calling up wastes of space like James fucking Milner though. That man's flaws as a manager were well and truly exposed for me after that draw with Montenegro.

Wales were absolute gash in the first half. I know they were trying to keep possession, but they literally just passed it along the back line, with no effort to move forward at all, which just meant that England could push up and squeeze them deeper and deeper until they made a mistake (which they did several times). Second half I thought England stopped pressurizing as much, the game was done and they were just looking to get through without any mishaps, and it allowed Wales more time on the ball to go forward which gave the impression that they were coming back into it. In reality, Wales were never going to score.

I'm so glad Jack Wilshere is English. I know he's been hyped to high heaven this year, but it's justified in my opinion. Ashley Young looked sh*t hot too, but then I suppose anyone could against a Welsh team that has 3 players of genuine quality.

Yeah, it was never likely to be a test but it was a neat, tidy performance. I know James Milner hasn't been on the best of form lately but when he is in form, I'll all for him starting in our midfield.

The bone I've got to pick with James Milner is that since he's been at Man City, he really hasn't impressed me at all. All he looks like he can do on the international stage is cross and nowt else to me - he's like the anti-Walcott or something.

Wilshere's been terrific this season, and so's Ash Young. And then there's Jordan Henderson at Sunderland, Chris Smalling's looked more convincing than Rio to me for Man U, Gary Cahill's been doing so well for Bolton, Vic Moses at the mighty Wigan looks like he'll develop into one hell of a winger - there are some good young players coming through the England ranks. I just really hope Capello uses them well and doesn't keep going for the old guard in future. To be honest I don't really care about England winning Euro 2012, I just want them to build a good squad full of fresh faces in time for Brazil 2014. And looking at the players at England's disposal now, I've got high hopes...kinda...

Jordan Henderson was the player I wanted to keep a hold of more than anybody. I would have sooner seen Bruce sell Bent, Gordon, Gyan or anyone for that matter. He's not quite looked up to scratch however over the last two or three months. He is still hopefully going to be a quality player though. Capello played him in defensive midfield for his England debut, which is somewhere he hadn't played before. He had a very quiet game but from his time in the Premiership up to now I can say that he really doesn't look as though he is going to be a defensive midfielder.

James Milner has indeed had an unsuccessful run at Man City, and has looked out of form. He looked very impressive at Villa and I was happy to see him in the England team, I had been waiting for Capello to call him up. I guess it'll be interesting to see if he can find his form again.

Also what about Leighton Baines? I'm wondering if Capello will begin to start him at left back? He's having a much better season than Cole is. Maybe even start Baines at left back and Cole at left midfield? It's not like we have a particularly impressive one. I mean, Young can play there but he seems much better when he's allowed to play in the hole behind the striker(s).

Wasnt Cole tried as a left winger before and was a total failure?

I think its better with someone like him that you continue to allow him to overlap, and perhaps have a player from the left wing who will cut inside more onto their right foot, which theoretically drags the opposition fullback inside more giving your own overlapping fullback (Cole in this case) more room to operate.

The only problem with that is that John Terry plays as the left sided centre back, so when Cole goes forward it leaves Terry covering the entire left side of the defence. Terry is not the defender he was a few years ago (although I have never rated him as highly as some others, I think he's always been the beneficiary of partners that made him look better - Desailly and Carvalho for Chelsea, Ferdinand at international level). His pace isnt there at all, which would mean with Cole going forward, and Terry covering that side, the England team is susceptible to pacy counter attacks down that side.

I have no idea whether Cole has been tried there before to be honest, but it would make sense if he had. I dunno, I feel that we don't really have much of a threat on the left. When was the last time we had an out and out left winger there, who was of a world class standard? Only Joe Cole comes to mind from recent years when he was at his best and still, whether or not you could call him a true left winger is arguable.

I think with both Cole and Baines down that side, we could be a much bigger threat. Both Cole and Baines like to get forward and overlap and both can get back and defend well. I think they could link up well if they were both started. Baines is also useful to have around in dead ball situations.