Marcelo

Just as i'm typing, City almost go ahead again. Very good game this

Kolarov! City take the lead again, 2-1.

WTF???!!! Benzema, 2-2

Rooonaldoooooooooooo!!!!! 3-2 Madrid!
What a game.

The last 20 minutes or so have been immense. Great entertainment, end to end stuff. Benzema's goal was superb. I feel for Joe Hart, he's put in a top performance.

Contain your thoughts, edit your new things into a previous post, don't be annoying, any of the above.

Sorry, Bastard.



Absolutely. Hart was top drawer, shame about Ronaldo's goal

Man City's defensive shape on that right side was a huge factor to their loss. Maicon was caught out many times and forced Kompany into awkward 1v1s with C. Ronaldo. That creates more gaps and thus more problems. When Zabeleta came on for Maicon he too lack shape. With his fresh legs he should have comfortably sat back to defend against Ronaldo, but he to was often caught either up or central. Eventually Garcia had to take on some of that workload. Ronaldo and Marcelo were free to do as they pleased all game on that wing and it lead to two goals. It was a decent game when all is said and done, but that defensive shape certainly has to be re-evaluated by Mancini.

I agree. Maicon was a strange signing to be honest, he's been poor for a long time.
I dont think i've ever seen Kompany struggle that much

I agree about Maicon's form, it has certainly been below par. But as a coach one would likely chalk that up to a slump, rather then a general decrease of ability. Maicon does have some perks, after all. He has worked with Mancini before and he has a ton of CL experience, which I think is the main focus for City this season. That being said, his performance wasn't good enough. Yeah, Kompany was left 1v1 with no cover quite often. A tricky spot to be in and doubly against Ronaldo. I'm wondering; is Micah Richards injured or just not favoured, at the moment? I don't think he has featured yet this season for them.

He hasnt(Micah Richards). He's injured at the moment but towads the end of last season Zabaleta was pretty much their 1st choice right back. Maybe Mancini doesnt trust him enough because i dont think Maicon was brought in just for cover.
Good points regarding Maicon, maybe he's just rusty as the season's still young.

Very entertaining match between Young Boys and Liverpool in the Europa League tonight. Ended 5-3 to Liverpool. It was a bit of a mixed bag as far as Liverpool's performance goes. A lot of reserve players started, with Suso looking very good. It's painfully obvious Carragher's best days are long gone, and the defence as a whole looked shaky. Shelvey looked good when he came on, as did Borini (good movement to set up Shelvey's second and to win the corner for the Coates' goal).

Not a convincing performance, but a win is a win and the youngsters got a runout. Hoping a first league win of the season follows on Sunday.

Get these real NFL refs back please. That game last night was a joke.

Love the meme I saw on Facebook this morning: "After further review, the quarterback kicked the puck in with his skate, therefore, home run Lakers." There were various wordings throughout the day though.

That Liverpool vs Man U game would have had a much more interesting end result were it not for the red card. Liverpool's 4vs2 dominance in the midfield should have had a better result though, even before going down to 10 men. It is funny that the change of tactics led to more chances for Liverpool. I don't think it is particularly indicative of how they should be playing, though. Good looks from Sterling and Allen. They will be a handful to deal with this season, I think.

Bayern Munich lost 3:1 against FC BATE Borisov. That is a surprise ... and it is even more of surprise that the Belarussians have won two matches with the same result already.

I didn't get a chance to catch West Virginia v Baylor where Geno Smith threw more TDs than incompletions. I thought that only happened in video game football. I wanna see the Mountaineers against an elite D though.

Owners propose deal to NHLPA for 50/50 split of hockey revenue and a full 82 game season

Unless there's something wretched in the fine print, I will drop a nuclear bomb on Fehr if he rejects it.

Bumpin' this thread back up in the name of football. Let's go Pats.

Never liked the Colts or the Broncos but since the former released him, I have gained a whole new respect for Payton Manning and am pulling for Denver all the way. Rooting for them just because I have come to admire that player so much.

I'd rather not talk about my team right now . Starting off 7-1 and then potentially missing the playoffs? Way to go, team. Granted we got the injury bug something fierce, but I was so pumped at the beginning of the season. As a Bears fan, I know it's a mild blasphemy to claim your favorite defense to be anything other than from Chicago's heyday, but the 2000 Ravens really and truly are my favorite, and we were on par to be statistically better than them in terms of yards allowed, points allowed, forced turnovers, points off turnovers during that first half of the season. And then we just... I don't know. Chicago is a shitty city, each and every sports team of ours seems to do this, it's retarded.

My other favorite team is Buffalo, so pfffft. Out of the current playoff picture, a Harbaugh Bowl would be preferable for me, with secondary NFC and AFC picks being Washington and Cincinnati. Why? No idea, I like seeing shitty teams win, so the worst teams available are usually who I root for. Though really the only NFC team right now I don't care for is Green Bay (and Dallas if they manage to knock out Washington on Sunday).

Kinda sad to see Chris Ault go. Even though the Wolf Pack were not my favorate college team, he did a lot of good things over at Nevada-Reno and was a great coach.

Speaking of Nevada alumni...Kaepernick won't have much success in the playoffs unless San Francisco figures out what happened to their once vaunted (but currently swiss cheeze) defense. Can just one guy (J.Smith) being injured make that much difference? I had thought they were a lock for the NFC championship game but now...I'm just not so sure, lately they seem to give up points faster than Zarach Baal Tharagh releases albums.

I am so damn proud of the Washington Redskins. First NFC East Division title since 1999. They close out the season with an NFC-best 7 game winning streak & sweep the Cowboys in the process. Doesn't get any better than that! RGIII had a phenomenal rookie season, but I'm also impressed with Alfred Morris, who finished with 1,613 yards rushing & broke the franchise rushing record for a single season held by Clinton Portis. Morris ran all over that injury-riddled Cowboys defense, getting 33 carries for 200 yards & 3 TDs. I haven't felt this good about a Redskins team in years. Looking forward to their Wild Card game this Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks!

Lovie should not have been fired. All the players loved him, he's one of the more respected coaches in the NFL, he had an 81-63 record (off the top of my head, could be wrong), and just really took a ton of flak whenever the team struggled. Lovie wasn't the one fumbling on the goal line, or getting frustrated and throwing picks because he was trying to force passes, or being entirely unable to block, or lacking conditioning so teams could walk all over us in the fourth quarter. I don't understand why he constantly took fire for underperforming personnel. Our offense is based entirely around three people, one of whom is injury prone (Forte), one who is easily taken out of a game (Marshall, just double cover him), and one who has bad poise and makes bad decisions after being flustered easily (Cutler). Defensively we're good as gold but we're old and lack conditioning. I mean, I truly believe Urlacher won't be playing next season (although we'd have to be fucked in the head to let him go entirely if he retires. Keep him around as a linebacking coach or something, the dude has talent and smarts, he'd be great), Tillman just had his best season but it was also like his 8th or 9th, plus he's a fumble forcing monster but he's slower than most #1 receivers and gets burned too easily, our defensive line is fucking great, we basically have seven starters, but our safeties are spotty at best and Conte is a dirty player.

If Lovie had any real problems, it was managing his challenges and timeouts, which he was simply fucking terrible at. And if he was in charge of drafting, then that was a real issue too. Every year we need offensive linemen and wide receivers, yet every year we get defensive linemen and tight ends in the early rounds. We're about to go into a dark age, we Bears fans. Now the team will have to adjust to whatever new head coach we end up with, plus we'll desperately need to rebuild because eight of our starting eleven defensive players could probably get a discount at IHOP.

All that doomsaying aside, I'm rooting for pretty much everybody except Green Bay (obviously) and New England. I like every other team, or at least don't hate them. I'm sort of against Denver since their division is so embarrassingly bad that they had a pretty easy ride into the playoffs, but I've always kind of liked them plus it's hard to dislike Peyton Manning. If I absolutely HAD to pick, I'd hope for either a Harbaugh bowl or Washington V Baltimore, as those are my favorite teams left.

Bring on the transfer window! Liverpool need atleast 3 players. We're supposed to have Sturridge from Chelsea coming in. We're getting rid of Joe Cole to QPR allegedly also. I'd like to see us in for Theo Walcott and I'd also like us to bring in a holding midflielder so BR will start playing Gerrard in his attacking midfield role again.

My thoughts on the NFL right now:

First off, I agree Lovie should not have been fired. I think he was a great coach and was not the reason for Bears troubles at the end of the season. The one coach who should have been fired is Rex Ryan. He has ruined the seasons of both Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, and created a horrible name for the Jets. I am a Pats fan, but I sympathize with Jets fans who want Ryan out.

In terms of playoffs:
I think that the Broncos are hands-down the best team in the NFL. They have been on a roll for 11 weeks now with one of the greatest QB's of all time, a great group of receivers, and two very solid running backs (assuming Mcgahee is healthy for the playoffs). Their defense is also superb on all levels.

I am a huge pats fan, but they need to play at their highest level to make it past the Broncos. Brady has a better track record in the playoffs than Manning, but as of late, the team hasn't been gelling as much as I would like. If Brady, Welker, LLoyd, Gronk, Hernandez, Woodhead, and Ridley show up to play, they will have a great chance, however, especially if their defense continues to create turnovers.

As for the rest of the AFC; I don't see any way for the Colts or Bengals to make it all the way. Luck is too inconsistent, and the Bengals just aren't all that great. The Texans and the Ravens are in the same boat for me. They each have strong running backs, receivers, and defenses. Even both of their quarterbacks are capable, but I don't think that either team has a chance against the Broncos or Pats.

The NFC is a much tougher picture:
I don't see any standouts.

I really like the packers offense, especially with Jennings back in. They could very well have the best receiving core in football, along with a phenomenal quarterback. My problem with them is the inability to have a good run game and a defense that can hold an opponent to few points. I see them as a very similar team to the pats, but the pats defense has been great at creating turnovers, not to mention the special teams has stepped up. I also worry about packers kicker Mason Crosby who has missed 12 field goals this year.

I find the Falcons in the same boat as the Texans and Ravens.

The Vikings won't go anywhere, even though Adrian Peterson has proven to be one of the best in the history of the game this season. He can't carry the team any longer. I also believe that the Seahawks will struggle. It seems as if luck has been on their side all season, beginning with the awful call against the packers that sent the replacement refs packing, but I think their luck will run out soon.

I find that the 49ers and Redskins are very similar teams, each with phenomenal ground games and capable young quarterbacks. I believe that each playing at their highest level can make a run this year.

With that said, here are my picks for the postseason:

Round 1
Bengals def. Texans
Ravens def. Colts
Redskins def. Seahawks
Packers def. Vikings

Round 2
Patriots def. Ravens
Broncos def. Bengals
Redskins def. Falcons
Packers def. 49ers

Round 3
Patriots def. Broncos
Packers def. Redskins

Super Bowl
Patriots def. Packers

Now this will probably be all wrong, but I really think my team has a shot of going all the way this year. I am hoping for a Super Bowl XXXI rematch but with a different outcome.

I don't have time for a big write-up at the moment, but I'm doing a confidence pool for the playoffs, the kind where you assign points to your predicted winners and whoever has the most at the end of the playoffs wins the pot. Plus you pick a Super Bowl winner from the start for 8 bonus points. So for round 1 I got

Broncos for the Bonus 8

Packers over Vikings for 4
Bengals over Texans for 3
Redskins over Seahawks for 2
Ravens over Colts for 1

I'm really up in the air on the last two but it's the best I'm gonna go right now. I have a weird feeling about Seattle but I have a bigger, even weirder feeling about Washington so I'm sticking with that for now.

I really don't see the hype in Seattle. As I mentioned before, I think that luck has been on their side this year. I like Griffin a lot more than Wilson as a quarterback and Morris better than Lynch as a running back.

The only problem I have with Washington and particularly Griffin are the fumbles. They have fumbled 26 times this year (even though they somehow only lost 6 of them). Seattle has recovered 27 fumbles themselves. I think that if the Redskins can prevent themselves from turning the ball over, they will be in great shape.

For some reason I always find myself rooting for the Redskins' defense, most likely because of London Fletcher. He seems to skate under the radar, but he is a force to be reckoned with, even at his age.

I can def. agree with this. I stopped watching any games halfway through the season but some of the Jets games I watched were painful and I'm not a Jets fan.

This year was good but disappointing for me being a Steelers fan. I guess I'm rooting for the Ravens even though I don't like them it's Ray Lewis' last year.

It certainly helps that my order of favorite teams go 1) Chicago 2) Buffalo 3) Seattle. Plus I'm a big Marshawn Lynch fan, that dude is a tackle breaking tank and can completely obliterate an opposing team's momentum with one good run. It also helps that they're in the second most pathetic division in football (not as much this year since only Arizona was truly wretched. The worst division is obviously AFC West). But yeah, luck has certainly been on their side so far, but let's not pretend luck doesn't factor into the playoffs as well, just look at Denver with Tebow last year

And yeah, the fact that Rex Ryan still has a job shows pretty clearly (apart from the whole signing Tebow crap) that the Jets care more about publicity and staying visible than actually winning any games. I'd be more mad, if they didn't provide me with the absolute best highlight I've seen in all of my years of watching football. I <3 the Butt Fumble.

Being a patriots fan, I can assure you that I too enjoyed the butt fumble.

Pertaining to Seattle, I definitely agree that luck can play a large part in the playoffs, and I think that they have a good shot of defeating Washington. I think somewhere along the way their luck will run out however, especially if they come across a strong offense. Lets not forget what happened to Denver last year in the playoffs when they came up here to New England.

I definitely think this should be an interesting postseason, though. I look forward to seeing how it all turns out.

It'll be a good postseason for me, since it's the first time in a long time where there are more teams I like than dislike in it. I have my cultural duty to despise Green Bay and Minnesota (though I have a soft spot for Minnesota for reasons I can't adequately explain), and that's basically it. I hated the Patriots for a long time because I guess seeing a team be so good for so long makes it difficult to continually root for them if they aren't your home team (plus Belichick rubs me the wrong way and the way Pats fans handled the whole Spygate thing really irritated me ("Everybody else does it too! That practically makes us innocent!")), but the schadenfreude of them losing to the Giants in their last two Super Bowls in the ways they've lost them were just so magical that I've warmed up to them now out of some weird sense of pity. And I'm a little bitter about Indianapolis for beating Chicago six or seven years ago but they're hard to dislike. Luck is only a notch below RGIII in terms of great young players personality wise and even better skillwise, and how can you not root for Chuck Pagano? And RGIII is a total class act, plus he made sure the Cowboys didn't make the playoffs. Basically as long as Green Bay doesn't win, I'll be happy this year.

GO PACK GO. Send the Viqueens home. Redskins vs. Seahawks is the most interesting first round match-up. I really don't know who to pick in that game.

I see the Partriots coming out of the AFC. They always find a way to go to the Superbowl with Brady and their defense always steps up in the playoffs.

AND THE LOCKOUT IS OVER. Oh thank Jesus finally. I hope Fehr and Bettman catch fire for this whole fiasco, but at least hockey is back. Oh man.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the headline on nhl.com this morning, I'm oh so very happy. Ready for some Bruins hockey!

FUCK YES I'll have something to talk about here.

Dragunov (I'm wearing my Habs tshirt)

Yeah I'm wearing my Toews jersey to celebrate. Watching the Ravens/Colts game as well. It's hard not to root for either team, but eh, go Baltimore!

Aww shit my job just got more annoying now.

Are there any fellow NBA fans here?