2013-14 Club Soccer/Football Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

Going to try to predict all the big (and a few small) games of the week

Monday
Premier League
Manchester City 2 Chelsea 1

Serie A
Genoa 1 Sampadoria 1

Tuesday
FA Cup
Fulham 3 Sheffield United 0

Coppa Italia
Fiorentina 2 Udinese 1

Coup De La Ligue
PSG 3 Nantes 1

Wednesday
FA Cup
Nottingham Forest 1 Preston North End 0

Copa Del Rey
Real Madrid 1 Athetlico 0
Barcelona 5 Real Sociadad 1

Coppa Italia
Roma 1 Napoli 0

Coup De La Ligue
Lyon 3 Troyes 1

Friday
Spanish Primera Division
Rayo Vallecano 2 Malaga 1

Scottish Cup
Rangers 1 Dunferline 0

Bundesliga
Beyer Leverkusen 3 Borussia Monchengladbach 2

French Ligue 1
St. Eteinne 2 Toulouse 2

Saturday
Premier League
Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1
West Ham 1 Aston Villa 0
Chelsea 0 Newcastle 0
West Brom 2 Crystal Palace 1
Man City 4 Norwich 2
Southhampton 2 Stoke 2
Hull 3 Sunderland 2
Cardiff 4 Swansea 1

Scottish Cup
Celtic 4 Aberdeen 2

Spanish Primera Division
Valencia 3 Real Betis 3
Espanyol 2 Granada 1
Real Madrid 3 Villarreal 2
Athletico Madrid 2 Almeria 2

Serie A
Fiorentina 3 Atalana 3
Udinese 1 Cheivo Verina 0
Napoli 2 AC Milan 1

Bundesliga
Frankfurt 3 Braunschwig 3
Bayern Munich 5 Nurnberg 0
Frieburg 3 Hoffenheim 1
Wolfsburg 2 Mainz 1
Werder Bremen 1 Borussia Dortmund 1
Hamberg 5 Hertha 2

Ligue 1
Marsaille 3 Bastia 2
Ajacco 3 Rennes 1
Guingamp 2 Reims 2
Lille 2 Sochaux 1
Montpellier 3 Evian 0
Nice 4 Valicennies 2

Sunday
Premier League
Tottenham 4 Everton 2
Man U 0 Fulham 1

Primera
Osuana 3 Getafe 2
Vallodid 2 Elche 1
Sociodad 2 Levante 1
Barcelona 4 Sevilla 3

Serie A
Torino 3 Bolonga 2
Hellas 2 Juventas 2
Roma 3 Lazio 1
Livorno 1 Genoa 0
Parma 0 Catania 0
Sampadoria 0 Caligari 0
Inter 5 Sassulo 0

Bundesliga
Stuttgart 3 Augusburg 3
Schalke 2 Hanover 1

Ligue 1
Nantes 2 Lyon 1
Bordeaux 4 Lorient 0
Monaco 2 PSG 1

[Keystone Phil]

No extra time in the Coppa Italia Semis. It's a two-legged/home and away round (unlike the other rounds).

[Keystone Phil]

City vs. Chelsea!

[Lief 🗽]

Mourinho is a genius.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A genuinely impressive display of fantastically grotesque timewasting. Easily the most entertaining thing in an otherwise dismal - and given the sides involved more than just a little Alien vs. Predator-ish - match (apart from the Chelski goal which was actually pretty fantastic).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

But both sides are dirty as well as overpaid. Send 'em all off.

[Keystone Phil]

Genius Mourinho can enjoy third place this season.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

And that romp of Sociedad brings Atletico to the top! Let's make Luis proud this year.

[NewYorkExpress]

Congrats to Chelsea...  you've got some good (but easy) matches ahead in Norwich and West Brom.

Saturday has a bunch of great matches;

Liverpool will go to Anfield to take on table-leading Arsenal in a loaded battle (Liverpool is currently fourth) The Scottish Cup is at twelve teams, and there is one remotely interesting match between the top two Scottish Premier League teams Celtic and Aberdeen (Celtic is ahead in the league by a mile and they're home)La Liga's Third place Real Madrid faces fifth place Villereal at Bernebeau. Serie A has two matches to watch, Fiorentino trying to sneak into International play (They're currently fourth, and three points clear of Champions League spot) faces Atalana, while the team they're chasing, Napoli takes on fallen powerhouse AC Milan (eleventh).

Good matches  on Sunday; Tottenham and Everton in a match for what could be a Europa League spot (Tottenham is four points ahead of Manchester United, Everton is five points clear). Manchester United, will look to avoid coughing up more points against last place Fulham (United just lost to Stoke, Fulham lost to Southampton, but has an FA Cup match with Sheffield United first) Another good one to watch would be Sevilla and Barcelona (Sevilla needs the win, as they're five points behind Sociedad for international play) Serie A has some very fine matchups on this Sunday, with Roma going to Lazio, and table-leading Juventus facing Hellas Verona. In France the top two teams in country collide as PSG, goes to Monaco.

Monday 2/10
Mostly lower leagues and divisions playing today, but Derby County and QPR appear to have a Premier League spot in their sights (Leicester's all but got one locked up)

Tuesday 2/11

Copa Del Rey Semi Final- Second Leg, Madrid Derby (what more could a soccer fan ask for?)
The Coppa Italia (Fiorentina/Udinese- second leg)
The DFB Pokal QF Eintracht Frankfurt vs Borussia Dortmund

Wednesday 2/12
Manchester United heads to Eremites to take on Arsenal (pinch me if Arsenal is still atop the table after this day)
The second leg of the other Copa Del Rey Semifinal (If Barcelona doesn't have at least a 3-0 aggregate lead on goals...)
The second leg of the Napoli/Roma Coppa Italia Semi
The remaining DFB Pokal QF matches (led  by Hamburg/Bayern Munich)
The Coupe de France (led by Lille/Monaco)

Thursday 2/13
Not much on this day... Only interesting game is  the fourth Coupe de France match (Lyon/Lens)

Friday 2/14
Lovers will Love the Serie A match between Milan and Bolonga, the French Ligue 1 match between PSG (who may or may not be in the lead) and Valciennes.

Saturday 2/15
Some  Great Matchups here; The FA will be down to sixteen and now match will be more prominent than Chelsea's trip to Eithad to take on Manchester City. In Serie A Fiorentina plays Inter.

[Lief 🗽]

Eh, I'd be pretty surprised/disappointed if we don't beat United on Wednesday. It's the Anfield game that could be problematic.

[Keystone Phil]

The Coppa Italia Semis are in the first, not second, leg this week.

Roma-Napoli might not happen though because of heavy rains and flooding in Rome.

[NewYorkExpress]

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1704732/swansea-sack-michael-laudrup?cc=5901

12th place Swansea has sacked manager Micheal Ladrup...

My guesses as to possible replacements;

Osuana manager, Javi Gracia, Genoa manager Gian Piero Gasperni, Nottingham Forest manager, Billy Davies, Malaga manager, Bernd Schuster,  Borussia McGlodenbach manager Lucien Farve, Stoke City Manager Mark Hughes, Sunderland Manager Gus Poyet, Wigan Manager Uwe Rosler and Birmingham City manager Lee Clark.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

They're letting The Bad Guy play the game against Atletico this afternoon despite his three-game ban (doesn't apply to the Copa). I'm pessimistic about our chances today, which is good for not being disappointed with loss and more surprised with victory.

Great that I get to watch the match because of the snow day today.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I expected defeat but that was a horrific romp, something like 72% possession IIRC. We're probably out in the semis unless Real totally collapses on Saturday.

[Keystone Phil]

Roma took a very early 2-0 lead then we bounced back at halftime. Gervinho scored right before the end though but at least we head back with two away goals. I heard it was an excellent match. Catching the replay tonight.

[Keystone Phil]

Hahahaha Arsenal. A joke team.

[Keystone Phil]

@AzzurriFanPhil: Arsenal - joke team of the season! 4-0 Liverpool in the 20th!

[bore]

@AzzurriFanPhi sure sounds like a great guy

Anyway, the good news today is Celtc are out of the Scottish cup

[Keystone Phil]

Ha. I got lazy and simply copied and pasted my Twitter handle along with my insult.

[Keystone Phil]

Napoli did the double on Milan for the first time since '85-'86. That season ended:

1) Juve
2) Roma
3) Napoli
4) Fiorentina

The exact same standings as of now. The next season? Napoli won the Scudetto.

Oh, and Italy won the Futsal Euros today.

[NewYorkExpress]

Next week matches I'm looking forward too (comment appreciated)
Sunday February 16

Three FA Cup matches; Everton v Swansea, Sheffield United v Nottingham Forest and Arsenal v Liverpool

Monday February 17

Serie A
Hellas Verona V Torino
FA Cup
Brighton and Hove Albion v Hull City

Tuesday September 18
UEFA Champions League Round of 16

Beyer Leverkusen v PSG
Manchester City v Barcelona

Wednesday, September 19
UEFA Champions League Round of 16
AC Milan v Athletico Madrid
Arsenal v Bayern Munich

Thursday September 20
UEFA Europa League

Anzi Makhalchka v Racing Genk
Choronomets v Lyon
Dinipro Dinopropetrovesk v Tottenham Hotspur
Dynamo Kiev v Valencia
Esbjurg v Fiorentia
Liberec v AZ Alkmaar
POAK Salonkia v Benefcia
Ajax Amsterdam v SV Salzburg
FC Porto v Eintracht Frankfurt
Lazio v Ludogorets Razgrads
Maccabi Tel-Aviv v FC Basel
Nk Maribor v Sevilla
Real Betis v Rubin Kazan
Swansea v Napoli
Viktoria Plzen v Shaktar Donetsk

Friday February 21

Primera Division (Spain)
Real Valladollid v Levante

Bundesliga (Germany)
Schalke v Mainz

Ligue 1 (France)
Monaco v Stade de Reims

Saturday February 22

Premier League (England)
Chelsea v Everton
Arsenal v Sunderland
Manchester City v Stoke City
Manchester United v Crystal Palace

Primera Division (Spain)
Barcelona v Real Sociadad
Real Madrid v Elche

Serie A (Italy)
Bolonga v AS Roma

Bundesliga (Germany)
Borussia Monchengladenbach v TSG Hoffenheim
Hamburg SV v Borussia Dortmund
VFL Wolfsburg v Beyer Leverusken

French Ligue 1
Marseilles v Lorient
 

[Keystone Phil]

La Liga's top three are tied on 57 points. They're only separated by a few goals on goal difference, too.

[NewYorkExpress]

Manchester United continues to struggle, gifts bottom of the table Fulham a point, with a 2-2 draw. Tottenham sneaks into fifth, defeating Everton 1-0 on a sixty-fifth minute goal from Emmanuel Abdeyor.

Barcelona crushed Sevilla 4-1 creating the aforementioned three-way La Liga cup tie in a pouring rain.

Bolongna won their game of the Serie A campaign, defeating Torino 2-1 with Johnathan Cristaldo, bagging a brace. Juventus and Hellas Verona battled to a 2-2 draw despite Carlos Tevez scoring a brace for Juventus. Lazio and Roma fought to a scoreless draw. Genoa defeat Livorno, on a goal from Luca Antonelli, Parma and Catania fought to a 0-0 draw. Sampadoria defeated Caligari 1-0 on a Daniele Gastaldello, and Inter escaped against Sassulo 1-0 on a Walter Samuel goal.

Augusburg smashed Stuttgart 4-1, including a brace for Andre Hahn, and Schalke beat Hannover 2-0 to take a four point lead in the race for fourth in the German Bundesliga.

Lyon defeated Nantes 2-1, and in a battle of France's top two sides (Monaco and PSG) a 1-1 draw was accomplished.

[Lief 🗽]

Manchester United continues to struggle, gifts bottom of the table Fulham a point, with a 2-2 draw.

It's gonna be really embarrassing when we somehow manage to lose to them on Wednesday.

[NewYorkExpress]

Quiet day yesterday...

Derby County defeated Queens Park Rangers 1-0 on a John Eustace goal. QPR and Burnley are currently on 56 points in the battle for promotion to the Premier League (Burnley leads on Goal Differential) , while Derby is one point back.

In La Liga 4th place Athletic Bilbao, could only muster a scoreless draw against eleventh place Celta Vigo (Bilbao is 13 points behind the leaders, and four points clear of Villarreal. Celta is five points clear of relegation)

Brescia defeated Novara 2-1 (Bresica is one point back of the 5th place Trapiani and 6th place Lanciano, for a spot in a possible promotion playoff, Novara is two points behind Bari, in a bid to remain in Serie B)

1860 Munich and Fortuna Dusseldorf battled to a 1-1 draw.

Nancy-Lorraine defeated Tours 3-1 on the strength of pair of goals by Haitian National Jeff Louis. Tours is currently two points (Angers/Lens) behind a spot in France's Ligue One.

In Portugal, Estoril put some distance between themselves sixth place Braga by defeating Academia de Combria 1-0 on a goal by Javier Balboa

In Turkey Karabukspor moved up to 5th (and two points back of a possible Europa League spot) by defeating Genclerbirligi 2-1.

In Argentina Regional Power Lanus could only manage a draw with Belgrano de Cordoba 2-2