wacko

Think you have hit the nail on the head here. Plus, who are you going to get better than Torres? when you are selling cos you need the cash you mostly know you aren't going to get as good a replacement. We don't need the cash. Those cockstashes who own the club do. I'll be so pissed of if they sell Torres to pay off their debts

It's not going so well for Ballack. Chelsea fucked him off, Lahm doesn't want to give the captaincy back, Müller is wearing his number, and no-one thinks the German team needs him. On top of that, it's just come out that his agent, Michael Becker, was spouting off about some of the German squad being gay, and apparently also "half-gay", whatever that is.

True. Not true. If he were shite, why did Real, Juve and Inter want him?

Selling Torres is only a losing proposition. If he goes, the manager won't see a penny of the cash. Trying to hang on to him is, therefore, a no-brainer. His wages are a drop in the ocean with regard to the financial situation. I'm not yet convinced he's made of glass like Owen or Robben: he hasn't been given the chance to fully recover from his injuries. With regard to the decline of the club, we've had one rotten season, and lost a brilliant manager. We'll have to wait and see what happens this season to talk seriously about decline. The financial situation is not of the club's doing. The banks are in charge now, and the club will be sold on, and the debts cleared (they're the owners' debts, not ours). (Of course, we might end up with another bunch of unmitigated cunts in charge...) The club itself remains financially viable.

Watching ZDF, too. Think Urs Meier has become a quite funny/good "expert", though. TBH, I don't listen to a word he says, even if he is easy to understand for a Swiss.

I watched the game on ZDF. Right now they're got that cunt ref Urs Meier on who fucked us over in the Euro 2004 quarters.

Here's hoping his stock has fallen, and he doesn't get sold. I read the price tag was £70m, well possibly before the end of season, but after his WC performances, Rafa departing, Yanks stepping up the sale, No CL, and now a possible injury, if Liverpool got offered £40m upfront outside of England I reckon there's a good chance he'd go, I think if a solid offer came in he'd be quite happy to move on. Where's the hands-over-your-ears la-la-la-la-la smiley?

I doubt that. I doubt that as well. Because I don't think he'll be playing. Well yeah. I just don't think the hatred for him inside the stadium is anywhere near as bad as it is on here. I disagree tbh Dave, I think he'll get absolutely murdered. He was a pain in the arse the whole time he was here and the fans never took to him. Neither did ours, really, and he played some sensational footie for us. England's Michael Owen.

Here's hoping his stock has fallen, and he doesn't get sold.

Highlight of the tournament, IMO was this post:

Except most of the players in question were born in Germany or moved here at a very young age. Cacau is the obvious "foreigner", as he came to Germany at the age of 20 or so as a salsa dancer. Klose was born in Poland, but his father is German (under German nationality rules). Questioning their German-ness is much like questioning the Englishness of Rio Ferdinand, Emile Heskey or Jermaine Pennant. Hardly. More like debating whether or not Giggs could/should have played for England. You're trying to turn it into something racial, which it quite clearly isn't. Article maybe poorly researched or use bad examples but the fundamental point isn't controversial in the slightest. Which fundamental point is this? Ryan Giggs could not have played for England. By the way, you do understand that "race" has nothing to do with where you're born. It's a genetic thing. Polish is no more a race than Mancunian.

Except most of the players in question were born in Germany or moved here at a very young age. Cacau is the obvious "foreigner", as he came to Germany at the age of 20 or so as a salsa dancer. Klose was born in Poland, but his father is German (under German nationality rules). Questioning their German-ness is much like questioning the Englishness of Rio Ferdinand, Emile Heskey or Jermaine Pennant.

Not at all. Most Germans would feel a bit weird singing the national anthem (bit nationalistic and all that). Things really started to change with the 2006 WC, and they started to feel comfortable expressing pride in German nationality. Before that, it was a rare German who'd claim to be (or admit to being) proud of being German, and most associated expressions of German pride with neo-Nazism.

That's so misguided, it's hilarious. Löw simply fielded the best squad of eligible players.

Aye. Back in the days when kicking huge lumps out of your opponents was a valid strategy.

Pressing right up the pitch is a key part of what they are about and it's rarely mentioned actually. The game didn't go how I thought it would. I could see Spain having to commit more and more men forward and then get punished on the break. But the minute they lost the ball, they closed the Germans right down and stopped any flow to their attacks. Basically, Spain were too good. The Germans feeling for the first time that 'fear' the English felt all tournament. The thing I love about Spain although sometimes the overplaying can be irritating is that when they slow it right down, it's kinda hynotic and you can feel the opp going to sleep and then suddenly someone will burst forward and gaps will open. Some lovely stuff tonight. The Dutch will really have to get amongst them or they will be hypnotised as well. Like Barca, you've got to get stuck into Spain. Let them have the ball, but give them no time on it. And when you get it, get forward as fast as possible. That really gets to them, when they don't have time to play. the problem is they are so good at not letting you have the ball that by the time you get it you're shagged out from chasing after it. It worked for Inter and Liverpool, and to a certain extent Chelsea. You don't have to chase them all over the pitch, just close them down hard when they get near your goal. When you get the ball, go directly towards the goal. Do not pass Go, do not collect £200. The Liverpool-Barca tie in the 2006/7 CL was basically a blueprint on how to beat this Spanish side. The German side certainly had what they needed--they're sensationally fast and good on the counter--but Löw appears to have told them to stand off, and they let themselves be over-awed by the Spanish passing. The big weakness of the Spain side is that they don't like it up 'em. Get stuck in, and you'll probably be chasing shadows for 30 minutes, but eventually they'll get rattled. i disagree. that barce side was very attacking in a way this spanish side isnt, this spanish side plays differently to the one than won the euros two years ago, they are a lot more pragmatic. their plan being if you haven't got the ball you can't score and we'll score eventually. I don't think it matters that much. It's about throwing them off their game. The Germans just stood off and let the Spanish play. Big mistake.

The German game plan was wrong, or the players just bottled it. You have to take the game to the Spanish, even if you don't have the ball.

Pressing right up the pitch is a key part of what they are about and it's rarely mentioned actually. The game didn't go how I thought it would. I could see Spain having to commit more and more men forward and then get punished on the break. But the minute they lost the ball, they closed the Germans right down and stopped any flow to their attacks. Basically, Spain were too good. The Germans feeling for the first time that 'fear' the English felt all tournament. The thing I love about Spain although sometimes the overplaying can be irritating is that when they slow it right down, it's kinda hynotic and you can feel the opp going to sleep and then suddenly someone will burst forward and gaps will open. Some lovely stuff tonight. The Dutch will really have to get amongst them or they will be hypnotised as well. Like Barca, you've got to get stuck into Spain. Let them have the ball, but give them no time on it. And when you get it, get forward as fast as possible. That really gets to them, when they don't have time to play. the problem is they are so good at not letting you have the ball that by the time you get it you're shagged out from chasing after it. It worked for Inter and Liverpool, and to a certain extent Chelsea. You don't have to chase them all over the pitch, just close them down hard when they get near your goal. When you get the ball, go directly towards the goal. Do not pass Go, do not collect £200. The Liverpool-Barca tie in the 2006/7 CL was basically a blueprint on how to beat this Spanish side. The German side certainly had what they needed--they're sensationally fast and good on the counter--but Löw appears to have told them to stand off, and they let themselves be over-awed by the Spanish passing. The big weakness of the Spain side is that they don't like it up 'em. Get stuck in, and you'll probably be chasing shadows for 30 minutes, but eventually they'll get rattled.

Pressing right up the pitch is a key part of what they are about and it's rarely mentioned actually. The game didn't go how I thought it would. I could see Spain having to commit more and more men forward and then get punished on the break. But the minute they lost the ball, they closed the Germans right down and stopped any flow to their attacks. Basically, Spain were too good. The Germans feeling for the first time that 'fear' the English felt all tournament. The thing I love about Spain although sometimes the overplaying can be irritating is that when they slow it right down, it's kinda hynotic and you can feel the opp going to sleep and then suddenly someone will burst forward and gaps will open. Some lovely stuff tonight. The Dutch will really have to get amongst them or they will be hypnotised as well. Like Barca, you've got to get stuck into Spain. Let them have the ball, but give them no time on it. And when you get it, get forward as fast as possible. That really gets to them, when they don't have time to play.

That might be what it once meant, but in modern German (or proper German as opposed to Bavarian), it's much closer in meaning to "pig mounter", as in "pig fucker". Germans were a bit rubbish. They weren't prepared to let the Spanish keep the ball, and let the lack of possession get to them. They hardly managed to complete a pass in the first half.

The Germans have been playing great football.

err on the subject of revenge for '74. 1940?

Cocksucking Robben. I bet on 4-1 for the Netherlands at the boozer Here's hoping the Germans win tomorrow and the Dutch fuck them over in the final. Revenge for '74 and all that. Sick of hearing that Müller will do for the Dutch again. The cocks aren't even considering the possibility that they might lose to Spain tomorrow, or on Sunday.

Hope the Dutch batter Uruguay. Was disgusting the way they carried the cheating twat around after the quarter-final. Time for some beer.