Soccer Thread

[Garnet Til Alexandros XVII]

So you're basically saying that Valencia, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla are all rubbish then?

No, he said that there are other good teams in La Liga, teams that do ok in Europe but only Barcelona and Real Madrid will ever win the league. There have only ever been nine different winners of La Liga and I can't see that changing.

[~Nicole~]

Falcao can make Atl. Madrid title challengers.

[Ninjames]

I can see Armando's point about La Liga being very one-sided. Real and Barcelona are the only teams that challenge for the league title. Teams like Valencia and Atletico Madrid are good, yeah, but they aren't on the same page as the Catalan giants or Los Blancos. That's why the Barclays Premier League is the best football league in the world - because it's closer and more balanced than the others. Talent is spread across 20 teams rather than a few.

[~Nicole~]

The BPL is the self-proclaimed best league in the world, everyone has their own opinions on the best league in the world, some say Serie A, some say BPL, some say La Liga, some say the Liga Portuguesea, and I personally think La Liga is the best team in the world.

[Ninjames]

La Liga boasts the best team (perhaps both best teams) in the world but that doesn't automatically make La Liga itself the best in the world.

[~Nicole~]

THE best team in the world, Barcelona. La Liga is the best league in the world because of how successful Spanish football has been in the last 4 years.

[The Benmeister]

From what I hear the Bundesliga is debatably the best league in the world purely due to how it's run. And it's a much closer league than the BPL.

[TheSirPeras]

I think the Premier League is the best league in the world, and then the Spanish. Because in the Spanish League it's always Madrid VS Barca every year now, the other teams know they have no chance. The Premier League have Arsenal, Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and some others that are pretty much at the same level (maybe both manchesters are a bit better but still)

[The Benmeister]

Hoping Arsenal see off Coventry without too many problems tonight, also would be nice if Newcastle and Carlisle could do over the Mancs and the Spuds respectively.

Off topic, I've started a new career on Football Manager at Annan Athletic, now I'll see just how much of a state Scottish football is really in...

EDIT: Ooh, also, Arsenal Ladies take on Barcelona Women tonight! Given that Arsenal are supposedly the 'superior' team in the women's game, will be interesting to see the results. I think this is Barcelona's Women's Champions League debut.

EDIT 2: To chime in on this whole 'best league' thing, it's all relative. But, the way I see it:

In terms of being well run and stable, Bundesliga is the best. (My personal favourite criteria)
In terms of having the overall better quality of teams, La Liga.
And in terms of having the most excitement, Premier League.

Considering football is for entertainment (final day of last season, for example) I can see how the Premier League is supposedly 'the best league in the world', though the arrogance with which the English claim such things makes be a bit sick.

[Ninjames]

Hope we don't lose to Newcastle, I'll never live it down if we do. I never used to mind Newcastle but I've never met a Newcastle fan that I got along with. All the ones I've met have been so anti-United that it's unbelievable.

[Garnet Til Alexandros XVII]

Hoping Arsenal see off Coventry without too many problems tonight, also would be nice if Newcastle and Carlisle could do over the Mancs and the Spuds respectively.

Off topic, I've started a new career on Football Manager at Annan Athletic, now I'll see just how much of a state Scottish football is really in...

EDIT: Ooh, also, Arsenal Ladies take on Barcelona Women tonight! Given that Arsenal are supposedly the 'superior' team in the women's game, will be interesting to see the results. I think this is Barcelona's Women's Champions League debut.

EDIT 2: To chime in on this whole 'best league' thing, it's all relative. But, the way I see it:

In terms of being well run and stable, Bundesliga is the best. (My personal favourite criteria)
In terms of having the overall better quality of teams, La Liga.
And in terms of having the most excitement, Premier League.

Considering football is for entertainment (final day of last season, for example) I can see how the Premier League is supposedly 'the best league in the world', though the arrogance with which the English claim such things makes be a bit sick.

Gotta love FM. In my game I started with Fleetwood and managed to get the to the Premier League in 6 seasons, during that time I went four seasons without a transfer budget.

[~Nicole~]

I do not know what team to start my first CM with in FIFA 13, so I'd like it if you guys can vote on one of these teams in my list, thanks in advance!

Barcelona
SL Benfica
Manchester United
Manchester City
Arsenal
Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea
Liverpool
AC Milan
Inter Milan
Juventus
Roma
Bayern Munich
Schalke

Please vote! Thank you! PLEASE PM ME WITH YOUR VOTE AND DON'T CLOG UP THE THREAD WITH THIS, THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING, AND VOTING WILL END ON SUNDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER. ALL VOTES AFTER THAT WILL NOT BE COUNTED. Thanks!~

[Ninjames]

Yaaay, beat the Magpies 2-1.

[abrar14]

Im gonna use Liverpool first then a crap team like Real Betis

[Ninjames]

People who send gloating messages to you after beating you on FIFA should be banned from playing online.

[abrar14]

^I totally agree with that.

[Ninjames]

So I just pre-ordered FIFA 13. If someone were to want to play me on '12 then I would of course still do that.

Now I need to decide on a team to manage. On '10 and '12 I've taken control of a League 2 side (Rotherham and Crawley) and taken them up to the higher leagues. I might start off in a lower league in a different country though this time around.

[The Benmeister]

Preeeedictions:

Arsenal 2-2 Chelsea
Everton 1-1 Southampton
Fulham 1-1 Man City
Norwich 1-3 Liverpool
Reading 0-2 Newcastle
Stoke 4-2 Swansea
Sunderland 2-1 Wigan
Man Utd 3-0 Tottenham
Aston Villa 0-0 West Brom
QPR 0-0 West Ham

[~Nicole~]

Is no one going to tell me what team out of the list of teams I posted yesterday I should go with in my first FIFA 13 Career Mode? Pleeeaaassseeee do it

[Zantera]

I can only speak for myself, but I always find it hard to play with "my" team in Fifa. It's fine for a few games, but I mostly do career-mode, and I just don't enjoy playing Man United as much. For some reason I think it's slightly because I feel like I just ****-up the team, and generally I prefer to play as teams where the demands are lower.
Arsenal is a team I often play as. I love their football-idea, and 99% of the transfers I do are young and talented players who have the potential to grow, so in that way Arsenal suits me perfectly. While they are a top team, since they haven't won anything in a while, the demands aren't AS high as Man United or Man City for example.
Other teams I've had successful career-modes with would be Aston Villa and Swansea, good stuff.