11/05/24
August 12, 2007
Royal Reading Rule Reds.: Starting their sophomore season in the Premiership, Reading (managed by Steve Coppell, a former Man Utd star) held the reigning champions to a 0-0 draw. Against players whose individual transfer fees cost more than most of Reading's team put together. At Man Utd's stadium. After having one man sent off with 20 minutes remaining. Rah rah, Reading!
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 12:09 PM - 20 comments
Does it rhyme with leading or with bedding?
posted by mbd1 at 12:18 PM on August 12, 2007
It rhymes with "hot like Otis Redding," not "I love it when Cronaldo doesn't get rewarded for cheating."
posted by chicobangs at 12:24 PM on August 12, 2007
chico is correct. On both counts.
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:41 PM on August 12, 2007
This seemed like one of the best scoreless matches I've seen in recent years and Hahnemanne was awesome but I do wonder if the result would have been different if Duberry did not (unintentionally) break Rooney's foot. Or if Reading ever actually went on attack after the first five minutes of either half.
posted by billsaysthis at 04:04 PM on August 12, 2007
Chico's back! *cheer*
posted by owlhouse at 04:42 PM on August 12, 2007
And bully for Hahnemann. He was absolutely stupendous in goal. Man of the Match. Not a whole lot of other options. Nice for Reading to hang on, but it was awfully lopsided everywhere but the score.
posted by yerfatma at 06:14 PM on August 12, 2007
You're all missing the top football story of the weekend - Crewe Alexandra top of the league! Alphabetical order doesn't lie! Somewhat marred by a very nasty injury to super striker Nicky Maynard though.
posted by Abiezer at 07:26 PM on August 12, 2007
This is my favourite footie story of the weekend (from a Sunderland message board): My pre-match meeting was in a pub called "The Grange" in Newcastle Road (yes the road signs do suffer constant graffitti!), which is quite a decent venue with good food as well (not one for away colours though) Anyway, apparently, after the game Etuhu turned up at the traffic lights in his nice motor, got a decent cheer and a song, called someone over and gave them £60 to get the drinks in!
posted by squealy at 09:49 AM on August 13, 2007
The top football story of the weekend as far as I'm concerned is that it looks like highlights of the weekend games have all been pulled off of YouTube already. It appears that the Premier League or the clubs or broadcasters is/are enforcing their copyrights through the rights-management firm NetResult.
posted by holden at 10:18 AM on August 13, 2007
Well, I might step back off of that a little bit. If you make stuff harder to find (like by not using the full team names), it appears that clips might still stay up.
posted by holden at 11:41 AM on August 13, 2007
Or you could just hit up some torrent sites for Match of the Day. In Canada, thescore.ca has Prem highlights online. They have the rights for three years. Most likely geo-locked so you can only access them in Canada, but if you can find a Canadian proxy, you'll be laughing.
posted by Drood at 02:11 PM on August 13, 2007
'Nobby' Styles was at his refereeing best with that red card. Yes, Rooney had gone off with a foot injury. Yes, it was a shocking tackle. Yes, it was funny to see Kitson leave after less than a minute on the pitch. But it was also a striker's tackle. Dear me.
posted by etagloh at 04:45 PM on August 13, 2007
To completely derail my own thread, I'd like to dissect Liverpool's performance vs Aston Villa, which, I'm pleased to say, the Reds won 2-1. But it looked like an overpriced Super Stevie Special. Again. For all the money we spent, it took another Stevie wonder to win it. Thank goodness we won our opening match (for the first time since 2002! Five years!). Benitez's spending spree has certainly brought physical strength to the side. Ryan Babel's substitution for Pennant provided quick proof that we have here a player with greater stability, power and consistency. Voronin's introduction also brought some steel into the striking options that will trouble defenders not only as they mark him, but as they try to clear. And the skill was also on display, although in brief glimpses. Say, when the Reds weren't lofting balls from midfield to the wings. The moments of play where the ball was moved on the ground, quickly and directly were wonderful to watch. The move that led to Liverpool's first goal. A joy to watch and reminiscent of Reds glory days, indicating that Kuyt and Torres share a quickness in thinking paired with a willingness of one (Kuyt) to open up play and work hard for the other (Torres). It was Kuyt's dummy that released Torres, and Kuyt's continued run and persistence that allowed him to reach Torres's saved shot, and smash the ball into a crowded goalmouth where a teammate or harried opponent might be expected to deflect it into goal (which they did). Torres's swivel in the Villa box with his back to goal (right before the first goal) to extricate himself from amongst three defenders, and create just enough space for a shot was another flash of brilliance. The way the ball was laid off for shots was reassuring and symptomatic of Liverpool's dominance of the match. But the finishing was not. The profligacy remains. If Benitez's target is 60 goals this season, then an own goal and a last-minute rocket from ol' Stevie is nothing to crow about. For the next match, I'm expecting them to start with Babel instead of Pennant. I'd also like to see a different option from Alonso, perhaps Sissoko. Alonso was near invisible. I think I only noticed him playing two or three passes, and not contributing much else. Playing with Stevie forward plus two wingers leaves nobody to protect Alonso and provide a platform for his more refined play. They've got a Champs league qualifier to work things out before ... Chelsea. That's the first real test of the summer spending.
posted by worldcup2002 at 05:07 PM on August 13, 2007
Wait a sec, that's too much content. Hit me with just a sound bite: do I keep Voronin or not? And does Rafa rotate too much, a la Jimy Williams? Nothing is true or false unless there is a meaningless historical comparison to be made.
posted by yerfatma at 05:45 PM on August 13, 2007
Sissoko or Mash will start the next two games, probably the former on Tuesday or else why was he subbed in. I would be thrilled to see Babel in place of Pennant though I wonder when Yossi will get a run out. Chelsea will (probably) be missing Terry, Essien, Shevchenko, and Ballack this weekend. Honestly I don't see Salomon Kalou or Shaun Wright-Phillips will be problems for our defense though Joe Cole, if played, is always difficult for the Reds and Drogba is, well, Drogba. At least the game will be live on FSC.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:03 AM on August 14, 2007
This seems to have free match highlights from all the English games, though I'm not getting any joy trying to watch on this Linux box.
posted by Abiezer at 03:52 AM on August 14, 2007
It works here on Windows NT.
posted by squealy at 06:02 AM on August 14, 2007
No, I can't get it to work on linux either. I'll try with OSX later.
posted by salmacis at 10:42 AM on August 14, 2007
Doesn't work for me on OS X with Firefox, Sal. Crouch, Mascherano and Benayoun are all in the squad for tomorrow's match at Toulouse and Pennant was left at home (yay).
posted by billsaysthis at 07:53 PM on August 14, 2007
And bully for Hahnemann. He was absolutely stupendous in goal. Man of the Match. And that final Reading zinger from the corner in injury time probably made Ferguson soil his diaper.