Official 2011-2012 Club Soccer/Football thread

[Lief]

Since the Premier League started again last weekend and the Champion's League qualifying rounds are currently happening. And of course Phil can feel free to talk about Serie A or whatever.

I've somewhat arbitrarily, somewhat not, decided to support Arsenal for the rest of my life starting this season, a decision which has already proven to be depressing and worrisome, which in the end is perhaps all we can hope for when following a sports team.

[patrick1]

I typically support Liverpool in the EPL who incidentally play Arsenal tomorrow morning. Arsenal really looks on a downward trajectory. We shall see.

[Vasall des Midas]

First real derby in 49 years coming up on sunday.

[republicanism]

First real derby in 49 years coming up on sunday.

Some Eintracht supporter once told me that there is not much hate, or even rivalry, towards the FSV, and that he actually enjoys to visit their home matches and roots for them. Is that true / representative for Eintracht fans?

[Sibboleth]

Today is derby day for us. About twenty minutes in and nil nil.

[Sibboleth]

Bah, humbug.

[patrick1]

Liverpool have to be aggressive and go for three here. Frimpong is dying to get a red card.

[Vasall des Midas]

First real derby in 49 years coming up on sunday.

Some Eintracht supporter once told me that there is not much hate, or even rivalry, towards the FSV, and that he actually enjoys to visit their home matches and roots for them. Is that true / representative for Eintracht fans?

Well, actually going to the occasional FSV match instead of forever talking about it and maybe getting to it once a year is not representative, no. (And even then, it's probably limited to us actual city dwellers, rather than the suburbanites.) I had a phase when I went to the FSV fairly regularly; then again that was a time when Stepanovic was gone from Eintracht and FSV were finally winning promotion to 2nd division again (you may recall how that turned out). And I was still living in Bornheim, and was an active member of the FSV's hockey department.

Their is not much hate, or even rivalry, left. It's all too long ago. The FSV was relegated from the old Oberliga Süd in 1962, a year before the Bundesliga was formed, and had been a bottom-dweller there for much of the second half of its existence (the last duel was actually a cup tie... in december 62. 16 years before I was born to the day, as a matter of fact. Of course, there've been competitive matches of Eintracht II vs FSV and also Eintracht II vs FSV II since, but it doesn't count). Their last win against Eintracht was in 1955. It's a small miracle the club survived and maintained it's clear no.2 position at all, really.
If you look through the archives at sports coverage of the 20s and 30s though... um wow. It seems to have been one of the most hateful derbies around back in its day.

Hat die Eintracht ihren Nachbarn sportlich auch überholt, so ist der Umgang miteinander wenig pfleglich. So beschreibt der 'Fußball' unter anderem die Szenen des Derbys im Oktober 1931 kurz nach dem Ausgleich des FSV zum 1:1 in letzter Minute: "Da strömt das Publikum ins Feld. Es sind Bornheimer, denn sie heben ihre Mannschaft auf die Schultern. Es sind Bornheimer darunter, die überfallen einen Teil der Eintrachtspieler, treten und schlagen sie. Schütz wird im Gesicht übel zugerichtet. Kron wird niedergetrampelt. ... Jedenfalls setzte es Streit unter den jubelnden und schimpfenden Zuschauern und es gab blutige Köpfe. Die Sanitäter mußten eingreifen. Ein Schwerverletzter wurde auf einer Bahre herausgetragen. Ein halbes Dutzend schwerer beschädigter Personen mußte sich verbinden lassen. Nur langsam ebbte die Erregung ab ... Nach einiger Zeit kam das bekannte weiße Krankenauto herangefahren, um einen oder mehrere Schwerverletzte ins Krankenhaus zu überführen. Das war keine Propaganda!"

Auch die Vereinszeitung der Eintracht greift die Vorfälle auf und findet, alles "... wäre in bester Ordnung gewesen, wenn nicht nach Schluß ... viehischer Mob, Hefe des Volkes in den Platz eingedrungen wäre und die Spieler Schütz, Kron und Ehmer in kaum glaublicher Weise mißhandelt hätte. ... Gott sei Dank ist dieser Mob nicht durchgängig vorhanden. Er existiert nur in Städten und Stadtteilen, die mit B anfangen: Berlin ... und Bornheim. ... Daß diese Heimtückischen Bornheimer waren und Anhänger des Fußballsportvereins, kann von einem ernsthaften Menschen nicht bezweifelt werden. ... Wir bedauern den Verein, der über solche Anhänger verfügt."

Quelle: http://kid-klappergass.blogspot.com/ der beste Fußballblog, den ich kenne.

[Iosif]

Arsenal are in shambles. Wenger needs to go.

[patrick1]

Arsenal are in shambles. Wenger needs to go.

He needs to shoot the lock off his wallet.

They have to go up to Old Trafford next week too. And of course they could crash out of the Champions League this week.

[Akno21]

Arsenal are in shambles. Wenger needs to go.

Are you really going to find a better manager somewhere?

I'm excited to see how Chelsea will choke away a shot at a championship to Man. United this year. It's something different every year, so at least that's exciting. Although if they somehow win the Champions League, it'd be pretty much the sweetest vindication ever. Not holding my breath, though.

[Keystone Phil]

Let's just not confuse this with the Euro thread! That deserves to be separate.

And of course Phil can feel free to talk about Serie A or whatever.

I think this is why I always stopped myself from creating this type of thread. It will be me and occasionally another person commenting on Serie A. 

Arsenal are in shambles. Wenger needs to go.

Here's to a total collapse this Wednesday then when they face Udinese. 

[Vasall des Midas]

Let's just not confuse this with the Euro thread!

Yes. This will be for everybody's ramblings about the League football of their choice. Heck, if anybody cared they could even discuss US league football here.

[Keystone Phil]

Even though La Liga and Serie A players might be striking, Napoli's Friendly with Barcelona is still on.    Here's hoping my guys can put on a good show!

Heck, if anybody cared they could even discuss US league football here.

...

No. I'll petition that this thread gets deleted if that catches on.

[Lief]

Well, DC United is doing miserable this season so need to comment on MLS.

Of course so is Arsenal. Luckily there's a solution to that... Maybe not always being incredibly unlucky would be nice too. The two stretches when Arsenal was playing really well (the beginning and from 65 or so) were ended by an unlucky injury and that idiot getting a red card.

[Vasall des Midas]

First real derby in 49 years coming up on sunday.

That was anticlimactic.
Though it mirrors the result of the very last league game before then.

[Sibboleth]

Which part of the city do the fans of the smaller club come from? Or no real pattern?

[Vasall des Midas]

Traditionally Bornheim. It's where the club is from. How true it is exactly I cannot say, probably some truth to it EDIT: make that "certainly some truth to it. Certainly they're all from the city proper. (In a blog comment I read yesterday, somebody was shockedly reporting the sighting of an FSV jersey in Dortelweil, not exactly an outer suburb.) Matters get more complex because FSV attendances are very low in absolute terms but a lot higher than they used to be - I've been to games in the 90s with ~400 people in the unreconstructed Bornheimer Hang ground, which could hold 15,000. But the club's 100% (in Frankfurt) name rec. and a general sympathy for it always existed. So there was always a degree of dormant fan potential, and these things tend to be passed down in families irrespective of current domicile.
And then there's the issue of just how ridiculously close the FSV and Eintracht "homes" are to each other (though Eintracht moved there in the 20s, starting out on a meadow where the Holzhausenviertel now is, and stopped playing their games there in the 60s when they moved south of the river. The youth teams etc still play at the Riederwald though, in the part that's technically in Seckbach.)

http://maps.google.de/maps?q=Frankfurter-Volksbank-Stadion&hl=de&ll=50.130813,8.729925&spn=0.009023,0.022724&t=h&z=16&vpsrc=6

[Јas]

Didn't really foresee myself making a MLS comment... but it's nice to see Robbie Keane get a well taken debut goal for LA Galaxy.

[Χahar]

Last year I decided that I would support Hamilton Academical because they had the best name in Britain. They were promptly relegated to the First Division. Accies are in first place for now, though.

[patrick1]

Didn't really foresee myself making a MLS comment... but it's nice to see Robbie Keane get a well taken debut goal for LA Galaxy.

I would have preferred to see Robbie in hoops. However, I wish him the best in the California sun while Celtic are losing at home to St Johnstone....ugh.

[Јas]

Last year I decided that I would support Hamilton Academical because they had the best name in Britain. They were promptly relegated to the First Division. Accies are in first place for now, though.

Accies is good but for me Inverness Caledonian Thistle edges a win there.
I regret though that they no longer dance on the streets of Total Network Solutions.

Didn't really foresee myself making a MLS comment... but it's nice to see Robbie Keane get a well taken debut goal for LA Galaxy.

I would have preferred to see Robbie in hoops. However, I wish him the best in the California sun while Celtic are losing at home to St Johnstone....ugh.

I'm not sure at what point I stopped paying any attention whatever to SPL - but it's been a while. I'm now vaguely aware who the defending champions are from year to year.

[Keystone Phil]

Napoli getting destroyed in our Friendly against Barcelona. It's 5-0...and there is still ten minutes left on the clock. 

[Keystone Phil]

The final leg of the Champions League playoff round starts today. The more interesting games are tomorrow  but today's Zurich vs. Bayern Munich should be good.

[Akno21]

Probably a dumb question, but could someone describe the stylistic differences in play among the major leagues? I've heard the Premier League is fast and Serie A is plodding; is that accurate?