SEE YOU! A brand spanking new modern fitba thread 2020/21

I was at today's friendly which wasn't very friendly at all... Sevilla were extremely chippy and actually had a man sent off for a brutal foul on a youngster for Liverpool (#65... Louraci? Something like that) ... my seat was right over the tunnel so I saw him on the stretcher below me. He was grimacing but otherwise seemed ok which is good.

From the outset, Sevilla's play was curiously chippy and on the edge of the rules... their number 10, who scored the first of their two goals was booked literally moments into the match after pushing the referee and the team in general went to ground constantly in the tackle ... it looked more like a Leeds match from the 70s than a friendly at times.

The conditions were simply miserable... 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 Celsius) with a heat index of 105 (40 Celsius) ... obnoxious humidity ... atrocious... our seats were directly in the path of the sun so the experience was rather miserable for my first world class match, to say nothing of how hopelessly awkward Fenway Park is as a football venue regardless of the weather

One other thing that struck me was how relatively small the players seemed... not necessarily in height but in bulk compared to, say Baseball where there are 6'5, 240 first basemen and big, broad chested pitchers... nobody sticks out like that on a football pitch... rather it's a different type of athlete, lithe, nimble, built for endurance rather than explosion ... what is more apparent in person is the skill in controlling the ball, even what is routine for these elite professionals is eye-catching in its languid elegance in person... television doesn't do it justice really ... it's similar to the difference between seeing a pitcher throw a fastball 100 mph on tv and seeing it in person where the outlandishness of the feat is so much more vivid

Overall I enjoyed it but the circumstances really put a damper on things ... in a proper ground with normal weather, I'd have loved it

We sat next to a nice couple from Liverpool... season ticket holders passed down generation to generation going back to the 1950s ... very nice people... crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Liverpool but there was a surprisingly sizable Sevilla contingent

 

Pretty remarkable feat:

Celtic star Callum McGregor tops 'most minutes played' list in world football for last season

 

The Liverpool women's team was there as well but not playing... One player who I've since learned is a Londoner called Rinsola Babajide is absolutely adorable in person... pictures on the internet do not do her justice... she was 15 feet away from me... beautiful young woman

 

I definitely get what you mean about the skill being more impressive close up- im always much more struck by it at away games when im close to the pitch rather than 80 rows back. Even the nonchalant ball control of pish lower level spl players is amazing at that range...brings it home that these 'shit' players are like 5x better than the best guy you've ever played a sidey against

 

I just logged in her to comment on that very tackle..............here's the footage, note his body language after the tackle..........unreal.

 

To be fair they did show his face on the big screen as he was walking off and he looked disgusted with himself

 

When he "landed" {and that says a lot} after his "tackle", he had that "aw shucks" look on his face.

I have no idea what that guy was thinking. He looked like he wanted to get in out of the heat.

 

I don't blame him! I was exhausted just from sitting there

 

Yeah but you ain't on $20,000 a week. He is.

 

Ouch. Nasty how his head hit the ground.

 

Glad you enjoyed it, despite the conditions. You're spot on when you say that television doesn't do it justice compared to real life. I remember Liverpool beat us 3-0 at Loftus Road back in 2012. Suarez scored twice and was an absolute menace that night. Seeing a player of his calibre in person at his best was a privilege. His touch, pace, movement, intelligence and lethal finishing left you speechless.

 

Been lucky enough to see alot of greats live at one time or another: ronaldinho, cr7, mbappe, messi, kaka, maldini, del piero, neymar (spit), suarez, ribery, pirlo, inzaghe, shearer, tevez, vidic, rooney, giggs, gerard, keane, owen etc. I cant pretend to really appreciate it at the time mind, im too busy drunkenly screaming and watching their movements dimly through my fingers

 

A squad valued at €1.1B vs a squad valued at €315M.

Could you tell the difference?

 

It was a friendly played in appalling conditions with half of Liverpool's biggest stars not in attendance

 

It's a good post!
Do you ever get chance to play football, cdogg?
If you can or get chance, you should. It'll make you appreciate the game even more!

 

I played three years as a child ... but this was the 1980s where it may as well have been as foreign as cricket ... I had no means of seeing it on television, no forebears who had played it... nothing with which to first understand it from the outside looking in...

Furthermore, instruction in the US in those days was hopelessly outdated (the terminology used would've fit with a 1920 British book... halfback, center half, etc... shit nobody in the rest of the world has said since like 1950) so they weren't even instructing us in a useful way... the use of a sweeper by some sides was advanced

Because of this, I got no enjoyment out of it... it was a game I'd never watched, didn't understand and had no daydreams about ... when you are disinterested and bewildered and a kid in 1980s America, you play fullback and so I did... I once was given an award for my excellent defending in a match where I had no idea what I was doing or why... the ball came to me a handful of times and I just kicked it in the other direction not because of some conservative, tactical nous but because I didn't want the ball and the responsibility that came with it because I couldn't understand the game!

I need to see a sport first from without to understand it and then I can better comprehend and take part... Baseball I understood because I watched it, knew how it worked... I was enthusiastic because I daydreamed about being a great ball player the same way a kid in England day dreams about being a footballer (or in SLICE's case, daydreams about being the prima ballerina in a London production of Swan Lake) ... I was by no means a real good baseball player but I understood what I was doing and why I was doing it

If I'd been able to see futbol on tv as a kid, get a handle on it, I definitely would've been more into it and likely wouldn't have had to put off really getting interested in it until my 30s

 

I once did 250 keepy ups. My sole footballing achievement. Unless being captain of my class team in lunchbreak football counts? I wear the memories like medals right *here*

 

I play Tuesday nights / Saturday mornings for a local, non-league/friendlies club here in the south of the city.
Got persuaded to play by one of my students:
"Do you want to play football tonight?"
"Ummmm...havent played for years - what's the skill-level/age-group like?"
"Don't worry about that. You'll be ok"

Turned up first night and guys are about 15-20 years younger than me and looking handy with both feet.
The next oldest player after me used to be on the books at São Paulo FC in the late-80s.
o_O


Intimidating but, after 90mins...a lot of cardio expended, often being played out-of-position but a 2nd-half 'clean sheet' and one 'almost-perfect', first-touch 30m pass to set up the winner later....they asked me back.

 

I shudder to think how shite id be at this point.

 

Depends: I think a lot of it is about confidence and fitness...in a lot of sports.
You can get away without being 'flashy"

 

This is oddly something people don't seem to understand. The U.S. is a world power in sports. To some if more money was spent on training, the facilities etc. America would be on par with the rest of the world simply by virtue of having so many great athletes that even the "leftovers" could be on par with greats from other nations. It doesn't work like that. While the American soccer federation(s) could make a lot of helpful improvements it misses the point.

Very few kids heavily into sports grow up in North America dreaming about being the next Messi, a starter for the likes of Manchester United or playing in a World Cup. These things start at a young age. Sure a lot of kids play "soccer", but for the most part it's the parents getting them into a form of recreational activity that involves some physical fitness. It's not the kids begging the parents to play because they love the game.

Yes there are numerous other factors but that's the major difference.

 

Exactly and it's a huge aspect of the whole thing ... passion, attachment and tradition

 

As easy as a tie vs an estonian team ought to be. Looking pretty good. Like mikey johnstone, Ryan christie has really bulked up and looks ready to boss the show. Already better than armstrong ever was and improving rapid. Tierney staying, Mcgregor staying, Lennon looking gorgeous. Onward

 

True. It probably takes all of those things for a kid to want to spend the hours alone with a ball that messi or ronaldo did

 

Liverpool will struggle this season. Our best players won't be there for the start. They will be tired too. They already had a long hard season.

Basically need Origi and Chamberlain to work their balls off until the main 3 get back.

No signings. V disappointing.

 

Liverpool are winning this season's Premiership.

 

Just watching Bullseye here


"For £40, whose rule states that the force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces and acts in the upward direction at the center of mass of the displaced fluid."

Fucking hell.

Quality questions for a generation that had a fucking education.