*Official* English Football Season 2012-13

[Uppercut]

Sturridge isn't over-hyped at all. Realistically, if he was, he'd of been in the squad for the Euros at the very least. Extreme potential the lad has imo.

Well he's already 23 and players of his type tend to peak pretty young.

Reminds me of Theo Walcott, slightly better technique but a worse finisher. Terrible decision making, absolutely awful and lacks composure. Not useless but just lol at paying 12 million for him.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Terrible news re: Tito Vilanova.

Yeah, recurrence of a cancer so soon after the initial treatment is almost always the worst news.

Poor guy; wish him all the best.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah awful, and things had started so well for him.

 

[Pothas]

Well he's already 23 and players of his type tend to peak pretty young.

Reminds me of Theo Walcott, slightly better technique but a worse finisher. Terrible decision making, absolutely awful and lacks composure. Not useless but just lol at paying 12 million for him.

Yeah it is a joke really, players are going for about 15p from La Liga at present and they chose to spend their money on him.

 

[Jarquis]

In other news, Wilshere's signed a new long-term deal. Disappointing, was hoping United could steal him.

Was this a joke post?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Craig Levein suing the Scottish FA is a bit weird.

I mean, if you've been put on gardening leave and continue to have your contract paid in full but then resign in a fit of pique that's your business, surely? Can't have it both ways.

Maybe our legal bods see it differently tho.

 

[sledger]

I don't really know anything about employment law, but from the sounds of things he's probably trying to make out a case for constructive dismissal.

 

[The Sean]

CL last 16

Galatasaray v Schalke
Celtic v Juve
Arse v Bayern
Shakhtar v Dortmund
Milan v Barca
Real v United
Valencia v PSG
Porto v Malaga

City must be gutted, I bet they were hoping United would be distracted by Europe for months.

 

[sledger]

The majority of those games ought to be quite interesting.

 

[Pothas]

Nice draw that.

Real v United going obviously the pick, Real been poor of late, if they lose that then Jose could be toast before the end of the season.

Shakhtar v Dortmund will be a cracker though.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Well.

Posted yesterday...

 

[sledger]

That is rather uncanny...

 

[Furball]

Craig Levein suing the Scottish FA is a bit weird.

I mean, if you've been put on gardening leave and continue to have your contract paid in full but then resign in a fit of pique that's your business, surely? Can't have it both ways.

Maybe our legal bods see it differently tho.

The SFA should launch a counter-suit citing the Trade Descriptions Act; I'm pretty sure Levein would have had to describe himself as a manager to get the job in the first place.

edit: in all seriousness, he'll be suing for constructive dismissal. The SFA have put him on gardening leave because they can't afford to sack him; however being placed on gardening leave prevents Levein from finding employment unless he resigns from the SFA and forfeits what he's due for the remainder of his contract.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Well.

Posted yesterday...

Order completely different, so only 1 in 40,320 if my maths is right.

Probably another sign of impending Armageddon.

 

[marc71178]

Does the 1 in 40,320 take into account that teams can't be drawn against someone from same country or same group?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Does the 1 in 40,320 take into account that teams can't be drawn against someone from same country or same group?

No, forgot that rule. Give me five minutes!

 

[Neil Pickup]

Logically:

Galatasaray v FC Schalke - chance of 1/7 (no Man Utd)
Celtic v Juventus - chance of 1/6 (no Barca)
Arsenal v Bayern Munich - chance of 1/5 (no Man Utd)
Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund - chance of 1/5 (Juventus already drawn)
AC Milan v Barcelona - chance of 1/3 (no Malaga)
Real Madrid v Manchester United - chance of 1/2 (no Malaga)
Valencia v Paris St Germain - had to happen
FC Porto v Malaga - had to happen

Therefore, taking the drawing order of second-place teams as a given, the chance of these particular fixtures occurring was 1/(7*6*5*5*3*2) = 1 in 6,300.

There must be are other permutations involved regarding the drawing order of the second-placed teams, but I can't be arsed to go through it in the detail required, but suffice to say that this really wasn't that unlikely.

 

[Jarquis]

Surely you need to consider the odds of the pot 1 teams being drawn as they were?

Anyway, anybody fancy posting up the Guardian Top 100 players in the world #71-100. My browser is too **** and forbidden from downloading a new one onto mum's laptop. From the comments section I've worked out Wesley ****ing Sneijder is 6 places below Wanyama. So should be good for some lulz.

 

[Neil Pickup]

The order of the pot one teams isn't going to make too much difference to the probability of the match-ups, and I can't be arsed with the multitude of possibilities it implies. Best idea I can come up with right now is a Monte Carlo sim and the time involved in writing it makes me chronically unwilling.

100: Paulinho
99: Diego Forlan
98: Javi Martinez
97: Marek Hamsik
96: Pepe
95: Wesley Sneijder
94: Shinji Kagawa
93: Samir Nasri
92: Hatem Ben Arfa
91: Moussa Dembélé
90: Henrikh Mkitharyan
89: Javier Pastore
88: Leonardo Bonucci
87: Kwadwo Asamoah
86: John Terry
85: Emmanuel Mayuka
84: Darijo Srna
83: Hulk
82: Mapou Yanga-M'Biwa
81: Victor Wanyama
80: Luka Modric
79: David Luiz
78: Patrice Evra
77: Mario Mandžukić
76: Joao Moutinho
75: Ezequiel Lavezzi
74: Christian Eriksen
73: Santi Cazorla
72: Pedro
71: Hernanes

NFI who half of those people are. Shocked by lack of Jamie Cureton.

 

[sledger]

Surely you need to consider the odds of the pot 1 teams being drawn as they were?

Anyway, anybody fancy posting up the Guardian Top 100 players in the world #71-100. My browser is too **** and forbidden from downloading a new one onto mum's laptop. From the comments section I've worked out Wesley ****ing Sneijder is 6 places below Wanyama. So should be good for some lulz.

Hernanes
Pedro
Cazorla
Eriksen
Lavezzi
Moutinho
Mandžukić
Evra
David Luiz
Modric
Wanyama
Yanga-M'Biwa
Hulk
Srna
Mayuka
Terry
Kwadwo Asamoah
Bonucci
Pastore
Mkhitaryan
Dembele
Ben Arfa
Nasri
Kagawa
Sneijder
Pepe
Hamsik
Javi Martinez
Forlan
Paulinho

Edit: Pickup wac