TN Bhoy's European Adventure Season Long Thread (Wales WCQ pics added on pg 2)

Some of you may be wondering what the title of this thread means. The answer: I've taken a position that will have me based in Wales (I'll be living about 20 miles west of Swansea) and will have me doing work throughout Eastern Europe. I figure that while I'm there I'll be seeing at least a few matches (guaranteed: Welsh derby, Wales v Macedonia) and will probably run into some interesting people. This thread will be used to share pictures/stories about soccer (and rugby). Oh, and frick NBC for finally making soccer accessible in the States right when I'm leaving.


But first, my season predictions (I'm sure the board has already done this, but I haven't looked at the board since LSU went out the CWS):

BPL (top 4 in order): City, Chelsea, Man U, Spurs
BPL (relegation): Newcastle, Hull, Crystal Palace
BPL (POY): Jesus Navas' eyes (Bale if he somehow stays at Spurs)
BPL (YPOY): Victor Wanyama (who Arsenal will buy from Southampton in January)
La Liga (Champion): Real Madrid
Serie A (Champion): Juventus
Ligue 1 (Champion): PSG (but much closer than last year)
Eredivisie (Champion): PSV
Bundesliga (Champion): Bayern
UCL (Champion): Man City



Now, about Borat beating Celtic...






First, it's fricking embarrassing. True, they put BATE out, but they're from fricking Kazakhstan!

Second, scoreline wasn't a fair reflection of the match. We had around 70% possession until the last 10 mins or so when we completely fell apart. We also had three shots off the post (one inches from fully crossing the line) and another glorious chance that Forrest fricked up (but we'll get to him later). They deserved the win on the day (they showed up, we didn't), but it wasn't Artmedia embarrassing.

Third, Lennon fricked up. Badly. The Borats were set up, and played, like Stoke (even scored from a long throw-in), but Lennon sets us up how we normally set up away from home in Europe: to counter. This was our line-up:

Forster
Lustig Mouyokolo Van Dijk Izzy
Forrest Brown Ledley Commons Mulgrew
Sammy

Forster sucked. 6'7 and the fricker wouldn't come out to catch crosses/throw-ins. Distribution was also terrible. Not going to get an England cap playing that way.

Lustig was obviously carrying an injury. Shockingly, he was also the best player in the defense. Lennon finally subbed Matthews in midway through the 2nd.

Mouyokolo and Van Dijk were terrible, but it's not completely their fault. Van Dijk had played a grand total of 10 mins in a Celtic shirt before the match and was still recovering from an injury. Mouyokolo (yes, the same one from Wolves) was hung out to dry by Izzy most of the match.

Izzy was a mixed bag. Missed an absolute sitter early in the second half, but his crosses were the only real threat Celtic produced on the night (including the one Forrest fricked up). He was also completely terrible defensively. His giveaway led to the attack for their second goal, and the fricker didn't come back after his giveaway and left Mouyokolo with no cover when the first attempt deflected.

Lennon needs to admit that Mulgrew is a center-half and only a center-half. He's too slow for the midfield and even his set pieces were off yesterday.

Brown and Ledley were decent.

Commons was good for the first half (including the shot that was inches away from crossing the line), but faded for the second half. He also appeared to not gaf that Celtic were behind.

Samaras is useless as a lone striker. He dislikes it and drifts wide throughout the match. This makes Lennon's 4-5-1 resemble Levein's 4-6-0. Formation is completely useless against a team like the Borats. He should have been in Mulgrew's position and either Stokes or Balde should have been up front if Lennon had to play 4-5-1.

Forrest was fricking horrible. Two years ago I thought he'd be the next McGeady and make a 10+ mill move abroad. I admit that I was dead wrong. All of his flaws showed up against the Borats. No end product (missed an absolute sitter set up by Izzy right before their second), defensive liability (goal 1), stops playing once he loses the ball (throws up his arms and yells for a foul), terrible crosses (which comes from never looking up) and wanting to be Messi (about 15 times). By far the worst player on the day and he needs to be dropped.

That said, the Borats wanted it more and they deserved the win.

I still think Celtic will win (and y'all better hope so as well or UEFA's gonna frick an English squad and force them to play on the plastic pitch in Kazakkhstan). Put Boeriggter in for Forrest, Sammy for Mulgrew, Mulgrew for one of Van Dijk or Mouyokolo, and Balde or Stokes for Sammy. That should be worth 3 goals.



Oh, and thanks to those who lobbied for my release.




And I promise to the board that there will be no posts about the Zombies (unless something really big happens) until at least Christmas.

I swear by OLASKB