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WestEnder67:
Given all the football banter going on, I think I'll chip in.
Celtic - Top of the league, 4 points clear. Rangers are shite. :-D
And before anyone rips on the quality of Scottish football, I am fully aware that it is complete garbage. :roll:
Storm Rider:
--- Quote from: Alex C on 26 Sep 2009, 14:24 ---I have no idea what's going to happen against San Fran this week. None at all. The Vikings have played shoddy teams and yet they still let Brett Favre get knocked around. I hate Brad Childress. Adrian Peterson is nicked up. I don't think the Vikings are as good as people seem to think they are. Giving up 100 rushing yards to the Lions the week before hosting Frank Gore doesn't inspire confidence. EJ Henderson is a fast mlb, but he's also a knucklehead.
On the flip side, Frank Gore is nicked up. The Niners have only played NFC West games so far. But overall, I still think they're better than people give them credit for and they have some legit football players on defense.
Honestly, it's like a mirror match. I wouldn't be surprised if either QB shat the bed. Shaun Hill has hardly ever faced a decent defense, so it's hard to tell how good he is. On the other hand, he actually knows the Vikings D pretty well since he was one of our backups. Brett Favre is really fuckin' old and likes to throw interceptions. It'll probably just come down to whether Frank Gore or Adrian Peterson is feeling healthier.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, both teams are running-heavy with good defenses, and they're both kind of unknown quantities at this point since the Vikings have won games against two of the worst teams in the NFL and the Niners have only played division opponents and it looks like the Cardinals have seriously fallen off from last year. I'm hoping that the Niners can put pressure on Favre like we did with Warner in Week 1. If that happens and we can contain Peterson like we did last time, then I think it won't matter how badly our offense sucks, although I think in general Shaun Hill is better than people give him credit for. Basically, if the Niners can win in Minnesota I think people will finally start taking us seriously, but I'm not really expecting it. I hope they keep it close, at least. It's refreshing to see the team actually look energized again now that Singletary's taken over.
Alex C:
Yeah, I actually like Shaun Hill a fair bit. He's stupidly accurate, particularly on routine plays. I don't mean that as any sort of backhanded compliment either, since Daunte Culpepper used to blow routine plays all the time, which is why us Vikings fans were so quick to turn on him once he got injured and couldn't make up for it with big plays anymore. Culpepper had a unique talent for underthrowing players via putting too much onto the ball, which is frankly amazing when you think about it. He'd literally wing the ball straight into the ground at a bazillion miles per hour sometimes. Not really a concern with Shaun.
But to put things in perspective, Hill's got an 87 or so QB rating going on his career right now. That's really good. Better than McNabb, Garcia, Favre, Marino or Hasselbeck good. If he maintained it for the rest of his career it'd put him just outside of the all-time top 10 passer rating list. A bit of skepticism comes naturally when you pair that kind of results with that kind of sample size, particularly since the NFC West isn't exactly a murderer's row of passing defenses. I know he's competent and I'd take him over the majority of starters in the league in a heartbeat. But right now he worries me a bit rather than scares me.
the_pied_piper:
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 26 Sep 2009, 16:20 ---It's not as bad as people make out. I think most of those accusations are just snobbery. I live in Scotland now and I've seen my fair share of great games up here.
--- End quote ---
I agree with this sentiment but i find it depends a lot on the division in English football that your team is in (this probably sounds a bit snobby as well but there is reason behind it). The top division in English football is the best as there is the most money there and the best players from around the world are attracted to its clubs, whether they are big or small whereas the lower divisions cannot afford to pay these wages and, as such, the quality suffers a bit. That is not to say that the excitement in these games is higher or lower but simply that better players have more ability and therefore play better football.
However, the Scottish top division contains clubs that would be likely to span the top 3 divisions of English football and this is what makes the quality of the games suffer. Celtic and Rangers have the potential to be as good as some of the English top division teams (although this is debatable) but the smaller teams like Kilmarnock and St. Mirren would likely find it a struggle to play in the 2nd tier of English football, maybe even the third. It is a shame that this is the case as Scottish football fans are very passionate about their teams and with Scottish teams having done well in European competition in the past it is difficult to let go of past glories.
Now, to put this in perspective, i am a lifelong Liverpool FC fan, a team that is one of the top 2 most successful teams in English football and one of the most successful in European competition also, so the way i look at lower league football is with the eyes of someone who is fortunate enough to watch a team that contains some of the world's best players week in, week out therefore the quality is always a bit lacking.
To move onto something a little different, this weekend's game against Hull (a 6-1 victory) showed the class of our best striker, a certain Fernando Torres with another hat-trick (first this season) to take him to 5 goals for the season in 7 games. Hat-trick goals here.
WestEnder67:
--- Quote from: Ptommydski on 26 Sep 2009, 16:20 ---It's not as bad as people make out. I think most of those accusations are just snobbery. I live in Scotland now and I've seen my fair share of great games up here.
I hope Celtic win the league this year, they were unlucky to fall at the final hurdle last year.
--- End quote ---
Celtic weren't that unlucky - we fucked it up big-style in the second half of the season.
Anyway, exiting self-flagellatory mode now.
Even though I prefer United to Liverpool, I have to admit that Torres is arguably the best striker in Europe. If the Scouse could get another world-class striker alongside him as well as some stronger back-ups to the players they already have (Kyrgiakos :laugh:) then they could go that extra inch where they faltered last season.
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