Football

My new favorite team

Eto'o to KuruvchiEto'o to KuruvchiSorry, Fulham. I have a new favorite team, and it is PFC Kuruvchi of the Uzbekistani League. Apparently, they have made a serious bid to sign Samuel Eto'o from Barcelona. I'm not one to believe every silly transfer rumor I hear, but come on...they even have pictures of Eto'o meeting with club officials on their website!

I love ridiculous things. Even if this is made up (and the pictures are photoshopped), I give this club a ton of credit for their sense of humor alone.

The Manchester United Hype Machine

Saw an article today about Cristiano Ronaldo's free-kick goal yesterday against Portsmouth. For the tl;dr crew, he says that it was his "best-ever goal". It went on with Alex Ferguson quotes gushing about how great Cristiano Ronaldo is.

Am I missing something? Every team has a set piece specialist who can score goals like that. Hameur Bouazza had one earlier this year (video below). Freddy Eastwood knocked Man Utd out of the Carling Cup last season with a free-kick almost identical to Ronaldo's goal.

Or perhaps it is just a case of Manchester United shirt = better than.

Watch this video!

New Site

I've been working on a new football site, called Championship At Best. My football-related posts have been going there recently, and existing posts here will all eventually find there way over there.

I have lots of new features planned, though not many have been implemented yet. Have a look!

Fulham +/- Ratings

Here are Fulham's +/- ratings, updated after last saturday's match at Chelsea. Note that only minutes played as a midfielder are counted. For example, Clint Dempsey started the match v Manchester City as a forward, but moved to right midfield at half time. For that match, only his second half minutes are counted.

These ratings will be updated after each competitive match. Currently only midfielders are included, but I will try to have all positions up soon.

Midfield – League
Player Minutes Goals For Goals Against +/-
Davis 720 12 14 -2
Smertin 683 11 12 -1
Davies 669 10 12 -2
Bouazza 398 8 8 0
Dempsey 245 3 8 -5
Ki-Hyeon 102 1 0 1
Murphy 37 1 0 1
Diop 18 0 2 -2


Midfield – All Competition
Player Minutes Goals For Goals Against +/-
Davis 930 14 16 -2
Davies 879 12 14 -2
Smertin 773 12 12 0
Bouazza 461 8 9 -1
Dempsey 335 4 8 -4
Ki-Hyeon 222 2 2 0
Murphy 157 2 2 0
Diop 18 0 2 -2