2018-2019 Calcio Futbol Football Thread

[goonster]

That squad is full of top-drawer players, all brought in at great expense to save the club. Almost all of these gave me pangs of jealousy:

Mata
Herrera
Depay
Matic
Pogba
Martial
Sanchez
Lukaku
Mkhitaryan
di Maria
Bailly

All of them (possibly excepting Mata) are diminished since joining United.

Most of these were not brought in by Mourinho, so there's a serious problem at the club, and it's not really an issue of spending or squad quality.

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by goonster

That squad is full of top-drawer players, all brought in at great expense to save the club. Almost all of these gave me pangs of jealousy:

Mata
Herrera
Depay
Matic
Pogba
Martial
Sanchez
Lukaku
Mkhitaryan
di Maria
Bailly

All of them (possibly excepting Mata) are diminished since joining United.

Most of these were not brought in by Mourinho, so there's a serious problem at the club, and it's not really an issue of spending or squad quality.

Never should have let Zlatan leave - hahah

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by echappist

he does have prior record of getting fired mid-season; perhaps they could convey Hiddink to take charge?



having players give 100% would be a start. Has anyone seen Sanchez lately? Dude gets almost 500k quid per appearance, but has been downright dreadful. Rashford should have seen greater involvement since his first season in 2015-2016, yet he's languished. So much potential, so little result. They need an Eddie Howe or Espririto Santo

That does say something - 4 years seems to be his max.

[echappist]

apparently the Special One stayed at a hotel during his tenure, for all ~900 days, racking up a bill of almost 600k quids (aka one successful Alexi outing) during the process

[wc1934]

Man U made an announcement and then later deleted it.

"Manchester United appeared to confirm Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as interim manager at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

The Old Trafford club posted a video on their website of the Norwegian scoring the winning goal in the 1999 Champions League final and referred to him as "our interim manager". It was later deleted".

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46604958

[martl]

Originally Posted by echappist

having players give 100% would be a start. Has anyone seen Sanchez lately? Dude gets almost 500k quid per appearance, but has been downright dreadful. Rashford should have seen greater involvement since his first season in 2015-2016, yet he's languished. So much potential, so little result. They need an Eddie Howe or Espririto Santo

The whole Mourinho at MU era leaves me baffled. Ok, i understand in the end he was pissed because he wasn't allowed to spend money, but if your solution for "we bought 400Mio worth of wolrd class in the last 4 years and it didnt work" is: "spend more money", well then you maybe aren't such a good Coach after all.

But the biggest mystery of all is why so many MU supporters still defend him...
United have a history of attacking, full-speed Football, and this is what the supporters expect, even more than success. Jose, his teams have veen very successful, but exciting? very rarely. Now at MU, every single game was simply bad football, and very few were successful.

[echappist]

i'd love to dredge up an homage to Bjørge Lillelien, but that really doesn't do service to what Palace did.

Sure, sure, Sheikh Mansour's boys took a helluva beating, but take nothing away from the stout defending, mixed in with individual brilliance, as exemplified by none other than Townsend, who is more often on the receiving end of jokes jabbing at his wildly overhit shots. Instead, he belted out what must be a goal of the year contender, on par with Pavard's effort in the World Cup.


------------------------------------------------

Also in other news, this sort of dross

Apparently the Spurs are too poor to clean up after themselves, but just rich enough to pay for a new stadium. I know it's extremely cynical of me to say this, but it's perhaps the only way soccer is palatable to me, knowing that my tax dollars aren't going into this whole nonsense (cf. billions in loans taken out by states and municipalities to beg rich U.S. owners to stay)

[Climb01742]

Originally Posted by echappist

Also in other news, this sort of dross

Apparently the Spurs are too poor to clean up after themselves, but just rich enough to pay for a new stadium. I know it's extremely cynical of me to say this, but it's perhaps the only way soccer is palatable to me, knowing that my tax dollars aren't going into this whole nonsense (cf. billions in loans taken out by states and municipalities to beg rich U.S. owners to stay)

As Tom Morello's guitar says, 'Arm the homeless.' Why do the rich, more often than not, act like such complete wankers?

[echappist]

Originally Posted by Climb01742

As Tom Morello's guitar says, 'Arm the homeless.' Why do the rich, more often than not, act like such complete wankers?

it's in context of this that I get a better sense of why people thought highly of Leciester's late owner. Sure, it's a pittance from his perspective, but dude apparently handed out gifts on the down low, without ever making a noise. He also paid for the proper burial of Richard III, etc. Hard to think that the ilks of Kroenke, Levy, Abramovich, or the owners of West Ham would do anything comparable...

and speaking of Leicester, they are bringing a helluva beating onto Pep's invincible City squad. This is quite glorious. I really wish I didn't have to work today.

[echappist]

Also, how is this still a thing? Seems like Serie A couldnt be bothered with reigning in things. Perhaps not surprising, given how rampant some of the ultras are...

https://www.theguardian.com/football...idou-koulibaly

[kevinvc]

Originally Posted by echappist

Also in other news, this sort of dross

Apparently the Spurs are too poor to clean up after themselves, but just rich enough to pay for a new stadium. I know it's extremely cynical of me to say this, but it's perhaps the only way soccer is palatable to me, knowing that my tax dollars aren't going into this whole nonsense (cf. billions in loans taken out by states and municipalities to beg rich U.S. owners to stay)

This sort of thing is disgusting but all too typical throughout sports. Many years ago I gave up my favorite baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, because their owner, Marge Schott, was a nazi sympathizing racist. Years later, I ended my pointy-ball fandom for the Dallas Cowboys because of their owner. Now I've learned that I have to divorce my enjoyment of a team from the actions of their owner (and often one or two players). So as abhorrent as this story is, I'll continue to cheer for the Spurs. Where it gets tricky is deciding whether to ever buy merchandise.

[echappist]

at least the Spurs have a likeable squad with a likeable manager

if they weren't playing BVB, i'd be rooting for them in the Champion's League as well. I have no illusions that LFC's American owners would be anywhere better, just that they haven't done publicly preposterous things like what Levy is demanding.

also sucks that you guys will lose Son for at least a few weeks. At least it's only one confederation cup you need to worry about, as opposed to losing players to African Cup of Nations as well. Though to be fair, you guys may have a great shot at catching up to LFC had that happened. No comparison btwn losing Aurier + Wanyama (where has the latter been this season?) vs losing Salah, Mane, Keita, and Matip (though injured)

[echappist]

condolence to the fans of the two North London clubs. Yikes!

It's a bit ironic that the Arsenal squad has so many former BVB players, all of whom brought to BVB by Klopp, no less. I don't rate the two former BVB players who played for Arsenal today. PEA is just so wasteful; that he was the top scorer in the Bundesliga is a testament to the service he's afforded by his teammates. Most BVB fans know that he has a tendency both for missing sitters and for finishing the incredible and acrobatic. So talented yet so frustrating to watch... Sokratis, OTOH, is just not a very good defender. Lots of histrionics and silly stuff.

Next Thursday's match is gonna be great

Also, NBC needs to work on their ads. This from today. Spot the errors

[Climb01742]

To every Gunners fan, the gap is now painfully, horrifically clear. First, LFC took out our hearts and stomped on them. Then came back for our souls. Even we knew the 0-1 was there just to toy with us. Many beers, oh, so many beers.

[wc1934]

Originally Posted by Climb01742

To every Gunners fan, the gap is now painfully, horrifically clear. First, LFC took out our hearts and stomped on them. Then came back for our souls. Even we knew the 0-1 was there just to toy with us. Many beers, oh, so many beers.

yup - two goals in 90 seconds is tough. That plus Liverpool is great at home and the Gunners do not play well on the road.