All things soccer 2014 - 15

[Insidious Von]

Napoli 1 Barcelona 0
Dortmund 3 Wroclaw 0

A vast improvement by the Napolitans, two years ago Barca skinned them 6-1.

A symbolic friendly was held in Wroclaw, between the local club and Dortmund. The friendly had more to do with politics than any sporting significance. Poland is spending more in its military than any other nation in Europe fulled by German technology and investment. Putin is causing the Poles sleepless nights. Before Hitler's catastrophic screw up Wroclaw used be known as Breslau and was famous for their prestigious university. Germany and Poland have had at times less than cordial relations, Putin is moving them closer together. Good to see Ciro Immobile get in on the scoring, as Lewandoski's replacement he's under pressure to produce.

Breslau was the Harvard of Old Germany, Johannes Brahms, no less, wrote music for their graduation ceremonies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfhAZNlRa6A

 

[scouser1]

This thread has traditionally started on the first match day of the only league that really counts, the Barclays Premier League on a serious note all these preseason friendlies are completely worthless, you get the starters kicking the ball around for 20 minutes then they are substituted for some 19 year old kids.

 

[saxon]

This thread has traditionally started on the first match day of the only league that really counts, the Barclays Premier League on a serious note all these preseason friendlies are completely worthless, you get the starters kicking the ball around for 20 minutes then they are substituted for some 19 year old kids.

Friendlies are supposed to grow the game, all these games the big clubs are playing in the US is supposedly put on to get more Americans turned on to soccer when in reality it's just another way for the big clubs to make more money and sell more merchandise to pay their over bloated saleries. Having said all that, I am thinking Man U is in for another long season and they will fail to make the Champions League again and the Glazers will have to start selling off the clubs best players to pay down the enormous debt that's owed by these loser American owners.

 

[Insidious Von]

I wonder how the EPL will fare with the new Fair Play rules coming into effect this season?

Roma coach Rudi Garcia is fed up with Lois Van Gaal sniffing his players, specifically Kevin Strootman, his ultimatum: "fine, give us 100 million pounds and he's yours".

But will they be sanctioned before their new stadium opens in 2016? They've been running a revenue - cost deficit since Fenway took over. The aim is to compete consistently in the CL to offset the rising cost of transfers. Since the club will own the new Stadio Della Roma, the debt load should ease.

The design is based on the Roman Colosseum, where Manchester United will be fed to the lions.

http://stadiodellaroma.com/

 

[scouser1]

Roma are owned by James Pallotta who has nothing to do with Fenway Sports Group aside from the fact both are from Boston.

 

[Don Draper]

This thread has traditionally started on the first match day of the only league that really counts, the Barclays Premier League

That is a truly laughable statement.

The EPL is a hypocritical, desperate mess desperate to keep up with Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A. Say what you will about the flaws in the other leagues, it doesn't make the EPL any more relevant.

They'll pay through the nose to hire anyone who will play there due to the lack of quality in indigenous English players.

 

[Insidious Von]

DD knowing that my honourable friend scouser1 was being facetious I wasn't going to bring that up. Diego Maradona said it best about the Three Lions: "this can't go on".

As for the ownership of Roma, scouser is correct, James Pallotta is the majority owner of the club. He is also a business associate of Anthony Di Benedetto who initially negotiated the sale of the club. Pallotta was brought to work out the stadium deal with ADB staying on long enough to allow JP to get the deal done. ADB, is a business partner of John Henry and has a minority stake in Fenway Sports. I'm sure ADB will show up for the season opener - it's not like he's going to Manchester.

Here is Palotta (right) with Mayor Ignazio Marino.

http://stadiodellaroma.com/news/photos/mayors-presentation

 

[scouser1]

That is a truly laughable statement.

The EPL is a hypocritical, desperate mess desperate to keep up with Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A. Say what you will about the flaws in the other leagues, it doesn't make the EPL any more relevant.

They'll pay through the nose to hire anyone who will play there due to the lack of quality in indigenous English players.

Laugh all you want but the most competitive, the most watched and the richest league in the world is the EPL. And are you serious the Budesliga?? the league where one team wins the title with something like 4 months to go and the second best team sells their best player to the first place one!!! La Liga is a 2 horse race now for how long?? luckily Atletico with some grit and determination brought the fascist/socialist axis (Real Madrid/Barcelona) down in that league last year, I really hope they can do it again. I am a huge admirer of Atletico and Simeone. Really there is no point in discussing the 3 Lions as they are not even a factor in Europe anymore never mind the world.

 

[Don Draper]

Laugh all you want but the most competitive, the most watched and the richest league in the world is the EPL. And are you serious the Budesliga?? the league where one team wins the title with something like 4 months to go and the second best team sells their best player to the first place one!!! La Liga is a 2 horse race now for how long?? luckily Atletico with some grit and determination brought the fascist/socialist axis (Real Madrid/Barcelona) down in that league last year, I really hope they can do it again. I am a huge admirer of Atletico and Simeone. Really there is no point in discussing the 3 Lions as they are not even a factor in Europe anymore never mind the world.

Scouser1, you're a sober responsible adult, a fan of UEFA, educated and informed.

There is no such thing as a best league. Each of the four major European leagues all take turns riding the wave and hitting the lows. It all depends on which teams are having strong years in their respective leagues. The EPL is no better or no worse than La Liga, Bundesliga or Serie A. It's just another one of the European leagues. Being 'richer' doesn't mean that they are any 'better'. There are far more people in the world that speak Spanish rather than English and watch La Liga or even Serie A (as both leagues have more Latin American players than the EPL) therefore 'most watched' is a relative and adaptable term.

In the last 20 (!) years, an EPL team has only won the UCL 4 times, whereas a Spanish team has won it 7 times, an Italian team has won it 4 times and a German team has won it 3 times. That's hardly competitive. The EPL is barely keeping up with their own pedestrian rhetoric.

As far as the domestic league goes, take whoever the top 3 or 4 teams are and match them up against the 3 or 4 top teams in the other leagues. My $ will always be on Italia, Espan'a or Germany. As far as the other 17 teams go, no one loses sleep over having to play Crystal Palace, Hull os Swansea the next day.

It is a league in decay. It is a league in decline desperately trying to cannibalize itself and buy/rent any sort of status so the world won't have to laugh at them any more than they are doing now.

When European 'Fair Trade' is implemented upon them (that they have desperately avoided respecting up to now) it will be a new day for the EPL and then we might see a whole new world of proper futbol in England.

In the meantime, the decay continues to fester.

 

[Insidious Von]

The EPL has been hollowing out for this entire decade, they are not producing enough domestic product and I don't see the trend reversing.

How bad is it, Manchester United is about to spend 70 million Euros on Angel Di Maria. A player who's dead from the neck up. He's been a disaster with the Albiceleste, he's never figured out how to get around heavy marking and wilts badly under pressure. Ashley Cole has been feted in Rome. If he does well, I expect him to, then more English players should follow his lead. It obvious they are not welcome at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3VOvHwD_rU

 

[the_big_E]

EPL a league in decay? Truly laughable. Is it the most technical league, of course not.

Serie A has been a mess for years. Let me guess which 2 teams will compete for La Liga this season - I'll take a wild guess and say Barcelona and Real Madrid. Atletico Madrid was an aberration last season (albeit a welcome one).

Let's face it - no one is going to win this argument, and I'm just as guilty for slinging mud at the other leagues, but to suggest the EPL is a league in decay is such an ignorant statement.

I enjoy all of the leagues, but at the end of the day I'm going to watch EPL first before the others.

 

[Insidious Von]

Mr. E can't argue about Serie A being in a financial mess.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2014/08/11/5025796/from-maradona-to-medel-what-caused-serie-a-to-lose-its-financial-?ICID=HP_HN_HP_RI_0_1

But I'm sort of liking it since Italy is producing more domestic talent than ever before. Where are England's Mastour, Piccinocchi and the semi-Canadian Cristante? Personally I don't really miss the days when domestic talent lost out to expensive foreigners and I'll never pick the EPL over Serie A for my viewing time. Municipal bylaws have to be amended so that clubs can build and own their grounds, slowly Italy is recovering from the financial mess of 2008 - 12. If it does recover its prominence I hope they use the Bundesliga as an example - not the EPL.

Mind you Italy hosting the 2016 Euro would have helped, Grazie Platini....cocksucker.

 

[Insidious Von]

German Super Cup: Dortmund 2 Bayern 0

Jerome Boateng is the best defender on the planet, but when he has a bad game his club collapses - Real Madrid.

Italy not taking Costa Rica seriously deprived us of watching Ciro Immobile vs JB. It happened and CI had the edge as the lone striker. Holding the line and creating confusion in the Bayern defense. Had he been sharper with his chances the score would have been much more lopsided. Greek defender Papastathopoulos was a beast on defense for Dortmund.

I'm not sure how much you can read into this result but one item is clear, tikki takka has been figured out. Guardiloa needs a change of tactics or else Bayern's going to have a rough year.

 

[Don Draper]

.I'm not sure how much you can read into this result but one item is clear, tikki takka has been figured out. Guardilola needs a change of tactics or else Bayern's going to have a rough year.

Indeed they do. BM was so upset with him that they rumbled rumours about letting him go. He beat them to the punch and said he would leave if they asked him to.

Tiki Taka is still great. It just needs to evolve. The same 'game' is now routine.

 

[Insidious Von]

DD it may be time to move on.

There are two absolutes in the global game, total football and massed defense. The Spanish Way worked because they had a demigod in Xavi (he should have won at least 3 Ballon D' Or) running the show, but players of his pedigree come around once every 50 years. In the World Cup Tiki Taka got taken apart by total football. And the Confederations Cup match against Italy showed that it can be rendered ineffective by massed defense. Tiki Taka does not include an aerial plan and that will always be its Achilles Heel.

Bep should stay on at Bayern but he's going to need to adapt.

Question: Why is Ron Vlaar still at Aston Villa?

 

[saxon]

Man U loses to lowly Swansea on opening day, what a bummer. The Reds are going to be worse this year than
last year, they will again fail to make CL and therefore lose millions in revenue which will probably force the club to sell its top players. I hate the Glazers.

 

[Insidious Von]

The worst kept secret has been made official, Antonio Conte is the new coach of The Azzurri. Prandelli did a fine job as coach rebuilding the side but Conte will insure that they are prepared for teams like Costa Rica.

So ManU, especially after the opening debacle, are desperate to sign Arturo Vidal - make them pay through the nose. I don't believe that he will tie their hands by requesting a transfer, so the asking price should be 90 million pounds. If they are willing to pay 70 million for a dummy like Di Maria, Vidal is worth much more than that.

 

[shogun89]

Louis Van Lawl. Moyes in disguise lmao. Lololol

 

[Insidious Von]

Manu are going to struggle on defense, they were rash in letting Vidic leave.

Now they're going to have to overpay for a quality defender. No use in harassing Roma, they've already made it clear that they wont sell any of their stars. The kicker is why didn't they make a bid for Dutch defender Stefan de Vrij, he was outstanding in the WC. Instead he's going to Lazio.

Does that make sense?

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2014/07/31/4994933/strootman-de-jong-key-to-lazio-move-de-vrij?ICID=TP_TNM_ART_5

Tuesday Aug 19, CL Qualification: Napoli vs Athletic Bilbao. This is a must watch match.

 

[scouser1]

Can we please not refer to Man Utd as the Reds, they are the Red Devils, the Reds are a vastly superior side from Merseyside