Luckily for Barcelona they don't have to find themselves a new goalkeeper yet, so it's kinda hard to predict who they will be signing next year when Valdes' contract expires. They'll most likely go for someone who's familiar with the Primera Division. I'd love to see one of Valencia's goalkeepers in Camp Nou... don't think Reina is such a good idea. I was a big fan of him around 2004/2005, but he makes too many mistakes nowadays. He's getting old, lol.
Yes, Meulensteen has been with Man United for quite some time, BUT... was also headcoach of Brondby one season and that turned out to be a total disaster. Maybe his qualities fit the job of assistant/technical skills development coach better than actually being the big boss himself, like he was in Denmark. And indeed, like you pointed out, the way Football is being played in the Championship isn't the way Meulensteen likes to see it. If he does go to Wigan, though, we gotta keep in mind that there's always the exception to the rule, cause Swansea City and Rodgers did a pretty good job in that competition, with Laudrup now continuing it in the Premier League.
Wasn't familiar with the term 'show pony'... that's funny! And as for Bale, I tweeted you two months ago that it's gonna be tough to keep him at White Heart Line. Don't get me wrong, it'd be great if he were to stay with the Spurs, but he could well be one of Perez' new signings for 2013/2014. Bayer Leverkusen sign keeper Palop, 39 years old, from Sevilla, while Real Madrid bring defender Carvajal back from Leverkusen. The biggest "news" is Jose Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge. Have the British papers and tabloids gone wild already? Any interesting headlines?
Lots of friendly matches this week... how was England vs Brazil? Holland is traveling to Asia and will play China and Indonesia for crissakes. Asia is financially a very interesting market, which is why also clubs like United and Madrid visit that part of the world often in the pre season to collect millions. This week the under-21 tournament in Israel will start; England, Holland, Spain... keeping track of that as well? Later this month the Confederations Cup in Brazil.
Gert & TheBoy's Official VNA Soccer... err Football Thread
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TheBoy
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I get the feeling that Liverpool would be quite happy for someone to make a bid for Reina, for the exact reason you suggest and it's been like that for a couple of seasons now. I suppose it depends on how his reputation is in Spain, but I agree there are much better options for Barcelona.
You'll be looking out for other show ponies now lol :) I still think Bale will stay and the indications are that he himself wants to stay in the UK for family reasons as his wife is very close to her family in Wales. Obviously if the world record £85million bid comes in, then it has to be accepted and I'm sure Mrs Bale will find herself more than adequately compensated... But we shall have to see. Now that Perez has been re-elected, I suppose the pressure isn't on him so much now to talk up world record bids. Things change very quickly in football and until the transfer window closes or Bale signs a new deal, we'll never be sure what's going on!
Mourinho coming back to Chelsea could go either way with the press. There is definitely one or two journalists who like to see themselves as having the same mentality as their continental counterparts and thus are not so enthralled by having him back. Coaches who have been recently successful like Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti, Heynkes have changed what some of the press now see as fashionable. On the whole though, I think he will still have the majority of the media lapping up his controversies, but I do think it could all turn very quickly on him if he picks fights with particular journalists. There hasn't been any exciting stories so far, but I think once he does his first press conference and has to face questions on his relationship with Abromovich, that's when things will get interesting!
As much as it pains me to say this, I have fallen out of love with the English national team over the past few years and this current England setup perhaps has me at my lowest. I've found it hard to support a team with players such as John Terry, Ashley Cole and others, plus I don't really agree with having a foreign manager. To me international football should be your best players and manager, not just the players. I fail to see how we could enjoy winning something but always have it tainted with 'yeah, but we needed an expensive Italian to get us there'. Now it's just the pure drab, negative football that turns me off. The game against Brazil was a perfect example: For 65 minutes we set up to be ultra defensive and stifle a just above average Brazil side. This despite it being a totally meaningless friendly at the end of the season! Then for about ten minutes Hodgson allowed the players to attack and hey, wouldn't you know it - we scored two goals against a suspect Brazilian defence! Sadly this made for relatively positive opinions in the media and will only serve to justify these negative tactics.
I could just about understand if this was a World Cup game against a full strength Brazil, but I just don't get why in a meaningless friendly you can't be a bit bold and just 'have a go'?
I'm also not a fan of many of Hodgson's player selections and again going back to this friendly don't understand why he couldn't take half a dozen untried younger players from some of the 'lesser' clubs just to give them a go and freshen things up somewhat.
I'll probably catch games during the U-21 tournament as time permits. Are there any Dutch young stars we should be looking out for during the tournament? It's always exciting to see in these tournaments when one player takes it by storm and to see how they develop.
You'll be looking out for other show ponies now lol :) I still think Bale will stay and the indications are that he himself wants to stay in the UK for family reasons as his wife is very close to her family in Wales. Obviously if the world record £85million bid comes in, then it has to be accepted and I'm sure Mrs Bale will find herself more than adequately compensated... But we shall have to see. Now that Perez has been re-elected, I suppose the pressure isn't on him so much now to talk up world record bids. Things change very quickly in football and until the transfer window closes or Bale signs a new deal, we'll never be sure what's going on!
Mourinho coming back to Chelsea could go either way with the press. There is definitely one or two journalists who like to see themselves as having the same mentality as their continental counterparts and thus are not so enthralled by having him back. Coaches who have been recently successful like Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti, Heynkes have changed what some of the press now see as fashionable. On the whole though, I think he will still have the majority of the media lapping up his controversies, but I do think it could all turn very quickly on him if he picks fights with particular journalists. There hasn't been any exciting stories so far, but I think once he does his first press conference and has to face questions on his relationship with Abromovich, that's when things will get interesting!
As much as it pains me to say this, I have fallen out of love with the English national team over the past few years and this current England setup perhaps has me at my lowest. I've found it hard to support a team with players such as John Terry, Ashley Cole and others, plus I don't really agree with having a foreign manager. To me international football should be your best players and manager, not just the players. I fail to see how we could enjoy winning something but always have it tainted with 'yeah, but we needed an expensive Italian to get us there'. Now it's just the pure drab, negative football that turns me off. The game against Brazil was a perfect example: For 65 minutes we set up to be ultra defensive and stifle a just above average Brazil side. This despite it being a totally meaningless friendly at the end of the season! Then for about ten minutes Hodgson allowed the players to attack and hey, wouldn't you know it - we scored two goals against a suspect Brazilian defence! Sadly this made for relatively positive opinions in the media and will only serve to justify these negative tactics.
I could just about understand if this was a World Cup game against a full strength Brazil, but I just don't get why in a meaningless friendly you can't be a bit bold and just 'have a go'?
I'm also not a fan of many of Hodgson's player selections and again going back to this friendly don't understand why he couldn't take half a dozen untried younger players from some of the 'lesser' clubs just to give them a go and freshen things up somewhat.
I'll probably catch games during the U-21 tournament as time permits. Are there any Dutch young stars we should be looking out for during the tournament? It's always exciting to see in these tournaments when one player takes it by storm and to see how they develop.
Yep... sounds like most journalists just want to write a "hallelujah" story rather than putting it in perspective. A friendly game against a Brazilian team that's fully focussed on winning the World Cup next year and which has been playing friendly matches for over 2 years now, so attack... with young players! Try to come up with a new England that's ready to shine in Brazil (2014) or France (2016). But in all honesty, Roy Hodgson is not the manager who can make that happen. I'm sure you've seen Finland's national team around the time he was in charge there? And he has done well as manager of Fulham, even won the Europa League, but with a familiar recipe. So maybe we should be pointing fingers at the FA? First they appoint an Italian man, who receives an excessive amount of money, followed by someone of whom has been proven that he lets his teams play defensive Football for 90 minutes straight. "Redknapp, Redknapp, Redknapp". If only he had taken the job, but no, the man was interested in Queens Park Rangers. QPR for god's sake....TheBoy wrote:The game against Brazil was a perfect example: For 65 minutes we set up to be ultra defensive and stifle a just above average Brazil side. This despite it being a totally meaningless friendly at the end of the season! Then for about ten minutes Hodgson allowed the players to attack and hey, wouldn't you know it - we scored two goals against a suspect Brazilian defence! Sadly this made for relatively positive opinions in the media and will only serve to justify these negative tactics.
Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg is moving from AS Roma to Fulham. I have always believed that going from Ajax to AS Roma was a terrible mistake. His style doesn't fit the Serie A, that competition is going down the drain, plus, like we mentioned before, stadiums as old as a museum! (Do I sound too harsh or pessimistic? lol) He was supposed to go to London in January already, but Roma couldn't get the substitute they wanted. Roma are aiming at Rafael Cabral from Santos; young, but very talented keeper.
As for our U-21 squad... midfield looks good. Keep an eye on Strootman and Maher. Especially Adam Maher. He'll most likely move from AZ to Ajax as soon as Eriksen has been sold. Lastly, Everton have appointed Wigan Athletic boss and 'pass master' Roberto Martinez as their new manager on a 4-year contract. Good choice by both, IMO.
I thought I'd end on a positive note.
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TheBoy
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The problem with Hodgson is that he is very reluctant to alter his playing style to change with the different level of players at his disposal. At Fulham and West Brom, he wasn't expected to win every game and even less so in any kind of style. The public in general have accepted a long time ago that this current generation of English players are not gifted at all and so have so far accepted this negative style of play. However, I am far from convinced we will even qualify for Brazil if we continue to stick with the same drab players and play in such a defensive style.
The story of Harry Redknapp is a fairly lengthy one, but it's not quite correct to say he didn't take the job, as he was never actually offered it... The FA, being the spineless weasels they are, couldn't handle having someone outspoken as the England manager and thus went with the much more controllable Hodgson. You'd think they would have learnt after the criminal act of ignoring Brian Clough as manager all those years ago, but apparently not!
Unfortunately for Harry, this took him by surprise as much as everyone else and completely scuppered his plans. As a rough guideline of events, for ooh, probably a year or more the entire nation and press made it quite clear they all wanted Harry to be the next England manager and whilst he denied it in public, it's safe to say that Harry did little to suggest he thought differently. Almost with comical timing, Harry's court case for tax evasion was finished on the same day that Don Fabio resigned. Thus began the media circus with every Spurs press conference turning into an England one with questions about who would be in his first squad and stuff like routinely taking place. Even when sat next to the Spurs press officer who interrupted any England questions to say cut it out, Redknapp still happily answered them.
After thumping Newcastle 5-0 in the first game after the court case, we then went on a run of just one win in nine games until, coincidentally, the FA hired Roy. There isn't a Spurs fan rightly or wrongly, who doesn't believe this was down to Harry's head already being somewhere else.
During this time Levy still quite naturally assumed the FA were over a barrel and was looking forward to naming a very high price for them to take Harry away from us. However after it all went pear shaped due to those 9 games, and then Chelsea went won the Champions League, knocking us out, Harry still thought he was on solid ground thanks to some dubious sounding links to a job in Qatar. He went in to a meeting with Levy and a new agent and apparently laid down some quite staggering contract demands. Levy wasn't impressed and thus the wheels were set in motion to where we are now.
You can probably make you're own mind up as to who is in the better situation now...
I watched some of the Holland v Germany game last night and boy, what a difference to the previous night's England v Italy match. I find it laughable really that Stuart Pearce would criticise his own players so heavily, not for the performance which indeed was utter shite, but for saying they have no creativity. Well Stuart, you picked these players and chose to ignore others, such as Tom Caroll who Spurs have played numerous times this season when AVB thought we needed some more of that pesky creativity in midfield.
Sadly though the prospect of these players coming through into the full squad is soul destroying.
I see what you mean about Maher, he looks real class. But it was the team performance that most impressed me. I'd wager both those teams would give the full England side a run for their money.
I think Martinez will do well at Everton. The only problem he may have is once again that level of expectation. Everton have become very accustomed to being a top 6-7 club with eyes on Europe and anything less than that would now be seen as failure. Defensively, Wigan have often been a horror show and with Everton traditionally being nice and solid in that department, you have to hope for them that they can keep the same defensive coaches!
There have been quite a few stories over here in the past day or so such as Baldini expected to come into Tottenham as technical director and Manchester City forking out an eye-watering £30million on Fernandinho... But I'm sure we will revisit these another as I've already written something of an essay, lol :-p
The story of Harry Redknapp is a fairly lengthy one, but it's not quite correct to say he didn't take the job, as he was never actually offered it... The FA, being the spineless weasels they are, couldn't handle having someone outspoken as the England manager and thus went with the much more controllable Hodgson. You'd think they would have learnt after the criminal act of ignoring Brian Clough as manager all those years ago, but apparently not!
Unfortunately for Harry, this took him by surprise as much as everyone else and completely scuppered his plans. As a rough guideline of events, for ooh, probably a year or more the entire nation and press made it quite clear they all wanted Harry to be the next England manager and whilst he denied it in public, it's safe to say that Harry did little to suggest he thought differently. Almost with comical timing, Harry's court case for tax evasion was finished on the same day that Don Fabio resigned. Thus began the media circus with every Spurs press conference turning into an England one with questions about who would be in his first squad and stuff like routinely taking place. Even when sat next to the Spurs press officer who interrupted any England questions to say cut it out, Redknapp still happily answered them.
After thumping Newcastle 5-0 in the first game after the court case, we then went on a run of just one win in nine games until, coincidentally, the FA hired Roy. There isn't a Spurs fan rightly or wrongly, who doesn't believe this was down to Harry's head already being somewhere else.
During this time Levy still quite naturally assumed the FA were over a barrel and was looking forward to naming a very high price for them to take Harry away from us. However after it all went pear shaped due to those 9 games, and then Chelsea went won the Champions League, knocking us out, Harry still thought he was on solid ground thanks to some dubious sounding links to a job in Qatar. He went in to a meeting with Levy and a new agent and apparently laid down some quite staggering contract demands. Levy wasn't impressed and thus the wheels were set in motion to where we are now.
You can probably make you're own mind up as to who is in the better situation now...
I watched some of the Holland v Germany game last night and boy, what a difference to the previous night's England v Italy match. I find it laughable really that Stuart Pearce would criticise his own players so heavily, not for the performance which indeed was utter shite, but for saying they have no creativity. Well Stuart, you picked these players and chose to ignore others, such as Tom Caroll who Spurs have played numerous times this season when AVB thought we needed some more of that pesky creativity in midfield.
Sadly though the prospect of these players coming through into the full squad is soul destroying.
I see what you mean about Maher, he looks real class. But it was the team performance that most impressed me. I'd wager both those teams would give the full England side a run for their money.
I think Martinez will do well at Everton. The only problem he may have is once again that level of expectation. Everton have become very accustomed to being a top 6-7 club with eyes on Europe and anything less than that would now be seen as failure. Defensively, Wigan have often been a horror show and with Everton traditionally being nice and solid in that department, you have to hope for them that they can keep the same defensive coaches!
There have been quite a few stories over here in the past day or so such as Baldini expected to come into Tottenham as technical director and Manchester City forking out an eye-watering £30million on Fernandinho... But I'm sure we will revisit these another as I've already written something of an essay, lol :-p
Just keep writing as many essays as you like, I'll be reading all of them. I know everything about the Dutch market, you about the British... and the whole story behind Redknapp's QPR move was interesting to read.
To come back to Everton once more, don't they have the same problem as Spurs? High expections, but held back by a stadium that's simply not big enough to really get the budget up. Moyes and his staff kept surprising me throughout the past few years about how well they were doing. Liverpool have more potential, yet Everton is finishing above the Reds. The Toffees are aiming at European Football every season, but if that's realistic..?
Manchester City. Fernandinho. Shakhtar Donetsk. €40 million. And honestly.... I think that's a great transfer! Eduardo, Luiz Adriano, Ilsinho and Fernandinho are four class players and have been very successful with Shakhtar. (Yes, I even watch Ukrainian Football, lol.) Mark the following words, as of now, City will be doing things differently. Chief executive Soriano and technical director Begiristain have the Barcelona vision and when they were not able to sign their number one candidate, Guardiola, they moved on to Pellegrini, who is an excellent second best. Believe it or not, but I'm convinced City's days of buying players just for the sake of buying players are over. No more striker after striker with salaries that go way beyond of what is acceptable in times of economic crisis.
.... looking forward to Sunderland vs Chelsea next season.... DiCanio vs Mourinho.
World Cup Qualification. Montenegro lose their home match against Ukraine! They had only conceded 3 goals up until that game, but all of a sudden four against one opponent... matchfixing? lol England's group is tight, but you guys won't miss out on another tournament. I mean, c'mon, it's England we're talking about here! Italy draw 0-0 away at Czech Republic with Balotelli getting sent off after picking up two yellow cards. Belgium defeated Serbia 2-1, are now in the lead, and will most likely qualify for the World Cup. Their first major tournament since 2002... with a very talented young team. Courtois, Kompany, Vertonghen, Dembele, Fellaini, Witsel, Hazard, Chadli, Mirallas, Lukaku, Benteke, DeBruyne. Interesting to see so many Belgians in the Premier League. And finally, Sweden screwed up their last chance to qualify. They lose 2-1 to Austria in a group in which Germany are in the lead with 16 points. Austria and Ireland 2nd & 3rd with both 11 points. Sweden have gathered only 8 points so far. No Zlatan in Brazil.
Holland 3-0 Indonesia... FYI... Holland's "C" squad. Most of the regulars are in Israel right now. About Wesley Sneijder.... he and Mourinho have been really close after their success in Italy and I heard some rumour saying he's gonna try to persuade Sneijder to come to Chelsea?!
To come back to Everton once more, don't they have the same problem as Spurs? High expections, but held back by a stadium that's simply not big enough to really get the budget up. Moyes and his staff kept surprising me throughout the past few years about how well they were doing. Liverpool have more potential, yet Everton is finishing above the Reds. The Toffees are aiming at European Football every season, but if that's realistic..?
Manchester City. Fernandinho. Shakhtar Donetsk. €40 million. And honestly.... I think that's a great transfer! Eduardo, Luiz Adriano, Ilsinho and Fernandinho are four class players and have been very successful with Shakhtar. (Yes, I even watch Ukrainian Football, lol.) Mark the following words, as of now, City will be doing things differently. Chief executive Soriano and technical director Begiristain have the Barcelona vision and when they were not able to sign their number one candidate, Guardiola, they moved on to Pellegrini, who is an excellent second best. Believe it or not, but I'm convinced City's days of buying players just for the sake of buying players are over. No more striker after striker with salaries that go way beyond of what is acceptable in times of economic crisis.
.... looking forward to Sunderland vs Chelsea next season.... DiCanio vs Mourinho.
World Cup Qualification. Montenegro lose their home match against Ukraine! They had only conceded 3 goals up until that game, but all of a sudden four against one opponent... matchfixing? lol England's group is tight, but you guys won't miss out on another tournament. I mean, c'mon, it's England we're talking about here! Italy draw 0-0 away at Czech Republic with Balotelli getting sent off after picking up two yellow cards. Belgium defeated Serbia 2-1, are now in the lead, and will most likely qualify for the World Cup. Their first major tournament since 2002... with a very talented young team. Courtois, Kompany, Vertonghen, Dembele, Fellaini, Witsel, Hazard, Chadli, Mirallas, Lukaku, Benteke, DeBruyne. Interesting to see so many Belgians in the Premier League. And finally, Sweden screwed up their last chance to qualify. They lose 2-1 to Austria in a group in which Germany are in the lead with 16 points. Austria and Ireland 2nd & 3rd with both 11 points. Sweden have gathered only 8 points so far. No Zlatan in Brazil.
Holland 3-0 Indonesia... FYI... Holland's "C" squad. Most of the regulars are in Israel right now. About Wesley Sneijder.... he and Mourinho have been really close after their success in Italy and I heard some rumour saying he's gonna try to persuade Sneijder to come to Chelsea?!
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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TheBoy
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It's nice to share my opinions and thoughts on here with people like yourself who appreciate and are as enthusiastic about football as I am :) A pornstar forum isn't the most likely of places to talk football lol, but hey it's good to have other common interests too haha ;)
Everton and Spurs I suppose are similar in a lot of ways, in that we've progressed sensibly and within our means over the past 10 years or so, to where we are challenging the bigger clubs on a consistent basis and even getting ahead of them occasionally. The stadium factor is certainly massive for both clubs, but perhaps more so for Spurs at this very moment. The biggest thing for Everton is to either sell the club or at least find someone with a sackful of money to invest in them. At Spurs, we've quite possibly been the most astute financially run club around Europe, making huge profits on certain players (Carrick brought for £2.5m, sold for £18; Berbatov brought for £10m, sold for £32m; Modric brought for £16m, sold for £35m+) and Daniel Levy working some incredible magic on lower profile sales such as Crouch sold for £10m. This level of financial acumen has allowed us to splash out a few times on players like Modric, Dembele and er... David Bentley... whilst still staying within a very tight wage structure. Whereas Everton have pretty much always had to sell to get someone else in on a similar value. Although I do believe they pay higher average wages than Spurs. But then again, most clubs do that lol :-p
I have to admit that I haven't seen or heard much of Fernandinho, so I will take your word for it that he's gonna be great for City! Russian football seems have become a hotbed (although not literally what with the Russian weather!) for Brazilian talent recently. I'm sure most of them go over there with the intention of catching the eyes of Europe's bigger boys, but of course they then require incredibly high transfer fees to get them out.
I think to a certain extent, City started to be less frivolous last season with their transfers: Scott Sinclair, Jack Rodwell and Javi Garcia were not exactly stand out deals. Whether that was down to their reluctance to back Mancini or not could be part of it though. But I would think the main reason is they have been stung so many times by having players who are nigh on impossible to shift due to giving them crazy wages. Adebayor had to have his wages subsidised by City whilst he has been with us and even then, they pretty much had to give him away. Roque Santa Cruz, Tevez during his troublesome spell, Jo, Bellamy, Wayne Bridge... it's a pretty long list! So you're right and I would tend to agree that they won't go on any mass spending sprees for a while. Of course, if they don't get success again this season, things could very quickly change lol.
Staying on finances and going to Mourinho. The landscape has changed so much since he left Chelsea and he's no longer going to the club that can outbid everyone else. City, PSG, Monaco, the Russian clubs all have equal or more money to throw around so it will be interesting to see who he tries to sign. Because the one thing you can almost guarantee with Jose, is that he will want to make 2-3 big money signings right away. Hulk has had a mention but nothing seems to have gathered any pace so far.
I'm trying to recall if Mourinho had any events with Pellegrini in La Liga? When Jose was here first time around, he tended to 'pick on' who he perceived to be the weakest nearest rival, mainly Wenger and Benitez. He and Fergie seemed to have a mutual respect for one another, or maybe they just knew it was pointless getting into the mind games :-p But this season, Man City will be possibly be his closest rival and he may see Pellegrini as the target to try and work on what with being new and under a fair amount of pressure from day one? I can see Moyes maybe having one or two words to say too, which will also be interesting to see how he handles the 'mind games'. I think Di Canio may well fall out with just about everyone, maybe even himself lol
Scotland beating Croatia was the biggest surprise result over here in the WC qualification, but the Montenegro v Ukraine result was also up there. I don't know about you, but it feels strange having qualification games being played this late at the end of a season? The players are in holiday mode and it must be difficult for them to get into the right preparation after not being at their clubs for a couple of weeks. You're certainly more confident about England than I am lol. I just can't see us winning the group and then we only need a tough draw in the play offs... We will almost certainly have to beat Ukraine away and Montenegro at home and considering we so far haven't managed to beat either of them, along with playing such dross football it's going to need much better performances :(
Belgium have got the sort of squad that has massive potential to do well. If they can pull it all together as a team, they could well be a genuine candidate for the World Cup and be very exciting to watch along the way. I suppose a lack of experience in actually winning matches may initially hold them back, but with those players, surely it's only a matter time before they click?
The Holland result just shows up England even more, quite frankly. England should have taken a bunch of newbies to Brazil and some of the young established players should be getting priceless experience playing tournament football in Israel. It's not just that either, but the fact they get to know one another as a team and hopefully progress together into the full national team already having a connection with one another. But no, we know best don't we!? Much better to have Oxlaide-Chamberlain who has started just two games in the last 3 months (both England games, comically) playing in a post season friendly in Brazil than building a team together in Israel...
England are summed up perfectly by Raymond Verheijen on Twitter last night: Impressive 3-1 win tonight by Norway Under 21 against Jurassic Park Under 21. The next generation of dinosaurs does not look promising.
Maybe I will make the England team the subject of my next essay lol
Everton and Spurs I suppose are similar in a lot of ways, in that we've progressed sensibly and within our means over the past 10 years or so, to where we are challenging the bigger clubs on a consistent basis and even getting ahead of them occasionally. The stadium factor is certainly massive for both clubs, but perhaps more so for Spurs at this very moment. The biggest thing for Everton is to either sell the club or at least find someone with a sackful of money to invest in them. At Spurs, we've quite possibly been the most astute financially run club around Europe, making huge profits on certain players (Carrick brought for £2.5m, sold for £18; Berbatov brought for £10m, sold for £32m; Modric brought for £16m, sold for £35m+) and Daniel Levy working some incredible magic on lower profile sales such as Crouch sold for £10m. This level of financial acumen has allowed us to splash out a few times on players like Modric, Dembele and er... David Bentley... whilst still staying within a very tight wage structure. Whereas Everton have pretty much always had to sell to get someone else in on a similar value. Although I do believe they pay higher average wages than Spurs. But then again, most clubs do that lol :-p
I have to admit that I haven't seen or heard much of Fernandinho, so I will take your word for it that he's gonna be great for City! Russian football seems have become a hotbed (although not literally what with the Russian weather!) for Brazilian talent recently. I'm sure most of them go over there with the intention of catching the eyes of Europe's bigger boys, but of course they then require incredibly high transfer fees to get them out.
I think to a certain extent, City started to be less frivolous last season with their transfers: Scott Sinclair, Jack Rodwell and Javi Garcia were not exactly stand out deals. Whether that was down to their reluctance to back Mancini or not could be part of it though. But I would think the main reason is they have been stung so many times by having players who are nigh on impossible to shift due to giving them crazy wages. Adebayor had to have his wages subsidised by City whilst he has been with us and even then, they pretty much had to give him away. Roque Santa Cruz, Tevez during his troublesome spell, Jo, Bellamy, Wayne Bridge... it's a pretty long list! So you're right and I would tend to agree that they won't go on any mass spending sprees for a while. Of course, if they don't get success again this season, things could very quickly change lol.
Staying on finances and going to Mourinho. The landscape has changed so much since he left Chelsea and he's no longer going to the club that can outbid everyone else. City, PSG, Monaco, the Russian clubs all have equal or more money to throw around so it will be interesting to see who he tries to sign. Because the one thing you can almost guarantee with Jose, is that he will want to make 2-3 big money signings right away. Hulk has had a mention but nothing seems to have gathered any pace so far.
I'm trying to recall if Mourinho had any events with Pellegrini in La Liga? When Jose was here first time around, he tended to 'pick on' who he perceived to be the weakest nearest rival, mainly Wenger and Benitez. He and Fergie seemed to have a mutual respect for one another, or maybe they just knew it was pointless getting into the mind games :-p But this season, Man City will be possibly be his closest rival and he may see Pellegrini as the target to try and work on what with being new and under a fair amount of pressure from day one? I can see Moyes maybe having one or two words to say too, which will also be interesting to see how he handles the 'mind games'. I think Di Canio may well fall out with just about everyone, maybe even himself lol
Scotland beating Croatia was the biggest surprise result over here in the WC qualification, but the Montenegro v Ukraine result was also up there. I don't know about you, but it feels strange having qualification games being played this late at the end of a season? The players are in holiday mode and it must be difficult for them to get into the right preparation after not being at their clubs for a couple of weeks. You're certainly more confident about England than I am lol. I just can't see us winning the group and then we only need a tough draw in the play offs... We will almost certainly have to beat Ukraine away and Montenegro at home and considering we so far haven't managed to beat either of them, along with playing such dross football it's going to need much better performances :(
Belgium have got the sort of squad that has massive potential to do well. If they can pull it all together as a team, they could well be a genuine candidate for the World Cup and be very exciting to watch along the way. I suppose a lack of experience in actually winning matches may initially hold them back, but with those players, surely it's only a matter time before they click?
The Holland result just shows up England even more, quite frankly. England should have taken a bunch of newbies to Brazil and some of the young established players should be getting priceless experience playing tournament football in Israel. It's not just that either, but the fact they get to know one another as a team and hopefully progress together into the full national team already having a connection with one another. But no, we know best don't we!? Much better to have Oxlaide-Chamberlain who has started just two games in the last 3 months (both England games, comically) playing in a post season friendly in Brazil than building a team together in Israel...
England are summed up perfectly by Raymond Verheijen on Twitter last night: Impressive 3-1 win tonight by Norway Under 21 against Jurassic Park Under 21. The next generation of dinosaurs does not look promising.
Maybe I will make the England team the subject of my next essay lol
Yes, good looking financial numbers, but as I expected, their transfer balance sheet ain't looking so good; Tottenham Hotspur. On the other side we have the two clubs from Portugal, which both show much better statistics ( Benfica & Porto). If you wanna have a good laugh, though.... fill in Barcelona, or even worse, Real Madrid. And, keep in mind that both clubs are being subsidized by one of Spain's most important banks which is struggling due to the economic crisis I referred to in my other post. Really, clubs should stop spending so much money... how long can they keep doing this??TheBoy wrote:At Spurs, we've quite possibly been the most astute financially run club around Europe, making huge profits on certain players (Carrick brought for £2.5m, sold for £18; Berbatov brought for £10m, sold for £32m; Modric brought for £16m, sold for £35m+) and Daniel Levy working some incredible magic on lower profile sales such as Crouch sold for £10m.
I did some more Monaco digging last weekend and noticed another investment group is active in Football. Apparently Falcao didn't have anything to say about where he wanted to play next season. He's owned by some company called Doyen Sports. The situation is kinda like Tevez/Mascherano, owned by MSI, and who were dropped in England to play for West Ham United. Anyway, I'll quote something. "The in Malta registered Doyen Sports Investments Group has started its activity by funding the transfer of Radamel Falcao from Porto to Atletico Madrid, in August 2011, spending £11.5m which was almost 36% of the total amount needed for the buyout clause (transfer fee) of Falcao (£32m). The agreement provided that Atletico Madrid will be paying the amount borrowed from Doyen Sports in 4 installments and for every installment that would not be paid, Doyen Sports Investments would take one third of the economic rights of Falcao". The main man of the sports/entertainment department of that company is Jorge Mendes; one of world's most influential agents, taking care of players like Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez, Ricardo Carvalho, whom ALL went to AS Moneyco around the same time.... FYI, they mostly work with Benfica, Porto and Sporting Lisbon...
I don't recall Mourinho having issues with Pellegrini, who is a very decent man, but yeah, Mourinho will continue provoking other managers.
Qualification- as well as friendly matches between national teams should indeed not be played in June, nor in August for that matter. I know the majority of the Football world shares our view on this, but it's that goddamn Sepp Blatter who seems to be ignoring any given advice, acting as if his nose is bleeding. Everybody feels this way about Blatter, yet he still got re-elected in 2011, but I won't go into the whole scandal behind that election, or how it was possible that Russia and Qatar were given the organization of a tournament as big as the World Cup. Shady business...
I have to agree that I don't see England winning the qualification group, but finishing second and a good draw in the play-offs could well deliver you guys your ticket to Rio; stay positive! lol You mentioned Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain... what about Tom Cleverley, Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley, Phil Jones, Nick Powell? As for us, our Under 21 team blew Russia away (5-1), but Spain are really good too. Also, I think Italy shouldn't be underestimated, either. We're one of the favorites to win the title, but it's gonna be tough.
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TheBoy
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Yeah those figures don't look so great, but I would argue it isn't as black and white as that. What I was getting at, is that our squad has been built very astutely with 99% players brought who have a high potential sell on value. I can only think of Parker (who was the current player of the year) and Dempsey who have been purchased for a fee who we probably won't get at least our initial investment back on. Although with Daniel Levy in charge, that can't be ruled out entirely lol! Remember this is the man who managed to sell a brutally overweight Mido for £6m and make a £1.5m profit!
Over the past 4 seasons we've made a profit of around £10m on player trading (whilst it's all relative, I find this site a bit more accurate for English based transfers), whilst making continued progress. Porto's figures are aided somewhat by the sales of players like Hulk and Falcao for gigantic sums of money (which is obviously brilliant business by them), and so if, god forbid, we sold Bale for an astronomical amount it would near enough wipe out the last 20 years of transfers too.
What I'm trying waaaaay to hard to say ;) is that despite continuing to improve overall and especially in the past 4-5 years, we have been massively sensible financially and have put ourselves in a very safe position with a squad of players built for relatively little money but are worth many times more. We're also in a position to build a new stadium without having to finance it through anything other than club revenue streams and without having to restrict playing staff purchases.
Ok, we may not be THE most financially astutely run club in Europe, but we're damn near up there, lol. Especially amongst those clubs who tend to buy in talent rather than bring through their own, such as Ajax.
The Monaco situation is fascinating, isn't it? You have to wonder how our old friend Michele Platini is feeling about all this happening in French football, after he has taken such great delight in berating the spending and methods of certain English clubs... ;) These 'super agents' such as Mendez, Joorabchian and Pini Zahavi seemingly have so much power, it's frightening really what they can control. I remember when Blackburn Rovers were taken over by Venkys a few years back, they took on an agent to advise them and he promptly persuaded them to sack Sam Allardyce and replace him with his client, Steve Kean along with numerous questionable players and staff all on the agents books. That turned out well, didn't it!
Have you hear any more on the prospect of Monaco being banned from taking part in the new season due to their tax status?
I got the feeling that Pellegrini seems a nice enough chap. I saw a section on Sky Sports News tv a couple of weeks back when one of their reporters accompanied Malaga on post season friendlies (another of the most stupid ideas I think I've ever seen in football!). He pestered and pestered poor Pellegrini on the plane and then in the airport asking him when he would be joining Manchester City, despite him always replying 'I can't make any comments'. In the end, he look exasperated and one must assume he's thinking "what the hell am I coming in to?!) Welcome to British football, Manuel!
Something I had forgotten about but had my memory jogged this week is the number of managers of Premier League teams who used to be assistants to Mourinho: Steve Clarke at West Brom, Brendan Rogers at Liverpool and of AVB at Spurs. I'm led to believe that AVB and Jose had a little falling out after AVB took the Porto job, so I wonder if it will be he who becomes Jose's first target... Lol, it's childish really isn't it! :-p
Now that is interesting to hear you say that about good ol' Sepp! I thought he still had a vaguely decent reputation amongst other nations, but to hear the Dutch can't stand him either is rather pleasing. Too bad he's already caused havoc for the next 10 years by selling, er I mean, honestly awarding a summer world cup to Qatar...
Have you heard any of the fallout from England's dire performance in Israel? Stuart Pearce has blamed the FA for not allowing him to pick from all available players, whilst our genius chairman at the FA has declared 10 minutes in a friendly against Brazil "much more important" than playing in the udner 21 tournament!!
Can you honestly believe that? Some of Norway's players even played in both the friendlies and in Israel, but apparently we're much too good for that... Oxlaide Chamberlain has played the equivalent minutes this season to 11.8 games. Jack Rodwell (who got the 10 minutes against Brazil) had played even less, so tiredness most certainly wasn't an issue.
It's just a crazy, crazy situation and everyone can see the problem except the weasels in the FA. One final thing before I jump down off my soapbox about Stuart Pearce: He's said that for the past six years he has been in this situation of not being allowed to pick players who are in the full squad. Now, for me I find it a little disappointing that he wasn't more vocal about this back then even if it meant him resigning. Because the way I see it, is even if the FA bow down to pressure and say that next time things will be different, we've already lost 6 years of tournament experience for our young players who in theory should now be forming the core of the full national team.
It's amazing to see Germany out of the tournament already with the team they have, but up against your very talented Dutch side and the Spanish, one team was always going to be a casualty.
Over the past 4 seasons we've made a profit of around £10m on player trading (whilst it's all relative, I find this site a bit more accurate for English based transfers), whilst making continued progress. Porto's figures are aided somewhat by the sales of players like Hulk and Falcao for gigantic sums of money (which is obviously brilliant business by them), and so if, god forbid, we sold Bale for an astronomical amount it would near enough wipe out the last 20 years of transfers too.
What I'm trying waaaaay to hard to say ;) is that despite continuing to improve overall and especially in the past 4-5 years, we have been massively sensible financially and have put ourselves in a very safe position with a squad of players built for relatively little money but are worth many times more. We're also in a position to build a new stadium without having to finance it through anything other than club revenue streams and without having to restrict playing staff purchases.
Ok, we may not be THE most financially astutely run club in Europe, but we're damn near up there, lol. Especially amongst those clubs who tend to buy in talent rather than bring through their own, such as Ajax.
The Monaco situation is fascinating, isn't it? You have to wonder how our old friend Michele Platini is feeling about all this happening in French football, after he has taken such great delight in berating the spending and methods of certain English clubs... ;) These 'super agents' such as Mendez, Joorabchian and Pini Zahavi seemingly have so much power, it's frightening really what they can control. I remember when Blackburn Rovers were taken over by Venkys a few years back, they took on an agent to advise them and he promptly persuaded them to sack Sam Allardyce and replace him with his client, Steve Kean along with numerous questionable players and staff all on the agents books. That turned out well, didn't it!
Have you hear any more on the prospect of Monaco being banned from taking part in the new season due to their tax status?
I got the feeling that Pellegrini seems a nice enough chap. I saw a section on Sky Sports News tv a couple of weeks back when one of their reporters accompanied Malaga on post season friendlies (another of the most stupid ideas I think I've ever seen in football!). He pestered and pestered poor Pellegrini on the plane and then in the airport asking him when he would be joining Manchester City, despite him always replying 'I can't make any comments'. In the end, he look exasperated and one must assume he's thinking "what the hell am I coming in to?!) Welcome to British football, Manuel!
Something I had forgotten about but had my memory jogged this week is the number of managers of Premier League teams who used to be assistants to Mourinho: Steve Clarke at West Brom, Brendan Rogers at Liverpool and of AVB at Spurs. I'm led to believe that AVB and Jose had a little falling out after AVB took the Porto job, so I wonder if it will be he who becomes Jose's first target... Lol, it's childish really isn't it! :-p
Now that is interesting to hear you say that about good ol' Sepp! I thought he still had a vaguely decent reputation amongst other nations, but to hear the Dutch can't stand him either is rather pleasing. Too bad he's already caused havoc for the next 10 years by selling, er I mean, honestly awarding a summer world cup to Qatar...
Have you heard any of the fallout from England's dire performance in Israel? Stuart Pearce has blamed the FA for not allowing him to pick from all available players, whilst our genius chairman at the FA has declared 10 minutes in a friendly against Brazil "much more important" than playing in the udner 21 tournament!!
Can you honestly believe that? Some of Norway's players even played in both the friendlies and in Israel, but apparently we're much too good for that... Oxlaide Chamberlain has played the equivalent minutes this season to 11.8 games. Jack Rodwell (who got the 10 minutes against Brazil) had played even less, so tiredness most certainly wasn't an issue.It's just a crazy, crazy situation and everyone can see the problem except the weasels in the FA. One final thing before I jump down off my soapbox about Stuart Pearce: He's said that for the past six years he has been in this situation of not being allowed to pick players who are in the full squad. Now, for me I find it a little disappointing that he wasn't more vocal about this back then even if it meant him resigning. Because the way I see it, is even if the FA bow down to pressure and say that next time things will be different, we've already lost 6 years of tournament experience for our young players who in theory should now be forming the core of the full national team.
It's amazing to see Germany out of the tournament already with the team they have, but up against your very talented Dutch side and the Spanish, one team was always going to be a casualty.
Good arguments are vital if someone wants to make a valid point in a discussion; to try to convince others about your view on a subject matter. And YOU, my friend, have convinced me with those last few Spurs paragraphs. That site IS more accurate indeed. This round is yours, lol.
I haven't heard anything new about Monaco's tax issue, but whenever the book called "Monaco - The Best Is Yet To Come" gets a next chapter, I'm sure you or I will mention it here, lol. Another thing to keep in mind is that France could lose its best footballers due to president Hollande’s crazy 75% tax on millionaire earners. The new system will apply to all businesses that pay salaries of more than €1 million (£850.000). This supertax, which is a key electoral promise, has already sent several public figures such as Gerard Depardieu, the actor, running for fiscal cover. 75 percent!
Jose Mourinho has completed the first signing for the new season; €22m for Andre Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen, who buy Son from HSV as a direct replacement. Aston Villa are close to signing midfielder Bacuna from Dutch team Groningen. He is expected to become part of the Villans very soon.
It's still (light)-years away, but seeing as we've both mentioned it.... the World Cup in Qatar. What do you think; will it go through? Or is there a last minute change going to be made, saying some other country is hosting the tournament? We'd be playing Football in a country with temperatures over 40C. Yes, building new stadiums with A/C, but still, I think Qatar and Football are a bad combination.
Well, we got beaten up by Spain in the Under-21 tournament. Both countries had already qualified for the Semi Finals, which made our headcoach decide to start with an enterily new team to give the regulars extra rest. Look at some of Italy's squad: Destro, Borini, Verratti, Insigne, Florenzi. The days of catenaccio are long gone. Italy vs Holland & Spain vs Norway. I have my fingers crossed, but my gut is telling me we are not winning that trophy. Right when the Under-21 Semis are being played, the Confederations Cup kicks off in South America. Shall we look ahead? Group A: Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Italy. Group B: Spain, Uruguay, Tahiti, Nigeria. Just a thought, but I think Tahiti will be the first country to get eliminated.... should I put money on that??
I haven't heard anything new about Monaco's tax issue, but whenever the book called "Monaco - The Best Is Yet To Come" gets a next chapter, I'm sure you or I will mention it here, lol. Another thing to keep in mind is that France could lose its best footballers due to president Hollande’s crazy 75% tax on millionaire earners. The new system will apply to all businesses that pay salaries of more than €1 million (£850.000). This supertax, which is a key electoral promise, has already sent several public figures such as Gerard Depardieu, the actor, running for fiscal cover. 75 percent!
Jose Mourinho has completed the first signing for the new season; €22m for Andre Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen, who buy Son from HSV as a direct replacement. Aston Villa are close to signing midfielder Bacuna from Dutch team Groningen. He is expected to become part of the Villans very soon.
It's still (light)-years away, but seeing as we've both mentioned it.... the World Cup in Qatar. What do you think; will it go through? Or is there a last minute change going to be made, saying some other country is hosting the tournament? We'd be playing Football in a country with temperatures over 40C. Yes, building new stadiums with A/C, but still, I think Qatar and Football are a bad combination.
Well, we got beaten up by Spain in the Under-21 tournament. Both countries had already qualified for the Semi Finals, which made our headcoach decide to start with an enterily new team to give the regulars extra rest. Look at some of Italy's squad: Destro, Borini, Verratti, Insigne, Florenzi. The days of catenaccio are long gone. Italy vs Holland & Spain vs Norway. I have my fingers crossed, but my gut is telling me we are not winning that trophy. Right when the Under-21 Semis are being played, the Confederations Cup kicks off in South America. Shall we look ahead? Group A: Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Italy. Group B: Spain, Uruguay, Tahiti, Nigeria. Just a thought, but I think Tahiti will be the first country to get eliminated.... should I put money on that??
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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TheBoy
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Haha, I'm glad my hours spent pondering exactly what to type wasn't wasted then :-p
Well we have had some EARTH SHATTERING out of the blue news this afternoon: Pellegrini has been named as Manchester City head coach! For some reason, the sports news channel is reporting this as though it's headline news!
75% tax is proper crazy lol. I suppose Monaco (or will they currently be exempt from this?) or PSG may well still cough up even higher sums to make the numbers add back up to a 'liveable wage', but one would imagine most professional footballers in the top league will be earning close to €20,000 p/w, even the distinctly average ones. And that could lead to a huge exodus of talent, actors included ;)
I recall the Schurrle deal being mooted in the press at least month ago when Benitez was still in his interim roll. I wonder if Jose was informed of this or at least asked his opinion of the player back then? It's an amazing situation at clubs like Chelsea when they (Abromovich) feels able to buy players for large sums of money before they even know who the manager is. I remember they did it last year with Marko Marin too. I've heard good things about Son and I know quite a few Tottenham fans were hoping we might be in for him.
I hope Aston Villa continue to improve as I admire the way they are building their club again. I saw an interview with Paul Lambert a few weeks back and he was quite insistent that they would not be buying any experienced players this summer and intended to stick with youth. Is Bacuna in the youth (under 23-ish) category, or has Lambert already gone back on his word?
I think with the Qatar world cup, it may well get to a point where it's simply too late to change it. We both know how Sepp likes to save his own bacon at the expense of, well everything. And so I can't see him ever admitting that awarding Qatar the tournament was a suspect decision to say the least. Platini seems to be the one most likely to succeed Blatter, but he doesn't strike me as the sort of person to go against the old boys club of FIFA either. Maybe by 2022 the whole of Qatar will be encased by a giant Simpsons style glass dome, fully air conditioned and protected from the searing heat and we won't need to worry haha.
I only saw highlights of the Spain v Netherlands game, but I didn't realise you had an entirely new team out. Could be a masterstroke if, as expected you meet again in the final and Spain turn up expecting an easy ride...
Ha, yeah I'm sure the other nations are quaking in their boots at having to face that well known footballing powerhouse, Tahiti!
Well we have had some EARTH SHATTERING out of the blue news this afternoon: Pellegrini has been named as Manchester City head coach! For some reason, the sports news channel is reporting this as though it's headline news!
75% tax is proper crazy lol. I suppose Monaco (or will they currently be exempt from this?) or PSG may well still cough up even higher sums to make the numbers add back up to a 'liveable wage', but one would imagine most professional footballers in the top league will be earning close to €20,000 p/w, even the distinctly average ones. And that could lead to a huge exodus of talent, actors included ;)
I recall the Schurrle deal being mooted in the press at least month ago when Benitez was still in his interim roll. I wonder if Jose was informed of this or at least asked his opinion of the player back then? It's an amazing situation at clubs like Chelsea when they (Abromovich) feels able to buy players for large sums of money before they even know who the manager is. I remember they did it last year with Marko Marin too. I've heard good things about Son and I know quite a few Tottenham fans were hoping we might be in for him.
I hope Aston Villa continue to improve as I admire the way they are building their club again. I saw an interview with Paul Lambert a few weeks back and he was quite insistent that they would not be buying any experienced players this summer and intended to stick with youth. Is Bacuna in the youth (under 23-ish) category, or has Lambert already gone back on his word?
I think with the Qatar world cup, it may well get to a point where it's simply too late to change it. We both know how Sepp likes to save his own bacon at the expense of, well everything. And so I can't see him ever admitting that awarding Qatar the tournament was a suspect decision to say the least. Platini seems to be the one most likely to succeed Blatter, but he doesn't strike me as the sort of person to go against the old boys club of FIFA either. Maybe by 2022 the whole of Qatar will be encased by a giant Simpsons style glass dome, fully air conditioned and protected from the searing heat and we won't need to worry haha.
I only saw highlights of the Spain v Netherlands game, but I didn't realise you had an entirely new team out. Could be a masterstroke if, as expected you meet again in the final and Spain turn up expecting an easy ride...
Ha, yeah I'm sure the other nations are quaking in their boots at having to face that well known footballing powerhouse, Tahiti!
Can I curse for a second? F*ck. F*ck. F*ck.
Yes, we lost. Italy were stronger than us, or not? From my point of view, both teams were pretty equal. We had a few chances, Italy had a few chances, but as time went by, you could see all the players getting nervous, not wanting to make a crucial mistake, which led to a boring second half. Defender De Vrij had to be substituted cause of an injury and his replacement, Van Der Hoorn (I know, we have tough names here, lol), ended up being the one making that crucial mistake. Insigne passed the ball, Borini made a smart move in the middle of the box, got to the ball before Van Der Hoorn could, and the Italian striker from Liverpool scored the only goal of the match. We deserved more! Not sure if you've seen the match, but Insigne, Donati, Verratti and Florenzi were annoying the hell out of me. Diving. Constantly asking for a yellow card whenever a Dutch player made a foul. Ugh... I guess it's my turn now to step off the soapbox, lol.
I managed to catch the last 20 minutes of Brazil vs Japan. I'm impressed by the Brazilians, even though those minutes weren't as exciting as the first 70 were, at least that's what I've been told... curious to see Spain's first match against Uruguay tonight (11pm GMT). The Champion of South America against the World/European Champion. There will come a time when Spain's hegemony is going to end and I'm expecting it to be on June 30th. Brazil have won the last two editions of the Confederations Cup, it's now being held in their "backyard" and the squad is insanely talented. Neymar! Neymar! Did you see his girlfriend when they recently visited Camp Nou.... she looks HOT! Don't count Italy, Mexico and Uruguay out, either... line up looks very promising.
Tahiti 0-4 Nigeria
Spain 8-0 Tahiti
Uruguay 6-0 Tahiti
Let's see, what else. Oh, Bacuna is only 21 years old, so Lambert hasn't gone back on his word, yet. And as far I know Monaco is paying 0% tax.
Most Football players are on vacation right now. Chilling on beaches, next to the most beautiful and hottest women.... any more transfer news?
Yes, we lost. Italy were stronger than us, or not? From my point of view, both teams were pretty equal. We had a few chances, Italy had a few chances, but as time went by, you could see all the players getting nervous, not wanting to make a crucial mistake, which led to a boring second half. Defender De Vrij had to be substituted cause of an injury and his replacement, Van Der Hoorn (I know, we have tough names here, lol), ended up being the one making that crucial mistake. Insigne passed the ball, Borini made a smart move in the middle of the box, got to the ball before Van Der Hoorn could, and the Italian striker from Liverpool scored the only goal of the match. We deserved more! Not sure if you've seen the match, but Insigne, Donati, Verratti and Florenzi were annoying the hell out of me. Diving. Constantly asking for a yellow card whenever a Dutch player made a foul. Ugh... I guess it's my turn now to step off the soapbox, lol.
I managed to catch the last 20 minutes of Brazil vs Japan. I'm impressed by the Brazilians, even though those minutes weren't as exciting as the first 70 were, at least that's what I've been told... curious to see Spain's first match against Uruguay tonight (11pm GMT). The Champion of South America against the World/European Champion. There will come a time when Spain's hegemony is going to end and I'm expecting it to be on June 30th. Brazil have won the last two editions of the Confederations Cup, it's now being held in their "backyard" and the squad is insanely talented. Neymar! Neymar! Did you see his girlfriend when they recently visited Camp Nou.... she looks HOT! Don't count Italy, Mexico and Uruguay out, either... line up looks very promising.
Tahiti 0-4 Nigeria
Spain 8-0 Tahiti
Uruguay 6-0 Tahiti
Let's see, what else. Oh, Bacuna is only 21 years old, so Lambert hasn't gone back on his word, yet. And as far I know Monaco is paying 0% tax.
Most Football players are on vacation right now. Chilling on beaches, next to the most beautiful and hottest women.... any more transfer news?
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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WalterB
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Is this where I should step in, GJ? Ok, I'll shut up.Gert-Jan wrote:Can I curse for a second? F*ck. F*ck. F*ck.
Never mind....(Sorry your team lost, tho)
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TheBoy
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I think you are well within your rights to be cursing after that disappointing result, GJ :(
I only caught maybe 20 minutes of the second half, and I got a sense that it was pretty much your guys having all the possession, but Italy proving to be well organised and very difficult to break down whilst hoping to nick a 1-0... I was still mighty surprised when I saw that's exactly what happened though. Still, you must take heart that Dutch youngsters are showing so much promise in being able to control possession and hopefully as they mature they will learn to cut out the mistakes.
I totally agree about players who dive and then have the gall to tell the referee to give out cards. I wish the refs would be more proactive in booking the players waving imaginary cards as they probably only do it once every 20 times you see it happen. It's childish behaviour to go waving cards, not to mention unsporting, so let the officials treat 'em like kids and give out a punishment I say!
Annoyingly, I haven't managed to catch a single minute of the Confederations Cup so far :( I too am interested to see how Spain cope in South America, as I think I'm correct in saying no European nation has won the World Cup on South American soil. Spain are the obvious candidates to be the first, but I'm inclined to agree with you that Spain's dominance may be on the wane. These things come in cycles, and I think it's not often a nation has managed to dominate for more than a couple of tournaments.
Haha, I wonder what is that attracts all these mega hot women to multi-millionaire footballers? It must be for the riveting interesting conversations, dashing good looks and gentlemanly charm... lol
I saw Tahiti managed a goal against Nigeria, which seems to have pleased them immensely. Fair play to them if they are happy with a 'respectable' 6-1 defeat to Nigeria, but it doesn't say much for the competition in my eyes.
The biggest news story over here has been the appointment of Joe Kinnear as director of football at Newcastle. You possibly haven't had much experience of Joe Kinnear in Holland, but if you fancy having a chuckle, have a listen to his Talksport Interview. It features him mispronouncing many players names including Johann Kebab and Hatem ben Affri! He finishes off by proclaiming himself as having much more knowledge and connections to "all these idiots" (the fans and media). Newcastle, who seem to enjoy being known as a circus, have officially stated that Graeme Carr (head scout given much credit for finding all of Newcastle's recent gems) and Alan Pardew will now have to report to Kinnear! You honestly couldn't make this up sometimes! If you're a betting man, I'd suggest Pardew to be the first manager out of a job to be a pretty decent bet ;)
Transfer news has Andy Carroll on the verge of joining West Ham permanently for a fee of £15m! It's crazy on many fronts really as Liverpool are taking a massive £20m loss on him after signing him from Newcastle, and West Ham are surely spending money they don't really have to get him. Not to mention it's laughable a player like him is valued at £15m, or that it's reported he'll be getting £100,000 a week in wages. Quite frankly it's depressing a player of his style is still so sought after in English football.
The Spurs rumour mill is in full swing with a trio of Brazilians all apparently on our radar: Bernard, Paulinho and Leandro Damiao. The rumours suggest that both Bernard and Paulinho have buy out clauses of around £15m, but as we've seen in the past with these so called buy out clauses, the chairman seem to find many ways of pushing up the actual fee not to mention the whole third party ownership mess... So whilst we would love to see those two at Spurs (and would be key players in AVB's favoured formation) I don't think anyone is holding their breath ;) As for Damiao, we've been chasing him for well over two years now so it's hard to think things will end up any differently this time around. Although his value has certainly dropped and you don't seem to hear of any other interested clubs so maybe this time will see it happen.
Other players being mentioned are Higuain potentially coming to Arsenal (I'd love him at Spurs) and Carlos Tevez going to Juventus, ironically instead of Higuain. Oh and the inevitable link of Isco to Manchester City has begun, with £30m being suggested in the press.
The new Premier League fixtures are announced tomorrow too, which is always exciting to see who everyone will get on the first day.
I only caught maybe 20 minutes of the second half, and I got a sense that it was pretty much your guys having all the possession, but Italy proving to be well organised and very difficult to break down whilst hoping to nick a 1-0... I was still mighty surprised when I saw that's exactly what happened though. Still, you must take heart that Dutch youngsters are showing so much promise in being able to control possession and hopefully as they mature they will learn to cut out the mistakes.
I totally agree about players who dive and then have the gall to tell the referee to give out cards. I wish the refs would be more proactive in booking the players waving imaginary cards as they probably only do it once every 20 times you see it happen. It's childish behaviour to go waving cards, not to mention unsporting, so let the officials treat 'em like kids and give out a punishment I say!
Annoyingly, I haven't managed to catch a single minute of the Confederations Cup so far :( I too am interested to see how Spain cope in South America, as I think I'm correct in saying no European nation has won the World Cup on South American soil. Spain are the obvious candidates to be the first, but I'm inclined to agree with you that Spain's dominance may be on the wane. These things come in cycles, and I think it's not often a nation has managed to dominate for more than a couple of tournaments.
Haha, I wonder what is that attracts all these mega hot women to multi-millionaire footballers? It must be for the riveting interesting conversations, dashing good looks and gentlemanly charm... lol
I saw Tahiti managed a goal against Nigeria, which seems to have pleased them immensely. Fair play to them if they are happy with a 'respectable' 6-1 defeat to Nigeria, but it doesn't say much for the competition in my eyes.
The biggest news story over here has been the appointment of Joe Kinnear as director of football at Newcastle. You possibly haven't had much experience of Joe Kinnear in Holland, but if you fancy having a chuckle, have a listen to his Talksport Interview. It features him mispronouncing many players names including Johann Kebab and Hatem ben Affri! He finishes off by proclaiming himself as having much more knowledge and connections to "all these idiots" (the fans and media). Newcastle, who seem to enjoy being known as a circus, have officially stated that Graeme Carr (head scout given much credit for finding all of Newcastle's recent gems) and Alan Pardew will now have to report to Kinnear! You honestly couldn't make this up sometimes! If you're a betting man, I'd suggest Pardew to be the first manager out of a job to be a pretty decent bet ;)
Transfer news has Andy Carroll on the verge of joining West Ham permanently for a fee of £15m! It's crazy on many fronts really as Liverpool are taking a massive £20m loss on him after signing him from Newcastle, and West Ham are surely spending money they don't really have to get him. Not to mention it's laughable a player like him is valued at £15m, or that it's reported he'll be getting £100,000 a week in wages. Quite frankly it's depressing a player of his style is still so sought after in English football.
The Spurs rumour mill is in full swing with a trio of Brazilians all apparently on our radar: Bernard, Paulinho and Leandro Damiao. The rumours suggest that both Bernard and Paulinho have buy out clauses of around £15m, but as we've seen in the past with these so called buy out clauses, the chairman seem to find many ways of pushing up the actual fee not to mention the whole third party ownership mess... So whilst we would love to see those two at Spurs (and would be key players in AVB's favoured formation) I don't think anyone is holding their breath ;) As for Damiao, we've been chasing him for well over two years now so it's hard to think things will end up any differently this time around. Although his value has certainly dropped and you don't seem to hear of any other interested clubs so maybe this time will see it happen.
Other players being mentioned are Higuain potentially coming to Arsenal (I'd love him at Spurs) and Carlos Tevez going to Juventus, ironically instead of Higuain. Oh and the inevitable link of Isco to Manchester City has begun, with £30m being suggested in the press.
The new Premier League fixtures are announced tomorrow too, which is always exciting to see who everyone will get on the first day.
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TheBoy
- Sergeant First Class
- Posts: 645
- Joined: November 23rd, 2010, 10:42 am
- Location: Derbyshire, England
Just to add an update in that *shock* Stuart Pearce has left his post as head coach of the England u21's. Glenn Hoddle (who was also criminally under used for England during his playing days) has put himself forward for the job, but only under the condition that the FA take their heads out of the sand and allow full use of all available players. To which the FA have pretty much already said he's got more chance of being reincarnated as an owl than that happening. So guess what will happen? They will instead go with known 'yes man' Gareth Southgate to take up the roll, despite having diddly squat in the way of qualifications or any kind of skill for coaching young players. But he wont cause any controversy, he will go along with whatever the FA tell him to do until the time comes when he's failed to qualify or suffered yet more humiliating defeats whence the FA will unceremoniously boot him out and seek out the next patsy. 
I'm trying to watch the Brazil v Mexico game tonight, hopefully should be a good match :)
I'm trying to watch the Brazil v Mexico game tonight, hopefully should be a good match :)
.... appointing Southgate?? 
So, we both agree that Spain's dominance will end sooner rather than later. I have only seen the summary of the Under-21 Final between Spain and Italy, but when Iniesta and Xavi retire, Thiago and Isco can easily take over. Spain's next generation is ready to continue this winning streak, while the golden oldies are still dominating. They were superb in Sunday's match against Uruguay; Tiki Taka Football during the first half. It's tough to maintain such level, though, so they lowered the pressure a bit during the second half, which is why Uruguary were able to get one goal in, too. Spain vs Tahiti .... think I'm gonna say 10-0 now, lol.
Cause, let's be honest, TA-HI-TI, what a great addition to the Confederations Cup.... not! Ever since Australia are placed under the supervision of the Asian Football Federation, New-Zealand is the number one "country" of the continent of Oceania. Surprisingly, New-Zealand lost 2-0 to New Caledonia in the OFC Nations Cup, which is the reason we are now screwed and have to watch Tahiti, a team that basically consists of amateurs only. Oh well, at least they can go sightseeing?!
Speaking of Brazil, I watched their match against Mexico last night. And omg, I'm getting more excited about seeing Neymar play for Barcelona each time I see him stand out in a game of the national team. Jo scored 2-0, but Neymar's assist was simply jaw-dropping. So young, yet so popular already. Could he become even better than Messi? And what about this list: Garrincha, Pele, Romario, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Neymar. What if you had to #PickOne? That story about the 3 Brazilians possibly going to Spurs sounds interesting. Is it just a coincedence? Do they have the same agent? Or are they owned by a certain consortium?
I really thought Liverpool were back on track after they had signed Rodgers as their new manager, but they're still where they were last year, imo. I think English journalists can write a whole book about what happend around Andy Carroll past few seasons. Newcastle-Liverpool-West Ham. Huge transfer fees. Big wages. Liverpool didn't have any other chance than selling him to West Ham. They just have to take this loss, cause there's no way in hell they'd ever be selling him with a profit. Let's just hope Reds' technical department has learned from this mistake.
I'll look up the Kinnear interview.... when I click the link it says it's no longer available. Pretty sure it's gonna give me a good laugh.
Opening fixtures Premier League
Arsenal v Aston Villa
Chelsea v Hull
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
Liverpool v Stoke
Man City v Newcastle
Norwich v Everton
Sunderland v Fulham
Swansea v Man Utd
West Brom v Southampton
West Ham v Cardiff
... hope David Moyes is ready ... Swansea, Chelsea, Liverpool. Tottenham Hotspur on the other hand seem to have it easy, away game at Crystal Palace.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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TheBoy
- Sergeant First Class
- Posts: 645
- Joined: November 23rd, 2010, 10:42 am
- Location: Derbyshire, England
Yep the almost certain appointment of Southgate is hardly one to get the nation excited. It beggars belief really how mismanaged and political the FA is in this country. Sadly, I doubt things will be much different when that imbecile dinosaur Bernstein retires later this year. As you probably have gathered by now, the state of English football depresses me greatly. Maybe one day I will tell you my own experience from my younger days and why the current situation makes me even more angry.
Spain v Tahiti tonight... so double figures for Spain if they can be bothered? I always find it curious how FIFA manage to have these rubber band borders to their various groups that allow the likes of Australia to jump confederations. I'm sure there must be some perfectly simple, none money related reason for this lol.
Yeah I also watched the Brazil v Mexico game last night and you're right, Neymar was very impressive. I too am looking forward to seeing him in the Barcelona side, but I do wonder how he will learn to adapt to being at least second in the pecking order behind Messi. He obviously revels in being the main man in the Brazilian side and can get away with holding onto the ball for longer than perhaps his team mates will be happy with in Spain. When he does click with them though, boy, that's going to be some frightening attacking play from Barcelona!
As for Brazil on the whole, I got the feeling they might get picked apart by a more adept opposition. Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland - I would say all of those would destroy the almost none existent Brazilian defence. Attacking wise, they are obviously more than a match for anyone, but I think unless they tighten up defensively the world cup could end up in tears for them.
The rumoured three for Spurs, I don't think they all share the same agent or anything. As far as the rumour mongers are saying, it's a case of AVB and the backroom staff have identified them as players they want. Damiao is a bit different as we're supposed to have some kind relationship with Internacional, which is how we signed Sandro a few years back. However, much like the almost comical link up we have with Real Madrid, a fat lot of good it seems to do us now :-p
I think Liverpool will be more of a force this season, providing they keep hold of Suarez of course. Rodgers had them playing some nice football at times last season, it was just playing against the 'bigger' teams that they couldn't get results against. I believe that until they beat Swansea shortly after they had won the league cup, they hadn't beat a team in the top 10 all season, yet were scoring plenty against those below them. But with a season behind them and one would assume a few new signings they should be much more of a threat to the top 6.
This link should be good for the Joe Kinnear interview if you haven't found it yourself yet. Also, check out this article on the interview as it debunks almost all of his outlandish claims about the players he signed, etc whilst also questions why he couldn't simply be happy with his actually pretty impressive achievements.
Manchester United have got a really tough start to the season with Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City all in the first five fixtures! It could be that David Moyes is under pressure very early on! Spurs have on paper a much easier start, but it wouldn't be the Spurs way if we took advantage of it lol.
Spain v Tahiti tonight... so double figures for Spain if they can be bothered? I always find it curious how FIFA manage to have these rubber band borders to their various groups that allow the likes of Australia to jump confederations. I'm sure there must be some perfectly simple, none money related reason for this lol.
Yeah I also watched the Brazil v Mexico game last night and you're right, Neymar was very impressive. I too am looking forward to seeing him in the Barcelona side, but I do wonder how he will learn to adapt to being at least second in the pecking order behind Messi. He obviously revels in being the main man in the Brazilian side and can get away with holding onto the ball for longer than perhaps his team mates will be happy with in Spain. When he does click with them though, boy, that's going to be some frightening attacking play from Barcelona!
As for Brazil on the whole, I got the feeling they might get picked apart by a more adept opposition. Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland - I would say all of those would destroy the almost none existent Brazilian defence. Attacking wise, they are obviously more than a match for anyone, but I think unless they tighten up defensively the world cup could end up in tears for them.
The rumoured three for Spurs, I don't think they all share the same agent or anything. As far as the rumour mongers are saying, it's a case of AVB and the backroom staff have identified them as players they want. Damiao is a bit different as we're supposed to have some kind relationship with Internacional, which is how we signed Sandro a few years back. However, much like the almost comical link up we have with Real Madrid, a fat lot of good it seems to do us now :-p
I think Liverpool will be more of a force this season, providing they keep hold of Suarez of course. Rodgers had them playing some nice football at times last season, it was just playing against the 'bigger' teams that they couldn't get results against. I believe that until they beat Swansea shortly after they had won the league cup, they hadn't beat a team in the top 10 all season, yet were scoring plenty against those below them. But with a season behind them and one would assume a few new signings they should be much more of a threat to the top 6.
This link should be good for the Joe Kinnear interview if you haven't found it yourself yet. Also, check out this article on the interview as it debunks almost all of his outlandish claims about the players he signed, etc whilst also questions why he couldn't simply be happy with his actually pretty impressive achievements.
Manchester United have got a really tough start to the season with Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City all in the first five fixtures! It could be that David Moyes is under pressure very early on! Spurs have on paper a much easier start, but it wouldn't be the Spurs way if we took advantage of it lol.
Listened to the interview with Kinnear and read the article.... seems Bernstein ain't the only "imbecile dinosaur", lol. It is unbelievable indeed that Newcastle made him the big man, whom Pardew has to report to now.
Gonzalo Higuain is moving from sunny Spain to rainy England. Arsenal pay around €25 million for the striker and is now Gunners' most expensive deal ever! Plus, reports say he gets a salary wage of €180.000 per week. In some recent published articles, Arsenal's chief executive Gazidis was quoted as saying, that within the next 5 years his club could well be one of the richest in Europe. Apparently, the Emirates Stadium is now paid off, and even Wenger is ready to spend a few millions. More big players going to Arsenal? And, as a Spurs fan, what do you think of this new situation.... can you rationally analyze it or does the rivalry between both clubs cloud your judgment?
Managers are transfering, too. Carlo Ancelotti has left PSG, Laurent Blanc is the man replacing him. I think that's a pretty good choice. He had a fantastic start clinching the Ligue 1 title with Bordeaux, and the problems that occured after he had been appointed as headcoach of the national team were of a matter he could not do much about. They had a few egocentric players (Nasri, Valbuena, Menez) causing a riot during 2012's European Championship. Could Blanc have handled things differently back then? Maybe. But it's always easy to be wise after the event.
Ajax will not sign Adam Maher; too expensive. Norwich City are interested in signing PSV midfielder Ola Toivonen, while PSV also lose their right- AND left winger! Jermain Lens moves to Dynamo Kiev (€9m), Dries Mertens is most likely to go to Napoli. I don't have an indication of the transfer fee yet, but I think it's a pretty big amount again. So, with all this money coming in, PSV are now in pole position to sign Maher. AZ Alkmaar ask around €10 million! Maybe they will be satisfied with €8m or €9m, but if you add certain bonuses, you'll prolly end in the double figures, too. Speaking of which..... 10-0
.... Spain vs Tahiti! C'mon Drew, admit it, you LOVED that match as well, lol. Seriously, how can an organization as big as FIFA allow such amateurs to be one of the eight contestants? Btw, look at all the mouthwatering options Del Bosque has for Spain's midfield: Xavi, Iniesta, Busquests, Carzola, Silva, Javi Martinez, Fabregas, Mata, (Xabi Alonso). And I'm not even mentioning guys like Thiago Alcantara, Sergio Canales, Isco.... sometimes Football ain't fair?
Gonzalo Higuain is moving from sunny Spain to rainy England. Arsenal pay around €25 million for the striker and is now Gunners' most expensive deal ever! Plus, reports say he gets a salary wage of €180.000 per week. In some recent published articles, Arsenal's chief executive Gazidis was quoted as saying, that within the next 5 years his club could well be one of the richest in Europe. Apparently, the Emirates Stadium is now paid off, and even Wenger is ready to spend a few millions. More big players going to Arsenal? And, as a Spurs fan, what do you think of this new situation.... can you rationally analyze it or does the rivalry between both clubs cloud your judgment?
Managers are transfering, too. Carlo Ancelotti has left PSG, Laurent Blanc is the man replacing him. I think that's a pretty good choice. He had a fantastic start clinching the Ligue 1 title with Bordeaux, and the problems that occured after he had been appointed as headcoach of the national team were of a matter he could not do much about. They had a few egocentric players (Nasri, Valbuena, Menez) causing a riot during 2012's European Championship. Could Blanc have handled things differently back then? Maybe. But it's always easy to be wise after the event.
Ajax will not sign Adam Maher; too expensive. Norwich City are interested in signing PSV midfielder Ola Toivonen, while PSV also lose their right- AND left winger! Jermain Lens moves to Dynamo Kiev (€9m), Dries Mertens is most likely to go to Napoli. I don't have an indication of the transfer fee yet, but I think it's a pretty big amount again. So, with all this money coming in, PSV are now in pole position to sign Maher. AZ Alkmaar ask around €10 million! Maybe they will be satisfied with €8m or €9m, but if you add certain bonuses, you'll prolly end in the double figures, too. Speaking of which..... 10-0
.... Spain vs Tahiti! C'mon Drew, admit it, you LOVED that match as well, lol. Seriously, how can an organization as big as FIFA allow such amateurs to be one of the eight contestants? Btw, look at all the mouthwatering options Del Bosque has for Spain's midfield: Xavi, Iniesta, Busquests, Carzola, Silva, Javi Martinez, Fabregas, Mata, (Xabi Alonso). And I'm not even mentioning guys like Thiago Alcantara, Sergio Canales, Isco.... sometimes Football ain't fair?
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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