Cristobal Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 A little more than one word? It was a yes/no question. How would they fare in the Championship? Probably on the lower end of mid-table. or League One? Fighting for promotion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/21/report-manchester-united-set-to-sign-mats-hummels-in-28-million-deal/?utm_source=FB%20-%20NBC%20Sports%20-%20NBC%20Sports%20Soccer&utm_network=facebook&utm_post=2871806&utm_tags= Hummels coming to United. That's one way to fix the back line problems. Would love to believe that, but that price seems too good to be true. Well, Kroos went to Madrid for roughly 40 million dollars. I think, in 2010 Özil to Real was about the same prize as Hummels would cost ManU. German players are comparably cheap. They probably don´t earn as much as you would think, either. The biggest deals we had were a player was transferred from a Bundesliga team to another were Götze going from Dortmund to Bayern and Gomez transfer from Stuttgart to Bayern, I believe. Bayern only in recent years started blowing out the cash, other teams never reached their spheres in the Bundesliga. In the BPL huge transfers of often quite unproven players seem weird, therefore the sums your teams pay for Bundesliga players seem lower than you´d expect. Another thing is that Bundesliga players, especially the defenders, aren´t as flashy. If you buy star players with flair, you´ll probably get your fanbase to buy a bazillion t shirts. Had ManU bought Mario Götze, they could have shown repeats of the goal in the finals over and over and a lot of people would have lined up to get merchandise of the kid. Hummels is immense and a tank, kind of a fast, better looking Mertesacker, but I don´t think he will have the same marketable appeal as a creative midfielder or a striker. A BPL club of the magnitude of United will offer less for a guy like Hummels. My theory at least. Apart from that, the website quotes a Spanish magazine. Spanish sports media often runs pretty rampant when the transfer window opens. I would take a wait-and-see approach. If they do take Hummels however, this would be a huge blow to Dortmund and their seemingly never ending rebuilding process. Big losses over the last years. EDIT: Thoughts regarding what was mentioned earlier, that English players get villified when they retire from their international career. Maybe the performances of the Three Lions are a factor in that. With the BPL playing on European top level for most of the time, some football fans in England might feel that players don´t give it their all and stepping down to concentrate on the club level might be the ultimate proof to some I could imagine. To me this doesn´t make sense, though. Gerrard is a good and contemporary example. That guy is quite old. The BPL is very physical and he has a - probably final - chance to play Champion´s League. Plus he would obstruct the path for some young players who should take over slowly but surely. I think stepping down at a certain point is the right choice. How long has Gerrard been an international? 13 to 14 years? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 A novelization of Bill Shankly. http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/review-red-or-dead-by-david-peace/2014/07/21/ae0b5e9c-0c45-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirFozzie Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Man City U-21 walk off after one of their players is racially abused. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28434345 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReiseReise Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Man City U-21 walk off after one of their players is racially abused. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28434345 I hate this stupid shit. Racial abuse has no point in football. If you want to provoke or unsettle a guy like that young lad, make fun of his crazy hairdo. I like the reaction, though. The problem is, can this stuff be proven? If it actually was racial abuse by a player and it can be proven, the player needs to be punished in a way that shows stuff like that is not to be tolerated. The other examples, while I support the reactions of teams, coaches and players whole-heartedly, are more difficult to handle. Of course you can ban the fans immediat- and permanently, but it might just aswell backfire and lead to fans disguising themselves doing that stupid shit or just going undercover in a great anonymous mass. I´m really happy stuff has changed in Germany in that regard. It was up until the mid-nineties black players were greeted with monkey noises from opposing fans. This has changed drastically since the Bundesliga got progressively more popular. The last player who was constantly experiencing the crowd sounding like a bunch of apes was Oliver Kahn, and I definetly can´t see a racial background there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 (***) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 So, uh, NYCFC have apparently put in a bid for Torres. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raziel Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 So he can miss sitters on two continents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swift Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Just saw that RZ Pellets WAC drew 1-1 with Chelsea. Does this mean that RZ Pellets WAC could hold their own in the English Premier League? Should I be putting money on them for Champion's League glory in a few years, once they actually qualify? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dewar Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Bet early, bet often, bet HEAVILY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Magnificent 7 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Good luck to Aberdeen, St. Johnstone, and Motherwell tomorrow. Would really like to see them progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Tottenham continues to punish me for being a fan by playing Roberto Soldado I see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beech27 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Neither Sporting nor Man City can be bothered to play their starters - those that started to begin with - for more than a half, which I will use to obscure the fact that we're down 3-1, and our claim on the EPL hardcore championship (24/7 rules, naturally) will have to wait. *kicks can down an empty street* Ahem. 4-1 now. Which is fine. I mean, we didn't want to win anyway. It's a friendly, yeah? Good hosting, letting the visitors score like this. The polite thing to do. The friendly thing, you might say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 I like that Man City's one new wonderkid scored a great goal in like 2 minutes, then the other new wonderkid that's only 17 scores right at the end. Symmetry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Lamps officially unveiled at NYCFC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 In the continuing chapters of "Andy Carrol: Transfers You'll Never Be Able To Explain To Your Children", Carrol is going to be out 4 months with ligament damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Magnificent 7 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Aberdeen through with an away win against Groningen, who finished 7th in the Eredivisie last year. Well done to the Sheep, the SPFL is nowhere near as bad as that table server from Hispania made out. ARMAGEDDON! They'll face Real Sociedad next round. Motherwell, of course, doing what they always do, struggling in a tie they should be doing better in. St. Johnstone match probably going to pens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Magnificent 7 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Saints through 5-4 on penalties against Luzern. Well done to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Magnificent 7 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Motherwell as useless as ever. McCall is such a tit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo Woodbine Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 2 out of 3 going through is more than I would have expected though, so good on them, we need those precious coefficient points! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Magnificent 7 Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Yeah you're right. It's somewhat grating if it weren't so predictable, though, that Motherwell with the easiest of all 3 ties, went out like that. Lasley gave up 2 penalties in the first leg, and McCall doesn't have a clue. Whatever happens in the next round, it's at least looking like some of the clubs are turning a corner and being competitive in Europe. That away result for Aberdeen is nothing to sniff at. I hope them, St. Johnstone, and Dundee United (who should be able to reinvest that Gauld and Robertson money) finish at the top so they can continue to build on it. Saints get Spartak Trnava in the next round. That's a winnable tie. Aberdeen has a difficult road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo Woodbine Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I'm just pleased to see them winning any games in Europe, these clubs have youngish, tactically adaptive managers better suited to modern European football than McCall, who just seems to have no plan B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Magnificent 7 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 And just in case there's someone reading who is not familiar with McCall, at least he gave us this which will be gold 'til the end of time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Drogba to Chelsea...wait, what year is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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