Jiji Posted June 8, 2015 Author Posted June 8, 2015 Do you think he'd get much playing time? Rakitic, Iniesta, and Biscuits have that shit on lockdown, don't they? And they have Sergi Roberto for the deep lying role, too.
ReiseReise Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 Really hard to call, in his current form, he wouldn´t play any role I´d think. Then again, just a few years ago when he was at Schalke, Rakitic was considered a player to never quite make it to his full potential. Now he is one of the main reasons why Barca were so strong 2014/2015.As said, the 2013 pre-injury Gündogan was a player on the way to greatness. As of now, he is nothing more than a good Bundesliga player, which is probably not enough for any top club in Europe, whether it would be Bayern, Barca, Real or any of the big English squads. If getting back in shape would get him back to pre-injury level; I can definetly see him making it at Barca. Iniesta is over 30 now and I can see Barca slowly but surely looking at a successor. A healthy and on-form Gündogan would be the best bet if they are looking for a German, Lahm is neither top class in that position nor is he leaving Bayern. Schweinsteiger has been injury prone over the last two or three years and his form is therefore too volatile to be an impact player for a club, although he can show up for the occasional big game. Kramer is a young guy who can develope, but not showing as much promise as Gündogan did before the injury. Kroos, who might have been an even better suited candidate, is with Real and probably not going anywhere.Gündogan can be a great dynamic player with good vision and good to great passing, which is fitting the Barca bill pretty well. However, I really have no idea if he can make it back to the level he had 2 years ago. This season was really hard to evaluate, because he joined in a rush comeback in the middle of the first half of the season and Borussia Dortmund´s team simply didn´t perform well for at the very least half of the campaign. It was impossible for individual players to pull the whole team out of the slump, you would have needed somebody on Messi´s level to keep them up with their ambitions. And as much potential as I see in Gündogan, he is no second Messi. He may be able to be the same kind and level of player as the three you mentioned, though. Might aswell be a complimentary player to Sergi Roberto, since he can play the deep role aswell as the CAM role. But as I said, only an option when he regains his form.
Chaos Posted June 8, 2015 Posted June 8, 2015 I just noticed that the US MNT is playing in Nashville on 7/3 against Guatemala. I want to go back up and see my buddy that lives there before he moves elsewhere, so I think I am going to try and squeeze this into my "all funds go to the wedding" budget.
Guest Edwin Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 Atléti joins Inter and Roma as clubs interested in signing Chelsea Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado.
Guest Edwin Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 Sorry to spam, Dani Alves signed a 2 year extension with Barcelona with an option for a third year.
Death From Above Posted June 9, 2015 Posted June 9, 2015 Interesting if Chelsea just do a quick turnaround on Cuadrado. He's clearly a really good player, but hey if you can buy a guy for X and sell him for X+more, why not? Chelsea will always get another player.
RIPPA Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 The Guardian did an Oral History of the 1990 US World Cup Team Don't click Mark since you hate oral histories
Guest Edwin Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 RTVE in Spain is reporting Iker is leaving Madrid and De Gea is coming in as his replacement to take his spot as the starting GK. 10 clubs are currently pursuing Iker with Fenerbahçe offering him the best contract, but he's not interested as he prefers moving to a club in the top European leagues.
Death From Above Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 BBC just tweeted out that Swansea have signed Andre Ayew to a four year contract.
Jiji Posted June 10, 2015 Author Posted June 10, 2015 Heck of a signing for them. I don't understand why big clubs weren't after him. Konoplyanka is also on a free and now that he doesn't cost anything Liverpool don't want him.
Dolfan in NYC Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 A player in Norway got sent off for using... whatever the equivalent of faggot is in Norwegian.
SirFozzie Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 Klinsmann haters are frantically looking for recipes to make eating crow palatable as the USA MNT beats Netherlands and Germany in the space of a week.
ReiseReise Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 Good victories for the US, but we have been horrendous in friendlies since 2014. Maybe this will keep enthusiasm for footie in the US alive.
odessasteps Posted June 10, 2015 Posted June 10, 2015 Klinsmann haters are frantically looking for recipes to make eating crow palatable as the USA MNT beats Netherlands and Germany in the space of a week. Germany B team defeats Germany A team
SirFozzie Posted June 13, 2015 Posted June 13, 2015 Not sure whether to post here or in the nincompoops thread: Stay classy, Croatia: http://www.espnfc.us/croatia/story/2489170/croatia-could-face-sanction-for-swastika-on-field-vs-italy
Death From Above Posted June 13, 2015 Posted June 13, 2015 That busted link will no doubt be to the Croatia/Italy game - already being played in an empty building - and someone vandalized the pitch and put a swastika on the field. Honestly I had the game on in the background only half paying attention, and I never saw it. But still... that's... you know, bad.
SirFozzie Posted June 13, 2015 Posted June 13, 2015 Fixed the link. And one of the reasons you didn't see it is because the FIFA broadcasters turned up the green contrast to avoid it being seen (and the game was already behind closed doors due to racist chants)
Death From Above Posted June 15, 2015 Posted June 15, 2015 Weird thing that no one will really care about: Curacao just knocked Cuba out of the very early stages of world cup qualifying. Curacao's manager? Patrick Kluivert. So there's a couple random factoids for you.
Fuzzy Dunlop Posted June 15, 2015 Posted June 15, 2015 Today also marked the first time I had ever heard of Curacao.
Dewar Posted June 15, 2015 Posted June 15, 2015 The only reason I have heard of Curacao is because they manage to get a team into the Little League World Series every few years.
Death From Above Posted June 15, 2015 Posted June 15, 2015 They are one of the few Dutch outposts in Sid Meier's Pirates that's why I know about them. 1
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