General Football/Soccer Talk

[Phil89]

Yeah, I don't think Sterling or Cech will improve City or Arsenal enough to really challenge Chelsea. Man Utd may be a threat to those two for second place though after all their spending.


Christian Benteke made his Liverpool debut yesterday and scored a great goal. Liverpool really need him to have a great season if we wanna get back into the CL.

[Phil89]

Coutinho

phpBB [video]

Petr Cech had a bit of a nightmare on his Arsenal debut with those two goals.

I know it's only after one game, but it's weird seeing Leicester, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Aston Villa in the top four

[mp3]

7 months ago we lost 6-1 at Stoke... 5-0 at half time...

I will take that 1-0 victory at Stoke any day of the week!

[Phil89]

Yep. I think that win will look better at the end of the season. Stoke are a hard team to play away from home, especially now that they have signed Shaqiri.

Lovren actually looked solid for once, I hope that continues. I wanna see Emre Can start instead of Lallana in the next game as well. He made the team look better when he came on.


Bournemouth at home next shouldn't be too much trouble, but after last season who knows what will happen

[Phil89]

This was brilliant skill by Coutinho and a world class save by Cech.

[mp3]

It's a shame it ended scoreless but on the flip side at least we didn't lose

[Phil89]

Three clean sheets to start the season is encouraging. I think it's important for us to establish a strong defensive structure, especially after the horror shows from last season.

I won't be complaining about any Mourinho-style 1-0 wins we get. Once Benteke and Firmino settle in more (and Sturridge returns) the goals should start coming.


Joe Gomez has been the big surprise so far for me. He is only 18, but you can tell he is going to be a really good player. He's not only doing well in his less-favoured position at left back, but he is also helping Lovren play better by not letting him get isolated and make stupid mistakes.




Oh and the Balotelli experiment is over. £16 million to buy him and twelve months later we just loan him back to AC Milan (with them only paying 50% wages)

[Phil89]

With the signings they made West Ham really looks serious in wanting to win Europa League, since winning it now guarantees a Champions League spot for next season.

West Ham are having a great start to the season with wins away at Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City already. Payet looks like a brilliant signing.


It's a huge game for Brendan Rodgers tonight. If Liverpool don't beat Norwich at home, then I think the owners may give a certain Mr Klopp a ring tomorrow

[shadowgrin]

Rumours that the LFC ownership will give Rodgers the axe after the Merseyside derby.


So much for Chelsea running away with the league predictions.

Same can be said for City's rampage early on. Tottenham just ruining City's momentum like the Spurs did last season with Chelsea.
Chelsea was playing great attacking football then they lost 5-3 to Tottenham and Chelsea went back to parking the bus football.


Arsenal hates Europe.

[mp3]

I've never being a fan of Rogers style of football, let him go!

[Phil89]

Everything kind of crumbled for him after Suarez left. The goals dried up and his defensive weakness was exposed. His transfer record hurt him as well. He spent nearly £300 million and couldn't deliver a trophy.


Jurgen Klopp is the favourite to replace him

[Phil89]

Klopp expected to sign a three-year contract on Thursday or Friday


In some related news:

[Phil89]

Suddenly I'm feeling a lot more klopptimistic about this season

[Phil89]

I was hoping to wake up and see that Liverpool had gotten a draw at Man City. Things went a bit better

Klopp has really changed the whole mentality of the team since he arrived. They are playing nice football again and defending much better.


Seeing Leicester on top of the league is really weird, especially considering that this time last season they were bottom. They will fall away once Vardy's goals dry up though, I think.

[Phil89]

Messi, Suarez and Neymar are unstoppable right now. They are so great to watch.

Could Barcelona be the first team to have the top 3 in the Ballon d'Or this year? I can't be bothered looking up Ronaldo's stats to see how his season compares to those 3

[Phil89]

Mourinho sacked



11 years ago Claudio Ranieri was fired and replaced by Mourinho at Chelsea. This week he put the final nail in Mourinho's coffin by beating Chelsea 2-1, leaving them just a point above the relegation zone.

Meanwhile Ranieri's Leicester team sit top of the league. One of life's little ironies, I guess


Who replaces "The sacked one"? Someone like Hiddink for the rest of the season before Guardiola comes in next season? Or Tony Pulis to come in and save them from relegation?

[Phil89]

Leicester are amazing. Every week we all expect them to start faltering, but they just don't.

They're 3-0 up at their nearest title rivals and have made it look so easy. It's incredible how their entire team are playing above their supposed abilities and reputations.

The craziest part for me is that they are doing it without any real "star" players. Mahrez is very good and Vardy is in great form (but is 29). The rest of their squad seems to be made of of role players who couldn't make it at "bigger" clubs.

[Phil89]

And they've officially done it now. What an amazing achievement

It has to be the best sporting story of all time. 5000-1 odds before the season and they've actually won it.

[shadowgrin]

Leicester success story wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for Nigel Pearson's son and former players spewing racial slurs to Thai prostitutes during an orgy.

[Phil89]

Liverpool are into the Europa League final

A trophy and CL qualification would be a brilliant way to end what has been a fairly poor season, in the league at least.

It's going to be tough to beat Sevilla though. They're going for 3 in a row and seem to be experts at winning this competition.

[[Q]]

Liverpool are coming to play Chelsea here in the summer. Was considering getting tickets.
Also, they added PSG vs. Leicester

i've already seen Real Madrid, but I'd like to see Ronaldo play one more time

[Phil89]

That should be a good game to go to. I missed out on seeing Liverpool play when they came to Melbourne a few years ago. It sucked because there were 95,000 people there and it looked like a brilliant atmosphere.

Both teams might have big name players missing though because of the European Championships and Copa America in June.

[Phil89]

And Bayern Munich start the transfer window with a bang.

They've signed Mats Hummels from Dortmund for €35 million. Feel sorry for Dortmund losing another one of their best players to Bayern.

Bayern also signed 18 year old Renato Sanches from Benfica for an initial €35 million, with €45 million in add-ons. So he may eventually cost them €80 million. That is more than Real Madrid paid for peak level Zidane back in the day

Sanches does have the Pogba level hype though. He will be a beast of a player.

[SoF'nAwesome]

No love for the Embappe era, Phil? Thread fell off

[Phil89]

No love for the Embappe era, Phil? Thread fell off

I liked him, until he pulled a Durant and joined PSG.

Funnily enough Renato Sanches flopped at Bayern and is now on loan at Swansea