f13.net

Because let's face it, we might actually have to talk about Leicester winning the whole thing. Which would be  :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill:

Also how does Louisi Van Gaal still have a job.

I am so rooting for Leicester right now. I love that they are sticking a finger in the eye of the clubs like Man U and Man City that have spent more than some country's GDP on building a roster.

As for Van Gaal, it's pretty simple as to why he's still got a job. No one is sure about Giggs' ability to coach yet, half the board doesn't want Mourinho because he's a dick and it would cost them money and reputation to shitcan Van Gaal during the season when they aren't likely to win anything and may struggle to make Europa League for next season. That would have been 2 bad manager decisions in a row. And the whole bring in Mourinho thing makes no sense, especially if you are concerned that Van Gaal plays boring football (he does). Mourinho is just as boring unless he has a spark plug type player that is one of his. United has that kind of player in Mata but Mourinho doesn't know how to use him without handcuffing him. Mourinho's results wouldn't be much better and would be just about as boring. Plus, let's say he wins the title in his 2nd season. You know that the 3rd season he'll implode and destroy dressing room chemistry and they'll have to start all over again. United needs to blow it all up, start again with a young manager and give him time to succeed. They are in almost as bad a shape as Liverpool.

Shut up. Louis van Gaal is amazing.

(https://media.giphy.com/media/a7JOnZXj0ezNC/giphy.gif)

(http://i.imgur.com/0uhk8wO.jpg)

Liverpool. Lucas taking 2nd penalty. UGGGGGHHHHHH.


... the fuck?

I think LVG has just won over a lot of fans with that performance.

Would love to see Leicester lift the trophy, brings me back to the post Liverpool domination days, when anybody could win the title.

It doesn't hurt that Van Gaal did his flop during a game in which United actually played better than I've seen them in quite a while. This is not the same team that played seesaw back and forth square passes for 90 minutes and lose 2-1 or draw 0-0. They were direct and aggressive. Plus they had an 18-year old striker who looks like he has a better map to goal than anyone that's been playing in that position all year. If Van Gaal had done his act while they were losing 3-0 to Arsenal, I don't think United fans would have looked on it too kindly.

You're spot on there, I also watched the two games during the week and I was impressed by how we dominated and looked dangerous at the same time. Long time since we saw United team do that, even against inferior opposition. Seems the injuries have actually had a positive effect on the team by removing Fellaini and Rooney from any equation, also Carrick extracted from midfield helps. Herrera is sheer class on his day, twice the player Carrick ever was.

Carrick was the only reason Fergie got his last few league wins. Herrera has yet to do anything like that.

 :awesome_for_real:

Yes he was literally the only reason Fergie one his last few titles, Ronaldo, Rooney, Van Persie, Scholes, Giggs, Van Der Sar etc. were just pleased as punch that the most vital cog in the Man United title winning machine "Michael pass the ball sideways Carrick" was there.

Herrera might have won a few titles with Ferguson as manager eh. But nice attempt at a fallacy anyway.

I'll admit to exaggerating on regards to last 'few', but Carrick was the most significant player in the last one (12-13). When he was out injured the club had no midfield, and the results reflected this. Of the other players you mentioned only Van Persie can be said to have also significantly contributed to that win. The rest were either retired, left the club, or injured.

That is true,  his distribution and ability to dictate the tempo are easily overlooked, but only effective if youre the dominating team,  which we were most of the time. I have always had issues with Carricks lack of killer instinct and the fact he never gave the back four enough protection,  especially in the dying moments of games.

You got to acknowledge RVPs 26 goals that season too,  they were pretty significant also.

Wow tonight,  how about all the top teams dropping points, great season for the unexpected.  

I am loving how crazy this season is.

I just hope it goes right down to the last day, still so far to go!

Oh Spurs, doing oh so Spursy things.


From the other end of the table, fuck you Sunderland if you manage to somehow limp out of the bottom 3 for another season. You are fucking terrible.

Newcastle Appoints Rafa Because Why Not (http://www.espnfc.co.uk/newcastle-united/story/2826934/newcastle-appoint-rafa-benitez-sack-steve-mcclaren)?

Fuck it, Steve McClaren was an abject failure, let's ring up RAFA!!! That's right, Mike Ashley decides that he wants to take Rafa down with him as the Toon Army death marches into the Championship.

Actually, this isn't a bad move because if there's one thing Rafa can do, it's not lose.  :grin: And there is apparently a clause that can get him out of the contract if he can't keep Newcastle up so he won't be stuck in the Championship unless he wants to. I'm just amazed at how much talent they've brought in (some of it really good like Winaldjum) and how bad that team has played most of the season.

Rafa's first game? LEICESTER. Way to drop him in the deep end.

I tend to be cynical on Benitez because of how he left Liverpool (though much of that could likely be blamed on Tom Hicks, may he burn in sports hell). However, he should never have been hired at Real Madrid, not because he couldn't have brought them success, but because on that team chock full of egomaniacs (ok just Ronaldo and the club president really) in that atmosphere (expecting high flying football all the time, full of offensive superstars who do not defend) with that club president (expecting to just put together an all-star team like this was FIFA and win everything), there was no way he would succeed there. Newcastle? Well, I mean he can't do much worse than they've been since they shitcanned Pardew.

See what happens when you drop Herrera and bring in Carrick (albeit at half time), Carricks talent at being a liability in important games shown again. What was his contribution on the night, setting up a goal for the opposition and nothing else.

Liverpool were good on the night but their performace was eclipsed by shitty officials and United being utter shit again. Penalty was about as soft as you'll see, first contact was outside the box anyway. Second goal offside in the build up, no doubt Liverpool deserved to win, but fuck me not like they needed any favours.

Jesus fucking christ watching Fellaini reach for the ball is like watching the earth turn from a space station, he's like a fucking black hole time appears to slow down around him and his elbows just suck everyones faces in. David Moyes needs to get a job quick so he can take him off our hands. I'm livid, mainly at how bad the situation is at United. I look at Klopp and have manager envy.

I always thought the Fellaini buy was a good idea - until I saw how badly he's been used at United. Fuck, he owes his career to David Moyes throwing him up as a second striker/target man type that just gets in the final third and attracts the ball to his head (and defender's faces to his elbows) and even Moyes didn't know how to use him at United. Van Gaal is even worse because at least Moyes didn't have a religious objection to the long ball. Van Gaal seems to have the same problem Rodgers had at Liverpool, he thinks players are interchangeable. I thought bringing on Carrick was a great idea until I saw that he put him in as a central defender. WHY? His main and only strength is connecting the back line to the midfield in transition and breaking up play. He does none of that when he's trying to defend his 18-yard box badly. Bring Carrick on for Mata, push Fellaini up to the #10/target man role, run the fuck out of Memphis and Martial on the flanks with Rashford in the center. It's not like Mata has ever been used correctly at United either and he made no difference in that game whatsoever.

Normally, when LVG's United suck, it's because they seesaw passes from one flank to the other for 90 minutes and rely on De Gea to keep them at 0-0 until they get a lucky set piece goal. This wasn't even that good. They were fucking horrible in every phase of the game other than having one of the top 3 goalkeepers in the world blocking the fuck out of shots he has no business saving (or having to save for that matter). I didn't think the penalty was that bad a call - yes, it started outside the box but continued well into the box so the ref has the option to call a spot kick on that. The 2nd goal, Henderson was offsides. The refs were really inconsistent all night, calling somethings as fouls when a minute later the same contact doesn't even warrant a second look from the officials. But it isn't like Liverpool really needed their help. I only hope United plays that bad at Old Trafford next week.

Doesn't matter anyway. I think Dortmund wins it all.

Diego Costa decides to  neck Gareth Barry? (http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2016/03/12/costa-the-vampire-chelsea-man-sent-off-appears-to-bite-gareth-barrys-neck/). Oh I hope they throw the book at him, couldn't happen to a better person and team.

Yeah, Costa apparently is trying to dine at the Chez Suarez. If Suarez got 8 games, should Chelsea expect to see Costa back in the Prem this season. I hope not.

Netherlands great Johan Cruyff dies of cancer aged 68 (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35892775)

(http://i.imgur.com/Uj6WOGe.jpg)

Fuck cancer.

So a thing happened in Switzerland (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35981302)


Meet the new boss etc.

I haven't watched much MLS the last few years because my team, the Chicago Fire, have SUCKED IT HARD. But I watched them play NYCFC the other night at Yankee Stadium.

First off, whose idiotic fucking idea was it to play games in Yankee Stadium? It felt like they were playing in a phone booth and the ball bounced weirdly all night. It made for a shitty, shitty, shit game. Too many fouls, no real flow, lots of aimless balls hit 40 yards in the air only to come right back at the other team. Secondly, Chicago is still very very shitty. Please tell me the level of play around the league is a bit better than this because this was fucking horrific.

Even if you get better play, the officiating is so fucking bad that Christ only knows how the game will end (we just know it will prominently involve a shitty call or 4).

SPURSLOL!

Ronald isn't playing against City so this might be their chance against Real Madrid.

And yes indeed lol@spurs.

Despite being a Liverpool fan I am now tense that Leicester, instead of being held up as the most unlikely champions of the modern English game, will somehow contrive to be the most unlikely non-winners.  At home to Martinez's Everton should be three points in the bank with the way the toffees have been playing recently (one win in the league since mid-February) but I keep thinking of Kevin Keegan and Newcastle almost 20 years ago.

They'll win it. The only shame to the story is that the owner is dodgy.

Would be good for a Utd win this weekend though, just to keep both the title race and the top 4 race going down to the wire.

4 points needed in 3 games. Obviously the key to winning a PL title is to have a Schmeichel in goal.

They only need three: one win will do it even if Tottenham win all the rest of their matches.

Yeah, a win this weekend will put them over the line. Best Spurs can do is 78 points with a better goal differential, and Leicester is currently on 76 points. Granted, Man. U. could beat them or at least give them a draw. But yeah a home game against Everton's woeful defense (with Vardy back, mind you) should be an almost certain 3 points, and even Chelsea at Stamford Bridge is winnable.

Seeing Leicester in the Champion's League next year with Man. U. NOT in the CL would be fucking awesome, especially if Liverpool wins Europa League and gets in the CL themselves. Maybe that would be what finally gets Van Gaal fired but frankly, I'm amazed he's still in the job now.

Vardy will be back while I strongly suspect Spurs will have to do without Dele Alli, their 2nd-top scorer, albeit a million miles behind Kane, for the rest of the season.

Van Gaal, it should be said, still has a lower win percentage than Moyes did.  That said, Moyes has the third-best win percentage of any Man Utd manager ever.

I've actually done 360 on Van Gaal, I initially liked how he ousted all the dead weight Nani etc. but then the dire performances and continuing use of Fellaini in a target man role really drove me to jump on the 'LVG out' bandwagon.

Whether by accident or design the introduction of the youth players, especially Rashford, has brought a warm glow over the last few weeks. A lot of managers would have dropped Rashford for a returning senior player or just played an established player out of position. I think even Fergie in his later years stopped trusting in youth players, finally culminating in the loss of Pogba which is actually a major blight on his legacy, if you consider this was all coinciding of his signing of Bebe.

If LVG wins the FA cup then he deserves his third season. The FA cup magic is what got me into football, alongside Maradonas goal against England in 86' and Ray Houghtons header against England in 88'.
My first memory of United winning a trophy was the 85' final, but mainly for fellow Irish man Kevin Moran who was the first player to be sent off in it's hundred year history, I recall my grandmother being quite upset about this, mainly cause he was Irish. I was 8 and only learning about patriotism.

The 1990 FA cup was special, two unbelievable semis, both went to extra time United scrape through after a six goal thriller and Liverpool get pipped by Palace in a seven goal thriller, Alan Pardew scores the winning a goal. United went on to a great final 3-3 against Palace, Ian Wright destroying our defense in the dying minutes and setting up a pretty dull replay, where both teams went into turtle mode. United scraped a win via a random fullback, Lee Martin, not known for scoring and essentially saved Fergies career.

I always felt like Moyes never had a chance. His style of play was so defensive and his demeanor was shrouded by the giant fucking Sir Alex shaped shadow he had to live under. And as bad as Moyes' teams played, most of the football played under Van Gaal has been even more dour. The only reason they've improved lately is Martial and Rashford both have the ability to score and the willingness to do so. Juan Mata is hampered by Van Gaal's insistence on leashing him, Depay gets a good attacking game and as soon as he fluffs a pass, Van Gaal benches him for weeks. Felliani is a one-dimensional player whose best attribute is the one Van Gaal hates to use with the white-hot passion of the sun. Rooney's skills have been so dulled by constant injuries and shifts in position that nobody is sure where he's best suited anymore.

Meanwhile, Angel Di Maria tore up the admittedly poorer Ligue 1.

Depay has been terrible Haemish, he fluffs more than the odd pass, usually cuts in and shoots into a defender or row z. Di Maria just wasn't into it, I don't believe people should use that to beat up Van Gaal, Fergie had similar experiences with Veron and Forlan.

My main bone of contention is the regular omission of Herrera and Schneiderlin. Schneiderlin is quietly effective in a Mascherano way.

He doesn't seem to know what he wants to do with players like Schneiderlin, and for some reason prefers to have Fellaini out there in a holding role - something at which the fucker is terrible. Herrera is kind of the same way as Mata. Every time the kid does something great that isn't within a confined role, he gets benched again.

As for Depay, I think the kid has bags of talent but he has to start regularly and he has to have quality around him to get the space he needs and most importantly, he has to have the freedom to move around. That's great if he's your only playmaker but when he's on the field with Martial or Mata or Rooney AND he's being held in check by rigid adherence to 'the philosophy' he looks terrible. I liken him to Raheem Sterling. He will melt someone's face off with pace then sky a shot to row zed instead of making a simple pass or cross. The only way that gets better is first-team football. Van Gaal has not been in a position for anyone to learn at the Premier League level like Sterling did at Liverpool the last 2 seasons. Rashford's only managed to stay in because he scores.

Van Gaal makes some really fucking idiotic moves sometimes. Like pulling off Rashford and making Ashley Young play as the top striker while leaving Martial on the wing. Or whatever the fuck he's constantly doing with Fellaini.

I agree with you for the most part,  but I wouldn't let Depay anywhere near the front 3 right now. I can see he's talented,  but he makes terrible decisions in every part of the pitch. Martial is a few years younger and already a more refined player with a great attitude. Lindgaard is not as talented but he has that winning mentality which is something that Fergie saw in similar less talented players, Ji Sung Park, Richardson.

Mata is the epitomy of a luxury player, I love him to bits but from what I have seen recently I think he finds it difficult to link up with the exuberant front 3.  If LVG insists on playing Rooney then it has to be in the number 10 which excludes Mata.

Now the part I don't agree with. Rashford is much much more than a goal machine, his link up play is astonishing for an 18 year old.  His movement is superb,  his confidence reminds me of Giggs and he loves to run in behind with or without the ball. I rate him, highly.

Nit-pick, Veron was pretty good for Utd. It was just the tension between playing him and Beckham , as their styles didn't match, that saw him off IMO.

Wasn't really what I was getting at though, he's written recently (http://www.thestatesman.com/news/sports/regret-leaving-manchester-united-juan-veron/137510.html) about how he struggled to settle in Manchester and how he found it hard to cope with the pace of the Premier league. Something akin to what I think Di Maria experienced, to boot the refereeing culture would come as a bit of a shock; Premiership refs are less likely to blow up for niggly fouls on 'continental types' as they would probably put it, saw Di Maria get frustrated by this in a lot of games.

All the same, I thought Veron was universally accepted as a flop (http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/2273160/fergie-veron-was-premiership-flop), though I do remember him having a few great games.

SPOILER ALERT:

Holy shit, Leicester are champs.

Fuck yeah.

Fuck yeah indeed.

Name me a bigger upset/underdog story in the last 30? years of sports.

(http://onemansblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/inconceivable.jpg)

Football is still alive !!!  Well, for a bit in the EPL at least.

I hope they now don't lose all their top talent to big money clubs. Because if they can't beat em, they can always buy em.

Mahrez will go, but the rest are a mixture of having just signed or too old to make a big money move (Drinkwater?).

I wonder will any of the big teams sign up Steve Walsh, the scout who found Vardy, Mahrez and Kante. He would be as big a blow as any.

I think they could lose Mahrez and be ok. If they lose Kante, all bets are off. He may not get the goals, but he has been absolutely invaluable.

Yeh Kante was definitely the heartbeat of that team, especially for the first half of the season.

What leicester showed is what you can do with a team that only focuses on one competition while barely suffering injuries so that you can field your best team every single week. I can't say that I watched many leicester games but the few times I saw them it seemed like all players knew exactly what they would do and what the people surrounding them did and that's what you get when you shift very few players.

That had a LOT to do with it, and it started with the coaching, IMO. Every single one of those players not only bought into the system, they all executed it very well because it was simple football. Be tight defensively, break up attacks and when you win back possession, go on the counter-attack directly with pace. Fuck possession and nattering about, just fucking go right down the opponent's throat when they are vulnerable. I'm all for beautiful, possession-based tiki taka, but it's not the only way to play and win, and you really have to have a team full of exceptional players to pull it off. And even with those exceptional players, sometimes you just can't break a team down if they park the bus. Most teams, especially in the Prem, would do well to at least try to emulate some of the counter-attacking football Ranieri installed.

Of course, it didn't hurt that they only had the Prem to worry about nor that Mahrez looks to be a one-of-a-kind creative player. Or that Vardy is just incredibly quick and got on a run of good form. However, if you look at the performances of players like Kante, Huth, West Morgan, you'll see they really had that team thing down. Okazaki was another unsung hero. Yeah, he was a striker who didn't score many goals, but what he did do for 60 minutes every game was work his ass off and when his team won back possession, he was an outlet who held the ball upfield long enough to get it to Vardy or Mahrez or someone else instead of watching the ball bounce right back off the opposing defense.

Let's not forget that they had defensive midfielders and central defender like Huth who would kick lumps out of attacking players who tried any fancy stuff round the box.  I say that by way of praise: by way of comparison Arsenal faltered, at least in part, because of yet another season without that solid foundation at the back (I'm intentionally not mentioning the V word).

Arsenal not buying any outfield players in the summer despite selling off a few was just all kinds of  :uhrr:

I mean, Coquelin did a good job solidifying their midfield but what happened when Arsene bought the kid no cover? He got hurt. Of course, that doesn't explain their slump since February what with Elneny being in that position but still. Arsenal is just good enough to give their fans hope and just thin enough to dash that hope every time.

They will still finish higher than Liverpool though.  :cry:

I found it funny one of my favorite goalkeepers of my youth, Peter Schmeichel, had his kid play on Leicester as the keeper.

I saw him out there and I was like, WAIT PETER IS STILL PLAYING??? Then I saw it was his son, and I felt old.

Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final, another team of hardworking lads.

They will just lose to Real Madrid of course. It is known.

Yeah but Bayern gets denied. Suck it Munich.

It'd be hilarious if Man City won the whole thing the year before Pep takes over.

Two things - Real Madrid is by no means a lock to win either their game against Man City, nor against Athletico. Benzema is out of the game against Man City and Ronaldo has been hurt. Not that I think Man City has a chance to beat them but still. Athletico's defense is REALLY good and if Ronaldo isn't 100% by then (though he probably will be) and Benzema isn't back, they could very well win 1-0 on a Griezman goal. And by the way, that little Frenchie fucker is the business.

Pellegrini was treated badly by Real Madrid when they dumped him for Mourinho after one season. For his sake I hope they win, but they probably won't.

Pellegrini seems to get shit on wherever he goes, despite being a decent manager. Hell he won the Premier League with Man City two years ago and is being ousted for the new hotness despite having kept City in the Champion's League AND finally gotten them to the semis in the CL.

Manchester City extended Pellegrini's contract to 2017 last year, so they were happy with him. I guess he is unlucky that Beguiristain and Soriano are already at Manchester City, people who both worked with Guardiola at FC Barcelona.

Pellegrini will go to a smaller club and hopefully do what he did at Malaga F.C. after being fired at Real Madrid: get them into the Champions League, where they almost made it to the semis.

With the money they've spent I don't think it's unreasonable for Man City to move him on. You don't pump that much in to still be at risk of not making champions league. He's had enough time there.

Except they severed ties with him in January long before the Champions league spot was under threat. In fact they were 3 points off first place.

True. I guess my implication was that they would be expecting to win the title consistently, not just getting the champs positions - but I didn't really say that.

Sure the expectations are high, and they are within their right to get a shinier new manager. But you got to wonder if they didn't release Pellegrini, could they have won the League this year? I thought they were a shoe in to win it until they made the announcement.

But hey Pep was available and Man City presents his first real challenge for him. Premier League a much tougher league to win, probably not the same calibre of youth product as he is used to. A lot of dead weight to shift, Toure, Bony, Kolarov etc. Be interesting to see where Sterling will fit in, he's no Lionel Messi that's for sure.

Their defense was bad without Kompany and he's missed most of the season. Things just unravel from the back forward when he's out. Then there's Yaya.

There's no reason that Otamendi and Mangala should be as bad as they've been. I get that Yaya has no interest in defending whatsoever but they have both Fernando and Fernandino but neither seemed to have been able to help those 2 CB's when they've unraveled. Otamendi was really damn solid at Valencia but seems to gone Lovren when he got to City.

Which is funny because Dejan Lovren has been Liverpool's best, non-steroidal center back in 2016.

I actually think Otamendi has been one of their best players this season along with De Bruyne, who turned in a shocking performance against Real. Skrtel/Lovren was a bad partnership, Lovren was unfortunate to be put in with a waning defender for his bedding in period. Then you have a player like Moreno to your left and you're completely screwed. I think Sakho adds that solidity in there that Skrtel had lost, if he ever indeed did have it.

Man, Skrtel was never the most elegant defender but holy fuck has he looked goddamn awful since coming back from injury. And I hadn't considered how much Moreno's deficiencies in defense could have contributed to Lovren's torrid time last year. Lovren/Sakho and even Lovren/Toure have looked so much more solid this year.

Moreno's positional sense is woeful and his tackling is unbelievably bad. I reckon he'd be sent off a lot more if he wasn't so crap at it, I've never seen a full back miss the ball with a tackle that much. At times his speed allows him to make a good recovery after a lapse or a missed tackle so it kind of balances out a bit. But I'd hate to have him in my defense, wouldn't know what to do.

I haven't watched EPL at all this year. But I watched both legs of the Citeh vs Real matchup. Otamendi might have been their best player in leg two, def should be credited with preventing at least one goal. Not sure if that was out of character but I was impressed with him.

Otamendi is really good. I watched him with Valencia last season and he and Mustafi were a great combo. Losing him is definitely one of the things that made Valencia slip up so badly this year. There's are reason United and City were both sniffing around him and that City paid so much to finally get him.

I'm very happy with Liverpool's attack, especially if we can hold onto the Brazilians over the summer, to the extent that a fit Sturridge would be a (big) bonus rather than a desperate hope of salvation, but our defence terrifies me and yes, I count Moreno as part of that.  If Rodgers was still in charge I'd be scared that we were going to pick up Man City's rejects, with the nightmarish vision of a Toure/Toure pairing at the back, but hopefully Klopp will have enough infliuence over the committee to get us some solid, german CBs.

Well, he's already signed Matip and I think a combo of Lovren/Matip would be a decent CB pairing as long as Lovren is on the right. Even Lovren/Sakho has been a great improvement over what happened before. LB is a HUGE problem and I think Moreno would be better if they just pushed him up to a winger role as opposed to trying to make him a flying wingback who can't defend for shit. Hopefully Joe Gomez will be back healthy next season as well, and with Clyne/Flanagan/Randall on the right (with all 3 of those able to switch to LB when needed), I think we just need a good LB to make the defense more solid. Plus Can being back healthy makes a HUGE difference. He was absolutely dominating in that Villareal game.

But dear GOD, do we need a new #1 goalkeeper. Mignolet is just terrifying.

Sevilla has managed to win the Europa league for a third straight time. The UCL Final is between two Spanish teams, and a Spanish team has won the last two.

La Liga, best Liga.

Sevilla got the benefit of some REALLY REALLY SHITTY ref decisions. Liverpool had at least 2 good claims for handballs in the box that should have been penalties. Also, Alberto Moreno is a goddamn shitty shit shit left back and needs to be sent packing.

Since United beat Liverpool last year, I've been saying Moreno isn't up to snuff, seems to be gathering some momentum. Need to get Flanagan back in there, he's a top full back.

Messi is a wizard.

So all the football web sites are reporting that Van Gaal is out and Mourinho is in, and that it will be officially announced this week. Thoughts?

Personally, I don't know why you'd replace one dour dickbag with another salty vag who also tends to play defensive, possession based football while pissing off everyone around him. Not to mention you know Mourinho will wear out his welcome in 3 years time and we'll be back here again, looking at interim manager Guus Hiddink.

Hopefully Giggs will be ready when Mourinho fucks off.

Who gives a shit, English football sucks.  La Liga is where it's at.

Manchester united have been awful in the transfer market the last few years and Mourinho will correct the problem. His biggest problem will be the dressing room, Moyes lacked the experience, LVG was too much of the old school and I'm not sure how well he will do.

I think Mourinho is exactly the type of personality they need right now, he knows england, Giggs and Rooney will respect him but I really really hope he will flop badly so that the chaos will continue.

I think he will fail, but eh, I've still got '99.

Look at me, look at me!

Liverpool should haven gotten more from the referee in the first half, but they were well and truly beaten the second half. It's like only one team decided to show up for the rest of the game.

That is absolutely true. Liverpool gave up a really soft, shitty goal (thanks MORENO) right off the opening kick, and gave the fuck up for the rest of the game. I think the forwards were just tired of constantly having to bail out our shitty defense/goalkeeper.

As for Mourinho, he'll do some things right and he may even win some silverware, but when he goes, it's going to be ugly as fuck. I'm sure about half the United fans hate his fucking guts and you KNOW Sir Alex does (which is going to cause boardroom friction with the SAF faction off the field). His football won't be that much more exciting than Van Gaal. And holy shit does that squad need a refresh despite all the money they've spent. Lord help them if De Gea decides he really does want to go back to Spain because without him they'd have finished below Liverpool. I think they finish top 4 first year, maybe challenge for the title second year, then Mourinho gets the saltiness and it all turns to shit again.

Of course, I'm hoping it turns to shit immediately and stays that way because fuck United.

You mean the same league that has had the same two champions since 2004 (save 1 year from Atletico)? No thanks. I loathe both Barcelona and Real, and the rest of the league are all also rans.

I will watch the City games just to see Mou lose to Guardiola. Mourinho meltdowns in press conferences are the best meltdowns.

Bit of a shitstorm going down on my favourite football haunt where one of the journos called out United for being classless, announcing or leaking that LVG is getting sacked, only hours after winning the FA Cup. Most ppl believe that the news is either fabricated or the work of Jorge Mendes. Im not overly happy with the idea of Mourinho and think Van Gaal should be given another year.

The fact that it took over 24 hours to get MU to confirm that Van Gaal was fired is absolutely classless, same as when Moyes found out he was sacked from journos. But then, the repeated stories about Mourinho coming "ANY DAY NOW" or "SOON AS THE SEASON'S OVER" were just as classless, whether they came from United or from Mou's agent. The whole thing has just been a fucking shit show.

The repeated stories were actually the media waging a war against LVG, there wasn't a very good relationship there, I mean you're talking about the fucking English press here and a very outspoken manager. One Sun journo publicly went on a diet after being called the 'Fat man'. Don't feel sorry for him by the way, he's the guy who in every press conference repeatedly asked LVG when he was going to be out of a job, or would he consider quitting. The ironic thing is LVG actually inspired this guy to change his life around, but the fuckhead is probably too dumb to realise it.

I don't get why waiting 24 hours to announce is classless, at least let the guy give two fingers to the media before riding off in the sunset. They only spoke to Van Gaal and his lawyer this morning, so at least they said it in person to the guy before officially releasing it. The leaks probably came from Mourinho's corner, nothing you can do about that, Mendes is a fucking viper and I'm dreading to think what shits going to go down next season. But hey Klopp, Mourinho, Conte, Guardiola all fighting for the title is at least going to provide some entertainment.

Good one.

Title is Man City and Arsenals to lose.

When have Arsenal ever mounted a title challenge :D

Wait someone thought all those 0-0 draws was worth giving LVG another year?

Holy fuck. It's the English media, nothing surprises me but MU looked like complete shit for large chunks of this year. I don't see how LVG was ever going to keep his job.

There's no doubt those performances and not qualifying for CL killed any chance he had. But he also removed all the dead weight from the squad, brought through some exciting youth products and won a trophy. 26 years ago that would have been more than enough to keep your job, but times have changed.

Yet somehow, Arsene Wenger still has a job.  :why_so_serious:

I am convinced it is his big puffy coat. It is +4 to saving throws against sacking.

It's because both their names start with Arse.

To be fair, Arsenal are still a top club and are now rich after the stadium move. Yes, they haven't won much, but they easily could have stuffed themselves up and dropped off like some other clubs have done if they changed managers a bit.

If arsenal should do something its to find out why so many of their players ends up plagued with injuries.

Anybody watch the US/Columbia game last night? I could only stomach up until the US went down 2-0 before I just had to turn it off. Klinsmann has lost me. He's got a guy like Pulisic on the bench (since for some reason he didn't start) and coach never brings him on even when down 2-0... the fuck? Was there seriously anyone else on that team with the creativity to do anything with the ball but lose it? Man, this team looks just as boring and lost as the one that got run over in the last Copa America or the last World Cup for that matter.

Hot fucking garbage. Fire JK into the fucking sun. Jesus.

e- his tactics and lineup are just fucking clownshoes. Dempsey should be playing behind the striker/CF and running the offense, with Bradley sitting deep. And he should have had Jordan Morris on the squad, but lucky for Seattle he didn't take him.

Heh, way to finish there England.

England is a bit of a mess. Rooney is a player without a position that no one wants to bench. Sterling is Sterling, meaning he will run his socks off until he loses possession by running directly into a cul-de-sac full of three defenders and he still hasn't learned to cross. Adam Lallana gives you the best 20 minutes of missing the goal money can buy. Don't forget Jack Wilshere who also runs to no good effect. And their best defenders are still Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling so...

Meanwhile, goal scorers like Vardy and Sturridge sit on the bench, and they continue to play the Roy Hodgson way. Get one goal and sit back because why would they need another goal?

Uh, ya. Messi.

I almost switched it off after the 1st goal... the 2nd one finished it for me. It's not like I didn't expect that, but at least give them a game. Nope.

I told my buddy before it started that I was going to head to the poker room once it was 3-0. Got there in time to see the 4th goal.

Messi is a goddamned wizard. Wow.

Holy fuck Iceland.

Go Iceland!  :drill:

Then again, maybe England has reached that level of play where you could plant 11 trees as the opposing team and those would look like they are playing well and passionately.

and Hodgson resigned as England manager. Not a great week for England.

England 1 - 2 Iceland

Someone please come up with a Brexit pun!

Well getting rid of hodgson is an improvement so it's not all bad

The best one I've heard so far is that England are still allowing free movement of foreigners.  Mostly in the penalty box.

"Could we play that again, we didn't think losing actually meant exiting the competition."

England beaten by a country with more volcanoes than professional footballers.

What a terrible game for England and so emblematic of everything that's been wrong with Hodgson's time as manager of the national side. You have perfectly good, creative players who are apparently placed into very rigid, linear tracks and not allowed to step out of them. You also have players who shouldn't be on the pitch in the positions they are in (*COUGH* ROONEY *COUGH*). And you have tactics that it seems the manager has watched other managers pull off but without really understanding how those tactics work. And the result is dire football. BTW, this was what was wrong with his approach at Liverpool too, and he hasn't learned a goddamn thing.

Sterling clearly hasn't learned a thing since he left Liverpool either. He still can't cross worth a fuck. Rooney should be second striker not defensive midfield if he's on the pitch at all. Their formation has no width because both Rose and Walker aren't really that great. Clyne should have started or Betrand on the other side. And Joe Hart... woof.

New manager would probably help a fuckload though.

"I haven't been this ashamed of england in days"

I can only agree with awful tactics and selecting players like harry kane and raheem sterling seemingly out of form certainly didn't help. Most of all I missed the central midfielders that could push the pace but that's more of a generation shift with the gap that lampard and gerrard left.

Finally watched England/Iceland. A howler by Hart and then 60+ minutes of 11 monkeys trying to hump a doorknob. Wow.

Rooney trying to play the Gerrard/Lampard role was just sad, and WTF was Harry Kane doing taking free kicks? So much wrong with that entire team from tactics to execution.

Wish Lampard was with England shitting the bed instead of scoring goals with his fucking hand v Seattle.

and on Saturday Germany will lose to Italy. As usual. Germany has never won against Italy in any competition.

Loving these results.

The Wales/Belgium game was fun to watch. I think Wales is going to ROOFLESTOMP Portugal, for the same reason they beat Belgium. Belgium had a bunch of world class individual talents, and a coach who apparently doesn't know how to mold them into a team that can break down an organized defense (which is a recurring theme in football the last year). Portugal has one star and a bunch of mid-level talent built around massaging that star's massive fucking ego (though to be fair, Renato Sanches may actually be a star in the making). Portugal hasn't been able to win a game in regulation time this tourney. I actually think Wales may win 3-1 or worse.

Oh FFS Boateng.

Holy shit was that a negative, boring game. That was every bad stereotype about German and Italian football compressed into 120 minutes of suck. Also, learn how to take fucking penalties, FFS.

And yea, WTF Boateng.

6 of the first 10 penalties were missed.  I don't remember ever seeing that happening before. The goalies got one or two but the rest were just howlers.

I liked how Conte subbed Zaza in for Chielini for the penalty shootout and then he does this:

(http://i.imgur.com/KSULiTl.gif)

And then Pélle managed to somehow do worse.

Wales please beat Portugal.  

You are the only team left worth rooting for.  
You have a red fucking dragon on your flag.
You gave us Tom Jones.

Cymru am byth !

EDIT: welp :(

There's the Joe Allen Liverpool fans all know and have been trying to get rid of for two seasons. Hey look, he gave possession away again! Wales really missed Aaron Ramsey and it's a damn shame they expanded the size of the tourney without changing how many yellows it takes to earn a suspension for the semis.

Also, fuck Ronaldo, that giant whinging egomaniacial cuntflap. That Portugal team is terrible and didn't deserve to be in this game.

I don't get the hate of Ronaldo? He is generous and genuine in his charity work, isn't mixed up with tax dodging or sexual assault scandals like many other players, and is one of the best players ever to play the game.

So he has a high opinion of himself and hates to lose. Big fucking deal.

And they beat Wales fair and square.

His neck bothers me. It's like he has an extra vertebrae or something.

He is a whiny, egotistical fuck who dives like a bitch and continually flashes his doucheface at the refs to try to win penalties. He appears to give no fucks about his teammates and clearly demands teams be built around him, whether that's to the betterment of the team or not.

That stuff about his teammates and teams isn't really true, though, is it? You just don't like his personality. Seems pretty shallow for someone who supposedly loves the game.

Oh he's a fantastic player, I don't begrudge his talent. As for the teammate stuff, there's enough rumor shit floating out there to think that yes, he is a terrible teammate. I think his ego was part of the reason for Mourinho's exit - those two massive egos left no room for anyone else on the team.

EDIT: For a counterpoint, look at a player like Messi who is at least as talented as Ronaldo. He doesn't seem to start any sort of drama (other than tax fraud but that's probably as much on his management as on him), doesn't get involved with the drama on the international team despite being shit on by that country and being their best player by a mile, and doesn't seem to mind playing on a team with other superstars.

Cristiano Ronaldo is an egotistical narcissist. He's arguably a great player but he's a massive cunt to team managers and team mates if they're not doing what is best for CR7.

Off the pitch he seems to be nice but almost every sentence of him starts of with "I...." or contains a twist that makes everything about him. He's also always boasting about his own abilities or positive character traits. Take for example one of his statements to the press after last night's win against Wales: " I believe that we’ll win. With a lot of work, humility and the spirit of self-sacrifice, which I have always shown in my career, these sorts of things are doable.". The whole interview sounds great on a surface level because he's using words like team a lot but nearly every sentence ends up being about him at the end. About how great he is and how humble and disciplined and how much he deserves to win.

God help anyone who's not giving 100% to help him achieve greatness though.

He lacks any sort of self critique. If his team wins it's because of a team effort he captained, he was responsible for and that he made special because of his talent. If his team loses he's the first one to throw his team mates under the bus and blames everyone else for a bad performance, except himself. That mindset also makes him prone to choke very very hard if things don't go his way and he can't figutre out why. Because it can never be him that's to blame. He will try  to win by any means necessary and if a game doesn't go his way he can come completely undone.

He also promotes a culture of petty tackles, fouls and diving and has turned the Portugal national team into a bunch of diving cheaters.

It isn't even Ronaldo's fault. He is such a talent and his massive, massive ego comes from the fact that everyone has always told him just how special he is. He's like a lot of people that became famous at a very young age and are surrounded by people that only tell them how great they are.

His individual class and massive ego are a drag on any team he's a part of, though and he hasn't achieved nearly as much in his career that he would have wanted to because of that.

If you think he went from a skinny teenager to the best/one of the best players in the world without the ability to take criticism, sacrifice, and work hard you have rocks in your head. Just because he isn't self-effacing doesn't mean there is nothing under the surface.

Yes, he has a high opinion of himself. Yes he hates losing and can be stroppy and ill mannered about it.

As for him being a leader in regards to petty tackles, or diving? Seriously, he is way down that very long long list.

He has achieved massive amounts in his career, one only has to look at his record to see that. Three champs leagues, many titles in two of the strongest leagues in the land, and he has played a key role (if not the key role) in all of them. He also has personal accolades out the ass.

Now he's into another major championship final with his country, which is effectively a minnow on the world stage, and has a chance to win (though I doubt they will).

I get that people find his personality annoying and grating, and there is no doubt he likes to think he is the most important person in the room. But that doesn't really say much to take away from his football ability.

He is not "arguably" a great player, he is one of the two greatest players in a long long time along with Messi, and anyone who can't acknowledge that despite any personal distaste for the man is no true football fan.

I think he might not be the most easy person to play with in a club basis, unless you're in his corner, but once you get on the pitch I think he plays hard and fair for the team.

As for Messi, yes, he seems like a lower maintenance person (maybe a bit too introverted - the captaincy seems to weigh very heavily on him). But that really just feels like a personality thing. Ronaldo seems to be a genuinely nice person in many ways (doesn't have tattoos as he gives blood twice a year, etc), despite the fact that he likes the fame and celebrity that goes with it.

Certainly on and off the pitch he is miles and miles ahead of players like Suarez and a great many others.

Well, don't ask if you don't want to hear an answer you don't like then. Pulling shit like "those who disagree with me are no true fans of the sport" doesn't help either.

Frankly, I don't care if you bless my interest in the sport as being true or not, I'll still disagree. Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably one of the best players in the world. He has lots of raw talent and individual class but he's also pretty much an individualist due to his massive ego. This is not the best character trait to have in a team sport and it also precludes him from being a team leader (or even team player) because you can't effectively lead a team when you think the world revolves around you and everyone else is just an accessory to enable your great achievements.

CR7 is great when he can work in an environment that lets him be the star player and caters to his strengths and weaknesse. He doesn't handle situations that well where he needs to take responsibility or assume leadership though and he doesn't know what to do if his team doesn't function and doesn't perform to his expectations for any reason.

If that happens his style - shouting at team mates and managers for not doing things - makes things actually worse and he had quite a few key games where he completely fell apart because the team wasn't there for him and he had no idea how to deal with that. Ronaldo can be an actual liability if you know how to handle him on the pitch and how to press his buttons.

That's the problem with a player who has high individual class but also expects to be the star that everyone caters to.

For me that precludes him from being 'the best' or even top five. Especially when you compare him to Messi or Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Let me put it another way.

What a national team like Portugal needs is a leader that can inspire confidence and shape a team's effort not a star player that has to be catered to. Ronaldo is much to ego driven to be a natural leader and yet his persona overshadows the rest of the team so completely that no one else will be able to step up to that position.

That's why the team succeeds and fails with CR7's performance on the pitch

What you're saying there is basically why I was happy for him to leave United back in the day, much to the chagrin of his enthusiasts. I have slightly rethought my position since though, I think he can have positive affect on his team with his single minded focus on winning and achieving high standards. On the pitch he can mostly have a positive influence on those around him. His antics do grate though.

I don't disagree.

It takes a special breed of players though for that positive effect to stick. If you have a team like Real Madrid or ManU where you have lots of indicidually talented players that can handle or match his ego it can become a big competition where everyone is feeding off of Ronaldo's bloody single-minded will to win. If you have an authority figure that has the management skills and, well, authority to handle all of that raw ego.

That's actually one of the huge accomplishments of Santos that he got Ronaldo to at least somewhat integrate into the team and to subordinate himself.

If you don't have the person that can temper Ronaldo's ego though and that can take over the responsibility of being team leader he's a liability.

You're just making shit up out of whole cloth because you don't like his personality. None of that shit has ever been said by any player or manager who has ever managed him in regards to his performance on the pitch.

And then you try an d compare him negatively in this light to Zlatan Jeff? Seriously some of the dumbest understanding of football players I've read.

Ronaldo leaving Utd was an absolute disaster, on and off the pitch. It's reflected in how we've gone in the Champions League since then.

Well, we have to agree to disagree then.

For me the Germany v. Portugal match at the 2014 world cup is the perfect example for what happens when a competent team isolates Ronaldo and prevents his side from passing to him or building up attacks around him. It ended 4:0 for Germany, the Portugese side completely fell apart in a way that led to Pepe losing his shit and being sent off for headbutting Thomas Müller and with Ronaldo effectively out the Portugese side had no one to turn to and no one to restore any sort of order or momentum. Ronaldo became more and more agitated and frustrated as the game went on and had no idea how to pull his own side out of a complete nosedive. Even though he was captain of his team and had the experience he had no idea how to be a captain and restore confidence in his team mates.

That was against a German side that wasn't even up to form yet and that would go on to draw against Ghana and luckily win 1:0 against the USA team.

Ronaldo's ego and philosophy on the pitch create a power vacuum that the team can't compensate for when he's not able to play his game and his side has to pick up the slack.

For me that is a deficit in a team sport and CR never adresses that because everything has to be about him and about his personal achievement and legacy.

Same happened every time United met Chelsea back in the day, once Ronaldo was left sulking on the ground pretty much job done. Wouldn't end in a 4-0 loss but a 1-0 or a 0-0.

I never said Ronaldo wasn't one of the best players on the planet, he is. His talent is insanely high. His talent is also diminished by the fact that he dives like a little bitch, whines like a little bitch when his dives aren't treated as fouls and blames everyone but himself when shit goes wrong. He is Jose Mourinho if Mourinho was one of the greatest players of all time instead of a manager.

Suarez is an utter cunt on the field but at least when his team loses, he doesn't blame other people, he shoulders as much of the blame on himself. I'd rather have Suarez as my captain than Ronaldo any day of the week. I may want to put pepper spray on my arms in case he gets peckish before his halftime orange slices but I'd want him on my team before Ronaldo.

Griezmann is filling the role Ronaldo can't and the semi final was a perfect example.

He elevated every other player on the pitch and made the French side not only hold up but actually hold their own against an utterly dominating German side. We lost for a reason and Griezmann had a lot to do with that.

Germany had 70% possession in the first half and lead on shots on goal by a margin and was relentlessly pressing forward and France never faltered once.

That was an amazing display by the French side.

Griezmann is legit, especially if you play him centrally. I think some managers see his pace and think he'd be better on the wing, but he's so much better if you let him start in front of the goal and just flit around. His finishing is exceptional and his pace will allow him to slice defenses up. He's just as good playing on his own as he is with someone like Giroud in front of him who can flick headers into his path. He's the reason Athletico made the CL final as well as being able to send Jackson Martinez off to China for a fortune despite Martinez being a complete bust in La Liga.

It's funny about Martinez too - I'm seeing a lot of highly touted Portuguese players (and foreigners playing in Portugal's Super Liga) getting sold for big money into the top 3 leagues and being completely overhyped and overvalued. Ronaldo has warped that market so much.  :why_so_serious:

Suck it you wankers!  :grin:

Worst Euro in a while. So many boring games.

This. SO MUCH THIS. I knew Portugal was going to win just by parking the goddamn bus. It didn't help that France just seemed to give up pressing or any sort of quick tempo once Ronaldo went off, thinking they would just win by virtue of every one of their players being better in every way than their counterparts that were left on the pitch. Such a horrible, boring, sleep-inducing negative game and tournament.

I typically stop watching after the group rounds and I'm usually happy with that decision. As you get to the top, the 1-0 snoozers or penalty kick wins seem to be inevitable.

It reminded me of Euro 2004 in Portugal, when Greece won a similarly shit tournament. Euro 2004 was worse though.

own goal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C58pgQ7iw6Y)