The Ultimate Football Thread 2013-2014 Vol. 4 EPL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A etc

After talking to new boss Enrique & President Bartomeu, Xavi is staying with the club... I guess we'll see what he has left to offer. I'm not mad. He's earned the right to go out the way he wants. He's done more for club, country, & the sport than alot of players combined.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/tran.../barcelona-convince-xavi-to-stay?ICID=HP_HN_1
Interesting. He must have accepted his diminished role then if he is staying. I like it though. He provides some leadership that we lack from Puyol and Valdez leaving. 
 
Six Shakhtar Players Refuse To Return To Ukraine

~~ I’m not really sure there could be any blame placed at the feet of the players (or their families for that matter) for making this decision at a time when things are incredibly unstable.

via Shakhtar

- It is true, six team players have not come - Rinat Akhmetov said. – Alex Teixeira, Fred, Dentinho, Douglas Costa, Facundo Ferreyra and Ismaily. I don’t rule out that these players will return to the team quickly, and some of them – tomorrow. Players have contracts that they have to abide by. If they do not come, I think, they will be the first to suffer. Each of them has a minimum release clause, which is tens of millions of euros. If someone wants to reduce this amount by a million, then such a decision is our right. There won’t be clearance sale!

Hopefully, the mind and heart will prevail over misunderstanding, and the players will not follow temptation and fear. Especially since there is nothing to fear. We are ready to provide security. We will not take risks and in any case we won’t bring players to dangerous places. We want to play in Donetsk very much, but, unfortunately, at the moment we cannot do it. We will play where we will be allowed to: we would like to do it in Kharkiv. The decision regarding the championship is taken by the Ukrainian Football Federation. Through our game, we will call for peace and try to bring joy to our fans.

Despite the fact that we will be weakened in the Super Cup match against Dynamo Kyiv, our players will do their best to make the game hard for our opponents. Maybe everyone thinks that it will be an easy game for Dynamo, but it will not be easy. And in the future Shakhtar won’t become weaker – we will make it stronger. We play for the fans and for peace.

Mircea Lucescu? There have not been any problems at all. We have a very good relationship. He is in his place and has done a lot for Shakhtar to take a step forward. I am sure that he will do the team a world of good



from theoriginalwinger
 
So far it's been Kroos and James in, Morata and Casemiro out (on loan) ?

I still feel like one regular player will be moved before the deadline
 
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spurs put out a training video this morning showing ben davies training with the team, the ben davies transfer isnt yet official
 
first bayern goal
That first touch
sick.gif
 
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Interesting. He must have accepted his diminished role then if he is staying. I like it though. He provides some leadership that we lack from Puyol and Valdez leaving. 

I'm cool with him staying but the leadership part? Meh... There was a severe lack of it the last 2 campaigns (as Puyol's playing time greatly diminished coincidentally) & I point that as partly his fault. The team lacked passion & playing with a sense of urgency especially in the crucial matches late in the campaign. Cules seem to be afraid to say it but the veteran players like he, VV, Pique, Cesc, & Iniesta clearly lacked the ability to lead this team out of the funk.
 
I wonder if the addition of James is cover for Ronaldo. If reports are true that Ronaldo does have tendinosis, not tendinitis then he has a degenerate condition.

Tendinosis usually occurs over time as a result of many microtears over a long period of time. It's not like tendinitis where the tendons experience inflammation, it's again degeneration of the cellular matter. Not only is there pain but fiber-level weakness.

The smart thing is not to feature him much in preason friendlies & any other meaningless games.

It can be overcome (look at Nadal) but it might mean we don't see him play as much as we have...

Read more about the difference between tendinitis & tendinosis if you care to...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312643/
 
I'm cool with him staying but the leadership part? Meh... There was a severe lack of it the last 2 campaigns (as Puyol's playing time greatly diminished coincidentally) & I point that as partly his fault. The team lacked passion & playing with a sense of urgency especially in the crucial matches late in the campaign. Cules seem to be afraid to say it but the veteran players like he, VV, Pique, Cesc, & Iniesta clearly lacked the ability to lead this team out of the funk.
I agree, but i meant to say leadership in the locker room, not necessarily on the pitch. Puyol will never be replaced, but if i had to choose one player to wear the captains band next season, it's Mascherano. 
 
I wonder if the addition of James is cover for Ronaldo. If reports are true that Ronaldo does have tendinosis, not tendinitis then he has a degenerate condition.

Tendinosis usually occurs over time as a result of many microtears over a long period of time. It's not like tendinitis where the tendons experience inflammation, it's again degeneration of the cellular matter. Not only is there pain but fiber-level weakness.

The smart thing is not to feature him much in preason friendlies & any other meaningless games.

It can be overcome (look at Nadal) but it might mean we don't see him play as much as we have...

Read more about the difference between tendinitis & tendinosis if you care to...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3312643/
I'm sure CR7 going against the team doctors at the WC also didn't help his condition. I hope he recovers well and fast.
 
That tuxedo kit is the worst kit I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen some ugly @#$ kits
 
Damn Fabregas looks old as hell with short hair. Didn't know his hairline was receding that much
 
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I agree, but i meant to say leadership in the locker room, not necessarily on the pitch. Puyol will never be replaced, but if i had to choose one player to wear the captains band next season, it's Mascherano. 


Totally agree. Mascherano is the closest to Puyol when you think about heart, dedication and balls. He's not afraid to yell at players when they're not in the game. Barca will definitely need this.
 
I don't think Masch is the answer either. He could've & should've stepped up last campaign & didn't. There were several crucial games late last campaign when the team looked loast on the pitch as the game was being lost. If anything he looked like some of the most bewildered among them all... A real leader hasn't emerged yet IMO but it's definitely not Masch either.

He & Pique were oompa loompas ranked #1 & #2 last year as opposing teams just ran right past them both. The only thing either could do was foolish fouls...
 
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