The Ultimate Soccer Thread 2012-2013 Vol. 3 Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga etc

[champcruthik]

Ross Turnbull's infant son with the goal of the year.

"Sign him up."

 

[fear the ibis]

Ronaldinho

 

[fear the ibis]

Florent Malouda signs for Galatasaray.

 

[jada2001retro]

Real confirm Jose is leaving...

 

[dlo13]

Francois moving from City to Liverpool.

 

[imasoleman18]

premier league and u21 premier league champions

GGMU

 

[Coupé It]

No idea why Nike had to take over Umbro's kits. England and Man City kits were great, not to mention it was an English brand (even if they were owned by Nike).

Hope Nike tries to do more to differentiate US & England.

 

[mastamind89]

Silvio Berlusconi says he hasn’t fired Maximiliano Allegri. Yet.
Richard Farley May 20, 2013, 5:45 PM EDT
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AC Milan were sent into temporarily turmoil hours ago thanks to a letter read on the television show Il Processo di Biscardi, one in which team owner Silvio Berlusconi was professed to be firing his “coaching staff.” Onlookers took that to include head coach Maximiliano Allegri.

Milan almost immediately denied Allegri had been fired, announcing Berlusconi’s denial. The letter wasn’t from him, nor had any changes been made at the club.

Allegri’s job has been in doubt since a start to the season that saw Milan dwelling near relegation. They’ve rebounded to claim third place, not bad for a team that sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva this summer. Still, Berlusconi is understood to want a new coach, with vice president Adriano Galliani left fighting to keep Allegri’s job.

Berlusconi and Allegri are supposed to meet on Wednesday to discuss the coach’s future, but when the Milan owner failed to call in for his appointment tonight on Biscardi, the following letter was read, reportedly on his behalf.

There will be a complete change in the coaching staff. We will also, if necessary, re-organize the club structure.

After the disastrous start to the season, I met with the coach and directors to tell everyone this situation had to be overturned.

I also specified that the team had to step on to the field with a different tactical set-up, as I have a lot of experience in this area.

The results were seen straight away, modesty aside, starting from the comeback to draw 2-2 with Napoli. From the relegation zone we climbed to third place, earned yesterday by the skin of our teeth.

I have already called for tomorrow a complete revamp of the coaching staff and, if it were needed, a more efficient and complete re-organization of the club structure.”

When you know it’s a joke, the letter seems farcical, but given who was purported to have written it, it wasn’t completely implausible. Such the life of Berlusconi: Mockery rests next to truth.

Allegri’s probably going to be fired, and that will likely happen soon. With a scudetto on his record and enough sympathy given Milan’s summer losses, it won’t be long before Allegri will be working in a better less-hectic place.

 

[Coupé It]

Florentine Perez

The Real Madrid president explained in-depth the reasons for the departure of José Mourinho during his appearance before the media.

"Before Mourinho’s arrival we had been knocked out of the Champions League in the last 16 for six straight years and were no longer amongst the top seeds. It has been a successful period, Real Madrid is back where it should be", he said.

"We played some amazing football last season and we smashed every record. This season, what would have been enough for ‘mere mortal clubs’, wasn’t for us in accordance with the standards set at this club", he explained.

"I would have liked Mourinho to stay for many more years, but many Madrid fans believe that the pressure he was subjected to wasn’t normal and a person can only put up with so much", he concluded.

Wait, so Real wasn't getting past the final 16 for six straight years before Mou? Six years dude, lol. Forgot it was that bad.

Spanish papers (seriously this is what they're saying) = "Ancelotti is the Italian Del Bosque, Ancelotti is the peacemaker, Ancelotti will save Madrid"

Remember all this a year from now, when in all likelihood, he's going to be on the verge of getting sacked.

 

[eiddyfouw]

premier league and u21 premier league champions

GGMU

Yeah, I saw this earlier. What I liked to hear more than anything, was that Powell was getting game time, and had some flashes of brilliance.

Also Tyler Blackett getting some game time.

I'm looking forward to seeing Powell next season, and hopefully Blackett getting some minutes in the dying embers of some of the games.

 

[irvinglbf]

If you're in Philly join us!! 

 

[Kimchi Papi]

I'm not the biggest Ancelotti fan, but he's not going to get fired after a years time. He'll have a least 3 years & if he hasn't done much then he might get fired.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Former 2010 Ghana World Cup coach Milovan Rajevac (& some of his staff from the Ghana team) came through & spent a week with my son's travel team & spent a week providing invaluable coaching to the various age groups & the coaching staff... The coaches kids learned a lot but also had a lot of fun.

We will be employing what we learned for the first time this weekend when my son's team participates in a tournament. We're looking forward to having a great time. Ou club will be setting up a huge tent for our kids to relax under with food & drink between games. Wish us luck NT!!!

 

[demps]

what those foreign coaches need to do is go scout in heavy mexican american neighborhoods.

all those young fellas need is someone to teach them how to properly use the tools they already have.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

I was thinking about Jose coming back to Chelsea. With Hazard on the left & Mata in the middle, will Oscar be ideally suited to play wide for Jose on that right side?

 

[champcruthik]

More importantly, Mou needs to bring a physical CDM to man the middle of the park. Ideally Khedira.

 

[Retroballer]

No that right side is Ronaldo's spot. Not really. But it would interesting to see how they would use those 4.

 

[fear the ibis]

Florentine Perez

The Real Madrid president explained in-depth the reasons for the departure of José Mourinho during his appearance before the media.

"Before Mourinho’s arrival we had been knocked out of the Champions League in the last 16 for six straight years and were no longer amongst the top seeds. It has been a successful period, Real Madrid is back where it should be", he said.

"We played some amazing football last season and we smashed every record. This season, what would have been enough for ‘mere mortal clubs’, wasn’t for us in accordance with the standards set at this club", he explained.

"I would have liked Mourinho to stay for many more years, but many Madrid fans believe that the pressure he was subjected to wasn’t normal and a person can only put up with so much", he concluded.

Wait, so Real wasn't getting past the final 16 for six straight years before Mou? Six years dude, lol. Forgot it was that bad.

Spanish papers (seriously this is what they're saying) = "Ancelotti is the Italian Del Bosque, Ancelotti is the peacemaker, Ancelotti will save Madrid"

Remember all this a year from now, when in all likelihood, he's going to be on the verge of getting sacked.

Mourinho gets so much flack and people are calling him a failure left and right, it's like people forgot where Real Madrid was BEFORE he got there.

 

[fear the ibis]

I was thinking about Jose coming back to Chelsea. With Hazard on the left & Mata in the middle, will Oscar be ideally suited to play wide for Jose on that right side?

What needs to happen, and what i'm hoping happens...is for Oscar to drop a bit deeper. He's more effective when he plays deeper like he does for Brazil. He's not a true #10 like Mata, he's at his best as a central mid in a 4-3-3. Because he's certainly not a winger either.

 

[champcruthik]

Mou's the best manager in football not named Pep.

 

[Trey Bantz]

Don't victimize Mourinho, he had no intentions of staying either. His departure from Real Madrid was mutual, he's had his mind set on a Premier League return for over a year now.

 

[hugebird]

I was thinking about Jose coming back to Chelsea. With Hazard on the left & Mata in the middle, will Oscar be ideally suited to play wide for Jose on that right side?

I think the plan is to have Oscar play a little deeper and eventually be the long term Lampard replacement, but at the moment, he's not quite ready for that role, but expect to see him play there more next season.

I honestly believe that Kevin DeBruyne is ready to step in right now and be the starter on the right side, and I hope and pray that he isn't sent away again or sold to Dortmund without either Lewa or Gundogan coming the other way.

 

[fear the ibis]

Found an article from December, which proves that Torres is statistically the worst striker in Europe for a major club.

So does Radamel Falcao represent good value for money, or is he merely the next Fernando Torres? To answer this question, I’ve totaled up the numbers for Europe’s most prolific goal scorers, plus stats for Liverpool's and Chelsea’s existing strikers (Suarez, Torres, and Sturridge), and each has been assigned a likely transfer value, based on age, contract length, and Transfer Markt's valuation. Apologies to Antonio Di Natale and Diego Milito, who have been ignored on account of their being really, really old.

It’s an interesting mix, comprising pure strikers, false nines, wingers, and Fernando Torres, who is the worst player on the list in several different quantifiable ways. However, determining who the best players are is a trickier business. We can sort the data by the number of shots taken per goal scored, in which case the dead-eyed accuracy of Gonzalo Higuain, Mario Gomez, Rodrigo Palacio, and Lisandro Lopez leaps to the fore. However, Palacio and Lopez take fewer shots per game than any of the other 31 players on the list; clearly, dead-eyed accuracy is of debatable value when you get only two shots at goal per match.

If we instead sort the data by the number of shots taken, our old friends Ronaldo (7 shots/90) and Messi (5.03 shots/90) become the MVPs. Ronaldo’s aim, it should be noted, may seem somewhat unreliable (ranking 20th in shots/goal), but he’s shooting from an average distance of 20.7 yards, which is perhaps unsurprising given that he’s technically a winger, not a striker. By comparison, Messi shoots from much closer to goal (16.2 yards on average), but he’s ruthlessly accurate, and ranks fifth on our list in shots/goal. You could argue that Ronaldo shouldn’t be on this list at all, and only figures thanks to his habit of bludgeoning the ball into the top corner from outside the area, but you can’t argue with his success rate — he scores more goals per minute than anyone else in Europe. Messi, meanwhile, has the dribbling ability to bring the ball into the box and shoot from much closer distances, hence his vastly superior accuracy statistics.

Messi’s devastating combination of shot creation and efficiency is the holy grail for strikers, so who else on the list excels in both these areas? The table has been sorted according to who has the best blend of the two attributes, hence the high ranking for players who rate in the top 15 in both categories: Robin Van Persie, Radamel Falcao, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Karim Benzema, and Edinson Cavani. Ibrahimovic is getting old (PSG have now dropped him into midfield to act as a playmaker), and the other four would all cost in excess of $50 million, as would Mario Gomez and Gonzalo Higuain. It’s hard to make a case for any of these strikers over any other; Van Persie and Falcao have the best mix of attributes, while Gomez and Higuain boast the best goals/game ratio. It should also be noted that Cavani and Falcao have achieved their successes at (slightly) smaller clubs, which weighs in their favor. What’s clear is that any of these players would represent an improvement on Chelsea's current forward line, and if Falcao was worth $62 million to Athletico Madrid, he’s certainly worth $70 million to Roman Abramovic. What’s more, Athletico Madrid may be willing to take Torres — who started his career with the club — as a makeweight in the deal, and there aren’t many other clubs lining up to take Torres off Chelsea’s hands.

But what of those clubs who can’t afford to gamble $50 million (or more) on a striker? Is Huntelaar the best value on the list? Evidently, Fulham bagged themselves the deal of the century when they signed Dimitar Berbatov, but it’s unlikely he’ll want to move again this season, so Liverpool might be well advised to keep in contact with Athletic Bilbao, who look likely to lose the services of Fernando Llorente this January. Like Huntelaar, Llorente’s contract is due to expire at the end of the season, and he could also be available for $10 million — or, to put it another way, less than a fifth of an Andy Carroll.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...-tricks-for-sale-ranking-europes-top-strikers

 

[keepie uppie]

premier league and u21 premier league champions

GGMU

the future looks bright...

Yeah, I saw this earlier. What I liked to hear more than anything, was that Powell was getting game time, and had some flashes of brilliance.

Also Tyler Blackett getting some game time.

I'm looking forward to seeing Powell next season, and hopefully Blackett getting some minutes in the dying embers of some of the games.

Adnan Januzat is one to watch as well...
I haven't been able to catch a full match but from the highlights the lefty usually starts on the right side of midfield but "floats" like a number 10 occasionally throughout the game...
he's got decent vision for a young lad...

 

[JJ Goon]

Yeah, I saw this earlier. What I liked to hear more than anything, was that Powell was getting game time, and had some flashes of brilliance.

Also Tyler Blackett getting some game time.

I'm looking forward to seeing Powell next season, and hopefully Blackett getting some minutes in the dying embers of some of the games.

I think Powell will go out on loan next season, Hopefully to an EPL side that will give him minutes