The Soccer Thread

[shnsajax]

How has Hernandez not been drop by ManU by now?

[USSoccer]

How has Hernandez not been drop by ManU by now?

 

He's the least of their problems. They don't have a single good box-to-box CM. They don't have a single good DCM. They have like 4 ACM's, and of those, Kagawa looks like his spirit is completely broken, and Mata is redundant because they have to play Rooney there, because he can't coexist with RvP up front. They have no idea how to use Januzaj.

 

The money they paid Rooney last year was absolutely hands down the worst decision Moyes made, because now Rooney's completely unsellable, and you can't sit him because he's making the GDP of Iceland per week. They have 2 completely worthless wing players in Valencia and Young. They have exactly 0 good defenders, because they've spent 2 years jerking Phil Jones around the field.

 

They're paying the price for not being more proactive in reloading their midfield and backline. They had the perfect solution to their issues in house in Paul Pogba, and SAF decided he'd pick a pissing contest with the kid, not play him much, and then bring back Paul Scholes's corpse instead of buying a CM. Mata was a panic buy. Fellaini was a panic buy, and while he's not as bad as his play has shown, he's not good enough for that level. Di Maria is a great player, but doesn't address the fact that their CMs are:

 

-Tom Cleverley

-Anderson

-Michael Carrick

-Darren Fletcher

-Fellaini

-Ander Herrera

 

That's a seriously bad list of CMs. That's not a CL contender. That midfield is something you see in the lower-mid table. They're going to get worked consistently until they get quality in those spots, because if their midfield is getting overrun, that's going to expose their terrible backline, and then it won't matter that De Gea is really good and RvP and Rooney and Di Maria are really good attacking players. There's nobody to link up with the forwards, so Rooney drops deep, isolating RvP. They can't hold possession so they can't dictate the flow of the game.

[wolf stansson]

And to top it off, they're trying to buy their way into the top 4 with a couple big names rather than 5 or 6 champions league quality contributors. DiMaria is excellent, but you could have bought 4 contributors for that price rather than a player that makes your previous record signing redundant (Mata). They strengthened what was already a position of strength.

 

What Man City did last year was brilliant. Scour Spain and Italy for top tier players on second tier teams and offer them big raises. Don't waste money on overpriced English talent or try to poach players from clubs where they're already making absolute top dollar.

 

Chicharito is actually really good value for them. He's going to be needed off the bench or on Cup days. We just hear the narrative that they should sell him here because Mexicans want him to be starting. In reality, every team like United need a reliable striker option off the bench.

[wolf stansson]

Pep Guardiola is a lunatic.

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/pep-guardiola-roughs-up-thomas-muller-during-a-bayern-training-session-202654403.html

[USSoccer]

Geez, Pep. I thought that being overly physical in exhibition games and training sessions was classless and unnecessary.

 

What a jackass.

[wolf stansson]

Group A

Atletico Madrid

Juventus

Olympiacos

Malmo

 

Group B

Real Madrid

Basel

Liverpool

Ludogorets

 

Group C

Benfica

Zenit St. Petersburg

Bayer Leverkusen

Monaco

 

Group D

Arsenal

Borussia Dortmund

Galatasaray

Anderlecht

 

Group E

Bayern Munich

Man City

CSKA Moscow

Roma

 

Group F (Zlatan Trifecta)

Barcelona

PSG

Ajax

Apoel Nicosia

 

Group G

Chelsea

Schalke

Sporting

Maribor

 

Group H

FC Porto

Shakhtar Donetsk

Athletic Bilbao

BATE

[CubInOK]

Team for friendly vs Czech Republic in Prague.

 

GOALKEEPERS (3) : Cody Cropper (Southampton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake)

 

DEFENDERS (7) : John Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Timmy Chandler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Greg Garza (Club Tijuana), Fabian Johnson (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Michael Orozco (Puebla), Tim Ream (Bolton)

 

MIDFIELDERS (7) : Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Julian Green (Bayern Munich), Emerson Hyndman (Fulham), Alfredo Morales (Ingolstadt), Brek Shea (Stoke City)

 

FORWARDS (5) : Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Joe Gyau (Borussia Dortmund II), Jordan Morris (Stanford), Rubio Rubin (Utrecht), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich)

 

I don't know who half these players are. Hell, I don't even know who half these club teams are.

[shnsajax]

Interesting on Jordan Morris, I can't recall the last time we took a college kid to a senior friendly.

[wolf stansson]

It's basically Euro nats, Olympic roster candidates that haven't already broke into MLS or the nats and fringe nats based in Europe. Very speculative roster from Jurgen.

 

The Jordan Morris hype machine is out of control in the US prospect circles. Apparently has elite speed and can play anywhere in the attack from the 10 to the wing or up top. If Seattle didn't have so many veteran strikers, he wouldn't have gone to college. Hopefully Jurgen gets in his ear and tells him to stop dicking around at Stanford.

[wvcbxl]

...

Group E

Bayern Munich

Man City

CSKA Moscow

Roma

...

 

This looks like a fun group :-D

[wolf stansson]

Interesting on Jordan Morris, I can't recall the last time we took a college kid to a senior friendly.

http://www.noshortcorners.com/2014/08/klinsmann-goes-young-with-newest-usmnt.html

Morris is the first collegiate athlete to be called up to the USMNT since the mid-90s, according to former NSC writer Will Parchman, now with Top Drawer Soccer. Morris is eligible to sign as a Seattle Sounders Home Grown Player.

[USSoccer]

Its somewhat comforting to know that sports meatballery knows no borders. Reading Arsenal fans lose their [expletive] about whether or not Mesut Özil cares or shows enough passion and fire on the field is weirdly amusing.

[Billy_Buck]

Its somewhat comforting to know that sports meatballery knows no borders. Reading Arsenal fans lose their [expletive] about whether or not Mesut Özil cares or shows enough passion and fire on the field is weirdly amusing.

No fire. Not enough grit. Terrible w/ RISP.

[wolf stansson]

It's really very simple. If Ozil looked like this:

 

http://offthecuffldn.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Andrea-Pirlo.jpg

 

Everyone would think he was an unflappable genius for jogging lightly and nonchalantly pinging passes all over the field.

[shnsajax]

I'm more concerned about everyone being made out of glass at Arsenal.

[USSoccer]

That's an every year thing there. Ramsey, Wilshire and Walcott are a stone cold lock to miss 2 months in the middle of the season, and that's right around when they'll fade from the title race and get knocked out of the Champions League. Because they never have any depth.

[CubInOK]

That's an every year thing there. Ramsey, Wilshire and Walcott are a stone cold lock to miss 2 months in the middle of the season, and that's right around when they'll fade from the title race and get knocked out of the Champions League. Because they never have any depth.

Arsenal already have an injury list like 10 deep. Giroud takes a step after kicking a ball and ends up with a fracture in his ankle.

[USSoccer]

That's an every year thing there. Ramsey, Wilshire and Walcott are a stone cold lock to miss 2 months in the middle of the season, and that's right around when they'll fade from the title race and get knocked out of the Champions League. Because they never have any depth.

Arsenal already have an injury list like 10 deep. Giroud takes a step after kicking a ball and ends up with a fracture in his ankle.

 

What I question is why Wenger hasn't taken steps to try and mitigate that. If the same players get hurt every year, then you should stop counting on said players to form your core.

[shnsajax]

That's an every year thing there. Ramsey, Wilshire and Walcott are a stone cold lock to miss 2 months in the middle of the season, and that's right around when they'll fade from the title race and get knocked out of the Champions League. Because they never have any depth.

Arsenal already have an injury list like 10 deep. Giroud takes a step after kicking a ball and ends up with a fracture in his ankle.

 

What I question is why Wenger hasn't taken steps to try and mitigate that. If the same players get hurt every year, then you should stop counting on said players to form your core.

 

Cause he is a stubborn ass frenchman. Pretty much the same ole story since dumping Patrick Vieira.

[shnsajax]

Another game without ManU getting a win. So much for their easy opening schedule.

[treebird]

lolol burnley

[Guest]

tree, who's your favorite team? do you want to root for Spurs like i do? i need help

[USSoccer]

I feel bad for David DeGea.

[treebird]

everton's decision to replace all their defensive players with spider monkeys is looking pretty questionable so far. still lots of time to go though

[wolf stansson]

I feel bad for David DeGea.

I feel bad for Tim Howard.