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Rogue219

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I will enjoy watching Yedlin and Newcastle back in the Prem. Was a real failure with all the talent they had last year to be relegated. Should have been mid table at worst. Interested to see how they finish in the Chanpionship

Sissoko is a dog. Some captain. I'm thrilled he had that good Euro tournament and then went to Spurs. They're perfect for one another.
 

Rogue219

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Luis Enrique confirmed he will not be at Barca after this current season concludes.

Keep an eye on Pochettino here. He's done well at Southampton and Tottenham. If Barca approach, it will be hard to turn down.

It's my understanding he may covet the Man U job too. Could wait for Jose to wear out his welcome and get sacked.

The idea of Wenger going to Barca is absolutely hilarious.
 

nlroma1o

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Keep an eye on Pochettino here. He's done well at Southampton and Tottenham. If Barca approach, it will be hard to turn down.

It's my understanding he may covet the Man U job too. Could wait for Jose to wear out his welcome and get sacked.

The idea of Wenger going to Barca is absolutely hilarious.

I was listening to the guys on The Football Ramble podcast today and they seem to think there is zero chance Poch will go to Barca because he is far too loyal to his old club Espanyol. But, ya never know, right?
 

Rocket89

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I was listening to the guys on The Football Ramble podcast today and they seem to think there is zero chance Poch will go to Barca because he is far too loyal to his old club Espanyol. But, ya never know, right?

Poch has flat out said as much. But you're right...you never know.
 

Rocket89

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Sissoko is a dog. Some captain. I'm thrilled he had that good Euro tournament and then went to Spurs. They're perfect for one another.

So perfect, Spurs will probably take 50 cents on the dollar to ship him out in the summer. :none:
 

NDinL.A.

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I was listening to the guys on The Football Ramble podcast today and they seem to think there is zero chance Poch will go to Barca because he is far too loyal to his old club Espanyol. But, ya never know, right?

Yeah, he's not even on the radar really. I'm rooting for Sampaoli at Sevilla to take over. He plays an attractive, attacking style and also will bring some discipline to their style as well. And he wants the job badly too.
 

ACamp1900

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Dude, fire every person associated with our women's club.... what the fuck?!
 

NorthDakota

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Pool with another win against a top club. It is ridiculous how well they play against the good teams that actually want to play the game the right way. Rip them to shreds.
 

Old Man Mike

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Arsenal's manager benching Alexis helped, but I agree about the Mad Genius' Liverpool wildmen --- especially when the rest of them follow Lallana's work-rate.
 

Old Man Mike

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I have an extremely amateurish and unpopular view of the Women's team: We don't score because we have an important person in the final third who has mediocre passing skills and stops flow. That person is "player-of-the-year" Carly Lloyd. I don't know what you do about that. It seems that you either play her close to the goal and let her hammer on people, or get her out of there. Heresy, I know.

This manager also seems to have a love affair with the youngest generation --- understandable if planning the future, but 2018 isn't THAT far away. We need people who are good with the ball at their feet in the final third (duh...). As of now, Lynn Williams is not. Everyone's drooling there but she owes success to her teammates' feet --- speed she has, but we have lots of other speed.

The coach needs to get Pugh and Heath and Dunn in the game together --- that probably means the absence of most of Lloyd, Morgan, Press, Williams, Rapinoe, and Lavelle, since none of them seem to really be midfielders --- Heath could do it since she can do anything, but that would be an offensive waste.

Apologies for talking about the girls.......
 

ACamp1900

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I was so mad... lol... never. Lose. To. England. Lol... I'm a dork...

Anyway, I'm not too far off with the Lloyd thing really, it's often the Lloyd show or a mass attempt at it lately... not sure if that's all her or a lack of inspiration elsewhere.
 

NDinL.A.

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I was so mad... lol... never. Lose. To. England. Lol... I'm a dork...

Anyway, I'm not too far off with the Lloyd thing really, it's often the Lloyd show or a mass attempt at it lately... not sure if that's all her or a lack of inspiration elsewhere.

Like most athletes, she's coming off a major knee injury and is struggling. That should be no surprise, regardless of how hard she worked to get back. It's got to be tough for the coaching staff...I mean, she's a legend and deserves every amount of praise heaped on her, but she's not ready yet.

Knock on wood, I've never torn my knee. But I've played with and/or coached several soccer players coming off ACL surgery, and every single one was not themselves until their 2nd year back, save for one (and this dude played at Valpo and was a beast...of course, he then sadly tore his other ACL two months after he came back, but I digress). So I wouldn't expect to see Carli back to her old self in the next couple months. And given her age, well, I don't know man...
 

NDinL.A.

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Arsenal's manager benching Alexis helped, but I agree about the Mad Genius' Liverpool wildmen --- especially when the rest of them follow Lallana's work-rate.

Barcelona in my favorite soccer team by far, but Liverpool is my England-based team (only because of Fernando Torres back in the day being a beast and my favorite player bc of his Spanish roots). I say this bc I have a couple of Arsenal friends (yuge fans, great guys) and when Alexis was benched, I hit them up, and they told me how much the team was in disarray. I had no idea. I mean, I knew they were struggling, but they said it was worse than casual fans knew.

And it played out on the field that first half. That was a glorious arse-kicking. 2nd half was different (who knew that playing one of the top players in England actually helps your team's chances?), but too late. Big win for 'Pool.
 

nlroma1o

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Barcelona in my favorite soccer team by far, but Liverpool is my England-based team (only because of Fernando Torres back in the day being a beast and my favorite player bc of his Spanish roots). I say this bc I have a couple of Arsenal friends (yuge fans, great guys) and when Alexis was benched, I hit them up, and they told me how much the team was in disarray. I had no idea. I mean, I knew they were struggling, but they said it was worse than casual fans knew.

And it played out on the field that first half. That was a glorious arse-kicking. 2nd half was different (who knew that playing one of the top players in England actually helps your team's chances?), but too late. Big win for 'Pool.

Yesterday the rumor mill has churned out that Allegri is leaving Juve and gave Arsenal a verbal agreement. Today, Allegri is denying. The press in Europe is pure entertainment. I love it and hate it all at the same time.
 

NDohio

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I have an extremely amateurish and unpopular view of the Women's team: We don't score because we have an important person in the final third who has mediocre passing skills and stops flow. That person is "player-of-the-year" Carly Lloyd. I don't know what you do about that. It seems that you either play her close to the goal and let her hammer on people, or get her out of there. Heresy, I know.

This manager also seems to have a love affair with the youngest generation --- understandable if planning the future, but 2018 isn't THAT far away. We need people who are good with the ball at their feet in the final third (duh...). As of now, Lynn Williams is not. Everyone's drooling there but she owes success to her teammates' feet --- speed she has, but we have lots of other speed.

The coach needs to get Pugh and Heath and Dunn in the game together --- that probably means the absence of most of Lloyd, Morgan, Press, Williams, Rapinoe, and Lavelle, since none of them seem to really be midfielders --- Heath could do it since she can do anything, but that would be an offensive waste.

Apologies for talking about the girls.......


The women play batter when she is on the field. She is becoming the engine that makes that team go. I don't get why she sat so long...
 

Rogue219

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Rumors Wenger gets a two year extension, rumors Allegri is a done deal. You just never know.

Liverpool host Burnley next, then go on the road to City. I'm guessing they drop points against Burnley then go to the Etihad and take 3 points from Pep.
 

notredomer23

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Crazy how quality MLS is now compared to 2010 and the compared to 2005. Quickly becoming a solid league. Still a ways to go, but it's getting there.
 

nlroma1o

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Crazy how quality MLS is now compared to 2010 and the compared to 2005. Quickly becoming a solid league. Still a ways to go, but it's getting there.

I actually watched some of the Atlanta United game last night. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, their midfield players are solid.

On a complete random note, There's this weird thing in the MLS we're defenders accidentally pop the ball up instead of a drive out of the area and I'm noticing it over and over in games. It's occuring so often that I noticed it last night and the Minnesota game on Friday. Is it the turf these guys aren't used to? I can't believe how many MLS games are played on turf. It blows my mind. I play on turf every single week here in Chicago and I hate it. I imagine the pros have to be sick of it.
 

ACamp1900

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MLS is already a solid league and yeah the growth has been insane... in terms of the clearance issues I have noticed it for a long while... it's one of the reasons the MLS is solid but not nearly comparable to the Bundesliga or the EPL... in fact it really is a defensive thing all around imo, tho I never thought of the turf dynamic.
 

ACamp1900

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Keeping on that note, you can already see a huge difference in LAG... going to be an interesting year watching the mass transitions they are going through.
 

notredomer23

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MLS is already a solid league and yeah the growth has been insane... in terms of the clearance issues I have noticed it for a long while... it's one of the reasons the MLS is solid but not nearly comparable to the Bundesliga or the EPL... in fact it really is a defensive thing all around imo, tho I never thought of the turf dynamic.

Defense will always be a weakness in this league until some major restructuring. I'm nearly positive the amount of designated players that play defense you can count on one hand IF there has been any.
 

Rogue219

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Wenger is surely out right?

In my mind, Bayern Munich finished off the repeal part of Wenger's Arsenal tenure yesterday. It is now up to Arsenal to finish off the replace part.

It is my understanding that to some degree Wenger would have to fire himself? I don't see that happening. He has a certain arrogance about him, not quite like SAF or Mourinho or even French arrogance. It's something all his own.

I think it is clear that they need change.
 

nlroma1o

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"Purely Arsenal Podcast" host believes Wenger is staying. Most depressed fan base in the world at the moment. I almost feel bad for them. Sanchez is surely leaving. The picture of him laughing on the sideline, trying to cover his face says it all. Wenger just lost their best player and he's probably going to retain his job. Incredible.
 

ACamp1900

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I mean, from a distance this looks curious... what are they honestly expecting, to beat Bayern? To win the EPL?
 

GowerND11

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I mean, from a distance this looks curious... what are they honestly expecting, to beat Bayern? To win the EPL?

At least be competitive against Bayern. Losing 10-2 on agg is just embarrassing. I think this team could compete for the EPL title. I doubt they could end up winning, but no reason for them to not be in the fight.

Instead they are just imploding...
 

Emcee77

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I mean, from a distance this looks curious... what are they honestly expecting, to beat Bayern? To win the EPL?

Is it curious? I guess some might be satisfied with the current cycle of losing in the last 16 of the Champs League so you can focus on your league form so you can get in the top 4 so you can make Champs League again so you can lose in the last 16 of the CL so you can ... (rinse and repeat). At least you are getting in the top 4 of the EPL and the last 16 of the CL.

But I can also understand why Arsenal might not be willing to settle for that any longer, 15 years after their last EPL title. Arsenal are a club with a tradition of excellence in the richest league in the world, located in one of the great European capitals. Their revenue is more than sufficient to win titles: Chelsea won a title two years ago, with comparable revenue. (And btw, they aren't giving up much in that department to Bayern ... Bayern fifth in the 2016 Deloitte revenue rankings, Arsenal seventh.) And then of course Leicester showed everyone that revenue isn't the be-all-end-all anyway.

The line between stability and stagnation is sometimes thin. I can see why Arsenal fans might think a change is necessary.
 

ACamp1900

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Not speaking so much to the apparent change but the triggers... what has really changed to make it so jarring NOW is really my point... we're talking about a suddenly, massively depressed fan base and such as if this hasn't been the norm for a while...?? that is what's curious.
 

GowerND11

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Not speaking so much to the apparent change but the triggers... what has really changed to make it so jarring NOW is really my point... we're talking about a suddenly, massively depressed fan base and such as if this hasn't been the norm for a while...?? that is what's curious.

There was this Era of Good Feelings, much like any season with Arsenal. However, this one seemed to introduce REAL hope for this year. We had a run where we didn't lose a game in something like 4 months. We won our group in the CL, and generally, everything was clicking (more or less). Then reality struck. Lost back to back to Man City and Everton. Injuries (again) hit the team, we drew Bayern (again) in the R16. To top it off, the contract negotiations with Alexis and Ozil stalled, presumably due to wages.

There was just this sense that maybe things would work in our favor again this year. Maybe we could make a run at 1st. Maybe we get out of the R16 in the Cl... But, like always, the team looks spent, lazy, and weak. Add to that, Wenger just can't seem to make the correct adjustments within the team, and big splashes aren't being done in the transfer window.
 
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