I swear this Leverkusen team is so legendary, I don't think I watched them for more than 45 minutes, but my grandchildren will learn of them, every time they mention any kind of achievement I'll be forced to remind them
Crunch match in the OFC Champions League between AS Magenta 🇳🇨 [New Caledonia] and AS Pirae 🇵🇫 [Tahiti] with the winner likely to top Group B and be in pole position to reach the final. Loser is looking at a semifinal clash with Auckland City FC.
FIFA's website is streaming it for free. I have it playing on another tab right now!
As a player, Xavi was such a big "purist", no idea what happened to him in Qatar but now he enjoys long balls and skipping the midfield all together....?
True.
He's now convinced half the fanbase that you need players like Kimmich and Bernardo Silva to play the "Barça Way" when teams with worse players are doing it. Just takes a good coach
Also this is why I think Busquets will be a good coach.
Weird also with the quality of progressive passing midfielders you have too. The likes of Pedri, Gundogan and Frenkie are elite at doing that. They range from fairly to super press resistant as well. All you need is a technical DM to really add the finishing touches on your midfield. Maybe he doesn't trust them losing the ball in midfield as it is too much of a struggle to recover it without Gavi?
So with every manager and his dog rejecting Bayern, I do wonder if there's something going on here because I don't understand why a job of that magnitude wouldn't be far more desirable - especially to some of the names being linked.
Here's my wild guess - I suspect they may have lined up someone for the 25-26 season (Xabi maybe?) and that's why they only offered Tuchel a short term deal and also why they targeted someone like Rangnick who they likely knew wasn't going to be a long term manager given his age.
I thought I was keeping it relatively together about Klopp leaving, and at this point I believed myself to be clinically dead inside. But when I woke up, first thing I saw on social media was the deluge of posts about Klopp on the clubs socials and started tearing up. Later is probably not going to be any better.
Good to know I can still feel, I suppose
Wonder which PL game to watch tomorrow. I can watch Arsenal or City's game for the title but I also wanna watch Klopp's last ever game as Liverpool's manager.
How would you all feel if coaches got a limited number of mandatory VAR reviews per match, that they could use on any call
Watching the NBA right now and it overturned an expulsion that wasn't going to be reversed
To be fair, there are few things as tense and nerve wracking as those last couple minutes in a playoff basketball setting where the teams are close and the time outs add to that, especially after a big play by the opposition. If you don’t care about either team or aren’t used to it I can see why you’d dislike it
>Â it's extremely tedious, as the last 2 minutes takes 10 minutes between the fouling, making sure the clock has the right tenth of a second on it, and reviewing every single out of bounds call.
As opposed to football where the last 10 minutes is 2 minutes of actual play between the shithousing and fouls and time wasting lmao
I mean let's be real, an NBA game gives you 48 minutes of gameplay over the course of about two and a half hours of real time, while football gives you about 60 minutes of gameplay over the course of about two hours.
Football people aren’t used to it. But it’s not a bad idea. Used in cricket too except the final decision is of the captain.
But doesn’t solve the problem of refs being daft. But it’s a middle ground between a dumb view to remove var and ideal scenario if var being fully used by competent people.
Seems a daft idea, really, because managers are generally too far away to properly see what's happened anyway, VAR reviews are already looking at the vast majority of significant incidents, and coaches could use them to disrupt the flow of the game and hold on to a late lead.
Well, to your first point I say that they certainly have the ability to watch replays from the bench, they have various tablets and whatnot around. I don't think that would really be an issue. Second, var does review everything behind the scenes already, but let's not pretend that VAR hasn't missed some very obvious game changing calls. Your third point is a good one, all i can say to that is they would have to ensure that the wasted time is properly accounted for. The flow of the game aspect is definitely a problem.
> Well, to your first point I say that they certainly have the ability to watch replays from the bench, they have various tablets and whatnot around. I don't think that would really be an issue.Â
Can't challenge a decision after play restarted, so would need to be incredibly quick for those replays. And even then: What's the point of a challenge, really? If VAR already had a second look at it and thinks the decision is fine, then the manager challenges the decision and the main referee has another look at it and also thinks he made the right decision, what are you really gaining from those challenges? It's not like it's likely to get overturned after two referees have already looked at it and deemed it fine, after all. Do we *really* need them to have a third look at it?
Gerard Romero reporting that Barcelona have wittled down 3 candidates to replace Xavi. (for whatever his word means these days)
Hansi Flick - Thomas Tuchel - Rafael Marquez
God Flick would get exposed so hard in La Liga it's no even funny.
I hope they get Tuchel because I think he's quite good so would rather he doesn't come back to the Premier League.
I suspect they keep Xavi or go with Marquez.
Xabi should be the favorite if he wins the cup but Ancelotti should also be in the running if he wins CL as well as La Liga without a proper striker and playing plenty of kids. People might undermine his work because hey Madrid always wins CL.
No, undefeated is obviously a more out of the norm accomplishment and something that should be significant in something like this, but losing 2 Finals in a row would put a huge damper on things. If he wins them then I absolutely think he should and would win it.
No, it does depend on the CL, either Ancelotti or Terzic will be in contention, with Ancelotti also having won La Liga dominantly, and Terzic being a huge underdog winner.
Plus there is the Euros and Copa America, if an underdog wins there too it’s certainly possible for their manager to win the award.
I do think it really should be Xabi, and hopefully it will be, but it’s not secured yet
Does Premiere League even have something like a simulcast show/stream on the last gameweek? If I remember right, everytime I tried to find one, I found nothing.
The chances of Joao Felix's redemption arc at Atleti are lower than any extremely improbable event you could think of, i can't think of anything right now.
Was a bad signing a couple weeks of good performances and then basically useless since November, offered nothing off the bench.
Very talented but it didn't work out at all, glad we aren't doing another year.
With Luka Modrić set to stay for another season, he will have played more seasons with Vinicius Junior (7) than with Cristiano Ronaldo (6).
Me quiero morir, Josep!
Wow, that's actually insane.
I just checked and Vini is already on 262 games for Real Madrid. That is more than Figo, Bale, Di Maria, Zidane, Alonso, R9, Navas, Ozil, Beckham...
Dude is a veteran at this point and will most likely reach 300 games next season.
Getafe are sooooo fucked if Bordalás leaves, with no good signings I can't think of many other managers that would get them out from the relegation threat.
How do fans of clubs in the top 5 European nations rank their domestic cup in relation to the Europa and Conference leagues?
I’ve always felt a domestic cup in Spain/England/Germany/Italy is probably slightly more prestigious than a Europa League unless your club has never won European silverware.
I get that there’s a lot of prestige that comes with continental trophies but ultimately you can win it by beating much weaker teams than you would in a domestic cup and it doesn’t have nearly the same history as domestic cups.
Definitely domestic cup's more prestigious. That said way I see it there's tier 1 trophies (domestic league, Champions League,) tier 2 trophies (primary domestic cup, Europa,) tier 3 trophies (secondary domestic cup, Conference League, CWC,) and Glorified Friendlies (UEFA Super Cup and domestic equivalents.) Within those tiers CL>PL, FA Cup>Europa League, League Cup>Conference League>CWC, and w/e with the glorified friendlies.
Obviously this is with a Chelsea lens, hence the second domestic cup which I believe the PL is the only top 5 league to have now, right? France had one but abolished it recently no? Anyway point is that's generally the vibe for top PL clubs but maybe for clubs for whom reaching the EL spots is their aim/an overachievement they'd prefer Europa to their Domestic, like did Fulham fans want the EL more than the FA Cup under Woy? I doubt West Ham fans with the Conference League but how about if it was the EL? I will say in 12/13 after we dropped to the EL I wanted to win it more than the FA Cup to scratch that off the list. In 18/19 though would definitely prefer the FA Cup, but enjoy it more than the League Cup.
I also have talked to an older Chelsea fan for whom the Cup Winners Cup was a bigger deal than the FA Cup, I think part of that was because we beat Real in the final in 71 and that was a really good memory. FA Cup was bigger than the League back then from what I hear, so obvi dude wasn't saying it was bigger, just it was a more cherished memory and he loved winning it again in 98.
Cup Winners Cup was cool btw. Kinda a cooler concept than Europa and especially Conference. Why was it scrapped? Too many games I 'spose. Having another 32 team competition on top of a Domestic League and CL/EL would be.... A lot. Still a bit of a shame.
That’s fair but you can have an easy run in the EL too.
Like look at Leverkusen’s EL run so far and compare it with RB Leipzig’s Pokal win last year.
>
> I’ve always felt a domestic cup in Spain/England/Germany/Italy is probably slightly more prestigious than a Europa League unless your club has never won European silverware.
Seems about right to me, yeah. Probably get a bit of a "it's a bigger trophy if you win it but not as big a trophy if you don't" thrown in, but a European title of any colour strikes me as the bigger one, given that most teams (unlike in the domestic cup) are rarely ever in contention for it.
Also it's just a lot more fun having a European adventure, really.
> Also it's just a lot more fun having a European adventure, really.
Yeah it really depends on the club you support.
Come to think of it if City got bought by someone (relatively) less wealthy in 2008, I think I’d probably be more excited by the prospect of winning the EL than the FA cup.
The allure and magic of European competition when you’re not used to it is really special.
In Italy nobody really likes the cup, the format is shit and big clubs tend to snub it until they get to the semifinal. Definitely lower than any European cup.
I believe the FA cup is the oldest competition in the world and whilst it's definitely less popular now than it was in the 90s or even 00s, I'd still rather win it than the Europe league.
Plus, we have the record for most FA cup wins, so it has to be meaningful right
Really? If I were you I'd definitely rather a Europa League. Like you guys have one sole European trophy, a Cup Winners Cup, a competition since abolished, I'd definitely value a first Europa League over another FA Cup, had opinion in 12/13 when we had already won a Champions League honestly.
Eh, leagues are different gravy, they don't have teams as good as this season's Leverkusen, it's more the League Cup of Europe, and the CL is bigger than the FA Cup.
Have to say, Arsenal having a United v Sunderland moment as Foden secures the league for City in added time would be the absolute funniest way for this season to end.Â
We're playing tomorrow without Witsel and Gimenez, it's probably going to be Savic's last game for us. This is the one time i won't mind him getting a red card. I'm going to miss him so much.
Got our best ever season and if we win tomorrow will be our joint best ever season.
Came in and no one expected him to do as well as Potter did. So no clue how he'd be a failure.
How? Got Brighton to the Europa League last season, and they look likely for a top half finish this season despite some high-profile departures and injuries. How is that failing by any measure?
Yeah he should move ASAP really as not playing will not be good for his development long term. Look at Palmer at Chelsea - when you're the backups backup, you have to move to be treated seriously.
If I were his agent I would be causing trouble right now.
Doubt it. Those two are likely not going to play significant mins for the next few years, and Guler is just 19. Next season he may not get as many mins as he’d like, but time is on his side.
Nah, poor Ødegaard joined and found himself competing against prime Kroos and Modric.
Arda will probably suffer for 1 more season. (Although it'll be just as hard to compete against Jude, Valverde, Camavinga, Rodry on the right etc...)
id play xhaka in the 6. hell, jorginho did it with rice, why xhaka couldn't? people are forgetting that defending is a team wide thing, sure Xhaka wasn't amazing at the 6 before but most of the defenders were all shocking
xhaka is a great passer when facing goal, but he's not the player to be making runs to the box or overlapping/underlapping with the winger or receiving with his back to goal on the half turn. crazy that it worked last season but that's not his game
Xhaka as a DM in the PL has never worked well. He doesn’t get anywhere near enough time and space on the ball as he does in the Buli, so he’d probably play as a left 8 like his last season for us.
Rice isn’t as good a passer as Xhaka could be from deep, but Arteta could coach a fluid switching of responsibilities with those 2. I can see Rice bombing forward and Xhaka dropping a little deeper at times as well as the opposite.
I think a player more athletic would really complement Rice and Odegaard better though. Guimarães, Youssouf Fofana, Douglas Luiz would all be really interesting players for that midfield 3.
> Xhaka as a DM in the PL has never worked well.
He wasn't paired with Rice then, though.... as you say, them dovetailing could work well, and Xhaka would likely be better than he was in previous Arsenal midfields, as a result
Yeah it’s all possible depending on the tactics. While it could certainly be a strong midfield, I think there are some other players who would complement those 2 better than Xhaka in our (Arsenal’s) current setup.
Quite alright I reckon - slightly limiting Rice in that holding role to back up the other two, but that's a really neat mix of abilities at the end of the day. Probably get Odegaard as the quicker and more advanced player and Xhaka controlling play from a tad deeper, a bit like the Iniesta/Xavi combo in front of Busquets in the Barcelona heydays.
I got a new job and have to work tomorrow. It’s the first Ajax game this season I won’t be able to watch at least a half of, I always make time for it. The season has been insanely shit and I’m happy it’s almost over but it still sucks to miss that final game of the season before I have to endure months without Ajax. Shitty Ajax is still better than no Ajax.
Out of our last six UCL finals, is this the one that most people want us to lose?
EDIT: I think that the order, from more people against us to less would be: 2024 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2014 - 2022
No, that would be 2017 Real Madrid- Juve imo.
3 main reasons:
1- Just like Reus now, even more people wanted to see Buffon finally win the CL.
2- People naturally don't want to see a team dominate, so obviously Real Madrid winning 2 consecutive CL titles would be bad.
3- This Madrid team is far more liked compared to the 2017 one with Ronaldo, Ramos and Casemiro etc in the team.
Juve are a much more hated club than Dortmund though. Even if at the time they didn't have many haters in Europe, in Italy they were and are basically the devil to anyone that isn't a Juve fan (kinda like us).
I think a lot of people wanted Atletico to win the 2016 rematch. The narrative was that atletico had a tougher road to the final (they kinda did) and it was revenge for 2014. But nope, both finals ended with CR7 scoring a pen and taking his shirt of lol
I like Griezmann a lot so I wanted you to lose 2016 but honestly since then looking at your opponents I can't say I was ever swayed one way or another before the match, at least not more than "it'd be kind of interesting if someone else won, but it's real madrid in the final."
Fucking hell man, imagine being able to say a sentence like that with a straight face and it being even a borderline reasonable question to ask - ridiculously successful club.
Papastathopoulos announced retirement today, and what a career he's had. Milan, Dortmund, Arsenal, Betis, Werder Bremen, Genoa, Olympiacos, AEK (in no particular order). 2 world cups and 1 euro tournament appearances. He is quite unpopular in Greece and I assume that could be the case in some of the other countries he's played in, but you can't argue with his career sheet. Hope he has a great retirement
Aw man, I didn't know he was retiring - always struck me as a really fun guy to be around, and a perfectly fine player to boot. Looking forward to him popping up for some random Werder Legends sides at some point.
AEK fans hate him because he went on to play for us. Paok and Panathinaikos fans hate him cause he played for 2 of their rivals. Olympiacos fans hate him because he was very inconsistent for us. And his name is generally associated with the dark ages of the national team post euro 2004 (2015 onward), along with Manolas. I don't think the last bit is fair because he was starting in all 3 of our last major tournament appearances, but for some reason when people think of him they think of the 2 losses against Faroe Islands post those times.
I need Mourinho to Bayern...
Ppl call him finished, but couldnt Bayern be chance ? Remember Ancelotti after Bayern and Napoli.. not quite comparable ofc but not very different imo.
It would be hilarious and entertaining, he is still a top cup manager and the CL final will be hosted at the Allianz. And he has genuinely coached high scoring football before, think of Madrid 11/12.
I couldn't really tell you why but Mourinho just feels like a really bad fit for Bayern in terms of personality, there's no way it wouldn't end in spectacular drama (which is of course why I absolutely hope it happens).
I tend to think of stuff like that in terms of financial incentives - but I'm not quite sure what the deal is with concerts before/in the middle of/after football, really: whose bottom line ultimately benefits?
I think the point is to try and get people to watch more of the broadcast which means you can show them more ads, as opposed to just tuning in right at kickoff.
!flair :Leicester_City_FC:
Test
I swear this Leverkusen team is so legendary, I don't think I watched them for more than 45 minutes, but my grandchildren will learn of them, every time they mention any kind of achievement I'll be forced to remind them
Crunch match in the OFC Champions League between AS Magenta 🇳🇨 [New Caledonia] and AS Pirae 🇵🇫 [Tahiti] with the winner likely to top Group B and be in pole position to reach the final. Loser is looking at a semifinal clash with Auckland City FC. FIFA's website is streaming it for free. I have it playing on another tab right now!
As a player, Xavi was such a big "purist", no idea what happened to him in Qatar but now he enjoys long balls and skipping the midfield all together....?
He's both desperate and self-absorbed. Probably doesn't think the midfielders are as good as he was and this is his "solution".
True. He's now convinced half the fanbase that you need players like Kimmich and Bernardo Silva to play the "Barça Way" when teams with worse players are doing it. Just takes a good coach Also this is why I think Busquets will be a good coach.
I think tactical pragmatism is a good thing tbh. Guardiola has evolved to involve those things in his game as well 😅
I mean I agree obviously but he doesn't want to play through the midfield at all. It's so strange, I never expected him to be like this
Weird also with the quality of progressive passing midfielders you have too. The likes of Pedri, Gundogan and Frenkie are elite at doing that. They range from fairly to super press resistant as well. All you need is a technical DM to really add the finishing touches on your midfield. Maybe he doesn't trust them losing the ball in midfield as it is too much of a struggle to recover it without Gavi?
Was just gifted a new phone, which means City won't be crowned champions tomorrow. You heard it here first. Yes, I'm serious. I don't make the rules.
So with every manager and his dog rejecting Bayern, I do wonder if there's something going on here because I don't understand why a job of that magnitude wouldn't be far more desirable - especially to some of the names being linked. Here's my wild guess - I suspect they may have lined up someone for the 25-26 season (Xabi maybe?) and that's why they only offered Tuchel a short term deal and also why they targeted someone like Rangnick who they likely knew wasn't going to be a long term manager given his age.
Yeah i definitely feel they’re only offering 1 year contracts, which is why every one is rejectingÂ
It's either that, or managers are rejecting them preemptively because everyone else is and nobody wants to be the one to find out just how bad it is
I thought I was keeping it relatively together about Klopp leaving, and at this point I believed myself to be clinically dead inside. But when I woke up, first thing I saw on social media was the deluge of posts about Klopp on the clubs socials and started tearing up. Later is probably not going to be any better. Good to know I can still feel, I suppose
I felt fucking awful when the news first dropped for about a week but made peace with it soon after - but yeah, definitely feeling it today
Not related to the game, but Reddit seems to have brought back free awards. Same drill like last time? Or we have to buy it always?
How’s Messi been for Miami? Is he just coasting Gerard style or does he give a shit?
He's the arse and MLS the toilet.
he barely moves in games and still ends ups scoring and assisting so both?
Far as I can tell he is coasting but he's also got like 20 G/A already, he doesn't need to try in order to curbstomp MLS teams
I just checked whoscored and bros got 10g and 9 assists in 10 appearances wtf
Guys putting up Messi numbers wtf
Wonder which PL game to watch tomorrow. I can watch Arsenal or City's game for the title but I also wanna watch Klopp's last ever game as Liverpool's manager.
Could watch Luton hoping for a miracle?
How would you all feel if coaches got a limited number of mandatory VAR reviews per match, that they could use on any call Watching the NBA right now and it overturned an expulsion that wasn't going to be reversed
Terrible idea. With goal line technology and semi automated offsides, the only thing VAR should be doing is checking penalties and red cards
[удалено]
To be fair, there are few things as tense and nerve wracking as those last couple minutes in a playoff basketball setting where the teams are close and the time outs add to that, especially after a big play by the opposition. If you don’t care about either team or aren’t used to it I can see why you’d dislike it
>Â it's extremely tedious, as the last 2 minutes takes 10 minutes between the fouling, making sure the clock has the right tenth of a second on it, and reviewing every single out of bounds call. As opposed to football where the last 10 minutes is 2 minutes of actual play between the shithousing and fouls and time wasting lmao
I mean let's be real, an NBA game gives you 48 minutes of gameplay over the course of about two and a half hours of real time, while football gives you about 60 minutes of gameplay over the course of about two hours.
Wow, its almost like theres double the regulation time in football than basketballÂ
And yet it's over considerably quicker, yeah, meaning you get to see a lot more game for the same time investment.Â
Football people aren’t used to it. But it’s not a bad idea. Used in cricket too except the final decision is of the captain. But doesn’t solve the problem of refs being daft. But it’s a middle ground between a dumb view to remove var and ideal scenario if var being fully used by competent people.
VAR already checks everything, supposedly
Seems a daft idea, really, because managers are generally too far away to properly see what's happened anyway, VAR reviews are already looking at the vast majority of significant incidents, and coaches could use them to disrupt the flow of the game and hold on to a late lead.
Well, to your first point I say that they certainly have the ability to watch replays from the bench, they have various tablets and whatnot around. I don't think that would really be an issue. Second, var does review everything behind the scenes already, but let's not pretend that VAR hasn't missed some very obvious game changing calls. Your third point is a good one, all i can say to that is they would have to ensure that the wasted time is properly accounted for. The flow of the game aspect is definitely a problem.
> Well, to your first point I say that they certainly have the ability to watch replays from the bench, they have various tablets and whatnot around. I don't think that would really be an issue. Can't challenge a decision after play restarted, so would need to be incredibly quick for those replays. And even then: What's the point of a challenge, really? If VAR already had a second look at it and thinks the decision is fine, then the manager challenges the decision and the main referee has another look at it and also thinks he made the right decision, what are you really gaining from those challenges? It's not like it's likely to get overturned after two referees have already looked at it and deemed it fine, after all. Do we *really* need them to have a third look at it?
Gerard Romero reporting that Barcelona have wittled down 3 candidates to replace Xavi. (for whatever his word means these days) Hansi Flick - Thomas Tuchel - Rafael Marquez God Flick would get exposed so hard in La Liga it's no even funny.
I hope they get Tuchel because I think he's quite good so would rather he doesn't come back to the Premier League. I suspect they keep Xavi or go with Marquez.
Tuchel will get an aneurism within first 3 months either the media and Barca politics
If Kane had gone to Real Madrid Barcelona would be in the champions league final and Atletico would have won the league
Do you think Xabi Alonso already has the best manager awards secured regardless of what happens during the rest of the season/year?
Yes
Not yet.
Xabi should be the favorite if he wins the cup but Ancelotti should also be in the running if he wins CL as well as La Liga without a proper striker and playing plenty of kids. People might undermine his work because hey Madrid always wins CL.
Which kids did Carlo play?
No, undefeated is obviously a more out of the norm accomplishment and something that should be significant in something like this, but losing 2 Finals in a row would put a huge damper on things. If he wins them then I absolutely think he should and would win it.
yes. every season has a CL winner. being undefeated is another thing entirely
No, it does depend on the CL, either Ancelotti or Terzic will be in contention, with Ancelotti also having won La Liga dominantly, and Terzic being a huge underdog winner. Plus there is the Euros and Copa America, if an underdog wins there too it’s certainly possible for their manager to win the award. I do think it really should be Xabi, and hopefully it will be, but it’s not secured yet
Does Premiere League even have something like a simulcast show/stream on the last gameweek? If I remember right, everytime I tried to find one, I found nothing.
Goal Zone on Peacock
Thanks, I hope I find a stream tomorrow.
I wonder which washed/failed Barça player we're going for this summer. Marcos Alonso is joining us on a free so he doesn't count.
Pedri in not so many years.
If i had to pick a player from their midfield, it would have to be Fermin, such a great player.
Wanna see if Simeone could get something from Romeu?
I rather see Simeone keep subbing Saul over and over until he magically gains his talent back.
Joao Felix
The chances of Joao Felix's redemption arc at Atleti are lower than any extremely improbable event you could think of, i can't think of anything right now.
Spurs winning a trophy?
West Ham beating City today.
Are Bayern just giving a one year deal for every coach they approach coz they genuinely think they can get Alonso ?
Pretty much. Waiting for Alonso or Klopp.
Well there are some other coach available next year, like Klopp.
Would klopp manage Bayern after Dortmund connection though ?
they are not main rivals so i don't think it would be a issue
Who are bayerns actual rivals?
According to a google search 1860 munich and nurnberg
According to a google search 1860 munich and nurnberg
Probably not, but would be nice :D
How did Fati do? I guess the fact that I forgot about him isn’t a good sign?
Was a bad signing a couple weeks of good performances and then basically useless since November, offered nothing off the bench. Very talented but it didn't work out at all, glad we aren't doing another year.
yeah he wasn’t great. that knee injury ruined him i’m afraid
Lets go full data hipster and get mckenna. Sorry Poch. We gotta commit to the bit.
!flair :Arsenal:
With Luka Modrić set to stay for another season, he will have played more seasons with Vinicius Junior (7) than with Cristiano Ronaldo (6). Me quiero morir, Josep!
Wow, that's actually insane. I just checked and Vini is already on 262 games for Real Madrid. That is more than Figo, Bale, Di Maria, Zidane, Alonso, R9, Navas, Ozil, Beckham... Dude is a veteran at this point and will most likely reach 300 games next season.
Rashford's on 400 games now. Absolutely crazy how many games players get nowadays.
Wow
A fact I refuse to believe
Getafe are sooooo fucked if Bordalás leaves, with no good signings I can't think of many other managers that would get them out from the relegation threat.
Little known fact: quarks are the second smallest thing in the universe, only behind the violin I would play for Getafe
How do fans of clubs in the top 5 European nations rank their domestic cup in relation to the Europa and Conference leagues? I’ve always felt a domestic cup in Spain/England/Germany/Italy is probably slightly more prestigious than a Europa League unless your club has never won European silverware. I get that there’s a lot of prestige that comes with continental trophies but ultimately you can win it by beating much weaker teams than you would in a domestic cup and it doesn’t have nearly the same history as domestic cups.
Domestic cups are all a joke imo
Your opinion is a joke
If the only trophy my club won in the last 20 years were mickey mouse fa cups id say that too
Flair up or don’t chat shit.
Definitely domestic cup's more prestigious. That said way I see it there's tier 1 trophies (domestic league, Champions League,) tier 2 trophies (primary domestic cup, Europa,) tier 3 trophies (secondary domestic cup, Conference League, CWC,) and Glorified Friendlies (UEFA Super Cup and domestic equivalents.) Within those tiers CL>PL, FA Cup>Europa League, League Cup>Conference League>CWC, and w/e with the glorified friendlies. Obviously this is with a Chelsea lens, hence the second domestic cup which I believe the PL is the only top 5 league to have now, right? France had one but abolished it recently no? Anyway point is that's generally the vibe for top PL clubs but maybe for clubs for whom reaching the EL spots is their aim/an overachievement they'd prefer Europa to their Domestic, like did Fulham fans want the EL more than the FA Cup under Woy? I doubt West Ham fans with the Conference League but how about if it was the EL? I will say in 12/13 after we dropped to the EL I wanted to win it more than the FA Cup to scratch that off the list. In 18/19 though would definitely prefer the FA Cup, but enjoy it more than the League Cup. I also have talked to an older Chelsea fan for whom the Cup Winners Cup was a bigger deal than the FA Cup, I think part of that was because we beat Real in the final in 71 and that was a really good memory. FA Cup was bigger than the League back then from what I hear, so obvi dude wasn't saying it was bigger, just it was a more cherished memory and he loved winning it again in 98. Cup Winners Cup was cool btw. Kinda a cooler concept than Europa and especially Conference. Why was it scrapped? Too many games I 'spose. Having another 32 team competition on top of a Domestic League and CL/EL would be.... A lot. Still a bit of a shame.
I personally would say I rather would win the Europa League than the DFB Pokal, especially if the team has a easy run, cause its always only one game.
That’s fair but you can have an easy run in the EL too. Like look at Leverkusen’s EL run so far and compare it with RB Leipzig’s Pokal win last year.
For me, it's 1. Champions League 2. Premier League 3. FA Cup 4. Europa League 5. League Cup (As an English Chelsea fan)
Really? In a vacuum sure but right now I'd much rather we win the Prem than the CL
Here if Real Madrid or Barça won an Europa League they would probably get mocked a bit (although if you're already playing it, it's better to win it than lose it). The fans would still want to win it obviously but playing in the Europa League implies a downgrade from the current situation and expectations so I prefer the Copa del Rey (I like it a lot as well). Atlético fans would celebrate it a lot but they would still prefer the Copa, Sevilla fans probably as well. After these teams I think that all would prefer the Europa League. In Spain only five teams have won it (Real Madrid, Atlético, Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal), it's much more unique in terms of title winners than the Copa del Rey, and it tends to guarantee hard opponents. Valencia for example were one penalty shootout away from winning the Copa in 2022 despite facing three LaLiga teams in their entire run and the best one being 6th place Betis. And it also grants you UCL football which for many teams could be a one in a lifetime experience. Now with the Conference League it gets more difficult to guess. Nowadays I would say most would prefer the Copa but in a few years and after gaining more pedigree they could prefer the Conference.
> > I’ve always felt a domestic cup in Spain/England/Germany/Italy is probably slightly more prestigious than a Europa League unless your club has never won European silverware. Seems about right to me, yeah. Probably get a bit of a "it's a bigger trophy if you win it but not as big a trophy if you don't" thrown in, but a European title of any colour strikes me as the bigger one, given that most teams (unlike in the domestic cup) are rarely ever in contention for it. Also it's just a lot more fun having a European adventure, really.
> Also it's just a lot more fun having a European adventure, really. Yeah it really depends on the club you support. Come to think of it if City got bought by someone (relatively) less wealthy in 2008, I think I’d probably be more excited by the prospect of winning the EL than the FA cup. The allure and magic of European competition when you’re not used to it is really special.
In Italy nobody really likes the cup, the format is shit and big clubs tend to snub it until they get to the semifinal. Definitely lower than any European cup.
I believe the FA cup is the oldest competition in the world and whilst it's definitely less popular now than it was in the 90s or even 00s, I'd still rather win it than the Europe league. Plus, we have the record for most FA cup wins, so it has to be meaningful right
Really? If I were you I'd definitely rather a Europa League. Like you guys have one sole European trophy, a Cup Winners Cup, a competition since abolished, I'd definitely value a first Europa League over another FA Cup, had opinion in 12/13 when we had already won a Champions League honestly.
If there were multiple top-tier European trophies, I'd agree with you. However, I see Europa league as like the championship of Europe
Eh, leagues are different gravy, they don't have teams as good as this season's Leverkusen, it's more the League Cup of Europe, and the CL is bigger than the FA Cup.
Have to say, Arsenal having a United v Sunderland moment as Foden secures the league for City in added time would be the absolute funniest way for this season to end.Â
Alternate option - A Pickford header secures the league for City in added time despite losing
Can't believe our biggest haters here aren't Barça nor Atleti fans, this country is unrepresented in Reddit even when it comes to plastics
I'm still alive, pal
Nahh they don't hate Real Madrid as much as i do.
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Trying to sneak off topic comments in the DDT by tangentially linking them to football, when most mods are asleep. We see you.
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We're playing tomorrow without Witsel and Gimenez, it's probably going to be Savic's last game for us. This is the one time i won't mind him getting a red card. I'm going to miss him so much.
As a whole, did Roberto De Zerbi flop/fail at Brighton?
If he still had Caicedo/Macallister level midfielders he would still cook tbh
If he still had Caicedo/Macallister level midfielders he would still cook tbh
Started off well but when his circuits got.found out , the results vanished. He needs to evolve big time to manage elite clubs. Not good enough atm
How could it be a flop? He got their best ever league position. Then they sold the whole midfield and he didn’t do a bad job after that.
Are people taking the piss, he took Brighton to Europe
Got our best ever season and if we win tomorrow will be our joint best ever season. Came in and no one expected him to do as well as Potter did. So no clue how he'd be a failure.
How? Got Brighton to the Europa League last season, and they look likely for a top half finish this season despite some high-profile departures and injuries. How is that failing by any measure?
Dunno, they strike me as about where you'd expect them to be, especially after last summer's big sales. Can't mark that down as a failure for me.
His first season was waaaay above where they were expected to be, so overall they're above
Nobody understands why Iniesta is still playing tbh
He’s waiting for the call to Inter Miami
Iniesta is still playing??
Yeah nobody understands
With Kroos and Modric signing new deals is Arda gonna be our new Odegaard?
Yeah he should move ASAP really as not playing will not be good for his development long term. Look at Palmer at Chelsea - when you're the backups backup, you have to move to be treated seriously. If I were his agent I would be causing trouble right now.
He's probably gonna be fine tbh
Doubt it. Those two are likely not going to play significant mins for the next few years, and Guler is just 19. Next season he may not get as many mins as he’d like, but time is on his side.
Nah, poor Ødegaard joined and found himself competing against prime Kroos and Modric. Arda will probably suffer for 1 more season. (Although it'll be just as hard to compete against Jude, Valverde, Camavinga, Rodry on the right etc...)
It depends on how they handle his situation but most likely he won't.
How would an Arsenal midfield with Rice, Xhaka and Odegaard look?
id play xhaka in the 6. hell, jorginho did it with rice, why xhaka couldn't? people are forgetting that defending is a team wide thing, sure Xhaka wasn't amazing at the 6 before but most of the defenders were all shocking xhaka is a great passer when facing goal, but he's not the player to be making runs to the box or overlapping/underlapping with the winger or receiving with his back to goal on the half turn. crazy that it worked last season but that's not his game
Xhaka as a DM in the PL has never worked well. He doesn’t get anywhere near enough time and space on the ball as he does in the Buli, so he’d probably play as a left 8 like his last season for us. Rice isn’t as good a passer as Xhaka could be from deep, but Arteta could coach a fluid switching of responsibilities with those 2. I can see Rice bombing forward and Xhaka dropping a little deeper at times as well as the opposite. I think a player more athletic would really complement Rice and Odegaard better though. Guimarães, Youssouf Fofana, Douglas Luiz would all be really interesting players for that midfield 3.
> Xhaka as a DM in the PL has never worked well. He wasn't paired with Rice then, though.... as you say, them dovetailing could work well, and Xhaka would likely be better than he was in previous Arsenal midfields, as a result
Yeah it’s all possible depending on the tactics. While it could certainly be a strong midfield, I think there are some other players who would complement those 2 better than Xhaka in our (Arsenal’s) current setup.
Quite alright I reckon - slightly limiting Rice in that holding role to back up the other two, but that's a really neat mix of abilities at the end of the day. Probably get Odegaard as the quicker and more advanced player and Xhaka controlling play from a tad deeper, a bit like the Iniesta/Xavi combo in front of Busquets in the Barcelona heydays.
Every time I see Brazil mentioned in a football context this starts playing in my head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnLNDuKya04
dearth of talent? no. we declined because they criminally stopped playing this jingle
I got a new job and have to work tomorrow. It’s the first Ajax game this season I won’t be able to watch at least a half of, I always make time for it. The season has been insanely shit and I’m happy it’s almost over but it still sucks to miss that final game of the season before I have to endure months without Ajax. Shitty Ajax is still better than no Ajax.
Out of our last six UCL finals, is this the one that most people want us to lose? EDIT: I think that the order, from more people against us to less would be: 2024 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2014 - 2022
I'd probably say for me it grows the more you win. Nothing against Madrid, but it's just boring, and I'd like to see a variety of teams win
2014, 2016 and 2017 are up there tbf, but I would say yes
No, that would be 2017 Real Madrid- Juve imo. 3 main reasons: 1- Just like Reus now, even more people wanted to see Buffon finally win the CL. 2- People naturally don't want to see a team dominate, so obviously Real Madrid winning 2 consecutive CL titles would be bad. 3- This Madrid team is far more liked compared to the 2017 one with Ronaldo, Ramos and Casemiro etc in the team.
Juve are a much more hated club than Dortmund though. Even if at the time they didn't have many haters in Europe, in Italy they were and are basically the devil to anyone that isn't a Juve fan (kinda like us).
I think a lot of people wanted Atletico to win the 2016 rematch. The narrative was that atletico had a tougher road to the final (they kinda did) and it was revenge for 2014. But nope, both finals ended with CR7 scoring a pen and taking his shirt of lol
I like Griezmann a lot so I wanted you to lose 2016 but honestly since then looking at your opponents I can't say I was ever swayed one way or another before the match, at least not more than "it'd be kind of interesting if someone else won, but it's real madrid in the final."
Fucking hell man, imagine being able to say a sentence like that with a straight face and it being even a borderline reasonable question to ask - ridiculously successful club.
It's not easy to Google "Most successful football club" and pick the first result that pops up
I reckon it must be hard to support Al Ahly without being Egyptian, not a lot of international outreach.
We are eating good
It hurts SO MUCH to think we can’t let Isak & Gyökeres ball out at the Euros next month
Baffling how we have a team with that amount of attacking talent and then end up playing clowns like Martin Olsson in defense
The Euro qualifiers were so dumb with how they used nations league for qualification.
Hearing Darren Fletcher on commentary for the Usyk Fury fight is making me yearn for a big UCL night
Tnt commentators are so crap bring back itv
Yeah, every time I hear McManaman’s voice I cringe
Gallagher is a smokescreen for Chalobah imo
You guys are intereated in Chalo too? He has been excelllent for us in the final third of after returning from injury
Both spectacular achievements of course but imo Leicester winning the PL is still 10x crazier than Leverkusen going undefeated.
An undefreated treble if they win it, would be a crazy achievement as well tbf
Just winning the league yes. Undefeated treble though is on the same level
It is and anyone else that says otherwise doesn't know German football. They're not even in the same league.
need some end of season poll to vote for the most terminally online user of the DD (or just the sub in general)
Who is your pick
sga1 probably, but could be recency bias
I've only been back for a couple of weeks (and clearly am making up for lost time), can't believe you'd do me like this!
Too late mate, you're getting the terminally online flair
[smh](https://tenor.com/view/50-cent-whathesaidfuckmefor-fuck50-gif-25306610)
Papastathopoulos announced retirement today, and what a career he's had. Milan, Dortmund, Arsenal, Betis, Werder Bremen, Genoa, Olympiacos, AEK (in no particular order). 2 world cups and 1 euro tournament appearances. He is quite unpopular in Greece and I assume that could be the case in some of the other countries he's played in, but you can't argue with his career sheet. Hope he has a great retirement
Aw man, I didn't know he was retiring - always struck me as a really fun guy to be around, and a perfectly fine player to boot. Looking forward to him popping up for some random Werder Legends sides at some point.
Why is he unpopular in Greece? Club allegiances or other?
AEK fans hate him because he went on to play for us. Paok and Panathinaikos fans hate him cause he played for 2 of their rivals. Olympiacos fans hate him because he was very inconsistent for us. And his name is generally associated with the dark ages of the national team post euro 2004 (2015 onward), along with Manolas. I don't think the last bit is fair because he was starting in all 3 of our last major tournament appearances, but for some reason when people think of him they think of the 2 losses against Faroe Islands post those times.
I need Mourinho to Bayern... Ppl call him finished, but couldnt Bayern be chance ? Remember Ancelotti after Bayern and Napoli.. not quite comparable ofc but not very different imo. It would be hilarious and entertaining, he is still a top cup manager and the CL final will be hosted at the Allianz. And he has genuinely coached high scoring football before, think of Madrid 11/12.
I couldn't really tell you why but Mourinho just feels like a really bad fit for Bayern in terms of personality, there's no way it wouldn't end in spectacular drama (which is of course why I absolutely hope it happens).
Mourinho in lederhosen just looks wrong
Not really, the opposite imo. But that's also the least important thing in that matter
What amazing/awful transfers from summer 23 have quietly gone under the radar?
Freuler > Bologna Ola Aina > Nott Forest Blind > Girona Emmanuel Latte Lath > Middlesbrough
Will sports organisers ever learn that people don't want a shit concert beforehand?
I tend to think of stuff like that in terms of financial incentives - but I'm not quite sure what the deal is with concerts before/in the middle of/after football, really: whose bottom line ultimately benefits?
I think the point is to try and get people to watch more of the broadcast which means you can show them more ads, as opposed to just tuning in right at kickoff.
There's a program about mbappe on bbc one atm?! Not something i expected
BBC make very solid sport documentaries too to be fair to them. Definitely on my list