Max527
Well-known member
This aged well
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Soccer/football thread 2022
- Thread starter Priller
- Start date
Sad news
www.bbc.com
Brazil legend Pele dies aged 82
Brazil legend Pele, who is regarded by many as football's greatest player, dies at the age of 82.
www.bbc.com
It's been a fantastic start to the Premier league unless you support Chelsea and Manure lol. Those two teams don't seem to be any better off even after spending a boat load of cash. Just 4 points separate the top 5, Aston Villa the real surprise. City are still the team to beat, but much much closer this year.
Priller
Well-known member
Definitely fun to see Tottenham back at the sharp end, especially with a class act like Big Ange in charge. I have to confess, as a Liverpool supporter, I was hoping he'd stay at Celtic until Klopp moved on, then would take over. That said, I still don't see anyone but City winning the league. That squad is so stacked that they keep powering through past February when everyone else starts to flag.
Fun to watch Chelsea flounder after spending like an oil patch worker on a long weekend in Edmonton, though I do think they'll find some form eventually. ManU looked awful against City, and even though as a Liverpool fan I'm predisposed to dislike them, their squad is loaded with weapons-grade d*ckheads. When your captain repeatedly sulks during blowouts (7-0!), maybe he shouldn't be your captain?
Liverpool super fun to watch this year, even with the officials making sure Klopp doesn't ever embarrass a ref again. Midfield rework seems to be a total success, and Szoboszlai looks like vintage Gerrard. Still vulnerable to defensive lapses, but that just makes the games more exciting. They could do with another speedy CB, and possibly a more defensive-minded LB if this hybrid role for TAA continues, but they should be in good shape for the top 4. Not that it matters as much with UEFA ruining the Champion's League for next year...
On a more local topic, I went to see the Forge continue the Smyrniotis dynasty (CMNT next?) and beat Calgary in the CPL final on Saturday. Calgary probably the better team on the day, but two absolute worldie goals from Hamilton took the glory. When the winning goal is an Olimpico, it's a good night. Crowd was a decent 14,000, and the atmosphere was excellent, especially after Badibanga's looper tied it up. If you live near a CPL side, I highly recommend it. It's no Premier League, but the quality is decent and the games are fun. Definitely more fun than TFC these days...
I was actually hoping Smyrniotis would get the TFC job ahead of Herdman. John is a great motivator but not sure of his tactics.
Maybe he’s what the club needs right now though…time will tell.
Priller
Well-known member
Hard to pick the bigger mess these days, Canada Soccer or TFC? Still, much as I'd hate to see him go as a Forge fan, Bobby deserves a step up with his incredible track record. It's not always the most beautiful football (Forge basically played a 5-2-3 until they went behind in the final and were very conservative), but it works. He's also got the most Toronto accent possible. Not for nothing, yo...
DownUnder
Well-known member
I think i stopped watching man U when Cantona left, that guy was entertaining as hell.
Priller
Well-known member
Liverpool supporter here, so schadenfreude is my usual happy place when ManU struggles. Same for Chelsea, especially considering their spending of late.
That said, the shambles has gone on so long that part of me feels sorry for ManU supporters. At least most are committed, unlike the straight plastics for City. And at least the success they had was earned, unlike the financially doped petro-state sportswashing and ego projects. Still, not losing too much sleep over their struggles..
Today was a good day, with Liverpool clear on top of the league. Watch out for Villa, Unai Emery ('good ebening') has them playing incredibly well disciplined and organised. It'll be interesting to see how they handle the sudden increase in attention that'll come from beating both City and Arsenal in the space of a week.
It'll be fun until City goes on their inevitable win streak from mid-January on and proceeds, Terminator-like, to win the league yet again...
Been watching footy less and less lately with a newborn joining the family. Just highlights whenever I get the chance. The standard of refereeing/VAR has been shocking in the Premier League from the snippets I've seen. Watched some of the Rugby WC and was (pleasantly) surprised at the competence of refs compared to football - kept telling my wife, "why can't they be like that in football!?". Then again, I might just be a bitter Roma fan after Anthony Taylor ruined last season's Europa League final for me... Inter Milan have been playing some fantastic football in Italy lately...
Missed this thread. Not a huge soccer fan but by fluke I ended up being in Buenos Aires during the World Cup. The country is soccer crazy, everything shuts down when there is a big game on and the whole city erupts when there is a big goal.
This was the moment Argentina won. I was actually at a bar next door to this guys house but his feed was ~10 seconds faster than the bar feed so everyone was looking through his window at the game. It's in a quieter, more residential area which is why there aren't thousands of people.
Wish Imgur did sound
This was the moment Argentina won. I was actually at a bar next door to this guys house but his feed was ~10 seconds faster than the bar feed so everyone was looking through his window at the game. It's in a quieter, more residential area which is why there aren't thousands of people.
Wish Imgur did sound
Priller
Well-known member
A big part of it is transparency, I think. If Euro football refs explained the calls like US and Canadian football and rugby refs, then I think it would seem less sinister. MotoGP stewards have a similar issue where they seem to think that having to explain their calls is beneath them, which ultimately results in confusion, suspicion and anger. On the one hand, I'm sympathetic to refs and the thankless job they do, without which we wouldn't have sport. On the other, I see a real problem in the PL ref world where they seem more concerned about not making any official look bad than they do about getting things right. I don't believe there's a conspiracy for or against any one team, but I do think they'll make tighter calls against teams where someone associated has been vocally critical of an official.
Oh, and they need to bin off VAR except for auto offsides and goal line tech. They get it wrong at the same rate as before, it kills the momentum in games, and just creates more nonsense to argue about that isn't about actual play and is obsessed with readings of the rules.
No kidding. Any one of the top 8 seems able to beat any of the others on their day. 4-1 flattered Newcastle against a Spurs side that was supposed to be broken by injuries. In fact, all the major Euro leagues have interesting battles at the top (bar France, of course, though it's arguable whether Ligue 1 qualifies as a major league at this point). Leverkusen and Stuttgart are surprising in Germany, Bologna and Fiorentina are doing well in Italy, Girona is leading in Spain, and the Premier League is wide open with Villa a legit contender.
Priller
Well-known member
This thread is pretty dated, but I don't know where else to put this. Jurgen Klopp announced he's leaving Liverpool at the end of the season today. I'm absolutely bereft. It's like finding out a family member has a terminal illness and you only have so much time left with them.
I can't think of another sporting figure in my life who has so consistently lived up to some of the most incredibly high expectations demanded by his job on every level, be it morally, ethically, team performance, likability, and simple. sheer charisma. He is now beloved in the truest sense of the word at three clubs (Mainz, Dortmund, Liverpool), and has left all three in vastly superior shape to when he arrived. He is able to speak to supporters directly in a way that few managers can, and has always treated them as an ally and partner rather than an inconvenience like so many others.
Where next will naturally be a huge source of conjecture, though he's at least stated unequivocally that he will never manage another Premier League side. The German national side is the obvious spot, though the timing on that will depend heavily on how Nagelsmann does at the Euros. Bayern is another possibility, though that would be a betrayal of Dortmund and would be a real departure from his past decisions. If he really wants a challenge, he could go to Roma for an equally desperate but passionate fan base to Dortmund and Liverpool!
For Liverpool, all eyes are naturally on Xabi Alonso considering his incredible performance at Leverkusen, but he's the most in-demand manager in the world at the moment, and I'm sure both Bayern and Madrid will take their shot. De Zerbi at Brighton is another possibility, though he won't have the same affinity with the supporters. The only thing I can think is that Klopp told FSG he was leaving back in November, so the timing of the announcement may coincide with them having sorted out his successor. Considering the assistant, Pep Lijnders, was a candidate but has also announced that he's leaving, this may be true. I'm just hoping FSG does a better job with this next phase of ownership than they have done with the Red Sox post-Francona...
I can't think of another sporting figure in my life who has so consistently lived up to some of the most incredibly high expectations demanded by his job on every level, be it morally, ethically, team performance, likability, and simple. sheer charisma. He is now beloved in the truest sense of the word at three clubs (Mainz, Dortmund, Liverpool), and has left all three in vastly superior shape to when he arrived. He is able to speak to supporters directly in a way that few managers can, and has always treated them as an ally and partner rather than an inconvenience like so many others.
Where next will naturally be a huge source of conjecture, though he's at least stated unequivocally that he will never manage another Premier League side. The German national side is the obvious spot, though the timing on that will depend heavily on how Nagelsmann does at the Euros. Bayern is another possibility, though that would be a betrayal of Dortmund and would be a real departure from his past decisions. If he really wants a challenge, he could go to Roma for an equally desperate but passionate fan base to Dortmund and Liverpool!
For Liverpool, all eyes are naturally on Xabi Alonso considering his incredible performance at Leverkusen, but he's the most in-demand manager in the world at the moment, and I'm sure both Bayern and Madrid will take their shot. De Zerbi at Brighton is another possibility, though he won't have the same affinity with the supporters. The only thing I can think is that Klopp told FSG he was leaving back in November, so the timing of the announcement may coincide with them having sorted out his successor. Considering the assistant, Pep Lijnders, was a candidate but has also announced that he's leaving, this may be true. I'm just hoping FSG does a better job with this next phase of ownership than they have done with the Red Sox post-Francona...
It’s 2024. We should just clone Klopp. Several times in case one of the clones breaks down and sell the less perfect clones to other clubs for a billion a pop.
The guy is a fantastic manager, great character, all round nice guy. He will be sorely, sorely missed. His interview just now one quote stands out as one of his highlights of his career “being made an honourary scouser”. Legend.
Priller
Well-known member
I don't think the world could handle more than one. He's such a unique character...
His understanding and appreciation for the city and it's history, both sporting and political, is one of the things that always marked him as different to me. You look at other successful managers, Guardiola, Ferguson, whoever, and it always feels like their world begins and ends with football. Klopp has always talked about loving football but having the perspective to understand its place in the wider world. In a city like Liverpool, with the incredible and often brutal times it's been through, I think that resonates more than in most places. One of my favourite PR videos was from when he'd just started and they had a kid come in and teach him some Scouse jargon:
And this one from this past Christmas has me chopping onions every time. He just puts people at ease. The way he imitates Scousers saying his name in the bit starting at 7:50 or so is also hilarious....
The fact that this even remotely come close to Shankly retiring says volumes. The wide-mouthed disbelief of these Scousers in 1974 perfectly mirrors my reaction when the alert popped up on my phone this morning: "Ye're 'avin me on, aren't ye?"
Gutted!
He said in his press conference that he's just tired. I wouldn't be surprised to see him at some national side in few years, probably for the Germans if they have any brain left.
As for who's next for us...don't know man. Hope they don't go with some alumni players like Gerrard or something silly like that.
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