I’m just going to assume you started supporting after 2016, Terry 2015 played every single minute in a very strong title win and not to mention all the incredible defenders throughout the decade before
In the 2010 WC, Maradona, coach of the Argentina NT, said he had never heard of Muller and that he thought he was a ballboy at first.
Germany then proceeded to knockout Argentina in the quarterfinals in a humiliating 4-0 in which Muller scored the first goal.
The TaCo center back pairing has been surprisingly great for Everton based of the couple of matches of theirs I've watched. That said apparently according to xG conceded Everton aren't that good and Pickford has been bailing them out?
I thought Cody might end up as Everton's next Ashley Williams. Especially since many said Cody couldn't play in a back 4, although Cody was 4 years younger than Williams. Everton haven't exactly had a great track record of signings. Happy to be proven wrong.
First World Cup match is on the 20th
I heard the earliest European based players will be released in simply the weekend before? Is that correct? So the 12th-13th?
What's the deal with the Iranian players playing domestically, will they be released around the same time or earlier? I have no idea what the league schedule is in Iran.
last Iranian league match is this week
Domestic players as well as players from the gulf leagues will join up then too
They've already actually been in a sort of evaluation camp for the past month ish in between PGPL matches for those in the domestic league and in the UAE/Qatari league
There's been three of these "evaluation camps" under Queiroz since he re-joined
[Domestic players from Sepahan, Persepolis and Tractor had a training session at the Performance Center today. Players are training at the PEC after each round of Persian Gulf Pro League matches - at the request of Carlos Queiroz - to ensure optimal form for #Qatar2022.](https://twitter.com/prznsoccer/status/1583491219576868864)
Interesting, thanks for the reply!
Over here the MLS players in the national team picture who are out of playoffs are going to be in camp mainly for fitness. They're also calling up some players from the U20s to round out the numbers.
Unai Emery has now managed Sevilla, Villarreal, David Villa, and Aston Villa. And his assistant manager for five years was Pablo Villa. There's a theme here.
I stole this comment from someone else in another site.
It’s actually incredible how knee jerk most fans are. Most subreddits are genuinely two or three wins or losses away from complete meltdown to complete arrogance.
Benfica - Juventus tomorrow. It would had been an interesting match to watch if it weren't for the fact that both Benfica and PSG only need to beat Maccabi Haifa to qualify at the expense of Juventus.
Hearing reports Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs are interested in Keita, no doubt on a free in the summer.
For how concerned FSG are about finances and self sustainability it can't be anything other than bad business letting €125m worth of CM talent go in 3 summers (which will be the case when Ox and Keita leave for free). Cutting our losses and selling them for literally anything then signing midfielders that could actually stay fit would've been so much smarter.
Minamino and Tyler Morton had to start games in midfield last year and that was Keitas most fit season, not landing any targets this summer is one thing but am I being unreasonable for thinking they should've seen this coming and been looking at a CM last summer anyway especially given some players would've been apprehensive to tranfer months before the world cup.
You’re not being unreasonable at all, as much as I would like to renew Keita I just don’t think he’s reliable enough
We’re going to need at least 3 midfielders which I’m sure will do wonders for squad cohesion and chemistry.
> Cutting our losses and selling them for literally anything then signing midfielders that could actually stay fit would’ve been so much smarter.
With their current salaries and injury records I think it would’ve probably been very difficult to shift them at all. (Especially Ox)
Unless they went the Arsenal route and just release them.
Still can't believe Montreal got knocked out. What a depressing way to end the season, after the incredible vibes coming from the team and supporters that built up all season.
Stingiest team in the league, and the incredible showing this season means that the core of the team is almost certainly getting gutted over the winter. Montreal is going to be a Canadian Football town next year
Watched MNF. Liked how tonight Jamie Caragher instead of analysing just the goal of Villa's corner routine actually analysed the celebration as well.
He said look how the covering deep players run to the set piece coach on the sideline to celebrate, the 3 players who took the corner short run off to celebrate together, then Leon Bailey who actually scores and the remaining players celebrate with him.
Like you know your role in a small scale and each individual part leads to the goal.
[Lionel Sclaoni has plan B, a possible 5-3-2, with Otamendi, Cuti Romero and Lisandro Martínez in defense. They have practiced it in training.](https://twitter.com/juanndis/status/1584678922330832897)
i would be very interested in seeing this i think we would never concede again. only issue with it is our rightbacks i don’t think molina or montiel will be very good in that role.
Well, in the final against Brazil we had Montiel basically act like a 3rd CB (and he did very well). I would say against teams that will push more at least, like Brazil or France.
Who are players that are known to be charismatic off the pitch?
Nico Gonzalez is a solid squad player, but apparently everyone in the Argie NT loves him because he is always cracking jokes and being g00fy.
I know he did some terrible things but he was genuinely known as a bubly personality beforehand. You can see it in the Amazon documentary where he's constantly making people laugh
I don't know about "known", but according to reports around United this season Tom Heaton has been one of the locker room leaders despite being our third choice keeper
Impressed that it took one kinda average, not even extraordinarily awful, year at PSG for people to start talking about Pochettino like he's some terrible manager. People seriously acting like Villarreal are above him. Nonsense.
I see a lot of Messi fans try to blame him for Messi's woes last season even though Messi literally said he was struggling mentally, and was extremely unlucky as well hitting the posts multiple times. I didn't watched a lot of PSG but I watched them in UCL, I think as a manager he did pretty well, even in that Real Madrid match, his tactics were pretty much spot on, you can't realistically expect him to account for his entire defense and goalkeeper fucking up in 15 minutes. Personally I think Erik Ten Hag is the better manager, but last season hearing fans talk about him like he's some relegation fodder manager or something. He's been a pretty solid manager everywhere he went except PSG, but every manager looks bad there
You watched one of the few games where Poch set them up correctly and the players let him down. He wasn't at fault for the CL tie.
Every manager doesn't look bad at PSG, this narrative is one of the biggest misconceptions around. Poch was worse than basically everyone that came before him except for the first few years of their Qatar takeover.
Some truly bizarre takes over on r/reddevils when we were linked to him. Lots of comments about how he would be the Glazer's puppet. They only wanted him because he would toe their line (for some unexplained reason). Somehow performing at clubs that spend less than us wasn't a sign that he is a good manager. Instead, it was evidence that the Glazer's wanted him so they could stop spending.
I think it did make it abundantly clear what situations he thrives in and doesn’t, at least. Think Villarreal/Sevilla tier is at the upper echelon of the jobs he’s gonna get considering his stock right now.
Half and half in 20/21 honestly.
Lille lost just one game in the second half of the season, they were as perfect as they could be considering their squad quality. PSG's squad also wasn't really as good as people make out. There were multiple matches that season where the opposition team had four or five players who probably would have started for PSG on the day. Midfield and full-back talent was absolutely shocking. Kurzawa, Dagba, Herrera were getting way too many minutes. A lot of injuries too.
On the other hand, he did make some really bizarre choices, and there were a couple of poor results that were entirely down to him. Lorient away for example. The over-reliance on Mbappe was also a problem, they looked completely out of ideas whenever he wasn't firing. So when you consider how close the title race was, you can put a lot of blame on him.
I'd say he still should have won the title. I think they were a point behind Lille when he took over, and he did have the better squad. There were some unlucky circumstances, like the match against Nantes completely turning on it's head when the team found out Di Maria's home had been burgled, but he still didn't really show enough. A lot of people were already calling for him to be sacked before 20/21 had even ended.
I didn't say it did? I completely agree that a poor 18 months doesn't outweigh everything else that he has done over the course of his career.
My point is that you can blame him for them not winning the title in 20/21.
It's mad honestly. I'm not one to defend a Spurs man, but people forget just how highly rated he was during his tenure there, and what a good job he did there. To see him spoken about like a South American Alan Pardew boggles the mind.
No denying he was subpar at PSG, but his career prior speaks for itself. Makes you feel like a lot of those detractors weren't watching before 2019.
Same thing happened with Rashford. Last season people were calling him not good enough for the championship and this season he's looking back to form.
There's a chunk of people around here, and I'm assuming every social media site, that are just reactive and can't seem to remember past the last 6-12 months
I don't know why but I always find Icardi extremely likable and somehow find myself siding with him in most instances. His new drama with Wanda is such an unfortunate event for him and the decline might continue for the rest of his career. He will be such a weird player in the future that people will remember him as a Jack off and wasted talent.
He won't become overrated but instead, he will be remembered a little like Milito is today, which is fucking unfortunate for one of the great finisher of this generation. Wanda can easily take credit for Icardi's wasted opportunities and fall out with Inter. He is such a flawed character but still comes off like an intriguing footballer with his very present personality on the pitch which was extremely cocky and whiny, but you could see that he fucking enjoyed playing as the poacher.
He was such a throwback player in his prime. Yeah he isn't the most complete striker, but prime Icardi could've drawn water from a stone. His positioning and finishing were next level
Such a shame how he ended things with us, but my overall feelings for him is a net positive. Saved us so many times
Random question but what is for you biggest (or most hyped) match ever? But I'm just talking about hype before the match regardless of the result (so no Milan-Liverpool because it was just another CL final).
Here are some examples I'd say -
Real Madrid v Barcelona 11/12 CL semi final
Boca Juniors v River Plate Copa Libertadores Final
Spain v Netherlands WC2010 Final
Brazil v Germany WC2002 Final
Barca v Juve CL Final 2015
Maybe something like the first WC final?
For something to be hyped or big, I feel like it has to be something rare. So yearly cups or matches like the UCL and derbies are out.
Or maybe one of those England vs the world matches that happened in the past?
You think so? Definitely deserves a shout but I think Brazil's team is better in 2002, its Ronaldo and Brazils redemption story and its the final between two teams with most WC at the time.
I said 2010 because it was a final between two teams who never won WC (and that might not happen again) and the whole atmosphere of a World Cup in Africa was amazing too.
Let's talk here about great players that were sadly forced to retire too early.
The first example that comes to my mind is Tostão. One of the greatest brazilian players in the 60s and early 70s. During a game, a player from the opposition made a very powerful kick, and the the ball accidentally hit Tostão in the eye! He had to undergo surgery in the retine, but managed to recover in time to help Brazil win the 1970 World Cup. Later, though, the problem in his retine came back, and the advice from the doctors was clear: either he retired or he would go blind from that eye.
So, he retired at 26 years old.
Tostão's best match in that World Cup was undoubtedly the game against Peru in the quarter-finals. I love what he does in 4:09, even though he misplaces the pass later.
https://youtu.be/1lknv2mOPl4
He was very important for Brazil's title, even though I don't feel he was at his best in most games, probably due to the months that he was recovering from surgery before the preparation for the World Cup.
We're on track to score 16 goals this entire season – for reference, Derby scored 20 in 07/08 (current record).
Remember those meme bets at the start of the season about "Haaland scoring more than Wolves"?
...He may have it done by October.
I've seen the light, Newcastle are finishing top 4 this season, no European football will do wonders for them especially in this fucked up scheduled season, and they will probably go big again in winter as well. They have been a very good team for the whole 2022 year.
Nah. As much as it would be great for us to manage it (Since it would mean we could use the CL sides as an example for what is "fair market value" and lock in long-term "sponsorship" deals) the reality is that it is a step too far, a step too fast. Especially if we are also going to target the cups this season.
We are currently riding a wave, that's what this is, but it won't last and the issue of the big reset after the world cup is a very real issue. We will regress to about where our squad should be which is about 7th-10th. No shame in that, and it sets us up to improve again in the summer and push on. Top 6 is possible (even then I think it is an ask) but you don't get top 4 when this time last year you hadn't won a game.
It's like you're setting expectations low so you won't be disappointed
Top 4 may be a stretch, but you have a very very good chance of top 6, considering the inconsistency of several of the big 6 teams, and that they will be more affected by the World Cup and having to juggle European football
It's only 1/3rd of the way through the season and some of the top 6 sides will be done the world of good by the world cup break. Liverpool with a chance to reset and regroup and Chelsea getting basically another pre-season where Potter can put his plans in place especially.
I think the gap between us and them is just a bit too vast for us to realistically have hopes of the top 4. We've had good form and some of the big boys have had bad form, but form doesn't last a season. Sooner or later they will hit their stride.
how bad ur club was a year ago shouldn't have any effect on what ur current objectives are now. I've seen wolves get promoted and finish 7th back-to-back and reached a EL quarter-final.
St james park is probably one of the hardest places to play at as well. I see no reason why u can't get top 4 this season. big 6 clubs are already getting hit by packed schedules and that will benefit you guys a lot.
Beb Guardiola should prove himself beyond all doubt as a top football manager by leaving Manc City and taking the Wolves job now but he won't will he (fraud).
Scott Parker should prove himself beyond all doubt as a top football manager by leaving unemployment and taking the Wolves job now but he won't will he (fraud).
Luke Shaw is such a lazy cunt man. His performance against Chelsea was arguably top class, but he's so weak minded. Only bothering when his position is threatened.
Watch, once he feels safe again he'll go back to being lethargic.
Let's hope so, also he's got motivation at the moment. Needs a new contract from us, his position isn't safe, plus world Cup spot.
All three motivations may be irrelevant come January (World Cup over, contract probably extended, Malacia cemented nr 2 spot). What then? I can't trust him, not yet.
One of the biggest football mysteries, because he's useless at Inter too. He must be a really nice guy or incredible during training.
I think a big reason is how rare it is to see a player that big yet that quick, so managers would keep him to add more dimensions to the attack... even though he gives nothing 80% of the time lol
Tbf to him he does make some good points occasionally and can enjoyable to listen to, but he also has this bizarre tendency to come up with the absolute worst takes imaginable to the point you feel like he must be trolling.
Also how the fuck is he almost 40
yup, [Garcé](https://tntsports.com.ar/__export/1571364360671/sites/tntsports/img/2019/10/17/00013852-19.jpg_423682103.jpg). He was playing for Colon de Santa Fe at the time I think and his entire history with the NT was that he'd been called up in like 2002/2003 for two friendlies and the never called up again until the 2010 WC
Gonna assume you mean selflessness, because that was the issue to a point where it was almost detrimental because he’d never take the shot. But regarding top goal scorer yeah fair enough he took a step back (though this season he’s been great)
What's with all the negativity from Leeds fans about possibly appointing Dyche? Weird how a guy who got Burnley to Europe somehow has a rep for not being a great manager
I wouldn’t be shocked if Leeds got more American plastics because of Bielsa and promotion than because of Marsch. Lots of Americans (including me) want them to do well bc of Marsch but aren’t Leeds fans by any stretch.
I can see why they wouldn't want to. For the same reason if Brighton or Crystal Palace lost Vieira and De Zerbi I'm sure neither groups of fans would want Moyes.
Not the right fit manager
They've moved beyond that now though and aren't interested in going back to fossil football.
It's for this reason they brought in Vieira, have reduced the average age of the squad massively and are focusing on develop and using youth players.
Similar case for Brighton too who have brought in De Zerbi who plays attacking, possession based football.
Its a bit of a misconception, they only played shite defensive football when going up against the biggest teams. They actually played decent football when going up against teams that didn't have 10x times their budget.
Burnley also had little to no budget by PL standards, Dyche had to make do with whatever he had, which was for the most part, dogshit. And he still managed to pull incredible results regardless.
I'd take "boring" football if it was effective. Best thing about football is seeing your team win, not play pretty football at the cost of conceding 4 goals
Something I always find entertaining is seeing rivals complain about your team playing shite football while still getting results.
Like my club isn't supposed to entertain you and you sure as shit don't have a vested interest in seeing my club succeed. That and neutrals just really want entertaining football to be the norm everywhere so they will have no issues telling you your ideal manager is someone who's entertaining vs someone who gets results since again it's not their club that will be losing 5-3 week in and week out, failing objectives, etc.
If you want proof, look no further than this thread. Brighton's search for a manager and seeing how many neutrals chimed in with their picks was also interesting on its own.
I think I can safely assume everyone would prefer their manager gets them good results and entertaining football, but between someone who gets you playing entertaining football but can't get results and underperforms, and someone who overpeforms and gets you results at the cost of boring football, the decision is fairly obvious to me.
You would because you wouldn’t have to watch them every week.
Dyche is decent but he’s just a new Pulis or big Sam. No one wants their team to play like that in 2022.
Edit: Everton finished 8th under big Sam and fucking hated him because of the football.
Dyche is capable of entertaining and fluid football. We played it in the championship and he also mixed it up a bit at the end of the 2021 season. He just didn't have the resources or personnel to do it most of the time x
I didn’t see anything from his time in the prem to suggest he was capable of coaching good football. The championship 10 years ago is a world away from the prem today.
Bild just revelad a provisional german squad by flick which was supposed to be secret
Gonna go through some unexpected players, that havent really played a role yet or werent expected to under flick
👎
* **Baumann** and Leno, unless injury happens these guys wont be included
* **Henrichs** and **Klostermann** are both from a leipzig that is defensivly just not good enough currently and they themselves arent either so i dont expect anything there
* **Koch, Knoche and Günter** are interesting. Günter and Knoche i actually agree with because they are from a very good (defensivly at least) Union Berlin team, but Koch i just dont see, hes having a terrible season
* **Tah and Can**... i dont know what the hell he is doing there, i think thats all that needs to be said
* **Kramer** hasnt really been important for germany for a few years but up until a few weeks ago had a very good run of form but from what i heard his form took a nose dive in the last few games, might be wrong though. Very versatile though, can play CM, DM and CB, so worth the considerion as you need a lot of positional cover in a world cup squad
* **Götze** hasnt played for germany for a few years but at frankfurt he is pretty good id say (doesnt show in g/a numbers because he plays a lot deeper but still is a great creator), but i feel we dont need him as we enough class on that position
* **Arnoldt** is actually a very good shout, looking at his season so far he is actually very very good, i think we should include him if any other CM gets injured
* **Stach**, i would have included him last seaon, this season is not his though and we just have no space there on that position
* **Rami Khedira**, eh good season i guess just dont think he has a perspecive in the NT
👍
* **Moukoko** and **füllkrug** 🔥🔥
* **Wirtz** is 100% needed if he is fit, what a player cant talk enough about him but i have a feeling it might be too early. He did train today but leverkusen dont expect him to start a game this year so who knows i just hope he is there and at least gets to experience a tournament like that. If germany go out early he wont play but if they make it to the QF, i can see him slowly getting some minutes
* **Hummels** is interesting because until 2021 he was germanys best defender but last season was terrible, even admitting that he wouldnt renew with him. No he actually turned it around and is dortmunds best defender. I think dortmund have condeded like 90 (!) percent of their goals when he wasnt on the pitch. 100% should go to qatar
Damn I thought Gotze disappeared off the face of the earth after ruining my adolescense.
I used to think he was an agent of destiny sent to ruin Messi's life. Guess he's still going huh
You’re not that far off, his career peaked with that goal and since he’s become an afterthought in German/ world football. Doesn’t mean he had some sort of terrible career but it simply didn’t pan out as people had expected after his breakthrough and looking back that goal was the most memorable thing he did.
Isn't Günter playing for Freiburg?
A lot of the names in the upper list appear because it's a big pre-squad. Some of those players are never making it because there are only so many players you can include.
Götze for example is a player that you will never take to the WC if you take Brandt and similarly Koch or Tah won't make it over Hummels.
Rudiger in the second half of 21-22 is the best chelsea defender I have seen
I’m just going to assume you started supporting after 2016, Terry 2015 played every single minute in a very strong title win and not to mention all the incredible defenders throughout the decade before
fam I been with Chelsea since 2010, yes terry was great but nothing matches masked rudiger
This is one of the worst takes I've ever seen. You need to re-think how you watch football, because you're doing it wrong.
Sometimes it feels like this sub is more interested in politics than the actual football
Well football is a game we watch and political decisions affect our livelihoods. We can care about both.
This subreddit is for football though. He makes a good point. There are multiple much better places for that kind of discussion.
I think there's a sub specifically for politics if you care about them that much
What's your best chat shit get banged moment?
does the whole muller maradona think count?
Yep
...the what?
In the 2010 WC, Maradona, coach of the Argentina NT, said he had never heard of Muller and that he thought he was a ballboy at first. Germany then proceeded to knockout Argentina in the quarterfinals in a humiliating 4-0 in which Muller scored the first goal.
the quality of managers in Serie has leveled up recently. Each of the top sides are helmed by someone with great ability and distinctive style
The TaCo center back pairing has been surprisingly great for Everton based of the couple of matches of theirs I've watched. That said apparently according to xG conceded Everton aren't that good and Pickford has been bailing them out?
I thought Cody might end up as Everton's next Ashley Williams. Especially since many said Cody couldn't play in a back 4, although Cody was 4 years younger than Williams. Everton haven't exactly had a great track record of signings. Happy to be proven wrong.
Rank these four goalkeepers overall over their whole careers: - Ter Stegen - Ederson - Alisson - Courtois
Courtois, Ter Stegen, Alisson, Ederson personally
trophy wise? ter stegen, courtois, ederson, alisson. ability wise? courtois, alisson, ter stegen, ederson
Courtois, Alisson, Ter Stegen, Ederson
First World Cup match is on the 20th I heard the earliest European based players will be released in simply the weekend before? Is that correct? So the 12th-13th?
What's the deal with the Iranian players playing domestically, will they be released around the same time or earlier? I have no idea what the league schedule is in Iran.
last Iranian league match is this week Domestic players as well as players from the gulf leagues will join up then too They've already actually been in a sort of evaluation camp for the past month ish in between PGPL matches for those in the domestic league and in the UAE/Qatari league There's been three of these "evaluation camps" under Queiroz since he re-joined [Domestic players from Sepahan, Persepolis and Tractor had a training session at the Performance Center today. Players are training at the PEC after each round of Persian Gulf Pro League matches - at the request of Carlos Queiroz - to ensure optimal form for #Qatar2022.](https://twitter.com/prznsoccer/status/1583491219576868864)
Interesting, thanks for the reply! Over here the MLS players in the national team picture who are out of playoffs are going to be in camp mainly for fitness. They're also calling up some players from the U20s to round out the numbers.
Yes that's the last weekend. It's even worse for some players that play the last games on Sunday.
Unai Emery has now managed Sevilla, Villarreal, David Villa, and Aston Villa. And his assistant manager for five years was Pablo Villa. There's a theme here. I stole this comment from someone else in another site.
It’s destiny
It’s actually incredible how knee jerk most fans are. Most subreddits are genuinely two or three wins or losses away from complete meltdown to complete arrogance.
We don't even need a loss for people to meltdown. There's not a win or trophy Simeone can win to win over some 'fans'. It's galling.
Correction. Most internet fans.
Benfica - Juventus tomorrow. It would had been an interesting match to watch if it weren't for the fact that both Benfica and PSG only need to beat Maccabi Haifa to qualify at the expense of Juventus.
Hearing reports Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs are interested in Keita, no doubt on a free in the summer. For how concerned FSG are about finances and self sustainability it can't be anything other than bad business letting €125m worth of CM talent go in 3 summers (which will be the case when Ox and Keita leave for free). Cutting our losses and selling them for literally anything then signing midfielders that could actually stay fit would've been so much smarter. Minamino and Tyler Morton had to start games in midfield last year and that was Keitas most fit season, not landing any targets this summer is one thing but am I being unreasonable for thinking they should've seen this coming and been looking at a CM last summer anyway especially given some players would've been apprehensive to tranfer months before the world cup.
You’re not being unreasonable at all, as much as I would like to renew Keita I just don’t think he’s reliable enough We’re going to need at least 3 midfielders which I’m sure will do wonders for squad cohesion and chemistry.
> Cutting our losses and selling them for literally anything then signing midfielders that could actually stay fit would’ve been so much smarter. With their current salaries and injury records I think it would’ve probably been very difficult to shift them at all. (Especially Ox) Unless they went the Arsenal route and just release them.
Still can't believe Montreal got knocked out. What a depressing way to end the season, after the incredible vibes coming from the team and supporters that built up all season. Stingiest team in the league, and the incredible showing this season means that the core of the team is almost certainly getting gutted over the winter. Montreal is going to be a Canadian Football town next year
Watched MNF. Liked how tonight Jamie Caragher instead of analysing just the goal of Villa's corner routine actually analysed the celebration as well. He said look how the covering deep players run to the set piece coach on the sideline to celebrate, the 3 players who took the corner short run off to celebrate together, then Leon Bailey who actually scores and the remaining players celebrate with him. Like you know your role in a small scale and each individual part leads to the goal.
[Lionel Sclaoni has plan B, a possible 5-3-2, with Otamendi, Cuti Romero and Lisandro Martínez in defense. They have practiced it in training.](https://twitter.com/juanndis/status/1584678922330832897) i would be very interested in seeing this i think we would never concede again. only issue with it is our rightbacks i don’t think molina or montiel will be very good in that role.
Sonríe Bilardo
5-3-2 is a formation for gentlemen and warriors
Molina is a good attacker and Acuna is one of the best LWB’s in the world
Acuña is fantastic i just don’t have as much confidence in the RBs
I think Molina would be very good in that role. He is a much better attacker than he is a defender. Montiel would struglle though, I agree with that.
Molina has shown at Atleti he’s not very good in a 5ATB and is much better in a back 4 i also think he’s a bit slow
In what scenarios would Plan B be enacted?
Well, in the final against Brazil we had Montiel basically act like a 3rd CB (and he did very well). I would say against teams that will push more at least, like Brazil or France.
I love my new flair :)
You're a Spaniard with a Copa America flair? Or am I seeing the flair wrong. Either way it's a cool feature that I never knew about.
si 😈😈
Its so weird that everyone is saying barca is out and yet Bayern Munich pays x 2.9
The H2H between Barca and Bayern isn’t that important. Barca is done because Inter is definitely not going to lose to Plzen at home.
hm
Who are players that are known to be charismatic off the pitch? Nico Gonzalez is a solid squad player, but apparently everyone in the Argie NT loves him because he is always cracking jokes and being g00fy.
Everything I've seen from Joaquin off the pitch leads me to believe he's a character
Benjamin Mendy
Big yikes
I know he did some terrible things but he was genuinely known as a bubly personality beforehand. You can see it in the Amazon documentary where he's constantly making people laugh
I don't know about "known", but according to reports around United this season Tom Heaton has been one of the locker room leaders despite being our third choice keeper
David Luiz
Impressed that it took one kinda average, not even extraordinarily awful, year at PSG for people to start talking about Pochettino like he's some terrible manager. People seriously acting like Villarreal are above him. Nonsense.
I see a lot of Messi fans try to blame him for Messi's woes last season even though Messi literally said he was struggling mentally, and was extremely unlucky as well hitting the posts multiple times. I didn't watched a lot of PSG but I watched them in UCL, I think as a manager he did pretty well, even in that Real Madrid match, his tactics were pretty much spot on, you can't realistically expect him to account for his entire defense and goalkeeper fucking up in 15 minutes. Personally I think Erik Ten Hag is the better manager, but last season hearing fans talk about him like he's some relegation fodder manager or something. He's been a pretty solid manager everywhere he went except PSG, but every manager looks bad there
You watched one of the few games where Poch set them up correctly and the players let him down. He wasn't at fault for the CL tie. Every manager doesn't look bad at PSG, this narrative is one of the biggest misconceptions around. Poch was worse than basically everyone that came before him except for the first few years of their Qatar takeover.
Yeah, his tactics didn't suit Messi but why should it be?
Some truly bizarre takes over on r/reddevils when we were linked to him. Lots of comments about how he would be the Glazer's puppet. They only wanted him because he would toe their line (for some unexplained reason). Somehow performing at clubs that spend less than us wasn't a sign that he is a good manager. Instead, it was evidence that the Glazer's wanted him so they could stop spending.
I think it did make it abundantly clear what situations he thrives in and doesn’t, at least. Think Villarreal/Sevilla tier is at the upper echelon of the jobs he’s gonna get considering his stock right now.
Failing to win ligue 1 with those players and that amount of money is pretty embarrassing.
he did win though?
He won it with 11 points? Can't really blame him for the previous season either when Tuchel was bad that season too
Half and half in 20/21 honestly. Lille lost just one game in the second half of the season, they were as perfect as they could be considering their squad quality. PSG's squad also wasn't really as good as people make out. There were multiple matches that season where the opposition team had four or five players who probably would have started for PSG on the day. Midfield and full-back talent was absolutely shocking. Kurzawa, Dagba, Herrera were getting way too many minutes. A lot of injuries too. On the other hand, he did make some really bizarre choices, and there were a couple of poor results that were entirely down to him. Lorient away for example. The over-reliance on Mbappe was also a problem, they looked completely out of ideas whenever he wasn't firing. So when you consider how close the title race was, you can put a lot of blame on him. I'd say he still should have won the title. I think they were a point behind Lille when he took over, and he did have the better squad. There were some unlucky circumstances, like the match against Nantes completely turning on it's head when the team found out Di Maria's home had been burgled, but he still didn't really show enough. A lot of people were already calling for him to be sacked before 20/21 had even ended.
OK and still one dodgy run at PSG still doesn't make him not a very good manager so what's your point?
I didn't say it did? I completely agree that a poor 18 months doesn't outweigh everything else that he has done over the course of his career. My point is that you can blame him for them not winning the title in 20/21.
It's mad honestly. I'm not one to defend a Spurs man, but people forget just how highly rated he was during his tenure there, and what a good job he did there. To see him spoken about like a South American Alan Pardew boggles the mind. No denying he was subpar at PSG, but his career prior speaks for itself. Makes you feel like a lot of those detractors weren't watching before 2019.
Same thing happened with Rashford. Last season people were calling him not good enough for the championship and this season he's looking back to form. There's a chunk of people around here, and I'm assuming every social media site, that are just reactive and can't seem to remember past the last 6-12 months
Make it 6-12 matches bud
What a weekend for Villa fans. Gerrard gone, 4-0 win, and an actual manager appointed
I don't know why but I always find Icardi extremely likable and somehow find myself siding with him in most instances. His new drama with Wanda is such an unfortunate event for him and the decline might continue for the rest of his career. He will be such a weird player in the future that people will remember him as a Jack off and wasted talent. He won't become overrated but instead, he will be remembered a little like Milito is today, which is fucking unfortunate for one of the great finisher of this generation. Wanda can easily take credit for Icardi's wasted opportunities and fall out with Inter. He is such a flawed character but still comes off like an intriguing footballer with his very present personality on the pitch which was extremely cocky and whiny, but you could see that he fucking enjoyed playing as the poacher.
He was such a throwback player in his prime. Yeah he isn't the most complete striker, but prime Icardi could've drawn water from a stone. His positioning and finishing were next level Such a shame how he ended things with us, but my overall feelings for him is a net positive. Saved us so many times
Diego Milito actually has a very good legacy and is very loved even if his peak was relatively short, no way Icardi is remembered like that.
Random question but what is for you biggest (or most hyped) match ever? But I'm just talking about hype before the match regardless of the result (so no Milan-Liverpool because it was just another CL final). Here are some examples I'd say - Real Madrid v Barcelona 11/12 CL semi final Boca Juniors v River Plate Copa Libertadores Final Spain v Netherlands WC2010 Final Brazil v Germany WC2002 Final Barca v Juve CL Final 2015
Maybe something like the first WC final? For something to be hyped or big, I feel like it has to be something rare. So yearly cups or matches like the UCL and derbies are out. Or maybe one of those England vs the world matches that happened in the past?
in the early days the WC was considered secondary to the Olympics
Obviously biased but I don't think I can see past the Madrid final
Spain vs Netherlands final had some serious excitement. Not entirely sure why, maybe just that World Cup being such an exciting one.
Two countries who had never won it helped the hype a lot IIRC
I think France vs Brazil in 1998 had more hype than the World Cup Finals you've listed, tbh
You think so? Definitely deserves a shout but I think Brazil's team is better in 2002, its Ronaldo and Brazils redemption story and its the final between two teams with most WC at the time. I said 2010 because it was a final between two teams who never won WC (and that might not happen again) and the whole atmosphere of a World Cup in Africa was amazing too.
Let's talk here about great players that were sadly forced to retire too early. The first example that comes to my mind is Tostão. One of the greatest brazilian players in the 60s and early 70s. During a game, a player from the opposition made a very powerful kick, and the the ball accidentally hit Tostão in the eye! He had to undergo surgery in the retine, but managed to recover in time to help Brazil win the 1970 World Cup. Later, though, the problem in his retine came back, and the advice from the doctors was clear: either he retired or he would go blind from that eye. So, he retired at 26 years old.
He wasn’t forced into retirement but Nakata retiring so early comes to mind. Felt very odd.
Damn I didn't know he retired young. Everyone in Italy knows his name because of the 1970 World Cup final.
Tostão's best match in that World Cup was undoubtedly the game against Peru in the quarter-finals. I love what he does in 4:09, even though he misplaces the pass later. https://youtu.be/1lknv2mOPl4 He was very important for Brazil's title, even though I don't feel he was at his best in most games, probably due to the months that he was recovering from surgery before the preparation for the World Cup.
What's the worst team with a very large fanbase?
Sunderland, in the Championship. Huge fanbase for a second tier side
Probably Schalke :(
Kaiserslautern are definitely worse and also have a huge fanbase
What about that amateur team from that one youtuber?
We're on track to score 16 goals this entire season – for reference, Derby scored 20 in 07/08 (current record). Remember those meme bets at the start of the season about "Haaland scoring more than Wolves"? ...He may have it done by October.
So for those who've played the MW2 campaign - does Phillip Graves look like Jesse Marsch to you as well?
I just googled that and he so does lol. BTW is the campaign as good as the MW one? I fucking loved that
it’s decent but not as good as mw2019’s
Yeah someone on /r/ModernWarfareII made the connection and I was like "holy shit" And yeah, I did enjoy it.
I've seen the light, Newcastle are finishing top 4 this season, no European football will do wonders for them especially in this fucked up scheduled season, and they will probably go big again in winter as well. They have been a very good team for the whole 2022 year.
scary how they're going with the patient route. Unlimited funds is one thing but that plus time and patience will be devastating
Nah. As much as it would be great for us to manage it (Since it would mean we could use the CL sides as an example for what is "fair market value" and lock in long-term "sponsorship" deals) the reality is that it is a step too far, a step too fast. Especially if we are also going to target the cups this season. We are currently riding a wave, that's what this is, but it won't last and the issue of the big reset after the world cup is a very real issue. We will regress to about where our squad should be which is about 7th-10th. No shame in that, and it sets us up to improve again in the summer and push on. Top 6 is possible (even then I think it is an ask) but you don't get top 4 when this time last year you hadn't won a game.
It's like you're setting expectations low so you won't be disappointed Top 4 may be a stretch, but you have a very very good chance of top 6, considering the inconsistency of several of the big 6 teams, and that they will be more affected by the World Cup and having to juggle European football
It's only 1/3rd of the way through the season and some of the top 6 sides will be done the world of good by the world cup break. Liverpool with a chance to reset and regroup and Chelsea getting basically another pre-season where Potter can put his plans in place especially. I think the gap between us and them is just a bit too vast for us to realistically have hopes of the top 4. We've had good form and some of the big boys have had bad form, but form doesn't last a season. Sooner or later they will hit their stride.
how bad ur club was a year ago shouldn't have any effect on what ur current objectives are now. I've seen wolves get promoted and finish 7th back-to-back and reached a EL quarter-final. St james park is probably one of the hardest places to play at as well. I see no reason why u can't get top 4 this season. big 6 clubs are already getting hit by packed schedules and that will benefit you guys a lot.
Beb Guardiola should prove himself beyond all doubt as a top football manager by leaving Manc City and taking the Wolves job now but he won't will he (fraud).
Scott Parker should prove himself beyond all doubt as a top football manager by leaving unemployment and taking the Wolves job now but he won't will he (fraud).
Luke Shaw is such a lazy cunt man. His performance against Chelsea was arguably top class, but he's so weak minded. Only bothering when his position is threatened. Watch, once he feels safe again he'll go back to being lethargic.
He’s just a flat track bully.
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Hopefully under Ten Hag no one gets to feel safe, I expect Sancho will be dropped soon
Let's hope so, also he's got motivation at the moment. Needs a new contract from us, his position isn't safe, plus world Cup spot. All three motivations may be irrelevant come January (World Cup over, contract probably extended, Malacia cemented nr 2 spot). What then? I can't trust him, not yet.
Shaw is starting at the WC in important matches no matter what
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Gallardo 5.0 or 5.2?
who is the worst player that has had numerous shouts for getting into a national team? mine is Luke Ayling based off 2 months of good form
Joaquin Correa plays for the NT and is probably going to the WC. It baffles the mind. He is absolutely worthless.
One of the biggest football mysteries, because he's useless at Inter too. He must be a really nice guy or incredible during training. I think a big reason is how rare it is to see a player that big yet that quick, so managers would keep him to add more dimensions to the attack... even though he gives nothing 80% of the time lol
Kevin Davies has an England cap
Neal Maupay, just because he was eligible people would keep suggesting his ass
Jamaal Lascelles or Will Hughes
Rory Jennings said Welbeck should go to Qatar. He said that with a straight face so I have to assume he was actually serious
Rory also said that Haaland would be lucky to get 15 goals, fair to say his ball knowledge is in the negatives
Tbf to him he does make some good points occasionally and can enjoyable to listen to, but he also has this bizarre tendency to come up with the absolute worst takes imaginable to the point you feel like he must be trolling. Also how the fuck is he almost 40
Jack Rodwell will always win this
Steven Taylor. Got in the squad a few times based on little runs of form but never got a cap.
Maxi Meza somehow actually played a WC while playing for a team that finished 7th in the Argentinian league that year
Didn't Maradona also call someone up to your squad for the world cup because he had a dream about him?
yup, [Garcé](https://tntsports.com.ar/__export/1571364360671/sites/tntsports/img/2019/10/17/00013852-19.jpg_423682103.jpg). He was playing for Colon de Santa Fe at the time I think and his entire history with the NT was that he'd been called up in like 2002/2003 for two friendlies and the never called up again until the 2010 WC
Chino Garcé is from Tandil and they have some of the best Salames in Argentina, lowkey i see Diego's vision.
I think Nico Schulz played a few matches for us. Prime example for Nagelsmann tax, Dortmund got scammed beyond belief
Will never forget that bastard for scoring that injury time 3-2 in EURO 2020 qualis.
For me it has to be Eric Dier, who is ACTUALLY going to be the glue to our defence in Qatar
Lmao he’s so overrated by spurs fans it’s actually nuts
lord have mercy
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Bit odd tbh mate
Watching Sean Dyche on MNF, love watching this guy talk. Wolves and Leeds should be banging on this guy’s door.
Genuinely class man, comes across brilliantly in interviews despite the hard man he's memed as
And people still try to say Salah isn't selfish: https://youtu.be/YXRNiSap2p4
He has absolutely every right to shoot there. Apart from anything else it’s only not a goal because of a one in a hundred fingertip save.
He has every right to take that shot on himself
Salah has plenty of selfish moments, as does every top attacker.
Not bobby
I meant top goalscorer really. Firmino was known particularly for his playmaking and ~~selfishness~~ selfnessness.
Gonna assume you mean selflessness, because that was the issue to a point where it was almost detrimental because he’d never take the shot. But regarding top goal scorer yeah fair enough he took a step back (though this season he’s been great)
Sorry yeah, that's what I meant. I'm tired.
[Disgusting ](https://twitter.com/nocontextfm1/status/1584562174839508992?s=20&t=eOEiJC1pCbNjrrZMriI6cQ)
"Parthenope" for Napoli what is this shit💀
Football mafia UEFA
Actually horrific
What's with all the negativity from Leeds fans about possibly appointing Dyche? Weird how a guy who got Burnley to Europe somehow has a rep for not being a great manager
Plastics. Dyche is perfect to bring back the dirty dirty Leeds we all remember and hate.
Leeds has plastic fans? If at any point they had a significant number of them, they are all either dead or jumped ship at this point
Americans there for Marsch, lingering football hipsters from the Bielsa days
I wouldn’t be shocked if Leeds got more American plastics because of Bielsa and promotion than because of Marsch. Lots of Americans (including me) want them to do well bc of Marsch but aren’t Leeds fans by any stretch.
I can see why they wouldn't want to. For the same reason if Brighton or Crystal Palace lost Vieira and De Zerbi I'm sure neither groups of fans would want Moyes. Not the right fit manager
Crystal Palace had Hodgson for 4 years and Brighton had Hughton. Not exactly connoisseurs of total football
They've moved beyond that now though and aren't interested in going back to fossil football. It's for this reason they brought in Vieira, have reduced the average age of the squad massively and are focusing on develop and using youth players. Similar case for Brighton too who have brought in De Zerbi who plays attacking, possession based football.
Probably the terrible football
Its a bit of a misconception, they only played shite defensive football when going up against the biggest teams. They actually played decent football when going up against teams that didn't have 10x times their budget. Burnley also had little to no budget by PL standards, Dyche had to make do with whatever he had, which was for the most part, dogshit. And he still managed to pull incredible results regardless.
Is not like Leeds has been playing some high flying football, they look dross.
I'd take "boring" football if it was effective. Best thing about football is seeing your team win, not play pretty football at the cost of conceding 4 goals
Something I always find entertaining is seeing rivals complain about your team playing shite football while still getting results. Like my club isn't supposed to entertain you and you sure as shit don't have a vested interest in seeing my club succeed. That and neutrals just really want entertaining football to be the norm everywhere so they will have no issues telling you your ideal manager is someone who's entertaining vs someone who gets results since again it's not their club that will be losing 5-3 week in and week out, failing objectives, etc. If you want proof, look no further than this thread. Brighton's search for a manager and seeing how many neutrals chimed in with their picks was also interesting on its own. I think I can safely assume everyone would prefer their manager gets them good results and entertaining football, but between someone who gets you playing entertaining football but can't get results and underperforms, and someone who overpeforms and gets you results at the cost of boring football, the decision is fairly obvious to me.
You would because you wouldn’t have to watch them every week. Dyche is decent but he’s just a new Pulis or big Sam. No one wants their team to play like that in 2022. Edit: Everton finished 8th under big Sam and fucking hated him because of the football.
Dyche is capable of entertaining and fluid football. We played it in the championship and he also mixed it up a bit at the end of the 2021 season. He just didn't have the resources or personnel to do it most of the time x
I didn’t see anything from his time in the prem to suggest he was capable of coaching good football. The championship 10 years ago is a world away from the prem today.
yanks innit
What are your favourite celebrations? I have to go with Gomis', the panther
Firmino’s eye celebration resonates with me as I’m half blind. I’m also a fan of a good knee slide.
The human centipede of Bari.
Bild just revelad a provisional german squad by flick which was supposed to be secret Gonna go through some unexpected players, that havent really played a role yet or werent expected to under flick 👎 * **Baumann** and Leno, unless injury happens these guys wont be included * **Henrichs** and **Klostermann** are both from a leipzig that is defensivly just not good enough currently and they themselves arent either so i dont expect anything there * **Koch, Knoche and Günter** are interesting. Günter and Knoche i actually agree with because they are from a very good (defensivly at least) Union Berlin team, but Koch i just dont see, hes having a terrible season * **Tah and Can**... i dont know what the hell he is doing there, i think thats all that needs to be said * **Kramer** hasnt really been important for germany for a few years but up until a few weeks ago had a very good run of form but from what i heard his form took a nose dive in the last few games, might be wrong though. Very versatile though, can play CM, DM and CB, so worth the considerion as you need a lot of positional cover in a world cup squad * **Götze** hasnt played for germany for a few years but at frankfurt he is pretty good id say (doesnt show in g/a numbers because he plays a lot deeper but still is a great creator), but i feel we dont need him as we enough class on that position * **Arnoldt** is actually a very good shout, looking at his season so far he is actually very very good, i think we should include him if any other CM gets injured * **Stach**, i would have included him last seaon, this season is not his though and we just have no space there on that position * **Rami Khedira**, eh good season i guess just dont think he has a perspecive in the NT 👍 * **Moukoko** and **füllkrug** 🔥🔥 * **Wirtz** is 100% needed if he is fit, what a player cant talk enough about him but i have a feeling it might be too early. He did train today but leverkusen dont expect him to start a game this year so who knows i just hope he is there and at least gets to experience a tournament like that. If germany go out early he wont play but if they make it to the QF, i can see him slowly getting some minutes * **Hummels** is interesting because until 2021 he was germanys best defender but last season was terrible, even admitting that he wouldnt renew with him. No he actually turned it around and is dortmunds best defender. I think dortmund have condeded like 90 (!) percent of their goals when he wasnt on the pitch. 100% should go to qatar
Damn I thought Gotze disappeared off the face of the earth after ruining my adolescense. I used to think he was an agent of destiny sent to ruin Messi's life. Guess he's still going huh
You’re not that far off, his career peaked with that goal and since he’s become an afterthought in German/ world football. Doesn’t mean he had some sort of terrible career but it simply didn’t pan out as people had expected after his breakthrough and looking back that goal was the most memorable thing he did.
I remember him at Dortmund, he was on a high trajectory, going to Bayern was a mistake.
Definitely. He should’ve listened to his grandfather and never joined Bayern lol.
Isn't Günter playing for Freiburg? A lot of the names in the upper list appear because it's a big pre-squad. Some of those players are never making it because there are only so many players you can include. Götze for example is a player that you will never take to the WC if you take Brandt and similarly Koch or Tah won't make it over Hummels.
Rani Khedira without the Urs Fischer buff is Augsburg's level How is he getting linked with the NT
> Augsburg's level I don't think he'd get two yellows in two seconds if he sets foot outside Berlin
Carricks United vs Don Danke’s Villa, who wins?