and here my only consolation so far was that you might win some money if i was wrong

the renaissance man was just thrown out though so things are changing and *here comes robben*

eta: disappointed with costa today

--

and now alonso for coman? does that mean kimmich pushes forward?

and mueller truly out of it lol

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and lahm in! carletto means business...

ufff, this is annoying

and you might have won! :D

(and sadly for the right reasons...mueller only trips & falls)

Haha was thinking that. Ah well.

Shocking miss by Lahm there

dismal game for bayern and glorious for leverkusen's defense

mueller much better on the wings or whatever but awful awful awful just awful as lewandowski's replacement

a bit of a clusterfuck

with alonso and lahm leaving at the end of the year, things dont look good for bayern right now

Brady’s a total embarrassment. I really can’t stand her.

Anyway, the West Ham situation: Payet clearly made us look far better last season than we actually were, but him going doesn’t explain the apparent collapse of our defence this season. If Bilic is there after the summer he has to sort that out. But we’re weak in every area and, while our owners like to talk big, until they sell, they’re really only interested in Prem survival and will only invest enough to secure that. They’ve been lucky this season because we’ve probably scraped just about enough points to avoid the drop, but they’ll be scared of a relegation battle next season so I expect them to spend a little more in the summer, but only enough to guarantee safety.

watching the replay of the gladbach/hoffenheim game from yesterday, which ended a bountiful 5-3

very nice game, 2-2- at 35' and i know there's more to come ha ha ha

Chelsea losing again today has really opened up the title race. It's gonna be between them and Spurs and right now I'd say Spurs are looking stronger, but with a slightly tougher run in.

who beat chelsea what?

i know i can google this (and im gonna) but gimme yr takes yo

Man U beat them 2-0. They suffocated Chelsea in classic Mourinho style. But Chelsea have been off the boil recently anyway. Costa hasn't been great in the second half of the season (interestingly since that big offer from China) but it just feels like they're generally not quite clicking at the moment. They looked unstoppable before Christmas and they are still 4 points ahead but I can see them dropping more points, whereas Spurs look better and better. Their forward line of Eriksen, Alli, Son and Kane are destroying defences, seemingly at will. Plus they're solid at the back.

If China's prepared to pay Costa £30m a year, God knows what they'd offer Kane.

oh ha ha china is a 2nd life for players all over.

pirlo must be regretting coming to the US. i haven't seen him here yet btw...

nor schweinsteiger

BUT yeah nice contest you guys got going for 1st

bayern's bundesliga advantage got shortened this weekend to 8ps, but leipzig is also ahead of 3rd so that seems like a clear contest. hoffenheim (another astroturf club) is shaping for 3rd ahead of dortmundia

Schweinsteiger's had a great start in the MLS. So long as he stays injury free he could probably contribute something really positive there. Definitely more than he would in China or was allowed to do at MU. It's sad how things ended there. Even Mourinho's apologised for how he treated him, something I'd never seen him do before. I wasn't convinced he was a good purchase by Van Gaal but even so, Mourinho treated him terribly.

Pirlo's apparently not fitting in so well at NYC. It seems that Viera's tactics are totally unsuited to his style of play. It's looking like the owners wanted him for his celebrity without realising he's one of those players you only get if you're prepared to build an entire system around him, and Viera's refusing to do that.

Speaking of the MLS, did you see David Villa's goal the other day?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOSpLQNNdcs

funny you should ask-- yes i did for some reason

i didn't know he had migrated here but ran into the news

btw i always thought barcelona was better with him than without him

sad to hear about pirlo! damn... fucking mls...

i should start watching the damn mls. maybe this summer.

I watch streams of the MLS and it's great. Far more credible than the haters like to pretend. And I can see both sides of the Pirlo debate. Yes he's a brilliant player but he's also incredibly limited. I mean have you ever seen him even try to tackle anyone, or run for that matter. If you're a manger trying to build something long term, are you really gonna restructure everything to accommodate a guy in his late 30s who's probably only gonna be there for a year or two and is pretty much irreplaceable once he does leave?

I used to be quite dismissive of David Villa but have since come to really respect him. The great irony is that he was instrumental to the success of a team that probably did more to discredit the very idea of the out and out striker (which he embodied) than any other. There was a period between him leaving and the arrival of Neymar and Suarez when they became a little too ideologically pure for their own good: when there was arguably more fun to be had analysing their tactics than watching them in action.

Bastia-Lyon: Corsican "supporters" swarmed the Lyon players to punch them.
The game was delayed and started 50 minutes later. At half time, new "supporters" invaded the pitch to kick the shit out of the Lyon players. Security members also had their go at Lyon guys.
Bastia are bottom of the French ligue 1. Hope they get more than relegated. Considering their coach said after the reverse game in the first part of the season that Lyon guys should beware of their arrival in Corsica.
A bunch of assholes.

Was reading about this just before. Wankers. God knows how this shit is still going on.

Also, if even half of the transfer rumours come about this summer then it's just gonna be next level daft. The money mooted to be thrown around is just...

Both Lukaku and Hazard are tipped to make £100 million moves alone.

Yeah, I can see the total spend in the Prem alone being astronomical. The fact £100m is now being talked about so freely in relation to a calibre of player who only a couple of seasons ago would've probably gone for half that does make me wonder where it'll all end. I mean no disrespect to Lukaku but if he's worth 100m, what on earth must say Neymar, or Bale be worth? And if Messi and Ronaldo were both 5 years younger might we have even been looking at the 1st £1b players.

Nah he's not worth £100 million at all. And I say that with a love for the guy.

The fact that totally mediocre players can be sold for £30 million (Sissoko) is bad enough.

Yeah, I've got a much bigger problem with the amount that average players earn. Andy Carroll on 90k a week, Negredo on 100k is just a joke. They must both wake up every morning and have to pinch themselves.

Everton should rinse the madness for all they can get. If someone's willing to pay 100m for Lukaku then that's what they should ask for him.

The problem they'll have is bringing in an equivalent replacement, and the real danger is they do a Spurs: wasting the Bale money on a load of cut price prospects, most of whom made no impact at all. Anyone remember Soldado? But what can Everton do? They're not likely to break into the top 4 anytime soon so players of Lukaku's quality won't even look at them and even up and coming prospects will demand a higher salary than they would at one of the elite clubs. It's depressing.

I suspect the reason they've said 100mill is because they know that it's just ridiculous and nowhere near what he's 'worth', but if anyone is willing to pay that then fine.

I'd like to think that both Koeman and Walsh are smart enough to buy decent players unlike what Spurs did. We'll see though.

Funny you should mention Soldado. The only reason I remember him is because he was renowned for never scoring, then finally scored against Everton to win 2-1 (game was in November and he hadn't scored since March. Thanks google for that one) I thought it was just typical of Martinez Everton to do that. Funny how you remember pointless shit like that. I can't tell you a single thing about the last two champions league finals, but I can remember a non-player like Soldado.

Negredo is on 100k a week? Mental. And yet people kicked up a fuss that Lingard was getting that amount.

Anyway! Champions League tonight. I feel like I'd rather watch the Real/Bayern game tonight. Got a feeling that Madrid are gonna sit deep and not let Leicester even get a hint of the ball in the box.