SkinssRvA

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42219327 Did Clattenberg just admit something he should not have? I'm sure people remember the game but just to refresh: Tottenham went up 2-0 and began fouling and dirty tactics throughout the game. 9 of their players were handed a yellow, with three players deserving a second (or even a straight red). It was a horribly reffed game and Clats lost control. He didn't want to be in the headlines for "losing the title for Tottenham" yet ended up in the headlines for one of the worst reffed games of the past decade. He is essentially admitting that he was not going to send anyone off no matter what the play on the field dictated. Also that refs in the PL play by different rules and try to extract "theatre" from matches instead of fair decisions. This is borderline match fixing stuff.

You want a pen for that hazard challenge? Really? That was perfect use of his body to win the ball. Overall I thought both teams had good moments. Chelsea had the game they wanted, a counter attacking, slow paced team. Salah didn't work at Chelsea because of our style but he's made for a team like Liverpool or man city that are attack attack attack. Saw two different philosophies meet today and it ended up being overall a good game with both having their moments. for Chelsea: Andreas Christensen is an absolute stud defensively. Azpilicueta as well just an animal. Bakayoko was very poor and there wasn't much for morata to do. Hazard tapered off down the stretch and cesc made a big difference when he came on. For liverpool: interesting team selection. Salah was very good, And Moreno actually had a nice game. Sturridge was a lot like morata, he did some good things but not too much service. Defensively overall played a pretty good game.

Punisher is dope.

Flattering score for manure today, deserved a 2 goal loss. That would have been fair. Hazard was top class and morata’s header was a beauty. Solid backline and courtois made the one save that was required of him. Conte got it perfect with the setup, too. Very happy to get a win against Jose...

Not great from us today. I'd say Roma deserve all the credit and I guess they do, but all three* of their goals were massive mistakes from defense. Poor selection and tactics from Conte, poor finishing from our front three who had plenty of opportunities, and extremely poor defending from: Alonso, Cesc, and Rudiger. Playing Cesc Fabregas in a midfield 2 and asking him to cover ground is essentially akin to asking a caterpillar cross the united states. He simply cannot do it he doesn't have the engine, the pace, the defensive awareness....he is overrun at EVERY turn. If Conte continues to play him there he will lose his job, mark my words. Anyway, we now have a battle in what many consider the toughest group. Not because the quality is overly great but I think more because all the teams are evenly matched. It will come down to the last week, Chelsea vs Atletico at Stamford Bridge. Too bad for EPL, too. Chelsea first team to lose, so, sorry all. *Writing this with 5 minutes left so maybe Roma score more?

Do you live in Ireland? I loved it when I visited. Although I almost got in about 12 different wrecks driving on the wrong side of the road in a manual while traversing Dublin after our flight and being up for 28 hours straight. You folk are super friendly, in Galway especially I thought.

Aren't GHH, Morrison, and UK all in England? Why don't you three meet up and have a few ciders all this bickering is cluttering the Chelsea Champions thread

Didn’t deserve all 3 I think. But happy to have them. Passion from conte and the players tells me we aren’t in a 2015 situation. Kante is so massive for this squad. That’s my main takeaway. We essentially concede midfield when he is not out there...

Journos really do a disservice to the public. They drum up make believe stories ALL THE TIME and it pisses me off. This is a profession that relies on accuracy less that batting averages in baseball...you hit 5% of the time and you're a good journalist. I just wish they would shut their mouth if they don't have a story to write instead of just making things up all the time. With that said, it's no doubt that Roman has a short leash and getting rid of great managers is no problem for him. If Conte is gone that's 2 top top managers gone in...2 years. At some point you have to start looking in the mirror. Great managers still need great players to succeed...a manager can only mask so many deficiencies. The problem came this summer, when Drinkwater and Zappacosta came in and matic and Costa left. We knew we had more footie to play and we still brought in second and third choices simply to replace, not strengthen. Anyway, I will wait until after the weekend to truly weigh in. Things aren't great, but certainly we aren't at the level of 2015 Mou just yet.

Not a great week by any standard for Chelsea. Injuries and more competitions...barren squad...everyone knew it was coming. Have to find a win this weekend against an in form Watford, hopefully it gets done. Sitting atop our group in CL with no loss is nice and all, but there's a lot left to be desired. 4 points will be enough as we have a massive goal differential on Atletico...the win away against AM was a monumental result. Would have liked to get all three yesterday after going 2-0 up but anyone who watched the game could tell Roma were bound to get many goals. Without Kante our midfield is shambolic, trying to play Luiz there just does not work. Anyway, I'll wait until after this weekend to start feeling the nerves...which is very possible given form and injuries.

I am the ONLY soccer fan at my office, legit no one else really watches. There's a couple guys and gals who watch sports regularly, and I've been trying to get them to watch soccer. It's strange because I played American football and now I talk about soccer maybe more than the sport I played, but I've been going on about qualifying for the WC and getting people excited to see the team play in the summer. Today is one of the most embarrassing fandom moments I can recall. Last night the exact reason people just don't care about soccer in this country. A flat team and an emotionless manager lose to a last place T&T that appeared to be the squad playing for a WC spot. To go 2 down at full strength is utterly shambolic. There's a new antagonist for USMNT fans, lucky for Wondolowski. Omar Gonzalez is going to live this day forever.

too bad for Howard and Dempsey. Everyone else pure ****. Utter ****. Arena, you’re garbage, killed this team with terrible tactics. Whipe the slate clean. This absolutely kills US soccer for the foreseeable future. For decades this is going to hurt. US soccer is now an official JOKE

This team doesn’t deserve the World Cup honestly. Too bad, hopefully pulisic is ready in four years. **** this team, disgusting performance.

Disgraceful performance. Absolutely disgraceful.

dunananananananana dunanananananana BATMANNNNNN!!!!!!!

Tbf it's headed away from the goal on a close deflection from the goalie. Still tho, keep your hands down In the area!

I did not even bother buying the app. I paid good money last year to upgrade my package so I could watch EPL, and other leagues too. Now they want me to pay the same price but then also have to pay another fee to watch games on a different device? No thanks. I'll gladly find a free stream.

Great start to the first and really great second half for Chelsea today. I think we are seeing the evolution to contes preferred 3-5-2 with hazard and fabregas both in the side. That second half was really good and morata with a hat trick was very, vey nice to see. Looks like he can score goals without using his head

The ratings in the US did drop after we were eliminated in 2014.... Bars stop sponsoring World cup events, friends arent gathering around...normal americans are not interested if the US is out. If you're sticking around to watch Antoine Griezmann and Ngolo Kante it's because you watch soccer already, not because you're rooting for world class players. Yea but how can you fix matches if there's no "human error"

Yea if promotion/relegation increases the competition in MLS, thus raising the level of the top league I'm all for it. MLS has already brought in more south americans than it had, which alone raised it a level. Lower level competition would definitely get more players involved in professional soccer, but we should make sure it's not just quantity but also quality. THe top league in MLS would pale in comparison to other international teams though, so we'd never get any real quality in the form of youth for the relegated/lower level sides.

The average american does not watch the world cup to see Ronaldo or Messi. People aren't packing in and selling out bars to watch the superstars of other nations. They watch to support America. Much like most Americans don't tune in to watch track events but every four years when the olympics come around. If you amended your first statement to "Americans don't care much about soccer" you'd be more on. If we miss this world cup it's an absolute detriment to youth development. People would (somehow) care less about US soccer if we didn't show up on the national stage for 8 straight years (if we qualified next WC, which is shaky considering we are losing a core of solid respectable players). Kids would be driven away from soccer because "there's just no future for American Soccer, we can't even make the world cup." Obviously you myself and everyone else in this thread knows the USMNT has nothing to do with potential for wages, but Americans as a whole see it differently. Youth development certainly is lacking here in the states, no doubt about it. Our best athletes don't grow up wanting to play soccer, and our best (future) coaches don't grow up wanting to coach soccer. Jurgen, an international, immediately recognized this. There is no comparison to international soccer. Big clubs have youth academies that revolve around soccer, school systems are set up to revolve around soccer, it is their predominant sport. It is career/livelihood driven for families like American football is here in the states. Everyone wants to be a part of it from the day they are born basically. That's not even touching on south america where soccer is literally a way of life and religion. My own personal take is MLS is doing their best to increase the coverage of our professional soccer league and that this is a good place to start. We need to bring relevance to the sport in general. The easiest ways to do that are 1. World Cup USMNT exposure and 2. Popular MLS. As popularity grows with MLS so does youth development, I firmly believe that. The model of buying old washed up internationals can only get you so far..we need to raise the competition here in MLS in other ways. Somehow competing in international tournaments that aren't friendlies would be a great way to do that, but I don't know if it's even possible. Or..and credit to fanboy, I just saw in the soccer thread about spanish league teams hosting games internationally. Dude, come to the US we'd love to host. If we can't raise the perception of the sport through MLS let's do it by hosting big meaningful games from other leagues. Get the quality of soccer played on US soil UP, and interest goes UP.

What an amazing free kick to set that up

Every first touch someone not named pulisic or Dempsey takes is god awful

Honduras wants it by my expert calculations about 3,000% more

They're on for another one at this rate. Cant keep control of the ball against Honduras....wow