ES Soccer Thread

[MartinC]

Cortouis is a world class keeper, but the best in the world distinction would have to go to Neuer for me.  Also, Lloris may be the best keeper in the EPL, slightly above Cortouis & De Gea.  I would take either keeper at Arsenal in a heart beat, hell I'm hoping we can get Ochoa this summer to replace Szczesny when he leaves.

Id agree with you on Neuer. Bearing in mind Cortoius age he will probably be the best keeper in the world in 4 or 5 years.

Loris is a very good keeper but best in the EPL? Cortoius and DeGea are both better, heck Cech is still arguably better (or at least as good) as Loris. I totally agree though Loris is better than anyone Arsenal have - Liverpool as well.

Cortoius was excellent tonight for Chelsea in Paris. It's not just the saves he makes it's how calm and commanding he is - he makes it look easy which is always a sign of the real class player.

[DC9]

I'll put it this way - if you're given the choice between Neuer and Cortois, I'm betting most are taking Cortois.

 

As Martin touched on it, probably more due to age, but also size and technique are both fantastic at such a young age for Cortois.

Cavani !

You can't do that when you come to Arsenal this summer

 

That dude has been coming to the BPL for years.

Lallana has been hurt. Give him a chance. As I stated before, I can't waiting until Coutinho, Lallana, Sturridge, Sterling and Balo/Ibe are out there together with Gerrard pulling the strings.

I really want Lovern (or Kolo) to take that RCB spot so Can can take over that midfield spot next to Hendo.

 

I think Can is going to be something special with all of those options.  I'm hoping BR trusts Lovren or Kolo enough to take that RCB spot.  I think there is a DRAMATIC difference in the midfield waiting for Can being there instead of Joe Allen. 

[jobaga]

Here's a video of Chelsea fans acting like assholes! 

 

 

In case you didn't watch it. They refused to let a black man get on the train and then proudly chanted about being racist!!

[SkinInsite]

Chelsea fans acting like Chelsea fans.

Shocking

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Here's a video of Chelsea fans acting like assholes! 

 

.....

 

In case you didn't watch it. They refused to let a black man get on the train and then proudly chanted about being racist!!

 

Sadly not a shock to anyone. 

 

The single, most despicable, classless, low life set of ****bags in England. 

 

I LOVE Everton and Utd compared to THAT football club and it's followers. 

 

Hail. 

[RawBBQSauce]

Chelsea is a rather affluent area of London, correct?

[MartinC]

Chelsea is a rather affluent area of London, correct?

Yep. VERY expensive part of the capital. Its got some "artsy" roots as well with the Kings Road which was the centre of the London 'swinging 60's' being part of the area. Bit like Man U though not many Chelsea fans are from Chelsea or even London. Lots of people jumped on teh bandwagon when they started winning things after the Russian money poured in ...

[RawBBQSauce]

Before I die, I want visit London, to go to The Emirates, and see a North London Derby live.

[btfoom]

Here's a video of Chelsea fans acting like assholes! 

 

In case you didn't watch it. They refused to let a black man get on the train and then proudly chanted about being racist!!

 

All I can say is:

 

Eff off Chelsea FC

You Ain't got no history

5 European Cups, 18 Leagues

That's what (Pool) call history

 

 

Bunch of bloody wankers (to use the UK version) they are!!!

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Here's a video of Chelsea fans acting like assholes! 

 

.....

 

In case you didn't watch it. They refused to let a black man get on the train and then proudly chanted about being racist!!

 

Now major news on the news/ sports channels here. 

 

The Met. (London Police) are saying they will prosecute if they can identify them (shouldn't be hard) even though it was in France as they take this 'very seriously.' 

 

I just love the irony of the A/Holes chanting about loving being racist when one of their biggest all time hero's is Drogba. 

 

Ignorance is sadly bliss when it comes to the dregs of society. 

 

Hail. 

[FrFan]

One member of the racist choir said that :

The song was about John Terry. The only words I know is he's a racist - I don't know the rest,' Chelsea fan defends actions on Paris Metro

For the info there wasn't only one black guy who was targeted (got it from a police officer in Paris).

Edited February 18, 2015 by FrFan

[FrFan]

Really hope PSG show up today

Almost ! I guess history might repeats itself, PSG should have beaten Chelsea like last year, but ....

Blanc's days are numbered, the evil empire is setting its sights on Diego Simeone.

Al Khelaifi tried to sign Reus but his agent rebuffed him.

[btfoom]

Now major news on the news/ sports channels here. 

 

The Met. (London Police) are saying they will prosecute if they can identify them (shouldn't be hard) even though it was in France as they take this 'very seriously.' 

 

I just love the irony of the A/Holes chanting about loving being racist when one of their biggest all time hero's is Drogba. 

 

Ignorance is sadly bliss when it comes to the dregs of society. 

 

Hail. 

 

Well, to be fair, most of them were ManU fans when they won the UCL and City fans last year.  They are just getting used to their 'new' club.

[RawBBQSauce]

Almost ! I guess history might repeats itself, PSG should have beaten Chelsea like last year, but ....

Blanc's days are numbered, the evil empire is setting its sights on Diego Simeone.

Al Khelaifi tried to sign Reus but his agent rebuffed him.

 

PSG's squad is set up looked like a top EPL team yesterday.

 

One domestic national in the starting 11.

[FrFan]

PSG's squad is set up looked like a top EPL team yesterday.

 

One domestic national in the starting 11.

That's a shame, Chelski has 2. I'm just wondering how fans can root for mercenaries teams ? I blame Bosman for this.

The evil empire is developing the training center for local youth talent after they failed to keep Kingsley Coman. The budget is €9 millions, they had 5 scouts last year, this year they have 21. Now it remains to be seen how many of them will make the team vs the big splashy mercenaries.

Edited February 18, 2015 by FrFan

[RawBBQSauce]

That's a shame, Chelski has 2. I'm just wondering how fans can root for mercenaries teams ? I blame Bosman for this.

The evil empire is developing the training center for local youth talent after they failed to keep Kingsley Coman. The budget is €9 millions, they had 5 scouts last year, this year they have 21. Now it remains to be seen how many of them will make the team vs the big splashy mercenaries.

 

Fans can root for mercenary teams when they're not actually from that country. I'm kind of the opposite, though. I root for English players being in the top EPL sides. I like the fact that Arsenal have a pretty strong British core in their squad rotation.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

One down, two to go #Hellweek

 

Meh, provided Rodgers doesn't **** with the team, Besiktas at Anfield is no worry. Turkish teams never travel well. (Yeah, Arsenal and 'Spurs blah blah. Arsenal hadn't even started their year and 'Spurs are 'Spurs. ). 

 

Comfortable 3-0. 

 

Hail. 

[MartinC]

That's a shame, Chelski has 2. I'm just wondering how fans can root for mercenaries teams ? I blame Bosman for this.

The evil empire is developing the training center for local youth talent after they failed to keep Kingsley Coman. The budget is €9 millions, they had 5 scouts last year, this year they have 21. Now it remains to be seen how many of them will make the team vs the big splashy mercenaries.

I dread to think what the budget is for the Man City Academy - a LOT more than 9M Euros a year though. They are building a 7000 seat stadium as part of their new training complex for Academy Youth matches. They have one full 3G pitch dedicated to Academy goalkeepers (U9 to U16) with 4 full time goalkeeping coaches for the U9-U16 age groups. The annual maintenance cost for that 1 pitch is £1M a year.

The new set up is amazing and they have a crop of serioulsy talented players getting excellent coaching in a fantastic setting.

Lets see if anyone from the set up cracks the first team squad in the next 24 months let alone the actual first team.

[jobaga]

I dread to think what the budget is for the Man City Academy - a LOT more than 9M Euros a year though. They are building a 7000 seat stadium as part of their new training complex for Academy Youth matches. They have one full 3G pitch dedicated to Academy goalkeepers (U9 to U16) with 4 full time goalkeeping coaches for the U9-U16 age groups. The annual maintenance cost for that 1 pitch is £1M a year.The new set up is amazing and they have a crop of serioulsy talented players getting excellent coaching in a fantastic setting.Lets see if anyone from the set up cracks the first team squad in the next 24 months let alone the actual first team.

As long as they can sell them off they can justify spending top money on transfers. This is the new reality of FFP. The clubs with the most money will collect all the kids that show potential. They will provide excellent coaching and facilities. They may keep one or two, but the main goal is to balance out their transfer books by selling them off.

[MartinC]

As long as they can sell them off they can justify spending top money on transfers. This is the new reality of FFP. The clubs with the most money will collect all the kids that show potential. They will provide excellent coaching and facilities. They may keep one or two, but the main goal is to balance out their transfer books by selling them off.

My youngest son was with City up until Christmas and my eldest son still trains in a weekly session with one of the Goalkeeping coaches (both my sons are keepers). The City coach (will not use his name) was telling me they had been called into a meeting and told that the investment that City was making in the Academy was huge and the club expected to see a return on that investment in terms of players coming through into the first team squad. Nothing about selling players on (although I'm sure the folks who run the Academy will use any funds generated from transfers as part of justifying their existance).

We will see if that actually happens.

[DC9]

Yep. VERY expensive part of the capital. Its got some "artsy" roots as well with the Kings Road which was the centre of the London 'swinging 60's' being part of the area. Bit like Man U though not many Chelsea fans are from Chelsea or even London. Lots of people jumped on teh bandwagon when they started winning things after the Russian money poured in ...

 

We just say "They're paid".

Meh, provided Rodgers doesn't **** with the team, Besiktas at Anfield is no worry. Turkish teams never travel well. (Yeah, Arsenal and 'Spurs blah blah. Arsenal hadn't even started their year and 'Spurs are 'Spurs. ). 

 

Comfortable 3-0. 

 

Hail. 

 

I'll be interested to see the 11, but unfortunately I can't make it away from work today barring a miracle - and those are typically the games I get messages from about players putting in genius performances - so I feel confident about this one.

 

Get passed this one and I think we're in good shape.  But as all of us have talked about, I'd love to see Kolo get worked in one of these next two matches.

[Elessar78]

My youngest son was with City up until Christmas and my eldest son still trains in a weekly session with one of the Goalkeeping coaches (both my sons are keepers). The City coach (will not use his name) was telling me they had been called into a meeting and told that the investment that City was making in the Academy was huge and the club expected to see a return on that investment in terms of players coming through into the first team squad. Nothing about selling players on (although I'm sure the folks who run the Academy will use any funds generated from transfers as part of justifying their existance).

We will see if that actually happens.

Did they get new youth team coaches recently? 

 

I guess my point is that management can expect players from the academy to break through all they want but unless it's a central philosophy of the club I don't think it's realistic. It's not like they're Southampton where the academy has a proven track record of developing some real good players (no offense to your sons, of course). Again, no matter how much they spend on facilities if it's still the same academy coaches who have not driven much to the first team in the last decade I don't know how City can expect things to be different. 

 

NY Times ran a series on how the UAE is holding open tryouts in Africa and bringing those kids to train in the UAE and Europe (Belgium)—so I assume the academy could be "doped" with these African players at some point. 

[MartinC]

I guess my point is that management can expect players from the academy to break through all they want but unless it's a central philosophy of the club I don't think it's realistic. It's not like they're Southampton where the academy has a proven track record of developing some real good players (no offense to your sons, of course). Again, no matter how much they spend on facilities if it's still the same academy coaches who have not driven much to the first team in the last decade I don't know how City can expect things to be different.

The issue at a club like Man City is not the quality of the Academy coaches (who are first rate) or the players coming through (who are also first rate). The problem is Man City expect to win the Premier League and compete for the Champions League. Thats the objectuve the manager has and if falls short even slightly hes fired. So if he needs a left back or defensive midfield player (let alone a striker or attacking midfield player) what he going to do? Spend £20M on a proven Interntional player who is the finished product or take a chance on an 18 or 19 year old kid who has loads of talent but needs development from playing at that level?

If it was your job on the line what would you do?

Now FFP might make a difference to that kind of decision making but I remain to be convinced.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Each to their own but if, for arguments sake, I had a boy wanted by City, Liverpool and let's say Preston or Crewe; it wouldn't be the two Premier League academy's I'd be steering him to. 

 

Hail. 

[MartinC]

Each to their own but if, for arguments sake, I had a boy wanted by City, Liverpool and let's say Preston or Crewe; it wouldn't be the two Premier League academy's I'd be steering him to. 

 

Hail.

Which is why my youngest is now with Prestons Academy :-)