Agree with almost everything you wrote and couldn't have said it better myself or made a better case for the Prem in comparison with the other Euro Leagues BUT, -Tottenham aren't/haven't always been a joke(Too many other options in that joke team category rather than Spurs-they are what they are), also I might prefer to watch Valladolid-Almeria over West Brom and Cardiff earlier in the season. By this time of the year, the teams in the relegation zone decide to show more goalscoring intent and play a bit more gung ho than they would before Boxing day. Re. Serie A, it's been a bit more open lately as seen with the fall of Milan and the ascension of Napoli the past few years as well as that of Roma. Juventus still dominate but one wouldn't be surprised to see Roma, Inter or Milan back in the Scudetto mix next season(or the next few seasons-doubt Milan get things fixed that quickly but Roma look ok for the future). The big issue with the Bundesliga for me and a number of people I'm sure, is just how Bayern is picking on the main rivals. The way they've gone after the Dortmund players leaves a bad taste with many Footy fans. United, Chelsea, City, Arsenal, Liverpool have all signed players from each other but picking on one particular team to sign some of their most important players like Bayern have done just seems a little
Europa League incentive will be UCL qualification(after next season) so that in combination with the money (for the clubs that want to piggy back that in addition to their Premiership TV pyts) No doubt Spanish teams have more reason to go for it in the Europa League than Prem. teams. Ozil? Lol what would you like to bet? If I win then you get me a new job with/at Bayern's NY office. If I lose I get you a job at my current company- Vandelay Industries. We now have a Munich location.:grin: Nah no bets, i don't care that much for any of the teams left in the mix.
What TV station shows Real vs. Bayern in the USA (California)? Okay, found it... http://www.firsttouchonline.com/soccer-tv/ FoxSports1
No, Tottenham are and always have been a joke. I only need two words to convince you of this fact: Roberto Soldado.
Ha! First season in a new country, new culture, new league and all of the sudden he's a joke? I bet you're one of those people that thought Modric was a disaster of a signing by Real Madrid, too.
stipendlax just wrote everything I would have. Couldn't have said it better. Did you actually watch him play before he signed with Spurs?? If so then there's no way you'd actually make such a comment. Isn't that the same way/line of thinking people had about Robert Pires, Drogba, and plenty of other strikers that made the move from the continent to England? Plus you're biased, I believe you've indicated you're an Arsenal fan so you saying Spurs are a joke would be a given. No bias there I'm sure. :grin:
No bias at all. But I have seen some of Soldado's misses. Scary to think a striker can be *that* inaccurate. Haven't been keeping track, has he scored a goal from open play this year yet?
SMH at the harshness. Yeah he has. Not many obviously and nothing classic. Different players are suited for different leagues. We will find out next season if the Prem is where Soldado is meant to be playing. You know it takes time though.
What are everyone's predictions for the semi-finals? I usually like playing Real, but we are kind of in a slump right now and they seem to be peaking, plus, they got rid of Özil which is good for them and they have a better coach now with Ancelotti than Mourinho. Feel a bit uneasy about this one, especially since I am not there to tell them how to play this time .
Did you watch Los Clasicos for this season? If so, that's how you should expect Madrid to play you. The same way they played Barca. This is probably the worst Barca in the past 7 years and Barca won twice and lost once. If Bayern is what everyone claims them to be, you should have no problem with them.
That was amazing defensive formation for a Chelsea. They killed the flow of the game and had outstanding discipline. Terry and Cahill shut down the middle of the pitch. For an ugly game it was damn pretty for a defender. Diego Costa was frustrated and started trying to do amazing every time the ball came close. That said, Chelsea could be in trouble with Lampard and (bigger, in my opinion) Mikel out. Also depends on the injuries to Terry and Cech Oh yeah, Fernando Torres remains hot garbage. I hate the way he plays (his "go to" move involves awkwardly running into defenders and flopping) and his pitiful excuse for strikertude. Can he please go to Russia or something and no longer be shown on television? Bayern RM should be fun for a completely different reason tomorrow night. I wish Ronaldo was 100%.
Come on, you gotta appreciate the defensive work at least. The time killing and complete indifference to offense was annoying but the defenders played the way they should regardless.
I can't stand Mourinho, can't stand Terry...Lampard seems like an okay guy. Guardiola stands for class, integrity, elegance, for the beautiful, attractive game. Mourinho stands for being a jerk, for trying to win dirty and at all costs, and for destroying the game.
Guardiola's forced tiki-taka in Bayern is the most ugly style of football I've seen in a while. He has destroyed almost everything Heynckes had done. The verticality, the simple play, the variety, Pep has killed it all. Chelsea don't have a competent striker, what are they supposed to do? Play attacking football and miss every one of their half-chances because they can't score? Atletico is great at exploiting every little crack in the defence, so they have to play disciplined, especially on the road. Better safe than sorry. People can hate on Mourinho as much as they want, but he's a proven winner. Guardiola took two of the best clubs in the world and had success. Wow. Let's see him managing Porto. To be clear, Guardiola is not terrible, but he's no Special One. Tottenham is a joke, no question. Spurs haven't won anything in a long while and are on a never-ending mediocrity treadmill. They also spend huge amounts of money year after year, just to finish outside the top 4 and miss CL. The club is led by businessmen that have no idea how to run a football club and consequently appoint incompetent staff. They have a long line of dreadful managers, AVB was a failure, and to top it off, they give the keys of the club to Franco Baldini, the man who ruined Roma (it's not a coincidence that Roma rejuvenated once he left). Baldini immediatelly spent 100 million pounds on mediocre players (Eriksen is great though, Lamela is also good, but waaay overpaid). They see no problem in spending big, but then they fight over every penny when negotiating contracts and outgoing transfers. Levy milked Madrid for as much money as he could when selling Modrić and Bale and threatened to pull the plug dozens of times just to get a few millions more. Modrić grew tired of those shenanigans and pleaded Levy to wrap up the deal so he could go through training camp with Real, but he declined, so Modrić had to train individually for a month and was out of form for the first half of the season in Madrid. My favorite anecdote, though, happened when the Spurs paid 30 million euros for Soldado and then decided to book him the cheapest coach flight from Valencia to London for 20 euros. Dare I say, stereotypical Jews? Regarding Serie A, Juventus is currently head and shoulders beyond everyone else. I like what Roma is doing, but they still have lots to work on. As I said, Baldini leaving was a blessing in disguise as they brought in a great coach and bought underrated players like Strootman and Benatia. Napoli is the Italian Tottenham, a team built to fail and run by the Neapolitan mafia. Higuain is overrated, Rafa Benitez is a meh coach, their ceiling is 3rd place and group stage exit in CL. Inter has a great history, but they're perennial losers since Moratti bought them and they still wouldn't have won a Scudetto by now if there was no Calciopoli (Inter also had their part in it, but that's another story). Their managers have been awful, except for Mourinho, who immediately brought them the treble (probably the only one who knew his job and how to build a great team). Their talent evaluation is terrible, they sold Pirlo to Milan because he was no good and now they have Kovačić sitting on the bench. Simply said, Inter belongs to the middle of the table. Milan got into serious trouble after people finally realized that Berlusconi was a pawn to the mafia so he went to jail and Milan's cash flow went dry. But they're doing well now with Seedorf, he's been doing a wonderful job with limited assets and I expect to see them back in contention in a couple of years. Bayern is FC Hollywood. It's just like that.
Terry is difficult for me. He is a terrible human being but I really respect what he does on the pitch...especially as an aging guy who compensates with his vision and smarts. Usually I can appreciate those aspects in-game. Lampard I don't really care about one way or another.
