So happy for Sawnsea and their terrific start to the season. Garry Monk is doing an outstanding job. They don't have the financial strength to ever be too much but I hope they keep this standard up. Montero is destroying fools out there and Shelvy and Sigurdsson have always been quality.
I know Bayern is no Pahang, but give them a break. This Robben guy modelled his game after Conti, if he only plays half as good it'll be worth watching.
Early but City look great. Now they get de Bruyne in the fray and they are clear cut favorites in England and should be able to hang with all of the top clubs provided Aguero is fit.
Are you in Malaysia? Chelsea defense looked slow and old. If City stay healthy, they should win the league. It was a pleasure watching Diego Costa flail all game.
I'm going to make an effort to go to more PL matches this season, especially when I'm in London. Going to see Newcastle - Arsenal in a couple of weeks which should be fun. I like the crowd there, very passionate. If they're doing well it's a cauldron. How was the atmosphere at Manchester? I know a season ticket holder so will make the effort to check out Old Trafford at some point. I'm really liking how City are looking this season. They're all looking hungry, fit, and up for it. Toure in particular is looking very strong. Silva is ridiculous as well, so creative. The key will be Aguero staying fit - the second options just aren't good enough. It's between them and Arsenal this season I think. So German experts - what's wrong with Klopp? I suspect he's overrated but don't really have a strong basis for saying that as I'm no Bundesliga expert. Considering Schweinsteiger is happy to go to Manchester must mean that van Gaal made a decent impression on at least some people in Munich. I think his bad reputation is exaggerated - most of the Dutch players all loved him with the national team. I think his main problem is that he's stubborn and wants to be the boss. In other words, he won't play politics with owners/board. I also think that once he falls out with someone it's over and that can get very messy: Toni, Valdez, Rivaldo, van Bommel (what happened with him anyway, just thought he got too old?), RVP. The tabloids are saying that Pedro is reconsidering his move due to his recent argument with Valdez, wouldn't be surprised.
Ace, I think your assessment of van Gaal is quite spot on. He is a very good coach. Very stubborn. That includes sometimes continuing to play people who don't deserve to play (like Braafheid or Pranjic at Bayern). But I know people who say he is the best coach they ever had.
Augsburg's Baba to Chelsea for 20mil +10mil bonus payments, great deal! 20mil is their yearly budget, so that's huge. Think he'll be starting for them rather soon, hope he impresses and finds a spot there. Someone asked about Antonio Rüdiger a while back, he's under a medical check at AS Roma today and will sign for roughly 10mil.
There's been a lot of discussions about him in other threads, to sum it up: Only has one strategy (pressing and quick counter-attacks), can't adjust when it's not working against an opponent and hasn't shown any tactical progress or a Plan B in all his years at Dortmund. Seems to be one of the coaches that energizes his squad with motivational speeches and by giving them an underdog mentality. that shtick becomes old after a while and players stop listening, it also doesn't work with veterans. Terrible manners when losing a game, constantly yells at the refs and b****es about everything. Think he's good at buying youngsters and developing a young team with his playing-style, the high pressing+counter-attacks makes players look better than they are (see how everyone they sold played considerably worse at their new club and left after a short time), so he'd likely have success at most clubs that give him the opportunity to build a underdog-mentality and young squad. But after some years, all the opponents will have figured out his playing style and then you'll have the aforementioned problems I listed (no adapting, only one strategy, underdog-mentality only works for a limited amount of time).
I guess nobody mentioned the a** whooping we got on Friday.. 4-0!! Damn last time we got spanked like that was by Bayern in UCL Semis. We only need to win 5-0 today
My takes on the first couple PL games. -City looks really strong with how they are playing the game tactically, they were always a threat on the counter,but with Sterling now playing for them he bring a whole different dynamic and he has been playing under control thus far, only knock is he still gives away possession when he makes the wrong passing choice. The link up of Silva and Sterling is fun to watch. Not sure how long City will keep up this form.Sergio looks great,but he always ends up picking up a injury. -Arsenal is missing something still,but I expect this from Arsenal every year. Thy need more Match Winners in there 11. -Chelsea I thought was going to start off like how City did, but it seems Chelsea is crumbling. They are lacking bite, and Hazard has been missing. I think Josè is getting to himself as well he really needs to shake up that 11. -Liverpool still have the same tactical issues as last year, its only been one game and it looks a lot like last season. Benteke needs a strike partner or some one to link up with from the wings this is why hope Firmino starts in place of Lallana today. A Link up of Firmino and Benteke sounds a whole alot better then Benteke and Lallana. Also I expect Coutinho to pick up his game today especially at Home.Right now Liverpool dont look like a threat,but with time hopefully the signings impose their will in group. I say we win 3-1 today. My disappointment team so far are the Spurs, and my surprise team is Leicester City.
Btw what a bitter start to the season by Moaninho - Starts off taking a jab at Rafa Benitez wife and Rafa - Then has a go at Arsene Wenger in what is a regular occurrence. Fails to handshake after losing the shield. - Next up blames the lady physio Eva for the draw against Swansea. Anyone who saw the game knows Swansea at the least deserved a draw if not the outright win - And then after a 3-0 whooping in which his team was frankly well dominated, he calls the result "fake" I may have missed one or two more things there but this is appalling.
Mourinho is a joke. He said Fernandinho should have been sent off when he didn't even aim an elbow into Costa on that challenge. Called 3-0 a "fake" result when City could have easily been up 3-0 at halftime. You pulled John Terry out of the game at the half because Silva and Aguero were murdering your backline. As far as City's start, it is absolutely correct that Aguero's health is tied to their title hopes. Bony is a sizable downgrade there. Sterling has already impressed me with his play on the wing, in contrast to Navas who is always giving the ball away and only tries to outrun his defender into the box every single time. Kompany and Mangala seem to have finally settled in a bit together. Even Sagna and Kolorov who are not regular starters seem to be fitting in well at the moment. Alas, its is still very early, but definitely good to start off with a big exclamation point versus a fading Chelsea.
