****OFFICIAL SOCCER THREAD****

[DrPhilly]

Porto was pesky and could have been up at half but Chelsea settled and owned the 2nd half and the scoreboard.

[DrPhilly]

Huge win for Real.  Top three in the Spanish table is so so tight.

[TEW]

2 hours ago, DrPhilly said:

Huge win for Real.  Top three in the Spanish table is so so tight.

Massive win. Especially coming off the international break and ECL match against Liverpool. 

My worry is that injuries are going to catch up to us. We lost Vazquez for the season, and while he’s not the typical Galactico normally associated with Madrid, he has been an absolutely crucial player this season for Madrid filling in for Carvajal at RB. He was a middling defensive winger that frustrated fans in attack when we had prime Bale, or more recently with the slew of wonder kids on the bench, but as a defender he has been fantastic this season.

We now have Ramos, Varane, Carvajal, and Vazquez out with injuries and Nacho out on yellow cards. Our defense is just so thin, currently.

On the plus side, Benzema is in the form of his life and dare I say he has outplayed Messi this season. Vinicius is always electric on the ball, but it seems his decision making and finishing are improving. He’s still only 20 years old, and if he ever puts it all together the kid is going to be a world beater. Fede Valverde is going to be one of the best B2B players in the world sooner rather than later.

And what can you say about Modric, Kroos and Casemiro? Modric just doesn’t seem to age, Kroos is a robot, and Casemiro might as well put Messi in a dog choker and take him for a walk with the way he owns the supposed GOAT.

I still think Atletico are favorites between their game in hand and Madrid’s injuries but it’s certainly a wide open race. 

[DrPhilly]

11 minutes ago, TEW said:

Massive win. Especially coming off the international break and ECL match against Liverpool. 

My worry is that injuries are going to catch up to us. We lost Vazquez for the season, and while he’s not the typical Galactico normally associated with Madrid, he has been an absolutely crucial player this season for Madrid filling in for Carvajal at RB. He was a middling defensive winger that frustrated fans in attack when we had prime Bale, or more recently with the slew of wonder kids on the bench, but as a defender he has been fantastic this season.

We now have Ramos, Varane, Carvajal, and Vazquez out with injuries and Nacho out on yellow cards. Our defense is just so thin, currently.

On the plus side, Benzema is in the form of his life and dare I say he has outplayed Messi this season. Vinicius is always electric on the ball, but it seems his decision making and finishing are improving. He’s still only 20 years old, and if he ever puts it all together the kid is going to be a world beater. Fede Valverde is going to be one of the best B2B players in the world sooner rather than later.

And what can you say about Modric, Kroos and Casemiro? Modric just doesn’t seem to age, Kroos is a robot, and Casemiro might as well put Messi in a dog choker and take him for a walk with the way he owns the supposed GOAT.

I still think Atletico are favorites between their game in hand and Madrid’s injuries but it’s certainly a wide open race. 

Going to be interesting for sure.  One player I've always loved is Modric.

So if I've understood the progression if (don't want to get ahead here but) Real and Chelsea both hold on then we meet.  Let's hope we are on here a few days from now getting ready to meet in the semis.

[mayanh8]

 

[TEW]

1 hour ago, DrPhilly said:

Going to be interesting for sure.  One player I've always loved is Modric.

So if I've understood the progression if (don't want to get ahead here but) Real and Chelsea both hold on then we meet.  Let's hope we are on here a few days from now getting ready to meet in the semis.

That’s my understanding as well. Should be a good match up. Chelsea seem to be on the upswing while Madrid aren’t the juggernaut they were a few years ago.

[DrPhilly]

1 hour ago, mayanh8 said:

 

He crashed home three times yesterday and scored twice

[mayanh8]

On 4/11/2021 at 11:47 AM, DrPhilly said:

He crashed home three times yesterday and scored twice

Dude tosses himself like a ragdoll at every cross with zero regard for his own wellbeing. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

57 minutes ago, mayanh8 said:

Dude tosses himself like a ragdoll at every cross with zero regard for his own wellbeing. 

He's a really really good young player. Fun to watch. 

[DaEagles4Life]

 

First day as sponsor and shitting on Spurs hahaha 

[DrPhilly]

ManC tries to keep the quadruple dream alive tomorrow. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

On 4/15/2021 at 11:21 PM, DaEagles4Life said:

 

First day as sponsor and shitting on Spurs hahaha 

That's class that really is!

[TEW]

Mendy now out for Madrid. At this rate the Castilla team is going to have to win us the hardware. We’re missing our entire starting back 4 and half of their backups!

[DrPhilly]

Citeh quad dream over as Chelsea secured a deserved W in the FA Cup semi

[Dave Moss]

 

[DaEagles4Life]

1 hour ago, Dave Moss said:

 

Not a fan

[TEW]

1 hour ago, Dave Moss said:

 

It was floated earlier this year that the big Spanish clubs were basically all in on the idea. Unfortunately, I think it happens. Too much money and stability for the big clubs.

25 minutes ago, DaEagles4Life said:

Not a fan

Agreed.

[TEW]

 

 

[Green_Guinness]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-marcottis-musings/story/4363633/uefa-and-leagues-vow-to-fight-breakaway-european-super-league-what-this-means

Good read from Gab Marcotti (as usual, he's really good and also an Eagles fan!) about the situation. 

I don't like it.  Gab addresses the question of whether these clubs see themselves as revenue generators or as part of a community where they help the 'lesser' FAs and clubs (and to that extent helping find and cultivate talent from areas other than England, Spain, Italy, etc. since you never know where the next generational footballer could come from and it's a problem we have in the US finding talent for the USMNT in pay-to-play vs finding that talented kid in a rough or small neighbourhood).  Seems like a power move for more money.

Question, if they break away then the FAs and UEFA aren't going to help them out and maybe won't allow them to make transfers with clubs still in their country leagues?  I think some of these big clubs forget they have players on their squads that they themselves didn't cultivate in their academies, but bought outright from these 'lesser' clubs.  What if that is taken away?  If I'm an authority with an FA or UEFA and these clubs want to consider themselves outside our governing entities then I'm making sure they can't access our talent via transfers.  They're going to have to wait until these players contracts run out to sign them as (more US like) free agents.  The downside for the 'lesser' clubs would be losing out on transfer fees, but they could also holdout and force the Super Clubs to pay really high fees for the players or make them wait until their contract runs out.  What if a player has 2-3 years on his contract?  "You want him then this is our price, otherwise you're waiting 2-3 years for him".  Since all these big clubs are now in direct competition with each other on a regular basis every season then bidding wars could start between them. 

[DaEagles4Life]

Well said Gary

2nd part

https://streamable.com/7wyh8a

 

[DaEagles4Life]

7 hours ago, TEW said:

 

 

 

 

[Dave Moss]

Why should the top-tier teams in England, Spain, and Italy support the bottom-feeders? That’s socialism!!!

[Green_Guinness]

3 hours ago, DaEagles4Life said:

Well said Gary

2nd part

https://streamable.com/7wyh8a

 

Have to say, as a Liverpool supporter I didn't like Neville as a player (as I pretty much didn't like any Man United player), but as a colour pundit he is top notch.  I'm glad he stated this the way he did and I like his call for the FA to dock the Premier clubs points and put them at the bottom of the table for this.  And this only a few days after the anniversary of Hillsborough, a tragedy that brought all of Liverpool together, that brought an entire city and community together for decades now along with LFC in unity and this is what they do to the supporters.  Wonder what ticket prices would be for a Super League and now the traveling supporters have to go to Spain and Italy for 'regular' away matches.  Neville is spot on with this.

 

[TEW]

11 minutes ago, Green_Guinness said:

Have to say, as a Liverpool supporter I didn't like Neville as a player (as I pretty much didn't like any Man United player), but as a colour pundit he is top notch.  I'm glad he stated this the way he did and I like his call for the FA to dock the Premier clubs points and put them at the bottom of the table for this.  And this only a few days after the anniversary of Hillsborough, a tragedy that brought all of Liverpool together, that brought an entire city and community together for decades now along with LFC in unity and this is what they do to the supporters.  Wonder what ticket prices would be for a Super League and now the traveling supporters have to go to Spain and Italy for 'regular' away matches.  Neville is spot on with this.

 

To be fair, the Super League as proposed would simply replace UCL. It’s not meant to replace the EPL or La Liga or any of the domestic competitions. Fans have to travel internationally anyway for UCL away matches, and the UCL is proposing an expansion to 32 teams so there will be more "regular” away matches either way. If anything, travel would probably be easier because there would be more teams from Western and Central Europe and fewer teams from Eastern Europe.

It’s the national leagues that are threatening to cut off teams from the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, domestic cup competitions, etc. They don’t want big teams prioritizing the "ESL” over domestic competitions, which they will, because it will be worth far more money even than the EPL. For comparison, right now a team has a bigger pay increase going from the championship to the EPL than they do in winning the ECL. 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I'll be honest, and I'm not greatly educated on this subject, I don't see the fuss? This was always going to be the way things were going to be eventually and it's instead of the CL so the teams aren't leaving their respective domestic leagues.