May 30, 20214 yr Author 1 hour ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said: Yeah I didn't realise that both Ramos and Varane are out of contract. Do you think they keep either? Or maybe both? Ramos is out of contract, and it seems as if he is looking for one last big pay day. Perez is standing firm in his offer of a one year extension or a 2 year extension at 10% less per year. Varane is on the last year of his deal. It's really down to him. If he wants to come back, he will. If not, he will be sold because we can't afford to lose him on a free. I honestly don't know what either is likely to do. Varane would likely have re-signed by now if he didn't intend to test the market. Same with Ramos. If it were up to me, and I could only keep one, it would be Varane. Besides his youth, I think his combination of size, speed and skill is harder to replace than Ramos' leadership and dominance in the air. In any case I think Alaba will likely spend the majority of his time at CB because I only see us bringing back one of them at most.
May 30, 20214 yr What struck most this year in CL was the lack of a super team. The demise of Barcelona and the aging of Real in a period when ManU is down (how long has it been now?) and Liverpool never got there just opened the door up. Bayern would have been the logical choice to take advantage or an Italian club (there were none ready) but neither stepped forward and it opened the door for anyone in the final 16 who could get on a roll.
May 30, 20214 yr Author 2 hours ago, DrPhilly said: What struck most this year in CL was the lack of a super team. The demise of Barcelona and the aging of Real in a period when ManU is down (how long has it been now?) and Liverpool never got there just opened the door up. Bayern would have been the logical choice to take advantage or an Italian club (there were none ready) but neither stepped forward and it opened the door for anyone in the final 16 who could get on a roll. True, but I think the past decade or so has warped our perspective a bit. Those Barca and Madrid teams were all time greats. I don’t think we see a team with a top 3 player at every position any time soon. Barca had the stars align with their golden generation and Madrid had the stars align with a lot of cheap young purchases (and in the case of Ronaldo, not so cheap) developing into all time greats. I don’t think we are going to see a farm system produce Messi, Pujols, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquetes, Alba and Pique any time soon. I don’t think we will see a team bring in a young Ramos, Varane, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Casemiro, Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo any time soon. Too many rolls of the dice had to go right for those teams to happen. And with the level of competition so much greater now both in the transfer market and youth recruitment, I don’t see it happening again.
May 30, 20214 yr Author 46 minutes ago, DrPhilly said: If it said "defensive holding midfielder" then there is an argument to be made. He's right there with Makelele and this year Kante has even started moving forward aggressively on the break as he did against Real in the semis. In any case, if they didn't add the "defense" qualifier then yeah a laugher. He's a one man train wrecker in the midfield though for sure. Relentless, tireless, clever, even elegant. It was midfielder. Anyway, I'm not convinced Kante is better than Casemiro, never mind a prime Makelele or Busquetes. Physically Case is bigger, stronger and actually covers more distance per game even though he plays fewer minutes while Kante is a bit faster at top speed. Defensively, Case bags 0.3 more tackles, 0.5 more clearances and 0.4 more blocks with slightly higher INTs per game. This reflects the eye test IMO: Case is the better defender from what I've seen, and despite Kante's reputation as the tireless ball retriever, Casemiro is actually more productive in this regard. Offensively, Case is far better as a scoring threat and attempts more than double the long balls per game while Kante is a much better ball carrier and has a higher completion percentage. Set pieces on both ends of the field it's not close. I'll give you elegance; no one would ever use that word to describe Casemiro. So, yeah, never mind this century, Kante isn't the best DM right now.
May 31, 20214 yr 8 hours ago, TEW said: Anyway, I'm not convinced Kante is better than Casemiro, never mind a prime Makelele or Busquetes. Ha, well they did say "midfielder" but then they were clearly discussing the "defensive midfielder" role To be fair I don't watch all that much of Casemiro at Real so we can leave that one alone. My prime measuring stick is Makelele and Busquetes and I'm putting Kante right there with them and arguably ahead.
June 6, 20214 yr Author On 5/31/2021 at 2:59 AM, DrPhilly said: Ha, well they did say "midfielder" but then they were clearly discussing the "defensive midfielder" role To be fair I don't watch all that much of Casemiro at Real so we can leave that one alone. My prime measuring stick is Makelele and Busquetes and I'm putting Kante right there with them and arguably ahead. No way on prime Busquetes. He's the best deep lying play maker at DM in history. Probably the best overall at his position in the modern era. Makelele I suppose is more preference; they're similar players with Makelele better at pure ball winning while Kante is more dynamic. Casemiro is criminally underrated. Best pure defensive midfielder of his generation, but he brings some other things to the game as well with his long shots and ability to press high up the pitch while still having the speed and stamina to recover. This is kind of related to what I was saying about Varane before, but if you haven't followed Madrid over the past decade, it's hard to appreciate how much pressure and responsibility was put on Varane and Casemiro. Marcelo would essentially be the most advanced player in attack, sitting in the oppositions corner to feed crosses to Ronaldo. Carvajal wasn't quite as aggressive, but it was close. Kroos and Modric right outside the box. And Ramos making runs forward. It was basically Varane and Casemiro on an island half the game with 3/4 of the field behind them. If possession was lost in the final third, the decision making between those two was crucial. Often times Case was also lurking around the box and he'd be the key to initiate a high press and either quickly win the ball back or allow enough time for Ramos, Modric and Kroos to track back. Alternatively, he would have to make the decision to track back himself and prevent a 1 v 3 counter against Varane. Without those two, it would have been an entertaining team that never won any hardware. The offense got all of the plaudits because of the flashy players, but it simply would not have worked without Varane and Casemiro. I've never seen a team willing to expose themselves so much to a counter attack as Zizou did with Varane and Casemiro. I really think Zidane meant what he said about the Bentley when we sold Makelele. Casemiro was an instant mainstay in the lineup once Zidane took over, benching stars like James and Isco in the process. And I think it's fair to say Casemiro might be Madrid's best player right now, though I wouldn't argue if someone said Benz or Varane.
June 7, 20214 yr U.S. vs. Mexico tied up 2-2. I don’t really know many of these players, but it’s been a good game so far. I’ll post the final score - I don’t want to leave Dr. Philly in suspense.
June 7, 20214 yr 20 minutes ago, Dave Moss said: Game is going to extra time and it’s already past my bedtime. Also, this happened: Match is back on. Currently in the 105th minute. Seems they had the same issue Thurs night in the SF vs Costa Rica, with the match being stopped for 3 minutes while several Mexico supporters were ejected for chanting anti-gay slurs. Now they're doing it again. Staying classy like how they throw bags of piss when opposing players are taking corner kicks at the Azteca during international matches, especially vs US players. Would be nice to see the US Young Guns get the W here. Surprised we went with a 3-4-3 formation with Dest and Yedlin as wingbacks in the MF. I'm cool with it as it's nice to see us get creative and play to our players' strengths.
June 7, 20214 yr They only stopped it for a couple minutes. Ref just awarded the U.S. a penalty kick using VAR.
June 7, 20214 yr 1 minute ago, Dave Moss said: They only stopped it for a couple minutes. Ref just awarded the U.S. a penalty kick using VAR And he scores. I didn't like the short run up, but he slotted it perfectly.
June 7, 20214 yr Pullisic put it in the net and ran to the corner. then got pelted with beer cups. Lol
June 7, 20214 yr Just now, Dave Moss said: Pullisic put it in the net and ran to the corner. then got pelted with beer cups. Lol Yup. The corner he ran to is filled with Mexico fans and they threw plastic bottles at the US players grouped together celebrating. CONCACAF should start thinking about locking their fans out of matches if they're going to keep behaving like this.
June 7, 20214 yr Not even close to a handball. Clear cut. If they're looking at Brooks he obviously kept his arms away from the ball.
June 7, 20214 yr Guess it was someone before Brooks then, pen awarded. Thought they were looking at him.
June 7, 20214 yr These fans are animals. Kinda sad how out of control they are. This game is in Denver btw
June 7, 20214 yr Good save on the PK by Horvath who came in when the U.S. starter got injured 3-2 final
June 7, 20214 yr That's it: US 3 - Mexico 2. Just now, Dave Moss said: Good save on the PK by Horvath who came in when the U.S. starter got injured Saw the change in keeper and wasn't watching earlier. Figured it had to be an injury since you rarely see a sub for a keeper. Great save on the pen to help earn the W.
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