Futebol

truly surprising news, Mancini just shit his scarf

Watching the MLS is depressing.

Otm.

I hope the Pellegrini to Man City rumors are true and that Wigan's second act of their triumphant FA Cup victory is getting relegated by Arsenal on Tuesday.

Martinez and that squad get far too much credit for playing passing football in front of a shambolic defense.

Rooney puts in a transfer request. Seems like more drama from this knucklehead and he'll probably end up staying in the end.

Either way, the Moyes Era is off to a great start! I can see Manchester City bringing in Pellegrini and winning the league easily next season. With the squad they have it will only show how inept Mancini is.

^ wrd. its a pretty outstanding achievement to win nothing with that squad.

Mancini is an appaling manager. That squad was good enough topush Utd harder in 2011 and the addition of Aguero alone for 2011/2 should have been enough, that they only clinched the title in the dying moments of that season says everything about relative merits of Ferguson and Roberto. Ferguson would have won three titles in a row if he was at Man City or Chelsea this decade.

Props to Mitch for getting a tweet read out on The Football Ramble.

About Ferguson shitting himself as well.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/oct/05/vivekchaudhary

Beckham retiring and people are taking all kinds of cheap shots. Dude is one of the most important players in football history.

Raised the profile of the Premier League and gave it all for the national team.

Don't really get the hate, probably got more caps towards the end than he should have but was part of one of the best club midfields I have ever seen and around the turn of the century he was clearly one of the best players in the world.

RPI

The topic of David Beckham opens up a bigger conversation about the English media. This is a collection of people that mock players for pulling out of friendlies or choosing club over country.

And yet Beckham loved playing for England and whether it was for selfish reasons or not, never would turn down a cap. I dunno, seems really jaded to not believe that he is just a dude that loved playing football.

If you're in your late 30s and can still cross a ball as well as anyone in the world and perfectly hit the occasional free kick and top clubs want to pay you?!?! Why not go as long as possible?

media saturation:ability ratio is my only beef and that's not his fault

I'll always love the dude for carrying my nation on his back to the 2002 WC, thus creating the perfect backdrop for the greatest month of hounding in my life

The big day is here. The Arsenal v Newcastle match is on ESPN2 which is exciting. I'll be tuned in.

when Walcott danced through and hit the post I felt sure that some Punky Brewster was going to pop up and spoil the party

Koscielny was immense today.

Koscielny saved our season again.

I caught the end of the Spurs v. Sunderland game on Fox Soccer and that Bale goal was something out of legend. those are the types of goals you imagine happening in your head and Bale just makes them real. glad those cunts are in the Europa League though and i hope they sell him to Real Madrid.

Frankly, I'm starting to hear from Gooners that they could do with a season in a Europa league to shake shit up. Think Spurs will be disappointed to not be in CL next season but they are only a 20 goal a season striker short of hitting 3rd. 72 points is a good haul.

Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea will be stronger next season, Man Utd maybe weaker.

Entertaining last day in the end, almost lost work FPL by having Lukaku on the bench but pulled through on bonuses.

if Bale goes they would be nearer 40 goals short of hitting 3rd. I've got nothing against Spurs, not qualifying for the CL with the points they've accrued these last two years is harsh. I think this one will ultimately be more damaging.

be interesting to see if Arsenal invest now the stadiums payed off.... they'll need to if they want to stay 4th which, as stated before, is "winning something", not in the romantic sense but certainly in the liquidity stakes.

Pete Best wrote:Frankly, I'm starting to hear from Gooners that they could do with a season in a Europa league to shake shit up.

i disagree about as strongly as you could with that group, which seems mostly to be made up of the know-nothing pundits anyway.

just as Spurs are another 20-goal striker from top-3, Arsenal are a 20-goal striker away from challenging for the title if you believe goal difference. which is why i think it's so silly that people say it's "disappointing" that Spurs are not in the CL and Arsenal is. Arsenal is the better squad.

Pretty sure you can now bank on Arsenal ending up in a CL group with the Greek and Czech champions and a club from Russia. Win the group and exit in the quarter finals. But they'll always have this 4th place trophy!

they've spent less transfer money (net) than villa or sunderland in order to build a debt free stadium. managing to qualify for the CL every year during that period is impressive. but not exciting. if they have designs on a championship they will have to push the Usmanov button.

The defence has been very impressive in the last quarter of the season that's certainly something to build on next year, bumbling past Spurs on the last day for the second year in a row less so. Not being QPR, Portsmouth or Leeds is a good thing but scrapping a CL place on essentially a margin of error two years in a row should be a concern.

I think there's a gnat's wing between Spurs and Arsenal and sometimes it takes failing to shake things up.

I think a very interesting What If could be written based on Aguero's goal last year. Might take a year or two to see the full ramifications of it.

Pete Best wrote:I think there's a gnat's wing between Spurs and Arsenal and sometimes it takes failing to shake things up.

i simply disagree with this. between the stronger depth of the squad and the quality in the youth system plus the strength of the Arsenal brand i think it's a little more than "gnat's wings". Arsenal have a goal differential that is 15 goals better than Spurs. a few bits of luck one way and the gap is more than one point in the table. i also think the perception that Arsenal had to make some heroic late season comeback is slightly unfair because of the imbalanced schedule. Arsenal started the reason against really tough opposition and ended up with a very easy final 10 game run in accordingly. it makes sense Arsenal picked up points in the easy portion of the schedule.

and Liverpool is the model for why a short-term "shakeup" can lead to long-term instability. there are only four Champions League slots and more teams than that with the ambition to spend their way into the top four. i think people are underestimating how helpful it is in player recruitment to be able to provide CL football. its a big reason Arsenal has been able to get bargains on decent players in recent years. yes you still have to throw out big money to get the big players, but CL football can draw decent players on medium-sized wages.

the razor thin margins of the last two years are cause for "concern", but as long as their is a realization that this summer is a critical period in the development of the team and the club and there is substantial investment, everyone will be okay. this is the same narrative that has played out for two summers and credit to Arsene for getting top four without doing this yet. but now is the time.

it's an absolute joke that Arsenal has the second best defensive record in the Premier League this season