Futebol

i loved the ruthlessness of players like Vidal and Lewandowski in the second half. that's how you intimidate and demoralize. i might be the biggest fan of blowouts in the world.

Fuck Vidal.

I've always hated the idea that sportsmanship demands that you take your foot off the pedal in situations like this. I don't understand that. It would be one thing if Arsenal puts up seven in one game against a five-tear Lincoln City, but it is a Champions League knockout round game. As a fan, I'm always way more offended if the opposition feels they can just fuck around at the close of a game anyway.

Ҩ wrote:Fuck Vidal.

Is this some Italian "he left Juventus" shit? Or because of his off-field issues with drunk driving and crashing Ferarris?

Either way, phenomenal player. One of my absolute favorites.

The opposite. It's that he wore those colors in the first place. The rumors that Sanchez might do the same are troubling me.

Why are you being so cryptic? Do you have something against Chilenos? Can you explain what the fuck you're talking about? lol

Very unlikely Sanchez would go to Juventus given that he's played in Serie A before and they would be unlikely to meet his wage demands

I don't like Juventus or anything associated with it. If Arsenal met his wage demands then so can Juve.

I was re-watching some old Inter Milan teams and Serie A matches last night and could not believe the quality of those sides. Even the immediate post-Treble era had Eto'o and a really young Coutinho. Financial Fair Play really wrecked the two Milanese clubs and Roma and Napoli just don't have the capability to compete in European competitions. Higuain leaving Napoli in the summer was really dispiriting as well.

Suning's buyout of Inter is already changing the club though. They will finally get out from under FFP austerity measures. I expect them to be really good again in a couple of years and you'll probably see Simeone (maybe Conte even) on the touchline by 2018. I'm pretty sure Roma has finally settled on some agreement with the city to construct their own new stadium. There was supposed to be some Chinese buyout of AC Milan, but it predictably fell through, and now Berlusconi can come to their rescue again.

I really do hope the league can return to its glory days though and I do not have to watch as Juventus runs away with the scudetto year after year.

Ҩ wrote:I don't like Juventus or anything associated with it. If Arsenal met his wage demands then so can Juve.

You still didn't explain what the hell you're talking about but I put it together. You are an Inter fan, so you dislike former Juventus players like Vidal. You also are an Arsenal fan and would hate to see Sanchez join the Inter rival. Okay.

Arsenal met the wage demands of Sanchez's last contract, not the next one. He is reportedly asking for 250,000 pounds a week wages for his renewal. That is equivalent to 13 million pounds or around 15 million euros a year. The highest earner at Juventus is reportedly Higuain who makes less than 8 million euros a year. And he is their highest earner by a significant margin.

The only teams who can meet that are Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, and PSG. Because he already played for Barcelona, that makes PSG the most likely destination. He's been linked to Chelsea, but I don't think they need him. United will likely go for Griezmann instead. City have young wingers in Sterling and Sane, though they could make a late push because Sanchez played under Guardiola at Barcelona. Connect the dots man!

Ҩ wrote:I really do hope the league can return to its glory days though and I do not have to watch as Juventus runs away with the scudetto year after year.

Only foreign ownership and global marketing like Juve has is going to bring in the money necessary to do that.

Serie A still has many great players and exciting teams, but it won't be regularly competitive until the resources are more equal which could take another five years or more.

Berlusconi needs to get the fuck out of the way. He's been holding up this AC Milan deal for a year now trying to hold on as long as he can.

We will have to wait and see, but initial wage demands aren't concrete. Sanchez hasn't really won anything major in his entire career (except at Barca but he wasn't a regular starter). If Alexis wants to win more than anything in the world, which is what allegedly caused the locker room strife over the weekend, then Juventus becomes as attractive as any of the other major English or two Spanish sides, if not more so.

I would bet huge money against him going back to Italy. That's my reading.

If Arsenal handed him a new contract he would give fuck all about "winning more than anything". He wants to be a nailed on starter and maximize his money while remaining competitive. If Arsenal blow their load on the contract, I suspect he's fine being less competitive. If they won't, PSG is a fine alternative to combine big cash and "winning".

chrondog wrote:Serie A still has many great players and exciting teams, but it won't be regularly competitive until the resources are more equal which could take another five years or more.

Perhaps even less time than that.

The coefficients are changing at the end of this season so that four Italian squads will qualify for the Champions League again. There has been a lot of argument over whether or not this return is deserved, and much of that criticism is fair, because this is really just a concession that guarantees at least one of the two Milanese teams returns to European competition.

Inter are especially poised for a return to past levels of greatness. The last several years have seen them restructure their finances and Moratti slowly cede majority shares of the club. Those were their two biggest barriers. If they can qualify for CL again then recruiting top talent becomes much easier. There have also been rumors, which basically goes back decades so who knows how true any of it is, that Inter are going to leave the San Siro and build their own stadium. This would dramatically increase revenue. Juventus did the same thing right after Calciopoli and that is the main reason for their present dominance in the league.

chrondog wrote:I would bet huge money against him going back to Italy.

I hope you are right.

I'm willing to stake all 30 LoPP Dollars on this though. Put me down for it Waylon!!

Ҩ wrote:Perhaps even less time than that.
.
.
.
There have also been rumors, which basically goes back decades so who knows how true any of it is, that Inter are going to leave the San Siro. This would dramatically increase revenue.

These two statements are incompatible. If you're relying on a stadium move to get that revenue up, it will take more than five years.

Further, the economic situation in Italy is still not particularly strong. It's not going to be an immediate windfall.

The restructuring Suning has been doing is good, but that's why I say five years. It's going to take them five years to recover from all of the horrible transfers and business moves they made when things were falling apart for Moratti. They'll need a few years of Champions League money.

They could possibly give Juve a Scudetto scare in 3 years, but I don't see them winning it or being a European force.

The economic situation in Italy is besides the point if its increasingly becoming majority foreign investment. The Italian economic situation explains why there is only one Calabrese squad (Crotone) in the top flight and they will inevitably be relegated at the end of the season. The Milanese squads are victim to incompetent owners, not a stagnant national economy. Spain's economy is comparable to Italy's and yet the quality of the league in general, not just Barca and Real Madrid, has improved in this decade.

I would prefer that both Inter and ACazzo Milan both stay at the San Siro, but reach a better agreement with the city somehow. I'm not suggesting that they necessarily need their own stadium. Inter has the youngest and best midfield in the league already. Their big weakness has been in the fullback/wingback position (Ricardo Rodríguez in the summer hopefully) and their ability to develop and mature young talent. Coutinho and Kovacic both leaving really sucked. Hopefully the upward trend in the club will convince Gabigol to stick around (although Pioli needs to give him more playing time, especially since Candreva has been so ineffectively lately).

Basically, your timeline seems accurate, but I remain hopeful.

Ҩ wrote:The economic situation in Italy is besides the point if its increasingly becoming majority foreign investment.

The only reason it matters is if you're banking on ticket revenue from a new stadium. Gotta fill those seats and make sure people are paying top dollar. That's why The Emirates is such a cash cow. Big stadium in a rich ass city.

I like Ricardo Rodriguez a lot.

I know you are discussing his club career but I can't let that statement stand without mentioning the fact that the dude scored the single most important goal in his country's history less than two years ago.

two of these should have been re-takes. Which two?

Bruegel wrote:I know you are discussing his club career but I can't let that statement stand without mentioning the fact that the dude scored the single most important goal in his country's history less than two years ago.

Also the "he wasn't a regular starter at Barca" when he won the Champions League is pretty bunk imo. He was an excellent player at Barca, one who was unfairly criticized because he doesn't have "Barca DNA" or play their style. He scored almost 40 goals and was an important player in a year they got 100 points in La Liga.

I thought I would give our friend Wrestling Pun a pass on that comment though, lol.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

well, i've never seen anything like that

it's astonishing to me how many people can be massive football fans, and STILL complain about referees and constantly. Wenger is a prime moaner-in-chief. it does fuck all to complain about it. referees are in an impossible position. there is literally no solution to stamp out diving in the game. you have to have a referee on the field making judgment calls on shit they can barely see. what other way is there?

we can't have real reform in the way that referees police themselves because there is so much histrionics any time they try to admit someone made a mistake. the human element giveth and it taketh away, fam.

I wonder how many Barca fans left before the 88th minute. A few thousand, I'd imagine.

Never seen anything that crazy live (even at lower league level).

I saw Spurs throw away a three goal half time lead to lose 3-4 to Man City in the FA Cup in 2004 (despite Barton being sent of for City at half time).

I saw that Arsenal/Spurs 4-4 at the Emirates when Spurs got two in injury time.

Nothing on this level though.

My god Messi celebrating with the fans gave me goosebumps.

yeah, but could he do it against Stoke on a wet and windy Wednesday night in March?