CL back next week

he did score a brace (and was generally excellent) for France on Wednesday, the day before his Atleti presentation, so there better not be a Samson effect or I'm gonna be salty. Wouldn't mind if Diego asked him to cut back on the cheesy dancing though lol

so clearly Simeone doesnt mind that since he's just scored

Death
Taxes
And Aston Villa finishing middle table

Come get the arse whooping, Magilla

P.S. Hi, Smut

Oh, and Watkins AND Ings are both fit?

Uh oh, Christian.

Uh oh, Antonio.

Uh oh, Dave.

What on earth are you talking about?

It was in regards to kneeling to the champions, and to always bow down
to Chelsea.

You take innocent shit talking and turn it into something thats it’s not.

had some success at Real Madrid.

Might be the greatest. But I still got R9

but hey, congrats to Ronaldo for scoring twice against *checks notes* midtable Newcastle

...it was all of those things.

Villa were in it, too.

Please change your username.


Luke scores again!!

Didn’t know he had this in him

Always. His dribbling, control and composure. His game is always on.


It’s just that Jorginho and Kante are on the team as well
, so it’s tough to get starting mins.

Poor Werner...that boy may never see the light again with Chelsea.
garbage mins only.

Y’all took your chances and we gave you one when the game was still in the balance. We’ll play worse against other teams and win.

We can be friends, and sing Chelsea songs together !

Put on the blue. Jack Grealish ain’t walking through that door.

MV this dude is garbage man I remember Greenwood hit him w/ the dream shake a few months ago

The backpass was shit though. He eats shots like a monster and is a vocal leader on the pitch. He’s no more mistake prone than the two in front of him in the England setup (but I think in a vacuum Konsa’s the better defender).

Silva at 36 is still world class. If he doesn't get bit too hard by the injury bug this year Chelsea would be foolish to not offer him another year.

And I read somewhere recently the Azpi has not made an error leading to a goal in his entire career at Chelsea. Insane nugget of info if true.

looked awful when it happened (Salah's reaction said it all), good news that it wasn't broken at least

Peer pressure >>>

Also Pogba is likely to sign da ting now according to The Athletic. Our summer business and playing with Ronaldo has swayed him

Idc how good he is on defense it’s like playing a man down with that donkey

every game i'm screaming at him CROSS IT.

i mean, he listens, as soon as he gets on it on crossing foot.

i love him as a defender, but when he goes forward it's like watching paint dry at times.

perhaps berhalter should call him up!

EDIT: he did. I forget that he goes by the last name of Pefok.

US attack looking promising. They just need a proper manager to mold them.

*facepalm*

And other than his anti Puig stance, Koeman will play youth this year and we'll see who looks to be part of the future. Love Gavi already.

But this season, wouldn't be surprised to see us finish 4th in league an round of 16 exit in UCL. Brutal.

-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

Focked up the spread for everyone.

Not everyone can’t play a man down like Chelsea.

Please go create yall’s super league and don’t come back.
Don’t deserve to be in the EPL.

gonna take a while for these dudes to mesh, meanwhile City out here doing tennis scores

this dude out here toiling in obscurity

Are their any worthy challengers on this planet?

We will pick up your squad , and pay for all
the accommodations.

Fock it, we will even spot y’all 1 goal, and roll
out our B squad.

Come get this work.

It was nil-nil at the half.....Villa scored 3 goals in a blink of an eye in the
second half.

Not sure how they lure cristobal back home either

We were ready to send Lingard to the moon now he’s the first man off the bench,

Ole better thank his stars he up against a manager that’s more of a joke than him today

Tell your teams to stay at home.

We ain’t showing no mercy....none.

Smart halftime sub.

You love throwing them subliminals. I SEE YOU.

he's been average to below average since the Euro's. gotta do more to hold down a starting spot in the chelsea lineup than run around and press.

an eventual move to midfield may be the best for all parties involved. just don't see that happening anytime soon with the way kova is playing.

they are soaring w/o him dragging down all the true talent there.

right now for the massive obliteration that will
take place today.

Man, it pains me to see you have to go through
this. You’re a gentle soul, so we will make it quick and as
painless as possible.

Peace.

This gonna be fun. Killa Cam with another big day. And Bert showin' the hierarchy why they shoulda maybe kept him.

Cmon. Gotta finish that.

He's been injured most of the time since he signed in January.

This is a cute, little scrimmage

Focking Kepa

How long can Tuchel afford to keep trotting him out there?

Spell on loan might do him good.

He was Chelsea’s player of the year last season. Playing a starting role on
the national team over the summer took a lot out of him, so he is still trying
to find his form.


But don’t let that stop your snark.

Shame when you see all that potential fizzle out, but it happens. He can still have a nice career in the Championship, or maybe a lower-half Ligue Un squad or somewhere like that.

Lower level UN Ligue?

Yeah, okay....funny shit.

Feeling good about Steer vs. Kepa.

If he can’t take this game by the scruff of the neck then I don’t know. He just doesn’t make anything happen at all. He doesn’t dribble past anyone, work his way out of a tight space, play in a good ball, test the keeper. He just out there doing cardio,

Which is still more than Martial. He is finished at the top level. The fight isn’t in him anymore

We appreciate the service....

*tips cap*

The ball served up this season has been diabolical

He too big for his britches. Start playing for the fucking team again instead of acting like the ball is a grenade you have to send towards goal within 3 seconds

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Goals, chances and Liverpool playing a bit too nervous while the Bees acted like they’d been in the PL for years

Brentford played with energy....i thought they were done but their counterattack was bananas

Mount out injured. No Pulisic. Werner was inserted into the
starting 11, game had L written all over it.

The formation was a 3-5-2, with Kante, Kovacic, and Jorginho
all on the pitch at the same time.

There were no creative attackers to give Lukaku service.


Tuchel was going for a draw, but a flimsy goal made its way in.

1-0. Not too mad.

Bum Ass MU got handled by Villa!

and i didnt even know Kovacic was playing until the second half

with 8 guys generally defending.

no idea why tuchel went so conservative. it's the first time he's fucked up at chelsea.

to have an offensive formation, which is needed to play an open
game against City. I didn’t mind the tactic, because it kept the
game winnable.

It should have been a draw, but it didn’t work out that way.

Y’all just might finish top 10.

Bums ass MU....all that talent, nothing but shite.

At least when we made Ronaldo stay an extra year he actually tried. Kane putting in a embarrassing display today

And it was a great game to watch. Seeing Fati come on and then score just minutes later after almost a year out felt so good.
And (acknowledging that Levante played like shit) we played well all around! Dest had the best game I've seen him play for us. Gavi and Nico were both great. Gives a lot of hope moving forward with our midfield players. It's still gonna be a really rough year (we can't compete for CL, and 3rd place in La Liga is probably a best case scenario), but we've got a lot of exciting young talent.

hes looked shaky (at best) each time ive seen him play on the left for the USMNT

but as far as i know he's been solid to good with some real bright moments for most of his duration at Barca, but something about the USMNT seems to lower player's performances across the board, and the explanation for that seems pretty intangible (hint: it's Berhalter LOL).

concacaf football must look like an entirely different sport to these dudes coming from elite youth academies and then elite clubs in europe.

the RW was vacant all last season and the start of this season too. So Dest--who should be playing like Alba does--had no one to combine with and so would either be passive or try to do something all on his own.

it's nice to see him perform like he can when the structure of the squad fits his skills.

the kids are gonna be alright. just wish they had some decent mid-career vets to help.

-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

https://www.barcablaugranes.com/2021/9/28/22697977/barcelona-levante-tactical-analysis

dest had plenty of freedom up front, lots of support from Gavi going inside to play basically a right midfielder role and a double pivot to help protect him and the team was planning to overload the left side on attack.

basically, he's good if you use him well and koeman really hasnt. tbf to Koeman, part of the problem is Alba + Dest is two attacking fullbacks, where barca was always strongest with one attacker and one more defensive fullback who occasionally attacked (Alves/Abidal pairing was the best i've seen of this). Alba in his prime could pull off both, especially with the threat of messi changing the other team's shape around him but right now, all the fullbacks are better when they're attacking except minqueza (much like puyol when he played out of position sometimes). maybe balde and dest can learn to do both, but dest is definitely not that yet.


-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

warming up my cold cynical heart

https://sports.yahoo.com/sheriff-tiraspol-real-madrid-champions-league-upset-goal-205354048.html

I woulda let them bammas score too.

The team is only worth 13 million dollars, and RM has more la liga titles than
they have seasons played. Its players consists of nobodies that come from
poor European countries.

No one in their right mind placed a wager on that extremely
poor soccer club. All money was on RM.

I just lost huge respect for Ancelotti. They didn’t defend shit. The open
spaces in the box were just plain disgusting. There was no attempt
to close down anyone. ...there wasn’t a care in the world.

>
>I woulda let them bammas score too.

Maybe a big scoreline L is what they need to turf this operation

Although I do take your point.

Please fill me in. I can’t recall a post, moment or any other time
on this board where you spoke about a club that you support.

>Please fill me in. I can’t recall a post, moment or any
>other time
>on this board where you spoke about a club that you support.
>
>
>
>

And whoever is playing Chelsea.

Why so hot and bothered?

Yeah, okay. Carry on Buck.

The implication seems to be that I support no particular team, and that somehow that's a bad thing, right? But why do you think that, exactly?

Now, as a point of fact I do broadly, but definitely not rabidly, support Liverpool, which Smutsboy can probably confirm, and I tend to root for them in most matches. But that's only because I have this vague feeling that since they're owned by the same group that owns the Red Sox, who I've always supported, that what's good for Liverpool FC is probably somehow good for the Sox as well, even though that doesn't really make much sense. Nevertheless, yeah, I'm slightly more of an LFC fan than not. Helps that they're fun to watch these days.

But otherwise, I tend to watch matches and choose my loyalty as I go along. For instance, I sat through CP v. Brighton on Saturday, and for no real reason ended up pulling for CP, and was mildly disappointed when Brighton pulled out a last-minute draw. So for that natch, evidently I was a Palace supporter.

And no, I don't support Watford. Because that would entirely arbitrary, wouldn't it? I've never even been to Watford. At best I have a vague idea of where in England it's located. In fact for an American such as myself, who grew up an ocean away from the EPL, it would pretty fucking arbitrary to declare massive support for any squad in that league, no?

Now, I'm a Sox fan because my whole family going back about 6 generations is from New England, and I started going to Fenway games as a little kid, right? Kind of born into it. And I assume something similar is the case with your Chelsea support, surely. Could you tell us some stories about your youth in...Kensington, was it? Or Parsons Green? Hopping on the Underground, bounding up the steps into the bright sunshine with Stamford Bridge towering right there in front of you? Oh, that must have been a treat...

So, no, I don't really support any squad. Liverpool a bit. I just watch and enjoy the matches. And troll you.

to shit on Chelsea. Got it.

Thanks for the clarity, and I appreciate the great write-up.

The holding mid issue, among other things.

Thank you Fred. You only had 2 opportunities to stop the play and you did your best Coquelin vs Hazard impression.

Wasn't much to slow them down.

Hopefully that doesn’t happen

embarassing. On Mina's disallowed goal, the whole left side of our team just ran up the field leaving homie MILES open we're just lucky he passed to Mina and didn't take it on himself.

on the goal they scored, there was the afformentioned Fred, along w/ most of the team not hustling to get back into position.

just...yeah something's gotta give.

Top of the table, that’s where we are!

Credit SouthHamptons GK for making some outstanding saves,
and they played strongly in the second half of the match.

With Kante, Reese, and Pulisic all out because of health issues, and
Mount still not in form, our backup players had to lead the way.

The entire team was solid, and most importantly there were zero
injuries incurred.


KNEEL TO YOUR LEADERS!

...Kane or Son?

Son

Milner helped Liv get that possession that led to Salah's magic.

Other than that, Foden was wearing him out.

He was a slow old man in defense. Couldn't believe Klopp didn't yank him at the half.

more points in la liga and the CL, but losing to sherif >>>> losing to benfica and similarly, losing to espanyol >>>> losing to atletico
-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

What he did to create space for the shot...straight video game

https://youtu.be/iZ68OskGqow

First time there has been a group stage for the Women's side in the CL. Makes for more games and some of them more competitive among the top seeds rather than when the Ro16 was a seeded knockout where only the middle seed game seemed really interesting with the disparity and Ro8 was where it got interesting.

Afternoon games aren't as compelling yet, (4-0 and 3-0) but the Barcelona v Arsenal match coming up should be good. Barcelona killed everything last season and don't seem like letting up, but Arsenal are flying at the start of this season after a summer of solid signings to make up for their lack of depth and injuries last season (Heath most notably, Mana Iwabuchi, Nikita Parris). Hopefully Arsenal can make it more interesting than the final Chelsea put up.

It seems like it is freely watchable anywhere on youtube as part of the DAZN rights plan this year to get as many people watching as possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGxG7esgX9I

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrUQXESZrdvrMUkmSzJBxzD9lFspiSkAv

I thought they were going to geoblock in places they have service to subscribe to based on some ads I was seeing in Canada, but I've been able to watch the games fine so far.

Steve Bruce bet not go to any meetings at any Saudi embassies.

I mean, Ashley out is surely good, but at what damned cost?

https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1446195493030219777