a lame-o international break to start, but the CL is back in a couple weeks

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

for an A+ player.

Norwich should never play in anything but their bright yellows

----
bshelly

"You (Fisher) could get fired, Les Snead could get fired, Kevin Demoff could get fired, but I will always be Eric Dickerson.” (c) The God

I guess I'd be promoting it? The Women's Super League starts this weekend (Premier League equ.), the FA is pushing their web player this year where all games will be streamed live for free anywhere in the world.

I've been holding off on giving in to the streaming services that have bought up the rights to all the men's stuff in Canada, similar to down there, so I'm almost looking forward to this. NWSL technically has a free stream as well, but NA times aren't really good for me, but I can get away with watching European stuff at work.

I wonder if the break is what allowed Man City and Man U's women to play the opener at the Emirates? Which is kinda cool. The WUCL RO32 has a Barcelona - Juventus matchup lined up, which is a knockout round. The disparity at this stage is usually pretty stark though until later.

I dunno, I'm not sure how much I'll even be able to keep up with anything.

---------------------
Obviously White

watch too much soccer as it is but I have wanted to start following the Champions League. I've caught snippets of Ligue 1 games this year but outside of Lyon and PSG there seems to be a big dropoff

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

I really wish I knew an easy way to watch the French League from Canada this season with our girl Huitema signing for PSG, I know she scored in her first two preseason games for them but I don't know much since (they also got Daebritz from Bayern who I like). They seem content with their success in the French market it seems, some other league teams like Barca, Bayern and City seem a bit more interested in getting foreign attention with their internet presence at least.

If any Arsenal fans get disenchanted with the Men, their Women's team is really good right now and won last league season. I'll try to hype up good games if I can.

---------------------
Obviously White

Sorry, but there is nothing lame about the international break. Get to see the big national teams play, like Portugal and Brasil.

If Brasil stays with their current team, and keep neymar off it, They 'll get another World Cup. The team that won Copa America was solid from front to back, as well as the Subs. Also, this Portugal squad, imagine ronaldo with this squad in his prime.

My rankings

1.Brasil
2.Belgium
3.France
4.Portugal
5.England.

England got some hitters on their team. If they don't get at least one euro cup in the next 8 years, something is wrong. Sancho, Maguire,sterling,mount,madison, wan bissaka, kane, vardy, chalobah, hudson odi, ruben loftus cheek. Abraham, kane, rashford, shaw, ali,etc. They have no excuses.


Euro teams are going to be loaded going into Euros, as well as the 2022 World Cup.

Very proud of Matteo. Such confidence and assuredness for a 20-yold. A certain 26-yold slow_as_molassess vet could learn from him.

isn't VAR supposed to fix that shit?

fucking garbage penalty. fuck that referee for life.

LET'S FUCKING GO!

a la Gnabry

But I'm happy enough with our current youth. Never knew malen, but Serge still hurts cuz I loved that guy

either that or bukayo saka, or I guess that brasilian dude Edu more or less brought with him over the summer.

and see some type of progression from the men's team. Miazga is out injured, wonder who is going to lead the line.

Kinda tired of the USA/Mexico rivalry, but it is what it is.


Still don't know what to make of Pulisic. Impressive with the national team, but still has a long way to go to even be close to the level that Donovan was on as a pro. However, he is still young as hell, I'm going to give him time. As of right now, though, he is not worthy of starting at chelsea. I'm starting to think a loan deal might do him some good.

lets get this win

I hope Dest shows out, such that we can convince him to stay with us. Hopefully he thrives at Ajax, but not too much so as to get the dutch leaning on him to make that last switch.

Also, maybe earnie stewart can continue to facilitate things. I assume that was how this all went down in the first place.

>Still don't know what to make of Pulisic. Impressive with the
>national team, but still has a long way to go to even be close
>to the level that Donovan was on as a pro. However, he is
>still young as hell, I'm going to give him time. As of right
>now, though, he is not worthy of starting at chelsea. I'm
>starting to think a loan deal might do him some good.
>
>lets get this win

It's a bit early to say either way re: pulisic at Chelsea, no?

Given my bias, I hope he thrives there while other key players struggle

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what he does. but fock the dutch, nothing be bridesmaids.


As far a Pulisic, he just looks so small and weak in the EPL. He needs some mass on him like the rest of the wingers and fowards in the league. Hazard ( last season),willian,sterling, salah, mane,etc...They have strength to them to be able to stay on the ball. Pulisic lacks that, and just gets swallowed up by stronger players.

Donovan was even strong in the EPL with Everton, which is why they loved him so much.


I hope he gets better, but no way in hell is worth the 70 million we paid for him. Hell we could have gotten Malcom for free! That's why Pulisic better turn out to be a stud.

That was nasty.

Chicharito has to be the greatest poacher ever. I have no idea how he does it. Real Madrid. MU. WH. Mexico, etc. Dude will find a way to score goals.

like, i know WHY they want Morris on the wing because he's faster than just about everyone but he's way more a target forward.

Sargeant is better than Zardes too.

Where's Tim Weah? still hurt?

He is 100 percent garbage.

Whole squad is playing like trash. McKennie has been terrible in the midfield.
Turnovers, silly fouls. Fullbacks getting marked as well as the centerbacks.
Mexico should be up by 4 goals..

I know playing out the back for this team is a work in progress, but a couple of long balls here and there would not hurt. US getting trapped in its own backline trying to play out.

Dest lost confidence after being abused, and just let frustration get the best of him. Dude might sponge bob imma head out to the Dutch .


2009 team was our only great team . I’m tired . This team is trash.

Dude might sponge bob imma
>head out to the Dutch .

Damn, OKSoccer missed you man, LOL.

yeah, my biggest problem with this performance is after the first goal we just gave up. that's inexcusable.

what you said about 2009...i saw a tweet that said something like from 89' til, let's say 2014, the USMNT was greater than the sum of their parts - overachievers more or less. now, we have players that are more TALENTED but where's the desire and the chemistry, and how do you find it?

Ha. Yeah, bro. Glad to just be able to shoot some soccer talk or whatever. I was still
Lurking, just too busy to post.

Glad you guys keep it going.

Does Celery still post?

which is the case for most folks around here, TBH.

i think he was posting semi-frequently during the NBA season if my memory serves me since he's a Trailblazers fan.

Good lord. You get beat while trying to play out the back and you still
Try to play the ball out the back! It means you can’t do it , so stop trying. Slow the game down and play some long balls.

You send everybody to the box, and there is no one to really get back!

Players getting abused 1 v 1.

I’m done supporting this team . I’m straight three lions . Fock it.

>Good lord. You get beat while trying to play out the back and
>you still
>Try to play the ball out the back! It means you can’t do it
>, so stop trying. Slow the game down and play some long
>balls.

I'm no soccer tactician but with the way Mexico looked to be pressing, it looked like Berhalter is forcing a system that the US talent cannot execute.

it'd be like a NFL coach who wants to run the football, but his OL is overmatched and he doesn't have great running backs, but he keeps calling runs that go 2 yards. and defenses just put 9 in the box because they aren't threatened by anything else (high press).

--------

You hit nail on the head. Even you see it.

Here comes Quique again.

---------------------------------
Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

Raheem Sterling is the best winger in the world hands down. He is doing it for club and country. This could easily go to Hazard, but he hasn't played this season for club or country yet.

Sancho is top5 , and I see why he was featured more than Pulisic at Dortmund, but somehow Pulisic is worth 70mil? lol I can't see him being transferred for less than 200mil. 18 years of age? This kid was at Man City, and I can't believe Pep couldn't find time for this kid, but went out of his way to buy Mahrez?? Man city doesn't need him because they have a team full of great players, but still ,that's crazy.

What the hell are they growing in England right now? wingers, mids, Cbs, fullbacks. they are spitting it out in this era.

America might get destroyed against Uruguay. It might get ugly. I don't expect anything. Just want to see Mckennie, Pulisic and Dest evolve.


Btw, Hazard is cleared to play!

at 17. Mahrez was signed the following summer.

---------------------------------
Photo zine(some images NSFW): http://bit.ly/USaSPhoto

"This (and every, actually) conversation needs more Chesterton and less Mike Francesa." - Walleye

That's what I'm saying. The kid should have been given some mins.

Since signing with Man City, Mahrez hasn't really been a factor, and I'm sure he would have stayed at LC had he known he wasn't going to be a major contributer.

City would have been better off given the kid mins and not signing mahrez at all.


With the way they linked up on the english team, sterling on the left, sancho on the right, and jesus as the striker, man that would have been pure destruction.

Well, whoever has 150mill - 200 mill will bag him, might as well say welcome to real madrid right now! lol

that dude needs to leave. Pep is never going to let him spin.

<--- Big Baller World Order

Pep is a great coach. We all know that, but sometimes he is full of himself. That's why he comes up short in the CL. I don't count barca. He had Messi.

As great as Man City is, they should be even better in my opinion.

Barca is weak right now. REal Madrid is weak. Juve has an old Ronaldo and a stubborn coach. No reason why man city, right now, can't get 1 or 2 CL titles with the team that they have.

They were lucky against Bournemouth. His centerbacks are lacking, I imagine he is going to try to go after Ake even harder. He originally wanted Maguire, but they felt his price was way too high. He is good, but not that good.

But Stones and Otamendi are overrated. And Kyle Walker is showing signs of regression. He is 29, and 30s are creeping up.

They can be scored against big time, unlike Liverpool.

Someone has surely made the comparison before.

Is it that we can't tell how good he really is because he always has the best players?

Just need one season of Pep at West Brom, see what he's really made of.

Phil Jackson? Phil was an outstanding coach. won championship as player, as a coach in the CBA, and NBA coach. Phil would win even if he had to rebuild. But that would have been a waste of his talents, because he is masterful at controlling minds and egos. Kobe only won chips under Phil, same with Jordan.

Pep is a great coach, don't get me wrong. Dude can coach, but he falls in love with his system too much, which overrates him. You have to comply to his system, or be out. Sooner or later players get burned out from that, which is why hi third season always go to crap, just like mourinho.

They are both similar in way, where they need big signings to win, and y it is either their way or the highway. It's just that Mourinho is a defensive coach and pep is an offensive coach.

However, there are usually one or two players who truly benefit from his coaching when he coaches a team, with MC it is clearly sterling and KDB.
Both are World Class due to Pep.

https://streamja.com/K7NV

<--- Big Baller World Order

<--- Big Baller World Order

Sadio Mane is an assassin right now.

these Chelsea youngins are gonna be fun as hell to watch. Scoring more goals than the other team ain’t a bad strategy after all

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

Yes, Sir. They sure will. Minus Pulisic of course (lol)

So many people were dissing Tammy. I'm like that dude's movement as a striker is just beyond insane, just a matter of time before the end product would come.

In universe. Each seasonn he annoys me more.

Don't like this lineup, no athletic dynamism at all outside of the top 2. Would have Wilkock out there. Ozil, Dani and Granit? Hmm

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

Really? I love NBCs whole lineup, best soccer broadcasting there is.

Not so much for Socrates or Gundouzi ( wrong spelling).

I took arsenal 1/2 point (+143) for the first half, and I took them moneyline (-116). Won on the first half, just need them to close out properly.

I don't know if you guys play the NBCsports score/game predictor competition, but it's free, and you win money based on points. The hardest thing to do is to predict the score of a game, with soccer it's less harder than other sports. I got arsenal winning this game 3-1, so far so good.

If you get all 5 games correct on the score, you win 50,000. 10 points for each perfect game, so 50 points is a perfect score. However, you can win monetary prizes with lower scores.

Just when I said Luiz was having a good game, he gives a penalty. However, he was a bit unlucky to not win the ball.

Arsenal has no midfield support for their backline!...good lord ,,,just space all in the midfield.


wow

glad I won on arsenal for the first half +143, which gave me more money than on the full game bet 1/2 point for arsenal ( because it appears it is going to be a draw).

arsenal being arsenal.

The Unai era to 2 years. Pretty clear that's the plan.

Also would have taken ozil off not Dani

------------------------------
For the record, my teams:
MLB: Mets / Soccer: PSG
NCAA BB: Arizona / NCAA FB: Michigan
NBA: Spurs / NFL: Jets

lol this guy

lol. yeah, man he is terrible 1 v 1.

If he is just allowed to sit in the box and defend, win headers, intercept balls he is excellent, which is what he was doing for most of the game.

But 1 v 1...very very bad.

pretty much.

that is why he had that excellent season under conte in the 3-4-3. That is the best formation for him.

Kante in front dealing with 1 v 1 situations. So by kante slowing down the attack, and if a player were to get past Kante, all Luiz had to do was step in and tackle, or block, or intercept.

And what that allowed was Luiz to play his offensive passing game, by sending accurate long balls over the top to Costa, or to go forward to help set up the offense.

But with no midfield protection whatsoever, which is the case for arsenal, where luiz has to go forward to stop the defender as well as track back or stand 1 v 1? Nightmare city.

if he has to have one of the best defensive midfielders in the world (at the time) cover for him in order to not be terrible, he sucks.

I wouldn't say he sucks. Just one dimensional. He does two things well, and can excel in the right system.

But I'm sort of Bias because he played with chelsea for years and accomplished a lot, so I might be the wrong person to really, really judge him.

but compared to regular, natural centerbacks, then yeah he sucks.

I hope

couldn't even finish off a last place team! I was perfect for the day so far.

Over and under on goals for them for now on.

https://twitter.com/oilysailor/status/1173286882089848832?s=21

Arsenal have faced 96 shots this season, more than any other side in the PL, Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1 & the Bundesliga. Some effort that.



I think we need to get mustafi back, he'll save us

<--- Big Baller World Order

A key trait of a good backline is composure and Sokratis/Luiz have absolutely none of it. Unai didn’t help help himself by taking off Ceballos who was a key pressure outlet in the 1st half and going into a complete defensive shell.

---------------------------------
<--The drought is over

"have fun reveling in your pettiness tho" (C) Dula summing up 98% of OKS

"I didnt finish a damn thing...matter of fact I jerked off after she left."
-Kobe speaking to investigators

L D E A

I don't know, man. I know they both made mistakes, but for the most part they weren't that bad considering the constant pressure they had to deal with because they get no protection from the midfield. None. Midfield was constantly wide open

And your front three players were just strolling around, never tracking back.

The coach would have been better of with just going with a 5-4 in the back, putting five players in the midfield in front of the back 4 for protection, and arsenal would have seen the game through.

Of course Luiz is going take a lot of criticism because of his rep, but today's game was not even close to being on him. He intercepted and cleared so many balls out of the box.

Let's show out in Napoli.

both teams playing positive

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

shitty call from the ref, shitty mistake by Virg, no finishing.

oh well, onward

We were the better team, controlled possession, more shots on target, just no end product. Valencia's strategy was to park in the middle, denying Tammy service. It was very effective, other than that, we had our way down the flanks, and our defense was solid by the back 3

Tomori is a freaking beast. He makes everything seem so easy as a CB, on the ball, off the ball, defending. We almost loaned this kid out.

Great game by willian, but no end product.

The Mount injury is a let down, because we already have a ton of injured players. But we still could have won this game, and we should have won it.

Frank changes the formation to a 4-4-2, and we immediately give up a goal off a set piece. The players weren't set and were clearly all confused about the covering. Formation should have stayed under a 3-4-3 because we were in control. This is another game where a drastic change by frank cost us a goal.

But we still had a chance to draw from a penalty that was given, but Ross Barkley waved Jorginho and Willian off and took the penalty himself.....and he missed it! He had no business taking it. He isn't even a first choice player, nor is he the captain!


I'm not too mad. We played well, just didn't know how to get through Valencia's bus parking.

Liverpool is next, hopefully Kante is back by then.

willian had a good first half but fell off the face of the earth in the second. pedro was atrocious all game. one of them needed to come off.

everyone understands puli is young and still adapting to a new league. but at the same time he hasn't been flat out horrible. aside from a great super cup showing he has been somewhat uninspiring, playing it safe more than anything (which is understandable as he adapts). but holy shit did this game need his energy and pace in the second half. been following the chelsea forums a bit and it seems like frank is putting a premium on developing the academy kids, lumps and all. would be a shame if puli doesn't get the same room for on-field development. because the drop off between willian/pedro and him isn't that significant to warrant a complete benching.

He is a decent player, but does no deserve a start over mount, willian or pedro. He is too easily pushed off the ball, so he loses it a lot.

Chelsea did not have a problem with getting chances or operating down the flank, AZP and Alonso were killing it with crosses all day. Our main problem was no end product, and they smothered Tammy, not allowing him to get service.

But yeah, I agree part of the game is on Frank, especially with the silly formation change. The 3-4-3 was very effective, especially defensively, Valencia didn't really do much, but park.

He could have easily went with a 3-5-2 to somewhat keep the shape since he wanted an extra striker on.

>He is a decent player,
>he loses it a lot.

i'm not saying he should've started, but i do think it was very odd to keep him on the bench in the second half. especially when dude has had past success in the cl.

also, pedro was *really* bad.

Pulisic.


Yeah, pedro bad. But it was rust because he was out for a month due to injury, before that he was playing well.

I didn't know you were a Cheslea guy....good stuff.

a neutral fan.

But Chelsea’s youth movement (including the American) has me intrigued. So I’m following closely.

>I didn't know you were a Cheslea guy....good stuff.

cool. You seem like a cool guy.

I support chelsea( for about 20 years), started following real madrid about 10 years ago because chelsea players have been transferred there as well as coaches coaching both teams. But I'm truly a chelsea guy and a neutral when I'm not watching chelsea.

or is Zidane's strategy just to have better players?

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

This team is terrible and selfish from top to bottom. I feel for hazard, jovic and mendy to even be a part of this team.


The midfield of Casemiro and kroos was terrible, and james didn't know what to do or where to be. It was the wrong formation.

Real would have been better off in a 3-5-2, hazard and benz up top. They ran that system a lot during the preseason with great success. The midfield would have had more support. And james would have been better off as a CAM . He can't defend

---- hazrd - Benz ---

---- James ---
mendy - kroos - case - vazquez


varane - Militao - carvajal

James was at least running hard

and why not play Bale on the right? he was the only player anyone could say was "good"

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

Bale is cool and all, but just going for his, and not really trying to build up the play.

He is very skillful, no doubt, but just another real madrid player immediately going for a strike, instead of really working with benz and hazard as an attacking front 3

<--- Big Baller World Order

Based on what he did tonight, it's clear this guy is the most promising dude to come through the Academy in a long time.

<--- Big Baller World Order

Such an easy game to predict, new WH was going to win. Just need MU to score
A goal to get the exact score for more points.

Without Pogba MU is just not creative enough, no
One else to create and get service going.

Leicester city, Bournemouth or WH, one is going to finish
In the top 4.

Such an easy game to predict, new WH was going to win. Just need MU to score
A goal to get the exact score for more points.

Without Pogba MU is just not creative enough, no
One else to create and get service going.

Leicester city, Bournemouth or WH, one is going to finish
In the top 4.