AFCON with some madness today, let's goooooo

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

on espn. Real looking to prove they're heads and shoulders above everyone. Barca desperate to show they're competitive again. Plus, debut for Ferran Torres. And Araujo back right after fracturing his arm? ridiculous.

ansu and pedri back on the bench. hoping they get some minutes to get back into form but not rush them.
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you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

5 minutes on the pitch and he already looks great. And you can't help but feel that Ansu would have buried a few of these chances that Dembele has missed.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

busquets gave up the first goal, alves the second. wish Dest weren't buried on the bench because he at least has the speed to not be quite so afraid of Vinicius.

legit have one too many starting quality young MFs with Pedri, Gavi, FdJ, and Nico around. Honestly think a 3-4-3 is the way to go with they all back:

Araujo/Pique/Garcia
Gavi/FdJ/NicoPedri
Ferran/Ansu/Dembele

sucks to lose, but this is so much better than it was even a month or two ago.
-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

Bring him on against tired legs.

It's Barca, so I still like a 4-3-3

Alves/Dest-Araujo-Pique-Alba
Pedri-FDJ-Gavi
Ferran-Ansu-Memphis

Alves/Dest can be rotated depending on the assignment, Same with Gavi/Nico.

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."

and that's the most likely lineup and a good one, i just think Nico is a better option for a Gala XI and for the future.

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

https://streamja.com/1O7Gd

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

The pure example of being OWNED.

Chelsea beatdown the spuds...more hardware is coming for the mantle.

Magilla, get your weight up. It’s the second half of the season, and that is when
Chelsea is most lethal.

Lukaku and Tuchel have worked things out. German Blitzkrieg mode has been reactivated. Teams are about to get smacked the fock up.

Parade down Fulham road will be on and jumping for sure this spring.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Gonna miss El Ghazi; he had some huge, huge goals for us over the last 3 and a half years. But, he's not enough of a number 10 to fit Gerrard's system, and the squad's getting crowded for wingers/wide forwards.

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

<--- Big Baller World Order

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I wanna go to where the martyrs went
the brown figures on the walls of my apart-a-ment...

Really needed Chelsea to do more than this.

that was his jam. inter fixed his diet. got him in shape. nobody over there is really that good anyway so it's not too difficult for him

<--- Big Baller World Order

Lukaku had 2 proflic seasons in the EPL.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

I give it another couple months before you’re as tired of him as the rest of Chelsea fans already are. Y’all did not buy him for 100m to run up goals vs Burnley and whatnot

<--- Big Baller World Order

vs Azpilicueta and Alonso

they offered nothing yesterday, and the team as constructed wasnt gonna score on anyone.

i dont understand why they insist on mashing the players they have available into that stupid formation. if theres no width, and no creativity from the midfield pair, whats he supposed to do?

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

The service wasn’t there, and Tuchel got the lineup wrong.
Jorginho and Mount would have provided more spacing and passing,
but Tuchel insisted on trying to dribble MC to death.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Thought MU had some yellow or something.

<--- Big Baller World Order

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

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

and Tuchel got the lineup wrong.

Dropping Mount for Pulisic was a poor decision, and not playing Jorginho
was another poor decision. Pulisic is not a starter. He is an energizer better
coming off the bench.

And boy do we miss Ben Chillwel. We miss his speed and outright
offensive ability. I think Alonso might be washed.
He used to hit the flanks with speed, and he used to be able to get in
box with ease. Those days might be past him. We definitely need to
acquire another speedy wingback over the summer. Chilwel might not
even be back for next season.

It’s time to sell Kante. He will be 31 soon, and he isn’t old, old, but
he isn’t what he used to be.

We are still in second place, and in great position to repeat as champions in the
CL. PremierLeague is out of reach though.

We have to play Kepa for entire month....skylord, help us now.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Poor little rich boys hoarding resources and complaining when shit ain’t perfect.

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

Villa have spent approximately £330million on transfer fees since being promoted to the Premier League in 2019. Only Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have invested more on players.

Sounds like OIL FC to me....Villa is even shit at having a sugar daddy.

You’re supposed to win trophies when you use oil money. Club nearly
spent half a billion just to move up to 13th place.

god damn. It’s worse than I thought.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

A decade under Mansour at Citeh, the last 40 years of Manchester United's financial dominance of the league?

So yes, 100 mill per year has been necessary to get us from playoff promotion (needing a 10 game winning run to even qualify) to challenging for the Europa places.

Also, look at the wage bill, which is a better indicator of where clubs end up finishing than transfer spends. Villa are still only sitting 13th on that table.

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

3 seasons under Roman.

You’re on the other side now, mate. And you’re just as dirty as all the other
super teams.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Chelsea spent 300 million pounds the first two seasons Abramovich owned the team - 380 the first three years. You can look it up.

And that outlay included 34 mill for Drogba. That is not the same as 30 mill for Danny Ings in 2021.

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

You’re 100 percent wrong.

Chelsea spent 260 million in 3 years!....not even close to the 330 million- 400 million
that Villa spent in 3 damn years....You talking about 380 million pounds in
the first 3 seasons, and 300 in 2 seasons? Not even close. GTFOH

Chelsea’s first 3 years under Roman:

1st year: 121 million
2nd year: 92 million.
3rd year: 54 million

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1654557-charting-chelseas-year-by-year-transfer-spend-under-roman-abramovich

Not only has your club spent WAY more, it’s still a middle table club..if that.

Your club makes Roman look like a penny pincher.

So how does it feel to be a rent boy?

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

>1st year: 121 million

121 million in 2003 is 173 million in 2021.

>2nd year: 92 million.

92 in 2004 is 130 in 2021.

>3rd year: 54 million

54 in 2005 is 75 in 2021.

So in today's currency, that's 378 million.

the EPL's become a transfer juggernaut since 2003. in 2004, the total expenditure was 215 million (so chelsea was almost half of that!). By 2016, it's regularly over 1 billion.

https://www.statista.com/chart/18972/premier-league-summer-spending/
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you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

But certainly if you combine both measures, inflation and skyrocketing valuations, then Chelsea are definitely a horrible football club that anyone should feel ashamed of supporting.

Everyone's dirty in some way, so why worry about the degrees of it? It's a way for him to feel fine cheering for Russian Mafia FC and Franco's Favorites.

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

Mistake made in good faith. Still, you arguing in good faith that 213 mill in 2003-2005 is the same as 200 mill in 2019-2021 is hilarious. Take the (corrected to the BR number, which I confirmed in the Guardian) 24 mill paid for Drogba. What does a player like that go for in today's market? Oh, we could look at Kai Havertz a young International forward who's announced himself in Europe- 70 million.

On top of that, the clubs were in a very different place when our billionaires took over. Villa were about to get shut down because Tony Xia was a comical idiot who bought a football club without testing if he could actually bring his money over. Chelsea were what Spurs were under Poch- knocking on the door but not yet challenging. So yes, spending was in order for Villa to be able to maintain a Premier League place, work up the table and then get to a spot to knock on the

The 100 mill Villa dropped after the promotion was mostly spent on making important loans permanent (Mings for 20 mill, Hause for 5 mill and El Ghazi for 8 mill), and backfilling a squad that had been made up of loan players and late-career players. It wasn't consolidating a midtable side to push on for title challenges. Not yet anyway.

Also, you confuse me with someone who thinks there's a good billionaire. I know the game's dirty, but Chelsea are one of the only teams who stockpile players and loan them out as a matter of transfer policy.

Finally, that article talks up 2 BILLION spent in a decade. And that's BEFORE elite clubs were regularly paying 50 billion

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

and Azpilicueta is a right sided centerback at this point

theyre way too slow, and Alonso is a terrible liability with a good offensive player bearing down on him in the box

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

Hakimi just equalized with a beauty of a FK a couple mins after Gabon had gone ahead
Meanwhile Ghana in trouble though they've come back from 0-2 down

edit: oh shit Comoros back ahead

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

Just can't quite find the winner yet.

There is no one on the team who possesses the gifts they possess on
both ends of the pitch. It is glaring to say the least.

Odoi is not a wingback, he is simply a winger. He doesn’t possess the awareness
or physical ability to push forward and to track back, and he isn’t
effective with getting service into the box. He is a straight, fast
winger, that’s it.

Lukaku is a Central Forward who needs service. He isn’t a flighty striker who
can create on his own, so without any service he is useless on the pitch.

Mount has great chemistry with James and Chilwel, and that is the engine that
drives Chelsea’s offense. Mount looks lost without Chilwel and James on the
pitch. There is no buildup or connection with the other players. Everyone is just
running around doing Cardio

Kepa did make some good saves, but the team just doesn’t play or
look right when he is the keeper.


I say go 4-3-3, with Havertz and Mount on the same side, see if they can build
a link to get some service to Lukaku, and put Pulisic on the right.

Havertz - Lukaku - Pulisic

Mount - Jorginho - Kante

Alonso- Rudiger - Silva - AzP

Also, Chalobah is another key figure that we are missing

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

CIV-ALG is another wild one, the champions about to go out unless they get a miracle in the last 230mins

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

Then don't. Not sure why. I always watch the Euros, though. So it may be some kind of latent genetic northern European superiority complex that is subconsciously preventing me.

it seems to be mostly mentioned as a pesky event that takes away star players from club football. BeIn's weird channel assignment isn't helpful either; I watched a couple games that only had arabic commentary, even though the teams playing weren't even from arabic-speaking countries. Meanwhile their main channels were showing shoddy Ligue 1 fixtures

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

>it seems to be mostly mentioned as a pesky event that takes
>away star players from club football.

I think it was Jonathan Wilson who gave a good explanation and background of why AFCON is scheduled as it is, and why they're unlikely to change. Maybe it was someone else. I'm not annoyed by it—if anything, good chance to see some reserve guys on the club teams get some minutes. Certainly reveals depth, or the lack of it.

Really, it's probably more my unfamiliarity with the vast majority of the players. I just don't watch enough football from the non-EPL leagues to have much name recognition with most rosters, especially Ligue 1 and Bundesliga, where it seems a whole lot of African guys play. So basically, if I watched more AFCON, I'd probably then watch more AFCON. But it's the getting started with it that's the obstacle.

>BeIn's weird channel
>assignment isn't helpful either; I watched a couple games that
>only had arabic commentary, even though the teams playing
>weren't even from arabic-speaking countries.

Lol.

Footy Twitter keeps me abreast of things very well though. AFCON Twitter might be peak footy Twitter

<--- Big Baller World Order

>Footy Twitter keeps me abreast of things very well though.
>AFCON Twitter might be peak footy Twitter

lol, there's definitely some hyperspeed hipsterism going on there. "Oh, you ain't know about Comoros' backline? Pfff"

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

lot of talent on that team

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

countering....they were fucking terrible. That is why they are heading back to Abidjan.

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One Hundred.

watching it overseas and it is LIT

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One Hundred.

what a failure of >100 million euros given the injuries and now either getting benched till he's off on a free or sold for cheap just to clear his salary early.

uggh.

hope wherever he lands his hamstrings work better there.
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you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

Dembele is a tease and I don't think it's going to happen for him while staying at Barca (especially with it getting publicly ugly)

both sides need to move on

--------

Brilliant move that came out of the blue. Emi Martinez has been fantastic since joining 18 months ago, he's getting his shot with the Argentinian national side and all of Villa's future growth is going to be with him at the heart. Love to see it.

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

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

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

The guy knows how to settle a squad and find the performers.

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

he works really hard and plays an unselfish team game

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

and their "want-to" radiates thru the screen

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

we're there for the taking every match and for the first time in a while DDG barely had to break a sweat. I'd be disappointed in what I saw today if I were a Hammer

<--- Big Baller World Order

felt like they were playing hard tho

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

What a game from Salisu in the back, he won’t be there for long

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

and FOCK anyone who supports them.

Oh shit, Villa is in 10th place. I guess that Oil money is trying to work.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

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

i tuned in around 55 mins in and Arsenal couldve had 4 or 5 from 55-75.

<--- Big Baller World Order

*sighs*

I’m not a fan of this formation....we better get goals today.

He is experimenting at this point.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

turned Lloris into a statue

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

https://mixture.gg/v/61ef0f3da3188

they had a (5'8"!) defender lined up as Goalie because CAF gonna CAF, 1 man down for most the match and they're still just a goal away with a couple mins to go

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

thats a good fucking player to sign for free

that midfield is getting crowded tho

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

busquets needs rotation bad and the solution to the underwhelming fullbacks on the roster might be a 3-4-3. though i prefer signing Grimaldo and finding some sort of RB solution (don't know what happened to Dest but i'm accepting that it doesn't look great at barca for him).

so then you have kessie busi fdj nico gavi pedri (and roberto?) and with rotation and injury, that's perfectly manageable for a 3-4-3 as the base tactic.

plus, barca might be thinking about cashing in on FDJ just because Nico and Gavi and Pedri are all years ahead of the plan and to help pursue Haaland.

Should round off our midfield quite nicely, and allow us to run two of McGinn, Ramsey, Luiz and Sanson as the 8s. I'll take that midfield against any in the prem, frankly.

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

cmon lol

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

As in it can go toe-to-toe with anyone. McGinn is excellent at harrying, pressing and scoring from range. Ramsey is becoming an exceptional ball-carrier and passer (seriously watch him next chance you get). Luiz does a great job picking off passing lanes. Sanson is a lively and willing runner with a decent eye for a pass. On paper are they as good as Rodri/KdB/Gundogan? No. Can they make life incredibly difficult for them on the pitch? Absolutely.

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

His delusion is rod sterling level. I love his motivation, though.

We all know how it is going to end every year.......

Middle Table Champions.....even with the oil money flowing
in.

Good dude, wack ass team, though.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

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

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

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

wish you had a few more moves, but it'll be fun to see you in barca colors.

definitely think dembele's gone. what a shame. especially with ansu's injury
-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

well okay then . . .

Apparently it's on a free for 3 and a half years. Gives us excellent depth at center half now with Mings, Konsa, Chambers and Hause. And gives us ample time to develop youth prospects like Bogarde, Swinkels and Kerr Smith.

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

Gambia was pretty organized and their goalie was amazing, and Cameroon created a ton of chance. They are fast, physical and they are super creative in their attack and once they found a weak spot they went right back to it and scored twice. Gambia is to be commended because it could have been 4-0 and they held them to two goals. The squad clearly takes being the Afcon hosts seriously.

------------------
One Hundred.

Y'all can just look it up yourselves.

"must be one of those tailored trends. whatever. going to bed"

sucks to see the rumors/smoke on his name over the year and change actually have some validity to it.

<--- Big Baller World Order

have observed the photos that are circulating and are investigating the allegations.
Once all the facts have been attained, they will move forward with whatever actions
are necessary.

That is what was reported in The Telegraph.


On the other hand, those photos are horrific, and
he is facing some strong assault and abuse accusations.
Those bruises and lacerations don’t appear to be self-inflicted, so
someone attacked her.

However, I’m going to reserve my judgement until the investigation
has been completed.

ALL HAIL THE KING of LOSING: LEBRON
Bulls | Bears | White Sox | Yankees | Notre Dame | Illinois | Chelsea | Real Madrid

>Y'all can just look it up yourselves.

Interesting stuff.

He's off the wage bill, so that's good I guess.

Thing is, not sure how they go big on a striker in the Summer when they miss out on Europe again because they won't be able to score enough to get either 4th or 5th.

Kinda funny that by the end of the day I guess Arsenal were like, screw it, just take him.

We signed 3 strikers this window. And couldn't get rid of Dembele. If Laporta is to be believed, he had two good offers, at least one of them from the EPL, but he turned them down.

So now we've got
Ferran Torres
Auba
Adama Traore
Memphis
Luuk de Jong
Braithwaite
Dembele
and Ansu Fati (who's injured again)

at the forward positions.
This has to mean the kids: Ez Abde, Jutgla, and Akhomach will be going back down to the B team. Fine with that. They were a stop gap. But with Auba and Adama joining, are we transitioning to a counter-attacking side? Is Xavi this low on Memphis who carried us through the first month or two of the season? Who will be our go-to starting XI?
These questions and more to be explored in the February footy thread!

--

"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."