WC draw starting in 5mins

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

tho I guess he got some good practice with those booking.com ads

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

...I've just got the Guardian's blog up. Seems less icky.

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

gonna go ahead and assume a draw against england will be crucial.

>gonna go ahead and assume a draw against england will be
>crucial.

Because I'd assume that England will shred the US. Also assume that the US can handle Iran and probably get the job done against whichever playoff winner. And if not, then they don't deserve to move on....

IF fully healthy they are intriguing on paper.

I just don't trust their MLS lifer manager.

...are more realistic goals than a draw v. England. But who knows?

<--- Big Baller World Order

i think Euro proved that they arent even going to try to do that

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

maybe spain/germany/japan? portugal/ghana/uruguay also could be, but all of those teams are not as good as prior gens.

FIFA and UEFA have clearly shown they want more and more teams involved in these competitions, and with the way these instances are set up, it makes sense that more countries would support an agenda that gets them in the draw. This can only dilute the group stages, and in fact a friend of mine is pointing out that even the Round of 16 won't feel like a massive game in most cases, with the real deal starting in the Quarters. I support a so-called big team (and better football in general) so of course I'd be annoyed about it, but this is the way things are going and there's not too much that can be done about it

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

Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Netherlands, Senegal

Group B: England, Iran, USA, Scotland/Wales/Ukraine

Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland

Group D: France, UAE/Australia/Peru, Denmark, Tunisia

Group E: Spain, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Germany, Japan

Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia

Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon

Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea

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One Hundred.

Making Wolves look like City.

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One Hundred.

https://twitter.com/thehollowhorn/status/1510289921801703430

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One Hundred.

the European charge is over. Looks like another summer of regenerating starting with locking down Coutinho and spending way too much on a holding midfielder(unless Nakamba continues to look like prime Vieira under Gerrard when he gets back-- and yes, I know that's the fourth summer running. That's what happens when you take over from a clown car and have jumped up 28-30 league positions in three years)

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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

It kills club chemistry. Players who report for national team duty come back
fatigued, and players who are inactive come back a little rusty.

Chelsea were all over the place against a bottom dweller.

Thank the mighty skylord that the season is almost over with.

Let’s wrap up the season by winning the CL.

Villa doing its yearly middle table clinch! Sup, Magilla

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

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

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

<--- Big Baller World Order

And with a game in hand. I don't think anyone saw this coming when Xavi took over. We were in 9th at that point. Currently 14 games unbeaten, the longest streak in Europe right now. If Madrid hits a bad spell, we could even catch them. Not betting on that happening, but a few months ago, it was outside the realm of possibility. Now, it's unlikely, but not unthinkable.

And Pedri's goal yesterday was a thing of beauty.
Pedri Potter indeed.

--

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

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

And then show me where I said Barça would win La Liga.
Ain't you say we were gonna finish 4th?

--

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

And I’m glad we are on the same page.

Also, I said 4th or 3rd.

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

--

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

Chelsea has success almost every year due to a plethora of
talented players. The success of Barca for the past two decades was
due to a system built around Messi. Now that he is gone we will
see If Barca deserves to be in the same universe as Real Madrid.


Pedro/ Fabregas came to Chelsea and went to a whole other level.

You got some talented prospects paired with MU and Arsenal rejects.
Im not sure that spells glory.

I mean no harm, just stating facts.

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

Success almost every year huh? Let's see... they last won the EPL in 2017. They won it in 2015. And before that... 2010. That's "almost every year" in your estimation? Not winning for 5 year is "almost every year?"

Due to a system built around Messi. Hmm... no mention of having arguably the best midfield ever? No mention of the coaching? No mention of talents like Suarez, Neymar, Villa, Henry or even Pedro?

Same Pedro went to a "whole other level" with Chelsea despite scoring, in his best season with them, a whole 10 goals less than his best season with Barça? Fascinating.

MU and Arsenal rejects. Hm. You're describing a whopping two players. One of whom, Arsenal would have gladly kept, if he had actually wanted to be there. He forced his way out. We all know that. And referencing Man U when talking about Memphis is going back as long as it's been since Chelsea's last EPL title. And it's ignoring his entire spell at Lyon, where he outscored Pedro's best season with Chelsea. Not only that, over that period, there isn't a single Chelsea player that had a better single season goal haul. Not even your beloved Hazard.
But if that's really the route you wanna go... you've got a squad of Man U and PSG rejects yourself. If that's the route you wanna go.

Just stating facts.

So again. What place is Chelsea in?

--

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

Chelsea wins a trophy almost every year, and the world didn’t really know
who Pedro was until he came to Chelsea. He was living under Messi’s shadow
in Barcelona.

We are champions of the world right now. No one is thinking about
Barcelona.


I wish you well though.

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

from Alves to Pique to Suarez to Neymar, etc. There is no denying that.

However, it was all built around Messi, and he outshined his teammates.

The last time Barcelona won the CL was in 2015. Since then, Real Madrid
has won 4, and Chelsea won last season and might win another one this
season.

Smarten up, fam.

Anyway, did you cry when this happened? I was on hiatus from the board in 2012.
What were your feelings like on that day?


https://youtu.be/RjML0SxBshI

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

"the world didn't know Pedro"
No. You didn't know Pedro.
He scored a goal in the fucking Champions League final against Man U with Barceona.
The world knew him.
You didn't.

--

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

The guardian did a article on how Pedro was under appreciated in Barcelona ,
even though he was doing great things.

He came to Chelsea and was treated like a God. Dude became a legend
in less than 3 seasons.

He was not appreciated or recognized the way he should have been when he
was in La Liga.....


“And yet those expectations remain surprisingly low. While Catalonia might be talking seriously about Pedro, it can feel as though few others are. Beyond Barcelona there is still an assumption that he is one of few players in the Barça team who is not really that good.

Pedro denies it publicly, but others insist that during the clásico Cristiano Ronaldo looked at him and said: "And who are you?" Even if the story is apocryphal – and it may be – it says something. Others would ask the same thing. When Fernando Torres left Liverpool for Chelsea, many wondered why he did not hang on for a bid from Barcelona. The answer was simple: there would not be one, because of Pedro.“


https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/feb/12/pedro-barcelona-pep-guardiola

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

--

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

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

Dembele finally healthy for a stretch and on fire

the kids with moments of brilliance (that Pedri goal)

Xavi caught that magic again

--------

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I can’t wait til he eventually takes over arsenal . It’s destiny imo

As for today, Tavares clearly wasn’t ready, nor was gabriel ready to help him either

Goddamn shame Gallagher is Chelsea property

that Abramovich shouldn’t have been sanctioned, and Abramovich is part
of the peace talks team that has been trying to broker an agreement
between Russia and Ukraine to stop the war.

Chelsea fans are in the streets protesting against the Ricketts family because they
don’t want the family to have ownership of the club. I’m in agreement with the protest.

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

Want that blood money flowing again.

those back-to-back counters from Real, mamma mia

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

Benzema's link up play on the first goal was nuts!
And the placement of his header on the second!

And lol at Mendy on the third. Yikes bro.

--

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

https://twitter.com/lmechegaray/status/1511803573612519424

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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

...of the disintegration and eventual collapse/relegation of Chelsea FC, but I maintain that the rot predates that event, all the way back to the dismissal of national hero Lampard.

This is Chelsea, not Arsenal or MU. As long as Marina and Cech are there,
we are good. Marina for the business dealings, and Cech for the football scouting.

Even if there is a complete overhaul, Chelsea will not fall to the relegation zone.

Chelsea fans are way too demanding. They will no sit around like
Arsenal and MU fans and watch their teams go to shite.

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

>...of the disintegration and eventual collapse/relegation of
>Chelsea FC, but I maintain that the rot predates that event,
>all the way back to the dismissal of national hero Lampard.

Between the CL win, & lampard floundering trying to keep Everton up, it’s clear he’s not built for it

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

This is of no relevance to your aim, but unless Marina goes, nothing changes with Chelsea, even with a new owner.

They'll be fine. Prolly thrive to be honest, given the platform abramovich built.

Meanwhile Marina is obviously the best football exec in the game, other than *maybe* begiristain. I don't give AF what Cech does. The scouts all answer to her.

*This* is why I want her deported, preferably to Canada for her own safety.

If she leaves, it'll be like Tywin Lannister dying

Marina the best at a high spending club, but what Monchi has done to make Sevilla compete with the bigger clubs on his budget? shit. it's fucking impressive.

>Marina the best at a high spending club, but what Monchi has
>done to make Sevilla compete with the bigger clubs on his
>budget? shit. it's fucking impressive.

I'm still annoyed he passed on that, tho he prolly figured anything post wenger was going to be a mess too big to fix quickly, and more importantly he wouldn't get the time to do it right.


I don't deny he's excellent. I'd *easily* take him over everyone arsenal has had since david dein, to state the obvious.

>>Marina the best at a high spending club, but what Monchi
>has
>>done to make Sevilla compete with the bigger clubs on his
>>budget? shit. it's fucking impressive.
>
>I'm still annoyed he passed on that, tho he prolly figured
>anything post wenger was going to be a mess too big to fix
>quickly, and more importantly he wouldn't get the time to do
>it right.

exactly what was happening at Roma, i think, in his mind. he built a team of youth and veterans and wanted to have 3-4 years to see the youth grow up and he didn't have the time. people are so focused on his youth signings and development, they don't see his history of also buying a bunch of solid veterans as a stable core. he's also definitely better with a limited budget, his bigger money signings at roma weren't that good.


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

He opted to rebuild what had been a pretty damn successful core, and not only got that wrong but huge $$$ on the likes of Schick, N'Zonzi, Pastore, Kluivert, etc... just woeful. And as usual all this happening within the complete insanity that is Rome didn't help.

Glad he got to get back to Sevilla, which is clearly the right environment for him.

She tried, and failed at that. That’s why Michael Emanelo left. She was interfering
with his job. and we went through sort of a 2 year funk under Sarri....

Cech knows talent and is responsible for the success of this team...
Mendy was his find.

Marina knows BUSINESS and FINANCE....She doesn’t know shit
about football talent. Players come to Chelsea because of Tuchel and
Cech.

Marina was a genius at getting Chelsea in compliance with FFP and
brokering great transfer deals to make Chelsea self sufficient.....That’s
her stuff.

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

>They'll be fine. Prolly thrive to be honest, given the
>platform abramovich built.

Maybe, except that platform ran at a massive annual loss most years...

Magilla and I go back and forth talking crap, same with Hitoriki,etc
It’s all banter. That goes for Promo, Brooklyn and all them other wack ass
MU supporters. We’ve been crap talking as far back as 2009..

However, they actually have teams that they follow. I follow a team.

Seriously, what team do you follow?

You’ can’t talk shit about someone’s club and not have one that you follow.

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

Chelsea annual spending far exceeds its revenue, and to maintain its top-4 status Abramovich "loaned" it hundreds of millions of pounds annually. If a new owner was unwilling to do that, perhaps insisting that the club broke even, became self-sustaining, the club would have much less money at its disposal. This is well-known, so I don't know what you're upset about.

>Seriously, what team do you follow?

Solihull Moors. They really needed the win Tuesday v. Halifax, but I still think they can just about squeeze into a playoff slot, if Halifax keep dropping points. Wrexham is catch-able too, though they've been on a tear and have a game in hand. Barnet coming up on Saturday, and while that should be a win, you can't take them lightly.

Chelsea has been FFP compliant since 2014, and the money that
Abramovich loaned Chelsea was prior. Chelsea is sitting on a surplus
of revenue, due to funds that were generated from the sale of players
such as Morata, Hazard, and Luiz ( got 50 million from PSG....then brought
him back for 30 million a few years later...a 20 million dollar profit)

Hell, Chelsea made 200 million in 3 seasons just by selling
small time players. Chelsea got over 50 million for Zappacosta and
Drinkwater. Suckered MU to give us 40 million for Matic. Sold
Tammy to Roma for close to 40 million. Sold Tomori to Milan
for 26 million.

https://www.footballtransfers.com/en/transfer-news/uk-premier-league/2021/08/chelsea-set-make-120m-player-sales-this-summer

We are possibly the biggest selling club in all
of soccer.

Plus you throw in the enormous soccer kit deal with Nike, and the sponsorship
deal with 3 is a pretty huge deal as well. Chelsea’s revenue generation far exceeds
their spending.

All the new owner has to do is come in and make appearances, the foundation is
healthy and set.


Also, the teams you mentioned, you can keep them shits. I should have never
asked. I’ll take the L for that.

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

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

Head to head with Wrexham, to draw level on points. Wrexham still have the game in hand, but obviously this is a must-win. Halifax have Altrincham, so no help there.

Chesterfield still a factor, but their form's been spotty. They'd have to run the table, really.

Solihull's BIG Villa territory

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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

Per what I read on the Wikipedia page. Be a good place to visit someday. Plus, it produced Napalm Death, which is all the trivia I need to invent a temporary fandom.

And I actually did take the Moors all the way to the Premier League in FM a few years ago. Took like 9 seasons, and then we didn't have the infrastructure to stay there, really, so I abandoned that game.

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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

2 goals on the road.

I had two issues with Tuchel’s lineup. He left out Alonzo and went with
an old AZP at left wingback, and Pulisic is better coming off the bench.

Alonso provides great attacking ability, even though he sucks defensively.
AZP is more defensive and is too old at this point.

I’m not mad at Mendy. Dude has been a beast for both club and
country, and is probably still tired from being on national duty.

We will make the adjustments.

An argument can be made that Benzo is the best striker in the world....Barcelona can
attest to that ( lol).

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

<--- Big Baller World Order

there have been other players who have maintained a high level of performance well into their mid-30s, but this dude is actually IMPROVING his game

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

Leading RM through the CL as the prospective Balon D'Or favorite?

Quite a vibe.

so it's now only this season and the WC will be in the 2023 one.

figure its going to be whomever of lewa/benz gets farthest in the euro and wtf happened to bayern yesterday?
-----------
you think we playing chess, but i'm playing mad-making. Basaglia

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

He is a blue through and through, came up through the academy.
We’re bringing him back home.

It’s time to move on from Kante.

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

Cause dude is putting on a goalkeeping clinic right now.

But Ings also looked like prime Heskey out there with some of his miskicks. We don’t take our chances, Spurs do and that’s the difference.

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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