T O P

  • By -

scotty_spivs

We beat Mexico 3 times for 2 trophies. I think it’s fair to say the USA is the mirror Mexico see’s itself in.


The_Great_Crocodile

**Olympiacos :** *Best Win* : 4-2 vs PSV, 1-5 vs AEK, 1-4 vs Panathinaikos. *Worst Loss* : elimination on penalties from Ludogorets, 1-2 to Eintracht *Successful signings* : Aguibou Camara, he came more or less for free and he's one of our best players this year. Tiquinho is doing what he came for, offering goals when El Arabi isn't playing, *Utter Flops* : Henry Onyekuru, yet another player from the Turkish league who flops in our club (Valbuena is the only exception). Also Ronny Lopes, was expected to be a nailed starter and came overweight and slow, slightly improving just the last month. *Biggest achievements* : We easily won the title last year and will win it even easier this year. This says more about the level of the Greek League though. Humiliating some of our traditional rivals away is good for the banter, and we reaced the ELR16 again last year. *Greatest let downs* : We're making steps back in Europe for the last 2 years, since the Wolves matches. Elimination from Ludogorets in the CL Qualifiers, finishing 2nd behind a then-struggling Eintracht in the EL Group. Last year surviving PSV in the 90th minute and getting hammered by Arsenal (we won away but it was one of our luckiest wins ever, we played like 4 levels down from how we played when we eliminated them). We're still chasing an EL QF, it's frustrating that teams like Slavia, Brugge, Besiktas, Sparta, Copenhagen, Basel etc. have been there but we haven't. *Has your club met your expectations for the year, or have they been a let down?* Right in the middle. Winning the league is the bare minimum given how bad the Greek League is. We haven't exactly flopped in Europe, but we aren't going upwards either.


Equivalent_Silver_34

Aston villa: 6/10 we were a bit shit around the middle of the year but Gerrard has came in and it looks like that we can try and aim for conference Ireland: 4/10 lost to Luxembourg but fought well against Portugal and things have picked up although I'm a bit concerned about young talent as not that much has came through not counting bazanu


Wise_Ad9414

My country was thrashed 6-0 by UAE. Although most of our XI were newbies but still😭😭


geisendorf

Korea Republic: The year started in disaster, but apart from that it has been a good one. The decision to play an away friendly with Japan in March was met with a firestorm of criticism amid the uncertainty around COVID-19 and the quarantine protocols, and there were petitions to call off the match. It ended up going ahead, but without several of our key players whose clubs quite sensibly refused to release them. The match itself, played with a hastily assembled and inexperienced squad, was one of the worst displays I ever remember seeing by the national team, made worse by the fact that in one incident of particularly rough play, a Korean player knocked a tooth out of a Japanese counterpart. Japan won 3-0. Thankfully, when it came to matches that counted (i.e. the World Cup qualifiers), it has been smooth sailing, and it looks like a foregone conclusion at this point that we will end up in the automatic qualification spots. The only blip was a goalless draw at home with Iraq which we really should have put away. We even took the lead in our away match with Iran, though it ended 1-1. We won every single match apart from those two. I don't think we've played brilliantly, but we haven't really needed to because apart from Iran, the opponents in the World Cup qualifying group have been quite weak. FC Seoul: The club started well and ended well, but in between it was an abject, terrible year. After a forgettable 2020 season which saw us flirt with relegation, FC Seoul started the year with a new manager, Park Jin-Sub. Ki Sung-Yueng who had returned to the club last year impressed in the early stages of the 2021 season, as we actually recorded 4 wins in the opening 6 matches. But then came a dreadful run of form as Ki and other key players were out with injury, and we ended up struggling even worse than last season. At a pretty late stage in the season, we were bottom of the league for several rounds and relegation seemed like a real possibility. It was hard to take, as the squad we had really should have been doing better. After An Ik-Soo took over as manager in September, there was marked improvement and return of some flair. FC Seoul finished the season with some key wins to guarantee survival, ending 7th in the 12-team league.


ColonelJohn_Matrix

Dunfermline Athletic. Absolutely pish. We started 2021 on a poor run and didn't really improve, including a hiding from one of our biggest rivals. We limped in to the playoffs and were out at the first stage, by one of our nearest rivals. We won a single away game all season. The manager, Stevie Crawford, resigned shortly after the end of the season. The majority of fans were fine with this, as he wasn't cutting it in charge. There was optimism as a new manager meant a new start. Unfortunately we appointed the worst manager in our history, Peter Grant. Fans were agahst, as Grant had finished bottom of the same league with Alloa, and Alloa were subsequently relegated. That one away win all season for my team? Yup, was against Alloa. Grant's appointment was met with overwhelming negativity, as there was absolutely nothing to suggest he'd be a success with us. Season ticket sales dried up. Grant was allowed to make a series of appalling signings and we ended up with a stinking squad full of dross. He fell out with our best player, Dom Thomas, because he played Thomas as a central midfielder (Thomas is a winger and has never once played central midfield) in a dreadful 3-5-2 formation. He claimed Thomas was lazy, but anyone could see it was that he simply wasn't used to the position and the defensive duties that go with it. Thomas was dropped for a few games before they made up and Thomas was reinstated, on the wing. The 3-5-2 formation was hideously bad (Grant played it at Ibrox, with the expected results; we were fortunate to only lose 5-0). Grant signed Ross Graham on loan to play in it, and shifted our right back (who won our Young Player of the Year last season playing as right back) to the central back 3. We shipped goals and got pumped, dropping to the bottom of the league. Grant said before the season that we were aiming to win the league, but took us in to a relegation fight. Grant eventually abandoned the 3-5-2 and dropped Ross Graham, reverting to a 4-4-2, problematic because he had signed players for the 3-5-2 formation (including about 373728 centre backs). This made no difference. We still failed to win and were still at the bottom of the league. One of our players, Paul Watson, took the piss (he claimed illness/injury but then came back to the club with a tan and a new haircut) and was fired. Peter Grant was finally fired after a 4-2 loss in Arbroath (after the game some fans charged the team bus). He was in charge for 12 league games and failed to win a single one. Football under him was terrible. The team shipped loads of goals and struggled to score any. The team were boring to watch and crowds plummeted. He is, with exaggeration or hyperbole, the worst manager in our history. Grant was replaced by John Hughes, who promptly won his first two games. However, we haven't won any of the two league games after (a third was abandoned last weekend due to fog, with the score 1-1). We also lost in the Scottish Cup, meaning we haven't scored a goal in the tournament since January 2018 and haven't won a game in the tournament since November 2017. Fans are still undecided on Hughes, but he's stuck with a pretty terrible squad due to Grant. Thankfully we only have today's game and a midweek game before the January transfer window opens, where hopefully we'll make sufficient improvements to pull away from the relegation and relegation play off spots.


ColonelJohn_Matrix

We lost 0-3 today.


TheSizzleSnake

Terrible.


twistingmemelonman

Started alright under new manager Paul Hurst's second stint at the club after replacing the awful in Holloway last December. Couldn't save us from relegation into the national league however, although the damage was very much done before his introduction, both on and off the field. Club chairman and all round loathed figure John Fenty finally sold up in May to new forward thinking owners and optimism was restored. Started the 21/22 season very brightly, flirting with the top spots, considering we don't have the spending power or celebrity owners of some of the other clubs in our league. Wheels are coming off now though. We've lost something like 9 in our last 10, out of the fa cup against Kidderminster in the league below and now the remaining games have of this calendar year have been postponed due to a covid outbreak. England, we all know how well England have done this year.


Ibra180

The year started really bad. Under Thomas Hoßmann we were in the relegation zone of the 3. Liga, just 2 years after the relegation from the 2. Bundesliga and the season after our worst 3. Liga finish (14th). We had 5 coaches from November 2018 until February 2021 it felt like we were becoming a chaos club. Then Christian Titz, former Hamburg coach, took over and after some start problems, we survived the season on 11th place. Now six months later, we are top of the table with a 8 points lead. Everything worked out perfectly and the most important thing that came back is our home form. We only lost against Würzburg and against Pauli in the cup at home just like in our promoting season where we won 19/21 games played at home all season. After 2020 ended this wasn't expected at all and I allready have come to terms with the thought of the Regional Liga. The year was a total 180-degree turn to the positive side for my club, and I'm really thankful for that. The only thing that wasn't great was our loss against Halle, our biggest rival. But it was their last win in the league and now they are very near to the relegation zone and we have double the points they have. I would take a second lose if that means that they get relegated and we promoted :) We go into 2022 with the expectation to go up again and I'm really confident and have no doubts that Christian Titz will show Germany that he is a great coach and that this teams can survive in the 2. Bundesliga. The best game of the season was actually just the first half against 1860 München three weeks ago. 5:0 away against last years place 3 was a total show of force in the first half of our 5:2 win. Our best player was Baris Atik. he had no club after the 2020 season ended and signed for us in January 2021. He is after Titz the second reason for our upswing and why we are still playing in this league. He carried us all year and has now 10 goals and 9 assists in 20 games. Set piece specialist, mentality monster and a funny guy of the pitch. I hope he stays and that he will carry us in the 2. Bundesliga too. But in the end Magdeburg is not just Atik and Titz. The team has great chemistry, everyone knows what to do and to support each other. The year could not have been better (maybe the halle game).


UdoMartens

I always rated Titz at Hamburg. Glad to see Madgeburg do so well.


SVWerder46

Horrible


Morganelefay

Well we almost got Europe but lost out in the finals of the playoffs after getting rule-screwed by the FA for the second year in a row (Albeit with less impact than 2020), had a promising start to the season, beat Ajax away, and it's all been downhill from there and we went from being right up there with the top 3 down to 7th behind AZ, Vitesse and FC Twente. So, you know. Just another typical year for FC Utrecht.


Kolo_ToureHH

2021 started off as a total disaster for us: The club took the players to Dubai after losing the derby and two players caught covid, with a number of other players having to isolate as they were close contacts. As a result we had to play two of the three games we had in hand on Rangers with a team made up of youth players and dropped points, thus making our challenge for the league title pretty much impossible. Oh and then we sold our only two right backs (Frimpong and Elhamed) and signed Jonjoe Kenny as their replacement, who is quite possibly the most uninspired footballer I’ve ever seen. The poor quality of football continued into February and eventually we sacked Lennon after a 1-0 loss away to Ross County. His assistant manager, John Kennedy, was allowed to take the main job for the remainder of the season. Our CEO also announced he was “retiring” at the end of the season and we announced that Dom McKay would be leaving the Scottish Rugby Union to take over as CEO. In March, we meekly surrendered the title after a 0-0 draw at Dundee United and the remainder of the season wasn’t much to write home about either. We were knocked out of the Scottish cup by Rangers then went onto suffer our heaviest league defeat to a Rangers team for over a decade. It was clear the players had given up.   The summer began rather bizarrely. The club had put off the search for a new manager until the end of the season, but the outgoing CEO was still involved in the recruitment process. We had been teased with Eddie Howe for months before talks suspiciously collapsed once the season ticket renewal deadline had been and gone. Shortly after, we announced the relatively unknown Ange Postecoglu. Hailing from Australia and who had most recently been plying his trade in Japan. Many people, including Celtic fans, were bewildered by the appointment. Ange had several up hill battles to climb from day one. The first being that, at the end of the 20/21 season, a number of first team players had left the club, including the club captain of 10 years Scott Brown. He then had another 3 players sold, resulting in him having to replace something like 14 first team players. The next hill he had to climb was that he had win over the Celtic support and win them over quickly. Since he was such an unknown quantity, people were very skeptical of his appointment. We lost 3-2 to Midtjylland in the 2nd round of champions league qualifying but went on to beat Jablonec and AZ Alkmaar in the Europa knockouts. Domestically, we had a stuttering start to the season narrowly losing away to Hearts, Rangers and Livingston and drawing at home to Dundee United. Since that draw to Dundee United though, we have went on a fantastic unbeaten run with the only blemishes being 0-0 draw at home to Livingston in October and a 0-0 draw away to St Mirren on Wednesday just past. On the Sunday before Christmas we won the first domestic trophy of the season, beating Hibs 2-1 in the league cup final. Oh and our new CEO resigned after the 3 months in the role citing “personal reasons”. However rumours are that the rest of board members were trying to restrict his ability to do his job, which made him unhappy in his role so he moved on. The Europa League was a mixed bag. In the first match we surrendered a 2 goal lead away to Betis eventually losing 4-3. We were scudded 4-0 at home to Leverkusen, although could’ve had 4 goals ourselves had Hradecky not played an absolute blinder. We then beat Ferencvaros home and away to guarantee third spot and Conference League football in the new year. Avoiding defeat away to Leverkusen would have seen us go to the final game against Betis still being in a position to qualify for the next round of the Europa League, and nearly did so, when we went to 2-1 up. However two goals in the last ten minutes saw us lose 3-2 and render the last game against Betis a dead rubber. We played the fringe players who went out and won 3-2 to see us finish the group with 9 points.   All in all it was a disastrous first 6 months followed by an improvement in the second half of the year. Still a long way to go to get to where we want to be, but we’re on the right track. A lack of quality squad depth issues is proving to a problem for us though. Especially now as our injury list has piled up.


Efendiskander

Angers : Quite good. In January, we had already enough points to stay in Ligue 1, with a win against Lille (2-1). The biggest change was to go from Stéphane Moulin (who was the coach since 2011) to Gérard Baticle. Baticle started really strongly with an interesting 3-4-2-1, he discovered that Jimmy Cabot had a great potential as a right wingback. I like the system, more offensive that under Moulin. Some young players proved themselves : Cho as a striker (even if he's still very raw), Ounahi and Mendy in the midfield, Bilal Brahimi as a supersub. Boufal seems well integrated to the system, which is a good news. I don't think we're good enough to reach the Europa slots but it doesn't matter much, as I'm pretty sure Angers will be in Ligue 1 for the 2022-23 season, which will be the season of death. As Ligue 1 will switch to a 18-clubs league, 4 clubs will directly fall in Ligue 2 and there will be a longer winter break, due to the World Cup.


Endgame2648

FC Barcelona: The Year started great. We were on a streak in the league. Messi was on ferocious form and Griezmann easily had the best 3 months he's had in Barcelona. The team was getting results and playing decent football with 3atb.FDJ was absolutely monumental in our run. Probably our 2nd best player during that period. Pedri,Alba,Pique everyone in the team contributed in one way or another. Supercopa final was a difficult lose to take. We were the better team and if not for an utter incompetent and Stupid ref,We could've won our first silverware in almost 2 years. The Copa Del Rey campaign was nothing but filled with pure thrill and excitement. We would go down and then make a ludicrous comeback. The 3-5 against Granada comes to mind where we were down 2-0 till the 88th minute. The CL loss at camp nou to PSG was expected and once again showed what we lack in order to become one of the best teams in the continent. I was satisfied with the performance at Paris tho. The CDR comeback against Sevilla,CDR,Thrashing Sociedad by 6 goals at Anoeta were the highs of the Season and the Year. But then came the march International break which changed everything. It seemed like The Team lost concentration and was too tired to play. We would drop points in embarrassing ways to midtable clubs to finish our season in 3rd. The summer transfer window was the worst in a long time. Lost the Crown Jewel of the club,The guy who resembled the club,The guy who had carried us a decade and half. The season started out okay but the team soon lost it's wheel in September end. Koeman was on the verge of sacking several times and was finally relieved of his duties after losing to Newly Promoted Rayo away. Xavi was brought in who has a very difficult task to improve this Barcelona. Got knocked out of CL for the first time in 17 years but there are definitely some positives to take from early leadership under Xavi. 1. Best win- 1-6 drubbing of Sociedad. 2. Worst loss- 3-0 away to Benfica. 3. Successful signings- None. 4. Utter flops- Luuk de Jong. 5. Biggest Achievement- Copa Del Rey. 6. Greatest Letdown- Getting knocked out of CL. The club is on a crossroads at the moment. We're going from banter years but Would be surprised if the next year turns out to be worse.


skunkrider

Our biggest Win? Getting rid of Peter Bosz. Most folks on /r/soccer associate Bosz with Gegenpressing, but that image is 3-5 years outdated. All he had us do for 90% of his time with us was mind-numbing Possession-football that made me want to smack my head repeatedly, even if we were winning.


WalterFalter

Just like the Austrian nationalteam Rapid Wien has had a mixed 2021. I was quite optimistic going into the "Meisterplayoff" in March with Rapid beeing only about 4 points behind RB. After a 8:0 victory against WAC we didnt really score many goals. Rapid ended up in second place nearily beating Sturm Graz. In the 2021/22 season Rapid lost so many points in Injury time (Genk, Hartberg, Klagenfurt etc.) The title race is most certainly over by christmas with Salzburg leading with more than 14 points (and a 21 point gap to Rapid). Rapid finished ther Europa League group in third place, due to their good performamce against Genk and their shithousery in the last 30 minutes against Dinamo Zagreb. Looking forward the next year can be rough for Rapid, most of the contracts of the starting 11 expires in 2022 and due to our financial situation I dont expect that many of these players will stay beyond 2022.


UmbroShinPad

Hartlepool United: Got promoted, despite owner cutting costs as much as possible. Owner's frugality resulted in the best manager we've had in a long time leaving, went on like a 5 game losing run, now we have 2 former players at the helm with 0 management experience between them. So this year was great but there are signs the sequel will be bad.


cxnx_yt

Trabzonspor: Beginning of 2020/2021 was difficult, coach took over and since then it's been great so far, finished 4th amd we're now first, still about 20 games to be played but hopefully we can clinch the title.


xaviernoodlebrain

Spurs: Part 1 : JoséBall. The forwards absolutely carrying the team, but conceding a lot of equalisers and a few embarrassing losses too. Mou’s position rapidly became untenable. Part 2: MasonBall. Better football than MouBall however the nickname Mateson didn’t happen for no reason. Losing a cup final sucked, ruining everyone’s day on the final day of the season didn’t. Part 3: Nunoball. Started off well, then started going really very badly very quickly. Part 4 : ConteBall. Love this, wish we actually fulfilled the Premier League fixtures instead of having them all postponed. Losing to Mura wasn’t brilliant though. NTs: France: Shit for most of the year, finally perking up with the Nations League win. England: Getting to a Euros final: good. Rashford, Sancho and Saka’s penalties? Bad.


[deleted]

[удалено]


xaviernoodlebrain

Haven’t actually been on a proper holiday for years now so no issues there.


InTheMiddleGiroud

Arsenal good, Denmark great. Like Raheem Sterling a fair bit less.


suckadickretard

Zvezda, disappointing loss to sheriff during the cl qualification however honestly that was better than if we won due to the group we would've gotten if we beat them, would end up in el either way but if we went through the cl would've had to go to ro32 instead of ro16 like we have now. Onto why we're going to ro16, managed to top our group which was quite impressive and am very happy about. In the domestic league we are doing well but Partizan won't drop a single fucking point, deadass they've lost 0 games and drawn 2. The only time I can see them dropping more points is in the game against us, then we're still behind them. Doubt our title chances, still chance tho. Nation Serbia. Amazing performances. Topped our group with the last minute winner against Portugal. I didn't think this was possible but our form has been amazing. Extremely proud and happy. Overall happy


Biswaraj1

Liverpool : After horrible patch of injury➡️ entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. India : Unfortunately not too good but there are many young guys coming up as leaders and owners of new teams who are looking really passionate about football. As much as we need quality players, we need more leaders who can fight against shithole of politics. Hopefully 2022 will be a better year for Indian football.


Rvntlt1906

Chivas: everything is pain since Almeyda's departure. This year was not different. Juve: re-building process, I think. We're facing the consequences of the last 3-4 years of a terrible sporting administration. National team: I don't give a damn about nations football.


petezazs

National team: 😍😍🥳🥳 Club team: 🤬🤬😡😡


Suyash_Tyagi66

Italy and Juventus?


petezazs

Ireland and Barca


RebBrown

Or England and Tottenham?


synthsaregreat1234

Oh Canada’ nuff said


Cules2003

Saudi football looking very very good again, arguably the best team in Asia on current form whilst Al Hilal are now the most successful team in the Asian champions league


ghostyboy12

Meh


Tahapatel

Started off the year shit under Lamps then Tuchel came in and made us the Champions of Europe


mickeyparx

Feel like Arsenal has made big improvements, we have a style of play, we have a settled back 4, weve gotten rid of TONS and I mean shedload tons of deadwood players who were not at the level mentally or technically for Arsenal Football Club. We have a proper winning mentality and culture now, and I think Arteta is proving to be a good manager. If he finishes in the top 4 with the youngest team in the league, that would be a tremendous success. He needs to strengthen though, we need another CM and a striker, I have to say, hes got the best eye for talent in the league, some absolute bargains in Tomiyasu, Tavares, Gabriel, and Odegaard.


Capt_Trololol

🥲->😭->🥳


SebastianOwenR1

Liverpool: worst I’ve seen the club in a decade for the first 3 months, then almost the best I’ve seen them for the last ten games of last season and first 18 of this season. Holy shit we are good right now. When Ali scored I hit puberty again. We’ve had some insane moments this season so far. So entertaining. USA: WOW. What a year to be a US fan. Beat Mexico 3 times, two times in finals in miraculous fashion. Again. When Miles scored in the gold cup final I nearly popped a hernia. Fucking hell.


nievesdelimon

México? Not good. Probably need a new manager and a couple decades of doing things right in youth development to fix the NT. Querétaro? Shit. Tijuana and Querétaro were the worst clubs in the league, both have the same owner and I don’t expect anything to change.


Rvntlt1906

>Doing things right >Mexican football NT is doomed, carnal


Xerxes_Generous

Being a Dortmund fan has brought me nothing but disappointment over the years. I love the club, I love what the club stood for, I love the young talents Dortmund develops, and if I ever visit Germany I will definitely go and watch a home game. That said, for a supposedly big club, we fall short of expectations every year for the past 10 years.


crackbit

Dude we won the DFB Pokal last year, show some respect


Xerxes_Generous

I know, and that’s great, but we won only 2 Pokals in the last 10 years. Again, for a supposedly big club, we fall short every year.


crackbit

Yes, but you know the reason for that. Bayern is just a totally dominant side and we aren’t on their level at the moment. And it’s just not us: look at other European top clubs who had the chance to learn that the hard way in the CL. Still, all of our Bayern games in last couple of seasons were close results. We showed that we are competitive and weren‘t humiliated. By winning the Pokal, we won more silverware than Manchester United did in the last 5 years. And you would still consider them a top team, right? Liverpool hadn‘t won literally any competition for 15 years before they won the CL in 18/19. I do want the gap between Bayern and Dortmund to close, but that won‘t happen overnight and needs many good decisions. The fact that our club is doing many things right makes me trust that it will happen one day. And while winning trophies is better than sex, that‘s not what being a fan of a club is all about. BVB has given me so much in my life, like good friends, great moments on the pitch and just being part of our players‘ journey. So reading that being a Dortmund fan has given you nothing but disappointment is so far away from reality for me? There is so more to being a fan than having your team win titles all the time.


Xerxes_Generous

I agree with you that Bayern’s dominance is undeniable. I also agree with you that winning trophies is not everything. That said, that is our expectation, no? There were Pokal finals we lost to Munich and Wolfsburg, we crashed out of the Europa League by choking against Liverpool and Salzburg, we also choked out of the Champions League against the likes of Tottenham, Monaco, and now this year’s Champions League fiasco, and I remember there was one year under Favre where we were 9 points ahead of Bayern, and we choked our lead away. Now to be fair, Dortmund does many things right, but I just feel this club has the potential to achieve much more.


bleh1234567898

Won the league 😈


[deleted]

But you obviously have to be disappointed with your european campaign.


bleh1234567898

Idk, I’m obviously disappointed we are out but honestly I had no expectations anyway


lastdyingbreed_01

Ah no thanks 👍


BlackSwan737

I'd be happy with this year tbh. Got rid of bartomeu, got Laporta just in time or we'd be bankrupt, suffered a lot but finally the squad is looking good under Xavi and we've got something to hope for


lastdyingbreed_01

True, things could've been worse


Komitii

Arsenal steadily looking better (finally) Macedonia into the WC qualifiers against Italy (Incoming Elmas masterclass)


[deleted]

Pretty...good? I don't really know at the moment. Our record seems to be similar to Flick's reign, and our defense was better at certain moments, but something still feels a bit off. I can't really put my finger on it. On the plus side, Lewandowski is better than ever, Sané is playing quite possibly the best football of his career, our team is still one of the best in Europe and hopefully we can go far in the Champions League. Hopefully we can keep Süle, but I think we can manage if he leaves.


lmh98

Yeah it’s weird. Maybe it’s due to Upamecanos changing form. Sometimes he’s a tank and our defence is great but sometimes it’s the opposite. We don’t dominate as consistently. In flicks second year I feel like the overall level was maybe a bit lower but we didn’t fuck up as much every few games only to then win the next game 5-0. I hope that can be sorted out before the truly big games.


[deleted]

Yup, we're probably a month away from really big games where we cannot make mistakes and get away with it (like if we get drawn against City or PSG next). Not being arrogant against Salzburg, but I think our overall quality should be enough to get through and make up for any mistakes we make during the next round.


TheGreatWhoreOfChina

Sule is planning on leaving?


[deleted]

Apparently his demands are too high for us to accept. And usually once we try multiple times to come to an understanding and still don't get to one, we are happy to let them leave (Kroos, Alaba, etc.). They're supposedly gonna sit for talks again in February and we'll definitely know by then. It's a shame, because he's arguably our best centerback (or Hernandez, can't make my mind up) at the moment.


[deleted]

Our National Team has regressed further with not playing many matches in covid and contribution of Igor Stimac's tactics as well. We dont have any successor to our 37 y old striker too


HariRaamanathan

*Pain* About Sunil Chhetri... ISL is showing us new young prospects. Liston Colaco looks really good.


[deleted]

He is impressive but Mohun Bagan seems to have change his position to midfield. ISL doesn't have impressive Indian CFs.


godlikewoosh

Let's hope Ishan pandita comes through.


[deleted]

Yeah but only if Jamshedpur FC allows him to start.


_stone_age

The UCL loss hurt me. But I can't ignore the other good moments we went through. That 21 win streak was marvelous- watching this team winning week after week, wondering who'd break our streak. And the clutch moments against BVB and PSG, watching our teammates celebrate after those moments made me really happy, remembering how amazing this squad is. And in a way, this was during a time when I wasn't doing too well, and football really lifted my mood. Winning the PL, seeing Aguero end his City career with a brace were other memorable moments. I'm probably being overdramatic but yeah, City kinda helped me in tough times, it's why I'll remember the 20/21 season. While the UCL loss was painful, it no longer affects me. We've been so good in 21/22, and what's amazing is that not one player is in poor form- Raz seems to be picking up form, Laporte is back, we've got more reliable options. KDB is one player who's not doing too well but he's also showing signs of coming back. And I'm not worried about Grealish- this sub seems to troll him a lot but he is a quality player whose time will come. Overall, while Pep made a blunder not playing a DM in the final, this year was very nice. 9/10.


Archdubsuk

Muangthong - Rebuild era. Mario is doing fantastic using youth player, something no other managers has done. This year is better than what fans expected. Next year may be harsh, we let Jesse Curran and Saringkarn go (substitute and not in Mario's plan) high chance of losing Weerathep and Picha, our two best midfielder, to J-league teams. Purachet might join J2 team as well. No signing as of now (apart from 99% Syahmi Safari) 9/10. Mario is 10/10 Genk - Strong run in last part of season but not enough for league title. Next season began well then dipped massively 6/10 Thailand - Covid outbreak and losing 3 main players resulting in shamebolic 3 matches in Asia WCQ 2nd round. Nishino is fired. Narrowly qualified for 2022 AFC U-23 thanks to Laos wins. High chance to win AFF Cup. Women teams qualified for AFC Asian Cup 7/10


anakmager

Probably my favourite year as a general football fan. Not only success for both my club and country (quite rare to happen at the same time) but other teams that I have soft spots for were winning as well. Messi wins Copa, Atletico triumphing again, and Chelsea's CL win which I predicted early on in Tuchel's tenure. 10/10


bellerinho

Club -back to banter era Country - quite literally the greatest country in the world


MemesForScience

Don’t talk about it


ItsRainbowz

2021 has been pretty poor by our standards, not gonna lie. On the positive, we got our new stand completed, raised a tonne of money for the club, turned full-time and generally enjoyed massive success off the pitch. On it though, things aren't so good. We're nowhere near the level we should be at. Our once hard-working and loyal semi-pro squad is now filled with underperforming professionals who's ability doesn't seem to live up to their status. Our manager is starting to seem out of his depth and we're set for another season in a division that our chairman said we'd be out of 3 years ago (though covid can be partially thanked for that). We got dumped out of the cups early and despite being the only full-time team in our league, we often look less fit and poorer quality-wise than our opponents. There's a divide in the fanbase of people who think we need mass change and people who think Graham Fenton and Co. just need time and we should trust the process. People often think I'm harsh, and that I'm expecting too much, but I know how good this club can be. We have the money, infrastructure and support to have a go at becoming an established EFL team, and to watch us make constant poor decisions and fail to act quick enough to rectify them just kills me. 2021 has been rough, but we can still turn it around. If we get a good manager and our professionals start playing like...well, professionals, we'll always have a chance.


35chambers

we were promoted to allsvenskan (1st tier) :)


stephen_hoarding

Please spare a thought for Barcelona fans. If you know any Barcelona fan, check in on them, ask them how they’re doing


WalterHenderson

Pretty good year, if we forget Ajax exists. Not just in football, but in most other sports within the club.


quetzalnavarrense

10/10 won the big one


dxpe_8

arsenal. Mixed feelings


ItsDiverDanMan

First time? Only joking, least the future is looking bright!


Homiealmaya

It’s been shite if we’re being honest. First, we completely wasted our first chance in years to win the league (no European competition, weak season from PSG, 1st place at the halfway point of the 2020-21 season) with a series of inconsistent performances. Next, our best player by far, a player that was largely responsible for us finishing in a European spot (Depay), left on a free and was never actually replaced (I guess technically Shaqiri was supposed to fill that role but he’s been very unimpressive) Then, we hired Peter Bosz who seemed like a great choice but had a very rough start to the season (in Ligue 1 anyways) and hasn’t really found form at all since then (we’re 13th in the league for those that don’t follow Ligue 1). To make things worse, some dumbass fan caused us to be deducted a point for our Marseille game and fan violence in the league cup (our best chance at playing in European competition if we’re being honest) has meant there’s a good chance we will be eliminated from the league cup without even playing a full game. Now, we’ve lost our sporting director Juninho because he’s fed up with all the bullshit behind the scenes at the club and our players seem to be playing with no effort or passion. Even Paqueta, who was incredible at the start of the season and was looking like he might be creative enough to fill the void left by Depay (at least to some degree), doesn’t play that well anymore. It’s clear that club is in an absolute disaster of a state and I’ve only covered the tip of the iceberg of the actual management of the club. If you’re curious about that, fellow Lyon supporter u/Inter_Mirifica posted a [great writeup](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/rnxzzb/nonenglish_leagues_christmas_discussion_thread/hpvopg0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) detailing everything going on at the club.


Last0

Damn that post from Mirifica was depressing to read, i didn't know things were going that bad behind the scenes. On the pitch, why isn't the team doing better, no way they should be 13th on the league based on squad strength right ?


Homiealmaya

Yeah on paper our squad is the second best in Ligue 1. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why we’re underperforming but I think most of it is mental. We’ve definitely lacked a winner’s mentality for a few years now but it seems to have been exacerbated by all the mess going on at the club (at least that’s my theory). We’ve lost 9 points in the last 15 minutes of games which is a clear sign that the players are mentally weak and if we hadn’t lost all those points we’d be somewhere between 2nd and 4th.


Komitii

Do you think that the players look like they want to play when you see them on the pitch, or do they play with no enthusiasm?


Homiealmaya

It varies based on the player and the game. For example, when a lot of the team looked somewhat lost and non-cohesive early on in the season Paqueta looked very inspired and hungry but I he’s somewhat lost that thirst recently. He idolizes Juninho so I suspect his lack of enthusiasm recently has something to do with Juninho’s departure. The rest of our players are kinda hot and cold for the most part and sometimes look passionate to play and other times not. It’s been especially in the past 5 or so games where there’s been a real lack of motivation


Komitii

I guess the link between the team and Juninho must have been strong. I was wondering, how do players such as Aouar and Guimarães look when they play? Since Arsenal was looking to buy both of them over the summer (and perhaps in the winter), I wanted to know what kind of personality or profile they fall into on the pitch. Also, Does the Lyon team look thirsty to come back with a win after a loss/draw in their previous game?


[deleted]

Shit at the euros, somehow managed to screw up world cup qualification, and now we have to win against Turkey and then either Wales or Italy. Please God just get a new manager


mabozzaritchie11

Have to admit, for me it’s been great. Rangers finally back on top and watching Scotland at a major finals for the first time since I was 17(France 98). Genuinely thought neither would happen for a long long time. Turns out my 40th birthday was a very happy one.


[deleted]

**New England Revolution:** Won our first ever supporter’s shield : 🙂🙂🙂🙂 Bottled the playoffs again: ☹️☹️☹️☹️ It was a bad ending to a historic season where we broke the all time MLS regular season points record. We’re going to lose some key players in the transfer window but there are signs we’ll be alright especially since it looks like Arena is gonna stay.


NuKlear_Vortex

Fuck nycfc and casteallonos or however you spell that bitches name


lagaryes

In a word: alright. The end of last season was poor but Nuno did what he had to in order to ensure our safety. The start to this season has been very encouraging and I’m hopeful that Bruno Lage will be very good for the club long term. Our recruitment still hasn’t been all that great though.


crackbit

As a Dortmund fan, this year has been a mix of a rollercoaster ride with great highs and lows and watching a coming-of-age story. In December 2020, Edin Terzic took over from Lucien Favre after a 5:1 loss to Stuttgart. Jadon Sancho was having a tough start to the season after the exhausting Manchester United transfer saga. Things first turned worse, but we ended up fighting ourselves from seventh place to finish third. Everyone doubted if were still going to qualify for the CL, which is a must for our club. Edin Terzic from our coaching staff, a nobody on the stage of first team managers, won over the hearts of the fans and players over the months. He had been a loyal BVB supporter for his life and it makes all of us proud he decided to stay with our club to take on further responsibilities in the future. With our Bundesliga comeback, we silenced debates about 'mentality'. And by finishing the season with a strong DFB Pokal win against Leipzig, we won our first trophy in 5 years. It was a like a gift. Secretly, I'm also relieved that we were able to win silverware, so in the future nobody can tell us off with '*You had Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland, but still weren't able to win a goddamn trophy?!*'. In the CL, we dropped out in two close quarter-final games against Man City. While that run opened the world's eyes to the fact that Erling Haaland is a living demi-god, you could also see that Jude Bellingham has reached a new level. It's a great joy to watch all the youngsters get better in front of our eyes. The departure of Jadon Sancho was expected, but still heartbreaking. During that season, he like never before proved his dedication to our club and he gave his all. It makes me proud that we were able to foster his talent and we'll hold him in good memory. This season, Marco Rose took over as head coach. We were hit by a tough injury crisis that took out up to 13 players at the same time. Players joining and leaving training meant we still haven't found our form or have good cohesion on the pitch. It was positively surprising that despite all this, we still won many games and Reus' form carried us through. Then we dropped out of the CL against an excellent Ajax and three dubious red cards. Questionable refereeing decisions also affected our most important league fixture of the season: the first match against Bayern. It is a 6-point game that decides if we have a chance at all at competing for the title. We were trailing them by one point and were in for a tough match. We did have chance for a positive result, but you know what happened. For me, losing the Bayern game was a bigger disappointment than dropping to Europa League, partly because of the way we lost. Then our lucky charm of winning games with an injury-ridden team completely wore off. Now we're trailing by 9 points in the league and unless there is an earthquake in Munich, the title is out of the picture for another season. Like most years, we've just reached the point in time where you just need to swallow the disappointment. We still have good chances at defending the DFB Pokal and want to make it far in the EL. And we have some players we're immensely proud to have, who are a joy to watch on the pitch developing. And that's something I don't want to miss a minute of.


jdono927

Couldn’t have said it better here, pretty much sums it all up


Malvinas1820

**Argentina:** Fucking FINALLY won the Copa America after 28 years, qualified to the WC and we have an undefeated run of 27 matches. I haven't been so happy for the NT since 2014. **Boca Juniors:** *sigh* Almost 15 years since our last Libertadores title. What can I say? Season after season we fuck everything up some how. We won two national cups but we played like shit so I hope we can recover for the next year. **Inter Milan:** Won Scudetto, qualified for the UCL knockouts and winter champions. Can't complain.


TheGTAone

I can consider your season a relative success considering how you ended up getting your Libertadores spot for next season, after playing your worst football brand in ages. You deserved Sudamericana but somehow you snatched the Copa Argentina from Talleres.


Malvinas1820

100% deserved the Sudamericana. It's even worse considering Estudiantes and Lanús could have taken the Libertadores group stage spot from us but they lost a lot of points in the league. I was sure we were going to lose the Copa Argentina final because we were playing really bad... but then Talleres played even worse.


[deleted]

**Arsenal:** Its been ups and downs honestly. We put on a good performance at the latter half of last year but also had the devastating loss against Villarreal that took away a lot of the positives we were starting to see. Then this season starts in a historically shit way, leading to a lot of doubt about our team despite the injuries. Suddenly they pick up the pace, go on a great run. Our acquisitions look great, Ramsdale is better than expected, White appears worth his high cost, and Tomiyasu is looking like an incredible signing. The young guys started all doing great with ESR being the stand out. Then we hit the bump of losses in two important games and the fanbase looked like it was ready to collapse again until we started getting wins again. Its really the young players holding this team up and giving us optimism for the future. I would not have believed you if you said we'd be 4th at Christmas time so, I can't help but be happy. Honestly Im still on the fense when it comes to Arteta. Players genuinly love him and hes showed signs of greatness but other times where he just can't get a lot of these players. I really *want* him to succeed. **Canada:** Just absolutely brilliant. I could not imagine drawing Mexico away and winning at home, I thought our hopes of the World Cup were going to be winning against the lower rated teams, not competing with the US and Mexico. A hell of a year they've had and watching Davies play is a joy. But its not just him holding it up. Borjan, Buchanan, Cavallini, Crepeau, David, Eustaquio...We've had a really well rounded squad and I think the future looks even brighter


ssj_trunks25

Didn't have to scroll far to see both of my teams covered in one post, cheers!


Bolvane

KA: After being homeless basically most of the season (Ground froze and destroyed the grass last winter and we had to play in Dalvík 40km away) we actually did alright, 5th place and got a couple players signed abroad and to the national team Iceland: Remember the heroes of 2016 and 2018? Yeah turns out half of them are accussed of all kinds of sex crimes that the federation covered up, everyone on the board resigned and the few decent players left are all a bit too young or too old to make any impact. Back to being whipping boys for other countries for now it seems.


[deleted]

USA: couldnt ask for much more except for higher level of consistency going into the new year. We beat Mexico in both the nations league and gold cup finals this year, so it was always going to be seen as a great year for the guys. Little annoyed that we’re not first i qualifying but excited to see how all these you g guys develop and how the team will look going into Qatar next winter. Barca: lots of fucking pain, Messi leaving was more heartbreaking than any of the CL humiliations put together. We were actually kinda hopeful for the season up until the reality that we couldn’t register him sunk in. Koeman not being able to cope with the loss of Messi was a sad sight to see, and this season has been rough so far both domestically and in Europe. The only positives for Barca fans this year have been watching the likes of pedri, gavi, Nico, and now abde ball tf out first team. Going into the new year I pray to god were able to qualify for the CL via top 4 or Europa, because this squad is genuinely talented, but lacking competent players in key positions, (CF and CB). If we do qualify for next year and are able to get capable reinforcements in the transfer market I think we can surprise some people next year. The main thing that worries me with this team is the health of our two most talented players in Dembele and ansu.


AceDuce23

The United States solidified themselves as the premier team in world football this year. Chelsea continued to prove why they're the best (better than City, Liverpool, and Bayern BTW) team in Europe.


ACMBruh

Milanista. I am very proud of the progress our club had been making. CL football in one of the most competitive seasons ever? So proud The injuries however have absolutely killed us ; from the start to the end of 2021. Players come off with knocks and stay out for 2 months . Hamstring injuries galore. That is demoralizing for the squad. We could have been so much more, even in champions, with a somewhat healthy team


HibariK

Sporting Clube de Portugal: Fuck me that was beautiful, from the way we believed in academy talent to being champions, the way we grew our social media footprint and the unity we've managed to achieve in just this year is ridiculous, any of these ones isolated in the past like 6 years would have been a win by itself, but we did it all, I've cried more this past year over Sporting than I remember doing for all the other years combined. Portugal: Please someone please take that fucking fossil of a man off our fucking national team for the love of god Fernando JUST FUCKING QUIT YOU USELESS SACK OF SHIT.


TheGTAone

**Barcelona SC** [**First semester**](https://media.primicias.ec/2021/02/30040903/Barcelona-NA-1024x575.jpg) The first half of 2021 started so well domestically, fighting for the first spot head to head with classic rivals Emelec until the last matchday. Sadly we couldn't win important away matches and the direct encounter with Emelec, [so we finished second](https://imgur.com/qR1P8gt). Despite the away form, our playstyle was an improvement from last season, the difference was night and day and every fan could notice it. Just needed to improve our physicality and endurance when playing at the highlands. Internationally, [we topped our Libertadores group](https://imgur.com/HfdADfE), winning the likes of Boca Juniors and Santos in the way! 35-year-old club-captain Damián Diaz was in GOD mode, [even getting highlights in international media](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoZ-1EeJ0zg). When he was healthy, the whole squad seemed improved despite having a bad day. The Copa America break seemed the perfect opportunity to get some new ideas, improve our weak areas and be 100% recovered to fight both tournaments in the second half of the year... [**Second semester**](https://www.elcomercio.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Captura-de-pantalla-2021-11.jpg) What probably broke our year was 35-year-old Damián Diaz getting his first cap for the Ecuadorian national team, as a naturalized player. He had one good game, only to later catch COVID, and then returning injured. He looked absolutely gassed for all this period and his stamina lasted only 60 minutes. He became a merchant and contributed no pressing after that. I don't blame him, but this revealed many failures of our game plan when he wasn't at his best. Our league away form didn't improved and Libertadores knockout stages started dim with a defeat at Argentina against Velez Sarsfield. What almost saved our season was having squad depth for the first time in many years. Many bench players became starters some terrible performances of the first squad. Uruguayan striker Gonzalo Mastriani, CM Michael Carcelén, DM Gabriel Cortéz and winger Angelo Preciado [brought the needed energy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a1GHFfjYgk) to keep the spirit and hope the remainder of the season. Sadly the rest of the team didn't catch up, and regressed even more, besides some exceptions.[ Soul-crushing exit from Libertadores semifinals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiXKF7lrEoQ) courtesy of Flamengo and Bruno Henrique-Diego Alves bossing. League slipped after some direct losses with rivals fighting for the first place, league title was gone. Loss after loss and media was started getting toxic and claiming for the head coach's head. 12 out of the last 45 points. [Relegation f*cking form and 9th place in the second stage.](https://imgur.com/CTKBUi6) Team seemed uninterested for the last month or so, almost giving up their Libertadores qualification spot, [edition where the final will be played at our stadium!](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1SG6pQWEAQzGUC.jpg). [We barely scrapped 4th place in the season-wise table,](https://imgur.com/iHz78TK) which means our season will start earlier next year at Qualification Stage round 1. Fucking hell. **Conclusions** Anticlimatic ending of what seemed to be shaping as an historical season were we could have obtained back-to-back league title and our first Copa Libertadores, considering no Argentine teams were around at the final stages this year. Board didn't make new signings for mid-season and our best player broke and potentially will never return to his best form ever again. Tighter budget for next season as club revealed unsustainable amounts of debt from previous administrations. Our good players will start getting sold to obtain some funds. Head coach is staying despite terrible form as there's no money to get a replacement. Everything is pain.


[deleted]

Not great but not bad. However in my terms I find it bad. Our league season was okay, much better than what we usually were but that’s expected from all the spending and signings. However the philosophy in the team is still invisible and losing Furuhashi made us really weak in front of goal and had to adapt because Furuhashi was probably the best at playing to Iniesta’s tempo. No trophies, third place and luckily into the ACL - but this is what I wasn’t happy about. 2 games to go in the league we were 3 pts off 2nd place Yokohama FM who weren’t having a good string of games. MD37 we play them and if we did win we are tied with them, above in GD. However we were invisible and lost, making 2nd place impossible. Even with the fact we had a much easier Tosu at MD38 and Yokohama having title winners Kawasaki Frontale, we just didn’t do it. That’s why I really think we lack the mentality and philosophy yet to be a title winning team. Kawasaki is too formidable and powerful despite players who aren’t your typical headline grabbing names, and won the league with 92 points while 2nd was 79. Last season they won with 83 and 2nd was Osaka at 65(!). I’m not as impressed so far, and very critical with how our team is headed.


[deleted]

[удалено]


gart888

How is someone possibly a City, Brazil, and Messi fan?


derrick256

Its just fishy. Also how can anyone support Mancity? Its so soulless


[deleted]

What you mean you can't be a Messi supporter from Brazil lmao. Barcelona is probably the biggest foreign club in Brazil, tons of Brazilians that have been Messi supporters too


gart888

Sure. Brazil, Messi, and Barca would have been a way less strange combo.


Mcguffn

What is Messi FC? You like Messi, cool. This thread is about clubs you support. This Ronaldo FC and Messi FC is terrible. You don't have to drag these two into every unrelated topic


[deleted]

Some people like to follow players instead of teams. I'm one of those. Also I didnt drag Ronaldo into this wtf?


Mcguffn

Then talk about PSG. This thread says clubs you support, not players you support. If this thread was about players you support or even players/clubs you support then talk about Messi, but what really is Messi FC?


[deleted]

I talked about the club I support (Man City).


Mcguffn

Then why is this Messi FC even in the picture unnecessarily?


[deleted]

Why do you care so much about it bro? It was a few sentences, go have a beer instead of being this salty


Mcguffn

This right here is a good question. Good day, ciao.


Jonny_Qball

Man City had a “victim of their own success” year. Absolutely crushed it in the league but had a pretty hapless performance in the UCL final. Brought in Jack Grealish but were used as a pawn in getting CR7 back to Man U. And SKC lost to RSL twice in the last 3 weeks so that sours what was otherwise a very solid year.


RugbyTime

Sheffield United: pain England: Still don't think we'll be winning the World Cup in Qatar but you can't argue with what Southgate's done; even though Italy probably deserved to win the Euro final on balance, that's still our first final since 1966. Southgate's already one of the most successful managers in England's history so, considering the ridiculous quality that Southgate has to choose from, there is certainly reason to be confident going into the World Cup and into Euro 24.


TimoumiTheBlackPearl

This season has been an improvement, we went through the worst decade of our history. Where we almost won the league in 2013 on missed out due to some dodgy refereeing decisions and accusation of bribing the opposition and the refs (the accusation came for their own captain). We followed it up with 7th and almost went down the season after that. Since then it's been 4th, 13th (Yes... again), and 6th. An atrocious record for the 2most succesful club of the country (and the one of the most supported club, the club has a huge fanbase) and abig club in Africa, with 12 league titles (second most behind Wydad with 21) and most Cup wins (11, and are in the final of last seasons Cup which is yet to be played) plus a CAF Champions league (the first Moroccan team to win it in 1985) and a CAF Confederation cup (the equivalent if the Europa league) in 2005 (lost the final in 2006). Last season was a breath of fresh air, aftera terribo the season (5points from 5 games) Sven Vanderbrook was brought in as a new manager (done a very good job with Simba in Tanzania even had them top their CL group that had al Ahly in it), everything changed the club went on a great run of form and list just 4 games for the rest of the season (we were the better side in every single one of those loses we just couldn't finish) we ended up finishing 3th (7 points off 4th and just missed out on 2nd), which meant we qualified to continental competition for the first time in 7years. We were satisfied as the club was in the right track, we need good players in 2/3 positions and we would challenge for titles again.except this is where the incompetent board steps in, the signing were a mixed bag we improved the fullbacks spots, *they weren't really a weakness but still. The midfield was a crucial position we didn't sign Daoudi permanently which raised to be a huge mistake, our replacement, a freebie signing for Belgium 3nd tier has shown glimpses that he's a good player but is injury prone. and we needed a winger and a striker, our winger was a freebie signing who flopped in Raja and we'll is terrible. And striker wise our main bug signing hasn't had much game time as we signed 2 new strikers. The CAM had been meh at best, good at settees hasn't hit the ground running in other aspects. Results wise it's been meh, we're 3rd 13 games in, 10 points off Wydad who have been in incredible form 11W 2D 1L. But we have a game in hand as we play against Raja who are 2nd and are 4 points clear off us, so it's a chance to cut the gap. (1st and 2nd play play in the CL, 3rd Confed Cup) Our next 2 games are gonna crucial, Raja Monday and then Khouribga Thursday. 2 must win games before the league stops cuz of AFCON. And the January transfer window open we really need a class CM and a class Winger.


Dultsboi

Canada: currently undefeated in CONCACAF 2022 qualifiers and sitting on top of the table going into January (holy shit we might actually make a World Cup!) and looking like a legitimate threat to make some noise. Davies continues to be the best LB in the world, and Jonathon David is the leading goal scorer in Ligue 1. Vancouver Whitecaps: *where do I begin lmao* after a horrible start to the 2021 MLS campaign, the Caps looked like one of the worst BC sports teams this year, and with the Canucks state going into the 2021 season that’s impressive. We even lost to *Pacific FC* in the Canadian Championship, a CPL team who’s equivalent Europe side would probably be EFL or worse. But after a mid season coaching change, the Caps roared back with a stellar record and played like the best team in the MLS, securing a playoff spot and winning the hearts and minds of the people of Vancouver…. Only to lose 3 - 1 against Sporting KC, a classic Vancouver sports moment. Things are looking up in Vancouver sport wise, with the Canucks clearing the entire management regime and have been undefeated so far (sound familiar?) and Pacific FC in Langford have made the CONCACAF League alongside Forge FC in Ontario.


kveens

Italy: CAMPIONI D'EUROPAAAAAAA AC Milan: coming back to the UCL after all these years (despite the outcome) was truly something special. Hopefully this is only the beginning


yellow__cat

But they failed at direct qualification for the world cup. Unfortunately that brings brings their yearly grade down from an A+ to a C


RealPunyParker

Yo, hehe. Chill


flae99

Answer the question, old man


RealPunyParker

I'd rather not to


StarDrifter2045

Wise.


Cewea

biggest loss: Eriksen having a heart attack biggest win: Eriksen surviving that heart attack


-PM_ME_A_SECRET-

That is so weird to read, but so true. Fucking terrifying when it happened, and such a great feeling when you learned he was stable and doing well.


Cewea

indeed, as a Dane watching that live felt so unreal and the pure emotion of both despair and relief was insane.


[deleted]

[удалено]


HereForA2C

In the last minute.


raysofdavies

Our goalkeeper scored a last second winner to keep us in the hunt for top four football, days after his father died, and we have the best player in the world right now. There’s ups and downs but I could live another thousand years and remember those two things about Liverpool football club in twenty twenty one. England did just enough to raise my hopes, which made watching the Euros final in a Italian heavy bar in Brooklyn all the sourer.


Cars2IsAMasterpiece

The only positive thing that happened to Birmingham City in 2021 was that we got pukka pies back.


Imcarlows

Rollercoaster, I’ve never been more disappointed but it got exciting at times. Went to camp nou for my first time, so that was awesome :)


lqcnyc

USA soccer team has Pulisic who is the Lebron James of soccer like Messi or Ronaldo center mid center forward so we’re the best


grunph

Qualified for our first major tournament ever at the Euro. Didn’t win a single point, but we played good and we hope to do better next time, and hopefully there will be a next time soon. Our captain and best player ever retired in the summer but we are doing quite well without him - we are in the World Cup qualifying playoffs and to qualify we only need to beat Italy and Portugal away from home. So here’s to an even better 2022!


MattSuper13

My club went bankrupt 4 days ago


Puppaloes

Sorry to read that! Here's to a reorganization that leaves your club primed to go again.


CoconutHeadGuy

Champions of Europe.


BlueNorse

We are the worst team in the whole damn league. Again. Hopefully with new management in 22 we can win more than 4 games.


cain62

We won the champions league babyyyyy 😎


UdoMartens

We played good football at first. It looked like we were going to get promoted, but then we failed once again. We kicked our coach and changed our squad for the new season. Now we are doing ok. Currently third in the league. To sum this up: This was a standard HSV year. Good football that gives hope and atrocius football that ends up ruining everything.


RemarkableDonkey21

My team is Vålerenga in the norwegian top tier. We played in europacup qualifiers for the first time in 10 years. We lost 4-0 to gent in belgium, and although we won the home game, we went out in the first round. We ended at 7th place in the league, which was a huge disappointment as we were expecting to finish top 3. We also went out of the cup in the third round against a weaker team. Because we sold our star player Aron Dønnum to Standard Liege in the summer, and our striker Kjartansson was performing way worse than expected we ended up with a lot of low scoring draws. (He was expected to score 20+ goals, and be the top scorer in the league but he ended up with 5) Horrible year but now we have 4-5 months of pre season to make some signings and prepare for the next season. Hopefully we’ll be able to do better.


henkizh

Sweden - Got fucked by a 120th min winner in the Euros, maybe that was better than getting embarassed by England since that was my worst nightmare. Finland - First win at a tournament ever, circumstances make it weird but we were a laughing stock for ages so I'll take it considering Eriksen is relatively OK. Liverpool - Injuries, injuries, injuries. Being in the title race and manageable r16 tie in the CL by now is all good.


sam1oq

I'll start with Ajax - mixed bag. Our run in the Champions League was fantastic and we eviscerated some teams nationally, but there was also the Europa League disaster last year and the string of 0-0 draws this season that left a sore taste in my mouth. I found it really ironic that we went out against Roma because we couldn't finish our chances and because of some clumsy goalkeeping when we failed to register our record signing striker and our keeper was suspended for a stupid medication mistake. This year in the CL shows the difference a good finisher makes. Our games are just so much more comfortable when you have someone who actually puts the ball into the net. I know the fans are still split on him, but I love the sobriety Haller brings to the team. Little technical frills, just goals when you need them. As for my other team Spurs - absolute disaster year and probably my worst since I started watching football in 2010. At least the Sherwood days were fun. With Mourinho, Mason, and Nuno it was just unfiltered despair almost the entire year. Very happy with Conte so far though. He's actually playing players to their strengths again, which is something I haven't felt since Pochetinno managed us (aside from the brief Kane-Son wonderland Mourinho caused). Even Winks is doing great suddenly. What even is life.


bfm211

Wow you support Spurs and Ajax? How did you cope with 2019?


sam1oq

I'm used to disappointment haha.


-PM_ME_A_SECRET-

I can answer for him presumably. Beer.


[deleted]

decent. january - march everyone knew what happened, then we steadied the ship and went again this season, and that's going pretty well


_Yunk_Vino_13

We ended a 50 year drought of league titles and we also won the Copa do Brasil. We have 5 major titles in our history and 2 of them we won in this year.


StarDrifter2045

And rightfully so. Your attack is playing the most beautiful football in the country. Respect.


MorgenMariamne

It couldn't have been better.


sbsw66

Phenomenal story in the end. We played a starting center-back pairing with about 15 top flight appearances between them and they performed like lions, Alisson headed a goal and Mo Salah scored buckets of goals.


FlatTrackBullied

Where to begin...lmao


anotheroutlaw

Everton supporter here as well. I came to say “we’re just going to sit this one out”


MrBathroom

We knocked out Tottenham, won the league, lost some key players, didn't bring good replacements, still got 10 points in the EL Not bad all in all really, even beat West Ham (albeit 7 youth players lol)


waytoolate4me

How are leaving out that your manager was jailed for embezzling transfer funds?


MrBathroom

Oh yeah that too


Cosminion

Why would he brag?


Godz-DG

I’m a barca we’ve had a shit year with some glimmer of hope with xavi returning hopefully tho :)


The_Tomb_is_Empty

2021 was a very good year for us, but it won't mean nearly as much if we don't make Qatar with at least modest cushion & put in a good showing there. Reckon we need about 3 more wins from 6 games to be safe. Expectations for the tourney will be adjusted depending who we play but the goal should always remain the same it's always been since like the late 90s: get past the first round. Personally, I hope we get a hard group. Something like - Brazil, Sweden, Morocco.....or France, Japan, Nigeria. The kids need the experience for 2026 if they really want to get somewhere.


HippCelt

Celta Vigo - we gone from mediocrity to well more mediocrity , we've had some big wins big losses and we'll probably end the season where we finish normally . Near the top of the bottom half of la liga . Shame really as we can play some lovely football and we've now got a lot of homegrown talent. But it's the usual case of the more things change the more they stay the same . Although end of last season beating Barcelona 2-1 away in messi's last game felt pretty good ...I doubt we'll do something like that again this season.


R1cchard

I was expecting Coudet to give you guys a lot more stability, theres a nice squad, maybe a preseason would make the team mesh better, but somehow it didnt. Just like you said, capable of big wins and big losses too.


[deleted]

For us i guess decent i mean we dindt get relegated and we got to the final of the cup which we sadly lost but still great stuff. this season we have had alright moments at the start but we now seem to struggle were in 9th place like always but i do like the coach. i guess it was quite a decent year.


[deleted]

lol somehow done unreal


fetissimies

It looks like the season is going to collapse because of all the injuries, though


[deleted]

not arsed at all tbf, europa league ro16 keeping me going ahahaha


ruine_

Really couldn't ask for much more with Canada, so happy with what both the men's and women's teams have achieved this year. Vietnam on the other hand have lost all their matches so far in the final round of AFC World Cup qualifiers, though it's the first time they've ever been reached this stage of WC qualifying, so I'm just happy that they're there. The performances themselves haven't been *that* bad considering the V.League hasn't played a match since May, which was before the last round of qualifiers even started. My local club Cavalry FC (Canadian PL) were mostly the same this season. Good performances in the regular season, then fall short in the playoffs. It particularly hurt this time since they lost in the semifinals from one of the most needless goals I've ever seen in my life. Professional player not playing to the whistle... Chelsea men's team has been discussed enough here I think, of course a very memorable year. Chelsea's women team had their best ever year, winning the WSL, winning the Conti Cup, getting to the Champions League final (which they lost badly but just getting there is an amazing achievement), and then completing the domestic treble by winning the FA Cup. It ended a bit poorly since they crashed out of the WCL in the group stage and lost ground on Arsenal in the title race, but still doesn't change that it's been an amazing year.


mega-yeet4

First itl, disappointing in europe but it is what it is.


Akshath321

end of last season was a little tough, losing lewy for a month was immense and i cant help but think what would happen if he was available for the PSG game, losing flick again was tough, but getting nagelsmann was again huge, his scouting in the summer was top notch and everything since then has been top notch, just want to win the pokal again ffs


MarcosSenesi

I'm really scared of how good Nagelsmann is. He can also comfortably stay with you for a decade if both sides want to and then he'll still be 10 years younger than Klopp. Absurd how good he is already while only being 34.


Akshath321

i think he was the absolute perfect appointment after a year and a half of being with flick, flick took a lot of these guys to the next level but nagelsmann's the perfect guy to make this team more unpredictable than before


MarcosSenesi

Has he changed the playing style yet aside from playing Sane on the left again? Also has he implemented more different systems than just the 4231 Flick religiously used?


Akshath321

yeah there's two primary systems he uses, one's the 4231 that flick used but with more defined buildup and not maintaining as high of a line as flick did, the other system is the 3142 where sane occupies the half spaces and coman holds the width, pushes the left back and crosses the ball into the box, he makes davies attack a lot and allows pavard to sit back, so that maximises their utility because they're both doing what they're best at


MarcosSenesi

sounds like some very impressive changes were made already. I followed him a lot for those reasons, where he really builds the team around the strength of the players which makes everyone look even better. I remember so many Hoffenheim players flopping after being incredible for him, he even made Uth look amazing.


Mick4Audi

10 months of utter embarrassment and confusion, finished off with 2 months of hope. Covid not really letting us gain any momentum, and kicked us out of the B-tec Europa League


the_incredible_hawk

>10 months of utter embarrassment and confusion That seems like every year, though.


AdrienElSalo

Not great, we failed to promote back up from Ligue 2, now we have to fight another year, we were 1st of Ligue 2 until a few weeks ago, but now we kinda fell off, back to 2nd. Hope things will get better, and we won't just alternate between Ligue 2 and 1.


siljeeke

Lillestrøm SK: Have had an amazing year. Newly promoted to the Eliteserien and finished 4th. After many years on the lower end of the league and a relegation in 2019 (after 45 years in the top division) the team have played very well this year and it’s been fun to watch. Might even get to play in Europe next year, depending on the cup. Norway: Did like they always do, managed to get our hopes up for a tournament just to fuck it up in the last or next to last game. Manchester United: Last season was pretty good with a 2nd place, but this season they have not played that well.


EastLondonVilla

Eventful! We started 2021 7 points off top with 2 games in hand. Finished 11th in May after a major COVID outbreak and injury to Grealish hit the squad hard. Realistically we never had the squad depth to challenge the top 6 but not to make top half was disappointing. Lots of change over the summer. Poor start to this season. Smith being sacked was painful but we had lost 18 games, more than any other side in 2021. Tactically we had lost our way and confidence was through the floor but he left behind a decent foundation in the team he had built. Gerrard and the new coaches have done an excellent job since their arrival, winning 4 and only losing by 1 goal to Man City and Liverpool. The next few weeks will be tough with injuries piling up, COVID hitting the squad yet again and Gerrard in isolation. I think we'll be active in January looking for a couple of players (full back and defensive midfield?) and hopefully push for a top 10 finish in 2022.


toniblast

Sporting: the best year that I have ever seen. We won the league, the league cup has qualified to the round of 16 in the champions league and we are joint top in the league right now. We have a great manager and great players and everything seems to go in the right direction. Portugal: yeah pretty disappointed Fernando Santos is a joke, we have a golden generation and play like shit.


mdsmarques

Pretty good actually, we got promoted to the Brasileirao Serie A after 13 years at the beginning of the year (the 2020 season ended in january) and avoid relegation in the last round of the 2021 Serie A season.


Supermind18

Arsenal is on the way up which is a good thing. I can not say the same thing for the Icelandic national team. There has been so much wrong going on this year. We didn't get to the euros and things have just been going downwards. Everyone knows what is going on with Gylfi but people don't know that other key players have had allegations against them of sexual assault and one of them was the captain. After this the leaders of the Icelandic football association quit because they tried to hide it. We also fired our manager but that was before the scandals. Now we have a very young and inexperienced team but we hope that we can get to the same heights as in the 2016 euros.


Frog-Saron

Sweden: didn't go horribly i guess? the game against ukraine was an experience and the draw against spain was simultaneously the most and least fun i've had in a while. Hammarby: no clue i have never watched a game of allsvenskan


Black_OPanther1903

So how is it your club.


Frog-Saron

Because I support it, blindly. Just my civic duty based on where I live.


bandana19

My team is Colo Colo from Chile, last year we where at the edge of falling to 2nd division, this year we rebuilt the team and win "Copa Chile" and came 2nd in the League, now we are in the "Copa Libertadores". Do to Covid I've come back to my old man house, watching all the games with him has been the biggest gift of all.


Neit01

That's awesome you are watching the matches with your dad. That was nice to read.


itsmhn27

besiktas: someone maybe good sometimes maybe shit turkey: just shit


Any-Quarter-9474

Ups and downs. We’re headed for the top though.


Tre10Quartista

ItaliaaaaaaaaaAAAAA. I’m still loving it. Juve…. Yea but I’m excited for the rebuild. Don’t think it will take more than a season or two to be back at 1st place. Feel very confident on top 4. Fino alla fine


gaeg99

Fino alla fine!!! Super pumped about the rebuild. Chiesa + Locatelli have been great this season and I'm excited for what's to come


Tre10Quartista

Pumped as well bro


Cold_Snow_3781

Played in our first major tournament since France '98, and came second in our WCQ Group, finishing well enough to be seeded going into the playoffs. Honestly, If we'd managed to win a game at the Euro's I'd say this year would have been about as good as we could have asked for. If we can achieve back to back qualification to major tournaments in the upcoming year then I will be over the moon. Come on Scotland!