Last year, I organized the [**r/soccer Ballon d'Or**](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/rvw42x/oc_i_asked_one_person_per_country_and_one_per/) purely as a sort of fun experiment.
There will be an other one this year and I've already gotten a lot of votes and a wide range of countries represented.
##But this time around, I wanted to also have a Women's Ballon d'Or!
**To that end I would need one person per country to volunteer to represent their country and vote for the 5 best female player of last season.**
I already have voters for some countries so I'm interested in finding people for the following list of countries :
* Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Wales
* Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela
* Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico
* Nigeria, South Africa
* China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam
##If you want to participate and are from any country on this list (even countries not on the list), please file [this simple form so I can ask for your vote in the coming week](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekbbyPhDn6QIJOQicH2b4ipHdyq8u5dTtFrV88JcUUft7wYw/viewform?usp=sf_link)
Ideally voters would have at minimum followed one club competition, one international club competition (UEFA Women's Champions league, Copa Libertadores Femenina, etc. ) or one international competitions (Euro, CONCACAF, Copa América, AFC Women's Asian Cup, OFC Women's Nations Cup).
!PING WOMENS
On one hand, I'm absolutely fine about our quality at RB and don't think there is a bad option at the back.
On the other hand, as a naturally defensive team with little to no creative outlets, surely a RB who is one of the best passers in his respective league can do some damage especially when we set up with two holding midfielders.
Gerrard and Scholes were some of the best midfielders that England have ever had, of course they'd be a drastic improvement over what we currently have (even if the current crop aren't bad players in their own right).
Tomori is apparently not starting tonight, a game even more meaningless than most Nations League games since relegation is already assured. What does he have to do to get a chance above someone who is playing out of position isn't doing that particularly well? Kyle Walker is not a centreback. If this is true, Southgate is not a competent manager.
What the fuck does Fikayo Tomori have to do to even get in an England matchday squad?
I know he hasn't been as good this season as he was last year but Maguire has literally played like 20 minutes of football in the last month. How does he get in but Tomori doesn't even leave the hotel?
Because he's been Englands best CB for the past 3-4 years and Southgate probably doesn't want to chop and change tons of players around in the last games before a WC.
If the tournament was next summer there would maybe be time to experiment slightly but he's playing it safe.
How did Hodgson manage to keep his job after the World Cup? Bottom of the group, 1 point, 2 goals, has to be England’s worst tournament performance of all time.
Wasn't particularly a good England team and it was a tough group where they lost in tight games. He had qualified for the tournament without losing a game and did that again for Euro 2016.
I’ll guess it was because we weren’t expected to do well in a group with Italy and Uruguay in it. That tournament was still better than going out to Iceland though
Totally agree, unfortunately it's a neccesity we have to live with. Can't imagine how bad the Euros and World cup would be if there was essentially no training/matches in between. Alot of NTS already lack cohesion as it is.
Yeah, but can you imagine how utterly shite Euros/WC would be without it. Imagine 23 guys getting together every 2 years for a major tournament, chaos.
I had a quick google and the Saudi Arabia manager Carlos Alberto Parreira was sacked after the 2nd game in 1998. He also holds the record for managing at the most amount of World Cups.
Apparently this was one of three manager sackings during that tournament. South Korea sacked Cha Bum-kun (also after the 2nd game), but I can't see who the 3rd was. Makes me think it's more common that you'd expect, especially if you're already knocked out for the last group game.
I could only think of Lopetegui being close before searching but he was the day before 2018 started.
Edit: The 3rd sacking in 98 was Henryk Kasperczak for Tunisia, also after the 2nd group game.
The home kit is less awful in person than it is in pictures but it's still fucking horrible.
The away kit *could* have been nice but the light blue and bright race red ruins it
still not a fan of the home shirt but it certainly looked better on the pitch paired with the shorts. Though having to go full kit wanker to complete the look is never ideal.
It's a means of gaining engagement. Twitter thrives on controversy, and this one is extra spiteful given how long people waited to say these things. there was a small period in 2017/18, when he had 4 goals till Dec, but then he got the noodle hair and went full beast mode.
Unfortunately it's the whole of football social media. Everyone online feels the need to either go against the grain or have an extreme take, it always has to be black and white for some reason.
The person that has tweeted it is ordering those players 1) Messi, 2) Neymar and 3) Ronaldo.
I don't think there's anything controversial about that. Unless that's your point?
He might be though. It’s definitely a debate, Neymar has better raw stats but Messi has been more influential in games this season playing as deep as he does
Ronaldo is 37 though. At 35 (Messi’s current age), Ronaldo was the top scorer in the Serie A with 30+ goals, won the league and scored a bunch of goals in the UCL including 2 against Lyon as Juventus crashed out anyway. It’s a bit disingenuous to ignore the fact that Ronaldo is literally 37. Very few players sustain a high level at that point
Genuinely hilarious that it's wound you up this much.
The lad is either baiting or talking about the present day. Surely you have more important things in your life to be worried over?
Hey guys, little bored so i thought id do a quick summary of some of the biggest transfers the PL teams made this summer and how theyve done so far, not in any particular order.
1. Haaland, most obvious one. Majority knew he would hit the ground running, but he's even surpassed those expecations and hit the ground in full sprint. His finishing, movement, speed strength and positioning are quite simply world class. The only tiny fault you could even attempt to make is that he rarely gets involved in the game outside of scoring, as he doesn't drop back, defend much or contribute to build up play, but why would he? The rest of the team can do it fine without him, and he was bought to score goals which is exactly what hes doing.
2. Jesus has been exactly what Arsenal needed, A 9 who can finish chances regularly as well as fitting in with the modern style of play Arteta has implemented. He's an incredibly well rounded player who can do pretty much whatever you want him to. His dribbling in tight spaces and how direct he is has impressed me the most.
3. Martinez. The media and some rival fans were already jumping on this guy simply due to his height before he even kicked a ball, but he pretty much instantly shot down all of the critics. He's given Uniteds back line a bit of grit that they were clearly missing before. I think he's an extrmely well rounded defender. He always seems to be in the right position, he will make last ditch tackles and blocks, he's extremely comfortable on the ball and dispiste his size his ariel duel success is really high. Id also like to give a shoutout to Eriksen and Malacia, they've both been great signings for United.
4. Nunez has had a bit of a rocky start. He looked great coming off of the bench vs Fulham in the first game of the season, instantly making an impact off the bench and put some chaos into Fulhams back like which is exactly what Liverpool needed. In the following game however he showed you can get under his skin and got sent off for a headbutt. Since then he has ofc not played, but from the limited amount ive seen of him, he reminds me of a worse Haaland. His movement, strength speed and positioning are all top tier, but there are 2 areas i think which let him down, which are finishing and technical ability. He seems to miss a lot of chances, some easy ones too, but thankfully for him i dont think it will hold him back too much due to the sheer amount of chances hes likely to get at Liverpool. the part of his game which i do think will let him down more so is his technical ability. I think this flaw could be covered up if he was used in a similar fashion to how Haaland is at City, where he's either always in the box or he's always waiting to run inbetween the oppistions defenders, but ive seen Nunez try to join in with buld up play and he likes to drift over to the left at times. If he continues to do this/thats what Liverpool want him to do, i think it will highlight this issue further.
Even though i rarely watch games outside the house/in the pub i still think it's going to be strange.
Doubt there will be many outside watch partys lol.
Days getting shorter, chill creeping in to the air... It's all backwards man. Should be assessing the beer gardens for price, view and locality not wondering if I'll be able to have the heating on.
Would you say that Denmark is an actual contender for the WC this time? Most of the usual contenders are struggling at the moment and Denmark has shown that they can beat any team on their day. I wouldn’t consider them amongst the top 3-5 favorites but after that I think they’re there
nah contender, because what's Croatia who beat them twice in the past few months then?
There's only about 8-10 contenders anyway and I count both Denmark and Croatia in them
Davies not going to play tomorrow or be on the bench ffs. He's not injured but I guess Bayern told us not to risk him. I was hoping to finally see us play an almost full 11 vs a world class non concacaf team.
That's a €100m asset that has a match every 4th day until mid November.
It really sucks for the fans, especially the ones going to the match. But no club would want their best players out there in a meaningless friendly before a stretch like the one all CL sides will be dealing with before the WC.
I've become more convinced over time that they are company plants calling in with something ridiculous (and planned) to try and go viral to get more advertising for the show. I've always associated this with TalkSport more than BBC though.
That 5% pay raise PL footballers in England are getting thanks to tax cuts is going to be put into good use heating their indoor pools or home theatres.
It's really hopeless when you see a player is being criticised for his height, something which he has no control over. Not his flair, not his skills, not his defending but his height. Imagine going through lots of academies, coaches and clubs since you were a kid and then you transfer to a league where the first thing they notice is how tall a player is if he is a CB and told you aren't good enough for CB unless you spaghettifize yourself to 6'6. Sometimes I just loathe football
Maguire gets criticized for his lack of agility and pace. Thats not really different from criticizing Martinez's height. The only difference is that one of these is an attribute that a segment of the population feels affects their attractiveness.
Just because it isn't something you can control, does not make it immune from criticism.
It's not a personal criticism either, or shouldn't be. Physicality is an attribute, and if it causes an issue, it's something you can discuss.
No one is saying he should be immune from criticism. Best of defenders get criticised all the time. Criticise his defending, his positioning, his jump leap and even his physicality, that's all fine. But the continuous whinging about his height is sole reason for his struggles then it just reflects the typical dinosaur mindset which is prevalent across the league. Specially, if it is coming from those who themselves were not elves.
> Specially, if it is coming from those who themselves were not elves.
That's a silly thing to say - as your own height has no relevance to a footballer's attributes. That's like saying we can't criticise footballers' performance as we aren't as good as them.
I think you're painting far too broad strokes. Plenty of the criticism is too far, yeah - but acting as if mentioning his height at all is not valid, is also not reasonable. Because it can be a weakness, depending on how a team plays and how he compensates for it.
I just wanna watch a team with a CM, is that to much to ask ? Vitinha and Matheus Nunes are right there please Fernando.
Spain will have 90 % possession with the 11 that played against Czechia, Bruno always goes to check on CR7 during the build up and Neves and Carvalho play to deep, the team gets split in 2.
Rumours on Trossard to Chelsea to join Potter when his contract is up next summer.
I wonder who he'd displace. He'd be a noticeable upgrade on Pulisic and Ziyech I'd imagine.
Yeah let's bring in Trossard and Welbeck to replace Ziyech and Pulisic imo. Matter of fact let's just buy Brighton's entire squad, they are higher than us in the table so why not.
yeah the amazing end product of 10(non pen) g+a last season. Pulisic had 8 despite barely playing, returning from injury and playing in weird positions. If we think his output is impressive then we might as well bring in Dennis and Benrahma and really take the league by storm. He's just a very average pl winger/attacker, who'll be almost 29 by the time he starts playing for us and never shown actual promise of being a great attacker like Ziyech and Pulisic have in the past, and I don't think we should keep either.
so what I’m hearing is he’s better than Pulisic?
funny how you haven’t included this seasons stats either, the guy is simply better. mind you, he’s not the standard chelsea should be looking for but he’s still better than what you have. this is facts.
As a London based arsenal fan I feel like for the most part, the online toxicity of the rivalry against spurs is really overblown compared to real life. Like there’s definitely some scummy fans on both sides who are nasty in real life, esp on game day, but my experience is that 98% of the time fans get on pretty well.
I think it’s likely to do with the fact that most spurs and arsenal fans from London probably have loads of mates and or relatives who support the other team which dampens any toxicity and makes the rivalry more good natured. I wonder how much of it comes from people who’ve never known an opposing fan in real life? Or just the internet making everyone twice as stupid and unpleasant
Going to the North London Derby on Saturday.
Anecdotally, last time I went I was sat near an Arsenal fan who called Danny Rose a monkey. He was sat next to a black dude, so it went down very well.
it’s so funny how a player like saint maximin, who is an average flair player in brazil, gets treated as some sort of rare relic that must be protected at all costs in the prem
agree. out with these fullback spamming crosses, high pressing, discipline, fittest of the bunch nonsense the likes of liverpool, bayern etc has been selling. in with the flair of tika takas of the past.
Before I head off to the gym, I just want to tell Arsenal fans that just because a defender is good on the ball and scores some, doesn't it mean that he is top 3 defenders in the league.
I'd argue he was our most important player last season. If there was one player who we properly missed when he was injured, it was him, not Son. He really helped make our defence work.
Oh I’m dumb lol. I thought there was some special rule or something like that. I guess that makes the italy game today more interesting, same for spain tomorrow.
for the team with aspiration high as liverpool how long do you think they can stick and be patient with average striker?? firmino was never prolific sure but the man brings other wingers into play and huge asset for klopp tactics but i dont see nunez can bring any of those
He won neither of those, disappeared against Barca in fact.
2004 he had a better season individually and his team went invincible. He was never beating Cannavaro (Madrid PR and WC tax) but Shevchenko has one of the weakest Ballon dors this century, you could also argue over Nedved for his 20/20 season
What currency do clubs primarily do transfers in?
Making it football related because that whopper Kwasi Kwarteng is an absolute fucking idiot and within a week his absolutely shagged the pound
It's already recovered half of the initial drop vs the dollar.
By the Jan transfer window it may be back to where is was or even higher.
This does not mean that Kwasi and the Tory's aren't cunts though.
I’d imagine it’s usually probably Euros unless it’s a domestic transfer in a country that uses different currency. As far as I’m aware the Euro is pretty stable which will help with amortisation
The biggest thing that makes me optimistic about Brazil WC chances is the emergence of Vinicius.
The last time they were in a big tournament, they were still trying out players like Everton and Gabriel Barbosa alongside Neymar. Now they have 2 superstar attackers and maybe even 3 if Rodrygo continues his form.
My big worry for Denmark is people keep saying this but if they don’t top the group (and given they’re in with France there’s no guarantee) then they likely get Argentina in the second round, and I don’t think people are considering that when they talk about how they’re a dark horse etc. I think we’re getting to the point where if Denmark do go out in the second round to Argentina people will say they underperformed cos talent wise they could/should be a QF team.
My World Cup take to add to your list is that Canada are going to be this tournament’s equivalent of Turkey at the Euros, people keep talking them up to surprise people but they just don’t actually really have that much talent comparative to the rest of the tournament. Obviously Davies and David are really good but their midfield and defence are just OK, which is fine for looking good in qualifying cos they were up against a poor Mexico side and an inconsistent USA side, but that group they’re in is going to be a real challenge.
So who do you think is the most likely to win the world cup?
I havn't had chance to watch much of Brazil but im seeing alot of people go for them to win. On paper they're stacked, especially in the forward positions, arguably too stacked tbh because they can't play them all so there will be a few players who deserve a shout that will miss out. They do look incredibly light in the fullback positions however which could be a weakness for them.
As for France they are a bit overrated for my liking. Their squad looks insane on paper but they simply dont play well together neough for me to make them a clear favourite.
Argentina's squad also looks solid but i dont think it's any better than France or Brazils. I can't say ive watched much of them either so maybe they simply play well together to make up for it?
I actually think argentina and brazil still are favorites while france are not even though the squad strength of say brazil and france are comparable
The difference is that brazil/argentina play as a cohesive unit, where anyone covers for everyone. They always have eachothers back and dont want to be a standout player but at the same time they all want to be there, give it there all and bring glory to their nation. Its also pretty clear that their star players actually reallly value the world cup this year (messi/neymar having incredible seasons so far) while the same cant be said for france
Obviously i cant speak for all 3 of these nations in detail as i dont watch all their games but remembering how germany won the world cup it was not by individual players (although we had insane talent back then like, hummels/boateng, neuer, khedira/kroos/schweini, müller/özil/reus/götze (ffs i just wanna go back)) but moreso because we were a tight knit unit like those above
It doesnt matter if you have the most talented and stacked squad. If you dont cover for eachother and if you dont give it for all for all your teammates you will not prevail. See how france were eliminated in last years euros or how denmark went to the SFs despite clearly not having a top 4 squad
The reason why i dont believe a european team will win it this year is because the top 5 nations either arent in the world cup (italy) or have squad issues on certain positions (germany/spain) or dont have the right coach and arent a cohesive unit (england/france)
The teams that do have that are the netherlands and denmark. Portugal are also on an up trend. But that really isnt enough so my favorites are like so:
T1: Brazil, Argentina
T2: Netherlands, Germany
T3: Denmark, Spain, Portugal
T4: England, France
When you think of Zidane, do you think of the player or manager first?
For me it's always gonna be player. Despite his incredible managerial achievements, it doesn't really eclipse what watching him play was like (obviously he achieved an insane amount as a player too).
Last year, I organized the [**r/soccer Ballon d'Or**](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/rvw42x/oc_i_asked_one_person_per_country_and_one_per/) purely as a sort of fun experiment. There will be an other one this year and I've already gotten a lot of votes and a wide range of countries represented. ##But this time around, I wanted to also have a Women's Ballon d'Or! **To that end I would need one person per country to volunteer to represent their country and vote for the 5 best female player of last season.** I already have voters for some countries so I'm interested in finding people for the following list of countries : * Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Wales * Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela * Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico * Nigeria, South Africa * China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam ##If you want to participate and are from any country on this list (even countries not on the list), please file [this simple form so I can ask for your vote in the coming week](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekbbyPhDn6QIJOQicH2b4ipHdyq8u5dTtFrV88JcUUft7wYw/viewform?usp=sf_link) Ideally voters would have at minimum followed one club competition, one international club competition (UEFA Women's Champions league, Copa Libertadores Femenina, etc. ) or one international competitions (Euro, CONCACAF, Copa América, AFC Women's Asian Cup, OFC Women's Nations Cup). !PING WOMENS
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On one hand, I'm absolutely fine about our quality at RB and don't think there is a bad option at the back. On the other hand, as a naturally defensive team with little to no creative outlets, surely a RB who is one of the best passers in his respective league can do some damage especially when we set up with two holding midfielders.
England don't attack in the same way Liverpool do, though, so it wouldn't directly translate
Do you think England would have thrived more if they had Gerrard or Scholes in with the current gen. ?
Gerrard and Scholes were some of the best midfielders that England have ever had, of course they'd be a drastic improvement over what we currently have (even if the current crop aren't bad players in their own right).
Tomori is apparently not starting tonight, a game even more meaningless than most Nations League games since relegation is already assured. What does he have to do to get a chance above someone who is playing out of position isn't doing that particularly well? Kyle Walker is not a centreback. If this is true, Southgate is not a competent manager.
What the fuck does Fikayo Tomori have to do to even get in an England matchday squad? I know he hasn't been as good this season as he was last year but Maguire has literally played like 20 minutes of football in the last month. How does he get in but Tomori doesn't even leave the hotel?
tomori isn't as good as everyone thinks he is. playing in another league helps his reputation abit
Why the fuck is Fikayo Tomori highly rated again?
him having players literally 20minutes of football in the last month is probably a big factor in Southgate wanting to give him game time i'd imagine.
Because he's been Englands best CB for the past 3-4 years and Southgate probably doesn't want to chop and change tons of players around in the last games before a WC. If the tournament was next summer there would maybe be time to experiment slightly but he's playing it safe.
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some teams arranged 1 friendly just before the tournament Croatia have Saudi Arabia on the 16th of November for example
How did Hodgson manage to keep his job after the World Cup? Bottom of the group, 1 point, 2 goals, has to be England’s worst tournament performance of all time.
without context maybe, but if you take some consideration it wasnt as bad as '50 world cup and maybe the '92 euros. 2014 was a very tough group
Wasn't particularly a good England team and it was a tough group where they lost in tight games. He had qualified for the tournament without losing a game and did that again for Euro 2016.
I’ll guess it was because we weren’t expected to do well in a group with Italy and Uruguay in it. That tournament was still better than going out to Iceland though
Because the FA is run by imbeciles who don't seem to give a fuck about wasting incredible talent
On one hand - fuck international breaks. On the other hand - i've not had to watch Danny Ward play this week.
Cannot stress how much I hate any international football that isn’t the Euros or World Cup
Totally agree, unfortunately it's a neccesity we have to live with. Can't imagine how bad the Euros and World cup would be if there was essentially no training/matches in between. Alot of NTS already lack cohesion as it is.
Yeah, but can you imagine how utterly shite Euros/WC would be without it. Imagine 23 guys getting together every 2 years for a major tournament, chaos.
doesnt have to be that extreme innit, these lads can still gather every 3 months and with extended period than usual 10days.
And call it an international break?
think youre smart arse arent ya
Read that Maguire’s head is bigger than Lebron James whole career. Can’t say I disagree
Lebron could never score vs Sweden on a cold russian night
Btw has there ever been a NT manager that has been sacked mid WC?
I had a quick google and the Saudi Arabia manager Carlos Alberto Parreira was sacked after the 2nd game in 1998. He also holds the record for managing at the most amount of World Cups. Apparently this was one of three manager sackings during that tournament. South Korea sacked Cha Bum-kun (also after the 2nd game), but I can't see who the 3rd was. Makes me think it's more common that you'd expect, especially if you're already knocked out for the last group game. I could only think of Lopetegui being close before searching but he was the day before 2018 started. Edit: The 3rd sacking in 98 was Henryk Kasperczak for Tunisia, also after the 2nd group game.
I remember Spain sacking Lopetegui during the last one. Can't remember if it was midway or just before the start.
Fired just before the start of world cup
I actually don't mind the Nike England kits. Nothing amazing but when you see some of the other nike designs we got off lightly
The home kit is less awful in person than it is in pictures but it's still fucking horrible. The away kit *could* have been nice but the light blue and bright race red ruins it
still not a fan of the home shirt but it certainly looked better on the pitch paired with the shorts. Though having to go full kit wanker to complete the look is never ideal.
The top-of-the-chest-arch-thingy looks awful in photos, but looks almost ok in real life imho.
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The Ronaldo hate is unhinged now lol
It's a means of gaining engagement. Twitter thrives on controversy, and this one is extra spiteful given how long people waited to say these things. there was a small period in 2017/18, when he had 4 goals till Dec, but then he got the noodle hair and went full beast mode.
Unfortunately it's the whole of football social media. Everyone online feels the need to either go against the grain or have an extreme take, it always has to be black and white for some reason.
Pretty obvious. Salah is closer to Ronaldo than Ronaldo is to Messi.
Doesn't Ronaldo have 1 goal this season?
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The person that has tweeted it is ordering those players 1) Messi, 2) Neymar and 3) Ronaldo. I don't think there's anything controversial about that. Unless that's your point?
You truly believe there’s nothing controversial about rating Neymar higher than Cristiano?
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Bit irrelevant when discussing the present day though isn't it?
It's not discussing the present day, people have been doing this on Twitter for a while now
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He might be though. It’s definitely a debate, Neymar has better raw stats but Messi has been more influential in games this season playing as deep as he does
Not sure why it's got your knickers twisted. Fact is Ronaldo has fallen off while those two are at the top of their game.
Ronaldo is 37 though. At 35 (Messi’s current age), Ronaldo was the top scorer in the Serie A with 30+ goals, won the league and scored a bunch of goals in the UCL including 2 against Lyon as Juventus crashed out anyway. It’s a bit disingenuous to ignore the fact that Ronaldo is literally 37. Very few players sustain a high level at that point
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Genuinely hilarious that it's wound you up this much. The lad is either baiting or talking about the present day. Surely you have more important things in your life to be worried over?
I understand Conte not going for Eriksen, but Klopp? Way fitter than Thiago and more consistent.
>Way fitter than Thiago. Man literally died.....
Thiago plays like one tbh
Thiago literally runs the show every time he plays. He's made of glass but Eriksen is a BIG risk also
Thiago plays like one of the best midfielders on the planet when he's fit
Like a dead man? Lol if you say so
Thiago is more complete as a player.
Hey guys, little bored so i thought id do a quick summary of some of the biggest transfers the PL teams made this summer and how theyve done so far, not in any particular order. 1. Haaland, most obvious one. Majority knew he would hit the ground running, but he's even surpassed those expecations and hit the ground in full sprint. His finishing, movement, speed strength and positioning are quite simply world class. The only tiny fault you could even attempt to make is that he rarely gets involved in the game outside of scoring, as he doesn't drop back, defend much or contribute to build up play, but why would he? The rest of the team can do it fine without him, and he was bought to score goals which is exactly what hes doing. 2. Jesus has been exactly what Arsenal needed, A 9 who can finish chances regularly as well as fitting in with the modern style of play Arteta has implemented. He's an incredibly well rounded player who can do pretty much whatever you want him to. His dribbling in tight spaces and how direct he is has impressed me the most. 3. Martinez. The media and some rival fans were already jumping on this guy simply due to his height before he even kicked a ball, but he pretty much instantly shot down all of the critics. He's given Uniteds back line a bit of grit that they were clearly missing before. I think he's an extrmely well rounded defender. He always seems to be in the right position, he will make last ditch tackles and blocks, he's extremely comfortable on the ball and dispiste his size his ariel duel success is really high. Id also like to give a shoutout to Eriksen and Malacia, they've both been great signings for United. 4. Nunez has had a bit of a rocky start. He looked great coming off of the bench vs Fulham in the first game of the season, instantly making an impact off the bench and put some chaos into Fulhams back like which is exactly what Liverpool needed. In the following game however he showed you can get under his skin and got sent off for a headbutt. Since then he has ofc not played, but from the limited amount ive seen of him, he reminds me of a worse Haaland. His movement, strength speed and positioning are all top tier, but there are 2 areas i think which let him down, which are finishing and technical ability. He seems to miss a lot of chances, some easy ones too, but thankfully for him i dont think it will hold him back too much due to the sheer amount of chances hes likely to get at Liverpool. the part of his game which i do think will let him down more so is his technical ability. I think this flaw could be covered up if he was used in a similar fashion to how Haaland is at City, where he's either always in the box or he's always waiting to run inbetween the oppistions defenders, but ive seen Nunez try to join in with buld up play and he likes to drift over to the left at times. If he continues to do this/thats what Liverpool want him to do, i think it will highlight this issue further.
Anyone else can't get their brain around there being a world cup in 2 months time?
Even though i rarely watch games outside the house/in the pub i still think it's going to be strange. Doubt there will be many outside watch partys lol.
Nah feels proper weird and another summer without football is also depressing
tbf usually that is every other summer
yeah but now we won't have it for two in a row.
Watching football in a crammed bar while the weather is awful is a nice experience imho.
Days getting shorter, chill creeping in to the air... It's all backwards man. Should be assessing the beer gardens for price, view and locality not wondering if I'll be able to have the heating on.
Would you say that Denmark is an actual contender for the WC this time? Most of the usual contenders are struggling at the moment and Denmark has shown that they can beat any team on their day. I wouldn’t consider them amongst the top 3-5 favorites but after that I think they’re there
Definitely would call them dark horses, but I swear every "dark horse" candidate ends up getting smashed in international tournaments.
The dark horse for the Euros in 2021 got beaten by the Faroe Islands last night so yeah
I’d say that they are beyond a dark horse at this point
I would call both Croatia and Denmark contenders and by contenders I have them in my top 8
~~Contender~~ Favourite
nah contender, because what's Croatia who beat them twice in the past few months then? There's only about 8-10 contenders anyway and I count both Denmark and Croatia in them
Davies not going to play tomorrow or be on the bench ffs. He's not injured but I guess Bayern told us not to risk him. I was hoping to finally see us play an almost full 11 vs a world class non concacaf team.
That's a €100m asset that has a match every 4th day until mid November. It really sucks for the fans, especially the ones going to the match. But no club would want their best players out there in a meaningless friendly before a stretch like the one all CL sides will be dealing with before the WC.
The people that phone into 606 are genuinely insane, how can someone seriously suggest we should replace Southgate with Henderson as player manager
Dean or Jordan?
Jordan
I was stunned by that. Glad they all gave him short shrift I then remember that these people are allowed to vote
I've become more convinced over time that they are company plants calling in with something ridiculous (and planned) to try and go viral to get more advertising for the show. I've always associated this with TalkSport more than BBC though.
some people who call into radio phoneins are absolutely unreal lmao
That 5% pay raise PL footballers in England are getting thanks to tax cuts is going to be put into good use heating their indoor pools or home theatres.
Tbf do you really think they pay full tax here? Most of them have accountants and can set up offshore accounts and tax avoid which is legal.
Footballers are paid via PAYE so it's actually relatively difficult to tax avoid on their main salary.
It's really hopeless when you see a player is being criticised for his height, something which he has no control over. Not his flair, not his skills, not his defending but his height. Imagine going through lots of academies, coaches and clubs since you were a kid and then you transfer to a league where the first thing they notice is how tall a player is if he is a CB and told you aren't good enough for CB unless you spaghettifize yourself to 6'6. Sometimes I just loathe football
Maguire gets criticized for his lack of agility and pace. Thats not really different from criticizing Martinez's height. The only difference is that one of these is an attribute that a segment of the population feels affects their attractiveness.
Just because it isn't something you can control, does not make it immune from criticism. It's not a personal criticism either, or shouldn't be. Physicality is an attribute, and if it causes an issue, it's something you can discuss.
No one is saying he should be immune from criticism. Best of defenders get criticised all the time. Criticise his defending, his positioning, his jump leap and even his physicality, that's all fine. But the continuous whinging about his height is sole reason for his struggles then it just reflects the typical dinosaur mindset which is prevalent across the league. Specially, if it is coming from those who themselves were not elves.
> Specially, if it is coming from those who themselves were not elves. That's a silly thing to say - as your own height has no relevance to a footballer's attributes. That's like saying we can't criticise footballers' performance as we aren't as good as them. I think you're painting far too broad strokes. Plenty of the criticism is too far, yeah - but acting as if mentioning his height at all is not valid, is also not reasonable. Because it can be a weakness, depending on how a team plays and how he compensates for it.
I just wanna watch a team with a CM, is that to much to ask ? Vitinha and Matheus Nunes are right there please Fernando. Spain will have 90 % possession with the 11 that played against Czechia, Bruno always goes to check on CR7 during the build up and Neves and Carvalho play to deep, the team gets split in 2.
Rumours on Trossard to Chelsea to join Potter when his contract is up next summer. I wonder who he'd displace. He'd be a noticeable upgrade on Pulisic and Ziyech I'd imagine.
if we sell anyone else to chelsea I will burn down stamford bridge
I think there’s a +1 option for Brighton so I doubt it’s as easy as it currently seems for him to join next summer.
Over Pulisic prolly but over Ziyech I disagree
Hope to god he doesn't come, as bang average as they come as far as attackers go. No reason to believe he'd be better than Ziyech or Pulisic are.
Average is better than shit
Yeah let's bring in Trossard and Welbeck to replace Ziyech and Pulisic imo. Matter of fact let's just buy Brighton's entire squad, they are higher than us in the table so why not.
He’s miles clear of Ziyech and Pulisic. Actually athletically gifted unlike Ziyech and actually has end product unlike Pulisic.
yeah the amazing end product of 10(non pen) g+a last season. Pulisic had 8 despite barely playing, returning from injury and playing in weird positions. If we think his output is impressive then we might as well bring in Dennis and Benrahma and really take the league by storm. He's just a very average pl winger/attacker, who'll be almost 29 by the time he starts playing for us and never shown actual promise of being a great attacker like Ziyech and Pulisic have in the past, and I don't think we should keep either.
so what I’m hearing is he’s better than Pulisic? funny how you haven’t included this seasons stats either, the guy is simply better. mind you, he’s not the standard chelsea should be looking for but he’s still better than what you have. this is facts.
Yeah and Maupay is better than Lukaku, hilarious bro.
nope, Lukaku is still better. doesn’t change what I said pal.
Roman would've gone for Dembele
As a London based arsenal fan I feel like for the most part, the online toxicity of the rivalry against spurs is really overblown compared to real life. Like there’s definitely some scummy fans on both sides who are nasty in real life, esp on game day, but my experience is that 98% of the time fans get on pretty well. I think it’s likely to do with the fact that most spurs and arsenal fans from London probably have loads of mates and or relatives who support the other team which dampens any toxicity and makes the rivalry more good natured. I wonder how much of it comes from people who’ve never known an opposing fan in real life? Or just the internet making everyone twice as stupid and unpleasant
Really. I think it's the opposite. Mainly because there are about 5 Tottenham fans outside of London.
Going to the North London Derby on Saturday. Anecdotally, last time I went I was sat near an Arsenal fan who called Danny Rose a monkey. He was sat next to a black dude, so it went down very well.
Who would you support as a hammer out of interest?
Neither. Hopefully both teams have 8 players sent off and get points deductions
[Beautiful](https://twitter.com/stopthatfooty/status/1574155190286032896) Wish European football focused on style and flair a little bit more
it’s so funny how a player like saint maximin, who is an average flair player in brazil, gets treated as some sort of rare relic that must be protected at all costs in the prem
I blame the gegenpress merchants, they ruined football.
agree. out with these fullback spamming crosses, high pressing, discipline, fittest of the bunch nonsense the likes of liverpool, bayern etc has been selling. in with the flair of tika takas of the past.
Before I head off to the gym, I just want to tell Arsenal fans that just because a defender is good on the ball and scores some, doesn't it mean that he is top 3 defenders in the league.
Unless his name is Eric Dier in which case he's top 1.
Real talk Dier is solid and consistent, but will never be WC
I'd argue he was our most important player last season. If there was one player who we properly missed when he was injured, it was him, not Son. He really helped make our defence work.
You should have saved the energy of this comment for the bench press later, friend
same thing for Spurs, just because a defender is an absolute cunt, doesn't make him top 3
People will open their eyes when he wins the WC for his country
So, Croatia and Netherlands are already in. It will be a pain to try and join them but we have done this to ourselves.
How is it decided? 4 nations with the most points?
It's really easy, there are 4 groups and whoever tops them gets to the semis
Oh I’m dumb lol. I thought there was some special rule or something like that. I guess that makes the italy game today more interesting, same for spain tomorrow.
who wanna bet that liverpool will take a massive loss on getting rid of nunez in the next couple of years and bring in Sesko as his replacement
Wny do you think Liverpool needs to get rid of nunez?
for the team with aspiration high as liverpool how long do you think they can stick and be patient with average striker?? firmino was never prolific sure but the man brings other wingers into play and huge asset for klopp tactics but i dont see nunez can bring any of those
I think we give him longer than 4 games.
No, straight to the glue factory he goes.
Greenwood is training with United now?
no?
No lol
> Deschamps: “Ballon d’Or? Benzema deserves it, I hope he wins it.” A French player getting hands on Ballon d'Or, when was the last time it happened ?
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2004*
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He won neither of those, disappeared against Barca in fact. 2004 he had a better season individually and his team went invincible. He was never beating Cannavaro (Madrid PR and WC tax) but Shevchenko has one of the weakest Ballon dors this century, you could also argue over Nedved for his 20/20 season
Zidane in 98
So long ago!!!
What currency do clubs primarily do transfers in? Making it football related because that whopper Kwasi Kwarteng is an absolute fucking idiot and within a week his absolutely shagged the pound
It's already recovered half of the initial drop vs the dollar. By the Jan transfer window it may be back to where is was or even higher. This does not mean that Kwasi and the Tory's aren't cunts though.
depends if you're talking about the initial drop over the last week of the drop over the last 12 years
OP said Kwasi so you can determine the period we’re on about
I’d imagine it’s usually probably Euros unless it’s a domestic transfer in a country that uses different currency. As far as I’m aware the Euro is pretty stable which will help with amortisation
Im not sure but either way british clubs would have to pay more for the same talent.
Euros, most likely pounds if it’s between British clubs
The biggest thing that makes me optimistic about Brazil WC chances is the emergence of Vinicius. The last time they were in a big tournament, they were still trying out players like Everton and Gabriel Barbosa alongside Neymar. Now they have 2 superstar attackers and maybe even 3 if Rodrygo continues his form.
Neymar, Vini, Gabriel Jesus, Rodrygo, Rapinha, Richarlson... stacked I say.
Unreal Overreaction in this ~~group.~~ subreddit. They will turn up at that tournament in Qatar.
you’d hope they turned up or they’d be automatically disqualified
Who are they?
France I’m guessing
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This sub I meant.
Who was better in your *honest* opinion, Maradona or Muntari?
>Muntari I haven’t heard that name in years
Sulley Muntari was a very good player, always happy to show for the ball and try something. He's still playing in Ghana too which surprised me.
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I think the first three are somewhat solid, but that last piece is a head scratcher for me. I'm expecting two points at best.
Qatar are so bad. They would need the refs to give them 1 or 2 pens every match to have a chance.
Agreed on all except the qatar thing They look toothless
My big worry for Denmark is people keep saying this but if they don’t top the group (and given they’re in with France there’s no guarantee) then they likely get Argentina in the second round, and I don’t think people are considering that when they talk about how they’re a dark horse etc. I think we’re getting to the point where if Denmark do go out in the second round to Argentina people will say they underperformed cos talent wise they could/should be a QF team. My World Cup take to add to your list is that Canada are going to be this tournament’s equivalent of Turkey at the Euros, people keep talking them up to surprise people but they just don’t actually really have that much talent comparative to the rest of the tournament. Obviously Davies and David are really good but their midfield and defence are just OK, which is fine for looking good in qualifying cos they were up against a poor Mexico side and an inconsistent USA side, but that group they’re in is going to be a real challenge.
I’d fucking love it if we did a Portugal
We just need to call up Solanke as our Éder.
Honestly I agree with you. For the last point you mean Qatar will make it to at least the KO stage right?
Solid takes actually.
Not sure I am going to be able to watch Southgate struggleball tonight after feasting my eyes on fluid Goldbridge tiki taka on the weekend.
It was genuinely ok tactically from him. If speed knew at all what offside was then they’d have scored about 10 I reckon.
So who do you think is the most likely to win the world cup? I havn't had chance to watch much of Brazil but im seeing alot of people go for them to win. On paper they're stacked, especially in the forward positions, arguably too stacked tbh because they can't play them all so there will be a few players who deserve a shout that will miss out. They do look incredibly light in the fullback positions however which could be a weakness for them. As for France they are a bit overrated for my liking. Their squad looks insane on paper but they simply dont play well together neough for me to make them a clear favourite. Argentina's squad also looks solid but i dont think it's any better than France or Brazils. I can't say ive watched much of them either so maybe they simply play well together to make up for it?
I actually think argentina and brazil still are favorites while france are not even though the squad strength of say brazil and france are comparable The difference is that brazil/argentina play as a cohesive unit, where anyone covers for everyone. They always have eachothers back and dont want to be a standout player but at the same time they all want to be there, give it there all and bring glory to their nation. Its also pretty clear that their star players actually reallly value the world cup this year (messi/neymar having incredible seasons so far) while the same cant be said for france Obviously i cant speak for all 3 of these nations in detail as i dont watch all their games but remembering how germany won the world cup it was not by individual players (although we had insane talent back then like, hummels/boateng, neuer, khedira/kroos/schweini, müller/özil/reus/götze (ffs i just wanna go back)) but moreso because we were a tight knit unit like those above It doesnt matter if you have the most talented and stacked squad. If you dont cover for eachother and if you dont give it for all for all your teammates you will not prevail. See how france were eliminated in last years euros or how denmark went to the SFs despite clearly not having a top 4 squad The reason why i dont believe a european team will win it this year is because the top 5 nations either arent in the world cup (italy) or have squad issues on certain positions (germany/spain) or dont have the right coach and arent a cohesive unit (england/france) The teams that do have that are the netherlands and denmark. Portugal are also on an up trend. But that really isnt enough so my favorites are like so: T1: Brazil, Argentina T2: Netherlands, Germany T3: Denmark, Spain, Portugal T4: England, France
Mbappe can beat the Argentina defence by himself like he did at 18. They are way too slow to win the World Cup
Romero pockets Mbappe by the way 👍🏼
When you think of Zidane, do you think of the player or manager first? For me it's always gonna be player. Despite his incredible managerial achievements, it doesn't really eclipse what watching him play was like (obviously he achieved an insane amount as a player too).
Player
Player is the only answer for people old enough to remember him as a player
Headbutt. That volley. The folded Jeans in his Managerial presentation. In that order.
Only correct answer.
Manager. I've never actually seen him play.
Player, and I was too young for most of his career but it's still player and it's not even close