Gabriel Paulista is a mentalist.
I'd also love it if Remy dumps Chelsea out.
Gabriel Paulista is a mentalist.
I'd also love it if Remy dumps Chelsea out.
Group G is absolutely mental.
Hope we get Real in the last 16.
Fair play to 17 year old Ansu Fati scoring a minute after coming on to dump Inter out.
Also now the youngest ever scorer in the Champions League.
If I've worked it out properly then Liverpool will end up facing either Dortmund, Lyon, one of the Madrid's, Shakhtar/Atalant.
I legit would prefer Real.
Real Madrid
Dortmund
Lyon
Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb or Atalanta
Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen
Dortmund would be the best viewing in terms of entertainment. I'd fancy anyone that wasn't Atletico, though it would be nice to go back to where we won #6.
Any reason why not Atletico? Aren't they struggling a bit this year?
I'd take Madrid purely because we owe them one but I would fancy our chances against any of the above.
They are past masters of 'the low block'.
They're probably absolute bobbins, but'd still be a massive, snidey pain in the arse no doubt. Obviously whoever comes out of City's group is the best option, but it'd be more entertaining giving Real a good shoeing (Hazard to boss it, natch).
I reckon we can only play Bayern, Juventus, Barcelona or Leipzig.
Should have boshed it and come third.
You know, I'd prefer to avoid Leipzig than the other three which is telling.
PSG as well in fact. I would prefer them out of the five, all of them are better than us but at least with PSG there's a chance that they drop their string of onions, burn their croissants and fail to get the apples in their tarte tatins properly caramelised.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49707902
Barca are very high on him.
Annoyingly he's renounced his Guinea-Bissau nationality though.
Always kind of impossible to tell which way it will go when they debut that young. I'm inclined to say for most - the hype is way off the charts compared to where they end up.
In fact - I'm trying to think about how many of these 17-year-olds or so that came into a first team and did a job that ended up becoming real stars in the end.
Messi for sure, and Ronaldo was like 18 when he broke through at United? But those two are unique.
Apart from that, who? Arguably Rooney. Bale made his debut when he was 17, and apparently from googling Pirlo was also around that age. I think Aguero was 18 when he got to Athletico.
But overall I think there are way more Freddy Adus and Bojans as things turn out.
I would drop Mbappé in any list you are making
#Mbappe2020
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50737095
Napoli have sacked Ancelotti.
Timing seems a bit off considering they just won 4-0 to progress to the knockout rounds.
He's been a dead man walking for weeks and their domestic form has been dire. Nearly two months without a win.
I didn't realise former Derby manager Jim Smith passed away today.
Wanchope!
Absolute shambles in the end. 2nd loss in 4 days, and in both games we haven't started to push forward and really put the opposition under pressure until the final 20 minutes. Odoi picked up a really stupid red card - whether it was a red is a little debatable, but he has given the referee the dilemma by acting the complete twat and jumping into the Preston defender. Preston then could (and should) have been down to 9 men before half time, but it doesn't excuse a really lacklustre performance.
It's a good finish and all by Salah, but after seeing Roberto Carlos references I was expecting more. Aguero did a similar thing against Liverpool years ago.
Jim Smith bought Micky Quinn and took us to the play-offs in 1990. We lost to Sunderland and it all went to shite.
I think the old Mark Hughes one wasn't as tight an angle as the Salah one but he also had to welly it on the volley because there were defenders who'd have got back if he'd tried to finesse it.
Moving on from Salah, what about Haaland? Quite a non-existent game for him. Flash in the pan? I always get iffy when people talk about strike rates as someone like Haaland although 17 goals in 16 games is impressive, I find it less so when 12 of them came in four games.
From the few highlights I saw I thought he looked like he had a few half chances and didn't do too badly with them. The one where he forced the save in the first half was well taken, and the (better) one in the second he tried to sneak in at the near post also wasn't a bad effort, even though neither ended up being goals.
Probably needs to move to a (mid-tier) team in a decent league next to see if he can keep progressing. I guess Leipzig is the logical choice, although I don't know how good a testing ground the Bundesliga is for strikers. Frankfurt currently lolling themselves to death at the exploits of the £100m+ worth of strikers they shifted last summer.
Well, you say that but Michael Ricketts. I note his goals against Napoli were pens too, I know it doesn't diminish the achievement but it provides a little context.
Is the standard in Austria any good? 64 goals in 17 league games for Salzburg suggests they are in a league of their own so I take it with a pinch of salt.
He is clearly quality, however, it is worth remembering that the Austrian league is fucking turgid, apart from 2 or 3 teams. The remaining teams are tiny towns of goat-herders.
I reckon he should join Leeds - couple of seasons there, see how it goes. At his age there is no point joining a Man City or Barcelona... unless his agent is Riola.
The standard is pretty poor, but you can tell from watching Haaland that he has definite quality. When you consider his age, you can't knock him for having one game where he is a bit quieter, against the reigning CL champions. In my opinion, he should play the season out with RB Salzburg, then move in the summer and get a full pre-season in with whoever picks him up.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mino...ma/berater/282
Bonkers.
How can an agent adequately represent that many players?
It's not a one man operation Smiff
He's sat there alone in his hired 30ft x 24ft office trying to get the internet plugged in while fielding calls from all of them.
'Listen, Paul, I'd love to help but I've got to Skype this guy at Freiburg in fifteen and the Virgin's playing up.'
That's actually how I picture it too tbh.
It must be the easiest money in the world. You read about rugby players having agents, and it's a salary capped sport. The club can either afford you or it can't. How much negotiating room is there for an agent to be worth their cut?
I deal with cricket agents sometimes and they are basically unashamed parasite leeches, and that's with small amounts of money. The football ones must be proper Bond villains.
I still love that Mendes got into it because he got talking to a football in his bar and just offered to do a better job than his current agent.
EDIT: You ever dealt with this lot, Floyd?
http://www.fineedgecricket.co.uk/
I only ask 'cause the fella was on the Apprentice this year.
I think it was Thauvin who became a bit of a commodity before he'd got himself an agent, so he just referred anyone asking about him to his dad's mate.
Yeah I said if he had gone on Dragons' Den rather than Apprentice he'd have been asked why he needed more money and been told to fuck off.
According to their accounts from last year they have fuck all money.
I wouldn't expect them to have money in the bank, it'll be a dressed up side venture. On second reading of the site I would question how many of the clients they cite are actually still on their books. Bullshit is the primary weapon of any agent.
Out for three months with a dislocated shoulder.
Atalanta going into the last 16 is pretty funny.