They sure do love paying compensation.
They sure do love paying compensation.
Sounds like Sir Jim is having another old man shouts at cloud kind of a day.
I wonder if he is getting the same PR advice as Mike Ashley used to get.
I think he's probably old school and it is just showing. Mike Ashley unsurprisingly also has a very strict work from office only policy.
This is a strangely interesting read. A guy recently started posting summaries of the 115 charges and just providing decent analysis of everything. That's it.
Then suddenly Nick Harris, who has also been on the case for 10yrs, gets his nose out of joint big time, and comes across as a massive bellend in the exchange.
Lads, you're on the same side.
Not confident about this one as a Fiorentina follower. They're a very functional team but I'm not sure there are a lot of reliable goalscorers, so outside of a Biraghi set piece there might be a lot of pressure on Nico to put in a big game.
Good game so far.
Where that Atalanta performance against Leverkusen was the sort of showing that they only produce around once per month, this Fiorentina performance so far is exactly what they're like most of the time. If anyone in the team could score they'd a legit Europa League calibre team, but Conference League is definitely more their level at the moment.
That finish by Bonaventura was especially telling. It's not like he should have definitely scored, but he barely troubled the keeper.
I love how unphysical and unpowerful these teams are. Very tidy, slick and creative. Fuck the EPL.
Yes, it’s also great not having goal kicks played backwards.
Not sure letting a guy who had to be helped off the pitch after a clash of heads carry on playing is following concussion protocols, but okay.
Yeah I was about to post the same thing. That looks dodgy as fuck.
The greek commentator just said something like "140 out of the 410 goals of the competition have been scored between the 46th and 75th minutes of the games". So basically 1/3rd of the goals have been scored during this 1/3rd of the games. Insightful.
Newcastle released Karius, Dummett, Ritchie, Hendrick and Watts today. That last one has 'late-career Gateshead move' written all over him. Paul Dummett needs a glittering testimonial against an all star XI.
That's two very clear yellow cards so far for Dodo but none given.
Not even remotely surprising that this has gone to extra time, it was just a question of whether it would be 0-0 or 1-1
Olympiakos looking the more likely & the more deserving to win it before penalties. Fiorentina are generally solid in the middle of defence, and both Milenkovic & LMQ have played well, along with Terracciano in goal. Ikone feels like the player most likely to pull something out the bag for Fiorentina - he's a typical inconsistent dribbly boy, but it's only really him & Nico that could just create a goal from nothing.
As has been mentioned on the broadcast, Fiorentina have been absolutely godawful at penalties this season, so you'd have to imagine they'll be trying to get it done in the final 15mins.
I thought the game was fairly even for the 90, but Olympiakos definitely looked the better of the two in extra time. Helps that they've had 10 days or so to rest I guess.
The defenders on both sides have been stellar.
I've thought Fiorentina looked the better side lol.
On that second half they've been much better.
Yeah, that was pretty much the exact script I would've put down before the game. I said 2-1aet in the hope we'd get some more action, but sadly we got the scrappier version of the same game.
El Kaabi should just take the trophy home at this point. 11 goals in 9 knockout games is bonkers.
That was needlessly long, fucking hell. Would have been ultra harsh to rule that out.
Its happening again, its happening again, Florentina, its happening again.
Congratulations Adramelch.
Huh, I always thought it was Adam.
It's amazing the stuff that sticks with you, considering I prob only saw him play about ten times about 25 years ago, but I know for a fact that the Albion went with the more route one
EN ZO MA RE SCA
clap clap clap clap clap
EN ZO MA RE SCA
clap clap clap clap clap
#igormakeseverythingaboutblairerawestbrom
Time is probably right for Italiano to go make the move he's been angling for. The Fiorentina team needs a pretty decent overhaul as there just isn't much quality in the team as it stands - it's a bunch of solid veterans who will work hard & do what they're told, plus Nico, who's a really talented player but he's not exactly an elite player either.
Striker is obviously the huge priority - as someone who owns an Arthur Cabral shirt I can't help but feel he was the sort of striker that might've been more useful tonight. I'd imagine they'll look at someone from the bottom half of Serie A again like they did with N'Zola last year - someone like Andrea Pinamonti from relegated Sassuolo seems like their kind of thing - but maybe that would change with a new manager. There has been talk of Alberto Gilardino from Genoa taking the job if Italiano leaves, so if he brought Albert Gudmundsson with him that would be nice.
Nico will probably go, so a replacement there will be needed, and Kouame might leave as he's out of contract, but Ikone & Sottil are decent enough to start if they don't bring in someone established. Bonaventura & Castrovilli are both out of contract in the summer, and while they're capable it might be smarter to move on & try to refresh the midfield a bit. Not sure if we'll have Arthur or Amrabat next year, but I'd really like a bit more dynamism in the midfield. I'd be interested in someone like Mathias Soule on loan from Juve next season as he was excellent for Frosinone despite them going down.
I'm totally fine with Dodo, Kayode, Biraghi & Parisi at fullback, although I'd imagine people will be sniffing around Kayode in the window. Milenkovic, Martinez Quarta & Luca Ranieri are all pretty steady defenders, but if a new manager comes in who wants to play more progressive stuff I'm not sure any of them are anything more than adequate on the ball. Terracciano is a solid enough keeper, and they have a couple of promising kids who will hopefully be the long term answer, so no worries there, but the owner is richer than anyone else is the league (until Como show up & blow everyone else away, anyway) & has just forked out for state of the art training facilities, so there's got to be some expectation of progress in the next few years, which seems unlikely with things as they stand.
Doesn't matter how many times it comes up, a Serie A manager called Italiano always gets a chuckle. Like if PES was real life.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/c04484jemk0o
I'm sure this'll save him if they don't win a thing."My mentality is that I never haven't ever worked for a top club in my head," Kompany said.
"A top club is the environment you create. It's the mentality you have towards your job in good and bad times, that's what defines working at the top level."
"But guys, isn't the real league title the top mentality we displayed along the way? "
A truly bizarre appointment.
It's the Xabi Alonso effect. We'll see a couple more before they inevitably start massively failing.
Isn't it just anyone associated with 'Pep' getting jobs like how Sir Alex Ferguson connections used to? Bayern is a bit of a stretch admittedly.
I mean he gets more of a bye than another relegated manager because they'll see him as a relatively glamourous name and He Knows How To Win At The Top Level because he was a big name player. Couple that with some of the big name clubs who need a manager losing their mind because they can't figure out who the next crop of elite managers is going to be and you've got Bayern hiring Kompany, Chelsea getting a bloke who came second in a Pep lookalike contest and United/whoever else supposedly sniffing about McKenna because he's had a good year in the Championship.
Not to mention the Barca / Xavi stuff.
He also made the Belgian Cup final once with Anderlecht, and you can't quite overlook such levels of success.
I'd never think a whole pile of most professional or high level sports people as a fan type, but I love this man.
https://pca.st/0s38pc0m
https://www.fantacalcio.it/news/calc...i-punti-461611
Napoli's 2024 Serie A season was the worst performance ever by a reigning champion: 10th place, 53 points in 38 games. They did worse than Torino's 49/50 season (but the whole Torino squad had died the previous summer and had to be replaced)
That's an amazing 'stat'![]()
Some said: 'what’s the point? Yes I’m a millionaire but I don’t even have time to spend the money'.![]()
I'm a twit
They must be some of the most time rich people on earth. What do they work, 2-3 hours most days?
It's also only the top few hundred players, the ones really paid the huge bucks, who play that many games. Most professional footballers play 30-40 a year tops.
Mourinho in at Fenerbache. Quite the career trajectory.
Surely they're doing more than 3hrs a day?
In my head the big teams are doing 2-3hrs just on the pitch every day, as well as gym work, recovery work, film study/meetings, and then some will be working with private coaches on the side & the big names will probably have some regular media/community commitments as well.
What's the craic for the Euro's?
One mega thread seems the best option, or just stick it all in the monthly's? The days of separate group threads are surely long gone....
Let Ian decide.
Stick a plug for this euros competition in the OP, would you?![]()
Last edited by Baz; 31-05-2024 at 09:56 AM.
I'm a twit
Surely Group Stages, followed by Knockout Stages, followed by THE FINAL.
Is this Will Still a bit of a fraud then? Seems Reims' form went to shit after he did the stupid High Performance podcast and he left a month ago, now the only club he's been linked with is Sunderland.