Meatwad wrote:

Claudius wrote:

Conceded 5 goals all season. Simeone does it differently.

that's my dawg.

I’m not even sure why Roman Abramovich is letting Fat Frank face him. It will end in tears for Chelsea

nah it won't get embarrassing. atletico keep you in the game enough to where you think you can get something from it until you realize you never had a chance of scoring. on aggregate the score line won't look bad for them.

I watched the highlights yesterday. At first I just saw the score and noticed Barca had scored five without Messi being on the scoresheet (wouldn't have been that weird this season), but from the highlights it looked like he was still involved in almost everything they did.

Also, while I have absolutely no love for PGMOL, there are quite a few terrible VAR decisions in Spain as well.

jones wrote:

Granada Barcelona in the CdR quarter final was one of the best matches I've watched in years. Perfect advertisement for football and an antidote to the poisonous dogshit the PGMOL is feeding us in England.

If you haven't seen the result here's a link to watch either the full game or extended highlights of it

Youtube highlights of it. Thanks for the shoutout, looks incredible from the highlights. That last goal by Alba and the assist by Griezmann, wow

Youseff En Nesyri has been pumping in goals like crazy for Sevilla over the past 30 days. One to watch out for.

Too many hot young French defenders...

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That's outrageous for a CB

Claudius wrote:

Too many hot young French defenders...

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Yup, France are well and truly stacked.

And I would not be surprised if most of these young hot shots don't even make it to the Euors come summer.

How can they? We have to assume Varane is a lock. And Lenglet. Maybe Upamecano takes another spot at this rate. Kimpembe and Zouma are dispensable. And then it’s a fight to the death for the last 2 spots.

Claudius wrote:

How can they? We have to assume Varane is a lock. And Lenglet. Maybe Upamecano takes another spot at this rate. Kimpembe and Zouma are dispensable.  And then it’s a fight to the death for the last 2 spots.

I would say that Lucas is probably above likes of Upmecano in the pecking order because of his versatility. Pavard can also fill in at center back if needed.

There is Laporte / Konate as well who are in contention.

The much hyped Ilaix Moriba making his Barca debut today against Alaves.

Barca 2-0 up at half time. Trincao and Messi the goal scorers.

Trincao really coming good. Leicester unlucky not to finish the deal this summer, could have had a real gem

mentalvortex wrote:

The much hyped Ilaix Moriba making his Barca debut today against Alaves.

Barca 2-0 up at half time. Trincao and Messi the goal scorers.

Big mistake by the teenager as his hospital pass was intercepted by an Alaves attacker who went on to score.

Messi and co turned it on after the Alves goal.

Braces for Trincao and Messi (two fantastic finishes tbf) as they won 5-1.

Pedri and De Jong were excellent.

Atletico's unbeaten run is finally over as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Levante.

Lets see if Barca/real can take advantage of the dropped points.

Real are only 3 back now. Zidane is pushing his grumpy old men hard

Bad week for Barca as they dropped points at home against Cadiz.

All thanks to a last minute retarded tackle by Lenglet giving away a penalty.

Barca should killed the game much before that with several clear cut chances missed, Dembele one of main culprits.

9 goals in the last 6 games for Alexander Isak after his hattrick today:

Finally feeling good about him?

Klaus has always been a fan of his,just doesn't think the timing is right for him to leave yet if I remember correctly. He's the kind of discount Haaland player that we'd probably have a shot at getting though.

Oh that. Yeah, Quincy summarised it well. I don't think it's the right time for him to move, and I don't think he would be interested in it at the moment even if Sociedad were willing to sell. He's a pretty grounded person. He'll make sure to do what's best for his development, and I think that means staying in Spain for a few years.

He has talked a lot about how Dortmund treated him, which is always a risk you're taking when you move young, and doubly so when you move to a big club like Arsenal. He was lucky in a way that he was only 17 when he arrived at Dortmund because it gave him plenty of time to start over somewhere else. Wasting another transfer would put him in his mid-20s though.

I know. You were nervous about his development last we spoke about him. I thought he could make the jump like Odegaard and you said he’s had too much instability. But after this season, do you think he’s doing still need another year to stay settled in Spain? Or he can handle a move?

I think as a mid price long term striker, he fits the bill. Especially now that ESr has killed the need for Lacazette’s alleged hold up play.

I think he'll need a few more years probably. He wasn't even a regular when this season started. There's still growing to be done. You see it with the national team too, he's got a massive frame but a bit boyish physique still and it's holding him back. He reminds me a lot of Ibrahimovic circa 2002 in that respect actually.

I think he's probably already out of any reasonable price range anyway. Real Sociedad know how talented he is and what the going rate for a great striker will be a year or two from now.

Depends what reasonable is. If he’s 50-60% of the Mbappé/Haaland price, that’s worth a shot. I’m imagining around what we paid for Laca and Auba.

He's still quite raw, I agree with Klaus. We'd be smart to buy him now but he won't be a ready starter material for a top 4 team.

Against United he really struggled badly with physical play. Totally out of the game

Fortunately his transfer was only €10m, so even €40m would be a massive multiple. I actually thought they’d bought him for more.

Keep in mind that Dortmund still have a 30 million buy back clause which is valid till end of this summer.

There have been reports that Isak not wanting to go back due to past experiences.

However a new coaching staff is coming in along with Michael Zorc, the sporting director, retiring this summer.

Mislintat (who signed Isak at Dortmund in the first place) is rumored to be the heavy favorite to take over.

So things might change quickly with the Isak situation.

Would be a smart pickup to replace Haaland if he’s willing to go back. Not that he’d get Haaland numbers

He did an interview in Sweden where they asked him about the clause and he just said the choice is his and he's not intending to go back. Things could always change, but I think there will be much better clubs than Dortmund trying to sign him in a few years anyway.

Jones, please give us your ranking of bastard clubs.

omg lol

Read the follow up tweets Bryant, the picture was edited. Still looks like a hobo in the original though.

Big Willie wrote:

Read the follow up tweets Bryant, the picture was edited. Still looks like a hobo in the original though.

ahh thanks for the catch Big Willie!

Sounds about right
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Mes que un club - un criminal enterprise