Feel like I was on the pitch myself. Pure elation for the first half and intense arse clenching in the second. I might be shitting blood for a week now.


Unreal player. Ibra esque

Haaland is actually not human. Unreal. I'm so glad Manchester United didn't sign him. He's clearly the next best player in the world

Clrnc wrote:


Unreal player. Ibra esque

Can you find another link Clrnc? Don't see anything.

Schalke continue being garbage. 4-0 loss in the derby against Dortmund.

Big Willie wrote:
Clrnc wrote:


Unreal player. Ibra esque

Can you find another link Clrnc? Don't see anything.


Here mate

Mustafi will have gone from prem football to the 2nd league in Germany in the space of 6 months - holy mackerel.

spaceman spiff wrote:

Mustafi will have gone from prem football to the 2nd league in Germany in the space of 6 months - holy mackerel.

I think he might struggle at that level too looking at how bad he is at Schalke.

By the way... 😆

What’s funny? I’m missing it

Can't figure it out myself.

Ref wanted to pick the ball up and played it off when Neuer took it

I don't think so, he clearly goes to pick up the coin.

Saw some stats that showed for players under 21, Mbappé and now Haaland were complete outliers in terms of their goals per game at around 0,8. All other recent great players (Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar) etc had been in the 0,6-0,7 range to that point in their careers.
Possibly football power is getting more concentrated and that is helping these 2 players, but there is no denying their talent. We can spend the next decade bitterly arguing over who is better

Claudius wrote:

Saw some stats that showed for players under 21, Mbappé and now Haaland were complete outliers in terms of their goals per game at around 0,8. All other recent great players (Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar) etc had been in the 0,6-0,7 range to that point in their careers.
Possibly football power is getting more concentrated and that is helping these 2 players, but there is no denying their talent. We can spend the next decade bitterly arguing over who is better

Could be due to playing in Germany and France rather than England and Spain too. They are absolutely elite talent though. Kroenke needs to give us £300m so we can sign both in the summer.

The stats included players like Benzema, Henry and Lewandowski who partially grew up in lesser leagues. And these guys are nearly double each of those chaps in terms of output rates.

You're comparing apples to oranges though Claude. The likes of Thierry would be scoring 50-60 goals a season if they were from this era. Football was very different back then.

That’s why I pointed out earlier that there might be a consolidation effect that is helping Mbappé and Haaland, but their numbers are impressive. Because within this era, there is no youth anywhere close.

Yeah, just trying to explain that players from different eras can't be compared so readily. Especially when back in the day teams weren't conditioned the way they are now, the level of professionalism and attention to detail between now and then in world's aparts. Players these days are like machines, finely drilled on almost every move they make on the pitch, sometimes to the detriment of the flair that used to be in the game. This all comes from the huge amounts of money that keep flowing into the game resulting in the big teams getting bigger whilst the smaller ones get further and further away (England is an outlier).

Remember back then you'd have the traditional big teams like Arsenal/United, Real/Barca, Inter/AC/Juve but many smaller teams like Leeds/Newcastle/Blackburn, Valencia/Deportivo, Roma/Lazio/Fiorentina/Parma all able to hold their own with countless top quality players in their squads? You'd almost never get the same 3 players for the Balloon D'Or because there were so many too players from different teams. Like you mentioned, nowadays almost all the top players are playing for a small group of clubs.

That said, I agree with Qwiss that the Mbappe/Haaland numbers are inflated because of the league they are playing. They'd still be scoring bucket loads in the big leagues as well but wouldn't be at the same level as it is now playing for one of the best teams in weaker leagues.

Claudius wrote:

The stats included players like Benzema, Henry and Lewandowski who partially grew up in lesser leagues. And these guys are nearly double each of those chaps in terms of output rates.

Out of interest do you have the stats for Michael Owen at those ages?

There you go, my good sir

[Twitter]

You have to take into account the leagues these guys are playing in. Scoring a ton in the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 isn’t the same as the PL, Serie A and La Liga.

Leagues are defo relevant. But I reckon Mbappe would suffer in a tougher league more than Halaand.

Mbappe is always playing wide in a system where Cavani was strong til a season and half ago, and they also have Neymar.
So yeah, there are league strength and consolidation effects, but these players are still pumping in the goals.

8 days later

Another promising French center back who recently caught my eye, Maxcence Lacroix of Wolfsburg.

He has been very good as Wolfsburg have kept 8 clean sheets in a row now.

I can't believe after Mustafi Kolasinac and gang tried to oust Arteta out here, they did exactly the same at Schalke and succeeded immediately

When did they try to oust Arteta?

Jones, how are Eintracht fans reacting to the rumors that the sporting director, Fredi Bobic, will resign and take over the reigns at Hertha ?

Not well. If he goes he's a fucking moron, leaving a club competing for a CL spot for a club that might be in the second tier next season. He's always given off a mercenary vibe from day though, he's done a great job in the last few years but if he wants to fuck it all up for better pay and catastrophic conditions then off you go. The more important minds behind Eintrachts success of recent years are Ben Manga and Adi Hütter anyway. Especially Manga who has just been promoted has probably had the best scouting record in Europe of the last few seasons.

5 days later

Huge game in Bundesliga tonight as Bayern face Dortmund.

Dortmund have taken an early lead thanks to Haaland.

0-2 now. Haaland scores again as bayern are killed on a quick counter.

Dortmund will lose this game. They have poor defenders and I think there’s a psychological superiority that Bayern still exerts over them.

I agree. They are probably the worst top level team in Europe when it comes to defending from set pieces.

The inevitable Bayern goal arrives. 3-2 Goretzka.

4-2 now. Lewandowski gets his hat trick.

Only 9 away from the lost standing 40 goal in season record held by Gerd Muller.

6 days later

Bit of a left turn appointment but Ralk Rangnick is heavily tipped to take over at Schalke as the new director of football operations.

Schalke. The German Arsenal. Big opportunity to breathe some life into them

Claudius wrote:

Schalke. The German Arsenal. Big opportunity to breathe some life into them

What? 😆 How are Schalke the German Arsenal? And how is it a big opportunity to go to a club bound for the second division, with massive financial problems and a board in complete disarray?

Go read up our comments on November. That sounds the exact description of us 😆