Football (Soccer) Thread

[celedhring]

Eto'o to Everton. What an odd signing.

I'm rather happy with it

In other news:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/26/mk-dons-manchester-united-capital-one-cup

Wouldn't you have preferred a younger, hungrier, non-finished striker?

Also, he's wearing #5? Have a word with yourselves.

[FunkMonk]

LOLchester LOLnited.

I mean seriously, 4-0 to MK Dons...

I thought you meant Manchester United won by 4 goals. Then I checked the score.

[Syt]

Well, I guess my Scottish (Celtic loving) manager might be a bit grumpy today. And to add insult to injury the franchise owners for Slovenia are in the office today for a meeting with him.

I'll ask him not to punch or shiv anyone.

Was a dreadful game, though, and a deserved win for Maribor. In hindsight I should have kept watching the handball game between Kiel and Flensburg (the German handball league equivalents of Bayern Munich and Dortmund).

[Norgy]

£600 million or so for di Maria, 0-4 against Franchise FC. Good week for van Gaal, this. I watched their game against Sunderland, and Man Utd's defence looks shaky even at the best of times.

Meanwhile, the Stuart Pearce effect continues at the City Ground. I actually have some hope Forest might be back in top flight next season.

[Josquius]

LOLchester LOLnited.

I mean seriously, 4-0 to MK Dons...

I'm embarrassed sunderland only managed  a draw against them now


How long till it's VG out?

[Norgy]

He's 15. Still have about 15 years of failure in him before he peaks in Turkish second division.

From what I've seen of him and heard from some coaches, he's something special by Norwegian standards (which, admittedly, are low nowadays). I think his future development depends on his choice of club. He'd be better off steering well clear of the EPL clubs.

The top ones for sure, they love vaulting young talent.
The lower ones.... Could be ok. Get loaned out to league 1 and championship teams for a few years and then get a shot at the first team.

Viking's idea is better.
Dutch club would be good. Spanish clubs would've been good 10 years ago, but nowadays they release academy players by the ton. Some are really talented too.
The Dutch and German youth systems are at present much better than the English (and lightyears ahead of the likes of Norway), which translates into the national team's performances too.

15 is too young an age to leave a relatively safe environment, so I suppose there might be some buy-loan back deal.

Look at Patrick Bamford. Huge talent at Forest, left despite being offered the best terms the club ever had with a youth contract. Spent time in the Chelsea reserves, loaned out to Derby (which, unfortunately for Forest was a successful loan), now sold to Middlesbrough. I am sure his agent and family is happy with him having raked in cash by the ton, but his development hasn't been what it could've been. Mind you, Forest were managed by Steve Cotterill when he was sold, a man who couldn't spot talent if it was carried on pink elephants and with megaphones blaring "This is talent".

[Syt]

Tuning into Leverkusen vs. Copenhagen 7 minutes after kick off and Leverkusen is already leading 2-0? WTF??

[Liep]

Tuning into Leverkusen vs. Copenhagen 7 minutes after kick off and Leverkusen is already leading 2-0? WTF??

I heard they were really terrible, and good thing they're out as it would only get worse.

Gruppe A:
Atlético Madrid
Juventus
Olympiakos
Malmö FF

Gruppe B:
Real Madrid
Basel
Liverpool
Ludogorets

Gruppe C:
Benfica
Zenit Skt. Petersborg
Bayer Leverkusen
Monaco

Gruppe D:
Arsenal
Borussia Dortmund
Galatasaray
Anderlecht

Gruppe E:
Bayern München
Manchester City
CSKA Moskva
AS Roma

Gruppe F:
Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain
Ajax
APOEL

Gruppe G:
Chelsea
Schalke 04
Sporting
Maribor

Gruppe H:
Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk
Athletic Bilbao
BATE Borisov

[Josquius]

Looking at those groups the English teams all seem to have a good chance of getting through. Man City has the toughest group...but also the strongest team.

[Sheilbh]

Wouldn't you have preferred a younger, hungrier, non-finished striker?

Yes. But we've already spent £28 million on Lukaku. That's not just the most we've ever spent on a player, it's more than we've ever spent in an entire transfer window - on a single player

From what I've read it was Eto'o or Welbeck on loan. I think Eto'o for a couple of years'll be good. He'll be back up for Lukaku and with hopefully he'll be able to encourage the younger players like Lukaku and Barkley.

Also the fact that Eto'o is at Everton, even at his age, is mind-blowing. This time last year our strikers were Jelavic and Anichebe

Also, he's wearing #5? Have a word with yourselves.

Yeah. That's inexcusable

[Liep]

Daniel Agger is returning to Brøndby for 3 million pounds and a much lower pay. He rejected contract offers from other big English clubs because his love for both Liverpool and Brøndby is worth more than money as he said.

Rare for a top footballer to return home at age 29. And considering Brøndby has turned total shit while he was gone he must really like the club.

[Josquius]

Apparently Jack Colback has been called up for England.
In case you're unfamiliar with him Colback is one of the few ginger professional sportsman.
He has played for Sunderland for years, came up through Sunderland's youth system....but last year with his contract due to expire he decided to screw Sunderland around before signing for Newcastle/the scum on a free.
He has only played 2 games for Newcastle, a draw and a loss, and now he is being called up for England?
Just what the hell.
England really has something against Sunderland, calling up that guy who was merely one of our decent players, a so-so midfielder/full back, as opposed to say Cattermole who is one of the leading midfielders in the country; and one who fits into a position that England sorely needs.
National football means less and less to me all the time. The England team doesn't represent my country.

[celedhring]

As a non-supporter of England, I staunchly support your campaign for Cattermole to be called up. Good luck!

[Syt]

Hamburg losing 0-3 at home to Paderborn, who have only just risen to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.

[Liep]