Football (Soccer) Thread

[Sheilbh]

Looking forward to Arsenal Fan TV tonight

[Valmy]

I guess I should mention that my city finally has a team and they got their first match win last Saturday. So soon you can expect to hear about how Austin FC doesn't always win but it sure is a lot cooler when they do.

[Grey Fox]

Over the winter my team died.

[Valmy]

Over the winter my team died.

Your team is not CF Montréal?

[FunkMonk]

Looking forward to Arsenal Fan TV tonight

I don't watch AFTV but I can tell you that the fans aren't having this dross 

[Sheilbh]

Yeah - I can imagine. And I love Arteta - if anything I hate the Arteta appropriation that I think's happened with Arsenal v his time at Everton - but I feel like I've never seen a coach people are so willing to excuse with commentators literally saying "of course it's a long term project and we need to have patience".

Not sure when that patience will run out.

[FunkMonk]

I've always liked him even when he was at Everton and I was actually stoked when Wenger panic-bought him 10 years ago or whenever it was after Arsenal lost 8-2 at Old Trafford ( )

But results are what matter most in management I think and while he did win an FA Cup, his management since then has been utterly average at best. He's completely new at this and it shows.

Arteta might be great in 10 years but Arsenal need a great manager now, before they slide even further into mediocrity.

I'm not convinced by Edu as technical director either. That said, if the Kroenkes sack Arteta then Edu probably goes too. Personally, I don't think they'll sack either of them and we'll still be talking about if Arteta is THE ONE a year from now when Arsenal are sitting 8th in the league.

Anyway, even if Arsenal manage to get past Villareal, watching them get completely embarrassed by United in the final is going to be really demoralizing.

[Sheilbh]

I've always liked him even when he was at Everton and I was actually stoked when Wenger panic-bought him 10 years ago or whenever it was after Arsenal lost 8-2 at Old Trafford ( )

That was the saddest transfer for me because it was so late. However as a silver lining we did get the Everton chant: "where's the Arteta money, Bill?" until we found our friendly billionaire

But results are what matter most in management I think and while he did win an FA Cup, his management since then has been utterly average at best. He's completely new at this and it shows.

Yeah. I liked Ryan Hunn's take that he's possibly doing the things new managers do of picking teams that you think could work and be really good, rather than the ones that are less interesting but you know will work and be more middling. As he put it, it's very post-Pep - like the whole Xhaka at left-back experiment - but it's more likely to be a moment of genius when you've got Pep's teams to play with.

I'm not convinced by Edu as technical director either. That said, if the Kroenkes sack Arteta then Edu probably goes too. Personally, I don't think they'll sack either of them and we'll still be talking about if Arteta is THE ONE a year from now when Arsenal are sitting 8th in the league.

I don't know why but I do have this perception of Arsenal being the most consistently messy club - especially since Moyes has calmed things down at West Ham.

[FunkMonk]

I don't know why but I do have this perception of Arsenal being the most consistently messy club - especially since Moyes has calmed things down at West Ham.

It definitely feels like that. The club managing structure has been a merry-go-round since Wenger got pushed out.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah. I liked Ryan Hunn's take that he's possibly doing the things new managers do of picking teams that you think could work and be really good, rather than the ones that are less interesting but you know will work and be more middling. As he put it, it's very post-Pep - like the whole Xhaka at left-back experiment - but it's more likely to be a moment of genius when you've got Pep's teams to play with.

On this, I think right after Arteta got appointed he was really good at doing just this. He restructured a fragmented team, played players in positions they were good at, and let an in-form Aubameyang be himself. The back half of last season and the FA Cup victory are testaments to his ability to get a broken team working again.

This season I think he's gone a bit up his own ass, so to speak, and he doesn't have anyone there to really tell him he's overthinking things. Again, like Pep, except Pep's players are manifestly better than Arteta's.

[Grey Fox]

Over the winter my team died.

Your team is not CF Montréal?

Fuck that team. My team was the Impact de Montréal.

[Valmy]

Isn't that exactly the same club? 

[Grey Fox]

It's not a club, it has never been a club. They had the decency to not call it a club.

Now, not only do they call it a club they are also using football to describe the sport. It's too much, I've left them behind.

[Valmy]

Well that's true. The Yankees are a club and they are evil.

[The Larch]

Top 40 football clubs by average salary of their players.



Damn Barcelona, no wonder you're broke. It's one thing paying Messi through the nose, but I doubt that he can single-handedly propel you to 1st place.

Also, noticeable the top 3 Spanish clubs are in the top 10 of the list. Where's the 4th Spanish club? Down at 39th. Another thing, out of the 40 clubs, 19 are English, basically the entire Premier League. The one left out must be feeling quite bad.