Everton have been doing some good business this transfer window. I would be excited, if I was an Everton fan. Lukaku was going to leave at some point anyways. Despite him getting 20+ goals in the league last season, in games where they lost or played poorly he showed a severe lack of character and self sacrifice for the team. Everton did well to get so much for him imo and have gotten some pretty solid pickups.

Spurs have yet to do anything, not that they need much. I feel like they should try to get one marquee signing this summer though.. Alexis? Hahah

City started the market strongly, but they still need 2 full backs so I wonder whom it'll be. Will they get Alves and play him and Kolorov or will they invest in some young talent or both?

If Rooney is going to be a focal point of their team, I think it's a poor move on their part. They'd be better off without him. He was a great player, but he's now below the level they're aspiring for.

tottenham needs more will and resolve. A club of their capabilities should NEVER lose to a mid ranking belgian team. So they prob need like a real solid defensive midfielder with character.

Believe me, we've never been this excited! I'm literally buzzing.

Ironically enough you guys, in some ways, over performed last season. Getting above 7th place in the EPL will be very difficult at this point. If you get 7th again, it probably wouldn't even end up as a bad season.

We've covered that already: https://www.metal-archives.com/board/vi ... 4#p2732284

The EL and other cups have have a long history of tons of teams with much more capability being eliminated due to the aspects mentioned in the linked posts. Just look at the EL during pretty much any season and you will see how bigger clubs prioritize their domestic league with the effect of losing to a usually much less capable team. Not surprising at all.

I dunno. Europe is always our goal, I'd like to settle for 5th, but who would drop down? I can't see any out of the Manchester teams, Chelsea, Tottenham or Arsenal falling short - if anyone, I'd go with Arsenal. (Notice i've declined to acknowledge our noisy neighbours other than this comment).

We were 13 points off of 6th last season, and 10 points ahead of 8th. There's literally just 7 teams going for it. Saying that, give me our first silverware since I was 9 and i'll settle for that and a good run in the league.

News:
-James Rodríguez from Real Madrid to Bayern Munich.
-Gianluigi Donnarumma signed a new contract with Milan despite the earlier announcement that he wouldn't.
-Steve Mandanda returns to Marseille from Crystal Palace.
-Antonio Cassano to Hellas Verona, after not having played in about a year since the broken contract with Sampdoria.
-Jonathan Klinsmann, son of Jürgen, and goalkeeper, to Hertha Berlin.

there was talk about james going to ManU. Prob a good move to go to Bayern.
I wonder what Bayern is going to do regarding flank players. Robben is super lethal whenever he is uninjured but Ribery is slowly slipping.
Also Robben injured himself during a game of tennis today lol.

Some more stuff popping up:
-Douglas Costa from Bayern Munich to Juventus on a one-year loan.
-Dani Alves who recently broke his contract with Juventus goes to Paris Saint-Germain.
-Vitolo from Sevilla to Atletico Madrid, but will be loaned-out to Las Palmas for the rest of the year due to Madrid's transfer ban.

Here I was having a good day, until I read this..

..Anyways James is a great signing for Bayern. Totally unique to the squad. No other player plays like him, so he alone adds great tactical depth. Pep had phenomenal depth tactically, I felt that was lacking under Ancelotti. The ability to truly change gears on the fly, be it with the subs or even with large scale mid game tweaks.

Douglas Costa is a phenomal signing for Juve. I'm sorry, but Cuadrado just can't get it done, at least not by himself (or in general). No offense to Manzukic, but another winger was needed badly imo. This will greatly aid Alex Sandro, should they end up keeping him. Those two are going to combine beautifully. He can play on either wing though and Juve have no right back at the moment so he might end up being used to aid that side of the field for them. Gotta love tactical options. Though I know they are trying to land Danilo right now, so we will see how it all pans out.

A small Swedish club, Östersund, yesterday defeated Galatasaray in the current EL qualification round. Though the away game remains. The club was founded as late as 1996, and only last year they made their first season in the top-tier. They're in the EL qualification after winning the domestic cup. They're a well-run club that's made an impressive journey despite losing alot of good players along the way, such as Modou Barrow now belonging to Swansea, and David Accam now in Chicago Fire. They have an Englishman, Graham Potter, as coach since 2011, who have not only managed to climb many tiers but kept playing offensive even in the top-tier.

I usually wish for Swedish clubs apart from my own to fail in Europe, or at least not to reach the main tournaments. But since there's no bad feelings really towards this club, and I don't see them as that much of a threat to my club's ambitions, and going to the EL isn't that much of a financial success necessarily (at least compared to the CL), then they may as well advance and maybe improve Sweden's coefficient.

Newsreel:
-Nélson Semedo from Benfica to Barcelona.
-Adil Rami from Sevilla to Marseille.
-Sven Bender from Dortmund to Leverkusen.

!!! Bonucci left Juve for AC Milan >:(

I think Bonucci's weaknesses will be more exposed at Milan, and Juventus should have no problem moving on without him.

-Nolito from Manchester C to Sevilla.
-Kyle Walker from Tottenham to Manchester C.
-Tiemoué Bakayoko from Monaco to Chelsea.
-Serge Gnabry is loaned from Bayern Munich to Hoffenheim.

With all due respect I would like to hear what you feel Bonucci's weaknesses are. The majority of the soccer world put him at the same level of Boateng, Chiellini, Pique, and Ramos. That being said, in any case, it is a shock move.. If he was so fed up with Allegri, as it is rumored, he should have gone to a big club. Napoli, Roma, United, City, Chelsea, would have taken him for sure. He is going to a team that has no European competition this season and were so far away from competing for the title last season, which is such a surprise to me that he went to Milan.

Mendy will be signing for City in a matter of days, combine that with Walker and you have a hell of a squad taking shape. City just bought some young brazillian kid to for midfield. I don't know if he is good enough to compete against guys like Gundogen and Fernandinho, but I'd keep my eyes on him too.

I didn't have a particular weakness in mind, so maybe that was the wrong phrasing. But I've had a general feeling that he isn't quite on the level Juventus aim to be (same with Chiellini by the way), and he will certainly be put to a bigger test at Milan due to the lesser overall quality around him.

Ah, well to think Chiellini as well isn't up to par is a bit nuts to me. Those two have been one of the best CB partnerships in the world over the last 5 or 6 years. Chiellini in particular has been at a world class level since winning the 06 world cup with Italy.

Juve do have some very good back ups though. Benatia is nothing to sneeze at, we will see what he can do next season. That is if he can even get the spot over this up and coming Rugani kid who showed very well in the small minutes he got last season. Juve need to get a right back still and they absolutely have to keep Alex Sandro, who for my money is getting right up there with Marcelo and Alaba

Some weirdness at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. French Guiana's 0-0 tie with Honduras is forfeit, since they played Florent Malouda, ineligible due to already having played for France. CONCACAF credits the game as 3-0 for Honduras! Now they will make the knockout round with a 1-1-1 record and "+2 goal differential", despite not having actually scored at all! (Their other group matches were 0-0 to Canada and 0-1 to Costa Rica.) Sure, if Guiana is charged with the loss, then Honduras has to ~win~, but I don't think they should have jiggered the standings by awarding three non-existent goals. If another country were to finish 1-1-1 legitimately, but lose a playoff spot due to fake-ass goal differential, they'd be rightfully pissed off.

Juventus aim is to consistently go very far in the CL, rather than sporadically. And for that, I don't think Bonucci and Chiellini are very reliable. Italy's two latest World Cups weren't exactly world class level by anyone, including Chiellini. And he wasn't in the 2006 one...

no italy got as far as they did in the last couple major tournaments because of their defense. ATM italy is really lacking in killer strikers and creative midfielders.

LMAO whoops, Barzagli was in the WC 06 squad. My bad. Still Chiellini has been playing at a top level for almost a decade now, by my count. Even still there are only 2 teams that aren't sporadic in the CL over the last 10-15 years or so and that's Real and Barca. Bayern were hit and miss for a while before Heyncks and Pep. So to make the CL the only pedestal for accomplishment is a bit over kill in my opinion. Especially considering the very real defensive achievements. Like being unbeaten at home an entire season or going undefeated in the league or only allowing 2 goals in the CL before the final. The list goes on. After 6 years of winning the league in a row, it's not like they walked into a title year after year, you better believe they put in more work then anyone else. You can look back, their defensive record speaks for itself.

Absolutely agree with this. Their defense has been the only thing keeping the national team afloat at all. There is a new generation coming through that might be able to do something, but even still. When you make a team sheet for Italy the first players down are all defenders so.

And that great defense failed miserably in the two latest World Cups against not too impressive opponents. I wouldn't be surprised if they fail big time in 2018 as well.

Anyway, not really an interesting discussion to begin with as I was merely saying that there's an overal impression of mine that Chiellini and Bonucci are not quite as good as Juventus aim for getting into the few clubs that often are mentioned as likely to win the CL would have them to be.

And yes, that is quite clearly their goal. They basically own the domestic league and anything but winning it would have been a huge failure these past seasons. Napoli are one of the closest challengers and their super star Higuaín went to Juventus. Imagine Messi or Ronaldo going to Real Madrid or Barcelona respectively due to it being percieved as a step upwards in their career. Such a cause for those moves are impossible, since those clubs are much more equal to each other in terms of expectations of winning the league and going far in the CL on a regular basis.

Never said they don't put in the work...

Juve easily made it into the finals their defense did not crack or waver for even one moment before the finals. I really do not get what you mean with italy or juve lacking in killer defense. Remember that for a truely world class defense you need to have attacking options that can hurt the other side and in the final juve really just couldnt and this problem was so much more apparent during the last cups. Defense starts with your opponents goalkeeper.

I haven't said anything about why Juventus went far in the last season's CL. Just like the post that caused this whole thing didn't say anything about neither Juventus nor Italy's overall defense. Or that they don't have a good defense. Or that Juventus defense isn't significantly better than that of all other Italian clubs. Or that Chiellini or Bonucci aren't good defenders by most standards. Etc.


So the only relevant thing was to clarify why that's their aim, and why dominating the domestic league isn't enough for that type of club at this time in their history. The rest is irrelevant to what I was saying.

--------
Speaking of Milan transfers, they've now also bought Lucas Biglia from Lazio.

Sweden's best team, Malmö, just got eliminated in the second CL qualification round by Vardar Skopje from Macedonia. I knew they fucked up when getting their current coach, who earlier was in my team. This is even more embarassing for them then it was for my team when we got eliminated by Ruzomberok from Slovakia in 2006.

More transfer news:
-Lucas Leiva from Liverpool to Lazio.
-Joe Hart from Manchester C to West Ham on a loan.

To me it just seems like your splitting hairs because to name 2 CBs better then what they've got/had would be a list totaling maybe 3-5 players. So I think we are just arguing semantics at this point.

Morata to Chelsea.. sighhh I wish he went back to Juve. Of course, it's chelsea though. Conte bought him, but never had the chance to work with him. He is truly phenomenal player that needs play time and a good system built around his attributes. He will do very well in the EPL

I'm amazed that Everton fans want Rooney back. He slagged the club off. His performances for United over the last three years have been absolutely dire, and his performances for England have been even worse. He only joined because there is a world cup at the end of this season, not because of some deep loyalty to the club.
At best, he prove to be a good marketing option, but there's nothing he can do to improve the team. Regardless of the signings you've made, Everton are a distinctly weaker unit this season without Lukaku.
Solanke looks a good bit of business for Liverpool. The goal he scored against Palace was excellent. He looks very assured, and it looks like Liverpool might finally have a deputy for Firmino. His workrate and movement really is excellent.
I'm also reading that Liverpool are in for a third bid for Naby Keita. The second bid of 75m Euros was rejected. Surely they can't reject a third bid for a player they signed for only 15m Euros from a sister club?

Galatasaray only got 1-1 at home against the aforementioned Swedish team Östersund, thus being eliminated in the second qualification round for EL. Another Swedish team, Norrköping, that's considered better than Östersund, got eliminated after penalty shoot-out against Trakai from Lithuania...

In other news:
-Wojciech Szczesny from Arsenal to Juventus.
-Mattia De Sciglio from Milan to Juventus.
-Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez from Leverkusen to West Ham.
-Albania continues with having an Italian coach, this time it's the former (among others) Roma defender Christian Panucci.

yeah galatasaray has been kinda a joke the last couple seasons. No proper long term policy there at all, even galatasaray fans agree with this.

I'm reading preliminary reports that Liverpool have made a successful 75 million pound bid for Naby Keita. Virgil van Dijk has also effectively told Southampton that he wants to leave for Liverpool, and they've responded by forcing him to train alone. Emre Can apparently is under a bid from Juventus also.

I wrote earlier that Antonio Cassano went to Hellas Verona. Well, since then, he's retired, changed his mind and returned, then broke the contract but announced that he's not retiring, and now he's retired...

Other news:
-Danilo from Real Madrid to Manchester C.
-Benjamin Mendy from Monaco to Manchester C.
-Aleksandar Kolarov from Manchester C to Roma.
-Federico Bernardeschi from Fiorentina to Juventus.

Neymar to PSG is almost a done deal. 222Mil!! Ridiculous value. With that kind of money Barça should be able to get 3 world class players for midfield and attack. World gone mad, I say.

It's ridiculous to me. Suarez said if someone offered him 3 times the amount he was being paid he still wouldn't leave. Suarez understands how he gets fed and that is out of the hand that Messi extends to him. If that doesn't speak to his character and what kind of team chemistry he exudes, then I don't know what does. At the end of the day if Neymar wants to leave, then Barca don't need him. You don't want guys on your team searching out personal glory over team glory. If I was a barca fan I would take another Mascherano over 3 Neymar's. Self sacrifice for the team.

That being said, it will be interesting to see what guys they bring in now with that money. Coutinho is a complete player at this point and would fit like a glove, though Klopp has been forthright about his availability. Dybala loves Italy, Juve and turned down a bid from Barca before. He is the main man there, I highly doubt he would leave. He already makes a ton of money too so. Is it possible to get Dele Alli? That would be a great pick up, in my opinion. Kimmich wants more playing time.. Is Thiago Alcantara on the table if you throw 70mil at Bayern? Who knows. Thiago would literally be perfect, Kimmich would need a learning curve. There tons and tons of options with the cash they'll be getting off Neymar.

Agreed.

-Nemanja Matic from Chelsea to Manchester U.
-Jesús Navas returns to Sevilla as a free agent, leaving Manchester C.

Damn, I would have liked both Napoli and Nice to be in the CL, but now they face each other in the last qualification round. Prefer Nice though due to Napoli already being in the CL on a regular basis.



-Alvaro Negredo from Valencia to Besiktas.
-Kelechi Iheanacho from Manchester C to Leicester.

Also Diego Costa seem to be on his way from Chelsea back to Atletico Madrid.

Bayern Munich won the German Super Cup game over Dortmund on a penalty shoot-out. Despite equalizing late, I'd say Munich was pretty clearly the more impressive team in that game.

Both Monaco and Paris SG won their opening games in Ligue 1, despite the latter missing lots of great chances againt Amiens and Toulouse taking the lead twice against Monaco. Monaco and PSG will probably be very close to each other point-wise throughout the entire season.

-Holger Badstuber to Stuttgart as a free agent, belonging latest to Bayern Munich, though he was on loan at Schalke last season.
-Fernando from Manchester C to Galatasaray.

Coutinho and Alli would be better replacements for Iniesta rather than Neymar. The closest fit in the EPL in my mind would be Sanchez or Hazard.

As a biased Liverpool fan, I'd personally love for Klopp to hold his stance. The Spanish media seem to be playing their chorus of smoke and mirrors, as they do every time they want a top player. Coutinho so far however, seems happy at Liverpool. Watch me fall on my sword because of that sentence in the next 48 hours.

The PL have begun.
-Chelsea lost 2-3 at home against Burnley after an early red card on Cahill and a late one for Fabregas. Interesting suspensions considering their next game is Tottenham away.
-Rooney scored the one and only goal in his comeback game for Everton, at home against Stoke.
-Watford got a late 3-3-equalizer at home against Liverpool, who probably have more focus on the upcioming CL qualification against Hoffenheim. I'm quite curious to see what Marco Silva will achieve with Watford, as he showed some promise with Hull last season, despite not managing to save them from being relegated.
-Arsenal seem to face another season of unreliability. They did win at home against Leicester, 4-3, but they were down twice. And obviously conceding three goals at home against an expected mid-table team isn't too promising...

Also noticed that Gary Medel goes from Inter to Besiktas.

It's less to do with that and more to do with the fact that our defence is incredibly poor. Reinforcements are desperately needed (both defensively and for the squad in general), but whether they'll be forthcoming is anyone's guess. Klopp doesn't seem to want to bring in anyone just for the sake of it, but there's surely a vast array of players out there who would improve the squad.

Yeah, Liverpool certainly have their problems, and should be very happy if they reach a 4th place this season.

Newcastle had a good 0-0 against Tottenham in the 48th minute, when Jonjo Shelvey decides to intentionally step on Dele Alli who was lying down, and was given a red card. Tottenham later won with 2-0.



What an idiot.

And an entertaining Italian Super Cup where Lazio defeated Juventus with 3-2. Lazio had 2-0 after two goals, the first one on penalty, by Immobile. Juventus scored twice between 85th and 91st, both, and the first one on a great free kick, by Dybala. Then in 93rd, Jordan Lukaku did a great serving of Alessandro Murgia to 3-2.