[Soccer] Lets talk soccer
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Couple of leagues have started up again with some rather interesting ways to get around the lack of fans in the ground. In Germany Borussia Monchengladbach have elected to fill the stands with cardboard cutouts
And in South Korea FC Seoul are using what they're calling "premium mannequins"
Honestly the only real surprise here is that this is happening in South Korea & not Japan.
And in South Korea FC Seoul are using what they're calling "premium mannequins"
Honestly the only real surprise here is that this is happening in South Korea & not Japan.
Today I learned that Luis Suarez has become Barcelona's third-highest goalscorer in the club's history, at 195 goals.
Ahead of him, in second place, is Cesar Rodriguez at 232. He played in the 1940s and 50s, so it's quite possible some modern fans haven't heard of him.
In first place is a guy you've probably heard of, though. Lionel Messi has 629 total goals for Barcelona. That's right, Messi has more than triple Suarez's tally, in third place.
Messi's just ridiculous. We're truly blessed to be able to see this guy play.
Ahead of him, in second place, is Cesar Rodriguez at 232. He played in the 1940s and 50s, so it's quite possible some modern fans haven't heard of him.
In first place is a guy you've probably heard of, though. Lionel Messi has 629 total goals for Barcelona. That's right, Messi has more than triple Suarez's tally, in third place.
Messi's just ridiculous. We're truly blessed to be able to see this guy play.
Not to downplay Messi's achievements but when comparing those 2 it's worth remembering that Messi has spent his whole career at Barcelona where Suarez was at Ajax & Liverpool before that. Although for comparison Suarez scores a goal on average every 1.43 games for Barcelona & Messi scores on average every 1.15 games. Meaning over the typical 38 game La Liga season Suarez scores 26.5 goals every season & Messi scores 33. Which is still crazy high numbers for both players.
And the ban has been overturned on appeal. Welp, stick a fork in the FFP regulations they're done. If a club like Man City who have already got previous on violating the regs can just refuse to cooperate with the investigation when they're caught violating them agan, then walk away with a (to them) minor fine then the whole system is worthless.
Nonono, you don't understand.
The small competition clubs from, like, Belgium or Sweden or Croatia that do something wrong will MOST DEFINITELY be prosecuted to the full extent possible, heavily fined and punished.
But, well, you can't really expect the Big Boys to be held to the same standard?! The competition wouldn't be the same without them!
More proof that we should just get the European supercompetition between the 12 richest and biggest clubs going already, and allow them to do whatever the F they want with regards to money and transfers, and have a normal human competition below it. Get rid of the Too Big assholes by sequestering them off intheir own playground. I'm sure people will like it, but I'm really not convinced people will keep liking it - there's a different audience for that than for the normal competition.
Well sure the competition wouldn't be the same without them. That's why even though there are 55 associations that are members of UEFA 16 of the 32 places in the Champions League "proper" aka the group stages are filled by teams from the big 4 leagues. Even though 12 of those 16 teams obviously can't be the Champions of their respective association.
Jesse Lingard is a player for Manchester United. While he did show some potential in his youth, as he got older it became clear that he would never reach the heights that people thought he might, and that he's turned out to be a distinctively average player. This has led to some memeing, with people jokingly calling him "Lionel Lingard" or "Lingardinho", mocking the fact that he's nowhere near the level of those legends of the game.
Things got so bad, in fact, that when this season started, some guy placed a bet that Lingard would get no goals or assists for the whole season. This was, of course, pretty much just a joke bet, because even though Lingard's not a great player, he does play in an attacking role in one of England's better teams, so the chances of him having no goal contributions for the whole season were slim.
However, Lingard ended up having a dismal season, and he actually did not get any goals or assists as the season went on. Part of it was because his poor form led to him being given fewer chances to play, but even when he did get on the pitch, he did not contribute to any goals. So it seemed increasingly likely that the guy would actually be able to cash out on his bet.
And then today, on the last day of the season, Lingard seized upon a horrible error by the opposing goalkeeper to score in the 97th minute of the match, ie literally the last kick in the last match of the season, thus preventing the man from winning his bet.
The betting agency that the guy placed the bet with said they'll still pay out (hey, free publicity after all) but the guy said it wouldn't be right to accept the money, so he's donated it to BLM.
Things got so bad, in fact, that when this season started, some guy placed a bet that Lingard would get no goals or assists for the whole season. This was, of course, pretty much just a joke bet, because even though Lingard's not a great player, he does play in an attacking role in one of England's better teams, so the chances of him having no goal contributions for the whole season were slim.
However, Lingard ended up having a dismal season, and he actually did not get any goals or assists as the season went on. Part of it was because his poor form led to him being given fewer chances to play, but even when he did get on the pitch, he did not contribute to any goals. So it seemed increasingly likely that the guy would actually be able to cash out on his bet.
And then today, on the last day of the season, Lingard seized upon a horrible error by the opposing goalkeeper to score in the 97th minute of the match, ie literally the last kick in the last match of the season, thus preventing the man from winning his bet.
The betting agency that the guy placed the bet with said they'll still pay out (hey, free publicity after all) but the guy said it wouldn't be right to accept the money, so he's donated it to BLM.
Yeah, my comment about him getting sacked was more about what I expected would happen than what should happen. They're an aging squad who by all accounts have held more power in the club than the manager since long before Setien was hired, and when they struggle in matches their only real tactic is "get the ball to Messi he's the best player in the world, he'll fix it".
If he's available on a free we should set up our own Halforums United team & try to sign him! I can play left back.
I've got long arms, I can do goalie.
Not so wildly overoptimistic after all!!!I'd just like to remind everyone that I'm a wildly overoptimistic idiot.
Well, this is interesting. FIFA condemns proposed European Super League says any club / player who takes part will be banned from any official FIFA competition.
There's been talk of this for years & nothing's ever come of it. The fact FIFA felt the need to make this statement suggests its maybe closer to happening than ever before.
I hope this does kill off the Super League. It's clearly an attempt by the biggest clubs to grab a bigger slice of the pie & fuck any smaller teams. Not that FIFA would have any real objections to that in general it's just that this specific way will lessen their authority over the sport and that's their real objection.
There's been talk of this for years & nothing's ever come of it. The fact FIFA felt the need to make this statement suggests its maybe closer to happening than ever before.
I hope this does kill off the Super League. It's clearly an attempt by the biggest clubs to grab a bigger slice of the pie & fuck any smaller teams. Not that FIFA would have any real objections to that in general it's just that this specific way will lessen their authority over the sport and that's their real objection.
There's been talk of that sort of consolidation for ages. The big clubs already have a ridiculous lead over everyone else and are more big companies than actual, you know, sports clubs.
Both those players and those clubs have way too much money and really I don't find it interesting to watch quite often... A $250million team vs a $5million dollar team just isn't a good match-up - and even if there's the occasional upset, it's still not fun to watch. Yeah, that's exactly their argument to make the Super League, but ugh.
Both those players and those clubs have way too much money and really I don't find it interesting to watch quite often... A $250million team vs a $5million dollar team just isn't a good match-up - and even if there's the occasional upset, it's still not fun to watch. Yeah, that's exactly their argument to make the Super League, but ugh.
The only thing wrong with that Rangers v Royal Antwerp tie is that due to Covid it wasn't possible to have fans in the grounds. Antwerp 3 Rangers 4 last week, Rangers 5 Antwerp 2 tonight, 9-5 on aggregate.
2 fantastic games of football and a worthy reminder that it's not just about teams from the "big 5" European leagues.
2 fantastic games of football and a worthy reminder that it's not just about teams from the "big 5" European leagues.
Calamity.
I saw Pep had a sneaky little dig at them yesterday when he said how nice it was that every time Man City won the league over the last decade they would finish in at least the top 2 next season.
So about a day ago, Manchester United beat Tottenham 3-1. During the match, Tottenham's Son Heung-Min apparently didn't get up from a foul quickly enough for Man Utd manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tastes. After the match, Ole basically said, "If my son had taken that long to get up, he wouldn't get any food." (Basically saying that he thinks Son Heung-Min's behavior was unsporting, and that he's glad he raised his own son better than that.)
It should be noted that apparently "my son wouldn't get any food" is a fairly common saying in Ole's native Norwegian, and is basically equivalent to "I'd put him over my knee" in English.
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho, apparently in an attempt to deflect from this embarrassing loss, decided to latch onto Ole's comment, and basically said, "Boy am I glad that Son Heung-Min's father was a better father than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was. Not feed your child? For shame!"
The fans decided to run with it, and proposed directing Ole and his family to Manchester United player Marcus Rashford, who is well-known for his charitable efforts to end child hunger in the UK. In fact, Rashford received an MBE last year for the results of his campaign against child hunger.
This culminated in Ole's actual son Noah Solskjaer coming out today and basically saying, "Um, thanks for the concern, but I actually always got fed when I was growing up."
It should be noted that apparently "my son wouldn't get any food" is a fairly common saying in Ole's native Norwegian, and is basically equivalent to "I'd put him over my knee" in English.
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho, apparently in an attempt to deflect from this embarrassing loss, decided to latch onto Ole's comment, and basically said, "Boy am I glad that Son Heung-Min's father was a better father than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was. Not feed your child? For shame!"
The fans decided to run with it, and proposed directing Ole and his family to Manchester United player Marcus Rashford, who is well-known for his charitable efforts to end child hunger in the UK. In fact, Rashford received an MBE last year for the results of his campaign against child hunger.
This culminated in Ole's actual son Noah Solskjaer coming out today and basically saying, "Um, thanks for the concern, but I actually always got fed when I was growing up."
Welp. 12 clubs have announced plans for a European Super League.
Manchester United
Manchester City
Liverpool
Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal
AC Milan
Inter Milan
Juventus
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid
Plans are for 3 other clubs to join as Founder Members (presumably they're hoping to recruit PSG, Bayern Munich & Borussia Dortmund) with plans for each season consisting of the 15 permanent clubs & 5 other clubs who will qualify...somehow. They haven't explained how that will work yet. They intend to continue to play in their respective domestic leagues with the ESL as a midweek tournament. Although it is worth noting that the English FA's response to this is to remind the 6 English clubs that under their rules any club that takes part in a non FA, UEFA or FIFA organised competition without written authorisation from the FA is potentially subject to being expelled from all FA competitions. I don't know about whether the Italian or Spanish FA's have similar rules but it wouldn't surprise me & they all oppose this.
Either these clubs are going to be forced into a humiliating climb down, or European club football is going to look very different going forward. Either these clubs get away with this, killing the Champions League & severely damaging their national leagues in the process or we have 2 major organisations running football in Europe with the clubs & players in one being banned from competing in the other (yes FIFA have said any player who takes part in the ESL will be banned from representing their country at a World Cup) or potentially these clubs try it, get kicked out of their leagues, the ESL fails & they have to try & rejoin their national associations, at the bottom of their country's league system potentially going bust due to losing all that TV / Champions League money.
Holy fuck the madmen actually went for it.
Also their press release has some...interesting quotes in it.
"The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model. " The instability in the existing European football economic model is largely caused by the bigger clubs attempts to hoover up as much of the TV / advertising money as possible in order to finance their massive overspending on players transfer fees / wages so that they can get to the latter stages of the CL & get that TV / advertising money. This is not a fix for that - it's just going to be another symptom.
“We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.” The overwhelming response by fans to this announcement was disgust and a stated desire for it not to happen. Anyone want to take a bet on whether they will respond to that desire?
"The formation of the Super League comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability in the existing European football economic model. " The instability in the existing European football economic model is largely caused by the bigger clubs attempts to hoover up as much of the TV / advertising money as possible in order to finance their massive overspending on players transfer fees / wages so that they can get to the latter stages of the CL & get that TV / advertising money. This is not a fix for that - it's just going to be another symptom.
“We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than four billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires.” The overwhelming response by fans to this announcement was disgust and a stated desire for it not to happen. Anyone want to take a bet on whether they will respond to that desire?