Soccer Thread 2015-16

[miami_fan]

The transfer opens tomorrow and...

BBC Sport - Nigel Pearson: Leicester City sack manager

Leicester City have sacked manager Nigel Pearson, with the club saying the working relationship between Pearson and the board was "no longer viable".

[JPhillips]

Another victim of the sex tape?

[whomario]

Under21 Euro Final 0:0 after about 75 minutes between Sweden and Portugal (who absolutely slaughtered the german squad in the semi final, 5:0)

First Semifinal of the Womens World Cup starts in about 3 hours, USA-Germany. Both teams did not seem all that good so far, yet one of them will advance and still be the favourite to win it all IMO. Says a little about the state of the womens game. Not that teams have not improved, its just that mainly 3rd rate teams improved into 2nd rate teams (Canada, Australia, England or the Netherlands) while the 2nd rate teams either fell off a cliff (Norway f.e.) or are still plagued by the same old problems (France and their inability to play efficiently in the final 3rd).

Japan is awesome to watch and clearly up for another title, but i always cant help but they always need to play so close to their potential with their limited phyiscal potential.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by whomario

First Semifinal of the Womens World Cup starts in about 3 hours, USA-Germany. Both teams did not seem all that good so far

Eh? Germany has looked pretty damned good this tourney. They had a harder time against France, but that's because France plays very differently than every other women's team, yet Germany STILL had more possession (which tends to be difficult against the French) than shots on goal than France. Germany looks every bit the #1 team in the world.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Another victim of the sex tape?

Could well have been the final straw after telling a fan to FOAD, 'strangling' James McArthur and Ostrich-gate.

I separately said to my brother and mates in April that if we stayed up I didn't think he would in charge for the next season (and that if we went down he probably would be kept on - never know on that latter part!)

I do think that there is a rift between Pearson and the board - Pearson is quite pragmatic and has been directly/indirectly involved in four fairly large negative PR incidents in the last 9 months; the Thai owners are (over) ambitious and want only good PR

Add in fears that the Japanese forward we signed last week may have been at the behest of the board to help their Asian market rather than for footballing reasons (we have now spent £23m on three strikers in the last 12 months, all of whom are likely to be (or should be) behind Nugent & Vardy who we had in the Championship

And there's no way that Pearson can be happy about his son being sacked, regardless of the circumstances.

And remember he was sacked by the father (owner) and then reinstated an hour later by the son (Chairman) last season.

Too much has happened between them: I don't think the board trust him, and want someone more dynamic. Whether that is the right decision I have my doubts, but it's not that surprising to me.

[miami_fan]

Chelsea get Falcao on a season long loan.

[SirFozzie]

USA 4-0 Guatemala, score favors them a bit but still a good result

[Katon]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Chelsea get Falcao on a season long loan.

At least this time the recently injured former superstar seems more the manager's idea than Abramovich's? And he's only on a yearlong loan, and nobody thinks he's our #1 striker?

I've been pretty happy with our overall transfer strategy for the last few years, but my initial reaction to this one involves a lot of .

[MrBug708]

Cautiously optimistic that Palace can land Cabaye, but right now United is starting to kick the tires

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Katon

At least this time the recently injured former superstar seems more the manager's idea than Abramovich's? And he's only on a yearlong loan, and nobody thinks he's our #1 striker?

I've been pretty happy with our overall transfer strategy for the last few years, but my initial reaction to this one involves a lot of .

I really think this is to take a little shot at Manchester United. It is not a bad move given Costa's injury history.

[Katon]

It's certainly true that we need a new third-choice striker with Drogba leaving; I'm just twitchy after the Shevchenko and Torres experiences.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

The Telemundo scoring calls never get old.

U.S. Obliterating Japan, Now Up 4-0 As Lloyd Earns Hat Trick

[miami_fan]

Primarily for AlexB and other Leicester City supporters

Predrag 'Preki' Radosavljevic leaves Sacramento for England - ESPN FC

I feel for LLMs in English football. To lose out on EPL job to a manager from La Liga, Die Bundesliga or Serie A is one thing. Losing out to a manager from USL has to be disheartening.

[AlexB]

Saw this yesterday, but apparently it's being discredited today. Was slightly perplexing...

Not a great reaction amongst LCFC fans. If you saw the final straw behind Pearson's sacking, you'd like my mate's tweet

http://twitter.com/jeyes19/status/618829465540538368

[cartman]

Poor Cuba...

[MrBug708]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Cautiously optimistic that Palace can land Cabaye, but right now United is starting to kick the tires

Signed! Huge move!

[kingfc22]

Can we stop scheduling games on non-grass fields. This pitch is a joke.

It's not like there is a shortage of stadiums to choose from.

[MizzouCowboy]

Well that was frustrating.

[Easy Mac]

Well at least the team can finally take it easy for a game now that the group is wrapped up

[MrBug708]

Boston should never get a USMNT game again

[ISiddiqui]

I have been advocating for Zardes to be on top for a while. Let's start him there over Anti-goal for the rest of the tourney, ok?

[MrBug708]

Zardes has a killer cut back

[Grover]

And it looks like Raheem Sterling is headed to Man City for £49m

[miami_fan]

WTF is going on with the defending in the NYC- TOR game.

[miami_fan]

Is there a sensible reason for putting a group match between Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba in University of Phoenix Stadium? Seems like a good match for Florida or at least the East Coast.

[cartman]

Mexico found out it isn't so easy to dominate a team that has all of their players present, as well as the coach.

[AlexB]

So it's The Tinkerman at the KP instead of The Ostrich. Not sure what to make of it tbh: of all the names linked I think it wasn't the worst, but I am distinctly unexcited by it at the same time.

Recent highlights include getting beaten by the Faroe Islands while managing Greece, and being generally average at best at club level.

[Katon]

Well, that'll be interesting to watch. He managed to leave most of the club jobs I can think of with the club fairly well-positioned for the future but without achieving spectacular results; certainly that's what happened at Chelsea. More of a character upgrade than a quality upgrade, but he's a decent hire and I'll be rooting for him.

[cartman]

Pinto goes from coaching Costa Rica to the Quarterfinals of the World Cup to not bringing Honduras out of the group stage in the Gold Cup

[ISiddiqui]

God, the USMNT looked abysmal in the first half of the Panama game. That was the worst I've seen us play in a looong time. That defensive line is crap and Beckerman is finally starting to look his age. The team was much better in the 2nd half, but still... need to do much, much better.

[Grover]

Jenkinson back in on loan. Just need another midfielder and a forward and West Ham has enough depth to compete in Europe and the league. I'm giddy for this season.

[Grover]

Downing to Boro for 5m, 7m if they get promoted.

Looks like these funds could be used to make a run at Javier Hernandez. I'd be thrilled to see Chicharito in Claret and Blue.

[ISiddiqui]

Speaking of Mexican players, the LA Galaxy sign Giovani dos Santos from Villareal using the new Targeted Allocation Fund (yes, another MLS change to help the Galaxy, but we forget that they end up benefiting the league as a whole - think of where the MLS would be without DPs).

A pretty good piece of business. dos Santos is 26 in addition to being on the Mexican National Team, and did pretty well with Villareal last season (they finished 6th in La Liga).

[Grover]

That's a very nice signing for MLS. Too bad he never really got a chance to show his stuff at Spurs, but he really might have just been too young at the time.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Grover

Downing to Boro for 5m, 7m if they get promoted.

Looks like these funds could be used to make a run at Javier Hernandez. I'd be thrilled to see Chicharito in Claret and Blue.

As a Boro fan, I don't usually get to comment much in the soccer thread.

I realize Downing isn't what he was when he left, but the prodigal son returns. Hopefully Boro can get back up this year.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Grover

That's a very nice signing for MLS. Too bad he never really got a chance to show his stuff at Spurs, but he really might have just been too young at the time.

Indeed. And pairing dos Santos with Gerrard and Keane as well as Juninho and Zardes makes LA a very scary team indeed. And business wise, a great way of getting Mexican fans more interested in MLS (that would have also been a great side benefit to Orlando City's current chase of Chicharito).

[ISiddiqui]

So the British magazine, Four-Four-Two had a ranking of its Top 50 managers in the world, and there was quite a surprise at #24... take a look:

FourFourTwo's 50 Best Football Managers in the World 2015: 25-21 | FourFourTwo

(Also Bruce Arena came in at 46)

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So the British magazine, Four-Four-Two had a ranking of its Top 50 managers in the world, and there was quite a surprise at #24... take a look:

FourFourTwo's 50 Best Football Managers in the World 2015: 25-21 | FourFourTwo

(Also Bruce Arena came in at 46)

I looked twice. Didn't see Jurgen.

[ISiddiqui]

LOL, no Klinsi didn't make the list. But #24, Bob Bradley has certain has talent in getting quality out of the teams he coaches, doesn't he? He almost led Egypt to the World Cup and then has Stabeck, a team that was supposed to be relegated last season, all the way at #2 in Norway right now.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

As a Boro fan, I don't usually get to comment much in the soccer thread.

I realize Downing isn't what he was when he left, but the prodigal son returns. Hopefully Boro can get back up this year.

I hope so too, I'll take the 2m add-ons for that

But really, I'm a bit sad to see him go, he was a revelation for us when he was moved into an attacking central role. Unfortunately, it seemed like he and the rest of the team really gave up on playing for Sam in the second half.

[Grover]

On Slaven Bilic, from the FourFourTwo article...

When Bilic was leaving Istanbul in early June, Besiktas supporters met him at the airport to say goodbye. They carried him on their shoulders and presented the outgoing boss with a t-shirt that said, in his native Croatian: “Farewell, grand commander.”

[miami_fan]

It's USA vs Cuba in the qtrs.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So the British magazine, Four-Four-Two had a ranking of its Top 50 managers in the world, and there was quite a surprise at #24... take a look:

FourFourTwo's 50 Best Football Managers in the World 2015: 25-21 | FourFourTwo

(Also Bruce Arena came in at 46)

Garbage piece.

[JPhillips]

The end of the Mexico-Trinidad game was crazy. How can the refs let the game deteriorate to the point where the corner kicker was being blinded by lasers and pelted with bottles?

[RainMaker]

Was there no security at the game? I get that stuff happens in their shithole country but shouldn't be allowed here.

[Grover]

I love Benteke, but feel he is a horrible fit for Liverpool.

[miami_fan]

I agree. It reminds me of Barcelona signing of Zlatan as a Plan 'B' option. It will be interesting to see how the changes Rodgers makes to get the best out of him.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I agree. It reminds me of Barcelona signing of Zlatan as a Plan 'B' option. It will be interesting to see how the changes Rodgers makes to get the best out of him.

Yep.

This is what I said to Jackal after why he asked me why I thought it would be a bad move.

"Style. He's too much of a target man. They don't need someone who can hold up play. They need someone incisive, can run the channels, challenge defenders with the ball at their feet. He's a much more talented Carroll"

[The Jackal]

I still want Lacazette.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

I still want Lacazette.

You don't leave a team in the Champions League for a team that isn't and likely won't be for a long time.