[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Just finished listening to a podcast that spent ages talking about him in that game. Praising him to the hilt. And some interesting backstory to his transfer. Originally, Pep wanted Xavi but he turned it down cos he didn't want to play for a club that might potentially face Barcelona in the CL, so went for Xabi as a second choice. Xabi was sold by the owner behind Ancelotti's back, who's apparently still livid about it.

oh shit i didn't know that-- i thought it had been ancelotti who fucked up. florentino is president not owner (it's member-owned), but what about di maria though? why was he sold? cronaldo apparently has been fuming for a while now.

i read a rumor (ridiculous but still) that xabi alonso had fled an affair with some singer at the insistence (threats) of his wife, and that was why he went to munich ha ha ha. srsly, some tabloid shit.

did xavi go to china or the us in the end? i have no idea ha ha ha.

ps- on more bad news, badstuber injured *again* and will need surgery. fucking pep needed to hire more central defenders. should have gone after chiellini or someone like that. too many midfielders-- speaking of which-- look up gianluca gaudino, only 17, looks like he hit puberty 2 weeks ago, and a rising star.

[demonrail666]

I think DiMaria was a similar case, made a bit more logical by the massive amount MU were prepared to pay for him, plus the arrival of players like James Rodriguez would've made him compete for a starting position.

Haha, the rumour about him having an affair was leaked in Spain by the totally pro-Barca newspaper El Mundo Deportivo that has a history of reporting stuff designed to undermine Real. He's apparently suing the paper over it.

Xavi was meant to go to the NY Red Bulls in the summer but signed to stay at Barcelona for another season instead. He hasn't started a game for them yet though and seems to have more of a coaching/general presence role than a playing one, although he has come on off the bench.

I love Xavi but had he gone to Bayern he might've been the straw that broke the camel's back for their fans. Xabi's obviously Spanish but not as synonymous with a Spanish style as Xavi is.

Yeah looks like Pep needs a CD big time. Be careful what you wish for though. He's a big David Luiz fan so Bayern might be better off if he just ignores that position altogether.

Good article on their current injury woes

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...anchester-city

Also rumours Ozil might be off to Bayern.

[demonrail666]

Arsenal were shocking tonight. Embarrassing. Dortmund were different class. Just amazed it was only 2-0.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Arsenal were shocking tonight. Embarrassing. Dortmund were different class. Just amazed it was only 2-0.

if only mkhitarian had found his aim!

immobile's goal was … dammit, both dortmund goals were beautiful. what a joy they are to watch when they attack. but immobile's run was particularly epic.

this is the first time i see dortmund in a long time and what a great suprise.

sokratis does a good job of filling up for hummels-- yes, he doesn't distribute the ball or threaten in corner kicks the same way but i thought he defended very well.

mkhitarian greatly skilled though a bit too selfish maybe? still he put on a good show (except for missing a bunch of goals, ha ha). definitely this game's diva.

grosskreutz in gotze's old spot pretty decent, later switching sizes to the right.

aubemayang fantastic though in the end he looked completely spent.

great to see subotic back in action after reading he had been injured or under surgery or something.

can't wait to see kagawa in! i thought kloppo would put him in after mkhitarian's yellow card.

for all his complaints of lack of a deep bench i think dortmund's bench looks great

injured currently are:
hummels
kuba
piszcek
reus
gundogan
i don't know who else...

...and they still played great!

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

DiMaria …
El Mundo Deportivo
Xavi
injury woes

thanks for that!

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Yeah looks like Pep needs a CD big time. Be careful what you wish for though. He's a big David Luiz fan so Bayern might be better off if he just ignores that position altogether.

ha ha ha ha!

i'll keep wishing for chiellini.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Also rumours Ozil might be off to Bayern.

MORE midfielders?!?!?!??!?!?!

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

if only mkhitarian had found his aim!

immobile's goal was … dammit, both dortmund goals were beautiful. what a joy they are to watch when they attack. but immobile's run was particularly epic.

this is the first time i see dortmund in a long time and what a great suprise.

sokratis does a good job of filling up for hummels-- yes, he doesn't distribute the ball or threaten in corner kicks the same way but i thought he defended very well.

mkhitarian greatly skilled though a bit too selfish maybe? still he put on a good show (except for missing a bunch of goals, ha ha). definitely this game's diva.

grosskreutz in gotze's old spot pretty decent, later switching sizes to the right.

aubemayang fantastic though in the end he looked completely spent.

great to see subotic back in action after reading he had been injured or under surgery or something.

can't wait to see kagawa in! i thought kloppo would put him in after mkhitarian's yellow card.

for all his complaints of lack of a deep bench i think dortmund's bench looks great

injured currently are:
hummels
kuba
piszcek
reus
gundogan
i don't know who else...

...and they still played great!

Dortmund were brilliant but I was mostly watching Arsenal and, as good as Dortmund looked, Arsenal absolutely collapsed tonight. Their defence is an absolute joke. Not taking anything away from Dortmund but it was like the Brazil or Spain meltdown in the WC. It becomes difficult to gauge just how good the opposition are. Dortmund looked great but I'd want to see them against a fit for purpose defence before saying any more.

Ozil was appalling. Either he's the most overrated player out there or he really doesn't want to be at Arsenal. (Tend to believe the latter.) Right now, I think if Pep really does want him, Wenger would sell him in a heartbeat.

But it's the defence. Wenger's been criticised for years for not addressing it and he just won't. He's in love with midfielders, has some ideological objection towards strikers and sees defenders as a necessary evil.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Dortmund were brilliant but I was mostly watching Arsenal and, as good as Dortmund looked, Arsenal absolutely collapsed tonight. Their defence is an absolute joke. Not taking anything away from Dortmund but it was like the Brazil or Spain meltdown in the WC. It becomes difficult to gauge just how good the opposition are. Dortmund looked great but I'd want to see them against a fit for purpose defence before saying any more.

Ozil was appalling. Either he's the most overrated player out there or he really doesn't want to be at Arsenal. (Tend to believe the latter.) Right now, I think if Pep really does want him, Wenger would sell him in a heartbeat.

But it's the defence. Wenger's been criticised for years for not addressing it and he just won't. He's in love with midfielders, has some ideological objection towards strikers and sees defenders as a necessary evil.

i noticed arsenal's 4-1-4-1 today and wondered if wenger copies pep.

usually it's the younger one who emulates the old master but here i wonder.

maybe they are 2 persons of the same entity, like the holy trinity. don't know if there's a 3rd person somewhere (rodgers?) or if this is more like that myth aristophanes tells in plato's symposium, ha ha ha, the divided halves. anyway, enough metaphysics, the parallels are eery.

…

hold on hold on!!!!

BAYERN HAS BENATIA. he just didn't play last weekend and i forgot.

wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

[ although…. http://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/3875/...e-was-sabatini )

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i noticed arsenal's 4-1-4-1 today and wondered if wenger copies pep.

usually it's the younger one who emulates the old master but here i wonder.

maybe they are 2 persons of the same entity, like the holy trinity. don't know if there's a 3rd person somewhere (rodgers?) or if this is more like that myth aristophanes tells in plato's symposium, ha ha ha, the divided halves. anyway, enough metaphysics, the parallels are eery.

Wenger doesn't copy Pep. They're both fans of a tradition that predates both of them. Same with Rodgers. Pep's just the most successful in that tradition. If any of them have copied anyone it's Cruyff.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Wenger doesn't copy Pep. They're both fans of a tradition that predates both of them. Same with Rodgers. Pep's just the most successful in that tradition. If any of them have copied anyone it's Cruyff.

i get the hungary 56 --> total football --> tikitaka connection, but this is a closer following.

you know how the 3-5-2 was fashionable at the world cup?

now 4-1-4-1 with the tikitakos, who formerly championed the 4-3-3 (though i get the 4-1-4-1 is also the 4-3-3, but still).

although a couple of years ago (i think?) wenger had his 4-2-3-1 like several germans (bayern, dortmund).

maybe wenger is a bundesliga fan ha ha ha. he's alsatian after all.

--

ps found this: http://www.chicago-fire.com/blog/pos...-between-lines

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i get the hungary 56 --> total football --> tikitaka connection, but this is a closer following.

you know how the 3-5-2 was fashionable at the world cup?

now 4-1-4-1 with the tikitakos, who formerly championed the 4-3-3 (though i get the 4-1-4-1 is also the 4-3-3, but still).

although a couple of years ago (i think?) wenger had his 4-2-3-1 like several germans (bayern, dortmund).

maybe wenger is a bundesliga fan ha ha ha. he's alsatian after all.

--

ps found this: http://www.chicago-fire.com/blog/pos...-between-lines

Wow. Brilliant article. Thanks.

Despite his quite cerebral reputation, Wenger's never been very interesting tactically and does follow trends when it comes to things like formations. He's not known for making smart switches mid-game, or for playing in unusual formations (he used a quite rigid 4-4-2 during Arsenal's 'invincibles era'). His closest link to Pep is in his commitment to a quite technical passing game (regardless of formation) and for building teams more organically from within - although both seem to be moving away from that particular commitment pretty quickly.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

heard that man city will play arsenal this weekend which is good for bayern i suppose.

Did you see the game tonight? I missed it.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Wenger's never been very interesting tactically and does follow trends when it comes to things like formations.

that's what i was beginning to perceive

---

watching bayern try so hard and fail to squeeze a goal for almost a whole game was excruciating, but in the end it was a huge relief. boateng really wanted to score today, tried hard and finally got his reward-- he had a fantastic game.

annoyed that rafinha was put in, he's a nice kid and all but i've never seen him as up to bayern's level. let lahm be lahm, best fullback in the damn business, and stop fucking around. benatia seemed a bit confused but dante did worst almost allowing a goal by higuaín-- he's slowed down tremendously this past couple of years.

bayern clearly has a center back problem right now-- except for boateng, who had such a great day. that man is a tower. robben sparked things up tremendously when he came in for muller (who was unlucky today), supposedly he's not back in full form but the way he left defenders behind was pure magic-- really astonishing bursts of brilliance, it's like he had that ball magnetized.

i'm happy with the win, but i lost count of how many chances bayern missed or joe hart saved, and that was very frustrating. pep better find a higher-scoring formula soon because bayern fans ultimately don't give a shit about possession.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I watched 27 minutes of that bayern man city match today and some motherfucker owes me 27 minutes, straight up! Ok.. bayern's first goal attempt was nice and a bad ass save by man city goal keeper, but aside from that meh

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

robben sparked things up tremendously when he came in for muller (who was unlucky today), supposedly he's not back in full form but the way he left defenders behind was pure magic-- really astonishing bursts of brilliance, it's like he had that ball magnetized.

I never much liked him in the past and still have issues with his diving, but either he's been brilliant for years and I just never noticed or he's really reached another level since joining Bayern. Serious contender for this years Ballon D'or?

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

pep better find a higher-scoring formula soon because bayern fans ultimately don't give a shit about possession.

Not really following the Bundesliga but I'm now coming round to the reality that he was simply the wrong man at the wrong time going to the wrong club to replace a manager who, as you've said all along, probably shouldn't have been replaced to begin with. Not sure where either Pep or Bayern will go with this but I'd be surprised if his contract gets renewed after 2016. Pep's problem is he's synonymous with a style that's had a bit of a crisis of credibility this past couple of years. He'll easily find work but he's certainly not the must-have messiah figure now that he was a few years ago. Meanwhile it'd be fascinating to see Mourinho go to Bayern.

[!@#$%!]

i thought robben was tremendous since i saw him in the 2010 world cup (i had practically no access to tv football outside of world cups before that).

he was better than messi in the last one. he killed spain dead.

i get it that he's not charismatic and looks like a plucked chicken and he's a scandalous flopper but he's an amazing dribbler and he's incredibly fast-- and when he's on, he's really on.

if you can find a video of today's game, he came in pretty late so watch just the last 10 minutes or so. the way he'd cut into that defense was like a hot knife through butter. i was laughing in amazement. defied teh laws of physics.

bayern had a similar problem vs. stuttgart last weekend in that they ruled but scored a meager 2-0 for all their supreme dominance. today maybe it was chance that got in the way of more goals, but still. one of the problems is that lewandowski is not working out as he did w/ borussia-- karma, probably, ha ha ha.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i thought robben was tremendous since i saw him in the 2010 world cup (i had practically no access to v football outside of world cups before that).

he was better than messi in the last one. he killed spain dead.

i get it that he's not charismatic and looks like a plucked chicken and he's a scandalous flopper but he's an amazing dribbler and he's incredibly fast-- and when he's on, he's really on.

if you can find a video of today's game, he came in pretty late so watch just the last 10 minutes or so. the way he'd cut into that defense was like a hot knife through butter. i was laughing in amazement. defied teh laws of physics.

bayern had a similar problem vs. stuttgart last weekend in that they ruled but scored a meager 2-0 for all their supreme dominance. today maybe it was chance that got in the way of more goals, but still. one of the problems is that lewandowski is not working out as he did w/ borussia-- karma, probably, ha ha ha.

I LOVE Robben, he is one of my all time fav players, as you said he defies rules of nature when he is on, michael cox said he was clearly that best individual performance of the WC.. I clearly should have watched the last 27 instead of first 27 but I dont get to choose my lunch and I rarely even have it open enough to watch a game

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i get it that he's not charismatic and looks like a plucked chicken and he's a scandalous flopper but he's an amazing dribbler and he's incredibly fast-- and when he's on, he's really on.

It's all subjective I suppose, how I can hate one cheat while loving another

 

Loveable rogue........................................... Rogue

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Because Robben's "cheating" is a more common part of the game, for better or worse, where as Suarez is an unrepentant psychopath. Robben's flops stretch the rules, but most often are the result of exaggerating actual contact. Suarez either bites opposing players or handballs as a repeat offender of both no nos and further particularly implements these "strategies" only when his team is losing big games. I just don't get how Robben looks so damned old for a guy younger than me! I mean, did he do a lot of hard drugs or something?

 

[_tunic_]

 

[!@#$%!]

Extremely pleased with Schalke holding the fort vs. Chelsea & squeezing out a point to take home.