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They are not just pissed off at the agent, he makes a convenient scapegoat before they are willing to burn the bridges. Though that is probably moot after the latest mudslinging.
I see media reports that Ibrahimovic has expressed displeasure at the favorable treatment Messi gets. Being surprised by that has to count as rather naive.
I can't even imagine what perks Messi gets that the rest of the team doesn't get. Ibra seems like kinda dooshy.
edit: Birmingham 1 Rochdale 1 at the half. I know you all are on the edge of your seat along with the 1000 or so BC fans who showed up for this one.
Stuff like this drives me absolutely crazy. What is the point in having individual awards if all you're going to do is give them to the best player in the position for the team that happened to win?
That's one of the reasons I was so happy to see Forlan get the Golden Ball at the World Cup. It is in fact possible for the best individual player to not be on the team that won.
In other news, the Arteta for England bandwagon seems to be getting big.
A
Juventus
Man City
Red Bull Salzburg
Lech Poznan
B
Atletico
Bayer Leverkusen
Rosenborg
Aris Salonica
C
Sporting CP
Lille
Levski Sofia
Gent
D
Villarreal
Club Brugge
Dinamo Zagreb
PAOK
E
AZ
Dynamo Kiev
BATE Borisov
Sherriff Tiraspol
F
CSKA Moscow
Palermo
Sparta Prague
Laussane Sport
G
Zenit St. Petersburg
Anderlecht
AEK Athens
Hajduk Split
H
Stuttgart
Getafe
Odense
Young Boys
I
PSV
Sampdoria
Metallist Kharkiv
Debrecen
J
Sevilla
PSG
Borussia Dortmund
Karpaty Lviv
K
Liverpool
Steaua Bucharest
Napoli
Utrecht
L
Porto
Besiktas
CSKA Sofia
Rapid Vienna
IMO, Group A wouldn't look out of place in the Champions League. Besides having the highest concentration of evil in any competition.
I'm pretty sure that's because Konchesky to Liverpool is almost imminent. With Konchesky onboard, we are sure to become an unstoppable force the likes of which the EPL has never seen.
I think of our CONCACAF rivals like I think of the other members of the Pac 10. During conference play, I hope you all die in a fire, but outside of that, it's about repping the conference. Especially since CONCACAF is more like a mid-major, so it'd be like Utah cheering on TCU or whatever.
I don't know how good he is, but I do hope he's cheeky. I like Konchesky alright, I had forgotten about him, I think mainly because he wasn't playing in the opening game and I missed the game last week. Now all Fulham need is a world class attacking midfielder.
Anyone watching this Bayern Munich/Kaiserslautern game? Apparently Kaiserslautern will be fighting against relegation this year, yet they're beating Bayern 2-0. All of their fans in one side of the stadium have pulled out Kleenex and are waving it mockingly at Bayern. It's very funny. The coach is also wearing a hoody like Bill Belichick -- I don't think I've ever seen that before.
Where do you get Bundesliga games? I'd love to catch a game now and then but don't know of any channels that show it. Same for Spain.
USSF is sniffing around Jurgy. I think it's inevitable.
There is a chance they will keep voting in his corpse after he has keeled over.
There is a chance they will keep voting in his corpse after he has keeled over.
I'm all for testing your hypothesis immediately.
ESPN3 has Bundesliga games.
Gol TV. For me it's offered through the Spanish package, which also includes ESPN Deportes and Fox Soccer Espanol.
They didn't look terrible today, just a little bit off. But sometimes that's all it takes. It wasn't like Wigan got super lucky. 1-0 was a reasonably fair result.
Also, Walcott scores again. I got a lot of things wrong in the run up to the World Cup, but my argument that Walcott was worth taking is looking more and more right.
Speaking of England, poor Bobby Zamora is going to miss out again. That guy can't catch a break.
Wiggy wiggy wiggy!!!
Then you have to get an assistant who knows how to set a team out tactically / coach them. Klinsmann's only strength is managing people.
The Walcott of the first few games is not the Walcott of last season. The Walcott in the run up to the world cup was seriously out of sorts and deservedly missed out.
Jonathan Spector = League 1 standard fullback
It's the same dude. Only a couple months removed. Unless you are an absolute believer in form, to the extent that true talent for soccer is basically non-existent, it's hard to make a case that Walcott right now is awesome but was terrible two months ago.
Besides, the case for Walcott was never that he should start, or that he was going to be dominant. It was that he offered a lot of potential, something that could be useful if nothing else was working. Given the terribleness of the England-Algeria game, it might not have been terrible to throw Walcott on and see if he could make something happen.
I'd say low to mid Championship. Which is still not nearly good enough, of course. And to be fair to him, no one else in the West Ham back is looking very impressive either.
There are enough bad teams this year that it might be a real toss-up as to who gets relegated.
As much as Blackpool has impressed so far, I still think they're pretty certain to go down. I'd also give West Brom pretty good odds. But I think that third spot could be pretty wide open. Going into the season I thought West Ham would be fine. They've got some good players and I think Grant is a good enough manager. But they've just looked *terrible* so far, so who knows.
The thing is that all the teams have some positives that make me think they can stay up. Of course, a good manager or a couple good players can only get you so far, especially if you pick up some key injuries.
It's shaping up to be a fascinating year at virtually every level, though. As long as Chelsea lose at some point and thus generate the impression of a title race.
It absolutely is true for some players, usually strikers. Just as hitters can be very streaky so can strikers and because there are proportionally fewer games and chances to score it is really magnified.
I also don't think he was completely fit last summer, really needed the world cup off to get to 100%. He's also a young enough player where he the chance of making a sudden leap forward is very high. Particularly because of his speed; his brain has had to catch up with his athletic abilities.
- Clichy was totally ball watching on the Blackburn equalizer. What a chump.
- Song has really impressed me with his energy, steel and poise on the ball in the middle of the ball.
- Fabregas has been pretty invisible, and a bit shaky in his few touches on the ball.
- Definitely interesting to watch Blackburn. It's ugly, like the A's 2 walks and a HR was ugly, but it's different at least.
It's clear he's been seriously handcuffed by the ownership, and it's not his fault that Mascherano turned out to be a complete and utter ####, but unless he picks up another good striker, then we've still gone backwards again--though, I agree, it's a lot better than it could have been.
Also, my condolences to Spurs fans. There's nothing worse than losing 1-0 to Wigan, let me tell you.
The only good thing I have to say about the Hammers so far is that even if they were playing well--they aren't--the opening four games would probably have only produced four points at most anyway, so they haven't lost much ground yet.
But it could get real ugly real quick if things don't turn around.
For a team that's supposedly a very good attacking outfit, we sure do seem to get stumped when these shite sides put out their two banks of four and just sit there. The result today just reeks of the good ol' Tottenham entitlement of going into the game believing that simply turning up will be enough to collect the three points, thanks.
------------------Reina-----------------
Johnson--Carra/Skrtel--Agger--Konchesky/Aurelio
-------------Poulsen--Meireles-----------
Kuyt/Maxi---------Gerrard------------Cole
------------------Torres---------------
actually looks a good starting XI, with (unbelievably) a little bit of creativity on the wings, especially if Maxi plays.
Also, the more I think about it, the more I think taking a big downgrade on the destroyer position (Masch to Poulsen) in order to get a significant upgrade on the more creative CM position (oft-injured Aquilani to Meireles) makes a lot of sense for a team not playing in the Champions League.
Edit: It's interesting, I don't really remember him from the WC. Though I do remember Portugal played Spain equally before losing late.
actually looks a good starting XI, with (unbelievably) a little bit of creativity on the wings, especially if Maxi plays.
Is there any chance Hodgson forgoes both Poulsen and Lucas, and instead goes with Miereles and Gerrard sitting behind Cole? My fear there would be that both Gerrard and -- from what I've heard and read -- Miereles like to get forward, which could leave them vulnerable to counter attacks, but there's something to be said for getting your best XI on the field, regardless of roles or tactics. Or, to say it a little differently, fitting your tactics around your best XI.
Edit: It's interesting, I don't really remember him from the WC. Though I do remember Portugal played Spain equally before losing late.
He was hurt and didn't play in the WC, IIRC.
----------------------
I've read that MLS hasn't had particularly post-WC ratings, and weekends like this are part of the problem. I know these TV schedules are picked months in advance, but Colorado v Dallas (FSC) and DC United v Chivas (ESPN)? Yeesh. It would have been tough for them to have picked a more vanilla pairing.
Is there any chance Hodgson forgoes both Poulsen and Lucas, and instead goes with Miereles and Gerrard sitting behind Cole? My fear there would be that both Gerrard and -- from what I've heard and read -- Miereles like to get forward, which could leave them vulnerable to counter attacks, but there's something to be said for getting your best XI on the field, regardless of roles or tactics. Or, to say it a little differently, fitting your tactics around your best XI.
I think there's a chance we'll see that in home games against lesser opponents, but I actually think the lineup I put up there is both the best XI and fits together better. I think Cole's better on the wing than in the hole (and we really need someone with a little flair on the wings), Gerrard offers different things in CM and SS, but I think it's basically a wash, and neither Poulsen or Jovanovic has really settled yet, but Poulsen has at least the slightly better history/reputation.
Everton pretty severely outplayed Aston Villa in a highly entertaining game. Just needed to finish better.
It does look like they try to show every team at least once in a while. I believe Colorado is only on english-national tv twice, which is just as well since they are typically a boring team even when playing well.
While it's good, I think, that everyone gets on now and again, I have no idea how the networks and MLS chose matchups. They have stuff like Galaxy-Red Bulls, and the Galaxy are on a lot, but the most televised team (including Telefutura/Galavision airings) is the expansion team in Philly (16 of 30 games). Chivas and Chicago are up there (and it's not just because they have lots of games on the spanish-language stations). Neither team was expected to be that great.
OTOH Columbus and Salt Lake are on about half as often as those teams.
Considering that the Guardian's reporting that he was no longer being considered for the Villa job, the timing makes sense. It does appear as though the US was waiting for Bradley, not the other way around.
I know there had been talk of this before the WC, but it looks like CONCACAF is starting to go forward with a new mode of WC qualification.
So now (depending on how/if they use seeding) the USA and Mexico can conceivably qualify without ever having to face each other, but it also looks like the margin of error might be a bit thinner with one bad result having much more of an impact.
I guess I'm ok with this. Bradley is perfectly cromulent. I can find plenty to ##### about, but I think we need to look at the things he does well, too. (Yes, I know I set up some easy snark there.)
Camoranesi to Stuttgart
Robinho drawing looks from Milan
Ryan Babel to Spurs
Besiktas making a bid for Robbie Keane
Hleb to Birmingham
Huntelaar to Schalke
Huh.
Also, I missed Ben Arfa to Newcastle.
From what I read, West Ham is looking to hijack the deal with Spurs (of course, both interpretations aren't mutually exclusive).
No, it looks like Gulati once again tried to get Klinsmann on board and couldn't, so he went with plan B in Bradley. Again.
Put me in the camp of people who are a little disappointed with this because repeat managers historically do not do well and a fresh face was probably needed. You may be able to add some players to that list too.
On the other hand, maybe like the US team, we need some new blood (in thread form).
I like Schalke, too. I also can't stand AC Milan or Juventus in the Italian league. I'm pretty sure Juventus is the most evil team in Europe.
edit: I spoke to soon. Reports out of Spain are that VDV is, in fact, on his way to Spurs.
That is seriously a major kick in the junk. He was the best player we've had since Kevin Doyle and was a pretty essential part of any plans to make it out of the Championship. A really exciting young player. $6 million is nice and all, but when the only thing they've invested in is an old Ian Harte and a loan of Khizanishvili...it's going to be a long year.
I've posted my thoughts on Bradley before, but to respond to an earlier post, if you thought Bradley had favorites, you don't clearly remember Bruce Arena II: Eddie Pope.
BB brought both Buddle and Gomez to South Africa despite not playing significant parts in qualifying, gave guys like JF Torres and Bedoya chances to break through into the first team, etc.
I guess the main cases for "favorites" would be Clark and Bornstein, but in the latter case, we didn't really have great alternatives (plus, BB was vindicated), and on resumes and form it's certainly not clear that Edu would have been better than Clark, even though I was advocating for Edu at the time.
I wouldn't say Bradley was vindicated wrt Bornstein, but he did get lucky against Ghana. That's not really an excuse for starting any of Bornstein, Findlay or Clark.
Which is not to say that the US had good options; we aren't Spain or Brazil, obviously. Still, he could have started Edu for Clark; Buddle/Gomez for Findlay (or moved Dempsey up top and used Beasley on the left); and put Spector (fairly described above as a Championship caliber defender) on the left. The fact that he made 2 of those moves before the first half ended is pretty good evidence that he was wrong to begin with.
That's very post hoc though. At the time, I think the moves were defensible -- but we've covered that ground before.
Going forward, I do think he has demonstrated flexibility and ability to learn from mistakes. I don't think his decisions in the WC indicate that he somehow has some kind of structural inability to make good decisions or play favorites. I see it more as a couple defensible decisions that didn't go his way. It happens. I mean, how could Findley possibly be classified as evidence of favoritism when he basically wasn't even on the radar for the first 3/4 of the cycle?
On balance, he has made the right calls more often than not, made appropriate adjustments and avoided real boners of the Eddie Pope variety.
I mean, all that said, I would have preferred a change, just because the track record of 2 term coaches isn't that good, but overall I've gained an appreciation for BB as a coach over the past 4 years. I think he's underrated as a tactician -- at least his tactics are coherent, and his team is well trained and practiced in what their roles are. And his teams play hard and have avoided any major PR gaffes. Not sure what more we could have asked for over the past 4 years.
Not when some people, including me, were saying these things at the time.
Overall, though, I don't want to be too harsh on him. He's a solid coach. I just think that (a) the US should aspire to better; and (b) that a second go-round is difficult at best. That's especially true when the 2 best field players -- Dempsey and Donovan -- will be aging by 2014.
Oh, I was advocating that Edu start as well. But what I mean is that that decision not working out was something we only knew after the fact.
It's not hard to construct a good argument for Clark at the time:
1) Started through successful Confed Cup run
2) More caps/experience playing with the rest of the team
3) Getting as consistent club playing time at Bundesliga club by the end of the season. I mean, Edu had appeared in 15 games all season, mostly as a sub, with only a handful before the World Cup.
That's without even having to invoke things like BB being able to watch them practice, having a more intimate knowledge of what they are being asked to do on the field, spending much more time watching both players play, etc.
Sure, based on my subjective viewing of the small number of minutes each had played for the USMNT over the past two years or so, I wanted Edu to start too. But I still think that it's just as reasonable to start Clark. It just didn't work out, and turned out to be the wrong decision. But it's not one that I'm going to be too angry at him about. It's not like, say, moving A-Rod to eighth in the order or trading Kazmir for Zambrano, moves that are obviously wacky at the time. I'd say his decision is more analogous to the A's trading Hudson for Dan Meyer, Juan Cruz and Charles Thomas. Yeah, that move ended up sucking, but it could have just as easily turned out to be the Mark Mulder deal instead (Dan Haren, Kiko Calero, Daric Barton).
All of that is a very roundabout way of saying: I completely agree with your second point, and I think it's by far the strongest argument for changing coaches. Strong enough that in theory I would support a change, though I'm not convinced Klinsi is a significant upgrade.
As for 1), the question I guess is who you think would definitely get more out of the US. I mean, the bottom line is that we're not that talented. BB has:
- Led us to win CONCACAF qualifying
- Won the important 2007 Gold Cup
- Confed Cup runners up
- Won our World Cup group
- Eliminted in extra time at WC R16
Who could the US get who you would project to do a better job? Maybe Guus Hiddink, but his Russia side was knocked out by Slovenia in a home and home for the World Cup. Not that I don't think he'd be an upgrade, but no coach is going to be perfect.
The only coach I've also heard linked with the job is Klinsi, and I definitely don't think that is the missing piece to the US being, say, a favorite for the last 8.
So I guess in theory, I think it would probably have been a good idea to get a new, good coach, who could do a better job than BB in addition to just providing a fresh perspective, but in practice, I was always sort of at a loss as to who that person would be.
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