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It's seriously Grim and crammed between a largish port and a gigantic coal fired power station. The high street is also mostly charity shops and thrift stores.
What about Cleveland?
I had no idea how it was structured, so I went to the helpful wiki, and there's just one thing that I can't figure. Why is qualification separated between a "champions" set of playoffs and a "non-champions" set of playoffs. It doesn't seem like an easier road for the "champions", so why are the two groups separated?
Also, I go to wiki just looking for knowledge, and the wiki does this to me:Screw you, wiki.
Just another way that the "Champions League" is more like a "Wealthy Teams League". Or you could say the opposite, that this makes sure that some of the champions from Cyprus, Romania, Croatia, etc. actually end up in the group stage instead of it being ENTIRELY the Wealthy Teams League.
Something seems wrong with their page, it only has a handful of players. I wanted to see who had the worst pass completion rate, but no matter what I set the parameters to it only shows the same 11 players.
You have to click the link and go to the Man City page for all the stats.
Kevin Mirallas to Everton, Alexander Buttner to Man U and Douglas to Fulham.
Thanks. And of course, you have to register there.
Champions:
Switzerland vs Romania
Sweden vs Scotland
Belarus vs Israel
Cyprus vs Belgium
Croatia vs Slovenia
Non-Champions:
Portugal vs Italy
Russia vs Turkey
Spain vs Greece
Germany vs Ukraine
Denmark vs France
And then two well dressed Man City employees show up at your door with a copy of the Blue Moon Tower and a list of reasons why you support City.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Yep. Remember, those little countries voted Platini in.
Well that part goes without saying.
One of us! One of us!
In more tnagible news, De Rossi had a press conference today to announce he's staying at Roma. A press conference for that! No wonder these guys are egomaniacs.
Just took a look and I'm definitely going to have some fun with this.
Already, the stats have backed up my distaste for Suarez. His states show him to be a much more ineffecient player than I even realized. We all know that he misses tons of chances, but he also a pretty ineffecient passer and gets caught offsides at a really high rate (even higher than RvP the player that I'd expect to be highest). Liverpool is in worse trouble than I thought.
Wages wages wages. I really hope he doesn't get buried at City as he's a fun player.
edit: Working from home today and Deportes has Spartak v Fenerbahce on just in time for lunch. Nice!
I may waffle in my love/hate for John Obi Mikel or Malouda, but I never waver on wanting to beat up on Suarez.
The fact that they're only spending £5M suggests to me they want Sinclair to fill Johnson's shoes as an occasional Plan C sub when things aren't going well.
EDIT: Alright, try try again.
Good pickup for Norwich. The partnership of him and Michael Turner at the back might give the Canaries half a chance at staying up if they can keep both guys fit this season.
And, even if Suarez is only good against lower quality opponents -- I'm skeptical of that -- that's not necessarily a huge issue. I seem to remember hearing/reading that Liverpool took just 30 points of the available 60 points against the bottom half of the table last year. If they could just beat the teams they're "supposed to beat", they'd be in much better shape.
Basically, the Suarez criticism is reminiscent of the Frank Thomas, blame-the-best-player bashing in the 90s by certain members of the Chicago media. Suarez is far from perfect, but he's about 25th on the list of what's wrong with Liverpool.
He's certainly not good enough to ditch a principled stand against racism for.
Except Frank Thomas was a class act and Luis Suarez is a piece of ####.
Ehh, I'll leave the proclamations to you guys. Just as I don't think the White Sox' trading for Brett Myers is an endorsement of domestic violence, I don't think Liverpool's reluctance to ditch Luis Suarez is an endorsement of racism.
Yeah, if Frank Thomas were a little racist prick - basically, if he were the exact opposite of Frank Thomas, then the analogy might better hold.
The criticisms I was addressing had nothing to do with the racism charge, so the analogy seems fine.
We are delighted to announce that we have completed the transfer of Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City. More to come soon!
My relief, it is palpable! Woot! The only player last year in double digits in goals AND assists.
I kid! It does make sense for Arsenal to get that option, though.
No, their hounding of Evra and total backing of Suarez in an unapologetic stance serves as the endorsement, rambling press releases and T-shirts included. I certainly hope Liverpool lose every single ####### game as long as Suarez and his enablers remain at the club.
Not sure what the relevance of bringing up non-teammates (i.e. the HoF-great versus just a good player) is. I did say "blame-the-best-player", which in the context of the paragraph seems to mean relative to team, but perhaps I should have been clearer. If you want to go ahead, though, and make the case that Liverpool would be better off without him, by all means...
It doesn't make an iota of sense for Real, though. Loaning with an option is what you do when you can't get rid of an player, and is nothing like a loan for development. If you want to get rid of him anybody would rather sell him straight up.
I agree with you and it's probably why the deal isn't done yet. Arsenal have the cash, CL football and everyone wants to play for Wenger, so I don't see why they don't just buy a player outright. Their screwing around with this loan business strikes me as odd.
Right. Their reaction to the whole episode was rather embarrassing, particularly the "Look, we have black friends!" post on the official website. The club could definitely use a Bluth-like PR makeover.
Not bad for Spurs as I imagine some of that bonus is coming from City.
Lots of outlets carrying the story that Michael Dawson is on his way to QPR for a fee of £10M or so. I admit I'll miss the guy.
Me, too. As the pundits say, he's been a good servant for the club but he deserves to play and he just won't see much time with this team. Hopefully he stays fit and gets hmself into the picture for Brazil '14.
I think Sahin may have had some nagging injury problems last season, which would have contributed to his lack of playing time. If we suppose that Arsenal isn't 100% convinced about Sahin's fitness, then it makes sense that they would want to protect themselves in this way if Real will go for it. This would also explain why Real doesn't want to go for it, in addition to the reasons previously discussed.
There was some pretty shocking goalkeeping for that goal.
LOL. I do love that the article calls it "the Tannoy" though.
They'd also only have to replace four letters on all their unsold #14 shirts. Bonus!
It would be awesome if you could order a
ModrPjanic shirt, too.Not to mention Dublin, Dundee and Humberside.
Spurs are now thought to be in the race for the player, who has already turned his nose up at moves to West Ham, Aston Villa and Fulham, and will find him a cheaper alternative than previous target Emmanuel Adebayor at Manchester City.
Obviously the situation with Ade was complicated, but looked at as a pure transaction, this is a fabulous bargain, right? £5M transfer fee, 3-year contract on £100k per week wages to an excellent, sub-elite striker. Transfermarkt.co, just to grab one random example, rated Adebayor at £22M. That seems a little high, but still, this is a great deal for Spurs.
####### transfer season. I did really well not getting my hopes up over the various names being linked to Liverpool, but allowed myself to get super giddy for the prospect of Sahin. Predictably, I've now been let down, although perhaps there's still a chance if Liverpool can get over not having the option to purchase. All the rumors did, however, make the Addaidi signing pretty funny -- links to Walcott, Johnson, Tello, etc. and they go off and grab a relatively inexpensive winger from the Eredivisie.
I don't think anyone expects any player out there to really replace Modric, even the nuttier contingent of Spurs fans. When I say he's a Modric replacement, I mean he would take his spot in the first XI. No one's is replacing Modric's quality but hopefully AVB can make up for it tactically and with depth. Pjanic's agent insists he won't leave Roma, anyway. Rome is a lot closer to home for him than London, I guess.
It feels weird that Modric is technically a Tottenham player still. I feel like everyone has completely moved on, already.
I am as confident Carroll won't be going to Spurs as I was Adebayor would be.
That seems a little high, but still, this is a great deal for Spurs.
Hell yeah, it is.
####### transfer season. I did really well not getting my hopes up over the various names being linked to Liverpool, but allowed myself to get super giddy for the prospect of Sahin. Predictably, I've now been let down, although perhaps there's still a chance if Liverpool can get over not having the option to purchase.
I feel your pain! One of these windows I'm going to keep a spreadsheet of all the players "rumored" to go to Spurs that I, against all rational judgement, let myself get a smidgen excited about--Llorente, Falcao, Higuain, Lewandoski, Hazard, etc. etc. etc...
A ton of smoke about Damiao today. That's all I'm saying. Brazil's big sports paper has been reporting Spurs are in Brazil making their final push and that, supposedly, talks were going on all through the Olympics. I think it's now or never as surely Spurs will have to move on if they can't strike a deal now.
I hate that most anglophonic media correctly discards Swedish genitive suffixes from club names these days. It feels odd when they did it wrong for so long.
Only one Djurgården, only one Helsingborg. It looks weird.
In happier news, the little team that could, Portsmouth, is leading Colchester away. Not surprising, now that the team has had two days of training together. Their veterans have been there two weeks or so.
It would seem that they desperately need a win for the financial solvency of the team.
It would seem that they desperately need to avoid having players cup-tied in case they lose and need to sell the likes of Nacho, Toulalan, Isco, and the like.
The risk of the club imploding seems quite real and you'd hate to devalue the assets that might keep you solvent. If I were a fan of the team, I have no idea what I'd want to have happen. (Well other than unspeakable acts to Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani.)
edit: they took it down, but here's a screnshot: http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/8766/realmadridluka.png
None, but Pellegrini is still there so I'm guessing he plays his best team.
They also risk UEFA sanctions is they field an obviously weakened team
CFR Cluj won in Basel. Ioan Andone to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson?
You can say that again.
According to the BBC, Celtic did in fact defeat many distinct Helsingborgs.
My first take...Real Madrid better pony the #### up for Modric. My second take...I hope Sigurdsson is just 3/4 as good as the data make him out to be. Holy Toledo! Also, Liverpool should pony up for Clint Dempsey. He is good at soccerball. The latest Dempsey rumor I saw has Sunderland hot for him, which is kind of hilarious.
Also, QPR not reacting well to their ass kicking. They want to buy EVERYONE.
The defenders results, though, are so profoundly non-intuitive that I have to think something's screwed up. Top ten defenders in the premier league by the Guardian's numbers:
Ward, Norwich City
Shawcross, Stoke City
Gabbidon, QPR
Ferdinand, QPR
Knight, Bolton
Cahill, Bolton
Samba, Blackburn
Kaboul, Tottenham
Whitbread, Norwich City
Upson, Stoke City
That's just for headers. Sadly, they don't seem to give an all around ranking.
edit: Though the funny thing about the list you pasted is that by this weekend only Kaboul and Cahill will be first team regulars in the league. So much for the importance of heading...
It could of course just be a case of something like batting average, a stat that misses tons of data and massively overrates certain skills, that can still produce some amount of recognizable results and correlation to quality. The correlation seems good enough, given that top three, that it must mean something, right?Oh, that's different. (And stupid.) I'm guessing one of the main things it's measuring is set-pieces allowed, that would explain the strong correlation between defensive header quality and team goals allowed.
Without looking at the data that list looks like it is giving too much credit for "chances" rather than "quality." Of the ten players on the list, nine are for teams in the bottom half of the table. It seems to be equivalent to saying a #9 hitter is better than #1 hitter because he made fewer outs while ignoring the rate at which the outs are made.
Assuming Dawson and Thud join the already outbound Bassong and the inevitably outbound Modric, then by my count Spurs have at least 2 open places on the 25-man squad. And you could easily see more spots being freed up if Rose, Bentley, Naughton, Jenas, and Falque are sold or loaned out. This also assumes the club retains all three senior (and I do mean senior) keepers.
I wouldn’t expect Spurs to come out of the transfer window with anything less than the full complement of 25, plus at least two freebies in Caulker and probably one of Townsend or Carroll. So it would seem a minimum of two more signings ought to be on the cards, with a further one or two very plausible.
Somebody hold me.
Somebody hold me.
I can't even keep up with all the rumors flying today. I don't think Naughton is leaving, though. QPR may offer stupid money for Defoe so it will be interesting to see if Spurs blink or not.
The four categories they used are an odd choice: Defensive Headers, Jumping, Strength, and Tackling. The headers and jumping would seem to be at least somewhat redundant. I don't know how you measure strength; that seems a bit nebulous. (Balls shielded out of play? Fouls? Blocks? Thigh circumference?) Tackling is obvious, of course, but defending in the modern game seems to be at least as much about interceptions, pressing, and smart positional play.
I haven't seen nearly enough of Naughton's play, but I got the sense for internets discussion and from his new contract that AVB sees him as a depth contributor this season. He can reportedly play effectively at either fullback position, which is particularly important because Spurs really lack depth at fullback. I guess they could loan Naughton and sign someone else for depth. But I'd guess that Naughton should be able to see a lot of action in Europa and cup matches, which should lessen the need to loan him out. And really, the most pressing depth issue seems to be defense, so they'd probably want another guy along with Naughton on the squad.
With Adebayor on the squad, the most important issue for Spurs is signing a regista / deep-lying playmaker to replace Modric. It seems like they've been linked mostly to keepers and strikers. Is it more important that Spurs upgrade at striker, pushing Defoe and Kane down to #3 and #4 (perhaps also Adebayor down to #2), or get a keeper better than Friedel or Gomes? Or maybe they should just do both. It ain't my money.
Arsenal sold high!
These stats really illustrate just how much you need context and how baseball is a unique beast when it comes to stats. (You still need context in baseball of course, just not as much.)
It's in the methodology:
Strength is average number of "ground duels" won per appearance x successful percentage of all "ground duels" contested.
Of the guys I listed, I think the most likely to leave are Bentley (cut-price sale or another loan), Falque (loan), and Rose (loan). I have a hunch Villas-Boas likes Jenas as a flexible squad player who won't carp about his playing time. Similarly, Naughton can cover both fullback positions and isn't likely to cause friction because he's second or third choice there.
I've been wondering this, too. I wonder if AVB sees Defoe as being able to play on the left side of a 4-3-3 so he can cut in and shoot with his right foot which, to be honest, is the one thing he's really ####### good at. I'm not saying for every game, but on occasion. The Willian thing...I just can't believe Spurs will pay 20 million for him despite all the heat coming from fairly reputable sources. He's awfully good, though.
I've been assuming that Adam Smith and Kyle Naughton would be the fullback options for Europa cover, with Zeki Fryers also contributing if in fact that whole thing was accurate and his move is simply a matter of the compensation being settled at tribunal. I have no idea what's going on with him, though. It would seem that should have been sorted by now; the initial reports of his transfer are from like six weeks ago.
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