cosmicway

United will score a third, it's going to end 3-1 to United.

We did that and we should have been above Spurs as well. But this final is a fix.

It's a fix.

Come on. They have Christensen and Alonso, starting lineup. Both considered as "spent forces" by Chelsea. You can't say it's Xavi's fault. I like Real Madrid style of play much more than theirs but right now Barca is a second string team.

I did n't like Barca - overall. They managed to finish second in Spain and knock out PSG but they are a shadow compared to the old Messi-Suarez team. I can't say that Xavi is to blame for that however I have a feeling their passing game is a bit outmoded.

Is there a book "how to manage a football team for dummies" ? I 'd like to enter the short list.

Everybody misses big chances. Including Maradona and Pele. Those players who miss big chances all the time are those who don't have good sideways vision and lose confidence infront of goal. Examples are Werner and Mudryk. Jackson also but a little better, Only Diego (who also missed a few glaring chances in his time) was near perfect and Drog before him. One who was real bad was Morata but managed to correct himself back in Spain. Then some others like Aube, Higuain, Falcao, well -; those did not have the strengths needed to play for Chelsea. I don't really know if a coach can correct this in a player. Maybe but I don't recall many cases. Chance conversion is really a special talent. You know who was the deadliest I 've known ? Mitroglou (Olympiakos - Fulham - Benfica) ! Not much of a footballer but cool as an iceberg infront of goal.

Nobody transfer lists their cream players. Only the poor houses. With Rudiger it was a big contract issue. With Hazard Roman's experts anticipated he did n't have many years infront of him (turned out he had zero years !). The case of Kovacic intrigued me a little.

Second strings usually. About Palmer he was a substitute and Pep quite probably made a mistake.

Monstrous, to the point I find it difficult to believe. It is anestablished fact that the teams who sell players sink to oblivion. Some people pocket money but the teams sink. Watch this: Who is Greece's greatest player of all time ? It is Mimis Domazos undisputedly. Played from 1959 to 1980 for my rivals, Panathinaikos. In 1959-60 he won the league. My father's friends were teasing me thus: "your little team is hopeless, we have the big general" and it was only his first season. I remember this as if it was yesterday. So in today's world how long would he have stayed in Greece ? January 1960 ? Bust it - ok - maybe. September 1960 ? Unlikely. He was probably going to move to Roma or Eintracht Frankfurt - I 'm not saying Real Madrid or AC Milan. The same with all the other great icons of past years. Our football history would be some evzon players from the mountains ... We would n't even remember today that Mimis was once one of the greens. Some would say "he was one of the ... reds".

Last year, after Lamps departed, we were hearing about some really big names who were candidates for the job. Now ? Also if as is rumored Pochettino asked for reinforcements and they said no and decided to leave what does that mean ? Zero transfers ?

Shows how inefficient the rating systems are when comparing teams of different countries. According to the ratings Atalanta were -100 points from Leverkuzen. So it was like a Chelsea v. Everton match and Everton can beat Chelsea but only once in a long while.

Do they really want to make Chelsea a cross between West Ham and Queens Park Rangers ? The clubs who sell their good players are doomed. Maybe somebody makes money, maybe these players like to move, but the clubs are doomed.

Potter did something like that to ill effect. Poch replicated Potter early on then changed his mind. Still we need a better defense like when we had Kante and Rudiger in the team and also note that now Thiago is gone.

The new Cucurella was a pleasant surprise, he played his part. But as I said the drawback of all this is no clean sheets and Bournemouth the day before created a horrendous amount of chances. The statistics also show it: More goals scored but also more conceded.

This fellow verifies me about the Poch system:

You are not counting properly because some other times we 've been lucky. For example the Solanke chance in the last match - that was -2 points, indefferent but -2 points.

Poch was playing something like Potterball - Mouball but without the talent of an Eden Hazard up front or the killer instinct of an Olivier Giroud. He changed his ways and it worked somehow (also Palmer's contribution cannot be understated).

I explained his innovation and why we won the last six games. If we could find a way not to be compromised unduly in the back then it is perfect.

The Tuchel team of September 2022 was sick. Some European successes in 2022-23 with Tuchel and Potter don't count because they were lower level teams (except Real Madrid who smacked us). Recovery takes some time, especially when we are no longer into big power transfers (the likes of Mbappe for example). This fellow George Benson in the video above seems to share my suspicion that Poch was sacked because he demanded reinforcements. He also suggests the clownlakies are out to sell Gallagher and Challobar.

See this:

One reason many managers get sacked at this time of the year is they ask for reinforcements. None is forthcoming, they don't like it and they get sacked or sack themselves. Could it be one of those ?

Has Klop retired from football ?

Brtn did not impress me this year. I liked Bournemouth better.