Jype

"Liverpool wins the league" dominating the poll so far with 100% votes.

If those players you mentioned didn't give a fuck about the Olympics they would have stayed at home and had themselves a nice little relaxing holiday before going on pre-season with their clubs, simple as that. No one forced them to participate and they had every right to decline the call-up but instead they chose to go because they wanted to. And remind me again, where has anyone ever said that the Olympics are as prestigious as the Euros or the World Cup? Clearly it is not but to the players who decided to go it's a competition they really wanted to win and if some players underperformed it may well be because some of them are arrogant and condescending cunts, not because there's something wrong with the tournament itself. The way I see it, European nations probably don't take the competition as seriously as others because it always clashes with the Euros but to everyone else (mainly South Americans and Asians) it's the only major tournament of the year and they want to put on their best performance. I didn't expect Spain to come up with such a strong squad because most of their best players already played at the Euros only a month before the Olympics but to my surprise they did include the likes of Alba, Mata, Martinez etc. in their team. I don't know, maybe taking part in the Euros could have been partly at fault for them underperforming, not because they didn't give a fuck but because they had very little rest between the the club season and London2012 with all those training camps, friendly matches and then of course playing in the Euros in between.

edit: updated

Let's not be delusional here, that bunch would never have gone to the olympics after playing in the Euros and winning the whole thing. Our very own Juan Mata was one of their over-aged players and do you consider him to be shit? Just looking at that Spain squad it was amazing they couldn't even qualify from their group but it's not because they didn't rate the competition and not bother giving their 100% performance on the pitch but rather because for some reason they just weren't good enough. Maybe they got cocky after their nation had won three of the last major international competitions at senior level and last year that same olympic squad won the U21 Euros or maybe it was something else. I don't know the reasons for their mediocre performances and honestly I don't really give a fuck but I'll just say this: if they didn't think the Olympics were a competition worthy of winning they wouldn't have sent out their best possible U23 squad. FFS they even had Jordi Alba in their team and he played every single minute of Euro2012 and had just signed for Barcelona, I'm sure going to pre-season with them would probably have been nice too but he chose the Olympics over that. Also, Mata had an exhausting season with Chelsea and a little rest would have done him good but he chose to go to the Olympics too. I could go on...

Well, not exactly. It's the same League Cup we've got to know from previous years as the Carling Cup but for next season it's just been re-branded for sponsorship reasons. Obviously there is going to be a lot of youth players involved but that's mainly because it's not as prestigious as the other cups and with such intensive match schedule teams are experiencing it offers a good chance to keep key players fresh for more important games.

So basically they're paying €45m in transfer fees, €9m agent fees and massive wages (I don't believe that €250k / week bullshit for a second but still a hefty sum, that's for sure) for a player who can't even get a game for Brazil U23. Nice one, PSG! Getting Oscar for €25m and reasonable wages doesn't seem too much now, considering the fact that Oscar is at the moment by far the better player of the two.

Win all 7 competition by playing sexy football. Seriously speaking, I would be happy with winning the Uefa Super Cup, Club World Cup and maybe one out of the FA Cup and League Cup. Also a comfortable top 3 finish in the league is a must. Don't really know what to expect from the Champions League, obviously reaching the knockout stages is the least you'd expect from the Champions of Europe but I honestly can't predict anything beyond that.

Another classy performance from Oscar, very hard not to get excited about this lad. Hopefully he can adapt and get to know Hazard and Mata as fast as possible, together they will be a force.

No doubt the best player of the tournament together with Neymar, so far 1 goal and 3 assists for Oscar.

Spanish media running rumours about Fernando Llorente wanting to leave Athletic Bilbao this summer. If that's true, we should be looking to buying him, that man's a beast.

Would take him in a heartbeat but unfortunately I can't see him leaving Man City. Why would he want to leave and why would City ever want to sell him, especially to a direct rival?

Agreed, they are looking very good in that department. However, they were great there last season already so I wouldn't bee too concerned about those additions, they're just adding some squad depth when they in fact should improve their midfield and defence. I will much rather see them getting that overhyped wonderboy Lucas than someone like Sahin or Modric. Lucas obviously a great player but not what they need.

Originally voted for Jim but since he's no longer competing, I'll change to Ryan.

Oscar is looking very lively v Honduras early in the game. A great goal-scoring chance blocked by a Honduras defender and now a stunning long-range pass to Neymar. He will get on the scoresheet today, mark my words.

Brazil - Honduras just kicked off less than 5 minutes ago. Oscar is playing.

What the fuck was that? Don't stop play because you think there's a foul but play on till you know for sure. Just shows how uninterested the players are.

That didn't take long, horrible defending.

I don't think he has anything against Lukaku, but clearly he's a Torres fan and to him Nando simply can't do anything wrong, always someone else's fault. Annoys the shit out of me.

That is of course possible, but it would be a massive 'fuck you' to Kevin and a sign that we don't believe in him to ever make it at Chelsea. Better to leave number 14 untouched and just give some other number to any potential new arrivals.

I'm thinking we should try offering Kakuta in exchange for Azpi, with a little money going their way too of course.

Azpilicueta pretty much nailed to be one of those two but no idea on the other, so many rumours around. Could be Hulk, Moses, Schürrle, Willian, Cavani, Lewandowski or someone else entirely. :confused:

Love it how they need five guys to take the ball away from Oscar.

I'm not saying it will happen right away, but with Hazard - Oscar - Mata we are set for years to come and maybe we can improve in other areas in the future as well. Not expecting them to be setting the world alight from day one but it's not all doom and gloom as one could assume reading some of these posts.

I don't think the 4-2-3-1 formation is the real problem here. Watching Brazil playing with this same formation right now at the Olympics I'm thinking that's what our play is supposed to look like. Hulk, Oscar and Neymar occupy those three spots behind the striker and they are very fluid and swap places all the time and every one of them have been given the freedom to roam around the pitch, making it very hard for the opponents to mark them. With Hazard, Mata and Oscar the quality is definitely there and we should be able to do something similar once they have got to know each other and develop an understanding on the pitch. Trust me guys, the future is very bright. :blue scalf:

Amelia; Antonini, Bonera, Yepes, Mesbah, Ambrosini, Traore, Flamini, Boateng, Emanuelson, El Sharaawy Is it just me, or is that lineup weak as fuck?