Michael

As Dr. Gonzo said, it's all about money. The US is a capitalist nation which always seeks to make as much money as possible. Iran has a hell of a lot of oil and gas. The regime in Iran has always been confrontational towards the West. The oil tanker incidents and the attacks on the oil fields in Saudi Arabia, look like prime excuses for an invasion of Iran. Toppling the Iranian regime and getting more access to Iranian oil and gas is something that the capitalists in the US would seemingly relish. The US always pits nations in the ME against each other for the US's own interests. By helping to create instability in the region, there is always a rife excuse for the US to invade.

The relations between the US and the UK are going to be stronger than ever, if Boris remains as PM and if the UK leaves the EU as is expected.

The Saudis have taken time to quell the rebel uprising in Yemen mainly because the rebels have been helped out with weaponary from Iran. The rebels have a huge population on their side as well. It's a similar situation in Eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military have still not overcome the rebels in the small region of Donbas after 5 years of fighting. Despite buying weapons from the West, the Ukrainians are still waging a war in that region. The rebels are supported by the Russian State, which is a major reason as to why the rebels are still holding out. Both the rebels in Donbas and the Houthis in Yemen are hardened fighters as well and as long as they are supported by larger nations, it will be difficult to totally overcome them. It has little to do with the Ukrainian or Saudi militaries being inept.

It looks like Werder have been jinxed with injuries this season. Incredible.

This is getting just ridiculous! At this rate I am sure that Union Berlin will beat Werder tomorrow. They beat Dortmund 3-1(although it has to be noted that Dortmund's defending was bad that day) and I think that it is more than likely that they will win again at home against injury ravaged Werder. The Berlin crowd and the Union team will see Werder there for the taking. Werder literally now have half their squad out injured, talk about bad luck!

At least it was only a friendly and the manager will have been able to see who isn't up to the task.

It looks like a talented young squad, Southgate has done a very good job as England manager since he was hired.

Times are obviously hard at Werder right now. Not much time before the window closes either, but they do certainly need at least 1 more new defensive addition in my opinion. You are probably right, Bentaleb is probably the last new transfer for Werder this summer, that is if they actually manage to get him.

Lang is may not be a spectacular player, but he is a reliable player, who is experienced. I think that he is a good purchase for Werder, but I do think that they need to bring in one more defender at least, to help alleviate their injury crisis.

Yeah, these loan deals with an option to buy seem to be all the rage these days. I guess it's very good in the sense that the club who are loaning the player, are not fully committed with the player over the long term at first. They can assess his performances and then decide at the end of the season if he is a good fit or not. I also feel that he will do well at Werder Bremen, there will probably be less pressure on him there as well. Hopefully he comes good, he was once a regular at Tottenham, so he's definitely got some quality about him.

Yeah, Bentaleb is very close to signing for Werder Bremen. Bentaleb was so highly rated when he was a teen. But he hasn't become the world class player everyone thought he would become yet. He's still a very good player, but he has been quite inconsistent at times. Maybe Werder Bremen will get the best out of him, lets hope that's the case, as he is still relatively young.

Jokes aside, Bauer will be well acquainted with Arsenal Tula. His parents are ethnic German, Russian speakers from Kazakhstan. Bauer himself can speak Russian and he often visits family members in the Russian speaking towns in Kazakhstan. Arsenal Tula finished 6th in the Russian League last season, so they are one of the better teams in the country right now and it is a decent move for Bauer in many ways. There is even a team called Arsenal Kyiv from Ukraine, who Fabrizio Ravanelli managed last season, sadly they got relegated from the top division, lol.

Yes, Icardi's attitude is terrible, he behaves like a spoilt brat. I think he will cause some kind of trouble at most clubs he joins despite his obvious footballing talent. I agree about Lyon, they usually buy real prospects at a young age, they develop them and then thet sell them off for a big profit. Quite a few clubs in Germany follow a similar system to that as well. But Lyon always seem to maintain their competitiveness as we saw last season, when they even beat Manchester City. Juninho is arguably the best scoring free kick taker in history. He seemed to score every time there was a free kick within shooting distance of the goal. He was a good all round footballer as well, who was very skilled.

Ok, I see, Atlanta, Georgia. You do seem to be a fan of many clubs, lol. Well both Lyon and Inter Milan are both good teams that are always usually among the top 4 or 5 positions in their respective leagues. Inter Milan have a big issue with Icardi and it is interesting what they will do with him now that they have signed Lukaku. Lyon have sold some their key players fora lot of money. They seem to have brought in replacements for Ndombele and Mendy. But I don't think that they have properly replced Fekir yet. It will be interesting to see how well they do in the Champions League this season.

I see, so are Lyon your main team then? What do you think their chances of success are after the sales of Ndombele, Ferland Mendy, Fekir and Ferri? Have you been happy with their replacements?

Haha oh yeah, I've just read what you wrote. Just exchange Braunschweig for Schalke and we will sound exactly alike. Well you know what they say, great minds think alike. lol

Thanks Eco, I do support Frankfurt, but I also have a soft spot for Schalke and Hamburg.