Danny

22 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

I really can't being myself to vote for Starmer but my local Labour MP is actually alright. Feel like anything is better than these Tory bastards but I'm still not sure what I'll do come election day

Can’t say I like Starmer either, but I don’t really see an alternative atm. Just feel like anything other than a Labour majority can still end up being Tory.

There is going to be a whole generation of kids who will look at this Atalanta team in a similar spirit that we looked at Italian teams in the 90s, obviously they’re not at that level, but their improvement has been great and this is a well deserved win for the club as a whole.

9 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

Agreed, No matter how they sell it no manager coming in would be guaranteed to be there the following season unless they managed to secure silverware.. Going to Chelsea is not for the feint hearted.. 

And when you used to do that, you at least backed the manager with world class players to do it. Seems like you're after more youngsters..

The way he plays is a product of witchcraft

8 hours ago, The Palace Fan said:

As for his replacement, whilst none of the names mentioned would give me optimism as a fan I do think Thomas Frank would be an interesting choice. I don't think his stock has been largely affected by Brentford's finish due to the injuries he's contested with and he may see a rebuild without possibly Toney and/or Mbuemo as an appropriate to let a new manager take over.

I genuinely cannot see that happening tbh. I think Frank understands how good our wider system at the club is, how everyone's moving in the same direction and that if he stays with us, he will only improve his reputation. That's not to say that I think we could stop bigger clubs from attracting him, but he will want a similar level of support he has here wherever he goes. I don't think they're interested, but a club like United for example will have a much better chance at signing him than Chelsea with the revamp behind the scenes. Chelsea is just a graveyard for managers at the moment.

The answer is Mbappe

39 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

I usually back Harry Kane for every major tournament, but given he's played against such poor opposition on a weekly basis over the last year I do wonder if he's going to be able to raise his game to the levels needed to claim the golden boot.

Agree wholeheartedly, Bundesliga is so bad he might even need to do a pre-tournament pre-season 

A seriously inept football club at this point

A chance to see history made as Leverkusen look to become the only team (I believe?) to actually have gone undefeated. Crazy.

With that said, I still want Atalanta to win.

Personally my final 26 would be:

Pickford, Pope, Ramsdale.

Walker, Trippier.

Stones, Guehi, Maguire, Colwill, Gomez.

Chilwell, Lewis.

Rice, Trent, Mainoo, Bellingham, Foden, Palmer, Jones.

Saka, Bowen.

Kane, Toney, Watkins.

Gordon, Grealish.

That was a very nice leaving do for Klopp. It’s not always gone as planned for Liverpool but he’s won everything he could win which is all you can ask for really. Made a massive impact on the league as a whole, I hope his next club is an interesting one. Would love to see him manage in Spain at some point.

Carragher is so bias it’s beyond parody. Refers to Klopp’s fist pumping as no other manager would have the balls to do it so early on at a club but thought Arteta was smalltime for celebrating a goal. Sky Sports in a nutshell 

I saw who we had starting in defence today and I wasnt confident lol, is what it is, we’re on holiday and they have Europe to play for

West Have been lumped 4, 5, 6-0 multiple times this season. This is their level and tbh it is why Moyes is leaving, they are never proactive when they need to be.

Clear win for Usyk, bad form from Fury to blame the Ukrainian war

Interesting as I read a piece from their CEO or someone who was mentioning how whilst De Zerbi has made a lot of public demands, behind the seasons he understands the clubs position etc etc. Seems like that may not be the case?

From an outside perspective I think he wanted more investment than there has been, if you look at their net spend on transfers over the last two seasons they've made about £150m. Of course Brighton have their model, are happy where they are in the league, will recruit again and go again, but it seems like De Zerbi wants more, I couldn't imagine Brighton wanting to sack him, especially with no Europe next year so they can just concentrate on the league.

I don't think Brighton will struggle too much it has to be said, though they will want to be wary of changing managers too often now as this will be 3 managers in 2 years.

Now my beautiful Baggies are out, really you’d rather Leeds up than Southampton. Feel like Saints have a bit more about the structure of their club and will make a good go over the long term of staying in the league whereas you just don’t know what will happen with Leeds.

The favourites are favourites again

14 minutes ago, Stan said:

No, you've twisted my words. I believe it's been exciting. Just not the most ever. 

I've not called it shite by the way. 

Can’t believe you called it shite tbh

8 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I can't tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing with my point .

My point is that, one way or another, the Premier League have allowed City to drag it out and obfuscate for so long that they will have crowned them champions twice before that process even properly starts. It's no good for the league and it leaves a massive asterisk hanging over everything that happens at the top end of the table until all the facts come out and we know whether or not, and how much, Man City have broken the rules and gained advantages they should never have had.

Disagreeing. It's not that they've allowed anything. City have purposefully challenged multiple parts of the Premier League's charges to give them more time, the challenges have meant the PL are unable to do anything because they have had to wait for multiple court decisions.

7 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Than byou believe something wrong. Source: http://statista.com/statistics/275359/largest-cities-in-the-united-kingdom/

Comparison: Dortmund has an inhabitance of 593K Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dortmund

Those particular statistics might support your argument but I know for a fact that the city of Borussia is a lot smaller than say, a small town in England such as Swansea

12 hours ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

To be frank: I'd take articles concerning German football from media, that isn't even available in German, with a pinch of salt. Two occurences from top of my head. An English football reporter said in English TV Dortmund would be a small town after the CL first leg, although there's only 3 British cities (London, Birmingham, and Glasgow) that are bigger than it. BBC wrote in their article Bayern's loss in Saarbrücken had been their first cup match this seaon, although Bayern eliminated Preußen Münster from the first round. Mentioning it to give you an impression which kind of Germany experts even serious British sports journos are.

I'll have you know we are very well informed when it comes to the ins and outs of German football and Germany cities, I believe there are more cities than just London, Birmingham and Glasgow in the UK that are bigger than Borussia.

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

You know what I mean though. Their actual hearings haven't started.

Because City took them to court multiple times to prevent it from starting

11 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

While we're all right to bemoan the boringness of it, what's actually a bigger issue here is that the Premier League will have crowned City champions twice since levelling 115 charges at them for breaking the rules and City are yet to set foot in a courtroom to defend themselves. In the meantime, two other clubs have been fast-tracked (one of those twice) and Leicester have been pretty much told they'll have a points deduction next season when they come up.

It really shows who's governing things here. If the Premier League had an ounce of integrity they'd stop making excuses about how complicated City's case is because they broke 114 more rules than anyone else and get on with it. Start with charge 1 next week, if City refuse to turn up to the hearing then they get sanctioned. The case isn't going to get any less complicated the longer they wait. Get the fuck on with it. And if it's that complicated to do it as one case then offer to have 115 different hearings for them and see how they like the threat of having to fight each one in the courts with a constant drip feed of points deductions over several seasons ruining their chances in the league.

City literally took them to court multiple times in the build up to this...hence the complications

7 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Is it allowed to question De Zerbi's reputation? I find it weird how it's just accepted that he's linked with jobs like Liverpool and Bayern. From what I can see, he took over a Brighton side on the up, completed their journey to European qualification, fair enough, but they've been average at best this season and slipped into the Bournemouth/Wolves/Fulham tier of mid table. Think he's pretty overhyped if that's allowed.

7 hours ago, Stan said:

I think so. 

For all the praise they get, they don't really seem to move forward in the league. Credit to them for getting into Europe, and their transfer/recruitment model is decent, but De Zerbi will be questioned even more you'd think if they don't start next season well. 

They’ve had a large number of injuries to key players this season, during key parts of the season, whilst playing in two competitions, whilst having to replace the great players they lost in Mac Allister, Caicedo and Trossard.

I think his work this season is more nuanced than just where they sit in the table, they just don’t have much star quality to push them over the line like they have had in previous seasons.