The "Next" Golden Generation

[Mpache]

17 minutes ago, Whiskey said:

Italian football is incredibly tactical and not easy on the eye to the mainstream fans so gets bashed. It's a really good league to be honest, and some insane players have played there. Agree with you about Totti too, Roma is a massive club but has really underachieved over the past 20 years or so, it's a shame that Totti couldn't win more as his talent certainly deserved it.

Personally I despise the term farmers league. It's so tinpot. Especially when it's used against Ligue 1, which is undisputably one of the best leagues in the world. 

Hyperbole or not, it's super cringey to hear that term unless it's to semi-pro leagues really, or very low quality professional leagues.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

6 minutes ago, Mpache said:

You've bashed Italian football even when Juve were getting to Champions League finals bud. That smells agenda to me.

 

 

They beat Porto, a decrepit Barcelona, and Monaco, then got fucking turkey slapped. Very impressive. 

[Mpache]

Just now, Devil-Dick Willie said:

 

 

They beat Porto, a decrepit Barcelona, and Monaco, then got fucking turkey slapped. Very impressive. 

Conveniently ignoring that Juve reached the 2015 final? Where they smashed Dortmund and ousted Real Madrid (that Monaco side was shite so I'll give you that one).

Porto is never easy, Barcelona as shite as they were are still Barcelona, and Monaco won the league over PSG that season. That's who they faced. If we're taking away merit to the opposition then I can do the same with German sides. Juventus in 2017 were miles ahead of everyone else in 2017, anyone who watched them would agree they were easily the 2nd best team in the world that season.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

3 minutes ago, Mpache said:

Conveniently ignoring that Juve reached the 2015 final? Where they smashed Dortmund and ousted Real Madrid (that Monaco side was shite so I'll give you that one).

Porto is never easy, Barcelona as shite as they were are still Barcelona, and Monaco won the league over PSG that season. That's who they faced. If we're taking away merit to the opposition then I can do the same with German sides. Juventus in 2017 were miles ahead of everyone else in 2017, anyone who watched them would agree they were easily the 2nd best team in the world that season.

Good for them, one Italian team was elite for 1 season. brings a tear to the eye. 

Fuck off. 

[Mpache]

3 minutes ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Good for them, one Italian team was elite for 1 season. brings a tear to the eye. 

Fuck off. 

Bayern have 1 CL title all of last decade and only 3 finals (one more than Juve). So by that logic they were shite too.

Again, this smells an agenda to me.

[Batard]

What the fuck has this got to do with this thread? I see things have changed so much around here 

[Devil-Dick Willie]

1 minute ago, Mpache said:

Bayern have 1 CL title all of last decade and only 3 finals (one more than Juve). So by that logic they were shite too.

Again, this smells an agenda to me.

Where did you learn to count?  They've been in 3 finals and won 2 in the last 10 years. And every year except 1, made the Semis. 

[Mpache]

Just now, Batard said:

What the fuck has this got to do with this thread? I see things have changed so much around here 

Imagine getting rattled over a thread going slightly off topic 

Bit sick of you wanting to lock harmless topics. If you were around more often the forum would be locked.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

You have a learning disability don't you? 

[Mpache]

Just now, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Where did you learn to count?  They've been in 3 finals and won 2 in the last 10 years. And every year except 1, made the Semis. 

It depends on what you count as one decade or another. That's not the point though. Juventus have been an elite team the entire decade. Their CL form didn't always represent it, but on paper I'd say they only had a slightly weaker team than Bayern.

The likes of Vidal, Ronaldo, Chiellini, Bonucci, Buffon, Pirlo, Pogba (when he was good), Tevez, Higuain, Mandzukic, Dybala prove that. The only weak point at all in this decade would probably have been the wing backs, and even that you could debate was weak or not.

[Stan]

23 minutes ago, Mpache said:

Personally I despise the term farmers league. It's so tinpot. Especially when it's used against Ligue 1, which is undisputably one of the best leagues in the world. 

Is it? 

[Mpache]

Just now, Stan said:

Is it? 

It's a top 5 league in the world. That to me qualifies as one of the best.

[Whiskey]

I'd count Ligue 1 as in the top 5 leagues, but the gulf between the Premier League and the others at the moment is bigger than it has ever been. 

Most Ligue 1 sides would struggle against Premier League ones if there was a 40 team league and I include PSG in that too. 

[Mpache]

6 minutes ago, Whiskey said:

I'd count Ligue 1 as in the top 5 leagues, but the gulf between the Premier League and the others at the moment is bigger than it has ever been. 

Most Ligue 1 sides would struggle against Premier League ones if there was a 40 team league and I include PSG in that too. 

I agree, but for me anything in the top 5 has to be considered 'one of the best in the world'. It just happens to be at the bottom of that top 5.

PSG is a perfect example of how money doesn't win everything. It's why I admire teams like Barcelona or Bayern. They nurtured their talent from young and stuck with their teams for the majority of the decade. It's not like they were particularly dominant prior either and just "another generation". Barcelona were easily 2nd best to Real Madrid before Ronaldinho, and Bayern took it to a new level this past decade. I honestly think 2 CL's aren't a good denominator to how good they have been.

[DeadLinesman]

14 minutes ago, Mpache said:

Imagine getting rattled over a thread going slightly off topic 

Bit sick of you wanting to lock harmless topics. If you were around more often the forum would be locked.

Brian, this forum pretty much wouldn’t exist without Batard behind the scenes. 

[Mpache]

Just now, DeadLinesman said:

Brian, this forum pretty much wouldn’t exist without Batard behind the scenes. 

Yeah, I'm not gonna argue with anyone regarding that, but I'm not having another thread locked in the middle of a totally harmless discussion that is only slightly off topic.

[Whiskey]

3 minutes ago, DeadLinesman said:

Brian, this forum pretty much wouldn’t exist without Batard behind the scenes. 

+1. 

I once lost my glasses while out and about in Marseille, he sorted me right out with an opticians that he knew from his time living there. Lovely bloke and does so much for this place behind the scenes. 

[DeadLinesman]

3 minutes ago, Mpache said:

Yeah, I'm not gonna argue with anyone regarding that, but I'm not having another thread locked in the middle of a totally harmless discussion that is only slightly off topic.

Has he threatened to lock it? Genuine question as I can’t see that anywhere 

[Mpache]

Just now, DeadLinesman said:

Has he threatened to lock it? Genuine question as I can’t see that anywhere 

He has not, but Batard has locked plenty of topics within me having an argument before.

Patterns and all that, and I don't always agree. Especially not here. DDW can get to personal insults at times, but the argument in general has been harmless.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

1 minute ago, DeadLinesman said:

Has he threatened to lock it? Genuine question as I can’t see that anywhere 

The delusional delusions of a deluded dude. 

[Batard]

28 minutes ago, Mpache said:

Imagine getting rattled over a thread going slightly off topic 

Bit sick of you wanting to lock harmless topics. If you were around more often the forum would be locked.

If I wanted to lock the thread Brian, it would have already happened. When a thread breaks down to squabbling for pages and pages, of course I'm going to lock it. No one wants to read hours of circular arguments. Let's move on shall we?

[Mpache]

Just now, Batard said:

If I wanted to lock the thread Brian, it would have already happened. When a thread breaks down to squabbling for pages and pages, of course I'm going to lock it. No one wants to read hours of circular arguments. Let's move on shall we?

Fair enough.

[Michael]

On 03/03/2021 at 16:29, Cicero said:

France. They could have their C team compete in the World Cup. 

Definitely, France are the obvious answer to this question if you know your football. The number of extremely talented footballers that they have right now is frightening. As you suggested, their B and C national teams would be more than a match for the best line-ups that any other national team could muster. In terms of number of quality players, I'd say France has the most right now.

England have a very strong case for being 2nd in this category for obvious reasons.

Portugal do have many talented players right now, but no more than the traditional powerhouses like Germany or Brazil for example. But of course, it is harder for a smaller country like Portugal to produce more talent than the larger nations. I would say though that these 3 nations are probably next on the list.

As for Norway, yeah, sure they have a strong starting 11 in their national team, with the likes of Haaland, Sorloth, Odegaard and several others leading the line, but they are hardly bursting with talent outside of the obvious stars that they have.

 

[Michael]

20 hours ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Sometimes it's just a matter of superstardom. Immobile failed at his biggest club, and sits in a relatively passive club in what is now a relatively passive league. Banging in goals at a club no one watches in a league no one watches anymore. 
Totti was a world cup winner, and a star for a big ( but not the biggest) team when Serie A was likely the best or 2nd best league in the world. 

Also Totti kicked a lot of people, most of them Italian, which makes him a hero, in the same kind of way that Hitler was a hero for killing Hitler. 

Lets face it, he flopped at Dortmund, didn't impress at Seville, but as soon as he returned to Lazio and Serie A he started scoring for fun and banging in the goals. There's also a reason why Serie A regularly has players in their mid to late 30's becoming leading scorers in their league. I would never call it a stupid term such as a farmers league, because it clearly isn't. But it is no way near the level of leagues such as the EPL or the Bundesliga. 

[Spike]

3 hours ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

Dortmund were his biggest club. CL finalists last decade, twice Bundesliga winners, 80 000 capacity stadium ect ect. 

And good on them. They're getting dumped out this season while Dortmund will likely march on. 2 games is not representative of who is better and we know it. 

 

I bash Italian football for vert different reasons. It used to house 2/3 of the worlds best teams. Now I would argue it doesn't have a single one. Juve can own old man Ronaldo all they want, they're not up there with Madrid, Bayern, Man City and Liverpool, and they show us that season after season. 

They play football in decrepit half empty stadiums, corruption is rife. PSG bought the best of the league back in 2012 or so and AC have still not recovered. 

sevilla won the europa league fifty times and in the last few years, and stadium size means fuck all when you know the sydney roosters play at telstra stadium with a capacity of 80,000. fuck me dead cunt, two games is the most teams play each other in any competition and somehow thats not representative? that is how many times clubs play eachother in a league setting. if dortmund won you’d be saying how it is an example of how shit serie a is and how great the bundesliga is, and dont lie to me and sya you wouldn’t, because ya fucken would 

and you cant use bvb getting to the champions league final as a compliment when juve did it three or four times in the same timeframe, man city have done it how many times?