Arena "The Beautiful Game" - The Official JCC Football (Soccer) Thread.

Sucks that Kroos is going to Madrid after all the speculation with United. Mehhhhh.

Also Sanchez.

 

The tribute.

 

United still heavily linked with Vidal. He's a great player, but the £50million quoted is pretty high for someone who is 28. Carvalho is younger & would cost about £15million less.

Evra seems set to leave United, so cover is now needed for Shaw

 

Vidal is only 27. I think £40-45m would probably do it, and he would be worth every penny.

Just hope PSG don't come in and offer a ridiculous amount for Pogba because Juve needn't sell both.

 

Juve won't sell both. I'd be worried about Vidal's injury problems, might be damaged goods.

 

FTFY

Though I agree Juve should refuse to sell either. They can't continue to rely on Pirlo, top sides expose him too much.

 

Juve should be more concerned with Roma, tbh.

 

That would be incorrect. The owners asset stripped. But don't let's facts get in the way of...whatever weird grudge you have.

 

United apparently set to announce a ridiculous kit deal with Adidas. Something like £60million a year.

 

epic you had asked me what thought about Van Gaal several weeks ago, I think this World Cup shows him the full picture. he can be brilliant (4-1 vs Spain) but sometimes his need to prove his genius gets the better of him, as I believe it did last night.

Yet he finished so low in the league that they needed arule change to make the competition the following year, then never qualified again.

 

This will probably add clarity to the rule change, and that it wasn't unprecedented. It was the Premier League to blame more than anyone. Quelle surprise.

From wiki

England’s high country coefficient allowed the maximum number of teams (four) to be entered into the Champions League competition.[1] In the 2004–05 season, five English teams had qualified under the previous UEFA guidelines for the competition: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton, who had finished in the top four places in the Premier League; and Liverpool, who had won the Champions League. The choice of which team to be excluded (either fourth-placed finishers Everton or Champions League winners Liverpool) fell to the Football Association (FA), which was given this authority by the version of Champions League Regulation 1.03 then in force:[2]

At the request of the national association concerned, the UEFA Champions League title holders may be entered for this competition, as an additional representative of that association, if they have not qualified for the UEFA Champions League via the top domestic league championship. If, in such a case, the title holders come from an association entitled to enter four teams for the UEFA Champions League, the fourth-placed club in the top domestic league championship has to be entered for the UEFA Cup.​

This situation was unusual but neither unprecedented nor unforeseen. Real Zaragoza finished fourth in La Liga in 1999–2000, but went into the UEFA Cup because Real Madrid, who finished fifth, were given Spain's fourth Champions League place as defending champions.[3] The RFEF's choice under Regulation 1.03 likely had as much to do with Real Madrid being considered more prominent than Real Zaragoza as well as the former being the reigning Champions League title holder.[4] Indeed, the FA itself foresaw the same situation arising in the 2003–04 season and released a statement on 10 March 2004 that if Arsenal or Chelsea won the Champions League, but failed to finish in the top four Premier League spots, they would nonetheless be automatically entered in the next year's competition and the fourth placed Premier League team placed in the UEFA Cup.[5]
On 5 May, the FA decided that the top four finishing teams in the Premier League would be entered into the Champions League even if Liverpool did win the upcoming Champions League Final.[6] When the inconsistency was pointed out to the FA, the FA pulled the previous year's statement from its website, and promised that an explanation would follow.[5] In the event, no explanation was forthcoming. The FA's chief executive, Brian Barwick, was quoted as saying "I think the FA were right and proper to put the top four in to the Champions League. That’s how teams kicked off in August, expecting a top-four finish to give them qualification or pre-qualification and that will not be changed."[4]



I can dig up further reading if you want it.

Who, Liverpool? They qualified every year, except in Rafa's final season. Usually automatically to the groups. What are you on about?

 

Didn't mean to imply the rule change had anything specifically to do with Liverpool or was in any way improper.

As for the rest, I'm turning ito my Dad -- I can remember things that happened 30 years ago clear as a bell, but recent years are a fog.

Still, I stand by my skepticism about Napoli's prospects with Rafa.

 

He seems to have a decent relationship with the owner, so it's possible he can replicate what he did with Valencia and was on track to do at Liverpoool (until the leech owners screwed it up).

Just a shame I find Napoli fans quite detestable.

 

Juve could sell Vidal, replace him with two decent prospects and still boss the italian league i reckon. they just need to hang on to Pogba for now.

they have no chance in the CL anyways.

 

Making himself unrecognisable so someone might buy him?

 

They did sign Madzukic, though.

 

That wasn't me, they needed to get rid of him once they picked up Lewandowski. Mandzukic the type who becomes a cancer when he doesn't start.

Must say I'm quite excited to see how Alexis plays at. Arsenal, I think he has the potential really take them up another level.

 

YESSSSSSSSSALEXISSSSSS!


-JR