Football: Silly season

[Consigliere]

Barca really need to get their midfield sorted out. I'd say Coutinho is needed more than Dembele and I can't believe that they have not tried to bring in Seri. He'd be just about the perfect Xavi replacement. Iniesta, while only 33, has alot of miles on him and just doesn't have the legs anymore while Rakitic has not lived up to expectations. Too many passes have gone awry in this game and the pressing and possession in midfield is not up to the usual Barca standards.

 

ETA. Busquets misses an absolute sitter but luckily for Barca Suarez takes a blatant dive to win a penalty just a couple of minutes later which Messi scored.

[Mme Erzulie]

2 hours ago, Horse of Kent said:

It should be Ko-la-shi-natts with Bosnian pronunciation, but Ko-la-si-natch is also used in his birthplace Germany.

That's interesting. So a normal standalone C in Bosnian is pronounced TS?

And I'm worried that Lukaku is going to be a really good signing for Manu. He just scores a lot of goals and is still young, so if he realises his potential, he could be crushing it for up to a decade. Here's hoping he falls out with Mourinho or starts smoking meth. 

I also struggle to believe how much Chelsea have strengthened one of their fiercest rivals, directly or indirectly, over the past few seasons. Absolute showers. 

[Consigliere]

Stunning strike by Ronaldo to give Real the lead only to get sent off a few minutes later. Really stupid on his part - booked for removing his shirt and then pushes the referee after he was denied a penalty claim.

ETA. Asensio with another screamer. Barca well outplayed. Expect they will be stepping up their pursuit of both Coutinho and Dembele after this.

[Philokles]

3 hours ago, polishgenius said:

See, that's what I would have thought (well, the 's' thing isn't a 'sh' but the z-ish sound it really is isn't viable in English) but he introduced himself differently?
Either he's trying to be polite to the English fans or his family have decided to Germanise it even more than saying it 'ch' at the end at some point.

I think he changed it there to be more manageable for the average English fan. He pronounced it with the 'ch' in interviews at Schalke last season and Wenger did the same in a press conference the other week.

 

38 minutes ago, Mmerek Hamšzulíe said:

That's interesting. So a normal standalone C in Bosnian is pronounced TS?

I'm not sure. I used to pronounce it the German way (presuming it was the same as Pjanic, etc.), but a Bosnian friend corrected me.

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Horse of Kent said:

I'm not sure. I used to pronounce it the German way (presuming it was the same as Pjanic, etc.), but a Bosnian friend corrected me.

The idea of a German 'c' is an interesting one coz it's pretty much only ever used, standalone, for words of foreign origin. Kind of odd that that sound even came to exist in the language.

While not familiar with Bosnian specifically I'm gonna assume, by the way, that the reason Pjanic is pronounced with the English 'ch' sound whereas Kolasinac isn't is that in reality, the 'c' in Pjanic is a 'ć' whereas the 'c' in Kolanisac is just a regular c, same difference as it would be in Polish. But I'm sure the resident local lads can correct me if I'm wrong there.

[Melphis Amekia]

15 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

The idea of a German 'c' is an interesting one coz it's pretty much only ever used, standalone, for words of foreign origin. Kind of odd that that sound even came to exist in the language.

While not familiar with Bosnian specifically I'm gonna assume, by the way, that the reason Pjanic is pronounced with the English 'ch' sound whereas Kolasinac isn't is that in reality, the 'c' in Pjanic is a 'ć' whereas the 'c' in Kolanisac is just a regular c, same difference as it would be in Polish. But I'm sure the resident local lads can correct me if I'm wrong there.

you are correct on both accounts

[l2 0 5 5]

Laughing at ramos's reaction to Suarez dive. Can't decide which one of those two I hate more. 

[Jordan La Cabra]

11 hours ago, Consigliere said:

Stunning strike by Ronaldo to give Real the lead only to get sent off a few minutes later. Really stupid on his part - booked for removing his shirt and then pushes the referee after he was denied a penalty claim.

Think Ronaldo was unlucky with the second red; it didn't look to me like he was trying to win a penalty. One of those instances where the ref should have just let play carry on - no dive, no penalty, either. It's similar to Willian's yellow for a 'dive' against Arsenal in the Community Shield. I thought that incident was neither a penalty nor a dive.

Ronaldo was stupid for pushing the ref, though. Daily Mail saying he could get up to a 12 game ban, but I can't imagine him getting any more than 3, if any at all, given he is Ronaldo and plays for Real Madrid.

 

 

PS, I can't believe he recreated Messi's celebration against Real Madrid at the Bernabau. It fuels the idea that Ronaldo has an obsession with Messi.

[baxus]

 

21 hours ago, Mexal said:

Yea, but Arsenal gave up the least amount of set piece goals last season. I tend to think it's an area that can be fixed by using our starting CBs.

I envy your optimism almost as much as I envy your possible solution in sight.  

18 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Matic is a good player, though I think Herrera is the better, but my problem isn't with him, it's with the mentality he indicates in Mourinho.

Matic is pretty good offensively too, as he's shown it in Benfica. It's only a matter of where the manager uses him.

16 hours ago, Horse of Kent said:

It should be Ko-la-shi-natts with Bosnian pronunciation, but Ko-la-si-natch is also used in his birthplace Germany.

It is more like Ko-la-shi-nuts. 

13 hours ago, Mmerek Hamšzulíe said:

That's interesting. So a normal standalone C in Bosnian is pronounced TS?

There is a c, ć and č and they are pronounced as ts, tj (think of it as in Italian "ciao") and ch (though a bit more harsher sounding than in "chair" for example). 

12 hours ago, Horse of Kent said:

I think he changed it there to be more manageable for the average English fan. He pronounced it with the 'ch' in interviews at Schalke last season and Wenger did the same in a press conference the other week.

 

I'm not sure. I used to pronounce it the German way (presuming it was the same as Pjanic, etc.), but a Bosnian friend corrected me.

It's not Pjanic but Pjanić, while Kolasinac is Kolašinac. It's different letters and consequently a different sound at the end of their names.

EDIT:

Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin languages (basically, the same language but we can't agree on what to call it) have what is probably the easiest spelling systems in the world - one letter equals one sound and that's it. There is no "if this letter is before/after these letters than it's pronounced like this and if it's before/after these than it's the other way".

It's just that there are some sounds in them that most non-Slavic native speakers are not used to and there are some combos that a non-native speaker would definitely have a really hard time pronouncing.

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, JordanJH1993 said:

Think Ronaldo was unlucky with the second red; it didn't look to me like he was trying to win a penalty. One of those instances where the ref should have just let play carry on - no dive, no penalty, either. It's similar to Willian's yellow for a 'dive' against Arsenal in the Community Shield. I thought that incident was neither a penalty nor a dive.

Ronaldo was stupid for pushing the ref, though. Daily Mail saying he could get up to a 12 game ban, but I can't imagine him getting any more than 3, if any at all, given he is Ronaldo and plays for Real Madrid.

The ref was rubbish but Ronaldo really should not be this petulant at his age. 12 game ban is never going to happen. I expect a 3-5 game ban. The second yellow for simulation was harsh especially considering Suarez's blatant dive which got him a penalty.

 

Quote

PS, I can't believe he recreated Messi's celebration against Real Madrid at the Bernabau. It fuels the idea that Ronaldo has an obsession with Messi.

I think he is enjoying having a little dig at Messi who has been his greatest rival. Especially now since Real currently have the best team in the world (which has not been the case for the bulk of his Madrid career) while Barca are going through a transition.

[Jordan La Cabra]

 

7 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

I think he is enjoying having a little dig at Messi who has been his greatest rival. Especially now since Real currently have the best team in the world (which has not been the case for the bulk of his Madrid career) while Barca are going through a transition.

Petulant, in my eyes. Although, when it comes to Ronaldo, that word is almost a synonym.

When Messi scored at the Bernabau, it was a late winner in a league game to get Barca closer to Real Madrid. The celebration was impromptu and spontaneous. Ronaldo wasn't in his thoughts when he held up his own shirt.

When Ronaldo does that celebration, it can only be seen as contrived, planned and a needless dig at Messi. Forget Messi, Ronaldo. You've won La Liga and the Champions League this year. You've won the next Balon D'or already. There's no need to copy Messi's celebration - create your own.

I'm a big Ronaldo fan, but he always does something that lowers himself as a person. Stuff like his comments about Iceland players at the Euro's springs to mind.

[Consigliere]

4 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said:

 

Petulant, in my eyes. Although, when it comes to Ronaldo, that word is almost a synonym.

When Messi scored at the Bernabau, it was a late winner in a league game to get Barca closer to Real Madrid. The celebration was impromptu and spontaneous. Ronaldo wasn't in his thoughts when he held up his own shirt.

When Ronaldo does that celebration, it can only be seen as contrived, planned and a needless dig at Messi. Forget Messi, Ronaldo. You've won La Liga and the Champions League this year. You've won the next Balon D'or already. There's no need to copy Messi's celebration - create your own.

I'm a big Ronaldo fan, but he always does something that lowers himself as a person. Stuff like his comments about Iceland players at the Euro's springs to mind.

Who are we or anyone to know what is in Ronaldo's thoughts? His celebration could have been just as spontaneous as Messi's. This is the annoying thing about the Ronaldo/Messi comparison. Messi is often portrayed as the 'good guy' when he can a petulant ass as well - he's just more subtle about it while the worst is immediately assumed of Ronaldo.

 

[Jordan La Cabra]

2 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Who are we or anyone to know what is in Ronaldo's thoughts? His celebration could have been just as spontaneous as Messi's. This is the annoying thing about the Ronaldo/Messi comparison. Messi is often portrayed as the 'good guy' when he can a petulant ass as well - he's just more subtle about it while the worst is immediately assumed of Ronaldo.

 

I'm not saying Messi is without an ego. When you are one of the two best players in the world, you will definitely have one. It just always seems to appear that Ronaldo has more of a problem with Messi than Messi does with him. It was Ronaldo, after all, that had to publically deny that he had been calling Messi offensive names in training, not the other way round. Of course, there is no proof that he did it, but he had to deny it, not Messi.

Look, neither men are going to be best friends. They are the two best players in a generation - maybe even of all time - competing against each other for the two biggest clubs in the world, in the most famous rivalry both individually and club-wise in the game. But I much prefer when I hear either of the two saying something positive - a rare occasion, but they have done - about the other than I do seeing petty playground petulance.

At least it generates some hilarious memes, if nothing else.

[Consigliere]

4 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said:

I'm not saying Messi is without an ego. When you are one of the two best players in the world, you will definitely have one. It just always seems to appear that Ronaldo has more of a problem with Messi than Messi does with him. It was Ronaldo, after all, that had to publically deny that he had been calling Messi offensive names in training, not the other way round. Of course, there is no proof that he did it, but he had to deny it, not Messi.

Look, neither men are going to be best friends. They are the two best players in a generation - maybe even of all time - competing against each other for the two biggest clubs in the world, in the most famous rivalry both individually and club-wise in the game. But I much prefer when I hear either of the two saying something positive - a rare occasion, but they have done - about the other than I do seeing petty playground petulance.

At least it generates some hilarious memes, if nothing else.

The bolded is further proof that the worst is immediately assumed of Ronaldo. Messi would never have to deny something like that because St. Messi would never be accused of ever doing something like that.

[Jordan La Cabra]

And so it appears Barcelona have finally solved the problems in their midfield with the signing of superstar midfield enforcer... Paulinho.

I know he's a better player than his Tottenham days showed, but come on - the guy has spent the last few years in China. I highly doubt playing in that league has set him up to lead Barca's charge to regaining a La Liga and Champions League title.

But, hey, I'd take him in Chelsea's midfield next weekend away to Tottenham at Wembley.

[Consigliere]

Man, I thought that rumour was bullshit until it actually happened. This Barca board are utterly clueless. You have to be a special kind of stupid to spend 40 mil on a 29 y/o average Paulinho and not even bid for Seri, especially when you already have the issue of an aging team. And what is this going to mean for Sergi Roberto? He has a low buyout clause and there were rumours of United considering triggering it. La Masia graduates tend to be very loyal to Barca but this signing could make him think hard about his future at the club.

[Jordan La Cabra]

4 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Man, I thought that rumour was bullshit until it actually happened. This Barca board are utterly clueless. You have to be a special kind of stupid to spend 40 mil on a 29 y/o average Paulinho and not even bid for Seri, especially when you already have the issue of an aging team. And what is this going to mean for Sergi Roberto? He has a low buyout clause and there were rumours of United considering triggering it. La Masia graduates tend to be very loyal to Barca but this signing could make him think hard about his future at the club.

If I were Sergi Roberto, I'd already be thinking about leaving Barca. I thought he was younger, but the guy is 25. He's been shifted about from midfield to full back to wing back so often that no one really knows what he is anymore. If Sergi Roberto isn't going to be given his chance at centre midfield for Barcelona by 25, and they are still bringing guys like Paulinho and Andre Gomes in to play there, I don't think there is much chance it's going to happen at all for him.

[BigFatCoward]

5 games for CR. Seems slightly lenient but not ridiculously so. 

[Jordan La Cabra]

William Carvalho in talks for a move to West Ham... Pretty unusual transfer.

For the past five summers he's been linked to mainly Arsenal, but also the likes of Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool. I've only seen him for Portugal and never rated him much, tbh. West Ham looked very soft in the centre yesterday, so could work out as an impressive coup for them, despite the fee potentially reaching £40m when add-ons are included.

[Mexal]

Latest rumors has Chelsea wanting Oxlaid-Chamberlain for 35m. I'd do that deal. I don't see Chamberlain improving much. He has moments of brilliance but his football IQ seems to be stuck in neutral. You'll see him make 2-3 great moves then screw up the final ball. It has happened so much over the last few years that it's hard for me to believe it'll get better. It could just be Wenger and that Conte would bring out his best. If that's the case then good luck to him in his future.