Football: pool in to the Final Spur of the season

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Some footy news:

@GFFN
José Mourinho: "I hope to be back to work in July in a project I really like." (RMC)

Fabinho and Lucas Moura left out of Brazil squad for Copa America

 

Transfer speculations in the media:

@GGFN_
Manchester City forward Leroy Sané is stalling over a new contract with the Premier League club

@footballespana_
Manchester City have made a €70m offer for #AtleticoMadrid midfielder Rodri and player is likely to accept move - Diario AS

@footballespana_
#AtleticoMadrid 'dreaming' of signing #Benfica teen star Joao Felix to replace outgoing Antoine Griezmann

@SkySportsNews
 @afcbournemouth have confirmed the signing of Lloyd Kelly on a "long-term contract"

@MailSport
Arsenal 'set to trigger Roma centre back Kostas Manolas' £31m release clause' as Unai Emery looks to shore up Gunners' leaky defence

@MailSport
Manchester United track Fenerbahce teenager Elif Elmas but face competition from Premier League rivals

@SkySportsLyall
Exclusive: #ManUtd have made initial contact with #FulhamFC for Ryan Sessegnon #MUFC Only club have done so so far

@GFFN
PSG are edging closer to a provisional contract agreement with Tanguy Ndombele, as Juventus & Tottenham Hotspur have offered the player contracts of their own, according to tomorrow's L'Équipe.

@GFFN
Manchester United remain interested in Tanguy Ndombele, but will not make any move until the Paul Pogba situation is clearer, according to tomorrow's L'Équipe.

@GFFN
Manchester City, who had not made any contact for several months for Tanguy Ndombele, have also recently resurfaced - L'Équipe call Tottenham's offer especially "lovely" from a financial perspective.

@GFFN
Tottenham Hotspur & Juventus have submitted provisional contract offers to Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, who has not made a decision yet

[A Horse Named Stranger]

So Bundesliga has ended as expected.

Bayern trhashed Frankfurt convincingly after the latter dared to score the equalizer. Also Robben and Ribery, who were brought during the second half each scored a goal on their final appearence for the club. Ribery's goal was particularly lovely; 5-1 the final score. Frankfurt were temporarily out of the European places until...

Hoffenheim have failed to win another game from a winning position. They were up 2-0 against Mainz only to collapse in the second half and lose 4-2 there. Interesting, that Mainz of all teams kept their rivals Frankfurt in the EL. Note that Mainz was really not playing for anything in particular, aside from pride and a decent goodbye from their fans for the summer.

Leverkusen totally dismantled Berlin. Bayer like Bayern won 5-1 in the end. Nice goal from Brandt btw. Thus Bayer climbed into the CL spot. Courtesy to Bayern and Dortmund doing their bits in their final games.

Another 5-1 was the result in Freiburg vs. Nürnberg. Freiburg decided to put in a good performance as a goodbye for the summer present for their fans. Nürnberg was really not present, and it could have easily been the most embarassing performance of the day, were it not for

Augsburg. That was just utterly pathetic. In the end they got mauled 8-1 by Wolfsburg. Yes, Wolfsburg were still playing for the European qualification and Augsburg was playing for nothing, really. At least they played like it.

Bremen beat Leipzig 2-1 in a last ditch effort to qualify for the EL. It just wasn'T enough due to the sheer patheticness of Augsburg.

Gladbach lost to Dortmund with 2-0. The controversy about DOrtmund's first goal was mentioned in the previous post. Thus they crashed out of the final CL spot.

Ah, right. Düsseldorf also beat Hannover 2-1. Thus they won the game I could not give a toss about trophy. The other game in that category Schalke - Stuttgart ended with a fitting 0-0.

 

Tomorrow Bundesliga 2 will have its final matchday.

Since my team is playing away, and is among the teams that really is not competing for anything anymore (apart from palcement and tv money), there are really not many interesting games there.

Basically four games are somewhat relevant.

The fight for the second promotion spot vs. the play-off thrashing against Stuttgart.

Second placed Paderborn play in Dresden, while third placed Union Berlin play in Bochum.

The other two games of interest concern the play off spot wrt relegation.

16th placed Ingolstadt play in Heidenheim (5th) and 15th placed Sandhausen play in Regensburg (8th). Sandhausen have two points and three goals on Ingolstadt, but are on a horrible run.

Comedy game of the day is of course.

Ha-Ha-Ha-HSV vs. Duisburg.

After they effectively killed their promotion bid last weekend, I just hope their fans demolish the bloody stadium tomorrow. Some facts why this game is so funny. The game was advertised for the entire season as the promotion party for them. It was really supposed to be just a run out with a good atmosphere and stuff. So they also charged a (top game) premium on that top game against a side that is relegated, while they really can't win promotion anymore (three points 21 goals) - yes, it is all really hillarious. Their fans are not really big on dignity and stuff. So this has the potential to be really funny. Come on orcs, burn down Mordor. Do it!

 

[Iskaral Pust]

So what about Coutinho this summer?  Barca have misused him, scape-goated him and now broadcast their desire to sell him, but also seem to expect to get a high price.  Coutinho’s reputation has fallen in the past year and a half and now seems unlikely to attract 100+ million bids from anywhere.  Plus I doubt he wants to shuffle out of Barcelona as a loser.

I think the highest likelihood is that Coutinho rejects any transfer and instead bets that he can turn it around, especially if he outlasts Valverde.  In an aging team approaching a rebuild, they might yet shift the formation to suit him better.  Similar to Bale: once you’ve reached an apex team on a huge contract, why would you accept a transfer out?

If Barca would take a huge loss on the sale, then possibly Chelsea, Juventus (need more attacking play) or PSG (Neymar likes Coutinho, even if DiMaria already fills his position) could be possible destinations.  But I would be surprised if Coutinho agrees this summer.

[The Winged Shadow]

21 hours ago, lmanion said:

I think Liverpool apart from the cover at full back need someone that can create and provide goals from behind the front three. Ox back is a good start and hopefully Keita turns into the player he looked to be.

What are people's opinion of the song the city players were 'caught' singing?

I don't think Liverpool will sign another midfielder unless they let go of a few. It's the one area they will be stacked in. They already have creative players in midfield but they kept getting injured. Lallana, Ox, Keita, Shaqiri are all more creative than Hendo, Gini and Milner. I expect Keita and Ox to play a lot more next season (probably Lallana too), though I have a feeling that Hendo or Gini will always be a staple in midfiled and only one of Ox, Shaq and Keita will play at a time (in midfield) to keep the defensive balance. Hopefully Lallana and Ox stay fit and Shaqiri improves then that would largely solve our midfield creativity issues.

As for City players singing, i didn't think too much of it to be honest. I doubt they are aware of the context of those particular choice of words (except the veterans i guess). What annoyed me was the club's statement. They of all people should know better and could've just said what Pep did later in the interview (i.e. apologized to people who were offended but defended the players' intentions). It is still weird they sang a song about Liverpool though. I could've understood if it was a song about City's triumphs and beating Liverpool etc being part of the song. But the whole song was about Liverpool so it was bizarre lol

[Mexal]

I'm just praying Arsenal sells a shitload of players. So much mediocrity on this team eating up wages.

[Philokles]

Shame Union didn’t make it. Hopefully they become the first 2. Liga side to win in the playoff for what seems an eternity.

Good story in Paderborn over the last five years. Their last few seasons:

13-14: promoted to the Bundesliga

14-15: relegated to 2. Bundesliga

15-16: relegated to 3. Liga

16-17: relegated to Regionalliga, but reprieved when 1860 Munich have financial issues

17-18: promoted to 2. Bundesliga

18-19: promoted to Bundesliga

[Rorshach]

Wages are a problem these days. 

Take Sandro Ramirez, who we bought for .. what, £5m? .. back in the day. He duly bombed, but since he was on the cheap, he got high wages. Who would match them? Very few, at least since he bombed both with us and on loan.

Same story with several players, I believe (though we are nowhere near the utterly ridiculously paid Alexis Sanchez).

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Just now, Philokles said:

Shame Union didn’t make it. Hopefully they become the first 2. Liga side to win in the playoff for what seems an eternity.

For the record. Last second tier team to win their play-off game.

Düsseldorf 2013 against (Hertha) Berlin.

But honestly speaking neither Union nor Paderborn actually deserved to win promotion. The race for promotion alongside Köln has been so utterly pathetic this year, this was really a lower quality version of the EPL race for the CL spots (alongside Liverpool and City).

I am just happy mordor did not luck out and have to stay down for another year. Hopefully they'll feel the cuts to their budget.

[Mark Antony]

Di Marzio reporting that Chelsea will sack Sarri and hire Lampard  

[Consigliere]

Matt Law is also reporting that Chelsea won't stand in the way of Sarri joining Juventus so long as a £5m compensation can be agreed. If the Juve links are accurate then that would be a great move and a step up for Sarri.

Romano has reported  that Conte is favourite to take over at Inter. 

[Mexal]

Mkhitaryan not participating in the Europa League final due to security concerns for himself and the Arsenal delegation. So fucking stupid.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Fun fact. In Chess they had to move a candidates tournament a few years ago (2010 I think), because Levon Aronian had similar concerns and said he would not play there. So they moved it to Kazan.

Ofc Lev has paritcipated in other tournaments there since (2015 World Cup).

Put it down as trivia, or as Mkhitaryan not really wanting to go there for security being not really surprising.

[Rorshach]

2010 Lev did have a lot of star power, though. Those were the years where he was clear second in the rating lists.

[Jordan La Cabra]

19 hours ago, Consigliere said:

Matt Law is also reporting that Chelsea won't stand in the way of Sarri joining Juventus so long as a £5m compensation can be agreed. If the Juve links are accurate then that would be a great move and a step up for Sarri.

After working his way through the Italian league system, it would be quite an achievement for Sarri to be called upon by the biggest club in Italy.

As for Chelsea, it would be a strange situation in which we actually get money for a manager moving on, rather than having to pay them out millions despite no longer being at Chelsea.

I can see why some rival fans look at the idea of Chelsea wanting to sack Sarri or being happy to see Juve take him as strange; I would probably think the same if I didn't support Chelsea, considering they had finished third in the league, lost the League Cup final on penalties to Man City, having knocked out Liverpool and Tottenham on the way, and reached the Europa League final. But I see it similar in the way that I looked at Louis van Gaal at Man United.

In his first season, they finished fourth, second they finished fifth, but won the FA Cup, so he had something of a success in both seasons, yet he was sacked just after winning the FA Cup. It seemed harsh from an outside perspective, but most Man United fans wanted him out. The football just didn't appeal to the fans (not that Moyes', Jose's and Ole's does). 

Apparently Chelsea haven't sent another appeal for the transfer ban. In recent weeks, we have given Giroud a new contract and David Luiz a new two year contract (despite our rule of only giving out one year deals to players over 30). It looks like the club may be accepting the transfer ban and planning for the season ahead with that in mind. 

With our current squad, we are unable to play 'Sarriball'. For 'his football' to work, we need more players that suit what he wants to do, which means signing players. If we can't do that, we aren't going to progress under Sarri. If anything, we will be worse next season, as we won't have Hazard, whose goals and assists this season added up to practically half our total (31/63).

I think the ban could be good for Chelsea. There are rumours that Petr Cech is coming in as our sporting director, but he has no experience of that. It would be beneficial, I think, if he had a year doing that job where he could only plan potential signings for the start of the 2020/2021 season rather than actually make them next season. The ban would also force Chelsea to use some of the brilliant young players we have in the loan army, but that depends on having a manager that trusts youth and will base his footballing ideas on what players he has at his disposal, as opposed to having one that has only one way of playing, and needs very specific players to play that way.

[Jordan La Cabra]

23 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

The issue is that in getting rid of Sarri, Chelsea won't be addressing their main problem - that too many of the players are massive wankers who go on strike at the drop of a hat because they know they're likely to outlast the manager.

And what's the plan anyway, to bring in their own OGS, Fat Frank, and play The Chelsea Way? Idiotic.

Sarri isn't the main problem, but nor are the players. The main problem is a poor management / board structure which makes it difficult for most managers to succeed for long at Chelsea.

Ideally, after last season, Chelsea would have brought in a new technical director, set out a long term plan and hired someone they could see at the club for several years. Perhaps they could have also lowered the expectations and demands for a manager with the realisation that Man City were going to be very difficult to topple and that finishing in the top four was going to be difficult given there are six strong teams trying to get into four places.

Instead, they waited until pre-season had begun to sack Conte and bring in another flavour of the month manager to come in on a short term deal (two years with an option of a third) with the remit to totally overhaul our style of play, with a group of players that don't suit that style.

Despite finishing third, our league campaign hasn’t been an enjoyable one, having suffered massive defeats such as the 4-0 away to Bournemouth and the 6-0 away to Man City. Over the course of the season, we were helped in large by Tottenham, Arsenal and Man United's poor form in the run in and having Hazard, arguably the best footballer in the Premier League. With four games to play, we were fifth, behind Arsenal on goal difference and a point behind Spurs, both of whom had played one game less than Chelsea. From there, we drew three games and won one game (6 points from 12), yet managed to finish third.

If Chelsea are okay with letting Sarri go, it isn't because he hasn't achieved his targets. As I said, the league targets should have been lowered to finishing in the top four, which we did. If Chelsea didn't have a transfer ban, we could look at it that Sarri has got us back into the Champions League with a squad that largely isn't his, so with three or four more signings suited to his style, we can try to do better next season. We can't make those signings, though, as we have a two window transfer ban. Instead, we are going to lose our best player, be able to sign no new players, leading to us having a weaker squad than we had last season, that is no better suited to 'Sarriball' than it was last season. 

If Juve want Sarri and Sarri wants to go to Juve, that may be best for both Sarri and Chelsea. Sarri gets to move onto a better club, who are able to sign players to play his style of football; Chelsea will be able to look for a manager who wouldn't mind having no new signings for all of next season and is able to integrate some of our successful loan players into the squad, which is probably why Lampard is being looked at as an option. Sarri did end up using Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi more often, but fans had been calling for him to include them regularly into the Premier League team long before he finally did.

[Consigliere]

I think Chelsea not appealing to CAS is a sign that the board does not back Sarri. Although I do find it quite baffling that Chelsea haven't launched an appeal yet - even if Sarri leaves, the next manager is going to start off with a major disadvantage if Hazard leaves + Loftus-Cheek is out with a serious injury with some reports saying that he could miss most, if not all, of next season. An appeal is almost certain to result in the ban being delayed (this has been the result for every other club that appealed).

According to some reports, Chelsea would still be able to complete the signings of Higuain and Kovacic but there's been other reports saying that Higuain is set to return to Juve after the EL final. As for Kovacic, who knows what Real Madrid will demand - he could very well be deemed to be too expensive. Really if the worst happens and Hazard leaves + one or both of Kovacic and Higuain not signed, that would leave the new manager facing an uphill battle just to get into the top 4. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Meanwhile Dortmund have completed a few high profile signings.

Brandt (Leverkusen) joins for 25m € or so (release fee), N. Schulz (Hoffenheim) is also confirmed, T. Hazard (Gladbach) has also been confirmed now, fee is rumoredly way closer to 30m (or even below, kicker claims 25.5m+add-ons) than the 40m Gladbach wanted. They also signed 19 y.o. Mateus Morey from Barca on a free. The latter could be a pretty sweet bit of business for them. Morey is really immensely talented, but the left back has quite an injury history.

[Consigliere]

A nice little piece by Ken Early in The Irish Times.

City’s domination has been bought – and they’re paying the price

[A Horse Named Stranger]

9 hours ago, Rorshach said:

2010 Lev did have a lot of star power, though. Those were the years where he was clear second in the rating lists.

A bit besides the point I was trying to make, that Mkhitaryan not wanting to go there shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Other sports (for lack of a better term here) suffer the same problem, that Armenians really do not want to go and play in Azerbaijan for safety/security reasons.

That's also the very reason why it's made sure that Azerbaijan and Armenia do not meet at UEFA or FIFA qualifiers for the major tournaments.

[Rorshach]

1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

A bit besides the point I was trying to make, that Mkhitaryan not wanting to go there shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Other sports (for lack of a better term here) suffer the same problem, that Armenians really do not want to go and play in Azerbaijan for safety/security reasons.

That's also the very reason why it's made sure that Azerbaijan and Armenia do not meet at UEFA or FIFA qualifiers for the major tournaments.

I got that point. 

I merely pointed to one possible reason why 2010 Lev made changes, while later Lev (and not-quite-holding-down-a-starting-place-at-Arsenal-Mhiki) do not. Call it a tangent.