right-- he said he was great enough to build a team around him

here's his injury "schedule"

http://www.transfermarkt.com/thiago/.../spieler/60444

pretty full as you can see

good summary of yesterday's game

http://www.espnfc.us/german-super-cu...-munich/report

Half time Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal

Arsenal look the better team all round.

oh shit already started so early? i must tune in... thanks for the heads up

...aaaaand my 2nd hand car "theory" (lol) was just illustrated by petr chech

not that i know how much money arsenal have or how much they paid for him ha ha ha

Deserved win for Arsenal. Chelsea looked unusually sloppy: Hazard was quiet; nothing from Falcao when he came on; silly mistakes from their defence.

Yeah, it proves your point but it made headlines here because of how unusual such a move is. Many people are amazed Chelsea let him go to a rival club. They certainly didn't have to.

i heard the commentators saying that mourinho didn't want him going to chelsea but couldn't stop it for some reason

and just saw mourinho shaking hands with the arsenal players and then right before wenger comes down he fucks off ha ha haha

then people yell and throw trash at him and he throws something back-- what was it?

His runners-up medal.

The Cech move was sanctioned by Abramovich, apparently as a show of respect to Cech (who wanted the move) but you're right, Mourinho was dead against it. There was nothing in Cech's contract that forced Abramovich to accept Arsenal's bid.

triple hilarity

Funnily enough listening to a debate on the radio right now about the Cech move. Verdict = Mourinho was right to try and block it. Words like "crazy" are being used with abandon.

And yeah, love the medal thing. And predictably he saw the game differently to everyone else who watched it.

i kinda saw what he's saying-- i only saw teh 2nd half-- arsenal parked the bus and defended well, and chelsea attacked more and had more possession, etc. so all that he said is more of less true-- except that thing about "scoring for no reason" ha ha ha ha.

on top of that, he often does that which he criticized today, right?

he's a really funny guy. not in a voluntary/comedian way. he's got his own reality distortion field. which is probably very good in a coach who wants his players to "believe".

Arsenal defended a lead which isn't the same as parking the bus, which is when you're playing solely to stop the other team from scoring and happy for a draw. In the first half Arsenal were far more attacking, and in the past, once they'd got their lead, they'd keep on playing for more goals. That's good on the eye but often proved fatal. Now they seem to have accepted that really successful teams know how to close out a game. Yesterday was only really a friendly and we'll see if they can carry that new-found wisdom through into the proper season but they're definitely showing signs now of being a much more rounded side.

right right-- i missed the first half as you know (and thanks for the notice)

i love flexible teams-- that can attack, can defend, can counter, can adapt to an opponent. if arsenal can be that i'd like to watch them. then again i probably won't because foxsoccer2go has rendered my need for cable moot.

this is what i miss in pep's bayern-- yes, fantastic pyrotechnics--when they fire--or nothing.

Talk again in the press about whether Pep will come to the Prem next season. I'm sure his next appointment (I don't think he'll renew at Bayern) will be in England, most likely to MU, although MC also seem desperate to get him. I get the feeling (to put it mildly) that most Bayern fans won't be too sad to see him go. Any idea who you'd like to see them bring in as his replacement?

i don't know who will come in at bayern, but as pep is remaking the team in his own image (schweinsteiger gone, many small spaniards in) they're going to have to deal with his legacy one way or another. so i'd like to get someone who can manage those players. who that is i don't know.

i don't think i'd want klopp. klopp can be brilliant, but he proved very inflexible once his scheme was broken. he had no tactical alternatives. just like pep. so maybe i'd say "draft heynckes!" ha ha ha. but no, he's retired. someone like him. please not bielsa ha ha ha ha. hey, maybe bielsa! he'd know what to do with a pep team. plus he knows vidal. i don't know... mourinho maybe? like him or not, he seems capable...

as for the english press-- it's very navel-gazing. i.e., they make it like everything revolves around the prem. i hear it in the commentators whenever they narrate a game-- eeeeeeverything refers back to the prem. and of course it doesn't-- the world is big and maybe pep will end up at PSG or something. not that some english clubs won't want him; it's just that there are so many other great places to live and work, and there are so many options. paris or manchester? hmmmm....

maybe he'll end up going back to barcelona! (or move to china)

Most likely they'll poach whoever seems like a real prospect in the bundesliga, or even promote someone internally. It's frustrating when these big name coaches come in and revolutionise everything at a club, only to move on after a few seasons. A big part of Barcelona's success has come from them favouring continuity over marquee appointments.

As for the prem. Yeah it does think too highly of itself. Pep's said he wants to coach in England before he retires but he's a young man with plenty of options before that. But he needs to be careful. Certainly his time at Bayern has proved he's not some gift from the football Gods and he'll need to improve at wherever he goes next if he wants to remain at the top of all the richest owners' must-have lists.

yes. but i think there's a deeper side to that. let me see if this makes sense:

germany had to adapt some decades ago when they realized they were falling behind in football. klinsmann, actually, is the one who started it, and his buddy jogi loew is the one who finished it. here's an extensive article:

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/0...ning-goal-gif/

( eta: here's a long article on the academy revolution that started BEFORE klinsmann and the above article refers to: http://www.theguardian.com/football/...st-boom-talent or this one even better: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/...work-elsewhere <-- explains the tactical revolution at the academies)

now to me the pep hire is a kind of continuity on that. germans want to be at the cutting edge of football. and bayern as the most important team of the bundesliga and the core of the german national team wants to be in on the evolution of the game. they don't want to be left behind again.

notice for example how loew at the start of the world cup put lahm in the midfield, as pep had done to the great surprise of all. when that didn't work and he was returned to his position as a right fullback, many germans were relieved (and the team worked better). but that shows you the way loew is willing to take his cues from the high prophets of the game.

at the same time though, because of bayern's role at the center of things, they want to remain a german team--which is why they hired gotze (i understand guardiola didn't want him?) and why selling schweinsteiger was such a big deal.

so i can see why the pep experiment is the way they will want to keep going-- wherever there's innovation, or something... they'll want in. it's not just about winning games today but about staying ahead of everyone else in the long run.

so maybe klopp ha ha ha ha. he did do something "new". and he's german. and he'd reunite with gotze and lewandowski, but with bayern's resources this time... i personally wouldn't want him there because i think he's a kind of one-trick pony but i can see why he might be a strong candidate.

Great articles. Thanks.

I agree with the cutting edge argument and supported the signing of Pep at the time for that reason, but the difference between what he's doing at club level and what Klinsmann et al did nationally is that Pep's not in it for the long term. If his revolution is going to work Bayern will need to find a replacement with a similar vision who can bring his experiment to some kind of completion, because as it stands they feel like a team that's neither one thing or the other. The bigger problem there is if they even really want the kind of football that Pep's identified with to be their ultimate goal. For Klinsmann it made more sense, who doesn't like the kind of fast attack-minded football he promoted? Whereas what Pep represents (from a stylistic pov) is a bit more marmite, I think.

ha ha marmite- i love that stuff. bitter umami ftw.

fans may be frustrated, but the club directors appear to want him more than the fans for the long-term reasons just discussed. "not completely convinced..." might just be a power play, like his complaint about the medical staff. who knows, maybe he signs again for another 3 years if they let him bring more players of his choosing. but then again, maybe his heart belongs to barcelona and that's what he really wants deep down.

my wife and i were joking during the last champion's league that when he went to hug luis enrique after barca beat bayern he whispered in his ear "we did it!" ha ha ha ha.

I honestly think when he took the Bayern job he thought it'd be an easy few years before moving on. The fact they won the CL and thrashed Barcelona on the way changed everything.

I'd be surprised/disappointed if he does return to Barcelona and I'm not even sure they want him now, with Enrique doing so well. I'd like to see him in the Prem for lots of reasons, not least to see him once again grapple with Mourinho, although will he even be here next season? He's never stayed anywhere more than three seasons and this is his third. I wouldn't be at all surprised though if Mourinho leaves Chelsea next summer and Pep replaces him. Watching Jose's demeanour at the moment he seems to be doing his usual act of burning bridges and almost agitating for the sack.

how do you mean? oh, because his contract was already in place when bayern did this? and it raised the stakes? yes...


ah ha ha ha. mourinho... why wouldn't he stay? chelsea is champion... where else can he go but down?

maybe luis enrique goes to real madrid and pep goes to barcelona, ha ha ha.

Exactly.


He says he'll stay as long as Abramovich wants him so he may last longer than his usual 3 years. There aren't many big clubs left that either he'd be interested in or who'd have him. Everyone knows he really wanted the MU job after Fergie left but it seems they're just not interested in him. Rumours that Ryan Giggs is being groomed to replace LVG when he leaves.

Bayern might be an option for Mourinho after Pep goes (we assume) but he's made it public that he doesn't like the Bundelsiga and I'm not sure the Bayern board would want him any more than Man U's. Plus I've heard that if Pep does go, Bayern are interested in Mönchengladbach's Lucien Favre as a possible replacement. Don't know anything about him though.

Maybe Mourinho will have to stay at Chelsea just because his realistic alternatives are slowly running out.

Someone explain to me this Audi Cup.
I see many players im familiar with..

It's a nothing cup, organised by the car company for a bit of publicity. Only 4 clubs are entered and they only use it as a pre-season warm up.

it's practice matches

but for money

don't worry about it

Think Mourinho said at the beginning of this term he intended to stay at Chelsea until he gets kicked out. I wouldn't be surprised if he's there for a good few years yet. Certainly until he wins the Champions League at least.

It'll be interesting next summer, when Pep becomes available. We know Abramovich has always wanted him at Chelsea, and I'm not sure how Jose would react if they started making bids for him while he's still there - although whether Abramovich is willing to match the £100m contract Man City are supposed to be about to offer him is another matter. Either way Mourinho's in a weird situation where he's working in a country that still sees him as the Special One, but where all the biggest clubs still seem to have Pep at no.1 on their wish-list.

So West Ham are out of the Europa Cup. Thank God for that. Whether we went out because we weren't good enough or because we really didn't want to be in it, while I hope it's the latter, I really don't care. Most important thing is we can now concentrate solely on the Prem.

Some early predictions:

Top 4:

1. Arsenal (perhaps optimistically)
2. Chelsea
3. Man City
4. Man Utd

Relegated: Leicester, Norwich, Villa.

First manager sacked: Tim Sherwood.

Yo demo, did you see the West Ham documentary about their move to the Stadium. Absolutely ridiculous.

One main point (besides the shocking levels ineptitude and corruption) is the fans blindness in believing they'll become the next Chelsea, Man City/United in the next few years. No offense but getting Bilic as their manager etc. is not the ambitions of a wannabe Champions League playing team.

Anyway it's a great, albeit depressing, look at modern football.

I didn't see it but I'll try and catch a repeat.

I'm not one of the fans who thinks we'll become the next Chelsea, although plenty do. On the point of Bilic, though, I'd say it's more difficult. The board did show ambition in trying to get Benitez, Klopp, Bielsa and Emry. That they all turned us down just showed that we're not able to attract that calibre of manager and so we ended up with Bilic, who's closer to where we're at right now. That had nothing to do with a lack of ambition, though.

As for the Champions League, the problem for a club like West Ham is even if we do become richer, the teams already filling those places also become richer, so we kind of stand still. The best we can hope for in the foreseeable future is consistent mid-table security. That's why I'm glad we're out of the Europa League; I see this season as being a real test and we could very easily find ourselves in a relegation battle.

Either way I do think the club is being shafted and its history erased by the self serving business decisions of Karren Brady, et al. But I'm probably in a minority of WH fans in thinking that.

Happy Premier League Opening Day!!!!

lewandowski needs a sub

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...ransfer-window

and gotze wants to leave (of course--pep works for spain)

http://talksport.com/football/mario-...and-manchester

Arsenal 0-2 West Ham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CPl...Q&spfreload=10

Obviously too early to say this but my initial thinking that arsenal could go all the way ... yet again they're looking like the same old same old. Giroud is simply not a title winning striker.

But back to west ham. Payet. Remember the name.

okay.

btw, what south americans did you end up getting this year? you had an ecuadorian already, right? and now?

Wenger's refusal to buy another decent striker will bite him on the ass pretty soon I think. Why he refuses to spend big (Sanchez aside) I'll never know.

I look forward to seeing MOTD later. All these teams around Everton seemed to have bought well so far. A bit worrying. Well, I mean very worrying.

And your next few fixtures are horrible.

but yeah, if wenger doesn't land benzema I don't know what he'll do. He could use wallcott as a striker but there's little chance of him going a season injury free.

Valencia is ecuadorian plus zarate is argentinian

i could have sworn you were hiring others during the copa américa
maybe it was rumors and never actually happened

--

eta it was perú's advíncula who plays in portugal or turkey, getting mixed info from the internets about that. i remember commentators speaking of him going to jamón-west.