I wouldn't bank on Hazard or Costa being there next year. Hazard's being connected with a move to Real (maybe as some kind of swap for Morata) and Costa could be part of another swap deal, this time for Pastore at PSG.

Not sure where all that leaves Lukaku, especially if they get Morata. But if Costa or Morata are there next season, and they still want to bring in Lukaku, I can't see him starting ahead of either of them, and will Chelsea really want to spend that much on a backup striker? I can see Lukaku staying at Everton and then doing a Payet as soon as a new opportunity to move on arises, wherever that'll be.

Also strong rumours that West Ham are planning to sack Bilic in the summer and bring in Japp Stam. A pointless move if the owners don't invest in players, which is the real reason why we've gone backwards this season.

so i read a bit about van gaal

first, when i spotted his real name: "aloysius paulus maria" i said "holy shit that looks like a very catholic name." (loyola, etc)

and sure enough, he's ultracatholic and met his first (now deceased) wife at a catholic youth group.

did he once pull a player by the ear?

i think i know the type!

oh yes i know the type. authoritarian papist. aa h aaa haaa haaa

i can see the problem interacting with XXI century people

Douglas Costa leaving Bayern?

what? that scared me. so i went and googled up his name and all i've seen is good news that he won't need knee surgery. which is great. but he's still got a messed up knee. oww.

He said in an interview about a month ago that he's considering leaving in the summer. Something about him being unhappy with the amount of playing time he's getting. Then it went quiet. I don't know much about him other than that he's meant to be pretty good.

he's a mighty beast. a month ago? ok.

well now with his fucked knee it might be a problem ha ha ha.

issue is he shares the wings with ribéry and robben. so he doesn't get to always start. BUT neither of those is a spring chicken and could get injured or retired any moment so rotation makes sense. plus they are all big runners.

SO, i think he was just probably being a dumb footballer. now he needs to shut up and heal because he's probably not gonna make the april 17 game vs. real madrid. which sucks. kingsley coman isn't really my favorite player but he is in the same wing rotation and if ribéry or robben need a break he's gonna be the one coming in. meh.

SO... yes.

Alright you degenerates, this is the state of South America after games 13 & 14 (out of 18):



Scroll down this page to check the remaining four sets of matches (August 31, September 5, October 5 and October 10). Only Ecuador could knock a team out of the top five, but it seems unlikely given the fixture. So Brazil will finish on top and Colombia, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina are going to Putinland 2018, assuming whoever finishes fifth survives the play-off vs... Fiji or whatever the fuck — just don't ask me who it's going to be.

Yeah, it's difficult for players like that in big teams with big squads. That'll be something Lukaku has to consider. If he goes to any of the elite clubs he won't be guaranteed starts anything like he is at Everton. I understand the obsession with winning trophies but when you're winning them mainly on the bench it's not really a credible achievement. Like those players who describe themselves as WC winners who only played a few minutes (if that) during the actual tournament.

yeah in a team like that which plays twice weekly and has to perform at top levels it only makes sense to rotate the most demanding positions. the distance these guys cover and the speeds they require make for high wear-out and long periods of injury.

bayern can only squeeze so much more from ribéry. i wish him a long career but it's hard to carry a whole game at his age. costa is faster. ribéry is changing his style, making up with ability what he used to do with speed-- but when you need speed and brutal power with accuracy costa is your man.

as for coman, he's talented, but strikes me as a bit fragile physically and lacks the talent of someone like démbélé (i forget how many accents in his name). dembélé is still young and skinny and is only 18 or 19 but wow he is SMART and soooo able. you gotta watch him at dortmund. his passing has been getting better and he's just insanely good. him and aubameyang are just fantastic and such a pleasure to watch. and little pulisic, oh man, he's 18 and so damn good.

i don't think much about lukaku or everton these days. can they win anything? europa league maybe? so what's his situation? he wants to bail?

as for the cup winners who play little-- i still consider them a part of the team. they train together, share all burdens, are part of the team morale and what makes the other players go forward with confidence (or desperation, depending), and so i'm all for them getting a trophy. hell yeah. those who perform can't do it without those who support. all for one and one for all.

I get your point and it'd be a nightmare determining which squad members should and which ones shouldnt get a medal, but take Germany's 3rd choice goalkeeper in WC2014 Ron Zeiler. Didn't play a single minute for them in the tournament or even the qualifiers but has a winner's medal. I mean good luck to him and all that but can he really look at it and think his achievement equals Neuer's?

Bottom line for me, I'd think more of Lukaku as a player driving Everton to a Europa League spot than if he had a bit part role in Chelsea winning a major trophy.

Like Scott Carson having a Champions League medal and only playing once game in the whole campaign.

Really hope Argentina don't qualify for this.

i suppose i have a more socialist view of teh situation ha ha ha ha

at least at this moment

a team is a team is a team. i'm sure ron zeiler (never heard of him, lol) helped someone train their penalties or whatever. so just like the equipment manager (how do you say utilero) or the stretcher bearers or whatever, everyone has a role, everyone is important.

i mean, ultimately who cares. im not gonna go to the man's house and take away his medal. who the fuck am i to say "no" to him? if he enjoys it, more power to him. if it bothers him that he never actually stepped on the pitch except for warmups, then i hope he learns to enjoy it anyway.

===

as for lukaku, etc... it's a bit of a conceptual jump. let me go and read again

Was the 17 in reference to the amount of minutes Jack Rodwell played in Man City's title winning season?

OH yes, as the bench etc.

costa is *hardly* a bench warmer on bayern. when he's been out it's been due to injury. which he's now... twice, this season? at least.

so anyway. if bayern get a title he totally deserves a part of it not just on "a team is a team" grounds but also he does put in some solid play, has scored 8 goals so far i think in spite of his medical absences, and i totally see him as a future mythical beast if he can keep up the pace and doesn't ruin himself with dunce moves and stupid contracts.

one thing that bayern does is take good care of its players. i mean, look at the permanent cripple holger badstuber, still being nursed to play twice a year. i think costa would be a fool to leave like this, especially in robbenry's autumn years. someone needs to slap some sense into him.

I was really just talking about Lukaku. He's an exceptional talent who could go on to become world class but I don't think he'd be a 1st choice striker yet at any of the clubs apparently interested in him. He's only 23. In a couple of years maybe he will be but he's more likely to become that by playing every week at Everton than by wasting time on the bench at a bigger club. As H8kurdt has said, a lot of it seems to be his agent trying to make money for himself rather than thinking about Lukaku's long term career.

ooohhhh i get it now without the tangents lol.

so i read a bit and it sounds like conte wants morata not lukaku

dont let this be another unwanted gotze going to play for "pep gardiola" lololol

say no romelu. say no.

So here's FIFA's plan for 2026 and beyond (as if there's still gonna be a planet Earth by then... Fools!):

Europe: 13 -> 16
Africa: 5 -> 9
Asia: 4.5 -> 8
South America 4.5 -> 6
North & Central America: 3.5 -> 6
Oceania: 0.5 -> 1

That's 46 countries. The last two will be decided via some convoluted shit.

http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/...r-2878254.html

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/blog-...rld-cup-lineup

they can all fit under a big circus tent

Oh, Everton. Same old, same old.

there's a pun wanting to happen there, with the "ever" thing, i know it...

---

so schalke/dortmund are in the middle of their "river derby" and it's quite lively but 0-0 and a little sloppy-- several good missed chances by dortmund so far

have not been keeping an eye on bayern/augsburg. maybe later on replay.

--

eta: whan an insane finish on schalke-dortmund. 1-1 in the end and a ton of drama lol

Just watching the Leverkusen/Wolfsburg game. I bet on Leverkusen to win and now I'm reminded about why I NEVER bet. They were 2-0 up and now it's 2-3 to Wolfsburg.

House always wins, Phil, house always wins.

Hang on! It's 3-3! Knew I should have done 'both teams to score'

oh man! i just watched the same thing. it was awesome!

and yeah i didn't bet lol but great brunch show

At first it looked like it was gonna be such a dour affair. Normally I would have sacked it off after the first half

first half i really enjoyed the drama of wolfsburg trying & trying and leverkusen punching them on the teeth at their first try.

but then it got really good!

super mario is super mario again lol. 150 bundesliga goals + a hat trick. a pity they tied-- felt like a loss to me. i like wolfsburg and they're too low on the table for my taste (and obviously theirs).

btw, looks like julian brandt is going to bayern next year

holy shit, at the end of a tight and lively game with no goals, leipzig gets a player thrown out but manages to score the winning goal in injury time with a lightning-fast attack. insane!

Awesome net breaking goal from Firmino just now

bayern-dortmund just started

jeezus bayern ahead 2-0 in under 10 minutes wtf

--

and guerreiro makes it 2-1 this game is fantastic.

or should i say fantastisch

--

ended 4-1 for bayern firing on all cylinders ahead of the CL

Bloody hell. What sounds like one of the most mental first halves all this season and I've missed it. FINALLY found a decent stream LITERALLY as the half time whistle went

Arselol

Now I've written that Arsenal will go on to win 2-1

Arsenal are beyond a joke now

See I actually feel bad for Wenger. The players couldn't give a shit and are clearly trying to push him out now.

The fans however, I'll carry on laughing at them for a while yet.

Too much of this is Wenger's doing for me to really feel bad for him. At best I'd say he's simply been there too long. He seems complacent and that's being translated onto the pitch.

i started googling this matter and 3 years ago people had the same question

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Arsene-...-standing-joke

The question in that Quora asked why he won't be sacked. That's not the issue. He won't be sacked ever. The issue is should he resign and I think he should. He seems to have lost any ideas in terms of tactics, organisation, etc, but, more critically, I think he's lost his ability to lead or even identify leaders on the pitch (Alexis and Koscielny aside). For years now, Arsenal have had a reputation for being good to watch but lacking any real guts. All a team needs to do to get at Arsenal is to put pressure on them. They never replaced Viera and have been flimsy as fuck ever since. I can't see that ever changing as long as Wenger's there.

Anyway, CL tonight. Who's watching what? Barcelona v Juve, Dortmund v Monaco. Do I really need to ask?

Ooj, they both have their qualities that could make good games. As Mr predictable it'll be Juve and Barcelona tonight.

Biggest question is what bets should I put on.

it's around my lunchtime and i have a thing and might not a have a chance to watch till the afternoon but

HELL YEAH

really rooting for dortmund. monaco impressed me greatly last time. a fast, strong team with skilled strikers. dortmund is a bit scrawnier and could get physically overpowered. aaaah competition.

as for barca juve sure that's the obvious pick for must-watch game today.

i already bought beer this morning so i'll have enough for both ha ha ha ha

damn

this just blew my mind. i didn't know of this "unsackable" status.

you're asking that he kicks himself out.

he just said he'll coach next year whether at arsenal or elsewhere yes?

damn