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[truth-serum]

 

You guys can keep Alex,I'll have Sydney even though she keeps snubbing her country 

 

[truth-serum]

 

I'll have Sydney

You're gonna have to sword fight me for her

 

[Kimchi Papi]

My son's team went undefeated in the first session of fustal & then went into the play offs. They played in the championship tonight & won 11-7! Lil psk scored a hat trick tonight!!!!

Some of the team had already left so the pic below is missing 3 kids.

View media item 1357635

 

[tsamshox]

So basically its De Gea + 50 mil for Bale?

 

[mastamind89]

Milan and Internazionale face up to new realities of life in Serie A
Paolo Bandini

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Evidence of Milan’s decline has been hard to miss in Italy of late. You can see it in the Serie A standings, where the Rossoneri began this weekend in eighth place, 17 points behind the league leaders, Juventus. You can hear it in the words of their manager, Pippo Inzaghi, who insisted after a 2–1 defeat to Sassuolo last weekend that it was time to abandon talk of a top-three finish.

Some fans even perceived it in the club’s latest transfer coup. After landing the Italy international Alessio Cerci on an 18-month loan from Atlético Madrid, Milan tweeted a picture of his new No22 shirt, hanging alongside Ricky Saponara’s No8 in the changing room at San Siro. As disillusioned followers were quick to point out, those squad numbers used to belong to Kaká and Gennaro Gattuso.

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport this week, the club captain, Riccardo Montolivo, candidly acknowledged that he and his team-mates lacked the quality of the players who had gone before. “None of us draw comparisons with the past,” he said. “They used to have sacred beasts at [the] Milanello [training ground], legends of European football. There is a clear difference between that Milan and this Milan.”

But misery loves company, and if there is one consolation it is that Milan’s city rivals have been going through a similarly difficult spell. Despite some encouraging performances, and impressive signings, to start 2015, Internazionale remained one spot behind Milan going into this weekend’s round of fixtures.

It is a long time since both clubs have simultaneously performed so poorly. This is the first season since 2001-02 in which neither has competed in the Champions League. You would need to go back another 60 years to find a campaign in which they each finished in lower positions than the ones they occupied on Saturday morning.

How did this happen? As recently as 2010-11, these were the best two teams in the country, Milan nudging Inter into second place as they ended their rivals’ run of five consecutive domestic titles. One year earlier, the Nerazzurri had become the first Italian team ever to win the treble.

For Internazionale, that was the beginning of the end of an era. The side that beat Bayern Munich in that 2010 Champions League final had an average age of close to 30 years old, and would bid farewell to their manager, José Mourinho, immediately afterwards. Over the years that followed, the likes of Javier Zanetti, Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder would move on or melt away into retirement.

Having already poured more than €700m (£530m) of his own money into the club, the owner, Massimo Moratti, was no longer in a position to fund another overhaul. He sold a majority stake to an Indonesian businessman, Erick Thohir, in 2013. But the new owner continues to wrestle with the financial challenges at a club that posted losses of more than €100m on its most recent accounts.

Milan, too, have been fighting to get on to a more stable footing. The sales of their best two players – Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva – in the summer of 2012 were indicative of a growing acceptance that Financial Fair Play regulations could no longer be ignored.

With hindsight, it is remarkable that the Rossoneri – who also lost Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta and Clarence Seedorf that summer – remained competitive enough to grab third place the next year. That they did so is a testament to the work done by the club’s then manager Massimiliano Allegri, as well as an inspired half-season from Mario Balotelli.

The subsequent cuts at both Milan clubs have been drastic. Between them, Milan and Internazionale spent more than €120m on transfers before and during the 2008-09 season. By contrast, their combined outlay from the summer of 2014 through to this month is less than €30m so far. Milan made two-thirds of that amount back by selling Balotelli to Liverpool.

Wage bills have also been slashed. Gazzetta dello Sport’s annual survey of player salaries found that Internazionale were spending €70m on their first-team squad at the start of this season, while Milan were a little further ahead, on €94m. In 2011-12, those figures stood at €145m and €160m respectively.

And yet, those cuts must be kept in perspective. Even now, only Roma and Juventus spend more on player salaries in Serie A. In the longer term, the two Milan clubs will need to either upgrade or move away from San Siro to maximise commercial opportunities. But until then, there are still good reasons to believe they can do better than they have so far in this campaign.

Roberto Mancini’s return has restored enthusiasm at Internazionale, and made the club a more attractive proposition to players as well. The additions of Lukas Podolski and Xherdan Shaqiri have greatly boosted morale. A 1-1 draw at Juventus to start the new year hinted at growing potential.

Milan have made a less convincing start to 2015 but ended last year strongly by defeating Napoli and drawing away to Roma with 10 men. Cerci’s arrival gives them scope to grow further. He will never be the equal of Kaká but he did score 13 goals for Torino last year. A similar showing over the next four months would not fix all of Milan’s many problems. But it might at least help to focus supporters’ minds on the present, instead of a more glorious past.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

^ It's funny how Serie A used to rely so heavily on TV money & no one ever thought the league would fall out... There are still clubs in the league that are preforming well financially (Juve, Roma, Napoli)...

Some animals paying tribute to Ronnie's third BdO win.

 

[User 37837]

bless you good sir

 

[imasoleman18]

 

[Coupé It]

Milan and Internazionale face up to new realities of life in Serie A
Paolo Bandini

I'm all for Roma being as good as they are and having a chance to win Serie A, but I miss the competition of the Milan teams. FFP needs to go. The only teams that will be allowed to spend money are Man United, Real Madrid, and Barca.

 

[freshpairs]

late pass but can i get a name?

 

[champcruthik]

late pass but can i get a name?

Kate Abdo.

 

[MetalMario]

My preferred French team Lyon are top of the league 7 points clear of PSG. we've spent €19.8 million on players in the last four years while PSG has spent €453 million in the same amount of time. #DatYouthSystem

 

[Coupé It]

Still Up

Notification saying Real are playing at 6am, WTF this isn't the Premier League, I've never seen such an early start time. Bout to go downstairs and see if I'd be able to watch without passing out

 

[Sinner]

Indeed, we pronounce our J's in Portuguese.

That sentence by Serum didn't even make any sense, maybe that's what he meant. Another Pet peeve is when they pronounce Portuguese last names in Spanish - like Lopes, Gomes, Soares (complete different pronouciation).

For Lopes... is it like "Lops" with 1 syllable? 

And for Queiroz, it's more of an "sh" sound?

So many Brit comms keep saying Roberto "Martin-nez"... 

 

[Coupé It]

For Lopes... is it like "Lops" with 1 syllable? 
And for Queiroz, it's more of an "sh" sound?

So many Brit comms keep saying Roberto "Martin-nez"... 

Not really "Lops" - it's like the way you pronounce the word "Rope's" just replace the R with the L sound. Queiroz is different depending where you go, in North Portugal we pronounce it like it is (Kay-Roz) in the South they'll pronounce the way you said it (Kay-Rosh).



These Real Madrid goals started to pore in after a terrible first half. Benzema with a beautiful dribble and pass for a Ronaldo goal, also a beautiful James cross on a counter where Bale one-timed it with the outside of the left foot for a goal, and another James cross to Ronaldo for a header. 3-0.

 

[mastamind89]

My preferred French team Lyon are top of the league 7 points clear of PSG. we've spent €19.8 million on players in the last four years while PSG has spent €453 million in the same amount of time. #DatYouthSystem

And my boy Lacazette is currently the top scorer with 20 goals
Looks like PSG will get the W today, unfortunately

 

[mastamind89]

 

[rolaholic]

Silly season has Real willing to pay £50 million for De Gea and other silly rumours report the deal also involving Bale...:x

*Edit: Late pass needed

 

[QU!K]

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/01/17/toronto-fc-signs-sebastian-giovinco-juventus

 

[rolaholic]

 

 

You guys can keep Alex,I'll have Sydney even though she keeps snubbing her country 

That might be true about the mens team but the womens team on the other hand is actually good and consistently one of the higher ranking teams in the world so she really wouldn't be having the same scrubs that the mens team has and would have a shot at actually winning. DeRosario in his prime on USMNT squads would've been pretty interesting.

 

 

I'll have Sydney

You're gonna have to sword fight me for her

 

[champcruthik]

And my boy Lacazette is currently the top scorer with 20 goals
Looks like PSG will get the W today, unfortunately

Jean-Michel Aulas was wildin' stating his belief Lacazette is better than Bale.

Two very strong goal-scoring campaigns in Ligue 1 for Alexandre.

 

[chennylou]

Let's go Arsenal

 

[Sinner]

Did Syd always have implants??? 

 

[QU!K]

Come on you gunners

 

[Sinner]

Weak pen, it has to be said!  

Game on!