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[imasoleman18]

also, did that person who talked about it make that league where its only the bottom 7 and promoted teams fantasy league PM me if you did

 

[eiddyfouw]

Amusing how the general opinion on Pulis has flipped. When he left Stoker, it was awful manager/awful style. Now the style is still awful, but people seem to think Palace are making a mistake.

but they are making a mistake.

Dude came in saved them from being relegated.

They didn't want to give the funds for some transfers, maybe they didn't know if Pulis could still keep them in 1st division this season and didn't want to risk financially in case of the worst scenerio, but still. Sucks nothing worked out between them.

Meh, lets see who they bring in now.

All available...

Curbishley
Sherwood
Moyes
Hughton
Di Matteo

And the tactical Gawd...

 

[randy nota loka]

Agüero signs a five yr deal to stay with City. Good stuff.

Kun coming to NYC after

 

[miketysonthekiller]

All available...

Curbishley
Sherwood
Moyes
Hughton

 

[imasoleman18]

palace will hire di matteo or hughton



looks like conte is officially the new italy boss

 

[atransta]

All available...

Curbishley

Sherwood
Moyes
Hughton
Di Matteo

And the tactical Gawd...

 first time seeing this gif

 

[mdollardream]

palace will hire di matteo or hughton


looks like conte is officially the new italy boss

Cardiff City old boss more than likely with the people in place.

 

[holyflock]

Since no one posted it.
Two Mexican's signed for Atletico Madrid.

Raul Jimenez signed a 6 year deal from CF America.
Diego Gama on loan to Atletico Madrid's youth squad from Toluca.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Luis Suarez ban upheld but he can start training with barca.

I'm glad they upheld the suspension, but they should've held him back from being able to train & appear in friendlies as this is his third offense.

Deulofeu out on loan again.  Going to Sevilla.  He played well for Everton last year.  I thought Barca would've kept him for coverage w/ Tello and Sanchez gone.  Wanted to see what he could do w/ Barca.

Gerry started ball hogging again, trying to take on 4-5 defenders instead of letting things come organically. There were about 3-4 instances in the friendlies he appeared in where he left wide open team mates while trying to over dribble & take on multiple defenders. Going to a solid team like Sevilla will be good for him.

Since no one posted it.
Two Mexican's signed for Atletico Madrid.

Raul Jimenez signed a 6 year deal from CF America.
Diego Gama on loan to Atletico Madrid's youth squad from Toluca.

I'm really excited to see what Jimenez can do under Cholo... Could be another great striker in a long line of great Atleti strikers.

 

[champcruthik]

Now sign Depay and all is well

Well, Tottenham should sign one more striker just in case Soldado doesn't redeem himself this season. Adebayor can only do so much and if Soldado continues to be **** than there must be another back up striker.

I'd say sign Remy, but eh, should go and try to get Bony instead

In other news, finally Jimenez is signed to Atletico de Madrid!

official right here


I'll be following Atletico more closely than I did last year to see how he develops. This is awesome.

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Outside of CR7, Memphis and Yedlinny were my two favorite players in the most recent World Cup.

 

[mastamind89]

Rough way to start the season, two days before it starts and on top of that Palace have to play Arsenal.
Speaking of Arsenal, former player Nick Bendter looks like he is going to sign with Wolfsburg

 

[jj jumpman 23]

In other news...

Man Utd Update
‏@MufcDevilUpdate
Manchester United have made the least amount of signings out of all Premier League clubs. #MUFC #MANUTD

so disappointed about this, especially with Shaw out for a month.

 

[Trey Bantz]

It's been a day and I still haven't fully soaked this victory in. This fùtbol thread is like one big family so I want to share something with you guys. This is a medallion given to my grandfather after being a paying member of this club for 25 years, SOCIO VITALICIO translates to LIFE MEMBER. Unfortunately he passed a couple years ago and never witnessed his beloved club win this cup, but my dad was sure to bring the medallion with him to the stadium last night. Things like this is what makes sports, especially this sport, so much more meaningful than just a game.

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[Kimchi Papi]

Wow, Trey... That's so incredible. There aren't adequate enough words to reply with to say what a cool family heirloom that is... RIP to your grandfather.

Mentioned Sevilla previously & wanted to share this great post from Graham Hunter on Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo aka Monchi. He's an ex keeper for the club back in the 90s when I started watching footy & now the sporting director for his club.

I'd hate to see Monchi leave his club but the work he's done as sporting director at his club should see him get a chance at a bigger club somewhere in Europe...

[COLOR=#red]Monchi: The man who made Sevilla[/COLOR]

It was in the autumn of 2003 that I first realised that it was time to know a hell of a lot more about Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo. Also known as "Monchi." Also known as the brains behind Sevilla FC's football operation since retiring as their goalkeeper about three years previously (and subsequently for the ensuing 11 years).

Monchi, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason that the city of Sevilla, one of Spain's most prodigious and important talent factories, has a team in the Primera Division.

He may, although this is hypothetical and hard to prove, also be the reason that Sevilla still has two football clubs. Because how this organisation would have survived the dearth of money for clubs outside the big three or four over the past handful of years if they didn't have this 45-year-old 'Big Brain' of football watching over them is a mystery to me.

Temporarily, however, back to the autumn of 2003. A friend of mine, a football lawyer by trade, had been at Highbury to do business and spotted a taxi being called for a Ramon Rodriguez. It was evidently a football matter given the fuss being made over the Spanish visitor and, one tip-off later, I was on the case.

The deal turned out to be Jose Antonio Reyes, about whom most Gunners will have mixed feelings -- but not so in Sevilla.

He's back there now, with his hometown club, but the 2003 sale to Arsenal -- for significantly more than it cost Barcelona to buy Ronaldinho six months earlier -- was the beginning of a selling spree where Monchi's prodigies, like Julio Baptista and Sergio Ramos, earned Los Rojiblancos close to a 90 million-euro profit.

In fact, rather than Monchi, his nickname should be "Margin". His metallurgical ability to spot, sign and plump up a player other clubs are simply not interested in and then sell him for a huge profit is simply remarkable.

Not every single time. Not everything he touches turns to gold or else he'd be "Midas" not Monchi. But I don't believe that in modern times there's a trader of horseflesh anywhere in football with a record to compare to his.

In his time he's either helped promote from Sevilla's youth structure or signed to the club: Dani Alves, Freddie Kanoute, Luis Fabiano, Julio Baptista, Sergio Ramos, Jose Antonio Reyes, Andres Palop, Adriano, Renato, Gary Medel, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Seydou Keita, Christian Poulsen, Alberto Moreno, Kevin Gameiro, Enzo Maresca, Carlos Bacca, Diego Lopez and Ivan Rakitic.

Not all have been sold, a couple were allowed to leave for free given their age. But every single one of those players has brought, or will bring, vastly more to Sevilla in terms of sale price, prestige, sponsorship and trophies than they cost to acquire.

By the time they are all sold, I'd estimate it'll be at a net profit of around 200 million euros.

And the cherry on the icing, certainly for me because this is not an accountant's column, is that Monchi the Margin Man's driving philosophy is that he and his network can buy short and sell long but all the while, win trophies. Thus it is that during his time as the grey matter behind the club, Sevilla have reached 10 finals (including Tuesday's UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid) and won seven of them.

Some context, in case you happen to be either a little short on Random Access Memory or new to the Rojiblancos history, is that after the Copa Del Rey in 1948, the club didn't win another major trophy (I'm discounting the second division 20 years later) until the Monchi era and the UEFA Cup in 2006.

I'm particularly interested in him this week mainly because of two reasons.

Real Madrid patently went through a stage between David Beckham's signing and the purchase of Gonzalo Higuain, Marcelo and then Ronaldo, when they found the idea of signing the right coach and the right players at the same time and for the right price to be mutually exclusive.

Los Blancos flirted with Monchi. At one stage it was the biggest open secret in Spanish football that he was on the verge of signing for them.

But, for various reasons including the pull of sentiment, better terms and a fearfully persuasive president (Jose Maria Del Nido, who is now in jail), it didn't happen. Just as well for Sevilla, really.

After the break up of the club's greatest-ever squad -- Kanoute, Fabiano, Adriano, Alves, Palop, Renato, Javi Navarro and the late Antonio Puerta -- Monchi's ability to buy frugally, unearth an effective, often thrilling, player and then sell him on for a profit hit the buffers. The team was moribund and the signing policy wasn't on full throttle.

Yet whether there was a causal connection or it was simply time for him to hit a sweet spot again, Monchi's run of form massively improved just as the economic crisis began to devastate the coffers of La Liga and to scare the wits out of their main creditors -- the banks.

Now there is a new economic reality. The grade of players he succeeded with before are outwith his wildest dreams. He now must target those who are still in development or have hit a dip in form and their careers need reviving.

Yet the Cadiz-born former keeper is replicating his form of a decade ago in buying players who eventually blossom at Sevilla, who are head hunted at a raging profit and who, last May, won the Andalucian outfit their fourth European trophy.

He looks on the past 12 months with pride over another triumph.

"Last year we really needed to sell because we were coming off the back of two pretty disastrous seasons economically and there was a debt of about 22 million euros," Monchi said. "If a club like ours is even slightly badly run or planned and faces a debt like that, then there's a fair chance that it'll sink them and they'll never properly rise to this level again.

"The problem is that because we sell well, clubs try to make us pay over the top for their players -- but those clubs don't realise how much we are committed to paying in salaries. For example, for a club like ours to have players like Bacca or Marko Marin or Kevin Gameiro, the quality of player that other equivalent clubs don't and can't get, we have to offer pretty high average salaries.

"That means that often when we sell players it's not to reinvest in signings or the club, it's to pay some of the salary bill. These days it's not feasible to have the salary bill we had when we signed or renewed Dani Alves, Freddie Kanoute or Luis Fabiano.

"So we have to reinvent ourselves."

Already this summer, between purchases, players returning from loans and sales, there have been 21 moves in and out of Sevilla. And you wouldn't bet against Bacca, who with Gameiro, has added 42 goals since the pair were bought for a total of 17 million euros, leaving for a more sizable Champions League club before the market closes.

This is chaotic for a meticulously planned coach like Sevilla's Unai Emery and it cranks up the pressure on Monchi not to make a single slip. And there are so many areas wherein that slip could occur: who to sell, how much for, who to buy, what type of guy to bring into this flexible, intelligent, technical but very hard-pressing football philosophy.

You'd think it would stress him. But last year he spent the majority of the season in London, conducting his business from a rented flat there and learning to speak English. Such an endeavour will augment both his market skills and his market viability when, as eventually must happen, he follows the route favoured by his pupils.

What a black day that will be for Sevilla FC.

http://www.espnfc.com/spanish-primera-division/15/blog/post/1981765/monchi-the-man-who-made-sevilla

 

[oneilmatt]

Signing: Javi Garcia signs for Zenit on a 5 year contract. Will wear #21

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[Coupé It]

@ManUtd

 

But..

But....

But what about the most important number? Number 7?

 

[champcruthik]

But..

But....

But what about the most important number? Number 7?

The number Antonio Valencia couldn't handle.

 

[Thierry Henry]

Not much longer now, guys. If you haven't already join the fantasy league.

 The link to the site:  https://users.premierleague.com/PremierUser/account/login.html?page  

BPL Fantasy League codes: 210521-57568 and 210521-57621

never understood fantasy sports, get out there and actually play the game in real life gentlemen

San Lorenzo campeon de la Copa Libertadores 2014!!! Words can't even famb

congrats

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bruh

lbnfbhohwughipwjfgipjwp

Signing: Javi Garcia signs for Zenit on a 5 year contract. Will wear #21

View media item 1133057

Should have went back to Spain

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Carlo & RM keeping their eyes on Raheem Sterling huh?

I look to see he & Coutinho to have a big campaign...

 

[rook]

Carlo & RM keeping their eyes on Raheem Sterling huh?

I look to see he & Coutinho to have a big campaign...

sterling is going to be insanely good in 1-2 years time.

 

[oneilmatt]

For anyone curious about how points are scored in fantasy (I know there was at least one )

For playing up to 60 minutes 1
For playing 60 minutes or more 2
For each goal scored by a goalkeeper or defender 6
For each goal scored by a midfielder 5
For each goal scored by a forward 4
For each goal assist 3
For a clean sheet by a goalkeeper or defender 4
For a clean sheet by a midfielder 1
For every 3 shot saves by a goalkeeper 1
For each penalty save 5
For each penalty miss -2
Bonus points for the best players in a match 1-3
For every 2 goals conceded by a goalkeeper or defender -1
For each yellow card -1
For each red card -3
For each own goal -2

 

[Coupé It]

The number Antonio Valencia couldn't handle.

Kit was wayyy to heavy for him.

 

[miketysonthekiller]

Outside of CR7, Memphis and Yedlinny were my two favorite players in the most recent World Cup.

we're on the same page brah.

I was pretty impressed with Memphis after some NT'ers were talking about him and he delivered.

Yedlin been the on my radar for a while now and he did not disappoint either

I don't know if this is Levy's attempt at capturing some of the american market with the hot player of the MLS right now, but I hope dude breaks through as a starter. It's crazy to jump from MLS to the EPL without proving your worth anywhere in europe.

Had he gone to, say, the erevidise as gained momentum there, he would definitely become a starter transferring to the EPL, but he went straight to the EPL. We'll just wait and see.

Since no one posted it.
Two Mexican's signed for Atletico Madrid.

Raul Jimenez signed a 6 year deal from CF America.
Diego Gama on loan to Atletico Madrid's youth squad from Toluca.

I posted that Jimenez was officially an Atletico player, but theres very little people on here that post and fallow mexican transfers. Very scum like from America to demand a cut form his share of the transfer to move out.

That's just low... But, it's the mexican league, I expect nothing less than a scumbag move...

 

[Kimchi Papi]

For those not familiar with him, this is a nice post about Mehdi Benatia. For me, he was the best CB in Europe last campaign & I don't think it was close.

Player Focus: Mehdi Benatia - The Centre-Back Worth a Small Fortune

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Recognition hasn’t come without sacrifice for Mehdi Benatia. Though his talent was discerned from an early age, he has had to work harder than most to get where he is today. Inducted into Clairefontaine [where he’d be asked to leave for not applying himself in school], he was also a part of the academy at Olympique de Marseille. Impressed by the young Moroccan whenever he got the opportunity to train with the first team, Didier Drogba, the talismanic striker behind their run to the UEFA Cup final in 2004, would recommend Benatia to José Mourinho and Chelsea following his move to Stamford Bridge.

“I did a trial for three or four days in London,” he revealed on beIN Sport’s Le Club du Dimanche. “I lived with Drogba and Claude Makélélé. They were a great team but I did not feel ready to go. I was offered a three-year contract, but I was fine at Marseille and the idea of moving abroad scared me.” Benatia was still a teenager. It was a mature decision, putting his development and chances of regular first team football ahead of money. But he wouldn’t get the opportunities he thought he would at Marseille.

He went out on loan to Tours, proved himself in Ligue 2 and, on his return, expected to be given a shot. It never came and Benatia grew frustrated. He fell out with Jose Anigo. The Marseille coach didn’t play him regularly, and yet blocked a move to Saint-Etienne. “He left me disgusted with football,” Benatia admitted.

Finally allowed to leave for Lorient, it wouldn’t work out for him in Brittany either. A knee injury contributed to more time on the sidelines than he would have liked, but their manager kept him there even when fit. “I wasn’t starting,” Benatia recalled in France Football. “I went to see Christian Gourcuff four or five times to say: ‘Coach, you’re killing me. If I don’t play, I have no life’.”

The 20-year-old would make only one appearance in the cup before returning to Ligue 2 with Clermont. “I needed it,” he reflected in La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Our second division is more physical. It’s full of Africans.” Benatia had a couple more seasons as a regular in this school of hard knocks. It toughened him up. Samir Nasri, one of his best friends from his time in Marseille’s youth ranks, vowed to make Arsenal sign him. “He said to me: ‘I’m going to talk to Wenger’. And I replied: ‘You’re crazy’.” A call never came. However, Benatia had by then appeared on one of the most sensitive radars in the world for picking up talent. Udinese signed him for free. In hindsight, the centre-back has to be considered one of their best purchases in recent years along with Alexis Sánchez and Samir Handanovic.

In Udine, by the border with Slovenia, in the cold and the rain, “I managed to make my name,” Benatia told France Football. Arguably the most successful cycle in Udinese’s history - together with the Zico years - coincided with his arrival. They finished fourth, third and fifth, qualifying for the Champions League twice only to miss out on the group stages after losing in the play-offs to Arsenal and Braga.

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High profile suitors began making themselves known to Benatia’s entourage. Wanted by Paris Saint-Germain at one stage, the Qatari backed club ending up buying Thiago Silva from Milan instead. Once the Brazil captain left, Benatia soon came to be thought of among the calcio cognoscenti as the best centre-back in Serie A. And that made the initial reaction to buying him baffling among Roma supporters. At €13m, they thought Benatia was expensive. Fans quickly realised that it was cheap.

Roma had let in 56 goals the previous season. That’s what being coached by Zdenek Zeman will do for you. But even so, the difference made by Benatia over the last year was really quite something. He had won his final seven games as an Udinese player. At Roma he claimed victory in his first 10, an all-time Serie A record, and a personal streak of 17. They conceded only once in that run. Roma shipped just 25 over the course of campaign as a whole.

Until their out of character 3-0 defeat to Catania on May 4, which left Roma’s season devoid of any meaning as Juventus could no longer be caught and Napoli couldn’t catch them, they had shipped only 0.5 goals per game, a remarkable average. Their 21 clean sheets represented the benchmark [shared with Lille] among clubs in Europe’s top five leagues. Benatia had dominated. Of players to make at least 50 league appearances, only Lucio [7.56] has averaged more tackles and interceptions than he has [6.55] in the last four seasons in Serie A.

At the end of the last one, his star was in the ascendancy. Already of interest to Europe’s traditional elite, Benatia was even more so now. He knows his worth. When he joined Roma, he did so against his agent’s better judgement. “The contract was low with respect to the other offers [€1.6m a year net],” Benatia admitted to La Gazzetta, “and I wouldn’t be playing in the cups. I signed all the same and have never regretted it. There was a project. I liked the idea of it.”

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Yet he insists a promise was made. “Before signing for them, Roma said to me: ‘Bena, we know you deserve more and you have refused a lot of money. Come, show that you’re worth it at Roma and if we get into the Champions League or win the Scudetto we’ll give you a good contract’.” Roma kept their word. “But,” in Benatia’s words, “an unacceptable offer was made. I’ve heard it said I asked for €4m a year. I didn’t even ask for €3m.”

Owner James Pallotta held talks with Benatia during Roma’s pre-season tour of the US and seemed confident of retaining him. Rudi Garcia has insisted he doesn’t want to lose his best players and pointed to the fact that Benatia’s existing deal runs until 2018. The player has also told fans: “I’m staying. Of course I’m staying.”

Reports this week indicate Chelsea have made a bid of €37.5m. Mourinho has responded to the speculation by saying: “We’re not interested.” That has been interpreted as a ‘bluff’ by the Italian papers even though if the Blues were to buy him they would need to sell a couple of their foreign players first in order to comply with the Premier League and Champions League’s homegrown quotas.

Roma are in a strong position too. They’re under no obligation to sell and can argue that if David Luiz cost PSG €49.5m and Porto received €30.5m for their 57.67% stake in Eliaquim Mangala from Manchester City then Benatia - probably the best centre-back in Europe last season - must be worth a small fortune. Roma also have cover. They signed Davide Astori as a stand-in for Benatia rather than as a successor and have monitored the likes of Kostas Manoloas and Eder Alvarez Balanta. As far as they’re concerned, though, their No.17 is not, and has never been, up for sale.

“The sooner we close the market, the more I can work on preparing the team for Serie A and the Champions League,” Garcia said. “That doesn’t just go for me, but all coaches. But what’s important is the good of Roma. I hope that from now until September 2, nothing important happens.” So do all Romanisti.

http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/f...Benatia-The-Centre-Back-Worth-a-Small-Fortune

 

[ROYGBiV]

 

Man You all should know I love Roma by now but man you sure as hell love you some Benatia. I will say after losing Marquinhos to PSG I never thought we'd replace him with someone as solid as him. He was great with Udinese but who wold have thought? Roma has some great scouts.