Not sure Alf would be happy with him playing for Keane's old club

Got to disagree about the best goal ever...I remember seeing this on ITV on Sunday afternoon and it always stuck with me.

frank worthington wonder goal - YouTube


Best match I ever saw live - just for you stevieG (especially that last goal at 8:25 in the video). I was at this match and missed a couple of the goals as I was wrapped round the safety stanchion in the Kop, following a big crowd surge. So much for Spurs and their Argentinian wonder boys!!

02/09/1978 Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAVHCvotIOk


Davie Cooper

I think it's been said that Alfie H. wouldn't have ill feelings if Erling were to go to Man Utd. I haven't looked for that statement of record, and am just going off memory. So, that could be erroneous, but Solskjaer and Haaland have the Molde connection. I doubt United will sign him though. He's too good for United at the moment, and United (Ed "Wooddick") have not a fucking clue how to go out and fucking lasso a signing (what a fucking comedy it has been!!!). He'll end up at Bayern, PSG, or Madrid, and I would say it'll be Bayern as the favorite to sign him.

Going back to your best goal ever ... JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ... as I watched that video, I couldn't believe it was 2004!!!! Holy shit - it seems like just a couple years ago. I distinctly remember watching that game and seeing the ball drop to him, and I knew it was going in. An absolute ballistic strike!!! I remember the game, but I don't remember where I was watching it. I remember the Champions League final too, because with Milan up 3-0, I thought it was over. I actually got sleepy, and started to doze off. I woke up after the first goal, and then with the second goal, I literally jumped up from the couch in disbelief! My girlfriend thought I had a problem, like I was sick and about to throw up or something. I remember where I was for that game. I also remember where I was for the following season's West Ham FA Cup Final too. Same thing ... could see the ball falling to him and knew he was going to score. I mean, in terms of importance, no doubt the Olympiakos goal stands out, but the goal against West Ham was like 35+ yards out. It was a missile!

I'm actually one of the Anti-Christ for Liverpool fans, and I only recall these moments out of disgust and disbelief. I mean, 5th in the league with 14 losses, and they're winning the Champions League??? Rafa Benitez worked some kind of ridiculous magic.

A good weekend for me ... Liverpool lost their 6th straight at home and we beat City! Won't do anything to change the title race, but should solidify European games if we don't totally fuck it up.

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Gnothi Seauton.

Why is pulsic wearing number ten for Chelsea?

He was given that by Lampard earlier in the season as a designated number/role for him. It's a big deal

(spoken by a former #10 myself).

General bump to this thread now that most regular seasons in Europe have ended.... Some observations from week/end of season games...

Anyone catch the drama of the final standings in the Premiership? Came right down to the wire w/Chelsea, Liverpool, Leicester all fighting for the all important 4th position and UEFA qualifying for next season. Liverpool took care of their business. Looks like Chelsea overlooked Villa and paid for it, but got lucky due to Leicester coming apart vs. Spurs. Having all of this happening simultaneously / live made for a meaningful end.

Bale is still a quality finisher.... he needs to land on a team and have a home.

If Kane moves and gets paired with DeBruyne at MC, that's a ton of potential goals.

Aguero finished up well at Man City... .Maybe rumors of him going to Barcelona will happen. (although that makes no sense for Barca, when they moved away from an aging Suarez. Karma for him to then then totally help rival Atletico Madrid win La Liga).

Real Madrid is a shell of what they used to be. Be interesting to see what they do w/end of contract players (Ramos), and what Zidane decides.

Liverpool took care of business a few weeks ago with a crazy last second header by the GK. Kind of a feel good story there with his father drowning in February, on top of some head scratching blunders by a normally solid goalie. But yes, I think it helped Chelsea looked ahead. Even more interesting, Arsenal is not going to be playing in any European matches for the first time in something like 26 years.

Leeds finished the season strong and I truly believe they may start to be a threat to the top 4 within the next year or two. Whether Bielsa is the one that takes them there will be the question. If you don't know about him, research some of his quirks.

Finally, looking at Germany, FC Union Berlin finished 7th while the cross town rivals Hertha Berlin finished 14th. My how the tables have turned there. Union is a GREAT story and an easy team to get behind.

Real Madrid had over 50 injuries this season and finished second in La Liga and made it to the Semis of Champions Leauge. When any other team makes it to the Champions League Final it is big news, when Real Madrid does not make it, that is big news.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

Yes, the burden of expectations and history. And I'm probably guilty too of holding them to that standard. In the semis vs. Chelsea, I thought it would be more competitive, but Chelsea were clearly the better team. And I don't think Chelsea will beat Man City in the final.

That was so awesome when Becker scored on the header, so well executed too. The raw emotion on the pitch from his teammates was great. Happy that they are back in the Champions League next year.

On my bucket list to see a match at Anfield one day.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Question about salaries and transfers/etc.

Is there a max amount of money a team can have salaried at a time? It just seems that based on valuations that’s Barcelona and Real Madrid should be much better teams than everyone else in Europe.

Also just generally. I like the top 4 idea. However it seems like once you are in the top 4 and not in race to win it all it doesn’t matter.(seeding?) Or is there a difference between finishing 2nd vs 4th.

There's no salary cap in football/soccer. It would probably be unenforceable as players can switch between clubs in different countries, and all countries would have to agree to the limits. Can't see the big boys in Europe standing for it.

There's no salary cap but there are "financial fair play rules". I'm not sure exactly what those are because clearly if billionaires by a team they will be a top team within a couple of years. I think there is something about the money spent has to come from the club's money not out of the pocket of the owner. Man City was in line to supposedly get in big trouble for violating these rules at one point recently. IIRC, they even received a pretty stiff penalty but then that was overturned on appeal and seems to just have gone away.

Yes there is seeding for the group stage of Champions league, basically teams are put into 4 pots based on finishing places and then one from each pot is drawn for the groups. So you don't end up with 4 top teams in a group or 4 donkeys in another group.

This is one of the better explanations I've seen for it. Basically it has to do with the amount of spending and financial losses a club can have, regardless of how much the owner can buffer that (but they are allowed to buffer some of it).

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/29361839

Thanks!

This seems incredibly easy to get around though. Because the revenue in has to be associated with sports/merchandising/tv/etc.

Seems like a billionaire could just purchase a bunch of jerseys/pay for marketing through advertisements/create schemes to indirectly boost the club/etc.

Actually this is how PSG and Manchester City got their teams. Follow the money. Real Madrid and Barcelona may be the most valuable teams, but the pockets of PSG and Man City are much much deeper

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

I thought those Spanish clubs were massively in debt, which was a large part of the impetus to create the Super league?

I thought the same thing but got this update last week.

https://www.espn.com/...r-third-year-running

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

Their valuation is different than revenue and cash flow.

I think (not entirely certain cause I get lost in the weeds) that is what Man City got in trouble for, appealed and then won. But I could be wrong.

There are FMV assessments when there is overlap between the football club and other businesses with the same ownership in order to make sure they are not breaking the rules. For example, Etihad airlines can't pay billions of dollars to be the shirt sponsor of Man City in order to move funds from the airline to the soccer team and get around FFP.

It seems incredibly easy to get around the rules. Such as political organizations buying books, then giving them out at rallies and events, and all of sudden you are a NYT best seller.

But more so what seems like a team could easily do is off the books investment opportunities for their players.

If I was a teammate of David De gea he and I would be having a oneway conversation. What a pitiful PK attempt.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

How much does winning the European cup matters if you have already qualified for the champions league?

Seems like it would be like winning the NIT tournament.