¡Hala Juve! - The 2018-2019 Other Players (and Teams) thread

Good read, 5 EPL players who can turn around their reputations / their luck / their public perceptions with a good season, new coach and/or teammates, health, and/or better finishing. Morata, Ozil, Pogba, Sturridge, and Benteke: https://www.theringer.com/soccer/20...morata-mesut-ozil-paul-pogba-players-to-watch

 

Unfortunately, I think Ozil is past the point where he can change his reputation in England (or Germany for that matter). The article nicely highlights his impressive stats, so what else can he do? People who don’t like him won’t change their opinion at this stage He was arguably Germany’s best player in Russia this summer and his reputation only got worse!

Agree though that the public’s general views of Morata and Pogba could change a lot in the coming years. Not convinced it will happen this season though. Pogba is operating in an environment that's almost identical to last season's. Maybe after Mou gets canned....

 

If you like sports stats and the current state of the art in prediction this is the read for you: https://fivethirtyeight.com/methodology/how-our-club-soccer-predictions-work/

 

I must've been drunk when I said Ajax is lined-up to play CSKA in the next round of the CL. Spartak was the Moscow club that was part of the same qualifying bracket as Ajax, not CSKA. And secondly, Ajax was drawn against the winner of the other 3rd-round qualifier, which produced Dynamo Kyiv.

So I was way off!

Anyway, Ajax fortunate not to lose the Helmond Cup to Heracles. If they had, likely the Cup would've been stuck in Holland the entire season as there are very few Dutch teams left playing in Europe. Feyenoord got smoked 4-nil in their EL qualifier and Vitesse are huge underdogs playing Basel. So that leaves just Ajax and PSV that will make it to the group-stage of either the EL or CL.

 

iniesta scored another beautiful goal. miss him too much

 

I miss him too, but not his goal scoring ratio.

 

Get in there Atletico! No Ronny no party The ensuing meltdown on the RM forum is entertainment at its best. Here come the panic galactico purchases. Not that there are many realistically attainable at the moment.

Seriously though, its still just preseason. Last time RM beat us in preseason we went on to do pretty well in the ensuing season. Aside from that, Bale looks like he’s up for the task of taking over Ronaldo’s mantle. Always nice seeing them lose though.

 

Lmao. He did. That guy is a character. Loved seeing him bully the RM defense. Madrid is Rojiblanco until further notice.

 

100% accidental, but Costa totally kicked Ramos in the head! I LOL'd.

Yes always good to see LPB lose, although they still got a softer-than-French-cheese penalty like in seemingly every UEFA match. We can expect more of the same in the coming 9 months.
Atletico look good for the upcoming season though.

 

Wow, what a goal by Saul. Atletico look good. Great to see Ramos getting torn a new one by Costa

 

Not to mention Ramos getting away with an obvious elbow pretty early in the game. Glad Costa rectified the animal balance though.

 

Costa is definitely the wrong player for Ramos to try his dirty tricks on.

 

Crazy match in St. Petersburg. Dinamo Minsk entered with a 4-0 lead after the first leg, but Zenit has reversed the score in the second-leg and its now 4-4 on aggregate! The last 2 goals coming when Zenit were down to 10 men. About to head to extra -time.

 

^ It got crazier! After conceding an away goal, Zenit scored 4 times in the second-half of extra time to win 8-1! Four of those 8 goals came when it was 10 v 11.

 

RM rumors are that coach is pissed he may have no alternative to Benzema than Borja and Raul, but Flo Perez thinks he has enough, and moreover is saving the 300M Euros for another run at Neymar next year, when the thinking is he'll be more attainable, more able to force his way out, esp. if PSG doesn't win CL, and/or Mbappe eclipses Neymar. Need a popcorn emoji.

 

I don't get the thinking behind waiting a year for Neymar to not sign a striker this summer.

I mean, what are really the chances that PSG would sell? Obviously I don't have any inside knowledge, but it's tough to imagine the chance is something like over 50%.

And moreover, even if they signed Neymar right now, Neymar is not a striker (as in he doesn't play in Benzema-position, he plays in Cristiano-position) so don't they need a good alternative for Benzema anyway?

Enjoy your race for the bronze.

 

Brighton beats Manchester United 3 -2 after last ditch Pogba goal! Martin Montoya's first start with Brighton. Porque Jose, Porque??