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SOCCER 2018-2019

Don't know if there any who watch Barca regularly. They have a dilemma.

On one hand they have 21 yo Dembele. 140M transfer. 2nd year at Barca and still looks completely foreign with their style of play. Immature off the field. Not clicking with teammates.

On the other hand they have 21 yo Malcolm. 40M transfer. 1st year at Barca and looks much more comfortable, albeit in limited duty. Mature kid. Teammates love him. Messi has taken him under his wing.

They play the same position. You can't develop both very well if only one can see the field regularly. Stats indicate that its Malcolm who probably should have been worth more. Much better passer, more SOG/min, better crossing, better defense, less turnovers. Dembele, however, is FAST and "looks" like he could be a generational player.

If I'm Barca, I sell Dembele if they can get good money for him. They need a young world-class center back AND they could certainly use the money to lock up Umtiti. Yes, brass will take a hit for, what will certainly be, a big loss on Dembele. But if Malcolm is the better player for what they want from a left forward, then it makes no sense having 75-100M locked up in a player who is taking minutes from your guy AND not allowing them to easily do what is necessary to fortify their back line for the next 5-7 years.



Question #2. Chelsea's Morata. A #9 that doesn't score well. Not saying that's a bad thing in general, but when you don't have much threat other than Hazard, it's tough to take full points when defenses are packed in. (And make no mistake, every mid and lower table squad should be doing that against Chelsea. God knows D. Luiz is bound to gravely screw up at least two or three counters every game that lead to great chances.) But that's not the key thing with Morata. He's horrible off the ball. His first touch is worse that D. Costa. He goes to ground constantly. In general, not only does he not put himself in dangerous positions often enough, he is a black hole offensively and does nothing to help Chelsea open up the attacking third. I really liked his signing but he's been a disaster. I'd give him the rest of the season. But at some point, it's time to get Giroud more minutes. He doesn't score either, but plays off the ball really well. There's talk of Loftus-Cheek getting more time at #9 in practice with surprisingly good results. Conte did the same thing with him. I simply don't understand how managers continue to go with guys who don't perform in games. Morata must be a wonderkid at practice.
 
England beats Croatia 2-1 to advance to the semi-finals of the new UEFA Nations League

This England team is very young and very good and will be a force going forward to World Cup 2022
 



Geoff Cameron on a season long loan to QPR from Stoke has been a big part of the R' s recent 5-1-1 run into a playoff spot
 
I am glad its an American with ties to both the national team and MLS but 14 months for these incompetent folks to make this choice is beyond ridiculous

 
U20 team just rolled through WC qualifying. Granted, some of the competition was absolutely garbage, but can't deny the success they had. Coupled with the 2017 U20 WC showing (group stage winners and quarters), there's enough young talent for the senior team for the senior team over the next cycle.
 
U20 team just rolled through WC qualifying. Granted, some of the competition was absolutely garbage, but can't deny the success they had. Coupled with the 2017 U20 WC showing (group stage winners and quarters), there's enough young talent for the senior team for the senior team over the next cycle.

Tab Ramos has become a pretty decent coach learning his trade along with his young players. US Soccer is such a mess right now that hopefully the talent on the team is legitimate because it's badly needed.
 



QPR continuing their impressive point streak with a draw at Stoke 2-2.

Sitting 8th in the table with 27 points in 18 games. Two points out of a playoff spot and ten points behind the leaders Norwich City with 28 games left in the season.

Very happy where we are at.
 



No links. Heard from SKC source. So I suppose I can't confirm either.

I think it will likely be him, I think he's the best choice, but it's still taken longer than ANY coaching search in history and with it taking this long I would have expected a world class hire as big as Sir Alex Ferguson ;);):Banana:
 

True story.

Watching SKC vs. Portland 2nd leg. SKC up 1-0 and are absolutely dominating the game. My wife walks into the room at the 40 minute mark of the first half and asked how we're doing. I told her we are going to lose.

Why? Because at the 35 minute mark, SKC completely changed everything they were doing. Up 1-0 they slunk back, stopped winning 50-50 balls and ceded possession. WITH 55 MINUTES LEFT. 55. I knew we would tie (which is a loss) or straight up lose. Maybe any other Vermes team could have parked the bus and won that. But not in 2018. They've tried it all year and each and every time they would get destroyed. Sure, it "worked" a couple times, but never was the game a comfortable finish. They ceded goals and shot after shot after shot on goal. If we're honest they could have ceded to RSL doing the exact same thing. RR, how many SOG and chances in and around the box did RSL have the last 30 minutes of that last game? 10-12 legitimate chances?

Honestly, I love Pete. Great coach, perfect coach for SKC. But he screwed this game up and made the same mistake all year thinking he could get the best of both worlds. He wanted this scoring/attacking team to instantly change into the defensive teams he's fielded for the last 6 years. He just couldn't put his head around what type of team he had this year. He had an offensive juggernaut who could dominate midfield. And when pressed, they had all sorts of speed and talent at wing to play over the top. But their strength was their weakness. They simply cannot keep players in front of them when defending. They are always looking to steal and counter. But Vermes doesn't position them to counter. So they get possession and turn it over. Time after time after time. Opara is prone to 2-3 dumb mistakes a game, Zusi gets sucked into the box letting wings run wide unabated. Our center mids aren't defensive minded and struggle to defend in a crowd 20 yards out. It's a calamity. Yet there we were, with 55 minutes left to play, up 1-0, a goal that meant NOTHING to Portland. They needed a goal to win when it was 0-0 and they needed a goal to win down 0-1. The game was every bit as undecided then as it was when they kicked it off.

Well, there's always next year. Awesome season. Here's hoping we can keep the guys we have. Fun to watch when Pete doesn't go 2015 on them.
 

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