European Football Thread

[Baddar]

Gary Lineker has signed up to present on La Liga TV from next season, which is pretty big for them really.

[Baddar]

Bundesliga is moving to Sky for the next 4 years.

[DavidMarrio]

Does that mean BT only has the Ligue 1 on it now? I can't remember if they still have Serie A or if Premier Sports has that 

[Colly]

I think Serie A is going somewhere too isn't it? Saw something on Twitter yesterday and everyone started to get excited about Channel 4, which seems unlikely.

[Szumi]

 

I was just thinking about Serie A with Lukaku leaving, and holy damn, Italy should be really fun this year! Inter are the reigning Champions, but with no real shot at retaining the title I feel like with a new coach and having just lost their star player, a very key player in Hakimi, and also Eriksen. Milan have a really exciting young core around Ibrahimovic (and Giroud), Atalanta have good replacements lines up to replace their lost talent, and Juve have an actual manager now to try and get the old codgers over the line. Plus, Jose's inevitable craziness at Roma, and Lazio still having their core together while starting Sarriball.

 

Inter, Juve, Lazio, Napoli, and Roma all start the season with new managers. 12 teams in total start the season with new managers, including newly promoted Empoli and the neutral's favorite Sassuolo (who plucked Empoli's manager after theirs left and went to Shaktar). 

[Arjen Robben]

It's a shame Inter are in financial turmoil too really, cause they're one club in particular who I could imagine Messi playing for and just looking right in that kit, and they have a good history of cult Argentinian's.

What could have been.

I do like Inter a lot. Something about their kits in particular just always feel nostalgic to me. Somehow Juventus just feel soulless to me compared to Inter, Milan, or even Roma. Seems baffling that Milan have only won Serie A three times in the last 25 years.

[gunnar hendershow]

Italy has many great tops among its best clubs. Sort of the opposite of England where they're all for the most part lacking their own unique personality (hell West Ham, Burnley, and Villa sorta wear the exact same top). In Italy you get Inter, Milan, Roma, Fiorentina, Parma, and Sassuolo just to name a few. So many distinct, and good, looks to the clubs over there.

[Arjen Robben]

Yeah, and there's something about them where it seems a lot of players just like right in them, like when you think of those players you just instantly think of them in those kits even though they might have played longer elsewhere or for loads of clubs. Like Kaka at Milan, or Ronaldo at Inter. 

[Baddar]

Aguero is out for 10 weeks with a calf injury.

Not having him for a good portion of the season should have been expected really.

[The Lusophone]

Aguero's out with a case of the 'what the fuck barca's.

[Lineker]

 

[Szumi]

1 hour ago, MadJack said:

Aguero's out with a case of the 'what the fuck barca's.

He's got that dreaded Coutinho back injury

[Lineker]

Chelsea vs. Villarreal in the Super Cup tonight. Randomly, it's being played in Belfast this year.

[Lineker]

Lol Chelsea win.

[Colly]

Is that Dusty Rhodes in the presentation group?

[Szumi]

Things for crazy in the Nice v. Marseille match. Nice ultras apparently were throwing shit at Payet throughout the match, to no consequences, and he chucked a bottle back at them. Pitch invasion followed.

 

 

 

[Benjamin]

The beautiful Carlos Soler with an early Goal of the Season contender last night. Just fucking stunning.

[The Lusophone]

Poch should've rejoined Spurs. He either can't or won't adapt his high pressure suffocating tactics to get around the fact that his starting front 3 just will not press, ever.

[Szumi]

I love what Courtois had to say after the Italy/Belgium match yesterday. More and more players need to keep speaking up against how absurd the fixture congestion and "money games" the federations keep piling on. I wish the players would actually take a stand against it, but I don't think it ever happens. They still care too much about their wallets and fear getting dropped/banned if they ever try to group up and boycott any matches.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah unless the players find a way to form a trade union, which given the cross-border nature of football is really hard, no one player will have their complaints heard.