Association football (soccer)

I don't see him as a player who would he happy on the bench for Benzena, plus apart from the World Cup his scoring record hasn't been as good as Benzema's so I don't see him as a CF. I see Isco going, Ancelotti lost favour with him a bit so I could see him going. There's also been a lot of rumours about Di Maria going to PSG and the signing of Rodriguez only fuels my suspicion that he will be going as well as Isco and then they're replaced with Rodriguez and Kroos. But there's always Bale to consider, so either way Rodriguez, Kroos or Di Maria will be playing second fiddle for next season with Bale and Ronaldo on the wings.

Oh man, I just found out Luis Suarez plays for Barca now. Like I needed another reason to hate that team. Anyways, it's going to be pathetic is the appeal goes through. But then again, FIFA and their corrupt idiots are not one to turn down easy millions when put in front of them.

Soccer needs to come back soon. Summers tend to be boring without it :/

So Season started. Any new teams anyone is looking out for? Also transfer deadline got a few more days and teams like ManU still looking to add a few new key pieces.

Standings (mean little right now I know)
BPL - All 4 have 6 points right now
Tottenham
Chelsea
Manchester City
Swansea City

La Liga - You have 7 teams with 3 points after 1 game. No big surprise that Real Madrid and Barcelona are up there. Mainly only shock is Altetico Madrid ended with a draw, but it is only 1 game in.

Bundesliga - 5 teams with 3 points after 1 game and again no big surprise that Bayern is up there but surprised that Dortmund lost to Bayer their first week 2-0.

Serie A - yet to start I assume they should be starting this weekend or next.

I would cover MLS, but whenever I watch MLS game it just doesn't feel or look as good as leagues in Europe. Maybe just me...

Thought I'd give my thoughts on where the title contenders in the English Premier League would end up, given how it's the biggest league in the world (in revenue anyway).

Arsenal: Look good to me, Alexis Sanchez was a big signing and Ramsey looks to still be scoring for fun at times (early days I know). I'd imagine a 3rd place finish. Should improve in comparison to last season and maybe a title push.
Chelsea: Title favourites without a doubt, no offence towards Pellegrini but Mourinho is just a better manager and Fabregas and Costa already look settled and ready. Maybe if they sign Destro (rumours right now) they will storm towards a fith title.
Liverpool: Poor signings (Bar Lallana and Lovren) and they let their best player go, can't see anything from them this season unless Sturridge scores like he did.
Man City: Same situation as Chelsea, should be expected to win the title. Strengthened in centre-back which was the only place I thought they needed a quality player (Kompany never really had a good enough partner given his quality). I expect them to finish second because of Mourinho's quality however.
Man united: Looked poor. Haven't made signings quick enough and paid too much for Di Maria as well as other signings looking meh at best. Won't reach European football unless they make some drastic changes. Maybe they might even have a managerial merry-go-round like Chelsea have had in recent seasons.
Tottenham: Looked to have gelled well under Pochettino and even their fringe player like Lamela have looked good under him. Should sign another striker or left back since they lack a little quality in those positions but other than that they look good and might (emphasis on might) break into the top four.

Early days right now but that's what I think the top teams will achieve this season.

UEFA Champions League Groups where announced today:


Group E looks most interesting with Manchester City, Bayern, and AS Roma. Otherwise unless we have some surprise teams there looks to be only 2 teams in each group that looks above the rest. Maybe group D is other one that looks like 3 teams will compete. But that is the fun in it all you never know how everything will turn out.

I'm still bummed out about Di Maria, and Alonso, and Ronaldo's chronic injury, but what the hell, THE CHAMPIOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNS!!!!

Well after 4 games in BPL the standing actually look really weird

Top 4 teams are
Chelsea - 12 pts
Aston Villa - 10 pts
Swansea City - 9 pts
3 Teams tied with 7 pts - Southampton, Manchester City, and Tottenham

I know only 4 games but if you tell me that looks natural with Villa in the second spot then I need you to go get a crazy test check lol. Great to see these "lower" tier teams competing I just hope it last all year instead of them down and out here in another month.

Other leagues look more normal with not really any surprise teams down or up. BUT there is 1 league with 1 team that isn't right. After 3 games in La Liga Real Madrid only has 3 pts? WTF is happening there. I am not to worried though cause you need the team to gel a bit so I can see once they get comfortable playing with one another them back at the top in La Liga.

Bumping this thread, also.........HALA MADRID!!!

This is the only place where I can talk about Crystal Palace FC and some people know what I am talking about.

Although Palace has more points this season as compared to the same period last season, they are leaking in goals. Under Tony Pulis, defence was tight. Right now, they are scoring more goals, but I wish they are able to defend the lead at times. :(

I will try not to sound uneducated about Palace, but it seems to be that you've got quite a promising squad, Zaha, Galye, Hiram Boateng. And your doing well compared to other team with the same squad caliber, no?

To be fair Pulis hadn't taken charge until late November last season and you could argue that the club is still in transition. Guess we'll have to judge them based on the next 3-4 games in the league although I agree that they haven't looked convincing defensively at all this season and they'll have to be in order to get points off of the big teams like they did last season. Though I don't think Warnock as a replacement for Pulis and I never expected him to do well, he's never succeeded in the Premier League whereas Pulis has done it consistently. Warnock also doesn't seem like the kind of character to accept when decisions go against him, that can have a negative effect on his players given how they might just assume they aren't winning due to poor luck rather than the fact they haven't done enough/made mistakes.

Messi breaking Zarra's record, and #messiforbalondoro has gained a massive flood of support! In other news, #neuerforbalondoro is dead since all the supporters vanished without a reason.

All those Neuer supporters went to Messi, now that he's seemingly over his injury bug from last year. Funny how many people just looked over that when they declared CR7 suddenly the best player in the world.

Banter, my mate, banter!

Though, seeing the PoY lists all filled with players representing the same 3 or so teams is frankly disgusting. Reminds fans of lower tier clubs like Hertha Berlin (I have faith they will eventually make CL one day) that they have no chance to compete for titles in the current system. Even BvB is a glorified feeder club for Bayern, and they won back-to-back Bundesliga titles. More's the shame. Competition is good, to me, and there isn't nearly enough of it in this sport.

Along the flanks, Puncheon and Bolasie are usually deployed. Instead of Campbell, I wish Gayle would play upfront more often. He performed well against Liverpool, but came off injured against Swansea yesterday. I hope he recovers soon.

As for Boateng, I am not sure if he has played any premier league games for Crystal Palace thus far.



Crystal Palace was in a slump until the win against Liverpool (who was in a greater slump). Against Swansea yesterday, the team managed to secure a draw. Hopefully, Palace will be able to secure more points in the upcoming matches. Their work rate, determination and of course the fans, are incredible. Not saying just because I am a Palace supporter.

I imagine at this point in the season, EVERY other team in EPL looks at Liverpool as a winnable match. Amazing how dependent a team can be on one player, even moreso than Real with Ronaldo, or Barca with Messi.

Hoping that Basel puts LFC out of the Champions League (not just because I support Basel, but because Liverpool has no business in the competition without Suarez).

Real this season is a team, a very destructive team at that (Ronaldo score less than a half of their goal, and their insurgence has been dependent on the form of Isco and Kroos), the only one man teams this season in La liga is Sevilla with Carlos Bacca and Celta with Nolito. Barcelona is hitting a slump in morale since their engine is getting old and complacent.

Real looks as close to unstoppable as any squad I've seen in recent times. I would be shocked if they don't repeat as CL champions. The only team I think has a real chance to beat them is Chelsea, assuming they don't suffer any serious injuries. But even then, I think Madrid would be favored if they were to play.

To me the biggest surprise to close out the year is the massive struggles of BvB over in the Bundesliga. I wonder if there has been a team to make the knockout stages of CL then be relegated in domestic league. They are not showing many signs of pulling out of that position atm. They really miss Lewa's closing in front of goal.

They do seem to lack fire power, Immobile hasn't been proving himself as a replacement, and Reus needs to find a new start, the burden of being the "it" factor for a team seems to weigh in to heavy for him.