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2018-2019 (Soccer) Football Thread

it feels really fucking good that its a full English final all over tbh. Best league in the world. Even our 7th-9th clubs would compete well imo.
 
especially since no one actually cares if they won.. their titles are virtually meaningless. you cant even give banter to the supporters on social media because there are none. every season they win.. its like the league didn't happen.

Also.. Arsenal are still the biggest bottlers in the entire football world.

What a joke of a final month or so in the league... couldn't scrape a win vs the likes of some shitty competition to secure the top 4 finish... just 1 single win from those garbage results..

And i bet Hazard carries that shit Chelsea squad to the Europa trophy.
 
La Repubblica: Roma are eyeing Gian Piero Gasperini as the new manager and want to revolutionise the squad and start over, meaning several of the team’s ‘senatori’ could leave this summer, and it has started with De Rossi.

Oh, is that why we sold Alisson? Balanced our books with CL money, then sell Alisson for literally no reason, miss out on CL this season and have to sell even more young players to balance the books from that loss. But wait, where did that Alisson money go? It wasn't a surplus? Oh well. Guess that's why Monchi invested in young talent such as Pastore, Nzonzi, Cristante, Olsen, yeah? Wait nvm those fuckers are garbage. But hold on, that means we have to sell our young players AND veterans this summer for the revolution. Ah, I guess it's okay because the stadium will bring us steady income, but CONSTRUCTION HASN'T EVEN BEGUN.

Tell me again how we "had" to sell Alisson for below his value (Kepa's trash ass went for 80m) because that revenue spike is so much more important than staying competitive in Europe, please. Monchi the dumb cunt set us back a decade for no reason whatsoever.

Pallotta, just sell the team to the Qataris, I'll take that Arab money and corruption.
 
Kompany is going to Anderlecht as a Player / Manager. Let's see how it works out for him.

Also, Mbappe seems to be hunting that he wants to leave PSG.
 
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Happy for both Robben and Ribery, winning one more title together at Bayern and both scoring in their final Bundesliga games. Sucks Robben couldn't get to 100, though.

Also, my favorite part of Bayern's title celebrations is that they bring back legends, e.g. this year Kahn, Demichelis, Elber, Makaay were all there. Lucio, Toni, Sagnol etc have shown up in previous years.
 
This absolute shitshow of a season is finally over. Only Monchi can turn a Champions League semifinalist into a Europa League team in one year. Wait, sorry, we still have to play the qualifiers from the second round.

I learned recently that Nzonzi and Pastore are two of our top earners, along with Dzeko. While you can make a case that Dzeko is worth the money, there's absolutely no fucking way the other two pieces of trash should be earning that. By the way, can we just sell every piece Monchi bought for us back to him in Sevilla? Since, y'know, he was so eager to bring them all to Roma.

Not a single bright spot this season, from the moment we signed Cristante to the whole De Rossi fiasco. Wonder who we'll have to sell this summer to make up for the lost Champions League revenue this past season and having to play the fucking qualifiers for Europa League next season. Can't fucking wait.
 
It's really sad that one of the greatest champions league seasons had probably the most boring final ever. Tottenham were absolutely useless.
 
Azelea said:
It's really sad that one of the greatest champions league seasons had probably the most boring final ever. Tottenham were absolutely useless.
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a 2nd min var penalty for unintentional biceps ball. that was a disgraceful moment of refs capitulating to the bigger club, as much happened with arsenals denied 1st half penalty to give a russian oligarch's pet project a few million more quid, during a final played in a country owned entirely by russian oligarchs. /end rant
 
There is another reason Ajax refused to engage with Roma in talks for ten Hag. Reportedly, Ajax were annoyed with Roma’s behavior during the Hakim Ziyech talks last summer. Then sporting director Ramon Monchi led talks for the Giallorossi, who already had an agreement in place with the midfielder and were very close to the asking price of Ajax, but then decided not to close the operation.
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> 0 negotiation skills
> 0 eye for talent
> destroys relationships with other clubs
Literally 0 qualities as a sporting director and yet Sevilla wanted him back lmao fucking fraud.
 
I've been watching the Copa America the last few days, mainly because I was curious about Qatar's quality after their Asian Cup win, and although they seemed fine it's hard to believe they won the cup with such little offensive power, none of their stars (Al Haydos, Afif and Ali) showed much other than lots of diving. That being said they seemed well organized defensively and they gave Colombia a hard time so perhaps I'm underselling them. So do they look deserving as World Cup hosts in terms of quality? I'd probably say yes, they at least looked more competitive here than South Africa in 2010.

I also watched Japan's games as I was interested in Takefusa Kubo (who recently signed for Real Madrid) aka the Japanese Messi and yeah I'm aware those comparisons are getting old by now and never end up getting accurate. But he definitely looked the part against Ecuador, his style is truly similar to Messi. Time will tell but I feel he'll be too good for the Spanish third tier... Also interesting to note that Japan brought an unusually young squad (22.9 years old on average, despite the goalkeeper being 36), and they still performed well against a strong team in Uruguay.

Other than that I'm just hoping to see a good final in Copa America. Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay have looked like the best teams by far so I expect one of those to win. James Rodriguez in particular has been amazing, crazy to think that neither Real Madrid nor Bayern wanted him on their team.

I have also watched some games of the U-21 European Championship, quite surprised at the quality of some the teams but I guess it makes sense with the Olympics qualification at stake. Ceballos and Gian-Luca Waldschmidt the players of the tournament so far, just like in James' case it's hard to believe Real Madrid wants to sell Ceballos.
 
> turned down by Conte, Mourinho, Giampaolo, Gasperini, Bielsa, Galtier, Sarri, ten Hag, so we settle for Fonseca but everyone on Redd*t assures me he's a good manager that he was our 9th choice at best and nobody else was after him
> sell Dzeko to Inter for €10m
> sell Manolas to Napoli for Diawara and cash
> sell El Shaarawy to Shanghai for €18m (when SES is younger and way better than Nzonzi, whom we bought for €26.65m, and Pastore, whom we bought for €24.7m) even though Shanghai can obviously easily pay double that amount
> rumour is we're considering swapping Zaniolo and Luca Pellegrini, our only other LB other than the old af Kolarov, for Fatguain, Spinazzola, and Perin (whom we could've gotten last summer but instead wasted money on Olsen)

No rumours of any replacements for Manolas or getting rid of one of our many useless midfielders (Cristante, Nzonzi, Pastore) while bringing in Diawara.

Oh yeah, then there's this too, because apparently we don't need to train under a new manager.

I don't even know what's going on anymore.
 
Kanburi said:
> turned down by Conte, Mourinho, Giampaolo, Gasperini, Bielsa, Galtier, Sarri, ten Hag, so we settle for Fonseca but everyone on Redd*t assures me he's a good manager that he was our 9th choice at best and nobody else was after him
Oh yeah, then there's this too, because apparently we don't need to train under a new manager.
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Paulo Fonseca has a good track record in all the teams he's been at, both overperforming with bad teams in Portugal and also managing bigger clubs like Shakhtar successfully, all while giving lots of minutes to young players. Out of your list he seems one of the best 3 options, only Gasperini and Conte seem a better fit and it's obvious why those weren't available.

As for the training camp, do you really think it's a good idea to start pre-season on the 29th of June? That seems absurd to me, especially given the U-21 Euro Championship is still going on. Giving the players a week of vacation is more than reasonable.

Kanburi said:
> sell Dzeko to Inter for €10m
> sell Manolas to Napoli for Diawara and cash
> sell El Shaarawy to Shanghai for €18m (when SES is younger and way better than Nzonzi, whom we bought for €26.65m, and Pastore, whom we bought for €24.7m) even though Shanghai can obviously easily pay double that amount
> rumour is we're considering swapping Zaniolo and Luca Pellegrini, our only other LB other than the old af Kolarov, for Fatguain, Spinazzola, and Perin (whom we could've gotten last summer but instead wasted money on Olsen)

No rumors of any replacements for Manolas or getting rid of one of our many useless midfielders (Cristante, Nzonzi, Pastore) while bringing in Diawara.
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Dzeko had a terrible season, has huge wages, is injury prone and is 33 years old. Selling him seems like a no brainer. El Shaarawy is also injury prone, also has huge wages and is entering the last year of his contract, so if Roma don't sell now they'd be forced to give him a huge new contract (which is stupid given his injury record) or let him leave for free last summer. That's why they aren't selling him for a big fee. Roma's young talents (Zaniolo, Kluivert, Coric) play in the same position as El Shaarawy so letting him go seems... fine

The other two moves do seem weirder to me, if the money for Manolas is big then I can understand it, Diawara is a huge talent and Roma need a new midfielder after De Rossi's retirement. But replacing Manolas might not be easy.

And that rumor about a 2 for 3 trade seems really really weird, I wouldn't trust it much but who knows. Then again if someone gave me big money for Zaniolo (60 million+) I'd definitely take it. He's still an awful passer, just about the least creative attacking midfielder I've ever seen, I'll be honest I can only see him being good as a striker but no manager has tried to play him in that position so far. Not sure if you watched Italy U-21 but if you haven't please do, and focus on Zaniolo... you'll understand what I mean.

In any case, all these movements can be understood in one way: this is a transition season for Roma, rebuilding is a must. That means clearing space for young players to get minutes and get rid of the highest salaries if they're not contributing enough.
 
destinyunknown said:
Paulo Fonseca has a good track record in all the teams he's been at, both overperforming with bad teams in Portugal and also managing bigger clubs like Shakhtar successfully, all while giving lots of minutes to young players. Out of your list he seems one of the best 3 options, only Gasperini and Conte seem a better fit and it's obvious why those weren't available.
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So management was dumb for even considering 6 of the other managers.

destinyunknown said:
As for the training camp, do you really think it's a good idea to start pre-season on the 29th of June? That seems absurd to me, especially given the U-21 Euro Championship is still going on. Giving the players a week of vacation is more than reasonable.
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Right, but they knew about the U21 Euro way beforehand, that date was fixed long ago. If it was ever a concern, why even set it that early to begin with?

destinyunknown said:
Dzeko had a terrible season, has huge wages, is injury prone and is 33 years old. Selling him seems like a no brainer. El Shaarawy is also injury prone, also has huge wages and is entering the last year of his contract, so if Roma don't sell now they'd be forced to give him a huge new contract (which is stupid given his injury record) or let him leave for free last summer. That's why they aren't selling him for a big fee. Roma's young talents (Zaniolo, Kluivert, Coric) play in the same position as El Shaarawy so letting him go seems... fine
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So instead, we want to bring on Higuain, who has higher wages, is out of shape, and had a terrible season, albeit being just 2 years younger than Dzeko? Makes sense. El Shaarawy makes €2m per season, tied for 11th highest on the payroll (data taken from here.) Even Juan fucking Jesus makes more than him. Pastore and Nzonzi are worse than him and make €3.5m and €3.1m respectively. Yet the point remains: we paid more for those two than we're gonna sell a younger, much better player than they are for. And to China of all places. Why does Zaniolo matter if we are indeed sending him to Juve in that swap deal? Coric, as far as I remember, is a midfielder rather than a winger, and he's barely played at all. That really only leaves Under, Kluivert, and Perotti as the other wingers, and Perotti has been linked with a return to Argentina for years it seems like.

destinyunknown said:
The other two moves do seem weirder to me, if the money for Manolas is big then I can understand it, Diawara is a huge talent and Roma need a new midfielder after De Rossi's retirement. But replacing Manolas might not be easy.
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The latest I saw was that it'll be two separate deals: €34m for Manolas and €18m+€2m add-ons for Diawara. Not sure what the add-ons are, but it seems like that's to compensate for lowering the release clause by €2m. Essentially we're sending them Manolas for Diawara and €16m. Btw we're still linked to Veretout. How many midfielders do we really need? Selling Manolas and not investing in another CB leaves us Fazio, Marcano, and Juan Jesus as our CB rotation. Yikes.

destinyunknown said:
And that rumor about a 2 for 3 trade seems really really weird, I wouldn't trust it much but who knows. Then again if someone gave me big money for Zaniolo (60 million+) I'd definitely take it. He's still an awful passer, just about the least creative attacking midfielder I've ever seen, I'll be honest I can only see him being good as a striker but no manager has tried to play him in that position so far. Not sure if you watched Italy U-21 but if you haven't please do, and focus on Zaniolo... you'll understand what I mean.
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The reporter is usually reliable. Yes, Zaniolo is still raw, but he can only get better, no? Teams like JJ are just gonna sit him and stunt his growth, you'd think players will have learned from Malcom last summer.

destinyunknown said:
In any case, all these movements can be understood in one way: this is a transition season for Roma, rebuilding is a must. That means clearing space for young players to get minutes and get rid of the highest salaries if they're not contributing enough.
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What young players if we ship off Luca Pellegrini and Zaniolo? I still see Pastore, Nzonzi, Juan Jesus on the payroll. Let's not forget that we are only rebuilding again because Monchi dismantled a Champions League semifinalist squad. Last season was transition enough, but we brought in Pastore and Nzonzi and gave them ridiculous wages. But when I brought this up last season, it was "trust Monchi", "Roma have to be a selling club because of their debt", "their most valuable assets are their young players" and now you're telling me we need to make way for young players? Hm...................

EDIT:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1144172569135931392

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Lyon really about to give us more money for Nzonzi than we sold El Shaarawy for. What the fuck are you doing, Roma?
 
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destinyunknown said:
I've been watching the Copa America the last few days, mainly because I was curious about Qatar's quality after their Asian Cup win, and although they seemed fine it's hard to believe they won the cup with such little offensive power, none of their stars (Al Haydos, Afif and Ali) showed much other than lots of diving. That being said they seemed well organized defensively and they gave Colombia a hard time so perhaps I'm underselling them. So do they look deserving as World Cup hosts in terms of quality? I'd probably say yes, they at least looked more competitive here than South Africa in 2010.
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Truth be told. They have done pretty well considering the lack of players. Their national team has developed quickly and strongly ; I remember them ten years ago and it was catastrophic. Overpaying players/managers in their late career had some benefits and helped the national championship to get better.
Yet I still think this development didn't occured for the good reasons. It didn't happen the right way : they get their WC (with manners, hum, contestable at least) and then they developed national team. China, on another hand, did lots of investments in infrastructures to improve their level. It's still too early to see the benefits, but at least they're not doing it just because they don't want to be pathetic in a WC they host.

destinyunknown said:
Other than that I'm just hoping to see a good final in Copa America. Brazil, Colombia, and Uruguay have looked like the best teams by far so I expect one of those to win. James Rodriguez in particular has been amazing, crazy to think that neither Real Madrid nor Bayern wanted him on their team.
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James in his national team is a beast. James in his clubs is... inconstant, to say at least. ^^ That plus his injuries, he never really confirmed what we saw in Porto and Monaco. Ancelotti's Napoli seems to be interested in a transfer, I would love to see James back under Carlo's orders

destinyunknown said:
I have also watched some games of the U-21 European Championship, quite surprised at the quality of some the teams but I guess it makes sense with the Olympics qualification at stake. Ceballos and Gian-Luca Waldschmidt the players of the tournament so far, just like in James' case it's hard to believe Real Madrid wants to sell Ceballos.
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Little Hagi from Romania has been really good too. The semi-finals bracket is really good, can't wait to see that this evening
 
Roma swap 20-year old LB Luca Pellegrini and €10m cash for Juventus's 26-year old LB Leonardo Spinazzola.

Pellegrini missed 30 games due to injury the past two seasons.
Spinazzola missed 46 games due to injury the past two seasons.

Pellegrini is 6 years younger than Spinazzola.

Pellegrini was making €400k a year, good for the 24th highest salary out of 25 players, or second lowest.
Spinazzola was making €1.7m a year, good for 15th highest in Roma.

But wait, we gave him a rise to €3m a year, making him the 4th highest paid player on our roster, and 3rd after Džeko leaves before getting a replacement. That is on par with De Rossi last season, and just behind Pastore (€3.5m) and Nzonzi (€3.1m) on our payroll. If Nzonzi does leave, and please just ship him off, he'll be second on the payroll.

bUt RoMa Is ReBuIlDiNg, WhIcH mEaNs MaKiNg WaY fOr YoUnG pLaYeRs AnD sHeDdInG sAlArY aNd SeLlInG iNjUrY-pRoNe PlAyErS.
 
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