General Football Discussion

[SPL]

Of course we could do with a new striker ,dont see us getting through if we just play 2 teenagers up front.

[Orange14]

Better to play a Russian team in August than February. Several years ago FC Twente played Rubin Kazan in the winter (EL, I think) and the match had to be moved to Moscow as it was way to cold in Kazan. Moscow match was played at -6C and the players were all wearing caps, gloves and tights. It was not a pretty match.

[paladinby]

Rostov is currently coached by a man who beat Guardiola's Barca with Rubin Kazan - Berdyev. They will be playing defensive counter-attacking style as they do in almost any game when the opponent allows it. That's the hardest draw for us among other alternatives.

Indeed Rostov almost managed to become Russian Leicester but they blew up their title in a game against some relegation fighters.

[Manneken Pis]

........ but they blew up their title in a game against some relegation fighters.

Where have I heard that before....?

[Amol]

Rostov is currently coached by a man who beat Guardiola's Barca with Rubin Kazan - Berdyev. They will be playing defensive counter-attacking style as they do in almost any game when the opponent allows it. That's the hardest draw for us among other alternatives.

Indeed Rostov almost managed to become Russian Leicester but they blew up their title in a game against some relegation fighters.

Berdyev has now quit Rostov to reportedly take over the empty coaching position at Spartak Moscow. This sounds like really good news for us.

[Ayman]

Rostov is currently coached by a man who beat Guardiola's Barca with Rubin Kazan - Berdyev. They will be playing defensive counter-attacking style as they do in almost any game when the opponent allows it. That's the hardest draw for us among other alternatives.

Indeed Rostov almost managed to become Russian Leicester but they blew up their title in a game against some relegation fighters.

Berdyev has now quit Rostov to reportedly take over the empty coaching position at Spartak Moscow. This sounds like really good news for us.

wow but didnt he renew his contract back in june?

[paladinby]

wow but didnt he renew his contract back in june?

No, he didn't. He asked for new players and paying off debts to current players and coaches. That was a long story about bad finances and guarantees. It looks like Berdyev was fed up an decided to quit. Before his coming Rostov was always just a relegation fighter so it's good news for us. But we still need to take them seriously.

[Ayman]

wow but didnt he renew his contract back in june?

No, he didn't. He asked for new players and paying off debts to current players and coaches. That was a long story about bad finances and guarantees. It looks like Berdyev was fed up an decided to quit. Before his coming Rostov was always just a relegation fighter so it's good news for us. But we still need to take them seriously.

The players must be in disarray, some may want to leave, to either Russian giants such as Zenit, CSKA or Spartak/Dinamo Moscow or abroad, I suspect

[souras84]

I am watching the Olympic Games in Rio and I'm talking about almost everything. But I am going to talk about football. What the hell is going on with Brazil?? They can't beat South Africa or even Iraq!!!! And we're talking about scoreless draws

[Orange14]

My neighbor, Katie Ledecky, won the gold in the women's 400 freestyle last night and she already had a silver in the freestyle relay. She should win the 800 free and maybe even the 200 free. I'm sure we will have a big celebration here!!

[souras84]

She is pulling a "Michael Phelps" in these Olympics

[SPL]

I think thats 4 golds for Orange's neighbour

[Ayman]

Mazal tov on your friend winning gold Oranje14

[Orange14]

Seeds for Friday's Europa League group assignment.

Seeded Pot 1: Schalke, Zenit St Petersburg, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao, Olympiakos, Villarreal, Ajax, Inter Milan, Fiorentina, Anderlecht, Viktoria Plzen

Pot 2: AZ Alkmaar, Braga, Salzburg, AS Roma, Fenerbahce, Sparta Prague, PAOK, Steaua Bucharest, Genk, APOEL, Standard Liege, St Etienne

Pot 3: Gent, Young Boys, Krasnodar, Rapid Vienna, Slovan Liberec, Celta Vigo, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Feyenoord, Austria Vienna, Mainz, FC Zurich, Southampton

Pot 4: Panathinaikos, Sassuolo, FK Qarabag, FK Astana, Nice, Zorya Luhansk, Astra Giurgiu, Konyaspor, Osmanlispor, FK Qabala, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Dundalk

[SPL]

The squad we have wont get far whoever we get

[SPL]

1st team for us Standard Liege or to give it its Flemish name Luik.

[SPL]

2nd team Celta Vigo

[King Litti]

AjaxAjax(NED)
Standard Liège(BEL)
Celta(ESP)
Panathinaikos(GRE)

How is Panathinaikos in pot four? We had bad luck, suprice.

[SPL]

So Liege, Celta Vigo and Panathinaikos. The Greeks were the toughest team in pot 4 . Dont see us finishing in the top 2

[Ayman]

Well I got 1 out of three right, Celta Vigo. Panathinaikos should be the least of our worries, Celta Vigo and Standard Liege will cause Ajax Problems. I expect AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord to go through easily. But Ajax won't qualify out of this group.

[Orange14]

Not sure about Feynoord having an easy draw. They need to get points from Fenerbahce which won't be easy.

I think Ajax drew a reasonable group but they are so tactically poor these days that it's certainly not a sure thing.

[Orange14]

I don't know if others have been following the proposed changes to Champions League format. Basically UEFA has caved in to the big clubs that were threatening to break away and form their own league. Starting in 2018 the four big leagues will get 4 automatic spots in the group stage (the fourth place teams now have to play in the final qualifying round and Italian teams have done quite poorly there). The group stage will stay at 32 teams meaning all the remaining federations will be competing for those spots. One assumes that Portugal and France will end up with an automatic qualification and maybe get an additional club in the qualification tournament; that part is still not clear. I think this means the end of CL football for a lot of clubs that have a history with this competition such as Ajax.

Here is but one of several very good articles on the topic:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/champions- ... 30951.html

[Orange14]

The EPL has established a record of its teams spending collectively over £B on transfers this summer (that's right a billion pounds!!!). I don't know what this translates in €s, I'll let someone else do the conversion. Their television money is so massive that even the bottom teams in the table make as much from television as Ajax do in their entire revenue statement. We wonder why things are so skewed these days. Other than Barca, Madrid, Bayern, and PSG, every other club in Europe is subject to poaching of players from the EPL.

I also saw some quotes from a recent interview with van der Sar who said that Ajax really have to take stock of things following the Rostov loss. He said it's clear that Ajax is no longer in the second tier of clubs in Europe and needs to get back to that spot. Does he really think the club can reach the same plateau as Liverpool, Sevilla, Dortmund, and some others with the current strategic plan (if in fact there is one)?

[paladinby]

The whole nonsense about new CL format is just pure Italy lobby. Their clubs except for one are non-competetive in CL now, but will get 4 place later. That's just a disgrace.

[Orange14]

The whole nonsense about new CL format is just pure Italy lobby. Their clubs except for one are non-competetive in CL now, but will get 4 place later. That's just a disgrace.

I was reading where the media market was the driving force here as television revenue for the CL are the third or fourth highest in Europe. If they didn't give the Italians the four spots that money would dry up. I think this is totally wrong and agree with you that it is a disgrace.