General Football/Soccer Talk

I feel like he may head to Real Madrid. They haven't really won anything this year and may need another Ronaldo-type signing.

It looks like it will be a Bayern vs Dortmund CL Final now. Can you imagine if Gotze scores the winner?

Götze won`t be traded though till the end of the season, right?

Yeah, the transfer window isn't open until like July. Sucks for Dortmund that he's leaving, but they shouldn't have put release clause in his contract.

Dortmund actually bought their entire starting 11 for only a few million more than what they will get for Gotze. So they could actually become a better team if they buy replacements wisely.

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This is why I love this game. Leicester player dived and won a penalty late in stoppage time. If he scored it they would go to the playoff final for a chance at promotion to the Premier League. He misses and Watford go straight down the other end and score to win the game and secure the playoff spot for themselves.

Instant Karma

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This is why I love this game. Leicester player dived and won a penalty late in stoppage time. If he scored it they would go to the playoff final for a chance at promotion to the Premier League. He misses and Watford go straight down the other end and score to win the game and secure the playoff spot for themselves.

Instant Karma

What a great counter attack, that was hilarious.

Disappointing season, but things are looking up at least. 3-4 more signings like Coutinho and a top 4 challenge is very possible next season.

Oh and, Daniel Sturridge/Coutinho >>>> Clint Dempsey/Gylfi Sigurdsson


This was immense at the end of Carragher's final ever game:

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Rumours that we are close to signing this beast from Schalke:



Would be a pretty awesome replacement for Carragher. It's nice that we are now apparently using our scouts (Coutinho) instead of just buying overrated British one-season-wonders (Carroll, Downing, Adam).

Never mind, with these new kits I doubt anyone will want to join Liverpool this season.



It's like they wanted some ironic 80's style kits, but they just turned out horrible. Ugh.

i never understood alternate jerseys in soccer. they never have any of the team's colors in them

and Neymar in Barca? they are so stacked, who do they even sit?

Maybe I'm just being cynical but the third kits are probably just to make some more money. They'll be lucky to be used 5 times per season.


Apparently David Villa could leave soon, which makes sense given his age and injuries. It will be interesting to see who gets that third forward spot alongside Messi and Neymar. Pedro, Alexis Sanchez, Iniesta, Fabregas, Thiago or Tello. Plus Affelay and Cuenca are coming back from loans.

To think that they've spent so much money on the likes of Fabregas, Mascherano and Alex Song just to have them on the bench. They should've just bought a quality defender instead.

We're going to Brazil 2014!

and Neymar in Barca? they are so stacked, who do they even sit?

David Villa could leave soon, which makes sense given his age and injuries. It will be interesting to see who gets that third forward spot alongside Messi and Neymar. Pedro, Alexis Sanchez, Iniesta, Fabregas, Thiago or Tello. Plus Affelay and Cuenca are coming back from loans.

Well they've sold Villa to Atletico for €5 million.
Sold Thiago to Bayern for €25 million. Which makes no sense given how stacked Bayern were in midfield, even before buying Mario Gotze for €35 million.
Loaned Bojan to Ajax and Deulofeu to Everton. Affelay and Cuenca may also go out on loan again.

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This transfer window has been the usual excited highs and depressing lows for me. Liverpool were linked to signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Shakhtar and Kyriakos Papadopolous from Schalke, but Mkhitaryan went to Dortmund and there hasn't been any recent news about Papa.

Not to mention Suarez moaning about wanting to leave. I really hope that if he does go we stand firm and get at least as much for him as we did for Torres.

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Seems clubs are spending a lot of money this year:

Monaco with a few big pickups. Will they be any decent this season?

I think PSG will win the league pretty easily again. Then maybe Marseille and Lyon will be just ahead of Monaco for the other champions league qualification spots.

Monaco got some experienced defenders for free: Ricardo Carvalho (Real Madrid) and Eric Abidal (Barcelona). Toulalan and Moutinho in midfield looks pretty decent and a front line of Falcao, James Rodriguez and Lucas Ocampos is probably the second best in the French league.

If they sign a good goalkeeper and maybe another midfielder they could probably get champions league.

Liverpool are in Melbourne. It's weird seeing pictures of them training at the ground that I watch teams from our local league play at.




Can't wait to see them play on Wednesday night in front of possibly 90,000+ people at the MCG. It'll be amazing.

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95,000 fans singing You'll Never Walk Alone last night.

This piece about Suarez sums up how I feel right now..


http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/liverpool/id/1320?cc=3436

Suarez burns final bridge

Just as Liverpool fans' sides were threatening to split from excessive laughter after reading about Manchester United manager David Moyes switching his attentions from Cesc Fabregas to Leon Osman, along comes Luis Suarez to completely wipe the smile from their collective faces.

It some ways the Uruguayan's comments were not surprising, yet they still left most people speechless. We knew he wanted out and we knew he was upset at Liverpool's refusal to accept Arsenal's offer, but it was still shocking to see a player, who not so long ago was declaring his undying love for Liverpool, perform such a massive u-turn.

It's difficult to even know where to start with it, and even more difficult to convey the anger and disappointment felt by many Liverpool fans right now, myself included. I defended Suarez through thick and thin and, against my better judgement, was completely taken in by all his spiel.

"All I care about is playing football for Liverpool. All I can say is that my head is here now and for many years to come. My dream and desire is to play in the Champions League and achieve big things with Liverpool, because they're the club I wanted to play for, and now that I'm here, I want to stay for a long time." - Luis Suarez, December 2012

It seemed genuine, as for all his faults he gave everything when he pulled on a Liverpool shirt.

He was no Fernando Torres, who, in the words of Jamie Carragher, 'downed tools' towards the end of his time at Anfield. Suarez never did that, although it remains to be seen what will happen if the club force him to stay. Will he play with the same commitment and insatiable desire he has always shown? I'm not sure I want to find out; right now I don't ever want to see him wearing the famous red shirt again.

It's not that Suarez wants to leave that's the problem, it's the way he's going about it, and the club, Arsenal, he wants to go to.

There are reasons to feel unsettled: he feels he's been persecuted by the FA and the English media. The press coverage after the Branislav Ivanovic incident for example was ridiculous. Jeff Powell at the Daily Mail suggested Suarez's punishment should be greater than that Mike Tyson received after biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear, whilst the striker was also dubbed 'a cannibal' in some quarters.

What's more, his name was booed at the PFA awards dinner and also chastised by the body’s chairman, Gordon Taylor, in a speech that was supposed to be about Gareth Bale. So that's the FA, the media, every set of opposing fans and even his own union against him. Still, Liverpool had his back and as he said on many occasions, all he cares about is what Liverpool fans and the people of Uruguay think of him.

So when he told the Uruguayan media that although he loved playing for Liverpool he felt he needed to leave England for his family's sake, I was gutted but understood. Whilst not every supporter felt that way, for the most part the fans would have wished him well had he moved on to a big foreign club like Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

When that didn't materialise and the only bids to come in were from Arsenal, suddenly his stance changed, and that's when I realised that I'd been had. He'd been spinning a yarn about his love for the club and fans. More fool me for swallowing it; perhaps if I'd been one of those that had been similarly hoodwinked by Torres I wouldn't have fallen for it, but I wasn't. This has been my 'Fernando Torres moment'.

When Suarez reported back for pre-season training, reports quickly emerged that he was unhappy with Liverpool turning down Arsenal's offer. So much for wanting to leave the country then. Some fans were still in denial and, in the absence of any quotes from Suarez, put it down to media mischief making. I remember the same thing happened when Torres was being linked with Chelsea too, it's a natural defence mechanism I guess.

Next we were reading that he was planning on taking his case to the Premier League as there was a dispute over what he believes is a release clause in his contract. Liverpool insist no such clause exists. Again, many fans refused to believe the stories, but it was as clear that these stories were coming from the Suarez camp. Luis could have put all of it to bed with a simple tweet. He didn't, and now we know why.

Leaving aside the whole baffling 'wanting to go to Arsenal' thing, the most upsetting part is how blasé he seems towards the incredible backing he's had from the fans. The cold, detached manner in which he spoke about the support he's had has really riled me.

After all the backing, all the countless arguments Liverpool fans have had with friends, family and work colleagues in trying to defend him and his actions, THIS is how he repays us? By throwing a hissy fit because the club won't accept a low-ball offer from a direct rival? Having literally bitten a shoulder and an arm, now he's metaphorically biting the only hand that has been feeding him when everybody else would have let him starve.

The question now for Liverpool is what to do with him. The fans who cheered his every touch at Steven Gerrard's testimonial and who have backed him unequivocally throughout his time at Anfield would no doubt react in a different way where he now to step out in front of them. That probably explains this 'foot injury'.

I'm sure Liverpool are hoping that a foreign side now comes in for him, as they've backed themselves into a corner over the Arsenal bid (correctly in my view) and have been adamant that they simply will not sell to the Gunners. Aside from the bad blood caused by that extra pound on the £40,000,001 transfer bid, it makes neither football nor financial sense to sell to a club that Liverpool will be battling to finish above next season. Selling to Arsenal would be waving the white flag.

But what if no other bids arrive? Liverpool's stance has always been that he is not for sale and that they want him in the squad this season. Now though? Well, firstly, the fans won't be supporting him, and secondly; can he be trusted to not 'down tools' until the January window opens?

That famous Barcelona banner directed at Luis Figo after he signed for Real Madrid best describes where I suspect most Liverpool fans are with Suarez right now: "We hate you so because we loved you so". And this fan did love Suarez, despite being a 40-year-old man who should know better. I loved his passion for the shirt, his incredible talent and his all out desire to win at all costs. Ironically, it's that desire to 'win at all costs' that is now causing this situation. He decided he wanted out and he'll do whatever it takes to do so.

Ideally, he would be out of sight, out of mind. Securing a move to Real Madrid, Monaco, PSG, Zenit... anyone out there that can afford him would be acceptable to me, but not Arsenal, or any other English club that may come in (yes Chelsea, I'm looking at you).

If that doesn't happen then Liverpool have a problem. I'd happily just let him rot in the reserves. The chances of a football club taking that stance, however, are about as slim as Suarez getting through a full season without getting suspended.

Liverpool have to be pragmatic about it, they can't afford to have a multi million pound asset sat doing nothing. They'll either have to keep and play him, or sell him for the best offer they can get from anyone other than a Premier League rival, even if that means taking less money.

He says he's planning on handing a transfer request in by the end of the week unless this is resolved. At least that would probably save Liverpool from having to pay any kind of 'loyalty bonus' (don't laugh).

Suarez claims he has been loyal, however, saying: "Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I'd be allowed to go." Ah right, so it was loyalty that made him stay, and here's me thinking it was the new contract that almost trebled his wages.

Like many modern day footballers, he just doesn't get it. "I don't think the supporters are angry, I think they understand a player when he has the ambition to triumph at the highest level." We do Luis, what we don't understand is when they want to join a side that has won nothing for eight years, and if you don't think the supporters are angry, have a read of your twitter timeline or log onto any LFC fans forum.

The real irony in all this is that Suarez is now using the English media and the PFA against Liverpool. Maybe he can get Mr. Ferguson and Patrice Evra to have a word on his behalf too? This whole thing would be funny if it wasn't so depressing, although I'm sure it's hilarious to anyone that doesn't follow Liverpool. For two and half years opposing fans have been telling us about Suarez (including Arsenal fans too, let's not forget that - although it seems Suarez has) but we didn't listen. Now we know.

Waiting for a £50m+ bid from Real Madrid so we can all move on and be done with him.

Ronaldo leads Real Madrid over Chelsea in Miami. Sick free kick, just below the crossbar, Cech tips it, but it still wasn't enough. He proved his point to Jose Mourinho.

Can you imagine if Madrid buy both Bale and Suarez to play up front with Ronaldo...

Owner has come out and said he won't be sold. Not really sure how he can play for Liverpool again though. He certainly won't be cheered by the fans anymore.

Looks like Suarez went about things the wrong way. He bit the hand that feeds him.

He's been a naughty boy, for sure.




Seriously though, you don't see Gareth Bale running to the press and crying that Tottenham won't sell him. I think Suarez listened to his agent too much and it's all backfired on them both. The agent should really be taken to court for disclosing Suarez's private contract details to Arsenal.

i tihnk you missed my biting pun too

Yep

The funniest thing about the whole Suarez thing is that Arsenal put talks with Gonzalo Higuaín on hold to try and sign Suarez, then Higuaín went and signed for Napoli. Now they also aren't getting Suarez so they end up with nothing.

I wonder if Wenger will throw money away with panic last-minute buys again like Andre Santos and Gervinho.