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OT: Association Football Thread II (All Soccer Talk Here!)

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I understand not wanting to break up an undefeated lineup to this point, but United need to make some personnel changes. Chris Smalling was one of the best CB's in the PL last season and he's on the bench in favor of Daley Blind, who just gets abused against world class competition.

It's a joke that Fellaini starts. Guy is a cockroach, and not in a good way. Schneiderlin or Herrera should be the holding midfielders along with Pogba. Rashford is red hot, and he didn't start yesterday. I think they'll end up with a CL spot, but until Blind and Fellaini are relegated to off the bench roles, they won't compete for the league title.
 
failure said:
Yeah I usually watch the games then but I was kinda hoping to watch them live somehow. Especially Arsenal.
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I watch the Palace games on the NBC Sports App. They have all the games not on TV online. It's called, "Extra Time." Quality is great.

Speaking of CPFC, I think they have a pretty quality team, definitely can place mid table if not top 10.

And from what I've seen, City is the class of the league, they just need their goalie to stop messing around with the ball and concentrate on saving it. He kept United in the game single handedly.
 
City and RBNY clinch playoff spots on the same day. Exciting times.

Liverpool looking so hype this year too.

Football :yo:
 
Machinehead said:
Man United :D
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The club has needed an exorcism since SAF retired. I can't even count how many times I've read that the team dominated, but only managed to come away with a tie or even lost the game on a defensive or goaltending gaffe.

Whole team needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Change the philosophy completely. The swagger of the team has been missing for over 3 years. It starts with cutting Rooney loose.
 
I Eat Crow said:
The club has needed an exorcism since SAF retired. I can't even count how many times I've read that the team dominated, but only managed to come away with a tie or even lost the game on a defensive or goaltending gaffe.

Whole team needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Change the philosophy completely. The swagger of the team has been missing for over 3 years. It starts with cutting Rooney loose.
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I agree. And with their resources it shouldn't take long.

Everything feels so refreshed at Liverpool now because we had to say goodbye to and old Steven Gerrard and step back and have a bad year in 2015-16, and let Klopp teach his system.

With United, Fergie left and ever since then I feel like they try to immediately get right back to being United and I think they need to take a deep breath and just let a new manager sink his teeth in and bring in the right pieces, not necessarily the hottest pieces.

They're having bad years by United standards anyway, so what's the worst that could happen if they took a year to evaluate and find themselves again?
 
As someone recently pointed out: Man U have only ever really seen success under two managers.



(Sure, that means next to nothing when put into context, but it made me laugh!)
 
JanErixon20 said:
Liverpool are fun to watch.

Palace fans want Pardew's head on a platter. I didn't think they'd be fighting off relegation this season but that's where they are right now.
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On one hand this feels like 2013-14 all over again. We'll put ourselves in title contention by scoring 4-5 goals on anybody below 7th, but when it comes down to games we need to win, against great teams, with great managers, they're going to find a way to 1-0 us, just like Chelsea did in the slip game, and we'll blow the title.

On the other hand, we've already beaten Arsenal and Chelsea and drew Spurs all on the road, so we can do it, and more importantly, those games are out of the way.

So we'll see what happens I guess.

Quite disappointed in Palace. I had them pegged for an outside chance at a Europa run.
 
Machinehead said:
On one hand this feels like 2013-14 all over again. We'll put ourselves in title contention by scoring 4-5 goals on anybody below 7th, but when it comes down to games we need to win, against great teams, with great managers, they're going to find a way to 1-0 us, just like Chelsea did in the slip game, and we'll blow the title.

On the other hand, we've already beaten Arsenal and Chelsea and drew Spurs all on the road, so we can do it, and more importantly, those games are out of the way.

So we'll see what happens I guess.

Quite disappointed in Palace. I had them pegged for an outside chance at a Europa run.
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Out out the big clubs, I like watching Liverpool and Spurs the most. I like Liverpool's chances and I'll be pulling for them. During the Palace game a couple weeks ago, the announcers were voicing the same concern...can't score 4 every game. But hey, why not?

Something about teams like Arsenal and Chelsea that I find boring. City I don't mind as much. Man U can take a hike.

I thought CPFC could have finished like 8-12, in that pack. Not sure what's going on there. Just a guess but looks like a disconnect between the players and the coach. I don't know enough about the sport to know if they change coaches, who would be a good fit.

Still lots of football to be played, at least. Maybe there is a turn around. But they give up a lot of easy goals that could have been prevented.

I'm fairly new to the EPL, but I do enjoy watching it a lot.
 
Klinsmann needs to go. He needed to go a long time ago, but this is just inexcusable now. If he wasn't a world class player in his day, he would be coaching some Bundesliga 2 team by now. He's a terrible coach.
 
East Coast Bias said:
Klinsmann needs to go. He needed to go a long time ago, but this is just inexcusable now. If he wasn't a world class player in his day, he would be coaching some Bundesliga 2 team by now. He's a terrible coach.
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Was listening to the Football Show on SXM this morning. They were saying he's not going anywhere because there isn't enough pressure on him to be fired, they'll make the World Cup anyway and who is going to replace him???

USA Soccer needs a reboot. We should be producing better players and it's not really happening.
 
JanErixon20 said:
Was listening to the Football Show on SXM this morning. They were saying he's not going anywhere because there isn't enough pressure on him to be fired, they'll make the World Cup anyway and who is going to replace him???

USA Soccer needs a reboot. We should be producing better players and it's not really happening.
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1. Not sure we're going to qualify "anyway". That team last night loses to Honduras and Panama away, maybe draws with T & T, and Mexico eats their lunch and makes them build a wall. They might squeak out three home wins and a draw against Costa Rica. Not sure 11 points does anything.

2. Unfortunately, there aren't many candidates to replace him. Maybe Vermes, Kreis? Even then, it's a player problem and not necessarily a coaching problem (outside of formations and expectations).

3. I coach girls' youth soccer (my daughter's rec teams). There is a MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR problem in youth development in this country, and it's going to affect the women in a short time as well. We moved up to U10 from U8 this past season. Big changes. No more daisy pickers, which is good, but there's still no complete buy in from parents. I had kids tell me that they'd rather watch the Panthers play a football game than play soccer (which their parents paid for). Now, we could always throw out 3 times as much money to play "Academy soccer", which is slightly better with actual coaches, but really only because the kids care a little more and their parents are richer. Then, of course, the really good, or really wealthy kids get funneled to "traveling" because they can lay out $4000 a season.

Thing is, there were three girls on opposing rec teams that were absolutely incredible players. One girl playing us, intercepted a throw-in with a perfect chest trap, flicked a ball to herself over our midfielder, nutmegged our outside fullback, saw my daughter (central defender) coming out to "take her out", launched a left-footed bomb over her head and just under the crossbar. The guy helping me that day played college soccer at Washington & Lee. We just stared at each other with our jaws hitting the ground. I said something after the game to the opposing coach about why in the world is she playing rec soccer. Was told that her parents couldn't afford Academy and was hoping to be able to get into a middle school with a decent soccer team/coach. This girl's chances of ever being seen by anyone at US Soccer is slim to none, while one of my players who might be decent and decides to play up next year (probably can because most of my players are private school kids -- heck, my daughter is too) has a better shot at better coaching and development.

THAT SAID, I don't know what we can do to change it. Other countries spend millions of dollars on government programs; that won't fly here. School programs are slightly more competitive than recreational programs, with the only requirement being that you show up for practices. Football and basketball are always going to be the leading sports in schools (maybe baseball if there's history).

Hockey has a similar problem...just that only 1/4 of the world plays and we have enough talent among the kids that do play to make the USA highly competitive.
 
I don't think Klinsman is a good coach and I like Clint but do we really miss him that much?
 
NCRanger said:
1. Not sure we're going to qualify "anyway". That team last night loses to Honduras and Panama away, maybe draws with T & T, and Mexico eats their lunch and makes them build a wall. They might squeak out three home wins and a draw against Costa Rica. Not sure 11 points does anything.

2. Unfortunately, there aren't many candidates to replace him. Maybe Vermes, Kreis? Even then, it's a player problem and not necessarily a coaching problem (outside of formations and expectations).

3. I coach girls' youth soccer (my daughter's rec teams). There is a MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR problem in youth development in this country, and it's going to affect the women in a short time as well. We moved up to U10 from U8 this past season. Big changes. No more daisy pickers, which is good, but there's still no complete buy in from parents. I had kids tell me that they'd rather watch the Panthers play a football game than play soccer (which their parents paid for). Now, we could always throw out 3 times as much money to play "Academy soccer", which is slightly better with actual coaches, but really only because the kids care a little more and their parents are richer. Then, of course, the really good, or really wealthy kids get funneled to "traveling" because they can lay out $4000 a season.

Thing is, there were three girls on opposing rec teams that were absolutely incredible players. One girl playing us, intercepted a throw-in with a perfect chest trap, flicked a ball to herself over our midfielder, nutmegged our outside fullback, saw my daughter (central defender) coming out to "take her out", launched a left-footed bomb over her head and just under the crossbar. The guy helping me that day played college soccer at Washington & Lee. We just stared at each other with our jaws hitting the ground. I said something after the game to the opposing coach about why in the world is she playing rec soccer. Was told that her parents couldn't afford Academy and was hoping to be able to get into a middle school with a decent soccer team/coach. This girl's chances of ever being seen by anyone at US Soccer is slim to none, while one of my players who might be decent and decides to play up next year (probably can because most of my players are private school kids -- heck, my daughter is too) has a better shot at better coaching and development.

THAT SAID, I don't know what we can do to change it. Other countries spend millions of dollars on government programs; that won't fly here. School programs are slightly more competitive than recreational programs, with the only requirement being that you show up for practices. Football and basketball are always going to be the leading sports in schools (maybe baseball if there's history).

Hockey has a similar problem...just that only 1/4 of the world plays and we have enough talent among the kids that do play to make the USA highly competitive.
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The mention of "making the World Cup anyway," was a direct quote from the host, and the other host agreed. They both seemed to think they'll win their next two.

They had a big discussion on player development in the US. They mentioned MLS academies, and how they aren't working. I'll be honest I wasn't paying that close to the conversation as I was driving, but what I recall was that the MLS prints money and that these academies should be run better. They should be taking the best 5% of the players and let them play there, I'm guessing for free. But I may be off on that. Then a caller from Florida called and said, and this surprised me, that kids aren't playing because the game is to expensive. Where he is, Ft. Meyers, it's $200 for 10 games of rec soccer. That's crazy. He said another league popped up, and they charge $30 for 10 games because that's what they can afford. He went down to see those games and surprise....the kids were really talented, way better then what he sees in his league.

Here on LI, I grew up in and work in a town that has a very high Latin American population. The HS team is constantly in the County Finals, and recently, maybe 5 years back, were ranked #1 in the entire country. I see kids at the middle school that are doing things that I bet kids in other high schools can't do. They love the game, they live for it. It's in their blood. I work for the school district and when I'm in the buildings, you can't walk 15 feet without seeing someone wearing a Barca or Madrid or country jersey, if not the school colors. These are the kids the US should be targeting.

As for the girl playing rec league...does NC have travel or select teams? When I played back in the early to mid 80s, I started in rec, and then tried out and made my town travel team (I was a goalie). I played that for years until I started playing for my school team.
 
JanErixon20 said:
The mention of "making the World Cup anyway," was a direct quote from the host, and the other host agreed. They both seemed to think they'll win their next two.

They had a big discussion on player development in the US. They mentioned MLS academies, and how they aren't working. I'll be honest I wasn't paying that close to the conversation as I was driving, but what I recall was that the MLS prints money and that these academies should be run better. They should be taking the best 5% of the players and let them play there, I'm guessing for free. But I may be off on that. Then a caller from Florida called and said, and this surprised me, that kids aren't playing because the game is to expensive. Where he is, Ft. Meyers, it's $200 for 10 games of rec soccer. That's crazy. He said another league popped up, and they charge $30 for 10 games because that's what they can afford. He went down to see those games and surprise....the kids were really talented, way better then what he sees in his league.

Here on LI, I grew up in and work in a town that has a very high Latin American population. The HS team is constantly in the County Finals, and recently, maybe 5 years back, were ranked #1 in the entire country. I see kids at the middle school that are doing things that I bet kids in other high schools can't do. They love the game, they live for it. It's in their blood. I work for the school district and when I'm in the buildings, you can't walk 15 feet without seeing someone wearing a Barca or Madrid or country jersey, if not the school colors. These are the kids the US should be targeting.

As for the girl playing rec league...does NC have travel or select teams? When I played back in the early to mid 80s, I started in rec, and then tried out and made my town travel team (I was a goalie). I played that for years until I started playing for my school team.
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I listen to The Football Show from time to time on my way into work. While the show is entertaining, everyone on there suffers from the same thing anyone who knows something about soccer in this country has - Know It Allism.

Our league, Charlotte Junior Soccer is attached to Charlotte United Futbol Club, which runs Academy, Traveling, and Select squads. CJS is supposed to be "scouted" for talent for United. It costs $150 to play in CJS. We're supposed to get 10 games. Our team got 7 this season because the other coaches in U10 didn't want to play a full round robin tournament, because God forbid we play on a Sunday afternoon and they have to miss their precious Panther game (though we had to play last Saturday morning when the city was shut down thanks to the stupid marathon.) There are three other similar leagues in the city and region, tied in to other Clubs.

Academy costs $450 a season, two practices a week with a certified coach, and a few games against other Club Academys. If my daughter was slightly more talented or had more of a desire to play at a higher level than high school, then she's be here.

At Academy, they have tryouts for Traveling and Select. Traveling is something like $1500-2000 a season, and they play all the other local clubs within a 50-100 mile radius.

Select is $4000 a season and they play Regional clubs from Northern Virginia down to Georgia.

Public school soccer in NC is pretty much a joke. There are reasons for that, that would be best handled in a PM. There is one high school team in Charlotte though, Garinger High, which is the best team in the state, bar none. However, maybe 2 kids from that team even qualify for the US team (most of them are illegals). A teacher put the team together so the kids wouldn't drop out. Private school soccer is somewhat better, only because we can afford slightly better coaching. Our (Charlotte Christian) girls' coach is the twin sister of the now starting WNT goaltender. She's a damn good central defender in her own right. That doesn't mean our girls' team is all that good however.

My team finished 1-6. However, we scrimmaged a team of U12 boys who we share a field with for practice. We played a half, held them 0-0, and started dominating possession in the later part. My girls can't string passes together against U10 rec girls, but had older boys chasing them. Yeah, the rec boys are not good players. Seems like any boy with the slightest bit of talent is in Academy or higher.

A big problem in Charlotte is access to fields, but that's a story for another day.
 
Wow, that's really crazy that it is that expensive just to play soccer. And you actually have to pay more if you are talented.

It's quite the opposite here, at least for boys. Here the pro clubs constantly scout all local levels for kids for their academy and if you get into one, they actually start to pay money from as early as the U11. Of course it's worth it to them, because even if only one kid in 100 pans out, that is worth millions.

But even if you are not that talented and just want to play for fun, it costs at most 100€ per year for kids to play.
 
NCRanger said:
I listen to The Football Show from time to time on my way into work. While the show is entertaining, everyone on there suffers from the same thing anyone who knows something about soccer in this country has - Know It Allism.

Our league, Charlotte Junior Soccer is attached to Charlotte United Futbol Club, which runs Academy, Traveling, and Select squads. CJS is supposed to be "scouted" for talent for United. It costs $150 to play in CJS. We're supposed to get 10 games. Our team got 7 this season because the other coaches in U10 didn't want to play a full round robin tournament, because God forbid we play on a Sunday afternoon and they have to miss their precious Panther game (though we had to play last Saturday morning when the city was shut down thanks to the stupid marathon.) There are three other similar leagues in the city and region, tied in to other Clubs.

Academy costs $450 a season, two practices a week with a certified coach, and a few games against other Club Academys. If my daughter was slightly more talented or had more of a desire to play at a higher level than high school, then she's be here.

At Academy, they have tryouts for Traveling and Select. Traveling is something like $1500-2000 a season, and they play all the other local clubs within a 50-100 mile radius.

Select is $4000 a season and they play Regional clubs from Northern Virginia down to Georgia.

Public school soccer in NC is pretty much a joke. There are reasons for that, that would be best handled in a PM. There is one high school team in Charlotte though, Garinger High, which is the best team in the state, bar none. However, maybe 2 kids from that team even qualify for the US team (most of them are illegals). A teacher put the team together so the kids wouldn't drop out. Private school soccer is somewhat better, only because we can afford slightly better coaching. Our (Charlotte Christian) girls' coach is the twin sister of the now starting WNT goaltender. She's a damn good central defender in her own right. That doesn't mean our girls' team is all that good however.

My team finished 1-6. However, we scrimmaged a team of U12 boys who we share a field with for practice. We played a half, held them 0-0, and started dominating possession in the later part. My girls can't string passes together against U10 rec girls, but had older boys chasing them. Yeah, the rec boys are not good players. Seems like any boy with the slightest bit of talent is in Academy or higher.

A big problem in Charlotte is access to fields, but that's a story for another day.
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jniklast said:
Wow, that's really crazy that it is that expensive just to play soccer. And you actually have to pay more if you are talented.

It's quite the opposite here, at least for boys. Here the pro clubs constantly scout all local levels for kids for their academy and if you get into one, they actually start to pay money from as early as the U11. Of course it's worth it to them, because even if only one kid in 100 pans out, that is worth millions.

But even if you are not that talented and just want to play for fun, it costs at most 100€ per year for kids to play.
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I played travel for maybe 7 years? Not sure, but as a kid I never thought about cost. This was the 80s so I'm sure it was nowhere near what it is now. But I played all year round, both league and tournaments both local and upstate or out of state. During the winter we played indoor soccer, which I loved. It was at a place that had a set up like the old MISL. It was great. We also played tournaments in HS and college gyms which was like 3 on 3, and that was fun. I definitely liked indoor way more then outdoors towards the end.

And we had no Academies to play for and the level of coaching was, looking back, not very good. We had one great coach who was from Scotland, but they past some rule where you can only coach so much and he had to be replaced. The coach who took over had no idea what he was doing.

Soccer is such a simple game with minimal equipment. It shouldn't cost that much.
 
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