Soccer / Football Thread Part Seven

[Appleyard]

There are very few clubs who go through such a dramatic and elongated period of "bad" relative to expectations, because fan voices are heard much more prominently in Europe. It doesnt mean it doesnt happen - there are a few pretty prominent exampels actually - but for the most part, teams will always eventually "balance out" to their mean. I imagine BVB will do the same. You just have have a period where a lot of other German teams are also playing well, which hasnt been the case in recent history, necessarily.

I always liked finding the absolute craziest falls from grace when I played football manager and tried to get them back to glory. Used to manage:

Stade de Reims, Saint-Etienne
Torino, Bologna, Genoa
Mönchengladbach, Nurnberg, Frankfurt
Blackburn, Sheffield United, Leeds, Newcastle, Notts Forest

Were always my go-to's... generally picked whoever was in lowest league at the time.

France is pretty fantastic for it. Just so bizarre the ebbs and flows of their successful teams. Almost no-one has had success over more than 2 decades, ever.

1945-early 60s: Stade Reims and Nice the dominant forces.
early 60s-early 80s: Saint-Etienne and Nantes the dominant forces.
early 80s-early 90s: Marseille and Bordeaux the dominant forces.
mid-90s to 2000: PSG finding a way to lose randomly every season despite the best team.
2000s: Lyon dominant.
2012-present: PSG dominant.

Marseille are basically the ONLY French team who have been consistently "okay" every decade post-war.


Also, honestly some of my best times watching City were when they sucked at Maine Road. But yeh, I dont think days like that are coming back to most clubs... partially as the community around bigger clubs is gone now for the most part (Newcastle and Everton I think notwithstanding... albeit Everton's will I am sure with their move stadium wise).

I console myself with the fact that if the financial charges are upheld are we are relegated then at least this banger of a chant can come back ahahaha:

"We never win at home and we never win away
We lost last week and we lost today
We don't give a f*** 'Cos we're all pissed up
MCFC OK"

But ofc different when you dont live in the same city as a club you support too... would be far less fun following shitty city in the 1990s from outside Manchester.

 

[Appleyard]

Also... genuinely and some people think I am mad for it and maybe I am...

there is maybe 20% of me that hopes City do get relegated like all the way to division 1 or 2 and somehow get put up for sale and the fans buy the club ahaha... or at least have a system like in Germany and the Iberian peninsula where fans have a big say in club.

So cool seeing how Benfica do it close up (very close up in my old job!) and it is so much better for the community.

I have seen City win everything now. It has been very fun.

But I dont know... the hole in me football wise now is the part where you know the people who sit in your section and feel the club is really part of you. Yeh yeh, guys like Foden, Lewis, O'Reilly help slightly... but not the same. I would probably enjoy a season or two of being shit in division 1 with 25-30k fans and nicely priced tickets!

 

[FLYguy3911]

I've watched those Rice goals at least 100 times now.

Did you use lotion?

 

[TCTC]

France is pretty fantastic for it. Just so bizarre the ebbs and flows of their successful teams. Almost no-one has had success over more than 2 decades, ever.

1945-early 60s: Stade Reims and Nice the dominant forces.
early 60s-early 80s: Saint-Etienne and Nantes the dominant forces.
early 80s-early 90s: Marseille and Bordeaux the dominant forces.
mid-90s to 2000: PSG finding a way to lose randomly every season despite the best team.
2000s: Lyon dominant.
2012-present: PSG dominant.

Marseille are basically the ONLY French team who have been consistently "okay" every decade post-war.

The French league has always been kind of the ugly step child. The country has arguably the best talent pool in world football, but the league doesn't have nearly enough prestige to keep those players around long enough to have their clubs compete in Europe.
PSG is the exception of course, but their dominance turns the league even more into a laughing stock.

 

[trostol]

VVD and Mo signing on for 2 more years...finally some good sports news

 

[Appleyard]

I think the reasons City have fell off so hard this season is basically 3-tiered:

Age curve decline of 3 of their best ~6 players:

De Bruyne, Silva, Walker

Big injuries to basically every key defensive player aside from Gvardiol:

Rodri (54 games missed), Stones (30 games missed), Ake (33 games missed), Akanji (20 games missed), Dias (20 games missed)

Bad choices in recent years in terms of which homegrown players to let go:

Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Brahim Diaz, Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens... (also got a Tosin Adarabioyo softspot but he would be a rotation guy) would all make this team better, are young, and came through the system...

I know that the rules in terms of finance make it harder to keep your own players (as their sale is "pure profit" and encourages teams to sell youth players tbh!)...

but those FIVE guys all went for a combined 80 million pounds... the same cost as Gonzalez and Khusanov.

 

[FLYguy3911]

@BigToe might be the best looking pic I’ve ever seen.

 

[Striiker]

@BigToe might be the best looking pic I’ve ever seen.

Dua and Steven Tyler?

 

[FLYguy3911]

Dua and Steven Tyler?

How did he not get a promo card this year? I thought he would have had five by now.

 

[BigToe]

@BigToe might be the best looking pic I’ve ever seen.

He needs to relax with the scary looking knee injuries.

 

[Striiker]

How did he not get a promo card this year? I thought he would have had five by now.

I have no idea why they do any of the things they do