2023-2024 European Football Thread

[Chongo94]

In case anyone is in Fort Worth and feels like coming to a bar on Saturday at 8:30am to watch some Bundesliga action, we’ll be having a watch party at Upper 90 for the Bayern/Hannover match. Pretty sure it’ll end up being just my wife and I lol.

Didn’t make it obviously haha. Niece’s game was canceled so I started doing some errands that just blossomed into more and more.

Looks like the title is now, yet again, Bayern’s to lose. Amazing crumble this season by Dortmund.

 

[Chongo94]

Spurs were interesting today. Not sure they were Spursy as they just seemed to lose their minds at times. Amazing they held on as long as they did.

 

[hiphopfroggy]

Coaching carousel starting to get wacky.......

 

[Purp]

Spurs were interesting today. Not sure they were Spursy as they just seemed to lose their minds at times. Amazing they held on as long as they did.

I hope they're just putting all their eggs in the CL basket given their relative security in the top 4. We've been trash lately. Looked to be a positive trajectory when the new ground opened, but the last 3-4 weeks have been gruesome.

 

[Chongo94]

I hope they're just putting all their eggs in the CL basket given their relative security in the top 4. We've been trash lately. Looked to be a positive trajectory when the new ground opened, but the last 3-4 weeks have been gruesome.

I’m thinking so too. They are probably dead exhausted, mentally and physically.

 

[Portland Frog]

Man U eliminated today from EPL top 4, and CHE wins to move into 3rd. A good day.

 

[tcujsauce]

Didn’t make it obviously haha. Niece’s game was canceled so I started doing some errands that just blossomed into more and more.

Looks like the title is now, yet again, Bayern’s to lose. Amazing crumble this season by Dortmund.

I don’t hate to see it. I do wish Dortmund would/could hold onto their young talent instead of selling off to England/Spain. They’d be dangerous with Aubameyang, Sancho, Pulisic, Alcacer, etc.

In more Bundesliga talk, Schalke is narrowly escaping relegation. Didn’t see that coming.

 

[Chongo94]

Well this season is ending for me like some sort of Warner Brothers cartoon compilation of fails from Wile E. Coyote.

Dortmund collapses and I’m not even a big Dortmund fan, I grew up loving Bayern but I sure would like some diversity. I mean this will be how many for Bayern in the last ten years? Celtic just made it 8, Juventus just made it 8, PSG are about to make it around that same number I think. Just would like some real challengers to emerge in some leagues.

Leeds have completely flubbed automatic promotion and look set to bottle the playoffs. Bielsa will leave, ownership will try to sell maybe and Leeds will become stuck forever in the championship.

And Arsenal, well I mean what can we say about them. Wenger and Kroenke have completely kneecapped this club. It’s pathetic. Wenger’s transfers over the past decade were and continue to be a joke. Emery has tried to stabilize things but with Kroenke refusing to spend money, he can only do so much.

 

[Chongo94]

And to continue about Arsenal, the stench of Wenger’s letting some players play regardless of performance continues to infect even new players. There’s maybe only about 5 players that give a damn and 3-4 of them did not come in under Wenger.

I have no doubt they will eventually fail in the Europa league and miss out on the champions league for a third consecutive year, which will be the first time that has happened in almost 40 years. This is now becoming Wenger’s legacy in my opinion. For Kroenke, it’s just par for the course. I wouldn’t save that guy from a fire even if I had a turned on hose in my hand.

 

[Chongo94]

AND just now getting to my DVR recording of Frankfurt vs Leverkusen. Holy hell. Not even halftime yet and the wheels are off and in flames flying over a river after jumping it Dukes of Hazard style...

I won’t divulge the score but if you want to see a wide open game, shambolic defending, and loads of goals, find a replay.

 

[Farmfrog]

I’ve been a Chelsea fan for over two decades, long before Roman bought the club. Only once in the last 23 years have they finished outside the top six. They were a very solid club before Lampard, Terry and Drogba got there.

Bandwagon fans, for me, are Liverpool and ManU people because they have been strong clubs for years. Arsenal fans can sort of be put in that category as well.

Oh yeah, Chelsea is back in the CL even with a very flawed team.

 

[Portland Frog]

I’ve been a Chelsea fan for over two decades, long before Roman bought the club. Only once in the last 23 years have they finished outside the top six. They were a very solid club before Lampard, Terry and Drogba got there.

Bandwagon fans, for me, are Liverpool and ManU people because they have been strong clubs for years. Arsenal fans can sort of be put in that category as well.

Oh yeah, Chelsea is back in the CL even with a very flawed team.

I’m worried about CHE this summer. Hazard is gone to RM (as is likely Pogba with MU) and they will likely not be able to sign anyone this summer because of the transfer ban. Next year could be ugly for CHE (how do they upgrade at striker?).

 

[Chongo94]

I’ve been a Chelsea fan for over two decades, long before Roman bought the club. Only once in the last 23 years have they finished outside the top six. They were a very solid club before Lampard, Terry and Drogba got there.

Bandwagon fans, for me, are Liverpool and ManU people because they have been strong clubs for years. Arsenal fans can sort of be put in that category as well.

Oh yeah, Chelsea is back in the CL even with a very flawed team.

If you were a fan back in the days of Zola, Vialli, and Leboeuf, I can respect that.

 

[Farmfrog]

One of my favorite sports autographs is Zola’s that I got at a Chelsea meetup. I loved watching him, Vialli, Hasselbaink play.

 

[tcujsauce]

I’ve been a Chelsea fan for over two decades, long before Roman bought the club. Only once in the last 23 years have they finished outside the top six. They were a very solid club before Lampard, Terry and Drogba got there.

Bandwagon fans, for me, are Liverpool and ManU people because they have been strong clubs for years. Arsenal fans can sort of be put in that category as well.

Oh yeah, Chelsea is back in the CL even with a very flawed team.

IMO the EPL club with the most bandwagon fans currently has to be City.

 

[tcujsauce]

Well this season is ending for me like some sort of Warner Brothers cartoon compilation of fails from Wile E. Coyote.

Dortmund collapses and I’m not even a big Dortmund fan, I grew up loving Bayern but I sure would like some diversity. I mean this will be how many for Bayern in the last ten years? Celtic just made it 8, Juventus just made it 8, PSG are about to make it around that same number I think. Just would like some real challengers to emerge in some leagues.

Leeds have completely flubbed automatic promotion and look set to bottle the playoffs. Bielsa will leave, ownership will try to sell maybe and Leeds will become stuck forever in the championship.

And Arsenal, well I mean what can we say about them. Wenger and Kroenke have completely kneecapped this club. It’s pathetic. Wenger’s transfers over the past decade were and continue to be a joke. Emery has tried to stabilize things but with Kroenke refusing to spend money, he can only do so much.

Bayern have won 13 of the 19 Bundesliga titles since 2000, currently at 6 straight, hopefully 7 by the end of this weekend.

Dortmund won in 01/02 then back to back in 10/11 - 11/12, and Bremen, Stuttgart, and Wolfsburg each took one during that stretch.

 

[Purp]

IMO the EPL club with the most bandwagon fans currently has to be City.

No way. United all the way. It's not even close. When the EPL started being broadcast in the U.S. regularly enough and on common enough channels to be followed by casual fans Sir Alex was in charge during Man U's most dominant run so Americans wanting to pick a side chose the front-runner and that's how Man U got so damned many fans.

It was during this time that my allegiance was largely divided between Fulham, Everton, Reading for a short period, and a handful of other clubs that had young Americans trying to make their way into the team. I also liked Newcastle, Arsenal, and Tottenham, for wildly different reasons, so I'd follow them when they were on also. Newcastle were prominently featured in a movie (can't remember the name) and I had to reason to hate them prior to seeing it so that helped me like them. Arsenal were prominently featured in a book I read called Soccernomics (basically the Money Ball of EPL) and I really grew to appreciate the development and analytics side of their management and wanted to see them be successful. I loved watching Cesc Fabregas play his first few seasons of his career there. Probably my favorite player in the world to watch around that time. My affinity for Tottenham started with an English buddy I played with in college and blossomed from there. That story has been well documented here already I believe.

More than anything, I knew I didn't like United and Chelsea and really rooted for everyone who was playing them. Unless it's my home town team I don't have it in me to pick the major power in a team sport. For that reason alone United and Chelsea were out for me.

City definitely has a large following of band wagoners, but no where near as large as United. It may have equaled Chelsea's following by now, though.

 

[Chongo94]

Think the movie you mentioned @Purp was Goal. They ended up making 2 more if I remember correctly. I never saw the last one. Hell, I can’t remember if I saw the second one but I think I did.

First one was ok, considering the scarcity of soccer/football movies we had access to back when it came out. Think the other two were pretty bad.

Per my understanding, originally, they were gonna do something with the character’s nationality between USA and Mexico based on World Cup performance or something like that. I’m not sure if or which way they went with all that.

 

[Purp]

Think the movie you mentioned @Purp was Goal. They ended up making 2 more if I remember correctly. I never saw the last one. Hell, I can’t remember if I saw the second one but I think I did.

First one was ok, considering the scarcity of soccer/football movies we had access to back when it came out. Think the other two were pretty bad.

Per my understanding, originally, they were gonna do something with the character’s nationality between USA and Mexico based on World Cup performance or something like that. I’m not sure if or which way they went with all that.

That's the one. I thought the first one was pretty good. Fun story to follow. 2nd one was mediocre, but I watched it. Didn't know there was a 3rd.

 

[tcujsauce]

No way. United all the way. It's not even close. When the EPL started being broadcast in the U.S. regularly enough and on common enough channels to be followed by casual fans Sir Alex was in charge during Man U's most dominant run so Americans wanting to pick a side chose the front-runner and that's how Man U got so damned many fans.

It was during this time that my allegiance was largely divided between Fulham, Everton, Reading for a short period, and a handful of other clubs that had young Americans trying to make their way into the team. I also liked Newcastle, Arsenal, and Tottenham, for wildly different reasons, so I'd follow them when they were on also. Newcastle were prominently featured in a movie (can't remember the name) and I had to reason to hate them prior to seeing it so that helped me like them. Arsenal were prominently featured in a book I read called Soccernomics (basically the Money Ball of EPL) and I really grew to appreciate the development and analytics side of their management and wanted to see them be successful. I loved watching Cesc Fabregas play his first few seasons of his career there. Probably my favorite player in the world to watch around that time. My affinity for Tottenham started with an English buddy I played with in college and blossomed from there. That story has been well documented here already I believe.

More than anything, I knew I didn't like United and Chelsea and really rooted for everyone who was playing them. Unless it's my home town team I don't have it in me to pick the major power in a team sport. For that reason alone United and Chelsea were out for me.

City definitely has a large following of band wagoners, but no where near as large as United. It may have equaled Chelsea's following by now, though.

I guess I was speaking more towards the recent trend of City being the popular bandwagon pick due to their sharp rise to the top of the EPL (funny what some Saudi oil $$$$$$$ will do). I think for fans that have been following the game for 10-20 years you are definitely right.