Champions League Begins!!!!!

[jazzypom]

Comments

[lied_ohne_worte]

Welcome back!

Heh, Reus in that blanket.

I just read a January print edition of "Der Spiegel" that had been in my stack of magazines-to-read, and they have an article with detailed information on that license thing. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Such a mess. If there is interest in translations, I can do the interesting parts?

Some tidbits on David Luiz here.

Highlight: "Asked to compare Blanc and Mourinho, Luiz said with a smile: “They are both ugly”."

Also from that article: The current title of France football:

[Spoiler (click to open)]

stop, stop, stop

[jazzypom]

How hard is the theory for the driving licence in Germany? I aced the theory easily over here, but it's the practical that I had to come to grips with. I can't believe that it would have been easier to forge a driver's licence in Holland than to actually do the theory (also, do you have to do the theory examination before the practical? Or can it be done either way?).

Re: stop, stop, stop

[lied_ohne_worte]

I found the theory not hard at all... but I was always top of the class, and it was of course easier for me. I had massive trouble with the driving part of learning to drive, heh. As the vast majority of Germans manage to take their license, it should be doable. There was a young man with some learning disability or similar in my driving class, who did the practical training and exam on an automatic (resulting in a license that does not allow you to drive a manual transmission), because apparently he had issues with coordinating everything during driving. I think he passed the theoretical test. It's really all rote-remembering, there aren't any questions that don't appear in the study material

Re: stop, stop, stop

[jazzypom]

To be fair, a football club doesn't really have to ask their charges if they got their driver's licences or not. I'm with the clubs on that one. It's one thing say, making courses on financial education mandatory (I'd do that if it were up to me, tbh. Even if it's just "Read everything that comes in front of you, and don't sign unless you understand!"), or have rules about dress (for instance, in the USA's NBA, baskeball players had to wear suits once they were on company business instead of casual dress) but driver's licence

[mundodeamor]

Welcome back!

I'm excited for CL!! PL and La Liga are fun and all, but knockout-style at CL is more thrilling, ha.

I'm at work (oops), so I can't comment much, but here are two links that I found interesting:
- 10 Ways Technology Will Change Football in the Next 10 Years
- 10 Examples of Hyped Contract Extensions That Meant Absolutely Nothing and Does Marco Reus' New Deal Really Secure His Future at Borussia Dortmund?)

I think with Reus it's a bit different because BVB is his childhood club and he described it as a "decision for life" (although you never know in football), but some of the transfers in the link above in light of players' quotes beforehand are quite cringe-worthy.

Heh

[jazzypom]

Reus' contract extension gives Dortmund more money (his release clause was something like €25 million, but now with the extension, there's no release clause), and if anything, they know that he's there at least for the next season. I'm happy for the club, tbh.

Welcome back Jazzy!

[jesscp]

You've been missed on the comm sis, hope you are feeling alright now

RE: Welcome back Jazzy!

[jazzypom]

You've been missed on the comm sis, hope you are feeling alright now?

Cheers. I have a better perspective of things, so that helps.

our Liverpool boys seem to be doing alright at the moment, Balo finally got his goal! I have to say, I've been so exhausted I've been missing PL games, plus I don't care too much for FA Cup tbh, so I really haven't kept much up to date. To be fair, the FA cup matches- well, it's a chance at silverware, but if you asked most clubs, they'd rather have a top four place and CL action than a bleeding FA trophy. For the younger managers like Pochettino and Rodgers silverware of any sort will be good for team morale and belief in that their system is working (especially with the fact that at Spurs Eriksen and Vertonghen haven't renewed their contracts citing that they want to see what the end of season brings, and Spurs fans being Spurs fans are wailing). It's a win in a lot of ways, which is why I hope Spurs will be victorious against Chelsea comes March 1

RE: Welcome back Jazzy!

[jesscp]

Yeah I'm sorry I just can't get into FA Cup at all, I know it's still silverware but idk. So many games and I wonder if it affects play in the PL. Would we have a stronger more competitive PL without it? Probably not but my mind is all different places right now!

I reckon Balo would be stupid to leave of his own accord - if he's pushed then so be it but if they want him to stay I think he needs to give it another season. It's taken half a season for him to warm up, so he should probably be more thankful for this opportunity and growth both in his game as a player and working within a team environment (not just as the star player)

Ah sis I've been dying of excitement all day today for pancakes for dinner, but I just had leftover pad Thai for lunch and now I feel so full I may have sabotaged by pancake enjoyment :( I'm part Chinese, I should be more into Chinese New Year but I have no clue about cooking my own Chinese food!

Re: RE: Welcome back Jazzy!

[jazzypom]

Yeah I'm sorry I just can't get into FA Cup at all, I know it's still silverware but idk. So many games and I wonder if it affects play in the PL. Would we have a stronger more competitive PL without it?

Probably if they docked the League Cup instead of the FA. Most countries have their version of the FA cup, and the FA cup is the oldest association competition in the sport, so I'd keep that. But I'd dock the League Cup gladly. There's a lot of reasons why the PL league isn't as strong, and I think it's the crush of games for one. We already have twenty teams with games for Sat, Sun and Monday now they've gone and added Friday nights to this too? That makes no sense. Teams will have to have a depth of around 25-30 active players to make sense - and we have no January break? Oy. All yhis monopoly money is going to come to ahead in a nasty way.

But then the chill between the FA and FIFA and UEFA is already noted, so this won't warm the relationship.

I reckon Balo would be stupid to leave of his own accord - if he's pushed then so

[blackjedii]

Yeaaah as much as I like Schweinsteiger I think his on-again-off-again injuries have really messed up his playing and he can't play enough to really hit his stride again. he'll get better, I am sure, but maybe not in time...

On the plus side it's... three weeks until Lahm is back? Bayern really need him.

for real!

[jazzypom]

Although you get the feeling that Guardiola prefers Alonso's style of play, but they have different skill sets and Schweinsteiger looks pretty iffy.

Lahm comes back in three weeks? My, how time flies!

Re: for real!

[blackjedii]

Yeaah I am not so sure that Schweinsteiger is necessarily the tiki-taka type the way Lahm can be. Which is sad in some ways. He's such a core member of both the NT and Bayern but with the new system he doesn't necessarily "fit" anymore with Lahm moving up to CM. And with the NT changing and adding and subtracting and experimenting so much I have no idea what it's going to look like within six months. Maybe we'll actually have actual fullbacks by then and not just CBs moved out of position!

RE: Re: for real!

[marsyke]

I agree with your reasoning but when Basti played without Alonso, Bayern won 3-0 and 8-0. Coincidence? Maybe, probably. It's a small sample size. But I guess it means that playing him instead of Alonso hardly hurts the team.

[the4thjuliek]

Welcome back, Jazzy!

Yes, Chicken signing a new contract is good news! Cynics say that he'll pull a Xabi and switch clubs in the summer but I'm hoping for the best.

Manchester United will be playing Arsenal at Old Trafford in the FA Cup next. I'm not optimistic. Roy Hodgson drew the lots and I knew he would curse us.

Markovic has got a FOUR match ban for his red card in the match against Basel.

THE F**K A FOUR CARD BAN?!

[jazzypom]

Ugh, *throws hands up in the air*. Just figures. Boo.

On the upside Jordon Ibe might have another chance to announce himself to Europe. We'll see.

Yes, Chicken signing a new contract is good news! Cynics say that he'll pull a Xabi and switch clubs in the summer but I'm hoping for the best. At least Dortmund will get more money? In addition, him signing settles the rest of this season, that's worth the peace for the contract extension alone

RE: THE F**K A FOUR CARD BAN?!

[ndobler]

Also, Madrid's board is not BVB's board. Alonso was expendable after shiny new toy Kroos arrived and because his form had been uneven for a while. It made sense for Perez to just let him leave, even if how everything went down caught most people, myself included, by surprise.

BVB's entire international branding is built around Reus, which is why Puma got involved in the deal. After how things went down with Fätze (and Lewy, even tho it was a completely different situation), there's no fucking way the board is letting Reus go this transfer window. And depending on how things go next season, he's only going away if they get a ridiculous amount of money. Reus knows his board and that's probably why he took his sweet time to make up his mind.

Ayways, like you said, most fans won't be that upset if he stays a year or two and the club gets some good money out of him. Also, nice to see you back!

RE: THE F**K A FOUR CARD BAN?!

[jazzypom]

Cheers, it's good to be back. I had to take a long walk from the internet for a few days. But yeah, I really love doing the CL posts, because I can vent my spleen.