[Da_hopeful_1]

(Original post by Colonel.)

Love Szczesny's

[Da_hopeful_1]

Zonal Marking's European team of the year 2011/12

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/05/...e-year-201112/ - Video and reasoning for all the candidates listed.

[Stu Laverty]

Hard to argue too much. I'd put Piszczek ahead of Lichtsteiner, Ibrahimovic ahead of Falcao and definitely Ozil ahead of Cazorla. Having said that, I've not seen enough of Malaga to dismiss Cazorla's contribution, it's more of a statement of how good Ozil is.

Good team though.

[R-KAM]

I'd have RvP ahead of Falcao. Piszczek you're right about imo.

Don't know much about how Carzola has played either, but when you also consider the season Błaszczykowski had.

(Dortmund's Polish trio were directly involved in 51 of the 80 goals Dortmund scored.)

So many options you could have.

EDIT: Seen the subs. Oh to have that squad

Hazard didn't even make it on the bench after a pretty good season.

[jit987]

Casillas breaks international record with most wins

[Kallisto]

(Original post by jit987)
Casillas breaks international record with most wins

Congratulations, Cassilas! you won your 95th match. Not bad! but I don't believe in your team by the european championship, although Spain is one of the favorite. I think it comes to the changeover of power.

[ra-ra-ra]

(Original post by aa22)
Yehh, the friendly was boring.. seemed like no-one really cared and Macedonia were just playing completely in defence.. Somehow Ruben Micael started the match with Veloso+Moutinho in the midfield 3.. Hugo Viana came on late in the match but didn't really show anything better :/

Hopefully it was just the guys getting settled. I'm expecting a better performance in the friendly agaisnt Turkey...

45m seems about right... admittedly I've only seen him those two times he played against us, but I definitely remember being highly impressed so I can just about see him turning into a great player.

Interesting that Atletico signed C. Rodriguez.... maybe they saw something in him that Porto didn't? Or maybe this means Salvio is on his way out :O

Is it wrong that i want Ruben Micael to pick up an injury against Turkey that will mean he'll be out of the squad? I don't want him there and i'm not quite sure who actually does want him there apart from Bento.

We'll see if JJ will actually give him a chance...

His contract was up so he was free to leave and he had a row with some of the players in training which is why he hasn't really been around. Not wanted i guess.

Confirmed that Jardim has left Braga. I didn't really believe the whole situation to this at first but it's happened and he's gone. Crazy given the season he's had.

Also, how do you feel about the whole 'B' team situation now it's all finally been confirmed that they'll be in Liga Orangina? I guess it stops us from sending our players out on loan to the clubs like Belem and Olhanense and what have you.

[Da_hopeful_1]

Looks like Yann M'Vila's Euro dreams have come to an end as he's crying on the bench after being substituted with an ankle injury. HUGE blow for France

[internetstephen]

(Original post by Da_hopeful_1)
Looks like Yann M'Vila's Euro dreams have come to an end as he's crying on the bench after being substituted with an ankle injury. HUGE blow for France

Apparently he was in tears on the bench as well. There'll be plenty more opportunities for him in the future.

[Kevmeister]

Del Piero set to make an Impact in Montreal?

[Abiraleft]

(Original post by Abiraleft)
Cesare Prandelli has apparently said he would be fine for Italy to withdraw from the Euros, because of the match-fixing debacle. I would doubt that's really a genuine possibility this close to the tournament.

Just re-posting this here as well, because there's also a note about Mario Monti (the Italian Prime Minister) suggesting that professional football be suspended for 'two or three years' in Italy. Is that really viable, given the size of it? No Serie A for a couple of years would be pretty sad.

[Laertes]

(Original post by Abiraleft)
Just re-posting this here as well, because there's also a note about Mario Monti (the Italian Prime Minister) suggesting that professional football be suspended for 'two or three years' in Italy. Is that really viable, given the size of it? No Serie A for a couple of years would be pretty sad.

He only suggested it in a personal capacity. There's no chance it'll actually happen, the long-term effects on Italian football would be too serious.

[ra-ra-ra]

(Original post by Kevmeister)
...

I was wrong about the Falcao situation when you asked me the other week about it. Our accounts have been published for 11/12 and it shows that Atletico themselves have given us €12.6m and they were meant to pay the remainder €16m a couple of months ago. The other €20m did come from Gestifute who have borrowed Atleti that money, although that has not being published in our documents for some reason. But the Atleti president has said though that there was an initial payment of €20m, next €10m will come in July 2012 and then another €10m in 2013. So i actually have no idea. I'll go by our accounts and say they still owe us €16m. Just wanted to clarify it. Page 31 does show the table showing they owe us that if you're interested but it is a Portuguese document. http://web3.cmvm.pt/sdi2004/emitentes/docs/PCT40033.pdf We probably won't see that €16m unless he is sold elsewhere probably.

[Laertes]

(Original post by ra-ra-ra)
I was wrong about the Falcao situation when you asked me the other week about it. Our accounts have been published for 11/12 and it shows that Atletico themselves have given us €12.6m and they were meant to pay the remainder €16m a couple of months ago. The other €20m did come from Gestifute who have borrowed Atleti that money, although that has not being published in our documents for some reason. But the Atleti president has said though that there was an initial payment of €20m, next €10m will come in July 2012 and then another €10m in 2013. So i actually have no idea. I'll go by our accounts and say they still owe us €16m. Just wanted to clarify it. Page 31 does show the table showing they owe us that if you're interested but it is a Portuguese document. http://web3.cmvm.pt/sdi2004/emitentes/docs/PCT40033.pdf We probably won't see that €16m unless he is sold elsewhere probably.

With any luck City will be buying him for a large amount of money soon.

I'm guessing by the accounts that you're a Porto fan, is Hulk actually that good? He's been average whenever I've watched him.

[I Kant Spall]

Italy lost 0-3 to Russia today. They could've really used Chiellini at the back...

[internetstephen]

(Original post by I Kant Spall)
Italy lost 0-3 to Russia today. They could've really used Chiellini at the back...

They were ridiculously open at the back and, combined with some calamitous defending at times, Russia were always going to score. That being said, Italy did look good going forward, they just couldn't take their chances.

[forex]

To be honest, even though it was a friendly (at home), the 3 goals against the Italians were absolutely shocking. Hopeless defending.

[ra-ra-ra]

(Original post by Laertes)
With any luck City will be buying him for a large amount of money soon.

I'm guessing by the accounts that you're a Porto fan, is Hulk actually that good? He's been average whenever I've watched him.

He's greedy and frustrating but yet he's one of our best players we’ve had play for us. Were it not for him this season i doubt we would have won the league as we've pretty much been relying solely on him for goals seeing as we didn’t replace Falcao (Well, not replace as that is quite impossible but at least sign another striker who is capable of scoring more than 10 goals). There was this big hype about him and i think it's got to the point that people have made him somewhat more over-rated and therefore expecting more when they watch him.

I'm not saying he's not good but then he has been more than an average player for us but not worth €45m+ by all means. In my opinion Falcaos price tag of €40m+ was more correct but Hulk, no. He will be missed for Porto as he has been a key player for us and he will leave a big hole up front just like we’ve seen this season with Falcao.

He is also one of our most expensive players we’ve purchased too. We’ve paid a total of €19m for him so I’m guessing Pinto da Costa will try to get as much as the upper end of €40m as possible. I think it’s inevitable he’ll leave though. He’s been with us for 4 years now which is much longer than most players who are usually tipped for bigger things. I think his time is now to leave. I just wish it’ll get over and done with soon, I can’t be dealing with a summer of this dragging on like the Falcao saga did. Once that is done then we will need to sign a couple of new strikers and hopefully Iturbe will get some more chances and be tipped to be the next big thing to come out of this Porto squad.

With knowing that he is pretty much going I’m more concerned about James leaving but hopefully he’ll still have one more season left in him.

[dosvidaniya]

(Original post by ra-ra-ra)
He's greedy and frustrating but yet he's one of our best players we’ve had play for us. Were it not for him this season i doubt we would have won the league as we've pretty much been relying solely on him for goals seeing as we didn’t replace Falcao (Well, not replace as that is quite impossible but at least sign another striker who is capable of scoring more than 10 goals). There was this big hype about him and i think it's got to the point that people have made him somewhat more over-rated and therefore expecting more when they watch him.

I'm not saying he's not good but then he has been more than an average player for us but not worth €45m+ by all means. In my opinion Falcaos price tag of €40m+ was more correct but Hulk, no. He will be missed for Porto as he has been a key player for us and he will leave a big hole up front just like we’ve seen this season with Falcao.

He is also one of our most expensive players we’ve purchased too. We’ve paid a total of €19m for him so I’m guessing Pinto da Costa will try to get as much as the upper end of €40m as possible. I think it’s inevitable he’ll leave though. He’s been with us for 4 years now which is much longer than most players who are usually tipped for bigger things. I think his time is now to leave. I just wish it’ll get over and done with soon, I can’t be dealing with a summer of this dragging on like the Falcao saga did. Once that is done then we will need to sign a couple of new strikers and hopefully Iturbe will get some more chances and be tipped to be the next big thing to come out of this Porto squad.

With knowing that he is pretty much going I’m more concerned about James leaving but hopefully he’ll still have one more season left in him.

Seeing as though you're a Porto fan, may I ask how good Defour & Otamendi have turned out? Both were pretty big prospects a couple of years ago. I seem to remember Otamendi being hailed as the heir to Walter Samuel a while ago.

[Kevmeister]

Bielsa agrees new, one year deal with Athletic. Apparently he got assurances that stars won't be sold.