Chatter from the sidelines
- Manchester United consider Edinson Cavani transfer as Inter Milan eye Robin van Persie
Oh - Montreal Impact become first Canadian team to advance to CONCACAF final TIL- there's a CONCACAF Champions League
- A solid defence and Griezmann - Atletico growing ahead of Madrid meeting they really kept Real Sociedad quiet
- Rafa Benítez in running for West Ham manager's job Huh. Rafa back in the PL? He's actually turned down Napoli's offer of extending his contract. His family still lives in Liverpool, iirc, but Rafa tends to rub owners up the wrong way after a while in charge
- Former South Africa striker Richard Henyekane dies in car crash RIP
- Menez has gone from zero cost to being worth €20 million in 7 months. [CorSera] nice
- Roma stadium section closed over banners insulting dead Napoli fan’s mother that's really crass
- FIFA president rejects Palestinian bid to suspend Israel Not surprised. Poor Palestine, the conditions their players go through is a rough read an example is here
- Manchester City to swoop for Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson during the summer
Wait, they've spent £600 million on their academy, and have NO home talent breaking through the ranks? I can see Arsenal letting Wilshire go, since they do have their academy talent coming through, not so much English talent though, which is a shame. Hendo would be interesting. He's held off contract talks for more money and City has a lot of that, so...
Pictures
...
I. Just. Why?
Aston Villa 3- 3 QPR
Aston Villa and QPR, interesting narrative. Both teams are facing relegation, both teams are headed by former Spurs coaches. Ramsey (QPR) is desperate for win, and Sherwood, after his sacking from Spurs (before they tapped up Pochettino has something to prove
The match was pretty exciting. Although damn it, I wish English teams would get back to defence. We used to defend! I'm cautiously optimistic at the uptick of defenders being snapped up left, right and centre. We might see a bit more defence in next season's games. Please?
Zonal marking, man marking, Charlie Adaming- however you do it- mark somebody!
Tim Sherwood has his fair share of detractors (tap a Spurs supporter, ask them about Sherwood, prepare to have your ears pinned back) but you can't fault his enthusiasm. I wonder if he has all his coaching badges though?
Atletico de Madrid 2 - 0 Real Sociedad
First goal 10 mins in
Read an interesting, gossipy article about these two. They are pretty close. Greizmann has gone on record saying that Torres was his favourite player growing up, and how he'd do Torres's celebration. Torres has introduced him to his hairdresser, so you can blame Torres (indirectly) for Greizmann's barnet
Real Sociedad were pretty absent. Shame, because they've strengthened in spirit and resolve since Moyes took over
It's interesting to see what Torres has become under Simeone. At LFC, the teamplay was around him (in front, balls being fed to him), Chelsea... well. But Torres really works for Atletico- he harries, he presses, he'll link up... he's aged gracefully in the game, if that makes sense. Simeone has been good for him
When I switched over, La Real were two down, and it was just a matter of maintaing the lead. Granero had a chance with a freekick but it wasn't to be. Greizmann refrained from celebrating against his former club
Torres' hairdresser must be stopped! Seriously, this hair!
Dfb Pokal
Dortmund won a match yesterday. Imagine my surprise, when after the Sherwood-Ramsey standoff, I checked on Dortmund and saw the number 95'.
I said, "Self, isn't a match 90 minutes. Even with stoppage time, 95 is a bit much. Let's have a wander."
The match was 2-2, and one side had to go big and the other go home
The camera panned to Sahrin and Hummels...
[A Reus picture was here, but it really shouldn't have been. My bad]
Kehl brought it home for the lads, and there was an interesting article I read about Klopp and parallels to Pochettino, but this is not the place to get into it. Not yet
Klopp doffs his hat to the crowd
Coppa Italia Juventus 3 - 0 Fiorentina
Fiorentina's fairytale came to an end
By all accounts, Juventus gave an assured performance. Virtuoso, even
Goals everywhere
OP: done. Any cheers, jeers and pushback... I'm still busy this week, so notes on a postcard and all that. Seriously