I did say they have some decent players, which I still admit and won't deny.. Although, Dani Alves is 35 and Thiago Silva is 33 so I didn't think it was relevant to mention them, personally (I'm basing this on the last few years). I think they've achieved roughly what they should have in the UCL thus far. When you compare their squad of players over the last few years to the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich.. I can't see how they would even challenge for winning the competition.

Yeah I guess that is valid. I guess I just question why they would drop almost a quarter of a billion on someone if they didn't feel they could compete. Yes real, Barca, Bayern, and manc are great but teams like Liverpool and Roma made a run and they have less talented squads than those teams and arguably psg as well.

Oh absolutely.. but quite often the underdog will overachieve.. like Roma did against Barcelona. PSG have an incredible amount of money and have the funds to pay for a player like Neymar (plus his salary). They can make him the face of the team, sell his jerseys and make him the first player on the team sheet when the starting 11 is announced. That's a HUGE pull for a player like Neymar.

 I think PSG feel as though they should be competing higher in the UCL than they are, and that's because of their domestic success. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on PSG, not at all. I just feel as though they have some way to go in terms of squad additions to be mentioned in the same discussion as potential Champions League challengers.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Yeah I guess that is valid. I guess I just question why they would drop almost a quarter of a billion on someone if they didn't feel they could compete. Yes real, Barca, Bayern, and manc are great but teams like Liverpool and Roma made a run and they have less talented squads than those teams and arguably psg as well.

Oh absolutely.. but quite often the underdog will overachieve.. like Roma did against Barcelona. PSG have an incredible amount of money and have the funds to pay for a player like Neymar (plus his salary). They can make him the face of the team, sell his jerseys and make him the first player on the team sheet when the starting 11 is announced. That's a HUGE pull for a player like Neymar.

 I think PSG feel as though they should be competing higher in the UCL than they are, and that's because of their domestic success. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on PSG, not at all. I just feel as though they have some way to go in terms of squad additions to be mentioned in the same discussion as potential Champions League challengers.

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

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Yeah I guess that is valid. I guess I just question why they would drop almost a quarter of a billion on someone if they didn't feel they could compete. Yes real, Barca, Bayern, and manc are great but teams like Liverpool and Roma made a run and they have less talented squads than those teams and arguably psg as well.

Oh absolutely.. but quite often the underdog will overachieve.. like Roma did against Barcelona. PSG have an incredible amount of money and have the funds to pay for a player like Neymar (plus his salary). They can make him the face of the team, sell his jerseys and make him the first player on the team sheet when the starting 11 is announced. That's a HUGE pull for a player like Neymar.

 I think PSG feel as though they should be competing higher in the UCL than they are, and that's because of their domestic success. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on PSG, not at all. I just feel as though they have some way to go in terms of squad additions to be mentioned in the same discussion as potential Champions League challengers.

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

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Oh absolutely.. but quite often the underdog will overachieve.. like Roma did against Barcelona. PSG have an incredible amount of money and have the funds to pay for a player like Neymar (plus his salary). They can make him the face of the team, sell his jerseys and make him the first player on the team sheet when the starting 11 is announced. That's a HUGE pull for a player like Neymar.

 I think PSG feel as though they should be competing higher in the UCL than they are, and that's because of their domestic success. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on PSG, not at all. I just feel as though they have some way to go in terms of squad additions to be mentioned in the same discussion as potential Champions League challengers.

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

---

Oh absolutely.. but quite often the underdog will overachieve.. like Roma did against Barcelona. PSG have an incredible amount of money and have the funds to pay for a player like Neymar (plus his salary). They can make him the face of the team, sell his jerseys and make him the first player on the team sheet when the starting 11 is announced. That's a HUGE pull for a player like Neymar.

 I think PSG feel as though they should be competing higher in the UCL than they are, and that's because of their domestic success. For what it's worth, I'm not hating on PSG, not at all. I just feel as though they have some way to go in terms of squad additions to be mentioned in the same discussion as potential Champions League challengers.

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

For me, a team who are legitimately thought of as a team who should be winning. Like I said before, sometimes the underdog will win. Of course.

Personally speaking, with the squad that PSG have, if they were in the UCL final.. or, indeed, won the thing, I would see that as a massive shock. I would not expect that at all.

I think style of football comes into the equation here. Bear with me on this one.. Liverpool can be devastating on the counter attack, or whilst attacking in general. However, with the Premier League being so competitive across the board, this leaves them open to concede goals. This is why I can't imagine the UCL final being a low scoring game. To reply to your point about Man City/Liverpool, I think Liverpool's squad and style of play is more suited to UCL success. I think Liverpool did their homework on Man City and punished their weaknesses. I also think it helped that Man City were going full speed for the Premier League title and wanted to break records there, personally. I think Man United have a better squad than Liverpool overall, but they came second in the Premier League and were knocked out of the UCL by Sevilla. Why? Because historically, Jose Mourinho's teams are set up to 'not lose' rather than to win, if that makes sense. Manchester United have a squad talented enough to go out and win games by scoring lots of goals, but that's not JM's approach, which is sad.

I think Liverpool v Real Madrid is a really well matched UCL final. Both teams have explosive attacks and can really be devastating on their day. Being British, I want Liverpool to win, but my head says Real will edge it.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

---

I agree with this. But what defines UCL challengers? I mean the year Chelsea won they had no business being there, they should have lost to napoli or Barca and even disregarding those, they never should have beaten Bayern in their home stadium. You would think that one of these years Paris would make a deep run but they just have not. It's a long year, it seems like the underdog who normally makes a deep run is generally not top of their league because they focus mainly on UCL or something. Unless you are real and have a bench worthy of being starting 11 on any other roster. Sort of like liverpool, no one would say Liverpool is better than manc but one is top of league the other is competing for ucl cup.

For me, a team who are legitimately thought of as a team who should be winning. Like I said before, sometimes the underdog will win. Of course.

Personally speaking, with the squad that PSG have, if they were in the UCL final.. or, indeed, won the thing, I would see that as a massive shock. I would not expect that at all.

I think style of football comes into the equation here. Bear with me on this one.. Liverpool can be devastating on the counter attack, or whilst attacking in general. However, with the Premier League being so competitive across the board, this leaves them open to concede goals. This is why I can't imagine the UCL final being a low scoring game. To reply to your point about Man City/Liverpool, I think Liverpool's squad and style of play is more suited to UCL success. I think Liverpool did their homework on Man City and punished their weaknesses. I also think it helped that Man City were going full speed for the Premier League title and wanted to break records there, personally. I think Man United have a better squad than Liverpool overall, but they came second in the Premier League and were knocked out of the UCL by Sevilla. Why? Because historically, Jose Mourinho's teams are set up to 'not lose' rather than to win, if that makes sense. Manchester United have a squad talented enough to go out and win games by scoring lots of goals, but that's not JM's approach, which is sad.

I think Liverpool v Real Madrid is a really well matched UCL final. Both teams have explosive attacks and can really be devastating on their day. Being British, I want Liverpool to win, but my head says Real will edge it.

I that makes a lot of since and I agree with you about JM. He has had a lot of success but like you said he is predicated more to stoping damage than attacking. The current manure roster is young and fast and I agree that if they had an attack minded coach, they could have more success, not to mention be more entertaining. Tomorrow will be a fun game to watch.

As far as Liverpool, I would say they are a squad who has gelled and found their form at the right time. Chelsea showed they are vulnerable but I think that was only because of there lack of rest at this time in the year with competeing in both ucl and epl.

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I will say man city is probably one of the best rosters coupled with one of the better managers I have seen in a long time. They play peps tiki taka possession and strike form almost better than his Barca squad. With KDB, silva, sane, sterling, Jesus, and aguero then that back of walker, otamendi, and kompany... they are a hell of a squad.

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For me, a team who are legitimately thought of as a team who should be winning. Like I said before, sometimes the underdog will win. Of course.

Personally speaking, with the squad that PSG have, if they were in the UCL final.. or, indeed, won the thing, I would see that as a massive shock. I would not expect that at all.

I think style of football comes into the equation here. Bear with me on this one.. Liverpool can be devastating on the counter attack, or whilst attacking in general. However, with the Premier League being so competitive across the board, this leaves them open to concede goals. This is why I can't imagine the UCL final being a low scoring game. To reply to your point about Man City/Liverpool, I think Liverpool's squad and style of play is more suited to UCL success. I think Liverpool did their homework on Man City and punished their weaknesses. I also think it helped that Man City were going full speed for the Premier League title and wanted to break records there, personally. I think Man United have a better squad than Liverpool overall, but they came second in the Premier League and were knocked out of the UCL by Sevilla. Why? Because historically, Jose Mourinho's teams are set up to 'not lose' rather than to win, if that makes sense. Manchester United have a squad talented enough to go out and win games by scoring lots of goals, but that's not JM's approach, which is sad.

I think Liverpool v Real Madrid is a really well matched UCL final. Both teams have explosive attacks and can really be devastating on their day. Being British, I want Liverpool to win, but my head says Real will edge it.

I that makes a lot of since and I agree with you about JM. He has had a lot of success but like you said he is predicated more to stoping damage than attacking. The current manure roster is young and fast and I agree that if they had an attack minded coach, they could have more success, not to mention be more entertaining. Tomorrow will be a fun game to watch.

As far as Liverpool, I would say they are a squad who has gelled and found their form at the right time. Chelsea showed they are vulnerable but I think that was only because of there lack of rest at this time in the year with competeing in both ucl and epl.

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I will say man city is probably one of the best rosters coupled with one of the better managers I have seen in a long time. They play peps tiki taka possession and strike form almost better than his Barca squad. With KDB, silva, sane, sterling, Jesus, and aguero then that back of walker, otamendi, and kompany... they are a hell of a squad.

I completely agree with all of your points here.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

Well boys, that's a wrap on the 17/18 year....

My boys Chelsea finished with a little silverware to put in cabinet after all.

Darlo's saints finished with their foot in the door of the epl in a photo finish to stay up.

HURRICANE's Bournesmouth had a nice middle table year and heald their place in the bigs while his sons team Crystal Palace managed to stay up as well.

Mr. Khans team may also be joining our discussion next season but we will have to wait and see how next weekend pans out.

But now the real fun begins.... TRANSFER WINDOW TIME.
Let's start throwing around some rumors.

Lewendowski to Chelsea is one I have heard more than once.
Pogba to Psg
Hazard to Real
Greizman to Barca or even Chelsea
Zaha to LP, Chelsea, Everton
Martial to psg/Chelsea
Bailey to Bayern/Chelsea
Alaba to Real & Manure
Neymar to somewhere not PSG
Fernando Torres to Newcastle LMBO


Just a few I've been seeing sprout up. What's the talk like on that side of the ditch Darlo?

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-Willian to manure ( painful for me to watch another one possibly join JM)
-Hazard to Manc (holy [BLEEP], that would be insane)
-Demeble to somewhere willing to pay 100m
-Moratta to juve/BVB( interesting move if he picks the latter)
-Marcus Alonso to Barca( don't see it but who knows)
-Vardy to ATL Madrid in the event Greizman walks( interesting to see a English boy under Simeon)
-Koulibaly to Chelsea
-Benjamin Henrichs to Chelsea
- Aaron Ramsey to Chelsea
- jean Seri to Manure/Chelsea
-Pelligreni to west ham(manager)
-Jorginho to City
-Bale to Manure(little speculation that Chelsea may make a run at him.
- Kieran Tierney to Bournesmouth( also a pair of CB they went after January are apparently on their radar)
- Yaya Toure released from City( didn't know he was still around.
-Michael Carrick retired from Manu.
-David luiz to Arsenal/Juve
- Pedro to Juve
-Drinkwater to west Ham
- Paco Alcacer to South Hampton
-can to Juve
- Sokratis to arsenal
- Ricardo Pereira to Leicester
- Adama Traore to south Hampton
- Ben Gibson to South Hampton
-Naby Keita to Liverpool
-Jorginho, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Fred and Toni Kroos all linked with moves to Manure and in turn probably pushing Herrera out
- Cazorla to Liverpool
- Mbappe to Real.
- salah to Chelsea/ Bayern/ Man city $175mil (if they somehow end up with salah and Hazard the EPL doesn't stand a chance.)

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Lewendowski to Chelsea is sprouting up more frequently than I expected. There too much smoke for this one not.to have a little fire. That would be huge. I don't think we missed in Morata but he hasn't seemed to Find his grove in the epl at this point. Lewendowski on the other hand is arguably one of the best strikers in the game. That would be a guy Who may push us over that edge.

Ramsey is also a guy who I think would be huge. Next to Kante in the mid would be a spectacular duo.

Couple that with an addition of someone like martial and try to retain Hazard, and the Blues midfield would go from a one man circus( with Kante sprinting 90 min box to box) to being in the conversation if best in EPL.... then lewendowski?!?! I got to slow down I'm getting too excited.

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And let’s not forget the strong likelihood that Chelsea will be ditching Conte for another new manager.

And then Arteta as manager of Arsenal?

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And let’s not forget the strong likelihood that Chelsea will be ditching Conte for another new manager.

And then Arteta as manager of Arsenal?

I man indfferent to if he stays or goes. It doesn't really matter to me. Wouldn't be suprised either way. 

I know it sounds stupid but I would like to see hazard go to Manc over Real if he is going to move. What a team that would be. I mean they are gonna smash the crap my team but I feel like he wouldn't get as much time or be as big a impact at real

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It's been a fun thread to take part in.. much more active than I thought it would be..

Needless to say I'll do another one for the 2018/19 season.. I will include favourites for relegation, Champions League qualification, individual player odds and Champions League predictions etc. Is there anything else you guys would like me to include? I have a lot of time to do these things when I'm on my night shifts..

Would you guys like me to make it a generic UK Football thread? As in for the Championship and below, plus the cups too?

My Premier League/Local team is Southampton for sure, but my main team is Swindon Town FC.. most of you wouldn't have heard of them, they play in League 2 which is the bottom division. I remember their solitary year in the Premier League back in 1993... we were crap then, and we continue to be crap, but hey.. I had a season ticket for 20 years (only dropped due to locality now).. so when you think about it, with supporting the Jags for the last 12 years and supporting Swindon Town & Southampton, I'm used to failure.. it makes sense that I don't know how to react that one of my teams (Jags) are actually good now!

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

It's been a fun thread to take part in.. much more active than I thought it would be..

Needless to say I'll do another one for the 2018/19 season.. I will include favourites for relegation, Champions League qualification, individual player odds and Champions League predictions etc. Is there anything else you guys would like me to include? I have a lot of time to do these things when I'm on my night shifts..

Would you guys like me to make it a generic UK Football thread? As in for the Championship and below, plus the cups too?

My Premier League/Local team is Southampton for sure, but my main team is Swindon Town FC.. most of you wouldn't have heard of them, they play in League 2 which is the bottom division. I remember their solitary year in the Premier League back in 1993... we were crap then, and we continue to be crap, but hey.. I had a season ticket for 20 years (only dropped due to locality now).. so when you think about it, with supporting the Jags for the last 12 years and supporting Swindon Town & Southampton, I'm used to failure.. it makes sense that I don't know how to react that one of my teams (Jags) are actually good now!

Yeah I think honestly a English thread(epl and three other leaves in U.K.)and then something like a rest of euro/national team would be a good idea. I honestly liked checking this thread more than I liked the Chelsea forums I normally go to. Much more casual and ultimately more informative because questions were met usually with genuine answers.

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It's been a fun thread to take part in.. much more active than I thought it would be..

Needless to say I'll do another one for the 2018/19 season.. I will include favourites for relegation, Champions League qualification, individual player odds and Champions League predictions etc. Is there anything else you guys would like me to include? I have a lot of time to do these things when I'm on my night shifts..

Would you guys like me to make it a generic UK Football thread? As in for the Championship and below, plus the cups too?

My Premier League/Local team is Southampton for sure, but my main team is Swindon Town FC.. most of you wouldn't have heard of them, they play in League 2 which is the bottom division. I remember their solitary year in the Premier League back in 1993... we were crap then, and we continue to be crap, but hey.. I had a season ticket for 20 years (only dropped due to locality now).. so when you think about it, with supporting the Jags for the last 12 years and supporting Swindon Town & Southampton, I'm used to failure.. it makes sense that I don't know how to react that one of my teams (Jags) are actually good now!

Yeah I think honestly a English thread(epl and three other leaves in U.K.)and then something like a rest of euro/national team would be a good idea. I honestly liked checking this thread more than I liked the Chelsea forums I normally go to. Much more casual and ultimately more informative because questions were met usually with genuine answers.

Well I'm glad you feel like that, I'll take that on board with when I make next seasons thread and I'll make it for all 4 main leagues plus domestic cups in England. There are more cup competitions than most people think. I'll revisit the pyramid for those who are unsure of the leagues structure and remind of the relegation/promotion scenario. Naturally, I will detail the Premier League more than other leagues.. I'll include the weekly fixtures and results from the Premier League but I'll include bits from the other leagues too..

Any questions in the off season or in general, you know what to do..

Thank god I do night shifts huh? Haha..

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...