Latest posts of: Velvet78

I have heard that van Gaal was asked about how they were thinking of stopping Messi. He said to them that they would just find out how in the game. This is a really brave statement by him but not realistic to me honestly. Grin

Because I don't think Netherlands' defense have an easy job to do. I know that there are really good defenders like van Dijk and Ake. But we are still talking about Messi.

I think he would still find a way to show a really effective performance. Netherlands like to play with a system in which there are three defenders. If they do the same against Argentina as well then Argentina might find more openings in their defense.

The performance Nets have been showing in the Eastern Conference has been pretty impressive so far. I know that they lost nearly the half of their games but they are still at the fourth position in the standings. Especially their recent form is impressive. Irving and Durant's staying for at least one more season has helped them as well of course.

These stars are still very important for them to be more productive in scoring points. However this performance might still cause them some trouble after the end of the regular season. They need to get as many wins as possible to keep their mental condition high which would prepare them for the playoffs better.

Quote from: safari88 on December 08, 2022, 06:47:05 PM

Hazard is actually still quite young, isn't he something like 31-32? It is very early to announce that you are leaving the international team. I don't think he will regain his old form at Real Madrid, otherwise you don't say things like that. Maybe it's time for Hazard to leave Real Madrid and see if he can find another club where he can play football. Real Madrid could sell or rent him, but who can afford that? They also need reinforcements if they want to look up.

I think the best move for Hazard could be to return to the English Premier League if he still wants to play European football and compete in the Champions League as well. However I don't know how many teams with such criteria would be eager to sign him now. He is not too old of course but I believe he has already left his good times behind.

His having bad performances and injuries at Real Madrid just brought his career to a very low point. If he doesn't find such team for himself then he should go outside Europe I believe.

Quote from: lizarder on December 08, 2022, 05:29:03 PM

Juventus have a great chance to catch Napoli, because they have full concentration on Serie-A, while Ac Milan and Napoli are still playing in the Champions League, so their concentration must be divided in the two competencies they face going forward.

Juventus are indeed doing great recently but I have big doubts about their chance to catch up with Napoli in the standings. To close a gap of 10 points, they need to maintain this winning streak as long as possible. Because it is already very difficult to stop Napoli. But this break might be the start of some changes at the same time.

Players will need to keep the same motivation at Napoli to maintain a perfect performance. If they do this despite a long break then we can just announce them as the new champions. Grin

Juventus can also be considered as a contender for the Europa League title. Maybe they had to face some shocking issues recently but they can still leave these days behind. I hope they won't have to deal with big sanctions. Otherwise it can bring their end in not only the Serie A but also the Europa League. But for now I haven't heard of any new update about their situation.

Juventus started to do really good in the Serie A in the recent times. They have had a great winning streak so far. If they continue to perform like this they can be very successful in the Europa League as well. Many injured players will be returning until their first official game.

Quote from: ginsan on December 07, 2022, 09:13:27 PM

Galatasaray are heavily rumored to be interested in signing Giroud this winter window. Giroud, who is old but able to perform beautifully with France at the world cup, has made his name again a byword in the transfers window. his contract with ac milan will end next season and it is even reported that ac milan wants to extend giroud contract period after the world cup is over. ac milan still needs giroud for this season because he has been a savior for ac milan several times in matches this season

Apart from that, AC Milan also really wants to keep their star, Leao, in the January window because the AC Milan front-line player is the target of big European teams like Chelsea and Manchester United. leao and giroud are the two players who will be the main focus Ac milan in extending the contract period after the world cup is over.

I don't think Galatasaray are in need of another striker now. They have already signed Icardi for the starting eleven after seeing horrible performances by Seferovic and Gomis. Icardi has adapted to the game plan very quickly as well. He has been making a really good level of score contribution so far.

Therefore adding Giroud to the team as well would just make one of these players unhappy as one of them will have to be in the subs. Besides Milan must still be happy with his performance. I think they will extend with him soon for one more year.

The reason why Liverpool's form dropped this much should be some mental problems. Of course they faced some injuries and had many missing players as a result. Diaz was one of them and we all know how important he is for the team now. He is trying to do his best to fill Mane's place in the team. His performance so far has already been impressive.

However I don't think injury is not the main reason for this. Because they had really bad games in which they defended their opponents very poorly. Klopp needs to help the players improve their motivation. This squad are capable of doing anything they want. They just need some push.

I don't have any expectation from Dortmund to change their vision for many more years. While they are able make so much profit in the sales of their talented young players there is no need for them to change their priorities. Even without winning the Bundesliga they are doing just fine in terms of financial status.

However the supporters wouldn't be very happy to see their team not becoming champions for even once. There have been more than 10 years since they last made it. This team normally have a potential for the league title if they keep their skilled players in the team.

Quote from: Fakhrulenclix on December 05, 2022, 06:52:36 AM

I think Napoli's move to win the Scudetto will not be easy, they will get fierce competition and there are several teams that have the possibility to do that, AC MIlan, Inter Milan, Juventus, AS Roma, it is very possible considering the quality of these teams is not much different.

Honestly I wouldn't say no to a little more competition for the league title. I'm also one of the people who want to see a different champion - especially Napoli. The reason why I want to see Napoli for it the most is that it has been a very long time since they won this title the last time. It must be around 30 years.

This is their biggest chance by this very deserving performance. However if they finish the season early by pulling away from others more than suddenly the rest of the season can get a little boring. We would watch a great fight for top 4 certainly but I mean the title race.

Maybe the pressure is on Barcelona due to being the leader now. However I still think they can deal with this pressure in a really good way. It is the truth of course that they are going to compete in the Europa League at the same time and that tournament is also important for them. Because they need to make as much money as possible to help their finance get better in time.

However Barcelona weren't affected negatively in the La Liga while they were competing in the Champions League on one hand. I don't see any reason for seeing them losing their focus from now on as well. Of course I don't mean that they will win every single one of the remaining La Liga games. But they will be in this title race until the end as it seems.

Morocco won't be as comfortable as they were against Spain this time. Spain had a big percentage of ball possession maybe but Morocco were still able to keep things in favour of themselves until the penalty shootouts. However Morocco's job is going to be much more difficult against Portugal. Because they will face a team which have newly destroyed Switzerland by a huge score.

Besides Portugal have a much different game plan than Spain. They don't aim to keep the ball in their feet too much. They are just looking for fast attacks by great passes from the ground or the air. I don't think Morocco have the strength to keep up with this.

The Ronaldo topic is simple to me actually. If he is still ambitious to play in the Champions League then he should ask Al-Nassr for waiting for his final decision for some time. He should wait and see if he gets any offer from a decent European team which competes in the Champions League.

If he doesn't get such offer then his decision should definitely be to accept this extraordinary contract offer. He can secure his future after his retirement by a contract like this in the end. He might not get the same amount in future offers maybe if he doesn't accept it now.

Quote from: EdenHazard on December 05, 2022, 10:37:49 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on December 05, 2022, 08:11:19 PM

It will be a really challenging time period for Newcastle when it comes to keeping their presence in top 4. Maybe some big teams have had bad days so far but the second half of the season might not be the same. Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all have a chance to fight more seriously for top 4 in the rest of the season. We aren't even in the middle of the season technically.

This is why Newcastle might need some new signings to keep the team strong. They need to keep their mental condition as good as possible just as they have done so far. Even if they finish the season right below top 4 this would still be a good success for them with this squad of course.

Yeah everyone would have the same thought about how newcastle should made a signing , a saga one. To land top class player in order to compete much more seriously as they capable to do it with the oil money inside them , but once again we never knew what's they are planning in premier league.

Could be just an ordinary investment in newcastle to keep the club in mediocre area with less money spent.

I hope that it won't be that kind of an investment. Because they already have a 1 billion euro transfer budget in their hands as far as I know. I can't even imagine that much money together in my mind. Grin

With a budget like this they should be definitely targeting to make huge signings especially next summer.

But to do this easier they need to have a successful season. Especially if they manage to qualify for the Champions League it would be very beneficial for them to convince top players to sign for them.

Lakers have been doing pretty well in their latest games in the regular season. They have got many wins recently and this is keeping them close to the playoff area. If they keep up this form they can surely have a better season than the previous one. There are still so many games to be played as we aren't even in the middle of the season yet.

I just hope to see the team effort getting better in time. It is not good to see them being too dependent Lebron most of the time. Of course he is still a superstar who is showing great performances. But this mustn't mean that the other players should always have an eye on him. This is likely to decrease the quality of their attacks.

As there is a probability for Joao Felix to be transferred by another big club soon, Atletico Madrid must be hoping to sell him for as high price as possible. There has been a big decline in his market price. It is 50 million euros now. This is a quite low value when we think about the price they signed him for - 127 million euros.

As long as he doesn't impress the interested teams with his World Cup performance a lot, I don't think those teams would be eager to spend much more than his value. Honestly I still believe Atletico Madrid shouldn't lose a skilled youngster like him but let's see.

We are very likely to watch an amazing semi final game like Argentina - Brazil. Grin

This would be like an early finale in the World Cup. These teams are already very accustomed to playing against each other of course. But the World Cup is much more different than the other tournaments. We should be seeing the best performances in a probable matchup like this.

Brazil would be the favourite side obviously after seeing their amazing effort in the recent times. Argentina have also been doing really well with big help of Messi. But even Messi might not be enough to get past a big obstacle like Brazil.

It is really difficult to overlook Villarreal's change in one season. We are talking about a team that reached the semi-finals in the Champions League in the end. But now they are having really troubling days. We are seeing them in the middle of the standings currently. Especially their losses in the recent times caused them to lose a lot of points.

Maybe they are focused on the Europa Conference League this time. They finished the group stage as leader. They might want to achieve this title as well after achieving the Europa League title. But they should be really careful in the La Liga at the same time. There isn't any guarantee for their title in the ECL so they should fight for a European tournament spot in the La Liga.

Bayern Munich really could have signed a top striker right after selling Lewandowski. They sold Lewandowski for a really good amount despite his age as well so they could have used this money in a new deal easily. But they just didn't want to bring a new striker anyway. They must have believed in themselves that they could still do pretty well in this situation as well.

They haven't felt the absence of a top striker so far. Maybe they got bad results in the Bundesliga at the beginning of the season. But they are back to their usual form again. They don't have any scoring issues lately and Choupo-Moting also has been impressive.

What a pity that South Korea are having a nightmare at the moment. It has become 4-0 in the first 36 minutes already. Brazil really have no mercy. It's like they have saved their strength for this game. They are going to be very advantageous before their quarter final game as well. Because I assume the manager would like to drop the tempo to a low level in the second half and rest some important players.

Brazil's potential is really exciting. It is a big joy to watch them putting on a great show. But we will see if they will be able to play the same against bigger teams as well.