He's still creating lots of chances. It looked like Chelsea was getting high lined into the middle 3rd and then the defenders were pressing like mad to get the ball off of Pulisic's feet. And most of the Chelsea players looked a little sleepy on Saturday as well. One thing that can't be discounted is the horrible run of play Everton has had lately. Fire their coach midweek, name a former player and local hero to manage the side on an interim basis...that was the best I've seen Everton play in probably a full year. Lots of energy from them, especially up front. and if you watched the West Ham game last week, that loss was a complete fluke. Chelsea really dominated and just couldn't find a goal...and that's on everyone not just Pulisic. (I'm not a Chelsea fan but I do want to see Pulisic do well).
CP/Chelsea Era
- Thread starter quincy101
- Start date
Chelsea beats Lille & goes thru to final 16 in Ch Lg. CP started & got an assist & a standing O at Stamford Bridge when subbed out around the 67th min. That should do wonders for his confidence after some nasty(fan)criticism of his play last week.
BTW, Jesse Marsch's Salzburg side had the misfortune to be grouped with Liverpool & got beat by them again today.(yes Bla,your Reds beat up on another hapless opponent). At least as 3rd place finishers in the group, they are in the final rounds of the Europa Lg tourney & just might make some noise. Jesse M.'s reputation as a coach has jumped exponentially in Europe & one hopes in his own country as well.
BTW, Jesse Marsch's Salzburg side had the misfortune to be grouped with Liverpool & got beat by them again today.(yes Bla,your Reds beat up on another hapless opponent). At least as 3rd place finishers in the group, they are in the final rounds of the Europa Lg tourney & just might make some noise. Jesse M.'s reputation as a coach has jumped exponentially in Europe & one hopes in his own country as well.
That was an interesting match yesterday for RBSalzburg. They jumped on Liverpool early and created several really good chances in the opening 15 minutes or so. Allison was called upon to make a few key saves to keep Salzburg off the scoreboard. If they put one of the early chances in, this game could have played out very differently. The game essentially ended in the 53' when LFC scored a 2nd goal a minute after scoring the opener. Added a 3rd for good measure. LFC started their core group. I suspect they give at least Salah and Firmino a break on Saturday vs Watford. I expect to see Origi in and maybe Shaquiri and shift Mane more to a middle attacker. LFC normally plays a 4-3-3 and on paper Saturday that may be what is drawn up but I suspect it will look more like a 4-4-2 w/ Shaquiri taking more of a MF role.
Chelsea- has a ton of young weapons. They should be set with Pulisic, Mount, and Abraham for a while. I would suspect they will look to move Giroud as his PT and effectiveness start to wane. It's also hilarious how French fans are calling for his ouster from their national team to give more of their upcoming star young players a shot. And I'm not quite what to make of Willian. Some weeks he looks brilliant, some weeks he looks tired.
I think all 4 EPL teams are through to the round of 16. LFC definitely carrying the banner there. Not sure what to make of City right now. They've got some deficiencies in the back. I also think they need to play through DeBruyne even more than they do. And who knows what will happen with Tottenham with Mourinho at the helm. My observations of him over the last 5 years has been he usually gets a team to turn things around pretty quickly with some quick tactical adjustments. But given time, he seems to ruin players and squads (see Chelsea, ManU). He's EPLs equivalent of Monty...doesn't ever really want to change his philosophy or approach to take advantage of player strengths/weaknesses.
CP out for a "few weeks" with a sprained adductor muscle in practice. Crap! His career so far with Chelsea( & the MNT) is up & down, mostly down due to injuries. He also isn't in Beer?halter's camp for some upcoming friendlies. Speaking of which...does anyone know anything about a bunch of new guys he has called up?
I hope they're gooduns since getting a solid 23 for WC quals is fast approaching(if not already passed).
I hope they're gooduns since getting a solid 23 for WC quals is fast approaching(if not already passed).
Well, if they're "gooduns" it remains to be seen. What they are, is 100% MLS players. Aside from Arriola, Llllletgettt, Roldan, Morris, R. Cannon, Zardes(of course) & A. Long...... they are all relative unknowns. What the hell is Beer?halter trying to do? Assure our failure to qualify for a 2nd time in a row???
Of note: Brian McBride has been named as General Mgr. of the USSF, replacing Earnie Stewart who incredibly gets moved up in the Fed. I love BM but why in the world would he want to become involved in the rats nest that is the USSF? Of course he wears his love for country on his sleeve & that can be the only reason why he accepted the position.
Of note: Brian McBride has been named as General Mgr. of the USSF, replacing Earnie Stewart who incredibly gets moved up in the Fed. I love BM but why in the world would he want to become involved in the rats nest that is the USSF? Of course he wears his love for country on his sleeve & that can be the only reason why he accepted the position.
Great player. Always gave his all. Fulham named a bar inside their stadium after him though you probably know that.
No coaching or management experience. It’s a head scratcher. The only explanation is that they aren’t paying well AND the dysfunction and corruption is so bad they don’t dare trust anyone unless they are a teammate going back 25 years.
Somebody needs to Shawshank USSF.
No coaching or management experience. It’s a head scratcher. The only explanation is that they aren’t paying well AND the dysfunction and corruption is so bad they don’t dare trust anyone unless they are a teammate going back 25 years.
Somebody needs to Shawshank USSF.
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He's the fall guy for Stewart and the Halters, secretly I hope he defies the odds and is able to.get some influence in there. But this sharknado jumping fiasco is probably way too far gone to recover. Eight years with out a meaningful match will strangle top level soccer in the US. With MLS over expansion and emphasis on whoever happens to be successful at the moment rather than deep roots, american soccer is flying far to close to the sun.
And it's funny they keep looking to MLS when the best MLS teams are the ones with international superstars. Look at LAFC...7 players from South America between 3 countries all on their respective national teams and then their best player, Vela, is a Mexican national. ATL's best player is a Mexican national. LA Galaxy has a number of Mexican nationals (Dos Santo for one), without whom they'd be trash. I'm not saying this is bad for MLS as it should try to be the best league it possibly can. But it is stifling the development of US players by allowing the aforementioned teams to load up on int'l players and really limiting the SKCs from those players. US players will get better by playing with int'l players. You don't see a ton of Mexican players in the European leagues (Raul, Almirano, Chicharito) but plenty in MLS. SKC's best player is Russell (Irish national player) and a bunch of USMNT has beens (Zusi). Putting young US players there will kill their development. USSF/SUM want to push MLS by forcing a certain number of MLS players onto the USMNT but they don't want to help that development by trying to make ALL of MLS better..and they control the $$$, allocations, who can get certain international players, etc.So while they're trying to be self-serving, they're also self-killing.
As long as MLS restricts where exception players can go (teams can bid for them but MLS ultimately decides which team they get allocated to), the league will never be viewed as legitimate from a worldwide perspective. MLS hates the fact that Zlatan was 100% right about his assessment of the league. MLS banks on big name stars coming over from Europe at the end of their careers. Zlatan was one of the more exciting players the last 2 seasons, especially when he actually showed up to play, like he always did against LAFC. Rooney in DC was similar, but not quite the same impact.
MLS is banking on Beckham's ownership of the team in MIami to further push the legitimacy. I know MLS thinks it needs to operate this way to maintain solvency, but really the US system needs to open up and go pro/rel. Fans are already familiar and support the system with their fandom of the European leagues. FC Tulsa would get 5x the fans at every home match if a promotion spot were up for grabs as would most USL teams. MLS teams would spend the money needed to maintain their top flight status instead of teams like Montreal and New England barely doing anything because they're protected and don't have to do anything.
Of course you have to clear house at SUM and USSF before any of this could ever happen.
Their goal is obviously 2 tables of 20 with some type of weird controlled pro/rel.
The new proposed rule is the opposite of what you are saying MLS is hoping to continue to do. From the very limited amount I heard and it was just a brief discussion so please feel free to correct with links but The new rule essentially caps anyone outside the league over the age of 30 making more than $1 million, caps the number of DPs, and has significant incentives for teams to spend millions on young players under 22 with limited pro experience. They think they can outbid young Mexican players. Which is crazy because MLS will just become a farm club for Europe and if not Europe, Mexico. I’d rather watch someone like Luis Hernandez limp around over 30 than a team with a roster that changes every two years because half the team has signed with Puebla or Chivas. But hey, the TV money stays the same but Dallas spends less an players. Be careful what you ask for, like free agency in a collective bargaining agreement, the rules may change on you due to market forces.
The new proposed rule is the opposite of what you are saying MLS is hoping to continue to do. From the very limited amount I heard and it was just a brief discussion so please feel free to correct with links but The new rule essentially caps anyone outside the league over the age of 30 making more than $1 million, caps the number of DPs, and has significant incentives for teams to spend millions on young players under 22 with limited pro experience. They think they can outbid young Mexican players. Which is crazy because MLS will just become a farm club for Europe and if not Europe, Mexico. I’d rather watch someone like Luis Hernandez limp around over 30 than a team with a roster that changes every two years because half the team has signed with Puebla or Chivas. But hey, the TV money stays the same but Dallas spends less an players. Be careful what you ask for, like free agency in a collective bargaining agreement, the rules may change on you due to market forces.
Agree. Why not reward great ownership groups who build top flight clubs with the opportunity to move up to the MLS and punish those groups with bad management with the prospect of relegation. It would greatly increase interest and support in the USL and place accountability in the MLS.
But inhibit people that want to pluck down $200 million to buy in who might lose it all.
True....I was banking on the arrogance or rich people believing their club will succeed under their leadership. I was also thinking of the interest and growth of the sport across the country. Maybe the original MLS clubs get grandfathered in for a period of time and you bring up the best USL teams at first.
Funding your operations solely through expansion fees is not sustainable at any level. USSF must know that creating a sustainable on field product will lead to stability across all levels of soccer and ultimately better youth programs and USMNT/USWNT development. US fan interest in soccer is at a pretty high level right now. Fox and ESPN are already planning their bids to take over the EPL broadcast rights from NBC. ESPN has a lot of other soccer properties. Fox has Bundesliga. Their production quality for all of these is excellent. Bringing this to MLS/USL including building early round intrigue in the US Open Cup will make it so that the leagues and USSF are functioning off of the rights fees as well as the increased ad revenue better exposure and ratings will bring. Better ratings happen when there is intrigue about whether or not NYCFC gets to stay at the MLS level or is going to get relegated. The last 3 weeks of the EPL season are just as intriguing to see who is going to win the league championship, as much as it to see who finishes top 4 for Champions League, and who are the bottom 3 going to be. Let's face it, Liverpool has all but sealed up its EPL title for this season barring an Atlanta Falcons type collapse. fans want to know if Leicester City can maintain its UCL status for next season. Is there another dark horse in Wolves that can make a top 4 run...will Man U be able to maintain its focus to stay in the top 4. Can Chelsea maintain their good form for the last 15 weeks? Do Spurs and Arsenal make late season pushes?
I wouldn't want to see New England grand-fathered in. Kraft hasn't done anything to show he's 100% invested in making soccer work outside of taking the money from MLS. No player development, no player investment. I will change my tune if they give Arena the $$$ he needs to make them into a regular contender in the east. MLS would also need to get out of limiting how much clubs could spend on players and transfers and dictating where certain international players could go. Maybe you phase it in slowly and do a 2-3 year avg. finish before rolling out full pro/rel. Gives teams the opportunity to invest and push to maintain their status as well as USL sides to really decide if they're going to be part of a full and robust soccer landscape in the US.
Doubt any USL elevation happens after the current round. It’s all about NFL cities at this point. The cover story is that it is for tv purposes but the reality is that the MLS Commissioner as had a hard on to be NFL Commissioner. He and all his cronies used to work there. It’s where all the dumb salary rules originate from.
Kraft owns an NFL team and has his club in the same city. He took multimillion losses from 2000 to 2004 when they were down to 8 teams. He and Mr. Hunt basically carried the league. Due to that experience He’s never going to invest in the team. It is what it is.
