rgk_lfc

You also need a decent amount of luck to win the CL. I think PSG have been unlucky in the past to injuries to key players like Neymar. Rafa's 2008-2009 Liverpool was an order of magnitude better than the 2005 team which won the CL. Chelsea's team which won the CL in 2011 or 2012 wasnt as good as the Chelsea team of 2005-2010. Best team doesnt win in most of the cases. Which is why the achievement of Zidane's Madrid is so impressive.

Bayern won the Bundesliga 6 or 7 times in from 2000-2010. Then Klopp's Dortmund came about and shocked the system. Bayern had lost the Bundesliga before but most of the clubs who won it looked like a one-time event. Dortmund was different though. Their challenge looked sustainable. The premise is that it shocked Bayern into action and dialed up their ruthlessness to a whole new level which heralded this new age of domination.

Well, there is a school of thought that the challenge from Klopp's Dortmund in a way motivated Bayern further pushing them to the treble in the early part of the previous decade. Not quite sure I ascribe to that but I can understand their point. Basically, if you can coast through matches winning the league playing at 50%, finally when you are challenged in the CL semi-final say for example, it is difficult to suddenly bring your intensity up to 100%. Even if one believes in that theory, I don't think that will be a problem with this PSG team with characters like Ramos in the team.

Chelsea, City. Cannot see beyond those two. Maybe Man United?

Fairly confident Suarez's move to Atletico wasn't motivated by some noble intention to help a club breakthrough. He did not have an offer like PSG on hand. English clubs were vary of him. Heard rumors that his agent did some charm offense to Klopp and FSG also. Suarez picked Atletico as I am sure it was the best, highest salary, best for his career offer on hand. If PSG now makes Atletico an offer to reunite MSN, I am confident his agent will be in Atletico's offices creating trouble, and he will be releasing newsbytes on how he is unhappy in Madrid, blah blah. I think a lot of you were spoilt by Shearer. Very few players (less than 5) think like him. 99.9% of them pick the shortest, most convenient path to accumulate medals and wages. Whether they deserve it, etc., doesn't matter.

Because players dont think like us fans. Or for that matter, people who achieve his level of success in every walk of life, very rarely think like us. The level of ambition which drives them is not something we can comprehend. And it is not like he is going to some backwater place in search of money. Being paid 100s of millions to live in Paris for a couple of years, how many people would say no to that. Might be a great experience for his kids, family, etc. PSG seems to have a really good marketing team with their Jordan partnership. Maybe he thinks this move and the associated connections will help him rake in more money once he retires.

City are building some squad. Will be surprised to see anyone challenge them strongly for the league in the next season or two. - Ederson, Steffen - Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Laporte, Mendy, Cancelo - Gundogan, Grealish, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Silva, Fernandinho, Foden - Sterling, Jesus, Torres, Mahrez I think their second 11 is good enough to qualify for Champions League. They are missing a top striker which I think they will address with Kane. From an England point of view, I hope Pep plays an attack of Sterling, Foden, Grealish for some games. If the three build some understanding, hopefully it will help England in the next world cup. the same way the chemistry of his Barcelona team helped Spain.

It is but I thought it was on the lower end for him. I thought Coutinho 140 million should have been the benchmark. He is more important for Villa than Coutinho was for us.

You cant rate managers by trophies alone. Yes, he has his faults but look at the managers he has inspired - Poch, Sampaoli, Martino, Pellegrino - all came from his school. Pep, Simeone, Klopp all rate him as their inspiration and speak very highly of him. There are several managers who ply their trade in the South/Central/US leagues who are from the Bielsa school or inspired by Bielsa. His impact on the game in Latin America is huge, way more than Rodgers and Martinez in Europe (and I really rate Rodgers). Look at the players talking about him. Batistuta "he taught me everything". Simeone “I have the influence of several coaches: Bielsa, Eriksson, Basile, they have all left a mark. Bielsa taught me the most.” (not reflected in his football though) Pochettino “It helped you find answers on the pitch. “All that homework – I wish all my friends could have experienced at least one per cent of what I did.” Alexis Sanchez “I learned a lot from him and it is because of him that I am who I am. " Ayala "In my case, personally speaking, he was the coach who made me perform or get to a very high level in every game." There is an element of exaggeration in the praise but it also indicates the respect important and influential players and managers in the game have towards him.

Rafa doesn't get enough recognition, forget enough any recognition outside of Newcastle, for creating a top quality premier league central defense squad which can play the ball as well as defend on ground and in air for like one tenth or one fifth of Pep Guardiola's annual central defender spending.

Sterling and Shaw deserve to be there. I know Spinazzola was more impressive before he got injured but Shaw has also been very good in terms of creating chances and assists all through the tournament. Verratti also deserves to be on the list.

I know people are disappointed but I think there is a lot of cause for optimism. I remember someone interviewing a great NFL manager, Bellicheck I think. The question was what does it take to build a team to win the NFL. His response was (I am paraphrasing) , build a team which can continue reach the conference finals (semi-finals in european context) consistently and continuously knock on the door. One day the door will open. Portugal Ronaldo generation won the Euros in 2016. Before that, reached final of Euro 2004 and lost at home to Greece (significantly worse team than Italy), semi finals of world cup 2006, lost to Germany in quarter final of euro 2008, lost to Spain in round of 16 of world cup 2010, lost to Spain in penalties in semi finals of Euro 2012, crashed out of group stages in World cup 2014, bounced back to win in 2016. Same with the Germany's current generation which started with semi-finals of world cup in 2006, lost finals of euro 2008, semi finals of world cup 2010, semi-finals of euro 2012, before winning the world cup in 2014. Cleveland Cavaliers were not the best team in the NBA when they won it but they built a team with the addition of Lebron capable of reaching the finals. I think they reached the finals 4 times and in one of them, luck fell in their side. Spain was different but they were blessed with once in 100 years level of exceptional talent between 2008 and 2012. England have a squad capable of reaching the semi-finals of every major competition for the next 4-8 years. This is a very young team. And unless France gets their act together, there really is no great international team down there. Yes, Germany will improve under Flick but as long as Timo Werner remains their main striker, England will be favorite to win against them in the next few years. England under Southgate have already reached the world cup semi-final and euro final and knocked. Keep doing that and one time the chips will fall in your favor. I am not from England before anyone accuses me of having an overly optimistic view.

Not sure you can call it luck. In the last 10-15 years, Italy almost always had great managers at the helm - Lippi, Prandelli, Conte, Ventura, Mancini. Four out of that five ( Ventura being the obvious exception) could be considered the best (if not best, atleast top 3) among the peers managing national teams during their reign. Lippi had a great team but Italy were impressive and outperformed expectations under Prandelli, Conte, and now under Mancini. Italy appear to have a conveyor belt of managerial talent, and Italian FA sure know how to pick them. Expect the Atalanta manager to step in once Mancini steps down.

Nah. Pickford was brilliant. Dragged England back with that Jorginho save. Not trying to downplay Donnarumma but he got lucky with Rashford penalty and England's head was gone after that. Pickford's made saves against good and experienced penalty takers. As a Liverpool fan, it is hard to admit, but barring any new goalkeepers developing, he has sealed the England number one spot for the next 4-6 years with his performances in this tournament.

He has not been good but he is just 19. I think the occasion has gotten to him.

Sterling has been immense throughout the tournament. Inspired move by Southgate to start him when he was out of form for City and was often on the bench. If England wins, Sterling's performances will be remembered for the ages.

He is England's Chiesa. He might not have attributes - dribbling, passing - of the level of Sancho but everything he does is with intelligence and purpose. An impressive young talent.

Denmark are not able to handle Kane, when he wanders and acts as a playmaker.

Denmark are an impressively coached team.

Italy seem like they have run out of gas midway into the quarter final. They look a little bit tired. England have a great chance. But have to get past Denmark first.

Nobody does full squad celebrations like the Italians.

They are not even testing the goalkeeper.

Southgate's calmness and temperament helps him. In the Premier league, against some of the traditional rivals, Pickford goes into this chest thumping, trash talking mode, gets caught up in the emotion of the occasion - often that is when he has these blunders. I think Southgate has asked him to calm down, focus on saving goals and his game, not get too high on emotion which has helped his game immensely.

England are effortlessly upping the performance levels as the tournament progresses. Winners of tournaments are not often the ones whom dominate from the start but the ones who peak at the right time. Southgate, every decision, every substitution seems to be the right one. He now has Grealish, Sancho, Foden fresh for the semi-finals and finals if needed.