Premier league down to the wire

[nevadanatural]

Anyone watch the Arsenal vs Southampton match today? Casual play and missed chances put Arsenal down 3-1 with 3 minutes to go but they end up tied. Arsenal had a bunch of chances in stoppage time but couldn’t get the winner. Three straight draws gives Man City a chance to catch them. 5 points up with two games in hand and facing City Wednesday this could be an exciting finishing run over the next few weeks. On the other end there are 5-6 teams in danger of relegation including Southampton who could have used a win tonight as much or more than Arsenal.

 

[TU_BLA]

Anyone watch the Arsenal vs Southampton match today? Casual play and missed chances put Arsenal down 3-1 with 3 minutes to go but they end up tied. Arsenal had a bunch of chances in stoppage time but couldn’t get the winner. Three straight draws gives Man City a chance to catch them. 5 points up with two games in hand and facing City Wednesday this could be an exciting finishing run over the next few weeks. On the other end there are 5-6 teams in danger of relegation including Southampton who could have used a win tonight as much or more than Arsenal.

The relegation battle is almost as interesting as who will win the championship. I'm definitely rooting for Leeds and Forest to win a couple down the stretch and stay in EPL. I think Leicester City is going down as I think they're phoning in the rest of the season. Everton is trying like hell to stay up but I don't think they will.

 

[quincy101]

Leeds Utd goes down again today. Their back line remains pitiful. If relegated, you just wonder where Aaronson, McKinnie and the injured Tyler Adams will end up. He's still recovering from surgery on a torn hamstring which, one fervently hopes, will not diminish his game. He's a top 5, IMO, holding midfielder in the EPL.

 

[Li'l Eric Coley]

Arsenal will find a way to screw it up. It’s how we do!

 

[HuffyCane]

Arsenal will find a way to screw it up. It’s how we do!

Best pick up line ever: “You can call me Arsenal. I start out on top and always finish second.”

 

[quincy101]

Whoever the unfortunate 3 teams are to get relegated, I'm guessing a team with an American goalie starter for a team in the English Championship will be promoted to take their place. It was Zach Steffen's Middlesbrough vs Ethan Horvath's Luton Town today. Horvath made a bad mistake while coming out to clear a ball into the box. The attacker & Ethan kind of collide & Horvath whiffs on the clearance for a tap-in. A few minutes later, Steffen barely touches a guy in the box but knocks him down. Penalty. Luton wins 2-1 & is a lock for that 4-team playoff for promotion while Midd. has some work to do to get in it.

Add Matt Turner & Gaga and we'll be solid in goal for 2026.

 

[nevadanatural]

After that weak pass from Ramsdale that lead to the first goal Friday maybe they should give Turner a league start, not against City though.

 

[TU_BLA]

After that weak pass from Ramsdale that lead to the first goal Friday maybe they should give Turner a league start, not against City though.

I have no idea why Ramsdale continues to start for Arsenal. He's not a better shot stopper than Turner, that I am certain of, and Turner is one of the very best reaction GKs in the world, probably top 10 for sure and he's not prone to the distribution mistakes Ramsdale is. And Arsenal is not playing well enough to overcome mistakes like that right now.

And I wouldn't start Turner against City. Last time these two played in the FA Cup semis, City scored 5 (against Ramsdale, which was a change in the lineup as Turner had been getting all the domestic cup action with Ramsdale getting EPL and Europa League).

 

[drboobay]

Leeds Utd goes down again today. Their back line remains pitiful. If relegated, you just wonder where Aaronson, McKinnie and the injured Tyler Adams will end up. He's still recovering from surgery on a torn hamstring which, one fervently hopes, will not diminish his game. He's a top 5, IMO, holding midfielder in the EPL.

Aaronson was nearly invisible. McKennie was a little better but not great. On the other side Antonee Robinson was very good.

All in all it is disappointing to see so many of our promising players fail to take that next step up in performance.

 

[TU_BLA]

Someone posted a stat about Leeds on Twitter today. 24 games with Tyler Adams, 1.45 GA/gm. In 7 games without him due to injury, almost 3 goals allowed per game

 

[quincy101]

All in all it is disappointing to see so many of our promising players fail to take that next step up in performance.

They've got 3 years to get their stuff together and are playing against some of the toughest competition on the planet. I'm not worried, they'll get there.

 

[TU_BLA]

They've got 3 years to get their stuff together and are playing against some of the toughest competition on the planet. I'm not worried, they'll get there.

Leeds was a disaster this year and it's a holdover from last season before Marsch was appointed to take over and the club did nothing to shore up the back 5. They simply give up too many goals. As good as Tyler Adams was playing, he was still trying to cover up the mistakes of the back 4 which was just awful on the 1 v 1 defending side and, at many times, looked like a U13 team who was still learning how to play defense as a unit and understand what it meant to "find your shape". The spaces between the backs was awful and teams exploited it. Want to know why Aaronson and McKennie haven't been as productive in the attack as people envisioned they might be...it's because they had to come back and defend and cover for defenders who weren't doing their jobs. It's the same issue with Liverpool and Trent Alexander-Arnold getting caught up field all the time and when he is in position to defend, he's absolutely awful at it and requires your 8, 10, 7, and 11 to come way further back to cover for your mistakes. This is Leeds in a nutshell...and they keep blaming the manager instead of trying to address the player personnel issue in the back. And their GK, Melier, is actually pretty good but there's only so much he can do when teams have 2-3 unmarked players in the box.

 

[quincy101]

Not a good weekend for Yanks playing in England. For Adams, Aaronson & McKinnie....welcome to the English Championship. For Josh Sargent, one hopes he's not too disappointed to stay in that League. But, any or all of these guys having a great next season will be noticed elsewhere in Europe.

Then there's Pulisic. Who knows when or where from Chelsea? At least it should be to another EPL or big team elsewhere. Either Steffen or Horvath will start in the EPL next season, IMO.

 

[TU_BLA]

I wouldn't look further than Tyler Adams' absence for Leeds digression into some really poor play. He was the glue guy and QB for that team. McKennie hasn't been there long enough to really gel. Leeds need to spend $$$ to upgrade their backline and get a true 9 (Bamford isn't the answer). McKennie and Aaronson have to track way too far back all the time to help the D out it's impossible for them to use their strengths to get out on the counter because they just can't commit the #'s forward.

Pulisic- we'll see what happens but the CHE disaster is squarely on Tuchel and Potter. Tuchel is the destroyer of young players confidence. Bayern have been on a slight downward trend since his arrival and they have flip flopped between the 1 and 2 lines in Bundesliga for the last month and a half (Dortmund hand Union Berlin have both occupied the top spot for periods since January 1).

 

[TU_BLA]

So Man City wins another title without having to take the pitch this week because Nottingham Forest upset Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates. This also ensures Forest's safety for next season. I've seen some PO'd Arsenal fans calling for Arteta's head....which is just so completely ignorant. Just a season ago Arsenal was closer to relegation than they were to the top of the table before Arteta took over.

Right now Leeds is in the last relegation spot but they just took a 1-0 lead against West Ham. McKennie gets the "assist" as he executed a perfect long throw in the the top of the 6 that got brilliantly volleyed into the top left of the goal. Leeds has been playing an extremely high and fast press and has kept West Ham on their heels.

At the top, ManUnited has locked in their 4th place spot and UCL for next season after Liverpool dropped some points vs Villa. LFC got screwed out of a potential win after Virgil was ruled offside, incorrectly IMO as the ball was played intentionally by a defender. The goal was scored in the 90th minute by Firmino in what is anticipated to be his last appearance in an LFC uniform at Anfield. It was also James Milner's last appearance at Anfield and it is anticipated that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also won't return to LFC next season. I can see Milner and AOC not returning, but I think Firmino still has a lot of good soccer left in him for a top flight team. The forward group at Liverpool is getting too crowded for him. I also expect Liverpool to possibly start shopping Darwin Nunez for a transfer as I think they prefer Gakpo at the 9. It will be interesting to see what they try to do in the summer transfer window. If they can find a right fullback to where they can push TAA into a MF role or they look to push more into a 3-4-3 lineup. The weak link in the back for Liverpool is TAA as most of the goals against this season seemed to take advantage of poor 1 v 1 defending and poor positional awareness.

 

[nevadanatural]

Yeah, congrats to City as Arsenal has completely imploded after having a great season.

 

[TU_BLA]

So decision day fixtures come down to the relegation battle as spots 1-5 are locked in for the most part. Only thing that might through that off is Liverpool losing their last match and BHA picking up 2 wins this week. There a re a handful of teams that will play a midweek match along with the standard match week 38 match at 10:30am on Sunday.

Brighton will have a handful to pull off 2 wins. Their match tomorrow is vs Man City. My guess is Man City plays a lot of younger or 2nd side players in this one as there is nothing to play for. Haaland has the golden boot for EPL locked up, City has already been presented with the EPL trophy. This is a good opportunity for them to rest key players ahead of the FA Cup Final vs United and the UCL final shortly thereafter. If Brighton are able to win their last 2 and LFC doesn't pull a point in their last match then Brighton will take 5th and the Europa league spot and push LFC out of European football next season. Liverpool's match is on Sunday at Southampton who is already relegated to the Championship for next season.

The other 2 spots for relegation will come down to 3 teams. Leicester City will host West Ham who has been in better form of late. Everton hosts Bournemouth. Leeds hosts Tottenham. Everton is the only one in control of their own fate. If the Toffees win, they avoid relegation regardless of the outcomes for Leicester and Leeds. If Leicester and Leeds win, Everton will need at least a tie and then likely get through on goal difference UNLESS Leeds beats Spurs by 4+. If Leeds wins by 3+ and Everton ties, we're going deep into the tie break to see who stays up as GD will be equal. If Everton loses, they can still stay up if either Leicester or Leeds lose or tie.

I'd be watching the Leeds and Spurs match. On paper Spurs should win but that squad has absolutely checked out of the rest of the season. Kane is all but gone. I expect Leeds to come out playing frenetically and attacking and there are goals to be had against Spurs as the GK (Forster) is at best a 3rd string EPL keeper and Lloris is out with an injury. Spurs obviously don't think Forster (age 35) or Brandon Austin (24) or Alfie Whiteman (25) are the answers as they're reportedly interested in bringing Mendy in from Chelsea to replace Lloris. Austin and Whiteman have not had any 1st team matches this season and limited play time on Tottenham's 2nd side. Forster, despite being giant, doesn't have the greatest feet and seems to not get to a lot of shots a lot of GKs seemingly get to. Leeds is also dealing with a couple of injuries. Their most accomplished striker Patrick Bamford left last week's match after 30 minutes. Not sure if it's enough to keep him out this week. And I feel like there was a 2nd injury of a player last week that seemed significant.

My picks: Leeds and Leicester get wins this weekend and Everton loses to Bournemouth. This would result in both Everton and Leeds getting relegated along with Southampton.

 

[quincy101]

Leeds needs help and can't even help themselves. They're toast and it's a shame for our boyz, particularly Tyler Adams & Wes McKinnie, who seemed to get the EPL figured out these last few weeks. No goals, but as Bla noted, they had him in a defensive midfield position. Leeds had to be dead last in set pieces in the final third, so very few chances for McKinnie headers. Aaronson might thrive in the Championship.

I'm still concerned about Tyler Adams's injury. It's about two months & not a word how his rehab is going.

 

[918Golden]

Just need my Everton boys to stay up.

It’d be nice to have some pro/rel in this country.

 

[HuffyCane]

Just need my Everton boys to stay up.

It’d be nice to have some pro/rel in this country.

You can typically tell the age of a U.S. Soccer fan if they back Everton - the original club for Americans.

 

[TU_BLA]

Just need my Everton boys to stay up.

It’d be nice to have some pro/rel in this country.

You can have the pro/rel discussion all you want, but it's not happening in this country until the current structure of MLS clubs and MLS in general is completely overhauled. Owners here are willing to only put so much of their own money up for salaries. There are sponsorship dollars but the way the league controls everything doesn't allow for independently owned clubs to forge ahead and the amount of the initial investment for owners to get a franchise in MLS is so high that they're never going to let a small team like Tulsa or Louisville (USL standard) to ever move up without that same buy-in before even getting started on stadiums and buying players. Plus the governing body of USSF is like most things in this country...too political and the execs are really only worried about how much $ is in it for them. I'm sure a lot of other football associations have some of the same issues but in the FA it seems that the Championship sides really push to try and make it up because the $$$ that comes with promotion is ridiculous. My son said Nottingham Forest, who was promoted to EPL at the end of last season, spent GOBS of money in the summer transfer window in hopes of making a side that was able to remain in EPL instead of bouncing back down. It's interesting because all 3 teams promoted from last year are staying up this season (Forest, Bournemouth, and Fulham...not only is Fulham staying up thanks to 2 Americans on the back, they're finishing in the top 1/2 of the table.). The money from TV and other FA fees that EPL sides get is worth spending the extra money on good players to stay up. MLS owners don't really have that same approach.

 

[HuffyCane]

Pro/rel will never happen in this country. EVER.

One of the reasons Eric Wynalda is PNG is his detailed discussions publicly about how a group of NFL owners, some in the MLS, some out of the league, back in the early 2000s when MLS was days from bankruptcy, structured investments with MLS, individual clubs, their stadium authorities, broadcasters, how the commissioner of MLS is compensated and controlled, etc to always control where clubs in the top division will be located and always in NFL cities with owners approved by MLS and therefore the interests of the NFL. As a result, the franchise fee went from $10 million to $500 million in less than 20 years. There is now a critical mass of heavily invested clubs who will always play each other and always have the cash reserves to acquire talent superior to any fledgling league that might aspire to challenge them. Indeed, they have the cash to buy any players any other league might sign before such a league could gain traction to challenge. And those clubs are controlled by, directly or indirectly, NFL properties.

Listen closely when Garber speaks. He’s openly stated his dream job is being commissioner of the NFL. He used to work for them. Listen to his very careful words about expansion, especially why Saint Louis and San Diego, and where they are going in the future.

As for Tulsa and MLS, the USFL folding here doomed any MLS talk 10 years later and the current structure of league franchise agreements would make a man a fool to put money into it. Not only must the league approve locations and they have openly stated the league isn’t interested in expanding to any city without a current or past NFL team, the agreements now specifically state that the league can move the franchise if they want to at any time and so can the owners, but only under certain league agreed circumstances. They aren’t parking clubs in second tier NHL cities like Columbus anymore. OKC could have a soccer following the size of Saint Louis and not get a club. Prestige and branding is everything now.

People can criticize Lalas all they want, but he got that part absolutely right as the GM of the Galaxy. People remember him as a player, but he was a pretty sophisticated league official and club employee before going into TV. He believes Men’s soccer will fold as much as women’s soccer in this country until small slivers of the world market care about US soccer. and you do that by marketing the recognition of the cities abroad. Nobody in Paris knows where Tulsa is. Nobody in NYC wants to be a fan of a club or league that plays games in front of 10,000 in the middle of the country in a state most people view as backward. So nobody wants to invest in a set up like that.

And the monarchy insisting there be pro/rel in England isn’t just another thread, it’s a book.

 

[TU_BLA]

And the monarchy insisting there be pro/rel in England isn’t just another thread, it’s a book.

This made me LOL. I'm not saying it's not true but it seems like the equivalent of POTUS stepping in and telling MLBPA or NFLPA they can't go on strike b/c POTUS doesn't want to miss out on games...I figure the monarchy wanting pro/rel in the FA is more a product of them wanting their favorite team playing in the top tier.

And are you hinting at St. Louis and San Diego getting new NFL franchises in the future? I think MLS expanding to non-NFL cities will depend on the ownership group and that city's willing to pony up for a soccer specific stadium and training complex, like St. Louis. The reason MLS went to NFL only cities back in '96 was because no one wanted to build a soccer specific stadium for a team in a league that most of the ownership groups thought would go belly up in less than 10 yrs. It's apparent that MLS isn't going anywhere and every year the league proves that the quality of soccer played is getting better every season. Columbus stepped up and built a soccer specific stadium that is one of the best in MLS now and their fan base is amongst the most passionate in the country. All to keep it from going to Austin. Only 3 teams are avg. less than 15k fans per game with a majority of teams closer to 20k (and Atlanta avg. an insane 49k fans/game). Now Atlanta plays in one of the larger stadiums but most of the soccer specific stadiums are playing to 90%+ capacity. But you're right, Tulsa and OKC and places like that don't have a chance of landing an MLS team. We can't even support local sports teams in any consistent fashion (see TU football). If I'm guessing, the cities next up to get MLS to 32 teams you're looking at Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Vegas, maybe Tampa (although they've already failed at the top level), and maybe Detroit. If an MLS ownership group in Phoenix can score playing games at U of Phoenix Stadium, you might see one there as well. I don't think MLS players or owners would be too keen on playing outdoors in Vegas and Phoenix throughout the summer. Baltimore, IMO, is a natural fit for a team and finding land in the Inner Harbor area to build a soccer specific stadium. That's just me.

BTW, OKC is not a major professional sports town just like Tulsa isn't. The Thunder won't stick around much longer IMO as the owners can't make enough money off of ad sales there. Sure both towns can support teams for a couple of years and make it look good, but long term, just not there...too many fair weather fans.

 

[drboobay]

Cities change. Leagues change. You never know how things will look in a decade or two.

 

[918Golden]

You can typically tell the age of a U.S. Soccer fan if they back Everton - the original club for Americans.

What’s my age? Pretty sure you’ll guess close.

 

[918Golden]

Also I didn’t expect so many very long comments about Pre/Rel. I’ll keep wearing my Pro/rel for USA jersey even if no one thinks it’ll happen here.

 

[HuffyCane]

What’s my age? Pretty sure you’ll guess close.

You are either 53 (Joe-Max Moore/Preki era Everton) or 36 (Landon Donovan/Tim Howard era Everton)

 

[HuffyCane]

This made me LOL. I'm not saying it's not true but it seems like the equivalent of POTUS stepping in and telling MLBPA or NFLPA they can't go on strike b/c POTUS doesn't want to miss out on games...I figure the monarchy wanting pro/rel in the FA is more a product of them wanting their favorite team playing in the top tier.

And are you hinting at St. Louis and San Diego getting new NFL franchises in the future? I think MLS expanding to non-NFL cities will depend on the ownership group and that city's willing to pony up for a soccer specific stadium and training complex, like St. Louis. The reason MLS went to NFL only cities back in '96 was because no one wanted to build a soccer specific stadium for a team in a league that most of the ownership groups thought would go belly up in less than 10 yrs. It's apparent that MLS isn't going anywhere and every year the league proves that the quality of soccer played is getting better every season. Columbus stepped up and built a soccer specific stadium that is one of the best in MLS now and their fan base is amongst the most passionate in the country. All to keep it from going to Austin. Only 3 teams are avg. less than 15k fans per game with a majority of teams closer to 20k (and Atlanta avg. an insane 49k fans/game). Now Atlanta plays in one of the larger stadiums but most of the soccer specific stadiums are playing to 90%+ capacity. But you're right, Tulsa and OKC and places like that don't have a chance of landing an MLS team. We can't even support local sports teams in any consistent fashion (see TU football). If I'm guessing, the cities next up to get MLS to 32 teams you're looking at Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Vegas, maybe Tampa (although they've already failed at the top level), and maybe Detroit. If an MLS ownership group in Phoenix can score playing games at U of Phoenix Stadium, you might see one there as well. I don't think MLS players or owners would be too keen on playing outdoors in Vegas and Phoenix throughout the summer. Baltimore, IMO, is a natural fit for a team and finding land in the Inner Harbor area to build a soccer specific stadium. That's just me.

BTW, OKC is not a major professional sports town just like Tulsa isn't. The Thunder won't stick around much longer IMO as the owners can't make enough money off of ad sales there. Sure both towns can support teams for a couple of years and make it look good, but long term, just not there...too many fair weather fans.

Prince William is the head of the FA. Why that is and why the family is pro/rel is a longer thread but suffice to say many think it’s illegal for him to have a position on it.

He supports Villa and travels with the team.

The King began to back Burnley when his college roommate was from Burnley.

The Queen backed Westham silently for decades. Not long before her death, she reacted strongly to a staffer mentioning that Westham had defeated Millwall in a derby match. She began watching their games on television with staff and family present not long after that, confessing she watched many games alone in her bedroom.

 

[918Golden]

You are either 53 (Joe-Max Moore/Preki era Everton) or 36 (Landon Donovan/Tim Howard era Everton)

Nailed it.

 

[TU_BLA]

Also I didn’t expect so many very long comments about Pre/Rel. I’ll keep wearing my Pro/rel for USA jersey even if no one thinks it’ll happen here.

I think in general there are a lot of people who support pro/rel, but as Huffy and myself have listed there are a whole lot of reasons mostly related to $$$ (and lots of it) that it is a long shot to ever find its way to the ranks of US professional soccer.

The pro's for PRO/REL are pretty obvious. 1) it makes every game of the season count for the most part. Even though the championship is already decided in EPL there are 3 teams fighting for their lives this weekend and 2 are going to end up dying. One of those is a former EPL champion (Leicester City, just 6 years ago). If the games counted as much that late in the season for the bottom dwellers of US professional leagues, you wouldn't see teams intentionally tanking for higher draft picks. The Dallas Mavericks were in the hunt for the playoffs this year (at least a play-in spot) and intentionally tanked the last week to make sure they were part of the draft lottery vs being the 16th pick at best? I mean the argument for the last 2-3 seasons for the Thunder has been should the tank intentionally to get better draft picks knowing they weren't challenging for an NBA title if they did make the playoffs. It's garbage. The Houston Texans fired their head coach this year because he won the last game of the season and knocked them out of the #1 overall draft pick slot. Baseball teams not in the playoff hunt rent their players out for 2 months to not get anything for them when they go to free agency.

2) Small market teams without as many resources have a chance to EARN their way to playing in the spotlight (and making some more $$$). In the US the haves and have nots are determined by how much money a team has which is usually directly tied to the size of the city or TV market they're in. The only league that mitigates these differences is the NFL. The NBA and NHL have loose salary caps that can always be gigged...and MLB is a farce b/c you pretty much know the Yankees, Dodgers, Boston, Houston, Texas, and maybe the Angels and Giants are going to try to spend their way to a championship every season and teams like the Royals, Twins, & Pittsburgh need to hope they strike gold with minor league players who develop. Quite honestly the NCAA is in this model now too and there is no path for schools like Tulsa to earn a bigger, consistent payday b/c they've essentially closed off the system.

 

[918Golden]

I know pro/rel is very very unlikely to ever happen here. It’d just be nice to have a pathway for successful clubs to move up. For example, Tulsa Athletic has finished in the top four and top two of their league the last two seasons. If they wanted to start playing tougher competition, they’d have to pay a lot more money out to go to a NISA or USL League One. I don’t think salaries would be a problem, but all the league fees and travel would be insane. Those leagues have like 10 teams maybe spread out across the country. They’re just stuck where they are. It’s the same with FC Tulsa. If they start becoming a very successful club, it’d take huge amounts of money to go MLS. It seems like there should be a better way to reward success for lower level clubs.

 

[HuffyCane]

The total cash value of FC Tulsa is 1% of the total minimum value of a successful MLS bid.

Doubly frustrating, is that even if there was a donor willing to give Mac what he needs to compete at the College Cup finals level consistently, that donor would surely know he/she could buy the local pro team for less than what the school needs to make additions to the roster and facilities to reach the next highest rung. And for that value of donation, there’s more effective tax deductible gifts than college soccer in terms of marketing and gravitas amongst the local charity circuit.

 

[918Golden]

MLS expansion cost is getting out of hand. I don’t think it’s sustainable. There’s Prem teams getting sold for less. There’s a reason so many Americans are buying clubs in Europe.

 

[TU_BLA]

MLS expansion cost is getting out of hand. I don’t think it’s sustainable. There’s Prem teams getting sold for less. There’s a reason so many Americans are buying clubs in Europe.

Eh, there's way more money to be had from clubs in Europe. I don't think many Americans understand how much money a front of the jersey sponsor for an EPL club brings in. Right now, Standard Chartered pays Liverpool about 50M British pounds a year to be on the front of their jersey. For 2021/2022 Liverpool reported total revenue of about 700M Euros.

 

[TU_BLA]

Coventry City and Luton Town going to PKs to determine who is playing in EPL next season. Ethan Horvath is nursing a knock going into the shootout.

One thing for sure, the quality and pace of play at the EFL Championship level is way below EPL.

 

[TU_BLA]

Luton Town is on to EPL and a $200M payday.

 

[quincy101]

I didn't think Horvath played particularly well. A couple of near gaffs in the 1st half could have cost him. He didn't save any of 6 penalty kicks at the end & got help from the 6th PK taker to blast it over the bar. I hope Luton spends a chunk of that $200 mill on increasing the seating capacity of their stadium. Current capacity...10k! while they played today in front of 90k at Wembley Stadium in London.

All Dortmund had to do was beat Mainz at home to win the Bundesliga. It ended a tie with Bayern Munich winning their match & 1 point difference over Dortmund for the title. Gio Reyna comes off the bench...again, and really sparks his team. They're down 2-0 & Reyna's assist gets them back in the game, 2-1. I never thought I'd say this, but Reyna needs a new home. Although in the Champions League next season, Gio rarely starts but rather off the bench.... and that's only once in a while.

CP & Chelsea have one more game in a pathetic season before Pulisic finds out his new home. Hope it's EPL or other big club. My guess is either Newcastle or AC Milan (to be reunited with Olivier Giroud. You remember him, 6 goals in the last WC for France).

 

[TU_BLA]

I didn't think Horvath played particularly well. A couple of near gaffs in the 1st half could have cost him. He didn't save any of 6 penalty kicks at the end & got help from the 6th PK taker to blast it over the bar. I hope Luton spends a chunk of that $200 mill on increasing the seating capacity of their stadium. Current capacity...10k! while they played today in front of 90k at Wembley Stadium in London.

All Dortmund had to do was beat Mainz at home to win the Bundesliga. It ended a tie with Bayern Munich winning their match & 1 point difference over Dortmund for the title. Gio Reyna comes off the bench...again, and really sparks his team. They're down 2-0 & Reyna's assist gets them back in the game, 2-1. I never thought I'd say this, but Reyna needs a new home. Although in the Champions League next season, Gio rarely starts but rather off the bench.... and that's only once in a while.

CP & Chelsea have one more game in a pathetic season before Pulisic finds out his new home. Hope it's EPL or other big club. My guess is either Newcastle or AC Milan (to be reunited with Olivier Giroud. You remember him, 6 goals in the last WC for France).

You are correct in that Horvath made some very questionable decisions. It also seemed like he and his center backs were not on the same page all day. I know my son tells his CBS to listen for him to make the call on whether or not to leave a ball for him to come grab or to clear it. GKs hate when a field player makes that call with their back to everyone in the pitch except the GK. As for not saving any of the PKs, all except the very last PK taken was of very high quality. Not many GKs getting to any of them. Considering the pressure of the moment, I was impressed.

As for Dortmund and Bayern. They actually finished tied in points on the season. Bayern wins the Bundesliga title on goal differential having a +15 advantage over Dortmund. Reyna assisted on both Dortmund goals, the 2nd coming 5 minutes into stoppage time at the end. I think the referee in that match allowed things to goal even longer than the initial indication hoping Dortmund would score the 3rd. And before anyone thinks Dortmund choked...they absolutely dominated this game. Something like 70/30 on ToP, 30 shots while only giving up 10 or so. Mainz played a very calculated game and set up their defending to absorb the gobs or pressure Dortmund threw at them while finding chances to counter. With no EPL on yesterday my son and I watched this game and followed it with the Luton game.

As for Chelsea, this team is going to be gutted. Possibly 8 new starters next season. Look for Mason Mount to move on as well.

 

[quincy101]

Well, Frankie Lampard gives Pulisic a curtain call today with 4 minutes to go. And CP had a very good chance to win it for Chelsea but right at their goalie. Mason Mount did not get off the bench for a cameo after all he's done for Chelsea. I'll never forget CP's goal vs Real Madrid 2 years ago and him setting up Mount to ice it in the 2nd leg of the Champions League semis. And don't forget Mount's superb assist on the goal that won the Ch Lg for Chelsea. Yet treated like dirt.

Who besides Leeds & Southampton got relegated? Leeds may not finish in the top 6 of the Championship next season unless they get rid of & replace about 7-8 starters, but where's that $ coming from?

 

[nevadanatural]

Leicester City was the third team. They won their game and looked good to stay up until Everton scored well into the second. Everton held on for the win and sent Leicester down.