General Soccer/Football Discussion Thread 1.0

[Foye]

"legendary" I guess that tag comes because they were greats in "your time". For an older or younger generation they would not be classed at legendary. I'd even say that Ribery will be forgotten by most English based fans within 10 years.

With all due respect, I don‘t think people outside the UK care much about the collective memory of English based fans to be honest. So not sure what this contributes to defining whether a player is legendary or not.

Fact is he is in the history books as Uefa Player of the year and has been a dominant player for years in UCL and Bundesliga, countless titles, fell short of winning the world cup due to a Zidane headbutt and Trezeguet missed penalty.

Nobody said he is an all-time great but a legendary player? For sure.

Beckenbauer is legendary. Ribery will be forgotten within a decade by most of the world - does that suit your sensibilities more?

Beckenbauer is an all-time great.
The knowledgable fan will keep Ribery and other legends from the past two decades in their mind.

You were taking offense by my wording, not me. So not sure what your sensibilities are here.

[HIF]

With all due respect, I don‘t think people outside the UK care much about the collective memory of English based fans to be honest. So not sure what this contributes to defining whether a player is legendary or not.

Fact is he is in the history books as Uefa Player of the year and has been a dominant player for years in UCL and Bundesliga, countless titles, fell short of winning the world cup due to a Zidane headbutt and Trezeguet missed penalty.

Nobody said he is an all-time great but a legendary player? For sure.

Beckenbauer is legendary. Ribery will be forgotten within a decade by most of the world - does that suit your sensibilities more?

Beckenbauer is an all-time great.
The knowledgable fan will keep Ribery and other legends from the past two decades in their mind.

You were taking offense by my wording, not me. So not sure what your sensibilities are here.

We must have different definitions of "Legendary". Ribery would not be in the top 10 French players of the last 2 decades let alone a Legend in the whole of football.

Socrates was a fantastic Brazilian footballer in the 80's, captained the Brazilians, played in 2 world cups, 60 caps , 22 goals from midfield, super intelligent, but how many remember him now?

Maybe Ribery is a legend for German football fans (surprises me) but that doesn't and won't make him a legend in my book.

[Foye]

Beckenbauer is legendary. Ribery will be forgotten within a decade by most of the world - does that suit your sensibilities more?

Beckenbauer is an all-time great.
The knowledgable fan will keep Ribery and other legends from the past two decades in their mind.

You were taking offense by my wording, not me. So not sure what your sensibilities are here.

We must have different definitions of "Legendary". Ribery would not be in the top 10 French players of the last 2 decades let alone a Legend in the whole of football.

Socrates was a fantastic Brazilian footballer in the 80's, captained the Brazilians, played in 2 world cups, 60 caps , 22 goals from midfield, super intelligent, but how many remember him now?

Maybe Ribery is a legend for German football fans (surprises me) but that doesn't and won't make him a legend in my book.

Ribery is 3 times French footballer of the year in the past 20 years. Of course he is in the top 10 French footballers in the past 2 decades.

Only guys who have more are Benzema and Henry.

[HIF]

Beckenbauer is an all-time great.
The knowledgable fan will keep Ribery and other legends from the past two decades in their mind.

You were taking offense by my wording, not me. So not sure what your sensibilities are here.

We must have different definitions of "Legendary". Ribery would not be in the top 10 French players of the last 2 decades let alone a Legend in the whole of football.

Socrates was a fantastic Brazilian footballer in the 80's, captained the Brazilians, played in 2 world cups, 60 caps , 22 goals from midfield, super intelligent, but how many remember him now?

Maybe Ribery is a legend for German football fans (surprises me) but that doesn't and won't make him a legend in my book.

Ribery is 3 times French footballer of the year in the past 20 years. Of course he is in the top 10 French footballers in the past 2 decades.

Only guys who have more are Benzema and Henry.

Zidane is a legend, Platini is a legend. I've lived in France for 30 years and I can promise you the French don't hold Ribery in the esteem that you do. Still that's just my opinion and I've laboured it too much, your point of view is as valid as mine.

[Baphomet]

Seems like Ribery‘s professional career has finally come to an end.

One of many legendary players that will hang their boots in the next 1-2 seasons.

Gerard Pique is next. Retiring tonight.

Won't get into the smallprint of whether or not he's legendary (I think he is), but surely one of the finest centre-backs of his generation. Amazing career in which he won everything as the core defensive centrepiece. World Cup, European Championship, multiple CLs, many league titles and cups.

[SgtPepper]

Even the Bayern fans I know don't rate Ribery that much considering Robben generally outperformed him during the Robbery years.

Pique is a precocious center back and has been a deserved NT starter since 23, but there's a reason he was never made club or NT captain. His retirement is premature to his footballing potential because he's prioritized his political career preparation for the past 3 years.

[Foye]

Even the Bayern fans I know don't rate Ribery that much considering Robben generally outperformed him during the Robbery years.

Pique is a precocious center back and has been a deserved NT starter since 23, but there's a reason he was never made club or NT captain. His retirement is premature to his footballing potential because he's prioritized his political career preparation for the past 3 years.

I think Ribery is generally underappreciated because of his off-pitch scandals.
Robben was the better goalscorer.
Ribery was better at breaking down defenses and assisting his teammates.

[Baphomet]

Ronaldo officially gone from United:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63720774

Presumably more information to come. Contract terminated due to breach of terms? Or a contract buyout? I'm guessing the former.

Where does he go next?

[Shaazzam]

good riddance

[SgtPepper]

Kudos to Ronaldo. He wanted to leave last summer and the club didn't let him despite wasting 3 of the 4 semesters of his contract on different & incompatible coaches. He wasn't a good fit for Utd's squad and they still held him hostage despite forgoing the last chance at transfer revenue and getting big wages off the books a year early. Keane was the only Utd pundit who assessed the situation correctly.

If this was basketball CR7 could have forced his way out then, but because the football industry has a precedent of less player power this is breaking new ground.

[Foye]

Kudos to Ronaldo. He wanted to leave last summer and the club didn't let him despite wasting 3 of the 4 semesters of his contract on different & incompatible coaches. He wasn't a good fit for Utd's squad and they still held him hostage despite forgoing the last chance at transfer revenue and getting big wages off the books a year early. Keane was the only Utd pundit who assessed the situation correctly.

If this was basketball CR7 could have forced his way out then, but because the football industry has a precedent of less player power this is breaking new ground.

To be fair, the issue is also that he is not good enough anymore to get the superstar treatment he demands.

And him not leaving was probably also due to a lack of clubs willing to pay his salary.
He was offered to Bayern but they quickly declined.

Realistically speaking he probably only wants to join Champions League clubs from one of the big leagues and there aren't a whole lot of CL clubs that are willing to a) able to pay his salary and b) improve by adding him.

[Foye]

Watch on YouTube

Classic goal.

[Baphomet]

Watch on YouTube

Classic goal.

Definition of a howler, good grief. Don't even know where to start with that one. Did he think the penalty spot was the ball? Big Robin Zentner vs Gladbach vibes on that error, as I'm sure you'll remember, except this one leads to a goal.

Thanks for sharing, that got a good laugh out of me.

[Foye]

Watch on YouTube

Classic goal.

Definition of a howler, good grief. Don't even know where to start with that one. Did he think the penalty spot was the ball? Big Robin Zentner vs Gladbach vibes on that error, as I'm sure you'll remember, except this one leads to a goal.

Thanks for sharing, that got a good laugh out of me.

Yeah, surely he thought the penalty spot was the ball just like Zentner haha

[Foye]

Watch on YouTube

Quite a good performance by Alkmaar in the Youth League final.
Wouldn't be surprised to see some of them on the big stage at some point.

Next year, Mainz U19 will win this competition. Qualified for the first time through becoming domestic champion.

[magik9113]

PSG fans sh*tting on Messi and Neymar is hilarious to me. Joke of a fanbase

[SgtPepper]

Hating the latter makes a lot on sense - he's washed up but on a long BdO contract while better players in Mbappe and Messi are supporting cast and higher risk of churn. Ney is the Kyrie Irving of this sport.

[HIF]

Hating them both if they leave your team is understandable to me

[HIF]

Is this the Championship thread?

[Baphomet]

Is this the Championship thread?

I'll make one for next season. I watch Championship football a lot but just don't really post about it, so you'll have me as company at the very least.

Who knows, maybe Spurs will be joining you next season.