#see if its harder than ligue 1 (it is) !!!

[cryingforcrocodiles]

kylian come to old trafford on a 6 month loan. for fun. please.

[sarabia-pablo]

Translation of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi’s interview

Trust me, once you read it all you’ll feel better regarding the club’s situation or the mercato. 

When did you feel that some big changes in the organisation would be needed ?

The idea didn't come during a precise day. The reflexion has matured in my head little by little and finally imposed itself. If we want to keep growing up we need changes. I asked myself quite a few questions including, of course, after our elimination against Manchester "What did we lack of ?", "Why can we not reach the next level in Europe ? "What do we have to quickly modify ?" I came to the conclusion that changes were essential otherwise we wouldn't go anywhere. It  was time to change. Every club, at a certain point, needs a new impulse.

A new impulse to change what, precisely ?

We needed something new especially because we cannot count on such talents in the team and stop 3 years in a row in the Round of 16 of the Champions League. We are not doing a revolution. But after the trauma of Manchester we needed an electrochoc to get over it and especially to avoid facing another humiliation like that. In front of Manchester something broke. And in this situation it is useless to repare it. It's too fragile. We better change it. 

Which thing "broke" exactly during this elimination ?

The outcome of this game has revealed a few of our weaknesses in terms of implication, motivation, players' mentality. In fact, all of this does not create a postive atmosphere to reach the top all together. We all have dreams, especially the one that is to reach, one day, this Champions League. But we all have to give oneself the means and desire it harder than the other side does. However, against Manchester, I am convinced that we were not those who wanted the most the qualification. Were we ready, especially mentally ? I doubt it.

Have you been forced to make those changes or where they your initiative ?

This is my decision. You know, I've been in this profession for a while and I am now starting to have a certain experience. Those tiny details who make the difference, I've identified them. I am repeating myself but against Manchester I got the confirmation that we were having obvious lacks especially in terms of rigor. I didn't feel a champions mentality during those days.

Does this elimination against Manchester constitute your biggest deception since you arrived here in 2011 ?

The defeats are all very dificult to accept. In the league, during the final of the Coupe de France... every time I live very very badly all of these defeats because I love this club. It's my passion. But it's true that this elimination was a true choc because the Champions League remains not my dream but my goal. Of course, to reach the top of this competition you also need luck. And this time we cannot say that we had a lot of luck with this last seconds penalty. Without this penalty we wouldn't be here explaining the reasons of such a big interseason change. Because this season was also full of great performances. We've sell billions of kits all across the world which probably places us in the European top 5. We cannot underestimate our 8th France Champion's tittle. Contrary to what is said we are very attached to the national tittles.

Nevertheless. What is the principal difference between PSG and Liverpool, the European champion whose workforce isn't fundamentally richer than PSG's one ?

PSG wasn't inferior to Liverpool. That's why we've beaten them once and lost against them once at the last minute. But in the end they are the champions of Europe and not PSG. They have this winner culture that we don't always have.

This is the proof that it's not always a matter of luck…

Of course. Liverpool was already in the final during the previous season. To reach this level you need a continuity. We don't have it at this level. We also need a special mentality that we don't especially have, we need to admit it. This winner mentality you need to show it during every game, every time, whatever the competition is. We need to face these games with the same strength. This season we noticed that it wasn't always the case. And this has to change ! It's not only the matter of a few players but of the whole team and the whole staff. I need fighting spirit in every game

This lack of personality, whose fault is it ? 

We all lacked of personality and authority. Me first, I admit it. I do not want to flee from my responsabilities. I am the first one who's guilty. I don't want to hide nor to put the fault on others, the players or the staff. If it didn't work this season it's my fault first. But it is going to change

How ?

One of the missions confied to Leo (Leonardo) is precisely to make the mentalities change. Together, I want us to turn this club into a true winner club. I believe in 100% in his capacity to make us reach the top with more personality and authority. Everyone was waiting for this rigor : me, the players, the staff, supporters and even the medias. I am not saying that it is going to be easy but we can do it. He will have all the sportive powers in his hand to succeed. We don't have the choice anyway : we needed those changes.

What  did you ask from him in priority ?

He knows what he has to do and how to achieve it because he started this project with us. He isn't coming from nowhere. He knows PSG. He knows its strengths and its weaknesses. We'll gain a lot of time thanks to this.

Did you remain in contact after him leaving in 2013 ?

Of course. Leo, he's my guy. He's incredible. I have an absolute trust in him. He has the temper, the personality, the experience, the strength of persuasion to succeed. I don't know anyone in the football world who meets all of these qualities beside him. His natural authority will do a lot of good for everyone, especially for the players.

If he has so many qualities why did you not try to keep him six years ago ?

To be honest I didn't want him to leave. But everyone knows why he left. He didn't like how it went with the instances.*

(traduction note : long story short story, Leonardo got into an argument with a ref, pushed him and got a 1 year interdiction of bench + I don't remember exactly how many time of interdiction to work as a SD. He did an appeal but he left PSG anyway after this incident. The appeal gave him reason and canceled the sentence a year after the incident but he did not come back after that.)

Was it difficult to convince him ?

(he smiles) No. In two minutes it was settled between us. We didn't even talk contract. He was very happy to come back because he was always convinced that there is something great to do here. He'll create the syngergies inside of the sportive side that weren't existing enough last season.

How will the comeback of Leonardo change things for Thomas Tuchel ?

It will change lot of things. He will now have someone beside him to help him during his mission. He'll be very close to Leo and he'll be able to exchange with him regularily. This duo will be a great strength for PSG because they are complementary, I am sure of it. Leo will be behind the coach and the players in order to convey his mentality and also to verify that everyone is going in the same direction. He'll also be there to see if the rules are being respected, that individual behaviours won't parasitize the group. He will be very protective but also uncompromising if anything bad happens. If a players commits a fault he won't fall into feelings and will make him understand that the club is well above him. 

The good life is finished at PSG ?

Players will have to assume their responsabilities more than before. Everything needs to be different. They'll have the duty to do more, to work more. From the first training to the last game of the season. That's how a big club is. I want players proud to wear our kit, not players who do the job only when they feel like it. There aren't here to please themselves. And if they disagree the doors are open. Ciao ! I do not want to see stars behaviours. 

You have the reputation to be very close to players…

(he cuts the journalist) That's not true. You all need to stop with that. I know that some say that I am friend with the players, that I am always by their side. Others blame me to never be there. (he smiles) So, who do we have to believe ? It's ridiculous. All these "teachers" who wants to give lessons but know nothing are sometimes tiresome because they have no information about what's really happening at every level from the inside. I am not the one who comes to the players to tell them what to do or what to think. I'm also not here to comfort them. I see, I listen but I know how to remain at my place. Players know I'll always be there to protect them. But if I see that they are not doing the maximum to honor the kit then I'll be uncompromising. I need big professionals in the attitude and in the discipline

Which players will be the most deceived ?

I don't want to put all the players in the same basket. There are a lot of good guys in the talentful group. But some have shown a lack of exemplarity. Of course, I won't give you any name. I just want to pass this message : it won't be possible to work like they used to.

His (Leo) first mission won't be to chase some sufficient attitudes ? Has Ligue 1 become to easy for PSG ?

I assure you that all I want is the most competitive concurrence in France. It is extremely important to me. The more we will be to battle for the tittle the strongest PSG will become. I am sure of it. But if we can win 6 or 7-0 we'll take it as well. That's how the biggests are made of, we respect the weakests and we refuse easiness. I want all of my players to have this mentality, this will to win everything, to score the most goals. I understand that it can be hard to remotivate yourself after that before or after a Champions League game. But it's the same thing for La Liga, Premier League or Bundesliga. If some can do it, why not us ?

Does Ligue 1 deserve PSG ?

(he smiles) I won't answer this question. All I can say is that the Ligue isn't helping us a lot. When Ajax needed to postpone a game to prepare a Champions League game they agreed without any problem. And it didn't choc anyone. Here, it immediately takes the form of a priviledge. Yet we are the ambassadors of France and Ligue 1, no ? We have a French flag on our kits no matter where we go. We are the French team as well. But I feel like a lot of people forget this. When we make a new kit I always insist so we can have the French flag on it. It's natural because we represent France. And I'm proud of it. But once we come back home, what do we get ?

The "remontada generation", those who have known the two terrible desillusions, are they called to leave the place for players free of this mental weight ?

All I can say is that I don't want stars anymore, in the bad meaning of the word. We've had enough. 

Your two stars, Mbappé and Neymar, have had a few agitated weeks for very different reasons. First, Mbappé called for more "responsabilities". Have you been surprised and what did you say to him ?

Yes, I was surprised. I wasn't expecting this. We saw each other, of course, and we talked. He wishes to be more involved in our project to grow with our club. But I told him that you don't ask for responsabilities. You need to take them and sometimes even snatch them. We don't wait, we provoke. Since he's very intelligent I'm sure he understood. 

Are you sure he'll be a PSG player next season ?

Yes. And not at 100% but at 200% ! I won't let this crazy player go. To make him sign with us has been our best decision of the past few years : he is French, he is from Paris, he has a great mentality. I want to be there when he will win his first Ballon d'Or, and the next ones. Because I'm sure he will win a lot of them. To stay, Mbappé wants to be sure that he'll evolve in a team well-armed enough to win the Champions League. 

Did you promise him this ?

I know what he wants. We want the same thing. We will have this competitive team. We are not starting with a blank page because we already have a lot of extraordinary players. This season we already had a team good enough to go far in the Champions League. We need to stop giving excuses. I loath those who want to flee from their responsabilities. Everything is not the fault of the leaders. That's enough. 

Are you thinking of Thomas Tuchel when you say that ?

No, not particularily. I think of those who forget to make their own auto-critic. 

The second star, Neymar, has lost half of his season again because of a injury, then this scabrous story with this Brasilian girl, then another injury... These repetitive discrepancies and failures aren't the symbol of the complacency you want gone ? Did you manage to talk to him these days ?

(with a dark gaze) I didn't talk to him directly but I talked to his father. I told him again what I am now wanting from PSG players.

Are you still sure that Neymar will be the one to take PSG to the next level ?

I repeat : I want players who are ready to give everything they have to defend the honor of our kit and be part of the club's projet. Those who don't want to do so or don't understand, we see each other and we talk. There are, of course, contracts to respect. But the priority is not the total adhesion to our projet. 

Do you still need to be convinced that Neymar want get totally involved with PSG ?

Of course. Him, like all the others. No one forced him to sign here. No one pushed him. He came fully knowing the causes and wanting to be part of the project.

Does that mean that PSG won't be holding Neymar back this summer ?

No, that's not what I'm saying. I repeat that Neymar just like all the other players, has to believe in our project and give everything for it. And as long as this will continue, this won't cause any problem. 

The European stagnation did it not cause a loss of attractiveness to the club ?

No, PSG, trust me, is still the dream of a lot of players. You know I won't give you any name. All I can tell you is that we will soon have a lot of magnificent recruits. We've been working on profiles for months being even more attentive to the mentality of players who will come. Now we are in the middle of negociations and announcements will be made in time when the cases will be done. Talking about it sooner than we should is the best way to make things fail. 

It took Roman Abramovitch 9 years to get a CL with Chelsea. Does it seems ok to you ? 

(his gaze gets brighter) I knew that it would be complicated to go and take this Champions League. But nothing will drive me away from this goal. I still want PSG to win it. It will take time but I'm still sure that we will do it one day. We are a young club compared to Real or Bercelona. They are centenary clubs who managed to build a winner culture throughout time. We are learning in a faster way even if we ill remember the beautiful period of PSG in the 90'. We need to make up with this delay. We will have the players to succeed next season. With a different mentality. 

Are you convinced that the 2019-20 PSG will be stronger than the 2018-19 PSG ? Of course yes ! That's our goal. If not, we better all leave now and only come back at the beginning of the next season. Next season we will be stronger and more united.

[winterolympicssports2018-blog]

Rangers 2-3 Celtic: Edouard wins explosive Old Firm derby for Celtic

Click here for More Olympics Updates https://www.winterolympian.com/rangers-2-3-celtic-edouard-wins-explosive-old-firm-derby-for-celtic/

Rangers 2-3 Celtic: Edouard wins explosive Old Firm derby for Celtic

Rangers have spent two seasons changing managers, players and expectations. Changing the record against Celtic is proving a little harder.

Natural order is the phrase of the moment in Scottish football. In the minds of Ibrox players and supporters this was the litmus test. The chance to swing the pendulum back towards Ibrox, apply serious pressure on their city rivals and see how they coped with the heat of a title race.

Despite playing the last 24 minutes with ten men after a red card for defender Jozo Simunovic Celtic coped fine. A battling, resolute win saw the Parkhead side come from behind twice, substitute Odsonne Edouard striking a superb winner after a foolish red card for Bosnian defender Simunovic. 

Substitute Odsonne Edouard stole the headlines as his goal saw 10-man Celtic come from behind to win the Old Firm derby

The derby win sees Celtic stretch their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to nine points having played a game less

Rangers had started in electrifying fashion as they went ahead on three minutes through attacking midfielder Josh Windass

The Govan side targeted Celtic’s reshuffled defence as Windass forced mistake after mistake from Celtic’s Dedryk Boyata

But Brendan Rodgers’ champions responded in magnificent fashion as Tom Rogic equalised with a stunning long range strike

The Australian international showed what the equaliser meant to him as he raced over to the Bhoys’ supporters at Ibrox

Stretching their lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership to nine points with a game in hand and eight to play the inevitable outcome of this will be a seventh straight title for the Scottish champions.

Their joy at time up told its own story. They knew the significance of this. Asked if another title was now a formality Brendan Rodgers – unbeaten in four trips to Ibrox as Celtic manager said what he had to.

‘No, no, not by a long way. It was obviously a big step for us, though, to go nine points clear with a game in hand.

‘There is still a lot of work for us to do and I think when you come to one of your rivals and be up against it with ten men for 30 minutes of the game then you are entitled to celebrate. It was a great victory for us and I thought we deserved it.’

The psychology of the game changed less than two hours before kick-off. Scott Bain, the Dundee keeper loaned as cover in January when Craig Gordon sustained a knee injury, was pitched in for a baptism of fire after regular back-up Dorus de Vries was injured in the hours before. 

Rogic was mobbed by his team-mates in a game that had an immense tempo to it with both players going for the three points

Rangers looked like scoring on every single attack in a rampant first half and they went back in front through Daniel Candeias

The 30-year-old Portuguese was signed by ousted boss Pedro Caixinha but has been one of the few transfer successes

MATCH FACTS AND LIVE LEAGUE TABLE

Rangers (4-2-3-1): Foderingham; Tavernier, Alves, Bates (Cardoso 15), John; Docherty, Goss (Cummings 74); Murphy, Windass, Candeias; Morelos

Subs not used: Alnwick, Holt, Halliday, Miller, Herrera

Goals: Windass 3, Candeias 27

Booked: Goss, Candeias

Manager: Graeme Murty 

Celtic (4-2-3-1): Bain; Ajer, Boyata, Simunovic, Tierney; Brown, Ntcham; Forrest (Edouard 67), Rogic (Hendry 60), McGregor; Dembele (Armstrong 86)

Subs not used: Doohan, Musonda, Sinclair, Roberts

Goals: Rogic 11, Dembele 45+1, Edouard 69

Booked: Dembele, Bain, Ntcham

Sent off: Simunovic 

Manager: Brendan Rodgers

Referee: William Collum

Attendance: 50,215

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  Rodgers had another huge call to make in defence, handing Dedryck Boyata his first start since a 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock last month.

The Belgian’s unforgivable error gave Rangers the dream start to the game, dithering on the ball in possession after two and a half minutes to allow Josh Windass to race in on goal and smash the ball superbly past Bain into the postage stamp corner. The stand-in keeper’s first act was to pick the ball out of the net.

Celtic looked badly rattled. Shellshocked, even. Rangers, with six wins in their last six, had the early momentum they craved.

Since arriving as manager Rodgers has consistently preached the same message. The Parkhead boss demands calm from his team. Yet the game threatened to get away from the visitors when Tom Rogic equalised with a quite sublime strike on 11 minutes.

The Australian didn’t have much on when he picked the ball up midway into the Rangers half. Skipping past a couple of challenges as the home team stood off, the playmaker curled an outstanding finish into the top right hand corner of the net from 20 yards.

For Rangers the damage wasn’t done. Not yet. Central defender David Bates, a player who harboured hopes of inclusion in Alex McLeish’s Scotland squad for the forthcoming games with Costa Rica and Hungary, fell to the deck. 

Ibrox erupted at Candeias’ drilled strike to make it 2-1 with Graeme Murty’s side knowing a win would liven up the title race

With the clock ticking down in the first half, French striker Moussa Dembele lobbed Wes Foderingham with aplomb to go 2-2

Bates, a consistently strong performer since the 0-0 draw at Parkhead on December 30, was stretchered from the field to be replaced by the lesser spotted Portuguese Fabio Cardoso.

Celtic threatened to get a grip of the game. Simunovic hooked a fine chance over the bar from 12 yards after Kristoffer Ajer knocked down a Callum McGregor corner.

Their problem area was obvious. In defence Boyata looked a bombscare, while Ajer was out of position at right-back.

Woeful defending once again proved their undoing when Rangers regained the lead on 25 minutes.

Declan John’s hooked ball into the area from the byline prompted panic, Boyata outmuscled by Alfredo Morelos before the ball ran through for Daniel Candeias to thump low into the net. Rangers were back in front, the scent of blood in their nostrils. 

After a foul in the build-up, Celtic were given the advantage and Dembele stole a march on his marker before scoring

Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain, who was making his first start for the club since joining in January, celebrated Dembele’s goal

For a spell Celtic were all over the place. The team in light blue looked capable of scoring at will.

Yet the ten minutes before half-time witnessed a recalibration. Celtic came again. By the end of a first half bordering on the bonkers the Parkhead side could even have been ahead at the interval.

Wes Foderingham seemed hellbent on keeping them out single-handed. The Rangers keeper pulled off two fine saves in 38 and 42 minutes, the first denying Moussa Dembele with a header from a corner, the second foiling a McGregor goal after a smart one two with the Frenchman.

The minutes added to remove Bates from the pitch gave the team in green and white a chance to capitalise on a decent spell.

Their second equaliser was a moment of personal vindication for Scott Brown.. To say they don’t like the Celtic skipper round these parts is like saying Liam and Noel Gallagher don’t get on much.

Under pressure from the high press of Candeias deep in his own half the midfielder glanced up and spotted a gap the width of a bus in the Rangers rearguard. Credit to the much-maligned referee Willie Collum. When Candeias clattered into Brown he had two choices – stop the play or allow the advantage. 

Rodgers looked concerned for much of the game as he looked to foil Rangers’ tenacity and creativity in the central areas

Rangers boss Murty, however, wanted his side to maintain the tempo with Celtic struggling to match the Blues in the game

The feisty game took a fresh twist midway through the second half when Jozo Simunovic was shown a straight red card

But Dembele calmly brushed Cardoso aside and reclaimed his crown as Rangers tormentor in chief with a composed lob over Foderingham.

Brown rose to his feet and glared at the Rangers support in the Bill Struth Stand. The message was unmistakable. If his team were going down they would go down fighting.

It was a message taken a bit too literally by Simunovic. The game had settled into something approaching a state of calm when the Bosnian committed an act of hari kari, catching Morelos needlessly with an elbow in his own half.

Referee Collum had no hesitation, instantly producing a red card. Television replays suggested the call was correct.

Yet again Celtic had been undone by a moment of self-inflicted stupidity by a central defender.

Rodgers acted quickly, throwing £1.5million January defensive signing Jack Hendry on for the influential Rogic.

With Murty in charge until the end of the season, Rangers owner Dave King will decide whether to give him a permanent role

Talismanic Scotland and Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths was in attendance as he looked to show his support to his team-mates

Bhoys captain Scott Brown was met with a vociferous reception at Ibrox as he remains the pantomime villain of the Old Firm

The game hinged, in the end, on two chances in a minute. One missed by Morelos for Rangers. The other taken quite superbly by Celtic substitute Edouard three minutes after his introduction for James Forrest.

Morelos, in a rich vein of form, had a day of frustration against Falkirk in the Scottish Cup.

It continued here when the hapless Boyata’s fresh air allowed the Rangers striker a clean run at goal. His driven shot was saved by Bain in a critical moment when Celtic broke up the pitch, Dembele feeding the substitute on the left side of the area.

Edouard had one thought in his mind. Cutting inside onto his right foot the on-loan PSG man curled a delicious strike into the far corner to scenes of joy amongst the away support behind the goal in the Broomloan Stand.

Celtic’s satisfaction was merely heightened by the sight of Rangers missing a simple chance for an equaliser with two minutes of normal time to play.

Morelos only had to tap the ball into the net from eight yards and contrived to hit the post, the ball bouncing safely into the arms of a relieved Bain. 

Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos relished the tussle with Boyata as the former Manchester City defender struggled 

The Old Firm derby often coincides with an increased police presence and the latest encounter proved to follow the example

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[rob-davis]

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FIFA 19 Team of the Week 43 Prediction

Goalkeeper

Steve Mandanda - GK - OVR 83 For the second back to back week, we select a Ligue 1 attendant, this time with Marseille's Mandanda after the French plug kept Marseille in the game with six spares in their 0-0 attract away to Nantes. L'Equipe remunerated his presentation with a 8/10, making him the joint most noteworthy score of the week.

 Defenders

Mats Hummels - CB - OVR 89 somewhat of an unusual one here with the apparently evident decision being Paco, who scored twice and helped another in Dortmund's 5-1 prevail upon Augsburg, in any case, Hummels was authoritatively granted MOTM and without an IF this year close by the way that he had his prominent move back to Dortmund I can see this one going in the protectors support, particularly with the about of cap deceives this week.

Martin Hinteregger - CB - OVR 77 Onto a Bundesliga CB which was increasingly expected, with Hinteregger. The Austrian scored the main objective of the match, enabling Frankfurt to leave away with every one of the three points by means of a 1-0 home win over Hoffenheim.

Lucas Digne - LB - OVR 81 Digne stood out as truly newsworthy in the Premier League last season with steady assaulting commitments and early signs have by and by been solid for him with two clean sheets and now a help to add to that from his second match of which Everton dealt with a 1-0 prevail upon Watford.

 Midfielders

Memphis Depay - LW - OVR 84 Lyon opened Ligue 1 in style, dealing with a 6-0 pounding of Angers. Three players stand an opportunity of an IF, all of which got a 8/10 from L'Equipe. On paper, I do feel that Depay is the best choice with two objectives and a help from LW in spite of the fact that could pass up a major opportunity due to having such a large number of unique things as of now.

Dani Ceballos - CAM - OVR 81 Arsenal appear as though they have a take subsequent to crediting Ceballos from Real Madrid with the Spaniard turning into a moment hit among the Arsenal fans, helping both their objectives in a 2-1 home win over Burnley, making him one of the simpler determinations this week.

Santi Cazorla - CDM - OVR 80 It was an exciting 4-4 draw when Villarreal facilitated Granada and in spite of the fact that there are no obvious alternatives from the match I can't see an eight-objective La Liga game is disregarded. Cazorla was one of just two players to get a three-star rating from Marca and hence I have decided on him.

Kevin De Bruyne - CM - OVR 91 It was an intense battle for KDB with numerous damage issues hampering his year however since he looks fit and returning to his best he is probably going to be an enormous expansion to an as of now apparently top notch City side. In spite of the fact that Spurs held them to a 2-2 draw City were overwhelming all through with KDB pulling the strings all match which brought about the Belgian grabbing two helps.

Marcel Sabitzer - RW - OVR 81 There were two in number competitors originating from Leipzig's 4-0 away win over Union Berlin with Halstenberg being the unfortunate player to pass up a major opportunity in the wake of scoring one and helping another from LWB and rather we decide on Sabitzer, of whom was associated with each of the four objectives with one for himself going nearby three different helps. A presentation which saw him guarantee Kickers POTW.

 Forwards

Zlatan Ibrahimovic - ST - OVR 85 The MLS was one of only a handful couple of associations to have two installations fall into the cut off for this side and accordingly it has worked to a great extent to support Ibra for my choice of the Swede with Ibra scoring twice in the two matches to accomplish four objectives in two matches, putting him in front of different choices I have with two objectives.

Teemu Pukki - ST - OVR 71 After what appeared to be a moderate begin against Liverpool, Norwich confronted a considerably more practical test of Newcastle. One which they made do easily, generally down to Pukki who proceeded with his goalscoring structure with a cap stunt to make it four from his opening two matches.

 Substitutes

Zack Steffen - GK - OVR 75 The substitute goalkeeper was fundamentally harder than the beginning one indeed with constrained choices introducing themselves. At last, I settled on the Kicker guardian which this week was granted to Steffen who made nine spares in a 3-1 win to commence his life in Germany.

Capa - RB - OVR 78 An early stun came in the opening seven day stretch of the new La Liga season with Bilbao recording a 1-0 prevail upon Barcelona. Aduritz scored the single objective yet I am rather deciding on Capa who helped the objective nearby helping keep the spotless sheet.

Miguel Layun - RWB - OVR 78 Layun was scorned a week ago for his objective and a perfect sheet however I have picked to incorporate him for a subsequent week pursuing he got both an objective and an aid Monterrey's 2-0 prevail upon Toluca. The position is debateable however even as a RM I feel that he stands an opportunity.

Rafa - LM - OVR 79 The first of two from Portugal I have chosen is Rafa who was associated with both Benfica's objectives during their 2-0 away win, making them one of just two groups to win both their opening apparatuses.

Mbwana Ally Samatta - ST - OVR 73 Waasland seems to be one of the more fragile sides in the Belgian Pro League this season and Genk just heaped more weight onto them with a 4-0 away win. Samatta scored three of those four objectives and in this way looks set for his SIF.

Ze Luis - ST - OVR 79 Ze Luis made the move from Russia to Portugal so as to carry out his specialty for Porto, a move which he has had a moment effect from, scoring three of their for objectives during an agreeable 4-0 succeed at home to Setubal.

Dario Tadic - ST - OVR 65 There was a striker in Austria who scored a noteworthy multiple times anyway with him not in the game in then welcomes Tadic who oversaw three objectives for Hartberg in their 3-3 draw. Despite the fact that they just oversaw one point the way that Tadic would be a gold thing works to support him.

 Reserves

Reguilon - LB - OVR 64 With just a couple non-gold cap stunts happening this week it settled on the choice of Reguilon that a lot simpler. With an objective, help and clean sheet from LB the La Liga safeguard ought to be a conviction yet observing as he is a bronze thing he winds up hard to fit in yet with it being Sevilla I anticipate that EA should wind up including him.

Chanathip Songkrasin - CAM - OVR 66 The first of two players I have anticipated from Hokkaido is Songkrasin and in spite of the fact that I don't accept that both will wind up getting in with it being the Japanese alliance I have chosen that over the long haul its value including both for a general score. Songkrasin was granted MOTM for his two objectives and two aids a truly agreeable 8-0 win.

Jay Bothroyd - ST - OVR 66 With Bothroyd being a comfortable name with English watchers after he scored a cap stunt in a 8-0 win I just couldn't overlook him, in spite of the way that he wasn't the authority MOTM. A cap stunt is constantly hard to disregard however.

Ronnie Schwartz - ST - OVR 66 A second IF which originates from a 3-3 draw now, this time from the Danish alliance with Schwartz scoring each of the three of Silkeborg's objectives in their 3-3 draw away at Sonderjysk.

Adam Taggart - ST - OVR 69 It's not frequently that you see Australian players playing abroad however Taggart chose to make the transition to Korea, playing for Suwon Bluewings. He figured out how to score a cap stunt this week during a 3-1 away win over Gangwon.

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[jodyedgarus]

Meet The JR Smith Of European Soccer

The captain of Ajax is a Golden Boy. Its goalkeeper, right back, left winger and two-thirds of its starting midfield aren’t old enough to rent a car without a surcharge in the United States. Ajax has won four European Cups in its history, but as teams in England, Germany, Italy and Spain have all risen into a new economic bracket, the Amsterdam club has been forced to focus on youth — coaching them up and then selling their rights for profit. Last summer, it was 19-year-old Justin Kluivert to Roma for $19.67 million. This summer, it will be 21-year-old midfielder Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona for a club-record $85.5 million.

The current iteration of the club has been called a “talent factory” — and it is — but you need more than just youthful exuberance to play in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, as Ajax does Wednesday. Ajax’s most important player isn’t a kid; he’s 26 years old. He was born in the Netherlands but represents Morocco on the international stage. He’s a ball hog who didn’t join the club until he was 23. Ajax’s hopes of overcoming Juventus in the Champions League rest on the shoulders Hakim Ziyech, European soccer’s version of JR Smith.

In soccer, it’s really hard to be the kind of unrepentant gunner, chucker or volume shooter (or whatever other euphemism for inefficiency you may prefer) we see in a sport like basketball. In basketball, the best-case scenario for an off-balance, midrange jumper is only 2 points, and those 2 points don’t have much value. (NBA teams are averaging more than 111 points per game this season.) But the upside of taking a shot in soccer is quite different, since every shot has a chance of becoming a goal, and goals are very valuable. According to a study done by the authors of the book “The Numbers Game,” a goal is worth about 1 point, or one-third of a win.

Soccer’s structural limitations seem to have emboldened Ziyech. The only way the attacking midfielder can be mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is by firing off shots. Among players in Europe’s top five leagues1 plus the Dutch Eredivisie, only Ronaldo has taken more shots per 90 minutes than Ziyech, while Messi sits third. But unlike those two legends, Ziyech isn’t taking good shots. According to expected-goals data provided by Opta Sports, Ronaldo’s average attempt has a 10 percent chance of finding the back of the net, while Messi produces 12 percenters on average (though he typically converts his chances at a much higher rate than the models suggest). Meanwhile, Ziyech’s chances average out at just 7 percent. In fact, among all players who average at least 3.5 shots per 90, almost no one takes worse shots than Ziyech. In other words, he is the most inefficient volume shooter in the highest levels of the soccer world.

Ziyech makes up for this inefficiency by doing everything, and doing it all the time. Despite a lanky 5-foot-11 frame, he eats up space with the choppier steps of a much smaller player. In Ajax’s 4-1 victory on the road in the Champions League Round of 16 against Real Madrid, no player took more shots, played more crosses or attempted more combined tackles and interceptions.

Ajax’s leaders in three major offensive statistics, 2018-19 season

Statistic Ziyech Runner-up Shots 130 61 Dribbles 139 74 Chances created 87 75

Through April 6, 2019

Source: WhoScored.com

In the Eredivisie this season, Ziyech leads Ajax in three major attacking statistics — by a wide margin. Here, again, you can see Ziyech’s inefficiency. Despite attempting more than twice as many shots as any of his teammates, Ziyech is second on the team in goals (15, to Dusan Tadic’s 20). But his passing is what makes all of the bad shots worth it. Just look at this thing:

There's doing a Big Switch, then there's the perfect camera angle to watch Ziyech do a Big Switch.pic.twitter.com/NVh1JPF5Fx

— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) February 27, 2019

While calculating a player’s expected goals does a pretty good job of determining just how good of a goal scorer he is, it’s harder to measure the effectiveness of most passing stats. Things like pass-completion percentage, chances created and assists lack the necessary context to show how much they contribute to winning.

But some analysts are trying to change that. The newest issue of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports includes a paper from a group of Dutch researchers who used machine learning to create a model that determines how much value is gained or lost by every pass a player does and does not complete. Using more than 9,000 matches in seven leagues2 from 2014-15 through 2017-18, they measured the quality of a player’s passes by looking at the pass’s location, type, timing and success or failure. According to their analysis of the 2017-18 season, Ziyech was the eighth-most-effective passer last year. (Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil was first, Manchester City’s David Silva second and Messi third.) In volume and variance, Ziyech’s passing is a lot like his shooting — it’s just much more effective.

“Hakim Ziyech was the most influential passer in the 2017/2018 Eredivisie season,” Lotte Branse and Jan Van Haaren, two of the paper’s authors, told me via email. “We found that Ziyech creates a lot of value by completing successful passes. However, at the same time, he also tends to take risks and thus loses quite some value by performing unsuccessful passes.”

There are plenty of promising passing prospects in this current Ajax team, too. De Jong and Brazilian attacker David Neres rank third and fifth, respectively, in the study among all players under the age 23.

Ajax’s young stars are the headliners. After all, the team captain, defender Matthijs de Ligt, is just 19 years old. But the prospects are buttressed by the contributions of veterans like Ziyech, plus 30-year-old Tadic and 29-year-old Daley Blind, who both joined from Premier League clubs over the summer. Each of them cost more than $12 million to acquire.

Behind that mix of young and old, Ajax heads into the quarters with a 44 percent chance of advancing to the semis, according to FiveThirtyEight’s projections. Whether it does will partly depend on how many of Ziyech’s shots, passes and dribbles end up working out.

Check out our latest soccer predictions.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/meet-the-jr-smith-of-european-soccer/

[junker-town]

Juventus president gets 1-year ban for selling tickets to scalpers

It’s a dramatic day at Juve.

The Italian FA has banned Juventus president Andrea Agnelli for one year for his role in selling tickets to scalpers.

Agnelli is accused of selling more tickets to ultras than is allowed by the Italian FA, and he has acknowledged that he met with Rocco Dominello, a Juventus ultra with organized crime links who has been sentenced to prison time for ticket scalping. However, Juventus was not implicated as being involved in organized crime in the ruling. Three other Juventus executives also received bans.

The ruling was unpopular with both Juve and Italian FA prosecutor Giuseppe Pecoraro. Juventus says it will file an appeal to clear the club's name entirely, while Pecoraro says he'll appeal "because they should've received harder punishments."

Agnelli was recently appointed chairman of the European Club Association and became a UEFA executive committee member. There's no word yet on whether his ban from Italian soccer will affect those positions. There's also no word yet on how Juventus will operate without Agnelli over the next year.

Goal of the day

Here's Lazaros Christodoulopoulos of AEK scoring one of the most beautiful free kicks you'll ever see. (r/soccer)

In the news

A number of Seattle Reign and FC Kansas City players skipped the national anthem on Sunday in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players' protest against police brutality and inequality in the justice system. (Sounder at Heart)

Edinson Cavani has a €1 million bonus for finishing top scorer in Ligue 1, so PSG reportedly offered him that much to let Neymar take penalties. (AS)

Unsurprisingly, PSG denies this. (ESPN FC)

Napoli striker Arek Milik has torn his ACL for the second time in a year. (Napoli)

Villarreal has fired manager Fran Escriba. (Villarreal USA)

Despite fans singing "we're Man United, we sing what we want," Romelu Lukaku reiterates he'd like them to stop singing the racist song about his penis. (Independent)

FIFA finally realized the ban on displaying poppies is ridiculous and lifted it. (BBC)

You should be reading

Andi Thomas on the FA prioritizing PR and winning over doing the right thing once again in the wake of the Mark Sampson scandals.

Andy Brassell on Bayer Leverkusen finding its identity again after a down year. (Guardian)

Sean McGinlay on the worst-run club in England, Blackpool. (These Football Times)

Matt Doyle on this week in MLS and the MVP race. (MLS)

What happened this weekend

Here are the highlights from this weekend's MLS games. (MLS)

And all of the NWSL highlights are here. (NWSL)

Manchester City looks unstoppable, and Leroy Sané's emergence as a superstar is a big reason why.

Tottenham barely survived against West Ham despite taking a dominant early lead. (Cartilage Free Captain)

Liverpool had a similarly nervy game, hanging on to a win thanks to a missed penalty by Jamie Vardy. (Liverpool Offside)

Fenerbahce vs. Besiktas featured an incredible five red cards.

Nothing changed in La Liga. Barcelona coasted to a 3-0 win over Girona. (Barca Blaugranes)

While Real Madrid scraped a 2-1 win over Alaves. (Managing Madrid)

Bayern Munich slipped up, drawing 2-2 against Wolfsburg. (Bavarian Football Works)

Dortmund pulled off a dominant win, and new signing Maximilian Philipp was the key player. (Fear The Wall)

Juventus dominated the Derby della Mole, defeating Torino 4-0. (BWRAO)

What to watch on Monday (click for listings, all times ET)

EPL: Arsenal vs. West Brom (3 p.m. ET) -- The Gunners' last four games have gone well, but Tony Pulis always makes things hard for them.