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2016-17 Club Soccer (UCL, EL, Libertadores, CCL & Domestic Leagues)

Hachiko

Hachiko

The Akita on Utopia
Dis gon get wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open li Miami babbinha morenita!
REMONTADA! LEMON SALAD! CLAAAAASSSIIIIIIIIIICOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
 
doh

doh

THANK YOU Dermott McHeshi
Reel E. Nice goal from Pulisic today in German Cup. Him and Bobby Wood both in great form.
 
Karl Hungus

Karl Hungus

Here to fix the cable
Leicester players should be ashamed of themselves. They sandbagged for months because... I guess they were jealous of Ranieri? Now he gets fired and they're back to the team from last year.
 
Snorky's Shame

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
UCL Quarter-finalists in order of who you want to avoid:

Bayern
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Juventus
Atletico
Monaco
Dortmund
Leicester

Watch Real Madrid draw Leicester while the rest get bloodbaths.
 
Snorky's Shame

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Atletico - Leicester
Dortmund - Monaco
Bayern - Real Madrid
Juventus - Barcelona

Wow on the last two matchups. Atletico is the big winner but Leicester has a chance here.

I think we get four semi-finalists from four different countries: Atletico, Monaco, Bayern and Juventus.
 
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Snorky's Shame

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Europa League Draw:

Anderlecht - Manchester United
Celta - Genk
Ajax - Schalke
Lyon - Besiktas

Teams left in Europe:

Spain - 4
Germany - 3
Belgium - 2
England - 2
France - 2
Italy - 1
Netherlands - 1
Turkey - 1
 
Hachiko

Hachiko

The Akita on Utopia
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adchester

adchester

A-1 From Day 1
http://www.espnfc.com/blog/espn-fc-...-voting-to-pick-the-team-and-decide-transfers

Want to be a football manager? Join the team entirely run by online voting


ESSEN, Germany -- The final whistle sounds and TC Freisenbruch's players visibly sag in dismay. In the first half of their season they won all but one of their 18 fixtures, losing none and conceding only four goals in the process. But now, in their first game back after the winter break, they have been beaten at home. There is much for the managers to ponder. All 384 of them.

Freisenbruch are a ninth-level German amateur side based in an unremarkable suburb of Essen, but there is nothing unremarkable about the way they operate. For a modest fee of €5 a month, anyone in the world can become one of their managers, gaining access to an innovative interface that will be familiar to anyone who has ever played the "Football Manager" series of games. It allows them to have a direct say in anything from team selection to the price of the beer outside the club house.

Striker Jorn Parakenings missed two easy chances in the first half against Rellinghausen. Regardless of whether the physical coach, Mike Mollensiep, has faith in him to improve, it will be those 384 managers watching at home who will decide whether or not he keeps his place in the team. They pay their money and the overwhelming majority make their choices. And therein lies the beauty, and perhaps the flaw, of this scheme.

"Some people think it's perverse," says director Peter Schafer, smiling, "but I think it's open and transparent. Everyone knows where they are."
Schafer is one of the visionaries behind the scheme, implemented at the start of this season as an imaginative way of preserving the club's future. In the past, the city of Essen had paid for the maintenance of the Waldstadion Bergmannsbusch, their curious amphitheatre-like home, but eight years ago the club was left to fend for itself. They swiftly dropped down the divisions.

"The board had to decide if the club was finished, or if there was anything crazy we could do to save it," Schafer told ESPN FC. "We wanted to do something crazy. We planned it for two years, one technical guy, one financial guy and me, the football guy. And this is what we came up with."
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The interface is clean and simple: which players do you want to pick each week? Just drag and drop before kick-off.
When a manager logs on, they are greeted by an appealing and intuitive interface. A dashboard provides them with reminders, alerts, news, videos and, of course, details of every player.

No ninth-tier footballers can ever have been so lovingly packaged for the public. Freisenbruch's collection of players -- like Maurice Peus the postman and carpenter/defensive midfielder Marvin Schadhof -- are given the full celebrity treatment, with individual pages listing their personal details, statistics and even, in some instances, video interviews. But the most coverage is given over to coach Mollensiep, once on the books of mighty Bundesliga outfit Schalke, based 15 km up the road.
Every week, Mollensiep is recorded telling the managers how he thinks the team should play and which players he would choose, were it his decision. But it is not. The real managers have until 5 a.m. on match day to drag and drop their favoured players into position, and Mollensiep has to obey the will of the majority. Given Freisenbruch's extraordinary success in the first half of the season, the system seems to work. However, in the days before ESPN FC arrives in Essen, Mollensiep announces that he will leave the club at the end of the season.

"Mike told us how much money he wanted available for the next season," said Schafer. "It was too much to bring a fast decision. We told him that the managers would have to decide it in April, when we exactly know the budget for 2017-18. He knew this timeline already but four days later, he told us he wanted to leave the club at the end of the season."

"Because of the concept, the club has to wait until April to know the budget for the next season," said Mollensiep. "For me that´s too late. But I understand the club's decision and so we will try to keep being successful together until I leave.

"But most of all, I want to work in a club where I can make all the decisions."
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Fans even choose the styles of each scarf, drink and even crime novel available for sale at the modest club shop.
You can certainly see Mollensiep's point. If the short-term power of the manager when it comes to team selection is daunting, it's nothing compared to the power they wield when it comes to contracts. At any point in the season, they can log on and drag and drop players into one of two piles: Retain or Dismiss.

Any player who finishes the season with less than a 60 percent approval rating will be released without question. Attacking midfielder Kuvinthan Yogarathnam is philosophical about his 58 percent score, acknowledging that in any football team, futures are determined by performances. But he is an unused substitute the following day and if he can't get on the pitch, he can't win over that crucial two percent.

Had he not already decided to leave, coach Möllensiep would be vulnerable as well. Managers can register their faith in his abilities at any time, rating him from 0-100 percent. If he ever drops below 15 percent, he is instantly dismissed. Unsurprisingly, he has spent most of the year in the 90s but news of his impending departure dragged him down to 72 percent.

To help the managers in their decision-making, the players wear GPS tags, games are recorded and uploaded to the website and statistics are carefully maintained by the Schafer and a small band of volunteers. Midfielder Marvin Schadhof currently leads the way for bookings. "He is like a small boy," says Schafer. "He always wants to come home dirty."

"I just try to give my best," protests Schadhof.

Even training routines are filmed and analysed. If, for example, you wanted to find out how Heiko Basel, Freisenbruch's 30-year-old midfielder, has performed in shuttle runs, his scores are only a couple of clicks away.

But the powers of the managers are not just limited to football. They can vote on anything from ticket price (currently €3) to opponents for preseason friendlies. The latter causes Schafer the biggest headache as he has to provisionally book two opponents, informing both clubs that confirmation for one of them can only come after a vote. But most decisions are relatively simple. Recently, there was a vote for a new item in the club shop and the managers decided that they wanted scarves. Then there was a vote for a design, and the managers duly made their call. And thus, on a small trestle table outside the club house, scarves are now available for sale.
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How much should a scarf cost? Should we renew a player's contract or let them leave? Management is tough.
As well as their online managers, Freisenbruch have their own traditional supporters, residents of the surrounding streets and tower blocks. On Sunday morning, they amble over to the clubhouse and greet each other warmly. Thanks to the votes of the managers and the hard work of club volunteers, they can buy Stauder beer (the local brew), bratwursts, those aforementioned green club scarves and, most curiously, crime thriller paperbacks set at their own football club.

Supporter Patrick Schmidt makes a 200 km journey down for every home game and happily pays his €5 to help pick the players. "Most of the time I don't agree with the coach," he says. "It's nice to have his video but I know some of the players and I've been watching for years, so I have my own opinion."
At 11 a.m., after a team-talk from Mollensiep and a rousing war-cry from attacking midfielder Christian Cronberger, the players line up on the steps that lead down to the pitch, a gritty, unforgiving reddish surface of colliery spoil.

It's a real battle. A combination of eagerness from Rellinghausen II (who have brought four first-team players with them in an effort to topple the leaders) and the treacherous surface sees players slamming into each other with eye-watering force. Freisenbruch are marginally the better team, but they can't get their usual game going and they look intimidated by the desire of Rellinghausen's players.

"This happens a lot," says assistant coach Adrian Bullik. "Everyone wants to beat us now."

At half-time, Mollensiep is angry with his players, accusing them of losing all the battles in the middle of the pitch. As two large containers of cake (an odd choice for a half-time snack) sit untouched next to his tactics board, he unloads his fury on his team and then starts to build them back up again, encouraging and cajoling them.
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Manager Mike Mollensiep, No. 29, is also a willing sub. Thankfully, it's his decision if he comes on or not.
The second half is better but tempers begin to boil over. Rellinghausen's manager explodes with rage at the referee, calling him something that literally translates as "a s--t whistle," and he is sent from his dugout.

Freisenbruch continue to press for a goal but chances are few and far between. With 20 minutes left, 41-year-old Mollensiep brings himself onto the pitch to no avail. As his team push up, gaps emerge at the back. With two minutes left on the clock, Rellinghausen score on the break. From up above the pitch, their manager shouts himself hoarse with joy.

The result ends Freisenbruch's excellent unbeaten run and the mood in the dressing room afterwards is sombre. A handful of the players stick around in the clubhouse, sinking beers and playing a complicated dice game called "Shocken." Mollensiep leaves soon after the full-time whistle.

It's clear that Mollensiep will have his own ideas on how to bounce back from this disappointment. He will have come to his own conclusions on who to drop and what to change. But at TC Freisenbruch, those decisions are not his to make. Here, it is the supporters who wield the power.

"I'm sad and I'm disappointed that the team has lost," said Janina Mockenhaupt, who is both a team manager and a multi-tasking organiser behind the scenes. "But I don't want to change the team. It's a good team!"
Click to expand...
 
Snorky's Shame

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Well, I was going to complain about Mathieu starting ahead of Jordi Alba but instead it looks like there has been an explosion near the Dortmund bus. The rumor is Bartra has been hurt.
 
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Snorky's Shame

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Barcelona will be lucky to keep it at three.

Of course Luis Enrique's first sub is Andre Gomes.

Team looks like it's already in Ibiza, Monaco or any other European vacation spot.

I'm just watching MLS and AFL until August, fuck this shit.
 
Snorky's Shame

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Wenger's going to Barcelona ha.

Seriously though, both look headed for rebuilding projects in the face of demanding fan bases.

Not sure I would want either job right now.
 
doh

doh

THANK YOU Dermott McHeshi
Not that anyone watched but it was vintage Ajax against Schalke. 13 shots on goal + 2 posts. Schalke pretty lucky to be down just 2-0 going to Germany.

Also why the hell did UEFA decide to play Lyon-Besiktas? Should've been abandoned. Should've postponed BVB-Monaco too.
 
doh

doh

THANK YOU Dermott McHeshi
That was pretty damn fun to watch. The normal Ajax striker wasn't fit back from injury or they would've definitely won 4,5 or 6-0. That keeper for Schalke was incredible too.
 
DanishDonut0

DanishDonut0

Well-Known Member
Danish football is really tame unless you're talking about either of those teams. Both can definitely be up there with some of the craziest hooligans in Europe, but probably not as blatantly racist as some of the eastern teams. I'd say Brøndby is probably the worst of the two, pretty awful area.




They also organize gang fights with each other in places that the police aren't at. It's like that every time they play, but the rats are next level :laughing:
 
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