Deeg67

Balogun is the US starting striker every day if the week if he's healthy.

Claudio rumored to be the favorite for the Italian national team.

Ralph is an underrated manager. Not a world-beater but a very good man manager who develops young players, and passable tactically.

Gutted for Claudio not getting CL for Roma, but what an incredible run they had after he took over. Nice to see him walk away on a high and showered with unadulterated love by his home fans.

The problem is the style that I want in the C is not the style I’d want in the PL. We can’t be a counterattacking side in the Championship, where teams will sit back and give us 65% of the ball. I’d like a vigorous high press, decisive and ambitious attacking, and a solid back four good enough on the ball to start building from the back. Possession football doesn’t have to be boring.

Leeds have owners willing to spend to try and stay up. The issue is they’re only allowed to net spend half of what returning PL teams are. The system is transparently rigged to protect those teams and keep promoted ones from staying up. Leeds and Burnley were dominant in the Championship but in totally different ways. We know what Burnley will do - try for 38 goalless draws. Leeds have some attacking talent and will add more - they’ll at least try and play football. The first thing any of these teams need to do is clean up against the other two - four wins against them would be a good start towards survival. But Burnley won’t make that easy for Leeds. Sunderland, they’re probably next season’s Southampton. Hard to see them having any chance to be more than a speed bump.

How depressing for Chelsea to get CL on the last day and all the usurpers bottle it. Booooring.

If he wants regular game time I don't think he has a choice. No PL side is going to go into the season depending on Vardy as a first-choice striker.

Wrexham actually does make a lot of sense. Championship is probably his level at this point, and he'd love the attention.

I don't think Leeds will sign Vards but I sort of hope it happens, just to see the mental meltdowns that would cause on here.

It's not like we're a draw here, and likely to lure in a hot prospect of a young manager. If the options are the mediocre retreads whose names you see bandied about, I'd be inclined to give Ruud a season with his own signings and coaches to see what he can do.

He was criminally underused by Cooper too. Should have been the first name on the team sheet every match. I think it should be noted that it says a lot about Facundo’s character that, playing as a loanee on a relegated side that treated him like crap, he’s playing his ass off and trying to make a difference.

That was decent, but no Leicester v Southampton.

Brentford is not paying 20 million for a keeper. And unfortunately Brentford is the level of club that might be interested in Mads, not the sort of club that would pay that.

We'll never get 25 mil but Stolarcyk makes him expendable. Sell, sell, sell.

$15-20 million, most likely. Distribution and footwork not good enough for most rich clubs to see him as a #1. Still, you can’t turn that down - he’s a luxury we can’t afford in the Championship with a #2 keeper who has a chance to be at least as good.

Pep and Klopp have both said they consider Farke an outstanding manager. But I guess guys on message boards know better. The record with Norwich is abysmal. But it's undeniable that they gave him absolutely no chance to succeed. Leeds will do that - they'll spend as much as the rigged system designed to keep promoted teams from surviving allows them to spend. Farke deserves a shot after 190 points in 2 seasons and a ridiculous GD in dominating the league this season. If he fails again it's three strikes you're out as far as the PL is concerned - he'll have no excuses. But he's earned the right to at least give it a go next season.

Given where they were (both in the table and the clubhouse) when he took over, if he can pull it off Claudio getting Roma to the CL might be a bigger miracle than winning the league with us.

Together is right. Their stadiums are less than 200 meters apart.

I can't imagine there are that many cases of clubs going into the playoffs on five straight losses as Sunderland is.

It's certainly fun to watch. I mean, Inter only had about 30% of the ball, but they didn't park the bus. Their counterattacking play was superb.

Watching Barca play a strong opponent is just ridiculous. You never go five minutes without them scoring, almost scoring, being scored on or almost being scored on. They just sell out totally and leave themselves wide open without a care.

That could certainly happen. Birmingham walked League One and they’re a fairly big club. As for Wrexham, people dismissing them as Hollywood tycoons buying promotions are selling them way short. Sure they spend more than they did before R&R came in, when they were basically on the brink of insolvency every year. But there are still spending caps at every level, and those guys - while rich - aren’t, like, Musk rich. More than the money it’s the allure of being part of a great story and being a TV star that draws players to drop down and join them. Foster did it to publicize his social media empire, though his personal history made it an even better story. So no, Rob and Ryan are not going to be able to buy their way into the Prem next season. And I think there are just too many huge clubs in the way for them to seriously push for promotion immediately. But they will spend enough, and their football people are smart enough, that I don’t think they’ll be fighting relegation either. I think they’ll be mid-table.

Claudio has them unbeaten in 18 matches, the longest Roma streak since... Claudio. Most points in Europe's top divisions in that time. 2 points away from CL qualification. Despite pleas from fans, he insists he's 100% done after this season. Roma fans have started an unofficial campaign for Pope (no kidding).

Amazingly, Spurs and Arse have scored the same number of league goals this season.