Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - We are SO back, the Premier League returns!

[Switch]

He probably won’t be back till the weekend games

 

[concise]

Can someone explain why MLS teams have never won the CONCACAF CL till now? Is gap in quality that big or were they not taking it seriously?

MLS hasn't really improved, Mexico has really regressed. Even the best MLS squads of the past tended to be very uneven in quality, I know LMX has been talking for a long time about removing relegation, possibly merging fulltime with MLS ... all kinds of crazy nonsense ... and they way they looked in qualifying this time was kind of shocking.

 

[concise]

Biggest reason is MLS salary cap has limited the talent that any MLS team can actually have. MLS teams (not all owners care) have gotten more talented over the last 5 years and closes the gap in talent, but Mexico without having a salary cap can build a better team.

Another reason MLS has faired so poorly is because Champions League is usually going on in the spring when MLS season is just starting. Meanwhile Liga MX teams are more in form as their season has been going for awhile.

Seattle though made it their priority and mission to win Champions League. They are struggling in the early stages of the MLS season as they’ve been resting stars and playing role players. All you have to be is in the top 7 to make the MLS playoffs and from there anything goes. So a team like Seattle who is seeded 5-7th can do damage in the playoffs and still win the MLS championship even with their early Champions League distraction.

in addition, a lot of teams in the past didn't really emphasize the competition because they didn't know how to market it to their fanbases, attendances used to be horrible, and they were knocked out early anyway.

 

[concise]

Finally, honestly ...



has anyone seen a single match of the Europa Conference competition this season? Just curious.

 

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

MLS hasn't really improved, Mexico has really regressed. Even the best MLS squads of the past tended to be very uneven in quality, I know LMX has been talking for a long time about removing relegation, possibly merging fulltime with MLS ... all kinds of crazy nonsense ... and they way they looked in qualifying this time was kind of shocking.

The top end of teams in MLS definitely have. Academies are better, too. Dallas has a great academy. Sounders have a good one (Obed Vargas came in and did a job last night in a tough spot).

But the depth is better down the line than it was ever before. I think in the past five or six years, the best MLS teams could go up against the best Liga MX teams with their best 11, but Liga MX teams had way more depth and could make the sort of impact subs that MLS teams couldn't. That's changing now, though.

 

[concise]

The top end of teams in MLS definitely have. Academies are better, too. Dallas has a great academy. Sounders have a good one (Obed Vargas came in and did a job last night in a tough spot).

But the depth is better down the line than it was ever before. I think in the past five or six years, the best MLS teams could go up against the best Liga MX teams with their best 11, but Liga MX teams had way more depth and could make the sort of impact subs that MLS teams couldn't. That's changing now, though.

I can recall reading the bold five or six years ago on sites like BS
I still remember RSL making it to the final with a narrow loss over a decade ago and the one with Toronto some years back that went to penalties.

I don't watch much of the league anymore since MLS Live got integrated into Espn+, but eye test (to me) shows me things have not changed that much in the past 5 years.

 

[TobiOT]

 

[Switch]

Tic tac man must be reeling

 

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

I can recall reading the bold five or six years ago on sites like BS
I still remember RSL making it to the final with a narrow loss over a decade ago and the one with Toronto some years back that went to penalties.

I don't watch much of the league anymore since MLS Live got integrated into Espn+, but eye test (to me) shows me things have not changed that much in the past 5 years.

I watch enough of the league that I can say that things have changed, but not league-wide. If you catch the wrong clubs, you'll see the same old, same old.

The problem is that too many clubs still have owners with no ambition. We need to clear those owners out and get owners in who care about things like being on a level with LigaMX.

There are still too many clubs that haven't aligned their ownership, FO, backroom staff, coaches, players, and academy.

But again, the top-end teams have done or are doing that. Even a team like Atlanta, on a downswing, will get it together because Arthur Blank cares and has the ambition, along with his FO, to become both a perennially successful MLS club and a selling club to Europe, which means signing and developing great young players. They are aggressive about that (while still centerpiecing a prime player or two from the region so they can win games now).

So I get why you might see the occasional MLS game and think things are the same, but it really isn't the same, and it continues to improve.

But it'll be a longer road unless we get some of these lame owners out.

(And I do think that the sports media overstates how much better MLS is than it used to be, to be clear. But it has improved from my view.)

 

[nahnah]

Somehow West Ham have slowly turned into one of my favourite sides as a neutral. Used to hate the whining self entitled twats

 

[TobiOT]

Tammy Abraham once again.

 

[TobiOT]

Cresswell sent off again.

 

[nahnah]

What an idiot Cresswell

 

[Trajan]

Wow

Stupid by Cresswell

Might as well turn over to Leicester Roma now. WH are done

 

[TobiOT]

Rangers.

Surprised a Premier League team haven't tried to get James Tavernier, a right back is the Europa League top scorer.