A guide to the art of World Cup arm folding:

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_spot/2014/07/03/world_cup_player_introductions_a_deep_analysis_of_how_soccer_players_fold.html

 

Here's a sneak peak

 

Elsewhere off the back of the World Cup we have a compliation of pictures of sad footballers and sad football fans.

 

http://sadfootballers.tumblr.com/

 

Again, here's a sneak peek.

 

I guess Man U are contenders after beating Real Madr.....i mean La Galaxy 7-0 :P

Wait for a month and then we will be able to see if Manures are contenders. It all depends on how many players they are buying.

Let's just hope they keep winning big in pre season. VG then thinks they are great....then hopefully they get destroyed in the league. That would be just lovely.

 

From memory in Moyes's first league game in charge of United they thrashed Swansea 5-1, a good start isn't always an indication of what will follow.

^ I can see them buying another Fullback, and spending big on both a CM & a CB. The issue they have at present is they are top heavy ( too much No 10s & Forwards), reckon he might have to sell both Kagawa & Hernadez.

Not sure if this is best place to post this. It shows the new kit of Spanish second tier team, Cultural Leonesa. I suppose it's useful if you're going to a posh dinner afterwards.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28448643

Not sure if this is best place to post this. It shows the new kit of Spanish second tier team, Cultural Leonesa. I suppose it's useful if you're going to a posh dinner afterwards.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28448643

Ha ha!!  Love it!  (though please not for Chelsea!)

From memory in Moyes's first league game in charge of United they thrashed Swansea 5-1, a good start isn't always an indication of what will follow.

The Utd/van gaal love in has been pretty nauseating so far...media are even making a big deal that he made nine subs at half time last night, even though that's standard procedure for any coach in pre season...the consolation is the thought that Utd actually become deluded amid the hype to think their squad is good enough

Is anyone going to watch Real and Barcelona's pre-season games? I might give Barcelona a watch just to see how they set up, and how Suarez plays with Messi and Neymar; it could be very interesting. 

 

I can see Barca destroying a lot of Spanish sides, particularly at home, but I think they will be found out in the Champions League. Their already shaky defence has lost Puyol and the addition of Jeremy Mathieu for £16m odd seems fairly underwhelming to me.

 

To be honest I can't really see how Messi, Neymar and Suarez can all play together. I guess the logical option is to play Suarez up top with Messi just to the right and Neymar to the left. I just don't see how it can work given that these are all players that almost demand to be the centre of attention.

Real Madrid's three attacking midfielders potentially costs more than the entire Chelsea starting XI next season:

 

Not sure if this is best place to post this. It shows the new kit of Spanish second tier team, Cultural Leonesa. I suppose it's useful if you're going to a posh dinner afterwards.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28448643

 

I can't watch the video but found an image elsewhere. These guys look absolutely thrilled by it:

 

It's almost as bad as Liverpool's Warrior away kits..... almost. 

Yeah i'm sure City will shut down an entire football team because they couldn't get Frank Lampard to play there for 3 months.

 

You realise 36-year old Lampard will be 8 months out of football before he kicks a ball for NYC, right?

Of course, they won't pull out over that one incident, but they will not have their way as easily as they have had with the MLS.

Yeah i'm sure City will shut down an entire football team because they couldn't get Frank Lampard to play there for 3 months.

 

You realise 36-year old Lampard will be 8 months out of football before he kicks a ball for NYC, right?

Of course, they won't pull out over that one incident, but they will not have their way as easily as they have had with the MLS.

Does it come with a fedora?

Real Madrid's three attacking midfielders potentially costs more than the entire Chelsea starting XI next season:

 

And we are supposed to be the club that is ruining football ? Whoever still thinks this needs to take a look at this picture.

And we are supposed to be the club that is ruining football ? Whoever still thinks this needs to take a look at this picture.

 

I'm not going to pretend like we haven't/don't invest large sums of money into our team but I think the narrative needs to change about the idea of "ruining" football... The sad truth is that is what modern football is all about. 

 

Manchester United are bragging about being able to break the world record fee if they wanted.

 

A team with no European football is confident they could invest over £85m into their team on one player, plus the wages that go with it and they've already got a couple of the highest paid players in the league. 

 

The only way teams are going to challenge the established elite from now on is if a billionaire owner comes in and somehow manages to deceive FFP through non legitimate sponsorship deals and endorsements. 

 

FFP hasn't made European football more fair, it's just maintaining the already established hierarchy. 

Since Manures are not able to offer CL competition, they must pay a lot more for players. In other words, money talks & bull sh*t Wenger walks.

It's funny cause FFP was thought up as a way of punishing Madrid.

 

Something went wrong along the line.

Andy Carroll is crocked

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9393475/premier-league-west-hams-andy-carroll-to-miss-start-of-season-with-ankle-injury

So he missed the opening 6 months of last season with a heel injury and is missing the first 4 months of this season with an ankle injury.

Really getting their £15m worth ain't they.

Even though Liverpool over paid for him they must laugh at the fact they got £15 million for him

Wenger echoing van Gaal's comments about the demands of pre-season for commercial gain off of the back of a World Cup campaign. 

 

"These training camps in the modern game are decided for commercial reasons and because of the extent of popularity of the club,” said Wenger on Thursday. “We’ve never been to the States before and I was very happy to come to New York, a city I love. But for purely football reasons, the best thing to do is stay and not travel too much – because of the time you waste and the jet-lag you suffer.”

 

He added: “This season is a post-World Cup year and very difficult because the time is very short between the final, which was on 13 July, and the start of the new season on 16 August. Fifa say you are obliged to give four weeks’ holiday to the players, so I don’t know how all that works together. It looks, to me, impossible.”

 

Starting to look like a good decision by Chelsea to have a more reserved pre-season than usual. 

 

Hopefully by not jetting off halfway around the world is going to give us an upper hand going into the start of the new season because if the title race is a close as it's expected to be we're going to need every advantage we can get. 

Another smart decision not to travel around the world by Jose. The team needs to start well on August 18th.