Champions League group stage draw tonight. Valencia are in the second seed somehow which is awesome.

LeverKrusen scored a third when Kruse was on the pitch :cool:

Hasn't been afraid to criticise him on air either, although it has always been constructive criticism - if Ryan ever wanted some advice he could do worse than listen to Bozza because as you said, he's arguably the only former player who can relate to Ryan's current trajectory - both Schwarzer and Kalac were late bloomers.

That said, I hope he doesn't listen to Bozza in regards to what to do on a night out in Manchester 8-[

Pala - What's the latest with Ikon? Will we see him feature for the first team going off pre-season form? Or will he get loaned out?

Bozza is fast becoming the only rational one.

Why?

From all the signs I've seen it looks like he'll be staying on the fringe of the first team this season.

Champions league groups

Leverkusen, Barca, Roma, Borisov. A big challenge for Leverkusen but they'll be playing in Europe into 2016 either way.

Valencia, Zenit, Lyon, Gent. Winnable for Valencia and Ryan returns to Belgium

That's only at this early stage of the season though , alot can change between now and circa Dec/Jan - Hopefully a mid-season loan is on the cards, should he still be collecting splinters on the Lazio bench? If there's good Serie B demand for him now, then hopefully that keeps up if his scenario at Lazio changes.



What an exciting opportunity this early stint at Valencia already presents for Ryan - this level of exposure is fantastic for his career. The main thing is, the more he is exposed and experiences this stage, the more he can become accustomed and iron out the inconsistencies, develop more consistency and confidence in his game, as he develops and matures. With Valencia's #1 out till the New Year, this could be an amazing six months for Ryan, so I hope he can seize it with both hands - who knows the level of his status come January, in the marketplace, let alone within the Valencia pecking order! He will be La Liga and CL experienced goal-keeper by then and still only 23 years of age! :shock: =d>

Edited by GloryPerth: 28/8/2015 02:51:20 AM

So.e interesting things I saw on twitter. Troisi apparently going to Saudi Arabia.


Fortuna Dusseldorf have announced Joshua Laws has been chosen for our U17 world cup squad. I have noticed him before but I thought he was going to choose Scotland. Seems pretty high pontential playing is Dusseldorf's U19 squad at 17. Also he is not to be mixed up with Ross Archibald who moved to Dusseldorf II this summer, Laws has been there since 2012.


On players mainly in youth teams Jesse Curran made the bench of his first senior game for Dundee FC in the cup earlier this week.

Deadset. No offence to any of the scots here but if you had your choice between us and Australia...

Leverkusen have a good chance for second spot, although Roma are tough. BATE are the whipping boys but in the past few seasons they have got results against big teams (Bayern, Lille, Bilbao).

Valencia favourites, Zenit regularly does well in Europe and could take top spot. Good to see Lyon back in the UCL, they have strengthened there squad a bit so it will be interesting to see events unfold in that group. Exciting times for Maty.

Ta.

A few Tassie players are starting to make progress now.

Southampton knocked out of Europe by Midtjylland

Southampton was sent crashing out of Europe on Friday (AEST) after a strike from Midtjylland's Morten Rasmussen gave the Danish champion a 1-0 UEFA Europa League playoff second leg win on and a 2-1 victory on aggregate.

Could possibly see Mabil playing Europa this season. :d

Well Italian clubs don't traditionally take the Europa League seriously and Lazio will be fighting for top 3 again so the group stages and any cups will probably be his best chance to get game time and then in January where they will either be out of those comps or taking them more seriously he could go out on loan. Unless he can impress enough to stay of course. He is also most likely missing 3 weeks in January with AFC U23s.

Even if he doesn't, fixture congestion should help him get chances

When many rave about the EPL, other than the big five ( the Manchesters, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal) , few EPL teams have success on the continent equivalent to the high status the EPL has globally.

Have some EPL teams recently made the late rounds of the Europa League outside the big five?

I agree with you Decentric. But whenever i visit forums like Everton, Liverpool, Spurs etc I notice all the fans treat the Europa League as a joke and too much of a hassle in their pursuit of the Top 4. In my opinion this may play some sort of role, it only hurts their own clubs imo. I think they are wrong here. European football brings valuable experience to squads and normally helps players deal better with UCL football. It also helps the manager learn to deal with efficient ways of squad rotation. Liverpool fans were complaining last season about how difficult it was doing the UCL and EPL and Rodgers was not ready "inexperienced". If he had some Europa League experience in the past, he may have been able to deal with UCL football better last season. They did have a very easy group to qualify from.

I think the last team to go deep outside the big 5 was Fulham. They lost the final in 2010 to Atletico Madrid... who then went on to win the Europa League again in 2012 and make the UCL final in 2014.

You just reminded me about that run by Fulham and how Schwarzer was a critical part of that team. Man that guy has played some big games and is still going.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_UEFA_Europa_League_Final#Details

Edit: just saw Damien Duff's name :shock:

Edited by $200: 28/8/2015 10:37:53 AM

Sorry but the way I have been doing it works fine for my browser, I will change how I embed videos now. Also I would not call formatting forum posts coding.

Edited by moofa: 28/8/2015 11:20:24 AM

:lol: i didn't know what else to call it as it isn't really linking... Embedding?

Fwiw its everthing after the =

Yeah I would call it embedding. I just found it kinda funny since I read your reply when I was doing some uni work where I had to do some coding and though "if only coding was this easy".

EDIT: thanks for pointing out my method wasn't working for everyone btw

Edited by moofa: 28/8/2015 11:34:41 AM

Any info on this Joshua Laws kid that plays for Dusseldorf?

What's his position?

I think he has been selected for the friendly games in France but not for the full world cup squad just yet.

Jake Brimmer apparently is back from injury, who missed most of preseason for the Liverpool under 18s.

Defensive Midfielder. Born in Scotland. Has played 4 games for Scotland U16. Transferred from Blackburn Rovers U18 to Fortuna in 2012.


Booth: Scotland U16s primed for Victory Shield success

Joshua Laws, who plays for second tier Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf, came off the bench and scored Scotland’s second.

Born in Castlemilk in Glasgow, Joshua had a spell at the Blackburn Rovers Academy before moving to Germany due to his parents’ work commitments.

Booth, who had a stint as a player in Germany with Borussia Dortmund, thinks his player’s time with the European aristocrats will prove invaluable for his development.

He said: “He’s been able to benefit playing in a fantastic footballing nation. He’s getting a real taste of that superb footballing culture.

“I’ve played in Germany myself and I know the way that they handle players. Joshua will really gain from his time there.

“When I was there, I had to give 100% in training every day just to meet the standard. I’d wake myself up every morning like I was preparing for a game.

"Training is done with a high tempo and intensity, with real focus.

“Joshua has already displayed signs he is benefiting from his time there with Scotland. He came off the bench against Italy and scored a great goal.

“He’s lucky in that he is getting to experience another culture at such a young age. I was there at 26 and it had an effect on my footballing outlook which I’ve had to this day.

“I’ve not mentioned to him that I played there. That’s way in the past. Trying to explain to these players that I even played is difficult enough!

“If it came up in conversation I’d have a chat to him about it.”

http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsCategoryID=6&newsID=12689

Edited by Krusen: 28/8/2015 12:22:14 PM

Another article on Joshua Laws time with Scotland.

Exciting new generation led by urbane midfield duo

"Joshua can play a midfield role both defensively and going forward," Booth said. "He shows his dynamic side, and is a clean passer of the ball, particularly effective making forward passes. He scored an excellent goal against Italy and the way he plays is a reflection of being in Germany - the German style of play where you always have to be disciplined and very technical".

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/13127615.Exciting_new_generation_led_by_urbane_midfield_duo/

Sounds like a great prospect.

Holland a doubt for the weekend with an ankle injury

http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/2-bundesliga/lettieri-wegen-holland-in-not-42357526.bild.html

So a straight copy and paste from Rick's calendar, here's what is coming up this weekend:

Sat Aug 29, 2015
4am   
Emmen @ Telstar
7pm   
F.C. Tokyo @ Shimizu S-Pulse
7pm   
F.C. Tokyo @ Shimizu S-Pulse
8pm   
FC Seoul @ Jeju United

Sun Aug 30, 2015
12am   
Celtic v St Johnstone
12am   
Dundee United @ Ross County
12am   
Dundee United @ Ross County
12am   
Inverness C.T.F.C @ Dundee
12am   
Kilmarnock @ Motherwell
12am   
Leyton Orient v Bristol Rovers
12am   
Liverpool v West Ham United
2am   
Bursaspor @ Istanbul Basaksehir
2:30am   
FC Utrecht - FC Groningen
3:45am   
sc Heerenveen - PEC Zwolle
6pm   
Jeonbuk Motors @ Seongnam FC
9:30pm   
Randers @ AaB Aalborg
10:30pm   
AZ Alkmaar - Roda JC Kerkrade
10:30pm   
Club Brugge KV - Standard Luik
10:30pm   
Den Bosch @ Sparta

Edited by azzaMVFC: 28/8/2015 01:34:13 PM

Keen for this on Sunday night - 10:30pm - AZ Alkmaar - Roda JC Kerkrade

Not too sure if we'll see Da Silva or Juric yet though, I doubt it.

Juric is recovering from an injury apparently.

Edited by Krusen: 28/8/2015 01:44:41 PM

This is probably nothing, but this seems to suggest Tommy Oar may have signed with a UK club, but I'm probably clutching at straws.