Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

Arsenal gets flattened by Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0.

With the result, Manchester City just needs a point against Chelsea, paired with a Arsenal against Nottingham Forest, or win against Chelsea, regardless of Arsenal's result, next week to win the Premier League.

[NewYorkExpress]

With their 4-2 win in the Catalan Derby today, Barcelona has clinched the La Liga title.

[NewYorkExpress]

Pretty much. That's why I'm not particularly surprised by what's happened here in the last few weeks, nor particularly frustrated with Arsenal. Sure, it's annoying they blew the lead they had, but with their current squad I think it was inevitable. I frankly don't think this was a top 4 squad (and I'm saying that as someone who's been an Arsenal fan for nearly 20 years now), the fact that Arsenal led for large chunks of the season was already a great achievement.

I actually think they have a very good squad, just a bit lacking in depth and experience. Odegaard has been one of the best players in the league this season and players like Saka and Martinelli are babies who can get a lot better. When everyone is fit, they're not weak in any position. I would rate their squad comfortably ahead of Man Utd or Newcastle. Chelsea actually have very good players but nobody expects that dumpster fire to get put out any time soon.

Barring a massive spending spree by Liverpool, Arsenal should finish at least second again next season too.

[NewYorkExpress]

With Leicester City's 3-0 loss to Liverpool, the Foxes have dropped to 19th in the English Premier League table.

If Leicester, which is two points from 17th placed Everton is relegated, they will be the first former Premier League champions to be relegated since Blackburn Rovers were relegated in the 1998-99 season after winning the Premier League in the 1994-95 season.

[NewYorkExpress]

Marcelo Bielsa is the new manager of the Uruguay National Team.

[NewYorkExpress]

Inter Milan advances to the Champions League Final, defeating AC Milan 1-0 today to win 3-0 on aggregate.

They will face either Real Madrid or Manchester City in the Final, and will likely be heavy underdogs against either opponent.

[NewYorkExpress]

Manchester City destroys Real Madrid 4-0 and advances to the Champions League final with a 5-1 aggregate win.

I would be shocked if Manchester City doesn't win a treble now (they basically have the Premier League wrapped up now, and need wins over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, and Manchester United in the FA Cup Final to wrap up the treble).

[NewYorkExpress]

Picking Manchester City for the Champions League, Sevilla for the Europa League, and West Ham for Europa Conference League.

[NewYorkExpress]

Dutch hooliganism is at an all time high...wtf are they putting up their noses to do such brazen actions...still better than the Italian way i.e go around in a moped and stab scarfers with weapons.

Hooliganism used to actually have a code of not attacking random people.

I thought having a code to hooliganism defeated the point of being hooligans.

[NewYorkExpress]

So, this weekend, should either Arsenal lose to Nottingham Forest, or Manchester City get any result other than a loss against Chelsea, Manchester City will win the English Premier League.

[NewYorkExpress]

With Arsenal's 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest today, Manchester City has clinched the English Premier League.

Manchester City is now two games away from a treble, needing to win both the FA Cup against Manchester United and the Champions League against Inter Milan to do so.

Also, with today's win, Nottingham Forest has successfully avoided relegation.

[NewYorkExpress]

Bayern Munich might have just lost the Bundesliga this weekend. They lost 3-1 to Red Bull Leipzig, meaning Borussia Dortmund has a chance to pass them if they can defeat Augsburg.

Regardless of the result, the race will come down to next week's schedule, with Borussia Dortmund at home against Mainz, and Bayern Munich on the road against Cologne.

[NewYorkExpress]

The 30th Major League Soccer team has been awarded to San Diego.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37676377/mls-names-san-diego-30th-team-debut-2025

Good Choice.

If they go to 32, as Don Garber has hinted they'd like to do, I personally recommend Baltimore (great potential natural rivalry with D.C United) and Detroit.

[NewYorkExpress]

Vinicius Junior Set To Leave Real Madrid Over Racist Abuse

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomsanderson/2023/05/21/vinicius-junior-set-to-leave-real-madrid-over-racist-abuse/?sh=468505d0b6ee

Where is he going to go that racial abuse isn't going to happen. As long as there are white people, he's going to get the same kind of treatment on a regular basis.

[NewYorkExpress]

Juventus has been hit with a fresh ten point deduction in their ongoing false accounting case.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37708563/juventus-champions-league-spots-10-point-deduction

[NewYorkExpress]

By steamrolling Chelsea 4-1, Manchester United has locked up their spot in the Champions League.

Newcastle United also clinched their spot this past week, meaning Liverpool and Brighton Hove Albion are heading to the Europa League and could be joined by West Ham United if they beat Fiorentina on June 7, and one of Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur or Brentford will be going to the Europa Conference League.

[NewYorkExpress]

Marco Asensio seems likely to head from Real Madrid to Paris Saint Germain when his contract expires this summer.

On the one hand, he's a downgrade from the departing Lionel Messi, but on the other hand, I don't think PSG expects Asensio to be a regular starter, not when they might theoretically have the transfer budget for someone else anyways, and the wage budget to do so, especially with Messi coming off the books (maybe they bring in Roberto Firminio or Harry Kane?)

[NewYorkExpress]

The Under-20 World Cup is in progress and the United States has reached the knockout rounds, sweeping all of their matches in Group B, against Ecuador, Slovakia and Fiji.

They'll next face a to be determined third place team in the Round Sixteen. Their likely next opponent, as of this evening will be the third place team in either Groups A or D, meaning they will face one of New Zealand, Brazil or Italy.

[NewYorkExpress]

With their 1-1 draw at Strasbourg, PSG has clinched their 11th Ligue 1 title, which is now the record.

[NewYorkExpress]

So, with the only games left in Europe to be played (for the most part) being the three continential cup finals (and the FA Cup final), the Summer Transfer window is rapidly approaching.

There already are a couple of notable moves that will come into effect at the beginning of the window.

First, Moise Kean is heading from Everton to Juventus, after The Old Lady picked up their option to buy.

I think Kean's permanent arrival means Dusan Vlahovic likely will be leaving in this window, as he's been drawing attention from clubs across Europe, especially Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Next is Pedro Porro, who has officially moved from Sporting CP to Tottenham Hotspur thanks an obligation to buy in his loan contract. I'm not sure bringing in Porro, a former top Manchester City prospect is going to be enough to convince Harry Kane to stay at Tottenham. In order to that, Tottenham needs to be a lot more aggressive this summer, maybe by targeting Vlahovic, Declan Rice or Mason Mount (or possibly all three).

Next we have the duo of Nicolas Seiwald and Benjamin Sesko going from Red Bull Salzburg to Red Bull Leipzig. Both are great young stars who should immediately improve a Leipzig side that already was a top-three side in the Bundesliga. In a couple of years, both might be playing for Bayern Munich or another even bigger side elsewhere in Europe.

Giacomo Raspadori is going from Sassuolo to Napoli due to an obligation to purchase clause in a loan agreement. Radpadori was a key contributor for Napoli this year, and getting this deal to be permanent is good for them.

Finally, Francisco Trincao will go from Barcelona to Sporting CP after the Lions exercised their option to buy in a loan deal. Apparently Barcelona only got seven million Euros from this deal. Given the financial hole they are in, they need to be getting a lot more money when selling players than that.

[NewYorkExpress]

Luciano Spalletti will not return to Napoli next season.

This is a major blow to Napoli's hopes of winning a second straight Scudetto, quite frankly. It looks like the decision to leave was Spalletti's, and he says he's taking a year off, so we'll wait and see where he ends up.

It looks like Daichi Kamada is heading from Eintracht Frankfurt to AC Milan when his contract expires at the end of next month.

Kamada's a decent signing, and might honestly be an upgrade over Oliver Giroud at this point in both their careers.

[NewYorkExpress]

Real Madrid closing in on a deal that would bring Espanyol Forward Joselu in on loan for a season.

Real Madrid does need cover for Karim Benzema, but they probably can do better than Joselu.
 
It looks like they are going to wait until Kylian Mbappe's contract expires next season and make another attempt to sign him then, rather than make a serious effort to deal with the position now.

That kind of thinking could cost them La Liga next season too.

[NewYorkExpress]

Given Sevilla's expertise with the Europa League, I'm not surprised that they won.

[NewYorkExpress]

Karim Benzema is heading to Saudi Arabia. He'll be signing a two year contract worth four hundred million Euros with Al Ittihad.

[NewYorkExpress]

Manchester City is one step closer to the Treble, as they won their Manchester Derby FA Cup Final, 2-1 today.

Next weekend is the Champions League final, which should be about as easy as this was for Manchester City.