The Fußball Chatter

The Premier League will make it's return on the 9th of August and we continue the preview of the upcoming season with the next seven teams based on their potential final position come May next year. Burnley. Final Position: 13th No one expected Burnley to replicate what they did in 2017/18 when they finished 7th and qualified for Europe for the first time in 50 years. Despite getting eliminated very early, they were poor last season and were in the relegation dogfight last season but managed to stay up, finishing 15th.  They have brought in Jay Rodgríuez and Erik Pieters and have let go of Tom Heaton and Stephen Ward. Sean Dyche's will trouble teams throughout the season and while they are not catchy on the eye, they are one of the lowest ranked teams in terms of goals and possession, they are effective at what they do, which will give them a mid-table finish this season. Bournemouth. Final Position: 12th Bournemouth are the little club from the south coast th...

Manchester City defend Community Shield after winning on Penalties Manchester City reclaimed the FA Community Shield for the first time in their history after beating Liverpool 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes with Gabriel Jesus scoring the winning penalty. Both sides fielded strong sides despite some notable absentees. City had Liverpool on the back foot in the first half, exploiting the flanks particularly Trent Alexander-Arnold, who did not have a great game, and went in front from Raheem Sterling. In the second half, Liverpool played a lot better. They forced City in making a lot of turnovers close to their defence and created a number of chances to level the game, which eventually came from Joël Matip. Mohamed Salah had the chance to score the winner but had his shot cleared off the line by Kyle Walker, forcing the game to go to penalties. Only Georginio Wijnaldum had his stop kick saved by Claudio Bravo and Gabriel Jesus scored the winning penalty as Pep...

The football season is starting to take shape as leagues across Europe will be starting this month. For the English football season, the curtain raiser is the FA Community Shield or the Charity Shield when the winner of the Premier League and the FA Cup battle it out at Wembley Stadium in anticipation for the upcoming season. Despite the little significance of the Charity Shield, both sides will be looking to lay down a marker this season. Manchester City, who won a domestic treble last season, will face Liverpool, league runners-up, on Sunday which will rekindle their rivalry from last season which gave us an exhilarating title race that went down to the very wire. Jürgen Klopp's men narrowly misses out on the title losing it to City.  Despite losing just one game and gaining 97 points, the third highest in Premier League history but they still had a happy ending, winning the Champions League. City were dominant last season, winning the League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, a...

Following the summer which has given us three major tournaments, the football season is fast approaching with the Premier League starting in two weeks with the first game at Anfield between Liverpool and Norwich City. Let's take a preview of the upcoming season with the first seven teams based on their potential final position come May next year.  Sheffield United. Potential Finish: 20th Sheffield United are back in the Premier League for the first time since 2007 having been at the Third Division just two years ago. Sheffield were the surprise package from the Championship last season with very few tipping them for promotion which shows the work that coach Steve Wilder has done at Bramall Lane conceding just 41 goals, keeping 21 clean sheets and the performances of Billy Sharp who scored 24 goals that season in propelling the Blades back to the promise land. However, it seems likely that Sheffield will go down with Wilder stating that Sheffield's playing style wi...

The UEFA Champions League has finally ended with Liverpool becoming victorious after defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Final. It was a poor final, pretty much an underwhelming end to a fantastic season in the competition which has produced some fantastic moments which will be talked about. Here are the top five moments of the Champions League this season. That Messi Freekick (Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool, semifinal 1st leg)  When Barcelona faced Liverpool in the semifinals, many saw the game as Lionel Messi against the top performing defender in Virgil van Dijk. The 3-0 victory for Barcelona didn't reflect the entire game with Liverpool pressurizing the Catalans for the majority of the game with Valverde forced to make a defensive change but then again, Barcelona were already two goals up, thanks to Luis Suárez and Messi, who scored from a rebound. However, the third goal was something of pure beauty. Barcelona get a free kick from 35 yards with Messi taking it. ...

With the football season across Europe all but wrapped up, we are looking forward to two major European finals this week. The UEFA Europa League Final in Baku, Azerbaijan and the UEFA Champions League Final in Madrid, Spain. The Europa League Final comes up first and is taking place on Wednesday May 29th between Arsenal and Chelsea at the Olympic Stadium in Baku. There has been controversy surrounding the final from the difficulty of fans getting to Baku, ticket allocation and safety concerns of Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has decided not to travel with his teammates for the final. Nevertheless, the final is highly anticipated as both sides will want to end their season on a high. Both sides have experienced a transition under new managers with Chelsea finishing 3rd in the Premier League while Arsenal finished 5th, meaning they have to win the final to play in the Champions League next season. Both sides have had a different route in reaching the final showpiece, so...

The football season is over with the Europa League and Champions League Final the only games left to see from the season that just concluded. The teams that won their leagues last season defended their titles. However, let's look at the teams that achieved more than what many expected. AFC Ajax It has been a remarkable season for Ajax Amsterdam but many forget how the Dutch side have struggled before now in Europe and at home. They haven't won the Eredivisie since 2014 seeing their rivals PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord win it since and haven't played in the knockout stages of the Champions League since 2005/06. Changes were made behind the scenes with former players Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars appointed as CEO and Technical Director. This season, the Dutch side rolled back the years with some fantastic football that the late Johan Cryuff will be proud of. Under the guidance of coach Erik Ten Hag, with a blend of youth in Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong and ...