Leverkusen sees Bremen as rivals, rivalries arent necessarily a two way street. That is why they tried to start shit though, to make it more heated and serious. When they did it with Koln they got chased around the city. Their Ultras are a bunch of useless cunts, they also caused problems in Portugal. Not by fighting with opposing fans, but by harassing locals and businesses.

Bayer Leverkusen is seen in Germany as a plastic club by a lot of fans, mostly because they have distanced themselves from their working class roots. They have a family friendly atmosphere and stadium. As a result a part of the ultra fanbase is trying to distance themselves from that clean image by being edgy and coming up with shocking statements.

They have a cult mascot, “der Zitronenmann”, they use as a “spokesperson to” say controversial shit trying to get attention and stay relevant. They have provoked and picked fights with rivals as well, mainly Bremen and Koln.

It is nothing alike. Van Dijk has never ever been criticized for his lack of motivation or work ethic, nor has his character or behaviour ever been problematic. He is a leader and a serious professional, if anything he comes across as too serious at times.

Besides, the situation at the clubs is also totally different. Liverpool are stable and in the position the be consistently competing. Van Dijk is on top of his game and fits right into that plan, unlike Ozil and Auba who were past their peak and coasting.

Cocu hasn’t been great or anything, but Vitesse is such a mess. As usual. No manager is going to fix their issues long term. I understand him hoing there since it was the club where he broke trough and is considered a legend, but it was poor career planning from his part. He needed a good stable club to establish his skills and make a name for himself as a decent manager.

Pretty light sentence after all the posturing and threats of games without fans or even point reductions. Ajax also had recently received a probationary sentence for throwing flairs, a more substantial sentence was not out of the question.

Some players need time to adjust and they deserve time and chances to find their footing, but it is also reasonable to criticise them if their performance is poor or if there is no progression in their game. Expectations are high and fans are frustrated, but most of the criticism has been quite fair so far. Shearer had a point, he wasn’t just bashing him.

He always had this in his game to be fair, he just had better defensive players around him to cover for him. Tuchel keeps playing him as a solo #6, which has proven not to work. It is a stupid mistake, but why Tuchel keeps insisting on this us baffling, he is just as much to blame.

Yeah players seem to really value and appreciate it as well. Arsenal include it in their presentation vids, and players always look really happy about it. Cricket and rugby have been doing it for decades and players have spoken out about how proud they felt and how it was a real acknowledgement of what they had accomplished to get there.

Steijn should shut up and sit down, he got all the time and opportunity to turn it around. It wouldn’t be surprising if one or two people did start to question him and dropped their support, that doesn’t automatically make it backstabbing.

Modric giving fase statements and perjuring himself to save Mamic is such a massive stain on his reputation and career. Especially after he pocketed most of the transfer sum that was supposed to go to his club with Mamic as well. They were in dirty deals together and Modric rather protected his scummy friend than do the right thing. He will probably get away with a light slap on the wrist as well. Great player, rotten human being.

Yeah they blamed him for the results, but the fans and club management had crazy high expectations while constantly selling their best players. He got the most out of the team while playing entertaining and attacking football and they treated him like shit and sacked him for not performing miracles.

Saw him a few times for Antwerp, and had to look up his stats because i couldn’t believe they were that bad. But he was far better than the numbers suggest, he basically ran their midfield, he was their key player. He played more deep though, progressing the ball from a CM position. Still just 24 as well, real bargain for Feijenoord.

Yeah he has refound his form and confidence and his experience is a huge asset, but his struggle with COVID seems to have done a number on his physique. He doesn’t look as strong in duels and his stamina is shocking at times.

Man, Tolisso moving to Lyon must have depressed the shit out of him given the quality of his teammates and the mess the club management is in. He clearly loves the club where he went trough the academy and he is playing his heart out, but he is the only positive stand out. Fans better cherish that man, he is a thin coating of chrome over a heap of rust.

Van Bommel reinventing Stengs as a midfielder instead of a forward was inspired. Really well rounded modern player that fits the role perfectly.

Yeah this is exactly why players “sell” contact. If they don’t these incidents tend to get overlooked. From there it is just a fine line between selling contact and diving, which is why these fouls need to be given even if the player doesn’t go down.

Fuck me, teams that manage to win these types of games and grind out ugly wins often end up title contenders, Nice might actually pull a Lille and challenge PSG.

Gullit was the main man, mostly because of his charisma and natural leadership qualities, with his drive probably making Koeman a close second. Van Basten had just returned and noone really knew how sharp, capable or good he was. But he was always a bit of an enigma, he could sometims isolate himslef a bit from his teammates. Everyone knew he was leading up to something special in training though, Gullit claims he said ‘remember lads, let’s all just give van Basten some space to figure it out for us’ in the tunnel to lighten the mood before the Germany game.

People sometimes forget how mad talented Gullit was and how good he could still be after signing for Chelsea. He was played as a sweeper at first, which was a mistake. He hadn’t played there in some time and the game (not to mention his legs) had changed. But after moving him into midfield he was on fire. One of the first huge superstars to come to England to prove himself, he became second in the player of the season vote, behind Cantona who was on top of his game.

Gullit is an amazing story teller by the way, he used to have a podcast and visit various talkshows where he would dish out the most insane anecdotes. If only half of them are half factual he has had one of the most colourful private lives of any footballer ever.

There wasn’t a real decline, but by the time he moved to Milan his ankle was a time bomb. He already had one botched surgery and two more would follow. After his second surgery they extracted 3 bone splinters out of his ankle joint. He was in constant pain while playing (which showed in his playstyle) and after games he would sit in the lockerroom with his foot in a bucket of ice trying to keep the swelling down. There were some pictures in a football magazine of the team sitting in the bus on away days, waiting for van Basten.

Before his second surgery he played a bit reminiscent of Messi, getting involved in build up play, making runs and dribbling the ball forward to create chances himslef. He was incredibly graceful ad atlethic, that period and style gave him the nickname the Swan. After his last surgery van Basten knew he was on borrowed time, the doctor had warned him that one hard knock could basically cripple him. He visited Cruijff, his friend and mentor and together they thought up a way of playing that would minimise risk.

He would often receive the ball with his back on goal, making runs to open himself up. But that put incredible stress on his ankle and he couldn’t avoid tackles from behind because he didn’t see his opponents coming. So instead he started just jogging out of the box, make a “J” or “?” run and get the pass in front of him instead of in his feet. It worked remarkably well. He still had his pace and he could easily avoid tackles that he saw coming. It took some time to adjust, he covered much less ground, but he started scoring more from short runs in the box and headers.

There is an anecdote of him from those days Gullit liked to tell. When van Basten returned to training the defenders got together and agreed to go easy on him so not to injure him again. That apperently pissed van Basten off, he wanted to test his skill. It ended up with a training match with van Basten running around hammering balls on goal while shouting ‘kick me you bastards, kick me’! With half the defenders running after him trying to catch up.

But it wouldn’t take long before the pain got too much. There is a heartbreaking story of him breaking down in a car park after visiting some quack witch doctor because he was so desperate, finally forced to face the end. He got a surgically implanted brace to fix his ankle in place after retirement.

Van Basten didnt even play as the main striker in his breakout season, if he started he was positioned on the right wing. Wim Kieft was their main striker and van Basten only got to play centrally if he was subbed out. He still managed to score 10 in 25, rarely playing a full game.

He was absolutely class though, even at his age it was clear how good he was, so Ajax sold Kieft and made van Basten their main goalscorer. A lot of people criticised Ajax for taking such a risk with a young player, but van Basten went on to score 31 in 31 in the following season. Not that all the criticism died down after that. Just like with Haaland now he got called one dimensiomal and his lack of participation in build up was ‘not of an ajax standard’. Van Basten took that personally and scored 25 next season, while assisting 25 as well, sometimes playing in a AM or even CM role with their new tactics.