Cooke_Hart

I don't quite understand why English teams in the Europa league rotate so heavily. Dortmund played close to their strongest lineup. The Spanish teams that do so well don't rotate much. Is this just a factor of the "pace and power" of the Premier League wearing players out? I don't really buy it. To top it off ... Tottenham have Aston Villa on the weekend! Why save the team for that?

That always happens this round because of curling (the Brier?). I thought with 5 channels that TSN would be able to get all of the games on. Strange that they chose Benfica/Zenit over the PSG/Chelsea game. Choked that they don't have Tottenham/Dortmund game on tomorrow. I admit that I'm biased but that has to be the best matchup of the round. They didn't air any of Tottenham/Fiorentina last round either. Come on TSN, don't be so Sportsnetty!

I don't think that it was the "worst performance". I'll give that to the Newcastle game. Man City played deep, clogged the middle and took away Kane and Alli. It was a smart game plan and when they took off Fernando, and moved Yaya back, ultimately that created the space that allowed Lamela to run at the defence and send Erikson in. I simply don't know what to make of this season. Years of cheering for this team have kept me from getting my hopes up but they've been just so damn good this year. COYS

Agree with Scottish Canuck. I also enjoy Dortmund because they're just fun to watch playing at their breakneck pace. Watching them do a number on teams like Madrid a couple of years ago was great. They also have an underdog aspect to them after losing players like Sahin (immediately after he won top player in the league,) Kagawa, Barrios, Gotze, and Lewandowski who were all key contributors before being moved. They've relatively successfully been able to develop very good players, even when they've brought them in from somewhere else: Gundogan, Reus, Hummels etc... I hope they keep it going

Odds of the league starting on time?

are you watching anywhere?

I really only pull for the Canadian national team. My family is from Estonia but I couldn't tell you anything about their national squad. I also have family ties to Scotland but not enough to really make me invested. So ... all of my eggs are in that Canadian basket. This is what chronic disapointment feels like.

Can't wait! Just imagine if Rafa hadn't had the injury problems that he's had.

I'm in on the CDC fantasy pool. I may be a few weeks behind but I'll make up time. It's embarrasing but the results at this point are almost irrelevant. It's really about Floro learning what he has over the next couple of years so that he can build towards WC qualifying. At this point I'd take a respectable Gold Cup run ...

So ... does anyone actually talk about football in this thread? Who's winning Niners/Seahawks? I'm biased but I'm curious how others see it shaking down.

I was particularly please for Hassli after he missed Thorrington several minutes earlier when he shot wide. Some of our forwards are not great decision makers and can be awfully blinkered when it comes to passing. I still wonder how Mattocks is going to fit in this human mass of attackers. He's making the most of his chance right now. It's nice having a player out there who can beat a man (or 2) by himself with some consistency. I didn't like Camillo centrally by himself, I wonder how long it'll take for Salgado will get a chance at that prime real estate.

I don't think anyone's going to argue that they didn't need a CB (Mertesacker) and a creator (Arteta) after the departure of Fabregas and Nasri. Arshavin's been so poor as well. but hey, kick em while they're down why don't you?