Hello!

Since the World-Cup is now over, I figure what ever football/soccer fans are left will turn their attention to their club-team and their respective leagues. This thread is for discussion of transfers, any of the major Pan-Continent Competitions, Predictions for domestic leagues and so on.

To get us started - write down the name of the team you support, and what you hope they'll achieve this season:

e.g. I'm a Manchester United Fan, and I desperately hope that last season was as bad as it can get for us.

And if your teams are rivals, please keep the ''banter'' impersonal and moderate.

Not happy with the loss of Suarez, and the money doesn't seem to be getting spent wisely. 25m for Lallana? Pfft. We need to sign a quality to replace Suarez or we can forget about finishing top 4 this season. Lazar Markovic I can't really comment on but I hope he's worth it.

Hope the links with Reus are true.

What I think (and hope they won't get) Liverpool require is someone to galvanise the defence. Skirtel and Sakho occasionally show method, and so ability, in the defensive madness, but what undid you last season was undoubtedly how lax the defence is. Carragher and Neville called it months before Crystal Palace on Sky-Sports, and the fact that such accomplished defenders have said it and been proven right means that Brendan Rodgers needs to take action. Liverpool need to look for an experienced defender who has organizational skills.

Hummels might be too young - but they're right to persue him. Unfortunately for Liverpool, United have more money and a more internationally renowned manager in Van Gaal, so we'll likely win the battle for him. At least it shows Rodgers moving in the right direction (for you, not for me).

Our defence does need sorting, but Enrique is back from injury I believe and Skrtel may or may not be good. I agree we need more strong defenders though, particularly centre backs since Agger is injury prone and Skrtel is not reliable. We haven't signed any yet though apart from Kevin Stewart on a free, just more midfielders, a winger and a 32 year old striker.

I would like us to sign Lovren but 25 mil is too much.

Edit: Not Agger... silly me.

A VERY casual, yet overly anolytic football "fan" here, from Finland. My favorite team is Ajax, much thanks to Jari Litmanen and their superb team around '95-'98 when I was most interested in the sport (i.e., I was a kid ). It's actually this year's World Cup that revived my interest in football, and I'm planning on watching more games from some European big leagues than I have in the last few years.

Spain... Rayo Vallecano is easily my favorite team. Guess I like to root for little underdogs (there are a few bigger clubs in Madrid, that is), and I loved the colors and the bee in their jerseys somewhere in the 90s - early 00s. England... Crystal Palace. As a kid I found that name very epic, and I liked the colors.

As good reasons as any to root for the teams? I'm in luck that my favorite teams are pretty much in the upmost league as we speak; I have no idea how long they might've sunk in between the early 00s and now when I didn't follow football closely. They are not the richest and most dominant teams of their respective countries at all.

Finnish football for me isn't good enough to watch. I actually find the _second division_ the most interesting as clubs from most major towns featured in my life play there now. But imagine the level of svckage in Finnish 2nd div... I'm glad we have some profile players though, like brothers Eremenko, and younger strikers like Teemu Pukki and Joel Pohjanpalo. We also seem to have many solid defenders and defensive midfielders playing around Europe.

Definitely following the game more closely now. It's awesome to see some "childhood heroes" are still around. I mean, Totti is still with AS Roma, for example! And Teemu Tainio is still one of those higher-profile defensive midfielders in Finnish football.

That's great to hear! I think, if you really want to watch underdog football, your best bet is to watch the Europa league. It has a spectrum of teams ranging from those who finished 5th, or won cups in England, Spain and Germany, to teams who finished second or even won divisions like the Hungarian League, or your Finnish League. They generally have a good atmosphere, because the glitzier champions league chantges hands between Germany, English, Italian or Spanish clubs whereas the Europa League has been won by teams from Turkey to France.

The games are on Thursday night around 7pm CET. Though I'm not sure if there's a station that carries them in Finland.

EDIT: My favourite Spanish team isn't quite a low-ranked as yours, but they'll suffice as my plucky under-dog. I'm a Manchester United fan and an ex-player of ours who I felt we mistreated, Diego Forlan, went to play for Villareal, the returned to Old Trafford and held us to a 1-1 draw. I respected them for that, and I've always been glad to see them do well.

Forlan is one of those guys who has been around for so long that I easily recognize him. Glad he's still been in the national team shape, even! I cannot imagine Team Uruguay having that bad players in their roster...

Good hint, Europa League, thanks! Definitely giving an eye to those games!