Europa League

Originally posted by Lundos
Some people might, but only if they are morons. Three of the four final teams in the EL were Portuguese and Lissabon can play too. I've read somewhere that besides winning the national championship Porto's season far consists of a Portuguese Supercup, and a record of 13-1-2 in the EL (with the final to come) and 5-0-1 in the Taca de Portugal (with another fi ...[text shortened]... y hope Porto wont do a 'Dortmund' and sell the best players come summer (Sahin already).

We have a guy (Walter) who actually has more goals per minute than Falcao coming off the bench (1 goal per 71 minutes!) but he seemed to have a fallout with the coach or club (it's not known why, but it could be work ethic related as Porto is notoriously harsh on players who party too much). He suddenly disappeared from call-ups for a long spell of the season. He's back now, he started yesterday and he scored again but I don't know if all is good or not. I don't think the club thinks he's ready to replace Falcao.

Hulk's buy out clause is 100 million but that's obviously too much. He'd go for 35/40M. Porto bought a few days ago 40% of his pass recently for 13.5M so that would make it in the 35M range. We have some very young wingers that could replace him and hope they explode. James Rodriguez from Colombia has been a revelation so far and we bought Iturbe which is also rated very highly.

Originally posted by Palynka
We have a guy (Walter) who actually has more goals per minute than Falcao coming off the bench (1 goal per 71 minutes!) but he seemed to have a fallout with the coach or club (it's not known why, but it could be work ethic related as Porto is notoriously harsh on players who party too much). He suddenly disappeared from call-ups for a long spell of the seaso ...[text shortened]... ombia has been a revelation so far and we bought Iturbe which is also rated very highly.

Nice scoring stat but Walter is probably too young to count on. Especially if he's a party monster. He'll need someone older and better to learn from.

EUR 35/40 M is still too much for Wenger. So Hulk will go to City or Chelsea. Maybe Arsenal should buy Rodriguez. How do you rate him against someone like Eden Hazard?

Originally posted by Lundos
Nice scoring stat but Walter is probably too young to count on. Especially if he's a party monster. He'll need someone older and better to learn from.

EUR 35/40 M is still too much for Wenger. So Hulk will go to City or Chelsea. Maybe Arsenal should buy Rodriguez. How do you rate him against someone like Eden Hazard?

I've seen little of Hazard but he looked really great. Hard to rate two players so young, of course. James has great technique but he's not a flashy technical beast like Hazard. He has great off the ball movement, plays well with his teammates and is quite composed for his age. Something is coming from him but Hazard has shown much more for now, I think.

With all these numbers and statistics, this is starting to sound like a discussion about American football.

🙄

And Porto wins it! Deserved it too imo.

Ay, caramba! Who would have thought the title was
partly due to Porto's dodgy, unreliable goalkeeper?!

As for Hulk and Falcao: simply delightful to watch.

Originally posted by Seitse
Ay, caramba! Who would have thought the title was
partly due to Porto's dodgy, unreliable goalkeeper?!

As for Hulk and Falcao: simply delightful to watch.

Helton is a great goalkeeper! Widely recognized in Portugal as the best keeper playing there for some years now. Two bad games in the CL and he became the most underrated keeper for those who don't follow our domestic league.

It wasn't our best game, though. I guess it being a final paid its toll and Braga defend very well positionally. It was one of the few times our midfield wasn't fluid and so the game was a bit scrappy. Still, we won and that's what counts.

Congrats Palynka.

I hope Porto keeps the team at least until after the UEFA Super Cup. I would love to see Barca losing an international match, and Porto have the Coach and players to do.

Originally posted by Lundos
I hope Porto keeps the team at least until after the UEFA Super Cup. I would love to see Barca losing an international match, and Porto have the Coach and players to do.

Glad to see you're more optimistic than me. 😀

Barcelona even without ref mistakes or theatrics is a super team.

Originally posted by Lundos
Congrats Palynka.

I hope Porto keeps the team at least until after the UEFA Super Cup. I would love to see Barca losing an international match, and Porto have the Coach and players to do.

man utd will have something to say about that.

Originally posted by trev33
man utd will have something to say about that.

Good luck.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oN47rrZq3ag/Tb_ebF2DMPI/AAAAAAAAAOk/f8N4iRGKwrw/s1600/9hro0.jpg

Dammit Villas-Boas quit Porto. Chelsea is next...

15 Million and the most expensive coach transfer ever and bought one year ago for... 0.00 Euros.

I'm happy for the extraordinary season we had and so good luck to him in Chelsea. My heart says I would like him to stay another year, but my head says you can't argue with those numbers. Let's see what happens next year, we still have an extraordinary group of players.

Originally posted by Lundos
Dammit Villas-Boas quit Porto. Chelsea is next...

A great young manager- and a fantastic record in this first season.
He is of course an old face at Chelsea as well- having been there before.
However how will he do in the PL I wonder?

Issues I see are-

He is very young and the PL is a lot tougher than the Portuguese league, with all due respect.

The quality of the teams in the PL is far superior then they are in Portugal.
The other issue I have is that- Chelsea seem to have a sort of player power- with bully boy terry leading the pack.

If they don’t like him they will make his life hell. It will be interesting to see how tough he is and if he has the personality to deal with bully boy Terry and the likes of lampard and Drogba who seem to rule the Chelsea dressing room

Originally posted by Palynka
15 Million and the most expensive coach transfer ever and bought one year ago for... 0.00 Euros.

I'm happy for the extraordinary season we had and so good luck to him in Chelsea. My heart says I would like him to stay another year, but my head says you can't argue with those numbers. Let's see what happens next year, we still have an extraordinary group of players.

Of course, it was the right decision for Porto, but I would have preferred a complete team with coach and everything for the Super Cup against Barca. What a match it could have been...

Lets see how many players will follow the coach to a new team. Apparently Falcao is a favorite of Villas-Boas.

@spurs73
Villas-Boas already know some of the players from when he was an assistant to Mourinho. Otherwise I think he'll put them on the bench and sell them in January.

I, for one, is looking forward to the next season. I think the EPL top will be very close.