The bloody race for 6th place between France and Portugal

[AlanK]

Kutuz...if french football weren't the best, not so many french players would be taken by the best teams in England and Spain.....The fact French teams do not win european cups is only due to the fact that every year, the teams who qualify for, have fo built up a new team the same season they have to play EC......

[Malko]

alaK if you did not understand this yet.....see Les Bleus....Griezmann, Gameiro from atletico, and so on and so on..these players were in Ligue 1 some seasons ago. If some other teams like PSg could keep or buy those players, they would still be in Ligue 1 and Ligue 1 would be among the Top 3 or 2 in Europe.....look at all the best palyers of all the best teams in Europe...they are often coming from Ligue 1.Even in Dortmund and Bayern now.....

[BurningStorm]

alaK if you did not understand this yet.....see Les Bleus....Griezmann, Gameiro from atletico, and so on and so on..these players were in Ligue 1 some seasons ago. If some other teams like PSg could keep or buy those players, they would still be in Ligue 1 and Ligue 1 would be among the Top 3 or 2 in Europe.....look at all the best palyers of all the best teams in Europe...they are often coming from Ligue 1.Even in Dortmund and Bayern now.....

Dutch league would be 1st from your point of view, they've lost players like Luis Suarez, Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo. Clubs from some leagues HAVE TO look for young & cheap players, there is no other option. While clubs from top leagues can wait to see which players are good enough in lower leagues and then they buy them. Normal business.

By the way: Griezmann never played a single Ligue 1 game.

[AlanK]

alaK if you did not understand this yet.....see Les Bleus....Griezmann, Gameiro from atletico, and so on and so on..these players were in Ligue 1 some seasons ago. If some other teams like PSg could keep or buy those players, they would still be in Ligue 1 and Ligue 1 would be among the Top 3 or 2 in Europe.....look at all the best palyers of all the best teams in Europe...they are often coming from Ligue 1.Even in Dortmund and Bayern now.....

Dutch league would be 1st from your point of view, they've lost players like Luis Suarez, Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo. Clubs from some leagues HAVE TO look for young & cheap players, there is no other option. While clubs from top leagues can wait to see which players are good enough in lower leagues and then they buy them. Normal business.

By the way: Griezmann never played a single Ligue 1 game.

Indeed. I seem to remember a post somewhere above that informs us that Griezmann wasn't given a chance in France and that it was because Real Sociedad did give him a chance that he is where he is. And La Real had to sell him on to Atleti . . . And Gameiro Well, he went to PSG--and they sold him to Sevilla for what now seems to be a laughable price of 10 million euros, according to Wiki. So much for French teams WITH MONEY keeping their good players . . .

[Malko]

Yes but concerning Gameiro, there should have been another french club giving 10 Million or more to PSG to have him.
You cannot compare Holland....they have very very good football school too , ajax first, but really not the same opportunities to get money like France would have if they did....TV, marketting aso....the marketting in France is desastrous.....you go to any town, you do not see much shops selling products of the local club...... . Not because they would not be sold, but because the effort is not done...the effort to present the whole ligue 1 the way people would buy it...oh, it's difficult to understand....you must probably live in France to understand what i mean.......nd the potential is there.....you just have to see how the national team is followed......it should be the same with the clubs.

[Thunder_PT]

I'm with Malko! With his logic, these would be the Portuguese teams:

FC Porto:
Casillas
Danilo
Alex Sandro
Otamendi
Pepe
Casemiro
João Moutinho
Óliver Torres
James Rodríguez
Hulk
Falcao


Benfica:
Jan Oblak
João Cancelo
Fábio Coentrão
David Luiz
Ezequiel Garay
Nemanja Matic
Renato Sanches
André Gomes
Nico Gaitán
Ángel Di Maria
Jonas / Mitroglou


Sporting:
Rui Patrício
Cédric Soares
Marcos Rojo
Sebastian Coates/Rúben Semedo
Eric Dier
William Carvalho
Adrien Silva
João Mário
Nani
Cristiano Ronaldo
Islam Slimani


And I'm leaving out guys like Witsel, Bernardo Silva, Jackson Martínez, Mangala, Fernando, Bruno Alves, Javi Garcia, José Fonte, Danny, Danilo Pereira, Maxi Pereira, Quaresma... Oh, and Diego Costa plays for Braga (or even for Penafiel for shits and giggles, we can even put Pepe at Marítimo, why not? ). Let's do this!

[Overgame]

alaK if you did not understand this yet.....see Les Bleus....Griezmann, Gameiro from atletico, and so on and so on..these players were in Ligue 1 some seasons ago. If some other teams like PSg could keep or buy those players, they would still be in Ligue 1 and Ligue 1 would be among the Top 3 or 2 in Europe.....look at all the best palyers of all the best teams in Europe...they are often coming from Ligue 1.Even in Dortmund and Bayern now.....

Dutch league would be 1st from your point of view, they've lost players like Luis Suarez, Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo. Clubs from some leagues HAVE TO look for young & cheap players, there is no other option. While clubs from top leagues can wait to see which players are good enough in lower leagues and then they buy them. Normal business.

By the way: Griezmann never played a single Ligue 1 game.

Indeed. I seem to remember a post somewhere above that informs us that Griezmann wasn't given a chance in France and that it was because Real Sociedad did give him a chance that he is where he is. And La Real had to sell him on to Atleti . . . And Gameiro Well, he went to PSG--and they sold him to Sevilla for what now seems to be a laughable price of 10 million euros, according to Wiki. So much for French teams WITH MONEY keeping their good players . . .

Anderlecht refused to give a chance to Hazard.

[greenbay]

I guess that Borussia Dortmund would not mind having Hummels and Lewandowski back as per Malko logics. They could cause some serious troubles to Bayern in the Bundesliga. And might even have a serious shot at making another CL final appearance...

[Malko]

Borussia Dortmund has lost Hummels and Lewandowski....but to germany...and, they have found better till then with Aubameyang and now Dembele.

Thunder_PT, yes, portuguese teams also suffer from this exode, now Portugal itself is economically much weaker than France....therefor this situation is much more disturbing in France...where the money is.......

[SteffenM]

Wow this thread have taken a turn away from the subject.
But at least we are not discussing France-Germany anymore

Now I expect fans from all three sides involved blaming this post for sharing an uninterested opinion instead of whta they wish to hear.

Unfortunately many fans take it to heart to much, and make it a question of national pride.

So, I would rather speak something else, like a silly football anecdote from the past, or anything else which would not generate tensions.

Still waiting for your silly football anecdote

Maybe Chuck Norris could fold the paper 11 times?

Chuck Norris can fold a stamp made out of metal 11 times with both his arms on the back.

Lyon also won vs Bayern some years ago......i still remeber the goal from Wiltord. Yes, it's some years ago......but nothing says it won't happen again ...

WTF...

Malko's trolling* is like a piece of performance art. I've never seen in other places people continuing to respond to statements like his for, what has it been, years now? The entire forum gets outraged every time he posts something ridiculous re:France. Just let it go already, you're not gonna change his opinion on anything. France #1!

* I think Malko posts out of his sincerely held beliefs, rather than "for the lols", but it still classifies as trolling in my book.

10 points, and the most intelligent comment for a long time.
feeling like a hit in the head, each time the "troll is feeded" even when I do it myself.

[Malko]

as Bert did not make the update....here are the current standings:

5. France 47.499
6.Russia 46.532
7. Portugal 45.433

it could be that Belgium will be the country who could challenge Portugal for Rank 7 in one or two seasons.

[spoonman]

Bert made the update last night at 22:43. He has Portugal at 45.332.

[Malko]

okay, it's true 45.332...... made 0.001 mistake in my calcuation

[spoonman]

Looks like 0.101 to me. But you're the mathematician, so you're probably right.

[AlanK]

Looks like 0.101 to me. But you're the mathematician, so you're probably right.

I'm to say that I didn't catch the .100 mistake; I only caught the .001 mistake.