''Soccer'' 2017-2018

[John Ossie]

Well, I like watching the goals from Liverpool's pre-season friendlies as it helps keep me going till the season starts. Having said that though, there were European qualifiers tonight for both the Champions League and Europa League and TNS were playing a side from Kosovo called Feronikeli, in Kosovo as well. And they won 1-0 which sends them through to the next qualifying round for the Champions League by 3-2 on aggregate which is good to hear.

I'm sure Fluffy will be pleased to know there'll be at least one Welsh team in the next round of the qualifiers for European football. Though I'm sure he doesn't expect them to qualify for the Champions League or Europa League proper.

They left it late too, 82nd minute. Goalscorers name (and hero for the night) is Dean Ebbe.

[FluffySheep]

Well, I like watching the goals from Liverpool's pre-season friendlies as it helps keep me going till the season starts. Having said that though, there were European qualifiers tonight for both the Champions League and Europa League and TNS were playing a side from Kosovo called Feronikeli, in Kosovo as well. And they won 1-0 which sends them through to the next qualifying round for the Champions League by 3-2 on aggregate which is good to hear.

I'm sure Fluffy will be pleased to know there'll be at least one Welsh team in the next round of the qualifiers for European football. Though I'm sure he doesn't expect them to qualify for the Champions League or Europa League proper.

They left it late too, 82nd minute. Goalscorers name (and hero for the night) is Dean Ebbe.

They've got FC Copenhagen in the next round, so they'll be out after that. They're not proper Welsh anyway lol.

Swansea beat Yeovil 6-1 away tonight. Only a friendly but at least we're scoring.

Stafford Rangers beat Lichfield City 7-0 away too.

[John Ossie]

LOL ''Not proper Welsh anyway'' LOL. Bet they would be if they ever did make it to the Champions League proper in all seriousness though, I'd be shocked if they got past Copenhagen.

Never knock a 6-1 win, Fluffy. They don't come around often so make the most of it LOL.

Good result for Stafford, yes I know it's pre-season but it won't do theirs (or Swansea's) confidence any harm.

Speaking of pre-season, on the same day that Steve Bruce gets named as Rafa Benitez's successor they get beat 4-0 by Wolves. And I know it's only half-time and I know Willie doesn't particularly care for pre-season but I'm sure he won't mind hearing that United are 2-0 up at half-time against Leeds. Rashford getting the second one after some lad called Greenwood opened the scoring.

Other than that there're more European Qualifiers tonight. Dundalk are at Riga (are Dundalk an Irish team or am I getting mixed up?), Linfield are at Rosenborg, Celtic host Sarajevo as well. There're also Scottish League Cup matches as well.

[WillieMorgan]

Speaking of pre-season, on the same day that Steve Bruce gets named as Rafa Benitez's successor they get beat 4-0 by Wolves. And I know it's only half-time and I know Willie doesn't particularly care for pre-season but I'm sure he won't mind hearing that United are 2-0 up at half-time against Leeds. Rashford getting the second one after some lad called Greenwood opened the scoring.

Oh, of course I still want to see them win. It was 4-0 at the finish. The lad you mentioned is called Mason Greenwood and he's only 17. I'll give pre-season that, it's good for blooding young players. No trouble between the fans either. There probably would have been if that friendly had been played in England.

Steve Bruce at Newcastle eh? How many clubs has he managed now? It must be getting close to double figures. If I remember I'll check. Newcastle are a club that I always feel have trouble looming just around the corner. I can't see Bruce's appointment stemming that opinion. The fans are not keen either. I quote one of their supporters groups - "Steve Bruce is an unambitious appointment by an unambitious owner". Hmm.

[WillieMorgan]

Steve Bruce has managed ten different clubs so it is in double figures - both Sheffield clubs, Wigan Athletic twice, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace, Birmingham City, Sunderland, Hull City, Aston Villa and now Newcastle United.

Nice work if you can get it.

[John Ossie]

Oh, of course I still want to see them win. It was 4-0 at the finish. The lad you mentioned is called Mason Greenwood and he's only 17. I'll give pre-season that, it's good for blooding young players. No trouble between the fans either. There probably would have been if that friendly had been played in England.

Steve Bruce at Newcastle eh? How many clubs has he managed now? It must be getting close to double figures. If I remember I'll check. Newcastle are a club that I always feel have trouble looming just around the corner. I can't see Bruce's appointment stemming that opinion. The fans are not keen either. I quote one of their supporters groups - "Steve Bruce is an unambitious appointment by an unambitious owner". Hmm.

Can't really argue with the assessment of the fan you quoted even if I do respect the man. As for your 4-0 win, yeah Martial and Jones got the other two. It won't hurt Martial or Rashford's confidence in terms of scoring goals at least tonight LOL. And good for Mason.

Steve Bruce has managed ten different clubs so it is in double figures - both Sheffield clubs, Wigan Athletic twice, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace, Birmingham City, Sunderland, Hull City, Aston Villa and now Newcastle United.

Nice work if you can get it.

Not is it? And for the most part I think he's an ''ok'' manager but I wouldn't expect Newcastle to do anything special under him. He's more of a Championship manager I think if you want success.

[John Ossie]

Just in case WestPhillyPunisher (or anyone else for that matter) is wondering about Steve Bruce's record. Here's what his record is according to Wikipedia as a manager.

Sheffield United - 2 July 1998 - 17 May 1999
Huddersfield Town - 24 May 1999 - 16 October 2000
Wigan Athletic - 4 April 2001 - 29 May 2001
Crystal Palace - 31 May 2001 - 2 November 2001
Birmingham City - 12 December 2001 - 23 November 2007
Wigan Athletic - 26 November 2007 - 3 June 2009
Sunderland - 3 June 2009 - 30 November 2011
Hull City - 8 June 2012 - 22 July 2016
Aston Villa - 12 October 2016 - 3 October 2018
Sheffield Wednesday - 1 February 2019 - 14 July 2019
Newcastle United - 17 July 2019 - Present

Honours as a manager

Birmingham City

Football League First Division play-offs: 2002

Football League Championship runner-up: 2006–07

Hull City

Football League Championship runner-up: 2012–13

FA Cup runner-up: 2013–14

Football League Championship play-offs: 2016

Anyhow, that's what he's done as a manager. His most successful period was with Birmingham in the early to mid 2000s. Though he did well at Hull City more recently.

[WillieMorgan]

Not is it? And for the most part I think he's an ''ok'' manager but I wouldn't expect Newcastle to do anything special under him. He's more of a Championship manager I think if you want success.

Yeah, he's done well at Championship level. Getting the likes of both Birmingham and Hull, twice with Hull no less, promoted into the Premier League is no mean feat. Above that though? Not much. That's where the 'unambitious' accusation is coming from I feel. Newcastle will ideally be looking at someone that can get the club back into the top half of the table and maybe even Europe. Benitez couldn't manage to do that with the squad that he inherited. Not sure what Bruce can achieve here that Rafa couldn't. Still, not my problem.

Saying all that, United have a similar situaton at the minute with Solskjaer. He's clearly an intelligent chap that knows a thing or two about football but he's also a managerial novice really.

[John Ossie]

Well, on the plus side, Solskjaer did have success with Molde so that'll give you some hope for optimism. Obviously I'd rather he did as well at United as he did at Cardiff though LOL. As for Bruce, with all due respect to him I wouldn't expect much except survival at best particularly since they won' have Rondon or Perez next season. Doesn't feel like a long-term appointment to me either. Ah well, like you said, not my problem LOL.

In other news, West Ham have officially signed that Haller. Chikhura Sackhere are 15 minutes away from qualifying for the next qualifying round for the Europa League, they're 4-1 up on aggregate at the moment and the opposition are down to 10 men so it'd be quite the shock if they didn't get through. Dundalk have just started the second half against Riga, it's 0-0 at the moment, same as the aggregate scoreline so they've still got a chance at least.

Also, Man City beat West Ham 4-1. Sterling scoring twice in the Asian trophy thing they're playing for. Oh and there was the Chinese Super League games today but I can't remember what Rafa's new team is called so I don't know how they did LOL.

The other competitive matches for the Champions League qualifiers and the Scottish League Cup matches will be played later on.

[FluffySheep]

Newcastle appointing Bruce definitely doesn't scream "ambition". Sounds more like they're preparing for the Championship.

[John Ossie]

Yeah, it kinda does. Especially since Steve does at least have experience in getting promotion from the Championship.

Celtic are through, as expected. They sealed qualification to the next round with a 2-1 win against Sarajevo, Dundalk won on penalties at Riga and Linfield got knocked out by Rosenborg in...''comfortable'' fashion shall we say? So a bit of a mixed bag for the ''Home Nations'' teams tonight in Europe.

[John Ossie]

Just had a brief glance at the scores tonight for the Europa League and whilst most of them are still playing or yet to kick off there've been 5 results tonight. One of which was almost a shock result as Inter Turku beat Brondby 2-0. Had they managed to get a third goal they'd have knocked Brondby out on the away goals rule so Brondby fans must've sighed a sigh of relief once the final whistle went.

[FluffySheep]

Connah's Quay Nomads embarrassed Kilmarnock 2-0 in Ayrshire to earn a stunning Europa League first qualifying round aggregate victory.

Callum Morris' penalty proved decisive for the Welsh side, who recovered from a 2-1 first leg defeat to earn an unlikely aggregate win and set up a tie with Partizan Belgrade of Serbia.

Get in there Connah's Quay!

[John Ossie]

Congrats to Connah's Quay. Gotta be honest I didn't give them a chance but they did it, same goes to Shamrock Rovers who beat Brann 2-1 tonight to qualify. Rangers and Aberdeen went through as expected.

Cork City were unlucky judging by the scoreline as they missed out on qualifying.

All in all, a good night for the ''Home Nations'' teams tonight.

[John Ossie]

Well, unfortunately Liverpool lost their first game in pre-season, 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund. I know it's only pre-season but I'm always disappointed when Liverpool lose LOL. Still, at least Brewster scored again as that makes it 4 goals in 3 games for him and Harry Wilson got his first pre-season goal for us. Hopefully we'll beat Sevilla tonight.

I know Newcastle won their first game under Steve Bruce by 1-0 and I know Wolves beat Man City on penalties to win that Asia Cup thing. I also know United beat Inter 1-0 with that Greenwood lad scoring the goal.